1Author's Note: Just a silly, fluffy little Golden Pair drabble. Beta'd by wanderingscribe, who has the patience I don't with editing. Thank you!

Kitty Burglar

Oishi Syuichiroh was having a hard time falling asleep.

It was probably because of the tournament the next day, not that anything about that should be keeping him awake. Everything was already in place and ready. The players had been decided and everyone, including he and Eiji, had been practicing all the time. There were no problems unless something unforeseen happened.

Still, Oishi sat at his desk, unable to sleep. To have something to do, he finished writing a paper that was due next week, but something just didn't feel right to him. He'd called everyone to remind them about the tournament date, hadn't he?

Oishi sighed and looked out his window, which was open to let in the spring breeze. The leaves on the trees were rustling peacefully (take out the period, combine the two sentences with a conjunction like 'or, and, or but'). It certainly didn't seem like anything was wrong with the world.

Maybe it was just because he was alone in the house, one of the rare times it had ever been that way. The rest of his family had gone to visit his grandmother over the weekend. He'd stayed behind because of the tournament, assuring his parents that he would be fine. He now realized, to his chagrin, that he missed them already.

Of course, his fish were in his bedroom with him. They often made him feel better with their bright colors and graceful swimming patterns. The water filter in the tank made a soft humming noise that was usually comforting, but was not helping him much this time. Something just seemed...wrong, no matter how vague that was.

Then, Oishi heard it. It was a soft, rhythmic sound outside, barely audible. It took him a minute to figure out what it was.

All of a sudden he realized that the noise was footsteps on the lawn.

Oishi couldn't see down to the ground from where he was sitting. He could only see the tops of the trees and the roofs of other houses and he started to get up to get a better vantage point. Suddenly he hesitated, thinking of something for the first time. Why would someone be walking on his lawn at-he checked his clock-three sixteen in the morning?

There were several possibilities and he went over them in his mind. Most likely it was just some student out past curfew, sneaking home through his yard. Or it could have been some sort of animal, a stray dog or cat. Both of those had happened before and they were both perfectly reasonable explanations.

For some reason though, he was still uneasy. Oishi listened, hearing the footfalls over the whisper of the wind. Suddenly, the noises stopped. He leaned toward the window, straining to catch any stray sound. Then he heard something that made him freeze.

It was the sound of a metallic clang combined with a faint creaking. Oishi had no doubt what that meant. He had only climbed the drainpipe once, but Eiji had done so several times, just for fun. Someone was outside, climbing the drainpipe that ran right past his open window.

Oishi fervently regretted telling his mother he'd be all right by himself. He'd thought it would be fine! It was a nice neighborhood they lived in, with no crimes at all in recent history. Burglaries were certainly not supposed to happen in a place like this!

Whoever was climbing the drainpipe had to be halfway up, even though it sounded like they were going slowly and being careful not to make too much noise.

Oishi looked around his room, trying to stay calm. He didn't have a phone in his room,. but he didn't want to go downstairs. That would leave everything valuable on the upper floor unguarded.

Well, he decided, swallowing nervously, it sounded like it was only one person. Was there anything he could use for a weapon? His eyes fell on his tennis bag, right next to the chair he was sitting in. Yes, his racket would work. He slid the zipper open as quickly as he dared and got the racket out.

He got out of the chair and leaning down so as not to be visible to someone outside, crept over to the window. It wasn't very far, but by the time he got there, his head was swimming with doubts. Could he brain someone with a tennis racket, even a robber? Did he have it in him? If he broke his racket on a burglar's head, would he still be able to play in the tournament tomorrow? Eiji would be so crushed if he couldn't.

Oishi wished he'd picked something else to use as a weapon, but it was too late for that. The drainpipe climbing noises seemed to be right by his window now. He was struck with a new awful thought. Why would a burglar come in his window? His light was on! Was it a murderer or kidnapper instead?

The metallic noises stopped, right beside his window. Oishi knew he should have tried to whack the intruder with his racket right then, before they could come, but for some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

Oishi's last thought was, "Eiji will be so upset if I can't play tomorrow..."

Then someone literally vaulted through his window, landing directly on top of the scared and startled vice captain. Somehow, he hadn't thought of the fact that he would be in the climber's landing zone when he'd crouched beneath the windowsill.

Oishi was knocked backwards into his lamp (the fish tank was too far away, thank goodness, he thought), which went dark, and landed in a heap with the tennis racket and the intruder (burglar? murderer?). His legs were pinned beneath someone else's body, putting him at a disadvantage, but his hands were still free. He batted frantically at whoever it was with the racket. One of his attempts, at least, connected with something quite a bit more solid than a tennis ball. He clutched the racket as the recoil threatened to bounce it out of his hand.

The intruder yowled like a scalded cat the instant the racket hit him. Oishi reflected, heart racing, on how that hadn't sounded very murderer-like, or ever very burglar-like, for that matter. It had sounded more like...

"You're so mean Oishi, nya!"

Oishi blinked once, then blinked again. "Eiji?"

In the soft glow of the fish tank, the red hair was unmistakable. It was indeed his doubles partner. No wonder he climbed the drainpipe so easily, Oishi thought dazedly.

Eiji was sniffling and rubbing his head, where he'd evidently been brained with a tennis racket. Oishi felt a surge of guilt.

"Eiji, I'm sorry!" he apologized, reaching a tentative hand out to his partner's shoulder. "But...what are you doing here?"

Eiji stopped rubbing his head and explained matter-of-factly, "I couldn't sleep, nya," sounding as if it was perfectly normal to sneak into someone's house in the middle of the night.

Oishi was absolutely floored by this answer. He stared for a second and then burst out laughing, happy and relieved.

"Nya?" Eiji asked innocently.

Oishi smiled at him through his laughter. "It's just that I couldn't sleep either! How did you know I was lonely?"

"I just know, nya!" Eiji informed him happily. "If Oishi can't sleep, I can't sleep!"

They were just about to go to sleep and were cuddled together comfortably, when Oishi said, "Eiji?"

"Nya?" Eiji's answer was somewhat mumbled because he was already half asleep.

"Next time you can use the front door."

"Hoi hoi. Climbing makes me tired anyway."

Oishi laughed again and they were both soon fast asleep in each other's arms.

Despite his racing adrenaline and pounding heart, it was the best night's sleep Oishi ever had.