A/N: Must. Write. Off. Block. XD
Disclaimer: I do not own.
Warnings: Shounen-ai, crack
Pairings: (Implied and not-so-implied) Thrill, Imperial, Endurance/Emerald, Golden, Sweet, Platinum
Inui was running out of options.
High school for the remnants of the former Nationals-winning Seigaku Regulars group had proved to be terribly devastating to at least one of its members. Inui was used to certain restrictions - or, as his teammates had been known to say, safeguards - against his drinks, but high school had taken it one step further - by banning any and all Inui juice from practice. Those who had suffered at the data player's hands had heaved huge sighs of relief at their coach's decree, though Inui was crest-fallen. Now, there was no one to test his juices out on. Sure, once in a while he would corner some foolish member after-hours and force a vial of his latest creation down their throat, but he had to keep the instances few and far between so as not to arouse suspicion.
Inui scanned the room with careful eyes. A little over a week ago, the Seigaku regulars had been invited to a reunion-slash-training camp by Atobe Keigo. It was by invitation only, of course, though once you opened that letter you were cemented as coming. Tezuka's and Sanada's reluctant attendance verified such a fact. Echizen probably would have skipped, too, and been a bit more successful about it, had Fuji and Kikumaru not taken on the responsibility of dragging the high school freshman to it.
The...ballroom?...all of the invited guests were hanging around in had buffet tables lined to the side, and occasionally, over the din of chatter, Inui could hear a faint musical background, but he was more concerned on those inside. It was only the beginning of what was to be a week-long training-and-reunion regime, and the invitees were taking the time to re-connect with their former teammates first. Inui himself was ensconced with the rest of the Seigaku group - much to his wary amusement.
Kikumaru was chattering at light-speed to Oishi, clinging to him full-body as if the other would just dissipate if he didn't. Oishi allowed the redhead his affection with nothing more than a warm smile, as per usual; despite going to a different high school - in hopes of becoming a doctor - Inui knew the former Golden Pair had never lost contact with each other. No one had lost contact with each other within the Seigaku Regulars, in fact.
Tezuka was standing and surveying his former and current teammates idly, keeping especially close attention to the pair on his left. Echizen was sulking at his elbow, occasionally growling out at the smiling senior keeping an iron-clad grip on his arm. Fuji only laughed at what Inui figured were death threats being issued by the younger boy.
Momo was alternating between a highly-exuberant discussion on sushi with Kawamura and verbal disputes with Kaidoh, though luckily it never ended in a fist-fight. While Inui knew leaving their resident tensai unwatched would be foolish, he also knew it was much more likely the arguing juniors would dissolve into violence much faster than the captured freshman.
Inui knew they weren't ideal candidates; they knew him too well, and were thus far too wary.
But as previously stated, Inui was running out of options.
If he dispatched from the Seigaku grouping and attempted to infiltrate another, it would be far too suspicious. Everyone was already grouped with former teammates: Hyoutei was at the stage, of course, hamming up the spotlight; Rokkaku was in the corner furthest from Seigaku, clearly having never forgiven Inui for that sardine drink from their middle-school days; Rikkaidai leaned near the windows, light chatter filled with the occasional violent outburst from either Kirihara or Sanada; Fudoumine, in a stunning display of survival instinct, hung near the doors; Saint Rudolph was among those in the center, trying to keep Mizuki from slipping out of their folds.
No, he had to stick with Seigaku.
"I propose we play a game." Inui started, effectively cutting off his friends' conversations and drawing their attention to him. Immediately, they were put on guard - which was completely unfair, Inui thought, he only suggested a past-time to them. They didn't need to look like he was going to send them to the guillotine.
"What kind of game, nya?" Kikumaru asked, which was the invitation Inui had been looking for.
He grinned, placing his backpack on the ground before pulling out a deck of cards, motioning for his teammates to sit on the ground. The motions briefly drew the attention of the surrounding teams but interest was quickly lost.
Perfect, Inui thought savagely, shuffling the deck.
"Since Atobe has stated that we will convene for lunch in," he checked his watch, "Thirty-six minutes, there will be a time limit for this game. If no one wins by the end, then we all will have lost."
