For Dudly-sama, Awin-san, Rain-san, Chibi-san, Angel-san, Dream-san… I mind as well stop naming names and just say for everyone in Dudly-sama's forum. You guys are awesome.

This is dedicated mostly to Rain-san, though, since it was her challenge. All credit for the prompt goes to her. Even if I did a horrible job of doing her challenge proud; it's not funny at all.

Disclaimer: All cannon characters belong to Konomi Takeshi, who is absolutely filled with awesome-ness. I am only borrowing the characters. As mentioned above, this idea is not my own. It was proposed by Rain-san [Sweet Obsidian Rain in a challenge thread. All credits go to her.

The Bonding Dance

Team bonding day…

The word could often be mistaken as the club's 'Friday the Thirteenth'.

In Tezuka's first year, Yamato-buchou had supervised the choice of activities. They went kayaking, something unique for Japanese students to be doing, but interesting either way.

Somewhere along the line, one of the older students came crashing into his kayak, and Tezuka was sent face-first into the freezing, dark water, spluttering and trying to get to the surface. Tezuka never swam well despite his skills on the tennis courts, and Yamato promptly dived into the water after him.

That had been the first and only day the tennis club had seen Tezuka blush so profusely.

"Na, Tezuka, you must've really liked it that Yamato-buchou rescued you, right?"

Tezuka pushed the memory of Fuji's teasing comment out of his head forcefully.

That had only been a small crush, he swore.

Tezuka never was too lucky.

Curse of the Seigaku tennis club, though? That was utterly ridiculous.

This year, Tezuka had done his best to make sure that nothing they did would be potentially dangerous, especially with a tournament coming up.

This year though, he swore it would have nothing to do with water.

He'd suggested several times they go bowling.

Little Kachiro turned green.

Echizen looked as ruffled as he could while keeping his pride intact.

Eiji groaned.

Even Fuji, who usually reacted to a challenge with a large smile and a confident laugh, gave a small shudder.

The only one who seemed content of the idea, it seemed, was Inui, who when he heard the suggestion chuckled and began scribbling in his notebook.

Finally, they agreed that they would go to the arcade, and despite Tezuka's dislike of games like that, as captain he would follow them into the arcade and play along.

Thing was… it was crowded today.

"Wow… Everyone's here today, Tezuka-buchou!"

"Fshuuu…." Kaidoh hissed as two young boys ran past him, jumping up and down exclaiming again and again about how they got the high score on the hardest game in the whole arcade.

"Mada mada da ne." Echizen lowered his cap over his eyes and shook his head.

"Wow… look at the lines," Eiji exclaimed, pointing to all the games, which had lines of about five or six people excitedly waiting to play the games.

"Well, there has to be some sort of game that we can play without having to wait in line," pointed out Momoshiro, who was looking forward to having burgers afterwards, as Tezuka agreed the club would. Inui adjusted his glasses, making them flash in the light, and cleared his throat.

"There is an eighty-five percent chance that the DDR machine in the very corner of the arcade is not occupied. Outrageous rumors say that it's possessed, and my data says that roughly eight-nine percent of the people who frequent this arcade have heard that absolutely preposterous story and believe it as well. Of course, I have played it before and I can attest that there is nothing strange about the game."

"Inui-senpai plays in arcades, nya?" Eiji asked. " I never knew that!"

"Before I joined the tennis club, I frequented here," Inui mentioned.

"Very well," Said Tezuka, turning to face the rest of his club. They came out all this way to the arcade by Echizen's suggestion, so there was no sense in going back. "Do not let your guard down! Echizen, you're up first." Said DDR screen glowed menacingly when they approached it.

"Two people can play at once, Tezuka-buchou," protested Echizen, who obviously did not like the idea of going first, alone.

"Fine. Echizen-Momoshiro pair up first." The two stepped up to the game, but didn't look like they knew much of what they were doing.

"Just wait a moment!" Called a voice, from across the room. The entire club turned to the voice. There stood Atobe, in a spotlight, smiling gracefully. Tezuka raised an eyebrow. "Ore-sama is here!" Most of the club blinked, wondering what exactly he was doing there.

"Atobe, is there a reason you're here?"

"Of course, Hyotei is challenging Seigaku to DDR!"

"What?" asked Tezuka, sharply, "Atobe, we are not here to compete; I brought my team here to bond."

