Title: Indebted
Summary: An baby-sits Shitenhouji's super rookie uponShiraishi's request. Kintarou asks a question, then An finds herself hugging the boy all night long…
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor its characters and its cracks and its supreme idiocy.
Warnings: Umm…lame attempt of a ficlet that was supposed to be a drabble? And um…OOC-ness?
A/N: This idea has been lingering around me for quite some time now…yeah, so after getting this thing off my chest, I'll be starting with new multi-chapter fics once more. :D Yay!
Tachibana An wasn't meant for baby-sitting kids, particularly hyperactive boys. But why was it again that she was on this little boy's house, pestering herself to take care of the young lad and waste her time telling him to go to bed?
It was all Shiraishi Kuranosuke's fault.
Last thing she needed was to be indebted to some bandaged man. But thanks to him, though, she's still alive and breaking her back to take care of her debts. All because he saved her from an accident. All because of that. She wouldn't want to elaborate; it was too embarrassing for her. She wouldn't want to talk about how that man skillfully pushed her away just to avoid that stupid car that stupid summer day. And she wouldn't want to elaborate as to why Shiraishi Kuranosuke, wanted in return, was to baby-sit Tooyama Kintarou, their infamous super rookie.
Yes, she was baby-sitting and doing his job while he was having fun with his teammates.
"Ne, Tachibana-neechan, why do people have to sleep?" The redheaded lad asked innocently, jumping again and again on his bed. The girl could only heave a sigh and tuck him in.
"To regain energy, which you have a lot of, Kin-chan…" She answered almost warily, yet a tad bit of irritation was still visible in her voice.
"Does that mean I'm special then?" The boy was starry-eyed, oblivious to An's bemusement.
"Yes, you are special. Nobody could ever match your extreme hyperactive personality and energetic traits. No one," she muttered to him. "Now, go to sleep so that Tachibana-neechan could also rest."
Kintarou pouted at her, obviously bored at her nonchalant phase. Then a new question popped in his head, and it had something to do with Tachibana-neechan's big brother.
"Ne, aren't you the Wild Lion's little sister?" He sat up after five minutes of laying down in bed. An's exasperated look couldn't get any worse; she's been taking care of the boy for eight whole hours already, and she has to admit that she couldn't keep up with his jumping and yelling. Since Kintarou's parents were out of town, they left their only son in the hands of Shiraishi, who coincidentally, was An's savior. He wanted her to repay him by the means of baby-sitting for him and taking care of his job for one Saturday night. An wanted to thank God that she was staying at Osaka for the weekend, or else it would've been trouble to go there right from Tokyo. That was way too tiring. Next thing she needed was an interrogation session from an innocent first year about how her brother received the title 'Wild Lion.' Oh life just loved her so much.
"Yes, I am," She answered him a little bit too abruptly.
"Ooooohh!!" Kintarou jumped up, which surprised An a little. "Then you must be a lion too!"
The boy paused and thought for a moment before talking to her again, "Or is it lioness? Or a tiger? Tigress?"
An couldn't help but giggle. Even though this boy was a bit of a pain, she could never bring herself to hate him, and maybe Shiraishi knew that. Her aggravation went down after that, then she returned to her normal self, spunky and cheery.
"Not really a lion, but maybe a kitten!" She winked at him, and it made the boy a little bit confused.
"Why be a kitten? Kittens are not strong…" Kintarou pouted a bit, and didn't seem to get the girl's logic.
An giggled yet again and carefully explained to him, "That way, I'll be cuter, right?"
Kintarou blinked a few times, and then he tapped his chin. "Sou ka! Then kittens are more hug-able right?"
The redhead sat back down and hugged her, much to An's surprise. "I was right! Kittens are hug-able!!" Kintarou happily exclaimed.
"Tachibana-neechan! You are hug-able!" Kintarou smiled at her and continued hugging her.
"Kin-chan, please let go of me…" An said hesitantly as she tried to remove Kintarou's arms off her.
"Yadda!" Kintarou shook his head then let his self fall on the bed with her.
Seeing that her efforts of pleading to him won't work, she thought of ways on how to make use of the situation. Then she heard a faint yawn coming from the boy, and that gave her an idea. "Kin-chan, if I let you hug me, then would you sleep?"
"Mm!" Kintarou nodded and hugged her tight. "I've always dreamed of hugging a kitten to sleep!"
"Fine then. But only because Kin-chan is so hug-able as well…" An smiled at him then hugged him gently.
9 o'clock in the evening, at Tooyama Kintarou's house. It wasn't An's bedtime and it was too early for her to go to sleep. But seeing the super rookie's drowsy expression, she had no choice but to sleep beside him. She was thankful though, because even though he caused him some troubles, he made her feel somewhat special. She was really thankful that she got to hang out with Kintarou, even for only one night. Then, she mentally slapped herself.
She has been indebted again.