Rating: PG Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is Konomi-sensei's.
Notes: This is part three of my "Congruence" arc.
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Soon after Kaidoh acquiesced to being dated, Inui developed the urge to see his boyfriend in a yukata. He wasn't certain how he would accomplish this particular feat unless the two of them went on a vacation to a hot spring. If Inui's stocks did well, he just might see if Kaidoh would go. After all, Kaidoh liked water, warmth and Inui... so there was a 97 chance that Kaidoh would agree... if his parents would. But, before Inui even got his stock statement, Kaidoh did something unpredictable... and asked Inui on a date.
It was while they were in the park one, resting after a practice game. Kaidoh had been noticably on edge all day, but Inui had been unable to coax the reason out of him, even with the threat of Inui Juice. As he was about to ask again, Kaidoh looked up from where he'd been exaimining his shoes and blurted out, "Inui-senpai! Would you like to go to the summer festival with me?"
Inui blinked and smiled. "Will you be wearing a yukata?"
Kaidoh blushed. "Yes. I always do. My brother is going this year with some friends, but my mother would like me to go and keep an eye on him. She hasn't met his friends. So, I want you with me. It's especially lonely to be alone at a festival."
Inui's smile grew larger. "Where and when should I meet you?"
"Then you'll go?" Kaidoh's eyes were wide.
"Of course I'll go. For you, I'll even wear my yukata."
"Inui-senpai has a yukata? What... what color?"
"Blue," Inui said and kissed Kaidoh quite suddenly as he had learned to do to get Kaidoh to accept it. "Where and when, Kaidoh-kun?"
Kaidoh blushed at the name. "Here. Sunday at 5 o'clock?"
Inui scooted closer to Kaidoh and put an arm around him. "I'll be there."
Sunday at 5 o'clock, Inui was sitting on the park bench and looking at his watch. Kaidoh was almost two minutes late which wasn't like him at all. But Inui ceased to care when he saw Kaidoh running toward him. His yukata was a green just a few shades darker than his favorite bandanna with a pale wheatgrass pattern in tan. As he ran, the front panels of his yukata parted slightly and gave Inui a tantalizing glimpse of Kaidoh's legs. Kaidoh was holding a small bag with one hand and was holding his hair back with the other as his bandanna was, thankfully, elsewhere. Inui decided that the trip to the hot springs still sounded (and looked) like a very good idea indeed.
When Kaidoh reached Inui, he let his hands fall in front of him to hold his bag which Inui saw now was not unlike the purses that girls carried with their yukata. It seemed oddly appropriate in Kaidoh's hands, though. Kaidoh blushed and looked up at Inui. "You look so tall and... handsome in your yukata, Inui-senpai." For, indeed, when Inui stood up to greet him, Kaidoh felt markedly shorter than usual next to his boyfriend.
Inui was surprised that Kaidoh complimented him, but he smiled and looked Kaidoh up and down. "You are perhaps the fairest creature that God ever did create." As Inui slowly worked his way up Kaidoh's body with his eyes, he was certain that Kaidoh's face would be bright red by the time he came to it. Yet, when that moment arrived, only the lightest flush stained Kaidoh's cheeks. "I expected you to blush more."
Kaidoh blushed fiercely as if on cue. "I only blush when I'm embarassed."
"So telling you that I think you're gorgeous doesn't embarass you?"
Kaidoh smiled softly. "How could it when you say it like you do?"
Inui held out his hand to Kaidoh who bit his lip before hesitantly taking it. "To the festival?"
"To the festival."
There was a dance going on when they arrived and the pair watched for a while until Kaidoh's stomach growled loudly, at which point Inui happily dragged Kaidoh along to feed him. They shared a large order of takoyaki, though Kaidoh secretly fed three of his half to the birds that were hopping around where they sat. Inui not-so-secretly fed two of his half to Kaidoh who blushed, but did not falter in letting Inui be kind to him.
Inui did not have to be told when Kaidoh's brother showed up. There was certainly a resemblance to go on. Kaidoh pulled Inui by his hand over to his brother. "Hazue, meet my doubles partner, Inui-senpai."
Inwardly, Inui smiled. Kaidoh was holding his hand and merely referring to him as his doubles partner. "Hello, Hazue. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Hazue delicately arched one eyebrow. "Are the two of you dating?"
Kaidoh dropped Inui's hand quickly. "What?"
Smiling cheekily, Hazue held out his hand to Inui. "You're the first person he's introduced to me that he hasn't been embarassed about doing so. It's a pleasure to meet you, too, and I hope that you'll come over for dinner at some point. Mother is an excellent cook. Actually, so is Father."
Inui shook Hazue's hand. "I'll take good care of your brother, so I hope he'll invite me to dinner at some point. I'd like to meet your parents."
Kaidoh was flushed a shade of red that bordered on purple. "We'll just be going now, Inui-senpai," Kaidoh said. He grabbed Inui's hand again and pulled him along.
A few moments later, they arrived at the goldfish catching booth. Kaidoh bought a chance and gave it a meager try without a word, but failed miserably in catching a fish. Inui put an arm around Kaidoh's shoulders briefly and bought a chance of his own. With his rice paper and plastic paddle in hand, Inui quickly scouted out the largest and "cutest" fish and a moment later, after a dip and a flick, the goldfish was in the plastic cup in Inui's other hand.
Inui didn't bother to try to catch another fish. There was a 90 chance that the paper was far too wet to support the weight of even the smallest fish in the tank. The booth owner transferred the fish over to a plastic bag with blue strings and presented it to Inui who, in turn, presented it to Kaidoh. "Here, Kaidoh. Keep him with you to remind you of me when I'm not around."
Kaidoh carefully clutched the strings in his hand. "Who needs a fish? I think of you... 95.4 of the time, Inui-senpai!"
Inui smiled. "Even I can't be that accurate. But, thank you, Kaidoh. It means a lot to know that."
And, suddenly, the fish in Kaidoh's bag flipped across the surface of the water and something shiny flew through the top of the bag and into the air and under Inui's glasses and straight into his eye. Inui hunched over in pain and clutched first at his glasses, then took them off and clutched at his eye. He regained enough composure to remove the offending shiny object from his eye. He scrutinized it close to his face, then showed it to Kaidoh. "A fish scale. Obviously, Mr. Fish doesn't like me."
But Kaidoh wasn't looking at the fish scale. He was looking at Inui's eyes. "Inui-senpai..." Je blushed. "Your eyes are beautiful."
Inui suddenly changed his mind. His stock money would go first toward getting contact lenses. Then, they would try to go to a hot spring -- but, first, Inui had to meet Kaidoh's parents and get them to trust him. He smiled and held out his hand to Kaidoh who looked briefly put out. His bag was on one hand, and his fish in the other, and the fish bag was wet, so he didn't want to put them together. Inui put on his glasses again and held out his other hand toward Kaidoh's bag. "You hold the fish. I'll hold you bag. Then, we can hold hands."
Kaidoh gave Inui a soft smile. "Inui-senpai, thank you. It's been a wonderful night."
"It isn't over yet, Kaidoh. What do you want to do next?"
Kaidoh looked down at their joined hands. "This is nice."
Inui squeezed Kaidoh's hand gently. "Yes. Yes, it is"
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Owari.