Pairings: major AkaBun, minor Platinum, minor Alpha, minor Data

Warnings: shounen ai/yaoi, crossdressing, lime

"What happened?" asked Yagyuu as he and Marui returned. Their friends sat at a table, huddled around an LED emergency light as if it was their only warmth in a snowstorm. Marui pulled out a chair and sat next to Kirihara, scooting closer to him so that their shoulders were touching. Yagyuu kept his distance, probably because he worried about smelling like smoke.

"The power just went out," explained Jackal. He hugged himself as if huddling for warmth, even though without the power, it was just going to get hotter. "And Niou's missing."

"Then I'm sure he did this," muttered Yagyuu. Kirihara scoffed quietly, but he didn't offer his opinion. Marui stared up at him, and he met his gaze with a sympathetic half-smirk. The redhead couldn't help but grin back, just because Kirihara was smiling at him.

"It's not funny," hissed Yukimura, perhaps seeing the two smiling or maybe reprimanded Yagyuu. "He's all alone, in the dark, with no flashlight, in a huge place… He could get hurt." The bright shine from the light illuminated his pouty face.

"Call him," Yagyuu insisted, but Sanada shook his head and held up Niou's orange LG Rumor Touch. The purple haired boy tensed, and Inui spoke up to keep the peace.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," he promised, chuckling nervously.

"It's not funny!" Yukimura snapped again. Inui quieted down, and Yanagi set his hand on his arm and flashed him the kind of look you give to a puppy that just got in trouble.

Yagyuu shifted, maybe debating whether or not he should admit that he actually cared or not. "Give me that flashlight," he growled. "I'll go look for him myself. I can't believe you guys haven't moved."

"Yanagi told us not to," sang Kirihara mockingly. He was obviously amused by the whole situation, which was potentially dangerous with all the tension. Marui stared at him, silently begging him not to cause trouble, but that was about as useful as trying to stop a subway train with a fork and a slingshot.

Yagyuu shot Yanagi a dark glare, and the brunette shifted slightly in his seat. "We only have one light. It would be better for us all to stay together, and you and Marui were still outside…"

"There's bound to be more than one flashlight in this place," murmured Jackal, glancing around suspiciously. Kirihara propped his elbows up on the table and leaned towards him.

"Do you believe in ghosts, Jackal?" he asked in a hushed tone. He proceeded in making haunted house noises until Jackal shoved his head away.

Sanada glared. "That's enough, Akaya. Why don't you and Marui go look for another flashlight?" He wrapped his arm around Yukimura and tugged him close. "Go on."

Kirihara shrugged, straightening back up. "All right," he said evenly. "Come on, Bunta-chan. Try not to get lost…" He snickered and made more haunted house sounds, and Marui grinned as he smacked his shoulder blade.

"Cut it out, bastard," he giggled, grabbing his arm and they stepped outside the circle of light. Marui sighed, running his fingers up and down Kirihara's steely bicep. How could it be that he was all alone, in complete darkness with a demon and he'd never felt safer? Kirihara opened a door that Marui didn't even know was there. "Do you know where we are?" he asked as he hesitantly followed Kirihara's sure steps.

"Yep," he said, and Marui clung closer to him as he listened to the squeak of Kirihara's tennis shoes and the flip-flop of his Pumas.

"Well… Where are we going?" he asked, lowering his voice to a whisper, just because it felt like he should. He wanted to stop and sit down—his heart was beating so fast it felt like he was going to pass out. Had he always been this nervous when they were alone together?

"The pool," answered Kirihara as if it were obvious. "It has skylights so you can see too. Also, there's probably another emergency light in there." Marui started to run his fingers up and down Kirihara's frigid skin again.

"You mean you can see?" he asked him, scooching even closer.

"Of course I can see," he responded quietly. "Akuma are meant for the darkness, after all…"

Marui quieted. Weren't akuma terrible monsters that didn't feel love or guilt and only wanted to hurt people? He stopped talking and kept following him through the dark halls, until he came to a sudden halt, nearly causing Marui to slam into him. "A-are we here?" he asked. Kirihara's freezing fingers suddenly intertwined with his, and he broke into an instantaneous cold sweat. His heart began to beat double time. Monster or not, Kirihara was holding his hand, and nothing could've made him happier.

"Yeah…" Kirihara replied with a purr. Marui's heart beat so fast that it seemed to get tired and stop. Swiftly, he was shoved against the door and his hands were pinned above his head. He made a squeak on contact, unable to believe that something so tiny had knocked the wind completely out of him. Kirihara's free hand unzipped his jacket slowly before crawling up his shirt.

Marui moaned loudly, unable to control himself. "What are you doing?" he gasped, sounding more pleased than confused.

