SOrry for the late update! My computer kinda died on me so yeah. Thanksfor all of the reviews! Hope you enjoy this chapter!


Chapter 5: REALiZATiON

Inui's Residence – 9:20pm

15 minutes and 32 seconds had passed since Inui had called Kaidoh. He was the one who had hung up first so why was he still staring at the phone in his hand? Inui hadn't moved an inch since he heard Sojiroh's voice on the other end. Kaidoh's end. Why was this bothering him so much? Sojiroh was just another friend Kaidoh had.

/You're just jealous that Kaidoh now has someone else to spend his time with instead of you./

Inui tried to reason with himself. He was NOT getting jealous over Kaidoh's friend. He had a girlfriend. He had a girlfriend. Inui kept repeating it to himself. When he was finally convinced that he wasn't jealous of Kaidoh's friend, he consoled himself by updating the data he had gathered and worked on a new Inui juice.

Oishi's Residence – 10:35pm

Oishi had been tossing and turning in bed for the past hour. After the call to Eiji, he couldn't go back to studying. /Ha! I was right/

/Shut up. Don't make him mad again/

…and the stupid voices in his head wouldn't stop talking. Sure they had been quieter since he had lost his patience but they kept popping in and out of his head every now and then. It also didn't help that Eiji's face kept popping into his head. He was really anxious for Eiji's answer. Oishi let out a sigh. He knew he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.


The next day…

Oishi and Eiji were walking to school in silence (which was unusual) until they reached the school gates when a group of girls, who seemed to be waiting for them, walked up and crowed Eiji and Oishi.

"Kikumaru-kun! Oishi-kun!"

"Hoi-"

"Kikumaru-kun, are you going to the dance?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Are you going with anyone?"

"Yes, and-"

"Will you go with me?"

"But-"

"No, with me."

Eiji was practically overwhelmed with all the screaming and tugging and was getting irritated that they weren't letting him talk.

Over at Oishi's crowd…

Oishi was having a hard time saying no to the girls. They were practically begging him but he knew he had to say no, so he let it out softly.

"I'm sorry, but there's someone else I asked already. Gomen," said Oishi with a slight bow. The girls were pretty sad but soon enough they left Oishi alone. After all the girls had left, Oishi walked next to Eiji to drag him off to practice before they had to run laps for being late. When he finally squeezed through there was complete silence and Oishi caught the last couple words of what Eiji was saying.

"-but I'm going with Oishi. Gomen!"

Oishi was speechless. When had they agreed to go to the dance together? A few minutes later the only people left standing were Oishi and Eiji.

"Eiji, when did you say you were?"

"Nyah Oishi! Are you going back on your word now? I thought you wanted to go with me," whined Eiji.

"B-but you didn't say anything about-"

"Does it matter? Okay, fine. Hoi! I'll go with you Oishi."

Oishi just nodded. Eiji was just hard to understand sometimes.

"Okay now that I agreed to what you wanted, you have to agree on what I want," declared Eiji.

"W-what?"

"Nyah! I want ice-cream after school today! Oishi's treat okay?" Eiji pouted.

Oishi smiled warmly at his doubles partner. He knew ice cream was going to get into the conversation somehow. "Sure."

"Hoi! Let's go to practice now!"

Behind a tree…

Kikumaru and Oishi. Inui was doing his daily data gathering. He was currently listing who was going with whom to the dance.

Momoshiro and Echizen

Tezuka and Fuji (76 percent. If they were to show up.)

Kawamura and ?

Kaidoh and ?

Kikumaru and Oishi

Inui went over his list again and crossed out Kaidoh.

/Low 21 percent that he's going to go. Probably doesn't even remember there is a dance./

After flipping through some pages, Inui seemed to be satisfied with his data. He shut his notebook and preceded to the tennis courts.

Approaching the tennis courts, Inui heard Momoshiro's loud voice. It seemed like Momoshiro and Kaidoh were in another brawl. Inui looked around and noticed that their buchou wasn't there yet so it saved them the trouble of running laps…for the moment.

When Inui entered the courts, he saw Momoshiro rolling all over the floor, clutching his sides. He was laughing and Kaidoh's face was as red as Kikumaru's hair. He looked as if he was about to explode. Inui was about to step in to stop his two kouhai from doing anything stupid when he caught some of the words that were coming out of Momoshiro's mouth.

