A Gentlemen's Wager, Chapter 4
Disclaimer: Still not mine
Atobe saw the two approaching Seigaku members and wondered just what the hell he'd done in a previous life to deserve this.
Luckily, he glimpsed them as he was walking out of the showers, able to turn around under the pretense of having forgotten something behind him. Fuji he had at least expected and prepared for, though admitedly sooner. The tensai smiled his usual, peacefully lethal smile as he strolled through the Hyotei tennis gates. How anyone strolled into a campus that was supposedly more secure than most royal treasuries was a mystery in itself.
But no, the real surprise was the data tennis specialist walking next to Fuji. Inui's expression remained hidden behind his glasses, but the absinthe-green water bottle in his hand spoke for his true purpose. Atobe had a strategy for Fuji, but Inui would need to be distracted. He needed a moment to prepare, and he would not allow both of Seigaku's tacticians to parade around on his court while he did so. He did his duty as buchou immediately...
...and sicked Jirou on them both.
--------------------------------
"Fuji-kun! Sugoi! Sugoi! Sugoi!" Jirou cried. Despite having been very rudely awakened by Gakuto's megaphone, Jirou sprang at his most favoritest rival ever. Well, next to Atobe-sama and Marui-kun. Still, Fuji-kun was pretty sugoi ...and at Hyotei, which meant Atobe-sama had probably said something to Tezuka which meant Fuji was probably angry and Jirou was the only person at Hyotei who could defuse an angry tensai in minutes.
And people called him lazy.
"What are you doing here? Did your practice let out early? Did you want to play a match? I could get Gakuto to play doubles with us! It'd make Oshitari really mad!"
"Thank you," Fuji began, gently prying off the shorter boy's arms, "but actually Tezuka sent us. I need to speak with Atobe-san. Show me where he is?" He phrased the words like a question, but the flicker of brilliant blue eyes told Jirou otherwise. Distraction time.
The volley specialist cocked his head to one side. "You don't want to play tennis with him, do you? He just showered, and he won't want to get sweaty again. Ne, Fuji-kun, you should come play a quick match with me. Oshitari keeps trying to do that bear move and twisting up his ankle. It's really funny. You should show him how it's supposed to look."
"Oshitari-san doesn't have the balance for the Higuma Otoshii, but I don't really have time at the moment. Inui, where do you think Atobe is?" Fuji glanced at his companion.
"The probability that he is still in the clubhouse is 76 percent. 20 percent that he has returned to his dormitory," Inui replied, adjusting his glasses. He looked up towards the main tennis courts, almost as if he were searching for something, but not in the direction he predicted Atobe to be in. "If you don't mind, I think I'll try to collect some data in the doubles courts."
Jirou blinked for a moment. Practice was over, so what data could he hope to gather. He tried to remember who Inui had played during the Hyotei match, but he'd been asleep until his own game. Inui's team had lost though, so that meant they'd played the Silver Pair ... who usually practiced long after everyone else left. At least, they said they were practicing.
Jirou smiled. If that was the kind of data Inui was after, he'd seriously underestimated Seigaku's manager. "Shishido and Ohtori are probably the only people left. They're on C court."
"I'll call you when I'm done here," Fuji breezed. "Akutagawa-kun can take me to Atobe. Can't you?" The tensai smiled at Jirou, but the smile held a predatory hint to it. Jirou did not enjoy being the object of that smile. He fervently hoped he'd stalled enough that Atobe was in no immediate danger from Fuji's wrath. At the very least, he could keep Atobe from having to be alone with Fuji.
"I guess. He's in his office. I'll go with you." Jirou took Fuji's elbow and continued to babble as cheerfully as he could. "But when you guys are done, we should play for a bit. I slept through most of practice, so I didn't get a good workout in. Can you teach me to do that one move? The one that made the zzzzzzhhhhooooooom on the court?"
"Tsubame Gaeshi?" Fuji asked, looking amused. Good. Amused was good. An amused tensai was a less dangerous tensai.
"Yeah, that one! Is the wind strong enough for that whale return? Maybe we could borrow some fans ..."
A/N: Couple of short chapters today. Next up, adventures with Inui and Shishido! Thanks so much to all my reviewers for encouraging me to keep this going. Special thanks to Microgirl and Whisper for the pats on the head.