4.184 Minutes

Disclaimer: tries to think of something witty ; fails I don't own the boys.

Pairings: Not focused on any pairing but a little Sanayu and... ; Jeez. A pinch of Yagyuu x Niou and Yanagi x Kiri?

The time was 21:30 hours and 42 seconds exactly. The place was at a hotel buffet and, more specifically, around a central round table in the dining area. The event was Yukimura Seichii's release from the hospital. The people were the Rikkai Dai regulars.

The time was 21:31 hours and 35 seconds when Yukimura stopped talking in mid-sentence after noticing something out of place. "Ne," he began with a sudden shift of subject, "Where is Jackal? …and Yagyuu?"

Silence.

"I believe they've both gone to the bathroom," Yanagi replied. "According to my calculations, they should be back in 4.184 minutes. Approximately."

Marui shot Yanagi a disturbed look. He rapidly chewed and swallowed before asking, in a somewhat shaky voice, "You know how long it takes us to pee?"

Sanada smacked Marui, which caused the red-head's face to crash into his plate. "Don't use such vulgar language at the table." Then, ignoring the injured Marui who was currently being nursed by Yukimura, he asked Yanagi, "Where are Kirihara and Niou?"

"…I don't know."

Silence again. Even Marui froze, quickly realizing the degree of danger in the situation.

"We have to find them," Sanada firmly stated, getting up from his seat and putting on his psychotically strict fukubuchou face. "And then keep them in check for 4.184 minutes."

"…approximately," Marui added.

Sanada's eyebrow twitched. "Approximately."

Yukimura sweatdropped and turned to Yanagi. "Yanagi, isn't 4.184 the specific heat of water in kilojoules?"

Yanagi shrugged, standing up along with Sanada.

Rikkai Dai's buchou rose along with Marui, but Sanada placed a hand on his shoulder and forced him to sit back down.

"You stay here," he explained softly. "I don't want you straining yourself."

"…all right, but Marui stays with me," Yukimura replied. His smile was sweet and innocent but his azure eyes were firm. His word was absolute.

Sanada sighed as Marui whooped and began to hog down his food (along with everyone else's). It made sense though, to have Marui stay behind, since the red-head also tended to get into trouble, especially when there was food around. "Okay," he replied and then cleared his throat. The dictator aka fukubuchou personality was back in place. "How much time, Yanagi?"

"4.002 minutes left. Lets go."

"…approximately?" Marui asked with a mouthful of food, grinning.

Countdown: 3.479 minutes left

A silver and yellow blur streaked past Sanada's peripheral vision. Rikkai Dai's fukubuchou whirled around to see Niou creeping behind one of the buffet trays. Judging by the devious glint in his eyes, the trickster had already assessed the situation and was abusing it to his full advantage. Scowling, Sanada started forward.

Niou grabbed a spoon and scooped up an oyster soaked with black-bean sauce. With one quick fluid motion, he laser beam-ed it across the buffet tray. The oyster went splat onto Sanada's crisp white shirt.

Silence. Niou's grin just got wider. Sanada shimmered and then began to boil. Everyone else nearby backed away slowly.

It was on. Niou spun around as Sanada sprinted forward, weaving around tables and startled waiters. Luckily for him, there weren't that many people at the hotel buffet. By the time Sanada reached behind the buffet tray, the trickster had already fled down the hallway. The silver-haired boy dashed into an elevator, one of those clear ones in where you could see the whole hotel as you rose.

Sanada stopped in his tracks and glanced upwards. Niou waved down and flashed seven fingers.

The fukubuchou gritted his teeth and ran to the other elevator.

Countdown: 2.562 minutes left

Kirihara was not as quick as Niou to catch onto the situation simply because, unlike the older boy, he did not possess a sadistic edge 24/7. His acts of trouble, when not involving tennis, were mostly stemmed from same curiosity that killed the cat.

In fact, Kirihara was so clueless about the situation that he didn't even notice that no one had stopped him as he wandered out of the dining hall and into the lobby. The sound of traffic and people outside slowly drew him in. Like an excited child, he ran outside and, as he halted to a stop right before where the sidewalk met the street, the nightlights of the city swept up his eyes in an upward spiral. The dazzling illumination buzzed through his mind and adrenaline shot through his veins.

That was when he knew that he was free. True, this wasn't the first time he had been in the city's nightlife alone, but before, he had always been in chains. There had always been some where he had to be or something he had to do. He never noticed the lights before. Now, he was positively drunk on the illuminating freedom.

His eyes caught sight of Yanagi emerging from the lobby.

Shit.

He wanted to flirt with freedom a little longer.

Yanagi wasn't exactly sure what Kirihara was trying to pull as the green eyed boy tossed a look over his shoulder and then disappeared into the crowd. Rikkai Dai's master sighed and ran after the ace… There was a 86% chance that Kirihara would sprint straight for two blocks before making a turn left. At that corner, there was a 77% chance that he would enter the first dark door he encountered, which, according to Yanagi's knowledge, would be the door to the… Oh shit.

Yanagi picked up his pace.

Countdown: 2.007 minutes left

Okay. The hotel was really in luck because Sanada currently did not have any destructive weapon on him other than his own two hands. Actually, any sort of device would have been perfectly suited for Sanada's task, even chopsticks. The fukubuchou figured that he could throw them at the trickster like darts.

Unfortunately, Sanada had to catch Niou the hard way. He tried to track the trickster down on the seventh floor. The results were a couple of knocked down security guards, a few dozen overturned waste baskets, an overturned cart, and a little girl crying that some scary silver-haired lunatic had hurtled over her and then ran away.

The trickster then took the stairs and, with Sanada following one floor behind, sprinted up to the roof of the hotel.

