Christmas at Rikkai Dai

by Lucathia

Summary: Marui sings, Sanada sneezes, Niou directs, Yanagi predicts, and somehow Niou and Yagyuu show up at the Christmas party chained together. All in all, it's a fairly normal day at Rikkai, just with some lighthearted holiday cheer mixed in. mostly gen and fluffy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis and am making no profit from writing this.

The moment that anyone came in proximity of the school, he'd know that Christmas was upon Rikkai Dai. Twinkling Christmas lights were everywhere. The entrance, the sparse trees, the pillars, the walls and roofs--nothing escaped from the Christmas lights. The lights were indeed a grand sight to see, reaching all the way up the towering clock in the center of the school. But as the lights twinkled, a jolly Christmas tune repeated itself over and over in beat with the twinkling.

That was enough to drive people crazy.

However, a certain redhead's eyes brightened at the tune.

"On the first day of Christmas Sanada gave to us" began Marui Bunta in that high, clear voice of his honed from singing along with his countless music CDs. "Chewing gum in wrapping paper!"

Jackal shook his head, amused, though at the same time, he was somewhat alarmed at the redhead's rendition of the song. His eyes darted around quickly, checking to see if Sanada was anywhere near them. What would Sanada think, after all?

"Come on, Jackal! It's your turn!" said Marui as he popped his bubblegum. How Marui managed to sing while chewing gum, Jackal didn't know. But if Marui could play tennis while chewing gum...then singing probably wasn't too much harder.

"Uh..."

"Go on!" said Marui eagerly as he rewrapped his scarf, his breath coming out in white puffs.

But when Jackal didn't start singing, Marui scowled. "Fine then! On the second day of Christmas Sanada gave to us..." he paused and looked at Jackal. "Now, just fill in with two of something!"

Shivering, Jackal filled in with what he really wanted at the moment.

"Two mugs of coffee! Uh, that doesn't fit so well. Two coffee mugs then."

Marui nodded approvingly. "And chewing gum in wrapping paper!"

Their laughter filled the air as they made their way towards the front entrance of the school.

Three stories up, Sanada, who had gotten to class earlier than any of the rest of the team, sneezed. He was early because well, he still hadn't broken out of the habit of waking up early for morning practice, even now that the third years didn't have morning practice anymore. He shut the window that he had just opened and was satisfied when he heard it click shut. But when he turned around to go back to his seat, he sneezed yet again.

"There is an 87 percent chance that someone has been mentioning you behind your back," stated Yanagi once the teacher left the room.

Sanada twitched. He had sneezed quite a few more times during class. People looked, but his glare prevented anyone from staring for too long.

Right now, they were on a short break between classes. Unlike others who used the time to wander off to other classrooms, they merely sat at their desks, letting whoever wanted to talk to them come to them, not the other way around. Like usual, Yanagi began their conversations with his most current observations, though today he gestured at a glaringly empty seat next in front of them.

"Checkup," replied Sanada to Yanagi's silent question.

"I see," nodded Yanagi. He leaned back, his hands folded.

"There is a 79 percent chance that Akaya will forget about tonight's masquerade party," remarked Yanagi. "In fact, there is a 67 percent chance that you have forgotten about it too, Genichirou," said Yanagi, an amused smile gracing his lips.

Silence. (ffnet removed all ellipses that stood on their own. Here, Sanada is going "dot dot dot," in the original version of this fic. It doesn't show up properly on ffnet. Grrr.)

"I believe I am correct. Correct?"

Silence.

"Well, I'll just have to help you come up with an outfit by tonight then."

When Kirihara passed by his senpai in the hallway, he gave a quick wave and went on his way. However, Marui pounced on the second year.

"Gah! Marui-senpai!"

"Ne, Akaya! What's your favorite food?"

"Yakiniku! And sushi!" added the younger boy. "But why do you want to know?"

Marui grinned. "Hm, yakiniku's a bit too long of a word. Sushi then! Thanks, Akaya!"

As Marui headed off, Kirihara could hear his senpai sing, "On the seventh day of Christmas Sanada gave to us, seven plates of sushi, six bowls of ramen..."

