Words:1,289

Disclaimer: -mumbles- dun own em so there. Just having a little bit of play time with them until I give them back to their rightful owner. –pouts-

Author's Note: Thanks minna for everything. I might be a little slow getting out the next chapter because my internet is gone but I'll try as fast as I can to get them out. Thanks FallingSilver for beta reading my stuff again. I really appreciate it.

Atobe's Little Plan

Chapter 4

Finally curiosity took Momoshiro about those screams he heard. He went out to the front door of his neighbors' room and stood there. He was hesitant to go in because he heard some sort of heated argument going on in there. The constant hiss was too much for him. Anyone who pissed off Mamushi that much just had to go down in Momo's good book.

He pushed open the door to see a lovely sight. Fuji was calmly sitting in a chair while Eiji sat on the bed. For some reason, he was blushing cherry red and wouldn't look directly at Fuji. Kaidoh was in the middle of having a hissing fit, a small blush climbing up his neck. Tezuka-buchou kept adjusting his glasses and Inui was furiously scribbling in his book. The only one who didn't seem weird was Taka. He seemed more edgy, though, because he had walked in on a very weird scene.

"What's going on in here?" Momo demanded. "I heard screams."

"Hiss, have you even looked at your costume yet? Knowing you, you didn't even check, you lummox brain." Kaidoh said, getting some satisfaction at needling Momo.

"Costume? For what?" he asked, confused.

"Just what I thought, hissss." Kaidoh smirked.

"WHAT! You wanna duke it out here, Mamushi?" Momo briskly walked over and roughly grabbed the front of Kaidoh's shirt.

"Yeah, I would, hisss," he replied grabbing the front of Momo's shirt.

They were in the middle of a heated staring contest when Inui broke the silence.

"Yes, well, um, it says here on the flier that the ball tonight is a costume ball. In very tiny print it reads 'only those wealthy and in style throw costume balls so I will throw one too.' End of sentence."

Stunned, Momo let go of Kaidoh's shirt. He ran over to his room and threw open the wardrobe. Lots of name brand shirts and pants were hanging there, but he didn't see any costume. Finally, there at the end of the row, nearly hidden, was his costume. He took it out and studied it. With a small frown, he replaced the costume back into the wardrobe. He walked back into the room, where there was an air of expectation floating around. This puzzled him more.

"What? I like it. It's very stylish. What's the point?"

Kaidoh's jaw dropped to the ground and Eiji blinked in surprise.

"You… you actually like your costume?" Oishi stammered.

"Yeah. It's nice." Momo gave Oishi a quizzical look. Why was everyone making such a big deal about it?

"You all said you would wear whatever I made you, so there is no argument," Fuji said, laughter in his words. "Yes?"

"Hai," everyone in the room responded, resigned.

Everyone was leaving the room when Fuji spoke again. "Oh, that reminds me."

The team turned to look at the evil sempai, his grin secretive. "Echizen phoned me to tell me that he would be there for the ball."

A dropping pin would have sounded loud at that moment.

"HUH!" everyone said at the same time, too stunned to say anything else.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I called Echizen a week ago and asked him if he would come. He agreed."

Momo ran up to the grinning sempai and nearly shook him to death.

"Echizen's coming and you didn't tell me, us, until now! Why didn't you say so?" He ignored the stunned look on the rest of the teams' faces and ran out the doors. "Come on, come on! We have to get ready for this ball!"

Eiji snapped out of it first. "Momo-chan's right. We want to look our best for Ochibi's homecoming, right?"

He bounced on his feet, hugging everyone. No one could be upset when Eiji was in this sort of mood.

"I am NOT wearing that costume."

Ok. Momo was wrong. Kaidoh was still upset.

"Oh really?" Inui asked, appearing right beside Kaidoh with a new drink in his hands. Kaidoh blanched but didn't say anything. He snapped his mouth shut and power walked back to his room. Everyone winced when they heard the door slam shut.

Momo didn't care. He was coming! He ran into his room, shutting the door a little too harshly from excitement. He rummaged in his bag and brought out his favorite magazine. The cover featured the black haired brat that Momo couldn't wait to see. The golden eyes seemed to glare from out of the magazine and straight at Momo. In his excitement, he threw the magazine into the air, letting out a whoop of delight. He would finally see him tonight.

The team members who were left winced when Momoshiro slammed the door to his room.

"Guess he's happy again," Oishi observed.

"Nya, maybe he'll get the guts to confess his feelings to Echizen while he's here." Eiji jumped onto Oishi's back and put an arm around his shoulders.

Oishi willed his hormones to calm down; it wouldn't be good going out of control in front of Eiji. Momo wasn't the only one who needed the guts to confess. Oishi mentally sighed. There may have been a chance for Momo, but there was no chance for Oishi. He'd been observing Eiji the last few months and couldn't find a trace of anything other then friendship. He had become so frustrated searching that one night he had banged his head against his desk. It had done nothing, though, except make Eiji worried the next morning.

"I didn't know you knew about that," Oishi remarked neutrally. He felt the weight on his back shift as if Eiji were trying to get a better look at Oishi.

"I knew," Eiji finally replied.

Oishi started. There wasn't a single 'nya' in that sentence anywhere. As far back as he had known Eiji, he had heard him say 'nya'. Just when he thought he knew his doubles partner and could learn no more, Eiji ended up surprising him with something new. Maybe he didn't know Eiji as well as he thought he did. He had to look into this some more.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"What could I do?" Eiji asked softly in his ear. "I couldn't beg Echizen to forget about the US Open. That would have handicapped him for the rest of his life. I've been trying to cheer up Momo-chan, but nothing I do seems to work."

Wonders would never cease, it seemed. Eiji was being serious. He had made several good points, ones that Oishi himself had pondered at one point. There truly was nothing that they could do, except let Echizen off the leash to see what he could do. Oishi was already glad they came to Atobe's party. He had just learned more then he had learned in years about his doubles partner.

Suddenly he thought about the costume waiting for him in his wardrobe. He ruefully rubbed the back of his neck.

"Do I really have to wear that costume, though?"

"What costume? Huh, Oishi? Nya!" It seemed that his usual doubles partner was back. Eiji bounced so much that he nearly threw Oishi off balance. He blushed.

"Nothing."

"Hm? Hm? If you tell me, I'll tell you what my costume is, nya!" Eiji gave him a smirk, as though he knew he would never tell.

"Nan demo ni," Oishi whispered. He peeled Eiji's arm off of his shoulders. "I'm going back to the room. I want to look around before getting dressed for the ball. Maybe I'll have some time to find Atobe and ask for the plans to this mansion. Can't have people getting lost." (inserted paragraph break)

He took off at a brisk walk back to his rooms.

Behind him, too far for him to hear, Eiji whispered, "You can run, Oishi, but you can't hide from me. I will catch you one of these days."

Author's Note: Nan demo ni- nothing at all.