Training Camp… Or Not
Disclaimer: I don't own the Prince of Tennis cast and only about a quarter of this storyline for the first few chapters. XD I wish I did though...
Chapter summary: Atobe and Yukimura make small talk while ignoring the silent battles being waged across the dining table. Sanada pleads with his eyes and Jackal is on holiday. Akaya wants to lock himself up in a wardrobe and Kabaji has a thought process. Pure insanity…
Warnings: Crack, OOC and shounen ai.
A/N: 2200+ Hits!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!!! Yah! Thank you everyone for your continuing support! Without it, this story would be left on the wayside. Thanks!!!
For Sandy.
Chapter Eight: Avoidance
Surveying the various unsatisfied-looking tennis players sitting at the table, Yukimura sighed silently. Although, Jackal looked pretty content. In fact, he looked as though he was on holiday.
Rikkai's buchou hid a smile behind his hand. Jackal probably did feel like he was on holiday, not having to baby-sit anyone and having fun into the bargain. Maybe they should do this again sometime, for his sake.
Oshitari was about to protest when he heard something that sounded like a stampede from the room next door.
Poking his head out, he was just fast enough to catch the sight of Hiyoshi running full speed down the corridor dragging a limp and scared looking Sanada behind him.
At the sight, Oshitari actually removed his glasses, wiped them and put them back on just to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
Of course, the fact that he had perfect vision and the glasses were just there for aesthetic reasons wasn't considered at all.
"Yo! Kirihara!" he called to the younger boy still huddling inside the room, "You just missed the sight of your fukubuchou being dragged down the corridor by our future buchou."
Kirihara snorted, but moved slightly towards the window, "As if."
Oshitari's real smirk came back full force and sauntered back into the room again, holding a hand out to the second year, "If you don't believe me, come. I'll show you…"
Kirihara gave the smirking tensai one look and shook his head vehemently. "No. No. No. No. NO!"
The poor, cornered second year started backing away only to bump into the wardrobe in which he had been hiding in earlier.
Quickly, Kirihara jumped back in and barricaded the door. Or, at least he tried to. There wasn't much to barricade it with.
Looking left, right, up and down, Akaya prayed for divine intervention.
It came. Just not in the sense he had hoped.
Hiyoshi collapsed into a seat next to Choutarou with a sigh. "Not late. Good." Was all he muttered.
Choutarou looked a little concerned at his friend's behavior, "Ne, Wakashi? Are you alright?"
Shishido tore his gaze from Niou for a brief moment to raise his eyebrows at the panting second year. "Yo, Hiyoshi… You didn't by any chance take that so called shortcut did you?"
Hiyoshi didn't reply, just glanced askance at his third year senpai.
Shishido started snickering, his bad mood forgotten. "I was joking when I told you that was a shortcut. It actually takes you three times as long to go through that passage than if you just came down the stairs."
His snickers became full blown laughter when he calculated the speed at which his kouhai would have had to run at to have reached the dining hall on time. Shishido laughed even harder when he saw Sanada's expression. He was so convulsed with mirth that he ended up on the floor.
Niou took the chance and immediately occupied Shishido's now empty seat next to Choutarou.
"Chouta-kun…" he practically purred as he reached out a hand just to brush against the second year.
Choutarou's look of concern for Hiyoshi immediately changed into a full fledged blush. "Niou… Niou-san!"
"Uh uh…" Niou shook his head. "Just Niou."
"Niou…" Choutarou swallowed nervously as Shishido stopped laughing and returned to his previous mood.
Murder Niou Mood, was what Yagyuu had dubbed it as.
Jackal watched on in amusement, Sanada in something akin to horror.
The Rikkai fukubuchou started to turn to his buchou in a silent plea for him to stop this nonsense before it escalated any further.
His plea went unanswered as both Yukimura and Atobe strategically avoided all eye contact with anyone but each other.
"So, what do you think of the place so far?" Atobe was asking Yukimura.
The blue haired boy nodded, "Very nice. It was very kind of you to invite us here."
Atobe waved the comment away, "Oh… It's nothing. We should always maintain good relationships with our rivals…"
He frowned as he checked his watch, "That reminds me. Where is Oshitari?"
