*NOTE* Alternate Universe wherein I shamelessly borrowed/altered ideas from various media sources and even threw in some of my own. If anything is canon here, it's probably an accident. Contains corporal punishment.

Changechildren (Prince of Tennis)

Part 21

By Haruka (email: haruka at ymail dot com)

Momoshiro chuckled to himself as he went into the kitchen for a snack. Ryoma should be snacking on chocolate right about now, and wondering who his secret admirer was. It was great, with this small gesture he could ensure that Ryoma's thoughts would be occupied with him all evening, even if right now, his identity was still a mystery. He picked up a loaf of bread and opened it to make a sandwich.

"Momoshiro-kun, you'll be having dinner within half an hour – can't you wait?" asked Aoi as she entered the kitchen.

"No, Ma'am, I can't," Momo admitted sheepishly. "But don't worry! I'll still be able to eat dinner!"

Aoi leaned back against the counter and regarded him with a curious smile. "Well? Has he found it yet?"

"By now he must have." Momo grinned. "Thanks for writing the card for me. It must be driving him crazy that he can't recognize the handwriting!"

"That should make it all the more fun and intriguing, hmm?" Aoi remarked. "And I'm sure when you reveal yourself as his admirer, he'll be very happy."

Ryoma started to walk into the kitchen, stopping abruptly when he saw the two of them. He turned and ran.

Momoshiro looked at Aoi in dismay. "Or not."

Choutarou wiped his eyes and blew his nose. He figured he was about cried out now, which was good, since dinner would be soon and he'd have to go downstairs.

A knock came at the door. Yuushi hadn't returned to their room since Tarou left, so he was still alone. "Come in," he said, and looked over his shoulder from his face-down position to see who it was.

Shishido entered slowly. "Hi," he said, his gaze taking in Choutarou on the bed and his moist, red eyes all at once. "Uh, maybe you don't want company yet –"

"No, don't go," Choutarou told him. "I'm okay."

"You don't LOOK okay!" Shishido said fiercely.

"Thanks a lot!" Choutarou laughed good-naturedly.

Shishido was dismayed. "I didn't mean that! I meant –" He took off his cap and ran fingers through his short hair. "It's just …."

"Yes?" Choutarou inquired curiously.

The other boy slapped the cap against his own leg in frustration. "I can't believe he spanked you, anyway! That wasn't supposed to happen, not after –"

"You wished me 'Good Luck'?" Choutarou smiled knowingly.

Shishido stared at him. "You knew I'd done that?"

"I suspected," the Sophomore confessed, "and I thank you so much for it."

"But it didn't work!" Shishido cried. "He spanked you, anyway!"

"You can't predict what form the luck will take, Shishido-san," Choutarou reminded him gently. "And it DID work. Maybe it was that extra bit of good luck that helped me to control my power so that I didn't break Sensei's hand this time." He grinned. "Believe it or not, I'm very happy about that."

"So," Shishido said uncertainly, "you're really okay?"

Choutarou nodded. "I'm really okay." He chuckled ruefully. "I'm sore, and a little embarrassed to go down to dinner where probably everyone will know what happened, but I'll be fine." He reached out and caught Shishido's hand in his. "Especially if you're with me."

The Senior's expression softened and he gave Choutarou's hand a squeeze. "You're a class act, you know that?"

"That makes two of us."

Mizuki had tried to think of a good way to get revenge on Fuji for the lake business, but none of them seemed quite as satisfying as what he REALLY wanted to do. He was one of the last kids to head down to dinner after the call came, and as he was coming down the hall and saw Fuji leaving his own room, he found himself moving toward him.

Fuji looked up as Mizuki reached him, but didn't have a chance to say a word before the St. Rudolph player slapped him soundly across the face.

"That's for making a fool of me this morning!" Mizuki snarled. "And don't hand me any of your lies about how it was accidental; I know it was on purpose!"

With a hand to his reddened cheek, Fuji raised his aqua eyes to meet Mizuki's. "It CAN be on purpose," he threatened.