"And wouldn't that be great, winning eternal glory by trying to win against Oshitari, Kabaji, and Ore-sama in the game? It would be nice to say that you almost, were able to win against Ore-sama and his team."

There was no sound from either side, until Inui pulled a pitcher of a blue-looking substance, a dull blue that looked thick and rather inedible. He was smirking. "I propose that the losing side drink my extra-special fortifying vegetable juice.

That couldn't possibly be vegetable juice. Vegetables weren't blue.

"I accept your challenge." Atobe said. Tezuka looked speechless, blinking. "Send forth your three best players!"

Tezuka found his team huddling around him, expectantly.

"Oh, Fuji," Inui added. "I made a special strength fortifying drink for you?" He held out a tiny glass of black liquid, and immediately, Fuji took a step back, giving the substance a cool glare.

"Didn't you like Aozu the last time? I've made some changes to the recipe. It should be better than last time." Fuji blinked, but said nothing, eyeing the thin liquid like it was a dangerous target that needed to be destroyed quickly.

"Fine," Tezuka said. "Inui, since you've played before, you may be our first player." He paused lightly. "Echizen, you will be our second."

"What?"

"My decision is final," stated Tezuka firmly. He paused lightly over the third one, and then over to a smiling Fuji. He looked at him up and down, then to the other tennis players.

"Has anybody ever played this game before?" There was a long pause, as if everyone was afraid to speak. Fuji tentatively raised his hand, finally after nobody else had gone.

"Very well. Fuji, then you're our next player." Fuji smiled wider, showing gleaming white teeth, though it was likely that he might have just almost replied with a soft, sly comment about how Tezuka-buchou should be supporting his team by participating. He closed his mouth though, before Tezuka ordered laps.

"Ah, Atobe, why don't we make that four players?" Fuji asked, pulling on Tezuka's arm. This time, he gave a dangerous smile over to him, showing his teeth. Atobe smirked back.

"Very well! Ore-sama accepts your challenge!" Fuji smirked back at him, heat growing in his gaze as he smiled, sizing up the team.

"You only have three team members, Atobe-sama."

Atobe already had his cell-phone flipped open. "Yes, this is Ore-sama. You're needed down here at the arcade. Yes, you'll know where we are." Atobe hung up.

"Ore-sama never loses, Fuji-kun." Fuji gave a dark smile and said something so softly that only Atobe could hear it. Tezuka could've sworn that he seen a slight tinge of red on his cheeks.

"That was once, and Ore-sama did not lose. Ore-sama let you win."

The rest of the Seigaku regulars exchanged looks. Obviously there was some sort of war going on between the two.

"I fail to see the logic in that. Either way, you will not be the winner today, Atobe-sama."

"Oh, trust me, Ore-sama will win, Fuji-kun." They looked ready to launch themselves at each other, and Tezuka thought that it would be a good time to intervene, before the arcade exploded. The emotions were brewing in the air, and the space around Fuji and Atobe was especially heated. Tezuka stepped between them.

"Fuji, stop being foolish, or instead of joining practice tomorrow, you'll be running laps for the entire time." That was enough to get Fuji to shut his mouth and stalk off, leaving Tezuka with Atobe.

"You should learn to control your club members, Tezuka. Perhaps you should take lessons in leadership from Ore-sama. My prowess in leading a tennis club is unmatched, after all."

"No thank you, Atobe." Replied Tezuka, coolly.

"Very well, then. I think our fourth—oh, she's here now." There were squeals from the few girls in the arcade out in the main area, along with the exclamation of all the boys.

"She's here!" Tezuka paused and blinked, asking him in silence what he meant, and why he had invited a girl into their competition.

"Tezuka, I'd like you to meet my friend, Mary Sue! She's American."

There stood a tall American girl, obviously not Japanese by her long blonde hair and er—large chest." Fuji turned his eyes to face her, eyeing the pretty girl darkly. Why he disliked her, nobody knew. Mary Sue was the most popular girl at Hyotei Gakuen. Nobody hated Mary, even when she managed to steal the spotlight from Atobe every once in a while. (Perhaps Atobe was under her spell? Usually he would've disliked such conduct.)

