Inui Version 2.0

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or any of the associated characters.

…

The spiky-haired teen absently pushed his glasses back into position as he carefully followed the recipe written in his notebook. Asparagus and beets went into the blender first followed by carrots, broccoli, jalapenos, spinach, and garlic. After the vegetables were thoroughly blended, he added a mixture of olive oil and vinegar. The final ingredient was a thick paste made from bugs and mealworms.

He poured the resulting concoction into two large thermoses with a proud little smile of accomplishment. He packed them into his school bag, then grabbed his notebook, writing things down as he turned to face the middle of the room.

"Chance of pulling this off and collecting good data: ninety percent," he murmured to himself, seemingly unaware that his family was staring at him in shock from the kitchen table.

"Mom," Hazue said slowly as his brother left for the morning, "has Kaoru gone insane?"

"I'm… not sure," Hozumi answered. She was glad that her oldest son had finally managed to make a friend, but now she found herself wondering if maybe he was spending just a bit too much time around Inui.

…

Momoshiro slowed, frowning slightly, as he neared the courts for practice. Ryuzaki and Tezuka were leaning against the fence while Inui filled cups with something. Inui's back was to him, but something didn't seem quite right to Momo. His hair seemed longer, for one thing, and…

"Did Inui shrink himself?" a voice suddenly asked.

Momo had to force himself not to shriek like a girl as Eiji suddenly came out of nowhere and flung an arm around his shoulders.

"What's he doing here?" Oishi asked, sounding concerned. "He said he was sick."

Momo looked over his shoulder. The others were all there behind him, except for Kaidoh. He smirked. The mamushi would have to run extra laps if he was late.

"He's not sick. He made some kind of horrible juice that shrinks people," Eiji insisted, shuddering.

As they gathered near Tezuka and Ryuzaki, it became obvious that Inui was shorter than he should have been by roughly half a foot. Then he turned around, and Momo wondered, for a split second, if the juice maker had somehow managed to combine ferret genes with his own. Then realization hit.

"Kaidoh?" he blurted out in disbelief. The other second year regular looked like he was about to hiss, but didn't. Instead he adjusted the thick, square glasses he was wearing.

"I knew Inui was a mad scientist!" Eiji wailed. "First the juice, and now he's taken over poor Kaoru-chan's brain!" The acrobatic youth grabbed Kaidoh's shoulders and shook him. "Come back to us, Kaidoh!"

Kaidoh stepped back out of Eiji's clutches and cocked his head slightly in mild curiosity. He picked up a cup of something brownish green from the water table. "Would you like to try some of this, Eiji? It's quite good for you, and there's a sixty percent chance it might calm some of your hysteria."

"Oishiii!" Eiji hid behind his doubles partner, clearly disturbed.

Ryuzaki chuckled. "Inui called in sick last night and requested that Kaidoh temporarily replace him as manager."

She glanced at the teenager in question, obviously amused that he had gone to the trouble of finding a pair of non-prescription glasses that looked just like Inui's and spiking his hair. He had even dressed like the third year, in a white t-shirt, a pair of green sweat pants, and, surprisingly, socks.

Tezuka pushed off from the fence. "Come on, everyone, we have laps to run."

"And anyone finishing a lap in more than fifty-five seconds will have to drink this," Kaidoh said, holding aloft another cup of his vile creation. Sunlight glinted from his glasses as he bared his teeth in a gleefully sadistic smile.

"There's no way you're making me drink anything, Mamushi," Momo growled. "No way at all."

"Momoshiro," Tezuka said sharply. "Inui is the manager of this club, and Kaidoh is his official substitute. You will behave accordingly."

"Yes, buchou," Momo mumbled before they all started to run.

Kaidoh laughed softly as he watched them. This was going to be fun.

…

"Come in," Inui called at the soft knock at his bedroom door. He set aside his book and settled back more against the pillows propping him out.

"Are you feeling any better, senpai?" Kaidoh asked, coming into the room and sitting on Inui's computer chair. He set his school bag next to his feet.

Inui smiled. "Somewhat. Thank you for substituting for me today, Kaidoh."

"Nn. You're welcome," Kaidoh mumbled, glancing at the floor.

"Did you collect the data I asked for?"

Kaidoh nodded and moved the glasses to the top of his head before digging through his bag. With his eyes back to their usual uncovered state, his resemblance to a ferret increased by forty percent. Inui had to resist the urge to get up and cuddle him. He was slowly getting the other boy used to physical contact from non-relatives, but they weren't quite to the cuddling stage just yet.

The younger teen pulled out the green notebook and handed it over. Then he sat down on the edge of Inui's bed. "Despite the differences in hair, height, and general build, no one other than Tezuka-buchou and Ryuzaki-sensei, and possibly Fuji-senpai, realized it was me until I faced them. Just as you predicted."

Inui smiled and flipped through the notebook. "Excellent work, Kaidoh."

Kaidoh blushed at the compliment, both embarrassed and pleased. "Will you be able to go to school tomorrow?"

"Hm. Likely not. My temperature has been rather high today. Would you be willing to extend the experiment?"

"Nn. Sure." Kaidoh got to his feet. "I need to get home soon."

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Get better soon, senpai." He gave a small bow before quietly leaving.

Once he was outside, Kaidoh glanced around before taking the glasses off of his head and perching them once more on his nose. He flashed an evil smile as the sunlight glinted from the lenses.

"Probability of pretending to be Inui-senpai being fun: one-hundred percent."