HEY! Thanks for all the people who has put up with my mindless ideas. This is the last installment of the story so please enjoy!
Chapter 6: My Happy Ending
Inui couldn't believe what he was seeing. Kaidoh and Sojiroh were kissing. Inui took a step back. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it.
/This isn't happening./ He took another step back.
/Why…? How/ Another step back. Inui turned around sharply and ran away from the scene. He ran from the pain, from his feelings and most of all, he ran away from Kaidoh.
The pain was too much for him. Inui felt like he couldn't breathe. He clutched his chest to reduce the pain but it didn't work. His eyes were getting watery and blurry but he blinked away the tears. He refused to let even one tear fall. He ran all the way, slammed the front door, ran upstairs to his room and shut the door. Inui leaned his back against his door, trying to reduce the pain in his chest. He slid down and sat on the floor, hugging his knees for comfort. Tears were escaping his eyes, flowing freely down his face. Inui shut his eyes and sobbed in silence as darkness took over.
Kaidoh Residence Kaidoh's room
"Fssshhh…Forget it," said Kaidoh as he threw his pencil down on his text book. There was no use trying to concentrate now. Kaidoh sat back in his chair and stretched. His mind was in chaos now. He really didn't know what to do. Everything caused so many problems. This was why he avoided having friends. As nice as it was, there were always problems that came with it. Ah…the price of happiness.
Without thinking much, Kaidoh got up, grabbed a towel and went to take a shower.
20 MINUTES LATER…
Kaidoh came out of the steaming bathroom dressed in white shorts and a loose black tank top and dried his hair with a towel. Once he got into his room, he shut the door quietly and walked to his bed to sit down. Kaidoh, still in deep thought, just sat there, unknowingly staring at a picture. Fuji had taken the picture of him and Inui after their first doubles match. He reached over, picked up the frame and ran his finger over Inui's face.
/Inui-sempai…/
Thinking of Inui reminded Kaidoh of the events that happened this evening. Something he never would have saw coming…
Flashback
"K-Kaoru…I-I don't know how you d-do this," said Sojiroh as he came to a halt, breathing heavily.
"It's just a warm up lap," said Kaidoh casually as he walked over to his bag and took out a water bottle and threw it to Sojiroh.
Sojiroh caught it with ease. "That was not just a w-warm up lap! Y-you r-ran more than you were s-suppose to! W-way more! I don't t-think I've ever r-ran that much even in tennis," complained Sojiroh.
"You could've stopped you know," Kaidoh muttered.
"Yeah, but that would've meant I would lose."
"By your looks, you already lost," countered Kaidoh.
"Whatever, I'm just going to sit here for the rest of the time we're here. Practice was hard enough today so I think I'll take a rest now," said Sojiroh as he plopped down on the grass and laid back.
Kaidoh just shrugged him off and continued with his regular training.
After about an hour the sky was starting to get dark and Kaidoh finished up and packed back everything. He turned around to ask Sojiroh if he was ready, only to find out he was still sitting on the grass with a blank look on his face and staring at the sky.
"Kei, let's go…" Kaidoh started but was suddenly pulled down by Sojiroh and ended up sitting next to him.
"Kei, I'm hungry, let's-"
"I have something to tell you," said Sojiroh in a dead serious voice.
Kaidoh looked his friend in the eye, seemingly searching to see if this was a joke. When he didn't find anything he nodded for Sojiroh to continue.
"I-I…"
"What is it?" Kaidoh was getting irritated. Not only was he hungry, but he was really tired and all he wanted was to go home and lie on his bed.
"I love you," Sojiroh blurted out.
Kaidoh was shocked. He didn't know what to do or what to say. So when Sojiroh leaned in to kiss him, Kaidoh didn't respond and just stayed frozen for a couple seconds before his brain started functioning again.
Kaidoh moved his head to the side to break off the kiss gently. Sojiroh was his best friend and he didn't want to do anything to upset him.
"Kei, you know about my feelings for Inui-sempai…" muttered Kaidoh. He was now looking away from his friend, instead looking at the grass that seemed so interesting.
"I know, but I had to try to see if there was anything, right?"
"I'm sorry…" Kaidoh knew he couldn't do anything anymore. He was a useless friend. Saying sorry was the only thing he could do right now.
"Don't be, I didn't regret what I did."
His friend was really understanding…
"Why?" Kaidoh finally got enough courage to look at his friend now.
Sojiroh turned to face Kaidoh and gave him a small smile. "Because happiness comes from the risks we take."
Kaidoh looked down. He didn't understand. "What if the risks lead to sadness, suffering, and rejection?"
