Hello anybody reading this!
Blufox- Everyone is so proud of Yagyuu!
Sakimi1014- Yay! Boldness! -Laughs.-
Meino Nanako- Oh my JELL-O! In the rain? How fun! -Starts trying to find somewhere to fit that in...- Anyways, thank you for reading and I'm glad that you like it!
Kawaii-Gaara-Chan- No, Niou is pretty wild, I just like to think that he's be on his best behavior for Yagyuu. Um... Er... Of course I meant 'Tare'... I was indeed talking about a 'vetch plant'... -Laughs.- Thanks for catching that!
Yoshikochan- I'm sure that Fuji thought he was going to get a kiss as well. -Laughs.-
DarkDemonCat- Ohh... Shia likes that idea a lot! Ooh... Just who though? Hmm... Well, it's your idea, any suggestions? You don't have to say anyone if you don't want to, of course, though, so no pressure!!
Shimizu Miki- I figured that someone would see that Yagyuu is a little OOC here, but I figure, perhaps, he was acting a bit more like Niou. XD Those two are great.
Vierblith- Arigatougozaimasu! And then she updated...
ImmortalTigress- No worries, Niou was tested and is clean, and Yagyuu is clean too, so unless Niou suddenly decides to have an affair (Which I would NEVER let him do), he can't get HIV, let alone AIDS. It really didn't have anything to do with the story, mentioning him getting tested, it was just to show that Niou is actually serious about Yagyuu.
RaiPheonix015- Actually, I wrote an Atobe scene (It's in this chapter) the same day that I posted. So, it was a good day! Ah, please don't be so hard on Mizuki today! He'll get his soon (If he hurts Yuta in anyway, of course), so no worries! "No.." "Maybe..." "Yes!" -Laughs.- That's great. No worries, again, about babbling! Read on!
SkyBlue147- Yagyuu is cool. I'm glad I got to show him in that kind of light. It makes you think that perhaps Niou has had some influence on him, ne? Not to mention how he influences Niou... -Laughs.- Perhaps when you pretend to be someone enough times, that person's personality fuses with your own, ne?
KiriharaAkaya- Maybe Yukimura is semi, but remember, they had admitted that they were both still virgins when playing 'I Never', so I honestly don't think they were doing anything where that would matter. I'm glad you liked the Platinum bit!
Disclaimer- I do not own Prince of Tennis
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Kaido wished practice would never end. He didn't want practice to end, because although it was a beautiful Sunday morning, the end of practice meant that he would have to go meet Inui's parents. To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He wondered for a moment how any of the others had managed to do this at all, because he certainly wasn't looking forward to talking to his parents either. Unfortunately, however, practice was already halfway over, and he could think of no reason to put the meeting off any farther than 'after practice'.
Trying to think about tennis instead, he slammed the ball, beating his emotions into it. Momoshiro, that idiot, was laughing, and returning the ball back, and Kaido thought he heard him say something about 'PMS'. He ignored the other junior to the best of his ability, which was difficult. Still, he couldn't get into a fight with Momo today, because if he showed up to meet Inui's parents looking all scuffed up he would make an immediate bad impression. Or at least make his already terrible first impression worse.
"Have you seen Oishi?" Kikumaru was hollering then, seeming to appear from thin air, and Kaido was snapped back to reality again. He hissed and shook his head, moving to continue his rally with Momoshiro, as the other boy said that he didn't know either.
Kaido overheard Tezuka-buchou explaining to Kikumaru that Oishi was out on a personal errand that couldn't be put off. Kaido wondered for a moment if Kikumaru would be upset that Oishi hadn't told him. It was certainly strange that the vice-captain wouldn't tell the other half of the Golden Pair what he was doing. That was just strange. Kaido shoved the thoughts out of his mind again, and tried to concentrate on tennis again. Practice passed all too quickly.
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"I love him," Atobe said, "I really do." He stood tall, and tipped his chin up slightly. "At least see him, speak with him."
