A/N: Enter the InuKai-ness. The chapters keep getting longer. This one's nearly 3,000 words.

Shattered Reality
Chapter Eight
by Wolfram003

Kaidoh Kaoru jogged along the sidewalk, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He stopped for a second and glanced over his shoulder. The second-year restrained himself from tapping his foot in impatience as Inui Sadaharu finally caught up to him. Really, he thought as he hissed under his breath, if Inui-senpai was that determined to help him with his training, he could at least try to keep up!

The dark-haired youth tugged off his bandana and wiped the sweat from his forehead once again. The data collector walked up next to him, grinning, "Great job, Kaidoh. I think that's enough for today though. It wouldn't be good if you exceeded your limit."

Kaidoh scowled. Hissing, he rolled his eyes. In other words, Inui-senpai was at his limit. Really, why did the taller boy even bother to follow him if he knew the difference in their stamina? Not that he minded too terribly much. However, the moment the annoyed teen realized his thought, it was violently shoved, tied up, and left for dead in the back of his mind.

If Inui-senpai got wind of his affection, there was no telling what would happen. He'd seen the third-year gather data on all of the tennis club's members and promptly hand it over to Fuji before. It had all been some grand attempt at matchmaking the Golden Pair, and to the best of his knowledge, their scheme hadn't even worked. Oishi-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai had been their usual selves, oblivious to their feelings for each other which, Kaidoh felt the need to add, were quite obvious to the rest of the team—not that there was anything wrong with that, of course.

"Fshuu..." he breathed in annoyance as he and Inui walked around the corner. He quickly changed his train of thought before it went somewhere uncomfortable. Monday's practice was going to be interesting, if what Inui-senpai had bought at that convenience store earlier had anything to do with it. Kaidoh shuddered as he remembered what the taller boy had bought. He was not going to drink any juice made by Inui Sadaharu ever again; there was no possible way those ingredients were remotely healthy when put together.

He turned around, walking backwards as they neared the corner and opened his mouth to tell his senpai just that. Such an action was a stupid mistake that he was never going to make again, he decided as he was roughly shoved from behind into his senpai. Somehow, he and the data collector wound up in a pile of limbs, lips pressed together in what Kaidoh supposed could be called a kiss. He blushed furiously, stood up, and turned to face the idiot who pushed him with anger burning in his dark eyes (1); that wasn't what he wanted his first kiss to be like! He completely missed the pleased grin that crossed the data collector's features and the mutter of, "Ii data."

"Watch where you're—Fuji-senpai?" Kaidoh's eyes widened at the expression of the older boy, who was also on the ground. The brown-haired boy shook his head as he stood up and dusted himself off. Fuji's sapphire eyes glinted angrily as he quickly apologized, though he didn't sound sincere in the slightest, to his teammates, "Sorry Kaidoh, Inui. I'm in a bit of a rush."

"Ah," Kaidoh said as he fought the urge to step back from the older boy. Fuji-senpai was a bit frightening when he was oh-so-obviously angry. Something had to be wrong to make the blue-eyed boy this frightfully furious. Hesitantly, he clenched his bandana in his fist and asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Fuji blinked in surprise, and Kaidoh could hear Inui-senpai writing in that green data book of his again. Kaidoh hissed—someday, he would see the inside of that notebook, and then he would promptly take it away; Inui-senpai was always writing in it around him, so Kaidoh believed he had a right to read it—and fought the urge to roll his eyes. He shouldn't have even asked.

Then his honey-haired senpai smiled—not his usual smile, but one that made shivers run down Kaidoh's spine—and told his that yes, there was a way he could help. He explained that he needed to have a talk with Kikumaru-senpai's family. He didn't state why he needed to do such a thing, just that he needed someone to back him up. Fuji-senpai raised a slim eyebrow at the hissing youth's unasked question of, 'Why?' that was clearly written all over his features.

"I'm not threatening enough," Fuji explained. Kaidoh begged to differ but didn't dare to say so. The brown-haired tensai turned and gestured for both of his teammates to follow before walking off toward Kikumaru's house which was just down the street.

