Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis. If I did then Rikkai would've won because they are the best and there is no way a kid could beat someone who can cause others to lose their senses. (I do like Ryoma, I just prefer Rikkai)

Just a side note, but this chapter has a couple of references to one of my other stories called 'Puri Tea'. You don't have to read it but you might want to to get the references. It's not vital though. Now, on with the story!

Prologue

Renji,

Attached to this email is a document containing the recipe for a new juice that I have developed. Unfortunately, I have been banned from distributing my juices at practice for the next month so I was wondering if you could gather the data for me. I have based it upon some of my more successful juices so it should provide great punishment, er, motivation as well as some amusing reactions when people have to drink it. Perfect for gathering data.

Hoping to hear from you soon,

Sadaharu

Yanagi read through the email once more before glancing at the recipe. Inui had gone to town on this recipe. It certainly did look like it would produce some interesting reactions but was he sadistic enough to make it? He usually left sadism to Yukimura who was much more well-versed in the field. Then again, Niou was the one who was supposed to pull pranks but just last week Jackal pulled one that left even the Trickster in awe of the results so you never knew. Besides, you couldn't survive at Rikkai without there being a little bit of evil in you…

Yanagi stared at the recipe for a few more moments before standing up and going to the kitchen to gather the ingredients. He was going to do it. The child in Yanagi was jumping up and down and clapping his hands in glee. Practice tomorrow was gonna be fun!

Chapter One

It was a normal day at Rikkai. Well, normal in the fact that the sky was blue and not green because this was Rikkai and nothing was normal there. It was after school and tennis practice was taking place. The regulars were taking part in some special training which basically consisted of pitching the regulars one by one against Yukimura. Marui was up first, having drawn the short straw, and despite his most valiant efforts he still ended up getting steamrollered. Yanagi walked up to the exhausted redhead, notebook in one hand and plastic cup in the other.

"Too bad, Marui. You'll have to drink this as a punishment." Yanagi said as he pushed the cup into Marui's hands.

"Eh? Why am I getting punished? I was up against Yukimura! Yukimura!" Marui protested as he looked worriedly down at the liquid in the cup. The drink kept changing between baby pink and baby blue. Marui shuddered; he didn't even want to think how Yanagi got it to do that.

"Now, Marui, don't be a spoilsport. I've given Renji my permission. Also, Renji, don't call it a punishment, it's motivation remember?" Yukimura smiled.

"Ah. My bad." Yanagi said as he scribbled something down in his notebook. Marui gulped and thought about what he could do. On one hand he could refuse to do drink it; on the other hand, if he refused, Yukimura could kick him off the team.

"Marui?" The boy looked up at Yukimura and back at the drink. He gulped again and made his decision.

"Fine, I'll drink it." Before he could change his mind, Marui downed it in one. As the last drop trickled down his throat, Marui dropped the cup and his tennis racket and fled to the bathroom.

"Hmm, looks like I'll have to adjust the flavour." Yanagi said, frowning a little at his data. He looked up at the rest of the regulars. "Who's next?" The regulars all stepped away from Niou. He glared at them as he stepped on to the court.

"Puri." He said with a scowl as he started the match. Fifteen minutes later, the match was finished and Marui still hadn't returned. Yanagi made his way towards Niou who backed away. "No way, uh uh, I'm not going anywhere near that stuff until Marui comes back alive." Niou said firmly.

"Marui is taking a long time." Yukimura agreed. "Why don't you go and look for him, Niou? That way we can get on with the next match and you don't have to wait as long to find out if you can have Renji's drink." Niou nodded and quickly ran off the courts before Yukimura could change his mind and let Yanagi shove it done his throat. Niou still hadn't forgotten the Puri Tea incident.

The first place Niou checked was the bathroom. He found Marui in the stall closest to the door, puking his guts out. Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed tensai, he had emptied his stomach about ten minutes ago and all that was left was bile that burned his throat and caused his eyes to water. Marui gave one last heave before sitting back and wrapped his arms round himself, shivering and sweating at the same time. Niou flushed the toilet and kneeled down next to Marui, rubbing his back a little.

