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Sticky: muselist

KEY;

★ muse is active
✯ muse is viable, but not active
✰ muse is weak, but beloved
perpetuity: character journal
synergetic: in specified game
~~synergetic~~: formerly in specified game

✯Zeno \| Akatsuki no Yona eternalshield ~~thefarshore~~	✯Abi \| Akatsuki no Yona staredown ~~empatheias~~
✰Yukina \| Yu Yu Hakusho glacierflower ~~thefarshore~~	★Dick Grayson \| Young Justice staystraught bluer usedacrobatics morallygrayson somarium route_29 towerofanimus rekindleme havenrpg prismatica
★Sokka \| Avatar: The Last Airbender doesactivities route_29 gargleblasted somarium prismatica	✰Tot \| Weiss Kreuz kisseddeath undeaddoll sirenspull somarium
✰Son Gohan \| Dragon Ball neededahand masenko ~~vatheon~~	✯Youji Kudou \| Weiss Kreuz slantedcross coolestcat somarium route_29 sirenspull thefarshore

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entente

Entry tags:

dating daddies

The days are long and the months are short. Before Bunta knows it, Keita is in kindergarten and getting regular tennis lessons from their resident professional. Yukiko meanwhile is developing an interest in French culture and bonding with him about the country's history in art and architecture. Himawari... Well. Himawari has discovered all of the empowerment that comes from being able to walk, run, and use stairs. She can hold basic conversations now, and with this power of communicating ideas is also learning about what rules are and what happens when they're broken. She's found lots of big feelings. And she's hit that stage of testing the extent of her own independence.

Having already done this twice with his own, Bunta is a seasoned veteran of this phase. Yukimura, though...

Yukimura missed the adventure of navigating all of Yukiko's and most of Keita's early childhood tantrums. Moreover, Himawari was a ridiculously sweet-tempered infant. Bunta can imagine it left her father unprepared for her to ever be anything else as she started growing up.

The kids are (presumably) all tucked in, and Bunta is working on making a couple of drinks in the kitchen when his ears pick up on something happening upstairs.

"....Hey, Seiichi. Do you hear something?"

Entry tags:

We're Still Deciding How Many Boys Are In Trouble

Marui finishes tying his shoes in the changing area and grabs his racket to join Jackal at the door. Most of the night before is a fuzzy memory by now; he remembers playing the new freshman who brought his own racket, going out for food after practice, and studying with Niou for their math test today over a phone call before bed. He's looking forward to picking up some doughnuts after practice to replenish his energy and maybe swinging by to see Yukimura after school.

He and Jackal have barely made it outside before Akaya practically runs into them squawking that they need to go see Yanagi right away. Marui casts him a dubious look (why would Yanagi need to see them first thing? Did Niou play another trick on Akaya?) but they follow him over to the court on the far end.

He sees Yanagi first, and a few moments later someone lying down on the bench. That gets his attention, and he quickens his pace to a jog. Was someone injured?

...It's Echizen. And he's not moving.

"Yanagi! What happened...?"

Entry tags:

flayn goes to rikkai

Midnight Reflections

Moonlight filters in through his bedroom window. From where he lay in a sprawl across his bed, he can feel the faintest breeze across his cheeks. He ought to be sleeping, but instead finds his mind swimming.

It's funny, in a miserable sort of way. No blind spots was his motto, and he practiced it to great effect in tennis. Somehow, though, he had missed a gaping one right in front of his face. To think that all this time, Sanada...

He turns over on his back and rests his wrist on his forehead, staring up and straight through the ceiling. The curse of words never spoken until it was too late... It wasn't even that this changed anything, not between him and Sanada and not between him and Flayn. All it did was open his eyes to a road not taken, and leave him wondering where he missed the fork.

Should he have paid more attention? How many years had he spent with Sanada always right beside him, through even the darkest days of his life, and always too wrapped up in himself to see the effects on him? First with the tennis club, now with this. It was his responsibility as Sanada's friend to see, and Sanada rightfully was drifting to someone who could do a better job of that. Something about that thought makes his chest feel tight.

Could it have been? Probably not. Sanada placed heavy expectations on himself, that would doubtless apply to his dating life, too. Even if he wanted it, even if his family gave their blessing, Sanada himself would consider the only correct choice marriage to a woman and children. That must have been why he never said anything, too. This afternoon truly was just a clearing of conscience for him.