"Shut up," snarled Kirihara softly into his ear, and Marui could feel his big grin against him. He stroked his nipple as he scraped his teeth down Marui's sensitive skin, and he moaned loudly in response, inadvertently rubbing his groin against Kirihara's. This time, he moaned too, thrusting more of his weight onto Marui and grinding him vehemently.

Marui let out a gasp before Kirihara pressed his smooth lips onto his, his mouth working fiercely. Before Marui had a chance to react and kiss back, the black-haired boy thrust his tongue into his mouth and rubbed his sensually. Marui tried to struggle, suddenly feeling uncomfortable in Kirihara's hold. He could feel saliva running down his chin, and he tried to move his hand to wipe it away.

He was overcome with panic when he realized his arms couldn't move, and his wrists twitched beneath the force of Kirihara's bruising grip. He turned his head to break the kiss, but the younger boy didn't miss a beat, and he sucked the skin on his neck feverishly. Marui mewled and wiggled around. "A…kaya," he gasped, "Please, stop, Akaya… I-I can't… Stop, please…"

But his pleas did nothing. In fact, Kirihara seemed even more passionate than before. He struggled anxiously as Kirihara began to yank off his shorts. "N-no!" screamed Marui, trying desperately to loose his hands. "Kirihara, stop it! I don't want to! I don't want—aaaaaaah!" The door they were leaning against suddenly clicked open, and they both fell through and onto the floor.

Marui took the chance to get away quickly and inhaled the strong scent of chlorine. A pale, blue light spilled through the skylights, enhancing the creepy, fog-induced aura of the room. Kirihara groaned and sat up. "Sorry, Bunta… I guess I got a little… carried away."

Marui looked over at him and pouted, then got up on his feet and walked around the walls, searching for the emergency light. "That shitty door," complained Kirihara from the ground, making no move to stand up or help Marui. "Careful you don't fall in, Bunta…"

"I found it!" called Marui triumphantly as he removed the light from the wall. He grinned as a halo of light brightened up the space around him, then scurried back to Kirihara. "We'd better get back—"

Kirihara took a huge step forward so that their bodies were touching, and Marui stared up at him, blushing, as he traced his fingers along the redhead's collarbone. "Bunta," he whispered. "Um, listen… I've been thinking a lot about… what happened… you know, the crab, and… whatever—"

"Can we just not talk about that?" he giggle-groaned, clutching at Kirihara's fingers with his free hand.

"Yeah, well…" Kirihara leaned forward a little more so that his lips met Marui's forehead. "I just have a question…" His warm breath on his skin gave him goosebumps.

"Yeah?" breathed Marui. This was it! Kirihara was finally going to ask him to the formal and make everything he and the matchMAKERs had worked so hard for worth while and—

"What's a CREEP?"

The room was suddenly dead silent, and the question impacted Marui like a ton of tiramisu. Great. Just another thing for Kirihara to hate him over. He hesitated before fumbling for an appropriate answer. He decided that playing dumb would be his best option. "Um, well, it's just someone who's like… creepy, you know?" He pulled back and grinned, his voice unnaturally high and cheerful.

Kirihara shook his head, tossing his silky black curls. "No, I mean, like that thing you always talk to Jackal about. The CREEPs. The C-R-E-E-P people… Who is it?"

Marui pressed his lips together and held his breath, making a mental note to kill Jackal for blabbing his secrets. His mouth was suddenly dry like he had tried to eat sand. "Uh…"

Suddenly, the refrain of 2NE1's Fire blared from his pocket, and he gave a giant sigh, reaching into the pocket of his hoodie. "Hello?" he answered, and Kirihara straightened up.

"Where are you guys?" asked Jackal from the other end. "Did you find another light?"

"Yeah, yeah…" sighed Marui, running a clammy hand through his hair. "Did Niou come back?"

"He's fine," replied Jackal. "Look, meet us at the basketball court, okay? We're gonna play a game."

"What are we playing?" asked Marui, but it was too late. Jackal had hung up on him. "Ugh." He slipped his phone back into his pocket and grabbed Kirihara by the arm. "They're all in the basketball court," he explained quickly, and Kirihara gave him a rakish grin before grabbing his hand.

"Can't we, um, stay here for a minute?" he asked slyly, wrapping his arm around Marui's waist and nuzzling him.

"Hmph. I guess it wouldn't hurt…" Marui propped his elbow on Kirihara's hard shoulder. "Jackal hung up on my anyw—mm!" He closed his eyes slowly, smiling into the younger boy's kiss.

okokokokokokok

Marui frowned as he watched what was unfolding in the basketball court. The party attendees had formed a circle around the emergency light where they all sat kindergarten style. Kirihara bounced up to them fearlessly and scooted into the circle between Jackal and Sanada. Marui followed behind quickly, and Yukimura and Niou parted for him. He sat between them and stared over the light at Kirihara before contributing his to the center of the circle.