Mizuki disappeared from view. "You can't bespell me if you can't see me, Fuji Syuusuke!"

That was true, but being invisible didn't mean Mizuki was no longer there. Fuji swung at him and connected, but he could tell at the last moment that he'd only clipped him.

"Ha, you call that a punch?" Mizuki taunted. "Now it's MY turn!"

In the noisy dining room, only the Tanaka twins heard the initial slap over the din of other students and teachers. They looked at each other, then stood up.

"SENSEI!" they called over to the teachers' table. "FIGHT! UPSTAIRS!"

"Mizuki!" Takahisa gasped.

"Fujiko!" cried Kawamura.

Thumping and shouts from above could now be heard by all, and the teachers left at a run.

"Stay here!" Sumire ordered the students on her way out. Takahisa and Kawamura exchanged a quick glance, then charged after them. Yuuta, with interests in both combatants, was close behind the older boys. Eiji jumped up as well, but Tezuka gave him a warning look.

"Don't," he said. "The teachers will handle it."

Eiji reluctantly dropped back onto his chair. "But you didn't stop Taka-san!"

Tezuka gave Eiji an oh-come-on look. "With Fuji in danger, do you think any force of nature could stop Kawamura?"

At first view, the scene upstairs had Syuusuke apparently having convulsions on the floor. Nanjiroh reached him first and hauled him to his feet, but Syuusuke's fist was tightly closed around something no one could see. A disembodied shriek of, "Let go of my hair!" was followed by Syuusuke crying out sharply, "He bit my leg!"

Tarou reached down in the seemingly open space in front of Syuusuke's leg and found what he was looking for. Strong hands yanking him backwards made Mizuki lose concentration enough to reappear, but he still lunged for Syuusuke, who tried to kick him at the same time.

"Stop it, both of you!" Aoi commanded. "You should be ashamed of yourselves! What kind of example are you setting for the younger boys?"

"How to defend themselves against deceitful liars like him!" Mizuki retorted, glaring at the Seigaku tensai.

"Speak for yourself, you scheming who – OW!" Syuusuke looked up at Nanjiroh accusingly and rubbed his backside.

"Sorry, kid, but I don't like that kind of talk," Nanjiroh told him. "You're in front of ladies – well, one lady and the old bag – and your own little brother." He nodded toward the thirteen-year-old.

"Yuuta." Upon seeing his younger sibling, the tension drained out of Syuusuke and he looked guilty.

"Who was told to stay downstairs," Sumire pointed out. "Along with YOU two!" She glared at Yuuta, Takahisa, and Kawamura. The latter looked distressed when he saw Syuusuke's disheveled condition. His hair was mussed, his clothes torn in numerous places, there were scratches and the discolouration of bruises appearing on his arms and a big red patch on his cheek. Mizuki's condition wasn't much better, but Kawamura barely noticed.

On the other hand, Takahisa moved to the St. Rudolph boy's side, frowning with concern. "Are you all right?"

"Do I LOOK all right?" he asked incredulously, then turned to Yuuta. "Your brother bespelled me on purpose, Yuuta-kun! Don't look in his eyes or he'll do it to you, too!"

"I didn't!" Syuusuke protested, turning toward Kawamura, who hurried over to him. "Really, Taka-san, I told you all earlier, I didn't do it!"

"I believe you, Fujiko," the other boy said firmly, gingerly brushing the hair from Fuji's abused face and looking pained.

"It's one thing to argue," Tarou said sternly. "It's another to come to blows. Who threw the first punch?"

Both boys opened their mouths to answer but Aoi held up a hand. "Before you say anything, do remember that I can go downstairs and ask Youhei and Kouhei just as easily – they heard the fight start."

Syuusuke closed his mouth and cast Mizuki a dirty look. The dark-haired boy pouted prettily.

"All right, I slapped him first," he admitted grudgingly. "But you know what he did to me this morning! I was humiliated, my uniform was soaked, I was late for school – I won't put up with him abusing his power on me like that!"

