Well that was interesting. ^^
I went to Starbucks and after giving them my order (Vanilla Frappachino), the man behind the counter showed me an assortment of stuffed silk mice (to celebrate the Year of the Rat, of course). They were adorable, but I wasn't going to buy one (still on a bit of a budget until the end of this month). Still, I asked how much. The man asked which one. I pointed to the black one with the gold thread designs and he handed it to me, and said, "For you, it's free! Happy New Year!"
So I have a new stuffed mouse on my desk. It's on my desk because I had left it in my bag on the floor, and Ruthie took it upon herself to sniff through the contents. Out came the mouse and she'd proudly chewed the tail threads before I realized what happened. *rolls eyes* Little brat.
More prompts!
Title: Kirihara Akaya
Author: Stormy1x2 ( traveling_storm )
Challenge: LJ's fanfic100
Prompts: 21 to 30
Pairings: Very, very mild Sana x Yuki, or Platinum Pair. Maybe a hint of Marui x Kirihara but miniscule.
Warnings: mild language, mature themes
Notes: I could have made a big deal about Kirihara's home situation with some of these particular prompts, but I decided to go a different route. I'm still building the situation up, rather then trying to force feed it to people via specific prompts.
Additional: This follows the anime and not the manga. This is an AU from how Kirihara is in manga canon. I adore C&C regarding grammar, tenses, spelling, sentence structure or awkward phrasing, but please don't tell me how to write MY storyline. If this is not your cup of tea, there's the back button. Feel free to use it at any time. This is my interpretation. If it bothers you, please write your own.
Kiriahara's BDT is here.
-------------------------------------
021. Friends
Kirihara couldn't remember a time in his life when he'd had a best friend, other then himself. The first couple of years of grade school were a bit of a blur - okay, so his memory wasn't the greatest if it didn't involve tennis - but he definitely did not have a best friend. Or friends, in general. People, in his opinion, had a tendency to suck.
He remembered in his second year of primary school when his classmates had decided to have an impromptu race at lunch. Kirihara had been one of the ones in front, but he'd stumbled and tripped. He remembered his classmates laughing at him. He remembered the teacher's angry shouts as she pulled him off Kenji, who had been the loudest. He did not clearly remember what happened that night after his parents received a call from the principal. But he did remember most of his classmates avoiding him from that point on.
Marui rolled his eyes and plopped the chocolate bar in his hand. “Just take it, you brat!”
Kirihara looked at the chocolate suspiciously, like it was going to bite him. “Why?”
“Because I am the coolest sempai on the team, that's why!” Marui draped his arm over Kirihara's shoulders, ignoring the way Akaya tensed for a split second. “If you hit me, I'm taking it back, baby boy.”
“But--”
“I figured you could use some cheering up after that English test.” Marui blew a large bubble and popped it right next to Kirihara's face. “I remember taking it last year. I think Minamino-sensei is secretly a sadist or something.”
Kirihara shrugged off Marui's arm and unwrapped the chocolate, biting off a big hunk. “I like milk chocolate, Marui-sempai.” He suddenly grinned impishly. “For next time.”
“Cocky brat! You think I'm gonna do this all the time?” Marui huffed, but Kirihara could see the amused gleam in his eye. “You got a lot of nerve.”
Kirihara munched contentedly on his chocolate. He just knew there would be a next time.
Word Count: 337 / 4783
022. Enemies
People fell into certain categories with him. Friends, teammates (which, essentially, also made up the 'friends' category), authority figures (teachers, his parents, Yukimura-buchou and Sanada-fukoubuchou), useful trash (non-Rikkai tennis players), useless trash (the majority of the general population), enemies (the few worthy opponents) and rabble (whoever was left over). Generally, once he'd defined a person as belonging to a specific category, he rarely gave them enough thought to change them later.
Niou-sempai was his friend and teammate. But at the moment, he was 'enemy', and would be until Kirihara got him back for rigging the hot water taps in the shower to 'cold'.
Word Count: 108 / 4891
023. Lovers
“Thirty laps!”
Kirihara rolled his eyes as he picked up the pace. Beside him, Marui was complaining that his new strawberry bubblegum wasn't enough to keep him going for that amount of laps, not after the practice they'd just had.
“I know fukou-buchou's in a bad mood, but why's he gotta take it out on us?” Kirihara asked petulantly.
Yanagi looked at him patiently as they rounded the corner. “He's just working out some things in his mind. He's under a lot of stress, Akaya, and some things are easier to handle than others.”
“Yeah, but it still ain't fair.”
“Fukou-buchou'd be in a lot better mood if he pulled that stick out of his ass and confessed,” Niou grumbled.
Kirihara blinked. “Confess what?”
“That he's got a huge-ass cru--” Niou's words were cut off by a light tug to his ponytail.
