Title: To Have
Author: Double A Incognito
Pairing: InuKai
Warnings: shounen ai
Rating: PG
Note: They seem to be getting progressively longer! Not that this one is long.
Summary: It all started with a screencap which refuses to let me link to here.(img. photobucket. com/ albums/ v489/ aaincognito/ inukaihand.jpg - no spaces) And then it went in a random direction that refused to listen to me.

To Have

Kaidoh was certain he was the one of the few on the team who'd actually seen the inside of one of Inui's notebooks. Kikumaru-senpai had tried time and time again, and the freshman trio, too--but one day Inui had just opened one up right there in front of him like it wasn't the slightest bit unusual.

Today they'd met at Inui's house to go over some new doubles formations Inui-senpai wanted to try. Kaidoh sat at the desk looking over the diagrams in one of the older boy's notebooks while Inui set up a computer simulation of the first formation, because on paper it was just a bunch of circles and arrows, no matter how much it was explained. It was obvious to him that Inui had been out training beforehand, but that had never affected his typing before, and it was much slower than usual.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Inui wince in pain. "Senpai, let me see your hand."

"Hm?"

"Your hand."

Wordlessly Inui turned away from the computer screen and held his right hand out, palm down, to Kaidoh. Gingerly, Kaidoh turned the palm face up and nearly winced himself.

"Oh, I was going to bandage that." But he had forgotten, like he forgot so many simple things when he was immersed in data or training. When his parents were out of town on business trips, he normally forgot to eat unless Kaidoh dropped by and invited him over to his house. Inui was at Kaidoh's house a lot. His family adored his senpai, so it was a good arrangement.

Kaidoh wondered if perhaps he wasn't a little too familiar with Inui's home as he went into the bathroom and easily located the necessary medical supplies. Back in Inui's room, he set about disinfecting, numbing, and wrapping the wounds on his hand, being as gentle as he could. He could tell Inui-senpai was staring at him, but his gaze remained resolutely fixed on his task.

As he was finishing, words he had thought to himself time and time again hung in the air between them, unbidden. "You need to take better care of yourself."

"But I have you for that, don't I?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to retort that he couldn't always be there, but instead he found himself struggling against a blush. Why did Inui-senpai always have to say such embarrassing things? And why did he always smile like that when he said them? Losing the battle with the blush, he looked down quickly to avoid his senpai's gaze and then realized he was still cradling Inui's hand in his own. A split second before he started to jerk the offending appendages away, Inui laughed softly and used his injured hand to grab one of Kaidoh's wrists. The other pulled the chair the younger boy was sitting in closer to the computer--and Inui.

"The simulation should have finished compiling by now," he said by way of explanation, leaning forward slightly to start the program. His arm was still draped over the back of Kaidoh's chair, which Kaidoh was doing his best to pretend not to notice. Judging by the faint smirk still on Inui-senpai's face, he wasn't fooling anyone. Not that he ever really could, with Inui.

Inui must have been in a really good mood, though, because he was pretending that Kaidoh's pretending wasn't pathetically obvious as he went about explaining the simulation and the corresponding figures in his notebook. Inevitably, Kaidoh found himself relaxing little by little as Inui described the progression of the simluated formation. Even after the little computer-generated figures (Kaidoh's had a bandana on its head--Inui's had glasses) had halted their movement, he found himself reluctant to move away.

"That's probably enough for tonight," Inui murmured, but he wasn't moving, either.

Stirring slightly--when had he leaned over enough to rest his head on Inui-senpai's shoulder?--he looked at the clock. "Are you coming with me for dinner?"

"If you'll have me." There was that smile again.

"Aa." If Inui had him, it was only fair for Kaidoh to have Inui.

end.