Disclaimer: I'm too tired to own this… does that even make sense? Oo;

Pairings: YagyuuxNiou, YanagixKirihara, SanadaxYukimura (little but there)

Truth Disease

by: yukuro

If anyone were to put to blame, it would definitely be Inui.

Kirihara had just successfully ditched Jackal, his babysitter assigned by Sanada for the day, and preceded to sneak away from practice in search of Yanagi. There was a message earlier that noted that Yanagi had a visitor and so Kirihara could only inwardly pout as he watched his senpai leave practice. Now that he had escaped his babysitter's clutches, and probably getting poor Jackal in a mass of trouble, Kirihara was curious about who exactly had pulled Yanagi out of practice.

The second year was just sneaking around a corner when he overheard a most likely private conversation answered his questions. He glanced around the corner, frowning as he did so.

"…should probably head back now, Renji. I'm sorry I came all this way to bother you during your practice," Seigaku's Inui Sadaharu was saying to Yanagi while smiling slightly.

"No, it's alright. It was kind of my idea anyway," Yanagi replied, looking up at his childhood friend, completely unaware of the fact that Kirihara was spying on him. Holding out his hand for a shake, Yanagi smiled. "Take care until we meet again, Sadaharu."

Inui cocked his head at other boy's outstretched hand for a moment. Suddenly grinning, he leaned over to kiss Yanagi's cheek. Adjusting his glasses as he stood up straight again, he put a bottle in Yanagi's outstretched hand. "Here. A new drink I developed. It stimulates your mind."

Yanagi, instantly remembering the rumors about his friend's infamous drinks, felt his smile twitch for a second. "Aa… Thanks."

"Well, I'll be leaving now," Inui said with a wave before disappearing out of the gates.

Frown deepening on his lips, Kirihara folded his arms in annoyance. Not that he would ever admit to anyone, he felt slightly jealous. Usually, Yanagi would spend most of his time and concern over him and then that abnormally tall Seigaku Regular comes all the way to the Kanagawa district to kiss Yanagi and give him a bottle of who-knows-what. Kirihara was annoyed.

Jackal, panting from running around the school campus looking for the second year, spotted him leaning casually against a wall and called out to him, "Akaya! You had better get back to practice before Sanada gets angry!"

Kirihara went with little hesitation. After all, he was too busy being annoyed and sulking to really care anymore. Throwing a silent tantrum remarkably like a three-year-old's, Kirihara stomped off back to the tennis courts, only to drop himself into a seat on the benches.

The second year was still sulking when Yanagi returned to practice with a slightly dazed expression. Noticing the younger boy sitting by himself on the benches, Yanagi set the bottle down on the bench to reach out and pat Kirihara's head. "Stay out of trouble, Akaya. It's best not to get Genichirou angry."

Kirihara was still sulking on the benches when Yanagi returned to the courts to apologize to Sanada. He didn't see what was so great about Inui. He was tall and scary-looking. Kirihara was a brat, but at least he wasn't tall and scary-looking.

Eyes narrowing slightly, he reached out and grabbed the first water bottle his hand came in contact with. Unfortunately he had grabbed the one that Inui had given Yanagi. Kirihara, of course, did not know this and took a gulp.

The taste was so horrible, his first instinct was to throw up, but somehow it managed to go down and make him feel as if he were choking. Strange expressions crossed Kirihara's face all at once. He waved desperately to someone in hope of getting some water.

Oh so unfortunately, Niou happened to be the first one to notice him. He had just returned from putting colored ink in Sanada's hat, which the poor boy was about to put on. Noticing Kirihara frantically scratching at his tongue, Niou joined him in curiosity, plopping down on the bench next to the younger boy. "What are you doing, Kirihara?"

Of course, Kirihara was in no position to respond, so instead pointed at the bottle with sullen eyes. He coughed and sputtered in attempt to get Niou to realize he was in a certain amount of…pain.

Missing the signs, Niou picked up the bottle and examined it for a moment. He eyed Kirihara for a moment before raising an eyebrow. "You're exaggerating aren't you? How bad could a drink be?"