Beside him, Yagyuu shook his head. “Do you want to make him even angrier?”
Niou paled very, very slightly. “And a-running we go!”
Kirihara rolled his eyes. His sempai were weird.
Word Count: 177 / 5067
024. Family
Yukimura's mother was a gentle, beautiful woman with a soft voice. It was her that Seiichi mostly took after, though it could be said that his iron will and determination came directly from his father. They visited him daily, regardless of their schedules, bringing him little treats and talking about everything from the weather to his teammates.
His mother adored all of his friends, but seemed to have a soft spot for Yukimura's favorite kohai. If his team happened to visit while his parents were there, inevitably, at some point his mother would smile at Akaya and ask him how his tennis game was coming along, or what level he'd reached on his GameBoy. The first time she'd done that, Akaya had stared at her like she was a form of life he'd never seen before, and didn't reply.
Now, his eyes brightened and he'd start babbling about his latest wins, or the newest high score he'd gotten. His mother would smile and laugh, and never once mention a word about the way he sometimes flinched if someone raised their voices in the hall. She never commented on his claim a tennis ball struck him on the arm, even though the bruises were distinctly long and slender, wrapping around his forearm.
He'd asked her once, why some parents were like that. 'I don't know, Seiichi', she said sadly. 'I think really, only they know for sure. But it's never a good enough reason.'
He agreed. Watching his mother interact with the youngest member of his team, Yukimura's eyes hardened, and he wished, not for the first time, that all of life's problems could be solved on a tennis court.
Word Count: 279 / 5346
025. Strangers
Kirihara was afraid of very few things in life. One thing he didn't particularly enjoy, was getting lost. He wasn't afraid, but knowing where he was at all times was comforting. Which was why his unfortunate habit of training to the point where his exhaustion made him fall asleep on the bus ride home, had led to Sanada appointing Jackal as his 'bus-buddy', as Marui put it.
Unfortunately, the day he wound up at Seigaku by accident was a day when Jackal had been home sick. Akaya had insisted that he would be fine for one day. Then he'd woken up at the last stop in a completely different district.
Everything was different. He didn't know any of the people walking by, or recognize any street names. None of the buildings looked the same.
Almost nobody - save for probably Yanagi-sempai, because Yanagi-sempai was freaky that way - knew how close Akaya could have come to complete and total panic. Finding Seigaku's school and seeing the familiar layout of a tennis court had instantly calmed him down, and brought back a measure of his cockiness.
Still, Kirihara thought as he quickly sneaked off the grounds, he hadn't actually meant to cause that human domino reaction. Funny, yes. Intentional? No.
The next time Jackal was home sick, he wasn't surprised that Marui was sitting next to him when the bus pulled away. Tezuka was a rat.
Word Count: 236 / 5581
026. Teammates
Ever since Yagyuu had made a point of including extra treats in his bento for Kirihara, lunchtime had rapidly become his most favorite time of the day, right after practice. He dashed out of the school building from the back entrance - today's last class was mathematics, which put him on the opposite end of the campus and if he didn't hurry, Niou-sempai would eat his portion of chocolate pudding.
A familiar voice suddenly caught his attention - speak of the devil. Kirihara paused and tilted his head. Yes, that was definitely Niou-sempai snarling and threatening. Kirihara retraced his steps and peered around the corner of the school.
His eyes widened with surprise. Niou-sempai was being held by two abnormally large third years from the wrestling team (and Akaya had thought the tennis teams yellow jerseys were eyesores? Feh.) and being slapped by a third. Niou was trying to twist his way out of the twin gorillas grip, and swore loudly when the other wrestler smacked him on the side of his face. Niou's eyes were spitting fire, completely (temporarily) dominated, but also completely unintimidated. Kirihara felt his respect for Niou-sempai rising, just a bit.
His own eyes narrowed and he slipped his bag off his shoulder, pulling out his racquet. He and Niou had a habit of fighting like cats and dogs, and first chance he got, he was still going to rat out the real reason he missed practice the other morning (to pull a prank, which probably had a great deal to do with why the wrestling team was targeting him now) to Sanada, but the fact remained that Niou-sempai was his teammate. That meant only he, Kirihara Akaya, was allowed to crush him.
He stepped out from behind the building and shouted. “Hey! Uglies!”
The boy hitting Niou looked up just in time to get a smash serve in the face, knocking him down and out. The two baboons holding Niou's arms were momentarily stunned, giving Kirihara enough time to send another smash serve into Baboon number 1's elbow joint. The boy howled in agony and let go of Niou, who immediately whirled around and slammed his free hand into Baboon number 2's jaw.
Then Niou was sprinting over, grabbing Kirihara by the wrist and dragging him off, barely giving him time to grab his tennis bag.
“Niou-sempai, that hurts!” Kirihara complained as he was pulled along. “Let go!”
