Gather, Chapter 10

Chapter Title: The Revenge of Gaming no Ohjisama or When Atobe and Sanada Get Really, Really Bored

Author: EllipsesBandit...

Disclaimer: The game is mine. The show is not.

Rating: K

Pairings: Alluded to but again no romance. Bit of SanaYuki, TezuFuji, and AtoJi

Summary: Sengoku decides to help Sanada and Atobe determine which one really is good enough to be Tezuka's rival.

A/N: You all asked for it, and I couldn't resist. Enjoy the continuing adventures of Gaming no Ohjisama. Feel free to play along at home. All you need are some index cards, a pen, a color printer, and about twenty ink cartridges. Annoy your non-Tenipuri friends! Weight your favorite characters! Make Tezuka and Fuji play doubles! Just be careful to not get sued.

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Sanada didn't hate Atobe. Sanada didn't hate many people as that seemed to require too much of an emotional investment. Instead, Sanada found a stoic apathy the best defense against people who annoyed him. That, or a quick game of tennis -- usually, very quick. What bothered Sanada about Atobe was that the flamboyant buchou seemed utterly immune to his usual tactics. Also, Sanada had not technically beaten him yet.

Renji told him he was behaving like a seven-year-old enough that Sanada was aware of how the rest of his teammates might be perceiving him, but after the unsatisfactory match he was determined to crush Hyotei at something. Who knew tennis skills could translate to foosball?

"Hametsu e no Rondo!" Atobe shouted. Sanada had no idea how that worked but the ball hit him in the wrist before flying up and into an air duct.

"That's the fourth one, Atobe," Sanada growled.

"Well that flaming move of yours nearly blinded poor Shishido," Atobe shrugged as if this statement was some sort of logical counterpoint.

"It's called Invade Like Fire," Renji stated, marking something in his notebook.

"As ore-sama said."

"I'm fine!" Shishido snapped from where Ohtori was holding an ice pack over a very purple left eye.

"Kabaji, another ball."

"Usu."

The hulking second year reached for another ball but found nothing on the table. Blinking slowly, he rotated back towards Atobe. "Do not disappoint ore-sama by saying there are no more."

Kabaji didn't, remaining silent.

"We'll have to play something else then," Atobe huffed, looking around the dorm's game room.

Sanada sighed. "What do you suggest this time?" Ping Pong had already proven too dangerous for innocent bystanders, and Atobe refused to slum around the town looking for a billiards hall. Honestly, Sanada couldn't wait till this competition was over so he could go to bed -- not that he'd quit.

"I know a game." Without warning, Sengoku's head popped up from behind the room's sole couch. "Just learned it. And it doesn't even have projectiles in it so you can't get in trouble with the coaches." He smiled, bright and good-natured. Sanada didn't trust people with good-natured smiles; he played on Yukimura's team.

Atobe raised an eyebrow. "Some other form of peasant entertainment?"

Sengoku laughed. "You could say that. Oi, Dan-kun!"

Dan Taichi had been attempting to slip unnoticed past the game room with an arm load of towels. At his senpai's call, he threw most of the towels into the air, several of them landing on his head and making his attentive posture slightly less credible as he shouted, "Hai, desu!"

"Where'd you guys leave those cards?"

Sengoku was quite proud of the ichinen. In the short time since he'd learned the game, they'd made a number of improvements in balancing the cards. Additionally, most of the cards now featured a photo image of the player, donated by Tachibana's little sister in exchange for a discount on the first set once he got them printed up. At the moment, the photos were still taped on.

"This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of," Sanada stated, staring at his hand. The comment might have had more to do with the contents of Sanada's hand than any actual disdain for the game, though.

"For once, ore-sama agrees with you." However, Atobe was staring at Sanada's cards through his Insight pose. Sengoku decided he never wanted to play poker with Hyotei's buchou.

"Oh, quit whining and draw." Sengoku cleared his throat. "The best of one set match. Atobe, service play."

Atobe rolled his eyes, flipping over a card from his deck and sniffing disdainfully. "Oh, this should be fun. Kirihara Akaya. Power 9, Accuracy 8, Speed 8."

Sanada glared at him under his baseball hat. "Versus Akutagawa Jiroh. Power 7, Accuracy 9, Speed 6." Around the room, various Hyotei players tried to nonchalantly glance at the stats. Sanada read the fine print. "Speed increases to 8 if opponent has higher total. And I will activate Magic Volley for an addition 3 points."

Atobe smirked. "You win."

Sengoku frowned, glancing at Atobe's cards. "Atobe-san, you can activate Demonic Possession to increase your power by four. And you've got some injury cards that are worth double if played by Kirihara."

The smirk stayed in place. "Ore-sama knows how this match would play out. Any counters Rikkai's little pet could come up with wouldn't be enough to defeat Jiroh."

