SquidgeWorld Archive

Very little embarassed the platinum haired petenshi of Rikkai dai, but when Niou Masaharu looked into the mirror one morning he realized that he had a real problem. Several real problems that would be hidden by the collar and tie of their winter uniform, but in full view of his team when he changed into his jersey for tennis practice for morning and afternoon practice. Why Yukimura was so big on tennis practice year around was something that none of the team except the regulars seemed to realize. Yukimura lived and breathed tennis and expected his team to do the same. All the regulars did, even when they were tired, sick, grouchy or just plain wanted a day off. And that was only because Yukimura had a way of looking at them that made their hearts freeze in their chests, breath come short and they wanted to cry. Then they felt bad for making him unhappy.

None of them were able to understand that part.

But back to Niou's problem. There was no way around it that he could see. He would just have to hope that his reputation would protect him from comments in the locker room. He finished tying his tie in the usual loose knot and slipped on his jacket. He was in a mood to kill someone. That boded ill for the students and teachers of Rikkai for the day. Well, everyone except Yukimura. Niou wasn't suicidal. Just pissed.
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Morning practice went as well as it could when seven of the eight players were half asleep and freezing, Yukimura made them all run extra laps for slacking and Akaya kept slipping on the ice and pulling Marui down with him. Niou and Yagyuu ran together talking about new techniques they could try out when they were switched to try and confuse their opponents longer, until Sanada somehow managed to smack both of them and tarundoru them while running his own laps. No one but Yukimura seemed to know why Sanada was running laps in the first place and he wasn't talking. The Child of God just stood by the court and watched his regulars as they ran, not even showing any sign that it was starting to snow and the temperature was dropping fast.

Finally Yanagi spoke up. "Seiichi, if this continues there is a 100% chance that all of the regulars will be hurt and unable to participate in any activities for several weeks."

Yukimura sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and glanced up at the sky. "Very well," he said. "Everyone shower and go to class. I'll see you back here for practice once lessons are over for the day."

"About time," Marui muttered snapping his gum and rubbing his knees. "If I fell one more time I was just going to stay there until they dug me out in the spring."

"What was that, Marui?" Yukimura asked.

"Nothing, buchou," Marui said ducking behind Jackal.

"That's what I thought."

"Yukimura, maybe we should hold afternoon practice at the inside courts," Sanada said. "If the snow continues to fall like this it will be impossible to play."

"I'll let everyone know at lunch," Yukimura said. "It is still possible it will stop and we can get the courts cleared off."
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The snow kept on falling for the rest of the day and Yukimura finally decided that Sanada was right, they needed to be inside if there was any hope of actual practice. It wasn't hard to chase the young kids off of three of the courts - the reputation of the Rikkai regulars sent everyone running when they walked out of the locker room in their red winter jerseys with Yukimura and the other demons at their head. Niou and Yagyuu smirked to each other and went to the far court to warm up and play a match their way. About halfway through Yukimura wandered over to watch them, arms crossed and jersey draped over his shoulders like always. "What, exactly are the two of you doing?" he finally asked.

"I'm trying to learn a new technique for my Illusion," Niou replied wiping off his face. "Yagyuu's agreed to help."

"Who are you trying to mimic?" Yukimura asked.

"Can't you guess?"

"Not from what you're doing right now. It looks like a very weak version of Fuurinkazan, but no one but Sanada can handle that technique."

"Puri," Niou smirked.

"Are you crazy?" Yukimura asked.

"Of course, but you already knew that. I already have fuu learned, buchou. And a fairly good handle on zan as well. But Sanada won't help me out so I'm having to learn on my own."

"Niou Masaharu, I cannot believe you are crazy enough to try and mimic Sanada," Yukimura said sternly.

"Tarundoru," Sanada added from behind his captain.

"Oh come on, Sanada, it's not like you have a copyright on the thing," Niou said. "Think how much stronger this will make the team if I can copy anyone here. The more powerful attacks I know, the more I can win."

Yukimura sighed. "I wasn't planning on having you play singles again, Niou," he said.

"Like that matters. Sanada used Fuurinkazan when he plays doubles. I think I'll be able to do the same thing with enough time."

"What if I forbid it?"

"Would you really forbid something that would allow our team to win, Yukimura?"

