Seriously, I haven't had a decent night's sleep in weeks. So I'm really running on caffeine and sugar. Another KaiRyo oneshot from yours truly.
Disclaimer: Don't own. If I did, there would be (unexpected) mass yaoi pairings. Sadly, I don't.
Ryoma watched as Kaidou swung the racket. His hits were precise, sure, confident. Seemingly nothing like the guy that was hitting the tennis balls. Echizen Ryoma, son of Echizen Nanjirou, tennis prodigy, and a kid who falls asleep on class.
Kaidou Kaoru, unnoticed, quiet member of the Seigaku tennis team. One of Ryoma's sempais.. and the object of his affections.
The silence, the mean looks, constantly hissing. Anyone else would run from Kaidou, but Ryoma was attracted to him from the start.
"O'chibi! Wake up, nya!" the more hyper member of the team, Eiji Kikumaru, cut through his thoughts. In response, Ryoma pulled down his cap, hiding his eyes. "Aren't you hungry?"
As if on cue, Ryoma's stomache growled. Momo smiled brightly and dragged him off to go see who could eat more. An hour later, Ryoma and Momo were outside, clutching their stomaches.
"Last time I convince you to take me out for burgers and fries." Ryoma commented.
"That's what you said the last three times." the older teen replied, grinning.
Echizen spotted Kaidou walking ahead of him. Trying not to make it too obvious, he speeded up to catch up with Kaidou.
"Fushuuu.. what do you want brat?" he hissed angrily. The brat had just interrupted his solitude. Ryoma just stared ahead. So it's true, he does hate me.'
'If only Echizen knew how I really felt.'
"Catch ya later, sempai." Ryoma said hurriedly, running off.
Kaidou's POV:
I had gone out for a walk, and heard the unmistakable sounds of someone practicing tennis. Judging by the sounds, I'd say it was someone with a lot of skill. Briefly, I wondered if it was Ryoma, but shrugged it off.
"Kaidou?" Ryoma asked. 'Speak of the devil..'
"Fushuu..." I just hissed a response.
Ryoma's POV:
Seeing Kaidou was a surprising, but appreciated.
"What are you doing here?"
"Out for a walk." Kaidou said simply. 'At least he answered somewhat kindly. It was an improvent.'
Third Person's POV:
Kaidou and Ryoma stared at each other for what seemed to be the longest time before the older one left.
Ryoma Echizen sighed and dragged his feet. He had not slept a bit last night, his thoughts and dreams were filled with Kaidou. It was like a movie stretching out from when he first met the viper to last night. Some parts his imagination created by itself, parts with romance between him and Kaidou.
"Ryoma? You don't look so good. You okay?" the mother hen of team, Syuichiro Oishi, questioned.
"Fine." he said tiredly. He silently followed Oishi to the tennis courts. Tezuka-buchou was sure to give him laps for being so late.
"Ryoma, if you're so worried about Tezuka-buchou, I can talk to him to get you off the hook, is that alright?"
Ryoma just nodded.Oishi just sighed as he sized up Ryoma. Bags under his eyes, tired, a distant look, he knew just what the problem was. "This is about him, isn't it?"
Again, Echizen nodded his head. Ryoma kept his head low, he didn't want anyone to notice his problems. "Yeah, I don't think he really enjoys my company too much." he admitted painfully.
"Don't say that. Kaidou is like that to everyone. I'm sure that he really wants to be your friend. Why don't you hang out with him, get to know a little bit more about him." Oishi gave Ryom athe best advice he could. He pulled the depressed boy into a hug.
"Thanks, Oishi-sempai." Ryoma said gratefully.
"Hey, it's O'chibi!" Eiji yelled happily, grabbing Ryoma's wrist and dragging him off. Only Oishi, Fuji, Tezuka, and Kaidou noticed the grimace of pain on Ryoma's face.
"Ryoma." Fuji called, gaining the kid's attention. Ryoma pulled away from Eiji (who looked around trying to find him) and trotted over to Fuji.
"Hai, Fuji-sempai?"
"Daijoubu desu ka, Ryoma?" Fuji asked, for once being serious and concerned.
"Nothing, why?"
"What's wrong with your wrist?" Fuji noticed how Ryoma averted his gaze when he answered.
"I did it playing tennis against my dad."
Fuji pulled up Ryoma's sleeve. His wrist was lined with scars. Fuji opened his eyes. "When did you start this?"
