Disclaimer: The Prince of Tennis and all of its characters are © to Takeshi Konomi. I do not own any of the characters used in this story so far, but the story is my property.

Warning: This story may contain unintentional crack. o-o;

Kittymaru

Chapter 1: Of Juices and Scrapbooks

A hot day found the Seigaku regulars panting and stumbling through practice. It wasn't just hot, though. It was blisteringly hot, the most painful kind of heat that a person could possibly practice through. They determinedly slaved through the torture of running and swinging their rackets, but even so, the heat, exhaustion, and mental toll from their mental exams earlier that day, left them all to irritable to be good.

Under the circumstances, it seemed only natural that when Eiji missed his fifth ball that afternoon, it was bound to get ugly.

Although, Sadaharu's new untested juice was indeed a little harsh…

"Meh! I'm tired Oishi…" Eiji complained. Oishi stumbled behind him.

"Hai, so am I," he panted. They swayed as they walked toward the bench by the courts, looking like they would topple over at any second. The rest of the team was struggling to stay upright, as well. Practice had not been easy. Tezuka was relentless…why did it have to be so hot out today? They plopped down on the bench with sighs of relief, their feet practically screaming in thanks to them. Silence engulfed them as they sat sprawled out on the bench, listening to the sounds of the other's rapid breathing. There wasn't much to talk about right then, and they were definitely way too tired to talk. They stayed like that for a while, until their breathing slowed down, eyes closed and bodies drenched with sweat. Going over the practice in his head, Oishi silently worried for his partner.

Eiji lunged for the ball as it, rather slowly, bounced into his side of the court. He had to get it, he had to hit it back. He'd already messed up too many times today. His racket head was mere centimeters away from brushing against the small, green ball, when all of a sudden, the racket dipped down as he fell to the ground with an audible THUD, the ball bouncing past him where is rolled to a stop. He was just too tired.

"Game! Momoshiro-Kawamura Pair leads three games to two!"

Oishi bustled over to his partner, who was lying on the ground, panting for breath. He knew Eiji was absolutely exhausted. It didn't make sense, Eiji had incredible stamina! He had proven it when he used his speed step against Rokkaku in the Kanto Region Semi-Finals. 'It might've been the acrobatics. They are exhausting enough without the heat! But I doubt that. Maybe he stayed up too late last night…' Oishi thought with a sigh.

The other regulars gathered around the two. Tezuka was not there at the time, thank goodness. He would've punished Eiji severely for his mistake. Oishi cringed when he saw Sadaharu bring out one of his Inui juices. Eiji shuddered.

"Super Inui Deluxe Golden Supernova," Sadaharu grinned. "It hasn't been tested yet, but it seems to be necessary."

"What?! It hasn't been tested?!" Momo gasped, "You can't make him drink that!"

"I ran out of my other juices," Sadaharu informed him, briefly glancing towards the gates where everyone witnesses Ryoma and Kaidoh fleeing through. "Tezuka has already given me the okay."

He was met with shocked silence. Tezuka must've been in an extremely bad mood, at least, worse than they thought, if that's even possible.

"Drink up, Eiji," he smirked. He was obviously happy that he got to use his juices once again.

"Nya! I'm scared!" Eiji whimpered, sitting up. The drink was orange and green. Was that even possible? Even Fuji seemed a little unnerved about the color.

This was not going to be good.

Sadaharu handed the concoction to Eiji, who almost dropped it.

"It feels like it's…moving!" Eiji gasped.

This was definitely not going to be good.

Suddenly, Eiji sprang up. He held the drink up to the sky, dramatically proclaiming, " I'll never forget you guys!"

And he drank it.

His eyes got wider and he slowly looked at the drink with a look of utter confusion on his face.


Then he downed the rest of it.

The others were stunned.

"NYA! That was delicious!! What did you put in it?! I want some more!!" Eiji licked his lips as he bounced around.

"Interesting reaction…" Sadaharu mumbled, a little disappointed. He started scribbling in his notebook.

"I told you they were good," Fuji smiled.

Eiji paused. "…but this one's different, nya!" He then sat down. "Dang, I forgot how tired I was," he complained.

"Oh my gosh!" Oishi felt his forehead. "Are you feeling sick? Getting dizzy? Have a stomachache?!" he said in a frenzy. "You should go to the infirmary and lay do—"

"I'm fine, Oishi!" Eiji interrupted. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"Are you sure?! You never know wha—"

"I'm fine!"

"Positive?"

"Absolutely!" Eiji smiled.

"You should still go sit down for a while," Oishi told him, "just in case!"

Eiji pouted. "I already I told you, I feel fine, Oishi! Besides, we're losing 2-3, and we can't let Momo and Taka beat the Golden Pair!"

