Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis most unfortuantely. You think Seigaku would've won if I did?

Chapter Three

"Go Uma-chan, use your ultimate attack!"

"No, not your ultimate attack! Look out Chou-kun!"

"Do not worry, Koneko-sama, I will protect him!"

"Ino-san!"

Akaya was certain that he had woken up in the wrong world that morning. He cautiously stuck his head outside the tent, scared that he would get blown to smithereens by the 'ultimate attack' if he stuck anymore of his body out, and saw Niou and Marui sitting on the grass nearby with a throng of cuddly toys surrounding them. He slowly stepped outside, still uncertain as to whether this was the right universe or not, and walked over to the two.

"What the bob is going on over here?" He asked bluntly. The two third years stopped their playing and looked at the seaweed head.

"Well, Oonezumi-sama has kidnapped Tora-kun's precious Kuma-chan. Tori-hime-sama has kindly lent him her royal army which consists of the Lady Koneko-sama and her butler Ino-san, Chou-kun and Shika-sensei. Unfortunately, they have come up against the Oonezumi-sama's dark guard of Karasu-kun, Uma-chan, Ookami-hakase and Inu-san. They are locked in a deadly battle for Kuma-chan and Uma-chan is about to use her ultimate attack which forces the opponent to wear a really embarrassing pink, frilly dress. But not to worry, Ino-san has Kitsune-sama, the guardian of fire, on his side and her flames can burn the dress. Karasu-kun, the sneaky ninja, however, is able to summon Orochi, the most darkest and feared creature of all legends. Tora-kun can summon the All Great and Powerful Kame-sama, though, and he is the god of all the land. It will be a fierce show down between the two and-"

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!" Akaya yelled, waving his hands about wildly. Niou and Marui stopped in surprise (they had been speaking in unison).

"Aww, but we were just getting to the part where the beautiful Ahiru-sama and the powerful Saru-sama come and-"

"I don't care!" Akaya snapped. "Let me ask you a simpler question: What is with all the toys?"

"They're mine and 'Haru's old toys, mostly 'Haru's though. We used to spend hours playing with them when we were younger." Marui explained. "'Haru was a lot nicer when he was a little kid and used to have so many toys. But then we entered middle school and became a bad boy. It felt a shame to throw away all these memories so I kept them in my attic. When 'Haru turned chibi, I thought he might like it if I got the whole gang out and we reminisced a little."

"Thank you for explaining, Marui-senpai, that clears up a lot. I was very confused when I woke up." Akaya admitted grumpily. "Which toys are yours? I thought you only had Kuma-chan."

"Let's see, Kuma-chan, Tori-hime-sama, Chou-kun, Kitsune-sama and Ahiru-sama are mine. Kuma-chan is my favourite though, just like how Tora-kun is 'Haru's favourite." Marui said.

"Aww, Niou, I never knew you had such a soft side!" The trio looked round to see the rest of the team coming out of their tents. Yukimura had been the one who had spoken. Niou scowled a little.

"I didn't. Everybody plays with soft toys when they're little." He said matter-of-factly. Marui grinned and was about to say something when he was interrupted.

"They do?" Everybody turned round to look at Sanada who looked slightly confused.

"Everybody except Fukubuchou." Niou amended, all of them looking at Sanada sympathetically. Sanada felt like he had missed out on a great thing indeed.

"Tarundoru." He muttered, pulling his hat down.

"What are we doing today?" Yagyuu asked Yukimura, successfully pulling the spotlight away from Sanada (they really should've known better than to give Akaya the torch).

"Well, there is a small beach nearby so I was planning on taking everybody swimming and running on the sand to build up leg muscles but since the shops were closed, we'll need to put that plan off until another day so we can get some food." Yukimura said frowning slightly.

"I can go get the food if you want. I haven't been into town yet and since I'll probably have to go eventually, I might as well go sooner rather than later. Besides, carrying bags will help me build up my arm muscles." Marui offered as he stood up and brushed a few stray blades of grass off his shorts. Niou stood up as well, helping Marui to pick up the soft toys.