Yukimura appeared to look around for the first time, ignoring the bickering between Niou and Shishido and the puppy dog eyes that Sanada was giving him. "That also reminds me. Where are Renji and Kirihara?"
The Hyotei buchou's frown settled in more on his brow, "Kabaji?"
There was no answer.
"Kabaji is missing too…" The obvious was stated.
Hiyoshi opened his mouth to say something, but he shut it again at the glare Sanada gave him. Sinking back into his chair, the Hyoutei second year glared back and then looked away.
"Hmm…" Both buchous settled deeply into thought, still skillfully avoiding eye contact with everyone.
Eyeing the furiously escalating cat fight between Shishido and Niou, Sanada resisted the urge to pull out his aspirin. He was getting low on them and needed to save them for later.
However, he made eye contact with Yagyuu and sighed. Pulling out the last remainders of his wonder cure drug, Sanada handed eight over to the Gentleman making sure he took double that amount.
These were really starting to lose effectiveness.
"Chances that this shortcut won't work: 99 percent..." Renji muttered as he jotted some words in his notebook.
Kabaji just blinked, he didn't know how the other boy could see in such light.
Hold that thought. He didn't know how the other boy could see full stop. It was freaky having the Master look at you with closed eyes. It was definitely an unnerving experience having him walk around and 'look' at everything too.
Shrugging internally, Kabaji made his way after the Rikkai data collector as he tried to find the way downstairs.
Kabaji was very single minded. It had never crossed his thoughts to offer the Rikkai boy some help since he knew the pathways like the back of his hand. He had assumed that the other would ask if he needed it.
Despite that conviction, the tall, hulking second year still wondered why they were up in the attics, tripping over dusty memorabilia. Maybe he shouldn't have stayed silent when the Master obviously read the signage wrong at the last corner.
The arrow that was pointing up said Up: Attic.
The one that was pointing down said Down: Dining Hall.
He still didn't understand how Renji got the two mixed up. A stray thought dawned in his mind. Maybe the Master /couldn't/ see with closed eyes. Another thought intruded. Then how did he manage to walk around without walking into walls?
Just as he was about to feel the actual need to communicate, in some way, with the Master, a blur blew past him at an extreme speed. Kabaji blinked. He could have sworn, if he was a swearing person, that the blur looked vaguely like Hiyoshi dragging a member of the Rikkai team.
A scratch on the head. It was all too confusing for him.
The data master of Rikkai blinked, as well as he could with closed eyes, as the blur whipped past. "Why… It looks like Genichirou."
Renji waved cheerfully, "Hi!"
Sanada's eyes were wide with an unknown emotion which looked somewhat like pleading. "…Ren…Renji…" He managed to croak out as he moved past and reached out a hand.
Renji, however, ignored it all and whipped out his notebook instead and scratched something into it. "Never knew Genichirou was such a social being. Must have this down…"
"Ren...ji…" Sanada's voice grew weaker as he disappeared at a surprising speed. //Probably driven to such speed in his need to attend to Yukimura...// Renji mused to himself.
A strangled yelp sounded, but from a distance. "Oh," Renji didn't look up but waved a hand in the direction he thought Sanada had gone. "See you later Genichirou…"
As he recorded this priceless data on his close friend, another thought intruded into his havoc wreaked mind. He looked up and in the direction that Sanada had disappeared in. "If we follow the path Genichirou took with his new Hyoutei friend, maybe we can find our way down again."
The book snapped closed. "I am brilliant." Renji started walking, following the burn marks on the carpet. "Aren't I, Kabaji-kun?"
Kabaji blinked and thought it was better not to voice his real thoughts. "Usu."
XD I hope you liked that… More crack to come… Soon. Review please! Thanks.
BTW: HUGE thank you to everyone who gave some input about what direction/pairing they wanted to see! XDD I've actually listed down all of them… And they are /wonderful/. My story is going to be much more crack thanks to all you guys!!! If anyone has anything to contribute; whether that be the pairing you would most like to see or what event you would like to see happen, just put it on a review… Or, you can IM or email me! I don't mind…
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