Sorry this is so late, things have been kind of hectic. Thanks for putting up with me. I would also like to thank my friend Shazam for proof reading part of this for me. She helped me spot quite a few silly mistakes. Now let's get on with the show!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

Chapter Four

Marui hummed a little tune as he excitedly tapped his feet on the grassy verge. It was Friday, which meant the team were going to Whirls Café after school. He was especially excited since he hadn't been able to go the previous week due to his busted wrist and mini fallout with Akaya. However, this week not only was he able to go, Akaya would be there and he was bringing his new friend along! Marui couldn't wait.

Marui looked up as Niou came over, raising his hand so the Trickster could pull him to his feet.

"Ready to go, puri?" Niou asked as he kept Marui steady as the redhead brushed the grass blades off the back of his trousers.

"Yeah, just about. Do you mind if I go to bathroom quickly though? They don't have any at Whirls." Marui answered as Niou took his hand and tugged it to start him walking.

"Yeah, that's fine. Akaya said that his friend had probably fallen asleep in the library fiction section and has gone to get him so you've ten minutes." Niou said as he led Marui to the tennis changing rooms. They quickly squeezed past the last few people in the changing rooms to get to the toilets. Marui went in first and Niou was about to follow when Yagyuu stopped him.

"Niou-kun, may I talk to you about the new formation?" Yagyuu requested. Niou looked at Marui.

"Will you be okay by yourself for a couple of minutes, Maru?" Marui nodded and Niou ruffled his hair quickly before stepping towards Yagyuu and letting the door swing shut behind Marui.

Marui quickly did his business and washed his hands thoroughly before starting to make his way out of the bathroom. He was about a metre away when it suddenly opened and somebody else walked in. The person, a second year according to his badge, barged past Marui, knocking him off balance. Marui closed his eyes as he braced himself for the hard impact on the tiled floor. They snapped back open in surprise when he instead fell back on to a warm chest. The owner of the chest helped to steady him as Marui looked back to identify his saviour. He grinned widely.

"Hey Jackal! Thanks for saving me from the evil floor!" Marui said chirpily as he turned round so he could hug the Brazilian. Jackal patted his head and Marui let go as they started to walk out the bathroom.

"No problem, Marui. Don't want you getting another injury." Jackal said. Marui grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah but hopefully it won't be for much longer. I'm having my eyes checked tomorrow and then I should be getting my new contacts next week." Marui said brightly as they walked outside where the rest of the team were waiting.

Outside they were met with a strange sight. Yagyuu, the Gentleman of all gentleman, was arguing with an unknown male. Well, maybe not quite arguing but definitely debating heatedly.

"It is not my fault for having normal glasses so please stop accusing me of some sort of trickery." Yagyuu said sternly as he crossed his arms as his eyebrow twitched slightly.

"But you can't have bad eyesight or you wouldn't have cool glasses! There's no other way!" The boy exclaimed, looking close to pulling his hair out.

"Trust me, my eyesight is just as bad as yours is. I just look at the glasses before I get them."

"What about your mother? All mothers always go for the nerdiest looking glasses possible!"

"I don't go with my mother and even if I did, that does not stop me from looking at the glasses and refusing them."

"What if you can't see the glasses? What if they're just a fuzzy blob?"

"Then put your glasses on!"

"What if I don't like wearing my glasses?"

"It's true, Akizaki-san really hates wearing them. As soon as he's out of school he takes them off." Akaya interjected before the debate could continue. "He looks really, really different without his glasses. Look, with glasses he looks all mature and studious and stuff that teachers like but if you take them off," Here Akaya carefully took Akizaki's glasses from him, "he looks young and childish." The team crowded round the new second year. He admittedly did look very different without his glasses and a lot more amicable.

"I would get contacts but my mother won't let me and my mother's really scary." Akizaki muttered poutily as he squinted slightly so he could make the group out.

"I think that's something we can all agree on about mothers in general. Now, before another debate starts, why don't we all quickly introduce ourselves and head for the café?" Yukimura suggested. Akizaki looked apologetic at this and muttered a quiet apology before introducing himself, the others returning the introduction as they started to walk.

They reached Whirls in a reasonable time, quickly bagging their usual table before the group of high schoolers that were eyeing it up could reach it. Sanada quickly went to order their drinks and various foods before they all squished up so they could all fit on the benches, talking to each other animatedly.

