Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ The Cat In You ❯ The Cat In You ( Chapter 1 )

Inui's glasses glinted with an evil intent as he held up his new concoction for his so called "juice." This time, it was emerald green laced with wisps of black. The regulars looked at the drink with great distaste. Eiji was clinging to Oishi for his dear life as Oishi tried to comfort him as much as possible. Kaidoh just hissed as his face paled a bit. Fuji looked interested in this new liquid and was looking forward to seeing the others who had to drink it suffer. Kawamura didn't have his racquet with him, so he merely looked around nervously and hoped he wouldn't have to drink whatever Inui called his latest creation. Momo swallowed hard at the painful memories of Inui's last juice and decided no matter what, he was not going to drink that vile substance. Echizen pulled his hat down more over his face trying not to envision how bad this one was going to be. Tezuka, who was standing beside Inui, was glad that he wasn't the one that had to run laps and possibly end up with the glass in his hand. It was great to be captain on these days.

"Today, we're going to increase your lap time. You are now to complete a lap in fifty seconds or you will drink my new juice," Inui announced, glasses glinting maliciously, yet, again.

Inui held up a pitcher of the juice, and everyone groaned. When they started running, it was a mad dash to finish faster this time, and everyone was really starting to panic now. As they were completing a lap, Echizen grabbed a racquet that was leaning against the linked fence and handed it to Kawamura.

"BURNING!! OH YEAH BABY!! BRING IT!!" Kawamura yelled, swinging the racquet and plowing through the crowd of regulars.

"ECHIZEN!!" Eiji and Momo yelled together.

"Mada mada dane, senpai-tachi," Echizen replied as he followed in Kawamura's wake.

The rest of the group quickened their paces to keep up. As they came around the last corner of their lap, everyone raced across at the same time, keeping Inui from putting his juice into use. Everyone collapsed heaving but glad that they didn't have to drink the juice.

"Momo-senpai," Echizen said between gasps, "hand me my water bottle." Echizen requested since Momo had sat down near where he'd left his bottle last.

Momo reached behind his back and grabbed whatever was within reach and handed it to Echizen. Ryoma took it and took one big gulp and immediately regretted it. Echizen choked a bit and stood up and ran off to the fountains to rinse his mouth of the offending substance. Momo had looked up at Echizen when he stood and left, but he was confused.

"Why did Echizen leave in such a rush?" Momo thought.

Then Momo looked down at Ryoma's abandoned water bottle and saw that Inui's name was on it, Momo's face paled until it couldn't be any whiter. Momo got up and ran to the fountains to apologize, but just as he got there and saw Ryoma at the fountain, something unexpectedly happened. Echizen was bent over the fountain, and Momo was getting ready to call out to him when there was a pop, and a cloud of smoke surrounded Ryoma. Momo looked into the smoke, and where Ryoma should have been, there was a cat. The cat was green with black highlights and golden eyes. It was the most adorable cat Momo had ever seen. The cat looked a bit stunned, so Momo approached slowly so as not to spook it. The cat looked at Momo then it seemed to glare at Momo.

"What's up with this cat? And where did Echizen run off to? Oh well." Momo thought, then bent over and snatched up the cat before it had the chance to run away. "C'mon kitty. Let's go look for Echizen."

The cat looked up at Momo, mewed, settled into the embrace, and closed its eyes for a little cat nap. Momo continued to look for Echizen but just couldn't find him anywhere. When he returned to the courts, Eiji came bounding up to him.

"Hoi, hoi!! Momo, why do you have a cat? Where did you go? Where's Ochibi- can? Can I hold the cat?" Eiji said, jumping up and down over the appearance of the cat.

"I found the cat, Eiji-senpai. I went looking for Echizen and found the cat instead. I guess you could hold him."

Momo handed the cat over to Eiji and was about to go talk to Tezuka about Echizen's disappearance when Inui appeared out of nowhere.

"WHAAA!! Inui-senpai, what are you doing?! Don't DO that!!" Momo said grasping his chest.

"What was it that caused Echizen to run off?" Inui said.

"Haha. I accidentally gave Echizen your water bottle instead of his." Momo said rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and guilt.

"That's not good. That juice was in the experimental stage." Inui said as a shadow fell over him.

Tezuka was suddenly standing over Inui looking quite displeased, "What's going on Inui?"

"Momo, what exactly happened when you went to look for Echizen the first time?" Inui said ignoring Tezuka's question for now.

Momo looked at Inui before telling him what he saw. When Momo had finished, Inui had his notebook out and was writing in it.

"So, what you're saying is that the cat Eiji is holding is Echizen?" Tezuka questioned after a bit.

Momo blinked a couple times then said, "No, I'm saying Echizen must have gone somewhere in a hurry."