"…okay, but if you start feeling tired or sick, you should—ouch!" Oishi yelped. Eiji poked him in the forehead.

"Relax, Oishi! It's your serve!"

There had been no fainting, no begging for water, no running away screaming, nothing! He had even liked the drink, if you could even call it a drink! Something was wrong with that picture. It's not like he's Shusuke! Something just had to be up. The was no way that Sadaharu's drink—no, experiment, could not have a side effect!

…or was there?

Maybe for once, the one sole time in all time, Sadaharu had made a normal drink…that just helped Eiji, like they're supposed to. After all, they had won the match spectacularly after Eiji braved the concoction. Eiji had practically flown through the entire match! Oishi hoped that this was the case, but he still had his doubts about the lack of side effects.

"We should go get changed Oishi," Eiji laughed, "before we get locked out!"

"Y-yeah," Oishi stuttered. 'Maybe I should keep my eye on him.'

"Alright, who stole my hat?" Ryoma growled.

"I don't think someone would want to steal your hat...maybe it fell off of your head while you were running," Taka suggested.

"I think I would've remembered," he glared in response.

Momo chuckled. "How would you remember? You fainted after drinking Sadaharu's juice!"

"It was you, wasn't it? Give it back!"

"Me? I don't have your stupid hat! Why would I want your hat, anyways?"

"Cause you're a baka! Now hand it over!"

"I already told you, I don't have your hat!"

"There is a…twenty-one percent chance that is in concealed in Momoshiro's locker at this moment," Sadaharu stated.

"WHAT?!" Momo yelled. Ryoma stomped across the locker room and slammed open Momo's locker.

"…"

"…is it there?" Fuji asked. He strolled over and peered in. "Oh, that's indeed interesting."

"Momo-sempai, what is that?" Ryoma asked.

"…huh? Oh, that. It's just a—hey, wait a minute!!" Momo rushed over and quickly pushed the two out of the way, slamming his locker shut.

"I think you left Oishi speechless, Momo, nya!" Everyone turned to look at the Golden Pair, who had walked in unnoticed while Momo and Ryoma were having their spat. Eiji had a rather sloppy grin on his face, and Oishi, well, his jaw had dropped to the floor.

"Momo…what's in there…?" Oishi slowly asked.

"Nothing of importance! Heheh!" Momo hastily replied, smiling an all-too-obvious fake smile.

"Momoshiro, open your locker," Tezuka ordered.

"Eh…"Momo sighed. He opened the locker door a tiny bit so that Tezuka could peer in, making sure that no one else could peek.

"…" Tezuka put a hand to his forehead.

"Haha. It's kawaii, isn't it?" Fuji smiled.

"I wasn't expecting that, Momo." Ryoma snickered.

"Wah! I wanna see!" Eiji darted over and shoved Momo out of the way so he could look inside.

"HEY!"

"Aw…what a cute cover! What's inside?!" Eiji snatched the mysterious object and scurried away to the bench on the other side of the locker room, where he plopped down and opened it. "Is that Ryoma's kitty? Kawaii ne!"

"Dang it," Momo cursed, hitting his head against the wall. The rest of the regulars wasted no time running over to see, minus Tezuka, of course.

"Why do you have a picture of Karupin in here?" Ryoma glared.

"Hey, that's Taka making some sushi! Looks tasty!" Eiji exclaimed.

Taka was surprised. "Really?"

"And…that's Kaidoh running down the street, isn't it?" Oishi pointed out.

"Fssshhhhhh…"

"A scrapbook, Momo?" Fuji chuckled.

"…art project…" he groaned in response.

"Why does it have flowers on the front?" Ryoma questioned.

"…and the back?" Kaidoh added.

"I had to use my sister's old book, okay?!" Momo yelled uncomfortably.

"I think it's cute. " Eiji grinned.

"Is that Fuji's cactus?" Taka asked.

Fuji turned to Momo with a sickeningly sweet smile on his face. "How did you get into my house?"

"Yuuta," Momo replied hastily, a little disturbed. "He let me in."

"Oh. Well, I'll have to have a talk with him," Fuji said to no one in particular.

Silence.

"So, Ryoma, was your hat in Momo's locker?"

"No," he glowered.

"Nya, O-chibi wasn't wearing a hat today," Eiji intervened, not looking up from the picture that he was so interested in.

"…oh yeah."

"Eh?!" The other regulars chibi-fell to the floor, except for Tezuka, cause he's Tezuka.

"Why didn't you say something before?!" Momo groaned.

"Because…it was fun to watch, nya!" Eiji nya'd.

"ARGH!" Momo hit his head on the wall again.

