Disclaimers: Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi. This is for entertainment purposes only. No money being made.
Author: aomurasakiai
Title: Data Detection
Warnings: Possible AU/OOC, Slight Shounen Ai, Fluff, Bit of Angst
Pairings: Hint of InuKai
Spoilers: None
Rating: PG
Special Thanks: Aaincognito for the look-over and Deb for the beta.
Note: Hozumi was fun to write and I sort of… lost the plot near the end.

"Ohayo, Okaa-san." Hozumi looked up to see her eldest son enter the kitchen.

"Ohayo, Kaoru. Eat your breakfast quickly or else you'll be late for school." Kaidoh sat down at his place at the dining table and stared almost disgusted at the American food on his plate. Inui-senpai's special breakfast menu was enforced in his household for him every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and it was on these days that he missed his mother's cooking the most. Steeling his stomach, he forced down his breakfast as fast as he could.

"Inui-san sure is a thoughtful young man, preparing this menu just for you," Hozumi said, holding the piece of paper up. Kaidoh almost choked on the toast that he'd just swallowed. He drank a few gulps of milk before he could speak again.

"Okaa-san, it's not 'just for me'. Inui-senpai does it for all the regulars."

"Really? For all of them? Such a dedicated boy!" A bright smile appeared on her face and she turned to her son. "Kaoru, why don't you invite him over tonight and I'll make something special to thank him for being so considerate?" She turned back around to peek inside the refrigerator. She would need to go shopping for more groceries, even though her husband was working overtime that night and her youngest son was sleeping over at a friend's house, they both wouldn't be able to make it for dinner.

"I would love to have a son-in-law like Inui-san," Hozumi said wistfully. At the sound of a strange gargling noise followed by liquid spewing across the table, she laughed softly to herself before she reached over to grab a towel.

----

"Thank you for today. See you on Monday, everyone." With those parting words, Ryuzaki-sensei left the tennis courts and Seigaku's tennis players busied themselves with last minute clean up. Kaidoh glanced over at the third-year he was supposed to invite home for dinner. The bandana-clad teen knew he had to ask Inui-senpai now or else the other teen would head home and he would have no way of contacting him. But he didn't know exactly how one should ask another over for dinner without it sounding like they were couples meeting each other's parents for the first time. Kaidoh shook his head vigorously; his mother and her jokes.

"Kaidoh." The second-year stiffened as the situation was taken out of his hands. He turned to face the approaching bespectacled teen.

"I finished updating a new breakfast menu for you," Inui was saying, handing over the piece of paper. "You only need to follow it every Tuesday and Thursday from now on and if your health continues to remain balanced, the menu wouldn't be necessary in the future."

"Arigato." Kaidoh glanced at the new list and he was grateful for the reduction of American food.

"I'll see you on Monday then, Kaidoh." With a small smile, Inui turned to go.

"Wait, Inui-senpai." The other glanced back at him and second-year hesitated before continuing. "C…Can you come over for dinner tonight?"

"Dinner? At your house?"

"Aa… just that, my mother wanted to thank you for preparing the menu for me." Kaidoh's face burned as he remembered his mother's earlier comment. Inui pushed up his glasses and smiled.

"No thanks is needed but if my presence is required, then I will have to accept. What time should I be there?"

"I won't be home until after my run so in a couple of hours will be fine."

"Then I shall be there. See you then, Kaidoh."

----

"Oh dear, Kaoru. You really don't know what Inui-san likes to eat?" Kaidoh hissed for the umpteenth time.

"I'm sure he'll like whatever you cook, Okaa-san." Hozumi worried her bottom lip.

"I know… it's just that I've never had the opportunity to cook for your friends before, since you never invite them over. I want to make a good impression."

"Don't worry, Okaa-san. Who can not like your cooking after all?" That finally got a smile from his mother and she nodded with confidence.