Kirihara's eyes widened as Niou took a sip. He wondered if the older boy was stupid. Well, there was little else for him to think since in the next moment, they both fell over after Niou let out a cry of disgust.

The other Regulars instantly rushed over after hearing—well, generally things that could be misinterpreted. After gathering in a small circle around the two unconscious boys, Jackal was the first to make a comment.

"Oh good, they're still dressed. So it's not what I thought!"

The Regulars turned slowly to look at him with similar disbelieving expressions on their faces. Jackal blinked and turned slightly red, muttering quietly in embarrassment, "I hadn't realized I said that out loud."

"So what do you think happened to them?" Marui asked, cautiously picking up Niou's limp arm to let it fall back to his side. He leaned over to check for breathing before asking, "Did they get into a fight?"

"Either way, they'll both be in trouble for slacking off during practice," Sanada said coldly, his expression completely blank. He had no doubt Niou was probably up to something.

"This may be the cause of the problem," Yagyuu stated, picking up the bottle they were drinking from. He adjusted his glasses with his free hand. "Food poisoning?"

Yanagi's eyebrows furrowed when he noticed what Yagyuu was holding. Suddenly, a horrible wave of terror washed over him. "Ah…that's the bottle Sadaharu gave me…"

Marui's eyes widened a considerable amount as he lifted a finger to point at Yanagi's guilt-stricken face. "Whoa! This is the first time Yanagi has ever messed up! Ever! This…this is a part of history!"

"I'm sorry, Genichirou," Yanagi apologized sincerely, his brows still furrowed with guilt and concern. "I should have kept a better eye on it. I didn't think that Akaya would… I'll be willing to accept any punishment you find suitable."

There was nothing more Sanada wanted but to just sit down and rub his temples. Instead, he hardly let out a sigh. Though not in the same effect, Marui did have a point. It was the first time his best friend had ever messed up. He was just grateful Yanagi was not the one who drank it. He would be needed to fix this problem. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, Marui let out a howl.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Niou had just woken up and bit Marui's finger, luckily with little force. He then jumped to his feet, snatched Yagyuu's glasses and put them on, singing, "Whoo hoo, I'm sexy Yagyuu Hiroshi!" in a ridiculously girly voice while skipping circles around the wilding blinking Yagyuu.

No one could think of anything to say at the moment. It was too weird for anyone to say a thing.

The first thing Kirihara saw when his eyes fluttered open was Jackal staring at Niou. The second year instantly rose to his feet and dragged himself over. "I…I love you, Yanagi-senpai!"

Jackal turned to face a lovesick-looking Kirihara approaching him while rambling about Yanagi. He held his racquet up to his face when Kirihara suddenly tried to kiss him. "W-What the?!"

Everyone then turned to stare at Yanagi, except Niou, who was still singing, Kirihara, who was confessing to Jackal's racquet, and Yagyuu, who…well, Yagyuu couldn't really see anything at all.

"Ew!" Marui exclaimed, pointing at Kirihara with the finger Niou didn't bite. "He just kissed a racquet! …hey, isn't this the first time Kirihara ditched Jackal for Yanagi?"

"Um, excuse me for interrupting, but I believe we have a bigger problem," Yagyuu stated to no one in particular as Jackal backed away from Kirihara. Probably because he could hardly see a thing.

"…might be a secret, but I think Sanada and Yukimura have somehow illegally eloped somewhere," Niou was rambling while twirling Yagyuu's glasses around. "I mean Yukimura could pass for a woman, and Sanada doesn't really look like a middle school student, but that's just what I think. I also think that Marui chews green gum because the pink kind got stuck in his hair and the color stayed in and…"

"What's he talking about?" Jackal asked in bewilderment. At this point, things were getting almost scary.

"…I bet Yanagi ran away from practice today to meet his secret lover from Seigaku with the weird glasses…has anyone else noticed that Yanagi's eyes are closed? How are you supposed to see?!"

Jackal was scared.

