Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. I only own my crack muse.

Warning: Shonen-ai fic. Crack. Slightly AU.

Pairing: SanaYuki

Sana Puppy

By: Gwynhafra86

Chapter 3

Sanada gave a groan - or at least, he would have given a groan had he been human, but all that came out from him was a little whimper - as he slowly regained consciousness. It was dark all around him, and Sanada wondered if there had been a blackout. Either that or he hadn’t fully regained consciousness yet after all.

He opened his eyes and blinked. It was still dark, and whether or not his eyes were open did not make a difference. It was also warm and snuggly too, wherever he was. Warm and snugly…hmm…he’d never thought he’d use those words. It felt like something soft was covering him, and there was something heavy thrown over his body, keeping him in place. Despite the weight, it wasn’t suffocating, which was good, and Sanada resisted the urge to close his eyes and go to sleep. He slowly recalled what happened, and was mildly glad that puppies couldn’t blush. He’d scare Yukimura away if he did. Speaking of which, where was his captain?

He wriggled out of whatever was holding him down, using whatever strength this small body had, and after some time, he managed to break free from whatever was holding him down. His head popped out of whatever that was covering him, and he stopped to catch his breath, feeling tired from all that exertion. However, no sooner did he inhale when something tickled his nose, and he gave a puppy sneeze. He looked up, and in the darkness, he could vaguely see the outline of a face looming close to him.

Immediately, Sanada gave a startled yelp, rolling off the bed immediately. The sound caused the person on the bed to wake and sit up. Moments later, there was a soft click and the room was bathed in light. Sanada, who was still in his tail over head position (since that was how he landed on the floor - head first), blinked as Yukimura’s face stared at him.

“Gen…you poor thing. Did you have a bad dream?” Yukimura picked the puppy up and cradled it to his chest in a way one would do to a baby and not a puppy. Sanada looked around, and it was only then he realize that he had been covered with a blanket earlier on, and the heavy thing holding him down must have been Yukimura’s arm. As Yukimura held him close, his blue hair tickled Sanada, and the puppy sneezed again.

“Oh. You’ve caught a cold.” Yukimura sounded concerned. “Let’s go back to bed.” He smiled down at the puppy, walking in the direction of the bed.

Sanada froze. Oh no…he had forgotten. He had been sleeping in Yukimura’s bed earlier on. It was just too rude of him. There was no law saying that two teens can’t share one bed, but to Sanada, it was like an unwritten rule. He felt like he had just dishonoured his captain in some way…even though his captain wasn’t a girl but it still felt the same. For a moment, he considered committing seppuku to atone for his actions.

However, as he felt himself being lowered by the captain, he remembered that Yukimura was trying to put him on the bed. No sooner did his feet touch the mattress though, did he scuttle off, insisting on sleeping on the floor in the corner of the room.

Yukimura walked over to him and attempted to pick him up again, but Sanada scurried under the bed. The captain’s smile remained gentle, even as he reached under the bed and tried to pull the puppy out.

“Come on, Gen. I’m tired, so please be good. Okay?” He pleaded gently. Sanada remained stubborn though. He should not take advantage of Yukimura just because the latter didn’t know that he still had a man’s mind. He would not sleep on the same bed as the captain, and that was final.

The smile took on a more lethal edge, and for a moment, Sanada stared, transfixed, as his gaze was caught by those deep blue orbs. Before he knew it, the captain had caught his hind leg and dragged him out from under the bed.

Yukimura placed him on the bed again and before Sanada could run off, used his captain voice. “Sleep Gen.”

Sanada stiffened. Yukimura had used his ‘my word is law and you must obey’ tone. Should he sleep here, or should he not?

He gave in eventually, not wanting to disrupt Yukimura’s sleeping time anymore. The blue-haired boy tucked the puppy under the blanket and lay on his side, so that he was facing Sanada. “Goodnight, Gen.” He said softly before closing his eyes, going back to sleep.

Yukimura didn’t turn off the lights, probably thinking that Sanada was afraid of the dark. The puppy vice captain used the opportunity to study the captain’s sleeping face. He had never seen Yukimura sleep before, not in class, and especially not at practice. Yukimura had always had effeminate features, but that was nothing compared to when he was asleep. He looked so beautiful, and the captain who stood at the top of Rikkai’s tennis club looked hardly commanding when he was in this state. Who knew what harm could befall him should anyone else see him like this.