"Just last night." Ryoma tittered.
"Why?"
"You should know why, Fuji." Oishi cut in. He stole a glance at the unaware viper. Fuji followed his gaze.
"Oh." Fuji appeared to be in thought and walked off. Oishi turned to Ryoma.
"Ryoma. I talked to Tezuka-buchou for you. He said you can take the day off today, and tomorrow if needed."
"That's a little too kind for buchou, don't you think so, sempai?"
"Well, I did tell him that if he didn't do that, he'd be short two very good players."
"Two?" Ryoma repeated.
"Two. You and Kaidou. Kaidou probably wouldn't play right because he would be concerned for his kouhai."
Ryoma smiled happily, despite the bags under his eyes. He murmured a thank you and left.
"That kid's gotta do something, or he'll drive himself to death with unrequited love." Fuji stated.
"Who suffers from unrequited love?" Eiji and Momo asked at the same time. Oishi sweatdropped.
"Keep it down. I don't know if you noticed, but Ryoma has a huge crush on Kaidou."
"Aww, that's so cute, nya!" Eiji said smiling. Momo smiled as well.
"So, the question is, how do we get them together?" Momo inquired.
"You're not suggesting we.." Oishi started. Fuji finished for him, but with a slight twist.
"Play matchmaker? Sounds like fun."
"Hey, Kaidou!" Eiji said, bounding up to Kaidou.
"What is it, Eiji-sempai?"
"What are you doing tomorrow night?"
Kaidou stared. "Why?"
"Because I have someone that wants to meet you. They'll meet you at Taka's restaurant tomorrow night at seven, okay? Bye!" Eiji bounced off happily (probably to annoy someone), while Kaidou stared at the spot Eiji once stood in.
"That was weird." he said to himself.
:.:LostWithoutYouLostWhenYou'reNotAroundLostWithoutYouLostWhenYou'reNotAround:.:
"Ryoma." Fuji walked up to the said boy. "What are you doing Saturday night?"
"I was planning on spending time with Karupin, why do you wanna know?"
"There's someone that wants to meet with you. Meet them at Kawamura Sushi tomorrow night at seven. Dress nicely." With that said, Fuji disappeared from sight. Ryoma blinked and went back to tennis.
Tomorrow Night:
The day passed quickly, and now Kaidou was busy getting ready. Digging through his closet, he decided on what to wear. Kaidou changed into a pair of loose jeans, a black and green shirt, with a black jacket. He didn't wear his usual bandana.
"Bye, mom. I'm going out." Kaidou yelled as he walked out. he quickly paced over to Taka's.
"Hi, Kaidou. Your date's not here yet. Follow me." Taka said as he headed into a secluded, private area of the restaurant.
Ryoma was slightly nervous. He hoped that it wasn't one of his crazy stalker fangirls. Ryoma picked out a pair of tan khakis and a tight, black shirt. No hat for him.
"I hope I'm not too late. Hope that my date is still there." he mumbled as he ran to Kawamura sushi. "Hey, Taka-sempai." he greeted, slightly out of breath.
"Ryoma, your date's already here. He's in there." Taka realized what he said.
"He?"
"Oops." Taka smiled when he saw Ryoma sit down.
"Hello, you're finally here." a rough voice pointed out." Then he looked up. "Echizen?"
"Kaidou-sempai?" Ryoma blushed. He stuttered out an apology. "K-Kaidou-sempai, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't know you were my date!"
Ryoma stood up and tried opening the door. Locked. "What the hell? Mada mada dane." he said as he sat down. He stared at Kaidou. 'Kaidou-sempai actually dressed up. Hmm, he looks better without his bandana, especially dressed like that.' he thought, a hint of red creeping across his cheeks.
"Echizen?"
"..."
"Fushuu, I bet they set us up, bakas." Kaidou muttered. 'I wonder why they set me up with him?' Kaidou mused. It was then that he noticed how good Ryoma looked.
"Mada mada dane, sempai. We should at least make the most of it." he suggested, cooly. Kaidou agreed. The two talked and ate the food that was in there.
Ryoma learned that Kaidou spends a lot of time with his little brother, and he adores animals, cats most of all. Kaidou was told that Ryoma was always beaten by his dad in tennis, and they lived with Ryoma's older cousin. After they were done, Kaidou found that the door was unlocked.
"Later, Kaidou-semapi."
