Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or Ouran High School Host Club.
Beta: Midnight-Kitsune11
Chapter 7: Madness at the beach.
Ryoma grinned as he saw Kyoya approach him. His classmate wore the same smirk but Ryoma was sure it would be whipped of his face before the end of the conversation. He knew what was coming and had prepared for it.
"Echizen-kun, good morning. I've been looking for you."
"Good morning." greeted Ryoma. "I didn't know you were searching for me - I am seated two rows behind you after all, Ootori-kun."
Ignoring Ryoma for the time being, the other continued on.
"The Host club plans on going to the beach next weekend. I have made arrangements for you and a friend to accompany us, as you promised."
"Hmmm…" acting as if he was thinking it over, Ryoma adopted a thinking pose. "Where would we be going?"
"Okinawa. Haruhi doesn't own a passport, so we are a bit limited in options."
"Okinawa, that brings back memories…" muttered Ryoma, thinking back to his previous meeting with the tennis team of Higa Chuu. If he remembered correctly, Seigaku had beat them in the second round of the National tournament last year.
"Were you saying something?" Kyoya interrupted his thought process.
"Nothing much."
"So as I was saying, Okinawa. Nekozawa-senpai agreed to lend us his mansion with private beach for our stay."
"That's nice." Not new though, he had already worked that out. Spending a year observing Inui gathering data had rubbed off on him.
"However, as other people will be staying at the mansion at the same time as us, I'm afraid you can only bring one guest. I'm sorry."
Inwardly smirking, Ryoma frowned at the other.
"That's a pity. But I'm sure I'll manage to find a solution. Thank you for informing me."
They nodded at each other and went back to their seats. As their next teacher came in, Ryoma promptly fell asleep with a smirk on his face. He couldn't wait to see the look on Kyoya's face.
After their lessons, Tamaki promptly clung to Ryoma's arm and dragged him towards the third music room. Sighing, Ryoma decided to just let him. He had learned it was easier to agree with the teen on simple matters such as this instead of constantly arguing. He was better saving his breath for bigger battles... and he supposed the blond had started growing on him.
x-x-x-x
He took it back. Tamaki wasn't growing on him at all. He hated the blond!
Once again he found himself standing a bit behind the host club, sighing and wondering why he was there. However, unlike the time at the indoor swimming complex, this time the blond had invited female students they could entertain.
The twins were playing beach volley with two girls, and they were probably the only slightly sane ones when it came to entertaining girls. Mori and Honey were doing some strange stretching exercises that had him taking a few steps away from them and Tamaki was having some romantic alone with one girl, while the others were waiting in line for their turn.
He wondered briefly if he should just turn around and not look back.
"Ah, Ryoma-senpai!" exclaimed Haruhi.
Ah, the poor girl was probably also looking for a way out of this insanity. He raised his hand in greeting and walked towards her. She was sitting under a sunshade.
"Join me, please."
And didn't she just sound desperate? Elegantly, he laid down, his cap pulled over his eyes and placed his hands behind his head.
"Welcome to the circus, ka?" muttered Ryoma sarcastically.
Haruhi giggled. "Yeah, this sucks. I thought going to the beach meant a day off."
Ryoma snorted. "As if."
A few girls approached them.
"Haruhi-kun, will you come swimming with us?"
"Oh, no I'm fine here. I like looking at the sea. Besides, I'm keeping Ryoma-senpai company."
"Do you mind if we join you then?"
"Why? You're wearing such cute swimsuits. It would be a shame not to show them off. You girls go swim."
Completely charmed, the girls squealing ran towards the water.
"So shallow." Muttered Ryoma.
"OCHIBI!"
After hearing that dreadful nickname, Ryoma leapt up... Just in time to be knocked down by what appeared to be a sand tornado. Gasping for breath, he tried to loosen the choking hold Kikumaru Eiji's arms had on his neck. His senior was hugging him as if they hadn't seen each other in years.
"Eiji! You're choking him!"
And there was Oishi Shuichiro to the rescue. Eiji reluctantly let go of Ryoma who promptly started coughing.
"Are you al right, Echizen?" asked Oishi.