"Good," sighed Inui, pushing the lights together. His rectangular glasses gleamed, hiding his eyes from onlookers. "Now we have two lights." He grinned.

"Can we know what we're playing?" asked Niou excitedly, grabbing Yanagi's shoulder and bouncing up and down.

"We're going to play…" began Yanagi quietly, stealing a dramatically furtive glance amongst the players. "Duck, duck, animal!"

"What's that?" groaned Sanada, as if he was being forced to get up three hours early and scrub the bathroom with a toothbrush.

"It's just like duck, duck, goose, only instead of goose, you say a different animal…" explained Renji, tapping his bottom lip thoughtfully. "And you chase them around like that animal would. Get it?"

"How stupid," snapped Sanada. Kirihara chortled.

"It's my birthday," whined Yanagi. "I'll go first." He jumped up, then paced around the circle once—Niou, Marui, Yukimura, Jackal, Kirihara, Sanada, Yagyuu—and paused behind Inui. Then he tapped his head with one finger, uttering a flirtatious, "Duck…" before tousling Niou's messy hair and shouting, "Bunny!"

"No fair," giggled the Trickster as he stood up, hopping around the circle as fast as he could. Yanagi easily outran him and sat down in Niou's old spot. The silver-haired boy stopped jumping and gave a giant huff, then began to stomp around the circle. He patted everyone's head in turn until he came to the near-end of the formation.

Yagyuu stared up at him expectantly, but he refused to give him the satisfaction of returning it. Instead, he stopped behind Sanada and stole his cap. "Beautiful sexy fairy girl!" Everyone burst out laughing, and Sanada got up and tore after him, making no attempt whatsoever to look like a fairy and obviously fighting a smile.

"That's not an animal!" he yelled after Niou, who barely managed to outrun him and steal his spot. He purposely leaned towards Kirihara to avoid Yagyuu. He tossed Sanada's cap to Yukimura, who caught it and giggled with delight.

"Duck," sighed Sanada, patting Yagyuu's head, "duck, duck, duck…" He placed his hand on Marui's head. "Hmm, puppy," he uttered carelessly. Marui rolled his eyes and scuffled after Sanada on his hands and knees, who jogged slowly to torture him.

"Hurry up," whined Marui. Sanada took Marui's spot next to Yukimura and stole his hat back, and Marui stood up behind Kirihara, who was still giggling, and reached down to gently pull his hair. "Duck…" He slapped Jackal's scalp as payback for the CREEP spillage. "Duck…" He smirked, ignoring Jackal's testy ow noise. He touched Yukimura's silky blue waves. "Bird."

Yukimura got up as Marui skipped away, giggling. "I can't run in these heels," he whined, flapping his hands like he was trying to get his nail polish to dry faster. Everyone laughed, and Marui stole his place. Yukimura clicked along the circle, humming to himself. "Duck… duck… duck…" His voice trailed off, and Marui stared at him skeptically.

"You okay, buchou?" asked Jackal, but Yukimura didn't answer him. Instead, he collapsed onto the floor. Everyone jumped up, but Sanada beat everyone to him.

He scooped him up into his arms. "Seiichi," he breathed. "What happened?"

Yukimura gasped, clinging to Sanada as if his life depended on it. "M-my legs feel all numb…" he whimpered pathetically.

"It must be his GBS," murmured Yanagi, looking horrified.

"GBS?" repeated Inui, crinkling his eyebrows.

"Guillain-Barré syndrome," answered Yagyuu and Niou at the same time. They glanced at eachother, then quickly looked away.

"Why don't you take him to the infirmary?" suggested Yanagi quietly. "I'll show you where it is."

"Marui," whined Yukimura from Sanada's brawny arms. "I need Marui to come too."

"O-okay…" agreed Marui, glancing at Kirihara. He gave him a sarcastic thumbs-up, then handed Yanagi the emergency light.

"Sadaharu," said Yanagi, staring at his childhood friend sadly like he was the heroine in the movie who had just made the sacrifice for the greater good and would never see her lover again. "Teach them how to play ghost in the graveyard."

"All right…" said Inui, and everyone stood up as the four left the room. As they walked behind Yanagi down the dark hallways, Marui listened to their steady chants growing farther and farther away.

One o clock… Two o clock… Three o clock… Four o clock… Five o clock… Six o clock… Seven o clock… Eight o clock… Nine o clock… Ten o clock… Eleven o clock… Midnight! I really hope I don't see a ghost tonight…

Marui grinned as he heard Kirihara's distant dinosaur roar and Niou's giggly scream, and he couldn't help wishing he was with them. "Here we are," said Yanagi, leaning forward and opening the door. Suddenly, the lights flickered on and the group gave a collective sigh of relief. Yanagi giggled. "How convenient."

