Birthday Parties - Prince of Tennis - Oneshot

Masataka’s ten-year-old head was whirling. It was Atobe Kaito’s ninth birthday and he was throwing a grand party in the Atobe Mansion and so far, Evil Monkey Jr. had managed to put another spell on his sister. He had tried to consult Sanada Satoshi with it, but was only waved off, so now Masataka was left to do things by himself. Unless…

“Takuya-niisan! Daiichi-niisan!”

The Zaizen twins, who were busy trying to catch the attention of the Sanada twins, glanced over at Masataka.

“Ah! Masataka, it’s you,” the twins said in unison.

“Niisan-tachii! Please help me?” he asked and the twins tilted their heads.

“With what?” Takuya asked.

“I need to lift the curse Kaito placed on my sister,” he said and the twins rolled their eyes. Not this again. Masataka have been saying the same thing for the past four years and last year, it ended up with half the ballroom being eaten up by flames and Kaito’s hair turning green.

Which is not a very good plan.

Not because of the fire.

But because Masako likes green.

This year though, Masataka will be sure not to make the same stupid mistake. This year, he had thought up of a very good plan and even consulted his father with it who enthusiastically helped him with it.

“If your mother knew what you were up to…” Daiichi said with a sigh.

“She won’t! Look, if you help me, I am pretty sure Umi’s curse would also be lifted!”

Takuya was bought. He looked expectantly at his brother.

“I am so going to regret this,” Daiichi said.

 ====

“Ready? Over.” Masataka said into his plastic toy walkie talkie. He saw the twins nod from across the room from behind a huge pole. “Use the walkie talkie! This is a top secret mission! Over.”

“Yes we are ready,” they dutifully said into their own walkie talkie. There was a silence as Masataka waited.

“Over.” Takuya said, annoyed, to the walkie talkie. Masataka grinned and he gave the rope he was holding in place a huge pull before letting it go. The rope was connected to three pails that was strategically sitting on top of the barrier on the second floor balcony and when Masataka let go, it tilted over and the contents of the pail came flying downwards. As the paper balls that were previously in the pail came flying downwards to the floor, the gun powder in them went off and creates bright sparks and loud bangs all over the room.  Guards ran into the room, raising weapons and guests were screaming in the panic and confusion. Masataka gave the twin quick thumbs up and ran into the crowd.

“This is our chance. Over.” He said quickly to the twins. The twins ran out of the ballroom and into courtyard and Masataka quickly grabbed a huge chunk of steak from the buffet table and locked on his target, Atobe Kaito, being surrounded by guards.

But that wasn’t a problem for Masataka. He went under the buffet table and took out his Nerf rifle that he got for his birthday from the crook of the table and loaded the meat inside. He took careful aim into the sky and calculated the arc perfectly before shooting. The mirrors in the ceiling let him know that he had hit where he wanted it to hit.

He can see Kaito’s arms flailing at the surprise of having meat dropping out of the sky and landing on his head, the juices dripping down his head and into the suit he was wearing. Masataka did a quick fist pump and hid the rifle back where it was previously hidden and watched as the commotion around him went on. Kaito had successfully knocked down a guard with his arms and punched another one.

Right at that moment, two guard dogs came running inside the ballroom from the open doors of the courtyard. Looks like the Zaizen twins successfully did their duty. Masataka only grinned when the guard dogs ran towards Kaito at full speed, lured by the smell of juicy meat, knocking over the guards in their way and doubled over in laughter when Kaito gave a high-pitched scream when he was bitten.

====

“Oniichan, baka!” Masako screamed and slapped Masataka across the face.

“What was that for?” Masataka yelled and rubbed his left cheek where Masako had slapped him.

“What if Kaito-niisan was permanently scarred from the dog bites! Why don’t you ever think?”

“I thought over it a lot, okay!? That’s why I was able to come up with such a brilliant plan!”

“Baka! Baka! Baka!”

“Enough, you two,” Kuririn said and sighed deeply. She really doesn’t know how to explain all this to Keigo. She stared at the mess around her, the Zaizen twins getting their own share of tongue-lashing from their mother.

Daiichi glanced over at Masataka and mouthed, “I knew I was gonna regret it.”

Masataka only shrugged at him. He was pretty happy when he heard that Kaito had to stay in bed for a couple of days because one of the dogs bit his leg so hard he could hardly move it, but Masako had not had the same sentiments.

“And Kaito-niisan even said he will bring me to the amusement park tomorrow,” she grumbled under her breath and glared at her older brother who only acted innocently.

“I am so sorry,” Kuririn apologized over and over again, coming up with blank explanations. She won’t be surprised if they did not receive an invitation next year. Masako was really scared of that.

“Masako, don’t be too unhappy, okay? Niichan will bring you to the amusement park tomorrow,” Masataka tried to cheer her sister up, but Masako only walked away and pulled their father out of the Mansion and into the waiting car. Masataka sighed. He had not wanted to make Masako angry.

“You are so dead when we get home, Niou Masataka,” Kuririn said and walked over to the car. Masataka thought of running away while he can, but he did not want to make matters worse. Grudgingly, he walked back to the car.

====

“Grounded. For one whole month. No supper after ten and bedtime is before nine, clear?” Kuririn asked.

“Kuririn, don’t get too angry with him, he’s at that age where he has tendencies,” Niou said.

“I haven’t even started with you, Masaharu! I told you we shouldn’t have gotten him that Nerf rifle! And you so obviously helped him cook up this plan!”

Niou looked at his son, “You’re alone on this one, buddy,” he mouthed and picked up Masako, trying to dodge his own share of tongue lashing. “I will put Masako to bed, good night Kuririn,” he said and kissed her quickly and fled.

==== 

“Kuririn, chill. When I was Taka’s age, I ran away from home, rode bicycles on ledges and I still grew up fine,” Niou said as he hugged Kuririn that night, on their bed.

“Fine,” she scoffed. “You did not grow up fine!”

“Hey, remember when we were ten, I had asked you to elope with me?”

“And I refused.”

“You did.”

“But you still run away by yourself anyway.”

“Yes I did.”

“And then you came home by the end of the day.”

“Because I know you will miss me when I am gone. I came back for you.”

“Yeah, right.”

“It’s true. I knew you were worried when I was gone.”

“Was not,” she said, defensively.

Niou raised an eyebrow at her.

“Okay, I might have. A bit.”

“And then I asked you to elope with me again ten years later.”

“And I said yes.”

“Yes you did.”