Title: Measures of Time: Chapter 1 of 2-3ish
Author: A. A. Incognito
Pairing: InuKai
Warnings: shounen ai
Rating: PG
Note: TIMELINE: They're in high school now--yes, miraculously they all went to Seishun Gakuen High School. It is a fictional world, I can make things be incredibly illogical if I The third years are juniors in high school, second years sophomores, etc.
IMPORTANT AU NOTE: Fudomine does not have a high school affiliated with it, but I didn't know that at the time I was writing, so that bit is AU.
Summary: A data-gathering mission requires some special precautionary tactics--but Inui was prepared to take those measures. He just wasn't prepared for someone else to stumble across him.
I have hate for ffnet. Whenever you see a random number, there SHOULD be a percentage sign after it. But there isn't, because ffnet is retarded like that.
Measures of Time
Chapter 1
Drastic times called for drastic measures, he reminded himself. His hair dripped onto the collar of the shirt he was wearing. Drastic measures. Like finding the contacts he'd gotten months ago and worn once, preventing his hair from being its normal spiky mess, and temporarily borrowing some of Tezuka's clothes.
This was why, Inui reasoned, becoming friendly with other teams was bad. It was much harder to spy on them when they'd spot him, walk over, and strike up a conversation. Or stop any serious practice until after he'd left, because there weren't any good hiding places around Fudomine's practice courts.
Drastic times. Drastic measures.
There was still an eight percent chance that one of them would recognize him and blow his cover. Eighteen percent if Tachibana's sister was there--she seemed to have the uncanny ability to see the truth in whatever was going on around her.
He looked at himself in the mirror and grimaced, making a mental note to give Seigaku as wide a berth as possible on his way to Fudomine. He knew Tezuka, Fuji, and Oishi would recognize him immediately--Eiji wouldn't be far behind. And Eiji would never let him live it down. Ever. And the probability of Fuji having a camera on him and using it was much too high for comfort.
But to the average person who had only ever seen him with his glasses on, the disguise was a good one, even if it left him feeling rather naked. It was for the sake of the team. It was rumored that Fudomine had an up-and-coming freshman prodigy (they seemed to be cropping up everywhere nowadays) who he had absolutely no data on. No data was unacceptable. Drastic times.
He gathered his backpack and his Fudomine notebook--which he wasn't sure he'd be able to use right at the courts, but he knew he would remember the most important things long enough to write them down once he was a safe distance away. No one was home besides him, as usual, so he didn't feel overly conspicuous about scaling the wall that enclosed the apartment complex so no one would see him go out the front.
The walk to Fudomine's courts was surprisingly uneventful, except for a peculiar increase in the length of time passing females glanced at him. Curious.
As he'd predicted, Fudomine was out practicing, and it was easy to spot the one unfamiliar face playing with the regulars. Ibu and Kamio were doing some sort of drill with him that involved a lot of running and switching sides of the court. The rhythm player looked like he'd been lounging around, but the freshman was panting like a dog in the heat of summer. There were a few other people scattered about watching the courts, so Inui drifted toward where three of them had gathered, as close to the freshman as he dared to get. One of the girls turned to him and smiled, then politely asked where he was from.
Just to be safe, he named one of the other local high schools, well aware that he could pass as college-aged when the mood struck him--but there wasn't really a purpose in going that far, and it could lead to unnecessary complications. For some reason she took his two-word answer as an invitation to make small talk, but he was accustomed to tuning out Horio, so she didn't stand a chance. At some point she got the hint, and he went back to observing the freshman in relative peace.
The boy had a lot of potential, that was for sure. Despite his obvious exhaustion, he could almost keep up with Kamio as they dashed from one side of the court to the other. His shots lacked finesse and planning, though--hitting a hard cross court shot wasn't wise when you were expected to be on that side to return the return of your own shot. His ball control could use quite a bit of polishing as well, Inui noted as he watched the kid's next shot sail out of bounds.
He slipped away near the end of practice, jogging quickly to the nearby park, where he sat down on a bench and set about to recording every detail he could remember in the pages of his notebook. The first tier of analysis was already coming to him and when he next looked up, at least one and a half hours had passed. Then he saw what had subconsciously roused him from his calculations.
"S-senpai?"
Interesting. Inui had never experienced the intense desire to go crawl in a hole and hide before, as he was not easily embarrassed. He hadn't failed to take into account that this was the park Kaidoh regularly used for his training, but he had completely lost track of time--and the area was utterly devoid of human-sized holes. Pity.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Opened... closed. Calculated the probability of a hole spontaneously appearing in the near vicinity. Not good.
This was Kaidoh, though. He was trustworthy--and obedient. At least to Inui, which was all that mattered at the moment. With as much nonchalance as he could muster while feeling so exposed, he tucked his notebook away and stood up, taking a little comfort in the fact that the younger boy was still four centimeters shorter than he was.
