A/N: Does anyone really feel sorry for Tamaki at this point. Dodgeball? Ok, so this is what happened. I was watching the movie Dodgeball for some reason and I thought… what if the hosts played it? What would happen to Tamaki? Ergo the setup. With Kyoya being the referee, this could be… interesting. Kyoya has checked the programming on our counter equipment and everything is ready for the increase of "hits" Tamaki and the twins may suffer at the hands of everyone else. I am once again supposed to read a disclaimer… None of the hosts or myself can be held liable for any damage done to Tamaki in the making of this chapter. Enjoy it all!
**Dodge ball rules come from the National Amateur Dodgeball Association.
Chapter 10 – Let's Play Dodgeball
"I wonder what is going on at home," Haruhi pondered aloud sitting next to her fiancé in a small restaurant.
Mori tried not to laugh as visions of Tamaki being tortured by Ranka floated through his mind. Walking into his vision were his brother and two cousins, and suddenly a small snicker escaped, "I don't think your father would kill him. Just maim him a little." In reality, Mori wanted to do some maiming himself and sort of wished he had been there with Tamaki showed up unannounced so that he could have had a few words for the blonde teen. Well, another day perhaps because it wasn't like Tamaki's shenanigans would stop anytime soon.
Laughing, Haruhi nodded and pictured Tamaki's body being thrown through the wash cycle of the washing machine, eyes spinning as he tried to walk after the spin cycle. She couldn't contain herself as well as Mori could and found herself out of breath leaning against the tall man for support until her mirth subsided a little bit, "I think you might be right."
Their waitress came to their table and took their food orders stopping all talk of the hosts and their president. Now was a time for them to enjoy each other and spend some quality time together since they hadn't had a lot of it this previous week.
Somewhere else in Tokyo…
The twins had been prepared, and as soon as everyone was in the car, they gave instructions to the driver on where to go. They had already found an indoor dodgeball court and had been holding onto the information for days waiting for their chance to spring it on the others. Today was that day and Tamaki had created the perfect excuse to play. They knew that even though Mori and Haruhi were not there, others were itching for an excuse to teach the "king" a lesson that he would never forget. Dodgeball would do that, and it would allow everyone to have fun. It was a win-win in their eyes.
As the car pulled up to the dodgeball facility, the twins escorted everyone inside and they were led to one of the courts that were not being used currently. Hikaru was the first to start the explanation, "We are going to be using the official dodgeball rules."
Tamaki saw this as his opportunity to speak up and get out of playing, "Don't the rules say you have to have six to a team? We will only have three. Oh well, can't play. Let's just go home." He was ever hopeful, but the gleam he saw in both Hikaru and Kaoru's eyes told him that he was doomed.
Chuckling, the twins looked at each other before their gazes once again rested on their leader. Kaoru decided to field that question, "Normally that would be the case, but since we are not playing an official match, we don't need the right amount of people to play. This is just for fun after all. You wanted to spend family time together, didn't you Tono?"
"N-N-Naturally I did, but since we are missing a couple of people, I think f-family time should be postponed. You wouldn't want to upset your sister, w-would you?" Tamaki stammered trying to sound so much more confident than he felt.
"Actually Tamaki, I have Haruhi on the phone right now," Kyoya smirked and turned on the speaker phone, "Haruhi, would you like to repeat what you just said for the sake of everyone standing here?"
"Sure Kyoya-senpai. I said I hope that you guys have fun playing dodgeball. We used to play it in grade school. Don't worry about us not being there. You have bonding time by yourselves and we will see you next week. Bye!" Haruhi giggled and then disconnected the call.
Kyoya pushed up his glasses and grinned, "Well as you can see, she would like us to continue as we are. So we will not wait."
"Well if she says that is what she wants," Tamaki muttered and then gulped loudly, "Then I guess we can continue." He took in a deep breath and summoned his courage, "Hikaru, what are the rules."
"We knew you'd see it our way!" The told him gleefully. There was still that glint in their eyes that made everyone around them wonder what they had up their sleeves.
"The rules are simple. You have to hit someone with a live ball to get them out. A live ball is one that is thrown and does not hit anything else first. That can be the floor, wall, ceiling, another player, a ball, etc. If someone catches a live ball before it bounces without dropping it, the person that threw it is out. You can only exit the court at the end line to get the stray balls or if you are out," Hikaru started.