"Think about it. Echizen is there, and then there's a pop sound and smoke and where Echizen stood was a cat." Inui repeats back.

"Yeah," Momo replied.

"So, the only logical thing is to assume is that Echizen is a cat. That juice was still in the experimental stage so anything is possible." Inui stated matter of fact.

Momo went wide eyed as he looked from the cat in Eiji's arms to Inui and back. Momo walked up the Eiji and bent over till his face was level with the cat's. The cat still had its eyes closed.

"Echizen?" Momo called out.

The cat opened its eyes and looked at Momo and meowed.

"HAHAHAHAHA!! It IS Echizen! Echizen's a cat!" Momo exclaimed as Echizen glared at him.

Eiji squeezed Echizen and squealed, "OCHIBI-CHAN!!!"

Echizen tried to get away, so he could breathe but now he was even smaller than usual so he couldn't do it. Luckily Eiji let up as he ran to Oishi who was playing singles with Kaidoh.

"Oishi, Oishi!" Eiji called out.

Oishi looked up distracted from the game by his partners calling. Kaidoh stopped the serve he was about to hit and hissed out of irritation.

"What is it, Eiji?" Oishi said wondering if something was wrong.

"Look at Ochibi-chan!!" Eiji cooed as he held the cat up for his partner to see.

"Eiji, that's a cat," Oishi corrected.

"No! It's Ochibi-chan! Ask Inui! He'll tell you!" Eiji said still exited over this new development.

Oishi looked over to Inui who nodded. Oishi was a bit dumbstruck before he asked how this happened, and Inui explained once more how it was possible. Oishi took Echizen from Eiji and held him up to his face.

"Echizen?" Oishi said to the cat. The cat nodded its head, and Oishi looked at him sadly. "Are you all right, Echizen?"

Again Echizen nodded but struggled out of Oishi's grasp and ran over to Momo and jumped up into his arms. Momo simply blinked and shrugged a shoulder and continued to hold Echizen.

"Hoi, Hoi! Oishi look! Echizen likes Momo!" Eiji said loudly enough for the remaining regulars to hear this and came over curious as to what'd been going on. Inui explained a final time to the group of regulars what had happened. Everyone looked at Inui like he was crazy with the exception of Fuji and those who heard already.

Echizen was still napping in Momo's arms completely content in his present situation and was blissfully unaware of the situation around him. As everyone was heading back to practice, Tezuka, Inui, and Momo (still holding a slumbering Echizen) held a conference.

"Where's Echizen going to stay tonight? I don't think his parents are going to appreciate Inui turning their son into a cat." Momo said after a while.

Inui and Tezuka looked at Momo knowingly.

"NO WAY!! Echizen can't stay at MY house! My mom would kill me if I brought home a cat."

"Who said you had to tell her? Smuggle him in. It's only until I can work out an antidote." Inui said.

"BUT-"

"That's the end of discussion. Momo. You will keep Echizen with you. Inui, you will find the antidote. When this is all over, Inui, you will do fifty laps for bringing that `juice' to practice when it's still experimental. Momo, you will do twenty laps for not paying attention as to which bottle you were giving Echizen." Tezuka commanded.

"BUT-"

"Thirty laps."

"Yes," Momo sighed in defeat.

"Now, put Echizen down and finish practice," Tezuka said sternly.

Momo put Echizen in the locker room and made his way back to the courts along with Inui. Afterward, Momo changed back and started walking home with Echizen following as Momo told him the situation. About a third of the way home, Momo stopped when he heard Echizen mewing at him and looked down at Ryoma.

"What?"

Ryoma sat back on his haunches and put his front paws up. Momo got the message and picked Echizen up. On the way home, girls were stopping to coo and watch Momo pass so they could look at him and Echizen. Momo was enjoying the attention, but Ryoma simply shrugged it off and settled further into Momo's broad muscular chest. Once they reached the front of Momo's house, Momo had to put Echizen in his tennis bag so his mom wouldn't see Ryoma. Once Momo got into his room, he opened his bag, and Echizen jumped out and settled himself on Momo's pillow.

"Hey! That's my pillow!"

Echizen merely turned around so his back was facing Momo.

"Echizen!"

There was a knock on the door, and Momo stiffened.

"Momoshiro, do you have someone over?"

"Haha, no mom. Not today."

". . .All right."

"Whew, that was close. I'll try to get some food for you during dinner . . . . Echizen, will you at least look at me? Being a cat can't be that bad."

Echizen turned around and glared at Momo, but Momo came over and sat down next to Echizen and started to scratch Ryoma's head and ears, but Echizen hissed.

"Hahahaha, c'mon. It isn't all that bad." Momo said cheerfully.

Before Echizen could react, Momo scooped him up into his arms and continued to scratch Echizen on the head, ears, and under his chin. Ryoma slowly gave in to the skilled fingers that worked his scalp.