"Are you almost done with your run?" he asked blandly, catching himself as his hand rose automatically to push his currently absent glasses up.
"A-aa."
"Good. Come with me." He set out at a brisk pace, not even glancing back to see if Kaidoh was following. The odds were in his favor that Kaidoh wouldn't mention anything about seeing him like this, but a little extra incentive in the form of the latest batch of juice chilling in his refrigerator wouldn't hurt. This formula was an electric purple color of which that he was particularly proud.
But it would be impolite to make Kaidoh go all the way to his house just to surreptitiously threaten him. Hmmm. Ah, the modified menu he'd just finished that morning would be a good excuse.
After several minutes, Kaidoh spoke again. "Senpai?" The younger boy was no longer stuttering, which meant (90 chance) he'd gotten over his initial surprise.
"Yes?"
"Why--what--"
"In a minute, Kaidoh."
Keeping himself constantly on the alert for any more errant teammates, he ushered Kaidoh in the front door of the building and closed it behind them, then went up the stairs to the top floor. No shoes in the entryway of the apartment, which meant no parents. Good. He tossed the notebook onto the kitchen table, then ruffled his hair vigorously to return it to its usual state. Much better. "Can I get you anything?" he asked politely and gestured to the kitchen. "Water, perhaps?"
Kaidoh was staring at him peculiarly. It was approximately 40 the look he got when he mentioned something about Kaidoh's training he shouldn't have known, 25 the look when Kaidoh was faced with a new Inui juice, and 35 percent... something else. His desire to determine what that stare meant was the only thing that prevented him from going upstairs to remove the contacts and put his glasses back on. "Kaidoh?"
"Ah--water, thank you." He seemed torn between staring at Inui and examining the floor. Time to implement the primary plan. Inui opened the refrigerator to ostensibly remove the pitcher of purified drinking water, which conveniently left the other pitcher of neon purple liquid in plain view. Judging by Kaidoh's sudden intake of breath and the few shuffling steps the younger boy took away from the kitchen, it had been seen. Excellent.
"Please have a seat," Inui said, handing the glass of water to Kaidoh and gesturing with his other hand. "I'll be right back, there's something in my room that I need."
"Wait--"
Inui turned back curiously; this kind of behavior wasn't typical of Kaidoh. "Yes?"
The second year's gaze dropped back to the glass of water in his hand as soon as they made eye contact. "Nothing." Inui raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment--the chances of revealing what Kaidoh had initially intended to say were miniscule. In his room, he found the stack of papers he wanted and began leafing through them, searching for the right draft. He couldn't help but look over to where his glasses lay on top of his dresser--but no, he hadn't found out what that look had been... and he had a hunch that it had something to do with his abnormal appearance.
Kaidoh looked strangely relieved when he came back in, revised menu in hand. There was a sixty percent chance it was because he wasn't carrying any sort of liquid container, but the other 40 could have been a variety of variables.
"I finished modifying your current dietary menu this morning to reflect your need for an increased carbohydrate intake. There aren't any large changes, smaller ones are sufficient for the time being." When he handed the paper to Kaidoh, their fingers overlapped briefly and the younger boy pulled back as if he'd been shocked. Inui blinked wordlessly--something was definitely off about Kaidoh.
"Are you feeling all right?" he asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. Senpai, why..."
"Oh, I do owe you an explanation, don't I?" As if he'd forgotten. "I was investigating Fudomine's new freshman player, but they are all familiar with our team, so I could not go as I normally would." Without meaning to, he raised a hand to where his glasses should have been, but there was nothing to adjust.
Kaidoh's eyes followed his hand. "Oh." His grip on the glass had tightened by approximately 1.1 kilograms per square centimeter, judging by the whiteness of his knuckles. "Was he any good?"
"He might be something to worry about next year. For now, no. Are you sure you're all right?" Reaching forward, he tugged Kaidoh's bandana off and used the back of his hand to feel his forehead. Hm, approximately 36.6 degrees centigrade--normal for Kaidoh; but he was still unaccountably flushed. If his grip tightened any more on the glass it would break, and there was a 95 chance it would cut Kaidoh if that happened. Without a conscious decision, Inui reached out and removed it from Kaidoh's grasp, their fingers brushing for a second time. Kaidoh was staring at him again. Very strange behavior.
"I should go," the younger boy mumbled, standing abruptly. He folded the new menu into fourths and shoved it in his pocket. "Thank you for the menu," and now he wouldn't meet Inui's eyes at all as he turned and nearly ran for the door. Inui trailed after him at a slower pace, deep in thought. Research was absolutely necessary at this point; Kaidoh's behavior couldn't be without reason.
"See you tomorrow," Inui said as he reached the entryway; Kaidoh was already half out the door.
"See you." His eyes darted to Inui's face once more, and then he was gone.
Most peculiar, indeed. Inui went to his desk, rummaged around for a new notebook, and began to write.
end chapter 1.