Four
Kaidoh had gotten to know his surroundings better and before he knew it, he was making his way to tennis courts where his first practice would begin. He then in someway regretted it because he was being stared at.
"That's the new guy huh?"
"He came pretty late.."
"I hear he was formerly a Seigaku regular during the matches that they beat Rikkai in."
"The regulars better watch their back."
"Enough chattering, everyone gather around!" called out a red haired male with deep green eyes. His hair was rather long down to his shoulders, he could almost be mistaken for a woman. This was probably Kinomoto-buchou.
"We have a new member joining us today, he's a freshmen so show him how everything works around here." There was a silence and Kinomoto glanced back at Kaidoh, "Introduce yourself."
"Jikou shoutai sasete kudasai. Ore-no namae wa, Kaidoh, Kaoru desu. Doozo yoroshiku Onegaishimasu. I'll be doing my best," Kaidoh said with a bow trying to be polite and formal as possible.
Kaidoh then spotted Inui from the back of the crowd with a regulars jacket draped around him as if he had been lounging around. They were an interesting combination of silver, green, and black. He had a slight smile on his face and his deep green eyes that Kaidoh never saw until yesterday glittered. He looked confident. Confident in Kaidoh.
"We'll be having our ranking match placements today. Each regular will pick one person to compete for one regulars spot. In the end we'll have our final four play and the last one will compete against the regulars to win a spot off of them," Kinomoto explained. Another silence.
"Regulars step forward and pick," Kinomoto said.
The crowd of non-regulars moved away and Kaidoh followed already knowing his place.
"Hisomo," Kinomoto said with a smirk, "You're next Saki."
Saki who was another regular quickly moved his horrible attempted bleached hair out of his face before calling out, "Yuruki."
Another regular by the same of Yusuke stepped up next, "Ame."
Finally it was up to Inui to decide and without further hesitation he called over, "Kaidoh."
It stirred up the crowd shocking them to death. They had no idea that Inui knew him at all. Even Kinomoto-buchou looked stunned.
"Inui, what's on your mind? He just got here," Kinomoto said.
'Yeah are you insane man! How do you know that he's worth it?" Kazuki snapped at Inui. Kazuki himself nervously glanced at his doubles partner Toshi.
"I know his playing ability already, I'm confident that he'll become a regular. I won't be surprised," Inui answered. Kaidoh fought back a smile. He was a little embarrassed but he felt very powerful just then knowing that Inui was caring for him and helping him get to be number one.
"You have data on him already Inui?" Kinomoto asked raising an eyebrow.
"A couple notebooks full," Inui said.
A couple people gasped. But they once again had no idea what-so-ever. Kaidoh wondered if Inui planned to keep it that way or was expecting Kaidoh to explain to them.
"I look forward to seeing him play then if you're so confident," Kinomoto said walking away. There was stir of noise all throughout practice about the new tennis player who already had been chosen to play for the regulars.
----
"Inui you're so damn stupid? What if your position gets taken away?" Kazuki snapped.
"Why are you so concerned if it doesn't affect you?" Inui asked with his own question as they packed up for the day.
"Because your reputation is on the line!" Kazuki answered.
Toshi sighed and walked past then to place away his stuff as well, "He could care less Kazuki. He's damn crazy; it's a suicide attempt at his position."
"And how the hell do you have so much data on him already?" Kazuki asked.
"Research," Inui answered before walking away his face deeply buried into a notebook. He saw Kaidoh walking in and decided to wait for him outside the clubroom.
Kaidoh changed into some clean clothes and packed his racket into his bag.
"Oi!" some called out. Kaidoh glanced up to find one of the regulars Kazuki glaring down at him with his doubles partner Toshi.
"Yes senpai?" Kaidoh asked.
"Don't think because Inui-san picked you makes you a regular. We'll crush you so don't get arrogant," Toshi snarled.
"Don't underestimate me," Kaidoh said standing up fully to face his senpai only to be roughly shoved into the lockers.
Kazuki's ruby eyes gave him a cold hateful look.
"I don't have to. If you don't know your place then allow me to show you where you belong freshman. You don't even deserve to be in the ranking matches so you might as well give up," he hissed.
Kaidoh rolled his eyes.
"I don't have to deal with this. Show me on the court that you can beat me before you talk trash," he said before slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking out the door. A hiss escaped his lips in annoyance that he was just harassed.
"Kaidoh?" a voice asked snapping Kaidoh out of his thoughts. Inui-senpai was there waiting for him a couple feet away. Kaidoh ran to catch up with him and they walked off the tennis courts and on to the sidewalk together.
"Inui-senpai…"
"You looked irked, did something happen?" Inui asked wondering why Kaidoh looked a little upset when he walked out of the clubroom.
"It was nothing Inui-senpai, forget it," Kaidoh answered shortly. He didn't want Inui worrying about him.
"Alright then. You're free for the rest of the day right?" Inui asked.
"Yes," Kaidoh answered.
"Let's go somewhere then. Anything you want to do; I'm up for," Inui said.
"Inui-senpai; can we practice together then?" Kaidoh asked.
"Of course…do you…..want to head to the park?" Inui asked. The park, Inui meant the park that Kaidoh and Inui always used to meet at to train in junior highschool. The park even lead to the river that Inui remembered ever so well. Inui hadn't been there in a long time; and whenever he was, Kaidoh was not there.
"Yeah, let's go," Kaidoh answered. They began to walk there and were near the river where they set their stuff down knowing that nobody ever really went down there so their belongings wouldn't get stolen.
Then began to run; without a word they both kept up with eachother and paced themselves. There were no words between them, they just ran a if they were both in deep thought and trying to sort things out. Kaidoh noticed even their foot-falls were the same. They were very sync together. He even wondered if he and Inui could play a really good doubles game still. Last time they planned they had won in the nationals.
The sun was soon setting in the horizon and they stopped at one of the park benches.
"Inui-senpai…" Kaidoh murmured out of breath.
"Yes Kaidoh?"
"Thank you. I promise I won't disappoint you," Kaidoh answered looking ever so determined. He let out a hiss because he was so serious.
"I know you won't. I'm very confident in you Kaidoh. That's why I chose you," Inui said.
Kaidoh glanced at the older male and noticed him having a slight smile on his lips. Inui seemed happy, and Kaidoh could help but feel the same way.
"It's getting dark," Kaidoh said suddenly standing.
"Yeah, let's go get our stuff," Inui said. They walked their way back to the river and gathered their things.
"It brings back memories," Inui said slinging his tennis bag over his shoulder.
Kaidoh nodded quietly and stood himself.
"I'm sorry…"
"It's okay. I'm heading home," Kaidoh said beginning to walk. Inui caught up to him.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" Inui asked.
"It's okay Senpai, I'll be okay alone," Kaidoh said turning onto a street the separated them from Kaidoh's apartment and the college dorms. Inui only looked back once before going to the dorms to think.
(A/N: Yes I attempted some Japanese. No idea why. I just did it to see if I could. Just watch me find out I was wrong next term when I actually take it. XD Anyway, I hope you all are tolerating this ficcie so far it's so long...about 99 pages worth of crap..since I am a crappy writer-ahem- I'll update soon..o.o -hides away in the dark-)