Word Count: 2,239
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Author's Note: This chapter is long! …ish. I usually can't make chapters that reach over a thousand words, so yeah. It's 12:45 am here, but who cares! Enjoy!
Rikkaidai Vacation - Chapter Eight
It was seven in the morning. Everyone groaned—except for a certain data master and a certain glasses donning player (okay, well, maybe a soft, quiet one)—as they all headed for Yukimura and Sanada's room. Their feet felt unusually heavy as they dragged them across the hallway. Was it just their imagination, or do they get tired more easily now? It was probably the weather, they assumed.
Yanagi was the one who knocked on the door.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Who is it?" came Yukimura's voice.
"It's us."
There was a shuffling noise before their captain answered again. "Yes, come in."
Niou turned the knob, causing the door to creak open. He scratched his eyes and opened his mouth to speak. "What's the big deal calling us this early in the morning?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I've planned our activity for today!" Yukimura announced with a smile. Towel-dried hair, fresh clothes, a cheerful look—their demigod sure woke up on the right side of the bed today. It also seemed that he had been awake for a while now. What with the bag in hand and all. It was a sight that was perhaps too bright (and terrifying) for their eyes.
Yagyuu, having lost the drowsiness, asked, "What's the activity?"
Yukimura grinned. "We're going to the beach!" He paused to observe everyone's reactions. "We might as well do so. Our hotel is beside a beach, after all."
Sanada's eyes widened. The... beach? He wasn't in the mood.
"The beach?!" Akaya said loudly. "It's still seven in the morning!" he complained.
"The earlier, the better!" Yukimura exclaimed. "So get ready! Let's meet up at the lobby in thirty minutes," he told them, looking at his wristwatch. "Don't be late."
"Aren't we going to eat breakfast first or something?" Marui asked, his stomach grumbling in protest.
"Oh, yes! Breakfast." Yukimura rubbed his chin. "Where would you like to eat?"
"Why don't we eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant?" Jackal suggested. He had remembered the scent of sausages and bacon from the morning before. His stomach growled at the thought.
"My, that's a great idea." Their captain clasped his hands together. "Well then. Meet me at the lobby in thirty minutes and then we'll go eat breakfast. We shall head to the beach after that."
Everyone replied with a nod.
7:35 am.
"They're late," Niou said.
"Very late," Jackal agreed.
Silence engulfed the room. Oh, what kind of punishment will they be facing now?
"Sorry we're late! Akaya takes so long in the bathroom," Marui sighed.
"I DO NOT!"
"Oh? So you call twenty minutes in the bathroom fast?!"
"You took thirty minutes!"
"Are you stupid?! I only took five minutes!"
Their petty fight continued on with gritting teeth, hair-pulling and some curses here and there. These two were such a handful. Jackal heaved a heavy sigh. He felt like such a failure—as a babysitter. It was embarrassing.
Yagyuu pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "We're wasting time."
"We better get going," Sanada said. "Seiichi went ahead and ordered breakfast for everyone."
Everyone stared at their plates. "What's this?" they asked rather stupidly.
Yukimura smiled. "Pancakes," he said matter-of-factly.
"Pancakes?" Akaya repeated. Not that there's something wrong with pancakes. I love pancakes. But, why? Is it easy to inject poison into pancakes or something? Oh, no. I'm thinking too much—
"It doesn't matter, I'm starving!" Marui then started digging into his food.
Their captain smiled his "eat-them-or-else-I'll-personally-shove-them-into-your-mouths" smile and said, "I thought it would be nice to have a taste of Western breakfast."
As everyone started eating the sound of forks and knives clanking against plates filled the air. It was the typical morning sound in a typical breakfast scene.
"I'm done," Niou said as he rested his back on his seat. Barely three minutes had passed since they had picked up their utensils. "Ahh, I'm full." He rubbed his stomach and released a burp.
"Mind your manners, Niou-kun," reminded the gentleman.
Marui still had pancakes in his mouth. But that didn't stop him from shouting, "You're done?! Already?!"
"Marui-kun, don't talk with your mouth full," said the gentleman, "It's not polite."
"GROSS! FOOD'S FALLING OFF MARUI-SENPAI'S MOUTH!" Akaya screamed.
Jackal slapped a napkin onto Marui's face, not bothering to see which part he had hit. Hopefully he had hit something painful—to remind the so-called genius to: "Wipe your mouth, Marui."