Yagyuu sighed. "Yukimura-kun, Niou-kun has a point. He is our not so secret weapon and, for us to regain our place at the top, the more he is able to do, the stronger the whole team will be."

"Sanada?" Yukimura asked.

"As long as he doesn't try to learn rai," Sanda said giving in. His desire to win was stronger than his pride in his technique.

"You don't have to worry about that, Sanda; I like my knees the way they are."

"So do I," Yagyuu muttered under his breath.

"What was that, Yagyuu?"

"Nothing, Yukimura-kun," Yagyuu replied pushing his glasses back into place. "So it is all right for us to continue?"

"For now; Sanada, stay and help Niou with rin and ka," Yukimura said. "I'm going to go and have a talk with Akaya about his devil and demon modes."

Sanada crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Niou. "First show me what you've learned," he said. "And I'll correct your form as we go. But if you do not learn how to do each form perfectly then you are forbidden from using this until you do."

Niou sighed. He learned best from the person who created the technique and knew that he would be able to perfect the full technique before winter was over, but he didn't really want Sanada as his personal coach for the whole time. He could feel his cheeks stinging already from all the smacks. He and Yagyuu made eye contact over the net and both tried not to smirk. They had to love how dedicated the team was to winning. It made life so easy at times.
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When the team finally went into the locker room Niou had forgotten about the problem on his neck because of having to deal with Sanada for four hours on the court. He pulled off his jersey without thinking and grabbed a towel. Then Akaya's voice broke through every conversation in the locker room.

"What happened to Niou-senpai's neck?"

Niou tried to drape the towel quickly around his neck, but Marui was faster and grabbed it from him and poked at one of the bruises on his team mate's neck. "Wow, Niou, who is she?" he asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Niou snapped grabbing for his towel.

"Sure you do," Marui teased backing away from the petenshi, "all the love bites on your neck. It looks like you had fun last night and it's not fair that you don't want to tell us about it. You really should be nice....."

He broke off when he bumped into Yukimura and fell over. The Child of God smiled sweetly down at Marui. "Now now, Marui; Niou doesn't have to tell us anything about his personal life if he doesn't want to," he said. "How would you feel if you had a special person in your life and your friends hounded you about her all the time?"

"Sorry, buchou," Marui said staring down at the ground.

"That aside, Niou," Yukimura continued, "I do hope that you're not wearing yourself out at night or ignoring your homework in favor of your girlfriend."

"Of course not," Niou said. He figured he was fine as long as they all thought he was seeing a girl. "The team comes first for me, Yukimura."

"Good."

Akaya peered up at Niou's neck and reached out to poke one of the bruises. "I still don't understand," he said. "How did you get bruises all over your neck like this, Niou-senpai? And why are they all teasing you about having a girlfriend?"

"You'll find out when you're older, brat," Niou said. There was no way he was explaining anything like this to the baby of the team, especially with Yukimura standing there smiling at him. There was death in the smile for anyone who dared to corrupt his baby.

"No one tells me anything," Akaya whined. "Yanagi-senpai?"

"I am afraid I must agree with Niou on this one, Akaya," Yanagi said. "You'll be able to find out when you're older. For now, just focus on your tennis game. You heard what Seiichi said today. You should really think about that."

Niou tried not to shiver when Yagyuu came up behind him. "You should tell them the truth, Niou-kun," he whispered.

"What, that I'm dating a vampire wannabe?" Niou asked in an equally low whisper.

A clang caught their attention. Sanada had just dropped his racket. "Repeat that, Niou," he ordered. "Now."

"Repeat what, Sanada? I didn't say anything."

"Niou."

"What's wrong, Sanada?" Yukimura asked joining the group.

"Niou said he's dating a vampire," Sanada replied.

Yukimura tilted his head to the side with a small smile. "Now Sanada, you know there's no such thing as vampires," he said sweetly. "I expect you just misheard Niou. I wouldn't put it past him to come up with some crazy story just to make everyone nervous or excited. Now, how about telling us the truth, Niou?"

"Thanks a lot, Yagyuu," Niou said. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "I said I'm dating a vampire wannabe."

"A what?" Sanada asked.

"A person with a neck fetish," Yanagi replied. "And someone who likes to...."

"Renji," Yukimura said softly catching sight of Akaya hanging onto every word that was said. "I think this might be a conversation for a later time."

"As you wish, Seiichi," Yanagi said. "However I have not stumbled across mention of many women with this desire, Niou."

