Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: The fourth one of my 5trueloves Kaidou fics, this one pairing him with Amane, the prompt being Bad Habit.

Trading Trademarks

Of course, elevatory schools or not, moving on to high school could not happen without some changes. Momoshiro and Kaidou found themselves still stuck in the same school, together with the Golden Pair, while the rest of the old regulars had spread around to various schools. Luckily, few questioned the captain's decision to make the previous year's victorious team's captain and vice-captain regulars right away despite the fact they were still first-years. In addition to them and the Golden Pair, the tennis team consisted of somewhat unfamiliar faces from other middle schools – and one somewhat familiar one.

"You went to Rokkaku, right, Amane-kun?" Oishi asked, smiling at the younger boy as they were first introduced to the new first-years. "Played at least once against Momo and Taka-san, if I remember right."

"That's right," replied Amane. "I played him but got played." A chuckle followed, drawing him some strange gazes. Afterwards he glanced around as though expecting someone to do something. As no one did, he looked vaguely disappointed. "It's not the same without Bane-san," he muttered so quietly it wasn't certain whether he meant for this to be heard or whether he was just talking to himself. "My life's meaningless without its bane!" …Okay, so either it was or he was even stranger than they'd thought.

Amane became a part of the team very quickly, though – it didn't take him long to prove that he, too, very much deserved the regular uniform. He formed a friendship of sorts with Momo, the two easygoing power players each finding their equal in many ways in the other. Soon Kaidou could be seen gritting his teeth as not only one but two voices carried loud laughter across the courts.

Amane without Momoshiro, however, seemed tolerable in Kaidou's opinion. Luckily so, it might be said; though both were strong singles players, they were also the team's best doubles players aside from the Golden Pair, and were soon established as the team's standard Doubles Two combination. Kaidou, having played with Momoshiro countless times, easily adjusted to playing with another power player, even if Amane's special shots and habits of playing were somewhat different from those of Momo. Amane, for his own part, made his doubles skill apparent in how easily he fell into a pace of playing with Kaidou, regardless of the fact how different playing styles his former partners had utilized compared with the bandana-clad boy. It was quickly a given that Seishun High School would always win their doubles matches – not that the singles matches gave them much trouble, either.

Naturally, as an established doubles pair, Kaidou and Amane often practised together, even outside the regular training sessions. While nobody questioned this, the others couldn't help but wonder just how close the two were. Kaidou was such a guarded person when it came to anything but his temper; did he stay just as detached and indifferent even when others weren't around? At least he wasn't quite as hostile towards Amane as he was to most of the team. There was no way to find out just how far this tolerance ran, though. The time spent at first around Inui and then as Seigaku's vice-captain had apparently made Kaidou grow eyes on his back, so any attempts at trailing them failed as he always spotted his stalkers. Ever not so patient, he more often than not began to yell (and, if Momoshiro was present, openly fight) while Amane seemed half puzzled, half amused at the display. After a few tries the rest of the team pretty much gave up, deciding to accept that Kaidou could indeed tolerate Amane enough not to hit him even when he was making his stupid puns. (Which, as Eiji stated, was an admirable feat indeed for someone with Kaidou's temper.)

All this led to Kaidou standing beside Amane as the team listened to the captain's briefing about their next opponent in the current tournament. This, of course, was nothing special. He had to stand next to somebody, and Amane was the one he tolerated best, so nobody was about to complain as the curly-haired first year automatically went to stand beside his doubles partner.

Some time to the captain's talk, however, Momo noticed something strange. Amane seemed to be slowly gravitating towards Kaidou. At first it was just a sift in his balance, putting his weight on the foot on Kaidou's side. Then, however, he started to lean a bit closer. A moment later he was already resting his arm on the shorter boy's shoulder, leaning on him even as they both listened to the captain. The most peculiar thing, however, was that Kaidou seemed not to mind. In fact, he looked like he paid no attention to it at all, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

It must have been a doubles pair thing or something, Momoshiro decided as he heard a quiet mewl from his other side and looked over there only to find Eiji practically hanging all over Oishi as though some strange kind of a leech. Sure, Inui and Kaidou had never been like that, but then neither of them was the type to get close to others. This was only because Davide was more comfortable with touching others than Inui was, surely, and Kaidou tolerated it because they were doubles partners.

