A/N: Niou is planning an epic prank that requires help. This cannot possibly be good, but when placed between a rock and a hard place, you tend to take the least traumatic option… in this case helping Niou. Don't forget, if you like the rumors and want to read tons more of them (beyond what has been captured in this story), check out Rumor Has It, you can even request a rumor for your favorite player. Enjoy!

Chapter 11 – It's All A Dream

There were days that Jackal wanted to crawl back into his bed and die… and today happened to be one of those days. He had been cornered by Niou and coerced into helping the psychotic trickster with some prank or plot the other teen was cooking up, that run in made him a couple minutes late, he dreamed of rebellion, and then swore at least 2 of the three demons could read his mind (hmmm maybe the rumors were true). Why did he believe they read his mind, well Yanagi was the first to approach him…

"Jackal, whatever you have planned, don't do it. You have less than a 2% chance of success. No is good to say to others, but not the leadership of this team," the data collector stated and then walked away before he Jackal could say anything.

Now the demons must be able to communicate telepathically because just as soon as the defensive turned around, he jumped, clutching his chest and gasping in surprise, "Yukimura!"

Giggling, Yukimura's smile increase at least tenfold as he said, "Issues Jackal?"

"Uh, no buchou!" The half-Brazilian stated.

"Sou ka. So do you want to tell me what your little meeting with Niou entailed?"

Jackal quickly shook his head, "It was nothing. He wanted to know if I planned on helping Marui with Kirihara and I told him no." It wasn't the complete truth, but he knew better than to lie to the bluenette. His buchou always seemed to know when someone lied to him… and there were rumors of what happened to those people… Fuji Syusuke supposedly had a torture chamber under his school, and rumor has it that he got the idea from Yukimura. Jackal figured sadists stuck together (perhaps there was a sadist convention where they all met).

Yukimura narrowed his eyes, the smile never leaving his face, and then he finally spoke, "Sou ka. Well, I will let you get back to your work." He started to walk off, but called over his shoulder when he was about five steps away, "Tell Niou that if he is planning on doing something to this school… to rethink his plan."

Breathing a sigh of relief when the bluenette started to walk away, his heart race increased exponentially when Yukimura stopped and added that last little bit. They knew… they always knew and he was starting to believe the rumors were true. Oh why couldn't he have said "no" from day one instead of losing his marbles and going ballistic during practice? If he had started saying that sacred word in the beginning, he would not be paying for his politeness now. An instant later he screamed like a girl and jumped in the air; someone had blown on his ear and he never heard anyone approach. Whipping around, he pointed and sputtered, "You… You…"

"Me? Piyo," Niou smirked, "Yukimura has nothing to worry about because our school is not the target." He left the half-Brazilian standing there while sported a malicious and mischievous expression on his face, imagining the terror his bald friend was experiencing at the moment.

Chills crawled up and down Jackal's spine. That smile, and the brain attached to it, were dangerous weapons… and somehow his school, when Niou wasn't using his powers against its inhabitants, believed that Niou was some sort of mad genius. The defensive player would wholeheartedly agree with the word mad. In fact, he would still put that label on everyone on his team, minus him of course; and the ring leader of the circus was a blue haired tennis player who could rob anyone of the senses… how was this normal? Yah, the rumors had to be true… the nickname demon of Rikkai Dai was not just a nickname. Mind reading, appearing out of nowhere, knowing he met with Niou… it all only meant one thing, Yukimura was either a real demon or had superpowers. Throw into the mix Niou with his pranks, Marui with his cake fetish (come on, he has an addiction and rumor has it he proposed to a cake once), a golf player turned tennis player, two more demons, plus whatever the hell Kirihara was, and… WAIT! That's it. All of this seemed too unreal, ergo he must be dreaming. Pinching himself as hard as he could, Jackal yelled, "Ouch!"

Unfortunately about this time Marui and Kirihara were arriving for their morning cleaning duties and heard the bald teen scream. They watched as Jackal pinched himself two more times and observed as he yelled twice more. Then Jackal stomped his feet in place and yell, "This can't be real!" After that it went downhill because the defensive specialist started to click his heels together three times and say, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."

