Tomatoes

A little something from a conversation that me and Chocolate Confection were having, and credit goes straight to her. Another Solitaire Pair fanfic. And the first line that Niou says is stolen from Sandileina's ficcy, Sanada Hates Random. I order you to go read it because it is awesome. xD

No, I don't own Prince of Tennis. Do I look like Konomi Takeshi?

x Tomatoes x 555 words x Dedicated to Chocolate Confection

Niou and Shishido were sitting around a table, where a platter of delectable cherry tomatoes sat.

There weren't that many cherry tomatoes.

Shishido reached for one of the delicious cherry tomatoes. Shishido loved cherry tomatoes.

'Tomatoes watch you in the shower(1)?' Niou blurted out suddenly.

'What?' Shishido said incredulously, his hand wavering in the air.

Niou asked in a philosophical tone, 'Do you think tomatoes believe themselves to be fruits or vegetables?'

Shishido thought about it for a second. 'Well, they're fruits, right? 'Cause they have seeds and all?'

'But would they think that they were fruits or vegetables?' Niou persisted.

'Niou, tomatoes don't think.' Shishido was staring at Niou as if he was crazy. Perhaps he was. It seemed that most of Rikkai Dai was crazy anyway.

'Get into the spirit of the conversation, Shishido,' Niou said exasperatedly. 'Don't you have any imagination?'

'They'd be fruits then, right?' Shishido replied resignedly. 'Because they actually are fruits.'

'But you don't put tomatoes in a fruit salad, do you?'

'I suppose not,' Shishido admitted. 'But they still are fruits.'

Niou looked as if he had a sudden revelation. 'Or perhaps the tomatoes are divided.'

'What?'

'Some hold true to their fruit nature, while others insist on being vegetables.'

Shishido felt himself interested in the outcome of the tête-à-tête in spite of himself. 'Maybe it's what they've been taught to believe.'

Niou nodded. 'It could be a sort of religion, right? The believers and non-believers. The fruits and the vegetables.'

Shishido replied animatedly, 'And the ones who would teach them would be us, right? The humans?' It wasn't often that he had a chance to talk to Niou without Niou being overtly and overly mordant.

Niou nodded again. 'If we speak about them as vegetables, they believe they are vegetables.'

'And if we tell them they're fruits, they think they're fruits, right?' Shishido answered. It wasn't usual that he could actually understand the cynic Niou's musings, and Shishido found it quite pleasant.

Niou nodded again.

Shishido found himself catching on, and posed a question of his own. 'But what if a tomato was told that he was a vegetable, but later found out he was actually a fruit?'

Niou smiled as one would to a child. 'It's like trying to teach somebody who believes in one religion another one. It'd take a lot of time, or some sort of life-changing event.'

'But isn't there another option?' Shishido persevered. 'Like, the tomatoes that don't want to be labelled. The tomatoes that don't believe that they're fruits or vegetables.'

'Ah.' Niou nodded knowingly. 'The atheists of the tomato society. Their numbers are few, however, as in the past they were deemed as witches and barbequed at the stake.'

'Would they be like pagans then?' Shishido asked.

Niou smirked. 'Well, it's all the same in your stomach.'

'What do you mean-' Shishido started, but then noticed the plate on the table that was devoid of any traces of cherry tomatoes. 'You!' Shishido accused. 'That was all just a trick, wasn't it?'

'To get the tomatoes?' Niou shrugged. 'Yeah.'

Shishido was close to fuming.

Niou continued to smirk. 'Well, let's continue our theoretical discussion later? I'm kind of too full to talk.' With that, Niou left.

Shishido could never get one up on Niou. Ever.

Especially not in regards to food. x owari

x x x

Tada! Another Solitaire Pair fic, done! That'd be my fourth one! If you want the explanation, that would be in my first and second Solitaire Pair fanfics, Date over Coffee and Takoyaki. No, that is totally not self-advertising.

Most of the lines are actually copy-and-pasted from my convo. I cut some of the things out, so that the conversation would make more sense though xD The line at (1) was from Sandileina's fanfic, and I put it in because it was actually part of the conversation xD

Please review if you like it, and flames and concrit welcome. -awinchan