"How ya feeling, Maru?" Niou asked. Marui didn't answer and tears kept rolling down his cheeks as he took in shaky breaths. Niou used his free hand to wipe away the tears, frowning a little at the heat radiating off the other boy. Niou pasted on a weak smirk. "Hey, Marui, get ill on Bonfire Night so we can use you instead of a fire. All the warmth, none of the smoke." He joked weakly. Marui's only response was to curl up into a tight ball. The smirk slipped back into a frown and Niou carefully picked up the redhead, intending to take him to the clubroom so he could look at him properly. He was just at the bathroom door when it swung open. "Jackal?"

"It's started to rain so practice has been cancelled." The Brazilian explained. He looked down at the boy in Niou's arms. "How is he?"

"Ill." Niou said shortly as he pushed past Jackal and walked into the locker room. "Knew Yanagi's juices were dangerous." Jackal grinned a little.

"You never did get over the Puri Tea incident, did you?" He asked humorously.

"Nope, puri." Niou said as the other regulars came up to them. He glared at Yanagi. "Hope you're happy now." Yanagi frowned, glancing at his notes.

"That is strange. Marui is not allergic to any of the ingredients. Maybe the combination…?" Yanagi pondered. Yukimura stepped forward and gently moved a few strands away from the sweaty forehead, frowning slightly.

"Does anybody know if his parents can pick him up?" He asked the rest of the team. He was met with blank looks except from Jackal who shook his head.

"His parents are both away on business trips and his brothers are away on a school trip." Jackal explained. "None of them are going to back until next Sunday." Yukimura's face darkened a little bit more.

"I guess we'll have to take him home ourselves." Yukimura decided. "Are you okay carrying Marui, Niou?" The boy in question nodded.

"Somebody'll have to carry my bag though." He said as he shifted his grip on Marui. The tensai whimpered a little and Niou stopped moving. Yukimura nodded, looking sympathetically at Marui.

"Okay. Genichirou, can you get Niou's bag, and Jackal, can you get Marui's?" The two nodded as they grabbed the extra bags. "Now, unless there's anything else, I think we'd better going before the rain gets any worse." Yukimura finished and shouldered his bag. He started towards the door before stopping suddenly and looking over his shoulder at Yanagi, smiling eerily. "Oh, and Renji? If anything happens to Marui than it's your neck on the line." Yanagi felt a shiver go down his spine and nodded quickly.

The regulars ran as fast they could through the rain. They didn't bother with the bus; the rain was getting heavier by the minute so all bus services would probably be cancelled or delayed so much that there would be no point. It took them half an hour of slipping and sliding before they reached the Marui household. They were soon inside thanks to the key in Marui's bag which was fished out by Jackal. They raided the cupboard for towels and quickly changed into their school uniforms which thankfully were still dry thanks to their bags. There were more comfy things in the world to wear but their uniforms were the only things that they had on hand besides their tennis uniforms which were soaked.

Niou and Jackal took Marui to his bedroom and dried him off and changed him into his pyjamas before tucking him in and joining the queue to the bathroom to get changed. Niou came back into the bedroom about fifteen minutes later with a bowl of cold water and a cloth that had been provided by Yagyuu. Niou almost dropped the bowl in surprise when he saw an empty bed.

"Oi, Marui, where are you? This better not be a joke or I'll honestly kill you." Niou said warily as he set down the bowl on the chest of drawers and looked around the room. His eyes settled on a small lump underneath the duvet that he had missed before. Niou crept forward and gently took the corners of the duvet cover before ripping it off. He looked down and blinked at what he saw. In front of him, curled up and snoring away without a care in the world, was a mini Marui.

The mini Marui shivered at the sudden cold and stirred. He sat up blinking blearily, smiling a little dazedly as Niou's face swam into view.

"Hi, Niou. Have you gotten taller? You seem bigger than before." Marui asked innocently as he rubbed sleep from his eyes before frowning. "What's wrong with my voice? And why are my pyjamas so big? I swear, Niou, if this is your idea of a prank…"

"It isn't. And I haven't gotten taller, you've just gotten…smaller." Niou said somewhat confusedly. Well wouldn't you be? Marui raised an eyebrow.

"Really, Niou? That's a stupid trick, even for you." Niou's eye twitched slightly.

"Before calling me stupid, you might want to take a look at yourself." He said somewhat icily. Marui looked at him uncertainly before looking down at his small body. He blinked once. Twice. Several more times. And a couple of more times just for the heck of it.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"

A/N: So, what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Think it's moving too fast or too slow? Feel free to tell me! Reviews are more awsome then hugs and hugs are what make the world go round! See ya next time! Bai bai!