That thought, too, bothers Yukimura deep down. Sanada was entitled to his selfishness this time burdening him with this information, and he was entitled to his decision against ever pursuing it, but where had his chance to weigh in been? What if this had been something he wanted, too? What if-- and this is the most troubling thought of all-- it actually had been something he wanted too at some point, and he was as blind to his own feelings as he had been to Sanada's? Today had proven more than enough that even now he couldn't stand the thought of life without Sanada at his side.

Water under the bridge, but it doesn't make the current any quieter.

He's given himself a stomachache. With a sigh, Yukimura gets up and fetches a glass of water for himself. As he passes the mirror on the return trip, he pauses and gets lost in the reflection staring back. He's not really looking at himself, more that vacancy by his shoulder. It's disturbing how easily his eyes can fill it with Sanada's shape.

But there's another one he sees, too, and her petite frame isn't out to the side but reclined serenely against his front, her eyes and smile radiant enough to brighten the whole room. Rather than tightness, it's a light and fluttery feeling she inspires. He longs to hold her now.

It puts his mind at ease. That image was how it should be. He and Sanada each had to learn to make room for the one that made their hearts light and full, but it didn't mean they'd have no room left for each other. They would always be best friends.

He crawls back in bed, and within a few minutes has drifted into a peaceful slumber.

Entry tags:

Rikkai's counselor

"Oh, Yanagi-kun. Did you forget something?"

He'd been just about to ring the Kiriharas' doorbell, but there was Akaya's sister, standing behind him. Yanagi quickly bowed.

"I beg your pardon? I just came to pick up Akaya for morning practice. I was thinking I could quiz him on English verbs on the way."

"Just now?" She looked confused. "He was out the door almost thirty minutes ago. I was sure it would only be because you woke him up. I don't know that he ate anything, then."

Odd. He would have said the same thing.

"There aren't too many places he could go at this hour," Yanagi reasoned, hoping to reassure her. "I'll find him."

"Find him and make--

"--And make sure it won't happen again, yes?" Yanagi smiled pleasantly. "You have my word, I'll deal with him."

He wouldn't be able to reach the bus stop before Akaya boarded, but he'd be shortly behind on the next one. He spent the bus ride deep in thought. Was Akaya careless enough to worry his sister by sneaking out? Absolutely. But why go to this kind of effort, and so early in the morning? It was either something important, or something foolish Akaya considered important. And if it was the former, then why didn't Yanagi know about it? Jackal and Marui left with Akaya after practice yesterday, and Akaya wasn't exactly known for his poker face. If there was something important to him going on, he would have told them, and if it was genuinely important, they would have told Yanagi.

Split second decision. He called Jackal. A text would perhaps be more courteous, but an actual call would strike the fear of God (or at least Genichiro) into him.

Once the pleasantries were out of the way, Yanagi asked, "Was there something strange about Akaya yesterday?"

Yanagi heard Jackal's breathing catch while he considered his answer.

"Nothing I'm aware of," he said, after giving it some honest thought. Yanagi couldn't detect a lie.

He said good-bye and wondered if Jackal wanted to be aware of it or not.

When he jogged onto the courts, the net was already hanging between the poles and he could hear Akaya asking young Echizen, "Smooth or rough?"

It was definitely going to be rough. Yanagi cleared his throat.

"Aren't you going to string up the rest of the nets before practice?" he prompted. He would give Akaya one chance to squirm out of this like nothing had ever happened. Echizen, he couldn't be too angry with; he didn't know any better.

"Wha?" Akaya spun around. "Ya-Yanagi-senpai! Why would I do that? It's Tamagawa's turn to put up the nets!"

"I knew you'd say that," Yanagi sighed. He didn't know why he bothered giving Akaya the chance to do something smart. He almost never took it.

"Echizen, I will let you off with a warning because you don't know how we do things just yet. Losing is not permitted at Rikkaidai, so you need to choose your opponents carefully. You seem more prepared than the average first year, so Marui and I thought it would be interesting to indulge you and see what you're capable of. You have promise, but Akaya should not be your goal post."

Yanagi turned to face the second year.

"Akaya."

"I know what you're going to say, senpai, but--"

He doubted it. "Akaya, how will this serve Rikkai's third national title? That needs to be the question you ask yourself at all times. How will this help us keep our promise to Seiichi?"

Entry tags:

flayn goes to rikkai

An Interlude of Past Meeting Future

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

flayn goes to rikkai

This thread deserves a better title than I can come up with

Two days pass before Aya reaches a state she'd consider conscious.

