InuKai. Shai. Not mine.
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Dreams
by Ryuuza
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When Inui asked Kaidoh whether he had any dreams, the younger boy replied promptly, "Yes." At further prodding, he elaborated about the strange dream he'd had just last night involving purple chickens, a tornado, Kikumaru-senpai, and the disturbing use of Echizen's cap.
When Inui clarified that he meant "dreams" as in "goals," Kaidoh muttered an embarrassed apology for his misunderstanding.
Yes, he had goals.
"To become a better tennis player," he said.
Inui didn't bother marking this down in his notebook. Kaidoh suspected that his senpai had already come to that conclusion or had already written something similar down previously, or both.
"Anything else?" he asked, voice inscrutable.
Kaidoh took a moment to think. "To beat buchou," he said after a while.
The silence was long and Kaidoh wondered if he had said something wrong.
Finally, Inui spoke again, not lifting his gaze from his notebook where his hand was poised with pencil. "Do you have any goals for a relationship?" His voice was as sure and brisk as usual, ever inquisitive.
Kaidoh blinked, uneasy and on unfamiliar ground. "No." He didn't like relationships. They involved too much…other people. Girls. Who squealed or blushed or cried and he just didn't know how to deal with that.
"I see." Inui scribbled something down.
The younger boy wondered why his senpai was asking him about things like this. It didn't seem like it had anything to do with tennis, which to him was all that mattered. Then again, Inui-senpai was eccentric. He didn't need to know the size of Kaidoh's boxers, but he knew that too.
"Senpai," Kaidoh said, looking down at the bench where he sat beside Inui, "why are you asking me this?"
"Data." The reply was short and brusque and startled Kaidoh somewhat. While Inui didn't often explain himself to others, he had always seemed willing to share things with Kaidoh, often things Kaidoh hadn't asked or wanted to know.
There was a pang of something and Kaidoh worried that maybe he really had done something wrong. But asking would sound childish and vulnerable. He stared at the ground instead.
There was further silence, unbroken even by the scratching of Inui's pencil.
At last: "Factoring in your respect for your senpai and your initial confusion, there is a 73.4 probability you will reject any advance from me."
Kaidoh started and glanced up at the older boy—only to find him shutting his notebook and rising to his feet. "Senpai," he said, unable to see anything behind those glasses.
Inui walked away, off the courts.
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end
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Please review! Sequel: Twenty-six Point Six