Yanagi took three steps away from his fukubuchou. Sengoku copied the move, implaccable smile now somewhat nervous, while the ichinen, who had been huddled in a corner, whimpered. Shishido and Ohtori moved behind the couch, apparently using it as some kind of protective shield.

Meanwhile, Sanada held his stoic expression, though perhaps a spark of red flickered in his eyes. Sengoku couldn't be sure from the distance he now stood at. "Very well," Sanada stated, sweeping the players into his win pile. He turned over the next card and emitted a sound that was either an ironic laugh or meant he had some phlegm in his throat. "Tezuka Kunimitsu: Ten, ten, ten."

Atobe didn't turn over his own card, simply stared at the Tezuka one for a moment, eyebrows narrowed. Without warning, Atobe grabbed the draw deck and began flipping through it's contents.

"Ah... Atobe-san," Sengoku attempted. "You're really not supposed to look at the deck before--"

"Ha!" Atobe pulled his own card from the deck. "Nine, ten, nine!" he exclaimed. "And Tezuka has perfect tens! Ore-sama won that match!" Atobe's eyes started to change color the way they did when he'd served against Sanada. "Ore-sama demands an explanation of this oversight." He turned on the ichinen, snarling. Sengoku hadn't identified the game's creators, but the kids weren't the most stealthy people he'd ever met.

Surprisingly enough, Kachiro managed to shakily tear himself away from the protective huddle. His voice sounded like it was coming from inside a washing machine, but he did manage to stammer, "The statistics are based on Buchou being at full health. W-w-without an injury card --"

"This does not explain ore-sama's nines!" He slammed the card onto the table.

"Where's Yukimura's card?"

Yanagi also retreated behind the couch at the sound of his fukubuchou's voice.

The rest of the room turned to where Sanada had been flipping through the deck Atobe left behind.

"Anou..." Kachiro now looked less than pleased at his volunteering for ichinen spokesman. "We've never seen Yukimura-san play, so we ... didn't ... make one."

There was that red spark again. Was it Sengoku's imagination or did Sanada suddenly look bigger?

"Yukimura should have a card. He could beat Tezuka."

"Anou ... the scores don't go higher than ten, Sanada-san."

"Then give him elevens."

"May we return to the issue of ore-sama's nines!"

"What an interesting game." The eyes of the room refocused in the direction the deceptively gentle voice came from. Seigaku's tensai smiled at the boiling tension of the room. Sengoku looked for exits; perhaps this hadn't been the greatest diversion he could have thought of. Atomic bombs contained less power than putting Tezuka's three greatest rivals in the same room together. He'd call Tezuka to stop this right now if it wouldn't guarantee that he'd not make the selection.

"Hardly," Atobe scoffed. "It is completely inaccurate."

Fuji glanced over Sanada's shoulder at the Tezuka card. "Not the best picture though. You might want to look for a better photographer." He smiled at the ichinen. Sengoku didn't question how Fuji knew the game was their creation. "May I play for you, Sanada-san?"

Rikkai's fukubuchou shrugged and Fuji took his hand, drawing up to the five card limit. He glanced with what might have been contempt at the Atobe card. "Tezuka wins this one easily, ne?"

Atobe fumed, grabbing his card. "Kabaji! Pen!"

"Usu."

Atobe furiously updated the special moves list. "Taunheuser serve. Plus 5 to power."

"Fair enough. This game should reflect the newest skills." Fuji smiled as he pulled a card from his own hand and laid it on top of Atobe's. Atobe read the card and started emitting a very low growl in the back of his throat.

Sengoku risked getting close enough to read the print. "Follow Mizuki's script. Minus nine to accuracy. Ouch."

He overheard Horio whisper to the other ichinen, "We didn't make that card, did we?"

Atobe's growl was now noticeably audible. Dan and Katsuo were frantically drawing up a Yukimura card under Sanada's molten glare. Ohtori had opened up a window and was helping to usher most of the bystanders through it.

Fuji beamed, unphased. "Well, that's that then." He turned to the ichinen. "Do see me if you wanted some better photos of the team. I can offer them to you at a very reasonable price." Sengoku wasn't sure if anyone else noticed the tensai palm the Tezuka card up his sleeve before he glided back out the door

"Fuji!" Atobe shouted, flying after him. Kabaji dutifully followed. "We are playing tennis, right now!"

Sanada remained behind, terrifying the ichinen and creating an indestructible Yukimura card. Sengoku took the opportunity to slink as stealthily as possible the direction opposite the one Fuji and Atobe had taken. So perhaps today wasn't his luckiest day...

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Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the Gather series. I'm pretty sure I'm done with this series fora bit, but if I get another Senbatsu crack idea, you'll see it here. As always, many waffles to microgirl for the beta-ing and complimentary cokes.