Inui stopped scribbling in his notebook and glanced at Kaidoh, who was still blushing from the earlier accidental kiss. He adjusted his glasses and stated, "Probability that something unfavorable has happened to Kikumaru, 98 percent. Probability of Fuji becoming violent with someone in Kikumaru's family, 83 percent. I highly suggest we follow him to find out what's going on."

Kaidoh found himself agreeing. Although Kikumaru-senpai could be annoying at times, he was a good person. He also reminded the hissing boy of a cat, so he was fairly fond of the redhead, even if he didn't show it. If something bad had happened to the acrobat, Kaidoh wanted to know.

He found himself jogging to catch up with the sprinting tensai. Inui lagged behind, but not by much; there was ii data on the line, after all. Kaidoh found himself tying his bandana around his head again and sighing, "Fshuu."

He could already tell this was going to be a long week.

Soon the trio was standing outside the gate to the Kikumaru household. Fuji didn't even hesitate as he entered the property. Kaidoh watched with raised eyebrows as the shorter boy stormed up to the door of the two-story house and knocked loudly on it, like Kikumaru Eiji was prone to doing.

The door was quickly opened by a relieved-looking brown-haired boy, "Ei—Oh, it's just you, Fuji-kun." The eldest male child of the Kikumaru household then noticed Fuji's furious expression and promptly took a step back. "I-is there something I can help you with, Fuji-kun? Eiji's not here right now."

"Actually, there is, Hiroshi-san (2)," Fuji was clearly delighted with the way the older boy paled as he caught sight of the abnormally tall (3) Inui and Kaidoh. His cerulean eyes took on a distinctly deadly glint, "Could you possibly explain to me why Eiji was found crying in an alley by our youngest teammate? Also, could you tell me just what caused him to run away from home in the first place? I have my suspicions, but I'd like to hear everything from someone that was actually there."

Absolute silence met his questions. Kaidoh's eyes widened, and Inui nearly dropped his notebook. This was shocking.

Kikumaru Hiroshi's mouth moved silently for many moments before Fuji became fed up with the silence. He glared at the eldest son of the Kikumaru family and whispered dangerously, "Who did it? Who hit him? Tell me!"

Inui did drop his notebook after Fuji's demands reached his ears. He scrambled to pick it up as Kaidoh hissed. This situation was worse than even Inui-senpai's data could have predicted.

Hiroshi shook for a moment before grabbing Fuji by the front of his shirt and dragging him inside to escape the curious stares of the passersby. Kaidoh and his data-collecting teammate glanced at each other before following the two inside the house. Kaidoh promptly shut the door behind him, cutting off everyone's view of the scene. People were so nosy, sometimes.

The brown-haired son of the Kikumaru family ran a hand through his short, straight locks, sighing in frustration. "Fuji-kun, I'm the only one here right now. 'Tousan and 'Kaasan are at work. Everyone else is staying somewhere else at the moment. What happened over the past few days really shook everyone up, but no one else ran away like Eiji. Of course, no one else was hurt, either."

Hiroshi bowed his head and continued, "'Kaasan wasn't here when everything happened. She came home nearly half an hour later while everyone—except for Eiji; he'd already gone up to his room—was still yelling at each other. I still can't believe this happened to us. I mean, our family normally gets along so well together."

Fuji nodded and took a seat on the couch across from him. Kaidoh stood at the edge of the room, feeling somewhat awkward. He was furious that someone had actually hurt Kikumaru-senpai of all people, but he felt that he shouldn't even know about such a thing. This was a very private family matter. Next to him, Inui-senpai stood surprisingly still, not even writing in his data book. That in itself was as unusual as the discovery that Kikumaru Eiji had run away from home.

"Everything started right after dinner. 'Kaasan was working late, so she wasn't there for 'Neesan's announcement. All Arashi (4) said was that she was dating another girl. It wasn't bad or anything, but 'Tousan totally flipped out. He started yelling at her, and 'Neesan yelled back just as loud. He told her to leave and find somewhere else to live."