"Oh yeah, speaking of Yanagi," Niou went on without a blink, still twirling the other boy's glasses, "Yagyuu used to have a crush on him when we were second years. Then I got pissed off and glued Yanagi's notebooks together."

"So that's what happened to those notebooks," Yanagi said musingly. "Oh, but those weren't my notebooks. I borrowed them from Genichirou."

Sanada felt his eyebrows twitch.

"Hey, why does everyone like Yanagi?" Marui asked with a raised eyebrow, motioning to Yagyuu and Kirihara.

By then, Yagyuu was growing quite embarrassed and was groping the air in search of his glasses. Thinking that he heard Niou blabbing mindlessly on the left, Yagyuu quickly let his hand dart out to grab…

…Sanada's nose.

Sanada was not amused.

Then he blew up the world and destroyed everyone. That is, except the hospital where Yukimura was staying because his dear Seiichi had to get better soon and come back so they could live happily ever after.

Well, that's what he wanted to do anyway. In reality, he stood with a rigid frown as Yagyuu poked and prodded his face a few hundred times before going pale in realization. Sanada cleared his throat and Yagyuu backed away. "Renji, what's going on here?"

Yanagi studied his teammates with a frown. "They seem to be repeatedly telling the truth. Well, Sadaharu did say the drink would stimulate the mind. I just didn't think this was what he meant, although it could also be an accident…"

"Niou-kun telling the truth? That's new," Yagyuu stated to no one. Jackal reached over and turned him around so he faced the other Regulars. "Oh. Thank you, Marui-kun."

"That's Jackal!" Marui exclaimed, feeling insulted.

"Well, you get the point," Yagyuu said dryly, still squinting around in search of his glasses. He wasn't usually horribly blind without them. It's just that he had to use those damn eye drops this morning of all mornings. He just had to use them today.

"Hey, Yagyuu is really hot without his glasses on," Niou commented from the side.

"Are you sure it's the truth they're telling?" Marui asked with a frown.

"…and I started to have nightmares after that match with Fuji-san. He's really scary…"

Sanada sighed. They would all be in so much trouble after this was over. That is, if this ever ended. Oh, but that was a frightening thought. Niou was annoying when he always told lies. Sanada had never imagined that he would be even more annoying when he always told the truth.

"Renji, take care of those two, the rest of you go back to practice," Sanada said stonily, turning to pick his racquet from against the wall.

"Sanada has a really nice ass."

Everyone was silent.

Yagyuu reached out in attempt to slap a hand over Niou's mouth, but instead slapped the back of Jackal's head.

"Ow!"

"No, really," Niou went on carelessly, oblivious to the fact that he was in a potentially life-threatening situation. Oh the bliss of being ignorant under the influence of Inui's juice. "Yukimura thinks so too. He says it's too perfect to be a middle school student's. Yukimura probably looks at Sanada's ass all the time."

Sanada had not moved yet and the other Regulars, even Kirihara and Yagyuu, found themselves staring at Sanada's—…back, with heads cocked to the side. Each of them had similar shades of red on their faces.

"He's going to explode," Marui muttered, his eyes widening significantly.

"Genichirou is…" Yanagi trailed off with a flushed face, almost certain he was on the verge of a nosebleed.

"Actually, I kind of get what Niou-kun is saying," Yagyuu muttered back, squinting at Sanada. "Even though I can't see really well… Too bad those tennis shorts are in the way."

Sanada turned around to glare dangerously at them. Lightning struck and the Regulars were scared stiff. Only Niou casually twirled Yagyuu's glasses around and Kirihara tugged on Jackal's shirt, looking like he was about to cry.

"You are all DEAD."

Grabbing the useless, the Regulars dashed off the courts, not stopping until they were hiding behind the clubroom. Yagyuu had almost crashed into the wall, but luckily someone tripped him and instead he fell on top of Niou. Who knows what the better position may have been.

Jackal leaned against the wall to catch his breath while Marui collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily. "I have never run so fast in my entire life," Marui panted, falling face-first onto the grass. "I think I swallowed my gum."