"HAHAHA…Mamushi…HAHAHA…has…a..date…HAHAHA!"

The crowd around the two turned their heads to look at Kaidoh. Those who knew what was coming started walking backwards, away from the fuming viper. Oishi was trying to calm Kaidoh down but even he took a step back. Eiji, who was getting scared, clung to Oishi's back. Echizen was leaning against the fence, sipping on Ponta, and looking bored. Fuji was just standing there looking amused. Inui sweat dropped. Fuji just loved watching people suffer.

Kaidoh was practically on fire with anger. He bent down and pulled Momoshiro up by the collar up to his face.

"Say…that…again…" hissed out Kaidoh.

"Pffff…So…who are you…going with…?" Momo couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing in Kaidoh's face which earned him a forceful push to the fence. Momo was still too busy laughing to notice that he had been pushed.

Inui raised an eyebrow. Kaidoh? Going to the dance? Was this a joke?

"Shut up! Who said I was going?" said Kaidoh. He was still heaving with anger and was about to pounce on Momoshiro if he said any more. Not to mention he was still beet red.

Inui was about to walk in and calm Kaidoh down when Sojiroh was already there, calmly talking to Kaidoh with a hand on his shoulder.

Sojiroh seemed to get through to Kaidoh since practically a minute later, he walked away, grabbed his racket from the floor and walked to a court and started practicing serves. Everyone was in silence and they were awed at how Sojiroh calmed Kaidoh down in a matter of seconds.

Inui was pissed. It was usually him that went to calm Kaidoh down and it took minutes to calm him down. Usually he had to threaten him with Inui juice. Sojiroh just said a few words, which Inui didn't hear, and Kaidoh had calmed down. Inui was pissed, but he didn't let it show.

"Okay everyone, back to practice before Tezuka gets back," shouted Oishi. Everyone went back to what they were doing. Inui was about to find a corner to sulk in when Sojiroh passed by. It reminded him of the fact that he was finished with his menu and needed to give it to him before he forgot.

"Sojiroh-san, here's your new menu," said Inui handing him a piece of paper.

"Ah. Thank you Inui-sempai," said Sojiroh as he skimmed through the paper. "Kaoru was right! You are good."

Oh yeah! Kaidoh. Now that he reminded him, Inui was curious about who he was going with to the dance.

"By the way Sojiroh-san, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm? Yeah, sure," said Sojiroh ask he folded his paper and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Who is Kaidoh going with to the dance?" Straight out forward.

Sojiroh was surprised. Kaoru said that this was Seigaku's data man and he didn't know who his teammate's date was? This was interesting.

Sojiroh looked up to Inui's face and saw it immediately. Jealously was written all over his face. A playful grin replaced his smile.

"Saa…who knows?" said Sojiroh as he turned and walked.

"Are you going to tell me?"

Sojiroh turned back and flashed a smirk. "I'm. Not. Telling." And walked away, leaving Inui dumbfounded. Sojiroh had to keep himself from bursting out laughing. Inui's face was just too funny.

"That was just too easy," Sojiroh said to himself.


Saturday Night 7:30pm. Kaidoh's Residence.

"Yo Kaoru!" shouted Sojiroh as he opened the door to Kaidoh's room.

Kaidoh looked up and blinked a couple of times at the guy standing at his room entrance. He was dressed in a white dress shirt with a dark blue tie and black dress pants. His jet black hair was hiding behind a backward baseball cap and he was wearing his glasses instead of contacts.

"What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?" asked a bewildered Kaidoh.

Sojiroh was just shocked. Here he was, picking up his date, and the idiot didn't even know why he was here. Sojiroh let out a sigh. He should've known he would forget the minute he entered the room.

"I'm here to pick up my date! Tonight's the dance. Hurry up and change!"

"W-what? I'm not going!" declared Kaidoh.

"Yes, you are!" pushed Sojiroh.

"I have nothing to wear!" Kaidoh countered.

"Fine."

Kaidoh thought he had won and let out a sigh of relief.

"-I'll find something for you!" said Sojiroh was a smile and started digging into Kaidoh's closet.

