Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Magic of Tennis ❯ Woes of the Chaperone I ( Chapter 3 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Arigatomina 
Anime/Manga: Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.11.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.5K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Comedy / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 09.11.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 9.5K | Visits: 1.2K | Status: Work In Progress
Was the last chapter too long? I love reading long chapters and it was mostly dialogue, so I didn't think about it. I'll cut longer parts in pieces from now on, so it's not so hard to read in one sitting. This part, for instance, is about half of what I’d planned to write. That means the parts will be shorter and out sooner. If this part is still too long, let me know and I’ll cut them shorter still. I’m used to parts being too short, so trying to find the best middle-ground is foreign to me.
Author's Notes: I'm not overly concerned about HP canon with this fic, so my depiction of the Knight bus, the train, the castle and such should be taken on face value. I'm debating on whether or not to put Japanese - English notes on each part, so if you have trouble with words let me know. Thanks go to 'Akira Nimura' for correcting me on the spelling of Seigaku and Kajimoto. I got the spellings for all the names off a single (very detailed and comprehensive) PoT website and didn't second guess them.
Fanart: I have a fluffy cover-page pic up for the Sengoku-Kirihara pairing. A link to my deviantart page can be found on my ffnet profile.
Music Videos: Golden Pair fans are encouraged to check out the new version of my "You’re the One" amv, a remake of one of my older vids, and much better than the original. Anyone who likes the OishixEiji pairing should enjoy this video. A link to my amv page can be found on my ffnet profile.
Main Pairings: OishixEiji, KamioxShinji, OshitarixGakuto, SanadaxYukimura
Minor Pairings (for this part): Momo-Ryoma, Mizuki-Yuuta, Fuji-Tezuka, Atobe-Yukimura, Sengoku-Kirihara, Kabaji-Akutsu, Niou-Yagyuu, Shishido-Ohtori
Warnings: shonen ai, dialogue, language, possible humor
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Magic of Tennis
Part 3: Woes of the Chaperone I
It was no coincidence that Remus Lupin had been appointed professor this year, nor that he was the one sent to pick up the tennis players. A lot was happening in the wizarding world, and Dumbledore was adamant that they make the most of it. With everyone keeping an eye out for a certain mass murderer who’d escaped recently, no one had time to worry about a group of muggles providing entertainment for Hogwarts’ student population.
In past years, when the Headmaster had forwarded his idea to the Ministry of Magic, he’d been deterred by a mound of paper work and quill-pushers with nothing better to do than to ask thousands of needless questions. This time, all he’d had to do was promise that the informal tournament would mollify worried parents while keeping the students occupied, and that all of the ‘muggle’ players had enough magical potential to have been students if there were a magical school in Japan. A little reminder of how the Ministry had repeatedly failed to establish an Asian branch was enough to get the plan waved into action. They had far more important things to worry about without getting sidetracked by one of Dumbledore’s quirky ideas. That left the headmaster with full control, just the way he preferred it.
Lupin’s presence was doubly useful, or so Dumbledore had assured him. He had intimate knowledge of the escaped criminal, making him a good defense to have on hand at the school. And he was proficient at dealing with dementors, which was particularly useful these days. The only drawback was that because of him they’d had to wait until after the full moon to invite the players. It meant the tournament itself would conclude a week after the scheduled trip to Hogsmead, instead of being a replacement for the trip. Dumbledore seemed confident no one at the Ministry would notice or question this change in plans. Lupin had little choice but to take his word for it.
All of the reasons aside, Lupin found himself very interested in Dumbledore’s idea, and in the players themselves. He’d never heard of muggle athletes catching the attention of wizards before. Only someone as eccentric as Dumbledore would have thought to invite a group of such athletes to Hogwarts as an introduction for the students to other ‘types’ of magic. Looking at the players, who mostly appeared old enough to have already graduated from Hogwarts, Lupin didn’t see any sign of them being magically inclined.
They were definitely healthier looking than a lot of his own students, physically fit being the choice term. The older ones, some of whom he recognized from photos as being the captains, gave off an aura of confidence and experience. He did sense a tiny hint of something coming from the ones Dumbledore had warned him about, the so-called ‘tensai’ players. But the majority of them looked like typical teenagers, curious, glowing with youth, and eager for adventure. Above all else, they looked like muggles. They even pushed and bickered like muggles when they clambered onto the bus, more interested in who got which seats than in the bus itself.
Lupin had replaced the Knight Bus’s typical conductor, so he had a front row seat, just a bit behind the driver, and in clear view of the two rows of players. Ernie Prang, the usual driver, had cast one long stare at him the moment the muggles climbed on board. After that, he’d set his eyes forward and seemingly managed to block out the noise behind him. Lupin didn’t push him to speak. Dumbledore had done some heavy-handed magic on the bus, and Ernie resented that. He’d been driving the Knight Bus for years and considered it his baby. Having it turned into a veritable port key, just to save a bunch of muggles from panicking, was a very deep insult.
Lupin had tried to explain that it was actually the bridge that would function as the port key, and that the bus was more like a bottle to stabilize the contents – passengers in this case – during the transfer. Although the magic was thick, the details were really very simple. A person who traveled using a port key felt significant discomfort and disorientation. But if that person were carrying, say, a bottle of water with a fish in it, the fish would feel very little due to the insulation. It was the bottle that would suffer the disturbance. None of this reasoning had soothed Ernie’s ruffled pride. It was best to just let him alone and hope he didn’t abandon them once they reached the bridge. Lupin had never driven a vehicle, magical or muggle, and he wasn’t eager to try on something as difficult to manage as the Knight Bus.
By the time the players had stowed their bags on the upper level of the bus, and settled on who got to sit in which seat, Lupin found himself respecting the power of the team captains. Petty bickering subsided after a few sharp words, and there was absolute silence when Ernie started the bus into motion. Even the sight of buildings and scenery jumping to get out of the bus’s way didn’t cause the sort of panic Lupin had been prepared for. If anything, the teens seemed to resent the lurches and twisting movements more than the dynamics of how the bus traveled.
“Momo-senpai, itai,” Ryoma groaned for the third time in as many minutes.
He was sitting by the window on the left-hand side, third row back, with Momo next to him, and Taichi Dan on the outside. Every time the bus made a right turn, Momo lurched over and jammed him into the wall. He might have passed it off as an accident, except the big lug kept grinning at him. And the last time he’d shoved his teammate in retaliation, little Dan had gone right off the seat and into the aisle. Tachibana, who was on the outside of the seat across from them, had caught the Yamabuki boy before he could smash his head into the floor. Ryoma had still gotten a reprimand from Tezuka for playing around.
To make matters worse, Eiji kept snickering from the seat in front of theirs. The redhead was on the aisle with Oishi next to him, and Saeki in the window seat. For some reason, Oishi never looked back in time to see Momo play crush the freshman, while Eiji had the exact timing down and had yet to miss it. Honestly, Ryoma was beginning to wish he’d sat in the back with Kabaji and Akutsu. Not only would they not voluntarily touch him, they probably wouldn’t try to talk to him, either.
Kabaji had gone back when he found no room for him near Atobe. Akutsu, of course, had purposely sat in the very back, putting as much distance as possible between him and the brown-haired wizard seated at the front of the bus. A less appealing choice of seating would be across the aisle from the silent players, where Reiji and Wakato were once more looking out of place. Ryoma wasn’t sure, but he suspected they wouldn’t have tried to talk to him any more than Kabaji. Either way, the back seats were beginning to look very attractive.
The bus took a quick curve as a line of apartment buildings failed to hop out of its way fast enough for the driver's impatience. Most of the bus's occupants lurched to the left.
“Itai,” yelped Ryoma.
“For god’s sake, Momo,” Kamio exclaimed from the seat behind them. “Can’t you control yourself for five minutes? You’re making that Yamabuki kid blush. Hell, you're making me blush.”
“I’m not blushing, desu,” said Dan. He had his head ducked, his hands curled tightly on the back of the seat in front of him, and on the edge of his own seat. So far he’d kept his attention on not flying into the aisle again, and not getting tossed up against Momo, either. He was quite proud about that, considering how much trouble Momo seemed to be having. “I won’t hit anyone, desu!”
Momo grinned at the boy and then flashed a scowl over the seat at Kamio. “It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.”
“Liar,” Ryoma grumbled, rubbing his poor shoulder.
Eiji snickered for a second. Then he flashed an innocent smile at Oishi. So far his partner had no idea what was going on behind them. He planned to keep it that way.
“Well,” Momo drawled, his purple eyes glinting on the three teens seated behind him, “would you rather I do what they’re doing, Echizen? Kamio doesn’t seem to mind it.”
Ryoma craned his neck and peaked into the seat behind them. Sengoku grinned from the aisle and waggled his fingers in greeting. His left arm was resting on the back of the seat, keeping him from sliding into Shinji. The blue-haired tensai didn’t seem to appreciate the effort, judging from the way he was leaning forward a little to avoid so much as brushing that arm. Kamio, who’d picked the window seat before he knew Sengoku would be joining them, was sitting with his back against the window, only half in the seat. Shinji had braced his left hand on the window over Kamio’s right shoulder to keep himself from lurching and crushing his teammate. Ryoma stared at the interesting seating arrangement for a moment of silence. Then he whipped back around and slunk into his seat.
“Iya da,” Ryoma muttered. “I’m not sitting like that. You wouldn’t brace yourself on the window. You'd just use it as an excuse to fall in my lap.”
“O-oi,” Momo blurted. What had been intended to embarrass Kamio now had a blush hitting his cheeks instead.
“Nya,” Eiji whispered from in front of them, his eyes wide and scandalized. “Don’t tempt him, Ochibi! At least not in front of Taichi-kun…”
Oishi turned a warning look on his partner. “Eiji…”
Eiji promptly about-faced, his expression ever so innocent. “Hai? What is it, Oishi?”
Kamio snickered and shot a look at Shinji. “I tried to help, but we just gave them ideas.”
“Pushy and a pervert,” Shinji muttered softly, scowling at the back of Momo’s head where the boy’s blush had turned his ears faintly pink. “Taking advantage of this rough bus ride like that. He’s as bad as some other people...”
He turned his scowl on Sengoku, eliciting a wide shameless grin from the Yamabuki teen. The guy had insisted on sitting with them and sure enough, he’d knocked him right into Kamio the first sharp turn the bus took. Now they were stuck with him, and frankly, the seating arrangement was uncomfortable. His arm was sore from bracing himself, and Sengoku refused to move his own arm so he couldn’t even lean back in the seat. Shinji could only think of one reason for the stubbornness. The orange-haired player was still mad that he hadn’t let Kamio sit in the middle.