There have been fleeting moments of opened eyes, responsiveness to this or that prod, mumbled words to whoever or whatever was nearby. She remembers none of it between the lapses back into the abyss of nothing, not even dreams. Two days before the first time she's been not just awake, but aware. It feels at once like she's been sleeping forever and like no time at all has gone by.

She doesn't remember the accident. She can feel the aftermath in the body aches, though, a combination of injury dulled by drugs and the atrophy of muscles unaccustomed to going 60 hours without use. Some places ache worse than others, mostly where the stitches are.

Most of the next two days are spent sleeping even more, making what visits she is awake for short ones. They've been limited to family so far, though she's been told schoolmates have been by, and there is a small mountain of gifts from them on the table by the window standing as proof. She'd be annoyed with her utter lack of energy to have more diverse and longer visits if she only had the capacity to feel anything other than tired.

What's awful-- what she never realized or thought about before-- it wasn't even good sleep being in a hospital bed. That felt next to impossible. She would drift off, and then the light would turn on and the nurse would take a vitals check, or a machine would start beeping like some grotesque mutant alarm clock with no off button. Or the doohickeys that squeezed and massaged her muscles to prevent blood clots would trip on and startle her back awake. Curse this need for sleep with the horror of a thousand bad hair days. That or the inability to get any here, one.

The moments that were spent awake, though, those deserved the curse of ten thousand bad hair days. Who knew having your whole world reduced to four plain white walls and a too-thin mattress would be so horribly boring and isolating? Everyone who gave it two seconds of thought, no doubt. She just never had before. Everyone she knew and loved was somewhere outside her realm, living their lives: waiting tables for extra cash, making dinner, sweeping the floor, running to the bank, seeing the latest movie, chatting between classes, cramming for tests, playing tennis, going out for pizza.

She has just enough awareness to reflect on what this must have been like for Yukimura a few years ago. Months of this with no end in sight, and not even the strength to jump out the window? How did he have even a scrap of sanity still? She'd only had a small taste and was already over it.

She still has it better than he did, though, doesn't she? She does have an end in sight. Granted... it's more like a small speck on the horizon, but it's a speck more than he had for ages. It's a thought that reminds her to keep herself facing forward, focusing on that speck until it was the day she escaped this medical time out and returned to where she belonged. She has no business dwelling on all of the small nuisances and discomforts that collectively make this place awful. She's alive, and she's going to get her life back.

Entry tags:

flayn goes to rikkai

We've been here before

"Yukimura-san, you don't know why Aya-san wasn't as practice this morning, do you?" Flayn asked softly, before the teacher came in. "Only I promised Mimi-san and Usagi-san I would ask you, just in case."

More than a few friends must have whispered similar questions up and down the hallways. Seteth was fending off Manuela and Youji both at different points. The sinking feeling that comes from knowing all-too-intimately what the worst case scenario might be left him a little more snappish with them than he would otherwise be.

When the call finally came, he said all the right words to the Fujimiyas' representative on the other side of the phone line (he couldn't remember if they identified themselves as an uncle or a doctor, but there was documentation in his email account), then he put his face in his hands for about three minutes and tried not to fall down a winding staircase of empathy for her family and friends. He would have to tell--

Flayn found him like that, poking her head in to repeat her inquiry on behalf of the girls' tennis team, in between classes.

A deep chill muted her entire being, seeing him like that. She had no evidence it was connected to the fear she and her friends were slowly entertaining, but she knew, in the quiet way you sometimes did.

"Father?"

"Yes, my dearest," he said, automatic and heavy. Propriety be damned, this was his office and if his daughter was going to be upset by hearing about her friend, he was going to hold her as he explained what he could about what happened.

"We must go and visit her," Flayn insisted, tears very much about to fall but held back by her resolve to act.

"You will," he promised. "You'll go and tell her everything she needs to know and make her recovery a great deal less scary to her than it must be, I am sure, but let her family have some peace with her until school is out, please. I'm going to tell her class the same thing, and I am sure it will spread from there."

The sight of him stepping to the front of the class and conferencing with their teacher definitely filled everyone with dread, Yanagi included. More than a few people glanced at the empty seat.

But to his credit, Seteth explained things concisely. Yanagi appreciated his professional lack of sensationalism, his refusal to speculate despite demands to do so. He preferred that feeling of appreciation to the sinking feeling in his gut. He hated to imagine Aya stilled and silent, and the reassurance that she was already in recovery was a needed balm, but it was hard not drifting back to that first shock of bad news and dwelling there. How was he going to get through the rest of the year if Aya didn't make it back in time? Anyone could provide data, but Aya was a friend who knew him well enough to know what he wanted to know and tell him to keep his nose to himself when he went too far.