Kirihara's stomach rumbled at the thought of all that food. He wished he hadn't forgotten his lunch that morning.

"Niou-kun, that's not your uniform," commented Yagyuu during lunch. Niou, instead of wearing their winter uniform that consisted of a dark suit complete with a tie and dress pants, was wearing entirely white. He was white from head to toe, from a white, long-sleeved buttoned-up shirt to long, white pants, and then lastly, white socks. He wasn't wearing any shoes. Combined with his silver hair, Niou was quite...blinding.

"This is my costume," replied Niou with a grin as he snatched a piece of beef from Yagyuu's lunch.

"Oh, you're in costume already? The party isn't until this evening." Yagyuu, instead of saying anything about the stolen beef, took a piece of squid from Niou's lunch.

Niou eyed the last piece of meat in Yagyuu's bowl. "Guess who I'm supposed to be?"

"A ghost?"

"Nope."

Niou merely twirled a strand of his hair around his finger and grinned. When he thought Yagyuu wasn't looking anymore, he snatched the last piece of meat from Yagyuu's bowl. He counted himself successful, until he turned back to his own lunch and found all the shrimp gone.

That made him grin even more.

At the end of the school day, Yanagi bumped into Marui, and when the redhead asked him to name food that he liked, Yanagi simply replied with "soup." He was very amused when he found out just why Marui had asked.

Yanagi was in the process of putting away his indoor shoes and changing into his outdoor ones when Kirihara found him next.

"Yanagi-senpai, are you going to stop by practice today?" asked Kirihara, whose face sported a desk mark. There was a 98 percent chance that Akaya had fallen asleep in class, thought Yanagi to himself.

"Hm, I will after I find Genichiro a costume," replied Yanagi.

Kirihara blinked. "A costume? What for?"

Yanagi smiled. His data proved correct after all. "Akaya, don't tell me you forgot about the masquerade party this evening?"

Kirihara's eyes widened. "Shit."

"Yagyuu, why do you have a pair of handcuffs in your bookbag?" asked Niou as he picked up the handcuffs that had fallen to the ground when Yagyuu took out his books to rearrange his bookbag.

Yagyuu raised his right eyebrow. "Handcuffs?"

Niou dangled the handcuffs in front of Yagyuu.

Yagyuu pushed his glasses back up. "Oh those. Those are my sister's."

Niou snorted. As if. "Still doesn't explain why you have them in your bookbag."

"Merely part of my costume."

When the party finally rolled around, Kirihara showed up in his sweaty tennis uniform, not bothering to change out of them after practice. When asked, Kirihara replied that he was dressed as a tennis player. The truth was, he had forgotten his costume at home. The mere thought brought a scowl to his face. He had looked forward to the party and had painstakingly prepared his outfit (and by painstakingly, he meant that he even asked his older sister for help), only to forget his costume at home!

Sanada stared.

"Ah, you must be wondering, 'why couldn't I have done that?' I'd give it an 82 chance," remarked Yanagi from behind.

Sanada glowered from his corner, unable to hide under his comfortable black cap. Instead, he had a fuzzy, red Santa hat on top of his head. It was even somewhat ticklish.

"Don't worry, I think you make a great Santa," continued Yanagi. "Those girls from the kendo club were so helpful, weren't they? They were very eager to help."

Sanada crossed his arms, not bothering to reply to that. Instead, he asked, "And you, Renji, what are you dressed as?"

For Yanagi was wearing white, fluid robes and had a garland of ivy crowning his head.

"A blind seer."

Jackal wandered in next, sporting a pair of large, white, wings on his back and a halo over his head. When he saw Sanada and Yanagi staring his way, Jackal sighed. "Don't even ask." When he moved out of the way, Yanagi finally noticed Marui, who had black, leather wings and horns.

"Now, where's Niou and Yagyuu?" wondered Yanagi now that all of them had gathered together.

"There they are!" pointed Marui.

Together, Niou and Yagyuu entered the gym where the party was held. Jackal noticed that they were walking very, very closely to each other, and it was Kirihara that noticed the chain.

"Ah!" Kirihara pointed at them. "What the hell?"