‘I will protect you, Yukimura…’ Sanada promised, reaching out with a paw to tap Yukimura lightly on the face. With that promise made, his heart felt lighter, and he curled up under the blankets, falling asleep quickly.

XXXXXXXXX

The bed felt strangely cold when he woke up. He blinked tiredly, poking his head out from under the blankets. Looking up, he noticed the time, gave a yelp, and leapt off the bed immediately.

The puppy bounded down the stairs as fast as his four legs could go, skidding to a halt when Yukimura’s younger sister called him.

“Come here, puppy-chan. It’s time for your breakfast. Onii-chan has gone to school already.”

He knew that. That was why he was rushing, but at the scent of dog food, his puppy instincts kicked in again, and his legs moved automatically in the direction of the bowl. He took a sniff. To Sanada’s eyes, the food looked highly unappetizing, but the scent was heavenly. Before he knew it, he was gobbling the food up in a very un-vice captain-like way, and he licked his chops once he was done. The food was delicious! Just like his Nameko Mushroom Miso soup.

For a while, he sat there, enjoying the aftertaste, though he remembered what he was trying to do, and bounded out the door again. ‘Yukimura! I’m coming to protect you!’ His mind yelled out loud. He felt like such a failure for letting the captain leave the bed without him noticing. So much for him as a protector.

Yukimura’s scent was faded, a sign that he had left the house quite a while ago, but Sanada was able to follow his track all the same. He bounded off in the direction of school, looking for his old spot to hide in. Yukimura wouldn’t be happy that he had come again, but Sanada was willing to take that risk. It was so hard being a vice captain sometimes. Not that he was complaining.

XXX

Kirihara grumbled to himself. His teacher had punished him for being late to class, and right now, he was in the mood for kicking puppies. (Then again, didn’t he always?)

“Yukimura-buchou’s going to have my head…” He muttered, dashing into the clubroom to change into his sportswear quickly before dashing out again in less than 2 minutes. He decided to take a shortcut to the courts. Hopefully, by some miracle he’d be able to reach before Yukimura decided to punish anyone.

As he made to run down the slope, he noticed a familiar looking tail, wagging between some bushes. Making up his mind, he snuck over to that spot, then with a quick grab, he snatched a puppy out of the bushes and held it upside down by the tail.

“Oh? You’re that Genichirou eh? Ceh…you remind me too much of Sanada-fukubuchou.” He smirked at the puppy, which was snapping its jaws at him. He still wanted to kick puppies, and now that he had one in his hands, Kirihara took the chance, literally giving Sanada the boot. The puppy went flying for a while before rolling down the hill again, landing dizzily on the edge of the courts.

Unfortunately for Kirihara, the captain noticed that, and made a beeline towards the dazed puppy. “Gen!” He scooped the slightly whimpering pup into his hands.

Kirihara instantly saw his life flash before his eyes the minute the captain turned his blazing blue gaze to him. “200 laps now!!”

The whole of Rikkai learnt a lesson that day. Yukimura had made an indirect declaration. Anyone who bullied his precious puppy might end up in a ditch for it, and the captain’s words were law!

XXX

When practice was over (by which time Kirihara had finally finished his laps), the regulars crowded round the puppy again. Yukimura kept it near him, and currently, Sanada stared sternly up at his regulars, while being guarded carefully by the captain. He hated it when all of them were taller than him. He hated something else more though.

All the regulars came up with various mutilations of Sanada’s name (and pride). Marui and Niou called him “Sana-chan”. Jackal and Yagyuu called him “Sanada-kun”. Kirihara called him “That Sanada Puppy”, with a hint of malice in his voice. Yanagi called him “Genichirou-chan.”. Yukimura was the only one who didn’t add a suffix to his name, and called him as he usually did, “Gen” or “Genichirou”, to which Sanada was immensely grateful.

One of the non-regulars approached Yukimura, informing him that the coach wanted to see him. Yukimura gave a nod to acknowledge the message and turned to Sanada. “Gen. Sit.”

Sanada put his butt to the floor immediately, and was rewarded with a pat and a smile from Yukimura. It was so humiliating to his reputation, but it was so worth it.

Once Yukimura left the place, Kirihara and Niou loomed over. “Ooh…Sana-chan is so obedient.” Niou smirked, scratching Sanada behind the ears roughly and causing him to growl, which only made his smirk wider.

