Well, here we are again, and I must say the number of people who voted is rather disappointing

The Niou/Maru/Kiri pairing has the grand total of 2 VOTES!

The original four also has a grand total of 2 VOTES!

On the other hand, I'm celebraing my thirteenth review, yay!!(throws snicker doodles randomly...except to my beta, she gets hers nicely wrapped up in bag.

Yosh! Disclaimer time!

I will only own Prince of Tennis when Marui finally decides that constantly chewing gum might pose a hazard to his health and quits...in other words (points at a flabberghasted Marui)

Marui: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NEEEEEEEEEVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

You get my point

Hajimari: Antatachi no Tame ni Dekiru Koto

Marui had to jog to keep up with Niou's long, steady, fast paced strides. He contemplated telling the Petenshi to slow down, but dismissed the thought. Niou was too agitated to hear him anyway. They made it to Marui's house in record time.

Akaya pressed himself closer to the wall next to the bed when his senpai-tachi barged in.

"Would cha look at what the ball of fat dragged in," the elder boy jumped on to the bed and settled himself on Marui's window sill (it's one of those big ones that can act as a second bed if you want it to). Reaching over, he ruffled Akaya's already messy hair. "Hey bratling."

The younger boy scooted away from him.

Niou frowned.

Honestly, that hurt. Okay, he never gave the boy a reason to like him, but he didn't think Akaya would dislike him either. The suspicious glare sent his way was like a knife driven deep into his heart.

Marui was mortified. This might not end well.

After a while, the youngest of the three decided to break the suffocating silence.

"Who are you and what have you done to my Niou-Senpai?!"

Niou face-planted.

Marui dropped to the floor laughing hysterically.

Akaya pointed an accusing finger at the silver haired boy.

"OMG YOU DIDN'T JUST STEAL NIOU-SENPAI! YOU BROKE MARUI-SENPAI TOO!!" he began trying to get off the bed to reach Marui. "NOOOOOO!! SNAP OUT OF IT! MAAAAAARUUUUUUIIIIII-SEEEEEENPAAAAAAAIIIIII!"

"I see your vocal cords are as healthy as ever," Niou grumbled and smacked his kouhai on the head.

"Ouch! YOU'RE MEAN!!"

Akaya tried to stand up, but his legs weren't all that firm yet, with the sheets twisting around his ankles it was no wonder he stumbled.

For a moment Akaya was just slightly scared. His injuries still hurt dammit, and this fall was likely to do some much unneeded damage. He settled for cursing Marui's stupid sheets. Who told them to tangle him up anyway?

Marui was torn. If he caught Akaya, he would have to reveal his secret which Niou might hate him for. But on the other hand, he didn't want to risk reopening any injuries. Dear, god, why does everything have to be so complicated?

Niou didn't think at all.

Somehow, Akaya didn't end up on the floor but on top of Niou. Apparently, he managed to fall backwards onto the bed. Unconsciously, the Petenshi wrapped his arms around the small body pressed against him.

Niou buried his hand into Akaya's soft dark curls, stroking it, as the younger boy blushed. He turned his kouhai around and made eye contact. All traces of his mask had crumbled away. "Is it that difficult for you to believe that I was worried?"

"Not really." Despite his cutely pink face Akaya still managed an impish smile. Then his eyes slightly narrowed. "But really, you're creepy!"

Niou was launched into a bout of laughter of his own.

"Hey guys," Marui smirked holding up a camera (that he had called to his hand the moment Akaya had landed on Niou) with which he had been madly clicking away. "I gotta go get these developed so make yourselves at home."

"WHAT! MARUI (SENPAI)!" the two victims of circumstance yelled after the red head who had already disappeared through the door.

As much as Niou wanted to jump off the bed and go strangle his friend, he couldn't very well do that without jarring Akaya's injuries, and his (he just barely managed to convince himself) kouhai was more important than destroying Marui's blackmail.

……Besides, he didn't want to be away from the cute little devil just yet.

He shifted their positions a little (only a little since Akaya winced a bit) until it was more comfortable for both of them then launched into what happened at school today, and how either Yukimura or Sanada suddenly made it snow.

……This of course, caught the both of them up in a discussion (read debate) about whether their fukubuchou was an alien attempting to take over the world or an evil spirit who had sworn vendetta against people with more than one 'a' in their first name.

……Yeah

Marui had dropped the camera off at the small photography shop just like he said he would, but that certainly wasn't all he was planning to do. No, he headed towards the park again, this time heading deep into the connecting woods to a very secluded clearing. Lavender eyes disappeared behind scarlet lashes as he poured all his concentration into his built in radar.

Had you been able to look past his eye lids, you would see two glowing orbs flashing images of various places and people.

Suddenly, those mysterious eyes opened again, flashing for just a second the picture of a green haired boy curled up between two large cats. A second later, his eyes were back to their normal mauve color and the very next second, he was gone.

Miles away, an Irish looking boy was sitting on the rood of a seemingly run-down old building. The strongest of all the cottage's occupants, he was the one posted as guard for the night.

His nice blue eyes narrowed and turned gold as a red headed someone (who wasn't his friend) appeared out of literally nowhere. His (real) ears flattened against the top of his head, and his claws extended as he jumped down to stand between the newcomer and the front door.

Molten gold met light mauve and the other boy stumbled back a little. "Sengoku-san?"

The evil looking golden eyes turned back to blue in shock. "No way! You know me?!"

"No duh, Lucky Sengoku, the boxing tennis guy, right?" Marui smiled a bit relieved.

"No, it's Lucky Sengoku (the intonation goes up) Bubblegum-kun." His features slowly shifted back to his human state somewhat. "Ne, what are you doing here though? How'd you even get here?"

The smile dropped off the red head's face, dragging Sengoku's cheery disposition with it. "I saw Echizen-kun attacked yesterday."

Sengoku was on the edge again with his claws back out.

"I think an alliance is in order."

They stared at each other for another moment before Sengoku turned around and walked inside.

Marui wasn't sure if he was supposed to follow. What if that meant Sengoku had turned down his offer? He did NOT want to get mauled by three cat demons and an Echizen Ryoma as soon as he stepped foot past the door.

Luckily Sengoku's amused face stuck out a second later.

"Well, are you coming or not?" He grinned. "You'll need to meet the mother hen if we want anything done."

"Ah," he nodded, "but hold on a second, please."

Marui pulled out a candy wrapper and a small crayon from his pocket and scribbled a hasty note to the two before opening a dimensional rift and reaching in. Laughing to himself as he heard the nekojin fall down in shock (to Sengoku it just looked as if Marui's upper body disappeared), His head and arm appeared in his room just long enough to drop off the note and (just because it was too cute to resist) pull out his cell phone and snap a final picture.

Recalling that half of his body back to where he was previously, Marui turned to the wide-eyed fukubuchou.

"Alright, I'm coming."

He looked at his new cell phone wall paper. Niou was propped up on one of his pillows (he had a lot) cuddling Akaya who was curled up like a kitten in his lap. Smiling softly, he followed Sengoku inside.

'The things I do for you idiots.'

THINGSIDOTHINGSIDOTHINGSIDOTHINGSIDOTHINGSIDOTHINGSIDO

Well they finally meet...

And I know about digital cameras and how you could just download them on your computer, but honestly people, lets just pretend he has an old fashioned one. I needed to get him out of the house.

And please at least vote. The decision's not going to ride on four people (only 4 cuz I'm not totally sure which way the beta's swinging...and no not in that context you idiots whose minds should be sent to the laundromat.)