Despite this perfectly rational explanation, for some reason Momoshiro still couldn't rid himself of the feeling that there was something strange about the situation. As nobody else seemed to notice, though, he decided to ignore it as well. Mamushi's behaviour changing in any way could only be for the better, after all. Especially if the change was making him more tolerable about his fellow human beings – or even just one fellow human being.

While Momo indeed managed to ignore the strange occurrence that day, he didn't forget about it. Instead, he started keeping an eye on their Doubles 2 combination, noticing a few other things. Like how Amane put a hand on Kaidou's arm as he was talking to his partner, or how Kaidou actually allowed the other to tighten the knot of his bandana when it got loose, or how close they were standing whenever they were together somewhere. Knowing the two were in the same class, Momo asked some girls in the same class with them, discovering that they even ate lunch together. Now, this was most peculiar. Could it really be possible that Kaidou was actually making a friend?

One day, though, Kaidou appeared into the practice by himself, even though he usually came with Amane – apparently they even lived close to each other, which meant they walked to and from school together for the most part. When questioned, he told them Amane was sick and could not attend that day. Most probably didn't realize it, but Momo knew his rival well enough to recognize his tone as that of an upset Kaidou. And an upset Kaidou was rarely a good thing, as everyone well knew.

"This is a pity. I was going to have the two of you practise together today," the captain said seriously. "But as it is, I think you should practise against Oishi-kun to hone your skills in returning high lobs. Out of the pair you most likely will face on the next round, Itou tends to target the baseline player with such shots. While Davide-kun can smash most of them with his long reach, he may be targeted by Itou's partner, who excels in preventing the net player's movements."

Kaidou snorted. "I'm sure Amane'll find a way to get away," he said, his lips twitching a bit. Just like, Momo observed, they did every time Amane told one of his puns.

Suddenly, Kaidou seemed to realize everyone was staring at him. "What is it?" he snapped.

"Um… Mamushi?" Momo asked carefully. "Are you, uh, all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be, fsshuuu?" Kaidou frowned. He had apparently no idea what was going on.

"Well, you just… That is…"

"You just made a joke, Kaidou-chan," Eiji told him. "It's not like you at all, nya!"

"I… did?" asked Kaidou, looking a bit flustered. As though he hadn't known! "Ah – that is –"

"Maybe Davide is contagious?" someone suggested. "They do spend a lot of time together, after all…"

This caused Kaidou to blush a bit and hiss in obvious irritation. The captain, well knowing these warning signs and not wanting a fight to begin, hurried them to start the practice. Kaidou, obedient as ever, forgot fighting in favour of starting to return Oishi's best Moon Volleys.

If anybody noticed his mood seemed even fouler than usually, they dared not comment on the fact.

"Oi, Davide-kun!" Eiji shouted. "Try to concentrate, nya!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Davide replied. "I'm not used to playing with a net player, though – except online. Fu."

"You never stop, do you, Davide?" Momoshiro asked cheerfully. "Too bad it doesn't help you play better, too bad it doesn't help you at all!"

"Stop it, you two," Oishi sighed. "We're supposed to practise and not tease each other."

"But it's so hard, nyaa!" Eiji protested, wiping sweat from his brow as the match finally came to an end. "It's fun to play against Oishi like always, but playing with Davide is so hard, nyah!"

"Well, I'm definitely not doing it on purpose," Amane sighed and frowned, running a hand over his eyes in a somewhat tired fashion. A long hiss of frustration escaped his lips, making Momo spin around in shock at the familiar sound.

"Davide?" the spiky-haired boy asked disbelievingly. "Did you just, well, hiss?"

