Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Part of the DaviKai universe; set between Breaking Through and Circumstances of a Smile.

Connections

Kaidou was rather twitchy all day after the Rokkaku players had left. If anybody noticed this they didn't mention it – well, aside from Momoshiro, who kept teasing Kaidou about his supposed romance with Amane. Had the captain known just how good a guess he had just made, he might not have been quite so cheerful about it.

Nevertheless, when his cell phone rang that night, Kaidou didn't hesitate to answer it despite not recognizing the number. In fact, his hand moved almost faster for the phone than it often did to strike a ball during a game.

"Hello, Kaidou here," he said, hoping his voice didn't betray exactly how nervous he felt.

"Kaoru-kun!" he heard a joyous voice from the phone, and let out a silent sigh of relief. "For a moment I was afraid you'd wronged me by giving me the wrong number. Pu."

"You are so lucky I can't hit you right now," Kaidou snorted, but there was a slight smile on his lips. Thankfully no family member of his chose this moment to open the door of his room or they might have been fairly shocked. "You got home okay?"

"Oh, sure I did," Amane replied. "It's nice of you to worry about me, though."

"Do you want me to ring off?" Kaidou threatened, very much not serious.

"You wouldn't." The smile was evident in Amane's voice. "If there was a chance you'd do that, you wouldn't have given me the number in the first place."

"Chance? What are you now, Inui-senpai?" Kaidou hissed. "You suck even at puns, you'd better not try your hand at data."

"How does one suck with a hand?"

"…Fsshuuu. That's it. Goodbye."

Of course, he didn't ring off.

The phone calls soon became a nigh daily event. Kaidou found himself looking forward to these calls more and more, so much so that they soon became the highlights of his day. He wasn't sure exactly why it was so, but for some reason, talking with Amane always cheered him up. Not even Momoshiro's idiocy could keep him down when Amane called.

"Do you have a computer, Kaoru-kun?" asked Amane then one day. "Not that I don't enjoy talking with you, but my mother's not too happy about me staying on the phone all day. If we could both get online we could use instant messengers or something."

Kaidou frowned a bit. While he did enjoy the phone conversations, too, Hazue had developed a bad habit of trying to eavesdrop. Whatever these instant messengers were, they might solve at least that particular problem. "Well, I don't have my own computer, but I guess I could always ask my parents for one..."

"You should try your luck, even if asking your parents for things may be trying." A chuckle, again. Kaidou would have hissed in anger if not for the warm feeling that slowly filled him from within.

"Just for that, I won't," Kaidou said, deciding to do it the very day.

"Mother?" Kaidou asked cautiously. He was still a bit wary about this.

"Yes, my dear?" His mother smiled at him. "What is it?"

"Well..." Kaidou hissed a bit. "Do you remember, back when I was made a vice-captain, you said I could ask you for anything?"

"Sure I do!" Hozumi smiled brightly. "You said you didn't need anything, you silly boy. Why so?" Her smile brightened some more. "Oh! Have you thought of something you'd like? The promise does still stand, you're always making me so proud!"

"That is..." Kaidou forced himself to simply say it. "I'd like to have a computer."

"A computer?" Hozumi echoed. "Don't we already have one?"

"Father does," Hazue said, peeking in through the kitchen door. "He lets me play on it, too, but nii-san never wants to, he only checks his e-mail sometimes. Why'd he want a computer now? I want one, too!"

"I'll consider that after you have done something about your Math grade, young man," Hozumi said, her voice and smile still just as bright as ever. "As for Kaoru, well, I did promise anything, and that is a very reasonable request besides. I'll ask your father to buy you one as soon as possible. Or would you rather choose it by yourself?" she then asked. "I know you young people are nowadays so particular about things like that..."

"Ah – no, anything's fine," Kaidou said. "I just need something I can get to the Internet with, that's all. Thank you, Mother."

"Oh, there's no reason to thank me," his mother said happily. "You always work so hard; it's about the time I reward you for your efforts properly. If there's anything else you'd like, just ask!"

"Ah, no," Kaidou said, flushing a bit. "Really, Mother, I just want a computer, it doesn't matter what kind."

"Then you shall have one." Hozumi smiled. "You know, Kaoru, it's all right to sometimes want things just for yourself."

Of course, Kaidou knew this. He just wasn't sure whether Amane was one of the things it was all right to want for himself.

Kaidou looked somewhat warily at the object in front of him. He knew what it was, of course, and had used others of its kind, but he was by no means an expert. Now, he had managed to get it running fairly easily, but the hard part was yet to come. With only the vague instructions he had written down from Amane's last phone call as his aid, he was supposed to download, install, and use a program he had never even heard of before.

The temptation to call Amane for more help was great. However, Kaidou Kaoru wasn't about to give up. He somehow managed to find the site where the program was supposed to be. Embarrassingly enough, that was as far as he got.

Only Kaidou's very best threatening glare kept Hazue from laughing aloud. Instead, his little brother just snickered, "You really aren't good with computers, are you, nii-san?" and proceeded to downloading and installing the program, then creating him a screen name. There was some arguing about what it should be. In the end Hazue managed to click the button before Kaidou could stop him. Having no idea how to create another account, he was thus now stuck with "mamushichan."

When he got his hands at that idiotic Momoshiro, even spoiling his little brother...

At this point, a laughing Hazue was chased away. Kaidou resolved to get through the rest all on his own. It was fortunate the only thing he had to do anymore was simply add Amane's screen name to the contact list. He stared with no little nervousness as Amane's status turned to 'online'.

After taking a deep breath, Kaidou clicked on Amane's screen name. "Hikaru-kun?" he asked then, wanting to make sure he'd got it right. As though anybody else would use the screen name, "jokerdavide".

"Kaoru-kun!" came the instant response. "That's you, right? The name is obvious although a bit surprising."

"Blame my brother." Kaidou hissed before realising it hardly could be heard by Amane. Before he even thought of it he had already typed, "Fsshuuu."

Amane's response consisted of words and a strange face-like figure. "Aww, you hiss even online. Cute. ()"

Kaidou hissed again, this time only to himself. "If I were there, I'd hit you," he typed.

"Ouch," came Amane's reply. "Ever so aggressive, I see."

"Just because you're such an idiot, fsshuuu."

"You know you love it, Kaoru-chan."

For a long while, Kaidou just stared at his screen. Finally, he typed his response.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"I know you probably won't like this, but…"

Whatever Amane had expected to hear, it certainly hadn't been this.

Tokyo. They were moving to Tokyo. His father had gotten a promotion and they were moving to Tokyo because of it.

Amane thought of it. On one hand, all his friends would be left behind, his team and Bane and everyone. On the other hand... Kaoru was in Tokyo.

Well. Maybe he would survive after all.