Kaoru picked up from there, "There is going to be an opening rush. Basically when Kyoya-senpai gives us the signal, we will rush to get two of the balls that were placed on the center line. You can only go for the balls to the right of your court. Normally there would be a total of six balls, but since we are not playing with the right number of players, Hikaru and I decided to eliminate a couple of the balls. If you get a ball during the rush, you have to take it behind the attack like before it can be thrown. Typically each game is only three minutes long, but I say we play until one side has everyone out. What do you think Hikaru?"
"I agree Kaoru. I think also if you are accidentally hit by your own team member you should stay in. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes, I would brother since it wasn't the opposing team that hit you," Kaoru sniggered trying to keep a straight face since this was a normal rule in dodgeball. He could see the half French idiot getting a little paler at him and his brother's discussion. "What about the rule about returning to play?"
"Let's put that to a vote. Some leagues play that if your team catches a ball, a player that was out can return to play. So if Kaoru was out and I caught a ball that the other team threw, it would allow him to come back in and play. Do we want to use that rule, or just say once eliminated, you're done?" Hikaru inquired.
"I say done!" Tamaki declared emphatically.
"I think we should let them come back and play," Hunny smiled, but there was something in that grin that made everyone sweat drop. They were a little afraid of him right then.
"Let's put this to a vote, shall we?" Kyoya suggested. "All those in favor of using the rule raise your hands… I hate to say this Tamaki, but you are the only one with a hand down, so you lose."
"You haven't even asked about who doesn't want the rule!" Tamaki whined.
"There is no point. Five people had their hands up in the air," Kyoya scowled at his friend.
Tamaki knew he was grasping at straws and he didn't care, "To properly take a vote, you still need to ask. They could change their minds or maybe you counted wrong." The look his best friend was giving him, made him want to run to his corner and cower in the darkness in order to cultivate his growing mushroom collection.
Narrowing his eyes on his best friend, the bespectacled third year snapped, "Ok, all those in favor of not using the rule raise your hands… Tamaki, you lose. You are the only one with a hand up, we will use the rule. If you catch a live ball from the opposing team, you can bring back a player that has been eliminated from your team."
The blonde third year groaned. He had lost the vote and now the torture might be endless. Out of all of the commoner games, this was the one he had tried to stay away from, had dreaded the most, and had a fear about. Someone could hit his face, his beautiful face, and then where would he be? He loved his good looks.
"Everyone please remember that you are only allowed to hit from the shoulders down. Hikaru, Kaoru, I am mainly reminding you about that," Kyoya stated.
Sighing loudly, the twins nodded. It wasn't that they weren't aware of that rule; they just thought they could have some fun with it. Oh well, below the shoulders still left plenty of good target areas. "We have already taken the liberty of separating everyone into teams," the twins informed everyone.
"You have?" Chika questioned. He wasn't sure if he trusted the identical mischief makers, and looking around at his choices, the only person he wouldn't mind being on a team with was Satoshi. He had issues with his brother, but he hated Tamaki more. He didn't trust the twins to not turn their backs on their own team members. If they made the teams, this could be very bad.
"We will be on a team with Tono. That leaves the cousins as a team," Hikaru smirked. This was going to be interesting. He knew that Chika didn't exactly see eye to eye with his brother and they fought every chance they got, and they had a plan to use this to their advantage and win the game.
Kaoru gave Satoshi a very pointed look, "No use of a shinai."
"I wasn't going to!" Satoshi defended as he placed it down on one of the benches out of bounds.
Tamaki was in a state of shock: he and the twins against the Haninozuka and Morinozuka families. He felt like he was a dead man and needed to make sure his will was in order. Why did the twins do this to him? They had to be up to something because he could see it on their faces. He was definitely doomed.
"Don't forget the area near the dividing line for the teams is the neutral zone," Hikaru stated.
"You have to throw the balls from the attack zone behind the neutral zone," Kaoru explained.
Pressing their faces together and holding hands, the twins smiled and said, "Now let's have some fun, shall we?"
"YAY!" Hunny shouted and placed Usa-Chan down on the bench next to Satoshi's shinai, "You sit here Usa-Chan so that you can be out of the way from everything. If anyone gets out of line, you have my permission to use Satoshi's shinai."