“You can move your arm, you know,” Shinji muttered. “I’m not going to fall anymore, so it doesn’t matter if you bump into me now. You said you were being considerate, but it’s not considerate to make this ride more uncomfortable than it should be. I don’t care if you hit me as long as it’s an accident. I only complained because you made me hit Kamio, and the wall is too hard for that. I’d rather you hit me than take the back of the seat. The seats fit three people, so I should be able to lean back without you taking my third. And you’re taking part of Kamio’s, too. Are you trying to reach him or something? He isn’t sitting far enough back for that, so you’re just wasting your time. You should go sit with that pushy pervert and let Echizen sit here. That way no one gets crushed and uncomfortable.”
Ryoma whipped back around before Sengoku could respond. “I like that idea.”
“I don’t,” Momo said, scowling at his teammate. “I don’t want to sit with him. I don’t know which of them he’s trying to grope, but he’s definitely up to something with that arm of his.”
“Don’t be mean, Omoshiro-kun,” Sengoku pouted. “I’m just being considerate.”
“But it’s not considerate,” Shinji repeated, frowning more than ever. “I don’t want your arm behind me. It’s rude. If Echizen wants to sit here, you should trade with him.”
“I don’t want to sit with him,” Momo said, louder this time, and glaring at Shinji. “If you didn’t want to sit with him, either, you should have picked a different seat before we left. Now you can just deal with it.”
“Oi,” Kamio scowled. “Don’t yell at him. You’re the one who started it, jumping all over the kid like that. Echizen doesn’t want to sit with you any more than you want to sit with Sengoku.”
“You know,” Sengoku said slowly, his expression just a tad miffed, “I’m feeling very unwanted here…”
“That’s because you are,” said Shinji, his tone absolutely reasonable.
“Oi…” Sengoku winced and pouted a little. Then he leaned over and blinked wide turquoise eyes at Shinji. “Tell you what, Ibu-kun. I’ll move my arm, and you stop trying to get me to switch seats. Deal?"
Shinji frowned and leaned further away. "I'd rather have Echizen."
"Well you can't have Echizen," Momo yelled. "You get him! Deal with it!"
"Stop yelling at him!" Kamio yelled back. "He's a foot away, moron!"
"Kamio," Tachibana barked.
Kamio eased up a few inches so he could see over the back of Momo's seat. He'd forgotten how close the quarters were in the bus. Tachibana and Ishida were seated right across the aisle from Momo, more than close enough for him to see the vein throbbing in his captain's temple. Kamio quickly dropped back into his seat and out of sight.
"Momoshiro," Tezuka said coldly.
Momo cringed, his ears flushing beet red as he slowly turned around to face the front again. Tezuka was seated against the window in the front right-hand seat, separated from the aisle by Fuji and Kawamura. But that wasn't nearly enough space when his captain used that tone. If they'd been at practice, Momo knew he'd have just been assigned a few hundred laps. He slunk down until his knees were bunched against the back of the seat in front of him, barely getting low enough that Tezuka couldn't see him anymore. Beside him, Ryoma was scowling beneath the bill of his cap.
"Good going, Momo-senpai," Ryoma muttered. "There's no way I'll get to switch seats now."
"I don't see why you'd want to, anyway," Momo grumbled, his expression a mix between a pout and a scowl. "Unless you just want to go falling all over Shinji."
Ryoma bit back his instinctive retort, his scowl shifting slowly into a sly smirk. "Oh. I get it. Mada mada, Momo-senpai."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Not telling," Ryoma sniffed.
"Echizen...!"
"Iya da."
Oishi turned a disapproving look back on them. “Whatever you two are doing back there, stop it. You could learn something from Taichi-kun’s good behavior.”
“Thank you, senpai!” Dan beamed, fluffing a little at the compliment.
Momo glowered over at the Yamabuki boy, while Ryoma just snorted and locked his gaze on the dark blurred scenery outside the window. Riding the bus was like taking a very long trip on some virtual reality roller coaster, only it was too dark to see what they were going past and there were no protective restraints holding them in place. If he hadn’t had a freshman-crushing lug beside him, he could have dozed off out of sheer boredom. It really made him wish he could have stayed on the upper level with Karupin and their luggage, where everything was carefully strapped down and quiet.
At the front of the bus, Tezuka was giving Lupin a semi-formal nod of apology for the disturbance. He would have had an easier time looking contrite without Fuji laughing beside him. He didn’t know whether it was the wizard’s expression or Momo’s outburst that the tensai found so amusing, but Fuji definitely seemed to be enjoying himself. If the ride hadn’t been so bumpy, Tezuka would happily have traded Fuji off for Momoshiro – putting the one out of teasing range, and the other where he could watch him better. He should have known Oishi wouldn’t be able to keep Momo and Echizen from starting something, especially with the two Fudomine players seated right behind them. He’d hoped having the obedient, if overly enthusiastic, Taichi Dan sitting next to them would rub off on the two of them, but that obviously wasn’t the case.
“Don’t scowl so much, Tezuka,” Fuji murmured. “It’s good that Momo is so protective of his kouhai. We wouldn’t want Echizen stolen away by Fudomine.”
“It’s more like possessive,” Mizuki drawled, amusement dripping off his tone. “It seems no one in Seigaku likes to share.”
Fuji made a show of arranging his grip on the bar that ran in front of his seat, as if he were suddenly concerned about sliding and inconveniencing Kawamura. He flashed a smile when a light brush of fingers had Tezuka moving his own hands further to the right. His captain sent him a look.
Lupin, who still wasn’t quite sure what he’d missed, glanced from Tezuka, over to the St. Rudolph players seated in the front of the left row. The dark-haired teen who’d spoken was sitting in the middle, leaning forward a little and scowling over at Segaku’s tensai. On the aisle, their redhaired captain appeared to be asleep, though the tight hand he’d closed over the bar that separated them from the driver suggested otherwise. Only the freshman seated by the window met his gaze.
“Is the ride always this bumpy?” asked Yuuta.
As if on cue, the bus twisted to the right again. A muffled, and now very familiar, yelp sounded from three seats back. Mizuki, who hadn’t had a very tight grip on the bar in front of him, almost knocked both himself and Yuuta out of the seat. Mizuki flashed a resentful look at the back of the driver’s head.
“Nice reaction time, Yuuta-kun,” Mizuki said quickly, his expression smoothing into an appreciative smile. “Thank you.”
Yuuta flushed and quickly let go of Mizuki’s arms. “It’s okay – I mean - you’re welcome, Mizuki-san.”
Saeki leaned forward from the seat behind them, inadvertently making the two teammates separate further. “What about it, Lupin-san? This is one wild ride, and the rest of us don’t even have a bar to hold onto.”
Lupin sent one wary glance at the driver, taking in Ernie’s narrow eyes and locked jaw. He didn’t think the man had performed a charm before he arrived, so he probably couldn’t understand what the Japanese teens were saying. But there was no way of knowing for certain without asking him. Lupin winced a little and flashed Yuuta an apologetic look.
“The Knight Bus has never been driven in Japan before,” said Lupin, “so all of the magic is spot-work being set up as we go along. The ride will be much smoother in London, on routes that get regular traffic. Also, the number of people riding at one time is usually closer to ten, so there’s less worry about a little jostling. I could modify the seats with bars or ties of some sort, if you think that would help.”
Saeki blinked and exchanged a wary look with Oishi. “Ties? Like what?”
“I’m not sure,” Lupin admitted, smiling weakly. “The front bars were actually meant to separate the driver and conductor from the passengers. Normally they function as a shield for miscellaneous items and spells that might go astray. We had that charm removed for your trip. I only have a faint idea of the sort of restraints used in normal muggle conveyances. You’re speaking of something to wrap around you and hold you in the seat, correct?”
Saeki suddenly imagined the seat mutating behind him, tentacle-like extensions reaching out and binding him, like plastic-wrap, into the seat. His face paled and he abruptly sat back.
“Nevermind,” Saeki said quickly. “Forget I said anything. A little…jostling…never hurt anyone, right? It’s fine.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to turn down the offer,” Fuji commented, his eyes easing open to glint over at Seaki. “Restraints would certainly keep some people from getting into trouble.” His sharp gaze flicked to a certain black-haired manager.
Saeki grinned at the back of Mizuki’s head and muffled a laugh in his hand. Lupin blinked and glanced quickly from Saeki, over to the somewhat scary looking Fuji, and back to Mizuki, whose eyebrow was twitching. Yuuta scowled and leaned harder into his seat so there was no chance of his brother seeing him past his teammates.
“Like I said,” Mizuki drawled, his forced smile almost twitching in time with his eyebrow, “Seigaku players are possessive, even of people who are not on their team...”
Fuji’s eyes closed in a curious smile, which he turned on the silent Kawamura. “Na, Taka-san, do you hear something squeaking? I hope nothing has gotten loose above us.”
Kawamura flashed a harried look from Mizuki, over to Fuji, who was now glancing at the ceiling with a worried expression. “Ano…”
“Fuji,” said Tezuka, his entire demeanor reproving.
“Yes?” Fuji smiled, leaning closer to the taller teen and enjoying the wary tint that appeared on his captain’s face. “Is something wrong, Tezuka? You’re still scowling. Echizen isn’t being molested at the moment, so surely you can relax a little.”
A choked sound erupted from the freshman in question, and Tezuka’s face took on an interested amber shade. Now his eyebrow was twitching. “Fuji…”
“Really,” Fuji said sweetly, rubbing a soothing hand on Tezuka’s shoulder. “Your concern for our dear freshman is very commendable, but you shouldn’t get so tense about it.”
Echizen half-stood in his seat so he could scowl over at the tensai. “Fuji-senpai. If you want to flirt with buchou, leave me out of it.”
“Really,” Eiji piped in with a wide grin. “Ochibi already has his hands full keeping Momo off him!”
Fuji laughed, Momo erupted in a coughing fit, and Oishi flushed dark red.
“Eiji…!” hissed Oishi.
“What?” asked Eiji. “What’d I say?”
“Tezuka?” Fuji murmured, in a little concerned voice. “Are you all right? You don’t look well…”
Lupin stared at the tensai, his expression dazed and uncertain. That ‘something’ he’d sensed from the boy was now a genuine sensation – skill and danger. How he could sense skill from someone, he didn’t know, and why someone skilled at teasing would be a danger, he couldn’t say. He could only hope the hints and suggestions being passed around by the teens were merely playful barbs. He’d heard much worse things from middle-aged wizards after a few too many drinks. Hearing it from children, though…
A low chuckle started from the seat directly behind Tezuka, echoed by snickers here and there from the Hyoutei players scattered along the length of the bus. Tezuka slowly forced himself to relax, uncurling his hands from where they were clenched around the bar to keep himself from doing some sort of bodily harm to the smiling tensai seated next to him.
“I take back what I said,” Atobe drawled with a sly smile. “This is a good seating arrangement.”