Marui had to suppress a small yawn as he listened to the conversations going on around him. Yukimura, Sanada and Yanagi were all talking about boring club matters so he didn't really want to join in; Niou and Yagyuu were talking about their new formation and Marui didn't really want to join in lest he start mixing their formation up with the one he and Jackal had been learning before his contacts had been eaten; and as for the Brazilian himself, with two second years who liked to eat quickly to watch, Jackal was working double time to make sure neither of them choked. Deciding that he might as well take matters (and boredom) into his own hands, Marui pulled his sketch pad and colouring pencils out of his bag, quickly flipped to the picture he was working on and started to colour it in.

Akaya had just finished inhaling his chocolate sundae when he noticed that Marui's was buried in his sketch pad.

"Ne, Marui-senpai, I just noticed but you're drawing a lot more than usual. Why?" Akaya asked curiously as he reached for his banana milkshake. Marui looked up at him, pushing his glasses up so Akaya wasn't a blurry blob.

"I'm drawing more 'cause drawing doesn't involve a lot of moving about so I can do it without having to worry about falling over and it's more fun than looking at textbooks." Marui answered, sitting up properly again.

"Do you mind if we see?" Akizaki wheezed out, having just been saved from choking on his tart by a hard pat on the back from Jackal. Marui lifted his sketchpad and turned it round so the two could see. Akaya and Akizaki both curiously leaned forward to look at it. And to look some more. And a bit more. Okay, now they were just plain staring.

"Marui-senpai…" Akaya said slowly.

"Yes?"

"Why have you drawn gummy bears playing tennis?" That grabbed everyone's attention. Marui just shrugged nonchalantly.

"I got bored whilst watching you guys playing tennis and was craving gummy bears. It seemed like natural conclusion at the time." Marui explained casually as he put his sketchpad down again and picked up a pencil that was the exact same shade of purple as Yagyuu's hair…

As the team watched Marui hum as he coloured in, they failed to notice as someone else sat at their table. Jackal was the first to realise.

"Hey, you're that second year that almost knocked Marui over in the bathroom!" Jackal exclaimed, drawing the group's attention to the new person. Upon hearing what Jackal said, the rest of the team immediately scowled at him, Niou positively glaring as he pulled Marui closer to him.

"Yeah. And?" The second year, who we shall now name Kuroyama, said in a cavalier manner. This just got the group's backs up even more.

"We have not invited you to sit with us nor do we want you to sit with us so please leave." Yukimura said coldly.

"Why can't I sit with you?" Kuroyama asked petulantly. "I always assumed that you only allowed regulars to sit here so I never bothered trying but I was obviously wrong since he isn't even in the tennis club anymore and since he wasn't even part of it in the first place." Kuroyama carried on, jutting his chin towards Marui and Akizaki with a sneer.

"Marui is part of the tennis club, he is just taking a short break. And even if he weren't, he is our friend, as is Akizaki-san, and our friends are allowed to sit here. Since you are far from being our friend, please leave." Jackal said sternly, using the Look that he used on Akaya when he was misbehaving on his watch and which never failed to work. The Look worked once again and Kuroyama huffed as he stood up and flounced off.

"And you have 100 laps on Tuesday morning for petulance! Tarundoru!" Sanada called after Kuroyama just before he disappeared. Marui smiled gratefully at Jackal.

"Thanks for sticking it for me and Akizaki-san, Jackal. You'd make a great teacher some day." Marui said as he wiggled out of Niou's hold and hugged Jackal. The Brazilian gave Marui a one-armed hug back.

"No problem, Marui." Jackal said bashfully as Akizaki gratefully hugged his free arm.

"But Fukubuchou, why did you give him laps for Tuesday? Why not Monday?" Akaya asked confusedly, his brow creasing in confuzzlement. The rest of the team looked at him just as confusedly.

"Didn't you hear, Akaya? There's a teacher training day on Monday so we get the day off school." Yukimura explained. Akaya shook his head cluelessly.

"Kirihara-san was a little late today so he missed the very first announcement." Akizaki explained as he turned to Akaya. "A substitute teacher that came in to teach P.E. had a bucket of glue placed on top of the P.E. office door so when he walked in he got drenched in glue and then he somehow got covered in feathers. They managed to get rid of all the feathers and glue but not before a photo had spread round the school of him looking like that and apparently he had really hairy arms but he lost all that hair when they were pulling the glue off and the guy was practically in tears it was so painful. Since he had been really mean to all his students and not very pleasant to the staff, they decided to let the student get away with it by saying to the guy that there was no way they could investigate it since the culprit left no clues and instead decided to do a teacher training day about how not to get on your students' bad sides and how to handle vengeful students." Akaya blinked.