"I'll do my best." Just then the doorbell rang and Kaidoh went to answer it. There stood Inui-senpai, dressed casually in a white short-sleeved shirt over a gray striped T-shirt and tan khakis, quite different from his usual school uniform and Seigaku regular's jersey. He had his ever-present green notebook in his hand and a small bag slung over his shoulder.

"Inui-senpai, please come in." Inui smiled and stepped inside the house, removing his shoes and placing them by the front door.

"Arigato. I'm not late, am I?"

"You must be Inui-san!" Hozumi said, coming in from the kitchen. "I've been wanting to meet you for the longest time."

"Thank you for inviting me," Inui said politely, bowing to the older woman.

"Oh Kaoru, he's definitely husband material," she said excitedly. Inui's eyes widened behind his rectangular glasses but his calm expression didn't betray any of his thoughts. Kaidoh, however, blushed furiously. He kept his remarks to himself though; his mother probably didn't even know what she was implying with that.

"I can sense these things." She smiled almost conspiratorially at her son before turning to the third-year. "Dinner won't be ready for another half hour so you can head up to Kaoru's room until then."

"Arigato gozaimasu," Inui said, bowing again. "I look forward to your cooking."

"Aw, you're too sweet, Inui-san," Hozumi said before waving them both upstairs.

----

"It seems that she's taken a great liking to me, though I don't quite understand why," Inui was saying as they headed towards Kaidoh's room. The other teen just shrugged.

"My mother is like that… sometimes."

"And what is this about me being 'husband material'?" The bandana-clad teen stopped short, causing the other to bump into him from behind.

"Sh-she was just talking nonsense. Don't listen to her," he said quickly, his face once again burning from embarrassment.

"I see." Kaidoh opened the door to his room and gestured in the direction of the chair and bed.

"You can sit wherever you like, Inui-senpai." The bespectacled teen smiled and chose the chair by Kaidoh's desk. He placed his bag on the floor and rummaged inside it for a pen. The second year looked at him, puzzled.

"It's a rare opportunity that I got invited over to your house so I'm making use of my time here," Inui said while scribbling away in his notebook. "It's 'ii data'." Silence fell over them except for the 'scritch-scritch' sound of Inui's pen moving across paper. Kaidoh suddenly felt claustrophobic, being alone in his room with his senpai.

"Is there anything I can get you, Inui-senpai?" he asked the other in a rush. "Anything you'd like to drink? Water perhaps? Or tea?"

"Th… That's fine," Inui told him, taken aback at Kaidoh's odd behavior but the other left in a hurry. The third-year made a note before continuing with his data gathering.

"Room is 5.16 meters by 3.71 meters by 1.89 meters… Bed takes up 2.97 square meters… Closet is on the northeast corner of the room…" he mumbled to himself as he wrote statistic after statistic down. When Kaidoh returned with the beverage, Inui was closing up his notebook and capping his pen.

"Finished already, Inui-senpai?" he asked, surprised.

"Aa…" The third-year took the cup of tea from Kaidoh and sipped it. "I've done data collection for a couple of years so I've developed the quickest and most efficient way to gather information." Setting his cup down, he turned to the younger teen. "Although sometimes, my mind processes the data faster than my hand can write it down, which is why I prefer doing it on the computer." He smiled slightly. "I've been trying to persuade my parents into acquiring a laptop for me."

"You have all of your data stored on your computer?" Kaidoh asked his senpai.

"Yes and I have to update it constantly, usually several times on a daily basis or I'll fall behind."

"Y… You update our data on your computer several times each day?" the bandana-clad boy said, slightly shocked. "You develop training menus for us and you, yourself, train much more than any of the other regulars… myself included. How do you find the time?"

"It doesn't take a lot of my time. I usually multitask so I can update data while developing menus… or something similar." Kaidoh shook his head.

"I mean, how do you find the time for yourself, Inui-senpai? To do things you want to do?" Inui smiled at Kaidoh's concern.

