Disclaimer: I own very little.

Nothing in Tennis

"Love means nothing in tennis, but in life, it is everything."

- Anonymous

Chapter 14

Victory and Defeat

"…Yamabuki High, am I right?"

Dan looked up from his notebook. "Huh?" Seeing the person addressing him, he bounced up to his feet, somewhat flustered. "Ah, Atobe-san!"

"Good to know I've made an impression." The captain of Hyoutei's tennis team – sixth year in a row, counting both middle school and high school – smirked at him. "So, am I right in my assumption? You are with Yamabuki?"

"Um, yes desu!" Dan bowed hastily. "I'm one of Yamabuki's regulars, Dan Taichi desu!"

"Dan Taichi, is it? You played against Hiyoshi a couple of years ago, if I recall right." Atobe's smirk signalled that he usually did recall right. "You… won, didn't you? Kantou tournament, Singles One?"

"I'm afraid so desu," Dan said with a timid smile. "I was usually Singles Two around that time, but Muromachi-buchou had gotten injured, so I had to take his place."

"Never apologize for winning, child. You taught Hiyoshi a very valuable lesson at that time." Atobe smirked. "To look down on someone merely because of their appearance is a mistake no master should make. But then," he added, "Hiyoshi is hardly a master."

"You are too harsh on your players, Atobe-san desu." Dan smiled some more. "Hiyoshi-san was quite a skilled opponent desu"

"Whatever you say." Atobe inclined his head. "Be warned, though, that this year your victory won't be quite as simple. High school is quite different from middle school, as I'm sure you'll come to notice."

"Oh, I've noticed that already," Dan said with a little smile. "But then, Hyoutei is always spectacular! I'll look forward to playing against you desu"

"Good boy." Atobe's tone was not far from that one used when talking to an eager puppy. "Don't disappoint me, now. I wish for a proper game."

Atobe did get his wish, perhaps too much so for Yamabuki. After a barely lost Doubles 2, a relatively easy win in Doubles 1, and another victory in Singles 3, Kabaji's strength and Atobe's skill took the victory in the other two singles. Trying to hide his disappointment, Sengoku concentrated on teasing Dan.

"You planned this," Sengoku accused afterwards, glaring at his slightly smiling boyfriend. "You knew Kabaji would beat me."

"Oh, that's true, Sengoku-senpai," Dan said all too cheerfully. "I would make us lose simply for the chance to see you get beaten. You've got me desu."

"Silly." Sengoku kissed the top of his head. "Good thing you won, at least. I'd have made you run laps otherwise."

"I just got lucky desu," Dan said with a smile. "His injury from last winter obviously hadn't healed properly desu. I feel kind of bad winning like that, but, well, he was the one who chose to play desu…"

"Indeed." Sengoku smirked. "And will probably get hell from his captain afterwards. Unlucky." Then, with a frown, he added, "Oi, Taichiichi? You'll make sure nobody plays while injured, right?"

Dan rolled his eyes. "Like you can't do it well enough by yourself," he said. "But yes, I do always keep an eye on everyone. We wouldn't want an opposite repeat of that fiasco with Fudoumine, now would we?"

"You still remember that?" Sengoku grinned somewhat embarrassedly. "I have to admit, that is hardly my favourite memory from middle school."

"I'd imagine desu." Chuckling, Dan then glanced towards where the last of Hyoutei players lingered. "…I almost hope we go against them in Nationals again, just so we can beat them this time desu."

"Oh, feeling vengeful?" Sengoku ruffled the blue hair. "You've spent too much time around Akutsu."

"Nah. I just don't like seeing my buchou and fuku-buchou being humiliated like that, even if it was their own fault desu." Dan dodged the half-hearted swat. "Anyway! We can't relax just yet. There's still the match for third place desu!"

"Against Rikkai, right?" Sengoku raised his eyebrows. "What are our chances there?"

"Pretty good, actually." Dan shrugged. "After Yukimura-san's relapse, they just haven't been the same… Especially since they lost some of their players to other high schools. Good enough to make it to the semi-finals, but considering the ease with which Seigaku beat them, I'd say we have a pretty good chance desu."

"I'll take your word for that." Sengoku grinned. "So, let's go for the third place, eh?"

"Sounds like a plan desu"

A plan which, as it turned out, they carried out quite nicely.