“Do you really want to be there when those two idiots call for reinforcements?” Niou asked him, looking exasperated. He let go of Akaya's wrist though.
Kirihara stuck out his tongue and followed Niou to the front part of the school. Yagyuu-sempai would be there, evening the odds, and they were in direct view of the office windows in case the morons came looking for a fight.
“Hey, brat.” Akaya looked up as Niou slowed to a stop. The Trickster didn't turn around, but Kirihara could hear him clearly. “...Thanks.”
Kirihara shrugged it off. “I wasn't gonna let them crush you, Niou-sempai.” He grinned. “That's my job.”
“You wish.” Niou rolled his eyes and started walking. Kirihara moved up alongside him and only protested a little bit when Niou ruffled his hair.
Word Count: 541 / 6112
027. Parents
Yanagi watched Sanada bellow out instructions at Akaya who nodded and changed his stance. It was very tiny, and would have been completely unnoticeable had Yanagi not been a close friend of Sanada's for many years, but Sanada's face held the faintest amount of pride as Kirihara made a perfect return to one of Yagyuu's lighter Laser Beams. Sanada nodded in satisfaction and Kirihara's face lit up like a Christmas tree. He waved his racquet eagerly at Yagyuu, yelling at him to hit a harder Laser Beam this time, because he was definitely going to break it.
Sanada ruled over Rikkai's tennis club like a a strict and demanding patriarch, and it was even more evident with some members more than others. Certainly Kirihara viewed his captain and vice-captain as natural authority figures, and Sanada had a habit of treating Kirihara like a child in need of discipline and structure. In this particular case, it was like watching a child show off for a (reluctantly) proud father, and, Yanagi reflected ruefully, it was probably the closest Kirihara had come to parental affection in years.
A small smile suddenly graced his own features. When the - *ahem * - mother figure of Rikkaidai returned, undoubtedly Akaya would perform even better in front of his pseudo parental units. For obvious reasons, however, he thought it might be best not to discuss this particular line of thought with Sanada, lest he wind up joining Yukimura as a roommate.
Word Count: 243 / 6355
028. Children
Jackal knew he was being punished for something. He just wasn't sure what.
It had all started when Niou made an off-hand comment about how Marui was going to weigh about three hundred pounds by the time he hit high-school if he kept eating all those cakes. Marui had screeched at him, even while pouting and looking like he was about to cry. The noise had drawn Kirihara's attention who, upon hearing what Niou had said to his favorite sempai, promptly tried to decapitate Niou with his racquet. Niou, trying to avoid his teammates wild swings, stepped backwards onto Yagyuu's foot, making the Gentleman react by saying several words that were not very gentlemanly in nature. A passing teacher had overheard and subsequently reprimanded Sanada for not instilling the manners and proper decorum that should be practiced by all Rikkai students. Sanada, having had his honor besmirched, turned nearly purple with rage and ordered - through clenched teeth in danger of cracking - for them to sit on the bench and NOT MOVE while he dragged Yanagi off to draw up plans for a suitable torture-er, workout session that afternoon.
As the only one technically not in trouble, Jackal had been appointed as the babysitter to make sure no one moved. Frankly, as far as he was concerned, it was still punishment.
“Jackal-sempai, Niou's making faces at me!”
“Was not! And that's Niou-sempai to you, runt!”
“Was too! And you're not worthy of being a sempai!”
“I'm hungry. Jackal, can you hand me my bag? I think I still have a chocolate bar left...”
“See? Scratch that, it's gonna be five hundred pounds. They'll have to roll you onto the tennis court.”
“Masaharou, must you really continue to tease him like this? If Kirihara kills you before the Kantou tournament, Sanada-fukou-buchou will be most upset - as will I, if I must find another doubles partner.”
“I only speak the truth.”
“YOU! CRUSHED! NOW!”
Jackal lunged at the hissing, spitting wildcat that was Kirihara, and wondered again why he'd ever left Brazil.
Word Count: 345 / 6699
029. Birth
Marui had a favorite cake shop he frequented every Sunday afternoon. Kirihara liked to tag along because he usually got a free snack if he did.
Marui plastered himself against the glass window. “Ooh la la... so many kinds and so little time!” He straightened up, rubbing his hands together. “Hey, old man! I'd like a raspberry tart, a slice of the coconut cream, two of the chocolate brownies, and a piece of the New York-style cheesecake with strawberry sauce!”
Kirihara rolled his eyes. This was nothing. He'd seen Marui order even more then that before. He grinned though, as Marui handed him a brownie, and asked for two forks for the cheesecake. That was his favorite, but Kirihara could never finish the whole thing by himself.
“It's a nice day, kiddo. Let's sit outside!”
