Title: Alarm

Author: Ellie

bokuwakamides@aol.com

Rating: PG

Catagory: slash/yaoi

Fandom: Prince of Tennis

Pairing: Inui/Kaidoh, I think I may mention Oishi/Eiji

Notes: written for that dounjin anth contest thinger. been written for like a while now, but I haven't done anything with it. I still have another InuKai fic that has been sitting on my hard drive for two months that I need to finish. I'll do it eventually.

Summary: this was written for a generic hurt/comfort challenge thing. Even if you don't know the anime or the characters, I would appreciate any and all comments on my writing. I'm still trying to develop a good style and work on getting better, but the one person who actually gave me real comments on stuff was really mean about it and didn't say anything productive, so that kind of put me off for a while.

posted to inu_kai, pot_fics, tenipuri_yaoi and my journal



Alarm
by Ellie

The alarm went off and Kaidoh hissed into his pillow. Early morning runs were one of his favorite activities, but the ‘early’ part of it still bothered his teenage circadian cycles. Drowsy, but happy, he slammed a hand onto the fourth alarm clock of that year and delicately untangled his legs from the bed trappings. Giving his body a chance to adjust to the newly vertical state, he scratched his head and thought over the day. Suddenly, and with a surge of nervous adrenaline, he remembered that it was the second Sunday of the month, or in his mind “Sempai day.” Over the months of practice Kaidoh had discovered that Inui kept to an equally vigorous training schedule and— for purposes of training—Kaidoh had timidly asked his sempai if a few dual sessions could be arranged. Being constantly feared by his teammates and thus usually alone in his workout conquests, Inui graciously accepted with a bow and all the formal language as befitted to Kaidoh’s strange obsession with elder formalism. By the end of the prearranged sessions, a regular series of meetings both before and after school had been proposed by Inui and then honorably accepted by Kaidoh.

Inui’s invitation had given Kaidoh a spark of acceptance that had been lacking most of his life. Within his family he was normal, in class only slightly odd, but within the tennis team he was feared not for really for his tennis game, but for his mannerisms. A part of him enjoyed the power that gave his game, but it didn’t leave much opportunity for socializing. As much as he enjoyed certain aspects of being a loner, there was a part of his heart and consciousness that begged for more interaction and deeper relationships—not that he would dare ever admit this to himself or any other person.

But Inui didn’t fear him. Inui talked to him. Inui liked him, and that was the most important one to Kaidoh.

He shook his head out of its wanderings and checked the time, only slightly behind schedule to get to the park before Inui. Unfortunately, that lateness only amplified as he rushed to get ready. Finding himself almost half an hour in err, Kaidoh ran as fast as he could out to the park.

When he arrived at their meeting place he found it empty.

He ran around the park for a few minutes. No Inui.

‘He may just be late,’ Kaidoh assured himself and sat on the bench to wait. With every second that passed he ran over all their conversations, trying to remember if they were not supposed to meet that day or if Inui wanted it in a different place, but nothing turned up. Kaidoh fished around in his pocket and checked his cell phone, no calls or messages. Factoring in any mechanical dysfunctions of his watch, Inui was never a second late for any planned event.

Did Inui not want to meet with him? Kaidoh inwardly panicked. He had been sure that Inui was enjoying the company over the past few weeks, and Kaidoh had made sure to be respectful and try to tone down any standoffishness that had developed into his natural habit. It took Kaidoh’s rational thinking a few minutes to tell him that the idea of Inui hating him was foolish, but for those moments it was the only thing that he could think of.

After watching a few families at play and waiting a few more minutes, Kaidoh decided that waiting would do no more good and he took out his cell phone again.

No answer; only a stern voice giving a sincere apology for not being able to answer the call. Kaidoh hissed in confusion and frustration. It was not Inui’s way to leave things hanging, if they had plans to do something and he had to back out, there would have been a message of some sort. Kaidoh watched as a child fell, scraping his leg, and then as the mother rushed to offer aid. Something had gone wrong on his sempai’s end.

