Disclaimer:

FlippinWonka: Because the rest of Fail4Ninjas is currently depressed, I will be doing an actual serious disclaimer. We don't own Prince of Tennis or any of the characters in the story, aside from Emi and Eri. Also, in one of my previous chapters, Tezuka made an appearance to talk to Echizen. This was a mistake because Tezuka is currently in Germany. Also, this chapter takes place a few days before the Junior Invitationals start. Please enjoy.

Experimental Iwashi Teeming Refreshment

Normal POV

-Rikkaidai 4:30 PM-

"Come on Ma-chan! Only five laps to go! You can do it!" Eri cheerfully shouted out to the overly-sweating Niou who was passing her for the eightieth time.

"Honey, I'm touched that you are still cheering me on even though everyone has left. But, could you not make it seem as though you are enjoying the pain that I am going through right now?" Niou's voice was hoarse and raspy. He had been running since the beginning of practice when school had ended, and now it was sunset.

Why did Niou receive so much harsh training? It was fairly simple. He just had the nerve to keep calling Eri pet names. Even though Marui and Eri both threatened him, he kept calling her 'babe.' Sanada had finally gotten tired of all of the bickering and gave Niou 100 laps.

"Now Ma-chan, who said that I wasn't enjoying the pain that you are going through?" Eri's eyes sparkled with amusement as she started to drink out of a water bottle. Just to irritate the dehydrated Niou, of course.

She could see him twitch as she laughed haughtily and took long sips from the water bottle.

"Come on Babe, I'm sure Sanada wouldn't mind if you let me off of all of this running. I hope you didn't forget I'm running with 500 mg on each foot and arm." To emphasize that fact, he rolled up one of the sleeves of his jacket to reveal one of the weights that was strapped to his body.

"Oh come on, how stupid do you think I am? I know you enough to know that you probably took those weights out hours ago." Eri smugly glanced at him as he passed by her again. She did feel guilty, but the anger she felt for him cancelled out any of the guilt she had left in her.

"Aww, Sweetheart you catch on quick. Well, I guess that was expected. If you didn't notice that, then I would be put to shame as your teacher in the art of trickery and illusions." Niou started to slow down a bit to flash her a coy smile before running off again.

"Stop giving yourself so much credit. You taught Emi and I a long time ago. And Ma-chan, you know this torture would be over if you just stopped calling me those stupid names. You know I don't like it, and I can just ask Sanada to make you run these laps again tomorrow."

"Babe I will always think of you as my pupil, and I'll never stop giving you pet names!" Niou waved at Eri as she tucked in her shoulders and arched her back. Niou dismissed what Eri was doing as signs of defeat and kept on jogging.

She was secretly crying, not full out sobbing, but crying enough for a few tears to spill over.

No! I'm not letting Niou see me like this. I can't give them any proof that Emi wasn't the only one affected that day… I have to stay strong until Emi is cured. I shouldn't disappoint Mother and Father either; I'm not going to cry.

Eri nonchalantly wiped her tears away as she thought about the past that ruined her and Emi.

Niou noticed Eri's actions and slowed his jog down to a walk as he cautiously climbed up the steps of the bleachers. She was staring off into space and had not blinked for a few minutes. Just to prove his assumptions, he waved his hand around in front of her face.

Although she had not realized what Niou was doing, Eri's facial expressions began to alter. Her face was blank a moment ago, but suddenly her face seemed to contort with agony and rage.

Niou got slightly panicked. Something was off about Eri. He snapped his fingers, and somehow managed to pull Eri out of that trance.

"Hm? Why are you inches away from my face Niou? Did you finish your laps?"

Oh shoot, she called me Niou. That means she is pretty mad… I can take advantage of that.

"Well Beautiful, I just finished my laps while you were probably thinking of how amazing I look. So, may I walk the you home, Pretty Lady?" He bowed and put his hand out for her to grab.

Eri just scowled at Niou. Now he had thought of another pet name to call her?

She thought about what Niou said and stood up to grab his hand.