One of the first few events was dancing. In a circle. The guys lined up on the outside while the girls lined up on the inside. After the partners danced together for a few steps, the circle would shift to the right, and the partners changed. Every girl who passed through Niou's hands giggled when she noticed how Niou's right hand was chained to Yagyuu's left.

"Oh dear, what happened here?" asked one of the girls.

"I am the neglected prisoner," said Niou. "Mistreated and abused by his captor. Are you here to save me from my captor?"

The girl blushed as Niou passed her onto Yagyuu.

Yagyuu tugged on the chain, but Niou managed to catch his balance, preventing himself from falling over. "Do not be tricked by his misleading words, miss," said Yagyuu to the girl in front of him. "He is clearly not neglected. He managed to get himself into this situation."

After a moment's pause, Yagyuu leaned down closer to the girl, and right next to her ear, he softly whispered, "But I do not deny that he is MY captive and mine alone."

The girl squeaked as Yagyuu passed her onto the next person.

"...Marui-kun, what are you doing in the inner circle?" asked Yagyuu when he noticed just who Niou was dancing with at the moment.

Marui grinned sheepishly.

"Ah, well, some of my classmates pulled me in because you know, there's less girls than boys in this school. It's to even out the difference. Oh, and Sanada's in the inner circle too."

Niou laughed. "You got to be kidding me! Where is he?"

Marui shrugged, his wings almost bumping into the girl next to him as he did so. "I think he's somewhere over there." He nodded his head towards the left. "Oh, and before I get passed onto Yagyuu, tell me what your favorite food is!"

"Heh, are you hitting on me?"

"Yeah right!"

Marui ended up asking Yagyuu instead, who was able to answer for Niou as well.

"How did you two get yourselves chained together?" asked Sanada, his face stoic.

"Now, don't try to weasel yourself out of this! How DID you manage to land yourself on the girl's side?" asked Niou gleefully.

Silence.

Soon after, the group dancing finally ended, though the music continued. Most of the students started dancing in pairs, but Niou and Yagyuu sat out, their handcuffs chaining them together, preventing either of them from wandering too far from the other.

Yagyuu watched Kirihara ask a petite girl to dance, his face coloring an interesting red. Marui was at the table, stuffing himself full of cake while Jackal was drinking cup after cup of fruit punch. Sanada and Yanagi were no where to be seen.

Niou jumped up, the chain coming taut.

"Careful," warned Yagyuu, though Niou had effectively drawn his attention back. He eyed Niou, wondering what Niou planned next.

Niou extended his free left hand.

"May I have this dance?"

Yagyuu raised one eyebrow but didn't comment as he took Niou's hand, and the two of them waltzed onto the dance floor.

"So, what exactly are you supposed to be?" asked Jackal once the dancing had ended.

Yagyuu pursed his lips. "I WAS supposed to be a policeman, but I couldn't change into my outfit when Niou managed to get us chained together. I don't have the key with me."

"Wait, YOU don't have the key?" questioned Jackal. "You mean, uh, those are yours?" He gestured at the handcuffs chaining them together.

"My sister's toy," replied Yagyuu without missing a beat.

Niou mouthed a few words to Jackal behind Yagyuu's back, but when Yagyuu turned to look at Niou, he was whistling a jolly Christmas tune.

"And you, Niou?" asked Jackal.

"I'm just a prisoner now," replied Niou with a grin. "Doesn't matter what I was before."

One of the later events was performing a skit, it turned out. The students were free to choose their own group members, so naturally, the former teammates all drifted together.

They huddled around a side table.

"Okay, so how are we going to go about doing this?" asked Marui eagerly.

"Well, we'd need a director of sorts, right?" asked Jackal.

"I'll do it."

They turned towards a grinning Niou who had propped his legs on the table. A feeling of dread coming over them. Niou had tried to put his arms behind his head as well, but he remembered quite quickly that he was still chained to Yagyuu, so instead, he grabbed Yagyuu's arm and jumped out of his chair towards the stage.

"Come on, let's go! We need to practice!"

"Yanagi-senpai, where'd you get that camcorder?" asked Kirihara.

"Ah, from the photography club. They were surprisingly helpful. I'm thinking that Seiichi wouldn't miss this for the world."

