SquidgeWorld Archive

Around Rikkai, Niou Masaharu had a reputation. It wasn't just with the tennis team, but rather the whole school. He was the Petenshi, the one to avoid at all costs because you never knew when he was going to do something crazy or painful, or so brilliantly creative that it would very probably make your brain hurt to try and figure out how he managed it in the first place. Those were his favorite type of pranks and the ones that the teachers dreaded the most. The ones that meant there was paint and glue and sometimes even flour paste that had to be cleaned up and no way to link it back to Niou in the first place to make him clean it up. It was a problem the headmaster despaired over, the number of janitors who had quit over the years Niou had been a student, first at the elementary school and later at the junior high for Rikkai university. Most people when they saw the platinum hair sauntering towards them would run the other way rather quickly. Even Niou's fan club gave him a wide berth and usually just left notes for him outside the clubhouse. One poor girl had gone down in Rikkai legend as having dared to leave Niou a note and flower in his locker. She was never able to tell anyone exactly what happened to her when she opened the door, or what she saw in there, but she ended up in the hospital for a month and never spoke again. Her parents eventually took her to Tokyo and enrolled her at a small private school there.

There were only three people who could be said to have any influence on Niou, and even that was tenuous at best. His best friend and doubles partner, Yagyuu Hiroshi could usually convince him to do something that would effect the building and plants, but leave the people out of the equation if he absolutely had to cause havoc at the school on any given day. There was one poor tree that would never be the same after Niou was finished with it and, had there been a plant therapist at the school, he would have applied for danger pay for counseling to the poor tree. No one could understand why all it's leaves turned brown and fell off one day in April, or why it had refused to bloom since. Yagyuu had his suspicions, but could never prove that Niou was at fault for the poor tree trying to commit suicide.

Then there was Sanada Genichiro. He was the only reason the tennis team was moderately safe from pranks while they were at practice or in the clubhouse. Niou respected his suicide slap of doom and the reckless way he assigned laps for those who crossed him without a thought to the physical effects on the person in question. Poor Marui had collapsed three times in the past week while running laps for Sanada, and had more laps to run because he had collapsed while running laps he'd been assigned for collapsing while running laps he'd been assigned for eating cake and playing tennis at the same. Normal physics would say that was, in fact, impossible as the coordination involved would fry a human brain, and yet it was well known that around Rikkai physics normally gave up and went off for a nice holiday at the sea shore to recover from the shock that it didn't apply to eight boys on the tennis courts. So Marui could quite happily eat cake and play doubles at the same time with no ill effects, unless Sanada happened to catch him, and then he would have to run laps until he passed out. It was a never ending cycle and one that thoroughly amused all the Rikkai players. Niou included. He was still trying to work out a way to drug Marui's cake.

And there was the boy considered the ruler of Rikkai, the sweetest boy in Rikkai, and the bravest boy in the world. Yukimura Seiichi, the Child of God, the undisputed ruler of the Rikkai tennis courts, and Niou's boyfriend. When the population of the school found out that their idol was dating the Petenshi they promptly fainted, causing the only day school was canceled because every student and teacher was unconscious at the same time. Yukimura found it absolutely hilarious and spent the day with Niou at the Petenshi's house doing some quite unspeakable but pleasurable things with his boyfriend. Yukimura enjoyed all the pranks Niou pulled around the school and had even set it up for him to do a couple at the tennis courts without Sanada working out exactly what had happened, but he limited it to the general population of the school and not the regulars. Harming a regular, especially around a tournament or match was punishable in some quite unspeakable but very painful ways that Niou knew better than to let happen to his body. It didn't stop him pranking the regulars in small ways, but he was always careful that it was for fun and not malicious in any way. Then Yukimura would just smile at him and the unspeakable things would be pleasurable that night.

And it was his reputation that was giving him problems that morning. He didn't know what he was supposed to do other than skip school but that would make Yukimura mad at him because they were getting ready for Kantou and the buchou had become a little more crazed than normal about winning and regaining their crown from the much despised Seigaku team. That Echizen wasn't with them didn't seem to have registered with the blue-haired buchou, and he was working his team twice as hard as he ever did, and considering how hard they worked in the first place, that was really saying something.

Niou supposed he could call Yukimura and explain things to him, but he knew that wouldn't get him out of practice and that was his main problem. He could totally ditch school after practice, but once Marui and Akaya saw him the rumor would be all over the school and he would have to work three times as hard to regain his title as all around Petenshi, the one to be feared because you never knew what he was going to do next. He sighed and put the basket down next to him and pulled out his cell phone. "Seiichi?"

"Masaharu, where are you?" Yukimura asked.

"I'm on my way to practice, but I need to talk with you in private first," Niou replied. "Please, Seiichi, this is really important and I'm not that far from school. I'll do whatever you want me to after this, but I really can't come to school right now."

There was silence for a moment. "Give me five minutes," Yukimura finally sighed. "Where are you, exactly?"