"Momoshiro, dinner time!" Momo's mom called.

"See now that wasn't so bad. I'll be back with some food after dinner. I'll try to excuse myself sooner tonight."

And with that, Momo set Ryoma down and left the room leaving Ryoma with his thoughts. When Momo came back, he saw his school uniform on the floor, and Echizen was sitting on the floor looking back at him.

"What are you doing with my uniform?" Momo said, knowing that Echizen was trying to get something across.

Echizen proceeded to crawl in the neck opening of the shirt and turn around and bring his head back out so it looked like he was wearing the uniform shirt.

"Oh, yeah I got your clothes and put them in your tennis bag. Tezuka already called your parents as well and let them know you were spending the night at my house." Momo explained.

Momo put his shirt back and put the small plate of food on the bed so Echizen could eat. After that was done, Momo did his homework, and Echizen watched for a while before getting bored and finding other means of entertainment. Momo had left a tennis magazine on the floor. Echizen was sitting on the magazine reading it. Once it was bedtime, Momo disrobed to his boxers and climbed in bed with Echizen curling up against his chest.

Momo stirred a bit noticing wonderful warmth permeating his skin and bones. Echizen felt some movement but ignored it and scooted closer to this magnificent source of warmth. Momo's eyes shot open. He looked over to where Echizen was sleeping the night before and saw not a cat, but a boy...an extremely naked boy at that. Momo gasped at the sight as sleepy forest green eyes looked up at him.

"Momo-senpai, why is your face so red this early in the morning?"

Then, Ryoma noticed a slight breeze in his lap, and he realized he had changed back during the night and didn't have his clothes. Echizen went ten shades darker than Momo and pulled the blankets off Momo to cover himself. There was an awkward silence. Momo slowly got up and fished through Echizens tennis bag retrieving Ryoma's clothes and tossing them to him. Then, Momo grabbed his clothes and walked out of the bedroom to change in the bathroom. This was all done in utter silence. Momo brought breakfast up to Echizen before they snuck out of the house and made their way to school. Once there, they went their separate ways still in total silence. When Echizen walked into the locker room, everything stopped as everyone saw him and noticed he was no longer a cat.

"Awww, Ochibi-chan isn't a cat any more," Eiji said disappointed.

"Eiji!" Oishi said. "Echizen, are you all right now?"

"Yes."

"That's good to know. I guess the effects of the juice wore off then." Oishi stated.

"Interesting . . ." Inui said as he appeared behind Ryoma from nowhere writing in his notebook.

Momo looked at Echizen then turned fire engine red before turning around again and continuing to get dressed for practice. Ryoma slightly pinked when his eyes met Momo's, and he pulled his cap down further while moving out of the doorway to his locker to get changed.

After practice when Momo and Echizen were on their way to the burger place they both agreed to never talk about this to anyone ever. The rest of the way there it was relatively quiet and they both enjoyed each others presence and that was enough for now. After they finished eating both Momo and Echizen noticed something had changed between them. Neither one of them knew what it was that changed and neither one of them voiced this aloud, but they knew.

When Echizen returned home he went through his usual routines, but something wasn't right. Ryoma felt as if he had a weight in his chest and it wasn't comfortable, but he ignored it and went to bed. However, Echizen couldn't sleep, which was just not normal. Ryoma loved sleeping and had never before had troubles falling asleep. Karupin was already sound asleep curled up under the blankets as usual, but Echizen was still having problems. Ryoma turned on to his left side facing the wall trying to find a comfortable position that would allow him to slumber peacefully. A couple minutes later Echizen could have sworn he heard something by his window but ignored it snuggling deeper into his quilt. A moment later he heard soft foot falls and then he felt his blanket being lifted up as he felt a slight draft as the cool air rushed past his warm body. The bed dipped down and all at once Ryoma felt warm and the weight that was on his chest left leaving behind a lighter than air feeling that he liked. Ryoma knew who it was that climbed into bed with him and he found he didn't mind one bit. Echizen leaned back into the stranger's warm broad chest.

"What took you so long?" Ryoma said with a light smirk on his face.

Momo smiled before replying, "I couldn't find your window."

Before either of them knew it they couldn't go to bed with out being together. Momo continued to sneak into Ryoma room every night where Echizen was waiting for him so they could go to bed. They slept happily ever after.

END

Author's Notes

Hey I hoped you guys liked my short one shot. I'd like to thank my editor Kon for not only editing but for inspiring me for the ending of this fic.

Oh, and if senpai-tachi is the wrong was to address more than one senpai, I'M VERRY SORRY!! I'm not Japanese so I have no idea, but I think that's it. If not please e-mail me and let me know the correct way to do it. Thanx for reading now review for me PLEASE!! It makes me feel good. Bye, bye!!