Practice had ended an hour ago. General practice, that is. However, most of the Yamabuki regulars were still doing some form of training in preparation for the Nationals – even if it was only doing sit-ups while watching the TV. Dan, for his part, was on the singles part of the street courts, using the opportunity of having several different opponents to hone his special moves.

There was no way he could manage full emulation in only one game, of course, against a person he knew nothing about. However, after enough strangers of one game, after enough repeats and new attempts and failures, he sometimes managed to figure out where to move to surprise his opponent, even if it was only for half a second. The lack of data might have been helping, in a way – it was easier to cast away logic when he didn't have too much of it to go by. Immensely enjoying the confused looks on his opponents' faces on those few moments, Dan continued playing, shamelessly making use of his superior experience against the mostly middle school aged opponents.

Until, that was, someone very familiar arrived to the side of the court.

"Oi," Akutsu said, glaring at Dan's current opponent. "Get lost."

"What?" snapped the opponent in question, one who obviously wasn't all too sharp – most people would have never even thought of protesting when someone like Akutsu told them to move. "We're just in the middle of a game –"

"Not anymore," Akutsu interrupted, walking right into the court and glaring down at the poor boy. "I said, get lost. I'm playing now."

Much though he disapproved of such manners, Dan couldn't help but feel a bit excited. Akutsu was carrying a racquet, a tennis racquet, and though he'd at one time said he wouldn't play again here he was, with a racquet and everything, and saying he would play – play against Dan –

A lot had changed in Dan in the last three years. The one thing that would not change, though, was his admiration of Akutsu's strength and skills.

It became soon all too apparent, though, that Akutsu hadn't played tennis in years. While he still had his far superior strength and flexibility, his skills weren't quite up to their former level – and Dan had improved quite a bit over the years. It was an even game, but luck was on Dan's side, and as the game ended nobody dared to tell Akutsu to step down as he simply glared around and got ready to serve.

It was easy, oh so easy, to mimic Akutsu's every tiny gesture and movement after so much gathered data on him, and suddenly Dan was no more working on data at all, merely figuring out where Akutsu expected him to go and didn't go there. To Akutsu's credit it had to be said he figured out the trick pretty soon, and started using strength and tricky spins instead of simply trying to strike the ball away from Dan, striving to make it impossible for him to return the shots even if he reached them. For some time Akutsu had the upper hand with this, until Dan proved he wasn't quite exhausted enough even after the several opponents he'd played before Akutsu, and even if he'd never have the strength to match at least he'd mastered the various spins.

It wasn't until now, though, that Akutsu really started to play. Making full use of his superior skills, he started using the technique that had for a good long while worked on Echizen – changing the shot's direction on the last moment as he saw where Dan was headed. Dan was close to crying out in frustration as his emulation was thus made useless, but continued playing nevertheless.

They were several games in as they finally ended their match, upon mutual agreement rather than rules, the few frustrated voices from the onlookers hushed by the others who had been watching their match quite intensely. Grinning, Dan walked up to the net, shaking Akutsu's hand. "It was a good match desu"

"Che, damn kid." Akutsu shook his head. "How long did it take you to learn the step?"

"Much longer than I'd have liked desu." Dan made a face. "I really envy Echizen-kun sometimes, being practically raised to tennis…"

"Must have been pretty boring upbringing," Akutsu huffed, rolling his eyes as they finally walked off the court. "Some loving old man, dumping his own dreams on the kid."

"And yet I think Echizen-kun came out the luckiest in that regard, out of the three of us." Dan's voice was quiet, making Akutsu cast him a sharp glance. "Ne, Akutsu-senpai?"

"…Che. Fucking brat." Akutsu swatted Dan's head lightly, not quite lightly enough to be a pat but still not hard enough to hurt. "Come on. I'll buy you a soda, or something."

Dan's eyes widened. "You don't have to, Akutsu-senpai!"

"I know I don't fucking have to." Akutsu glared at Dan in his usual "do you think I'm an idiot" way. "However, I'm not about to hear Sengoku's accusations of how I made his precious boyfriend run himself to exhaustion and then left him faint on the way home due to dehydration or some other shit like that."

"I can look after myself desu." Dan quickly stuck his tongue out, only to draw it immediately back in. "But I guess I could accept it as a prize for my victory desu"

"Oh, what the fucking ever." Akutsu shrugged. "Just, come on." After some silence as they headed towards the nearest vending machine, he added, "I won, you know."