"I'll go with you. I refuse to wear a girls swimming costume." He said. Yukimura nodded understandingly.

"Okay. Yagyuu, can you get the sandwiches out of your tent? Niou and Marui, take a couple of sandwiches each and then go. Since you'll most likely get back before us, practice on your swings, Marui." He said. The two nodded and fifteen minutes later they were walking to town. They quickly found the shop thanks to the others directions. Marui looked at the list that he'd been given as they walked round the shop.

"Ah, 'Haru, can you pass me the bread that's to your right?" The redhead asked. Niou nodded and the duo carried on as such, Marui carrying everything and occasionally asking Niou to grab something that he couldn't easily get himself.

"Man, now I know why Okaa-chan's so strong! These bags are heavy!" Niou complained as they walked back to the campsite about an hour and a half later.

"Do you want to carry them?" Marui offered, stopping and bending down to take them. Niou moved away, holding on to the bags protectively.

"No, you're already carrying most of the bags! And you've given me the lightest bags!" He protested. Marui backed away, smiling slightly.

"Okay, okay. Just tell if your arms get tired, though." He said as he carried on walking, Niou following behind him. They were just walking past a small café that was emitting some delicious smells when Marui heard a small grumble. He looked up at the sky to see if there was a storm but the sky was a clear blue with hardly any clouds. Marui frowned slightly as there was another grumble before realising that it was coming from behind him from Niou. The redhead glanced at his watch. They had actually woken up slightly late and their breakfast had been hardly substantial so it stood to reason that Niou was hungry. "Want to get some lunch?" Marui almost laughed at the grateful look that Niou gave him.

They sat down in the café, talking as they waited for their food. Niou now understood how hard it was for Marui to act like a five-year-old since more than once he had to catch himself and stop himself from saying words that no five-year-old should know. Fortunately, the café was almost completely empty and there only seemed to be three members of staff at the most, two of which stuck to the kitchen most of the time.

"'Ere ya go, two burgers and chips, one cola and one strawberry milkshake. Enjoy!" The waitress chirped as she sat the items down. Marui and Niou both thanked her as they tucked in and she giggled slightly. "Aww, you two are so cute! Are you brothers?" Niou opened his mouth to say yes but Marui beat him to the punch.

"No, our parents are friends and I agreed to look after 'Haru so that they could have time to themselves." The tensai said dismissively as he reached for his milkshake. The girl giggled again and was about to say more when somebody interrupted her.

"Kajimoto-chan, where did you put all the spoons?" A man called from the kitchen. The girl gave one last giggle and waved flirtatiously at Marui before running back to the kitchen.

"Honestly, what is it with girls and giggling?" Niou grumbled quietly. He looked up at Marui. "So I'm just a family friend, huh? Don't you like the thought of me being your brother?" Marui sighed as he reached over to ruffle Niou's white fluffy hair.

"Hey, I might be gay but I'm not into incest. This way I'm just a paedophile, not an incestuous one." He whispered back to Niou. The chibi Trickster blushed slightly as he pulled his drink closer, fumbling with the straw slightly to distract himself from his red face.

"I guess that makes sense…" He mumbled. "But, just so ya know, paedophilia is frowned on more by society then incest." It was Marui's turn to blush as he withdrew his hand.

"If that's what you think then you're not getting the surprise I got for you when we get back." Marui huffed slightly. Niou looked up slightly alarmed.

"Surprise? What surprise? Come on, tell meee." He whined slightly. Marui pursed his lips as he turned his head to the side.

"Nope, not telling."

"Bunta!"

They got back to the tents about half an hour later, Niou trying to guess what the surprise was. Marui refused to say anything until all the food was in Yagyuu's tent, the opted place for storing all the food since there was only one person sleeping in tent. Niou pouted slightly but agreed as he helped Marui to neatly stack the bags. Niou waited outside as Marui ducked into their tent. He heard a few muttered words and curses as Marui looked for the surprise, obviously having placed at the bottom of his bag and not being happy about messing up all his clothes. After a few minutes, Marui exited the tents with his hands hidden behind his back.

