Taki could hear the rhythmic pounding of ball against cement wall long before he reached the actual source of the noise. Hiyoshi was almost always here, Saturday evenings, practicing with such fiery concentration he never had the will to break it. There were other times to have his way with the poor boy, anyway.

Hiyoshi, he thought, made a damn fine buchou. The boy wasn't Atobe, but the qualities to lead the two hundred-strong team were there, even with the general lack of people skills.

And therein lied the problem - Hiyoshi was still chasing Atobe even now, with a passion that made him wonder and made jealousy rise like bile from within him. He knew it was just tennis, but... A scowl flicked across his face. Yes, he was jealous, damn it, and he wasn't going to try to hide it from himself.

"Taki?"

The voice startled him out of his musings, and he realized then that it was already dark, almost black if not for the streetlights. He was usually gone before Hiyoshi ended his practice, except-

"Taki? Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing." When Hiyoshi was close enough, he pulled the taller boy down to press a kiss to the top of his head. "Nothing at all."

Atobe may have captured Hiyoshi's sight, but in the end, it was he who claimed the honey-haired boy for his own.

The End

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