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


"You don't have to be so cold to Yagyuu, you know. He's going through a rough time, and we're still teammates. He's still my best friend." Niou understood that Yanagi was still worried about Yagyuu stealing him away, but he really couldn't stand to see the two most important people to him be so awkward and stiff around each other.

Yanagi looked a bit surprised that Niou would bring up the subject of Yagyuu on their date. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"I know. And you don't have to worry. I've already made the choice to be with you. Yagyuu's the one who's going to have to deal with that, so I think you should try to make it easier for him." Niou took a sip of his iced tea. They'd just finished a picnic dinner in the park, hidden away from prying eyes by a grove of trees on one side, a large pond on the other, and the dark cloak of the evening all around them. The night sky was clear and the small crescent moon was reflected in the calm water. He leaned against Yanagi's shoulder.

"Are you tired?" Yanagi was very caring. He was almost too careful of Niou sometimes – it was as though he sometimes forgot that Niou was also one of the top high school tennis players of the nation. "Here." Yanagi shifted to sit behind Niou, pushing down gently on his shoulders. Uncertain of what was going on, but trusting that Yanagi always had his best interest in mind, Niou laid down such that his head rested on Yanagi's lap. "Close your eyes. Relax."

Niou felt Yanagi methodically stroking his hair lightly before his movements led his fingers to Niou's temples, where they stayed and rubbed in light circles. Niou didn't even realize how tense he'd been until Yanagi's thumbs met underneath his skull and started massaging his neck, starting from his top vertebrae and moving down, fingers never stopping their soothing actions at his temples. "That feels really good."

"You've been too worried about this, Masaharu. Your neck's really tense. It must be what was affecting your swings at practice today." Yanagi's data never left him. Before, Niou had thought that it was just the Yanagi he'd known at school who obsessed over data. As he was getting to know Yanagi better outside of club activities though, he was getting to understand that Yanagi always had data, because it was a part of him. He didn't have notebooks of data; he just had data. It was cool though, because Yanagi never pried when it wasn't in the club's best interest. Plus, he wasn't going to complain if the data got him a massage.

"I just don't like seeing him so unhappy, you know? I mean, he's been my best friend since the first day of middle school. He's supposed to be happy for me when I'm happy. My being happy isn't supposed to be causing him unhappiness." Niou moaned softly when Yanagi pressed his thumbs into the base of his skull, curled his fingers, and drew his knuckles around Niou's head, pressure hitting various spots that made him shiver with pleasure. He could almost feel the tension leaving his muscles. Yanagi did it again, and Niou saw a spark of white behind his eyes and sighed. The headache he hadn't even noticed he'd had disappeared.

"What do you see for us, if Yagyuu never gets used to this?" There was definite trepidation in Yanagi's voice. Niou was proud of himself for starting to be able to read the master himself, though he wished he were getting better vibes from him.

"He will." Niou sat up, turning around to look at Yanagi. "He has to." He leaned forward, balancing himself with a hand on the ground before pressing a reassuring kiss on Yanagi's mouth. Yanagi responded, parting his lips and shifting so that he was kneeling over Niou, gently caressing Niou's neck with one hand while simultaneously pulling him close and rubbing his back with the other. Niou moved to encircle Yanagi's waist with his arms, letting the moment just take over him. Yanagi's tongue slipped inside Niou's mouth, and Niou let it twist and twine around his own tongue as he slowly forgot to breathe.

"Masaharu." Yanagi's voice was husky, with a different, sexual undertone to it. He leaned forward and Niou felt himself being gently laid down on the picnic cloth, their eyes never parting. Yanagi's eyes were caring, questioning. Loving. Yanagi blew out the candles and leaned over him, caging Niou underneath his body. Niou didn't stop him. He felt Yanagi's hands moving underneath his shirt, skimming over his waist and lower back.

"Renji." Niou moaned as Yanagi pushed a leg between his. Blood rushed from his head, his pants tightening as Yanagi's thigh rubbed against him. "Ohhhh Renji."

"Masaharu, say the word and I'll stop. But if you don't..." Yanagi didn't need to finish his sentence. Niou could feel Yanagi's erection pressing, hot and urgent, against his own thigh, even through two layers of clothing.

"Don't stop."

After school the next day, Niou found a red rose in his locker. It was just barely starting to bloom, the base still tightly closed with only the tips starting to
point outward. Despite his insistence that he wasn't a girl and refusal to let Yanagi pay for dates or walk him home, Niou still smiled at seeing it placed neatly across his school shoes, with a short note balanced across the stem. "I love you." He carefully put it in his schoolbag with the stem tucked between his books and the bud stick out over it so as to not get crushed, and hurried to practice.

"Niou, just in time. We were just discussing a doubles match against Marui and Jackal, as each other." Yagyuu caught Niou just as he walked into the changing room, preventing him from first speaking with Yanagi.

"Sure. Give me your shoes, then." His plan was coming along amazingly well. His laser beam was faster than anyone else's imitation - even Yagyuu had been impressed by it - and Yagyuu was getting very good at playing lefty. Since the others were waiting for him, he changed quickly and only had time to squeeze Yanagi's hand before heading out to the courts.


I did originally write a higher rating scene in part 8, but I took it out per FFN guidelines - hence the posting two parts simultaneously to compensate for the shortness of this one. The original, uncut part 8 is here (http://akakurogin. livejournal. com/ 28845. html - remove the spaces. FFN wouldn't let me post the link any other way.) if you're old enough to read it.
The next part should be interesting as we return to our regularly scheduled programming...