Outside, the sun was shining brightly. Kirihara and Marui sat themselves at one of the tables and dug into the food. Halfway through his brownie though, Marui cocked his head to one side. “Eh... did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Marui stood up. “Watch the food,” he said, and disappeared around the side of the shop. Kirihara blinked, shrugged and finished off his brownie. After a second, he reached over and used his fork to cut off a piece of Marui's tart.
“Hey, Aka-chan! C'mere!”
Kirihara scowled at the use of the nickname he despised the most. “What, sempai?” Then he paused.
Marui was crouched down, leaning over a box in the dirty alley. “Look!”
Akaya looked. Inside the box were four tiny kittens. Two were black, and two were gray with black stripes. “What are they doing here?”
“Someone must have thrown them away,” Marui said softly, reaching down with one finger to rub against the tiny ears. “They're so cute.”
Kirihara swallowed hard, and tentatively petted one of the gray ones. The resulting purr made him smile. Then he frowned again. “People suck.”
“This one time, I'd have to agree with you.” Marui straightened up and looked around. “Well, it can't be helped.”
“Are we... we can't just leave them here,” Kirihara said awkwardly.
Marui grinned at him. “Neh, you're a softie for kitties, Aka-chan? Who would've guessed?”
Kirihara glared at him, flushing red. “I am not. But this...” he swallowed again. “They'll die.”
“Probably.”
It wasn't his problem. Kirihara slowly stood up, trying to ignore the strange feeling in his chest. “....so we're going then?”
Marui watched him, sighed, and then clucked his tongue. “Like I said,” he repeated. “...can't be helped.” He leaned down and picked up the box.
“M-Marui-sempai?”
“Relax, kiddo. I'll take 'em home and give them to my cousin. She's a foster parent for the animal shelter in our neighborhood - she's always on the lookout for cases like these.”
Kirihara was surprised. “Really?”
“Yup.” Marui winked. “'Sides, I can't have my cute little kouhai crying over baby kitties, now can I?”
Kirihara snarled, but didn't say anything as he followed his sempai out of the alley. It wouldn't do to hit him while he was carrying the kittens. He might drop them. He'd wait until practice tomorrow and smack him then.
Word Count: 528 / 7188
030. Death
Kirihara hated having nightmares. His nightmares ranged from typical ones with his parents in the starring role, to the weird, like dreaming he was tied to the bench while some looser from the Rikkai non-Regulars took his spot as Singles 2, all as some part of weird punishment handed down by Fukou-buchou. Waking up from a nightmare always threw him off for a bit before he completely woke up; he was thankful they didn't happen very often.
And then one day he had one while he dozed off on the team bus, coming home from a tournament. He didn't know why - he hadn't had a particularly stressful couple of days, and his opponent at the exhibition match had been pathetically weak. There was no real reason for it.
That didn't make one wit of difference to his subconscious, however. Kirihara came awake on the bus with a blood-curdling scream and bolted upright in his seat, gasping for breath. Someone was shaking his shoulder, and there were voices all around him saying his name. Akaya clapped his hands over his ears to drown them out.
Dimly he heard a sharp voice crack like a whip across the bus, and the hands and voices disappeared. After a minute, the fuzziness left his head, and he opened his eyes blearily, lowering his hands. Yanagi was calmly sitting next to him, watching him carefully.
“Are you alright?”
Kirihara blinked, and then nodded slowly.
“Do you have nightmares often?”
Scowling, his face flaming red, Akaya slouched down in his seat. The way it sounded... it made him look weak. “No,” he said bluntly, staring a hole through the seat in front of him.
Yanagi nodded thoughtfully. “I assume you have no intention of telling me what it was about. That's fine. But if you should change your mind, you know I, or anyone else on the team would listen.”
Niou would probably laugh at him. Akaya scowled even harder. “I'm fine.”
“Of course.” Yanagi patted his shoulder lightly. “But do think about it. Sometimes it makes it easier to deal with.” He hesitated for a minute. “You know, everyone has had nightmares at some point. I know I did, when Yukimura fell ill on the courts. I'd wager a good 77% of the Rikkai tennis club had some sort of psychological feedback from that.”
“What's your point?”
“My point is I want to help, if I can. Sometimes...” Yanagi hesitated, as though he were trying to think of the best way to say something, which was weird. Yanagi-sempai always knew what to say. “...sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control that shape our dreams. Letting them stay bottled up can ki-- destroy you from the inside.”
Kirihara shook his head stubbornly, refusing to look at him. “I'm fine.”
Yanagi let the subject drop, finally. Kirihara stared out the window for the rest of the ride home.
Word Count: 485 / 7712
-------------------------------------
End Notes:
Anyone who reads my LJ knows I'm a volunteer with the SCAA here in China, and drabble number 29 actually happened to me last year. Except in my case it was 6 babies, with one who died despite the round-the-clock care I gave him. The others all survived and as of September 2007, all 5 have been successfully adopted out. That particular drabble is dedicated to the baby who didn't make it. My little Eiji.
