(no subject)

[kat8cha]

Title: Rock, Paper, Scissors
Author: kat8cha
Rating: PG
Other Characters/Pairings: Sanada, Yukimura
Disclaimer: Not mine, not mine, oh holy gods of trademarking, not mine. All rights go to Konomi Takeshi.
Warnings: The title is a very bad pun.
Summary: The summer is warm, the dojo is breezy, and Renji pays too much attention to the way his friend sit.
Notes: Thx to all who listened to me, and especially to T and M who read this over. Written for mlina a la willow_lotus .


Yanagi stroked Sanada's pet carefully, highly entertained by the way Sanada was alternatively giving him death glares and looking worriedly at the figure in Yanagi's lap. "It's a shame you haven't picked out a name for it, Genichirou, Seiichi says that names help define who a pet is." Yanagi, Sanada, and Yukimura were all gathered in Sanada's dojo on a hot summer day. The sliding doors of the dojo had been pushed open to allow for a slight breeze, but all three boys were still hot and sweaty. Sanada was sitting in seiza position, with his wooden sword resting at his side. He had been practicing before Yanagi and Yukimura stopped over.

Yukimura was sprawled on his side, his left elbow planted on the floor and his arm bent at a neat fourty-five degree angle to prop up his head. Behind Yukimura were three shopping bags from various stores, one was from the sports store, a second from the book store, and the third bag was from a gardening store that Yukimura liked to stop at. Yanagi had two bags, from the book store and sports store, behind him as well.

"Names are important." Yukimura reached over with his right hand and patted the head of Sanada's pet. Sanada let out a small grunt that may have held the edge of a growl in it. "Allergies acting up again, Sanada?"

Yanagi smiled slightly, amused at the rather alarming shade of red Sanada's ears were turning. "Ah, well, enough teasing." Picking up the Sanada family stone Yanagi passed it back to Sanada before sliding out of the half lotus position he had been sitting in and simply crossing his legs. "If you named it, we would only tease you more." Though the joy of teasing Genichirou about the Sanada family stone only took up twelve percent of their teasing. There was so much to tease Genichirou about.

Sanada grunted and took the stone, careful to set it to the side of his practice sword.

Silence fell for a few seconds, a comfortable, hot, muggy silence, broken by the thunk of bamboo on rock outside, and the soft sound of flowing water. "Have you finished your summer homework?" Yanagi questioned, already knowing the answer.

"Do you really need to ask, Renji?" Yukimura flopped onto his back with a smile, pushing his shopping bags out of the way. "I'm all finished, and you, Sanada?"

"Nn." Sanada's eyes flickered from Yanagi to Yukimura. "I finished last night."

Yukimura chuckled, and then turned his head to look at Yanagi. "And you, Renji?"

Yanagi gave a small shrug. "You could say I am finished."

"Does that mean you've already begun your coursework too, Renji?" Yukimura shook his head and then irritably pushed back his hair. Without his headband his hair fell into his face too easily. "Too much studying is no good! Right Sanada?"

"Hn." Sanada nodded his assent.

"Anything in excess is bad, Seiichi," Yukimura opened his mouth but Yanagi continued on, "including tennis, yes."

Yukimura sat up and crossed his arms over his chest. "We wouldn't have lost to Seigaku if everyone practiced more." Sanada looked faintly guilty, his fingers curling loosely in the fabric of his work out pants.

"We would have." Yanagi held up a hand. "Seiichi, I know this has been on your mind all summer, every time we come over to Genichirou's it gets brought up and you chew the two of us out. The loss to Seigaku just meant that it was their time to shine. It does not mean that, when we start high school, that we will not take over the tennis team and conquer Kantou again."

Sanada grunted his assent, standing up and picking up his wooden sword. "We will defeat them." A slim, crazy grin slid over his features. "Taran-"

"-darou!" Yanagi and Yukimura bothed finished off. Yukimura's smile reappeared, and Yanagi's shoulders relaxed.

"Hmph." Sanada sat down again, this time his posture was more relaxed. "Exactly."

"Now that that's over…" Yanagi reached behind him and dragged the bag from the bookstore open. He reached inside of it and pulled out a thick, mock-leather covered book. "I plan to take up scrapbooking."

"Scrapbooking, Renji?" Yukimura sounded faintly surprised. Yukimura had not noticed the large scrapbook Yanagi had picked up, when had he managed to do that? Yanagi had, of course, bought it while Yukimura was distracted. "What brought this up?" Sanada had moved forward and made a vague, questioning noise.

Yanagi shrugged. "When Genichirou begins to develop male pattern baldness I want pictures showing his receding hairline." A small smile was shared between Yanagi and Yukimura as Sanada spluttered. "In all actuality, I wished to have a photographic record of our years together."

"…and it looked fun." Yanagi added as an after thought.

Yukimura flopped backwards and propped himself up on his elbows. "Only you, Renji. Scrapbooking is insane. Have you seen the prices for scrapbooking stickers?"

"Of course I have." Yanagi opened up the book and fished a mechanical pencil out of his pocket. "I ascertained the best buys, and which stickers would be essential, as well as which stencils, colored papers, hole punches, and etc. I would need." Yanagi quickly sketched a few boxes on the paper with light lines and wrote in what he planned to put there. "Genichirou, do you know where your mother keeps all those photos she takes?"

"They're… in the other room." Sanada peered at the scrapbook, and then exchanged a glance with Yukimura. Yukimura nodded, and Sanada strode out of the dojo leaving Yanagi and Yukimura alone.

"I saw that." Yanagi stated, turning the page and wondering what to put on the second page. Should he arrange his scrapbook chronologically? Perhaps Yanagi should arrange the book by subject. Hmm, more things to consider.

"You see everything." Yukimura placed his hand on top of Yanagi's book, which Yanagi knew he had been going to do. "Renji, this doesn't have anything to do with 'data collection' does it?" Yukimura had a slightly worried look in his eyes.

Yanagi slid the book out from under Yukimura's hand and closed it. "Of course not, Seiichi, if I was going to collect 'data' you know I would do it on a laptop. I just want to keep a record." A record of highs and lows, wins and losses, and especially of their friendship. The only piece of Sadaharu Yanagi had left was the picture of the two of them after their tournament, Yanagi had only realized recently just how important things like that were.

"So long as you're not entering a scrapbook competition with Inui Sadaharu… I know nothing about scrapbooking."

"That's obvious, Seiichi." Yanagi smiled slightly when Sanada reentered the room with a clear plastic box filled with countless albums. "Sadaharu would be a scrapbooking disaster."