It was all, all too familiar.

Seteth expected the rumor mill to do the rest and Yanagi walked in a bit of a daze to where he usually met up with Yukimura and Sanada. Sanada had a dark look on his face that made Yanagi hope for a moment he'd been spared the duty of messenger, but after a moment it was clear the anger was from not knowing.

"The tennis clubs' gossip circuit is getting out of control," he said roughly.

"It's not gossip to wonder, and it's not gossiping if it's true, Genichiro," Yanagi said, slowly to choose his words. "The headmaster just spoke to my class."

Sanada turned to him with such speed and menace that Yanagi almost took a step back. "Himself?"

"Yes. Her family called the school in the morning to report it was an accident. Not-- not sickness. Injury. Already in recovery."

Syncopated information bytes. Yanagi had no idea if they helped, he just saw Sanada clouding over in the old familiar way.

"Cancel practice. On my authority. I'll tell Yukimura and Nami."

Entry tags:

project seikai

Project Seikai: Doubles Boot Camp

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

dating daddies

One foot in front of the other

Lately, Yukimura had a dream.

In it, he told the boy to go to hell and spent the entire day at home. So he was present for all three meals, for Yukiko going to school and coming home, for all of Keita's creative solutions to the problems facing the average child, and then for the long evenings after dinner while everyone took their baths and Yukiko talked through her homework and Marui found a before bedtime snack that was different from every other snack that week, and Himawari very carefully pulled herself to her feet with the help of the low table in front of the television.

How often she did this during the day haunted the proud father. Bunta seemed happy to volunteer his talents as second parent, but Yukimura didn't remember permitting him the privilege of witnessing her first steps without him there to coach her, encourage her, and lavish her with all the praise necessary to confirm to Himawari that she was, in fact, on her way to being the best possible walker.

As it was, he watched he like a hawk. Privately, he was disappointed whenever she chose to crawl or sit back down, then had to go through the whole routine of reminding himself that babies progressed on their own time, not that of an impatient prodigy.

He thought he detected effort and determination, however. He liked to take Himawari to watch whenever the little Maruis decided to jump up and run around. He didn't want to foster sibling rivalry, but didn't everyone look around at their peers and surroundings and think, I want to be just as good or better?

There was no running or jumping this close to bedtime, however. Nor any climbing, nor dancing, nor anything else more exertive than sliding their slippers across the floor to catch a goodnight kiss from their father and maybe steal the leftovers from their bedtime snack while he wasn't looking. (But he was always looking.)

Himawari sat placidly for now at their feet, while everyone else sat around the living room. Yukimura sensed the usual bedtime procrastination was about to start, and wondered how it'd go this time.

Indeed, Yukiko was brushing her hair when she looked at her father, suddenly suspicious.

"What time does Hima usually go to bed?"

Unrepressed

Sanada immediately felt childish for leaving, but he'd have felt even more childish for staying around to watch. Yukimura was not a hesitant man; even when he was uncertain, he would still act to prevent himself from being spooked.

He felt like his senses remained muted until he actually made it to the clubhouse. He lifted a stack of vital statistics and questionnaires on perceived areas of improvement from Renji's corner of the desk, and flipped through them.

At that point, the entire world came back into focus, all the colors and sounds and yes, the feelings. His own feelings astounded him in their ridiculousness. Yukimura liked a cute girl, and she apparently liked him back. This should make him happy. He should want to hear everything Yukimura has to say on the subject.

Instead he feels nothing but dread. Dread that he can't distract himself from.

Well, he hasn't tried everything, he supposes. His bokken is waiting at home, but he doubts anyone is home to spar with him, and the feelings of dread increase when he thinks of being by himself.

Advantage

Yukimura stayed with Flayn for the rest of the day, including lunch and a brief joint interview with Yagyuu to get their account of what happened in art class. As a personal favor, Yagyuu kindly agreed to hold his incident report to the headmaster until the next morning. Yukimura wasn't satisfied with it-- he privately wanted him informed sooner rather than later-- but Flayn was the one most directly affected. And Yukimura already precluded any preference she might have had in not reporting it at all. He didn't regret his actions on her behalf, but it did make respect for her preference in the timing that much more the least she deserved.

This outcome also means that Yukimura has had the pleasure of nursing a grudge hungry for comeuppance for the rest of the day. By the time club practice rolled around, it has festered and grown to the size of a preoccupation. He wasn't going to allow a repeat of what happened earlier-- not from the same bullies and not from a new one.