Sojiroh laughed at the simple question his friend asked. "Risks can lead either way. If you've never felt sadness or rejection, how would you know what happiness and acceptance felt like?"
Kaidoh was silent and let it sink in.
"We can avoid taking the risks, but we'd be asking ourselves 'What if I did this' or 'What if I did that'. We'd be wondering our whole life, not knowing. I don't want to wonder Kaoru, I want to know, and I know you're the same too."
Kaidoh was started to wonder when his friend had gotten so smart. Or maybe he was just plain stupid…
"Anyway the point is- we take these kinds of risk in search of happiness."
Sojiroh raised his hand to lift Kaidoh's chin to face him.
"Are you willing to take that risk for your happiness, Kaoru?"
End of Flashback
"Are you willing to take that risk for your happiness, Kaoru?"
That phase that Sojiroh had said was still in his head. He didn't know what to do. He was tired of just wondering. Sojiroh was right, he did want to know. Wondering wouldn't get him anywhere…
With all the overwhelming thoughts and the additional stress that was weighing down on him, Kaidoh was really tired and fell asleep the instant he closed his eyes.
"Are you willing to take that risk for your happiness, Kaoru?"
The Next Morning
Kaidoh was walking towards the clubhouse when he saw a rather large group of third years talking. Kaidoh just ignored them until the name Inui caught his attention. Whatever they were talking about made Kaidoh stop in his tracks.
"…broke…"
"ALREADY!"
"…are you sure?"
"…I heard her tell…"
"…the whole school knows now…"
"…Inui and Toriumi broke up."
The last bit surprised Kaidoh. He just stood there stunned and flinched a little when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw it was Sojiroh, who by the looks of it, was greatly amused at the reaction he got.
They walked together in silence until Sojiroh broke it.
/He always likes to break the silence…/ thought Kaidoh as he let out a sigh when Sojiroh spoke.
"So…I guess you found out, huh?"
Kaidoh nodded.
"Well, here's your chance. Are you going to take it? Or just let it slip away from you?"
"But he just broke up…"
"Don't worry. I heard that he was fine with it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes already! Stop worrying," Sojiroh half-shouted.
Kaidoh was once again, back in deep thought. He was only half focused during practice, but it didn't stop him from picking a fight with Momoshiro ("Momoshiro, Kaidoh, 20 laps for disturbing practice," Tezuka ordered.) and getting laps for it.
After Kaidoh ran the laps, they were practicing doubles matches and Kaidoh was relieved to find out that Echizen and Inui were waiting for them to finish so they could start practice. Kaidoh was so happy to be able to play doubles again with his doubles partner, but during the middle, Kaidoh found out his partner wasn't as enthusiastic as he was. Inui was really out of the game. He stood there half the time so Kaidoh was covering for him a lot. Their combination was worse than Momo and Echizen's and Inui refused to cooperate with Kaidoh. When Inui did hit the ball it was always out. They were losing 5-3. How they even got 3 games was a wonder to Echizen when their coordination was the worst he'd ever seen.
After shaking hands with Echizen and Momo (who was gloating) they went off the courts and sat on the bench. Kaidoh noted that Inui sat farther away than usual. Kaidoh turned and faced Inui. He made his decision. He was going to take the risk. He just had to know if his sempai had a special place for him in his heart like Kaidoh had for Inui.
"Fssshh…Inui-sempai?"
Whatever Inui was thinking of, Kaidoh had just broken him out of it.
"Yes," said Inui as he continued to stare at the match in front of them.
"Can we talk…? After school?" asked Kaidoh nervously.
"About what, Kaidoh?" Inui still refused to look at him.
"Fsssh…You'll find out after school. Meet me at the front gates," said Kaidoh before he got up and walked away. Inui turned and stared at Kaidoh's back. What was so important that had to be said after school? Inui just went back into his brooding. He really wasn't in the mood to collect more data now. (INUI NOT WANTING TO COLLECT DATA? WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TOO!)
Inui left practice sometime after his talk with Kaidoh. He was sitting on the floor with one leg drawn up to his chest and leaning against the wall of the clubhouse. He didn't know what to do anymore.
"He's been sitting there since Kaoru talked to him."
"It's your fault! I blame you. I had them going in the right direction and you ruin it!"
"Look, I said I was sorry already!"
"Sorry isn't going to help him forget what he saw!"
And the arguing went on between the two, who were currently hiding behind a couple of Sakura trees.
"Sojiroh, it's your mess, you fix it."
"I know, I know, why you think I'm skipping practice to do this!" said Sojiroh.
"If you know, then why am I here? I have better things to do than to help my kouhai ambush some guy."