The Hyoutei captain had been quite annoyed when Fuji and Kawamura had taken the seat Tezuka was in. Now, sitting directly behind Tezuka, he was in the perfect position to enjoy his rival’s discomfort, and to appreciate the tensai’s skill. He'd had no idea Fuji Syusuke was this interesting. Not only did he have Tezuka fuming, even Yukimura was stifling a smile at the Seigaku player’s antics.
“Can I offer you an aspirin, Tezuka?" Yukimura whispered, as if Sanada and Atobe wouldn't overhear him, anyway. “You do look a little pale."
"No, thank you," Tezuka returned in a droll voice. He ventured a sidelong look at Fuji and his eyebrow twitched. It was immoral for someone so sadistic to have such a cute smile.
Fuji turned a little so he could direct that innocent smile at Yukimura. "Do you always carry aspirin with you?"
"It pays to be prepared," said Yukimura, with an almost impish smile. "You never know when the team will become a little...rowdy. Sanada seems especially prone to headaches these days. I can't imagine why."
"Interesting," Atobe remarked softly.
His gaze flicked past Yukimura and locked on Sanada, who was staring rigidly ahead, his cap shading his eyes. Rikkaidai's vice captain had sent him a single scowl when he'd sat down but hadn't said one word since boarding the bus. Atobe had made some effort to provoke a response. He'd put an arm over the back of their seat for the double purpose of keeping him from sliding in an undignified manner, and assuming a familiarity with Yukimura that he'd been sure would rile Sanada. The only reaction his move had gotten was a slight tightening of Sanada's jaw. Atobe found it nearly as intriguing as Yukimura's seeming willingness to have a stranger's arm behind him.
"Is it a recent development?" Atobe asked Yukimura, his silky tone far more familiar than was appropriate. One benefit of having such a deep voice was that it sounded rather like a purr when he made soft inquiries. Atobe was rather smug about that, and rightfully so. "He does seem more stoic than he was during the tournament. I hadn't even thought that possible."
"Ah," sighed Yukimura. "I think I stress him out more than being captain during my absence did..."
"Surely not," Atobe drawled. "I can't imagine anyone finding your company stressful, Yukimura-kun."
Tezuka turned in his seat, a dumbfounded look on his face. Did Atobe really plan to start stalking Yukimura now?
Fuji smiled beside him, and Tezuka quickly turned to face the front again. The last thing he wanted was to make Fuji think he was jealous. He simply couldn't get past the new level of gall Atobe appeared to have attained. Atobe would be lucky if Sanada didn't kill him, not to mention the rest of Rikkaidai. Everyone knew how dedicated the team was to their formerly incapacitated captain. Where Fudomine was a pack of wolves when their leader was threatened, Rikkaidai was a pride of lions capable of ripping their enemies to shreds. Tezuka could already imagine it. Kirihara and Sanada versus Atobe - it would be a bloodbath. Which, now that Tezuka stopped to think about it, might not be such a bad thing.
Tezuka gave a slow smile that was only really visible around his eyes. Fuji actually blinked when he saw it. Tezuka didn't explain. He just handed the tensai a small bag of chips he'd confiscated from him at the beginning of their ride. His teammate gave him a wary, wide-eyed, look and didn't even try to offer him some of the disgusting snack. That showed exactly how startled he was. It made the smile spread from Tezuka's eyes to his mouth. Fuji stared.
Very aware of the tense arm next to him, Yukimura flashed Atobe a warm smile that belied the playful glitter in his eyes. "You can call me Seiichi, Atobe-kun."
Atobe's eyes widened and a rare look of unguarded surprise took over his face. He barely managed to hide it when Sanada turned to glare at him.
"No he can't," Sanada snapped.
"Sanada," Yukimura said softly, as if he were surprised by his teammate's reaction. "Don't be rude..."
Always suave, Atobe recovered very quickly, spurred by the open challenge in Sanada's dark glare. He let his quickly-made smirk ease into a more natural, and doubly smug smile.
He'd been unsure what to make of Sanada since their interrupted match before the tournament. Even playing together, and finding that they were similar enough to follow the same rhythm, hadn't told him why he was so inspired to defeat the Rikkaidai player. Atobe was confident that of the two of them, Tezuka was more worried about him than Sanada. And still, he felt compelled to crush Sanada before taking his rightful position as Tezuka's ultimate rival. With that mindset, being given such a blatant opening to crack Sanada's defenses was like waving a cake in front of Marui.
It didn't hurt that Yukimura was the one who'd given him that opening. If there was any truth to the rumors Atobe had heard, he might very well have to defeat Yukimura when he was finished with Sanada. He had an idea that would prove to be a very interesting match.
Atobe met Sanada's threatening stare with a lazy smile. "I'm not bothered by his rudeness...Seiichi-kun."
Yukimura smiled at him again, and this time they both had that playful glitter in their eyes. Sanada twitched.
"Don't call him that," Sanada ground out, still speaking past Yukimura without actually looking at him.
"Why shouldn't I?" asked Atobe. "As long as Seiichi doesn't mind..."
"Really," said Yukimura, his tone placating. He placed a light hand over one of Sanada's curled fists and pretended not to notice how the taller teen froze at the contact. "It is my name, after all. Atobe-kun isn't on our team, so it isn't a matter of disrespect if he wants to address me by my first name. You shouldn't be so unyielding about something so insignificant. Ne?"
Sanada turned his eyes forward once more, his tone low and a tad resentful. "You didn't offer your first name to Tezuka."
"Well, no," Yukimura admitted softly, smiling as he glanced at the back of Tezuka's head. "He's never been your dance partner."
Sanada's head tilted forward, his eyes closing in a tight grimace. "I'm going to kill Akaya..."
Yukimura didn't seem worried about the imminent death of his favorite kouhai. He turned a curious, teasing, smile on Atobe, who appeared to be as irked by the 'dance' reference as Sanada was.
"No one would let me watch the tape of your doubles match in the tournament," Yukimura said to Atobe, with a wistful sigh. "But Akaya tells me you and Sanada made quite the pair, with choreography that would be the envy of any professional dancer. I knew he was graceful with a sword, but I had no idea he could dance. Was it fun...?"
Sanada and Atobe looked away from each other with identical scowls, their denials sounding at the same time. "No."
Yukimura smiled and smothered a small laugh-like cough behind his hand.
At the front of the bus, Fuji had given up trying to decipher Tezuka's unexpected smile. He was snacking on the small bag of interestingly flavored chips Eiji had given him when they boarded the bus. He'd offered to share with Tezuka earlier, which was what had gotten the bag confiscated. Since the chips did have a rather unique flavor, and he was a tiny bit wary at Tezuka's unusually good mood, he didn't make any attempt to push the snack onto anyone else.
"Are you sure it's all right for me to eat on the bus?" Fuji asked Lupin.
"It's fine," Lupin nodded. "Normally the Knight Bus has accommodations for long trips, including semi-private beds in the back. We had to do quite a bit of remodeling for your group. I think Dumbledore used a muggle school bus as the model, though I could be wrong."
"No, that sounds right," said Fuji. "The seats are very similar to public transportation. Though the speed is different. Does he always drive this fast?"
Lupin didn't glance at Ernie, but he did wince a little and tighten his grip on the edges of his seat. So far the really rough turns seemed to coincide with players saying things where the driver could hear them. Even if Ernie didn't understand the words, he seemed to dislike the sound of them.
"It could go a little slower," said Lupin, "but we're hoping to get you to Hogwarts in time for the evening gathering. The time change may cause some sluggishness, so you'll all be able to rest afterward."
"And we're going to drive over water?" Fuji inquired, with a playful smile.
Lupin gave a somewhat weak smile in return. "Not exactly. We'll be jumping in about...a half hour. A...transfer of sorts. It will take us from here to London in a matter of seconds."
"Magic," said Fuji. His tone made it clear that while he found the idea amusing, he was open-minded enough to believe in almost anything - just as long as it didn't involve owls and letters.
"That's right," Lupin nodded. "It shouldn't be too disorienting, though. If all goes well, you won't feel more than a slight tremor, possibly a bit of headiness or motion sickness."
A very soft grumbling sound caught Lupin's ear. He glanced over in time to catch Ernie muttering to himself. The warning was early enough that he stayed in his seat when the bus jerked, the left wheels skidding over a curb that had stubbornly resisted the magic telling it to get the hell out of the way, and then the right wheels actually lifting off the ground when the bus made its turn. For the first time, Lupin wondered if the difficulty of the ride was due to Ernie's resentment, or to the area itself. He'd never considered that some places in Japan might be resistant to magic, but that curb had definitely refused the order to move, and the buildings shifted notably slower than the ones in England.
The conflicting bumps jolted nearly everyone, save the ones in front, who had tight grips on the bars, and Momo, who had his knees wedged against the seat tightly enough to provide an anchor for both Echizen and Dan.
Sengoku, who'd taken his arm off the back of the seat to placate Shinji, scrambled to keep from being thrown into the aisle. Then he leaned toward the aisle as everything on the bus seemed to tilt to the left. Beside him, Shinji's bracing arm gave out and the two Fudomine players wound up on the floor, crowded in the slight space between seats.
In the seat behind theirs, Oshitari and Gakuto were among the few who were little affected by the upheaval. At the first sign of a shake, Gakuto had latched onto his partner's arm. Oshitari reacted by wrapping one arm over the back of their seat to keep him lodged by the window, and the other around the slight boy's waist. Aside from Oshitari's right hand getting hit by someone in the seat behind them, neither suffered from the sudden shakes.
Jackal had been really good about not complaining when Marui knocked into him during the ride. They couldn't help the jolts, after all, and he did have the window seat. He was also the undeniably stronger of the two. He'd stabilized himself by the window in what he thought would be the best position to buffer Marui when the boy was tossed into him. He hadn't been expecting to be thrown to the right, let alone to be thrown to the right and then back to the left. The first jolt tossed him forward, his elbow striking Oshitari's hand as he twisted to keep from knocking Marui into the aisle. But the second jolt had him falling back awkwardly. He ended up on the floor, one leg caught on the seat, the other bunched beneath him. A few dazed minutes passed before he realized his partner had wound up in the aisle after all.
In the back left-hand seat, Reiji and Wakato were two more of the less battered occupants. Wakato retained a sore shoulder from getting tossed against the window, but Reiji's tight grip on the seat kept him from getting thrown much at all. If it hadn't been for Kabaji bumping into him, he wouldn't have raised so much as an eyebrow over the rough ride.
Kabaji hadn't reacted much to the previous shakes. He'd blinked a little the first time Akutsu slid against him, but he wasn't the sort to question someone who scowled like the Yamabuki player did. He'd simply accepted his role as a barrier to keep the gray-haired teen from flying into the aisle. This particular jolt caught him off guard because he was the one who fell into Akutsu. The angry boy reacted by shoving him away with a growl, just as the bus tilted to the left. Kabaji didn't stop to think. He caught Akutsu's arms in an attempt to right his balance. Instead he ended up pulling both out of the seat and into the aisle.