Five minutes flew by and the sound of silverware disappeared from the air.
Yukimura tapped his mouth dry. "Is everyone done?"
They all nodded.
"Shall we head to the beach, then?" he said more than asked. He then proceeded to pick up his bag and walk over to the counter, inform the receptionist which room to charge the bill, and leave the keys.
"It's such a convenience that the beach is just nearby," Yukimura said in a cheerful tone.
It was quite the peaceful day. Or so they thought.
Everyone placed their bags on the beach tables, and their bodies on the chairs. And soon enough, rather than playing in the water, they found themselves asleep. The morning sun glared down at them with its heat. It was a good thing they had put on some sunblock. Oh, wait—
About ten minutes later the sound of crashing waves and children playing woke a certain seaweed head. Akaya groaned. "What's going on?" He tried to move his arms. But the slightest nudge stung. He looked at himself and in shock screamed, "AHHH! SUNBURNNN!"
"That's what you get for not putting on sunblock," Niou said, smirking. He squeezed out some paste from a tube and rubbed it on his body. Sunblock had this awful scent. But it was better than turning beat red.
"TARUNDORU!"
Ryoma lowered his cap. "Mada mada dane."
"See? I was right nya! It's really Rikkaidai~!" Eiji cheered.
Jackal scratched his head and rubbed his eyes. His vision was still in blur and all he could see was flesh. His ears twitched, using what sense was working. "Those voices. They sound like..."
"...SEIGAKU?!" everyone shouted altogether.
"First, Hyoutei," Sanada started. "Now, Seigaku?"
Fuji smiled his usual smile and said, "I see you're also having vacation with your team, Yukimura."
Rikkaidai's captain smiled in response.
"The probability of everyone being dragged here by Yukimura," Inui paused to push his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, "is 100 percent."
"Ah, Sadaharu," Yanagi greeted while a smile, "Still taking data even on vacation?"
Seigaku's resident data master nodded.
"Kikumaru," Niou sneered.
Eiji looked towards the bleach-haired boy. "Ah! It's you nya! We could've beaten you and your doubles partner during the Kantou finals. Mou~" He then looked away before adding a quick 'hmph!'
"Don't worry about it, Eiji," said Oishi, patting his back. "The finals are over," he continued on with a comforting smile.
The redhead's eyes twinkled with childish glee. "Thank you, Oishi~!" he beamed as he hugged the vice-captain with such force. Oishi let out a grunt and chuckled.
Akaya stared, watched with confusing eyes. He tried to understand what exactly was going on but... no. He never did understand Seigaku's childishness, their closeness. He probably never will, actually. Not with a devi— I mean, demigod of a captain who forc— umm, encourages them to go on trips together.
"Now, that... I don't know anymore," was all he could utter.
"See, mamushi! It really is Rikkaidai!" a certain second year shouted. "I was right, you idiot!" he added boastfully.
"What did you say?!" came the equally loud retort, "You're the idiot!"
"Oi, oi," Oishi sighed. "Stop it, you too. You're making a scene."
Apparently they didn't care whether they were making a scene or whatever—as long as they could shout at each other from the top of their lungs everything was perfectly A-OK.
"Hey, Tezuka," Fuji nudged his captain, "Did you see this coming? I mean, Rikkaidai... at Chiba. It's too much of a coincidence, right?" he asked.
"No, I didn't," was the simple reply.
The tensai just smiled.
"Fuji-senpai, did you see this coming?" Ryoma asked, raising an eyebrow. He had the inkling, but he could be wrong—
"Hmm, yeah... sort of."
—he was right.
Marui blew a bubble and popped it, getting impatient with all the little reunions and such. "Hey!" he shouted, picking up a bucket and spade. "Why don't we have a contest?" he suggested with a grin. It was better than nothing.
Jackal looked at the self-proclaimed tensai's direction and asked, "What kind of contest?"
Yagyuu adjusted his glasses, a ray of light reflecting against them. "A sand castle building contest, obviously," he said matter-of-factly.
"Uwaaa, I'm really good at those!" Akaya proclaimed proudly. The seaweed-haired boy then picked up his own bucket and pumped his fists. "Let's do this thing!"
"Hmm... a sand castle building contest?" Taka-san said with a tone of hesitation. "I'm not very good at those..." he continued, scratching the back of his head.
Fuji handed him a 'you-know-what.' "Here, Taka-san."