“He really does remind me of Sanada-fukubuchou, but he’s just a helpless little puppy.” Kirihara grinned.

Those people probably gave his puppy form his name just to bully him. If only they knew that they had given the vice captain’s name to the puppy who was actually the vice captain himself. How ironic.

The two continued to prod him and pull his tail, looking like they’ve never seen a Black German Shepherd pup before (which they probably hadn’t). They grinned as the puppy growled and snapped his jaws at them. Marui came over after a while and poked Sanada a little, just to see his reaction too.

Yagyuu came over, not to join in, but to give his doubles partner a disapproving look. “Stop that, Niou-kun. It’s not right of you to bully a puppy like that. Yukimura would be most displeased if he finds out about this.”

Niou looked up slightly at the sound, giving his doubles partner a grin even as he continued prodding the puppy.

“What the captain doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Try playing with him too, Yagyuu. Sana-chan’s extremely tame.”

“I don’t call that playing…” Yagyuu frowned, adjusting his glasses. He left Niou, Kirihara and Marui to their own devices though.

“Such a harmless little puppy. He makes me want to bully him more.” Kirihara grinned.

Sanada snapped as a vein popped in his head. They have gone too far…

‘Strike like lightning!’ CHOMP! The next moment, Sanada sunk his teeth into Niou’s hand. There was silence for a moment, everyone staring blankly at the puppy gnawing on Niou’s flesh. There were no signs of pain, no gasp, no nothing, as the trickster was momentarily too stunned to react.

The first yell came not from the victim though, but from his doubles partner. “Niou-kun! You’re bleeding!” There was not much change to the Gentleman’s expression, though his voice was filled with concern.

Finally, Niou snapped out of his shock and gave a shout, swinging his arm wildly with the hopes of detaching rabid Sanada. Marui gave a high pitched shriek which bordered on sounding girly, and Kirihara made no sound. He just promptly fled.

After agonizing moments, the trickster managed to shake the puppy off, though the puppy raced after the culprits, barking madly, his jaws snapping non-stop in a similar fashion to Pac Man.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

Kirihara scaled a tree in less than one minute; Marui joined him up the same tree, while Niou climbed over a fence and ran as far as he could from the rabid puppy.

The pair on the tree gave a scream as Sanada circled below, barking madly. “Buchou!!” they yelled on the top of their voices.

Yukimura finally returned to the club, raising an eyebrow at the commotion. He spotted Sanada at the tree and gave an inward smile, deliberately taking his time to approach. When he was finally next to the puppy, he knelt down and laid a hand on its head.

Sanada calmed instantly, turning from a rabid puppy snapping his jaws to a happy puppy wagging his tail. The captain scooped the puppy into his arms and left for home, leaving the task of coaxing the two frightened teammates down to his teammates.

XXX

They have learnt their lesson after that, and ever since that incident, every time Kirihara saw the puppy around without Yukimura nearby to keep it in check, he’d scale up the nearest tree as fast as his legs would carry him.

Niou went petenshi mode and impersonated the headmaster for a week, though Sanada could sniff him out, and the school was treated to the sight of the headmaster being chased by one little black puppy.

Marui decided that he wanted to get back into Sanada’s good books, and approached the puppy after practice. Sanada growled at him, though viewed him as less of a threat than Kirihara or Niou, and allowed the redhead to come close without biting his hand off.

Marui rummaged into his pockets, drawing out a bar of chocolate. He broke the chocolate into pieces and offered some of them to Sanada. “This will be my apology. Forgive me, ne? Sana-chan?”

Sanada wanted to bite his hand for calling him that again, but his puppy instincts starting kicking in and, to his horror, he started drooling. Sanada was never the type to like sweet stuff, and especially chocolate. Real men ate meat, not chocolates. Chocolates, whatever form they take, were so sweet that eating them would make him feel like his teeth was going to fall off at any moment.

The minute Marui set the choc on the ground before him, his legs lunged forward without his permission, and he started sniffing them before gobbling them eagerly, much to his displeasure. Chocolates…tasted nothing like how he remembered them. He had never eaten something so heavenly before. He ate the chocolates and went over to lick Marui’s hand, as if saying, ‘you are forgiven.’.