In the seat in front of Kabaji, Shishido had reacted in a somewhat selfish manner. His first thought was that he was in the middle, so he wouldn't get crushed or knocked out of the seat. He put an arm out so he wouldn't hurt Ohtori, who was seated by the window. His partner was far more team-oriented. Ohtori caught Shishido when the bus tilted to the left and pulled him away from the aisle. Neither of them remembered to catch the sleeping boy who'd been sitting on the outside of their seat. Jirou joined the pile-up growing in the aisle.
In the seat across from Oshitari, Renji, Inui and Kaidoh were suddenly very glad Lupin had found a makeshift cage when they'd stored their belongings. Having to hold a cat would have made their impromptu reactions more difficult. On the aisle, Renji braced himself to absorb any impact that might come his way. Inui caught hold of the seat in front of them, his other hand moving to Kaidoh's shoulder to keep the younger player from sliding and upsetting either him or Renji. Aside from Kaidoh glowering with resentment at having to be held in place like a loose piece of furniture, the three weathered the shakes without incident.
Ahead of them, Renji's teammates weren't nearly so organized. In the middle, Niou fell into Yagyuu, lodging his partner up against the window. Then he tried to stay himself the same way Kabaji had, by grabbing Yagyuu's arm and hoping the boy was secure enough to hold them both in place. The left-hand tilt pulled both toward the aisle, Niou knocking into Kirihara and pushing the black-haired boy right out of the seat. Neither of the doubles players noticed this, because they were occupied with the...interesting...position they'd wound up in.
At the front of the bus, Lupin was in a state of mild shock. There were four or five teenagers in the aisle, others groaning or yelling about the way the tilting had tossed them into each other. All he could think was that Dumbledore would never entrust him with a chaperone role ever again. He'd be lucky if none of them were hurt because a lot of them were visibly - and loudly - pissed off. And the things some of them were saying...
"Get off me!" Akutsu yelled, shoving furiously at Kabaji. For all his strength, there was a notable difference in weight, and the Hyoutei player was being way too slow about removing himself. Kabaji shifted a bit and Akutsu's face flamed a furious red. "Where do you think you're touching, you freak!"
"Akutsu-senpai!" Dan cried, forgetting for the moment that he wasn't supposed to call him senpai anymore.
"Lucky!" Sengoku laughed, hugging the boy who'd been tossed across the aisle and right into his arms. "That worked out great...!"
"W-what are you doing?" Kirihara demanded, his cheeks bright red. He pushed against Sengoku's chest and scrambled to get off him. Somehow he'd wound up half on the floor and half in the Yamabuki player's lap.
"Easy there," Sengoku grinned. "If you keep moving your arm like that I'm going to think you really like me."
"Jackal!" Marui accused, pushing himself off the floor so he could glare at his somewhat upside-down partner. "What did you kick me for? And you, are you okay? That'll teach you not to sleep on a bus, ne?"
"I...I..." Jirou stared with wide, horrified, eyes, his body frozen with shock and the abrupt rough awakening. He had no idea where he was. His first thought was that he was in the middle of a hallucination, which sometimes happened if he woke up too fast. He was lying across the lap of none other than Marui Bunta, who appeared to be talking right to him. Jirou blinked twice and considered hyperventilating till he passed out again.
"If he's injured he won't be able to play anymore and it'll be all my fault," Shinji was mumbling to himself, dazed and almost unaware of the fact that he was still on the floor. "I didn't mean to. I wouldn't do something like that on purpose, especially not to my own teammate. I'm not like that pushy pervert who actually likes hurting his friends. My hand was a little numb and I lost my grip when the bus tilted to the right. I slipped. It was an accident, not that it'll make any difference if he's injured."
"Will you stop it?" Kamio sighed, tugging on Shinji's arm and trying to pull the boy back into the seat. "I said I was fine. You're not even heavy enough to hurt me. When's the last time you ate, anyway? I think you've lost weight since getting that cat. Damn Momoshiro..."
"My head..." Jackal groaned, kicking his foot and trying to right himself without much success. "Where the hell did Marui go...?"
"E-Eiji," Oishi murmured, his face a pretty pink. "You can let go now..."
"Unya," Eiji pouted, not so much as loosening the hold he had on his partner. "We might get tossed again and I don't want to end up on the floor with them. Did you see what that Kabaji is doing to Akutsu? No way I'm getting thrown over there with them, no way!"
"Let go of him now," Sanada growled down at Atobe. He'd caught Yukimura during the confusion, but Atobe's supposedly secure hold on the back of their seat had fallen. The Hyoutei captain's arm was now curled over Yukimura's shoulders, the owner of that arm pressed snuggly against the blue-haired boy's side.
"He's not hurting me," Yukimura started, though the teasing note was missing from his voice.
"That's not the point," Sanada glared. "Atobe...you have two seconds..."
"What a tone," Atobe sniffed, removing his arm and straightening his somewhat rumpled clothing. "You'd think I did it on purpose. Take my word for it, Sanada. If I wanted to snuggle with someone, I'd use a little more finesse than that."
"This seat is actually pretty comfortable," Niou said cheerfully. "But you know, I never thought you'd end up on top."
"Would you care to remove your arm from my waist so I can get up?" Yagyuu returned calmly, as if he weren't lying on top of his partner in a seemingly embarrassing position.
"Definitely a gentleman," Niou grinned. "But don't tell me you have trouble getting up. That kills the mood..."
"What are you two doing?" Kirihara demanded, twisting around to stare at his teammates. "Get this womanizing freak to let go of me! He thinks I'm a girl...!"
"I do not," Sengoku said, his tone a bit insulted. "I'm not a womanizer, either. What's so wrong about flirting now and then?"
"We're not having a conversation here!" Kirihara blurted. "Let go!"
"Okay," sighed Sengoku, "but I think we'd have more fun if I didn't."
"If you even look at me, I'll rip your throat out," Akutsu growled. He shoved past a dazed looking Kabaji and resumed his seat. "You can sit with those Jyousei losers."
"Oi!" Wakato growled, "watch your mouth!"
"Shut up or you're next," Akutsu warned, his glare deadlier than ever.
"Oi, Jackal," Marui called, blinking down at his partner. "Are you going to get up or what? At least move your leg. You're taking up the whole seat and you're not even sitting on it."
"Is he sitting with us?" asked Jackal. He finally extricated himself, rather painfully, from the weird position he'd landed in.
"Why not," shrugged Marui. "I think he's sleeping with his eyes open, anyway."
"Shishido-san...?" Ohtori murmured, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Ano...Shishido-san. Rikkaidai took Jirou..."
"We can get him back later," Shishido sniffed, not bothering to move the arm he'd wrapped over his partner's shoulders. "Kabaji should have been the one watching him, anyway."
"I'm not a table, Inui-senpai."
"W-what are you talking about?" Inui blinked, a faint smile making it to his face.
Kaidoh scowled down at the hand his senpai still had on his shoulder, pressing him against the window. "I'm not a table," he repeated, "and this isn't a ship. I'm not going to slide anywhere, so you don't have to hold me still."
"Interesting way to put it," Renji commented. "And quite right. Or is there another reason you're still holding him, Sadaharu...?"
Inui blinked behind his glasses and flashed a worrisome smirk at his childhood friend. "Trying to get data on me, Renji?"
"Always," said Renji. "But at the moment I'm just noting that you still haven't moved your hand."
"Oh. Sorry about that, Kaidoh." If Inui hadn't been wearing an evil scientist grin, he might have actually been believable.
"Move it," Kirihara growled, shoving Niou's head to the side so he could sit down. He didn't even try to figure out why the two boys hadn't gotten up yet, or why Niou was laughing. All that mattered to him was that he'd just been felt up by a rival player, one he'd been sure was as girl-crazy as they got. He didn't know whether to blush and feel violated or to start plotting a very painful revenge.
Renji leaned forward to look Kirihara over. "How was it, Akaya?"
"What?"
"He didn't kiss you?" Renji asked with a light frown.
Kirihara's face flamed in a mix of embarrassment and outrage. "Why the hell would he - that..."
He stared for a long moment, taking in his teammate's expression. Then he exploded in absolute horror. "Yanagi! You....you set me up! That's why you made me sit on the outside...! I'm gonna kill you. I am absolutely going to kill you..."
"I'll take that as a no," said Renji, with a poker face that neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. "Maybe next time."
Beside him, Inui was taking notes in the notebook he kept specially for information on Renji. "Good data..."
"So," Momo drawled, staring back at Sengoku with his eyebrow raised. "Got a thing for psychos, do you?"
Sengoku blinked wide turquoise eyes. "Psychos? You mean Kiri-kun? He's not psycho, he's just misunderstood..."
Kirihara stiffened at the nickname and shot a horrified look across the aisle. "What did he call me...?"
"Kiri-kun," said Inui, who was now taking notes in a general 'rivals' notebook.
"Cute name," said Renji. "But perhaps you should have him call you Akaya instead. I don't think he'd mind switching."
"Stop playing around and enjoy living while you have the chance," Kirihara growled at Renji. He whipped back around and glared icily at the back of the seat in front of him, muttering softly under his breath. "Yanagi's lost it...I'd be doing everyone a favor by killing him...damnit...Sanada would kill me, though...and Yukimura would kick me off the team...can't kill him...I'll just have to make him wish I had...yeah...how to do it though..."
"Akaya just went over the edge," Niou remarked, smirking at his partner, who was once more seated calmly by the window. "I bet it was a short trip."
"Ne, Yuushi," Gakuto yawned, curling his legs beside him on the seat. "You mind if I nap on you?"
"Not at all," said Oshitari. "I'll wake you when we get there."
"Mm, sounds good..."
"Are you sure they're all right back there?" Lupin asked for the fifth time. His expression was still dazed, a bit pinched, and more than a little shocked.
"My team is," said Tezuka.
Akazawa glanced over at the two teens sitting beside him and went back to feigning sleep. Aside from Yuuta looking ready to doze off, his teammates were unaffected.
"Naturally my teammates are fine," said Atobe. His tone was just shy of the normal overbearing confidence. He hadn't yet decided if he liked where Jirou was sitting, and he definitely hadn't liked the intensely disturbing scene Kabaji had taken part in. But aside from them, his team was all accounted for.
"Nothing to worry too much about," Yukimura put in, smiling for the poor wizard's uncertain expression. "Accidents happen. I'm sure with a magic-driven bus like this, accidents happen even more often."
Lupin gave a slow, almost numb, nod. He didn't explain that it wasn't the bumps that worried him so much as the aftermath. As calm as the captains were, he had a somewhat disturbing idea that this sort of behavior was normal for them. If that were the case, he didn't even want to imagine what would happen once they reached Hogwarts. House rivalry was one thing. This was...well...he still hadn't decided what this was. Scary, maybe...
.-.
