"Hey, Kaidoh. You play?" Momo called.

Kaidoh looked up from the table he was wiping. Momo was facing away from him, standing a couple yards away from the opposite wall and holding something in his hand. On the wall hung a dartboard. Kaidoh scoffed slightly as he watched Momo flick the dart to the board and raised his eyebrows in an impressed manner when it landed almost exactly in the center.

"That depends," Kaidoh said, finishing the rest of the table and throwing the rag back on the bar. "What are we playing for?"

An amused "hm" came from Momo and he responded, "World peace."

Kaidoh shook his head, successfully keeping the smile off his face. "I guess."

Momo walked to the board and gently yanked them from the board.

"Alright then," Momo said, turning around toward Kaidoh. "How about this? When I win, you buy me a beer and tell me your life story."

Kaidoh only took a few steps toward the younger man, somehow knowing this was going to happen. Ever since he had arrived at the bar to work, Momo had been curious about him. He had dropped enough hints and questions to try and get Kaidoh to reveal anything about himself. So far, Kaidoh had managed to avoid any major questions from the other man. But it was getting harder to ignore, as Momo was getting more and more persistant.

"What if I win?" Kaidoh asked.

Momo shrugged. "Then you win."

Kaidoh nodded. "Sounds fair," he said, reaching out for the darts. Momo grinned and placed them in Kaidoh's palm, stepping aside and waiting expectantly. Kaidoh raised one dart, took careful aim, and sharply brought his hand forward, releasing the object.

It landed almost exactly in the center, as Momo's had. More confident now, Kaidoh released the other darts. Unlike Momo's, which had landed about an inch farther than the center one had, the other two landed dangerously close to the first one, both of them.

Kaidoh turned to Momo. It was Momo's turn to look impressed, his eyebrows raised high. Then he chuckled. "Guess you win," he said, clapping Kaidoh on the back and walking away to the bar. [1]

XXX

"Kaoru-chan!"

Kaidoh froze at the familiar voice, and he barely had enough time to turn around completely before he was tackled in a glomp, nearly knocking him off his feet.

"Eiji!" Kaidoh said, more than a little surprised to see his old sempai. But there was no denying the red hair and the familiar arms that had encircled themselves around Kaidoh, bringing him in a bone-crushing hug.

"Eiji, be gentle," another familiar voice said firmly, yet there was a trace of amusement in there. Eiji quickly moved away from the younger male and Kaidoh, glad of fresh air, looked at the accompaniment.

"Konbawa, Oishi," Kaidoh greeted.

Oishi smiled warmly. "Konbawa, Kaidoh," Oishi replied.

"What are you guys doing here?" Kaidoh said, not fully recovered from seeing his old friends. "I thought you guys were out there dominating the doubles world in tennis."

"Oh, believe me, we are," Oishi said. "We just decided to take a small break. Visit some old friends."

"Yeah, and we heard you were here," Eiji said, excitement radiating off of him so much that he was almost literally bouncing from the balls of his feet. "Can I ask why you're here, though? What happened, Kaoru-chan? I thought you were going to become - "

"Uh, why I get you guys something to drink?" Kaidoh said, stopping Eiji before he could continue. He clapped his hands in front of him. "It's on me."

"No, Kaidoh. You don't have to," Oishi began protesting.

"No, I want to," Kaidoh said, and before they could protest any more, Kaidoh had already turned and disappeared behind the bar.

XXX

"So... your parents were drunk when they named you and you're ashamed to work in a bar?"

Kaidoh inclined his head a little to the left to face Momo, who was watching with an amused expression.

Kaidoh had been talking to Oishi and Eiji for the past half-hour, catching up on whatever they had missed throughout the years. Oishi and Eiji had been old friends of his, starting back when they were in middle school together, only one year apart. They remained friends throughout middle school and high school, but after Eiji and Oishi graduated and Kaidoh became a senior in high school, they had lost contact of each other.

So it was nice to get back together with them and talk about everything. God knows how much he had missed them. And it was a little saddening when it came time for them to leave, even after Eiji repeatedly told him that they would stop by again some time soon, Oishi agreeing whole-heartedly.

Kaidoh made a noise that sounded like a "humph" to Momo, causing the black-haired man to grin.

"Well, Kaoru-chan," Momo drawled, walking around the counter and standing in front of Kaidoh, watching him curiously. "What was that thing that you wanted to be after high school?" he asked, sitting on one of the bar stools.

"It's nothing," Kaidoh said, glancing down hurridly at the glasses he was washing. Momo raised his eyebrow; that came out a little too quickly for it to be a normal response. Momo let out a long breath and smacked the counter. Not hard, but enough to make enough noise to get Kaidoh's attention. Kaidoh's head snapped up at the sound and lightly frowned at Momo.

"Okay," Momo said, and for the first time since Kaidoh had met him, Momo was completely serious. "Let me tell you something. I'm usually good at reading people, understanding them. But you are extremely hard for me to figure out. From what I did get from you is you come from Seigaku Middle School and High School, you're an animal person, mainly cats..." Momo smirked at Kaidoh's bewildered expression. "I've seen you feeding the stray cats in the alley out back with some leftovers a couple times already. Not hard to figure out."

Kaidoh furrowed his brows some but didn't press the matter.

"You're highly educated - " Momo began to continue, but was cut off from Kaidoh.

"How do you know that?" Kaidoh said.

Momo titled his head to the right and smiled. "The books you read on your free time. Pretty wordy and high-leveled for someone to be working in a place like this."

Kaidoh dropped his gaze some.

"And other than that," Momo said, and Kaidoh brought his eyes back up. Momo shook his head and shrugged, "...nothing." Momo stood up, clapping his hands together. "So come on."

He began to walk away.

Kaidoh, slightly bewildered, put down the last glass and dropped the towel, staying behind the counter. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Momo stopped and glanced at Kaidoh over his shoulder. "You look like you haven't eaten very well in a long time. I'm going to buy you a decent meal and we're going to talk." [2]

And without waiting for a protest or agreement, Momo continued walking, exiting the bar.

Kaidoh paused, and then reluctantly walked around the counter and followed Momo out of the bar.


(1-2) I am SO sorry about all my supernatural references throughout my stories. I'm just obssessed with that show! These scenes were taken from the episode Free to Be You And Me, when Sam meets a woman named Lindsey when he tries to get out of the hunting life and she gets really curious about his past. So you'll probably read a lot of these in my future stories. x)