"Don't tell us what to do," the man Atobe was speaking to spat, "We're your parents."
'You're not very good ones,' Atobe thought, 'What kind of parent won't take their child seriously when they say they're in love?' Still, what he said came out differently, "I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to order you to do anything. I merely wished to request that you at least give him a chance, for my sake."
"We've always given you everything you ever wanted," His mother sighed and waved a hand as if bored. "And yet you always want more, Keigo. How is that fair to us? Why do you keep on 'requesting'?" She sounded like she was mocking him, and Atobe clenched his teeth to keep from spouting out something very impolite.
'But did you ever give me something really important, like, I don't know... Love?' Atobe thought, thoroughly disgusted, and kept it off his face only by sheer force of will. 'Jirou gives me that.' He was quickly getting tired of this conversation. "I do not mean to request so much." This sucked. Atobe was not used to being the person on bottom, trying to fight his way out of something. This was why he hated dealing with his parents. Talking to them was next to useless. "I do not want to inconvenience either of you, either, but this is really important to me... He is very important to me."
It wasn't that they were bad people, they just didn't like to be bothered, especially not by him. They were not bad people, but that didn't change the fact that they had had him only to have an heir. "If it is so important to you, then beg. It's not as if it's below you." Atobe flinched before he could help it, as his father's words hit him.
Atobe had only begged once before in his life, well, twice actually, but his parents only knew of the one. The one they didn't know of, was when he had begged Kami-sama to bring Ji-chan, his Ji-chan, back to him. The second, the one that his parents were referring to know, was when he had begged them to let him search for Ji-chan. It had been a stupid thing to ask, he realized now. He had more or less asked them if he could run away.
Atobe sighed, and started to get down onto his hands and knees. This was for Jirou, and if it were possible, he loved Jirou even more than he had Ji-chan. It must have been possible, because he did. He knew he did. He loved him more than he had thought was possible.
Down on that cold marble floor, Atobe took one shuddering breath. "Ple--"
"No!"
Next Atobe felt two hands pulling him off of the ground, quickly but somehow still gently. Hands he knew, and hands that he loved. "Jirou...!"
"Don't beg, Kei-chan! Don't!" Jirou ordered, looking tough when Atobe knew he probably felt like crying. "You're too good for that." It took Atobe a few moments to figure out that Jirou had probably heard the conversation through the door, and phased through it. Even after he got that right, he couldn't seem to understand what Jirou had said. He had heard, but some how, it wasn't getting from A to B in his mind.
Jirou was heading up towards Atobe's parents now, looking murderous. Atobe silently prayed that he didn't do anything too rash. Jirou stopped a few feet away from Atobe's parents, and got down on his hands and knees, head to the ground.
"Please! Please allow me to date your son!" he exclaimed, sounding a little bit frantic, but mostly determined. "Keigo is a great person, and I love him more than I can tell you. I ask you for your blessing!" For the first time that Atobe had ever seen, his parents were speechless. He smiled slightly to himself, knowing that Jirou had won.
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"Kaoru," Inui whispered softly, holding the junior's hand tightly. "Are you nervous? Is that it, or do you really not want to do this?"
"I... I want to do this," Kaido whispered back, looking at the door instead of Inui. "I'm just not good with parents."
"Don't be worried," Inui smiled, "They raised me, do you really think they'll find you that weird?" Kaido chuckled slightly at that, unable to help himself, despite his nerves. "Ready?"
"No, but let's go," Kaido said, trying to prepare himself for whatever might happen in unfamiliar apartment.
"Sadaharu?" A voice was calling from a room that, judging by the intense smells, was the kitchen.
"Yes, Okaasan," Inui said, leading Kaoru through the house by the hand. "I brought company."
"Oh? Who is it? It's unlike you to bring..." A averaged sized woman with brown hair stepped turned as they entered the kitchen, and seemed to freeze. Kaido wondered worriedly if he looked that scary. "My goodness..." the woman said softly, and then gave Kaido the scare of his life as she pulled him into her arms. Kaido was even more startled when she said, "Why, aren't you just gorgeous!" She was now babbling so fast that Kaido could hardly understand her. "Such pretty scales! A snake? What kind? Are you venomous?"