"Kikumaru-senpai, Oishi-senpai." greeted Ryoma. "Where are the others?"
"I ran ahead 'cause I missed Ochibi-chan so much, nya." Grinned Eiji who spread his arms just to show them how much.
"They'll be here soon. Taka-san brought lunch."
Immediately after hearing that, Ryoma perked up.
Within seconds of having that said, the rest of Ryoma's tennis team came in sight.
"Yo, Echizen!" Momo ruffled his hair playfully.
"Ryo-kun." Greeted Fuji Syusuke while draping his arm over Ryoma's shoulder.
"Fsshh."
"Echizen-kun." Greeted their power player Kawamura Takashi.
Inui only nodded at this, his trusty notebook in his hands.
"Echizen."
"Buchou, minna, it's good to see you all again." Smiled Ryoma happily.
"I'm not you captain anymore." Sighed Tezuka Kunimitsu. It was clear they had had this conversation before. The response came automatically:
"Buchou is buchou."
He was glad to see his team again. It didn't matter to him that they had all gone their separate ways – this would always be his tennis team and he was glad they felt the same.
"What is all this?" exclaimed a frowning Tamaki suddenly. "Why are you harassing my son?"
Apparently the hosts came to investigate. The Ouran girls were squealing in the background about all the beautiful boys who had appeared. Dressed only in their swimming shorts, the muscles acquired through tennis clearly visible. That statement, however, immediately shut the regulars up. Ryoma tried to make himself as small as possible, Momoshiro and Eiji burst out laughing and Syuusuke tightened his grip on the younger boy. The others just watched the blond with a blank look.
"Is he talking about you, Echizen?" asked Oishi hesitantly.
"Ie, data."
And of course Inui had to start writing in his notebook…
"This is my tennis team. Ootori said I could invite friends for this trip." Explained Ryoma to the blond. He quickly introduced everyone to each other.
"Echizen-kun, I thought I mentioned you could only bring one guest. We simply don't have the space to house everyone for the night." Interrupted Kyoya.
"No worries, I arranged it with Nekozawa before you let me know that." Smirked Ryoma.
Kyoya's glasses glinted, clearly irritated.
In his head, chibi Ryoma did a victory dance.
"Oh ho, it seemed my cute son has managed to catch you by surprise, Kyoya."
"Will you stop calling me that?" cried Ryoma frowning.
"Since when are you his son?" asked Momo-senpai confused. "Last time we met, you were a hooligan."
"Fsshhh. Idiot."
"What was that?!"
Immediately Kaidou and Momoshiro were glaring at each other.
"You two, stop it!"
And of course Oishi and Kawamura tried to separate the two.
Ryoma sighed.
"Ne, ne, Ryo-chan, Haru-chan. Wanna go 'hellfish shunting'?" interrupted Honey randomly. Apparently he was feeling neglected.
"No way!"
"That sounds like fun!" cried Kikumaru jumping up and down in the sand. "Can I join?!"
The senior nodded, delighted.
"I think you're trying to say 'shellfish hunting'. But this doesn't seem to be that kind of beach, Honey-senpai."
"This way."
"You're not gonna find many shell...fish..."
Haruhi stood still, looking around in astonishment. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, they were surrounded by shell fish.
"What the hell? No way!"
Kyoya was quick to explain.
"My family's private police force has stopped by. They wanted to make up to Honey-senpai for attacking him at the water park. So they brought shellfish."
As if that explained everything. Then again, with these people, maybe it did.
With a magically appeared bucked, Honey started collecting.
"Amazing! Look how many we got!"
Delighted Haruhi, Kikumaru, Mori and even Kawamura started collecting.
"We're gonna have some fancy side dishes tonight. It's gonna be delicious." Smiled Haruhi happily.
"Dear god." Sighed Ryoma. Against his will, Fuji had dragged him from underneath his sunshade.
Syuusuke chuckled. Tezuka stood stoically in his swimming shorts next to them.
While the hosts were fan-girling about Haruhi, the female clients started screaming.
"Cen- ti- pede!"
Cool-headed as always, Haruhi picked the bug up and threw it further away.