"I think we have bigger problems than that," Jackal sighed, standing up straight again. He turned to look at Yanagi while pointing at Yagyuu and Niou piled on top of each other and Kirihara, who was still confessing his feelings to Jackal's racquet. "What are we going to do about them?"

Yanagi sighed in defeat. His data wouldn't be able to help him out of this one. He glanced hopelessly at Kirihara. "I guess the only thing we can do is put them in a closed area and wait for it to wear off."

"What if it doesn't wear off?" Marui asked fearfully.

"We'll have to accept that Niou is attracted to everyone and Akaya's new best friend is Jackal's racquet."

Kirihara suddenly looked up and tackled Jackal to the ground. "Yanagi-senpai! Don't ever leave me again!"

"This had better wear off. I don't think I can stand being Yanagi," Jackal stated miserably. "Now I wonder why I always go looking for Akaya whenever he runs off."

"Because Sanada would kick your ass," Marui explained.

"Oh yeah."

Sighing, Yanagi pulled Kirihara off of Jackal by his collar. "I'll take care of Akaya. The rest of you please keep an eye on Niou."

Jackal and Marui exchanged glances before simultaneously turning to look at Niou and Yagyuu. It proved to be a horrible idea since Niou had flipped Yagyuu over and was attempting to pull Yagyuu's shirt off, the other boy's glasses still in his possession. The doubles two pair turned miserably green.

Yanagi had dragged Kirihara off to an empty clubroom of some other sport while Kirihara kicked and complained.

"Leave me alone!" Kirihara exclaimed, kicking his feet as Yanagi dragged him away from the tennis courts. "I hate you! Leave me alone!"

Although he knew Kirihara was not himself at the moment, Yanagi couldn't help but feel somewhat hurt. Despite how the younger boy had been openly confessing his feelings to Jackal and his racquet, who he had thought was Yanagi for some reason, the real Yanagi felt horrible at the moment. He knew at this time Kirihara could speak no lies and so if he screamed "I hate you," it must be true, no matter who he was saying it to.

"I want to go find Yanagi-senpai!" Kirihara exclaimed loudly after Yanagi closed the door of the clubroom to give them some privacy. "Let me out of here, you jerk!"

Letting out another sigh, Yanagi sank down onto the bench. "Akaya, tell me what's wrong. I'm Yanagi."

"No you're not," the younger boy insisted, sliding away from the other boy on the bench.

Giving in, Yanagi leaned back against the wall. "Alright then, Akaya. You got me. I'm…Jackal," Yanagi said lamely, unable to think of anyone else to say. "Yanagi asked me to watch you, so be good for him."

"I don't need you to baby-sit me," Kirihara scoffed, folding his arms. "I'm going to be fourteen." His expression softened. "But if Yanagi-senpai says so…"

Yanagi sighed in relief when Kirihara relaxed and sat still. It was silent for a moment. When Kirihara lay down on the bench to rest his head on Yanagi's lap, Yanagi nearly jumped in surprise. "Akaya?"

"I'm tired," the second year said childishly, squeezing his eyes shut. "Senpai-tachi always make me work too hard everyday."

"That's because we want you to become even stronger," Yanagi replied quietly, resisting the urge to touch Kirihara's face. "If we constantly push you, you can be much better than before. Gen—Sanada knows this, so he pushes you more than anyone else."

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Kirihara mumbled, lifting one arm to drape his wrist over his eyes. He lay in silence for a while before quietly muttering, "I want Yukimura-buchou to come back. I miss him."

"We all do, Akaya," Yanagi replied with a small smile. After all, Kirihara was still more of a child than any of them. That was probably one of the reasons why he couldn't help but love him.

The next few moments passed in peaceful silence before Yanagi suddenly remembered. "Akaya, why did you drink from that bottle today? Was it just because you were thirsty?"

"No," Kirihara said evenly, his wrist not moving from covering his eyes. "I think I did it on purpose because I was angry."

"Why were you angry?" the older boy asked, suddenly curious. He remembered seeing Kirihara sulking by the stands. In fact, that was the whole cause of accidentally leaving the water bottle next to the second year.

