Title: Fictional Truth
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.


"I see." Yanagi's voice was solid and emotionless. Niou wasn't sure what to do. He wished there was someone he could talk to, but the only person he would normally talk with was pretty much the only one he couldn't talk about it with this time. "Well then, congratulations. I wish you two all the luck."

"No, that's not what I meant!" Niou quickly realized what his words must have sounded like to Yanagi and hoped he could correct what Yanagi must be imagining before Yanagi hung up on him. "Nothing happened. I told him to leave." After he'd shoved Yagyuu away and told him to leave, Yagyuu had done just that. Niou sat in his room, trying to piece together everything that had happened. He'd picked up the phone and called Yanagi, because he knew he wasn't smart enough to work it out on his own. Yanagi was the only person who'd ever gotten any accurate data on him, so perhaps Yanagi could help, even a little.

"Why? I thought you were still in love with him." There was a bitter tint to Yanagi's voice now. That actually comforted Niou - it let him know that he was chipping away at the exterior Yanagi had put up.

"I don't know. I want to see you. Can I come over? I need to see you." He wasn't sure what he would do or say when he saw Yanagi, but he knew that he just needed to see him. Maybe once he did, he'd have the answers to all his questions. Yanagi was like that; he just held the answers to everything.

"Can this wait until tomorrow?"

Niou's heart fell. He didn't want to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow would mean time for him to think over everything, and for once, he didn't want to plan out every little detail. He wouldn't be able to think clearly about it all until he saw Yanagi. "No. Please."

There was silence on the line for awhile, and then Yanagi sighed. "I'll meet you at the school courts. My family's home."

Niou jotted down a quick note about where he was going for his parents, in case they returned before he did. He all but sprinted to the courts, taking all the familiar shortcuts he'd discovered while shaving off precious minutes trying to get to morning practice on time. The courts were empty when he arrived, so he just started pacing around them until Yanagi showed up.

"Niou."

At the sound of his name, Niou dropped his pacing and headed straight for Yanagi, stopping a foot or two away from him. His heart was racing a mile a minute, as though he'd just finished a particularly strenuous game. "Hi."

"Hi." Yanagi's eyes were closed. It was hard to read him, which was probably fair, since Niou himself wasn't exactly an open, non-fiction book.

"Yanagi, I still want to try us, if that's OK with you." The words came out of him from nowhere, and he couldn't believe that he'd just blurted it out like that. He wasn't even sure yet if that was necessarily the route he wanted to take - but why else would he have wanted to see Yanagi so badly during and after the whole ordeal with Yagyuu?

Yanagi looked quite shocked for just a fraction of a second before he regained his composure. Even before this entire escapade, Niou had always enjoyed trying to surprise the Master. He had only been successful twice, and that was back in freshman year when Yanagi hadn't finished collecting Niou's data yet. "You and me us? Why? You can have Yagyuu now, isn't he the one you've always wanted?"

"No, only briefly. I only started thinking that I had a crush on him because you put the idea into my head, but then you were there to see me through it, and to be with me whenever he was with her. You supported me, and Yanagi, I want to keep that." Niou stepped closer, until he was so close to Yanagi that another step would mean sharing space with him. Yanagi didn't move; he only followed Niou's approach with his eyes. Niou tiptoed up so that his eyes were level with Yanagi's. "Can we try this, still, Renji?" He breathed in and smelled Yanagi's aftershave, even this late in the afternoon.

"Masaharu." Yanagi pressed a light kiss on Niou's lips. Niou closed his eyes, grasped Yanagi's neck, and opened his mouth, granting Yanagi access for a real kiss. Yanagi accepted the invitation, tilting his head slightly before joining their lips together. He rested his hands on Niou's waist, thumbs tracing the lines of his pants' waistband.

The next day, Niou was well aware of Yanagi's eyes on him throughout morning practice. He was supposed to talk to Yagyuu after practice to get it all sorted out, and he knew that Yanagi was still worried he would end up with Yagyuu still. Once practice was over and they finished changing into their school clothes, Niou pulled Yagyuu aside for a "strategy talk."

"Listen, Yagyuu-" Niou was about to start talking when Yagyuu uncharacteristically interrupted him.

"Don't start with 'listen,' Niou. That invariably leads to bad news. Let me tell you something first - I broke up with Mizutani after I left your place yesterday. I can't keep it up with her, knowing that there's any chance at all with you." Yagyuu spoke faster than normal, and Niou hated himself for being the one getting the normally calm gentleman so worked up. He liked the level-headed Yagyuu better. It was easy to deal with a calm Yagyuu.

