A/N: This is where all of the oneshots in the series from the past three years are going to go to make things easier for any new readers and to just let my regular readers review these stories. Oh! And also, if people could review and give me ideas for what they want to see during any of the next holidays or birthdays, that would be awesome!
Alright, so this is the last oneshot of the series so far. Anything else will be added in a new fanfiction called 'On A Whim' because that is pretty much the update schedule. I am trying to think of new ideas, and I don't know when they will show up. Anyway, I hope you liked the series this far and hope you will continue to follow!
Title: Cares... Hate Them...
Summary: Okay, those five are acting completely strange. It's just April Fool's Day. What's got them so strung up? Wait… that's what happened?! No wonder they're freaked out…
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. The anime and its canon characters belong to their rightful owners. The only one that belongs to me is the OC in this chapter and the remaining ones.
"Okay, is there any reason why you five are practically cowering in the house?" Atobe questioned, raising an eyebrow as he walked into the Echizen household with Yukimura beside him.
"Ryoma-kun? Syuusuke? Kunimitsu? Genichirou? Hanako?" Yukimura questioned, tilting his head to the side in confusion as he watched the five sitting around the table, shoulders tense.
"Hey! Does anyone want to go outside?" Ryoga yelled, walking in from the kitchen.
He froze and stared in shock as the five in the living room all turned to him and screamed, "No!"
"What is with you five?" Atobe groaned, palming his face at how they were acting. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you just wanted to stay inside today even though we all had something planned."
"Cancel it!" Hanako snapped.
"No way am I heading outside," Ryoma added, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well?" Atobe questioned, turning to the other three who hadn't said anything.
Tezuka just shook his head along with Sanada while Fuji was laughing sheepishly, looking everywhere but at the group's two newest boyfriends.
"Is something wrong?" Yukimura questioned, glancing over the five again, noticing how Fuji, Tezuka, and Sanada were all closer than normal to Ryoma while Hanako kept glancing out the window every five minutes. "Are you scared of something?"
"No way!" Ryoma and Hanako both yelled at once, shocking everyone in the room. "Sorry," the two apologized with a pout.
"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" He received two shakes of the head. "Then why don't we head outside today? Go to the park and whatnot?"
The five glanced at each other, shrugging their shoulders or lightly bobbing their heads side to side as if they were discussing something.
While the five were in their own little world, Atobe and Yukimura turned to Ryoga who had the most confused expression on his face that the two had ever seen.
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Not at all," Ryoga answered, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. "I don't know what's got them so worked up today. They all just woke up and immediately went to the living room and just sat there. They've been there for maybe… two or three hours, just sitting and talking and not going outside at all."
Before the three could discuss what the possible reasons the five could have for their actions, Ryoma stood up and clapped his hands.
"Yeah, alright. We'll head to the park for a bit," he said, a cautious smile on his face which confused Ryoga, Atobe, and Yukimura even more than before.
"Just let me get some stuff," Hanako quickly said, shooting up from her seat and running up the stairs to her room. Within minutes, the girl had come back down the stairs with a bag over her shoulders.
Was that a first aid kit popping out of the side? Why would she bring that along?
The three couldn't help but mentally shrug their shoulders in confusion as the group of eight left the Echizen household, heading toward a nearby park. For some odd reason, the five denied going to a park that was further away than necessary.
It was even stranger when they were heading to the park in the first place. The closest park to the Echizen household was still a few streets down, but every single time they were about to cross, this sort of thing happened.
"No! No, no, no, no, no," Hanako drawled, hauling Ryoma back by the back of his shirt and over toward his boyfriends. "Let me check it out," she said, jabbing a thumb at her chest and receiving a hesitant nod from the first four boyfriends.
"She's done that for the past four streets," Yukimura commented, blinking in confusion. "Is she going to keep doing that?"
"Yup," Ryoma, Fuji, Tezuka, and Sanada all answered at once, not one hint of a joke in their expressions.
"Why?" Atobe drawled, looking at the girl with an annoyed glint in his eyes. "Are you all really going to wait until she checks each and every road we pass?"
"Why not?" the four answered at once.
