Prince of Tennis - Yanagi Renji - 83. And
Title: Statistically Possible
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Yanagi Renji, Inui Sadaharu
Prompt: 83. And
Word Count:1,863
Rating: PG
Summary: The data pair get the chicken pox at the same time and suffer together.
Author's Notes:
My LDT found here
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There was something wrong with those two wierd kids the adults at the tennis school thought. The best doubles pair they've had in ages were moving
sluggishly on the court. The two boys were usually at the right points at the right time, but their undefeated record was finally broken. Inui Sadaharu scratched his back with his racket.
"This isn't making sense." He said to his best friend and doubles partner Yanagi Renji. Renji just looked at him.
"I know. Our timing is off, we're at least 34% slower tan usual, and I'm achy all over." Renji leaned against the slightly taller boy.
"I'm not only achy, I itch." Sadaharu was still trying to use his racket as a back scratcher. "Scratch my back, Renji?" He asked, knowing his best friend would indulge him. Renji ran his fingernails over Sadaharu's back. Sadaharu breathed out a sigh of relief as their coach came over.
"What's wrong with you boys? You're usually the best out there."
Renji looked up at their coach. "I think we're sick." The adult looked at the two kids, then noticed the spots on Inui's arm.
"Oh, goodness!" He said, and pointed them to the nearest bench.
"If you're going to call our parents, you only need to call mine." Renji said. "Sadaharu's are away for a while and he's staying with us." He said as he rested his head against Sadaharu's shoulder. Their coach nodded and went to call Yanagi's parents.
Sadaharu just kept scratching himself all over. "This is...extremely annoying."
"Don't scratch, Sadaharu." Renji said, his voice thickening with sleep, even as his arm was dropping to scratch his leg.
It was about a half hour later that Renji's mother came to pick them up. She frowned when she saw the spots on the boys. It was a bit late, but she thought she could get them to the doctor before they closed. And the doctor confirmed her fear: Her son and his best friend had the chicken pox.
"Don't let them scratch. Calamine lotion and oatmeal baths will help. Non-aspirin painkillers if they need them." The doctor instructed while Sadaharu kept trying to scratch even after being told not to.
Renji's mother smacked him. "Stop that. You don't want scars later in life, do you?" She asked, herding the boys home.
"But it itches!" Sadaharu whined.
"I don't care." Renji's mother said, smacking his hand away from his scratching. She sighed. One sick little boy would be hard enough to deal with, but two? She got the boys into bed, found some painkiller to give them. She'd have to find something to soothe the itching for at least a little while soon.
"Behave yourselves." She said, smiling.
Sadaharu nodded, trying not to shift uncomfortably and trying not to scratch.
"Stop that, Sadaharu." Renji said, rolling tiredly to look at his friend. "Sleep. It'll do both of us good."
"We won't be going to school." Sadaharu said, disappointed.
"For the rest of the week." Renji agreed, then sighed. "That means no tennis either."
"Considering how we were playing today...I don't think that's a bad thing." Sadaharu said, sliding under the blanket and scratching some more.
"Mom said not to do that." Renji said, trying not to scratch his own itchy spots.
"I don't care!" Sadaharu said, going almost insane, scratching his legs and arms and what he can of his back. Renji tackled him.
"Stop it, Sadaharu!" Sadaharu just reached out and scratched at Renji's arm. He backed off at feeling how good that felt. "You have very little self control."
"I know." Sadaharu said just as Renji's mom came back. "Tori-san, why does it itch so much?" Sadaharu asked, squirming with trying not to scratch. She smiled a little.
"Take your shirts off, boys." She said, pouring some of the calamine lotion into her hands. "This might be cold." Tori said, slathering the lotion over the boys' backs and chests. "And it's just one of those things that is, Sadaharu-kun. But I know how you two are." She winked at them. "I'll find some books for you two."
"Thanks, mom." Renji said, falling back on his bed. Tori smiled.
"No fighting." She said, she had seen the little wrestling match, surprised that either of them had the energy for that. "Dinner will be ready soon. Try to get some rest before then." She advised the boys and headed out.
Sadaharu crawled back on the bed and laid down beside Renji. "Sorry." Renji just smiled and pulled Sadaharu's glasses off his face.
"It's okay. This is going to drive us crazy." Renji said, setting Sadaharu's glasses on the nightstand carefully. "Mom is right, let's try to rest." It was a few moments later and Renji's breathing evened out into the patterns of sleep. Sadaharu rolled so his head rested against his friend's shoulder and closed his own eyes trying to not think about scratching the few itchy places left on him.
