Hello anybody reading this! Some Bad news: I may not be able to update again until after the sixth of August. I know, it's a long time, but I have two Japanese exchange students coming to my mom's house, which means that I have to be there, more or less to translate when things get tough on the language front. I also have to spend several days pet-sitting a little puppy, and writing is going to be hard, if not impossible, because of situations with my mom's computer, to do. I'm terribly sorry and hope that you will all be patient with me. Thank you very much for all of your support!

Sakimi1014- New chapter!

AnimeStar73- Thank you very much!

DarkDemonCat- Milkshake is gonna be a really fun one to write, so I really hope that people like it. A lot of the extra stories are scenes that I either decided not to put in, or little inside jokes between me and my friend, who prints out every chapter to read it as I write. -Laughs.-

MidnightSunrise951- I'm very glad that you liked the chapter, and I'm also happy that you're earnest about the idea about killing Ayame. The pressure is on!

BluFox- Glad you liked it! I love Dirty Pair!

BloodySamurai- Um... I'm going to ignore the part about Ayame, but... Ew. I love the movie Rent though, it's really good. I meant to mention it last time, but when you read that part where they sing it, the style is closer to the Reprise of the song, soft and slow. The Reprise is my favorite song in the entire movie (Although I love them all), and I love watching that scene, over and over. I found it on YouTube, and watched it like fifty times. My sister couldn't understand why I kept watching it, because every time I watched it I wanted to cry. -Laughs.- I must be a Masochist, along with my sadistic side.

Miji-Chuu- Um... Please, you don't have to apologize in every review, do you? It's no big deal, I promise you. Mizuki is so fun sometimes.

RaiPeonix015- To be completely honest with you, I forgot about Dan and Akutsu for a while... Eheheheh... Ya know What? It's hard to think about it now, but only a few years ago, four at the most, I disliked yaoi pairings and yaoi stories. It would always annoy me when I saw pictures of two of my favorite male characters in compromising positions together. Like I said, weird to think of it now... Alright, I'm done.

ShadowinRW- I love Rent. It's one of my all-time-favorites! I really like the reprise for 'I'll cover you', and that song had always reminded me of the Dirty Pair, for some reason that I can't place.

Yoshikochan- Much earlier in the process of writing this story, I told a few different people that throughout it I would incorporate pairings that I liked that were not official in the actual story. So, yes, in a way, this is a FujiXNiou side, but in other ways it's not. You'll have to read it to see what I mean.

Shemeno- I'm very glad that you like it so much.

Vierblith- There will be lemon in the sequel, I promise. Also, of course it doesn't sound like Mizuki! That's the point! I was trying to make him sound sincere and honest, and drop his shell so that Fuji could maybe understand him better. He's out of character, but I don't regret it!

Forbidden Stars- Glad you liked!

FujiLovesMe- All good things must end.

Shimizu Miki- Hahaha, please don't give up on me just because I'm busy! I know that I can't update as much as I normally would, but I promise you that I'm not abandoning this fic. (I'm still pretty set on a sequel, after all.)

ImmortalTigress- Thank you very much for noticing one of my many mistakes! Eheheh... You think that I'd be better at noticing things like that these days... Also, I normally would spell Yuuta's name with two uu's as well, but for some reason, I started writing it the other way before, and decided not to change it. My thought process makes very little sense, I know.

Wizli- Wow, you read it all in one day? I'm impressed! I'm very glad that you like it so much! I've only written one of the stories so far, but I'm really hopeful that they will turn out well! Actually, I feel really sorry for Momo. Can you imagine what a pregnant Ryoma would really be like? XD

KiriharaAkaya- As for the codenames, it doesn't matter what kind, just go crazy! I need thirteen, at least. Thank you very much for doing this for me!! Also, there's nothing wrong with clapping after a movie. I saw that movie with my dad just a couple days ago, and he leaned over to me and asked 'do we clap when it's over?' ..

Disclaimer- I do not own Prince of Tennis

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"Hajime, we talked about this once before," Mizuki's mother sighed, looking across the coffee table at her son. "I'm just not comfortable with you staying in a room with your boyfriend. It's not that I don't trust the two of you to be responsible, it just makes me nervous."

"How can it make you nervous, if you trust us?" Mizuki huffed, though he already knew the answer to that question, and knew that it had everything to do with his father. He had actually hoped that his dad would show up today, but he saw now that it had been stupid of him to get his hopes up. That man never showed up for anything concerning him, not since he was very young.

Mizuki thought that he could have a little more subtle about what he was doing though. His father was carrying out an affair, had been for years, and everyone in the family knew it. How could they not, with how they would sometimes come home from a shopping trip to hear his father's 'afternoon delight' taking place right there in his parents bedroom.

