Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters mentioned below. Only the situation belongs to me.
Waiting for You
He ran. Never ending, never stopping. Nobody seemed to understand why, and he never bothered to explain himself. He just ran. Day in, day out. He ran before breakfast, he ran to school, he ran during school, he ran home from school, he ran after school, he ran after dinner, and he repeated the cycle each day. There was nothing else for him.
Except maybe for tennis. But even that was just more running, with swings of the racket breaking the monotony, and… pain. Pain, because Kaidoh saw *him at practice.
Panting, sweating from the exercise, Kaidoh found himself at a small park. It was a nice day, an afternoon that wasn't uncomfortably warm nor bitingly cold. The trees were turning red, coloring the city so it looked as though it was always sunset.
He'd been here before, of course, but it wasn't part of his route. He didn't normally go this way while jogging. He didn't know how he got here. He probably took a wrong turn somewhere, and ended here instead of arriving at home.
He spotted a familiar face. Inui-sempai sat on a bench, muttering as he wrote something down in a well-worn notebook. Kaidoh made his way over to Inui. He sat down, mopping his face with the towel he always hung around his neck just before starting to jog.
Inui looked up at him. Shoving his glasses higher on his nose, Inui said softly, "Kaidoh, running again?" Silently, Kaidoh nodded. What else was there to say? Inui was possibly the one person who understood Kaidoh's reasons for running. With his data, Inui had discovered Kaidoh's feelings long before he'd known them himself.
Inui flipped briefly through his notebook, looking for some piece of information. "Kaidoh, you've been running a lot recently. In fact, you've been running about 173% as much as you did a month ago." Kaidoh didn't respond. He didn't know how to respond. Inui was right. Kaidoh had been running a lot recently. But Kaidoh knew he couldn't stop running. Because if he did, he would have too much time on his hands. He would have too much time to think about *him.
Kaidoh fell into his own thoughts. He remembered that pair of amethyst eyes, those captivating eyes. And he remembered the pain that he felt when he saw those amethyst eyes smoldering with passion at another person, at the youngest regular on the team. He remembered when those eyes closed as the two kissed in front of everyone, leading to shocked gasps and murmurs. He remembered that he had screamed in agony as soon as he was alone. He remembered that he'd raged in his own way, skipping school and running, just running. He hadn't stopped yet, was still running from that day…
This was exactly what Kaidoh wanted to avoid. He wanted to stop thinking about those eyes, those eyes that had pierced him and captured his heart. He wanted to run, run from those eyes, those eyes that seemed to follow him wherever he went.
Inui had been silent for a while as well. Kaidoh hoped that Inui had decided to leave him alone. Maybe he should leave now. Kaidoh started to get up.
But Inui was worried about Kaidoh. He wouldn't let Kaidoh go so easily. Inui grabbed Kaidoh's wrist, pulling him back down to the bench. And Inui said, "You need to stop running. You're just overworking yourself for nothing." But Kaidoh still didn't respond. It wasn't for nothing. His running was the only thing that kept him sane. It used up his spare time, and it exhausted him so he fell into a dreamless sleep at night. It made sure that Kaidoh didn't go insane because of *him.
Inui didn't understand this. He didn't know what Kaidoh was suffering, not at all.
Standing abruptly, Inui looked down at Kaidoh. Not for the first time, Kaidoh registered that Inui was incredibly tall. From this position, Inui was a giant, staring down at Kaidoh with fierce eyes. Something rekindled in Kaidoh, some emotion that he had thought was long dead. He'd thought all his emotions were dead, after *him.
Quietly, intensely, Inui said, "Fine then. Run. Run as much as you want. Run away from the situation. Run until he is so far behind you, you can't even see him any more. Run until you can't run any more, until you drop from exhaustion." Inui moved closer for just an instant. "And when that happens, I'll be there to catch you. Waiting for you. I'll always be waiting for you, Kaidoh." He straightens then, and walks away, leaving Kaidoh on the bench.
Maybe Inui did understand Kaidoh after all. Maybe he did know why Kaidoh ran every day.
Maybe it wasn't a wrong turn after all. Maybe it was some instinct, pulling Kaidoh to where he was supposed to be, where he was meant to be.
Kaidoh stood. He ran. But this time, he knew that he could stop. He knew that he would stop. Because Inui was waiting for him, ready to catch him if he fell.
A/N: Wow, pretty angsty. Hope it's not too bad. This was formerly written in present tense, but because I've seen reviews saying "Don't write in present tense!" I decided to change it to past. If you would like to see the original, PM me and I'll post is just for you xD Anyways, R&R please!