Marui grinned. “Hai, come with me. I’ll see if I can find something else for you.” He picked Sana-puppy up and headed over to the courts.

XXX

Not too long later, Yukimura found himself heading in the direction of the courts at a scream from Marui. He frowned, wondering to himself if Sanada had attacked the regulars again.

To his horror, he found Sanada lying on the ground, his tiny body shaking with spasms and his mouth frothing. Marui had a few tennis balls around him, probably playing a game with the puppy before this happened. He turned helpless eyes to the captain. “I didn’t do anything! I was just having a game of catch with him.” He gestured to the tennis balls helplessly.

Yukimura scooped the puppy into his arms, looking worried because the puppy’s breathing was so shallow. He checked the puppy’s mouth, and noticed some brown traces around his teeth. Looking straight at Marui, his eyes narrowed. “What did you feed him?”

Marui held up the rest of the chocolate bar. “This. I ate it too and I’m fine.”

Yukimura didn’t say anything. He turned around, sprinted off and flagged a taxi to get him to the nearest veterinarian.

XXX

“You got him here just in time.” The doctor spoke up, having dealt with Sanada and managed to stabilize his condition. He wrapped the puppy up in a blanket and gave him back to Yukimura. “Chocolates are poison to dogs, as much as they do like them, and it would have been bad for him if you had been here even a moment too late.”

Yukimura stared at Sanada, who was sleeping in his arms, recuperating from the ordeal. “Thank you, doctor.” He said, truly grateful for his vice captain to be alright. He wouldn’t want to entertain the idea of losing Gen.

He walked home and placed Sanada on his bed before changing into some casual clothing. Once that was done, Yukimura took his homework, went to the bed, lay on his stomach and began to do some equations. He usually didn’t make this a habit of his. To him, it was a bad habit to do his homework on the bed, for he might accidentally fall asleep while doing so. However, he wanted to keep an eye on his puppy vice captain, and decided that he should break his own rule once in a while, when necessary.

He went down for dinner when his mother called him, and when he returned, the puppy was awake, and off his bed too. Sanada stared up at him when he entered, wagging his tail.

“You’re awake, Gen. Thank goodness.” The captain scooped the puppy into his arms and hugged him, nuzzling his cheek.”

‘Hmph. You can’t expect me to be taken down by chocolate. Tarundoru!’ The puppy gave a happy bark, licking his face.

Yukimura walked back to the bed. “Get some more rest, Gen.” No sooner had he put the puppy on the bed, however, did the canine leap off, settling on the floor. Yukimura chuckled. This was so alike Gen. There were times when he wondered if the vice captain was still inside that little body.

“Fine then. I’ll play with you later.” He took the rest of his homework off the bed and went to sit at his study table. Sanada wanted to join him, but his puppy side seemed to have taken an interest in his tail, and began chasing it, spinning on the spot.

Eventually, the puppy seemed to have gotten tired of his tail, to which Sanada was grateful, and his human mind took over, clambering up to Yukimura’s table to read his homework.

He spotted a mistake on one of the pages and gave a bark. Yukimura glanced over at him. “Not now, Gen. I’ll play with you later.”

He was about to turn the page, and Sanada barked again. Yukimura threw him a disapproving stare. “I said I’ll play with you later.”

‘And I said you made a mistake with question 4.’ Sanada reached out to tap the mistake with his paw, while barking repeatedly. ‘Please get the hint, Yukimura.’

Yukimura sighed. “Fine. I get it.” He closed the book, nearly squashing Sanada’s paw as he did so. “I’ll play with you. Come on here.” He lifted the puppy off the table and headed to the floor.

Sanada struggled, wanting to go back to that bit of homework, but he was distracted when Yukimura took a tennis ball and started playing with him, rolling the ball all over the room and letting Sanada retrieve it for him.

Yukimura gave a chuckle as the puppy scampered after the ball with happy barks. He lifted the ball into the air, laughing as the puppy leapt up, trying to get it but failing repeatedly.

“Sit.” Yukimura commanded, and Sanada’s puppy side obeyed immediately.

To Sanada’s horror, Yukimura went on to other commands, such as ‘beg’ and ‘roll over’, and his puppy side was more than happy to comply. His stoic reputation was going down the drain…

Yukimura laughed, looking very delighted. He smiled down at Sanada. “Play dead.”