Catching his breath, Sanada pushed open the roof's door and stopped so abruptly that he nearly tripped over his own feet. His heart pounded rapidly as he suddenly felt cold sweat trickled down the base of his neck. What was Niou doing walking on the ledge, looking down at the streets far below? Was he crazy?

Niou tossed a look over his shoulder, grinned, and jumped.

"WAIT! NIOU!" Sanada screamed, lunging forward.

Countdown: 1.368 minutes left

No way in hell he was going to let Yanagi catch him. He was having way too much fun being free. Kirihara swung open the first door he saw, slipped inside, and slammed it behind him. He turned around in the dark room, got ready to run, but the lights suddenly were flipped on. Kirihara's eyes boggled out after they adjusted. His throat went raw.

The erotic dancers formed a semi-circle around him, poking him here and there and everywhere. I guess it wouldn't have been that bad for Kiri; I mean, he's a teenage boy and all. The only problem was that he wandered into a male strip club.

"Oh, are you the new guy the boss told us about?"

"Hmm… You're so cute. Nice body too."

"You seem a bit young, though."

"Huh. And I thought that I would have no one to practice with."

Kirihara's face turned so red that a blood vessel probably broke.

Luckily, Yanagi swung open the door before Kirihara could be violated. A slight blushed colored Rikkai Dai's master's face, but other than that, he regarded the dancers with an air of indifference. "I'm sorry about my friend," he replied, yanking a paralyzed Kirihara out by the arm. "He's just hit puberty."

"Tell him he can come back anytime he wants!" one of the dancers called out as Yanagi (with a traumatized Kirihara draped over his shoulder) left.

Countdown: 1.029 minutes left

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Sanada screamed. So there he was, kneeling, leaning over on the ledge. Niou right hand firmly grasped onto his fukubuchou's hand as he dangled twenty floors above the city's streets.

Niou just stayed grinning. He looked up. "Hey, fukubuchou, say, 'Jack, I'll never let you go!"

"WHAT?"

The smile wiped off. It was all serious now. "Say it, Sanada. Or I'll make you let go."

"…" Sanada sucked in his breath between clenched teeth. Sweat slid down the side of his cheeks, down his neck, and down his arm. His muscles screamed at the strain. His palms were slippery from sweat, which meant that if Niou stopped holding onto him, he would definitely… No. "Jack, I'll never let you go," Sanada gritted out.

"I can't hear you!" Niou sang.

"JACK, I'LL NEVER LET YOU GO!"

The trickster let out a laugh and then intensified his grip on Sanada's hand. He lifted himself up so that Sanada could get a solid grip onto his left arm. The fukubuchou pulled his teammate up and over the ledge. Sanada fell back onto his butt while Niou rolled over onto his feet.

Breathing heavily, Sanada turned his head to stare at Niou. The stricken gaze still hadn't left the fukubuchou's eyes. If Niou had… If he hadn't been on time… If Niou had… His heart pounded faster and faster.

Niou gave Sanada a bored look and shrugged, walking causally back to where he entered the roof. "Aw, fukubuchou, get over it. You know I wouldn't have pulled that stunt if I didn't trust you."

No response. Sanada just continued to inhale and exhale like there was no tomorrow.

"I'm going back to the table now," Niou said, yawning and disappearing behind the door.

Countdown: 0.032 minutes left

Yanagi arrived back the table carrying a sleeping Kirihara on his back.

"Did he wear himself out?" Yukimura asked with a smile.

A shrug. "Probably." After he reached the main street, Yanagi gently set the young tennis prodigy back onto his feet. Kirihara had snapped out of his coma-like-state and nearly combusted into tears. Yanagi had patted the younger boy on the shoulder, telling Kirihara that there were REASONS why the team usually had Jackal following him(Kiri) around. Kirihara, who was still trying to wipe disturbing images from his head, then decided to jump on Yanagi from behind and wouldn't let go. Yanagi had been a bit startled at first but then just smiled. Oh well.

As Yanagi dumped Kirihara in his chair, Sanada and Niou showed up.

Yukimura frowned when he caught sight of Sanada's face. As the fukubuchou took his seat, Yukimura leaned over and asked in a whisper, "Are you okay Genichirou? You're white as paper."

"I'm fine," Sanada mumbled back.

"Your hands are shaking.
"I'm fine," Sanada repeated.

A sigh from the buchou. He threw a questioning look Niou's way but the trickster just grinned back. Niou then tore apart the eye contact and began to harass Marui about how much the red-head ate.

"Sanada…" Yanagi began.

Sanada threw him a glare.

Countdown: 0.000 minutes left

"…they're back," Yanagi finished, ignoring the glare.

Right on queue, Jackal and Yagyuu emerged from the men's room and took their respective seats.

Silence.

Both boys looked slightly confused. What was going on? Why was Yanagi looking so smug? Why was Sanada looking more angry than usual? Why was Yukimura looking so exasperated? Why was Kirihara asleep? Why was Niou…no wait, Niou was doing his normal harassing of Marui. But why was Marui staring at Yanagi with a dismayed look instead of responding to Niou?

"Yanagi," Marui croaked out, sweatdropping nervously. "Your data really is scary."

"I know," Yanagi replied with a smile.

"What's going on?" Jackal asked, bewildered, as Kirihara began to gurgle something about a male strip tease in his sleep.

Yagyuu turned to Niou, nearly blinding the other boy with his glasses. "What did you do?"

"Ummm, let me think… NOTHING."

Sanada stood up and took a deep breath. All activity around the table froze. Six pairs of eyes stared at him (Kirihara was currently dead to the world). "Yagyuu. Jackal."

"Yes?" the two boys chorused.

"From this minute on, you two are not allowed to leave any team event together." A pause. "UNDERSTAND?!"