Title: The Revenge of Uchimura
Fandom: Prince of Tennis: Fudomine Chuugaku
Characters: The whole team and An
Prompt: 084 - He
Word Count: 1935
Date finished: 05/07/2007
Rating: G
Summary: Uchimura won't let it rest.
Author's Notes: I had to do this one. The joke on Tetsu is also based off the same conversation The Binding of Uchimura is; I had to sneak it in somehow! Again, Uchimura's personality is based on asongforcrows perception of him. And I do suggest you read that one first; this will make much more sense if you do.
Disclaimer: Characters are owned by Konomi Takeshi, and whoever did the anime. At any rate, it's not me.

It was, Uchimura Kyosuke decided, time to get his own back.

He didn't know if they'd all forgotten the incident, but he hadn't, the humiliating ten minutes he'd spent tied to a bench on the tennis courts to be found by their captain. Certainly Tachibana-san had never mentioned it again, but that didn't surprise Uchimura in the least. The captain had accepted that he wasn't going to tell on his teammates, and left it alone.

Which meant that his little acts of vengeance would not include the captain.

So he turned his attention to the rest of the team.

It wasn't going to be easy, either. They were all still pretty… nervous… about the boys they'd ousted from the club, and they were all wary of retribution, even him.

But he could do this, if he could figure out how to be subtle enough.

Subtle wasn't usually his way of doing things, though.

It would be a challenge, too, because not only did he have to be subtle, he had to not hurt them. They hadn't injured him, just his pride - which was bad enough, but still.

He lagged behind one afternoon, watching them as they packed up to head for home, still reveling in the newness of being able to play on the school courts instead of the one they'd made, to have the freedom to learn and play they'd been denied for far too long.

They each had something important… and he could do something with that.

"You're plotting something."

An's voice made him jump, and he turned to face her. "What?"

Her eyes twinkled. "You're plotting something. Want some help?"

He regarded her carefully, eyes narrowed as he thought about it. "I think I could use some," he admitted.

She grinned at him. "Good. I'll tell Kippei we're going to the library. Besides - we do have a project to do for class, and it'll get done better if we work on it together."

"Sounds good," he said, and grinned back at her.

It was one of the best things he'd done in a while.

An was devious. He hadn't realized just how devious she was until they spent an hour, brainstorming things to do to his teammates, in between working on the project for their History class. He hoped - fervently - never to get on her bad side.

The first one he struck at was Kamio - because, really, he should have known better, should have stopped them instead of joining in. Vice-captains should know better than that.

It was amusing to watch the redhead go completely off his game with Shinji - they all knew he listened to his MP3 player during practice, since it helped him keep his rhythm. There was, of course nothing he could do - everything seemed fine, when he looked at it later, after the game (which he lost miserably). Uchimura could hear him mumbling to himself - oh, not exactly what he said, since he was trying to keep some distance between himself and Kamio - but the redhead sounded so much like Shinji it was all he could do not to laugh.

It had taken him some time to reprogram much of the music - or rename it, so that the song Kamio thought he was listening to was under a completely different name. An had warned him that he MP3 player would fix itself by the next day, but that one day was all he'd needed - because he, too, managed to win a match against Kamio, which he'd never done before. He didn't bother to hide how much he'd enjoyed it, in spite of the glare the redhead shot him afterwards.

Shinji was a little more difficult; he was darn protective of his bag, and so it required, after a couple of aborted attempts, that he call An in to be a distraction. She was very good at that, talking to Shinji about an assignment she knew they all had to do, while Uchimura did what he needed to.

The blow up, when Shinji realized his grip tape was gone, was even more hilarious when it was found in Sakurai's bag; Masaya's disbelief as he handed it back was great to see, and by the end of that practice, he was practically cringing every time Shinji looked at him. Of course, Shinji glared - and he was good at glaring - every time he looked at Sakurai, so it was worth it.

It took a few days for Shinji to calm down and to stop glaring, and even to forgive the other player; he could hold a grudge, but not too long, and certainly not over something like that with someone so close to him. Uchimura breathed a little easier after that - it'd been a gamble, but at least he'd gotten them both.

Next, he turned his attention to Ishida. There wasn't a lot he could do with Tetsu, at least not physically, so he and An had worked hard to come up with something. It was going to be difficult - but he banked on the idea that Tetsu didn't really wake up until half way through his first class.

It was, he heard later, quite the uproar, when Tetsu walked into his class - half asleep as usual - but with a frilly mantilla instead of the scarf (or whatever) he usually wore. Uchimura knew that he had a spare, so by the time he saw the giant of their team, he looked much as he usually did - except for the permanent tinge of pink he wore in his cheeks for the rest of that day.

