A/N: I'm not sure how it happened, but I forgot to update this story last week. Gomen minna! Happy belated White Day and Pi Day! Well, at least Jackal doesn't have to babysit and for those who thought he got the short end of the stick, Yukimura isn't exactly done with the other two. Not sure why, but I do like writing about him and all the possibilities that could go with this sadist side. Here is the new chapter and I hope you like it!

Chapter 6 – Reflections and Revelations

As Jackal pulled out the nets and balls for him and the first years to set up, he thought about the meeting he just had with the three demons of Rikkai Dai and suddenly had many questions. How long would his lap punishment last? Was he really going to be separated from his doubles partner? He may not like how he is always treated by Marui and Kirihara, but that didn't mean he wanted to stop playing tennis with his partner.

Together, he and Marui were a formidable force and they knew how to read each other in order to win the game, anticipating what each other was thinking or needed. Previously during one of their many, many, many practices, Jackal had been assigned to play doubles with someone else in an effort to break out of the world most longtime doubles partners found themselves in; and it was further explained that it would push them to develop more and think about their partner. The only problem they encountered… it had utterly failed. It wasn't that they had been paired up with someone from the platinum pair or even Yanagi or Kirihara… people with experience playing doubles. No, they had been paired up with two first years who were trying to create a doubles team. Marui had one and Jackal had the other and communication was the worst; thus the failure.

Shaking himself from his thoughts, Jackal started to move the necessary items for practice to the courts. It was still early and the first years were not scheduled to arrive for another thirty minutes, giving the defense specialist a lot of time with his thoughts. Would he have changed anything about the day before? After thinking long and hard he decided the only thing he would have changed was waiting until after practice to go postal; however that being said, Jackal couldn't help the fact that Rikkai Dai was full of crazy people and it had rubbed off on him. Yukimura should be thanking him that he had not done something crazier or sooner. On top of all that… why did his punishment seem harsher than Kirihara and Marui's? Yes, he was the one that interrupted practice, but they were at the center of it all and the reason he lashed out and yelled at Yukimura! It was their fault. He stopped and gulped… oh God, he really had yelled at Yukimura, gotten slapped by Sanada this morning, and was now being punished for the two people he didn't think anyone on the planet could control… and that included Sanada, Yanagi, Yukimura, Tezuka, etc. There was the illusion of control with no real control.

Jackal shook his head again and started to refocus. It still didn't make sense to him as to why he had to do so much and the only thing they had to do was clean the club room. It wasn't as if it was really dirty to begin with. Ok, so he didn't want to lose his tennis partner, but he did want their punishments to be equal.

He looked up in time to see the three demons leave the clubhouse dressed in their tennis uniforms, and itched to ask more questions, but he was afraid that if he tried to interrogate them, he would lose his life… and he really liked living (for the most part). Forcing himself to continue with his duties, he jumped when he heard a voice behind him.

Scribbling in his notebook, Yanagi glanced up and found the bald man scowling. With his pencil poised to write more information, the stalker… I mean data collector asked, "Are you satisfied with your punishment, or do you think Yukimura was too harsh?"

Now Jackal could not be sure if this was a data mining excursion, a test from his buchou, or some sort of twisted mind game in order to make him lose the little sanity he had left (then again, this is Rikkai Dai, so it could be all three). Deciding it was best to err on the side of caution, the half Brazilian teen stated, "I don't have a problem with it, but is Marui and Kirihara only cleaning the clubroom this week?" He took a step back when he saw a small smirk appear on the stalker… I mean other teen's face. That was not normal.

Yanagi pulled out his notebook, "No. They will be cleaning the club room from top to bottom with nothing more than a toothbrush and cleaning solution. In addition, Kirihara will be pretending to be Marui's girlfriend, and then Marui will play chaperone to Kirihara for the birthday party he is to attend. Finally, Kirihara will be Marui's sole responsibility for the next month and any laps that they miss this week will have to be made up by the end of next week."

Laps brought to mind something else Jackal needed to ask, "Do you know how long my extra laps will last?"

"Just the remainder of this week. I told you we were giving you some leniency. The only reason you are even being punished is because you disrupted practice in such a manner and wouldn't even listen to me," Yukimura grinned widely as he appeared as if out of thin air. That is what he said, but his smile said something else. It told Jackal, "Of course if you hadn't yelled at me like that and stormed past me, you would have been much safer."

"Sou ka. Then thank you for your leniency?" Jackal stated, but it sounded suspiciously like a question.

Giggling, Yukimura told him, "Correct." He walked away with Yanagi at his side without another glance at his defense master.

It wasn't long before Jackal looked up again and saw a familiar mop of red hair walking past the courts on his way to the clubroom: Marui. There were two things the bald teen decided while he was working on the nets: he did not want to play tennis with something else, he did not want to lose his friendship with Marui, and he did not want things to go back to the way they were and have Marui take advantage of him again. Things needed to change, but in order to do that, he needed to talk to his friend; however, according to Yukimura, he was banned from talking to the redhead for the rest of the week. Did he dare go against his buchou and basically tell him "no" yet again, albeit covertly and not directly, or did he follow orders? Jackal just wasn't sure anymore. Maybe the time apart would be good for them, but maybe they needed to talk and work through this before it caused more problems. What to do? Without a clear cut answer, he continued with his additional duties, but he itched to yell "NO" one more time to hell with the consequences. Well, he thought that, but he didn't know if he had the guts to cross the bluenette yet again. That was just asking for a death sentence. So many things to think about and consider. He had the day to think about it. In fact, he had four days if he wanted to take them. Maybe it would be best to make Marui sweat a little and teach him a bit of a lesson. Face palming, Jackal realized that his sadistic buchou was starting to rub off on him. The effect of being at Rikkai Dai too long, and his imprisonment in the school system wasn't going to end any time soon.