Wow's it's been like forever. gomen ne minna-san

In this chapter I'm trying ot show a little chemistry, but yeah.

Anyway disclaimer: Prince of tennis does not belong to me

Hajimari: Koko Kara Oretachi

Akaya spent the better part of the morning in anticipation.

Oh, he woke up perfectly fine, naturally, and as peacefully content as the day he was born. In the comforting darkness under Marui's bed, he sank his needle like little fangs into what must have been the best breakfast he's had in several weeks.

"Gross! Akaya!" The red head had grimaced at the remains of what used to be a……bird? "How many times have I told you not to leave dead carcasses lying around my room? Why weren't you born a fruit bat or something?"

Licking the last drop of blood from his little snout and smiled (as much as a little vampire bat could smile) up at his cherry top friend.

"Argh, you're just lucky you're cute."

The newly transformed Akaya snickered at his senpai's squeamishness as he picked up the emaciated body and tossed it out it window into the trashcan out side.

"Oh like that's not going to freak my mother out?" Marui said as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever, you're fine now, right? I have some friends I want you to meet. Just try and act like you haven't completely lost your mind, kay?"

"You have other friends?" Akaya's eyes widened comically. "Weird, I always thought Niou-senpai scared of any normal person who got too close (by which he means within about five feet although that was redefined to four when he realized that he would have to beat up half the population of their class because of the damn narrow hall ways)."

And this is where Marui threatens excruciating pain.

"Ack! Fine!"

And the tensai is satisfied enough to walk out and continue with his morning rituals.

And hence Akaya was bouncing on the balls of his feet all morning.

No he wasn't afraid that he couldn't fulfill his duty. Hell, he had been fine for several days; Marui-senpai was just too much of a worrywart to let him out of bed before then.

And anyway, if the situation got too sticky they could always escape. No what concerned him, was: when did the red-head make these friends of his? He hadn't been kidding before. Since elementary school (or so he was told by Yagyuu-senpai) Niou-senpai had guarded his best friend with all the hospitality of an angry Doberman. There was never a chance of someone getting remotely close to Marui-senpai without the petenshi knowing name, last name, house address, phone number, school id, and his or her exact intentions concerning Marui down to the last detail. Jackal had barely passed with the excuse that they were both doubles partners, and no, he didn't have any romantic or otherwise undesirable intentions towards the red head. Yagyuu became close to Marui through Niou himself. The Three Monsters weren't really close to anybody besides each other (with the exception of himself of course). And Akaya was a child, Marui had reasoned. What bad intentions could he possibly have?

And Jirou? Well, Niou, for some reason, saw no real threat in the fanboy (or maybe he let it slide because Jirou was cute. Niou always did hesitate, if only a little bit, to hurt cute things.)

Naturally, with this ridiculously short list of friends, had Marui had any others Akaya was positive he would have known about them, or at least Niou-senpai would've mentioned them.

……But he was gone for hours the night Niou-senpai visited. But then again, that's not usually enough time to make friends with a guy like Marui.

He was still musing when his senpai suddenly grabbed his arm and dragged him through the newly ripped gap in the dimension.

Akaya was bowled over, possibly more so than Marui had been.

This was not right.

No place that looked so freakishly creepy on the outside had any right being so……like Marui's grandmother's rich friend's country house on the inside.

Dear god, he hoped those so-called friends of his senpai weren't some millennia old geezers who thought he was cute or something. Akaya would never forgive Marui if they were. Akaya wouldn't forgive himself if they were……And Niou, he would skin his poor little kouhai alive if he ever found out about it (not so far-fetched a thought if you knew Niou Masaharu like Rikkai did).

"Marui-senpai?" From the interior of the dwelling a pale limping bruised Echizen Ryoma, a mere shadow of his former self. Gold met green and both pairs of eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing here?" they chorused. "What's it to you?"

"Why are you even up?" Marui inquired, hands on his hips. Without waiting for an answer, he picked the younger boy up in one quick motion and carried him back into the bedroom.

"Mada mada da ne." Ryoma scoffed.

"Oh shut up." He scolded Ryoma gently as he laid him down. Then he went into what Akaya had long since dubbed his mother-hen-on-crack-times-50-gazillion-times-10-to-the-23-percent mode (he really has been spending too much time with Yanagi-senpai). "You're injured. You should be resting. And I remember telling you particularly to try not to move your torso more and absolutely necessary and to keep off that right knee!"

Marui called his med-kit into his hands and began to work on changing bandages.

Once again, Akaya found himself awed by Marui's level of expertise. He worked swiftly and efficiently, never wasting a single moment.

Aside from that, he noted the great care with which the younger boy was handled. Now, Marui had always been the bleeding heart of the diabolical trio (a nickname well-deserved). He had always reserved a healthy does of pity for any innocent victims (if he wasn't getting revenge. Now that was quite a different story entirely). He was usually the one who cleaned up after Niou and Akaya's mishaps (if he wasn't being distracted by sweets). But this time it was different. The word this time wasn't so much gentle as careful, as if he was patching up a spider's broken web (something Akaya is firmly convinced he could do if he ever wanted to). He handled the freshman as if he would unintentionally break the frail looking frame if he pressed just a tad harder. The way he coddled Ryoma left a strange feeling welling up in Akaya's throat, one that he didn't like.