No one acted like it was real though. Mizuki knew that his mother was too weak emotionally to ever leave his father, and his father seemed to have no problem with living the steady life of a married man with children. After all, what better front to hide the fact that you were actually more attracted to men and had been carrying out an affair with one since only two months after his marriage.

Yeah there was no debating what about him staying with Yuta made her uncomfortable. She thought that he would abandon her, like his father. Not physically leave her, but not really be her son any more, just like her spouse wasn't really her husband anymore.

"I'm not him, you know that, don't you? I'm nothing like him."

"You're everything like him, Hajime."

"I'm not!" Mizuki jumped up from where he sat, his eyes ablaze.

"...'Jime..." Yuta held Mizuki's wrist, bringing the hand attached down and pressed his lips to the top lightly.

Mizuki bit his lip hard, until he could taste the blood, and he sat back down on the couch. His mother regarded him with a pained expression. "You really are, Hajime. It's not just that you look like him... But you're in love, just like he always was."

"... What are you talking about?"

"Yuki... That's his name, did you know?" Mizuki shook his head. "... We were all friends, the three of us, when we were younger. Hajime, don't blame your father, he's loved Yuki for forever, really. I knew that when we got married. I loved him, but I knew that he didn't love me. It was a marriage of convenience. My parents were pressuring me to get married, and his were on the verge of discovering him and Yuki. That was why we both did it, even though I knew that he didn't love me, and he knew that this would make things difficult with Yuki, but we did what we had too... Our wedding night was the only time we ever... And... Kami-Sama gave me you... Hajime..." She looked her son right in the eyes, "If I give you permission to do this, I want you to promise me that you'll never do what your father did. If you're in love, then stay with the one you love, regardless of consequence. People only get hurt otherwise."

Mizuki sat there stunned, "So, you're...?"

"I'm giving you permission."

"Thank you so much!" Yuta leaned right over the table to pull Mizuki's mother into a hug, smiling and laughing all the while. Mizuki sat still for another pained second, and then smiled.

"Thank you, 'Kaa-san."

Watching from a crack in the doorway, Fuji smiled as well. He had been ready to jump in if he was needed, but Mizuki and Yuta had handled it famously. For now, he decided, Mizuki had proved himself. Still smiling, he went upstairs, in hopes of finding his beloved and, perhaps, reenacting the night before. His grin widened.

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"It's not fair I tell you. Everyone else gets to be with their boyfriend, and yet here we sit. We just can't win can we? No, no, they're too worried about us bustin' and grindin' to think that maybe there's more to it than that. No, no, we're teenagers, we must be sex obsessed fiends..."

Akira grinned, though a bit uncomfortably, as he listened to his lover's tirade. Hearing the other use the term 'bustin' and grindin'' had been pretty darn amusing, despite the fact that it was pretty depressing that they were the only (known) couple to not be able to room together.

"... And now either Lucky-Whatever and that strange twin with the blue hair or that even stranger twin with the pink hair, -who has pink hair anyway?- and that strange 'overthrow' freak will have change rooms so that we won't be put together. Serves them right I guess, but they won't be happy. How come what's his name and the blue-boy don't have to get their parents permission? How come the adults don't notice? It's really obvious. Maybe it's favoritism. Maybe it's Hanamura-sensei doing. That's awful cold."

This time Akira couldn't help but laugh at where Shinji was getting with this. "You know, that's really harsh to say about your adoptive mother."

Shinji was surprisingly silent after that, and Akira realized he might have gone too far. "Hey, Shinji, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like you didn't appreciate her or whatever."

"It's fine." Akira heard his reply and knew that everything wasn't fine, simply by the fact that Shinji fell silent immediately after his answer.

"Shin-chan, I really am sorry," he said softly, cuddling up near Shinji on the couch. He rested his head against Shinji's chest, relieved when the other boy didn't pull away from him. "I'm... Really kind of stressed right now... I know that I see you everyday, but I still miss you... Now I can't even see you, alone, every once in a while, like we used to. We have no privacy, and you hardly... Talk to me anymore..."

"I talk all of the time," Shinji replied, his arms slipping around Akira's shoulders, which shook with non-existent sobs.

"No, not really," Akira disagreed, "I mean, yeah you talk a lot, but you never really say anything." His voice dropped so low that Shinji hardly heard as he said, "I can't even remember the last time you said you loved me."

"I love you," Shinji said, his sonorous voice rice with emotion, vibrating through Akira's body as he kissed Kamio's cheek. He continued to place kisses on the other's face and necks, whispering, "I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you so much, Akira. Never doubt that, I love you. I love you." Shinji continued to repeat himself until Akira finally laughed.

"Thank you," he smiled, but Shinji regarded him seriously.