"I snuck out of practice to look for Yanagi-senpai," Kirihara began, still not revealing his eyes. "That's when I saw him by the front gate with Inui-san. I saw Inui-san kiss Yanagi-senpai before he left. I was jealous and angry, so I didn't notice the drink before I drank it. Niou-senpai was just being stupid when he drank it."

Yanagi felt horrible. Everything was more his fault than he had imagined. Realizing something, he paused. "You were jealous because Inui kissed Yanagi? But it was just a little kiss and they acted like that ever since they were very little."

"I don't care," Kirihara stated, his lips turning into a pout. His lips parted slightly and his hand moved away from his eyes to reveal slightly flushed cheeks and sparkling green eyes. "Everyone always says Yanagi-senpai is so smart. I don't really think so anymore. If Yanagi-senpai was really as smart as everyone always says he is, why hasn't he noticed yet? The way I feel…"

"Akaya…" Yanagi's brows furrowed. There was nothing he wanted more than to tightly embrace the other boy, but he also did not want to hurt Kirihara in his current condition. Leaning back against the wall, he whispered quietly, "I'm sure that Yanagi knows exactly how you feel."

Back in the tennis clubroom, Niou was telling his doubles partner and his other two teammates about every prank he had ever pulled in his entire life. He made sure not to leave any tiny detail out. One missing detail could ruin the entire plan.

"…and so I think it was in second grade when I realized I was born to make trouble," Niou said, still refusing to give Yagyuu his glasses back. He had already stated several times that Yagyuu looked hot without them. Oh, but who knows? Who knows…

"I can't take this anymore!" Marui burst out in exasperation, jumping to his feet. Stomping towards the door, he grabbed Jackal on the way and opened the door. "You watch him for a while, Yagyuu. He's your doubles partner! We're going for a break!"

Yagyuu frowned. "But I can't…"

SLAM!

"…see."

Sighing, Yagyuu leaned against the wall while Niou babbled mindlessly about his elementary school days. By the time he finally got to talking about his middle school days, Yagyuu was ready to explode. "Listen, Niou-kun…"

"At first I really liked to make fun of you because you never had a reaction," Niou was saying, "but then I liked dressing as you and hanging out with you, which was really weird because I thought you'd be the kind of person I hate the most. I like you better when I can see your eyes. One of these days I think I'll kiss you if you don't get mad…"

Apparently, Niou hadn't really realized he was speaking out everything he was thinking. Yagyuu blinked rapidly a few times before a tiny smirk appeared on his face. Suddenly, without warning, he dived onto his doubles partner and proceeded to—this is were the censors come in.

"…driving me nuts!" Marui was complaining to Jackal as they reentered the clubroom. Turning to face their two teammates, the doubles two pair paused in the doorway. "Eh… you two weren't doing anything dirty were you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Yagyuu said politely, snatching his glasses off of Niou's face. "What ever gave you that idea?"

"Well," Marui began slowly, eyes traveling between the two. "First of all, Niou's shirt is inside out and Yagyuu…your shorts are on backwards."

Jackal fainted.

"Hey," Niou said suddenly. "What the hell is going on here?"

Marui and Yagyuu turned to stare at the light haired boy. Marui raised an eyebrow. "Are you back to normal?"

"Back to normal from what?" Niou demanded. He shifted his gaze to his doubles partner. "Yagyuu—…why are your shorts backwards?"

"Niou-kun, before we continue this conversation there's something I must ask," Yagyuu said, pushing his glasses into place. The sun reflected off his frames. "What do you think of Sanada's ass?"

"…I didn't know I was supposed to be looking," Niou said dryly. He paused and looked as if he was thinking about it. "Anyway, I'd rather look at yours. You better fix those shorts."

Turning green to match his chewing gum, Marui dragged Jackal out of the room and closed the door. "How typical that the spell his broken with a kiss," he mumbled as he dragged Jackal away from the clubroom. He shuddered at the thought of what Yagyuu and Niou were doing inside. "I…want to go home."

