Why Cacti?

Fuji decided that the locker room for the boy's tennis team was missing something. It didn't take him long to discover that that thing happened to be a cactus.

"A cactus?" the rest of the Seigaku tennis team chimed as Fuji forced them to come to the store to pick out a cactus. After all, if there was going to be a cactus in the locker room, Fuji decided that everyone else was entitled to decide what it would look like.

"Yes, it is just what our locker room is missing," Fuji established as they entered the plant farm. He immediately took them over to the cacti section.

"Wait, wait!" said Eiji. "Won't we have to take care of it? You know, watering and making sure it gets enough sunlight and all that jazz?"

"He's right, Fuji," said Oishi. "I don't know if we're all ready for that kind of responsibility."

"Cacti are like beta fish," said Fuji. "You only have to water them occasionally."

"How is that like a beta fish?" said Momo, looking confused.

Fuji gave a contented sigh. "I meant in the manner in which you take care of them," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "A beta fish could live in a mud puddle for weeks."

"So cacti can live in mud puddles?" Momo inferred.

"Just stop talking…" said Ryoma as if he was disappointed.

"What is it with cacti anyway, Fuji?" Inui asked as he observed one of the less dangerous looking plants.

"Oh I don't know," said Fuji. "It's just something about them. I think, out of all the plants in the world, I can most relate myself to cacti."

This was a weird statement… even for FUJI.

"First of all, why did you even consider what plant you are most like…" Momo started but he was quickly hushed by Kaidou and advised to not press the subject.

"Why is that, Fuji?" Taka asked.

"Well…" Fuji thought momentarily, as if he had thought about it previously and had difficulty putting his revelation into words. "Cacti just seem pretty confident in themselves."

"Confident?" Even Tezuka raised an eyebrow at that.

"Yeah," said Fuji. "Kind of like they're saying…stop questioning me or you'll bleed."

The others decided they were going to back away from Fuji at that point.

A long, long pause went by.

"Hey look, this one seems nice," Oishi said quickly as he picked up the closest cactus to him.

"I think so too!" Eiji agreed. "I always liked the idea of having a cactus in the locker room!"

"Why didn't we think of it sooner?" said Taka nervously.

"I'm looking forward to the entire tennis team having a mutual love for cacti as I do," said Fuji, looking legitimately happy.

They took the cactus to the register and they all chipped in a bit to pay for it.

"What should we name it?" Momo asked.

"Do we have to name it?" Kaidou looked irritated.

"I think we should name it," Fuji nodded.

"All right fine, we'll name it," Kaidou crossed his arms and Momo stuck his tongue out.

"Any ideas?" Fuji asked the team.

"Well, Fuji, since it was your great idea to get a cactus, I think you get to name it," Tezuka decreed.

Fuji only stood there with this stone expression on his face. It was his way of saying, "I don't want to name it, Tezuka. But I will name it if you force me to. But only if YOU force me to."

"Um," Tezuka didn't exactly know how to respond to that sort of expression. After all, this is coming from Tezuka; an individual who happens to not know the meaning of the word 'expression' anymore than he knows the meaning of the word 'lose'.

"Hey, how about Little Seigaku, how about that?" Eiji said when he noticed no one else was talking.

"Um… sure…" everyone else more or less agreed.

So the Seigaku team took Little Seigaku because to their locker room. They put it on the bench and stared at it. Then they looked at each other.

"You know what…?" Oishi said slowly. "To be completely honest, I think our locker room feels better all of a sudden, what with this cactus here and all."

"You won't feel that way when you sit on it," said Momo.

"I knew you would all agree," said Fuji as if everyone had agreed.

Then they stood there for a little while longer.

"Well, we're here, aren't we?" said Inui.

The others nodded and all got changed into their tennis gear and frolicked off to play some tennis.

/End./
We are currently working on our next long crazy adventure. Geeeeeet ready!