A/N: Imma try and finish this chapter as soon as possible and hopefully this time I remember to post it up. We just finished our garage sale, and it sucked. I had to stand out there for nearly an hour waiting for my mom to come back from the store. I managed to sell something, yeah, but it was hard to leave the front of the house since the ground kept burning my feet and I hate to wear socks. It's just uncomfortable D: But anyways, I got chocolate as a reward... on the condition that I stay out there for another five minutes. Goddamn California weather. I made 2 pinwheels in my spare time though :D

Anyway, enough about my fail day. I plan to bring back Kenta this chapter and the next will be a filler. Also, a 'certain someone'(wow that was lame) gets a bit of an image change. Ahhh teenage years. Though I can't talk since 10th grade is just starting for me. But Kenta gets to play his role a little deeper now.

Chapter 7

"Do you think I should dye my hair?"

Zaizen looked up from his game to look at Hiyoshi. "What?"

"I said, should I dye my hair?" He repeated, pulling at his straight brown hair. He frowned. "I stand out so much with you guys, since you and Akaya both have black hair and green eyes. Even Kenta-niisan looks a lot like you guys. So I was thinking of dying it."

Akaya hung off the edge of Zaizen's bunk to look at his friend, who was laying on his bed. "Why would you do that? Then people will think we're brothers. Not that I have a problem with it. Could be fun."

"Not to mention your eyes," Zaizen pointed out, "even if you dye your hair, your eyes aren't green. They're gray." Hiyoshi sat up on his bed and looked at Zaizen, who was sitting on the floor leaning against his bed.

"I already thought that through. I could get colored lenses, then dye my hair black." he smirked, "We could mess with people's heads so much like that."

Zaizen rolled his eyes. "I thought you only did that whenever you have nothing better to do?"

"Yeah," Akaya put in, "Sanada-san wasn't very happy after you tried to 'gekokujou' him like that." Hiyoshi frowned.

"It backfired anyway. I stood there for an hour with him before he finally gave up. It was worse than when I tried with Oishi-san." Zaizen chuckled.

"He still doesn't get what happened either." Hiyoshi groaned and flopped back onto the bed.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in~" They said in unision. The door opened, and Kenta popped his head in.

"Otouto-tachi?" He smiled when he saw all of them together. He skipped over to where they were. "How have you been?" He asked.

"Kenta-niisan! Guess what!" Akaya said cheerfully from where he was leaning over the bed railing. Kenta raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Wakashi's thinking of dying his hair and getting colored lenses." Zaizen said as Akaya opened his mouth to speak. Kenta gave a confused look. "Oh? And why's that?"

Akaya grinned. "He says he want's to look more like us so that we can mess with people." Kenta smiled.

"I can help with that." He said, and everyone looked at him. "i can do it for you, but I don't think dying it is a good idea. It looks good as it is." Then he put on a thoughtful look. Seconds later it was replaced by a huge smile. "I know! How 'bout getting highlights? I can do that for you if you want."

Hiyoshi stared at him for a while before grinning a little. "I guess that's a good idea. I don't think my parents would like it if I dyed my hair anyway."

"Oh," Kenta interrupted, "Speaking of your parents, why don't you call and ask permission first? I dun want either of us getting in trouble if they don't approve." Hiyoshi nodded, pulling out his cellphone and called his home number. Four rings later, someone picked up.

"Hello?" A low voice answered. Hiyoshi groaned. It was his brother.

"Aniki? Give the phone to mom or dad. I need to ask them something." He said. He could practically see his brother grinning on the other end.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Suddenly there was a gasp, "No way! Did you finally get together with Atobe-kun and your going to ask for their consent?" Hiyoshi scolwed.

"No. And don't mention his name to me." There was a short silence from his brother's side.

"A fight?" He asked, and Hiyoshi sighed. "It's not important. I need to talk to mom and dad now."

"Not until you tell me first." He teased. Hiyoshi's scowl deepened.

"Fine. I want to get highlights and one of the high schoolers here-"

"-I still take offense in being reffered to as such." Kenta mumbled.

"-Said he could do it for me." There was another silence before his older brother burst out laughing.

"You.You want highlights. This isn't a joke right? Why would you want that?"

"It's so that I won't have to look like you."

"Ouch. That hurt." He said sarcastically. "Hold on, I'll give them the phone."

Hiyoshi waited before he heard his brother yelling across the halls.

"Mom! Dad! Wakashi wants to get your permission to date Atobe-kun!" He fought the urge to shout back into the phone as he heard his mother's footsteps.

"Wakashi, is that true? Your finally dating Atobe-kun?" His mother said excitedly.

"For the last time, no, I'm not, nor will I soon be, attached to Atobe." He said the name with a hiss. "I wanted to ask if I could get highlights..." He trailed off, not sure if he wanted his mother to know it was another teenager who was going to apply it. There was a long silence before his mother was talking again, more excitedly then before.