Before Niou could answer, Yagyuu draped his arms around his partner's shoulders and looked at the data expert. "No one ever said it was a woman, Yanagi-kun," he said softly.

No one said anything for a minute. But Niou wasn't sure if it was Yagyuu's words or the way the light had glinted on his glasses. He leaned back against his boyfriend. "I thought we weren't going to tell them."

"It seems we have no choice, Niou-kun."

"This is all your fault, you know. If you could keep your mouth off of my neck we wouldn't be having to spill our guts to the team," Niou grumbled.

"I told you to buy make-up," Yagyuu said.

"Do I look like a girl?"

"Of course not, but some concealer would have hidden these nicely," Yagyuu said. "Although I like being able to see them. It tells people that you're taken."

"If I could interrupt," Yukimura said, "how long has this been going on?"

"About a year, Yukimura-kun," Yagyuu said. "So you know that it will have no effect on our tennis game."

"Just make sure to hide the marks before games," Yukimura said. "I suppose they're not bad if only the team knows about it."

"I still don't understand," Akaya exclaimed loudly.

Before anyone could reply, Yagyuu looked at Akaya and then leaned in, pressing his lips to Niou's neck. The whole team watched as Niou went limp in his boyfriend's arms as the lips moved over an unmarked patch of skin for a minute before Yagyuu's mouth opened and he bit down gently, pulling the skin between his teeth. Niou moaned loudly and arched back against Yagyuu with a soft cry. He licked the new bruise softly and then looked up at Akaya. "That's what happened to Niou-kun," he said. "Do you want to try it, Akaya-kun?"

"Yagyuu," Yukimura said sternly.

"As you will, Yukimura-kun." Yagyuu pushed his glasses back into place and smiled at his boyfriend. "Why don't we go to my house to do our homework today, Niou-kun? My parents are away."

"Sounds good," Niou said. He pulled away and started to change quickly.

Sanada was still standing frozen in front of his locker when the Platinum pair had left. Yukimura went over to him and touched his shoulder. "Are you all right, Sanada?"

"How does being bitten feel good?" he asked.

Yukimura looked around to make sure they were alone, especially free of Akaya's prying eyes, before he stood on tip-toe and pressed a kiss to the strong neck in front of him. "Like this, Genichiro," he whispered letting his teeth sink softly into the skin under his mouth. Sanada's eyes closed as strange feelings started through his body.

"Yukimura," he moaned wrapping his arms around the smaller boy and pulling him in.

"This isn't the place for us to continue, Genichiro," Yukimura said. "Come home with me and I'll show you exactly what Niou and Yagyuu have been doing for a year and exactly how good it can feel."

Sanada followed his buchou with a glazed look in his eyes. Both of them failed to notice the watching eyes from around the corner of the clubhouse. "Told you," Niou said with a smirk.

"Maybe now Yukimura-kun will relax a little more at practices," Yagyuu said.

"I wouldn't bet on it," Niou said. "Oh well, it was worth it to see the looks on their faces."

"This doesn't mean you're off the hook, Niou-kun. I know for a fact that you have concealer at home and have used it in the past. What made you think that flaunting the marks I give you would be a good idea?"

"Puri," Niou said. "Now we just have to figure out a way to get Yanagi and Akaya together."

"What would you have done if they found out the truth?" Yagyuu asked.

"Oh, come on, Hiroshi," Niou said. "You heard Yukimura; there's no such thing as vampires."

"That's just how I want it," Yagyuu said. "Now let's go home. I'm hungry."

"Can you feed from the wrist today?" Niou asked. "My neck is sore."

"You don't like it as much."

"Yeah, but you gotta give me time to heal. I know how hungry you can get, but my poor neck can only take so much you know."

"Maybe I'll nick your erection while I'm blowing you and drink from there."

"You do that and it'll be a long time before I let you back near me," Niou said with a glare. "And when do I get to eat anyway? You're not the only one who gets hungry."

"Let me drink and then you can eat your fill," Yagyuu said. "Or we could prowl and find someone new and both have our fill for the night."

"Tempting," Niou said as he linked his arm through Yagyuu's and they started off into the night. "Very tempting, Yeagyuu."

Behind them in the gloom, neither of them saw another pair of eyes watching or heard the muttered "ii data," that floated above the scratching of a pen on paper.