He's more or less already decided what he wants to do about it. There hasn't been a good chance yet to make it official-- soon, he promises himself-- but it was an intention that had been growing even before this incident highlighted the purposes it could serve in tandem.

What he needed was a collective understanding that no one who wanted to stay in his good graces should lay a finger on her. That Flayn shouldn't be messed with should have already been obvious from her father's position. But if that wasn't enough, perhaps the threat of social retribution could achieve what the threat of an administrative one could not. That threat should be communicated swiftly, broadly, and clearly. And, as much as possible, it should be communicated in an uncombative way.

This was a problem. Uncombative was not Yukimura's modus operandi. Even when he was passive in a conflict, he was aggressive. His lingering offense over the morning's assault wasn't making it any easier to defect from his favored tactics. His psyche yearns for a fight and a conquest to assert his position.

The first round of the mixed doubles tournament is fast approaching, and joint practices with the women's club have increased to allow more opportunities for Marui and Flayn to scrimmage against other pairs. Sanada and Fujimiya trounced them last time, but they gave Jackal and Kino a good run for their money. Tough perhaps, for them to be pitted against regulars while Marui was still under the heavier training weights, but that was the point. Today's match is against Yagyuu-Aino pair, and Yukimura isn't holding back in pointing out their blind spots. Granted, he can't help sounding nitpicky; Marui and Flayn have excellent combination. Little things were the only things.

"Wonder Castle!"

Yukimura watches as Marui extends his famous defense across the court in counter to Yagyuu's Laser Beam. It's clearly a struggle against Marui's stamina to reach such a high-speed ball while so weighted down, all the more reason this match-up was a good idea. The castle holds, however. Every ball's attack is returned at the net, protecting Flayn behind an impenetrable wall.

A smile of dark satisfaction creeps at the corner of Yukimura's mouth. That's how it's done.

Entry tags:

Completely Rewriting the Plot of Tenipuri, Part 2

Kiddo seems to think he's free to leave after the vice-captain's dismissal from practice. This is his next lesson. Socializing is the last thing he wants to do if his face is any indication, and that's really too bad for him. Marui lassos an arm loosely around his neck and grins devilishly at his sputtering wet cat reception to the contact.

"What? Don't look so put off. Jackal's treating us to burgers and shakes."

Entry tags:

dating daddies

Sunrise

Harsh light across his eyes forces Yukimura to open them, and he makes to get up and close the curtains, but a tightness holding fast across his chest makes that unviable for now. For just the tiniest second, the way his body won't bend to his will scares him with cold familiarity, but it's easy to set aside once he actually sees what's going on.

There's a red mop clinging to him, and all of its limbs are, too. For a minute, the coziness weighs on his eyelids, but the ever bubbling-under panic about Himawari gives him the strength to reach the baby monitor on the bedside table.

And it shows such a vision of a serene sleeping angel that Yukimura really can't fight the warmth of the surprise snuggle. It is not what he expected to follow last night's... well, that was warm, too, in the same way that the boy was a 'good' tennis player. The technical truthfulness didn't fully express the understatement.

But this was... extra. Unforeseen. Yukimura was used to things getting hot and heavy between friends-- even when nothing came of it, looks passed, thoughts were had. It was the softness that was different. The way the heat cooled but didn't die. His occasional rendezvous with Atobe gave them a fonder tolerance for each other, but Marui was giving him every impression right now of never letting go.

And it wasn't wholly unwelcome to him. This wasn't a bad way to wake up. Even if last night had just been a hard collapse after a long day, this... would have made it worth it. This little enclosure where Yukimura felt oddly cherished. Where admiration wasn't distant and impersonal, but real and present. Where he could feel it and let it kindle something reciprocal in him.

The baby monitor was on, the children could wake them if they needed to. Yukimura just wanted to enjoy this as long as it lasted.

Entry tags:

dating daddies

Drunken Confessions

The day was already impossibly long at 2. By the time he puts Yukiko to bed, it's felt like a small eternity. But the kitchen is clean, everyone has bathed, the toys are put away, the homework is checked, and the foreheads have been kissed. He even got in a good conversation with Keita about becoming a big brother after bedtime story.

Frankly, he's so tired he could go straight to bed, but drinking with Yukimura on the couch has become a cherished nighttime ritual, and he isn't about to start skipping something so hard-earned and enjoyable now. Never mind the value it had in maintaining good rapport; that was never something to take for granted.