"Now we can have the pairings commence! First up, we'll have Inui Sadaharu and Mary Sue. Second will be Echizen and Kabaji." From a distance, Oshitari's glasses flashed in the light. "After that will be Tezuka and Oshitari, and to decide will be Fuji and Ore-sama." Fuji smirked from the corner.

"The loser gets to drink my improved vegetable juice," added Inui.

"First up, Inui and Mary Sue! Choose your song and difficulty."

"Heavy?" Asked Inui. She gladly agreed, her blonde hair swishing attractively. "Fine. You can choose the song.

"PARANOiA."

"Really, now. Can you beat that?" Mary Sue smiled brightly.

"Of course I can! Is always get an AAA on this song."

"Ii, Data…" Inui muttered scribbling in his notebook.

"Let's begin!" She started, pushing the button.

"It's impossible that she always gets an AAA on this song. She can't be that consistent," muttered Fuji, who looked as if he wanted to challenge her himself, to prove that she was not worthy of being Atobe's friend. Of course, Fuji didn't really like people like she, who blatantly surpassed him like that. He wouldn't spend much time sitting still rather than getting up and proving that he was better.

"Boo!" One of the downsides of playing DDR in the arcade was the loud comment given if a person was failing. Hearing the inconsistent, fast music, they turned their heads up, expecting both the girl and Inui to be in the red zone at this point.

Correction; Inui was just barely keeping up. Mary Sue had a rainbow and was nearing a two hundred combo. Inui collapsed all too suddenly on the metal floor when the song ended, nearly breaking his glasses. Mary Sue cheered, but Inui was out cold on the metal dance floor, with Momoshiro, Oishi, and Tezuka making movements to pick him up, and help him slump against the wall nearby.

"He's out cold, cut his breathing is normal. He should be fine in a minute or two." Tezuka's eyes turned to Mary Sue, who was jumping up and down and went to gloat to her best friend Atobe about how perfectly she executed the routine, and how she'd gotten an AAA for the millionth time that month. Fuji's eyes steeled, and he slipped away from the crowd. Echizen grabbed a glass of Inui's vegetable juice and offered it to her.

"Mary Sue-san, Inui-senpai told me that the winner would get to drink the tastier strengthening juice. He would have wanted you to drink it." She giggled strangely.

"Why thank you, Ryoma-san!" Ryoma twitched barely at her tone. She drank deeply, and one minute later there was an unmistakable thud on the floor. Nobody was paying much attention to her as she lay there, out cold, though. Eiji and Oishi still fussed over Inui, but nobody seemed to have taken notice to her, except for Fuji, who had reappeared at the back of the room and was smirking like mad.

Echizen and Kabaji were up next. At least… they were. Tezuka watched, standing behind Echizen, an expression of mild interest evident in his eyes. Well… before they tied. They paused for a minute. Atobe suggested they played again as a tiebreaker. Right before they went to hit the button again, Echizen and Kabaji butted heads, hard. Both collapsed backwards onto the floor. Tezuka jumped over to his team member, the first year.

"Tezuka, if I wasn't mistaken, you were staring at Echizen, weren't you?" Fuji's voice was sly and playful, as he knelt down next to Tezuka, who was looking down at the freshmen worriedly. "I wouldn't think you had a thing for something more than just a senpai-kouhai relationship, though rather this time I would think it's the other way around.

"Fuji…" Tezuka started, and then suddenly looked up. "Why are you wearing a skirt?"

"Don't you think it looks pretty, Tezuka?" He asked calmly, smiling. "Much better than that woman." He added that under his breath, low enough that it wasn't audible. Tezuka's eyebrow twitched, anyways.

"You'll be doing laps during practice tomorrow for inappropriate conduct, Fuji."

"Really, Tezuka, you need to lighten up. You're mean," replied Fuji, mimicking the tone Eiji used with him when he was trying to get out of having to run extra laps, with a hint of playfulness in his voice. Tezuka closed his eyes and shook his head, looking down to Echizen worriedly again, which was beginning to open his eyes and groan. Echizen muttered a curse word under his breath when he tried to lift his head, but was obviously shocked by a sudden pounding pain in his temples and forehead. Atobe, meanwhile, was pouring himself over Kabaji, noting how he would get medical attention for the boy if it were needed.

"Tezuka-buchou, my head hurts." Complained Echizen. Tezuka nodded and pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

Maybe that rumor that Inui told them about was true.