"No you didn't," Dan replied calmly. "Unlike you, I actually kept count. I won, five games to three desu."

"That's not six. I haven't been out of the stupid thing for long enough to forget the rules."

"That's because we didn't play an entire match desu! Out of the games we did play, I won the majority, so logically, I'm the winner desu"

"That stupid Sengoku's spoiled you. You never were such an annoying brat before." After one glance at Dan's grinning face, he added, "Okay, so you were just as annoying, but in different ways."

"So sorry to be annoying desu! It was most certainly not my intention!"

"…And here you go again."

Dan did get his soda, though, and it was his favourite kind, too, and how did Akutsu-senpai know, and as they finally parted ways Akutsu was smirking in a way that wasn't entirely unfriendly and made Dan feel like going home didn't seem quite as dreadful as usual today.

Sengoku had lately gotten into the habit of always getting to practice ahead of time – something many captains did by default, but then, most captains were not in Yamabuki. As Dan was always the first one to show up, regardless of when the practice started, arriving early ensured him some uninterrupted time with his boyfriend before the other players started trickling in. It was so this time, too, he discovered as he arrived. Quickly changing into his practice clothes, he sat down next to his boyfriend, who was currently intently reading something in his notebook.

"Your hair is pretty." Sengoku pulled the hair band off with no protests from Dan's part, letting the long strands fall down around Dan's shoulders. Running a hand through them, he marvelled at the colour. In shadow, it was dark enough to pass for black, but the highlights were such an electric shade he wouldn't have even dreamed of calling it anything but blue. "I don't think I've ever seen such a shade elsewhere."

"Rikkai Dai's Yukimura's hair is even more clearly blue," mumbled Dan. He seemed somewhat embarrassed at the praise.

"It's not as pretty, though." Fiddling with the silky strands, Sengoku leant closer to murmur into Dan's ear. "But then, neither is Yukimura as pretty as you are…"

"Oh, shush, you." There was now a definite flush on Dan's face. So adorable. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Sengoku-senpai."

"Perhaps, but it's hard not to give compliments to one as lovely as you are, my sweet Taichiichi."

"Pay no attention to the buchou." Muromachi's voice startled him from the doorway. "He's simply honing his flattery skills so that when you finally realize the mistake you've made and dumb him he'll be able to get himself a new love."

"You wound me, Panda-kun," whined Sengoku, quickly recovering from the shock of his fuku-buchou walking in. "But then, I guess I'll forgive you. It's not your fault you want my lovely Taichiichi to yourself, after all; I know he's simply too adorable to resist."

"Oh, no thanks." Muromachi smirked, adjusting his ever-present shades. "No offense to Dan-kun, you're cute and all, but someone in this bloody team has to be straight simply for the sake of sanity. The sheer improbability of so many gays in the same team is driving me crazy."

"Hey, resident bisexual here resenting that comment." With a grin, Sengoku reached for the hair band again to get his boyfriend ready for practice. After all, he had been the one to mess it up, so it was his responsibility to fix it, too.

"Actually, the chances of such a great number of non-majority sexual preferences showing up within the same team are indeed almost impossibly low." Dan's voice was thoughtful, something Sengoku had come to both adore and dread. Adore, because Dan was cute when he was thoughtful. Dread, because Dan talking on data mode was a definite cause for headache. "Then again, taking into account the statistics of other high school teams, even accounting for the unconfirmed cases and –"

Quickly tying the blue hair up, Sengoku's hand reached to cover Dan's mouth to silence him. "Interesting though all that is, Taichiichi, I must say it's about the time you get your head into tennis mode. People are starting to arrive."

Dan didn't say anything, of course. Instead Sengoku felt the tip of a tongue flicking out to tickle his palm.

"Hey!" Sengoku exclaimed, taking his hand away. "Not fair!"

"Entirely fair and just," Dan replied calmly. "It's your own fault, you know. But just to spare your poor head, I'll stop desu"

"Great." Sengoku rolled his eyes. "And now I'll have to stand tennis data for the rest of the day, don't I?"

Dan merely smiled. "You know you love it desu."

"…Well, I'll tolerate it, but seriously, that's it." Sengoku's grin, though, told a whole another tale.