"You don't have to thank me for loving you," Shinji told him smoothly. This was the Shinji that Akira had fallen so hard for, the cool, sweet part of him that showed itself whenever it was least expected. Of course, Akira loved his muttering, but this was the Shinji he had originally fallen for. "I'll say it as many times as you need to hear it, so that you never worry and never forget." Shinji began to mumble incoherently about how forgetful Akira (then leading himself onto the subject of other people) was, and Akira laughed lightly to himself.

"Boys?" The voice made both Akira and Shinji look up for their place on the couch, where they had settled quite comfortably, Akira laying on top of Shinji like it was the most natural thing in the world. And for two people who had really been all each other had in the worst moments of their lives, it really was.

The voice belonged to Hanamura, and Tarou was standing beside her. She smiled sweetly at the two, who were fairly startled by their sudden appearance, and didn't even bother to separate from each other, knowing they were already caught regardless. And they hadn't ever gotten to do anything worth getting in trouble for.

"Shinji? Could I speak with you, please?" Hanamura asked, smiling as she held a hand out to her adopted son. Shinji looked at her cautiously, but no one in the room blamed him for not immediately taking said hand. They all had at least a vague understanding of how many times a hand like that had reached out to Shinji, only to bat him away, to hurt him in a way no adult should ever hurt a child. Shinji looked up at Hanamura with soft eyes, as if to apologize for hesitating, and then gently takes her hand, letting her lead him from the room.

Akira worries about him, because Shinji will always be uncomfortable around adults, and probably will remain to be so, even when they are both grown up. The same way that Akira fears parents, Shinji fears anyone more than five years older than himself. Akira was normally there for him, and was the reason that the other boy could mutter to his hearts content and seem normal. Closer to normal, anyway, because who could ever be normal after being beaten all their lives by the people they had only ever thought to trust, to love. It hurt Akira to know that even now, even though they both knew that Hanamura was a good woman, part of Shinji still feared her, for simply being an adult. Shinji had been taught that age was power. It showed, and Akira wanted dearly to be with him, to hold him close when things got too tough, and to help him someday get over this fear, installed by his parents for so many years.

"Akira." His name brought him back to the real world. Tarou was standing there, waiting for him to gather his thoughts. "Come with me, we need to talk."

Talk? Akira didn't like that word, especially not from someone he was slowly starting to consider a 'parent'. "Where are we going?"

"For a ride."

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"That's it! I'm sick of it!" Kouhei Tanaka yelled out all of a sudden as he entered the lounge room. "I can't stand it anymore! Those two are makin' frickin' eyes at each other all the time and neither of them even notice that they're doing it, let alone that the other's doin' it too!"

"Easy, easy," Sengoku chuckled, placing a hand on the other boy's shoulder, unable to hide his happiness at seeing his boyfriend again. "What's going on?"

"Hiyoshi and Youhei are going to drive me insane! How come they're the only ones that don't realize that they obviously like each other?!"

Sengoku chuckled again and slipped his arms around Kouhei's waist, kissing his cheek. There was no threat of the adults finding them here, as the lounge had been set aside as the one place on the property that belonged solely to the students, besides their own rooms, of course. They had no fear of interference here. "Remember, Koishii, we were just as ignorant not long ago."

"But we're not anymore..." he said back, his voice nearly a whimper as he wished that he and his lover were someplace more private.

"Get a room," one of the other boys mumbled.

"Got one," Both Sengoku and Kouhei answered without thinking. Sengoku nuzzled Kouhei's neck with a smile on his face.

"No, Kiyo... I've got to think about how to get them to admit their feelings to each other," Kouhei whispered feebly, but Sengoku merely redoubled his efforts, before finally pulling back.

"If you want to play matchmaker, I'm up for that," he smiled. "Just let me make a quick phone call." Kouhei nodded and Sengoku pulled out his cell-phone, dialing what seemed to be a familiar number. "Hey, Shia-san? I need a favor."

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Akira sat silently as his adoptive father drove through the countryside. Tarou hadn't said a word since getting into the vehicle, and Akira was starting to get nervous about what all of this could be leading up to. What could Tarou possibly have to talk to him about? Sure, there was nothing wrong with a little bonding, and they had done a few things together before (mostly tennis related) since they had legally become family, but this felt different. For a reason he could not fully explain, his heart clenched.

"Akira." The sound of his name made the eighth grader turn to Tarou, who was still looking out at the road, an unreadable expression on his face. Akira waited, not sure what to say. He wasn't sure what to even call Tarou these day, but usually settled for 'Sensei'. Calling him 'Otou-san' would have been to hard for him. Thankfully, Tarou seemed to understand this, even though he told Akira repeatedly that he was his son, and treated him like such. It was nice, to feel like he was cared for by someone other than Shinji and the rest of his teammates. He didn't know if he would go as far as to say that he was loved by Tarou, they simply didn't know each other well enough to forge a deeper bond then they currently had.