So to the couch he goes, where Yukimura is already waiting with Hima tucked comfortably in her bassinet by his side. For a moment, Bunta is struck all over again with admiration for this man who generously opened his home to them and who has given Yukiko and Keita the same patience and care that he gives Himawari. He didn't have to come home and straight from the genkan target handling the crying toddler instead of the snuggly and content infant he'd missed all day. He could have taken Hima and left Bunta to juggle Keita's meltdown and cooking dinner. Instead, he went to the fire. He's a good father and a good person.

"We made it....!" Bunta says with as much celebration as fatigue and flops down beside him.

Entry tags:

dating daddies

Every Day is Manic Monday

In the time since Yukimura left for his work at the courts, Bunta has wrangled two small children to the store and back, washed two loads of laundry, changed a diaper, made and fed everyone lunch, played a round of cops and robbers with Keita in the back yard while Himawari napped under the shade of a bassinet, cleaned Keita's lunch off the floor after it proved not to agree with him, and put the toddler to bed for a nap after giving him a bath and a fresh set of clothes.

How in the heck is it only 2.

Well, no slowing down yet! The baby is up and the kitchen still needs to be cleaned up from lunch, just in time to start prepping for dinner. There's meat to thaw, vegetables to chop, dough to make so it has time to rise, and of course dessert to think about it.

After another diaper change, he puts Himawari in her walker to give her a bit of playtime and to free himself up just enough that he can start working in the kitchen while still keeping an eye on her. The stairs are gated off and the rooms with doors have been closed, leaving her with free reign of the main living area. It isn't impossible for her to be out of his line of sight, but she won't get too far that way.

Entry tags:

project seikai

Project Seikai: Settling In

( Notes Below )

Feet, feet don't fail me now

There are multiple avenues Yukimura can take.

The coaches are one. Put his thumb on lever for Marui to get his chance-- but Marui wouldn't want that, he doesn't think.

He doesn't want to approach Kimijima, mainly because he doesn't want to be in his debt.

And it would be a little hypocritical, he realizes, to swoop in and bend the future to his will. Hypocritical and not at all disproving of Marui's point.

But it angers Yukimura, and what angers Yukimura only lasts as long as it takes to bend the future to his will. It is, simply, what he does. Nothing is unconquerable (Seigaku's day of reckoning is coming), so long as he gets in front of it.

So Yukimura finds himself in front of Marui's room. He's already made sure of his roommate's whereabouts, made sure he has time enough to take control of the situation around his boyfriend.

He knocks as a warning and not for permission, giving just enough time to be noticed as he opens the door and pokes his head in.

And his determination is cut by a smile when he sees Marui.

"Let me come in for a while."

Entry tags:

dating daddies

Sometime in the future...

Himawari's crying was usually enough to make her doting father fly, an anxiety-inducing siren call that hit something primal in a part of his soul so deep he hadn't even known it was there--

But there on the stairs, directly in his way, was a different little damsel in distress, and she was not an obstacle he needed to overcome, she was not a problem he needed to solve, and if he kept saying this to himself he might believe it.

"Yukiko-chan, what's the matter?" Yukimura glanced up at the exact part of the ceiling that happened to be underneath his infant's crib and wondered why humans hadn't evolved X-ray vision.

"My tummy hurts."

"Still?" He was concerned. It'd been a couple of hours since she'd gone to lay down over it. He hadn't wanted to jump right to medicine, especially since it would have been somewhere in Bunta's boxes and crates, and he didn't trust himself to recognize the right one anyway.

"It's because I didn't have Hanabi to stay with me," she said, with the roughly the same conviction he'd had when he said he was going to go undefeated across all three years of middle school.

No, when he ordered his teammates to go undefeated.

She was going to be formidable if she took up sports.

"Did Daddy pack Hanabi up?" He'd seen pictures of the stuffed mouse Jackal gave her the day she was born, but no sign of it (her?) since he'd welcomed the Maruis into his home late last night. (Or was it early this morning? The commencement of Himawari's control over his life seemed to have negated his awareness of the passage of time.)

"When did you last see her, and where? Do you remember what box Daddy might have put her in? Or where he put the boxes?"

Yukiko just started up at him with a slowly crumpling face, and Yukimura might have said a few things Yukiko shouldn't repeat, but he knew damn well she'd immediately repeat them, probably to her brother, and he needed to calm her down after his barrage of questions clearly overstimulated her.

And he should have gotten Atobe to move in, because that bastard did have X-ray vision, he thought, as Himawari wailed again.