"Well, when I turned chibi I missed playing tennis and I was really annoyed when I realised how far I had fallen behind you guys and I knew you would be annoyed too if that happened and I knew I had the old toy rackets that we used to play with when we were younger so when I was looking for the toys I got them out too and here they are." Marui finally finished rambling as he took his hands from behind his back and gave Niou the racket. The Trickster looked down at the old battered red racket before suddenly hugging the redhead.

"Thank you. No wonder you were so tired yesterday if you spent all night looking through that chaotic attic of yours for all this stuff." Niou said as he pulled back slightly. "And you weren't that far behind! I only said that to make you feel better about losing and I just completely undid all that, didn't I?" Marui laughed a little as Niou's voice suddenly went from happy to pouty.

"I might not have been that far behind but I still was. Besides, there's still the fact that you'll probably miss playing tennis." He said as he pushed Niou back slightly and took a couple of tennis balls out of his pocket. "Are ya ready?"

When the others got back, some still shaking sea water from their hair, they saw Marui and Niou playing a small match. The self-proclaimed tensai was kneeling with his tennis racket in hand whilst Niou was running about and returning all the balls that were hit. One of the balls was hit just out of Marui's reach and he fell over as he tried to get it.

"Sorry, Bunta. Again." Niou said as he ran over to help the redhead up.

"It's okay, 'Haru. Again." Marui replied as he tried to reach the ball without moving from his spot. They both looked up when a hand picked the neon yellow sphere. "Hey guys."

"Hey Marui-senpai, Niou-senpai. Marui-senpai, you need to stop being so lazy and work harder if you're being beaten by a kid." Akaya said as he dropped the ball into his senpai's awaiting hands. Marui scowled.

"Respect your senpais, seaweed head." He shot back. Akaya fumed.

"Hey!" Marui just shrugged.

"I'm just saying what I see." He said as he pointed at the second-years hair. Akaya looked at him confusedly and reached up to feel his hair. His confusion only increased when he felt something and picked it out to reveal that a long piece of seaweed had been hiding in his hair.

"How did that get there?" He mused aloud in bafflement. Behind him, Marui and Niou could see Yagyuu and Jackal giving each other a small high five.

'I thought I was supposed to be the evil doubles partner...' They both thought as they made mental notes not to annoy the pair any time soon.

"Did you guys have fun at the beach?" Marui asked as he stood up, dusting his knees off before picking Niou up.

"Hey, put me down!" The mini Trickster protested. Marui shook his head stubbornly.

"No way, you guys kept picking me up but nobody's done it to you yet. I'm just making things fair." He said as he nuzzled into Niou's soft hair. "So how was the beach?" Akaya immediately started gushing on about how much fun they'd had, Marui nodding and laughing every now and then as he kept a firm hold on Niou. The Trickster scowled slightly but slowly got used to being so high up off the ground. He liked being held so gently and close to his boyfriend. The scowl soon melded into a look of interest as he got over being picked up, letting his head rest on the redhead's shoulder.

Later that night, Marui and Niou were in their tent. They were both in their pyjamas and Marui was reading. He had stacked the two suitcases on top of each other so that he had something to lean back again whilst reading. Marui looked up from his book when Niou knelt by his elbow.

"Yes?" He questioned curiously as he placed his bookmark between the pages and set the novel down. As soon as the book was on the floor, Niou scrambled on to his lap.

"You said that you picked me up to make things fair. To continue making things fair, I am going to sleep with you." Niou said with a triumphant pout (don't ask me how that works) as he pulled his sleeping bag over them and snuggled up to Marui. "Night." Marui sighed slightly but carefully looped an arm round Niou as he reached over to turn the lamp off. He settled back against the slightly uncomfortable bags as he closed his eyes.

"Night."

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter. I would say when the next chapter is but I'm feeling to bleurgh to figure it out. It'll be up in two weeks hopefully. Until then. Bye.