Uchimura hoped someone had gotten a picture and would get it to him; when an email from An showed up a few days later, he nearly laughed himself sick. He didn't ask her how she got that picture, either; he knew she'd been avoiding doing anything suspicious as much as he had. But he was grateful she'd gotten it.

Mori - now, Mori was much harder. Mori had started it, and he really had to get his partner back. Because… well, just because.

It took long thought - and more than one brainstorming session with An - before they came up with something. And when they did, he swore to himself as he left the library that he would never end up on her bad side. No matter what he had to do.

And then he hoped that the idea to tie him up hadn't been hers.

It took some days before he managed to get Mori aside without the others. "Hey. I heard they're changing the rules."

Mori looked stunned - and then worried. "What rules?" he asked, eyes wide.

"For doubles partnerships. There's some problem with how it works, I think. I still have the article at home, if you want to read it."

There was worry in his partner's expression, now. "Really? I'd like that. Thanks."

So Uchimura brought the article - clipped from a magazine, without the title or any identifying words - and gave it to him. He watched his friend walk off after practice, brow furrowed as he read through the paper.

"How is it going?" An asked, coming up beside him.

"He's worried," Uchimura said with a small grin. "But I'm not sure I'll be able to keep this up."

An chuckled. "I know. He's just too… hard working to pull this kind of prank on."

He sighed. "So… why did we decide to do it?"

"Because it was the best thing we could come up with." She smiled at him. "You can stop it any time you want."

"I know."

Mori returned the next day, looking even more anxious. "Kyosuke, have you read this? Closely?"

Uchimura shook his head. "No, not really. Why?"

"They can't expect us to be able to do this stuff," Mori said, leaning closer. "It's… it's impossible."

Uchimura looked at his friend, down at the paper he clutched nearly frantically, then back up. "They don't."

Mori looked up at him, confused. "What? But you said…."

Uchimura gently took the article from him, wadded it up, and tossed it in the nearest trash can. "It was a joke. Well," he revised, "a prank."

Mori stared at him. "A prank?" he repeated.

"Yep." He slapped his partner on the shoulder. "So don't worry about it."

Mori said nothing else, his expression stunned and disbelieving as Uchimura walked away. At least his friend hadn't spent more than one night worrying - and that was all, really, he'd wanted.

"You told him," An said as he sat down at his desk, and she sounded happy about it.

"Yep."

"Good. How did he take it?"

Uchimura grinned at her. "Oh, he's going to be furious once he gets over the shock. Should be interesting."

She laughed.

He was right; by the time practice rolled around, Mori was absolutely stormy. Uchimura nearly winced when Tachibana-san assigned the two of them to work together, but figured he probably deserved whatever he got.

It wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be, actually - Mori didn't aim any shots at his head or face, and he was careful not to do the same to his partner. He wasn't a complete idiot; injuring one of his teammates was a stupid thing to do. When the match was finished - he'd lost this time - he approached the net warily.

Mori met him there, calmer, breathing hard, eyes narrowed. "Let me guess," he said softly. "Pay back for when we tied you up?"

"You weren't the only one," Uchimura admitted. "Just the last."

Mori stared at him, and Uchimura watched as little pieces of what had been happening the last few weeks clicked into place in his head. And then, unexpectedly, he began to laugh.

Uchimura sighed in some relief. That meant he was completely forgiven; he really hadn't wanted to hurt his feelings or anything. "That was good," Mori said after he'd gotten control of himself. "Nicely done."

"I had help," Uchimura admitted as they walked off the court together. Tachibana was eyeing them with an expression that meant he was going to demand an explanation, but he didn't ask right then. "An-chan is devious."

Mori grinned at him. "Yes, she is," he said knowingly, and Uchimura had to wonder if she had had something to do with what had happened to him. It would be… ironic if she did.

Tachibana pulled him aside as he left the courts that afternoon. "What was that all about?"

"Which?" he asked, not really trying for innocence, because it wouldn't work, but he wasn't entirely sure what the Captain meant.

"Mori was furious when you started your match."

"Ah. I… uh… played a prank on him today. Well, yesterday, and cleared it up today."

Tachibana raised one eyebrow. "And that made him angry?"

Uchimura shrugged. "I think he wasn't expecting it."

The older boy regarded him for a moment. "Everything is cleared up now?"

"Seems to be," Uchimura said breezily.

"Good. Don't disrupt practices again."

Uchimura gave him an innocent look. "I'll do my best," he said, and that was all he promised.

An called that night. "Did you tell Kippei I helped you?" she asked.

Uchimura started. "What? No! I didn't even tell him I did anything."

She chuckled. "He knows, though. I'm not sure he knows why. He might suspect, but he doesn't know."

"Well, as long as we don't say, he'll never know," Uchimura said. "And, by the way, thanks again for all your help."

"Oh, it was fun," she replied, said good-bye, and hung up.

He hung up as well, grinning madly. It was nice to have such good friends.

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