A/N: Marui and Jackal can't catch a break and now the tensai needs another new phone… not to mention he is now involved in a bet he has no way of winning. Can Jackal help or will it be another "no"? Enjoy!

Chapter 9 – It's Still No

Jackal waited at his house and paced the floors back and forth, wondering if his best friend was going to show up. Did Marui even get the text? Did he read it? Did he accept? Jackal had no idea because a certain redheaded self-proclaimed tensai had yet to text him back. Granted the bald teen had given explicit instructions, but he honestly expected a reply back from his friend. And that is when it hit him… he expected something like that to happen when up till now common courtesy had been mysteriously absent from their friendship lately… ok for the better part of the time they had known each other. Add onto that the fact that this was Rikkai Dai and no one did what others expected, and Jackal knew he may or may not get a visit and the chances of him getting a reply text were slim to none. This was alright; he could accept this. However, this didn't mean he wasn't more anxious about the result of his text than he was right before a match.

Back and forth, to and fro, up and down, wearing a hole in the floor, Jackal waited for some sign that Marui received the message and would show up. Adding to the problem was there was no telling how long it would take to ditch the second year player. When Kirihara wanted something and coaxed (read forced) Jackal into going with him, well there were times the half-Brazilian did not make it home until almost 8:00 at night. If that happened, would Marui show up?

Face palming, Jackal stopped in his pacing and groaned, "Get yourself together. He was the one that mistreated you and you are waiting for him like some anxious school girl with a crush!" Sufficiently chastising himself, he forced himself to sit on the couch and wait patiently. Either his friend would or would not show up… it didn't matter to him either way. He had homework to do.

Finally dropping Kirihara off at his house (because he had to make sure the younger teen actually made it home safe and sound or fear Yukimura and his love of sadism/torture), Marui started to make his way to Jackal's house. He seriously wanted to know how the defense specialist had put up with Kirihara as long as he had without exploding sooner because honestly, he wanted to kill the second year and it was only Wednesday! Two days… the redhead had only been dealing with him for two days and he wanted to cut him up into little pieces and burn them, and then scatter the ashes all over Japan so that no one would be able to resurrect him. And if Marui believed in reincarnation, he believe Jackal would become something awesome in the next life (he might have even deserved a sainthood) and Kirihara would become a worm. However, now that Bunta thought about it and given the ace's special moves on the tennis court, it was all together possible that Kirihara wasn't even human. Did that mean the second year would end this life when the time came and rejoin his demon family? Seriously… where did this kid come from?

Marui arrived at his friend's door without really paying attention to his surroundings. Now this could have been alright or it could have been very, very stupid. Remember Jackal already thinks there is a possibility that the phones are bugged and Yanagi does like to spy, so who's to say that someone wasn't following the tensai to Jackal's house (I'm not saying that he was followed, but I am saying it was a possibility… you know what, just keep reading the story for the answer).

Knocking on the door, the redhead waited a few minutes before it was actually answered. Was Jackal actually making him wait? What did the bald teen do, stand on the other side and wait exactly 4.5 minutes before he decided Marui had been waiting long enough? Well, it felt that way, and kind of seemed like it as well, so again another possibility.

In actuality, it was true. Jackal heard the knocking and figured it was Marui; however, to make sure it wasn't someone for his parents, he slowly and quietly crept up to the door and looked out the peephole (giving new meaning to the word stealth). Once his suspicion was confirmed, he moved back into the living room and counted down the minutes on his watch. It was only fair since the bald teen had to wait for the redhead and because he didn't want his best friend to get the idea he was anxious to talk to him or anything. Marui still needed to realize he had been wrong in his treatment of Jackal and Jackal would make sure he knew it well. After four minutes, he walked calmly to the door and opened it for the other teen, "Bunta."

"Is that all you have to say to me? Do you know what I went through tonight? How did you ever put up with that demon child?" Marui grumbled and moved to step into the house before realizing he had yet to be invited. Normally this would not be a problem, but since he was attempting to make up with the other teen and because he helped send his friend over the cliff (yes, he reluctantly admitted it… what else was he supposed to do when he is straddled with the ace of the team for now… alone… with no help… by himself… an island surrounded by shark infested waters… sorry, I digress).

Crossing his arms in front of him, Jackal raised one of his eyebrows and chuckled, "Now you understand what both of you put me through?"

Marui sweat dropped, "Um, yah."