~Day 3~
"You sunk my battleship." Sadaharu said, sounding a bit disappointed. Renji was on quite a winning streak, always just managing to get the last of Sadaharu's ships while he only had two or so hits left. Sadaharu looked at his friend. "Are you sure you don't have x-ray vision and that's why you keep your eyes closed?" He asked, trying to sneak a scratch. Renji batted his arm away. They had taken to smacking each other lightly if one of them tried to scratch.
"I'm rather certain I don't." Renji said, putting away the game. They had been playing Battleship for the past two or so hours and it was rather boring now. "Risk?"
"You win at that more than at Battleship." Sadaharu frowned, looking over the Yanagi's selection of board games. It seemed like they'd gone through them all in the past day when they weren't being forced by Renji's mother to sleep. And they didn't have any video games. "Can't we play something I at least have a chance of winning?"
"Your chance of winning is 50 per cent, you know. It doesn't matter what we're playing." Renji said, grinning a little.
"I know. It just feels like you always win." Sadaharu said. "I'll beat you one of these days." Renji laughed.
"You will." He agreed, climbing back in bed. "This is boring." He complained. It seemed like him and Sadaharu had read every book in the house, watched every movie, and had probably played every game at least 5 times.
Sadaharu had opened up a notebook and was scribbling some notes in it. Renji sat up and looked over his shoulder. Sadaharu turned to look at him. "It's true, you know." He was working out some math in the margins.
"That should be a six." Renji said, pointing out the small mistake.. Sadaharu frowned, but changed it. "What are you doing?"
"Calculating the exact percentage of our bodies that are covered by spots."
"That changes though because I've seen some go away and come back and the spots like to pop into places that weren't affected before..." Renji said.
Sadaharu grinned. "Makes it all that more exciting." Renji just shook his head.
~Day 5~
"I think we're getting better. I don't itch so much." Sadaharu said as he and Renji got out of the bath.
"That could be because we just took a bath."
"No, because yesterday I was itchy even in the water."
"That means you two are getting better." Renji's mother appeared in the door of the bathroom as the boys dried off. "You'll be able to go to school next week." That certainly cheered the boys up. They had already finished their homework for the week. "Come here, let me get some lotion on you two so you don't scratch, and then you can go do whatever." She said, calamine lotion bottle in hand.
The boys submitted to being slathered in the lotion, thankful for it's cooling effects. They were getting more restless and were tired of being cooped up inside though. They were again sitting on the bed. Well, Sadaharu was sitting up while Renji was lying back. If anyone hadn't known better they'd have thought him asleep.
"What do you think our chance of success is if we sneak out?"
"Where would we go, Sadaharu?" Renji asked. "And not much more than 52%."
"That's still pretty good."
"Mother would catch us before we got to the door." Renji said. "I don't like being inside anymore than you do, but we are sick."
"I want out..." Sadaharu whined.
"Your parents will be back tomorrow. You'll get to go outside for a little bit."
"Actually, Mom said I had to stay until we're both better your mom told me. Apparently my father never had chicken pox when he was a kid." They had both read the books Renji's mother gave them and all of them said it was much worse for an adult to have the disease.
Sadaharu started scribbling in his notebook again, this time drawing. He wasn't really much of an artist. All his people were stick people. "What are you drawing?" Renji asked, sitting up and watching the scribbling.
"Nothing, really." Sadaharu said as his pen left a trail of ink on the page. "I just miss playing tennis." He said, pouting a little and pushing his oversized glasses back up his nose and drawing a pair of square glasses on one of the stick people and a mop of hair around the other. Renji laughed a little.
"Is that supposed to be us?" He asked. Sadaharu nodded.
"I guess..." He trailed off, adding a few more details to his stick people.
Renji's mother knocked on the door and came in with a tray. "Lunch time, boys." She said, setting the laden tray down on the bed.
"Something other than soup?" Sadaharu asked hopefully. He didn't think he could take any more soup. He would be soup if he ate any more.
"Rice, with some tuna fish." Tori informed them. "And some apple juice." She ruffled the boys' heads. "You're getting better, and I know you're restless,
but it's really for your own good."
"We know." The boys both chorused, and settled down to eat.
"Mmm..real food." Sadaharu said, glad for something other than soup.
"Soup is real food too, Sadaharu." Renji pointed out, but was just as glad that it wasn't more soup.
~Day 7~
"You should be lucky, Sadaharu-kun, you finally get to go home." Tori finally told the boys. "I'm sure you're glad about that." Sadaharu nodded eagerly.
"Very." He said, bouncing around. There wasn't a trace of a scar on him or Renji, and they would be able to go back to tennis the next day after having missed the last week. At least they were able to stay caught up on their school work.
Sadaharu's mother came to pick up her boy in the afternoon, giving her and Tori a chance to catch up on everything before going back to their own lives in their own dwellings.
"Bye Renji!" Sadaharu called before him and his mother left. "See you at tennis tomorrow!"
Renji just waved, smiling. Tomorrow things would be normal again.