"Okay Ma-chan. I'll go with you, but you have to tell Bunta why I'm holding your hand on a tennis court with no one else here, just the TWO of us." Eri looked behind Niou and waved over to the fence where Marui was standing. Niou started to tense up as he felt Marui's glare bore into his back.

"Hey Marui," Niou said without even looking over to where Marui was. "I'm just talking to Eri about how to keep our secret love affair private. No need to get mad or anything."

Eri playfully hit Niou on the head. "And Bunta, you know Ma-chan enough to know that he is an idiotic, lying trickster. Don't listen to him, okay?" She grabbed a hold of both of Niou's hands before sprinting over to where Marui was watching the pair.

I will not kill Niou… I will not kill Niou… I will not kill Niou… At least I won't kill him until we win the Nationals…

Marui smiled with satisfaction. Yes, he should wait until Rikkaidai won the Nationals again before killing Niou; that was the perfect plan.

"It's okay, Eri. I know that Niou is an idiotic, lying trickster." Eri let out a chuckle as Niou started to glower.

"Guys, we don't need a full out war right now. We need to get ready for school tomorrow and the Junior Invitationals in a few days." She laughed a bit as she got ahead of the two boys and ran over to the gate.

"Niou… I think there is something wrong with Eri." Marui had been watching Eri for awhile, and he had noticed her crying a little.

"I'm with you on that, Marui. She didn't notice me when I was directly in front of her face. She seemed to be thinking about something grim." Niou nodded in agreement as Marui blushed slightly.

"Come on guys; hurry up! I need to take the train back, and that is going to take me forever!" She linked arms with Niou and Marui before dragging them to the station. "Oh, and good job at the tournaments, guys! Proud to say that Rikkaidai made it to the end of the Singles and Doubles tournament."

Niou and Marui glanced at each other. Eri was back to her normal self again.

-Hyotei 5:30 PM-

"Emi-chan! Are you trying to kill us?" Gakuto asked as he fell flat onto his face.

The Hyotei regulars, unlike Rikkaidai, were ALL running 100 laps; they were all dying by the eightieth lap.

"Noooooo, what could possibly make you say that?" She used her doe eyes to go with her sarcasm.

"Oh, okay then. Thanks for not killing us!" Emi face-palmed herself because of how gullible Gakuto was being at that moment. How stupid could this acrobat get?

"Gekidasa, Gakuto! How could you think that she wasn't trying to send us to our graves?" Shishido added in a little profanity as he kept his pace and jogged with the rest of the regulars.

"Awwww, I won't try to kill you Ryou! You're my boyfriend for now!"

Operation: Make Ryou Trip and Make Him Last to Finish the Laps is now in session!

All the regulars saw Ryou babbling incoherent words and not paying attention to where he was going. Needless to say, Atobe only arrogantly laughed at him when he tripped and fell.

"Curse you Atobe!" These were Shishido's last words before his face met the cement beneath him.

"Shishido-san! I will finish these laps for your honor as well!" Ootori wrapped his fingers around the necklace he wore and silently made a quick prayer.

"Uh huh… Well, I'm going to make things a little interesting. Last place has to drink this!" She shuffled the contents of the bag that was behind her before pulling out a large pitcher. "This is Iwashimizu!" Emi smiled deviously for a split-second before putting up a poker face. She didn't want anyone to be on their guard when they saw her smiling sadistically.

"Emi-hime, Iwasimizu isn't really a threat. In fact, most of us now have a reason to slow down to be able to drink something after this horrendous practice." Oshitari's tone was similar to one that a father would use on his daughter.

Oshitari's predictions came true as all of the regulars, except Atobe and Jirou, slowed down to a walking pace.

Damn, the Monkey King and Jirou know something's wrong, don't they? They've known me long enough to know that I don't offer anything up unless there is some entertainment in store for me. I guess I can let those two off the hook…

"As a reward for the Monkey King and Jirou, I will let these two off from finishing today's practice." This made Atobe look at her in bewilderment, and Jirou just walked over to the bench to nap. "And I only let these two off because they didn't stop running, but for the rest of you, if you can sprint another three laps, you can stop as well."

"Usu." Surprisingly, it was Kabaji who voiced out his thanks as the others started to sprint around the courts.