The twins immediately approached her.
"Aren't you afraid of bugs? Most girls are." Said Hikaru.
"Don't be stupid."
And with that, she resumed her shellfish hunt.
"She's not normal." Said Kaoru.
"I'm sure she's afraid of something..." said Tamaki thoughtfully.
"Hey boss, listen up. We just thought up a new game to play that could be a lot of fun. What do you say? It's called the "Who can find Haruhi's weakness" game. So think you're up to it?" said the twins at the same time.
"Idiots, there is no way I'd play that game. How lame."
Smiling wickedly, the twins answered nonchalantly: "Yeah, I guess you're right. Besides she'd only share her weakness with someone she was really close to."
"What are the rules?" snapped Tamaki insulted.
"Whoever finds her weakness first, wins." Said the left twin.
"Sundown is the time limit." Said the other.
And the winner will receive these." Smirked Kyoya while he waved around some of Haruhi's old school pictures.
"We wanna play to." cried Honey with Mori behind him.
"Where did you get those pictures of Haruhi?" cried Tamaki.
"I have my sources. How about we just leave it at that for the moment."
"If I may…" interrupted Syusuke suddenly with an angelic smile on his face. "Why only reward the winner? How about a punishment for the losers."
The Seigaku regulars who were going to proclaim their participation immediately backed of. Was he really going to…
"Sounds interesting. What did you have in mind?" Asked Kyoya with a glint on his glasses.
"I'm not playing." Said Ryoma abruptly. He really didn't like where this was going. And of course those two would find a fellow sadistic soul.
"I'll let Inui take care of that."
And now there were three diabolic smiles and two pair of glinting glasses. Damn you Inui!
So while the hosts made preparations for their game, the regulars were left to themselves. Ryoma went back to nap under his sun shade and Syusuke sat down beside him. Kawamura was emptying the cool box he brought en the other regulars were playing a mini beach volleyball tournament. After a while Syusuke shook Ryoma gently awake.
"Ryo-kun, Taka-san brought a snack. Wake up."
"Hm."
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, Ryoma slowly sat up. Smiling, Syusuke presented him with a small plate with some of his favourite sushi. Narrowing his eyes slightly at the sadist, he cautiously took one and took a small bite. Normal and delicious, thank heavens. He smiled blissfully. Kawamura still made the best sushi. Fuji chuckled at the younger boy's expression.
"Ne Ryo-kun. Can I ask you something personal?"
Ryoma nodded with his mouth full of sushi.
"Will you be mine?"
He promptly started choking. Helpfully, Syusuke handed him a bottle of water.
"W-what?"
Ryoma placed his hand on his chest trying to slow his wildly beating heart and to calm down his breathing.
"I said: Will you be mine?" repeated Syusuke, still with a smile on his face.
Ryoma frowned. "It's not nice to make fun of people, Fuji-senpai."
"I'm not making fun of you. I'm serious."
Fuji opened his eyes and looked him straight in the eyes.
Ryoma felt a blush rising. What was Fuji really trying to say?
"I really like you Ryoma."
"Normal people start with dating, not … this." Muttered Ryoma with his eyes averted.
"I don't think either us qualify as normal people." Smiled Syusuke, still looking intently at Ryoma.
Only now did Ryoma notice how close the other was. They were sitting opposite each other so if he reached out he could easily touch him. He leaned forward so the top of his head rested against Fuji's chest. He could feel himself turning tomato red.
"Ryoma?"
"That is the first time you said my real name, instead of calling me Ryo-kun."
"Will you answer my question, Ryoma?"
"W-well, I suppose… We could try?"
"Is that a 'yes'?" asked Syusuke, hopeful.
"I have one condition."
He felt Fuji tense slightly. It wasn't very noticeable but with their position it was impossible not to notice.
"What is it?"
"You'll be mine as well, right?"
The other chuckled again. His voice sounded relieved. Syusuke tenderly wrapped his arms around Ryoma.
"Of course."
Ryoma smiled and hugged him back.
"KYAAAAAAAAAA!"
Damn, Ryoma had completely forgotten about the fan girls around.
TBC.