"Data collection is what I like to do. Probably because I haven't found another activity that interests me as much as learning about other people through gathering their information." He pushed up his glasses. "But data can also be difficult to compile."

"Such as personal information?" Kaidoh asked, understanding a bit of what his senpai was saying.

"There is that, but there's also the fact I have a deep respect for others' privacy. For instance, if you hadn't invited me over to your house, I would never force myself here just for the sake of gathering data. But, if the opportunity presents itself, I won't hesitate to seize it."

"So… you won't ever ask other people questions to gather their data?" Inui chuckled softly.

"I try not to."

"But you still are able to gather so much data without us knowing. Is it enough?"

"It's… sufficient. But sometimes I wish it was more complete rather than it being tennis-related." Kaidoh watched as his senpai's expression turned into something unreadable.

"Well, it can't be helped," Inui said. Kaidoh was about to say something more but was interrupted by his mother.

"Dinner is ready you two!" Hozumi called from downstairs.

----

"So how do you like my cooking, Inui-san?" Hozumi was asking the third-year. Kaidoh resisted the urge to roll his eyes; she was acting like a lovesick teenager.

"Simply delectable," Inui told her as he took another bite. Hozumi laughed… almost giggled, in Kaidoh's opinion.

"Really? I was worried… my cooking is so plain."

"A mother's cooking is always top-quality. Kaidoh is very lucky to have such appetizing meals every day."

"That's so sweet!" she exclaimed and touched the bespectacled teen's arm. "Then Inui-san, you can call me 'Okaa-san' anytime and I will cook more for you." Inui smiled politely.

"I think my mother will be jeal--"

At the sound of coughing, Inui turned to Kaidoh to see him holding his throat and trying hard not to choke. Alarmed, he quickly patted the other's back, coaxing the food to go down. He absentmindedly reached over and grabbed a glass of water on the table. The third-year handed it to the still coughing teen and after a few swallows, Kaidoh set down the half empty glass.

"Kaoru, are you alright?" Hozumi looked at her son, concern written over her face.

"Aa… Arigato, Inui-senpai." Kaidoh bowed slightly to the older teen.

"No trouble at all," Inui said with a hint of relief in his voice.

"Are you sure you're okay, Kaoru?" The second-year glanced up at his mother.

"I'm fine, Okaa-san," he said, reaching for the glass again.

"That's a relief," she said before turning to the other teen. "Inui-san, do you need another glass of water since Kaoru drank most of yours?"

Luckily, they were all more or less done with dinner. Hozumi smiled and shook her head before heading to the kitchen to fetch a towel and to bring another glass of water for the third-year.

----

"Thank you again for inviting me to dinner. It was most delicious," Inui told Hozumi, bowing to her deeply. The woman smiled sheepishly.

"You are welcome, Inui-san. Please, do come again and perhaps you can meet my husband and Kaoru's younger brother next time."

"I'll look forward to it." The bespectacled teen smiled to the older woman politely as he slung his bag over his shoulder.

"I'll walk you to the door, Inui-senpai," Kaidoh quickly offered, lest his mother started spouting more embarrassing hints about his senpai being "a part of the family". They reached the front door and thankfully, his mother went back into the kitchen to start on the dishes. Inui stepped into his shoes before turning to the younger teen.

"Thank you for having me."

"Thank you for coming," Kaidoh said, bowing slightly. "I apologize about my mother's… comments during dinner."

"I think they bothered you more than they did me," the older teen told him, smiling. "I'll see you on Monday, Kaidoh."

"Aa… Good night, Inui-senpai."

"Good night." After he uttered the two words, the front door closed softly. Inui stood on the porch for a while longer, looking up at the night sky.

Concern #182: How can I risk my current relationship with Kaidoh for something more? (Note: His mother seemed to approve of that kind of relationship, though I'm only about 73.6 positive she was serious.)

He must remember that… to write in his notebook later.

Owari