"You told me to fix it so I'm fixing it," Sojiroh was getting irritated. Who knew his senpai was so annoying?
"Whatever, but you're buying me ice-cream later!" stated said senpai.
Sojiroh rolled his eyes. "Che…you're going to get fat from eating it, Toriumi-senpai."
"That'll be my problem. But anyways, why do we have to ambush him? Can't you just tell him face to face?" said Toriumi.
"And risk losing my life?" retorted Sojiroh.
Toriumi shook her head in dismay. "…and you call yourself a man."
Sojiroh could do nothing but let out a sigh. This girl…he'd never understand girls.
Minutes passed in silence until Inui decided to get up.
"Now's our chance. GO!" whispered Sojiroh.
Toriumi rolled her eyes for the umpteenth time that day and got up with the ropes in her hand.
Sojiroh ran and tackled Inui from the back and pinned him down long enough so that Toriumi could tie his hands and feet together. Then each picking up one end of him walked into the clubhouse and locked the door.
Inui was too deep in his thoughts to realize what happened. Soon his brain started functioning properly and looked around at where he was. He was sitting on the bench in the clubhouse with the company of his ex-girlfriend and that guy that took Kaidoh away from him.
"I see a new test subject for my new drink," said Inui calmly.
The mention of a new drink made Sojiroh jerk back a couple of steps. While Toriumi, who had never heard of any drinks, just stood there looking from Inui to Sojiroh confusedly.
"Heh…heh…just listen to me…before you get…any new drinks out."
"If you wanted to talk, you didn't have to tie me up."
Toriumi threw her hands in the air and shouted, "Ha! I told you!"
"Would you have listened to me?"
Inui glared. "No."
Sojiroh just decided to get to the point before anymore drinks were involved. "Look I know you saw me and Kaoru kissing."
Another glare.
"But it's not what you think. I kissed him."
"Toriumi-chan, could to go to the third locker from the right and take out the bottle with the name Sojiroh."
Sojiroh gulped. There was a juice with his name on it already? That wasn't good.
"W-wait! S-stop don't get it! Kaoru didn't respond to the kiss. He loves you more than anything. It wasn't his fault. It was my fault. I'm sorry! I'm sorry. Don't hate Kaoru. I'm sorry! I don't want to drink anything!" said Sojiroh really fast and ran out the door of the clubhouse.
"H-he loves m-me?" muttered Inui to himself.
Toriumi, who surprisingly was still in the room, just looked like she was about to kill Inui.
/For a smart guy, you really are dumb/
Toriumi let out a sigh and walked over to Inui, sat behind him on the bench and started to untie the knots that bound his hands together.
"I can't believe you got jealous over that dimwit," muttered Toriumi.
"I was NOT jealous over him," said Inui in small voice and Toriumi moved to crouch on the floor to work on the ropes there.
Toriumi had to hold back the laughter that was building up. "fufu…sure you weren't. Just don't go poisoning him later okay?"
Inui looked down at her suspiciously after she untied the binds on his feet. "Why…?"
"The guy still owes me ice-cream after school. He's not getting off the hook that easily!" she said cheerfully. Inui just sweat dropped.
"Well Ja then," said Toriumi as she picked up her tennis bag and went out the already wide open doors.
"Ja."
After practice- Front Gates
Kaidoh was pacing back and forth. He really didn't know what to say. He couldn't back out now. He was tired of wondering. Kaidoh wanted to know. After much more pacing back and forth he heard footsteps approaching and looked up.
It was Inui. Kaidoh soon found his lips forming a small smile.
"You came."
"Ah."
"Was there something you wanted to talk about?" asked Inui.
"I-I…" Kaidoh tried to continue but found that he couldn't.
Kaidoh tried again. He opened his mouth and closed and open and close.
Inui was just confused and he stood there, tilting his head to the side waiting for Kaidoh to continue.
Kaidoh took a deep breath. It was now or never…
"Inui-senpai, I love you. I've always loved you," said Kaidoh and turned his head the other way so the senpai wouldn't see how embarrassed he was.
Inui broke out into a big smile. He leaned down and captured Kaidoh's lips in a sweet, gentle kiss. Kaidoh's eye's widened but slowly closed his eyes and returned the kiss. When they broke off almost reluctantly, Inui pulled Kaidoh into a tight hug.
"I love you too," murmured Inui to Kaidoh's ear. Kaidoh could do nothing but smile and wrap his arms around the one he loved the most, never letting go.
OWARi!
Maybe I should write a squel...Iono...Don't for get to review! I'd really love you know what you guys think of this! xP
