Title: Niou's
Pairing: Yagyuu x Oshitar
Fandom: Prince of Tenni
Disclaimer: not mine, cool? cool.
Unsurprisingly, Oshitari won all his matches up to the last one that day - the one scheduled against Niou. He lucked out in the draw against Seigaku, getting someone who hadn't been on the Regulars team in junior high, and hadn't played any other really good team yet. Niou would be a tough opponent though. It was also getting late on the first day of the tournament, and they'd played more matches in that one day than in tournaments prior. The high school circuit expected them to have more stamina than the junior high tournaments - those without the stamina to play several sets in one day would be clearly separated from those who could.
Stamina had never been an issue for him, Oshitari thought, heading to the A courts. He and Niou, both still undefeated, were top players from Hyoutei and Rikkai, and so were considered one of the matches to watch. He only wondered what surprises the famous trickster devil had up his sleeve, if any at all. Some part of him hoped Niou would have something planned out, because he wasn't sure he could beat Niou, even without tricks, and that would just be downright embarrassing.
"Ah, Oshitari-kun, I hear you've won your matches easily?"
Let the match begin, Oshitari thought, turning to see Niou falling into stride beside him. "As have you."
"Indeed, but I've been looking forward to our match all day. My other opponents were too easy." As if that could scare him, Oshitari thought. Niou had hit some strong players, including Rokkaku's Kisarazu Ryou, and was making light of their demolishment. The next few words, though, did shock him, simple and straightforward and non-mocking and... sincere, as they were. "You like Hiroshi."
He replied the only way he could. Turning to face the slightly taller boy, Oshitari raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"You like Hiroshi," Niou restated, simply, eyes open and full of intrigue, maybe a little sympathy, but no mockery. No tricks. Niou pulled open the gate to the courts, and they entered in silence, parting once through to set down their equipment and prepare for the match. They both knew, though, that Niou had already won the pre-match games. Oshitari did his best to eliminate all thoughts of Yagyuu and Niou's comment from his mind when he stepped onto the courts, reminding himself that he needed to beat the opponent in front of him.
Not unexpectedly, Niou won the match, though Oshitari had pushed him to a tiebreaker - which, in his shaken state, was rather impressive. Even Niou's perfectly calm, perfectly serious face when they shook hands after the winner was declared showed the respect he had for Oshitari's game. By then, pretty much the entire tournament had gathered around their court and were cheering quite loudly. They wouldn't be able to continue their conversation, but perhaps that was best for now.
He hadn't actually admitted it to himself yet, really. He liked Yagyuu? No, he was just interested in the boy. Maybe become friends with him or something, but he wasn't interested that way, was he? He watched as Niou joined his team and was congratulated by them. Niou turned to smile at him - a smile full of evil intent and the mischievous trickster glint - sending a jolt of newly awakened awareness through Oshitari.
He'd just played right into Niou's trap, hadn't he. The innocence, the sincerity, the words - they were all an act, part of Niou's plan to disrupt him enough to easily overtake him. Niou raised two fingers to his lips, placing a light kiss on the backs of them before bringing them to his forehead, as if in salute, and Oshitari noticed the weights around his wrists. His gaze trailed to the power ankles the boy was still wearing. Niou completed his insult by muttering something to his team, then setting off on a jog around the grounds, as if saying the match hadn't given him enough of a workout.
The most perfect part of Niou's plan, Oshitari bemoaned to himself as the rest of the Hyoutei regulars joined him, was that no one else had seen it, had known it existed. Moreover, it wasn't as if he could actually tell anyone about it.
:P Reviews, critiques, all welcomed!