"Huh…wait. Does that mean Sadaharu's data was wrong?" Oishi asked.

"Negative, Shuuichiro. There was indeed a twenty percent possibility of it residing in Momoshiro's locker, but there was also a fifty-two percent chance that Ryoma did not wear his headpiece today."

"What?! Why didn't you say something before?!" Momo yelled in exasperation.

"Because it was fun to watch," Sadaharu smiled, amused.

"AARGH!" Momo threw his hands in the air before slamming his head into his locker door with a loud CLANG, most likely leaving a dent in the old metal.

And so, the regulars proceeded to finish getting dressed. Not too much later, a question aroused.

"Nya, Oishi? Do you wanna spend the night at my house?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! I would love too," Oishi smiled. 'Now I'll be able to keep an eye on him,' he happily thought. No, he hadn't forgotten like you did.

"Yay! Let's go, Oishi!!" Eiji exclaimed as he grabbed his partner's wrist and ran out of the locker room, pulling Oishi along with him.

"Hey, wait! SLOW DOWN!!" Oishi could be heard from a distance.

"How can he be so hyper all of the time?" Ryoma asked.

"This is Eiji we're talking about, Ryoma." Tezuka answered.

Yes, Tezuka talked. Amazing, right?

"That is true…" Momo mumbled.

"…hey! He still has my scrapbook!"

As soon as the door opened, Eiji rushed inside and jumped onto the couch, immediately stuffing his hand into his bag, obviously looking for something. Oishi glanced at his face, which was one of intense concentration, tongue slightly sticking out.

"Ah ha!" Eiji exclaimed as he pulled out Momo's flowery masterpiece. "Now I get to see all of the pictures he got!"

"Eiji! You were supposed to return that! He didn't want us looking at it!" Oishi stammered.

Eiji gave him a weird look. "But don't you want to if he put any embarrassing pictures in it?" Eiji skimmed over the pictures. "…Oooh! See, it's Sadaharu with his glasses off!"

"It's not right, Ei—wait, really? Lemme see!" Oishi snatched the book—in a polite way, mind you. "Oh my goodness!"

"How'd you think he managed to get that?" Eiji chuckled.

DING DONG.

"I'll get it!" Eiji bounced over to the door, leaving Oishi to gape at the pictures by his lonesome. Not that he noticed, but you know what I mean. "Eh? What are you two doing here?" Oishi did notice that, and turned around at Eiji's comment. Momo and Ryoma stood at the door. Well, Ryoma was a few yards behind Momo, glaring the heck out of a potted plant nearby, but still technically at the door.

"You should know why I'm here!" Momo was annoyed.

"Uh…you came so O-chibi could stare at my plant?"

Oishi sweat dropped. Ryoma was now glaring at Eiji.

"No!" he growled.

Momo sighed. "I'm here for my scrapbook!"

"So…why is O-chibi-chan here?"

"We go home together. Now, may I please have it?" Momo's voice was strangled, and Oishi guessed that it was all Momo could do to keep from lashing out at Eiji.

"Really? Did you lose it? That's not good! Hey, I'll help you find it, nya! Just lemme get my shoes and—"

"It's on your couch, Ei-ji-sem-pai," Ryoma sounded ouch each syllable in a menacing tone. He was about ready to explode. Wonder why…

Momo gave Eiji a stern look. Oishi felt that he needed to say something, but couldn't get the words out.

"Huh? It's not…oh. I guess I forgot!" Eiji smiled sheepishly.

Oishi thought he heard Ryoma mutter, "Baka."

"Can we look at it, Momo? Pleeeeease?" Eiji begged, putting on a puppy dog face. Only those without hearts could resist that face. Momo sighed.

"Alright, but only for a few minutes, okay?"

"Momo-sempai!" Ryoma hissed. "I need to get home." Eiji pouted at this, looking down at his feet. Ryoma looked at him. Oishi felt that the murderous aura emanating from Ryoma had somewhat disappeared. Somewhat being the key word. In fact, it was an incredibly tiny amount, but still enough to make a difference, for Ryoma sighed and said, "But…I guess a few minutes won't hurt."

"Yay!" Eiji exclaimed as he gave him a hug. "Thanks O-chibi!"

"Get off," Ryoma tried to say, but it sounded strangled from lack of air. Eiji did so and bounced back to Oishi.

"Turn the page, nya! Turn the page!"

Yay! I finally uploaded it! :D

I've already written the next few chapters. This was only 4 1/2 pages out of the 40 something I wrote, but I stopped there because it's taking forever to type! I have big plans for this story, and if you wanna suggest an idea that you would like to see in the story, by all means! I'm bound to run out of ideas eventually.

See you in the next chapter!
Yukari