Kaidoh silently cursed his friend. Why did he have to go? Now he had to endure more of that baka Momoshiro's laughter.

"Don't worry. Momo's not going to laugh. I'll make sure of it," said Sojiroh from the closet.

Kaidoh let out a small smile. His friend always knew what to say to make him feel better.

"How about this?" said Sojiroh after what seemed like awhile. He finally remerged from the closet with a loose baby blue t-shirt and some black jeans.

"That's not formal," stated Kaidoh after looking at what it was.

"So? It'll look good on you. Just try it on," insisted Sojiroh.

Kaidoh let out another sigh. He might as well admit defeat. He was going to lose anyway so why waste all that time fighting when he knew he was going to lose? Kaidoh got up from his desk, walked over, took the clothes, and went into the bathroom to change.

A minute later, Kaidoh came back into the room with the clothes Sojiroh picked out on.

"Kaoru! I knew you would look good in it! I am so good!"

"Hn."

"Okay! Now that you're changed we can go! Come on!" said Sojiroh happily as he dragged Kaidoh out of the house.

"Kaidoh-san, we'll be leaving now," said Sojiroh politely as they went out the door.

"Okay. Have fun you two," said Kaidoh-san as she waved from the door.


Seigaku 7:40pm. Gym.

"Wow Kaoru, look! It looks so nice and there are so many people too!" exclaimed Sojiroh.

Kaidoh didn't get what was so exciting about this. He had a bored look on his face as Sojiroh stood admiring the decorations and the people.

"Come on, Kaoru! Let's go over there! I think I see Arima-kun and he's with his date. Ooh wow, it's Mizumoto-chan." Sojiroh had barely dragged Kaidoh a few steps when Kaidoh stopped all of sudden. Sojiroh looked back and wondered what was wrong with him. He saw that Kaidoh had turned his head to look to the side with his head down.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" asked Sojiroh. Then he turned his head to face the front and noticed what the problem was. There was Inui and Toriumi. Inui seemed to be staring at Kaidoh's reaction and Toriumi was just smiling.

"Inui-sempai, Toriumi-sempai," greeted Sojiroh.

Inui just nodded and continued to stare at Kaidoh. He couldn't believe that Kaidoh was here and that his date was SOJIROH! Why hadn't he seen this before? And Kaidoh looked so good in that outfit. Inui opened his mouth to say something but Sojiroh beat him to it.

"Kaoru we came here to dance, so let's go!" pouted Sojiroh.

/Damn that Sojiroh! Always getting in the way/ thought Inui.

Sojiroh turned back to the couple in front of him. "Well, we'll be getting out of your way now. Have fun sempais," said Sojiroh as he pulled Kaidoh away from them.

"Wow, Sojiroh-kun looked so adorable tonight. And Kaidoh-kun looked just as great, right?" said Toriumi.

"Hn," was all Inui could say but damn! Kaidoh did look so good!

"Inui, look! We can take pictures! Let's go take a picture," said Toriumi, already pulling Inui with her.

"Kaoru, let's dance," said Sojiroh.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Fine! Then I'm going to find someone who will dance with me!"

"You go do that," said Kaidoh as he turned away.

/That guy! Sometimes he is such a party pooper! Oh well I know there are lots of girls that would want to dance. Ooh there's one…/

"Excuse me?"

"Waah! It's Sojiroh-kun!" Girls were already squealing! This has got to be too easy!

"Would any of you girls like to dance?" ask Sojiroh politely.

The girls were squealing again. They were all fighting to get a dance with him.

"Wait, chill. I have enough time to dance with all of you!" That seemed to calm them down a little. Sojiroh picked one and lead her to the dance floor and started with his 'fun'.

Kaidoh was sitting at a table for two with his head lying on his arm. He had been turning down dances with his fan club. Kaidoh was even surprised he even had any. They just kept coming and coming. It had taken Kaidoh a lot of time to turn down each girl politely. He was known to be a viper but it didn't mean that he had to be rude and disrespectful too!

Along with the fan girls, Kaidoh had ended up seeing Inui and Toriumi together a lot. He saw them so much that he had to constantly move to different tables to avoid seeing them. Just seeing them pissed him off. Kaidoh always had a hard time controlling his feelings so he tried avoiding them rather than deal with them. Now that he had come to terms with his feelings for his sempai, there wasn't anything he could do about them since his sempai was taken already.