"You want what? Oh my, they grow up so fast. First you go off to a high school camp and now your adding more color to your hair! I was wondering when you were going to start acting your age." Hiyoshi groaned.

"So, that means yes?" He asked cautiously. His mother had the habit of telling you one thing then another.

"Of course! Oh, wait until I tell your father! Have fun now!"

There was a silence following the sound of the dial tone before he dropped his phone, burrying his face in his hands.

"Cool parents." Kenta said from where he was standing. "I'll go get the stuff from my room. Be back in a sec!" And he ran out of the room. A second later he ran back in the other direction. "My room is this way..." they heard him mumble. Zaizen sighed.

"Another directionally-challenged sempai." He said, and Akaya laughed.

Five minutes later, Kenta slipped back into the room, a box in his hands. He held it up.

"Here we go. we should go to the bathroom for this, it'll get messy." He said, examining the side of the box where the directions were. Hiyoshi nodded, the three of them following the teen to one of the restrooms down the hall. Hiyoshi sat down in front of the sink, looking himself over in the mirror.

"How many do you want?" Kenta asked, pouring the contents of the box onto the counter.

"Just three I guess." He answered, and Kenta nodded, getting to work on mixing the liquids.

TimeskiptimeskipsinceIcan'trememberhowthiswokrsit'sbeenyearstimeskiptimeskip

About an hour later they were seated in a circle in the room, Kenta examining Hiyoshi's hair. His hair now had three black streaks going through it, one on the front and two at the back. Zaizen and Akaya nodded in approval. "It looks good." They said. Hiyoshi tugged at the black hairs.

"How long will this last?" He asked. Kenta picked up the box, turning it over in his hands.

"About... two months. If you want to get rid of it, I can do that too." He said, "But if not, then enjoy~"

Akaya grinned. "I can't wait to see Atobe's face tomorrow at breakfast when he see's you!" Zaizen nodded.

"I bet your whole team is gonna be surprised." Then he chuckled. "Ya know, Kenya did the same thing so that he wouldn't he didn't look like Oshitari-san anymore."

"Ah, Oshitari-san said something about that before." Hiyoshi said with a thoughtful look. "Something about him and Kenya-san getting mixed up a lot, despite the difference in hair length."

"We seem to be talking a lot about hair today." Kenta said, "You can keep this, in case you want to do it again when this one goes away." He said, handing Hiyoshi the box. Hiyoshi nodded, walking over to the spare bed, reserved for their tennis bags and luggage. He pulled the zipper of his bag, dropping the box in and closing it. Akaya yawned.

"It's getting late," Kenta said, standing up. "I better get back to my room. With any luck, I'll be there before my roommate. I'd hate to walk in while he's there, it's so creepy when he looks at me all of a sudden. It's one of the reasons I keep out of my room as much as possible. We can't stay in the same place for more than ten minutes before getting into some kind of fight. Saitou-sensei is still working on putting one of us in a new room." He turned to look at them, smiling.

"Night~" He said, and closed the door behind him. They heard the footsteps fade away, before they came back a second later, going in the opposite direction.

"My room is that way..." They heard through the door, and kept from laughing. Akaya suddenly stood up.

"Hey, hey, I just noticed something!" He said, "I didn't notice before when he walked in, but didn't Kenta-niisan cut his hair?" Hiyoshi and Zaizen looked at each other. True, they hadn't noticed either. Despite the small image change, he still had the same aura around him as always. That must have been how they knew it was him right away.

"Your right... it's a lot shorter now. Last time it was," Hiyoshi held his hand slightly below his shoulder, "about this long right?"

"I wonder why he cut it?" Zaizen said, leaning back on the bed frame. "You think that roommate of his had anything to do with it?" The other two shrugged.

"Could have bed the same reason Wakashi got highlights. Though, now all of us look more alike than before." Akaya laughed. Hiyoshi chuckled.

"What about you?" Zaizen asked, "Still getting colored lenses?" Hiyoshi looked thoughtful before shrugging. "Dunno. Maybe." He stood up and walked over to the bed, crawling under the covers. "We should get some sleep. If we're not awake on time, Momoshiro might eat all the food during breakfast." He heard Zaizen chuckle before climbing up onto his own bed, Akaya doing the same.

"Night guys."

xXxXxXx

The next morning, Atobe was in for a shock. He had been sitting at a table with the other Hyoutei regulars, when Hiyoshi walked in with Zaizen and Akaya. Looking back to the recent events, Atobe would have pretended to ignore him, but failed in doing so when he saw the younger boy. He immediately dropped his fork onto his plate.

"Atobe? What is it?" Oshitari asked, looking up from his conversation with Gakuto. When he didn't get a response, he followed the silver-haired captains eyes, and his eyes widened.

"Oh my."