Just then the ground shook (no, not really) and fire flamed in the power player's eyes. "MOERUZE! BURNING! I'M GOING TO WIN THIS, BABY!"
Yukimura clasped his hands together. "Okay, then! We'll be having a sand castle building contest!" he declared. "It will be Rikkaidai versus Seigaku! Whoever builds the best sand castle wins!"
Fuji looked around. "We're going to need some judges," he reminded.
"I volunteer," said Inui.
"So do I," Yanagi followed.
"Oh? So the data pair will be the judges," Marui said. "This is going to be interesting."
"We need one more judge to balance out the players," Tezuka said.
Kaidoh raised his hand. "I'll be a judge too. Fushuuu... I'm not in the mood to build sand castles." He wrinkled his eyebrows at the thought.
"Okay. The contest will last for thirty minutes," Yanagi announced, holding a timer in his hand. A data master is always ready, of course.
"Whoever's sand castle is better will win!" Inui said out loud. "And... start!"
"Fushuuu..."
And with that, everyone got busy. Some collected shells, the others drew water, and the remaining stayed on the spot and fixed their respective sand castles. Footprints were here, there, everywhere. The beach was a mess.
"Oi, o'chibi! Hurry up with the water nya!" Eiji called out, waving his hand towards the capped boy.
The said boy ran back to his team. "Yes, Kikumaru-senpai."
"Oi, Marui! Hurry up with those shells!" Niou demanded.
Marui hauled two buckets of shells with his hands. He trudged through the sand with difficulty, the sweat on his face showing proof. The water had turned it mushy and well, every step was a quick drain of energy. "Shut up, I'm coming!"
Akaya molded the sand castle into something rather grand. His teammates could only stare in shock. Akaya made this? Are you kidding me?
"BURNING! WE'RE GOING TO WIN THIS, BABY!"
"Ahhh! Taka-san! You're ruining our castle!" Eiji screamed.
"Kawamura-senpai, if you want us to win, don't ruin the sand castle," Ryoma ordered more than said, trying to keep the said upperclassman away from the sand castle.
Yanagi glanced at his timer. "Five minutes left!"
Fuji positioned the shells they had collected all over the sand castle. "That looks good."
Yukimura wedged a shell on the peak of theirs. "Perfect!"
Tezuka, surprisingly, was the one molding Seigaku's sand castle. Everyone gaped in amazement as they watched their captain delve into such details—doors, windows, towers. Who knew he had such a hidden talent?
"I never knew Tezuka-buchou was good with making sand castles!" Momo laughed. "We might actually win this!"
Sanada actually helped by bringing bucket-loads of water. Thank goodness for his muscles.
"EVERYONE, STOP!" Yanagi signaled. "Please step away from the sand castles."
"The judging will begin now," Inui said.
The judges made their way over to each team's stations when without notice the thunder roared, dark clouds hovering above them in an eerie manner.
"W-what was that?" Marui asked, his body involuntarily jumping in reaction.
Lightning followed soon after.
"You okay, Marui?" Niou asked.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine."
With another shout of thunder raindrops started falling from the sky. "Rain," said Ryoma, who fixed his cap to avoid getting his eyes wet.
"WHAT? NO! MY SAND CASTLE! IT'S GETTING RUINED!" Akaya screamed in frustration.
"What do you mean by 'my sand castle'?!" Marui asked, annoyed.
The weather was stubborn, cracking another roar of thunder.
Marui ran without thinking, his body acting on impulse. He bumped into Niou, who looked at him with uncharacteristically worried eyes. "Oi, Marui," he said, grabbing the boy by the shoulders, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"What do you think?!"
"Everyone, run to the nearest shelter!" Tezuka shouted so that everyone could hear. He pointed towards a pavilion, its roof big enough to keep them dry, or at least, not soaked. The rain had started pouring, dampening their clothes. They didn't know whether to be grateful that they were wearing so little, thus drenching fewer clothing, or irritated that they were wearing so little, thus feeling the chill of the cold wind.
"I don't want anybody getting sick on this vacation," Yukimura said, concern showing in his voice. His eyes followed as his teammates quickly ran for shelter.
Sanada grabbed Yukimura's wrist and started running.
"Let's wait until the rain stops," Fuji stated more than suggested. They didn't really have a choice.
In a corner Akaya wept the loss of his sand castle.
Author's Note: So, what'cha think? I hope I didn't leave out anybody. Did I? ;~; Hm, should I continue? Please review!