Next on the list of why Kaidoh didn't want to come to the dance was the crowd. It was so crowded with so many people and with the lights, it made it really stuffy in here. Good thing Kaidoh was wearing a t-shirt or else he swore he would have died.

Then it was the music. He knew that they were going to play those lovey dovey songs so that couples could dance. Kaidoh was going to burst if he heard it. He always avoided it and had to sit and listened to the song as girls after girls came up and asked him to dance. The number of people always surprised him. Kaidoh just didn't understand how people's minds worked. So far into the dance there wasn't a single love song yet so he didn't have to-

"Next we'll be playing a song for all those couples out there," said the DJ.

Kaidoh, who was still thinking, didn't hear the announcement until the song started.

There's a place in my heart

That I go when I dream

A place that nobody can see

Every night I see

love

I see someone who's waiting

Waiting for someone like me

He must be out there

Somewhere, someone for me

/Damn! Gotta get out of here/ though Kaidoh as he saw couples pairing up. He got up and started walking towards the exit, which unfortunately was all the way across the gym since he kept moving.

Tell me how long

'Till I'm not just dreaming

How long, 'til somebody cares

How long, 'til I meet an angel

And give him my heart,

When can I start

How long 'till I fall in

love

Kaidoh was starting to think about Inui now. He was going as fast as he could towards the exit but there were too many people.

I sit every night

By my window just wishing

And searching for one perfect star

Can anyone hear me

Dunno if you're listening

Please send him right here

To my

arms

He must be out there

Somewhere, waiting for me

Kaidoh finally reached the exit. He felt someone watching him and turned around which he regretted. There was Inui and his girlfriend. Hugging each other's bodies during the slow dance.. And he was staring at Kaidoh. Inui gave Kaidoh a small smile,

which Kaidoh chose to ignore and turned around again and left.

Tell me just how long, will it be...

Kaidoh could still hear the music in the hallways. He decided to just stay awhile and then he'd find Sojiroh to tell him that he was leaving. Kaidoh kept walking. He didn't know where he was going until he got arrived at the roof door. Kaidoh

opened the door and let the cool air rush by him. He walked over to the rail and leaned over it, looking over the campus.

/Why didn't I smile back…/ thought Kaidoh. He should've but he couldn't, not when Inui had Toriumi in his arms. It hurt a lot. Just watching the one you love, love someone else. They hardly talked anymore. Inui didn't even need him as a friend…

Then it hit Kaidoh. Hard.

/He doesn't need me as a doubles partner, He doesn't need me as a friend, he doesn't need me…/

Kaidoh's eyes were getting watery, his eye site getting blurry, but he refused to let the tears fall. Kaidoh mustered up all his strength and willed himself not to cry. Boys didn't cry. He wasn't going to cry. Kaidoh Kaoru WON'T cry!

A few moments passed and Kaidoh regained control over his emotions again. Now his face showed no signs of emotion, no sign of hurt or pain; there was nothing. Kaidoh let out a sigh and turned around to sit on the floor with his back against the fence. He brought his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around his legs and laid his head on top of his knees. Kaidoh closed his eyes and just sat there and let silence take over.

Back in the gym…

Inui was pondering why Kaidoh had acted like that. He felt a slight stab at his heart when Kaidoh just walked away. Kaidoh didn't return after he left during that song. Inui should know since he'd been glancing at the door every 5 seconds.

Toriumi knew something was wrong with her boyfriend and decided to give him time to think about it.

"Inui-kun! I want to go and dance with Sojiroh. Do you mind?" said Toriumi sweetly.

"Uh? Ooh yeah, sure," said Inui and then his mind drifted back to Kaidoh.

Toriumi cocked her head to the side and stared at her boyfriend's face. Then she turned to see what he was staring at. /Hmm…haven't seen Kaidoh-kun around…Ah…/ She had put 2 and 2 together. Now she had to think of a plan. Oh who cares, she'd just tell him straight forward.

"Inui-kun, Kaidoh-kun is on the roof-" Toriumi didn't even get to finish her sentence before Inui just got up and ran out the door.

