Disclaimer: I do NOT own PoT

Pairing: Inui Sadaharu X Echizen Ryoma

Word Count: 1,850

Chapter 2 - What did he do?

.

Inui lets his eyes wander to the side where a certain freshman was standing outside the fences. Just like the last five times that he looked, his eyes were met by an extremely sullen expression.

He cleared his throat and adjusted his eyeglasses. He felt strangely guilty for no apparent reason. Furrowing his brows, Inui tried to recall the previous times that he had interacted with the freshman, thinking that maybe he had done something wrong to deserve the glares.

He couldn't think of any.

Sighing helplessly, Inui turned back to the game.

The match was between Momoshiro and Kawamura. He arranged the match right after getting back from his meeting with Tezuka and Ryūzaki-sensei. The two were assigned to play against each other so they could test their strengths against strength-reliant opponents.

Throughout the game, Inui kept alternating between writing in his notebook and watching the game. Occasionally, he would look to the side before heaving a deep sigh. Nope. The glares haven't let up yet.

"What's wrong, Inui?" Fuji was standing to Inui's left. He had been watching the game, but his awareness of his surrounding has always been top-notched so he naturally noticed Inui's strange behavior. "You've been sighing nonstop since the game started. Something wrong with your data?"

The tensai tried to take a peek at Inui's notebook but Inui immediately flipped it closed. Fuji just shrugged.

Inui, on the other hand, was hesitating. He stole another glance at Echizen and sure enough, the boy was still looking quite aggrieved although this time he was also glaring daggers at Momoshiro's back.

"Fuji," Inui started, his eyes fixed on Kawamura as the power-player prepares for his serve. "What do you think is wrong with Echizen?" His tone was very casual.

"Hmm?" Fuji asked distractedly. It took him a second to look away from the court and turned confused eyes at Inui. "Something wrong with Echizen? What do you mean?"

Inui cleared his throat. How should he explain that he's been glared at since the beginning of the practice matches? "Echizen... he, uh, seems to be in a bad mood."

Fuji blinked at Inui's tentative tone. Moving his eyes farther behind Inui, he saw that Echizen was indeed scowling. He watched him for a moment and was surprised when the younger boy turned annoyed-looking eyes directly at Inui before looking down in a huff to kick sullenly at the ground.

"What did you do to him?" Fuji asked Inui. He didn't sound accusatory at all, but he was very curious. Inui can also see the spark of amusement in between the slits of his closed eyes. Evidently, the tensai was finding much entertainment in what was happening.

It was Inui's turn to blink. What did he do? He glanced back at Echizen. From this distance, Inui can see that the boy's nose was slightly red. He watched him watch the game before sniffing loudly.

Inui turned back to Fuji when he heard him laughing. He raised an eyebrow in question.

Fuji continued to laugh, watching Echizen. "He's obviously aggrieved." He explained to Inui. "He's probably upset that he wasn't allowed to play because of his cold. How cute~"

Inui, ignoring Fuji's last sentence, nodded in understanding. He supposed that Echizen might indeed be upset by not being able to play. If he was as addicted to tennis as the younger boy was, he too would be upset if everyone was telling him to sit down when all he wanted to do was hit some balls.

That doesn't explain though why it was Inui who was receiving the death glares? It was Tezuka who told Echizen not to play after getting back from the meeting.

Shaking his head, Inui decided to just ignore the younger boy's bad mood and focus on the game. It was at its peak – Momoshiro was working very hard, shouting nonsensical things as he swings his arms with great momentum to return each powerful shot. The score was 5-3 and it was in favor of Kawamura.

Completely oblivious to the calculative look in Fuji's eyes, Inui opened his notebook again. He needed the data so that he could continue to tailor the training menu to each individual player.

...

After watching for a few more minutes, Ryoma decided to just skip practice altogether. He wasn't allowed to play, anyway. What was the use of standing there, sniffing and looking pitiful as he stared longingly at the court when all he gets were sympathetic looks and pats on the back?

Scowling to no one in particular, Ryoma started to put away his gears. He slung his bag to his shoulder and sniffed wetly. Damn it but his nose is running again! Taking his handkerchief from his pocket, he looked up and caught a familiar glint of eyeglasses.

Ryoma couldn't help but glare. Earlier, Inui had cold-heartedly analyzed Ryoma's cold. Then he had a talk with the captain about the training menus. After which, he came back and immediately arranged practice matches that are apparently too intense and so Ryoma couldn't join because he was sick - even though he only had a cold.

Considering these points, Ryoma felt that he was perfectly justified for being upset at his annoying bespectacled senpai. Now that he thought about it, the older boy hadn't even wished him well even after stating that there was a high chance of his cold turning into a fever. How uncaring.