Kaidoh discussed the options in his head and decided to stop by Inui’s house to check on him. He couldn’t just go home and wait for a call, worry possessed him and Kaidoh soon found himself running the path he knew Inui took to get to the park.

Halfway through: no sign. One block left: no sign. The house was as barren of life as usual when he walked up to the door and rung the bell. The door being unanswered was of no great surprise, but still not being able to find Inui worried Kaidoh even more.

A tap on his shoulder made Kaidoh twist around in surprise, hoping that there would be Inui’s looming face over his, but he only found a meek old woman in a worn out yellow dress hunched over in front of him. “Are you looking for Sadaharu-kun?” she asked in a voice that eerily matched the wrinkles on her face.

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered after blinking away his surprise.

The old woman smiled sweetly at him, but there was a touch of worry in her brow. “He was taken to the hospital this morning after he collapsed down the street. You just missed his parents.”

Kaidoh gave her a second to take it back as a joke, but she didn’t. Inui was taken to the hospital? He tried to open his mouth to ask what happened, but the woman put a hand on his arm and spoke before he could.

“Don’t worry, young man, he wasn’t hurt. From what I’ve seen of him, I think it’s just a case of exhaustion. The same thing happened to him in sixth grade when he was preparing to take the entrance exams. His parents asked me to keep an eye out for anyone dropping by.”

He couldn’t get the address soon enough, and after a quick bow of thanks he jumped down the stairs and took off running again. Every block took forever to pass and at every intersection he had to wait a lifetime to cross. Luckily, the hospital wasn’t incredibly far away from the house and it soon loomed over the horizon.

When he entered the door the nurse gave him a strange look before speaking, “Can I help you, sir?” she asked slowly with the touch of boredom all too apparent.

Kaidoh glared and straightened his back, “Inui Sadaharu. He would have been brought in this morning.”

A slight twitch of recognition flickered in the nurse’s gaze as she flipped through paperwork. “Inui-san is here with his parents and currently being treated. Only family members are allowed to see him.”

Without thinking he blurted out, “I’m his cousin!” and leaned over the desk.

The nurse leaned back to keep her personal bubble, and her expression was one of fear and uncertainty about the sanity of the boy in front of her. “Fine. Room 122. Down the hall, turn right. Don’t get in the way.”

Bordering between anger for her curtness and fascination that she didn’t panic and start to cry, Kaidoh thanked her and rushed down the hall looking for the room. After all his work to find Inui, once Kaidoh found the room he hesitated with opening the door. The old woman had said there shouldn’t be anything wrong with him, but what if it wasn’t just exhaustion? What if it was something worse? Before panic completely took him over, he slid the door open with his eyes downcast. “Excuse me…” he said lightly and waited for a response.

The privacy sheet shifted slightly and a very tall man in a suit stepped out, “Yes?”

Kaidoh looked up, suddenly feeling like he was seeing Inui in twenty years he couldn’t respond for a second, but shook his head and bowed again, “I was supposed to meet with Inui-sempai today, your neighbor told me he was here.”

Suddenly the man smiled and gestured for Kaidoh to follow him into the little area by the bed. Kaidoh saw a woman sitting hunched over in a chair holding Inui’s hand, not quite crying, but looking quite close to it. When he finally found the gumption to glance up to Inui’s face, Kaidoh was somewhat relieved in that there were no obvious injuries. However, the older boy was quite pale. An IV was hooked up into his arm, and he looked to be sleeping. His glasses were on as well, the glare of the artificial lights obscuring his eyes, so he wasn’t able to tell if they were open or not. Inui’s breathing didn’t change when Kaidoh entered so he had to be asleep, but that was good, if he was sick he needed the rest.