Thankfully, Inui was all over it, as if he had expected this. "He's a Eastern Coral Snake, and yes, potentially, he is venomous, but we haven't tested it, so there is a chance that he didn't get that trait."
"May I touch your scales?" Inui's mother asked, seeming to be over her initial bit of hyper energy. Kaido nodded, too numb to do anything else. Inui's mother slowly released him from her hold, and ran her fingers delicately over the scales by his eyes. "Amazing..."
"Thank you...?" Kaido said, slowly getting used to her strange attitude.
"What's going on in here?" An amused voice came from the door to the kitchen, and Kaido turned to see a man, who looked remarkably like Inui, looking at the scene intently. "You all seem to be having fun." He walked over to Kaido, who he loomed over, and Kaido thought then that he was probably even taller than Inui himself. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure?"
"Nice to meet you, I am Kaoru Kaido," Kaido said, bowing. The man laughed.
"No need to be so formal, we've heard so much about you, I feel that I already know you," the man smiled. Strange how his smile wasn't as scary as Inui's sometimes got.
"We were about to have lunch, Kaoru-chan," Inui's mother smiled, her eyes sparkling even more now that she heard who he was. "Please do join us." Kaoru nodded, and moved to sit at a small round table with Inui and the data player's father, while Inui's mother finished up what she was making.
"Sadaharu," Inui's father smiled as lunch was laid out in front of them, "Are you going to tell us what's going on, or should we guess?" Kaido, who had been staring at what looked like very delicious, traditional Japanese food, now looked up, and glanced between the father and son.
Inui's strong arms encircled Kaido, and the data player's smile twisted to match his father's. "Go ahead and guess."
"Good for you," Inui's father nodded, smiling at Kaido, who was now blushing like crazy. "Care to answer a few questions?"
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"I should have expected this... Sending you to that Hyotei..." Jirou's mother sighed, leaning her head back, a hand going to cover her eyes. "Jirou, did you have to come talk to me about this when your father isn't home?"
"I would have rather spoken to both of you," Jirou said, smiling slightly, "But if I want to room with Keigo, then I have to ask you before Monday."
"Then at least you had enough sense not to come on a weekday," Jirou's mother smiled wearily. Atobe thought that she looked like she could use a little sleep, though, otherwise, she was admittedly beautiful. Though, of course, she was not nearly as gorgeous as Jirou, it was obvious where Jirou got a good majority of his looks from. In fact, Atobe thought that she looked very familiar. It made Atobe want to laugh at the impossibility of it all, but she looked like a much older version of his Ji-chan.
"Still," she continued, "I really should have seen this coming. With how badly you wanted to see him again, it was obvious enough. If you'll excuse me, I'll be needing to call your father." Atobe didn't even see her leave. 'Wait.' Atobe's mind began to race. Jirou had wanted to see him? Oh man... Hadn't he called him Kei-chan before? Many times before? And he had always thought he had misheard...
Atobe felt like slapping himself. 'Ji-chan', for goodness' sake! No, he had to make sure "Jirou... You're..." Atobe knew his eyes must have been wide, but Jirou was smiling. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I wanted you to remember, Kei-chan," Jirou smiled so kindly at him, and Atobe knew he had been so patient with him. Atobe knew for a fact that he had never felt this stupid in his life.
"I thought..."
"You thought I was a girl!" Jirou laughed. Atobe remembered then how he loved that sound.
"I'm so sorry, Only One... Ji-chan..." Atobe smiled at calling him that. "I can't believe I..."
"It's fine," Jirou smiled, "It's fine. I really don't mind that you thought I was a girl."
"No," Atobe said, "I'm just sorry that I forgot... That I couldn't recognize you..."