TBC
Notes: I've heard rumors about Niou and Yagyuu being 'twins' in the manga, who look identical enough they can trade places and switch identities. That's very different from the anime, where they look nothing alike and are not related. For this fic, follow the anime.
Next up, the second half of the trip, aka, chaos in London. ;p
Author's Notes: I'm not overly concerned about HP canon with this fic, so my depiction of the Knight bus, the train, the castle and such should be taken on face value. I'm debating on whether or not to put Japanese - English notes on each part, so if you have trouble with words let me know. Thanks go to 'Akira Nimura' for correcting me on the spelling of Seigaku and Kajimoto. I got the spellings for all the names off a single (very detailed and comprehensive) PoT website and didn't second guess them.
Fanart: I have a fluffy cover-page pic up for the Sengoku-Kirihara pairing. A link to my deviantart page can be found on my ffnet profile.
Music Videos: Golden Pair fans are encouraged to check out the new version of my "You’re the One" amv, a remake of one of my older vids, and much better than the original. Anyone who likes the OishixEiji pairing should enjoy this video. A link to my amv page can be found on my ffnet profile.
Main Pairings: OishixEiji, KamioxShinji, OshitarixGakuto, SanadaxYukimura
Minor Pairings (for this part): Momo-Ryoma, Mizuki-Yuuta, Fuji-Tezuka, Atobe-Yukimura, Sengoku-Kirihara, Kabaji-Akutsu, Niou-Yagyuu, Shishido-Ohtori
Warnings: shonen ai, dialogue, language, possible humor
Author: Arigatomina
Email: arigatoumina (a) hotmail . com
Website: www . geocities . com / arigatomina
Magic of Tennis
Part 3: Woes of the Chaperone I
It was no coincidence that Remus Lupin had been appointed professor this year, nor that he was the one sent to pick up the tennis players. A lot was happening in the wizarding world, and Dumbledore was adamant that they make the most of it. With everyone keeping an eye out for a certain mass murderer who’d escaped recently, no one had time to worry about a group of muggles providing entertainment for Hogwarts’ student population.
In past years, when the Headmaster had forwarded his idea to the Ministry of Magic, he’d been deterred by a mound of paper work and quill-pushers with nothing better to do than to ask thousands of needless questions. This time, all he’d had to do was promise that the informal tournament would mollify worried parents while keeping the students occupied, and that all of the ‘muggle’ players had enough magical potential to have been students if there were a magical school in Japan. A little reminder of how the Ministry had repeatedly failed to establish an Asian branch was enough to get the plan waved into action. They had far more important things to worry about without getting sidetracked by one of Dumbledore’s quirky ideas. That left the headmaster with full control, just the way he preferred it.
Lupin’s presence was doubly useful, or so Dumbledore had assured him. He had intimate knowledge of the escaped criminal, making him a good defense to have on hand at the school. And he was proficient at dealing with dementors, which was particularly useful these days. The only drawback was that because of him they’d had to wait until after the full moon to invite the players. It meant the tournament itself would conclude a week after the scheduled trip to Hogsmead, instead of being a replacement for the trip. Dumbledore seemed confident no one at the Ministry would notice or question this change in plans. Lupin had little choice but to take his word for it.
All of the reasons aside, Lupin found himself very interested in Dumbledore’s idea, and in the players themselves. He’d never heard of muggle athletes catching the attention of wizards before. Only someone as eccentric as Dumbledore would have thought to invite a group of such athletes to Hogwarts as an introduction for the students to other ‘types’ of magic. Looking at the players, who mostly appeared old enough to have already graduated from Hogwarts, Lupin didn’t see any sign of them being magically inclined.
They were definitely healthier looking than a lot of his own students, physically fit being the choice term. The older ones, some of whom he recognized from photos as being the captains, gave off an aura of confidence and experience. He did sense a tiny hint of something coming from the ones Dumbledore had warned him about, the so-called ‘tensai’ players. But the majority of them looked like typical teenagers, curious, glowing with youth, and eager for adventure. Above all else, they looked like muggles. They even pushed and bickered like muggles when they clambered onto the bus, more interested in who got which seats than in the bus itself.
Lupin had replaced the Knight Bus’s typical conductor, so he had a front row seat, just a bit behind the driver, and in clear view of the two rows of players. Ernie Prang, the usual driver, had cast one long stare at him the moment the muggles climbed on board. After that, he’d set his eyes forward and seemingly managed to block out the noise behind him. Lupin didn’t push him to speak. Dumbledore had done some heavy-handed magic on the bus, and Ernie resented that. He’d been driving the Knight Bus for years and considered it his baby. Having it turned into a veritable port key, just to save a bunch of muggles from panicking, was a very deep insult.
Lupin had tried to explain that it was actually the bridge that would function as the port key, and that the bus was more like a bottle to stabilize the contents – passengers in this case – during the transfer. Although the magic was thick, the details were really very simple. A person who traveled using a port key felt significant discomfort and disorientation. But if that person were carrying, say, a bottle of water with a fish in it, the fish would feel very little due to the insulation. It was the bottle that would suffer the disturbance. None of this reasoning had soothed Ernie’s ruffled pride. It was best to just let him alone and hope he didn’t abandon them once they reached the bridge. Lupin had never driven a vehicle, magical or muggle, and he wasn’t eager to try on something as difficult to manage as the Knight Bus.
By the time the players had stowed their bags on the upper level of the bus, and settled on who got to sit in which seat, Lupin found himself respecting the power of the team captains. Petty bickering subsided after a few sharp words, and there was absolute silence when Ernie started the bus into motion. Even the sight of buildings and scenery jumping to get out of the bus’s way didn’t cause the sort of panic Lupin had been prepared for. If anything, the teens seemed to resent the lurches and twisting movements more than the dynamics of how the bus traveled.
“Momo-senpai, itai,” Ryoma groaned for the third time in as many minutes.
He was sitting by the window on the left-hand side, third row back, with Momo next to him, and Taichi Dan on the outside. Every time the bus made a right turn, Momo lurched over and jammed him into the wall. He might have passed it off as an accident, except the big lug kept grinning at him. And the last time he’d shoved his teammate in retaliation, little Dan had gone right off the seat and into the aisle. Tachibana, who was on the outside of the seat across from them, had caught the Yamabuki boy before he could smash his head into the floor. Ryoma had still gotten a reprimand from Tezuka for playing around.
To make matters worse, Eiji kept snickering from the seat in front of theirs. The redhead was on the aisle with Oishi next to him, and Saeki in the window seat. For some reason, Oishi never looked back in time to see Momo play crush the freshman, while Eiji had the exact timing down and had yet to miss it. Honestly, Ryoma was beginning to wish he’d sat in the back with Kabaji and Akutsu. Not only would they not voluntarily touch him, they probably wouldn’t try to talk to him, either.
Kabaji had gone back when he found no room for him near Atobe. Akutsu, of course, had purposely sat in the very back, putting as much distance as possible between him and the brown-haired wizard seated at the front of the bus. A less appealing choice of seating would be across the aisle from the silent players, where Reiji and Wakato were once more looking out of place. Ryoma wasn’t sure, but he suspected they wouldn’t have tried to talk to him any more than Kabaji. Either way, the back seats were beginning to look very attractive.
The bus took a quick curve as a line of apartment buildings failed to hop out of its way fast enough for the driver's impatience. Most of the bus's occupants lurched to the left.
“Itai,” yelped Ryoma.
“For god’s sake, Momo,” Kamio exclaimed from the seat behind them. “Can’t you control yourself for five minutes? You’re making that Yamabuki kid blush. Hell, you're making me blush.”
“I’m not blushing, desu,” said Dan. He had his head ducked, his hands curled tightly on the back of the seat in front of him, and on the edge of his own seat. So far he’d kept his attention on not flying into the aisle again, and not getting tossed up against Momo, either. He was quite proud about that, considering how much trouble Momo seemed to be having. “I won’t hit anyone, desu!”
Momo grinned at the boy and then flashed a scowl over the seat at Kamio. “It’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.”
“Liar,” Ryoma grumbled, rubbing his poor shoulder.
Eiji snickered for a second. Then he flashed an innocent smile at Oishi. So far his partner had no idea what was going on behind them. He planned to keep it that way.
“Well,” Momo drawled, his purple eyes glinting on the three teens seated behind him, “would you rather I do what they’re doing, Echizen? Kamio doesn’t seem to mind it.”
Ryoma craned his neck and peaked into the seat behind them. Sengoku grinned from the aisle and waggled his fingers in greeting. His left arm was resting on the back of the seat, keeping him from sliding into Shinji. The blue-haired tensai didn’t seem to appreciate the effort, judging from the way he was leaning forward a little to avoid so much as brushing that arm. Kamio, who’d picked the window seat before he knew Sengoku would be joining them, was sitting with his back against the window, only half in the seat. Shinji had braced his left hand on the window over Kamio’s right shoulder to keep himself from lurching and crushing his teammate. Ryoma stared at the interesting seating arrangement for a moment of silence. Then he whipped back around and slunk into his seat.
“Iya da,” Ryoma muttered. “I’m not sitting like that. You wouldn’t brace yourself on the window. You'd just use it as an excuse to fall in my lap.”
“O-oi,” Momo blurted. What had been intended to embarrass Kamio now had a blush hitting his cheeks instead.
“Nya,” Eiji whispered from in front of them, his eyes wide and scandalized. “Don’t tempt him, Ochibi! At least not in front of Taichi-kun…”
Oishi turned a warning look on his partner. “Eiji…”
Eiji promptly about-faced, his expression ever so innocent. “Hai? What is it, Oishi?”
Kamio snickered and shot a look at Shinji. “I tried to help, but we just gave them ideas.”
“Pushy and a pervert,” Shinji muttered softly, scowling at the back of Momo’s head where the boy’s blush had turned his ears faintly pink. “Taking advantage of this rough bus ride like that. He’s as bad as some other people...”
He turned his scowl on Sengoku, eliciting a wide shameless grin from the Yamabuki teen. The guy had insisted on sitting with them and sure enough, he’d knocked him right into Kamio the first sharp turn the bus took. Now they were stuck with him, and frankly, the seating arrangement was uncomfortable. His arm was sore from bracing himself, and Sengoku refused to move his own arm so he couldn’t even lean back in the seat. Shinji could only think of one reason for the stubbornness. The orange-haired player was still mad that he hadn’t let Kamio sit in the middle.
“You can move your arm, you know,” Shinji muttered. “I’m not going to fall anymore, so it doesn’t matter if you bump into me now. You said you were being considerate, but it’s not considerate to make this ride more uncomfortable than it should be. I don’t care if you hit me as long as it’s an accident. I only complained because you made me hit Kamio, and the wall is too hard for that. I’d rather you hit me than take the back of the seat. The seats fit three people, so I should be able to lean back without you taking my third. And you’re taking part of Kamio’s, too. Are you trying to reach him or something? He isn’t sitting far enough back for that, so you’re just wasting your time. You should go sit with that pushy pervert and let Echizen sit here. That way no one gets crushed and uncomfortable.”
