A/N: Who inspired me to write this was a certain Jackal-senpai and Marui-senpai. We were eating at McDonald's and then we talked of how An wanted to have sex with Jackal (am I right?) and how Jackal didn't want to because they weren't married. Ah, moralfags.

NOTE/S: This is dedicated to you, Jackal-senpai and Marui-senpai! Because you two prompted this in the first place. I just thought it would be nice to have, like, two Catholics in the series. LOL. But yeah. And this is another gift for you, Jackal-senpaiii. Hearts and some xoxo and stuff.

WARNING/S: Um, I'm not sure if I got these two in perfect character. But yeah. That. Also I ate a total lot of chocolates. Thanks to Marui-senpai for rubbing off on me. LOL. And by the way, the two characters aren't really Catholic.

DISCLAIMER: Prince of Tennis is not mine, and so I wasn't the one who made Jackal some moralfag and stuff. Also, hnng TeniMyu.

CHURCH BUDDIES

By ThroughTheMonsoon

It was a nice, relaxing Sunday Jackal finally got to enjoy. He went out with his mom and dad for a nice breakfast in a nearby café, and he had nothing to worry about. Not getting bitch-slapped by Sanada, not babysitting Marui and Akaya, not running laps… Nothing.

And so his day continues as he heads to church with his parents. They took a seat in the middle pew, not wanting to catch attention up front and yet needing to see and listen closely to the lectures, unlike how it is out back.

Jackal whispered to his mother, "I need to check the time for confessions." Even though most of us know how holy he is, he was a bit modest and thought he needed to confess his sins (whatever they were) once a month. The lady nodded with a smile, marveling at how good a Catholic her son was.

The half-Brazilian tennis player stood up. It was still a few minutes before mass started, and so the church was not as filled yet. He checked for the confession booth, and started walking slowly towards it.

Along the way, a little kid bumped into him. The small boy stumbled and dropped his toy car. Jackal immediately stooped to pick it up. "I am sorry," he told the child.

"'Sokay, mister!" The little kid smiled brightly up at him, bowed as he did and ran back to his own family, saying a quick "thanks!" as he went.

The Rikkai regular smiled to himself. He liked kids, especially little kids. He was especially responsible and took care of his aunts' children sometimes, playing with them and being all motherly and stuff.

He turned back to the direction he was headed to, but just as he did, a taller boy bumped into him. I need to be more careful, Jackal thought to himself.

"A-Ah! Sumimasen," a gentle voice said as both stumbled back upon impact.

Jackal rubbed his forehead, eyes closed. "It's my fault, I'm sorry."

"But I wasn't looking at where I was going. Forgive me," the taller kid bowed.

Jackal cracked an eye open. The still-bowed figure had silver hair.

Familiar.

The boy slowly stood up straight, and the morning sunlight glinted off a silver cross on a black string tied onto his neck.

"Oh. H-Hello," Otori Choutarou said in a bewildered voice.

The Wall blinked his eyes open, letting his orbs grow accustomed to the soft glint of the Hyoutei second year's silver crown. "Hello."

"I…didn't expect to see you here, Kuwahara-san." Choutarou rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Me either. But it is nice to see you, Otori-kun," Jackal assured the other. "You're Catholic?"

The Hyoutei regular shrugged good-naturedly. "Yeah. I've been going to hear mass at this church since I was a little kid. Um, how about you?"

"My parents and I wanted to see the differences between the churches from our place to the ones here. We don't mind the trip, though."

Choutarou nodded. "I see." The little kid who ran into Jackal a moment ago ran towards them and pulled on Choutarou's hand.

"Itoko! Itoko! Oba-san is looking for you!"

Jackal smiled at the kid. "So he's your cousin?"

The silver-haired boy smiled amiably and replied, "Yes. He's Kotaro. Do you know him?"

"I've bumped into him a while ago. But it was no trouble, don't sweat it."

"Itoko, who is he?" Kotaro asked, not unkindly.

"Ah, sorry, I failed to introduce you. Kotaro, this is Kuwahara Jackal-san from RikkaiDai Kuwahara-san, this is Otori Kotaro, my uncle's son."

The half-foreign teen sat on his heels and held out a hand to Kotaro. "Hello, Kotaro-kun. It's nice to meet you."

The smaller Otori shook Jackal's hand. "You, too, Kuwahara-san!" The kid smiled brightly, his other hand clutching Choutarou's larger ones.

The church bells rung thrice, signaling that mass is to begin.

"Ahh… Mass is starting soon. We should get back, Kotaro." Choutarou picked up the small boy easily, carrying him gently. "It's fairly nice to see you here, Kuwahara-san. I was a bit surprised to know you were a Catholic, but I don't mind. It's great to know I'm not the only one who goes to church during Sundays." The Hyoutei tennis regular smiled kind and bright at Jackal, giving him a final nod. "Goodbye. I hope we hear mass together again soon."

"See you, Otori-kun. It was a pleasure to meet you here. I'm hoping to go to church and meet you once more in the near future." Jackal nodded back and smiled.

The two—or three, rather—departed ways, the Otoris off to the right and the sole Kuwahara to the left.

It was nice to meet a fellow tennis regular in church indeed.

And then a certain loud mouth wearing a green-and-orange striped polo with "two years of tennis experience" bumped into him.

END.