"Wait, did you say a hairy P.E. sub? That sounds like the guy that made Marui-senpai do P.E. and then wouldn't let him go when he'd hurt his wrist." Akaya realised. A smug smirk appeared on Niou's face and Marui rolled his eyes at him.

"Tarundoru! Niou, you have 100 laps as well on Tuesday! Misbehaviour must not go unpunished!" Sanada barked. Niou's smirk immediately turned into a scowl and he spat out a venomous 'puri'. Marui patted his arm comfortingly as Akaya gestured Akizaki and Jackal closer.

"Maybe the teachers did know who the culprit was. Maybe they just knew that Fukubuchou would deal with him for them." Akaya whispered with a cheeky grin. Jackal grinned back and Akizaki laughed softly as they looked back at Niou who was now looking like a child who been caught with his hand in the cookie jar as Marui was offering him a real cookie to make him feel better. Yep, the teachers definitely knew.

Marui hummed a little tune as he happily skipped along. He almost tripped over some uneven paving but a sharp tug from the hand holding his quickly righted him again. Marui looked over his shoulder and smiled gratefully at Niou who just shook his head exasperatedly as he quickly caught Marui before he fell over again, this time due to not looking where he was going.

Niou and Marui had just gone to the opticians, Niou taking the redhead since all of Marui's family had been busy. Marui's eyes had been checked and a new prescription written up, meaning that Marui would once again have contacts by the end of the next week. This had left Marui feeling elated, hence the humming, skipping and almost falling over.

The duo were walking through the park, a shortcut to Marui's house, when Niou's mobile started to ring. They came to a stop and Niou sat Marui down on a nearby bench before answering.

"Hey… Hi Mum… Yeah, I'll get them… What, now? But-… Mum, I'm busy!... I'm not giving you attitude, you're giving me attitude!... Fine, fine, I'll do it now, just leave my games alone!" Niou hung up without saying goodbye. He glared at his mobile before turning to Marui with a softened, apologetic look. "Sorry but my mother's being kinda pissy and wants me to get some stuff from the supermarket for dinner right at this moment. Do you mind coming with me, puri?" Marui shook his head.

"I don't mind. But, 'Haru, I can just walk home by myself. It would save us both a lot of hassle." Marui pointed out as he stood up with Niou's help. Niou looked at him incredulously.

"Maru, you can barely walk more than three steps without someone holding on to you before you fall over. What makes you think you'll be able to get home in one piece?" Niou asked as he made to take Marui's hand. Marui quickly hid his hands behind his back so Niou couldn't grab them, pouting as he did so.

"I can walk more than three steps! I'll prove it!" Marui said stubbornly as he turned to the side and started to walk. He counted four paces out loud before stopping and starting to turn round to smirk triumphantly at Niou. "See, I told you I-Whoa!" As he turned round, Marui accidentally caught one foot behind the other's ankle and he started to fall backwards. Niou quickly lunged forwards to catch him but was beaten to it by someone stepping behind Marui and stopping his descent.

"Maru, you are going to be the death of me. Thanks, Fukubuchou." Niou sighed as Sanada steadied Marui and helped him back on to his feet. Marui smiled apologetically at Niou as he also thanked Sanada. "What are you doing here, Fukubuchou?"

"I am taking a jog round the park. I take it that you and Marui have just been to the opticians?" Sanada replied. The two nodded.

"Yeah. Fukubuchou, do you mind slowing your jog down to a walk? My mother wants some stuff picking up now and something tells me Maru won't survive the journey to the supermarket, puri." Niou said as his phone vibrated with an incoming text message, most probably from his mother asking him why he wasn't home yet.

"Hey, I'm not that bad. I just need someone to hold my hand so I don't fall over." Marui protested with a pout.

"Thus mooting the point you were trying to make earlier. Now, Fukubuchou, do you mind taking Maru home? If my mother texts me any more, my butt is going to vibrate off." Niou said as his phone pretty much went on constant vibrate his mother was sending him so many texts. When had she learnt to text so quickly?

"You could try turning your mobile off." Marui suggested as Sanada nodded, put his hand on the redhead's shoulder and began guiding him out of the park. "See ya, 'Haru!"

