This is ridiculously short, and hopefully sweet. Gau's tennis-playing ability is based on mine; this goes out to anybody who has ever had the misfortune of playing tennis with me :P

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Nabari. What a sad time.

Tennis

He wasn't being rude. Truly, he wasn't. If anything, he wanted to help. Or save himself from cringing away every time the racket was swung, at any rate.

It was just... Gau was really terrible at tennis.

"Mine, mine!" cried Gau desperately, flinging himself across the court as Raikou served a low shot to Yoite - to Yoite, not to him!

It didn't make much difference, anyway. Yoite (who, on insistence, was still wearing a long, dark coat and gloves) merely stared at the tennis ball as it whooshed past, and Gau lashed at it wildly with both hands gripping the racket, executing a weird sort of ballet leap as he did so.

He missed, and the ball bounced harmlessly into a corner of the court.

Raikou's racket drooped limply in his hand, disbelief etched into his expression. "...Really, Gau?"

Gau went red as a beetroot. "S-sorry, Raikou-san!" he squeaked, scampering off to retrieve the ball.

The sun shone widely in a cloudless, perfect sky. The Grey Wolves had been given the afternoon off, and Yukimi, in an uncharacteristic burst of enthusiasm, had suggested that the four of them have a match or two of tennis. Raikou, who had never imagined Yukimi to be sporty but amused himself imagining the solemn Yoite in sports clothes (not that that had worked out, evidently), had readily agreed. Yoite had met the idea with his usual silent indifference, but as for Gau, he had given Yukimi a look of pure terror before agreeing - and only, most likely, because Raikou would be playing too.

Now Raikou understood why.

Gau had the ball now, and he stepped up to serve. Concentrating deeply, he held the furry green thing out in front of him and readied his racket. He took in an enormous breath. And then he tossed the ball into the air.

There was a swish as Gau lunged forward, followed by a soft thud as the ball hit the ground. Unbelievably, he hadn't hit it. "Damn it!" he hissed, furious with himself.

Yukimi rubbed his neck and fidgeted with his racket impatiently. "Listen, Temper-kun, I ain't gonna wait around all-"

"No, I got it, Yukimi!" Gau shot back, his face heating up. "Jeez, you're so impatient!" Gritting his teeth, Gau took another swing at the ball. To everyone's surprise, this time he made contact with a powerful thwack. The ball went sailing over the net, arced about twenty metres above Raikou and Yukimi's heads, and plummeted down in the far distance.

"...Out," Yukimi growled.

"Gwah!" Gau flinched.

"Nice try, Gau!" called Raikou, taking pity on his kohai but making a mental note to never let him hold Shirogamon ever again. "You just overshot a bit, is all."

"A bit? Hell," Yukimi muttered darkly. He snatched up a stray tennis ball. "Stupid short-fuse."

"Chicken-head!"

The ball whizzed over to Gau and Yoite's side. Yoite made his wordless contribution by sticking out the hand with the racket in it in an utterly pointless attempt at stopping it. Gau leapt (apparently, he could not try to hit the ball with both feet on the ground), pirouetted, threw a worried glance at Raikou in case he'd seen (he had), went red again, swiped with his racket, and, in a last-ditch attempt to save his face, kicked out.

His foot connected and the ball went spinning back to Raikou and Yukimi, along with his racket, which had slipped from his (obviously pathetic) grasp.

And Yukimi, who had all but stopped paying attention, was hit full in the forehead with both of these hard objects.

Smack-thud!

"UWAH-!"

Yukimi toppled over with a groan, twitching in pain. Raikou's hand flew to his mouth, but only to stifle a ridiculous snort of laughter. Gau's mouth fell open. He was still locked in his frantic defence position.

In his quiet, flat voice, Yoite said, "Fifteen-love."