Was it jealousy?

No not really. It was a similar feeling, but he did not long to switch places with Echizen Ryoma, not in Marui's arms. But he did miss being cuddled by someone all the same.

"Put those eyes back in your head Aka-chan." The amused voice shocked him out of his stupor, mistaking his staring for something else. "You've been the patient enough times. Besides, Niou's better than I am."

"Niou? Which one was that?" Ryoma tried to look up but Marui pushed him down. "The normal looking one or the guy with silver hair?"

"Silver hair." Marui replied curtly deftly smacking Akaya behind the head. "Ryoma, I want you to roll onto your left side and Akaya close your mouth before flies land in there."

"Ittai!" The curly haired demon pouted cutely. "And who cares? Meh, flies make an okay snack once in a while. Well mosquitoes are better actually; there are just never enough of them around."

Ryoma stared at him.

"What? It's true!"

"YOU IDIOT!" the red-head reprimanded as he smacked the baby demon again, "WE CARE! Vampire bat or not, we do not want to see you eat bugs in front of our faces!"

"TADAIMA!" Two voices suddenly bellowed. Following quickly afterwards was a loud smack. "ITTAI! Touji, why so mean?"

Then a furious boy with black haired nearly stomped into the room muttering to himself.

"Did we disrupt anything?" he asked after a while.

"No not really." Marui replied off-handedly and he tended to Ryoma. Two red tinted ones slipped in after the first had visibly calmed down.

"You realize there's no point in being quiet now that he's awake." Muromachi growled glaring at the other two.

"well, he wasn't asleep in the first place." Akaya pointed out. It was only then that the other occupants of the room took notice of him.

"Kirihara-kun!" Sengoku plopped down next to his Senbatsu roommate joyfully much to the displeasure of Akaya who had just realized what he's done. "So you're the little guy Bubblegum-kun always talks about!"

"Nya, he's so cute!" He was glomped by Kikumaru on the other side. "Now we have a second chibi! But don't worry Ochibi; I'll huggle you double after Marui quits threatening to throw Daigoro into the next dimension if I so much as touch you."

"And I've half a mind to say never!" the red-head mock scowled, finishing up with his work. "You'll break him in two! You don't know how to handle kids."

"And you do?" Sengoku raised and eyebrow.

"Hell yeah, I'm a tensai!"

"Ahem, ahem, AHEM!" They all turned nearly fearfully to the pissed off black cat demon. When he spoke his voice came out firm, harsh, almost icy. "This is all very well and good, but has any here notice that we're up against an unknown enemy, we have little means of defense, and that none of us are over a century and a half old?"

Akaya bit his bottom lip and scooted closer to Marui and Ryoma. Marui spared Akaya an apologetic glance and wrapped and arm around the bat demon's shoulders. Sengoku was suddenly examining his thumbs. Eiji had suddenly decided that whatever he could see from the window was very interesting. Only Ryoma who glared and sat up, despite Marui's hand on his chest. He fixed his eyes on Muromachi.

"Then we grow." He answered simply. "We practice and work and grow into better fighters, it's a game. You play with what you have until your get better."

Few humans could impress a demon. Fewer could impress a berserker, but all the same Ryoma had earned a small measure of Akaya's respect. He decided to back the younger boy up.

"He's right." The young demon said, gaining more conviction, more confidence with each word that fell from his lips. "It'll be hard. There'll be a lot of running and hiding. You might even get sick of yourself for cowering away so many times, but we can fester and sicken the enemy little by little, day by day. We can grow like a disease eating away at the ones trying to hurt us."

"And someday," Marui continued patting Ayaka's ebony curls. "We'll be able to shake off all that disgust, stop backing down, and meet them, whoever they are face to face. We don't have to fight right now, We don't even have to fight tomorrow, but someday, someday."

"Someday" Eiji turned back, "someday, we'll be big enough to fend for ourselves."

"Someday," Sengoku added. "Maybe we won't have to hide behind darkness anymore."

"But what if you don't make it?" The youngest cat demon whispered. "Everyone says someday but what happens between now and then? You say this is a game, but you're risking your lives here."

"Touji-senpai." Ryoma said calmly.

There was just something about him that commanded attention, not the harsh way that Sanada did, and not at all like Yukimura's overbearing presence. Akaya mused. He was blunt, tactless, over-all horrible when it came to choosing the right words. You didn't have to notice him or look at him or follow him or believe him. You just wanted to, and when you did, you just didn't want to look away. It was the same kind of charisma, Akaya realized, that Niou senpai had, the one that cajoles Marui-senpai into whatever stun he was pulling at the time, the one that attracted girls to him like flies. It was the same charisma that had Akaya hovering around the petenshi for the better part of his middle school tennis career.