"Why are you all so paranoid?" Ryoga whined, putting his hands in his pockets as he watched Hanako skip back toward them with a smile on her face.
"All clear~," she chimed, holding a thumb up as she gestured for the seven males to start walking. "Come on~! Let's get to the park now!"
"It would have been a much faster trip if you had just allowed everyone to keep walking, rather than stopping every time a street comes up," Atobe snapped at her, making her blink in response.
Everyone saw her eyes narrow at Atobe before closing as she gave a wide smile at him. "Excuse me, but I'd rather not take any chances. You are not going to stop me from being careful or being worried," Hanako said, a sweet smile on her face as she tilted her head to the side.
"Alright, alright, sheesh," Ryoga drawled, raising his hands up in a passive manner to try and calm the girl down. "What is wrong with all of you today? You all look like something's gonna rush in and clobber one of you to the ground…"
"Hmph," Hanako huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and turning her head away with a scoff escaping her lips. "Let's just go to the park and have some fun, yeah?"
"Yeah," the rest of the group agreed, some hesitating because of how angered Hanako seemed to be from all the comments.
The group of teenagers, and one young adult, continued to the park. As soon as they stepped through, Ryoma and Hanako shot forward, laughing as they headed toward the playground that was set up in the middle of the park.
"Unbelievable," Atobe drawled, shaking his head at how childish the two youngest seemed to be acting.
Fuji and Yukimura chuckled while Tezuka and Sanada were both giving small smiles toward the two along with Ryoga.
"Hey Ryoga," Fuji said as they were all walking forward to follow the two.
"Yeah?"
"When are you going to ask her out?"
"What?!" Ryoga yelped, a shocked look on his face as he jumped to the side as if caught in a trap.
"When are you going to ask her out?" Fuji repeated, saying each word slowly as if he were talking to a five-year-old. Which was quite funny considering Ryoga was about a year or two older than him.
"Why are you asking me that? Are you playing a trick on me?"
"When it comes to Hanako, there's no joking around," Fuji stated, eyes opening a slit to glare. "Just as you are protective of Ryoma, we are protective of both him and Hanako. Now then. When. Are. You. Going to. Ask. Her. Out?" he repeated once more.
"Ugh," Ryoga groaned, palming his face as the older males of the group sat down between two benches, still keeping the playground in their sights.
Everyone looked up once they heard squealing laughter only to see both Ryoma and Hanako pushing themselves off the ground while rubbing their heads.
"What happened you two?" Tezuka called out.
"Bumped into each other! I wanted to go to the swings!" Hanako called back.
"Wanted to get to the horizontal bars," Ryoma said, rubbing his ears from Hanako's yelling. "And could you not yell? You screech like a banshee," he smirked.
"Excuse me!" Hanako screeched, making everyone flinch back. Dang, she really was able to screech…
Ryoma was snickering as he was thinking the same thing, only to stop as he felt someone glaring at him. Turning his head slightly, he saw Hanako growling right next to him and slowly stood up.
"Now Hanako… calm down… we're in public," he tried to reason with her, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender.
"You really think you're gonna get away with that banshee comment?" Hanako growled, already stalking forward toward Ryoma.
"Running now," Ryoma stated, turning on his heel and sprinting out of there, Hanako following him with a few feet of distance between the two.
"And that's the girl I like…" Ryoga chuckled, smiling sheepishly as he watched the girl chase his younger brother around the playground, climbing and jumping over the obstacles.
"She's interesting at least," Yukimura chuckled, patting Ryoga's shoulder in reassurance. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind dating you. She's protective of everyone even if she gives quite the tongue-lashing."
"Tell me about it. I asked her about what she did when our parents told Ryoma they were heading to America. She took a deep breath, and yelled the exact thing she yelled at them for… I even told her she didn't have to yell," Ryoga laughed before calming down with a small smile. "I'm glad though. That's she here with Ryoma. He had a few friends back in America, but it's good to see someone his age that would do so much for him."
"It's really nice to have her around," Tezuka admitted, nodding his head in agreement. "To be honest, I'm not sure what we would do without her and her help with all the arguments and situations so far within the last three or four years…"
"Okay," Ryoga grinned. "I'll ask her out within the week."