"Ja." Kaidou waved.
"How was it?" Oishi asked Ryoma.
"It was great. It seems like he likes me more." Ryoma informed the older. Oishi watched Ryoma walk away.
"How did it go?" Fuji stood with Oishi.
"Great. I really think they'll be together by the end of the week."
"Saa, I'll tell Momo and Eiji."
Unknown to Kaidou, he was being watched by five pairs of eyes. Ryoma, Momo, Eiji, Oishi, and Fuji. Although Ryoma wasn't aware that the others were staring at Kaidou, too.
"Kaidou-sempai!" he yelled, catching up to the viper.
"Fushuuu... what, Ryoma?"
"I want to run with you." Kaidou looked mildly shocked, but nodded. An hour later, they stopped. "How far do you think we ran?"
"Six or seven miles." Kaidou answered nonchalantly.
"Well, this is my house. Night, Kaidou-sempai." Ryoma waved as he went inside.
Kaidou bumped into Ryoma in practice the next day. Literally. This caused him to fall, Ryoma under him. Kaidou's hands were on each side of Ryoma's head, with one leg between Ryoma's.
Momo 'accidentally' tripped, sending Kaidou's lips crashing onto his kouhai's. Ryoma felt a shock run down his spine, as did Kaoru. Kaidou puuled away instantly, and helped Ryoma up.
"Baka peach, I'll kill him for that." Kaidou hissed, leaving a very devastated Ryoma behind. Oishi put his hand on Ryoma's shoulder.
"It's okay, he probably didn't mean it like that."
"Yeah, you're right, sempai." Ryoma forced a weak smile on his face. They both headed to their classes. The teacher's boring lecture rapidly put Ryoma to sleep.
When Oishi stopped by to get Ryoma for practice, he saw Ryoma fast asleep.
"Poor thing, he missed all his classes." Oishi tried not to disturb Ryoma and picked him up. 'He's so light. Does he ever eat any more?'
"Kai..dou.." Ryoma mumbled in his sleep, snuggling closer to Oishi. Oishi smiled.
"Look it's O'chibi!" Eiji screamed.
"Quiet, Eiji." Oishi scolded him gently. Eiji noticed the sleeping Ryoma. Oishi set him down on a bench. "He's so tired, I think it's best to let him sleep."
"Tezuka-buchou, Ryoma's sleeping. It's that little 'problem' again." Fuji told Tezuka.
"You need to get this sorted out. Even Kaidou's not playing as well."
"Kaidou!" Fuji got the boy's attention.
"Fuji-sempai?"
"I want you to talk to Ryoma when he wakes up."
"Hai."
Kaidou gently shook Ryoma awake.
"Nnngh.. Kaidou-sempai?" Ryoma asked groggily. Kaidou handed him a grape Ponta. "What time is it?"
"Practice is over. You slept the entire day. Did you not get enough sleep last night?"
"I didn't really get any at all.." Ryoma was cut off by his stomache growling.
"Are you eating enough?"
"Yeah.."
"Why do you only wear long-sleeves when it's so warm out?" Kaidou interrogated. He couldn't figure out why he was so concerned, unless..
"Well... I... uh.." Ryoma stuttered. For the first time in a while, he felt extremely nervous. Kaidou just stood there, until...
He pulled up one of Ryoma's sleeves.
"When did you do this?" he demanded, pissed off.
"A few days ago.."
"Why?"
"Because I thought you hated me.." Ryoma said very quietly.
"What?"
"Because I thought you hated me sempai!" Ryoma said at his normal volume. His tone was cold, though. He looked up and smirked. "Don't worry, I'm fine now."
Kaidou caught Ryoma's arm when the younger boy attempted to walk away.
"What now sempai?"
"Stop faking."
"I'm not-"
"Don't lie to me. Why are you doing this?" Kaidou demanded.
"Like I said, I thought you hated me. I did it because of that, because I love you, Kaidou-sempai."
Kaidou let go of Ryoma's arm. Once the information sunk in, he gave a soft smile. He kissed Ryoma gently.
"Promise not to do this anymore?"
"Promise. Aishiteru."
"Aishiteru.."
They kissed again. Fuji watched from a distance and smiled. He hugged the person next to him, his boyfriend.
"They look great together, don't they? I can't believe they finally admitted it." Fuji's boyfriend said.
"Yeah they do, and neither can I, Eiji-kun."
Owari.