Kaidoh couldn’t take his eyes off his friend and sempai. He knew that Inui was going to be fine, but seeing him in the hospital bed sent chills down his spine and upturned his stomach. Suddenly feeling sick, Kaidoh cupped a hand over his mouth and fell to the floor. Inui’s father gasped in surprise and kneeled down to assist his son’s friend. A small pan was handed to him and Kaidoh unclenched his will power over his body. Barely enough fluid came out to count for anything, but letting go of the control that much opened up his mind enough to fully grasp the situation.

Inui had always been the strong one of the team. Not just with his tennis play, or physically, but he had always been there in the background supporting everyone without any of them having to think about it. Inui made sure that all the players were in top form and not hurting themselves with any activity. That was what he did for just the team; the amount of support that his mere presence provided to Kaidoh shocked the younger man when he realized it.

Kaidoh needed him. Inui had always granted him a freedom to train however he wanted to, but always with a measure of guidance. Over time that had grown to an amount of trust that let Kaidoh accept Inui’s routines in preparation for competition, but without Kaidoh ever realizing it, he had began to open up and talking a little more whenever they were alone and not working on anything specific. Things he couldn’t tell his parents or brother he would find pouring out to Inui, and instead of receiving a cold shoulder and hurtful tones, Inui just smiled supportively and kept on listening.

He felt a light touch on his shoulder and looked up from his ruminations to see a woman of delicate beauty but wise eyes. “Would you be Kaidoh-kun?” she asked, and her nearly crying expression melted into a smile, “I’ve heard a lot about you.” She moved her other hand to smooth back some hair that had escaped a little too much out of the bandanna, “Don’t worry about Sadaharu, he just forgets about the little things sometimes, you know? This time was just a little worse than others. Talk with him for a little bit, maybe he’ll wake up for a moment,” she said and squeezed his arm before getting up and pulling her husband out of the room.

As Kaidoh stood to look at Inui in the bed the beeping of the heart monitor became the half-beats to his own. He sat down in the emptied chair next to the bed and looked at a speck of fuzz on the sheet directly in front of him. “You worried me when you didn’t show. It wasn’t like you. But this, this is a good excuse for a no show,” Kaidoh paused to pull the fuzz off the sheet and throw it to the floor. Looking at Inui’s face, he continued, “You go on and on every day about being in top form and control everything we do down to what we eat, and we listen because you are Inui-sempai, you know everything. But…but this is this what you do? Try to kill yourself? Why should we listen to you when you can’t even take care of yourself?”

Taking a pause to hiss, Kaidoh looked around the room, only to find the surroundings increase his anger. Eventually he settled for staring blankly at the bedding again. “You make me angry sometimes.” He said it slowly, softly, with his mind thinking only about what would happen if there ever were a day without Inui.

Within the noise of the machines and hallways, Kaidoh found the hidden silence and closed his eyes, concentrating on the sound of Inui’s breathing.

Time seemed to extend itself within just a few seconds and he heard Inui’s breath subtly change to a more irregular beat. Looking up, Kaidoh saw a pale hand twitch slightly accompanied by a groan. Inui’s body shifted around in place as he tried to stretch out some of the kinks that usually occurred from lying in bed for too long.

It was quite apparent to Kaidoh when Inui realized he was there because of a sudden flinching throughout his entire body. “Kaidoh?” he asked with his voice reflecting a parched throat.

Kaidoh nodded and looked back down the bed sheet. He listened to the rustling as Inui readjusted himself and raised the head of the bed.

“I heard a little bit of what you said,” Inui offered, and tried to make himself smile so that the good humor would echo within his words. After no response from Kaidoh except uncomfortable silence, Inui continued, “It was a miscalculation on my part, I’m sorry I made you worry.”

At that Kaidoh looked to a random wall of curtain and grumbled, “Who said I was worried?”

Inui stifled a laugh, but let himself grin, “Ahh, my mistake again. You came all the way down here because you were angry.” Quite pleased with the blush he made Kaidoh develop, Inui mentally put another tally mark on the number of times he’d been able to make the younger boy’s face redden. ’23,’ he mused before pushing up his glasses.