Of course, Tezuka being the logical person he was did not worry about it when he went up to face Oshitari. Two seconds later, and both had failed out, though Tezuka won by a single point. Oshitari had tripped over the side of the stage and twisted his ankle. Tezuka stood there staring blankly while his meter ran to red and then dropped to nothing.

Fuji, who seemed to notice afterwards that Tezuka obviously was going to pay more attention to Echizen than anyone else, made his way up to the DDR machine without bidding any sort of farewell to Tezuka. His expression was colder somewhat, even with the smile.

"Atobe."

"You're wearing a skirt."

"Would Atobe-sama have the skills needed to dance in a skirt?" Fuji taunted, spinning around a bit. Perhaps the skirt was really a little too short, though not proactively so. Atobe looked practical, but it would have been a lie to say that the temptation he was feeling to fire a comment back at Fuji about the skirt.

"Of course. However, as Ore-sama is a boy, he would not wear a skirt to begin with."

Fuji smirked. "That's just an excuse."

On the side, Echizen glanced at him, with his eyes half-open, and Tezuka still stooped over him. His head may have hurt like all hell, but that didn't stop him from pondering Fuji's strange attitude towards Atobe, as if they were, or had been in some sort of relationship.

Fuji seemed cross about something not having to do with the current situation, and Atobe probably had something to do with it. Otherwise, Fuji would not currently be in a skirt and taunting Atobe before they began the match to prove which school won the unofficial tournament. Tezuka stood up suddenly and left Echizen alone to go watch Atobe and Fuji face off.

The song wasn't even two minutes into it before Atobe promptly smacked his nose on the front screen, causing it to go fuzzy. Fuji, who began laughing, fell forward gracelessly and hit his knees sharply against metal. There was a distinct yelp of pain. Atobe nursed his nose, which was gushing blood. The result screen came up prematurely… neither of them had hit even one note.

"You're just upset that you weren't able to see Ore-sama's abilities," Atobe said, pointing at Fuji who was still trying to stifle his laughter.

"His abilities at getting a bloody nose? Is that what you wanted to say, Atobe-sama."

"If I'm seeing things correctly, Fuji-kun, I'm not the only one who's bleeding," referenced Atobe, to Fuji knees which both had deep gashes on them. He pinched his nose so the blood would not drip onto the floor, so his voice came out strange. Turning his eyes to a barely serious Fuji, he managed a smirk. Some of the blood had seeped onto the skirt he was wearing. "Nice skirt," he mentioned." Fuji sneered.

Atobe, with his pride wounded, called Kabaji and Oshitari over to him. Kabaji was still shaky on his feet and wobbled, holding his head in both his hands. His eyes searched for Echizen, who had disappeared. Oshitari limped on his twisted ankle. Atobe, of course, had nothing to say. Neither school had won. Shakily, he handed a letter to Tezuka, wobbling a little when he tried to stand straight.

"Give that to Echizen."

Tezuka looked down at the envelope.

First of all, it was pink, with fancy golden edges. And hearts were on it, and the delicate image of a winding cherry blossom tree was etched into the envelope. In clear, elegant penmanship, the envelope had 'Echizen Ryoma' on it. Added in a smaller script under it. 'From the amazing Ore-sama.'

What an untraditional way to give a confession letter.

Something told him that Echizen was going to scoff at the 'Monkey King' when he saw that.

As soon as Atobe was out of sight, he tore the letter and envelope in half, calmly depositing it somewhere where Echizen would never find it.

Club-bonding day was an unlucky day, thought Tezuka.

After a face-off with their rivals at Hyotei, they emerged as the losers.

The DDR machine had won, and he watched as Fuji watched the thing warily, struggling to walk with his injured and bleeding knees, he had to kneed circles in his temples. Two girls were staring at him, pointing in a rather rude manner as Fuji flattened his skirt, which had a little bit of blood on it from his knees. Fuji gave a million dollar smile, with a small hint of danger; they promptly squeaked and ran off.

Obviously Fuji's pride was hurting, too.

They certainly weren't going to be in prime condition for that tournament next week. Tezuka made a mental note to not ever go near a DDR machine rumored to be possessed again; that, and not to take challenges from Atobe again, because his club had not bonded at all.

Poor Mary Sue was forgotten on the arcade floor.

"Echizen, you got my letter about Tezuka's surprise party, right?"

"What?"