"Let's go look upstairs together," he said quickly, hoping against hope that Marui managed to get some of the kids' belongings upstairs by now. "I'll carry you," he added, assuming it would be faster and leave less risk of him trampling her in his need to get to Himawari, now.

He opened his arms and luckily she cooperated, and he forced himself not to groan because he'd had no idea she was this heavy and what if he needed to check Himawari's temperature, he was going to need a free arm, could he hold her with just one? At least he didn't have to choose which one... his athleticism was getting him up the stairs under the weight of an eight year old girl and he'd developed Mirage Mirror so he could use either hand for anything, right? Right.

There were crates between Himawari's and Yukiko's room, luckily, and Yukimura somehow, with Herculean strength, kicked it into Himawari's room so he split his attention between both girls.

"Now my ears hurt," said Yukiko, and Yukimura gave her a little squeeze.

"I'm sorry, honey."

"She needs a Hanabi too."

"Soon, soon," he murmured, shifting Yukiko, who, with the patience of a saint and not an elementary schooler, waited for him to look over Himawari frantically.

"What's the matter, darling?" he wondered out loud, unable to stop himself from hoping for an eloquent and detailed answer.

Entry tags:

project seikai

Project Seikai

Kaley's Cast	Pi-chi's Cast
Tezuka	Yukimura
Sanada	Oishi
Yanagi	Kikumaru
Inui	Kaidoh
Akaya	Tamagawa
Jackal	Marui
Niou	Yagyuu
Kawamura	Fuji
Momoshiro	Echizen

Room List:
1. Yukimura-Tezuka
2. Inui-Yanagi-Akaya-Kaidoh
3. Niou-Yagyuu-Fuji-Kawamura
4. Marui-Eiji-Momoshiro-Jackal
5. Sanada-Echizen-Oishi-Tamagawa

Seikai means "correct"

General schedule:
Day 1 - arrive, settle in, shenanigans, YukiTez co-op leadership
Days 2-4 - Seigaku-style training under Tez-Oishi (Rikkai: "That's it?")
Days 5-7 - Rikkai-style training under Yuki-Sana + doubles boot camp (Seigaku: /DEAD)
Days 8-12 - Kouhai captains training for being a captain, managing leadership, assigning training, and determining order for the matches
Days 13-14 - practice matches between two kouhai teams, winding down

Schedule Notes:

Rikkai's training weights given to Seigaku for Days 5-7
DOUBLES BOOTCAMP FOR SEIGAKU: GP is honorary Rikkais for this, Rikkai 2nd years demoted to Seigaku in exchange. Start off with Akaya/Kaidoh vs Tamagawa/Echizen then GP vs PP for contrast. How not to doubles. HOW TO DOUBLES.
someone complains it's not fair to expect any of them to be able to play at the level of famous combos like those two pairs
and then "Challenge accepted: Eiji/Jackal and Marui/Oishi will be the doubles pairs" (Imagine wonder castle with moon volley OW)
For Kouhai practice days: in the spirit of all of this collaboration and teamwork, the schools have also been split so each team is half Seigaku and half Rikkai, with Yuki and Tez assigning them out so each one is more or less balanced. e.g. if one team gets the golden pair, the other team gets platinum pair

CR Ideas:

Seigaku ??? at Tamagawa ALL THE INTRODUCTIONS
Tezuka & Tamagawa, mentoring on how there's another way to lead from Yukimura's style and it's okay to have your own
Sanada attempts no pillow fighting rule, is overruled by collective mutiny
VC Commisseration, Oishi trying to figure out how Sanada commands so much respect (probably doesn't like what he sees)
data & kouhai room to be a slightly awkward thing like dating single parents trying to get their kids to get along
Sanada judging Seigaku, asking Oishi why he isn't taking any of Tezuka's responsibility to lessen his burden and actually Inui should step up too, since he's like a low-rent Renji
diving into Tez's feelings: Tezuka had to wait for Nationals bc he was the only one on Big 3's level, could not do as quickly what Yukimura did with Rikkai. Fuji's lack of motivation not helping, Yamato's curse with telling Tezuka to be the pillar (do it alone)
Marui, Jackal, & Taka-san in charge of cooking the meals
Someone getting sick from eating wild berries or mushrooms
Oishi being resident doctor for someone
Niou and an accomplice troll Akaya about the need to perform an exorcism on him
Sanada and Tezuka fishing together (someone discover the Oishi lure, please)
General development of admiration/appreciation for opposite team's captain (read: Yukimura harem intensifies)