Fandom: Prince of Tennis
Characters: Yanagi Renji, Inui Sadaharu
Prompt: 83. And
Word Count:1,863
Rating: PG
Summary: The data pair get the chicken pox at the same time and suffer together.
Author's Notes:
My LDT found here
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There was something wrong with those two wierd kids the adults at the tennis school thought. The best doubles pair they've had in ages were moving
sluggishly on the court. The two boys were usually at the right points at the right time, but their undefeated record was finally broken. Inui Sadaharu scratched his back with his racket.
"This isn't making sense." He said to his best friend and doubles partner Yanagi Renji. Renji just looked at him.
"I know. Our timing is off, we're at least 34% slower tan usual, and I'm achy all over." Renji leaned against the slightly taller boy.
"I'm not only achy, I itch." Sadaharu was still trying to use his racket as a back scratcher. "Scratch my back, Renji?" He asked, knowing his best friend would indulge him. Renji ran his fingernails over Sadaharu's back. Sadaharu breathed out a sigh of relief as their coach came over.
"What's wrong with you boys? You're usually the best out there."
Renji looked up at their coach. "I think we're sick." The adult looked at the two kids, then noticed the spots on Inui's arm.
"Oh, goodness!" He said, and pointed them to the nearest bench.
"If you're going to call our parents, you only need to call mine." Renji said. "Sadaharu's are away for a while and he's staying with us." He said as he rested his head against Sadaharu's shoulder. Their coach nodded and went to call Yanagi's parents.
Sadaharu just kept scratching himself all over. "This is...extremely annoying."
"Don't scratch, Sadaharu." Renji said, his voice thickening with sleep, even as his arm was dropping to scratch his leg.
It was about a half hour later that Renji's mother came to pick them up. She frowned when she saw the spots on the boys. It was a bit late, but she thought she could get them to the doctor before they closed. And the doctor confirmed her fear: Her son and his best friend had the chicken pox.
"Don't let them scratch. Calamine lotion and oatmeal baths will help. Non-aspirin painkillers if they need them." The doctor instructed while Sadaharu kept trying to scratch even after being told not to.
Renji's mother smacked him. "Stop that. You don't want scars later in life, do you?" She asked, herding the boys home.
"But it itches!" Sadaharu whined.
"I don't care." Renji's mother said, smacking his hand away from his scratching. She sighed. One sick little boy would be hard enough to deal with, but two? She got the boys into bed, found some painkiller to give them. She'd have to find something to soothe the itching for at least a little while soon.
"Behave yourselves." She said, smiling.
Sadaharu nodded, trying not to shift uncomfortably and trying not to scratch.
"Stop that, Sadaharu." Renji said, rolling tiredly to look at his friend. "Sleep. It'll do both of us good."
"We won't be going to school." Sadaharu said, disappointed.
"For the rest of the week." Renji agreed, then sighed. "That means no tennis either."
"Considering how we were playing today...I don't think that's a bad thing." Sadaharu said, sliding under the blanket and scratching some more.
"Mom said not to do that." Renji said, trying not to scratch his own itchy spots.
"I don't care!" Sadaharu said, going almost insane, scratching his legs and arms and what he can of his back. Renji tackled him.
"Stop it, Sadaharu!" Sadaharu just reached out and scratched at Renji's arm. He backed off at feeling how good that felt. "You have very little self control."
"I know." Sadaharu said just as Renji's mom came back. "Tori-san, why does it itch so much?" Sadaharu asked, squirming with trying not to scratch. She smiled a little.
"Take your shirts off, boys." She said, pouring some of the calamine lotion into her hands. "This might be cold." Tori said, slathering the lotion over the boys' backs and chests. "And it's just one of those things that is, Sadaharu-kun. But I know how you two are." She winked at them. "I'll find some books for you two."
"Thanks, mom." Renji said, falling back on his bed. Tori smiled.
"No fighting." She said, she had seen the little wrestling match, surprised that either of them had the energy for that. "Dinner will be ready soon. Try to get some rest before then." She advised the boys and headed out.
Sadaharu crawled back on the bed and laid down beside Renji. "Sorry." Renji just smiled and pulled Sadaharu's glasses off his face.
"It's okay. This is going to drive us crazy." Renji said, setting Sadaharu's glasses on the nightstand carefully. "Mom is right, let's try to rest." It was a few moments later and Renji's breathing evened out into the patterns of sleep. Sadaharu rolled so his head rested against his friend's shoulder and closed his own eyes trying to not think about scratching the few itchy places left on him.
~Day 3~
"You sunk my battleship." Sadaharu said, sounding a bit disappointed. Renji was on quite a winning streak, always just managing to get the last of Sadaharu's ships while he only had two or so hits left. Sadaharu looked at his friend. "Are you sure you don't have x-ray vision and that's why you keep your eyes closed?" He asked, trying to sneak a scratch. Renji batted his arm away. They had taken to smacking each other lightly if one of them tried to scratch.