"Huh?" Amane blinked, turning to look at him. "I… guess I did. What of it?"

"Oh, stop it, Momo," Oishi said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "It's not like people can't just, you know, hiss without any further meanings to it."

"But Davide never does!" Momo protested loudly. "That's Mamushi's job, that's all his job! Why'd Davide start hissing?"

"Maybe he's trying to talk with hisses!" Eiji suggested cheerfully. "If he could master it Kaidou and he could just openly talk about what they're going to do in the middle of a match, nyaa!"

"But Mamushi's not here," Momo commented, looking around for his rival. Spotting him, he shouted, "Oi, Mamushi! Has Davide caught something from you?"

"You're so mean, Kaoru-chan!" Eiji shouted. "Davide-kun's trying so hard to talk to you and you're not even here, nyaa!"

This time it was the captain who sighed in frustration, although his sigh sounded nothing like a hiss. "Momoshiro, Kikumaru," he said, "go clean the club room or something. And don't come back until you can get through the practice without disturbing everyone. Oishi, Davide, play each other for a while."

"This is unfair," Momo sighed as the two made their way into the clubroom. "It's not like it's our fault if those two start taking after each other, it's not our fault at all!"

"That's right, nyaa," Eiji muttered. "We were just commenting on it, right? It's not like were disturbing everyone… well, not much at least, nyaa."

"Exactly." Momo grimaced. "And Mamushi and Davide aren't held responsible at all even though they're the real reason for this!"

"But why would they pick up those habits, anyway?" Eiji asked, frowning. "Oishi and I have spent a lot more time together and Oishi never goes nyaa like me, nyaa!"

"It's not like it's really habit, it's not really a habit at all," Momo mused. "I've only caught Mamushi joking once, and heard Davide hiss only once, too. Those could be just freak occurrences." He scratched his head. "Then again, they both seem so uncharacteristic, it's pretty hard to think they'd just do something like that on accident, it's pretty hard to think so…"

"Maybe it's a sexually transmittable disease?" Eiji suggested with a completely straight face. "The hissing, that is."

Instead of joining in the joke, though, Momo grimaced. "Eiji-senpai, please don't say that, please don't say anything like that," he said. As the redhead gave him a puzzled gaze, he continued, "When you said that I couldn't help but wonder just where the hiss originally came from…"

Their gagging sounds could be heard even outside the club room.

"I'm home," Kaidou shouted, hearing his mother's greeting as he walked towards the stairs. "Hikaru-kun came over, too."

"He'll be staying for dinner, right?" Hozumi asked. "And I won't take a no for an answer, remember that!"

"I'd be honoured," Davide said with a chuckle. "You don't have to bolt the door; I won't bolt away!"

"You'd better not!" they heard a cheerful answer as they made their way to Kaidou's room. Stepping inside and closing the door behind them, Kaidou sighed.

"That Momoshiro," he growled, running a hand through his now bandana-free hair. "He still constantly reminds me of that one stupid pun I happened to make!"

Davide chuckled again. "So… the case seems to be you have a serious case of Davide."

Kaidou didn't even bother to glare at the other boy at the pun. "As though anything associated with you could ever be serious," he muttered. "Obviously, you're bad influence."

"Or just very, very good," Amane replied with a teasing grin. "Come on, Kaoru. Everyone needs a joke every now and then."

"I have you, don't I?" Kaidou simply asked in return. "And you're just one big joke, yourself. Isn't that enough for one guy yet?"

"Now, you're just being mean." However, Amane was grinning. The grin did not disappear as he wrapped his arms around Kaidou. "I'm glad to be yours, Kaoru," he whispered into the other's ear. "Even if I'm just a big joke."

Kaidou flushed a bit, his hand wandering up to sink into the other's curly hair. "You're mine as I am yours," he muttered.

Amane hissed, just a bit. While it may not have been a secret language after all, Kaidou did still correctly interpret the sound as a sign of happiness.

Accordingly, he replied with a happy hiss of his own.