*dusts off hands* 30 down, 70 to go...
So I have a new stuffed mouse on my desk. It's on my desk because I had left it in my bag on the floor, and Ruthie took it upon herself to sniff through the contents. Out came the mouse and she'd proudly chewed the tail threads before I realized what happened. *rolls eyes* Little brat.
More prompts!
Title: Kirihara Akaya
Author: Stormy1x2 ( traveling_storm )
Challenge: LJ's fanfic100
Prompts: 21 to 30
Pairings: Very, very mild Sana x Yuki, or Platinum Pair. Maybe a hint of Marui x Kirihara but miniscule.
Warnings: mild language, mature themes
Notes: I could have made a big deal about Kirihara's home situation with some of these particular prompts, but I decided to go a different route. I'm still building the situation up, rather then trying to force feed it to people via specific prompts.
Additional: This follows the anime and not the manga. This is an AU from how Kirihara is in manga canon. I adore C&C regarding grammar, tenses, spelling, sentence structure or awkward phrasing, but please don't tell me how to write MY storyline. If this is not your cup of tea, there's the back button. Feel free to use it at any time. This is my interpretation. If it bothers you, please write your own.
Kiriahara's BDT is here.
-------------------------------------
021. Friends
Kirihara couldn't remember a time in his life when he'd had a best friend, other then himself. The first couple of years of grade school were a bit of a blur - okay, so his memory wasn't the greatest if it didn't involve tennis - but he definitely did not have a best friend. Or friends, in general. People, in his opinion, had a tendency to suck.
He remembered in his second year of primary school when his classmates had decided to have an impromptu race at lunch. Kirihara had been one of the ones in front, but he'd stumbled and tripped. He remembered his classmates laughing at him. He remembered the teacher's angry shouts as she pulled him off Kenji, who had been the loudest. He did not clearly remember what happened that night after his parents received a call from the principal. But he did remember most of his classmates avoiding him from that point on.
Marui rolled his eyes and plopped the chocolate bar in his hand. “Just take it, you brat!”
Kirihara looked at the chocolate suspiciously, like it was going to bite him. “Why?”
“Because I am the coolest sempai on the team, that's why!” Marui draped his arm over Kirihara's shoulders, ignoring the way Akaya tensed for a split second. “If you hit me, I'm taking it back, baby boy.”
“But--”
“I figured you could use some cheering up after that English test.” Marui blew a large bubble and popped it right next to Kirihara's face. “I remember taking it last year. I think Minamino-sensei is secretly a sadist or something.”
Kirihara shrugged off Marui's arm and unwrapped the chocolate, biting off a big hunk. “I like milk chocolate, Marui-sempai.” He suddenly grinned impishly. “For next time.”
“Cocky brat! You think I'm gonna do this all the time?” Marui huffed, but Kirihara could see the amused gleam in his eye. “You got a lot of nerve.”
Kirihara munched contentedly on his chocolate. He just knew there would be a next time.
Word Count: 337 / 4783
022. Enemies
People fell into certain categories with him. Friends, teammates (which, essentially, also made up the 'friends' category), authority figures (teachers, his parents, Yukimura-buchou and Sanada-fukoubuchou), useful trash (non-Rikkai tennis players), useless trash (the majority of the general population), enemies (the few worthy opponents) and rabble (whoever was left over). Generally, once he'd defined a person as belonging to a specific category, he rarely gave them enough thought to change them later.
Niou-sempai was his friend and teammate. But at the moment, he was 'enemy', and would be until Kirihara got him back for rigging the hot water taps in the shower to 'cold'.
Word Count: 108 / 4891
023. Lovers
“Thirty laps!”
Kirihara rolled his eyes as he picked up the pace. Beside him, Marui was complaining that his new strawberry bubblegum wasn't enough to keep him going for that amount of laps, not after the practice they'd just had.
“I know fukou-buchou's in a bad mood, but why's he gotta take it out on us?” Kirihara asked petulantly.
Yanagi looked at him patiently as they rounded the corner. “He's just working out some things in his mind. He's under a lot of stress, Akaya, and some things are easier to handle than others.”
“Yeah, but it still ain't fair.”
“Fukou-buchou'd be in a lot better mood if he pulled that stick out of his ass and confessed,” Niou grumbled.
Kirihara blinked. “Confess what?”
“That he's got a huge-ass cru--” Niou's words were cut off by a light tug to his ponytail.
Beside him, Yagyuu shook his head. “Do you want to make him even angrier?”
Niou paled very, very slightly. “And a-running we go!”
Kirihara rolled his eyes. His sempai were weird.