Everyone observed as the shortest host give instructions to his pink bunny and thought it was cute, well Tamaki and the twins did. Knowing he was dangerous, it was truly easy to forget that he was the threat to national security when he acted like that. Kyoya, Chika, and Satoshi knew it was mostly an act. The loli shota loved his cute, but he was also one of the most observant and smartest people he cool type knew, and he was very competitive in sports.
Hunny turned around and laughed mirthlessly, "Hehehe. Let's play some ball."
The twins and Tamaki deadpanned and started to shake. Hunny had that look in his eye that he got when he was about to fight someone. This was supposed to be a fun, friendly game… wasn't it?
The two teams placed the four balls on the line and backed up against their end line nearest the back walls on their sides waiting for Kyoya to call the game started. The twins were wondering why they didn't pick different teams, but they had a plan and it involved Tamaki being on their team.
"Begin!" Kyoya called out and watched as both sides made a run for the balls in the middle.
By some miracle Tamaki was able to get one of the balls from the center line and brought it back to his teams attack zone. Hikaru grabbed the other ball; while Satoshi and Hunny were the two that grabbed the balls on the other team. The eldest twin threw the ball at Chika, but the younger man dodged it and caught it after it hit the wall behind him. Hunny threw his ball at Tamaki, but the president used the ball in his possession as a block and deflected the projectile. Satoshi also threw at him, but once again he was able to deflect. Hikaru and Kaoru were able to get both balls after they were deflected and threw them back at Hunny and Satoshi. Unfortunately Tamaki was in the way of Kaoru's ball and it hit him in the back right between the shoulder blades.
"Gomen!" Kaoru quickly yelled, but there was an undeniable amount of amusement in his voice that was apparent to all around him.
"Tamaki, you have to throw the ball at some point in time," Kyoya reminded him.
Tamaki didn't want to get rid of his ball. It was protecting him, but he knew his bespectacled friend was right. Running up towards the front line of the attack zone, he pulled back his arm in order to throw and proceeded to trip over his own feet, sending the ball towards the other side of the court and somehow it hit Honey in the shin before it ever it the ground. The first person out of the game was Mitsukuni Haninozuka by a complete and utter accident.
"Sorry Hunny-senpai, but you are out," Kyoya called from his referee area.
Glaring at the younger blonde, Hunny left the game and walked over to one of the benches having every confidence that someone on his team would bring him back in the game. It happened less than a minute later. Hikaru threw the ball intending to try to get Chika out, but Satoshi moved to stand in front of his charge at the last minute and caught the ball. Hikaru was out and Hunny was in. He rushed back into the game and smirked at the leaving Hikaru.
Hikaru saw the look Hunny gave him, and he really wasn't worried. He knew his senpai was a competitive man, but the whole point of dodgeball was to get Tamaki. Kaoru had started it all off when he "accidentally" hit the king in the back. Someone needed to change the term from stabbed in the back with a knife to hit in the back with a dodgeball. Oh they had every intention of winning the game and he believed that Kaoru would get him back in, but they also wanted to taunt their favorite subject too and this sport was perfect for that. They could mess with Tamaki and throw balls at the other teams, and in the end they planned to come out on top. However, watching the game from the sidelines, maybe they should have planned better. Chika and Hunny were actually working together and Satoshi had an arm like a cannon. Maybe they could do something that would turn the tides and force an internal implosion on the other side.
Throwing the ball at Kaoru, Satoshi smiled and cheered when Kaoru caught the ball and then dropped it. Too bad the redhead was also hit right after he dropped it because Chika had already launched his ball. So not only did he drop, but the younger twin got hit hard if the wince was any indication. Satoshi chuckled as Kaoru left the game he was able to stay in. Now it was him, Chika, and Hunny against Tamaki. This game was turning out to be a lot of fun.
Tamaki had one ball and each player on the opposing team each had one ball. With a quick glance between themselves, the martial arts masters knew Tamaki would not be able to dodge all three balls at the same time. They were shocked that he was the last man standing, but then again, he was using the ball as a shield more than he was actually playing the game. Every time a ball came flying at him there was a high pitched squeal that escaped from his lips. If they didn't know it was him, they would have thought one of their fangirls had found them and was watching the game.
"On the count of three," Hunny sneered.
The other two spoke up, "Got it."