Sanada stiffened at that. ‘P-play dead? Yukimura…you’re so cruel. You’d rather have me dead. Was I not good enough for you?’

The captain blinked when the puppy didn’t comply for this one, and instead dissolved into a series of wounded yips and whines as he lay flat on his stomach, looking up at the captain with soulful eyes.

Yukimura picked the puppy up, lying back on the bed and lifting the puppy right before his face. “Gomen, Gen. I must have said something wrong there, I guess.” He stared into the puppy’s eyes and chuckled. “You’re so cute, Gen. I like this side of you, though I do hope Renji gets that cure fast. I miss having my vice captain around, but for now, I’ll enjoy my time with you.” He smiled before bringing the puppy close, kissing him on the snout.

The next moment, Yukimura found himself with a handful of a human Sanada Genichirou, and he blinked. Sanada blinked back at him.

“Yukimura…” Sanada stared down at his hands. “I’m…back…” He sounded awed.

“Yes you are, Gen.” The captain replied calmly. His vice captain was heavy, and since he was seated on his chest, it was making difficult for him to breathe.

He spotted something right in his line of vision, was transfixed for a while, blinked and hurriedly averted his gaze, staring resolutely at the ceiling with a light blush on his face. “Urm…Gen?”

“Yes, Yukimura?” Sanada would do anything the captain asked him to do. Yukimura was his benefactor.

The captain seemed to be struggling not to look at him, and Sanada couldn’t help wondering why. He realized soon enough though.

“Could you please put some clothes on?”

XXXXXXXXX

“Sanada-fukubuchou! Welcome back!” His teammates greeted him enthusiastically the next day.

“It’s been a while, Genichirou.” Yanagi smiled. Good data. He would have to tell Sadaharu about this, provided he found out how Sanada turned back into a human in the first place.

Sanada didn’t share their smiles. Instead, the captain threw them a withering glare, folded his arms and gave his first commands of the day.

“Kirihara, Niou, 100 laps now! Marui, 200 laps! Yanagi, 50 laps! The rest of you, 20 laps now!”

No one disobeyed, and the courts were soon filled with the sounds of running feet.

Yukimura gave a chuckle as he came to stand next to the vice captain. He put one hand on Sanada’s shoulder, making the vice-captain turn over to him. “Genichirou.” He smiled. “Welcome back.”

“Aa.” ‘It’s good to be back.’

Omake

When Sanada sent Yukimura home that evening, he briefly glanced over at the window which was Yukimura’s room. He had been staying here for about a week. Now that he was leaving, he couldn’t help feeling a little sad about it.

“Genichirou. You could stay another night as a sleepover, if you want to.” Yukimura smiled, seemingly reading his mind.

Sanada looked away from the window. “No. It’s improper.” He would not even start on mentioning all those nights he had slept in Yukimura’s bed, and actually enjoyed it. He felt bad…

“That’s a pity.” Yukimura smiled. He was about to head inside when Sanada grabbed his arm, making him turn around.

“Yukimura…” he went into a profound bow. “I am truly grateful for everything you have done for me. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. We’re friends after all.” Yukimura patted his head. Sanada stood up again, staring at the captain. His mouth moved for a moment, but no words came out, and he closed it again.

“Hmm?” Yukimura cocked his head to one side.

Sanada moved, closing the distance between them as he leaned over, sealing the captain’s lips with his. Yukimura’s eyes widened momentarily before he allowed his eyes to slide close, wrapping one arm around Sanada as he returned the kiss, not bothering that they were at his doorstep and the chances of being seen by innocent eyes was extremely high.

They broke apart after a long time. Yukimura licked his lips deliberately, noticing the flush breaking out on Sanada’s cheeks as he did so. “If that’s your thanks, I’m more than happy.” He smiled, his eyes shining playfully.

“Yukimura…” The vice captain reached out again, but stopped at a gasp from the captain. “Yukimura?”

“I’m…not feeling…well…” The captain’s body began to tremble violently. Sanada reached out to hold him, but before he could ask anything, he found himself holding one Collie puppy.

“Yukimura!” Sanada yelled, wondering if his eyes was playing tricks with him.

‘Sorry to trouble you…’ Yukimura gave a soft whine, then passed out.

Holding the unconscious puppy in his hands, Sanada turned his eyes to the heavens and wailed. “Yukimura!!”

The End

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