Nekomata

By the time Akutugawa Jirou was in his second year of junior high, his mornings had pretty much fallen into a routine. Still half asleep, a pancake hanging out of his mouth, his mother would fluff out his ears and push him out the door into the bundle of energy that was the Mukahi brothers. Gakuto would prance along beside him as he shuffled, somehow managing to slow to Jirou's pace, while Daiki would skip circles around both of them, occasionally stopping to tug on Jirou's tail for attention. Gakuto would always complain about tennis, about how he should be a regular already, about how he wished he had a partner who would support him while he did his acrobatics play, and why wouldn't Jirou ever play doubles with him? Every so often Jirou's steps would slow down until he finally stopped, head drooped towards the ground and eyes closed, and then Gakuto would only shove him along without missing a beat in his ranting. Then it was drop Daiki off at the elementary school, take a quick nap in homeroom, and then be woken up by Kamida-sensei after class started.

It may have been pretty boring, but it suited Jirou just fine. After that, he'd usually drift through the rest of the day, though not without helpful pushes and shoves from those around him. Then it was tennis practice, unless it was cancelled, and another day of Atobe running the team while Izumi-buchou just stood behind him looking a little scared.

"Why aren't you the vice captain?" Jirou had asked him once, at the beginning of their second year, while he was half lucid and draped over Atobe's back. They were in the new locker room that Atobe had built, on one of the rather plush benches, and Atobe was inspecting something or the other. Maybe it was his racket, but Jirou couldn't remember for sure.

Atobe's made a face like he had just caught a whiff of Kabaji's dirty laundry. "And be second best? Hardly."

"Well then, why aren't you the captain?"

"Sometimes," Atobe said, with a rather long suffering sigh, "one must make sacrifices in the name of diplomacy."

Jirou didn't understand it when Atobe talked about diplomacy or politics, because Jirou was more of the straight forward type, and what did Atobe mean by politics when they were only in junior high anyway? But diplomacy and politics seemed to be a significant part of the world that Atobe was born into, so Jirou didn't say anything, and only wrapped his arms tighter around Atobe's shoulders as he let himself drift into the next level of sleep.

Atobe let him rest there on his back until he was finished with his current task, then he maneuvered slowly so that Jirou shifted ever so gently onto the bench. Atobe wasn't the type of person to be physically close to any one, but he didn't mind Jirou, because Jirou was pretty affectionate with every body. Atobe guessed he had to be, since he was always falling asleep on every one. Besides, Jirou was Jirou, and it was impossible for anyone not to be fond of him.

Sometimes, when they didn't have practice, Jirou tried to convince one of his friends to take a train with him to Rikkai. He wasn't allowed to go on those kind of trips by himself, not ever since he had fallen asleep in some rather comfortable bushes his first year and had been gone almost overnight. He finally woke up at two a.m. to seventy-four frantic messages from his mother, who was about to call the police she was so worried.

Atobe would take him sometimes, calling the whole experience some expression like "slumming it", and seemed to be amused by public transportation and such. Atobe preferred to travel with an entourage though, so when Atobe came with him, Kabaji also came, along with maybe one or two other random second or third years from Hyoutei. When Jirou came with so many people, Sanada would spend a big part of time glaring at them, and the first years started to get nervous.

Sometimes Gakuto would take him, but Gakuto complained the whole time they were there, about the long train ride, about his math teacher, and about pretty much anything in between. Sanada wasn't as angry when Jirou came with only one person, and since there were only two of them, Yukimura would give them snacks from the club room and rub Jirou's ears while they watched practice.

Yukimura was another reason Jirou didn't understand Atobe. After all, Yukimura was very diplomatic, and he was still captain of his team, and none of the third years seemed to have any problems following the sophomore.

At any rate, Jirou liked to watch Rikkai practice, because a lot of the players were on his level or higher, and it was always interesting to watch all the things they could do. Sometimes though, since it was only practice, it could be a little boring, but Marui always tried to keep it entertaining for him. Jirou came, after all, mostly to watch Marui, because even though Marui wasn't the best player on Rikkai, he played the same kind of tennis as Jirou only better.

"Watch this, Jirou!" Marui would call from the tennis courts, almost bouncing in excitement as his opponent waited patiently.

"Wow!" Jirou would yell, getting as close as he could to the courts without interfering and jumping up and down. It would no doubt be a move he had already seen a million times, but it never failed to amaze him. "Marui, you're so cool!"

Gakuto would sit on the bench and look bored and disinterested, because he didn't like having another redhead aside from him around. He also didn't like how Jirou was pretty much fangirling about said redhead.

"My moves are way more impressive than that," he would mutter to himself, wishing for that doubles partner of his dreams.

Around the end Marui would come over and they would talk a little and laugh, if Jirou wasn't already asleep. If there was time they might play a quick game, and Jirou would go home with Gakuto completely awake and raving a mile a minute about the game. If Jirou fell asleep then Sanada would pull him onto his feet and then shove him gently over to Gakuto, who would obligingly lead him home. Sometimes, when he got home after that, he would walk into the bathroom and find marker drawings all over his face, with "Niou Masaharu was here" written on his forehead. Marui would text him to make sure he got home alright, because Marui was nice like that, and that would be it until the next time Jirou made his trip to Rikkai.