"What happens on the count of three?" Tamaki looked at the other three players and then at his two team mates sitting on the sidelines. He noticed Hikaru and Kaoru were waving good bye to him and holding each other with fake tears falling down their faces. He knew they were phony because the vial was sitting next to Kaoru on the bench. "What happens on three?"
"One," three sets of arm started to lift in the air. "Two," the arms were in place to launch their balls. "Three," Hunny shouted and all three players threw their balls at their one target and all made contact with a different part of Tamaki's body.
Tamaki heard Hunny counting and dropped his guard to see what was going on. When he noticed that all three arms were moving in synch, he was frozen with terror. "Surely they wouldn't all throw the balls at the same time," he thought to himself, but in the next instant he was wrong and forgot to lift his arms to help dodge the projectiles. Hunny's landed in the gut, Chika's in the thigh, and Satoshi's in the shoulder (any higher and Tamaki would have lost his head). All three balls together held the combined power of three very strong people and they hit at the exact same time. The blonde prince was lifted off of his feet and thrown backwards towards the end line, the wall stopping his fall. He swore he could see stars flying around his head at that moment in time.
"Well it looks like the winner is the team of Haninozuka and Morinozuka," Kyoya chuckled as he made his way over to his best friend and crouched down next to him. Slapping his cheeks to try and make him come to, the Shadow King had to admit that he was highly entertained with the ending of the game.
"Are you an angel? You look just like my best friend Kyoya," Tamaki smiled goofily and giggled.
Rolling his eyes, Kyoya pushed his glasses up his nose, "I think he is down for the count."
"Oh no! We didn't mean to hit him that hard," Hunny looked concerned, but the merriment was in his eyes. He didn't feel too bad in all reality because this might teach the other man not to try to show up out of the blue to Haruhi's house.
"Not at all," Chika smirked rolling his eyes too.
Satoshi laughed, "Oh well. It is the name of the game, and it isn't our fault he forgot to dodge the balls."
The twins unable to contain their laughter at the display of the three members of the other team, started to laugh loud and hard. They didn't believe what they were saying for one minute. Although the twins thought it would be a fun way to give Tamaki a hard time, it turned out differently than they originally planned. Next time, they would not be putting the three power players together. That was just dangerous to do.
"I think it is time we leave," Kyoya suggested and looked behind him to see two of his body guards standing there. Tachibana approached and threw Tamaki over his shoulder to carry out to the car, the hosts following behind him and the other body guard bringing up the rear. The vice president of the club wondered if Tamaki learned his lesson about waking people up early and barging in on them because if he didn't, Kyoya was sure he could arrange for another round of dodgeball to be played soon. It was kind of fun to watch after all. Wondering if he could get Mori and Haruhi to play next time, Kyoya scrolled through the pictures he took today of the game, "These will make great additions to the website and I think the girls will definitely want to buy some of these." He would review the video of the game Hotta recorded for him later and see if it would be worth selling to their customers. Smiling, he could already picture the profits today's escapades would bring in.
"Do you think the boss will be alright?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked from either side of Kyoya.
Looking up at where Tamaki hung over the shoulder of Tachibana, he smirked, "He will be fine. Besides with as early as he called me this morning, he needed a nap and now he is getting one."
The twins deadpanned and froze in their tracks momentarily. They would never mess with the Shadow King of Ouran, he was dangerous and scary. Glancing at their injured king, they silently agreed he was fair game because it was just amusing to watch his reactions.
Walking behind Kyoya, Hunny brought up the rear of the hosts since he was also behind his brother and cousin. Today had been interesting and he wasn't sure what the twins' game was, but it had turned into an entertaining day. For some reason, he believed that Hikaru and Kaoru's actual plans did not come into fruition, but they should have known better to challenge his family. The Haninozuka and Morinozuka families were not at the top of their games for nothing. Laughing, he looked up and saw Chika and Satoshi giving him a strange look, "What?"
"Nothing, nothing at all Mitsukuni," Chika shook his head. That was his dark laugh and that was never a good thing. Thankfully, he didn't have to train with his brother until the next day.
Satoshi, face palmed knowing that laugh well, "Yah, nothing." He was thinking the same thing Chika was: it was a good thing that the game was over because if not, the other team might be in for a world of hurt. At least Tamaki should have learned his lesson… he hoped because he would prove to his senpai no one came between his big brother and someone Mori loved.