The Seigaku trio heard a distinct sniffle as the older boy rubbed at his eyes, "Arashi did, by the way. She wanted to say goodbye to otouto the next morning and was the first one to notice that Eiji was gone. She was really upset; she'd wanted to apologize and make sure he was okay. She didn't mean to hit him, and she told me that she'd punched very hard because she was so angry. It must have hurt a lot."

Kaidoh watched as Seigaku's tensai clenched his fist, knuckles turning white, "How did Eiji get hit in the first place?"

Hiroshi looked up, startled, "Oh, I'm sorry. I kind of went off on that, didn't I?"

Fuji stared at him blandly, waiting for him to continue.

"Eiji must have been devastated by 'Tousan's reaction to Arashi's news, but I don't understand why. He was shaking the whole time they were fighting, and I'm pretty sure he was close to having a full-blown panic attack when 'Tousan told her to get out of the house. They were just about to hit each other, and I think he noticed that the rest of us—Yohji, Rei, and I (5)—weren't going to doing anything to stop them because we were too scared. So, he did..."

Fuji frowned as Hiroshi trailed off into silence again, but this time, he made no remark to get the older boy to continue.

The brown-haired Kikumaru let out a shaky breath. Quietly, he spoke again, "He went and got between them, yelling for them to stop, but I guess they didn't notice him until it was too late. 'Tousan slapped him across the face, and 'Neesan punched him in the back. He was really upset with everyone; he ran upstairs and locked himself in his room. He was still here when 'Kaasan came home though. I heard him tell her to go away. I don't know when he left, but I guess I can understand why he did."

"He left because he was going to tell everyone the same news as Arashi-san did."

Fuji's statement startled the brown-haired boy, and Hiroshi blinked, "What do you mean by that, Fuji-kun?"

Inui chose that time to speak up, stepping forward and adjusting his glasses, "What Fuji means is that there is a 97 percent probability that Kikumaru Eiji is attracted to another male." He locked gazes with Fuji and asked, "Correct?"

Fuji shook his head, "No, there is no probability any longer, Inui. I am 100 percent certain—as of this morning—that Eiji is in love with another boy that returns his feelings just as much. I'm also fairly sure that they are now romantically involved."

Kaidoh was just as surprised as his data-collecting senpai. When had that happened? He vaguely wondered if they would be open with their relationship. If they were—which was fairly likely, as the relationship involved on Kikumaru Eiji—, they would surely draw a lot of attention—especially the unwanted kind.

Kaidoh reached back to tighten his green and white bandana. If that happened and he was near, he would protect them if need be; Kaidoh silently declared this to himself. There were a lot of unreasonable people out there, and technically, if he cared to admit it to himself, he was secretly in the same boat as the Golden Pair. It just wouldn't be right to ignore them if they were in trouble, so he would be there to help, if just to provide intimidation tactics.

He blinked as he realized that was why Fuji-senpai had told him and Inui-senpai to come along. He could understand that reasoning. Fuji-senpai was quite a bit shorter than them.

"E-Eiji's gay?" Hiroshi was stunned. He blinked several times as if to absorb the information he'd just learned. He shook his head adamantly when Fuji asked if there was anything wrong with that, saying, "I just didn't realize that. Hell, I never even thought about that. Though that does explain why he never went along with any of Rei's attempts at matchmaking..."

There was a slight, surprisingly comfortable pause before Hiroshi asked, "Is he happy?"

Fuji nodded, "Yes."

"He's with Oishi-kun, isn't he?"

Fuji nodded again.

Hiroshi smiled, "I'm glad. Oishi-kun's a good person. He'll never hurt Eiji. By the way, how is my otouto?"

"Eiji stayed outside in the rain overnight, so he's been quite ill. He still has a fever. He's getting better though. We're all staying at our teammate's house until everything settles down, so Eiji is safe and being taken care of," Fuji supplied, closing his eyes.