Sanada set Yukimura down on one of the beds, and he suddenly smiled. "Thanks for helping us, Genichirou." Sanada gave him a warm, goofy smile, and Yanagi quickly locked the door.

"What's going on?" demanded Marui. "You faked it, buchou?"

Yukimura nodded proudly. "Yep," he said. "I'm a CREEP now!" He unzipped his Louis, which was lying on the bed next to his, and Marui looked over interestedly. Pins, needles, yards of sweet pink fabric, a pair of scissors, spools of thread and a measuring tape were all neatly packed inside.

"What is all that?" he asked and Yanagi grinned.

"Welcome to Operation GBS!" he chirped and Yukimura unzipped Marui's jacket and pulled it from his body.

"Guillain-Barré syndrome?" he asked, frowning.

"Get Bunta's size," corrected Yanagi pointedly. Marui rolled his amethyst eyes as Yukimura measured him efficiently. Sanada simply watched Yukimura with a sickeningly dreamy expression.

"Size for what?" he asked, knowing better than to try to foil their plans. The CREEPs would do what the CREEPs wanted to do.

"I'm making you a dress," explained Yukimura in a bubbly tone, "to wear to the formal! Because I know you'd never buy one…" He began to wrap the pieces of fabric around Marui and pin them together, then instructed him to step up on the bed.

"This'll take forever," Marui groaned.

"Please," replied Yukimura. "It won't take that long…"

"Ow!" squealed Marui pinched him in the side with a needle. The buchou giggled an apology. The only thing faker than his sorry was the lies Marui would have to make up to explain to Kirihara why he'd gone missing for three hours.

okokokokokokok

"Wake up…"

Marui rolled over onto his stomach, rubbing the side of his face against the plush couch he was sleeping on. He heard whoever was talking to him, but he didn't open his eyes. He didn't answer. He was just going to pretend like it wasn't there, and maybe it would go a—

"Waaaaaaake uuuuuuuup, puri!" Niou—he now knew it was Niou because of the utterance of his annoying catchword—began to jostle his body roughly until Marui was forced to sit.

"I'm up, I'm up…" he groaned, rubbing his sleepy eyes and looking up at Niou. "What do you want?" He glanced around at all his friends. Everyone had essentially passed out on a respective piece of furniture or on a blanket.

"Come outside with me," he pleaded. "I can't sleep and I want someone to talk to." He tugged his long bangs absentmindedly.

"Get Renji," dismissed Marui. "I wanna go back to bed." Niou frowned and gestured to Yanagi, who was sleep-snuggling Inui on the floor. Marui rolled his eyes, moving to get up.

"Don't step on Kirihara," warned Niou, pointed to Rikkai's ace, who was curled up in a little ball next to the couch. "I almost did."

"Awww," cooed Marui fondly, carefully stepping over him and following Niou out the doors. "What time is it?" he asked once they were outside, leaning over the railing on the same steps he had walked down to find Yagyuu.

Niou reached into the pocket of the kidnapped hoodie he was wearing and pulled out his cell. "Four, almost," he answered, before stowing it safely away once again.

Marui gave a single nod, not able to care that it was four in the morning and he should've been in bed. He was determined to be there for Niou, even if his head ached and his hair was a mess. It was his fault that Niou and Yagyuu were fighting, and he was determined to fix it. "So what'd you wanna talk about?"

Niou sighed loudly, shifting. "I think I'll fake my own death," he explained. "Like, fake suicide…"

"Why would you wanna do that?" asked Marui, unwrapping a piece of the gum Kirihara had given him. He smiled slightly, knowing that the taste would forever remind him of him.

"To get Yagyuu to be nice to me," he sighed. "If he thinks I'm suicidal, then he'll have to start being nice to me again, right?"

"Niou," sighed Marui, popping his gum. "Yagyuu will come around. He's just mad, I guess, so he's acting like a jerk. If you just say sorry, then—" Marui was suddenly silent, surprised at the sound of his friend crying.

"I've already tried," he sobbed, wiping the uncontrollable rivulets of tears that streamed down his cheeks. "He hates me too much now! I mean, I know I pushed him too far, but, he's been being so mean to me…" Niou sniffled as more tears leaked down his face.

Marui frowned and wrapped his arm around his crying friend's waist, realizing that the only thing he could really do for Niou was to be there for him.

A/N: Chapter six, yay! There's your make out scene, Nami. You're welcome. Yagyuu smoking? I just thought it would be hot. xD (Is a Yagyuu fan.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis and never will.