Back in another nearly empty clubroom, Yanagi was doing his best to remain patient with Kirihara. He felt so horrible for doing this to the younger boy in the first place that he did not want to risk the chance of hurting him by doing something stupid. It was driving him insane to simply sit aside without doing anything as Kirihara went on and on about how much he liked him. Even though he really did look unbearably cute…

"Akaya," Yanagi said quietly, interrupting the younger boy. "If you don't mind me asking, why is it that you like Yanagi so much?"

"Yanagi-senpai is so kind," Kirihara said sleepily. "When I was mean and played that violent style of tennis, Yanagi-senpai was the one that was sure I could change. That time I first lost to Echizen and Sanada-san hit me, it was Yanagi-senpai that put a bandage on my face, saying I would be alright. When I have nightmares, Yanagi-senpai smiles at me the next morning and I forget about it. Without Yanagi-senpai…I would still be hurting other people and having nightmares. That's why I like Yanagi-senpai. That's why I was so jealous…"

Unable to control himself anymore, Yanagi leaned over and pulled the younger boy into an embrace. "Akaya!"

"H-Hey!" Kirihara exclaimed in a panic, green eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, Akaya. You'll have to forgive me later," Yanagi whispered, tightly embracing the younger boy. Before Kirihara could react, Yanagi leaned over to place a gentle kiss on his lips.

Kirihara could feel his cheeks warm up uncharacteristically. Slowly, he relaxed, squeezing his eyes shut and melting into Yanagi's arms. "Yanagi-senpai…"

When Yanagi broke his lips away in embarrassment, Kirihara was gasping for breath. "I'm sorry, Akaya," Yanagi began hurriedly, blushing faintly, "I don't know what came over me…"

"Yanagi-senpai…?" Kirihara suddenly noticed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "What are you doing here?"

"…you're back to normal?" Yanagi asked cautiously, brows furrowing.

"What are you talking about?" Kirihara asked irritably, returning to his usual self again. "Wasn't I normal before?"

Yanagi paused for a moment before smiling. "That doesn't matter anymore. By the way, Akaya?"

"What?"

"I like you too, so you don't be jealous of Sadaharu anymore, ok?" Yanagi said cheerfully, a smile coming across his face as surprise dawned on Kirihara's. "Thank you for always thinking I'm kind even when I'm really rather selfish. From now on, I won't leave you anymore."

Kirihara didn't react when Yanagi pulled him into another embrace. He simply rest his head on the older boy's shoulder, wondering how Yanagi had suddenly discovered all his inner secrets. If it were anyone else, he would have pound them into the ground by now. But since Yanagi's arms felt nice and warm around him, he decided to let it go.

"Oh," Yanagi said suddenly, pulling away to kiss the younger boy's lips slightly before grinning. "Happy birthday, Akaya."

Maybe Inui's juice hadn't done so much bad this time. Everyone was mostly happy. Kirihara stayed in Yanagi's arms, Niou and Yagyuu were…doing things, and there was no one else around to make fun of Marui and poor Jackal. There was only one thing left unresolved.

Sanada had just finished telling Yukimura the details of what had happened the previous day. He sighed once he finished and Yukimura chuckled. "Maybe we shouldn't allow visitors and strange drinks from now on."

"Maybe so, but it did do some good this time," Yukimura said brightly. His blue eyes danced as his smile grew wider. "By the way, Sanada…"

"Yes, Yukimura?"

"You really do have a great ass."

"…thank you."

Owari.

--- ---

A/N: It is now 11:18 PM. I'm tired, tired, dead, tired, dead, and tired. On the bright side, this may be the first time I have ever been on time for someone's birthday! …

Anyway, this has been a Rikkai contribution in honor of Kirihara-kun's birthday which is in fact today (I made it by 40 minutes)! I love that adorable little psycho. xD

Oh, and by the way, I am still working on the epilogue of "Tenipuri Phone Messages." I can't forget about that one . .;

Now I am off to collapse onto my bed. Thanks for reading my lazy trash XD!