"Mizuki-kun, I spoke to Fuji-kun about this after school, and I believe that incident this morning WAS an accident," Nanjiroh said seriously. "On the other hand, it's not exactly fair of you to swing on a guy, then turn invisible so he can't hit you back. That use of your power WAS deliberate."

Mizuki's pout deepened, but he didn't reply. Takahisa squeezed his shoulder encouragingly.

"We're not going to condone fistfighting of any kind here," Sumire told them. "Mizuki-kun, you can go without dinner and are confined to your room for the evening. Fuji, you reacted to the initial attack but still participated in prolonging the fight, so you may have dinner, but you'll eat in your room and will also stay there tonight."

"I'll go get your dinner," Kawamura said to Syuusuke and went downstairs.

"That's not fair!" Mizuki objected. "Just because he's YOUR player –"

"I agree with Ryuzaki-san," Aoi interrupted. "You started the fight, Mizuki-kun, and that merits additional punishment."

The teenager cast a hopeful glance toward the men, but they were already nodding their own agreement. He folded his arms and gave his foot a stamp, but knew he was out of luck.

"Is it okay if I heal them?" Yuuta asked the teachers, who looked at each other.

"If he doesn't, they'll have a disadvantage on the court because both of them are going to be sore for a while," Nanjiroh pointed out.

Sumire gave the boys a stern look. "If I ever catch the two of them throwing punches again, they'll be sore somewhere else, too," she said. "But I guess healing them both this time is all right."

Yuuta used his healing power on both his teammate and his brother. He felt better when they were back to normal, except for the messy hair and torn clothing. By the time he was done, Kawamura had arrived with Syuusuke's tray.

"Thank you, Taka-san." The tensai smiled gratefully.

"All right, both of you to your rooms," Aoi said. "The rest of you, back downstairs to have your own dinner."

Mizuki gave Yuuta a significant look, and the other boy figured what his senpai wanted was for him to sneak some food up to their room after dinner.

As everyone separated, Nanjiroh threw an arm around the younger Fuji brother and said quietly, "Of course, you know what'll happen if we find out that you brought food to Mizuki later, right, kid?"

Yuuta gulped. Considering the earlier events of the day, he had a fair idea.

That evening in their bedroom, Akira stared at Momoshiro for a moment, then burst out laughing. The Seigaku Sophomore glared at him.

"You WANT to die young, Akira?"

"Aw, come on, man, it's hilarious!" The Fudomine Speed Demon wiped his eyes. "You get up the nerve to write Echizen a secret admirer note, and he thinks that HANAMURA left it for him?"

"That's what he told Inui-senpai during dinner," Momoshiro lamented. "You know he's always thought that she was hitting on him when they first met, and now he thinks she's just getting more determined." He shook his head. "I just didn't want him to recognize my handwriting, and I figured he wouldn't know hers!"

"But Shinji got involved and messed things up for you." Akira grinned. "You've got to set the kid straight, otherwise things will be really weird between he and Hanamura-san."

"Not to mention that I'LL never make any head-way with him." Momo sighed. "I don't know what to do, though. I mean, I know I have to tell him, but how?"

"Just open up your mouth and say it!" Akira told him. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"That he wishes it HAD been Hanamura instead?"

"He already knows you like him, remember? Your bag snitched on you in the burger joint."

Momoshiro groaned. "Don't remind me."

"But that's a GOOD thing!" Akira told him. "Seriously, just go to him directly and don't try anymore dumb stunts that could backfire. Like I told you before, that's one kid who'll be straight with you about how he feels, you'll see."

Momo knew Akira was right, but he also knew that if Ryoma rejected him outright, it really would affect their friendship, and that was the last thing he wanted. There had to be a subtle way to feel him out about the idea of dating without actually getting in his face about it.

Akira watched Momoshiro's expression carefully and could tell along what lines the other boy was thinking. He didn't understand Momo's reluctance, but could easily see him managing to sabotage his own efforts again. That being the case, he wondered if it was time for a little friendly butting in on his roommate's behalf.

End of Part 21

(2006)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.