"I'm rather certain I don't." Renji said, putting away the game. They had been playing Battleship for the past two or so hours and it was rather boring now. "Risk?"
"You win at that more than at Battleship." Sadaharu frowned, looking over the Yanagi's selection of board games. It seemed like they'd gone through them all in the past day when they weren't being forced by Renji's mother to sleep. And they didn't have any video games. "Can't we play something I at least have a chance of winning?"
"Your chance of winning is 50 per cent, you know. It doesn't matter what we're playing." Renji said, grinning a little.
"I know. It just feels like you always win." Sadaharu said. "I'll beat you one of these days." Renji laughed.
"You will." He agreed, climbing back in bed. "This is boring." He complained. It seemed like him and Sadaharu had read every book in the house, watched every movie, and had probably played every game at least 5 times.
Sadaharu had opened up a notebook and was scribbling some notes in it. Renji sat up and looked over his shoulder. Sadaharu turned to look at him. "It's true, you know." He was working out some math in the margins.
"That should be a six." Renji said, pointing out the small mistake.. Sadaharu frowned, but changed it. "What are you doing?"
"Calculating the exact percentage of our bodies that are covered by spots."
"That changes though because I've seen some go away and come back and the spots like to pop into places that weren't affected before..." Renji said.
Sadaharu grinned. "Makes it all that more exciting." Renji just shook his head.
~Day 5~
"I think we're getting better. I don't itch so much." Sadaharu said as he and Renji got out of the bath.
"That could be because we just took a bath."
"No, because yesterday I was itchy even in the water."
"That means you two are getting better." Renji's mother appeared in the door of the bathroom as the boys dried off. "You'll be able to go to school next week." That certainly cheered the boys up. They had already finished their homework for the week. "Come here, let me get some lotion on you two so you don't scratch, and then you can go do whatever." She said, calamine lotion bottle in hand.
The boys submitted to being slathered in the lotion, thankful for it's cooling effects. They were getting more restless and were tired of being cooped up inside though. They were again sitting on the bed. Well, Sadaharu was sitting up while Renji was lying back. If anyone hadn't known better they'd have thought him asleep.
"What do you think our chance of success is if we sneak out?"
"Where would we go, Sadaharu?" Renji asked. "And not much more than 52%."
"That's still pretty good."
"Mother would catch us before we got to the door." Renji said. "I don't like being inside anymore than you do, but we are sick."
"I want out..." Sadaharu whined.
"Your parents will be back tomorrow. You'll get to go outside for a little bit."
"Actually, Mom said I had to stay until we're both better your mom told me. Apparently my father never had chicken pox when he was a kid." They had both read the books Renji's mother gave them and all of them said it was much worse for an adult to have the disease.
Sadaharu started scribbling in his notebook again, this time drawing. He wasn't really much of an artist. All his people were stick people. "What are you drawing?" Renji asked, sitting up and watching the scribbling.
"Nothing, really." Sadaharu said as his pen left a trail of ink on the page. "I just miss playing tennis." He said, pouting a little and pushing his oversized glasses back up his nose and drawing a pair of square glasses on one of the stick people and a mop of hair around the other. Renji laughed a little.
"Is that supposed to be us?" He asked. Sadaharu nodded.
"I guess..." He trailed off, adding a few more details to his stick people.
Renji's mother knocked on the door and came in with a tray. "Lunch time, boys." She said, setting the laden tray down on the bed.
"Something other than soup?" Sadaharu asked hopefully. He didn't think he could take any more soup. He would be soup if he ate any more.
"Rice, with some tuna fish." Tori informed them. "And some apple juice." She ruffled the boys' heads. "You're getting better, and I know you're restless,
but it's really for your own good."
"We know." The boys both chorused, and settled down to eat.
"Mmm..real food." Sadaharu said, glad for something other than soup.
"Soup is real food too, Sadaharu." Renji pointed out, but was just as glad that it wasn't more soup.
~Day 7~
"You should be lucky, Sadaharu-kun, you finally get to go home." Tori finally told the boys. "I'm sure you're glad about that." Sadaharu nodded eagerly.
"Very." He said, bouncing around. There wasn't a trace of a scar on him or Renji, and they would be able to go back to tennis the next day after having missed the last week. At least they were able to stay caught up on their school work.
Sadaharu's mother came to pick up her boy in the afternoon, giving her and Tori a chance to catch up on everything before going back to their own lives in their own dwellings.
"Bye Renji!" Sadaharu called before him and his mother left. "See you at tennis tomorrow!"
Renji just waved, smiling. Tomorrow things would be normal again.