A/N: Here we go, another part! And I can't believe that just last chapter we were celebrating 'over 100' and now we're already 'over 150'. It's insane! Anyhow, I think that some credit for this idea has to go to a conversation with wolfgirlnowandforever involving sport, PE teachers and their inflicting worldwide torture through the 'pacer'/'beep' test. Random stuff like this is always inspiring, isn't it? Once again, I hope you enjoy.
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A Friendly Game... Yeah Right!
"Alright," said Sanjou in an authoritative tone. "You can eat your lunch now."
"Yippee," Kukai cheered unenthusiastically.
Yaya looked around, furrowing her eyebrows when she noticed most of them didn't move to take out any food. "I'm on a diet. What're your excuses?" she asked.
"I didn't have enough time to make it," said Utau. Tadase seemed rather doubtful but since his mouth was full of the food that he'd brought, he decided to refrain from commenting.
Kukai reached over and stole some of the blond boy's lunch, his own one nowhere in sight. "I forgot," he explained, smirking. "I was... busy."
"That was mine!" yelled Tadase.
"Oh boohoo; the Prince doesn't have his food," said Nagihiko mockingly. He didn't appear to have brought a meal either. "I ate mine on the way to school."
Rima looked up from her very expensive bento to see Amu's meagre one. "Ah, people of unfortunate financial status are so pitiful," she said condescendingly.
"Can it, Mashiro," snapped Amu. Even so, she was glad that her mother still packed lunch for her every morning and put it next to her breakfast.
"Kitty's being awfully quiet," Kukai complained, looking around.
"That's because he's asleep." Nagihiko jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the dozing form of Ikuto in a back corner.
"I wasn't asking you!" said Kukai with a scowl. "But you just have to butt in on everything, don't you?"
"Are you capable of eating in peace?" asked Sanjou, interrupting what would have turned into a rather physical argument. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when they all sank into a sullen silence.
Kairi, who had been standing watch outside the door, poked his head in. "Nikaido-sensei's back," he commented.
A moment later, Nikaido walked in. As he passed Kairi, however, he reluctantly passed him a fifty dollar note. Sanjou, catching sight of this, scowled. She had lost the most money in their bets even though her prediction had come true. As she also went to pay her nephew the money he'd won, Nikaido addressed the classroom.
"Your next activity is very simple, actually," he confided in them.
"Why do I feel like this is going to be a lot harder than it sounds?" said Yaya flatly.
"Because you're just optimistic like that," answered Nagihiko with a smile.
Nikaido sighed. He should have gotten used to interruptions by now but it was more taxing than he could have imagined to be interrupted every second sentence.
"We think that since you all have so much pent-up aggressive energy, a little sporting activity would do you all good," he proclaimed.
Rima let out a little disbelieving snort. "No," she countered immediately. "I don't do sports."
Utau was the next to object. "You do realise that this means that you're giving those two freaks over there," she pointed at Kukai and Nagihiko, "a huge advantage against those of us with better things to do in our free time than running around after a ball?"
"Don't worry," replied Nikaido. "We don't even have a hockey team at this school."
Kukai burst into laughter then and there. "There's a good reason for that! It's got to be one of the lamest sports there are!"
"All sport is lame," stated Rima. Kukai stopped laughing immediately, instantly giving Rima a death glare. The change was so sudden that it startled everybody in the room.
"What did you say?" he spat.
"Back to the hockey business..." said Nikaido hurriedly.
Kukai ignored him. "Well, Princess?"
"Touchy, aren't we?" remarked Utau.
Sanjou finally had enough. "All of you, shut up!" she ordered. "And somebody wake Tsukiyomi up so we can go down to the field."
"But I haven't finished my lunch," protested Rima.
Sanjou placed a hand on Rima's shoulder, carefully noting the way that the young girl looked shocked before covering it up. "Finish it later, Mashiro-san," she suggested.
"You don't call Kitty 'Tsukiyomi-san' anymore," observed Kukai. "Has he annoyed you that much?"
"What?" the teacher said blankly. She'd never even noticed herself forgetting to add the '-san' to the end of his surname.
He shrugged, looking away. "We're off to play the sport that's almost as lame as lacrosse," he said boredly.
"I happen to enjoy hockey," snapped Sanjou.
"That's because you're lame," retorted the jock. She looked furious after that last comment. The only reason that she didn't attack was because Nikaido laid a calming hand on her arm. She had to remind herself that she had self-control. Dealing with the Powers was like dealing with the principal... only there were eight of them and she had to stay with them for longer periods of time. Oh joy.
"How come you've never even attempted to flirt with the teacher, Chicken?" asked Amu, a victim of his past antics.
"Are you kidding me?" he said, making a disgusted face. "Do you really think I'd sink that low, Spice?"
Amu looked at him blankly. "Spice?" she said.
He smirked. "What else am I supposed to call you with a stupid nickname like that?"
"Whatever."
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It took them a while and many miniature arguments, but the Powers and their shepherds finally managed to arrive at the school oval. Kairi, Nikaido and Tadase had been stuck lugging all the hockey gear with them. The other Powers wouldn't have helped if somebody had pointed a gun to their heads, and the three who were working knew better than to ask Sanjou.
"So what exactly are the rules?" inquired Utau.
"Well," said Sanjou briskly, "there are quite a few rules for this game but since you're all beginners we'll start with the easier ones. First, though, you need to wear the proper gear." Next to her, Nikaido produced some shin-pads from the crate that he had been carrying. They stared at the lumps of plastic, alarm colouring their features. Kairi then threw some sport shoes at those with inappropriate footwear. This basically meant all the girls. Rima backed away from her pair, refusing to even look at the atrocity, let alone wear it.