Ryoma whipped back around before Sengoku could respond. “I like that idea.”
“I don’t,” Momo said, scowling at his teammate. “I don’t want to sit with him. I don’t know which of them he’s trying to grope, but he’s definitely up to something with that arm of his.”
“Don’t be mean, Omoshiro-kun,” Sengoku pouted. “I’m just being considerate.”
“But it’s not considerate,” Shinji repeated, frowning more than ever. “I don’t want your arm behind me. It’s rude. If Echizen wants to sit here, you should trade with him.”
“I don’t want to sit with him,” Momo said, louder this time, and glaring at Shinji. “If you didn’t want to sit with him, either, you should have picked a different seat before we left. Now you can just deal with it.”
“Oi,” Kamio scowled. “Don’t yell at him. You’re the one who started it, jumping all over the kid like that. Echizen doesn’t want to sit with you any more than you want to sit with Sengoku.”
“You know,” Sengoku said slowly, his expression just a tad miffed, “I’m feeling very unwanted here…”
“That’s because you are,” said Shinji, his tone absolutely reasonable.
“Oi…” Sengoku winced and pouted a little. Then he leaned over and blinked wide turquoise eyes at Shinji. “Tell you what, Ibu-kun. I’ll move my arm, and you stop trying to get me to switch seats. Deal?"
Shinji frowned and leaned further away. "I'd rather have Echizen."
"Well you can't have Echizen," Momo yelled. "You get him! Deal with it!"
"Stop yelling at him!" Kamio yelled back. "He's a foot away, moron!"
"Kamio," Tachibana barked.
Kamio eased up a few inches so he could see over the back of Momo's seat. He'd forgotten how close the quarters were in the bus. Tachibana and Ishida were seated right across the aisle from Momo, more than close enough for him to see the vein throbbing in his captain's temple. Kamio quickly dropped back into his seat and out of sight.
"Momoshiro," Tezuka said coldly.
Momo cringed, his ears flushing beet red as he slowly turned around to face the front again. Tezuka was seated against the window in the front right-hand seat, separated from the aisle by Fuji and Kawamura. But that wasn't nearly enough space when his captain used that tone. If they'd been at practice, Momo knew he'd have just been assigned a few hundred laps. He slunk down until his knees were bunched against the back of the seat in front of him, barely getting low enough that Tezuka couldn't see him anymore. Beside him, Ryoma was scowling beneath the bill of his cap.
"Good going, Momo-senpai," Ryoma muttered. "There's no way I'll get to switch seats now."
"I don't see why you'd want to, anyway," Momo grumbled, his expression a mix between a pout and a scowl. "Unless you just want to go falling all over Shinji."
Ryoma bit back his instinctive retort, his scowl shifting slowly into a sly smirk. "Oh. I get it. Mada mada, Momo-senpai."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Not telling," Ryoma sniffed.
"Echizen...!"
"Iya da."
Oishi turned a disapproving look back on them. “Whatever you two are doing back there, stop it. You could learn something from Taichi-kun’s good behavior.”
“Thank you, senpai!” Dan beamed, fluffing a little at the compliment.
Momo glowered over at the Yamabuki boy, while Ryoma just snorted and locked his gaze on the dark blurred scenery outside the window. Riding the bus was like taking a very long trip on some virtual reality roller coaster, only it was too dark to see what they were going past and there were no protective restraints holding them in place. If he hadn’t had a freshman-crushing lug beside him, he could have dozed off out of sheer boredom. It really made him wish he could have stayed on the upper level with Karupin and their luggage, where everything was carefully strapped down and quiet.
At the front of the bus, Tezuka was giving Lupin a semi-formal nod of apology for the disturbance. He would have had an easier time looking contrite without Fuji laughing beside him. He didn’t know whether it was the wizard’s expression or Momo’s outburst that the tensai found so amusing, but Fuji definitely seemed to be enjoying himself. If the ride hadn’t been so bumpy, Tezuka would happily have traded Fuji off for Momoshiro – putting the one out of teasing range, and the other where he could watch him better. He should have known Oishi wouldn’t be able to keep Momo and Echizen from starting something, especially with the two Fudomine players seated right behind them. He’d hoped having the obedient, if overly enthusiastic, Taichi Dan sitting next to them would rub off on the two of them, but that obviously wasn’t the case.
“Don’t scowl so much, Tezuka,” Fuji murmured. “It’s good that Momo is so protective of his kouhai. We wouldn’t want Echizen stolen away by Fudomine.”
“It’s more like possessive,” Mizuki drawled, amusement dripping off his tone. “It seems no one in Seigaku likes to share.”
Fuji made a show of arranging his grip on the bar that ran in front of his seat, as if he were suddenly concerned about sliding and inconveniencing Kawamura. He flashed a smile when a light brush of fingers had Tezuka moving his own hands further to the right. His captain sent him a look.
Lupin, who still wasn’t quite sure what he’d missed, glanced from Tezuka, over to the St. Rudolph players seated in the front of the left row. The dark-haired teen who’d spoken was sitting in the middle, leaning forward a little and scowling over at Segaku’s tensai. On the aisle, their redhaired captain appeared to be asleep, though the tight hand he’d closed over the bar that separated them from the driver suggested otherwise. Only the freshman seated by the window met his gaze.
“Is the ride always this bumpy?” asked Yuuta.
As if on cue, the bus twisted to the right again. A muffled, and now very familiar, yelp sounded from three seats back. Mizuki, who hadn’t had a very tight grip on the bar in front of him, almost knocked both himself and Yuuta out of the seat. Mizuki flashed a resentful look at the back of the driver’s head.
“Nice reaction time, Yuuta-kun,” Mizuki said quickly, his expression smoothing into an appreciative smile. “Thank you.”
Yuuta flushed and quickly let go of Mizuki’s arms. “It’s okay – I mean - you’re welcome, Mizuki-san.”
Saeki leaned forward from the seat behind them, inadvertently making the two teammates separate further. “What about it, Lupin-san? This is one wild ride, and the rest of us don’t even have a bar to hold onto.”
Lupin sent one wary glance at the driver, taking in Ernie’s narrow eyes and locked jaw. He didn’t think the man had performed a charm before he arrived, so he probably couldn’t understand what the Japanese teens were saying. But there was no way of knowing for certain without asking him. Lupin winced a little and flashed Yuuta an apologetic look.
“The Knight Bus has never been driven in Japan before,” said Lupin, “so all of the magic is spot-work being set up as we go along. The ride will be much smoother in London, on routes that get regular traffic. Also, the number of people riding at one time is usually closer to ten, so there’s less worry about a little jostling. I could modify the seats with bars or ties of some sort, if you think that would help.”
Saeki blinked and exchanged a wary look with Oishi. “Ties? Like what?”
“I’m not sure,” Lupin admitted, smiling weakly. “The front bars were actually meant to separate the driver and conductor from the passengers. Normally they function as a shield for miscellaneous items and spells that might go astray. We had that charm removed for your trip. I only have a faint idea of the sort of restraints used in normal muggle conveyances. You’re speaking of something to wrap around you and hold you in the seat, correct?”
Saeki suddenly imagined the seat mutating behind him, tentacle-like extensions reaching out and binding him, like plastic-wrap, into the seat. His face paled and he abruptly sat back.
“Nevermind,” Saeki said quickly. “Forget I said anything. A little…jostling…never hurt anyone, right? It’s fine.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to turn down the offer,” Fuji commented, his eyes easing open to glint over at Seaki. “Restraints would certainly keep some people from getting into trouble.” His sharp gaze flicked to a certain black-haired manager.
Saeki grinned at the back of Mizuki’s head and muffled a laugh in his hand. Lupin blinked and glanced quickly from Saeki, over to the somewhat scary looking Fuji, and back to Mizuki, whose eyebrow was twitching. Yuuta scowled and leaned harder into his seat so there was no chance of his brother seeing him past his teammates.
“Like I said,” Mizuki drawled, his forced smile almost twitching in time with his eyebrow, “Seigaku players are possessive, even of people who are not on their team...”
Fuji’s eyes closed in a curious smile, which he turned on the silent Kawamura. “Na, Taka-san, do you hear something squeaking? I hope nothing has gotten loose above us.”
Kawamura flashed a harried look from Mizuki, over to Fuji, who was now glancing at the ceiling with a worried expression. “Ano…”
“Fuji,” said Tezuka, his entire demeanor reproving.
“Yes?” Fuji smiled, leaning closer to the taller teen and enjoying the wary tint that appeared on his captain’s face. “Is something wrong, Tezuka? You’re still scowling. Echizen isn’t being molested at the moment, so surely you can relax a little.”
A choked sound erupted from the freshman in question, and Tezuka’s face took on an interested amber shade. Now his eyebrow was twitching. “Fuji…”
“Really,” Fuji said sweetly, rubbing a soothing hand on Tezuka’s shoulder. “Your concern for our dear freshman is very commendable, but you shouldn’t get so tense about it.”
Echizen half-stood in his seat so he could scowl over at the tensai. “Fuji-senpai. If you want to flirt with buchou, leave me out of it.”
“Really,” Eiji piped in with a wide grin. “Ochibi already has his hands full keeping Momo off him!”
Fuji laughed, Momo erupted in a coughing fit, and Oishi flushed dark red.
“Eiji…!” hissed Oishi.
“What?” asked Eiji. “What’d I say?”
“Tezuka?” Fuji murmured, in a little concerned voice. “Are you all right? You don’t look well…”
Lupin stared at the tensai, his expression dazed and uncertain. That ‘something’ he’d sensed from the boy was now a genuine sensation – skill and danger. How he could sense skill from someone, he didn’t know, and why someone skilled at teasing would be a danger, he couldn’t say. He could only hope the hints and suggestions being passed around by the teens were merely playful barbs. He’d heard much worse things from middle-aged wizards after a few too many drinks. Hearing it from children, though…
A low chuckle started from the seat directly behind Tezuka, echoed by snickers here and there from the Hyoutei players scattered along the length of the bus. Tezuka slowly forced himself to relax, uncurling his hands from where they were clenched around the bar to keep himself from doing some sort of bodily harm to the smiling tensai seated next to him.
“I take back what I said,” Atobe drawled with a sly smile. “This is a good seating arrangement.”
The Hyoutei captain had been quite annoyed when Fuji and Kawamura had taken the seat Tezuka was in. Now, sitting directly behind Tezuka, he was in the perfect position to enjoy his rival’s discomfort, and to appreciate the tensai’s skill. He'd had no idea Fuji Syusuke was this interesting. Not only did he have Tezuka fuming, even Yukimura was stifling a smile at the Seigaku player’s antics.