"Good. Want to come in?"

"Please!" Marui rushed into the home and quickly removed his shoes before venturing further. When he made it to the living room, he turned around and looked at his best friend with tears in his eyes, "This is hell! You have to help me!"

Jackal knew it was too good to be true, but there was no way he was going to help the redhead with Kirihara right now. If his friend was asking for help, it was probably bad, but Marui had to understand that Jackal was not going to do everything just because they wanted him to. He had been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, took the pictures, paid for everything, made the return journey home, and went back again (ok maybe I embellished a bit, but did I really?). Besides, Marui should be able to handle Kirihara… he called himself a tensai, didn't he? Shaking his head, Jackal gave his friend an answer, "No. There is no way I am helping you with him."

"But Jackal. You have to help me. I'm begging you. PUHLEASE!" The redhead got down on his knees and put his hands in a prayer position to emphasize his plea.

The bald teen would not be deterred or give in, "No."

"Jackal…"

"No way in hell. Not in this lifetime, or at least until Yukimura's punishment is over. No… no… no!"

"But…"

"No," Jackal realized that "no" was getting easier to say the more he said it, and it kind of felt good.

"Then why did you call me over?" Marui sniffled giving one last ditch effort to win his friend over to the dark side… I mean to convince his friend to help him.

Rolling his eyes, the half-Brazilian stated, "To discuss our friendship and our doubles team."

Marui scowled, "What about them?" He realized that he was not going to win right now, which meant Jackal had crossed over to another side and he wondered briefly if Kirihara wasn't correct in the assumption that Jackal had been possessed. Getting up off of the floor, he dusted off his knees and joined his friend (so called friend) at the table at the center of the living room.

"Yukimura is thinking of giving us a break from playing together."

"EH?! WHY?"

"Because of what has been happening. Now, I would rather not play doubles with someone else. We have our strategy down perfectly and playing with anyone else right now would throw both of us off."

"So this is for the good of the team?"

"Of course. We are Rikkai Dai and we are supposed to win."

"I see."

"I also still consider you one of my closest friends, even if you are just as crazy as the others on the team."

"No I'm not… I know of four, wait five that are even crazier. Niou, Kirihara, Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi. There is no hope for them."

"I could say the same thing about you, but I guess you aren't as far gone as they are."

"Are you really not going to help me with Kirihara?"

"Hell no. I would like to live long enough to go to college, find a nice girl, get married, have children, and then grandchildren. If I helped you, I wouldn't live long enough to see my next birthday. Yukimura would kill me right after Sanada gave me a torundorou that would knock me into next week. You heard what happened to the senpai last year that got in his way, didn't you? He was knocked right out of his tennis shoes and landed next to the archery range."

"That's a rumor."

"I'm not taking the chance!"

Marui crossed his arms and pouted, "Great, now I am going to lose for sure!"

"What are you talking about?"

The redhead explained the whole situation to his friend and had to pause several times for Jackal to stop laughing, or at least settle down enough to listen. He had never seen the bald teen so amused… and he didn't like it because it was at his own expense. Though, he guessed turnabout was fair play. How many times had he laughed at Jackal, volunteered him without permission, etc.? Too many times to count.

"If I were you, make peace with your life, tell your family you love them, and then be prepared to help Niou," Jackal joked still guffawing.

"Yah, yah. I got it. If only Kirihara wasn't so impossible to deal with!"

"That would take a miracle and it isn't going to happen. Just think about this… Kirihara will be buchou next year after we graduate," the bald teen chortled causing both teens in the room to shiver, chills running up and down their spine (and elsewhere a second year with black hair sneezed).

Exhaling loud and long, Marui shook his head, "Is it bad that I'm kind of glad I won't be on his team? So you really won't help me?"

"Bunta, for the last time there is no way I will help you with Kirihara! Drop it or I will personally put in for a change in doubles partners."

Holding up his hands in surrender, the tensai replied, "Ok, ok. No need to go all drama queen drastic on me. I got enough of that on Monday." He stayed there for about another 30 minutes before he left so that he could get home. When he left his friend's house, he knew two things: 1 – he was alone in his Kirihara endeavor, and 2 – he and Jackal would be alright as friends, even if he wasn't going to get his way all the time any more. Goodbye free cream puffs.

After Marui made his way down the sidewalk, a shadow stepped out from the bushes, "Interesting data."