Word Count: 177 / 5067
024. Family
Yukimura's mother was a gentle, beautiful woman with a soft voice. It was her that Seiichi mostly took after, though it could be said that his iron will and determination came directly from his father. They visited him daily, regardless of their schedules, bringing him little treats and talking about everything from the weather to his teammates.
His mother adored all of his friends, but seemed to have a soft spot for Yukimura's favorite kohai. If his team happened to visit while his parents were there, inevitably, at some point his mother would smile at Akaya and ask him how his tennis game was coming along, or what level he'd reached on his GameBoy. The first time she'd done that, Akaya had stared at her like she was a form of life he'd never seen before, and didn't reply.
Now, his eyes brightened and he'd start babbling about his latest wins, or the newest high score he'd gotten. His mother would smile and laugh, and never once mention a word about the way he sometimes flinched if someone raised their voices in the hall. She never commented on his claim a tennis ball struck him on the arm, even though the bruises were distinctly long and slender, wrapping around his forearm.
He'd asked her once, why some parents were like that. 'I don't know, Seiichi', she said sadly. 'I think really, only they know for sure. But it's never a good enough reason.'
He agreed. Watching his mother interact with the youngest member of his team, Yukimura's eyes hardened, and he wished, not for the first time, that all of life's problems could be solved on a tennis court.
Word Count: 279 / 5346
025. Strangers
Kirihara was afraid of very few things in life. One thing he didn't particularly enjoy, was getting lost. He wasn't afraid, but knowing where he was at all times was comforting. Which was why his unfortunate habit of training to the point where his exhaustion made him fall asleep on the bus ride home, had led to Sanada appointing Jackal as his 'bus-buddy', as Marui put it.
Unfortunately, the day he wound up at Seigaku by accident was a day when Jackal had been home sick. Akaya had insisted that he would be fine for one day. Then he'd woken up at the last stop in a completely different district.
Everything was different. He didn't know any of the people walking by, or recognize any street names. None of the buildings looked the same.
Almost nobody - save for probably Yanagi-sempai, because Yanagi-sempai was freaky that way - knew how close Akaya could have come to complete and total panic. Finding Seigaku's school and seeing the familiar layout of a tennis court had instantly calmed him down, and brought back a measure of his cockiness.
Still, Kirihara thought as he quickly sneaked off the grounds, he hadn't actually meant to cause that human domino reaction. Funny, yes. Intentional? No.
The next time Jackal was home sick, he wasn't surprised that Marui was sitting next to him when the bus pulled away. Tezuka was a rat.
Word Count: 236 / 5581
026. Teammates
Ever since Yagyuu had made a point of including extra treats in his bento for Kirihara, lunchtime had rapidly become his most favorite time of the day, right after practice. He dashed out of the school building from the back entrance - today's last class was mathematics, which put him on the opposite end of the campus and if he didn't hurry, Niou-sempai would eat his portion of chocolate pudding.
A familiar voice suddenly caught his attention - speak of the devil. Kirihara paused and tilted his head. Yes, that was definitely Niou-sempai snarling and threatening. Kirihara retraced his steps and peered around the corner of the school.
His eyes widened with surprise. Niou-sempai was being held by two abnormally large third years from the wrestling team (and Akaya had thought the tennis teams yellow jerseys were eyesores? Feh.) and being slapped by a third. Niou was trying to twist his way out of the twin gorillas grip, and swore loudly when the other wrestler smacked him on the side of his face. Niou's eyes were spitting fire, completely (temporarily) dominated, but also completely unintimidated. Kirihara felt his respect for Niou-sempai rising, just a bit.
His own eyes narrowed and he slipped his bag off his shoulder, pulling out his racquet. He and Niou had a habit of fighting like cats and dogs, and first chance he got, he was still going to rat out the real reason he missed practice the other morning (to pull a prank, which probably had a great deal to do with why the wrestling team was targeting him now) to Sanada, but the fact remained that Niou-sempai was his teammate. That meant only he, Kirihara Akaya, was allowed to crush him.
He stepped out from behind the building and shouted. “Hey! Uglies!”
The boy hitting Niou looked up just in time to get a smash serve in the face, knocking him down and out. The two baboons holding Niou's arms were momentarily stunned, giving Kirihara enough time to send another smash serve into Baboon number 1's elbow joint. The boy howled in agony and let go of Niou, who immediately whirled around and slammed his free hand into Baboon number 2's jaw.
Then Niou was sprinting over, grabbing Kirihara by the wrist and dragging him off, barely giving him time to grab his tennis bag.
“Niou-sempai, that hurts!” Kirihara complained as he was pulled along. “Let go!”
“Do you really want to be there when those two idiots call for reinforcements?” Niou asked him, looking exasperated. He let go of Akaya's wrist though.