“Can I offer you an aspirin, Tezuka?" Yukimura whispered, as if Sanada and Atobe wouldn't overhear him, anyway. “You do look a little pale."
"No, thank you," Tezuka returned in a droll voice. He ventured a sidelong look at Fuji and his eyebrow twitched. It was immoral for someone so sadistic to have such a cute smile.
Fuji turned a little so he could direct that innocent smile at Yukimura. "Do you always carry aspirin with you?"
"It pays to be prepared," said Yukimura, with an almost impish smile. "You never know when the team will become a little...rowdy. Sanada seems especially prone to headaches these days. I can't imagine why."
"Interesting," Atobe remarked softly.
His gaze flicked past Yukimura and locked on Sanada, who was staring rigidly ahead, his cap shading his eyes. Rikkaidai's vice captain had sent him a single scowl when he'd sat down but hadn't said one word since boarding the bus. Atobe had made some effort to provoke a response. He'd put an arm over the back of their seat for the double purpose of keeping him from sliding in an undignified manner, and assuming a familiarity with Yukimura that he'd been sure would rile Sanada. The only reaction his move had gotten was a slight tightening of Sanada's jaw. Atobe found it nearly as intriguing as Yukimura's seeming willingness to have a stranger's arm behind him.
"Is it a recent development?" Atobe asked Yukimura, his silky tone far more familiar than was appropriate. One benefit of having such a deep voice was that it sounded rather like a purr when he made soft inquiries. Atobe was rather smug about that, and rightfully so. "He does seem more stoic than he was during the tournament. I hadn't even thought that possible."
"Ah," sighed Yukimura. "I think I stress him out more than being captain during my absence did..."
"Surely not," Atobe drawled. "I can't imagine anyone finding your company stressful, Yukimura-kun."
Tezuka turned in his seat, a dumbfounded look on his face. Did Atobe really plan to start stalking Yukimura now?
Fuji smiled beside him, and Tezuka quickly turned to face the front again. The last thing he wanted was to make Fuji think he was jealous. He simply couldn't get past the new level of gall Atobe appeared to have attained. Atobe would be lucky if Sanada didn't kill him, not to mention the rest of Rikkaidai. Everyone knew how dedicated the team was to their formerly incapacitated captain. Where Fudomine was a pack of wolves when their leader was threatened, Rikkaidai was a pride of lions capable of ripping their enemies to shreds. Tezuka could already imagine it. Kirihara and Sanada versus Atobe - it would be a bloodbath. Which, now that Tezuka stopped to think about it, might not be such a bad thing.
Tezuka gave a slow smile that was only really visible around his eyes. Fuji actually blinked when he saw it. Tezuka didn't explain. He just handed the tensai a small bag of chips he'd confiscated from him at the beginning of their ride. His teammate gave him a wary, wide-eyed, look and didn't even try to offer him some of the disgusting snack. That showed exactly how startled he was. It made the smile spread from Tezuka's eyes to his mouth. Fuji stared.
Very aware of the tense arm next to him, Yukimura flashed Atobe a warm smile that belied the playful glitter in his eyes. "You can call me Seiichi, Atobe-kun."
Atobe's eyes widened and a rare look of unguarded surprise took over his face. He barely managed to hide it when Sanada turned to glare at him.
"No he can't," Sanada snapped.
"Sanada," Yukimura said softly, as if he were surprised by his teammate's reaction. "Don't be rude..."
Always suave, Atobe recovered very quickly, spurred by the open challenge in Sanada's dark glare. He let his quickly-made smirk ease into a more natural, and doubly smug smile.
He'd been unsure what to make of Sanada since their interrupted match before the tournament. Even playing together, and finding that they were similar enough to follow the same rhythm, hadn't told him why he was so inspired to defeat the Rikkaidai player. Atobe was confident that of the two of them, Tezuka was more worried about him than Sanada. And still, he felt compelled to crush Sanada before taking his rightful position as Tezuka's ultimate rival. With that mindset, being given such a blatant opening to crack Sanada's defenses was like waving a cake in front of Marui.
It didn't hurt that Yukimura was the one who'd given him that opening. If there was any truth to the rumors Atobe had heard, he might very well have to defeat Yukimura when he was finished with Sanada. He had an idea that would prove to be a very interesting match.
Atobe met Sanada's threatening stare with a lazy smile. "I'm not bothered by his rudeness...Seiichi-kun."
Yukimura smiled at him again, and this time they both had that playful glitter in their eyes. Sanada twitched.
"Don't call him that," Sanada ground out, still speaking past Yukimura without actually looking at him.
"Why shouldn't I?" asked Atobe. "As long as Seiichi doesn't mind..."
"Really," said Yukimura, his tone placating. He placed a light hand over one of Sanada's curled fists and pretended not to notice how the taller teen froze at the contact. "It is my name, after all. Atobe-kun isn't on our team, so it isn't a matter of disrespect if he wants to address me by my first name. You shouldn't be so unyielding about something so insignificant. Ne?"
Sanada turned his eyes forward once more, his tone low and a tad resentful. "You didn't offer your first name to Tezuka."
"Well, no," Yukimura admitted softly, smiling as he glanced at the back of Tezuka's head. "He's never been your dance partner."
Sanada's head tilted forward, his eyes closing in a tight grimace. "I'm going to kill Akaya..."
Yukimura didn't seem worried about the imminent death of his favorite kouhai. He turned a curious, teasing, smile on Atobe, who appeared to be as irked by the 'dance' reference as Sanada was.
"No one would let me watch the tape of your doubles match in the tournament," Yukimura said to Atobe, with a wistful sigh. "But Akaya tells me you and Sanada made quite the pair, with choreography that would be the envy of any professional dancer. I knew he was graceful with a sword, but I had no idea he could dance. Was it fun...?"
Sanada and Atobe looked away from each other with identical scowls, their denials sounding at the same time. "No."
Yukimura smiled and smothered a small laugh-like cough behind his hand.
At the front of the bus, Fuji had given up trying to decipher Tezuka's unexpected smile. He was snacking on the small bag of interestingly flavored chips Eiji had given him when they boarded the bus. He'd offered to share with Tezuka earlier, which was what had gotten the bag confiscated. Since the chips did have a rather unique flavor, and he was a tiny bit wary at Tezuka's unusually good mood, he didn't make any attempt to push the snack onto anyone else.
"Are you sure it's all right for me to eat on the bus?" Fuji asked Lupin.
"It's fine," Lupin nodded. "Normally the Knight Bus has accommodations for long trips, including semi-private beds in the back. We had to do quite a bit of remodeling for your group. I think Dumbledore used a muggle school bus as the model, though I could be wrong."
"No, that sounds right," said Fuji. "The seats are very similar to public transportation. Though the speed is different. Does he always drive this fast?"
Lupin didn't glance at Ernie, but he did wince a little and tighten his grip on the edges of his seat. So far the really rough turns seemed to coincide with players saying things where the driver could hear them. Even if Ernie didn't understand the words, he seemed to dislike the sound of them.
"It could go a little slower," said Lupin, "but we're hoping to get you to Hogwarts in time for the evening gathering. The time change may cause some sluggishness, so you'll all be able to rest afterward."
"And we're going to drive over water?" Fuji inquired, with a playful smile.
Lupin gave a somewhat weak smile in return. "Not exactly. We'll be jumping in about...a half hour. A...transfer of sorts. It will take us from here to London in a matter of seconds."
"Magic," said Fuji. His tone made it clear that while he found the idea amusing, he was open-minded enough to believe in almost anything - just as long as it didn't involve owls and letters.
"That's right," Lupin nodded. "It shouldn't be too disorienting, though. If all goes well, you won't feel more than a slight tremor, possibly a bit of headiness or motion sickness."
A very soft grumbling sound caught Lupin's ear. He glanced over in time to catch Ernie muttering to himself. The warning was early enough that he stayed in his seat when the bus jerked, the left wheels skidding over a curb that had stubbornly resisted the magic telling it to get the hell out of the way, and then the right wheels actually lifting off the ground when the bus made its turn. For the first time, Lupin wondered if the difficulty of the ride was due to Ernie's resentment, or to the area itself. He'd never considered that some places in Japan might be resistant to magic, but that curb had definitely refused the order to move, and the buildings shifted notably slower than the ones in England.
The conflicting bumps jolted nearly everyone, save the ones in front, who had tight grips on the bars, and Momo, who had his knees wedged against the seat tightly enough to provide an anchor for both Echizen and Dan.
Sengoku, who'd taken his arm off the back of the seat to placate Shinji, scrambled to keep from being thrown into the aisle. Then he leaned toward the aisle as everything on the bus seemed to tilt to the left. Beside him, Shinji's bracing arm gave out and the two Fudomine players wound up on the floor, crowded in the slight space between seats.
In the seat behind theirs, Oshitari and Gakuto were among the few who were little affected by the upheaval. At the first sign of a shake, Gakuto had latched onto his partner's arm. Oshitari reacted by wrapping one arm over the back of their seat to keep him lodged by the window, and the other around the slight boy's waist. Aside from Oshitari's right hand getting hit by someone in the seat behind them, neither suffered from the sudden shakes.
Jackal had been really good about not complaining when Marui knocked into him during the ride. They couldn't help the jolts, after all, and he did have the window seat. He was also the undeniably stronger of the two. He'd stabilized himself by the window in what he thought would be the best position to buffer Marui when the boy was tossed into him. He hadn't been expecting to be thrown to the right, let alone to be thrown to the right and then back to the left. The first jolt tossed him forward, his elbow striking Oshitari's hand as he twisted to keep from knocking Marui into the aisle. But the second jolt had him falling back awkwardly. He ended up on the floor, one leg caught on the seat, the other bunched beneath him. A few dazed minutes passed before he realized his partner had wound up in the aisle after all.
In the back left-hand seat, Reiji and Wakato were two more of the less battered occupants. Wakato retained a sore shoulder from getting tossed against the window, but Reiji's tight grip on the seat kept him from getting thrown much at all. If it hadn't been for Kabaji bumping into him, he wouldn't have raised so much as an eyebrow over the rough ride.
Kabaji hadn't reacted much to the previous shakes. He'd blinked a little the first time Akutsu slid against him, but he wasn't the sort to question someone who scowled like the Yamabuki player did. He'd simply accepted his role as a barrier to keep the gray-haired teen from flying into the aisle. This particular jolt caught him off guard because he was the one who fell into Akutsu. The angry boy reacted by shoving him away with a growl, just as the bus tilted to the left. Kabaji didn't stop to think. He caught Akutsu's arms in an attempt to right his balance. Instead he ended up pulling both out of the seat and into the aisle.