There were shrugs and nods of acceptance, some of the wariness leaving their bodies when Inui made no move to draw out some sort of beverage. He grinned at them all instead, dividing the deck evenly between the nine of them, warning them not to let others look at their hands.
"This is an American card game aptly named 'Bullshit', I am told..."
The timer on Inui's watch went off, and heated looks were shared among the Seigaku regulars. The point of the game was to have an empty hand, but the closest one to the goal had been Fuji, with only three cards, followed by Inui with four and Echizen with five. With much reluctance and growls, the former Regulars put down their hands and allowed Oishi to put the deck back together.
"It looks like we all lost, then." Inui noted. The observation would have seemed candid, had he not sounded so gleeful about it. All of the Regulars froze, eyes snapping to the tall youth, whose previously stoic face morphed into a wide, devious grin. "And, in proper tradition, we each get a...consolation prize."
It almost seemed like slow-motion, the way Inui's hand reached into his backpack, pulling out a large bottle and a stack of small paper cups. The bottle was covered by the cushion of a cooler, but instinctively, they knew it wasn't water.
"No." Echizen was the first to react. He attempted to stand and make a run for it, but Fuji's hand found his wrist again and he was pulled back into the still-frozen, horrified circle.
"Saa...we all lost, didn't we?" Fuji chuckled demurely. "It's only proper to accept our consolation prize."
"Tradition," Inui chimed again.
"But I don't want to die, nya!" Kikumaru was quick to refute.
"We can't go to lunch if we're all unconscious!" Momo added.
Kaidoh looked ready to bash him for the weak defense, but thought better of it and decided he had more immediate concerns. "Aren't those banned?"
Inui's grin faltered at the bitter reminder.
"Only at school," Fuji said. He took the bottle from Inui's hands, pouring a portion in each cup and passing them down along the reluctant Regulars. Kikumaru and Echizen were doing remarkable impressions of heckled cats, glaring down at the cup of poison. Kaidoh hissed in resignation at his own cup, picking it up. Momo hurriedly picked up his own as well, not to be outdone by his rival. Oishi shot everyone a shaky smile. "Well, it is sort of a tradition..."
"One that was supposed to have died," Ryoma bit out.
Fuji handed him his cup. "You either drink it from the cup, or from my mouth, Ryoma-kun."
Ryoma hurriedly took the cup, blushing scarlet and glaring at the smiling senior.
"Fuji," Tezuka warned, though he had his own cup in hand. Kawamura looked ready to burst into tears, cup in hand but keeping it as far away from his face as he could manage. Inui held out his cup, a grin on his face.
"Kanpai!" he called out, echoed by the others (though there were intonations of fear, disgust, and anger intermixed).
As one, the Seigaku Regulars downed their glasses.
"Kanpai!"
The small cheer gained the attention of the teams again, just in time to watch those of the former Seigaku drink.
"That looks fun." Niou mused, moving closer towards the group that had frozen immediately after downing their beverages. There was a general pause, before the group lurched backwards and-
Silence overcame the room.
"Wh...Where did they go?" Kamio asked, since everyone else seemed frozen in utter shock.
"That was awesome!" Jiroh cried from the front, suddenly awake and sprinting towards the corner Seigaku had inhabited. "I didn't know they could do magic tricks!"
"...because they can't." Yanagi felt the need to interject. He braved the move forward, eyes scanning the area. "And especially not without their clothes."
Sure enough, everyone began to note that the attire the Seigaku group had been wearing was lying in lumps on the floor. They glanced around at each other. They could see Fuji streaking, out of some twisted sense of enjoyment, and maybe even Kikumaru and Momo-but Tezuka? Kaidoh? Never.
A lump moved.
"It moved." Jiroh felt obligated to point out.
Kamio was about to snap out something waspish, but then a head of spiky black hair shout out from the collar of Momo's yellow tee. Big, violet eyes framed by a child's face stared at Yanagi-who had managed to come closest to the mounds-in innocent wonder.
"Who're you?" chibi-Momo asked.
A/N: So, I see a lot of stories where Inui Juice turns one or two regulars into children, so I decided: why not all of them? And instead of subjecting fellow Seigaku Regulars to the results, leave it to everyone else? XD Spread the trauma, people!
Drop a review, please! 8)