"Better not do it today considering it is April Fool's today," Yukimura suggested, receiving a nod from the older male.
"Now I just have to figure out how to ask her-"
"Ryoma!" they heard a yell before a different screech was heard.
"Oh you have to be kidding me," Fuji panicked, eyes opening wide in worry as he shot up from his seat along with Tezuka and Sanada.
"What's going on?" Atobe asked, a hint of worry in his voice. "What's with the reactions?"
"That had better not be what I think it was," Tezuka and Sanada both muttered under their breath, already running in the direction they heard Hanako scream.
Seeing Fuji follow the two, Atobe, Yukimura, and Ryoga all shrugged at each other before following as well. They were curious as to what had the three so worked up to begin with… and they were kind of worried considering Hanako's scream.
Within moments, the six males stopped and stared at the scene in front of them.
"You have to be kidding me," Sanada grumbled under his breath, watching from the corner of his eyes as Tezuka was rubbing his temples and Fuji collapsing to his knees with a sign of relief. "Are you two alright?"
"Just fine! Just fine…" Ryoma called out, his voice shaking as he was on the ground, Hanako's arms around him as they were both on the sidewalk.
Hanako was shaking as well, eyes wide at the road. When the older males took a look, they could see black skid marks right in front of where the two young teenagers were sitting down, most likely from falling there now that they thought about it.
"What happened this time around?" Fuji asked, making Atobe, Yukimura, and Ryoga stare.
"This time around?!" the three yelled.
"Every single time…" Tezuka grumbled. "What is with this holiday and cars? And yes, I realize you asked that same question last year, Hanako."
After an explanation of the April Fool's Day from the past three years, the three finally understood what had the five so strung up since they had woken that morning.
"So that's the reason you didn't want to go outside. You didn't want to take any chances with a car because of everything that had happened," Yukimura said, nodding his head slowly as he tried to understand what they had just told him.
"That also explains the reason why Hanako was so strung up on checking every street on our way here and why you didn't want to be too far away from home," Ryoga said, scratching the back of his head with a grimace on his face. "I'd probably act like that too if that happened to me at your age."
"You think?" the two youngest shot back at him, taking deep breaths before finally standing up from the ground and dusting their clothes off.
"Why don't we just go back home and do something there?" Atobe suggested, earning quick nods from everyone in the group.
The two who had nearly gotten run over had one thing to say though before they entered the house.
"Cars… hate them so much."
1) Promise of a Lifetime (Valentine's Day 2011)
2) A Broken Promise… Or Is It (White Day)
3) A Locket to Remember (April Fool's Day)
4) Everything Is Perfect (Fourth of July)
5) Picture Perfect Confession (Random Filler)
6) The Day He Comes Back (Tezuka's Birthday)
7) Am I Dead Yet? (Halloween)
8) He's Got Talent (Thanksgiving)
9) A Christmas Birthday (Ryoma's Birthday and Christmas Two-shot)
10) New Year's Promise (New Year's Day 2012)
11) Secret Admirer (Valentine's Day)
12) Wish Come True (Fuji's Birthday)
13) Returning the Favor (White Day)
14) Another Trick? (April Fool's Day)
15) Really? (Fourth of July)
16) A Little Terror Is Fine (Tezuka's Birthday)
17) Say Goodbye… (Halloween)
18) Thanks… (Thanksgiving)
19) It's Just Not the Same (Ryoma's Birthday and Christmas Two-shot)
20) New Start (New Year's Day 2013)
21) Silver Lining (Valentine's Day)
22) About Time (Fuji's Birthday)
23) To No Avail (White Day)
24) This Again?! (April Fool's Day)
25) Heartfelt (Sanada's Birthday)
26) We're Here (Fourth of July)
27) Just Us (Tezuka's Birthday)
28) Family (Halloween)
29) A Nice Surprise (Thanksgiving)
30) Welcome Home (Ryoma's Birthday and Christmas Two-shot)
31) Definitely Interesting (New Year's Day 2014)
32) It Hurts (Valentine's Day)
33) What Now… (Fuji's Birthday)
34) Back Home (White Day)
35) Cars… Hate Them… (April Fool's Day)