Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. Konomi Takeshi does. I'm merely playing with them for the moment.

A/N: This fic belongs in the Hibana AU.

Stray Strands

"Okay, that's enough." One could almost feel the wave of relieved sighs breezing over the players as a snap of the captain's fingers caught their attention, the words of freedom echoing over the courts at last. "Non-regulars, that's it for you; clean up and head home. Regulars, gather around. Hurry up, I don't have all day."

Wiping a couple of stray strands of hair from his face, Dan straightened himself, glancing over to his practice partner. Kirihara-senpai gave him a brief smirk before nodding towards Atobe in an indication that they should go. Smiling back, Dan nodded in agreement, only pausing to pick up his water bottle on the way. They shouldn't let the captain wait for too long.

It still seemed surreal, that he would be one of those gathering around the captain instead of those heading to the club room – or, better yet, picking up the balls and gathering nets. Certainly, he'd been in the red and white of a regular player for a while now, and had already played in an official match with Kirihara-senpai, but that didn't make it all seem any less improbable. Not that he was complaining, of course, it was his only way of keeping his promise to Akutsu-senpai after all, but… he still sometimes blinked in surprise as he realized that, yes, "regulars" included him.

Atobe-buchou looked like the practice hadn't affected him one bit, standing all regal and untouchable with barely a touch of sweat on his forehead. Everyone else was more or less worn out, though Sanada-fukubuchou was apparently at least going to pretend he wasn't, standing steadily as always. And Kabaji-senpai was, well, Kabaji-senpai, standing just a few steps behind Atobe-buchou as always. The rest of the regulars flopped down one by one in a haphazard semi-circle around the buchou. Kikumaru-senpai had apparently decided he had every right to lean against Oishi-fukubuchou in a nigh boneless state of exhaustion, his doubles partner hardly even noticing. Dan, for his part, sat down next to Kirihara-senpai.

"I bet it's about the Tokyo tournament," Kirihara said, grinning at him with that particular brand of almost childish excitement that was so very different from his usual bloodthirsty mode during a match. Dan matched the grin with one of his own. Kirihara-senpai really was fun to be around. Most of the other senpai could get a bit too serious sometimes, but Kirihara-senpai wasn't like that at all. Of course, sometimes he should have taken things a bit more seriously, especially when he seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable to sleep right through practice, but that was still better than Sanada's endless frowns or Kabaji's silence. Dan understood excitement. It was easy to analyze. "I hope we get to play a lot!"

"Ah, so do I," Dan agreed, again trying to push away the stupid strands of hair that just kept falling down again and again, obscuring his vision just enough to be an annoyance. "Assuming I'm good enough desu…" He really felt rather uncertain about playing for real, even though their one match this far had been victorious. However, he was going to try his best. After all, if he never got to play, he'd also never get better, and that wouldn't do. He would have to play and win and be good enough to still be in the regulars by the time they faced Yamabuki. …He wondered if they'd go against Yamabuki in the Tokyo tournament.

"Of course you are. You're playing with me," chuckled Kirihara, then paused. "…You really should have that hair cut, you know. It's going to blind you or something."

"Ano… I guess desu." Dan flushed, a bit embarrassed at his senpai's words. "It's usually not a problem, but when I'm playing it just won't stay put…"

"Oh, come on." Kirihara crawled closer, one hand digging through his pocket. He then leant close to Dan, gathering the stubborn strands to one side of his face. His hands were sweaty and warm and smelled of grip tape. Had Dan not been already flushed from the exercise and embarrassment, he would certainly have blushed now. Kirihara didn't seem to either notice or care about it, fiddling with something for a second before Dan more felt than heard a snap from somewhere in his hair. Kirihara drew his hands away, smirking in satisfaction. The strands didn't fall again.

"Ah… what did you do?" Dan lifted a hand to touch the spot on his hair Kirihara had touched. His fingertips found what appeared to be two hair barrettes stuck somewhat haphazardly into his hair. "…Where'd you get these?" he asked, confused. Kirihara-senpai certainly wasn't the type to just randomly carry girls' hair decorations around in his pocket.

"I stole them from by big sister," Kirihara replied calmly. "…Oh, don't look like that," he then said, rolling his eyes at Dan's immediate frown. "It's not like she's using them right now, is she? And I didn't as much steal them as I picked them up when they were just lying around. She has, like, hundreds of those. She won't even notice a couple are missing."

"…I suppose." Dan worried his lower lip. Sisters could be like that, leaving their things lying around… but Kirihara-senpai still shouldn't have taken something that belonged to someone else. For now, though, he supposed he could let it be, especially since the barrettes seemed to be actually doing a good job of keeping his hair out of the way.

"If I could get your attention?" Atobe-buchou's voice made Dan's head immediately snap towards the right direction, then duck in embarrassment as Kirihara and he both shuffled into better positions to actually look at the captain. "So very gracious of you," Atobe-buchou murmured with a rather sarcastic tone. "Now that we are all present in the relevant meaning of the word, there are some things I thought I should mention before the upcoming tournament."

Dan could almost hear Kirihara's grin at having guessed right. He sent his senpai a quick sideways glance and a smile before returning his attention to the captain.

"Now, as far as I can see, our current default line-up seems to be working rather well," Atobe continued, glancing at some of the papers he was holding. "The singles positions may vary a bit according to the opponent, but with the success of our new D2 combination, I don't think we should mess with the doubles too much." He looked towards Kirihara and Dan with a short nod of approval. It really was unfair. Dan probably wouldn't get the blush away from his face for the rest of the day. "Consequently, the doubles pairings will continue to train together. Oishi, you're responsible for overseeing this." He glanced at one of his fukubuchous now.

"Will happen," Oishi said, nodding seriously. "I'm sure none of us will disappoint you." Kikumaru gave a wordless yawn apparently in agreement.

"See that you don't." Atobe raised his eyebrows slightly, smirking briefly before letting his gaze sweep over the entire team. "That being said, everyone will stick to their personal training plans until otherwise notified," he said. "Dan, you'll need to concentrate on increasing your stamina more than anything; we'll modify your training plan accordingly. And Tachibana, you're still being far too tame."

Tachibana murmured something under his breath, while Dan just nodded silently. It was hardly a surprise; everyone knew stamina was his weak point. Well, assuming one could talk about a weak point, anyway, considering how far behind everyone else he was. But he'd do his best to catch up and grow strong like everyone else. After all, that was his only hope of playing against Akutsu-senpai.

Fortunately, he thought as Kirihara stood up and offered a hand to pull him up, he wouldn't have to do it all alone. He had his new senpai, who all wanted him to grow stronger. And especially Kirihara-senpai, who was helping him do that.

Kirihara never asked for the barrettes. Dan himself forgot all about them, only noticing them on the way home. Taking them off his hair, he took a look at them; they were a pretty shade of green, and not too overly girly.

He could almost swear he could still smell Kirihara-senpai's hands on them. For some reason, it made him blush again.

Dan slipped them into his pocket. He'd have to keep hair out of his eyes in practice the next day, too.