"Come on, kids. Remember, we have records of your home phone number and your addresses," she threatened them. They complied very, very slowly, trying to draw it out for as long as possible before they had to actually play.
"These shoes are disgusting," moaned Yaya. "Why are we actually doing this? It's, like, torture or something." Even as she said this, though, she was taking off the little high-heels she wore when she didn't have cheerleading practice. Then she looked at Rima. "What the heck is your problem?"
The blonde girl was only standing there; staring at the footwear she had been issued. Admittedly, this was an improvement from before. At Yaya's question, she looked up. "I need somebody to help me with the shoes," she explained.
The Powers stared at her in amazement. Even now she had the nerve to act so high and mighty and so maddeningly helpless. Nagihiko, who had already donned the shin-pads and had been taking a look at the bright orange and almost weightless balls that they were going to be using, threw one at her head. It connected, causing Rima to lose her cool for once and look outraged.
There were sniggers from the others and a cluck of disapproval from Tadase although he didn't move to do anything about it. Rima clenched her fist and sent the deadliest glare she could muster at him. It was wasted on the unrepentant teenager.
Utau, having finally finished putting on the shoes, straightened. "Come on you little dwarf, just put on the freakin' shoes already. Or don't you know how to tie shoelaces?"
For the first time ever, they saw a tinge of pink on her cheeks. "Oh shut up, Pop Wannabe." She had never been hit by anything before. It wasn't like the ball had hurt, but the fact that somebody had thrown something at her... It was enough to force her mask off and she was desperately trying – and failing – to regain it.
Nikaido clapped his hands, looking strangely delighted. "See? I told you: pent-up aggression just waiting to be unleashed."
Kukai smirked. "If you give us the sticks, I'm sure that we will definitely unleash our aggression, starting with Mashiro."
"I hope you're not suggesting that we would actually use the sticks to harm one another!" protested a shocked Tadase. "That..."
"Sounds fun," said Yaya spitefully.
Nagihiko shrugged. "I think it would be wasted on little Goldilocks," he smirked.
"Are you implying something about blondes?" asked Utau in a dangerously low voice.
"The rules," interrupted Sanjou forcefully for the hundredth time that day, "are simple. If you purposefully hit somebody else with your stick or anything else, then it's a foul and the other team will get a free shot at the goal, with only the goalkeeper to block." This was a rule that Sanjou was determined to prevent the Powers from breaking. It would be one of the most tempting, she knew. "If the ball touches your foot, then the other team receives the ball at that location." This one was more orthodox.
Ikuto yawned, still sleepy. He was sitting comfortably on the grass, leaning back onto his hands.
"If the ball goes out of the field, the other team gets it," she continued. "This is not golf; you're supposed to push the ball along with the hockey stick, not swing at it. Which brings us to our next agenda," she said, motioning to Nikaido.
"There's more?" Kukai groaned. The teachers ignored him, having found that it was usually the best way to deal with the smart-aleck comments that the Powers made.
Nikaido handed Sanjou a hockey stick and she used it to demonstrate her next instruction. "Your left hand holds the stick near the top, your thumb going underneath. The lower your right hand is, the more control you have," she said.
"Are you a PE teacher or something?" asked Kukai, wondering why she sounded so certain.
"No," she said curtly. "Take over," she ordered Nikaido, who looked surprised. Then he realised what there was left to teach. He sighed and took the stick from Sanjou.
"If you find that you have a sore back after a while, that's because your stance is incorrect," he said tiredly. "You will probably be tempted to bend over so that you can hit the ball, but that strains your back. What you're supposed to do is squat a little so that your back is still straight." He squatted to the amusement of the teenagers. It wasn't the most dignified position to be in, that was for certain.
"All three of us will be your referees," announced Sanjou. "Especially since we feel that you'll try to cheat as much as you think can get away with."
"Okay, the teams are: Souma, Hoshina, Tsukiyomi and Fujisaki..." Nikaido pointed at them.
There was a chorus of boos and complaints. "That is not fair! How can you put both the sporty ones on the same team?" Yaya said loudly.
"It would be a rather uneven match in terms of skill," reasoned Tadase. Rima gave him a look that said very clearly that she was very unimpressed at the politeness of his tone.
"Okay, fine. Mashiro and Fujisaki, swap teams," he sighed.
"Ah great, we've got the useless doll," muttered Ikuto, who was beginning to become more aware. If Rima had still been wearing her own shoes; the ones with a rather pointy heel, she would have stomped down hard on Ikuto's foot. If she'd tried that, Ikuto would probably have swept her legs from under her instead, so it was quite fortunate that she wasn't wearing those heels.
"Choose your goalie," Nikaido told them. None of the Powers moved, causing him to sigh. "Alright, Tsukiyomi, you're the goalie for your team and Yuiki's the goalie for the other one. I'm going to place the ball in the centre of the field and when I blow the whistle, you have to try and get it for your team." He placed the aforementioned whistle at his lips and blew.
This is how the hockey game began. It was Ikuto, Utau, Kukai and Rima versus Nagihiko, Tadase, Amu and Yaya. Needless to say, this would be one heck of an activity.
~*~
Shameless self-advertising: I have a little one-shot coming up about the same time as this, revolving around Kairi and Yuu. It's Yuukari. Since I rather like this one-sot of mine, I'm just informing you readers here that I have written such a thing. I don't mind whether you want to read it or not, because I'm aware that Yuukari isn't exactly the most poplular couple in the world. :)