Kirihara stuck out his tongue and followed Niou to the front part of the school. Yagyuu-sempai would be there, evening the odds, and they were in direct view of the office windows in case the morons came looking for a fight.
“Hey, brat.” Akaya looked up as Niou slowed to a stop. The Trickster didn't turn around, but Kirihara could hear him clearly. “...Thanks.”
Kirihara shrugged it off. “I wasn't gonna let them crush you, Niou-sempai.” He grinned. “That's my job.”
“You wish.” Niou rolled his eyes and started walking. Kirihara moved up alongside him and only protested a little bit when Niou ruffled his hair.
Word Count: 541 / 6112
027. Parents
Yanagi watched Sanada bellow out instructions at Akaya who nodded and changed his stance. It was very tiny, and would have been completely unnoticeable had Yanagi not been a close friend of Sanada's for many years, but Sanada's face held the faintest amount of pride as Kirihara made a perfect return to one of Yagyuu's lighter Laser Beams. Sanada nodded in satisfaction and Kirihara's face lit up like a Christmas tree. He waved his racquet eagerly at Yagyuu, yelling at him to hit a harder Laser Beam this time, because he was definitely going to break it.
Sanada ruled over Rikkai's tennis club like a a strict and demanding patriarch, and it was even more evident with some members more than others. Certainly Kirihara viewed his captain and vice-captain as natural authority figures, and Sanada had a habit of treating Kirihara like a child in need of discipline and structure. In this particular case, it was like watching a child show off for a (reluctantly) proud father, and, Yanagi reflected ruefully, it was probably the closest Kirihara had come to parental affection in years.
A small smile suddenly graced his own features. When the - *ahem * - mother figure of Rikkaidai returned, undoubtedly Akaya would perform even better in front of his pseudo parental units. For obvious reasons, however, he thought it might be best not to discuss this particular line of thought with Sanada, lest he wind up joining Yukimura as a roommate.
Word Count: 243 / 6355
028. Children
Jackal knew he was being punished for something. He just wasn't sure what.
It had all started when Niou made an off-hand comment about how Marui was going to weigh about three hundred pounds by the time he hit high-school if he kept eating all those cakes. Marui had screeched at him, even while pouting and looking like he was about to cry. The noise had drawn Kirihara's attention who, upon hearing what Niou had said to his favorite sempai, promptly tried to decapitate Niou with his racquet. Niou, trying to avoid his teammates wild swings, stepped backwards onto Yagyuu's foot, making the Gentleman react by saying several words that were not very gentlemanly in nature. A passing teacher had overheard and subsequently reprimanded Sanada for not instilling the manners and proper decorum that should be practiced by all Rikkai students. Sanada, having had his honor besmirched, turned nearly purple with rage and ordered - through clenched teeth in danger of cracking - for them to sit on the bench and NOT MOVE while he dragged Yanagi off to draw up plans for a suitable torture-er, workout session that afternoon.
As the only one technically not in trouble, Jackal had been appointed as the babysitter to make sure no one moved. Frankly, as far as he was concerned, it was still punishment.
“Jackal-sempai, Niou's making faces at me!”
“Was not! And that's Niou-sempai to you, runt!”
“Was too! And you're not worthy of being a sempai!”
“I'm hungry. Jackal, can you hand me my bag? I think I still have a chocolate bar left...”
“See? Scratch that, it's gonna be five hundred pounds. They'll have to roll you onto the tennis court.”
“Masaharou, must you really continue to tease him like this? If Kirihara kills you before the Kantou tournament, Sanada-fukou-buchou will be most upset - as will I, if I must find another doubles partner.”
“I only speak the truth.”
“YOU! CRUSHED! NOW!”
Jackal lunged at the hissing, spitting wildcat that was Kirihara, and wondered again why he'd ever left Brazil.
Word Count: 345 / 6699
029. Birth
Marui had a favorite cake shop he frequented every Sunday afternoon. Kirihara liked to tag along because he usually got a free snack if he did.
Marui plastered himself against the glass window. “Ooh la la... so many kinds and so little time!” He straightened up, rubbing his hands together. “Hey, old man! I'd like a raspberry tart, a slice of the coconut cream, two of the chocolate brownies, and a piece of the New York-style cheesecake with strawberry sauce!”
Kirihara rolled his eyes. This was nothing. He'd seen Marui order even more then that before. He grinned though, as Marui handed him a brownie, and asked for two forks for the cheesecake. That was his favorite, but Kirihara could never finish the whole thing by himself.
“It's a nice day, kiddo. Let's sit outside!”
Outside, the sun was shining brightly. Kirihara and Marui sat themselves at one of the tables and dug into the food. Halfway through his brownie though, Marui cocked his head to one side. “Eh... did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Marui stood up. “Watch the food,” he said, and disappeared around the side of the shop. Kirihara blinked, shrugged and finished off his brownie. After a second, he reached over and used his fork to cut off a piece of Marui's tart.