"You did recognize me, Atobe," Jirou was smiling again, and Atobe wondered why Jirou would tell such an obvious lie. "Sometimes, when you're half sleep, you talk. Sometimes you would talk about 'Ji-chan', and you would tell me that I reminded you of her. That I looked like her. You sometimes even told me that you wished I was her, so that we could get married without you breaking your promise. It made it really hard to not tell you, but I knew you would figure it out, or remember, if I just waited long enough."
"Hmm..." Atobe smiled and ran a hand through Jirou's curls. "Hiyoshi's right, you are an oblivious idiot."
"I'm your oblivious idiot though," Jirou said, but Atobe noticed that Jirou's eyes closed as he said this, as if it hurt him, and he didn't trust his eyes not to show it.
"Yes, you are," Atobe smiled, kissing Jirou's forehead lightly. "You're my tiger, my Ji-chan, and my Only One." Atobe gently lifted his chin so that their eyes met. "And I love you so much that I sometimes have trouble saying it." He pulled Jirou's mouth to his for a kiss, and felt Jirou's lips twist into a real smile.
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"Where is Oi-shiii?!" Eiji whined for perhaps the five millionth time since there practice ended around one. It was now closer to five. What kind of errand could the vice-captain be on that could possibly take this long?! More importantly, Eiji huffed, why hadn't he been told about it? Since when did Oishi do things without telling him? Hmm... Maybe it was a surprise. Oishi always gave him great surprises, but surely Tezuka-buchou wouldn't let him skip practice for something like that.
Oh no! Eiji felt the shock build up inside him, as he thought that maybe Oishi had gone on an errand, and maybe something bad had happened to him! No, no... Eiji sighed, deciding that if Oishi was hurt, he would forgive him for not telling him. Eiji sighed again, knowing that this was also the last night he and Oishi would be allowed to sleep in the same room. Tomorrow afternoon, they would move around the people who hadn't gotten their parents' permission, and he and Oishi would be separated. His heart ached to think about that. That would suck. He really didn't want to share a room with anyone else.
He had tried to assure himself before that perhaps he would be able to at least room with Momo or Ochibi. They had tried to get permission, but Momo's parents had, apparently, approved of both Ryoma and their relationship, but had frowned upon them rooming together, the main reason seeming to be their age. Eiji thought that was strange, but then figured that maybe normal families worried about things like that. His family wasn't exactly normal, so he couldn't tell. Ryoma, after that, though, hadn't even bothered talking to his dad. Eiji didn't really understand that either. What he didn't understand was that he was deluding himself to try and be optimistic about this. He liked Ryoma and Momo as friends, but neither of them would ever make up for having Oishi as his roommate. Oishi was his best friend, and so much more that...
Eiji wished for a moment that someone would punch him. Perhaps that would knock him back into his senses. He was thinking about it like Oishi was leaving him entirely. Like he was going to be far, far away, instead of in the same house, and going to school with him everyday. It was as if he somehow thought that Oishi was going to suddenly stop loving him, because they couldn't share the same room, and sleep in the same bed...
Eiji sighed and looked out over the front courtyard. 'This really is a nice place,' He thought to himself, trying to make himself calm down and think rationally. Everything would be fine. Oishi was still going to be near him, and even if they couldn't stay in the same room, and it felt like they were light-years away from each other, they wouldn't be. Eiji raised a hand up to his face only then to realize he was crying. The swelling around his eyes told him that he had been for some time.
"Eiji?" Oh, Kami-sama, that voice went right through him and he was up on his feet, running to Oishi. He leapt right onto him, and wrapped his arms and legs around the Vice-captain, and was very glad that Oishi was strong, or else they would both be on the ground. On second thought, that would be alright, too.
"Are you alright, Eiji?" Eiji could hear him frown.
"I'm fi--" He stopped in mid-sentence as he saw it. A large bruise, on Oishi's right cheek.
A bruise. A bruise, on Oishi's perfect face. Eiji felt like crying all over again, so why was Oishi smiling? "Shuichiro..."