Shenanigans Go Here:

pillow fights, duh
ghost stories
prank wars
Marui and Momo team-up for fridge raid at midnight
Akaya and Kaidoh losing sleep over ___ (Niou and Seigaku coconspirator as possible culprit)
Yukimura sleepwalking
Mouri & Yamato gatecrashing
Atobe gatecrash, inserting himself into captains' room (Yukimura and Tezuka settle the results of their bet on how long it would take Atobe to do this)
Illusion antics, Niou or Yags or both??
Taka-san racket mode
Niou and Kaidoh adopted by feral cat
competition for who has the strongest heat tolerance in their food (Seigaku collectively backs away from Fuji)

Misc Character notes:

It was Tezuka's rule that all rooms must be co-school so Rikkai can't clique
Tamagawa to get mentorship helping him see ~~he's a Seigaku at heart~~ there are more ways to effectively lead than Yukimura's and Sanada's drill sergeant terrorism & it's ok to have his own style (that was actually why Yukimura agreed to his request to do this)
Yukimura's revenge against Seigaku is to be the merciless military leader he is for his portion of the captain demo and sit back and schadenfreude the other days where everyone else makes an attempt

Entry tags:

flayn goes to rikkai

Mean Girls

She hurts so much inside, she doesn't even know how else to deal with it.

It was simple enough, wasn't it? The hurt was because of Flayn. Was it her perky, happy, perfect innocence demeanor? Her exoticism? Noguchi had genuinely tried to understand what it was that made Flayn so much better than her in Yukimura's eyes that his preference would be so blatantly displayed. It was bad enough to face the sting of rejection, but the slap of humiliation on top of it? She would be lying if she said it hadn't led to a few wet spots on her pillow that night.

The doubles match only made it worse, and that was on top of the rumor he and Flayn had stolen away to a private lunch together in between. How bold was she being without classroom eyes on her? Already she'd proven willing to hold his hand in public view. Whatever the answer, it was clearly enough to have Yukimura bewitched.

It wasn't that she'd ever been particularly close to him. Like most girls, Noguchi had only watched and yearned from a distance for most of junior high, and then into high school. He was just perfect. Beautiful, well-mannered, talented across multiple spectrums.... and there was something about him that captivated her like steel to a magnet. His very presence was an irresistible force. Noguchi had known a couple of little crushes before him; none had held so intensely or for nearly as long. She was simply desperate.

And then, she was also angry. That project reassignment felt like robbery, the one chance where finally they had a reason to talk, and even if he didn't take an interest, it was such a special thing just to be able to sit with him, and she could look up and he was right there.

Until he wasn't, because someone decided to finally show up and be without a project partner, and then decided to turn the charm up to 21 right there in front of everyone. Now Yukimura was being so intimate with her he even personally styled her hair before the match, she'd heard. That long, soft, green mass of curl. He'd complimented it before, too, hadn't he?

She hurt, and she was angry, and those feelings fueled a dark desire to hurt and humiliate back. She wanted Flayn to suffer the way she did, to feel the misery her presence had inflicted. And why shouldn't she? Wasn't it good to learn not to stick out from the crowd so much? It was Flayn's own fault for being so forward and shameless and completely, utterly disregarding of the comfort of others. Did she think she was the only girl in the world who liked him?

Given Yukimura's clear affection for her tresses, it wasn't hard for her and Konishi (bless her best friend, confidant and partner in crime who understood everything) to settle on a punishment. And when Yukimura excused himself to get some supplies from the back room, and then Kudou-sensei left the art room to do whatever it was he wanted to do that wasn't teaching, opportunity knocked.

With mental placations of the near future, she slid over to Flayn's table and into the chair across from her with an awkward smile.

"Morning. Mind if I join you for a bit? Since you were late joining the class, I never really got a chance to properly meet you."

✯Zeno \| Akatsuki no Yona eternalshield ~~thefarshore~~	✯Abi \| Akatsuki no Yona staredown ~~empatheias~~
✰Yukina \| Yu Yu Hakusho glacierflower ~~thefarshore~~	★Dick Grayson \| Young Justice staystraught bluer usedacrobatics morallygrayson somarium route_29 towerofanimus rekindleme havenrpg prismatica
★Sokka \| Avatar: The Last Airbender doesactivities route_29 gargleblasted somarium prismatica	✰Tot \| Weiss Kreuz kisseddeath undeaddoll sirenspull somarium
✰Son Gohan \| Dragon Ball neededahand masenko ~~vatheon~~	✯Youji Kudou \| Weiss Kreuz slantedcross coolestcat somarium route_29 sirenspull thefarshore