Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: This pairing, while cracky, is claiming far too big a part of my brain functions.

Note my unimaginativeness when it comes to titles.

Chance Meetings

Chapter 1

It should not, Kabaji thought, have been so difficult to be without Atobe. After all, it wasn't like he was dependant on the older boy or anything. It was just, well… Atobe had always been there. Ever since he could remember, he'd always followed Atobe around. He'd even left England to finish his primary school in Japan as Atobe moved to attend Hyoutei middle school. On top of that, the Hyoutei middle school and high school were situated fairly close, so before their age difference hadn't presented any difficulties, either. Aside from classes, where was Atobe, there was Kabaji.

Now, however, Atobe was in high school. Which was not so close to the middle school. And Kabaji was kind of lost.

The lunch break was the worst. The short breaks between classes he could just sit in the class room and pretend Atobe's class was simply too far away for him to go there, but lunch always shattered that image. He'd always eaten lunch with Atobe, always. Even when it required sneaking out of the designated school area.

Now, he was eating alone. And it was surprisingly lonely.

He didn't really have any other friends, nor did he even properly know anyone, not outside the tennis regulars. And the regulars were mostly gone now, graduated along with their captain, save for Hiyoshi and Ohtori. Hiyoshi didn't seem like friend material, not the kind of friend material Kabaji wanted, anyway, while Ohtori had plenty of friends of his own. None of the new regulars seemed interesting enough to get to know them, and some even seemed scared of him. Scared of him. Sure, he was big and perhaps intimidating, but really, a gentler soul would be hard to find.

Nevertheless, gentle soul or not, Kabaji was alone. He tried to ignore this, to concentrate on his school work instead – after all, it was his final year of middle school – but that didn't help. He tried working harder on his tennis, but that didn't help either.

No one seemed to notice anything wrong as he was silent – after all, he was always silent, he was Kabaji and Kabaji was always silent. Kabaji didn't speak, he just went and won matches (except against Tezuka, of course). As long as he did this, everyone was happy with him, especially captain Hiyoshi who could always count on his Singles Three. There was no cause to worry about him. And he didn't want anyone to worry, really, it wasn't like they had any real cause to concern themselves over him. It was just… well.

He needed a friend, that much was clear. But how? He wasn't used to making friends, didn't know the usual procedure. All these years he had assumed he simply had no particular need for social interaction, only to now realize Atobe had always fulfilled that need.

This was the reason Kabaji now found himself walking down the street, aimlessly seeking for something, anything, to take up his attention. He knew not where he was going; after all, there was no Atobe to tell him the destination, now. School was over, as was tennis practice; the only place he could think of going to was home, and he didn't want to go home just yet.

Just about to arrive at a corner, wondering whether he should turn or cross the street and continue forward, Kabaji suddenly ran into someone. Or, rather, someone ran into him. Literally.

Kabaji was big, and the other person was quite small, he noted; therefore, instead of toppling Kabaji over, the other person only managed to send themselves flying backwards. They would have fallen down on the ground if not for Kabaji's hand grasping on a small wrist, holding them up. For such a large person, Kabaji had fairly good reflexes – he wouldn't have been much good at tennis otherwise, after all.

Now that he had time to think about the situation, Kabaji realized there was a pair of big, brown eyes blinking up at him. Then, a slight flush spread over the person's little face as they realized the situation as well. Hurrying to regain their – his, Kabaji realized, or thought he realized; he really could not be entirely sure, here – balance, the other person started a somewhat stumbled apology.

"I – I'm sorry desu! I should have watched where I was going desu! Thank you for catching me, you really –" Suddenly, there was another blink, one of realization instead of confusion this time. "Ah… are you Kabaji Munehiro-san?"

Now, it was Kabaji's turn to blink. People rarely recognized him, not when he wasn't in company of the rest of the tennis club. At the very least, even if someone did recognize him, they never acknowledged him; he was probably too uninteresting without the rest of the team, and especially Atobe. This was the first time he could recall that someone outside classroom recognized him as himself and not as an accessory of Atobe's.

It was, he decided, not necessarily an unpleasant experience.

"Usu," he replied, for how else could he have responded? To his great surprise, the other person's face lit up at this answer. It was like a light had literally appeared behind the chocolate eyes.

"Wow, it really is you!" the small boy exclaimed. "You are such a great player, I wish I could be like you desu! Is it true you can imitate any technique you see? That must be amazing desu!"

Kabaji could hardly believe his ears. What was this? He wasn't the one to be admired, he'd never been. He was, after all, just that – an imitator. He could never be as good as the people whose techniques he stole.

"…Usu," he finally answered, nevertheless. Then, as he felt this required a clarification, as he did not feel himself to be that amazing, he added, "I can imitate pretty much anything."

"Ooh, that's so amazing! And you're so big and strong, too!" Was that a sparkle he saw in those big eyes? "I wish I'll get to play against you some time, even though I'll surely lose desu!"

"Oh?" Why was finding words so difficult? …Oh, yes, because he hardly ever spoke. "You play tennis, too?"

"Yes, I do desu!" A headband the boy was wearing slipped down, only to be pushed back up automatically. He obviously was quite used to it. "Dan Taichi, Yamabuki second year! Please excuse my rudeness, I really should have introduced myself right away desu! I just got so excited and… well… yeah desu." He grinned somewhat sheepishly. "I'm usually Yamabuki's Singles Three desu. Considering you're usually in the same position in your own team's line-up, the chances for us playing against each other are pretty high." The boy seemed very excited at this thought.

"…Dan-kun, is it?" Kabaji looked at the boy more carefully, now, trying to see past the brown eyes, however much those seemed to demand his attention. Dark, bluish hair, small and slightly built, clad in a white school uniform. All in all, Dan seemed almost the exact opposite of himself. "I… guess we may." After a pause, he added, "Play against each other, that is."

"I'm already looking forward to that desu!" The little boy's grin got even brighter. Then, suddenly, he seemed startled. "Oh, no, I forgot I'm late desu! Ah, well, I must go now. Sorry again for running into you like that desu!" And with this and a cheerful little wave, Dan was already away.

Kabaji looked at the retreating white figure for a long while, until Dan finally faded out of sight.

He was, somewhat surprisingly, also looking forward to it.