"How far have you gone with Shinji?"

Whatever Akira had even considered to expect, that certainly wasn't it. He froze, not out of fear or even nervousness, but simply because he was shocked that Tarou would ask him that. He thought about it and decided that maybe real parents had conversations like that with their parents. It's not like his parents were ever around often enough for him to know, after all, so he brushed off the oddness of the question and tried to riddle out instead exactly what it was that Tarou wanted to know. How far? Clearly he was talking about sex, but Akira didn't want to make a fool of himself by answering wrong when this might be some parent-child thing that he wasn't aware of.

"... What?" He felt stupid for asking, but Tarou didn't seem upset or angry at him for his ignorance.

"It's nothing to worry about, Akira. If you answer me honestly, then no answer you give will be wrong. Have you made love with Shinji yet?"

Akira felt grateful for his choice of words, using 'made love' instead of many other harsher phrases. "Yes."

Akira answered without hesitation the second time the question was asked, and then a silence fell over the car once more. Tarou finally nodded, seeming to come to an understanding in his own mind, and then began speaking to Akira again. "Just so that you know, Akira, I trust you. That's why Hanamura-san and I decided to have this talk, I with you and she with Shinji." He pulled over at the side of the road, into a turn-around that had a beautiful view, the kind of natural beauty that you would never have expected to find so near to Tokyo. "Akira, what do you think about the rooming situation."

Akira honestly wanted to say that it completely sucked, how everyone but them, even those who hadn't talked to their parents, were now being allowed to stay in the same room, at least until someone was shuffled to keep Akira and Shinji apart. He hated that, and couldn't help but be incredibly jealous of the other boys at the Trivial Property. Still, Akira couldn't say that. That was the kind of thing that was almost sure to make Tarou hate him, and if the teacher tossed him aside now, he would be in serious trouble. A ward of the state. And, worse, away from Shinji. So, Akira kept silent.

"You hate it, don't you?" Tarou said softly, surprising the young boy beside him. Tarou nodded at his surprise, taking it as a confirmation. "Well, Hanamura-san and I spoke it over, and... We think that, the way things are at the mansion right now, letting you two room together might be the best decision."

Akira sat silently for a moment, and then leapt over the center console to hug his adoptive father. Tarou was just happy that he had already pulled over.

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Kouhei sat in the living room, casually reading, lounged over his and Youhei's favorite chair, which the two of them normally wrestled over whenever they were in this room together. He was waiting, but he knew that he had to make it look like he was reading, without a care.

"Kouhei?" Youhei's voice preceded him as he came into the living room in search of his twin. He saw said person curled up in their favorite chair, looking like he was intent on whatever he was reading, and not having looked up yet. Youhei cleared his throat, annoyed, "Sengoku-kun said that you needed me?"

Kouhei looked up, as if noticing his twin's presence for the first time. He looked confused. Points to his drama teacher for actually teaching him something worthwhile. "I didn't need you for anything..." He chuckled, "Although I have missed you lately. I've hardly seen you outside school these days, even though we live in the same house! Maybe Kiyosumi knew that I wanted to see you. Sit?" The longer-haired teen scooted over. It was a large chair, and both of their lithe bodies fit into it comfortably, so Kouhei had to wonder for a moment why they always fought over it. He shrugged the thought away as Youhei took his seat next to his twin.

"What are you reading?" Youhei was actually pretty curious, as it was odd to see Kouhei reading anything other than a tennis magazine. And when he read tennis magazines it was actually more like finding ones with Kiyosumi Sengoku's picture in them and trying not to ruin the pages with his drool. Yeah, ew. Still, Kouhei was his brother, so... He seemed to have become sidetracked.

"A novel. Romance."

Youhei nearly laughed out loud at the thought of his twin reading a romance novel. Actually, it was a little bit of a creepy thought too, so Kouhei didn't laugh, opting to shrink back in mock-terror instead.

"Don't look at me like that!" Kouhei scoffed, "I can read!" Youhei decided not to comment on that one.

"So, what's it about? Any good?"

Kouhei smiled slightly. Youhei was taking the bait. "It's about these two guys, one who acts all tough, but is actually pretty withdrawn, and then the other which is a twin, but his twin is in a relationship and they don't really see each other much anymore. Anyway, so both of the guys like each other, but neither of them will admit it."

"So what happens?" Apparently, Youhei had noticed the intense similarity to his own life, though he obviously didn't know that Hiyoshi liked him. He sounded slightly anxious.

"The twin's brother locks the two of them in a closet together, saying that he won't let them out until they admit their feelings. It's actually pretty funny. You wanna read it next?"

"...Yeah, sure..." Youhei said, but he seemed to be spacing out.

Kouhei grinned at having completed phase one of the plan. Operation: Get Those Idiots Together.