In the seat in front of Kabaji, Shishido had reacted in a somewhat selfish manner. His first thought was that he was in the middle, so he wouldn't get crushed or knocked out of the seat. He put an arm out so he wouldn't hurt Ohtori, who was seated by the window. His partner was far more team-oriented. Ohtori caught Shishido when the bus tilted to the left and pulled him away from the aisle. Neither of them remembered to catch the sleeping boy who'd been sitting on the outside of their seat. Jirou joined the pile-up growing in the aisle.
In the seat across from Oshitari, Renji, Inui and Kaidoh were suddenly very glad Lupin had found a makeshift cage when they'd stored their belongings. Having to hold a cat would have made their impromptu reactions more difficult. On the aisle, Renji braced himself to absorb any impact that might come his way. Inui caught hold of the seat in front of them, his other hand moving to Kaidoh's shoulder to keep the younger player from sliding and upsetting either him or Renji. Aside from Kaidoh glowering with resentment at having to be held in place like a loose piece of furniture, the three weathered the shakes without incident.
Ahead of them, Renji's teammates weren't nearly so organized. In the middle, Niou fell into Yagyuu, lodging his partner up against the window. Then he tried to stay himself the same way Kabaji had, by grabbing Yagyuu's arm and hoping the boy was secure enough to hold them both in place. The left-hand tilt pulled both toward the aisle, Niou knocking into Kirihara and pushing the black-haired boy right out of the seat. Neither of the doubles players noticed this, because they were occupied with the...interesting...position they'd wound up in.
At the front of the bus, Lupin was in a state of mild shock. There were four or five teenagers in the aisle, others groaning or yelling about the way the tilting had tossed them into each other. All he could think was that Dumbledore would never entrust him with a chaperone role ever again. He'd be lucky if none of them were hurt because a lot of them were visibly - and loudly - pissed off. And the things some of them were saying...
"Get off me!" Akutsu yelled, shoving furiously at Kabaji. For all his strength, there was a notable difference in weight, and the Hyoutei player was being way too slow about removing himself. Kabaji shifted a bit and Akutsu's face flamed a furious red. "Where do you think you're touching, you freak!"
"Akutsu-senpai!" Dan cried, forgetting for the moment that he wasn't supposed to call him senpai anymore.
"Lucky!" Sengoku laughed, hugging the boy who'd been tossed across the aisle and right into his arms. "That worked out great...!"
"W-what are you doing?" Kirihara demanded, his cheeks bright red. He pushed against Sengoku's chest and scrambled to get off him. Somehow he'd wound up half on the floor and half in the Yamabuki player's lap.
"Easy there," Sengoku grinned. "If you keep moving your arm like that I'm going to think you really like me."
"Jackal!" Marui accused, pushing himself off the floor so he could glare at his somewhat upside-down partner. "What did you kick me for? And you, are you okay? That'll teach you not to sleep on a bus, ne?"
"I...I..." Jirou stared with wide, horrified, eyes, his body frozen with shock and the abrupt rough awakening. He had no idea where he was. His first thought was that he was in the middle of a hallucination, which sometimes happened if he woke up too fast. He was lying across the lap of none other than Marui Bunta, who appeared to be talking right to him. Jirou blinked twice and considered hyperventilating till he passed out again.
"If he's injured he won't be able to play anymore and it'll be all my fault," Shinji was mumbling to himself, dazed and almost unaware of the fact that he was still on the floor. "I didn't mean to. I wouldn't do something like that on purpose, especially not to my own teammate. I'm not like that pushy pervert who actually likes hurting his friends. My hand was a little numb and I lost my grip when the bus tilted to the right. I slipped. It was an accident, not that it'll make any difference if he's injured."
"Will you stop it?" Kamio sighed, tugging on Shinji's arm and trying to pull the boy back into the seat. "I said I was fine. You're not even heavy enough to hurt me. When's the last time you ate, anyway? I think you've lost weight since getting that cat. Damn Momoshiro..."
"My head..." Jackal groaned, kicking his foot and trying to right himself without much success. "Where the hell did Marui go...?"
"E-Eiji," Oishi murmured, his face a pretty pink. "You can let go now..."
"Unya," Eiji pouted, not so much as loosening the hold he had on his partner. "We might get tossed again and I don't want to end up on the floor with them. Did you see what that Kabaji is doing to Akutsu? No way I'm getting thrown over there with them, no way!"
"Let go of him now," Sanada growled down at Atobe. He'd caught Yukimura during the confusion, but Atobe's supposedly secure hold on the back of their seat had fallen. The Hyoutei captain's arm was now curled over Yukimura's shoulders, the owner of that arm pressed snuggly against the blue-haired boy's side.
"He's not hurting me," Yukimura started, though the teasing note was missing from his voice.
"That's not the point," Sanada glared. "Atobe...you have two seconds..."
"What a tone," Atobe sniffed, removing his arm and straightening his somewhat rumpled clothing. "You'd think I did it on purpose. Take my word for it, Sanada. If I wanted to snuggle with someone, I'd use a little more finesse than that."
"This seat is actually pretty comfortable," Niou said cheerfully. "But you know, I never thought you'd end up on top."
"Would you care to remove your arm from my waist so I can get up?" Yagyuu returned calmly, as if he weren't lying on top of his partner in a seemingly embarrassing position.
"Definitely a gentleman," Niou grinned. "But don't tell me you have trouble getting up. That kills the mood..."
"What are you two doing?" Kirihara demanded, twisting around to stare at his teammates. "Get this womanizing freak to let go of me! He thinks I'm a girl...!"
"I do not," Sengoku said, his tone a bit insulted. "I'm not a womanizer, either. What's so wrong about flirting now and then?"
"We're not having a conversation here!" Kirihara blurted. "Let go!"
"Okay," sighed Sengoku, "but I think we'd have more fun if I didn't."
"If you even look at me, I'll rip your throat out," Akutsu growled. He shoved past a dazed looking Kabaji and resumed his seat. "You can sit with those Jyousei losers."
"Oi!" Wakato growled, "watch your mouth!"
"Shut up or you're next," Akutsu warned, his glare deadlier than ever.
"Oi, Jackal," Marui called, blinking down at his partner. "Are you going to get up or what? At least move your leg. You're taking up the whole seat and you're not even sitting on it."
"Is he sitting with us?" asked Jackal. He finally extricated himself, rather painfully, from the weird position he'd landed in.
"Why not," shrugged Marui. "I think he's sleeping with his eyes open, anyway."
"Shishido-san...?" Ohtori murmured, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Ano...Shishido-san. Rikkaidai took Jirou..."
"We can get him back later," Shishido sniffed, not bothering to move the arm he'd wrapped over his partner's shoulders. "Kabaji should have been the one watching him, anyway."
"I'm not a table, Inui-senpai."
"W-what are you talking about?" Inui blinked, a faint smile making it to his face.
Kaidoh scowled down at the hand his senpai still had on his shoulder, pressing him against the window. "I'm not a table," he repeated, "and this isn't a ship. I'm not going to slide anywhere, so you don't have to hold me still."
"Interesting way to put it," Renji commented. "And quite right. Or is there another reason you're still holding him, Sadaharu...?"
Inui blinked behind his glasses and flashed a worrisome smirk at his childhood friend. "Trying to get data on me, Renji?"
"Always," said Renji. "But at the moment I'm just noting that you still haven't moved your hand."
"Oh. Sorry about that, Kaidoh." If Inui hadn't been wearing an evil scientist grin, he might have actually been believable.
"Move it," Kirihara growled, shoving Niou's head to the side so he could sit down. He didn't even try to figure out why the two boys hadn't gotten up yet, or why Niou was laughing. All that mattered to him was that he'd just been felt up by a rival player, one he'd been sure was as girl-crazy as they got. He didn't know whether to blush and feel violated or to start plotting a very painful revenge.
Renji leaned forward to look Kirihara over. "How was it, Akaya?"
"What?"
"He didn't kiss you?" Renji asked with a light frown.
Kirihara's face flamed in a mix of embarrassment and outrage. "Why the hell would he - that..."
He stared for a long moment, taking in his teammate's expression. Then he exploded in absolute horror. "Yanagi! You....you set me up! That's why you made me sit on the outside...! I'm gonna kill you. I am absolutely going to kill you..."
"I'll take that as a no," said Renji, with a poker face that neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. "Maybe next time."
Beside him, Inui was taking notes in the notebook he kept specially for information on Renji. "Good data..."
"So," Momo drawled, staring back at Sengoku with his eyebrow raised. "Got a thing for psychos, do you?"
Sengoku blinked wide turquoise eyes. "Psychos? You mean Kiri-kun? He's not psycho, he's just misunderstood..."
Kirihara stiffened at the nickname and shot a horrified look across the aisle. "What did he call me...?"
"Kiri-kun," said Inui, who was now taking notes in a general 'rivals' notebook.
"Cute name," said Renji. "But perhaps you should have him call you Akaya instead. I don't think he'd mind switching."
"Stop playing around and enjoy living while you have the chance," Kirihara growled at Renji. He whipped back around and glared icily at the back of the seat in front of him, muttering softly under his breath. "Yanagi's lost it...I'd be doing everyone a favor by killing him...damnit...Sanada would kill me, though...and Yukimura would kick me off the team...can't kill him...I'll just have to make him wish I had...yeah...how to do it though..."
"Akaya just went over the edge," Niou remarked, smirking at his partner, who was once more seated calmly by the window. "I bet it was a short trip."
"Ne, Yuushi," Gakuto yawned, curling his legs beside him on the seat. "You mind if I nap on you?"
"Not at all," said Oshitari. "I'll wake you when we get there."
"Mm, sounds good..."
"Are you sure they're all right back there?" Lupin asked for the fifth time. His expression was still dazed, a bit pinched, and more than a little shocked.
"My team is," said Tezuka.
Akazawa glanced over at the two teens sitting beside him and went back to feigning sleep. Aside from Yuuta looking ready to doze off, his teammates were unaffected.
"Naturally my teammates are fine," said Atobe. His tone was just shy of the normal overbearing confidence. He hadn't yet decided if he liked where Jirou was sitting, and he definitely hadn't liked the intensely disturbing scene Kabaji had taken part in. But aside from them, his team was all accounted for.
"Nothing to worry too much about," Yukimura put in, smiling for the poor wizard's uncertain expression. "Accidents happen. I'm sure with a magic-driven bus like this, accidents happen even more often."
Lupin gave a slow, almost numb, nod. He didn't explain that it wasn't the bumps that worried him so much as the aftermath. As calm as the captains were, he had a somewhat disturbing idea that this sort of behavior was normal for them. If that were the case, he didn't even want to imagine what would happen once they reached Hogwarts. House rivalry was one thing. This was...well...he still hadn't decided what this was. Scary, maybe...
.-.
TBC
Notes: I've heard rumors about Niou and Yagyuu being 'twins' in the manga, who look identical enough they can trade places and switch identities. That's very different from the anime, where they look nothing alike and are not related. For this fic, follow the anime.
Next up, the second half of the trip, aka, chaos in London. ;p