“Hey, Aka-chan! C'mere!”
Kirihara scowled at the use of the nickname he despised the most. “What, sempai?” Then he paused.
Marui was crouched down, leaning over a box in the dirty alley. “Look!”
Akaya looked. Inside the box were four tiny kittens. Two were black, and two were gray with black stripes. “What are they doing here?”
“Someone must have thrown them away,” Marui said softly, reaching down with one finger to rub against the tiny ears. “They're so cute.”
Kirihara swallowed hard, and tentatively petted one of the gray ones. The resulting purr made him smile. Then he frowned again. “People suck.”
“This one time, I'd have to agree with you.” Marui straightened up and looked around. “Well, it can't be helped.”
“Are we... we can't just leave them here,” Kirihara said awkwardly.
Marui grinned at him. “Neh, you're a softie for kitties, Aka-chan? Who would've guessed?”
Kirihara glared at him, flushing red. “I am not. But this...” he swallowed again. “They'll die.”
“Probably.”
It wasn't his problem. Kirihara slowly stood up, trying to ignore the strange feeling in his chest. “....so we're going then?”
Marui watched him, sighed, and then clucked his tongue. “Like I said,” he repeated. “...can't be helped.” He leaned down and picked up the box.
“M-Marui-sempai?”
“Relax, kiddo. I'll take 'em home and give them to my cousin. She's a foster parent for the animal shelter in our neighborhood - she's always on the lookout for cases like these.”
Kirihara was surprised. “Really?”
“Yup.” Marui winked. “'Sides, I can't have my cute little kouhai crying over baby kitties, now can I?”
Kirihara snarled, but didn't say anything as he followed his sempai out of the alley. It wouldn't do to hit him while he was carrying the kittens. He might drop them. He'd wait until practice tomorrow and smack him then.
Word Count: 528 / 7188
030. Death
Kirihara hated having nightmares. His nightmares ranged from typical ones with his parents in the starring role, to the weird, like dreaming he was tied to the bench while some looser from the Rikkai non-Regulars took his spot as Singles 2, all as some part of weird punishment handed down by Fukou-buchou. Waking up from a nightmare always threw him off for a bit before he completely woke up; he was thankful they didn't happen very often.
And then one day he had one while he dozed off on the team bus, coming home from a tournament. He didn't know why - he hadn't had a particularly stressful couple of days, and his opponent at the exhibition match had been pathetically weak. There was no real reason for it.
That didn't make one wit of difference to his subconscious, however. Kirihara came awake on the bus with a blood-curdling scream and bolted upright in his seat, gasping for breath. Someone was shaking his shoulder, and there were voices all around him saying his name. Akaya clapped his hands over his ears to drown them out.
Dimly he heard a sharp voice crack like a whip across the bus, and the hands and voices disappeared. After a minute, the fuzziness left his head, and he opened his eyes blearily, lowering his hands. Yanagi was calmly sitting next to him, watching him carefully.
“Are you alright?”
Kirihara blinked, and then nodded slowly.
“Do you have nightmares often?”
Scowling, his face flaming red, Akaya slouched down in his seat. The way it sounded... it made him look weak. “No,” he said bluntly, staring a hole through the seat in front of him.
Yanagi nodded thoughtfully. “I assume you have no intention of telling me what it was about. That's fine. But if you should change your mind, you know I, or anyone else on the team would listen.”
Niou would probably laugh at him. Akaya scowled even harder. “I'm fine.”
“Of course.” Yanagi patted his shoulder lightly. “But do think about it. Sometimes it makes it easier to deal with.” He hesitated for a minute. “You know, everyone has had nightmares at some point. I know I did, when Yukimura fell ill on the courts. I'd wager a good 77% of the Rikkai tennis club had some sort of psychological feedback from that.”
“What's your point?”
“My point is I want to help, if I can. Sometimes...” Yanagi hesitated, as though he were trying to think of the best way to say something, which was weird. Yanagi-sempai always knew what to say. “...sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control that shape our dreams. Letting them stay bottled up can ki-- destroy you from the inside.”
Kirihara shook his head stubbornly, refusing to look at him. “I'm fine.”
Yanagi let the subject drop, finally. Kirihara stared out the window for the rest of the ride home.
Word Count: 485 / 7712
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End Notes:
Anyone who reads my LJ knows I'm a volunteer with the SCAA here in China, and drabble number 29 actually happened to me last year. Except in my case it was 6 babies, with one who died despite the round-the-clock care I gave him. The others all survived and as of September 2007, all 5 have been successfully adopted out. That particular drabble is dedicated to the baby who didn't make it. My little Eiji.
*dusts off hands* 30 down, 70 to go...