Niou told him and then tucked his phone back into his bag. He moved the basket back into the bushes and joined it, wanting to stay hidden just in case any random Rikkai student might walk past and see him on their way to school, even though it was earlier than even the nerds would be up. Yukimura had this strange notion that early morning practice meant before the sun was up and his team had the bruises to prove it when the court lights weren't working. Yukimura said that light was for the weak.

"Masaharu?"

"In here," Niou said. "You're alone?"

"Of course I am," Yukimura said. "Why are you hiding in the bushes, Masaharu? What's wrong?"

Niou poked his head out and looked around. When he was satisfied that they were alone, he pushed his bag out and followed it. "Thanks for trusting me, Seiichi," he said kissing Yukimura's cheek softly. "I need your advice."

"You could have had that over the phone."

"Not about this. My reputation is on the line and I need to know what to do. If anyone sees me right now I'm going to be ruined."

"Masaharu, what are you talking about?"

"This." Niou sat down and reached back into the bushes, pulling out the basket and putting it down in front of him.

Yukimura's face melted into a soft smile and he squatted down to look in the basket. "Where did you find them?" he asked softly.

"An alley. Their mother wasn't anywhere around and I just couldn't leave them there to die, but I didn't have time to take them home or I would be late to practice and I was worried they would die if I just left them at my house all day alone," Niou said. "But as I got closer to school, I realized that if anyone saw me, my reputation would be trashed."

"That might not be a bad thing," Yukimura commented. He stood up and picked up Niou's tennis and school bags. "Come on, I'll keep the team in line and we'll talk about this more in the clubhouse. If they ask, I asked you to bring them for me."

"Thanks, Seiichi."
**********************

The Rikkai regulars were confused when Yukimura called them into the clubhouse and shut the door firmly behind him. "Everyone, we have a problem and need your help with it," he said softly. "As you can see, we have some new friends here in need of homes."

The basket was on the table and the regulars gathered around it. Eight tiny kittens were lying asleep together. Two black, one redish, one brown, one yellow, one silver and, completely denying all probability, one blue and one purple. "Where did they come from?" Yagyuu asked pushing his glasses back up into place. He glanced at Yanagi and saw that the data master had come to the same rapid conclusion he had; there was a kitten for each of the regulars and Yukimura wanted them each to take one.

"I found them yesterday and asked Masaharu to bring them to school today," Yukimura said. "It's obviously a sign that we're destined to keep them, everyone."

"What about asking our parents first?" Jackal asked. His heart had melted when he saw the eight small balls of fur, but wasn't sure that his parents would let him keep one. A cat was a lot of trouble and, even if he promised to take care of it, he thought they would argue because of how much time he spent with tennis already. But he was willing to try.

"I'm sure they'll see reason if I speak with them," Yukimura said. His blue eyes had the look in them that none of the regulars could deny. They didn't know how he did it, but he always managed to get them to agree when he had that particular look in his eyes. "I'll be happy to do it after school."

Akaya picked up one of the small black kittens and held it against his chest. "How old are they, buchou?" he asked.

"I think about six weeks," Yukimura replied. "A little young to be away from their mom, but it's obvious the mom's owner didn't care about that. If I ever find out who they are, they'll find out what happens to those who abuse the weak."

Yagyuu sighed softly to himself and picked up the oddly purple kitten. He just had a feeling that they were supposed to take the one that matched their hair, although he didn't know how that would apply to Jackal. Yukimura smiled softly and handed the other black kitten to Sanada, the brown to Yanagi, the red to Marui and the yellow one to Jackal. He took the blue and left the silver for Niou. "I think they'll be okay in here while we practice, if we make sure the door is shut firmly and all the windows are secure," Yukimura continued. "Then we can take them home. I don't think the school will miss us for one day."

Akaya wasn't the only one who seemed reluctant to put his kitten down, but they did and set about securing the clubhouse before returning to practice. Niou seemed distracted by something but didn't say anything during practice at all, not even after the others had showered and left for home. All the regulars promised to call Yukimura if they had any problems with their parents about keeping the kittens.

"What is it, Masaharu?" Yukimura asked as they walked towards his house.

"Nothing much, Seiichi, just a thought," Niou replied. "Thanks for your help with this. I wouldn't have lived it down if I'd shown up at school with a basket of kitten and let everyone know what a softy I actually am."

"I'd rather keep that our secret," Yukimura agreed. "The kittens have good homes, though I am curious about the blue and purple kittens. That seems a little, well, odd."

"No odder than you and Yagyuu," Niou said.

"True."
***********************

It was with interest that Yukimura read the paper the next day during his free period. A house near Niou's had been broken into and booby-trapped in a way that had the police puzzled. Nothing had been taken and, apart from the owner turning purple and having his hair dyed yellow and green, and sprouting feathers in a few interesting, if improbably places, nothing unusual seemed to have happened. The picture of the house caught his attention, especially the cat sleeping in the window. It seemed that Niou had worked out who abandoned the kittens and had taken revenge for the newest members of their team family. Yukimura nodded to himself and turned the page. He would have to thank Niou later that day, and reevaluate where he stood on the Petenshi's pranks. It seemed they did have their uses after all. And Niou's reputation was something to be feared.

Just the way Niou wanted it.