"See ya, puri." Niou called back as he turned in the opposite direction of the two whilst getting his phone his out of his pocket. As he pulled it out, it gave one last feeble vibration before suddenly stop. Niou flipped open the phone, internally wincing at how hot all the vibrating had made it, and saw a blank screen. Not even technology could handle his mother…

As Marui walked home with Sanada, he was still humming but he was now humming inside his head. Whilst he and Sanada were friends, they weren't that close. Sanada was stoic, traditional and always managed to make any technology he owned blow up whilst Marui was hyper, somewhat overemotional (though he didn't like admitting it) and liked trying new things, especially new gaming systems. Forget opposites attract, they were so different that the only things that they had in common were tennis and being slightly crazy.

Of course, this doesn't explain why Marui wasn't humming so I will. Sanada's traditional-ness meant that he liked traditional and somewhat old-fashioned music. Marui was much more a peppy pop person and his humming would be as such. Marui knew Sanada wouldn't like his humming and since Sanada was helping him, he had decided to not hum out loud. Now, this wouldn't matter so much if it hadn't been robbing him off the concentration that he sincerely needed.

Sanada sighed through his nose as he stopped his charge from tripping over for the fifth time in ten minutes, Marui not even seeming to notice his loss of balance. He wondered what was distracting the boy so much as he quickly righted his balance for the sixth time. He sighed again, knowing that if he didn't do something soon then Marui would fall over and most probably hurt himself.

Marui was started out of his internal humming by Sanada suddenly stopping him. He watched with confused eyes as Sanada walked in front of him before crouching down with his back to him.

"Get on, I will carry you. This way you will not trip and hurt yourself and Niou will have no reason to be annoyed with me. He's already sour enough about his laps and I don't want to give him any reason to start one of his one-sided prank wars." Sanada said as he looked impatiently over his shoulder. Marui quickly and carefully scrambled on to Sanada's back, Sanada making sure that he had a good grip on Marui's thighs before he stood up again.

"Thank you." Marui murmured as Sanada started to walk again. Sanada grunted in response before they lapsed back into silence again.

After about another five minutes of walking, Sanada suddenly felt a weird vibrating against his neck. At first he was confused as to what it was but then he realised that the vibrating area was warm which then led him to the discovery that Marui had buried his face in the crook of his neck. The logical conclusion from there was that Marui was humming against his neck. This wouldn't have bothered Sanada so much if Marui hadn't been humming on the one spot that would make Sanada lose his aloofness.

"Marui, could you please stop humming against my neck?" Sanada asked when he could take it no more. Marui blinked in surprise, not even having realised that he had started humming again.

"Sorry." Marui apologised as he lifted his head from Sanada's neck and stopped humming. Sanada just nodded his thanks as they returned to silence. Now, contrary to popular belief, Sanada liked noise. Yes, he believed that they were times and places for it but otherwise he was okay with people being loud, especially if he knew that a person was naturally loud. This meant the silence they were walking in was starting to unnerve him a bit since Marui liked to talk a lot. It was strange to not hear the redhead making some sort of noise, especially since he was no longer having to put all his concentration on not falling over. Sanada turned his head slightly to look at Marui.

"Marui?" Sanada called. Marui hmmed to show he was listening. "You can hum if you want. Just please don't hum against my neck, I'm rather ticklish there." Marui blinked in surprise.

"You're ticklish?" He repeated with a grin. Sanada glared at him and Marui, with a bit of difficulty, wiped the smile of his face. "Thank you." Marui said as he started to hum happily. Sanada looked frontways again, a small smile on his face and glad that Marui couldn't see it. He had a reputation after all.

Ten minutes later and they arrived at the Marui household. Sanada carried Marui to the front door, setting him down on the doorstep. Marui got his key out of his pocket and opened the door. He looked back at Sanada with a grateful smile.

"Thanks for walking me home. I'll make sure that 'Haru doesn't prank you too much." Marui promised. Sanada tilted his cap slightly in thanks.

"That would be much appreciated." He said as he started to turn round.

"Ah, wait!" Sanada turned back at the call and suddenly found himself with an armful of red. Marui got up on his tiptoes and kissed Sanada on the cheek. "A thank you gift for helping me." Marui giggled at Sanada's red face before carefully jogging inside.

"T-TARUNDORU!"

A/N: Well, that's chapter four done. I can't promise when the next chapter will be but Christmas seems realistic -.-' Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it! See ya!