Experimental

Theme: #10. #10

Disclaimers are on part 1.

Rating: PG

Inui was leaning against the gate at the entrance of Fudomine, waiting for Shinji to come out. He had learned his lesson, and was willing to wait, but he was also resisting the urge to fidget. Instead, Inui looked at his watch for what seemed like, to him, the hundredth time since he had gotten there. He should be out by now…what's keeping him? Did something happen?

Just as Inui was about to go in looking for Shinji, he heard a familiar voice approaching the gate. "…only two players that we've seen before on that team, Akira. But Hyotei still produces powerful players, with their system. You still have to be careful.

"I know," Kamio grumbled. "Their team, and their money, and their snobbishness…oh, it's you."

Since there was only one person that Kamio reserved that particular tone of voice for, Shinji didn't even have to look to see who Kamio was referring to. "Akira, Sadaharu's going to think that you don't like him. And that's not true at all; you told me that—"

"Never mind what I told you!" Kamio turned a bit red. "We'll continue this tomorrow, Shinji. I think I have to be…anywhere but here right now." With a wave, Kamio was off and running.

Inui wrapped an arm around Shinji's shoulders. "I'm almost beginning to think that Kamio likes you, and is jealous of me," he commented mildly.

"Akira is jealous of you." Seeing the look on Inui's face, Shinji hastily continued. "Not like that! He doesn't like me like that. Akira really does like girls. Or, a girl. But that girl is still waffling between him and Momoshiro, so he doesn't have anyone, and his best friend does and…." Shinji sighed. "He misses spending time with me. He wants what we have for himself. That's all."

"I can see that," Inui conceded. "Maybe I should let you spend more time with him?"

"It would be nice. I mean, I love being with you, but he was my best friend long before we were anything more than two bodies in the same city. Akira means a lot to me."

Inui nodded. "Then we'll work on that. But not today. Today I have something to share with you."

"Oh? Shinji was curious. "What's that?"

"Not here." Inui grinned. "Come home with me?"

"I…I don't know…."

"Shinji." Inui turned Shinji so that they were facing each other. "I promise you that I'm not going to try anything that you're not ready for. It's just that what I want to share has to be done at home, so…if you really don't want to, though, that's fine."

"No. I want to. I'll come with you." Shinji smiled. "Lead the way, please."

Inui took Shinji's hand and started towards his home.

Shinji hadn't been sure what he was expecting of Inui's home, but he hadn't been expecting to have Inui stop in front of an apartment building. "An apartment?"

"Yes." Inui sighed a little. "My parents decided that they were too busy to maintain a home, so they decided to keep us in an apartment. It's a nice apartment," he added, almost defensively.

"I never said it wasn't!" Shinji backed up a little. "Of course…it would help some if I actually could see it…."

"Of course." Inui smiled and took Shinji's hand again. "Come on up."

A short elevator ride later, and Inui was letting Shinji into the apartment. "Make yourself at home," he said, disappearing into the kitchen.

Shinji wandered around the living room, looking at everything. It's so…sterile, he thought to himself, feeling a little concern for Inui's childhood. What must it have been like, to grow up like this? No laughing siblings, no present mother or father…it feels so cold….

"Shinji?" He turned around to see Inui standing behind him, two glasses in his hands. "Is everything all right?"

"It's fine." Shinji went over and kissed Inui's cheek quickly. "What do you have there?"

Inui handed one of the glasses to Shinji. "I want you to try this for me. That's all."

Shinji eyed the contents of the glass suspiciously, a dozen half-forgotten conversations coming back to him. "Sadaharu…what is this?"

"Something I've been working on. Aozu Remix #10."

"Aozu…remix…." Shinji tried to hand the glass back to Inui. "Oh, no! I've been told about this stuff. Plus I saw it in action. None of it was flattering."

"Shinji, please." Inui was almost begging him. "I've been working on it, removing the…less pleasant side effects. You know I wouldn't give you something that would hurt you on purpose, right?"

"Well…." Shinji stared down into the glass. It looked relatively safe…. "It doesn't look too bad, and you are my boyfriend, which means that you probably wouldn't do anything to hurt me, and I really should trust you so…bottoms up." With that, Shinji saluted Inui with his glass and drank the liquid down.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then Shinji twitched.

All of the color drained from Shinji's face, and his eyes began to water. "Sa—" was all Shinji got out of his mouth before he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Shinji!" Inui moved Shinji up on to the couch, then ran to fetch a glass of plain water, before sitting back down next to him. "I thought…there was only a 21 percent chance that any loss of consciousness should have occurred…." Inui reached for a notebook that was sitting nearby. "The balance must not be right yet…."

"…only?" From the couch, Shinji blinked and tried to sit up. Instantly, Inui was helping Shinji up and handing him the new glass. "Drink it," Inui urged him. "It's just water."

"Anything to get the taste out of my mouth…." Eyeing the glass suspiciously, Shinji sipped at the water. "So…what were you saying about improvements?"

"I have improved on the recipe," Inui said absently, scribbling some things down in his notebook. "The episode of unconsciousness lasted 3.2 minutes, down from the last trial of 5.7 minutes. No choking or seizures…."

"Sadaharu!!" Shinji was appalled. "What are you trying to do, kill someone?"

"No…." Inui had the grace to sound guilty as he continued. "I'm trying to create the perfect health beverage."

"You call that health?" Shinji shook his head and stood up. "I think it's time for me to go home now, Sadaharu."

"Shinji! You…you're not leaving me…are you?" Inui had never heard himself sound so uncertain and scared before.

"Over something like this? Of course not. Though, that might change if you ever give me something like that again." Shinji smiled a little. "I am a little upset right now, though. You do not use me as a test subject, Sadaharu. Ever."

"I won't," Inui said, willing to promise just about anything as long as Shinji didn't break up with him.

"I'm still going to go home, though. I'm going to go home, possibly call Akira and rant about what happened, then I will completely forgive you and call you later as if nothing happened. But for right now, I don't want to be in the same room as you and that…stuff." Shinji shuddered a little at the memory.

"Can I…walk you home, at least?" Inui was still upset, and he didn't even bother to try and conceal it in his voice.

"Oh, Sadaharu." Shinji went over to Inui and kissed him firmly. "It's not the end of the world. I'll probably forgive you by the time I leave the building, but I need to make the point that you can't do whatever you want to me. Do you understand?"

"I do," Inui said reluctantly, giving Shinji a quick kiss. "You will call me tonight?"

"I promise." Shinji smiled, kissed Inui again, then headed out the door.

Inui was left staring at the other glass of Aozu that he had poured, then went into the kitchen and poured it down the drain. "Back to the drawing board, I guess. And there's one less person to taste test." He shook his head. "It's almost enough to make me give up doing this at all. Almost."

Inui grabbed his notebook and went into his room to work on adjusting the recipe for Aozu Remix #11.

--The End--