The blue-eyed tensai didn't seem to have a grudge with the older boy, though Kaidoh was almost certain that Kikumaru-senpai's father and oldest sister would also be going through this same interrogation once Fuji caught them at home. The conversation with Kikumaru-san was bound to get ugly, if his reaction to his son's news was anything like his reaction to his daughter's news. Kaidoh hissed; there really were so many unreasonable people in the world.

"I see. I'll let 'Kaasan know that," Hiroshi said as he stood up and stretched, smiling. "Could you wait here for a moment? I want you to take a few things to him," he explained.

Fuji nodded as the older boy ran upstairs. The sounds of slamming doors and drawers drifted to the visitors, and Kaidoh wondered how much they were going to have to carry to wherever Fuji-senpai and the others were staying.

Hiroshi came down only a few moments later with a backpack filled with items that Kaidoh decided he wouldn't even guess at. The overstuffed bag was handed to Fuji who promptly handed it to Inui after noticing its weight. Inui simply handed it to Kaidoh and said that it was a good form of weight training. The snake-shot user slid the straps of the bag over his arms, rolling his eyes and replying with a simply, "Fshuu."

Really, Fuji-senpai and Inui-senpai were both wimps.

The trio was then ushered out of the house with the explanation that Hiroshi had to cook dinner for everyone. When the door shut, Fuji simply asked the two tagalongs, "Are you two also staying at Echizen's? He has his own tennis court."

Kaidoh shrugged. He didn't really care either way, but he started as Seigaku's data collector answered for both of them, glasses glinting in the sunlight. "We'll stay. Probability that it will be an interesting experience, 100 percent."

Fuji nodded and began walking back to Echizen's house. Kaidoh and Inui followed him. The dark-eyed boy adjusted the straps to the bag resting against his back and let out a soft, "Fshuu." He found his mind wandering back to earlier in the day when he had accidentally kissed—it had been his first kiss, damn it—his senpai. He fought back a blush.

Suddenly, he heard the object of his affection clear his throat to get his attention. He turned to see what Inui Sadaharu wanted and found a pair of lips being pressed against his own. The data collector pulled back and grinned at the dark blush that had stained Kaidoh's features. "Kaidoh Kaoru, is there any probability that you'd be willing to go on a date?"

Kaidoh found himself unable to give a suitable spoken reply. Instead, he grabbed the front of his senpai's shirt and pulled him down for another kiss. That was answer enough, wasn't it?

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard a faint click, saw a flash of a camera, and felt the chill of Fuji's best I've-got-blackmail-on-you-and-plenty-of-entertainment-for-me smile.

And for some reason, he found that he didn't care one bit.

To be continued...

Notes:

(1) dark eyes: I can't find any clear official pictures of Kaidoh's eyes. What is his eye color?

(2, 4-5) Hiroshi-san: Do the members of the Kikumaru family have names (aside from Eiji, of course)? I couldn't find any, so I made up some:

Eldest brother: Hiroshi; second oldest of the siblings.
Middle brother: Yohji; third oldest of the siblings.
Youngest brother: Eiji; youngest of the siblings.
Oldest sister: Arashi; oldest of the siblings.
Youngest sister: Rei; fourth oldest sibling.
Mother: Tsukiko
Father: Hajime

I also realize that Eiji's grandparents live with him (or so most of the information I've found says), but I'm going to pretend their vacationing or something.

(3) ... abnormally tall: I don't know their actual heights, but Inui and Kaidoh are definitely abnormally tall compared to the rest of the group, with the possible exceptions of Kawamura, Tezuka, and Momo.

Glossary of Terms:
-senpai— upperclassman.
Ii data— "Good data." Inui says this quite a bit.
tensai— literally "genius" or "prodigy."
-kun/-san— formalities; show levels of respect.
'Tousan— dad.
'Kaasan— mom.
'Neesan— older sister.
otouto— younger brother.

--Wolfram003--
(Please review! Reviews keep me writing!)