"Oi, Emi. Ore-sama wants to know what is in the drink that you're going giving to the loser." Over the past couple of days, Atobe had stopped calling Emi, Emi-hime. He had sort of lost respect for her when they had attended the hospital a few days back. When he was getting his check-up, Emi had practically disappeared. She didn't even have the nerve to tell him where she had gone, nor did she say her goodbyes to him when he left the hospital.

What Atobe didn't know was that her family owned the hospital that they had visited, and she had been busy attending to patients, but he didn't need to know that yet.

"Monkey King, shut up. You'll see when the last person drinks it," snapped Emi.

Atobe and Emi both froze in shock. The last person to finish was… Oshitari?

"Oshitari?" Everyone's voices echoed throughout the courts. Their resident tensai had come in last?

"Well here I am Emi-hime. Can I have some of that Iwashimizu?" Oshitari purred slightly at the end of that question to get a reaction out of Emi. Unfortunately for him, there was none.

"Okay! Here is a cup of Iwashimizu!" Good luck!

Oshitari brushed his fingers over hers before taking the cup into his own hand. He smirked a bit at Atobe before drinking up the Iwashimizu in one gulp.

Emi held her breath as the regulars waited for some kind of reaction from Oshitari. He suddenly passed out and had a ghastly foam coming out of his mouth.

"Yuushi! NOOOOOOO!" Gakuto ran over to the unconscious tensai and started to wail.

"Emi-san, what was inside that drink?" Hiyoshi asked as he slowly crept over to Atobe and away from Emi.

"Before that, hold on." She quickly took out her phone out of her pocket and speedily dialed a number. It rang once before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Yes, hello Renji. I'm here to report the effects of the Iwashimizu." The regulars stared wide-eyed at the blonde in front of them. "Oshitari Yuushi was the one who sacrificed himself unknowingly for the group."

"And the results?" The sound of scribbling could be heard on the other line.

"He passed out about 17 seconds after he drank it and foamed at the mouth. Oh, and you wouldn't mind if I told the Hyotei boys what was in the Iwashimizu would you?"

"I would not mind, but please call it by its real name."

"Okay. Please tell Inui-san that I would love to help you two out in the future. Goodbye." She shut her phone and swiftly put it into her bag.

"Uhh, Emi? Was that Rikkaidai's Yanagi Renji on the phone?" Shishido asked with a face full of fear.

"Why yes it! How did you know Ryou?" She dramatically gasped. At least Ryou wasn't as ignorant as Gakuto.

"Um… Never mind. So, what was in that drink again?"

"The Iwashimizu's real name is actually Experimental Iwashi Teeming Refreshment. And as the name states, it is made of Iwashi. LOTS of Iwashi." All of the boys blanched when they heard her explanation.

"He drank fish? YUUSHI! I WILL TAKE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL!" Gakuto lamented as he made his way to the genius.

"Gakuto, you are too loud." Oshitari had started to slowly get up off the cement and pant heavily.

"Hmm, interesting. Oshitari Yuushi: birthday October 15th, height: 178 cm, weight: 64 kg, and time taken to recover from the Iwashimizu: 6 minutes and 34 seconds. Ii data." Everyone looked at Emi in consternation. She just sounded like a combined Yanagi Renji and Inui Sadaharu. Geez, those guys were scary when they wanted to be! "I'll have to speak to Renji about this the next time I see him."

"Emi-hime, please stop contacting Yanagi. I do not want to die without going on a date with you or Eri-hime," said Oshitari in a seductive voice, so he could tick off the pompous buchou.

"Nahh, I'm being blackmailed." Emi said in an annoyed tone.

"What? Ore-sama wants to hear why you are being blackmailed." Oshitari did frustrate him, but Yanagi had upset him on a greater level.

"Hahaha… No reason." She softly whistled a tune to feign ignorance.

Oh? Emi-hime isn't telling us something. And that something seems like it has to do with Atobe. Oshitari started to think of a plan to trick Emi into telling them and possibly embarrassing her in front of Atobe.