Ryoma's cold, thankfully, had remained a cold. He was starting to have a headache, but Ryoma considers that a side-effect of being too irritated and having a runny nose which was definitely annoying. Also, not being able to play tennis sucked, but what can he do? He can only blame all this unhappiness on the unsuspecting Inui. It was childish, he knew that. But he was sick so it was okay.

He gave the data-obsessed idiot one last glare before walking away.

...

Inui was aware that Ryoma was leaving. Not that he was watching him. No. It was because the heaviness of Echizen's glare suddenly vanished and Inui was surprised that he could breathe easily again. He shook his head. Those are very impressive glares indeed if he could actually feel a physical weight.

The game wasn't finished yet but it was already clear to Inui who will win. Kawamura has a lot more power behind his shots compared to Momoshiro. Thus, the sophomore was struggling to return the ball and was quickly losing his equilibrium.

Deciding to take a short break, Inui raised a hand to Tezuka and received a small nod. Fuji already left Inui's side a while ago and was now standing next to Oishi. He gave them a small wave, as well, before leaving the courts.

Inui stretched his arms as he walked. He felt as well as heard the satisfying pops of his joints as they readjusted from being locked in place from standing so long.

He was a little tired. He lost a couple of hours of sleep last night because he had been busy with the training menu. Plus, he had to calibrate his new and improved Inui Vegetable Juice Drink. The juice had a beautiful deep violet color and the bubbles forming at the top were popping in the most satisfying way. It was still, however, missing the lovely steam so Inui was working on that.

So preoccupied was he on his thoughts that he almost missed the familiar dark head currently drowning itself under the cold rush of the drinking fountain. Inui frowned before walking over.

"Echizen," he called when he was near enough.

There were a few seconds that passed before the boy raised his head from under the water. He shook his head to get rid of the droplets before turning to Inui.

Inui's frown hardened when he saw the slightly glazed look in those wide, hazel eyes.

"What's up, Inui-senpai?" Ryoma asked. He resisted the urge to rub his throat. It felt scratchy and parched, which he thought was weird considering that he'd just emptied his water bottle.

"Why are you soaking your head like that?" Inui asked, keeping his tone light. In all honesty, though, he was feeling more than a little worried. Not only were the boy's eyes glassy, but they were also red around the edges, and his complexion was pale and clammy.

Ryoma shrugged then promptly closed his eyes to fight off a sudden nausea.

"I felt hot and I was sweating," He answered upon opening his eyes. It took him a moment to refocus his gaze on Inui. He wanted to ask why the older boy suddenly cared but although he was feeling irritated, he didn't want to be outright rude.

Inui took a step closer and reached out. He ignored the younger boy's slight flinch and continued to lay his hand on his forehead. It was warm. He let it stay there as his other hand reached for his own forehead in order to compare their temperature. After a few seconds, he let both his hands drop to his sides.

"You have a slight fever, Echizen." This time, Inui allowed the concern to touch his voice. He tilted the younger boy's face upward to examine his eyes. They were starting to water. "You should probably go home. I can go tell Tezuka. Do you need me to come with you? Or do you have someone who can come here to accompany you home?"

Ryoma sluggishly blinked his eyes. There seems to be a film in his vision, making the older boy in front of him look blurry. "I'm fine. I can go home by myself."

He said so, but Ryoma didn't move from his position. He continued to look up at Inui while his right hand unconsciously reached out to hold onto Inui's sleeve. He felt strangely drowsy. And cold. Why was it suddenly cold? He was just sweating a while ago.

Inui's concern escalates at this. He could see that Echizen was starting to get light-headed from his fever.

"C'mon, let's get you to the nurse's office first." Inui hooked an arm around Echizen's waist. Despite the thickness of the jersey the both of them were wearing, Inui can still feel the slight shiver wracking the younger boy's body. He's obviously starting to get the chills, which is bad because, from Inui's experience, chills normally precedes a bad fever.

He started to take a step forward but had to stop when the younger boy let out a groan.

Cursing under his breath, Inui had no choice but to scoop the younger boy into his arms. If Inui tried this in normal circumstances, Echizen would have already flailed his way back to the ground while not forgetting to "accidentally" hit Inui somewhere painful on his person. The fact that the younger boy did not utter even a token protest at this time tells Inui just how out of it the boy was.

Inui didn't waste any more time. He fervently hoped the school nurse was still in as he speed-walks to the school building.

Omake:

Tezuka: You can't play Echizen (︶︹︺)

Echizen to Inui: (⟢ _⟣)

Inui: (⌐□‿□)？