Gakuto and Shishido stopped their argument over colors when they noticed both their teammates had dropped their utensils.

"Yuushi? What happe-" He stopped when he saw what had caught their attention. "No way! Hiyo-ko, what happened?"

Several people turned their attention the where the trio had walked in, a few eyes widening. Hiyoshi groaned.

"I knew this would happen..." He mumbled. Zaizen pushed him towards the food bar.

"Don't mind them, it was your choice, after all." He sighed, knowing quite a few people were bound to question his decision. They carried their trays of food with them, looking around, when they saw someone waving his hands around.

"OOOOI! Otouto-tachi!" Kenta yelled, causing a few older players to roll their eyes. They were most likely used to his behavior in the morning. The three of them walked towards him, and Hiyoshi noticed Atobe watching them. He smirked.

Atobe had an expression torn between confusion and disbelief. Even the others at the table seemed to be as confused as he was, especially Choutarou. Of all the years they'd known each other, the tall boy would have never thought that his best friend would do something like that. He was still smirking as he sat down between Akaya and Zaizen. He always took the seat between them, since if they sat together, they'd end up throwing food at each other, or whatever else they had in reach.

"You seem to be in a good mood." Kenta said, poking him in the forehead with his spoon. The bandages had been removed the other day, and all he was left with were two thin, red marks that would fade away within a day or two. Zaizen had been bothering him constantly, telling him to stop scratching it."But it itches!" "That means it's healing, now don't make it worse" He said.

"ne, ne, Kenta-niisan," Akaya said, getting a few surprised looks from people listening in on them, "why did you cut your hair? It's so short now, it's looks like you did it yourself too." He pointed out, noting how messy a job it was. Kenta tugged on a few strands, then gave a small smile.

"It was getting kinda annoying, especially when I had to wash it. I cut it the other day with a pair of scissors I had in my bag I couldn't ask anyone else, either, and it'd be safer if I didn't." He finished.

He's lying, Hiyoshi and Zaizen thought, noting how strained his smile was, At least about the first part. Hiyoshi glanced around, noticing a few people watching them. The middle schoolers looked amused at the fact that a high schooler("Still offended.") was acting in such a way, but most of the older people were watching with unreadable expressions.

"I have a question," Zaizen started, and continued at the dark-haired boy's enthusiastic nod. "If you keep out of your room as much as possible, what do you do for all that time?" Kenta froze, the question hitting him like cold air. There was a silence at the table.

"Uh, well, play matches and practice, I guess." He said, "Oh! And sleep. A lot. I don't play many matches, though, no one ever wants to play with me. That's probably the reason I've been stuck in the 7th court. They don't let me play."

Zaizen raised an eyebrow. "I thought the whole court moves up. Hasn't the 7th court won any of the shuffle matches?" Kenta laughed a little.

"Yeah. Not me though. I don't mind. I get to see new people whenever the court changes. Don't knoe why I'm not moved with everyone else though." Zaizen noticed someone stand up and leave after that statement, and he knew something was wrong. "Not many people here, as you must have noticed already, aren't too fond of me. I can only hold a conversation with a few of them. Sometimes Irie-kun talks with me, but it's a bit.. confusing." He stood up suddenly, taking his plate with him. "Gotta go, time for practice." He said with a smile, and left in a hurry.

The three exchanged glances. "What was that about?" Akaya asked, watching as Kenta left the bar, a panicked expression on his face. Zaizen shrugged, not wanting to go into details. Hiyoshi placed his elbows on the table, and his head on his hands.

"At least we learned something interesting today." He said, grabbing their attention, "It seems like we're his first real friends here."

xXxXxXx

"What do you think that was about?" Shishido asked, setting his glass down on the table. They had been watching the scene with interest, up until the point that the oldest ran off. "First he calls them over, they talk for about ten minutes, then all of sudden runs?"

Atobe watched the group carefully, only hearing part of the conversation.

No friends, huh? He vaguely remembered the conversation they had when he first saw the older boy.

I rather like them.

Atobe closed his eyes and sighed. He stood up and disposed of the plate, a plan forming in his head.

As if I didn't have enough to deal with.

xXxXxXx

And it ends there. Hey look, two updates in a two days :D That's good, right? I honestly was having second thoughts about Kenta saying all that stuff. My sis keeps saying 'If your gonna have an OC, don't make them important.' She says that, but I'm pretty sure there are other fics with important OCs. I finished this chapter pretty early, and this is so far turning out to be my longest fic with a storyline.

Next chapter: Filler - Yummi/Thrill pair, chapter 9 might be listed as 8, but I'm still trying to decide if I wanna go through the trouble of always changing that. I might get stated on it now, or I might watch more Yukan Club. Tell me which pair from the previous lists should be the next filler :D Also, that part about him messing with people when he has nothing better to do it from RajiPuri - Mini drama: Gekokujou. I got the idea from what someone said and agreed