"Losing a match isn't the end of the world." He came back just in time to hear Ryoma say. "Like Kirihara said we'll have to run away a lot. Likewise, we have to lose a lot, be hurt a lot, cause trouble, and at the same time stay out of it. But isn't that how people normally mature? That's how I did it."

Seemingly satisfied, Ryoma allowed Marui and Akaya to lay him down. Muromachi fell silent and finally left a room. Slowly as did the other two cat demons. For a while, the three of them sat in silence. Then Marui used one hand to stroke Ryoma's forehead and the other to cradle Akaya to his chest.

"I'm proud of you Akaya." He whispered smiling at the both of them, strangely reminiscent, Akaya thought, of his elder brother back in their younger years. "Of how you handled the situation. You too Ryoma-kun, though I haven't know you for very long. Thank you, I think we all needed that."

"It was nothing." The two boys said in union.

"You must be hungry," Marui smiled as he changed to subject. "Ayaka, make sure he doesn't fidget. I'll go find a suitable breakfast…and no eating flies."

"Yes mother." The junior rolled his eyes as the self proclaimed tensai disappeared. Then he looked back at Ryoma. "You know, you would've been smacked so hard for using that kind of tone in Rikkai Dai. Fukubuchou doesn't tolerate that kind of thing."

"Well I don't go to Rikkai now do I?" Ryoma smiled back. "Our fukubuchou's too nice to smack anybody. Buchou doesn't assign laps for that."

"No wonder you're so cocky." Akaya laid back too on the springy summer-smelling straw mat.

"And you're not?" He smirked at that.

For a while they just shared a nice amiable silence that one would've never thought people like them could share.

"Ne, Echizen?" Akaya said after a while.

"Call me Ryoma." was his answer.

"Hm?" He rolled over to look at the other boy

"I prefer to be call Ryoma. It rolls off the tongue a little better." Ryoma turned his head to meet Akaya's eyes

"Alright, Ryoma then, picky." He smiled and shook his head slightly. The smile, dropped off though as he examined the younger boys face. He could see why Marui-senpai was fond of the other. Ryoma was very attractive, when half his face wasn't covered by that cap. It wasn't that he was particularly pretty. No that was the kind of appeal Marui Bunta himself possessed. He didn't have the chaotic beauty that defined Niou or Yagyuu. He wasn't hypnotic like Yukimura or Yanagi. In fact, Akaya couldn't find anyone he knew that was like Ryoma at all. In fact his traits, separate might have been rather creepy.

Golden eyes were not normal, especially not slanted cat-like ones. There was nothing cute about them, sizes aside. He had a slightly roundish face, not quite childlike, but not really grown up either. He was slender, even skinny, more so than Akaya. He had eye brows so thin they look like they were drawn with a pencil. His bangs were forever falling over his eyes which shadowed them and made them all them or creepy. And yet when you put it all together……

……He was simply adorable.

"What?" Ryoma prodded.

"Sorry for hurting your knee in our match." The junior ace smiled sheepishly. "That wasn't very cool."

"You don't say sorry for things that happen in a match. Not unless your on the same side…"The freshman prodigy cocked an eye brow. "…But thanks. I'm glad you said it. Ne Kiri…"

"Akaya." He corrected. "Might as well call me that, since I'm calling you by your first name."

"Fine Akaya." Ryoma mock pouted confirming Akaya's theory. "Sorry for stealing your match with Kevin."

"I'm not sore about it." Akaya shrugged. "Besides, he wanted to fight you anyway right?"

"Yeah, the idiot." The younger boy scoffed.

"Then all's well with the world."

"…Why does that sound sinister when you say it?"

"Hey you should hear it when Niou-senpai says it. Now that's really creepy."

"Creepier than Fuji-senpai's smile?"

"Damn that's a hard one. I can't really decide. Not creepier than Yukimura buchou's smile though I can guarantee you that."

"……Are all your senpai's weird?"

"Let's see, we have the Child of God, the alien trying to take over the world with bitch slaps, a blind data master, some bald guy (come to think of it he's the most normal one), a gentleman who imitates a con-man, a con-man who imitates practically everyone else, and a self-proclaimed tensai on constant sugar rush. Yep, pretty weird. How about yours?"

"We have a stone pillar for a captain (Akaya laughed at this), a sadist with inhuman tastebuds, a bi-polar power player, a half snake guy, a cat demon, a data man with computer screen glasses who love to torture us with his various juices, a defense specialist who looks like he's wearing half a bowling ball on his head, and the biggest eater on the planet. Yeah, I think that constitutes as weird."

"Who know maybe it's part of the requirements or something. You have ot be insane to be good at tennis."

"Don't go there. I like to think I'm at least still sane."

"Like hell you are."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"You live and breathe tennis. How is that sane?"

"You willingly jumped up and asked to get slapped in the face, how sane is that?"

"That just proves my point."

Standing just outside the door holding a tray of food and chuckling to himself was Marui. He hoped that what he was witnessing would be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Owari