Jirou figured his best friends were Gakuto and Atobe, and wondered if Marui was also a best friend. After all, they had gotten along ever since the Newcomer's tournament, and sometimes they even hung out together outside of tennis. Gakuto was definitely his best best friend, because he had known Gakuto the longest, and maybe Atobe wasn't really a best friend at all. Maybe Atobe was just... what was that word... diplomatic. He wondered who Atobe's best best friend was, and decided it was definitely Tezuka.

"Are you and Tezuka, like, B.F.F.s?" Jirou asked Atobe once, when Kabaji and Atobe were walking him home from school one day. Gakuto had a club meeting.

"B.F.F.s?" Atobe scrunched up his nose at the unfamiliar term, like since it wasn't part of his vocabulary it didn't deserve to be a valid expression at all. "What's that?"

"Best friends forever and ever. Oh wait. No, that's...," a pause to yawn, "that would be B.F.F.E.s, wouldn't it? Or maybe it would be B.F.F.A.E.s..."

Atobe gestured at Kabaji, who in turn swatted the back of Jirou's head before he could drift off. "Ore-sama is not the type to have a best friend forever and ever, Jirou."

"But he's always at your sleepovers."

Jirou remembered Atobe's latest sleepover, where Tezuka had sat awkwardly and disinterestedly on the couch while the other boys played with the latest videogames.

"The Tezukas are family friends and important business allies. It's expected that I keep up the relationship in my generation."

"But you guys are, like, always talking on the phone about stuff."

Atobe blinked as he contemplated his relationship with Tezuka. "I suppose."

Jirou grinned. "See? I was right. You guys are total B.F.F.s!"

Atobe frowned, and was about to reprimand Jirou for... well, for something, but then Jirou continued.

"That's good, you know, cause everyone should have a B.F.F., because it makes things funner, ya know?"

Atobe looked at Jirou, who was smiling happily, and decided to concede the point. "Yes, I know."

Atobe didn't have that much time during the end of their second year to walk Jirou home though, because it was then that Tezuka started showing interest in some supposed prodigy on the Seigaku team. And since Tezuka was interested in this boy, Atobe decided he was interested in the boy as well, and spent more if his free time in Tokyo with the both of them (plus Kabaji). Atobe and Tezuka may be best friends forever and ever, Jirou decided, but they would always be rivals too.

During that time Atobe ordered Shishido to start walking Jirou home when Gakuto couldn't.

"I'm not your servant," Shishido had snapped the first time Atobe had "asked" him to walk Jirou home, while Jirou shifted from foot to foot in the background. "Get one of your lackeys to do it."

Jirou wasn't sure why Shishido didn't like Atobe, but he thought it had something to do with Atobe being hugely wealthy and a little... well, pompous... while Shishido's father was a public school teacher and he could only afford to go to Hyoutei because of a scholarship. Jirou guessed that there was a lot of pride involved. In the end though, Shishido did in fact walk him home, and Jirou was very careful not to fall asleep on the way because he didn't want to get Shishido too mad. Jirou didn't know much about the long haired boy. Only that he was just as arrogant as Atobe, was prone to histrionics, and still hung out exclusively with his pre-Hyoutei friends.

"Did you know that one the of the first years has a crush on Shishido?" Gakuto whispered to him one day at practice. Gakuto always knew the good gossip.

"No way!" Jirou's eyes opened all the way, caught sight of Shishido fixing his hair in front of a window, then scanned the first years until he found a tall, silver-haired boy who kept sneaking glances at Shishido when he thought no one was looking.

"I know!" Gakuto near-shrieked, even as he was trying not to laugh. "What lousy taste!"

All in all, Jirou's second year passed in the same manner as his first. He was grateful for Hyoutei's policy of not using their regulars until Kantou though, because he actually got to play some real matches even though he was only a pre-regular. Then everything was over, and it was break time again, and Gakuto came over almost every day to play cards and board games with Jirou and Azumi. Hazuki soon came home from college as the first of the really heavy rains of the season started coming down, and, reunited, the family set out to the mountains and hot springs. When they got back the flowers had started to sprout, and it was time to go back to school.

On Jirou's first day as a senior, his mother pushed him out the door with half an omelet sticking out of his mouth. Gakuto and Daiki were, of course, there to intercept him, Daiki brimming with pride in his new Hyoutei junior high uniform.

"I'm just like aniki and Jirou nii-san now!" Daiki exclaimed happily as he skipped around them.

In class, Jirou was about to take his customary pre-class nap when he was rudely awoken by Gakuto's binder dropping to the floor. He shifted his head in his arms a little, about to tell Gakuto to be more careful, vaguely aware of the fact that Gakuto's mouth was hanging open.

"Wha-tmgh mmm?" Jirou asked, forgetting mid-question how to work his tongue.

"Jirou. Wake up," Gakuto whispered, the sounds harsh and short.

"Hmm?"

"Fuck, Jirou, we have a new student."

Jirou was about to tell Gakuto not to curse, especially over something so little as a new student, when he realized that everything was really quiet. Surprisingly, or not, Jirou had problems sleeping in complete silence. He turned a little and noticed that their young, fresh out of college teacher was clutching her tail to her chest and staring at the door with her ears standing straight up. He finally shifted to look at the door, and looked up at a tall boy with glasses and hair that was a little too long and messy. He wondered what all the fuss was about, and why every one was being so strange, and what made Gakuto curse, when he finally noticed it.

The new student didn't have his ears.