What to do next with Kaidoh had always been a game that Inui was never able to win, but always enjoyed losing. Some days he came close and Kaidoh would open up a little bit more, and on other days if he made a wrong move the boy would clam up and refuse to do anything but grunt in response to things. Inui had not yet been able to form a working formula to derive the pattern of Kaidoh’s moods, but whenever he sat down with paper and pencil, Inui had always found himself somewhat hesitant to work out source. He enjoyed some of the randomness that the younger boy brought into his life.

The two sat silent in the room for a time as Inui’s parents stood outside the door smiling to themselves and remembering one late night confession their son had made concerning hid feelings toward a certain teammate at school. No names had been given, but the description perfectly fit the visitor.

Inui’s mother had been concerned with her son’s inherited ability to completely forget about the outside world and to instead focus solely on his studies or training, whichever happened to be at the forefront of his priorities. Lately, however, he had been double booking his time and trying to study for the high school entrance exams while keeping up a formidable training schedule. Having a friend, or love interest, would give him a connection to reality a keep him from burning out again.

She had seen it happen to her husband many times, and found that all he needed was a little reminder that he wasn’t alone in the world, and the constantly tensing wire would slacken to a manageable amount. Considering the way she had seen her son pack on troubles like a man dying of thirst would horde water, finding out Sadaharu wasn’t interested in girls didn’t surprise her in the least.

Spending the morning at the hospital with Inui and his parents was one of strange elation for Kaidoh. It turned out that there was nothing really wrong with Inui other than him staying up all night on caffeine pills studying and then trying to go out the next day running, but during the entire process forgetting to eat. With some fluids and some rest, Inui found himself feeling quite refreshed and the nurses had a hard time convincing him that it would not be a good idea to take ‘only a few’ of the IV bags home.

By that afternoon the doctors were insisting that Inui be left alone to sleep, and so Kaidoh headed home and a leisurely pace, enjoying the way gardens had been manicured to perfection and others left to their own devices. He walked past the park again and found more families enjoying a late lunch under trees, and when Kaidoh finally got home he wore a smile, promptly scaring his mother until she began to laugh and gave him a hug.

He fiddled with some math homework until evening when his phone rang. Before answering he saw on the screen it was Inui, and Kaidoh couldn’t decide if he should be worried or happy that there was a call. “Hello?” he asked with as much neutrality as he could muster when around Inui.

On the other line, Inui sounded a little worn out, but still quite cheery considering he had fainted on the sidewalk only 12 hours previous. “I just wanted to say that I was home now, and to ask you something.”

With Inui, his questions sometimes varied from mindless chatter, to highly specific concerning playing tactics, or even sometimes the obscure questions on ethics, which Kaidoh always hissed at and ignored. Giving up on that tactic, Kaidoh sighed and resigned himself to that which was Inui, and said, “Yes…”

“The doctor said that I shouldn’t participate in practice this week and to spend the time relaxing. So I was wondering if you would like to go with me after school tomorrow and see a movie or something…” Inui trailed off, not entirely sure of what kind of script he should use. He made a note to get Kikumaru talking on the topic, if anyone would know the way to ask someone out without scaring them away, it would be him. Along with that note, Inui added that he would have to carefully reapportion the answer to factor in for the sheer amount of ‘cute’ that emanated from the boy.

A long pause. Inui began to scribble in his notebook on Kaidoh about being too forward.

A movie? A movie with Inui? Sure they were friends and friends went out to see movies, but Inui had never mentioned any other activity beyond things that related to tennis. But before his mind could think about any other possibility and would thus make him refuse, Kaidoh went with his gut instinct and belted out, “Yes!”

Inui stopped writing, and scribbled over his last sentence. He smiled and looked out the window, “Good, then it’s a date.”

Kaidoh felt his face begin to burn as he heard the sound of pages flipping and a barely audible “24” before the call was ended.

/\/\/\/\\

Not my best work, but I'm still working on this stuff....Thanks!