"-top." Toriumi smiled and just shook her head. /I really don't understand him…/

/Now on to Sojiroh-kun…I could use that guy…/ Toriumi thought, and bounced off looking for the object of her thoughts.

Inui was walking up the stairs that lead to the roof. He was so out of it when he found out where Kaidoh was. He was glad that Kaidoh hadn't left yet. When he got to the top, he reached out and pushed open the door. What he saw on the roof made the heartache he had grow even more. Kaidoh was curled up in a defensive position and looked so calm and peaceful. When Inui had opened the door, Kaidoh's eyes popped open and were now staring at him.

Inui walked over to Kaidoh slowly and sat down next to him.

"Why are you up here?" Inui asked softly.

"I don't like dances."

"Then why'd you come?" Inui was really curious. He knew that Kaidoh didn't like dances so he was really surprised when he found out that Kaidoh was coming.

"Kei dragged me," replied Kaidoh, who shut his eyes again.

Inui was fuming on the inside. He should have known. It was Sojiroh who got Kaidoh to come. He knew it but he couldn't stop himself from fuming.

Both of them just sat there in silence, enjoying the feeling of the cool night air.

Suddenly Kaidoh moved and rested his head on Inui's shoulder.

"K-Kaidoh?"

"I'm tired," was all Inui got from Kaidoh the rest of the night. Inui felt so warm and relaxed with Kaidoh's head resting on his shoulder. The ache in his heart was now filled with the warmth that radiated from Kaidoh. Inui too, felt sort of tired so he fell asleep after resting his head lightly on top of his kouhai's head.

3 hours later…

"You know…we should really wake them up."

"Wait! This is a perfect picture moment!"

FLASH


The next day…

It was a sunny Sunday morning and Toriumi was sitting in the outside part of a café and sipping on a vanilla milkshake in front of her. She had her elbow on the table which was currently supporting her head. She was dead bored waiting for her boyfriend, who was extremely late. Toriumi figured out what to say last night and this wasn't something she did for the first time so she wasn't all that nervous. The hard part was getting him to admit it.

Suddenly a spiky hair lad came into the café, looking around. Toriumi noticed it was Inui and waved her hand in the air to get his attention. He saw her and put a smile on his face, and walked over to her. Once he had taken his seat a waiter came and took his order.

"Coffee please," said Inui.

The waiter nodded and went off to the back room to get his order. Once the waiter was gone, Inui turned his attention back to the one sitting in front of him.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Toriumi looked him in the eye and said it out straight, "I want to break up."

Inui was speechless. He didn't know what to say. He found his throat dried and he couldn't get a word through.

"I don't think it's working out. I'm sorry."

"W-why?" Inui finally found his voice.

At that Toriumi broke eye contact. "This means nothing."

"W-what do you mean 'this means nothing'. This means everything. I love you," argued Inui.

"No you don't," said Toriumi quietly.

"What are you talking about! Of course I do!" Inui was getting irritated.

"No you don't! You love Kaidoh! I can see it in your eyes. It's written all over your face!"

"No…I…don't…"

"Yes, you do."

"No…I don't."

"YES YOU DO! STOP LYING TO YOURSELF." Toriumi was losing her patience. This guy was really hard-headed.

Inui had to take a few minutes to think it over. Then realization dawned upon Inui. Maybe…maybe he did love his kouhai…It was hard to admit to his feelings when he'd been running away from it.

Inui lowered his head in shame. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

Toriumi smiled in triumph. "No need to apologize. It's okay. Just go," she said as she went back to sipping her milkshake.

Inui was getting up when he wondered about something. "I just want to ask you something."

"Hmm?" lifting her head.

"How did you know? Even I didn't notice it."

Toriumi flashed him a smirk. "I can't be a tensai's cousin without learning a trick or two."

Inui gave her a smile and left.

Inui looked at his watch. 2:48pm. Kaidoh was probably by the bridge training so that's where he headed to.

Inui was glowing with happiness. He couldn't wait to see Kaidoh. Inui reached the bridge and at the top of the hill he saw what he least expected he would see. Yes, he did see Kaidoh but he also saw Sojiroh and from the looks of it, it looked like they were…

…kissing.


That was a plot twist...tell me what you think! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! Any ideas on the next chapter?