"Emi! I came to walk home with you!" Everyone turned around to see Eri leaning against the door of the tennis courts.

"Hey! Okay, just wait a second. I have to go grab my stuff. Guys, you're all done for today's practice." Emi high-fived Eri before sprinting off toward the main building.

This is our chance to know how Yanagi is blackmailing her… Oshitari thought triumphantly.

"Eri-hime, do you know how Yanagi is blackmailing Emi?"

Eri glared at Oshitari for calling her with a pet name, but when he finished asking the question, she started to laugh hysterically.

"Oh my god! That picture was hilarious! Yanagi and Niou are meant to be feared if they can conjure up such great blackmail!" Eri was practically on the floor trying to breathe but convulsing with laughter.

"A picture? Ore-sama wants to know what this picture is showing," said Atobe in his I'm-better-than-you-so-I-deserve-to-know voice.

"Hahahaha, you are going to love it Kei-chan! Renji gave me a copy of it today!" Eri pulled the zipper down on her bag and took out a small picture. "Here it is!"

When Eri gave the picture to Oshitari, who was eagerly waiting, he began to tremble. This had gotten Atobe's attention. THE poker face wizard was losing his composure over a picture? Oshitari started snickering.

"Hey, let me see Yuushi!" Gakuto popped up behind Yuushi and stole the picture. "OH MY GOD! YOU GUYS HAVE TO SEE THIS!"

The regulars started to crowd around Gakuto to see this interesting picture. Atobe was the only one that waited for the picture to come around. His pride and dignity would not allow for him to fight over something so trivial.

"Glad you like it guys. But you should show Kei-chan. Emi is going to kill me if she sees you guys looking at it." Eri smiled angelically. (A/N: Angelically basically means sadistically.)

"Here you go, Atobe." Shishido brought up the photo to his majesty before laughing in Atobe's face.

When Atobe looked at the picture that was given to him, he started to smirk smugly. The picture showed Atobe's head on Emi's lap, and her hand caressing his face in a loving way. She was smiling genuinely at Atobe who looked like he was sleeping. This was taken at the time when Atobe had "fainted" and Emi had rushed in to see if he was okay. Also, the background had been edited to make it seem as if they were in a field.

"Let me tell you Kei-chan, apparently that didn't take that much editing. The only things that were changed include the background and the position of onee-san's hand when she touched your face. I thought you two went on a secret date or something when I first saw the picture!"

"Oh? Is that so, Eri? Did all of you think the same?" Emi's cold voice froze everyone on spot.

"Oh, Emi-chan? Hahahaha… How long have you been here?" Choutarou chuckled nervously.

"I've been here since you all started passing the picture around. Oh, and fortunately, I found a steel bat on my walk to the classroom, and I brought it back." Emi grinned as she held up the steel bat. (2ManyShoez: Omg, that's what I wrote for one of the characters in my story lolol. Great minds think alike.)

"OH SHOOT! EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Gakuto shrieked as everyone started to rush out of the courts. Atobe was the only one who didn't run. He continued to stand by the bleachers with the same smug expression.

"Oi, Monkey King, why aren't you running? I should be coming after you first." She approached Atobe while dragging the metal bat behind her.

"Why would Ore-sama run away? You do not scare Ore-sama, and Ore-sama likes this picture. Maybe Ore-sama should ask Niou and Yanagi how to edit photos like this and if they have any more copies of this." This was the first that Emi blushed so heavily. Atobe had the urge to laugh at her but resisted. She had a weapon at the moment, and he wasn't risking any injuries to to his supposedly godlike face.

"GAHHHH! CURSE YOU, ATOBE KEIGO! CURSE NIOU MASAHARU AND YANAGI RENJI AS WELL! YOU WILL ALL DIE AT MY HANDS!" Even Atobe started to race away when she started to swing the bat around like a maniac.

~Otaku Corner~

FlippinWonka: Thank you for reading this story up to this point. Please review! Also for those who are interested at all, Fail4Ninjas is depressed because school is starting and not because 2ManyShoez has gotten so many reviews with only four chapters out so far. Like I said please review and it might just lift my depression. Thanks for reading!