"Yagyuu, I'm sorry."

"Don't say that, Niou, don't."

"Yagyuu, please don't make this harder. I don't want to ruin our friendship over this - you're my best friend, you know that. And the team still needs us for doubles at Kantou and Nationals - we're going to be the best doubles team at Nationals, remember?" Niou stopped at the entrance of the third year building. He didn't want to be having this conversation in the hallway, and they were still early, anyway. He turned to look at Yagyuu, but Yagyuu refused to meet his gaze. "Yagyuu?" Niou reached out to touch Yagyuu's hand, but Yagyuu flinched upon contact and folded his arms defensively over his chest.

"We should get to class." Yagyuu pushed his glasses further up his nose. It was a compulsive habit, something he did when he didn't know what to do with his hands, just like how Yanagi stuffed his hands in his pockets and Sanada folded his across his chest. Funny what people learned about each other after three years of practicing and playing on the same team day in and day out.

Niou nodded, knowing that Yagyuu probably just wanted to be away from him for now. He turned and walked into the familiar hallway, only to run into Yanagi. "How'd he take it?"

"Not so well." Niou sighed. He didn't like what he had just done to his best friend, but it wasn't his fault. Life was unfair like that. If Yagyuu had been more forward, if he had claimed he would keep chasing him like Yanagi had, maybe Niou would have caved. But Yagyuu didn't, and Niou didn't, and Niou was with Yanagi and that was just the way things were. That's what he chose, wasn't it? So why did he feel so empty inside?

Yanagi briefly looked like he was going to hug Niou, but he didn't. "Meet me on the roof for lunch." The first bell rang, and Yanagi walked off in the direction of his classroom. Niou quickly switched his shoes and did the same.

Lunch started off rather awkwardly. Neither of them wanted to broach the subject of Yagyuu, but it was clear that he was on both of their minds. Finally, unable to stand the small talk any longer, Niou asked about the Kantou lineups. "Who're our biggest competitors going to be?"

Yanagi looked relieved at the familiar, comfortable topic. He slipped back into his data mode, pulling out his notebook with the tournament bracket neatly drawn across two pages. "I hear that Seigaku is extremely strong this year - they've got some super-rookie on their team. But, they'll be playing against Hyoutei in the first round. Whoever wins that match will probably make it to the finals. Rumor has it that Hyoutei is going to break out their Regulars earlier than normal this year, after that defeat to Fudomine. Incidentally, Fudomine will also be a final four contender, though they really only have one player who's very good."

Instead of paying complete attention to what Yanagi was saying, Niou studied Yanagi himself. When Yanagi got absorbed by his data, his back straightened and his eyes lit up - he looked really good like that, especially with the blue, cloudless sky in the background. Suddenly, Niou hooked a finger under Yanagi's jawbone and turned his head so that they were facing each other, and leaned in for a kiss. Yanagi looked stunned for a second before reciprocating. When they broke apart, Yanagi's smile held a hint of amusement as he asked, "What was that for?"

"I just felt like it." Niou grinned mischievously. "So I'm assuming that Yagyuu and I won't be playing together until the semifinals at the earliest?"

"Yea, I think that would be best. You should still practice together though, if possible."

"Have I told you about the plan that didn't get executed at the prefecturals, yet?" Niou suddenly got very excited, remembering his plan to beat all other plans.

"I think I know what it is. It would definitely work best with Yagyuu - the two of you already know each other so well that it wouldn't take much practice for it to be unnoticeable by other teams." Yanagi seemed a bit pensive, as though while he knew the plan was a good one, he didn't want Niou to go through with it. It was just like Yanagi to have seen through it at the prefecturals though - Niou was certain no one else had.

"We'd still need some help fine-tuning everything. I'll run it by Yagyuu this afternoon - if he agrees, how about you help coach us?" It would make sense in multiple ways if that happened - Yanagi was probably the one person who could spot the most errors in Niou's ploy and best help them overcome them. Plus, he'd be able to watch over them to make sure that nothing happened.

"Sure." Just then, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch period, and Niou jumped to his feet.

"Awesome!" I'll see you at practice then." He grinned, and Yanagi smiled back, climbing to his feet in a more dignified manner. It was going to be awkward for awhile yet - Yanagi was going to be paranoid, and Niou was going to have to help him overcome that. They'd get over it though. They were part of Rikkai - Rikkai never loses.

Yagyuu was also part of Rikkai, though.


So, who's surprised, and who's not? P It's not the end yet for these boys though... I'm not that nice. (the next part's going to be awesome, promise.)
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