Quaking with newfound fear, Kirihara grabbed Marui's arm and dug his nails into the tensai's arm, "Senpai, why is Jackal-senpai acting crazy? Is he possessed again? I thought Mura-buchou performed an exorcism!" Tears were forming in the younger teen's eyes as he moved closer to the redhead until the other teen was practically carrying him.

Marui patted the back of his charge and shook his head, a worried and confused expression on his face, "I think he has just been under added stress."

"We broke him?! Or did the ghost do it?"

"I don't know," Marui replied dumbfounded at what he was seeing.

Jackal started to laugh hysterically and turned around in a circle with his eyes closed, but when he opened them everything was the same, only now everyone was staring at him much the way they had done earlier in the week when he had lost his temper. Except now, the bald teen believed the expressions were much worse and they were keeping a very big distance from him. Seeing Yukimura approach him, he asked, "This isn't a dream?"

Shaking his head, Yukimura's smile clearly said, "You're sick and I don't want to catch your type of crazy, but how dare you disrupt my practice again." He stopped about four feet from his tennis player and stated, "No, this is very real and you did it again. Why don't you go home and rest for the day. We'll tell the school you're sick." Speaking quietly to the man behind him, he said, "Genichiro, we may want to call some special help for our friend Jackal here."

"No! No, I'm fine. I just lost it for a little bit," Jackal declared.

The bluenette glared, "Excuse me? Did you say no to me again?"

"No! I mean yes, I did, but only to tell you that I'm fine!" The half-Brazilian argued. He really didn't want additional punishments.

"Sou ka. Go home and rest today. If you do that right now, I will pretend this little mishap didn't happen and will refrain from prolonging your… punishment," Yukimura's smile increased.

The way his buchou said punishment sounded more like he was saying the word torture. Did Jackal have a choice? Well, in a way, he could stay and take whatever Yukimura dished out with the threat that he might be committed at some point in time today. It would mean he would stand up for himself and all mankind against the sadistic tennis buchou by telling the bluenette NO yet again. Then again, he wasn't that stupid or brave and finally nodded his head in agreement, "Alright." Hey, at least it got him away from the crazy for a day and he could recoup his lost mind. Plus, if this was really a dream, even though the wake up techniques didn't work and even though Yukimura said it wasn't, he could go to sleep and actually wake up this time and the nightmare would be over. Yah, it had to still be a dream because the bluenette didn't believe in letting people off like that… so this was for the best. He would go home and then wake up to find that nothing was real and he was not on the verge of a mental breakdown.

"You pushed him over the edge, Niou-kun," Yagyuu whispered for his partner's benefit.

"I don't think it was me. I think it was Yukimura and the stress. Puri," Niou replied, but he was questioning the defensive player's sanity at the moment. He needed sane people on his team, not the criminally insane. Yes, Rikkai Dai was full of crazies, but Jackal was acting crazier than anyone in the school… well in comparison to Jackal's norm.

Watching as Jackal left campus, Yukimura turned around when he left school grounds and shot everyone a look, "Why are you all standing around. Get started on your warm-up laps!" The bluenette then spotted Marui and his Kirihara cloak (at least that is the way it appeared since the second year was clinging to the redhead like a second skin). Approaching them, he asked, "Why are you out here?"

"Mura-buchou! Jackal is possessed again! I thought you got rid of the ghost," Kirihara whined.

"I did. Today he is just tired from getting rid of it," the bluenette patted the younger teen's hair.

Marui rolled his eyes and then dropped the ace to the ground, "Come on Bakaya, let's get to cleaning."

"Aren't you scared?" Kirihara cried rubbing his bottom as he got to his feet.

"Jackal is fine. I think he just needs some sleep… or a good shrink," the tensai muttered and dragged the younger teen along. The last thing he wanted was to get Yukimura riled up and end up in the rumored torture chamber.

With everyone doing what he wanted them to do, Yukimura started on his own laps. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong with Jackal, but according to Yanagi, another breakdown shouldn't have happened for another three months. Well, even data experts could be wrong sometimes.