Yanagi smiled as he finished setting up the camcorder.

Niou ended up assigning parts to everyone, but he didn't assign any lines, claiming that there wasn't any time for that anyway. They'd just have to think up stuff on the spot. Sanada was the main character and the first one on stage.

"And now, we present, the sensational Tennis Champions who will be performing "Sanada Santa"!"

Sanada glowered, no doubt wondering who had come up with the name.

The skit began with Sanada in the middle of the stage. He probably should have said something while standing there, but since he wasn't assigned any lines, he just stood there and glowered. Yanagi entered from the right.

"There there. That glower doesn't suit your face," mused Yanagi.

Sanada only glowered further. "I thought you were supposed to be a blind seer."

"Ah, I am, but I can see much more than the naked eye," replied Yanagi with a knowing smile. "You are confused, are you not, Sanada Santa? You have gifts to give but no one worthy of giving them to. You are indeed in a sad situation."

Sanada Santa, it turned out, found all the children unworthy of gifts. He had wanted to give a boy named Kirihara Akaya a gift, but when he entered said boy's house, he had slipped over some tennis balls and was alarmed to see the mess in said boy's room. Video games were strewn everywhere. He had left in disgust, for a clean room was the least of his expectations!

Yanagi the Blind Seer managed to convince Sanada Santa to return to the boy's house once again. Sanada Santa did so reluctantly, but when he saw that the boy had put out miso soup in apology, Sanada Santa felt touched and decided to leave a present after all.

Until, that is, Niou the Notorious Thief came in and stole the present. Kirihara Akaya woke up to see that his miso soup was gone, and yet he hadn't received a gift either. He was crestfallen.

When Sanada Santa found out about this, he was furious and rang up Yagyuu.

"I have a job for you."

Yagyuu the Holiday Cop went off chasing Niou the Notorious Thief. They used some black sheets to cover the other person whenever they had solo parts, since well, they were still chained to each other.

Finally, Yagyuu the Holiday Cop caught Niou the Notorious Thief. Yagyuu threw off the sheets, revealing the chain between the two.

"I've caught you now, Niou-kun."

"What will you do now, Yagyuu?" asked Niou mischievously.

Marui appeared on Yagyuu's right.

"Stone him to death! He stole a child's Christmas joy away from him! It's like snatching candy from a helpless baby!"

"Hey, I resent that!" protested Kirihara from the side.

Jackal sweatdropped, but he stepped up to Yagyuu's left, playing the part of the friendly and forgiving guardian angel.

"Everyone deserves forgiveness. Teach him what is right. You can change him."

Yagyuu nodded after hearing both opinions.

"Niou-kun..."

Right at that moment, Niou pulled on the chain connecting them, much like before when Yagyuu had tugged forcedly on the chain. And much like Niou, Yagyuu stumbled. But instead of righting himself (as he very well could have), Yagyuu knocked right into Niou, their lips accidentally brushing.

The females in the audience squealed.

Niou counted the skit a huge success.

Their skit ended soon after that, but before the very end, Marui burst out into song.

"On the first day of Christmas, Sanada gave to us" He switched with a reluctant Jackal throughout the song, and Kirihara, Yanagi, Yagyuu, and Niou joined in when it was their turn.

They got all the way up to the twelfth day of Christmas when Sanada finally managed to grit out, "Laps! Pushups! Now!"

The tennis team members ran off the stage laughing.

"On the twelfth day of Christmas, Sanada gave to us, twelve laps and pushups! Eleven mounds of jelly, ten pieces of meat..."

And so ended their skit.

"Come home with me, Niou-kun," murmured Yagyuu as people began to filter out. He tugged on the chain connecting them. "My sister has the key."

And so, Niou followed Yagyuu home.

the end

A/N: This was written for Christmas. Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday cheer!

(March 29th 2007: FFnet removed a lot of my formatting, like the percentage signs for Yanagi's predictions, the ellipses for a lot of Sanada's speech, and the dividers. Guh. So if anything ends up being confusing or out of place, let me know and I'll try to fix it. I didn't notice for the longest time that the percentage signs didn't work. I wish someone let me know how out of place Yanagi's predictions looked.)