A/N: I felt like writing a drabble but it got too long to be one yet again. More introspective than anything else. And still it needs some work.
Recognition
It was worn and threadbare but still he kept it.
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He would only glare at his teammates when they suggested he get a new one.
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He would furiously hide his blush as his sempais teased him about the raggedy old thing.
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And Inui he never joined in on the charades choosing instead to focus on his trusty notebook which he constantly revised during his free time. Kaidoh was both relieved and saddened by that but he shouldn't be surprised. How could he expect Inui to remember this small memento.
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Even though it was his.
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Even though you can still see the faint threading of his name on it.
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It was his first day to try out for the Seigaku tennis team. Too scared to enter the courts but too proud to show it, his young body remained at a standstill. That is when ignoring his inner tumult he tried to look at the regulars to gain from confidence from them.
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And that is when his eyes landed on him.
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Taller than the rest shielded behind thick framed lenses he spotted the one regular that stood out from the rest.
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He was drenched in sweat but he dominated the playing field.
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Sure in all of his actions he defeated opponent after opponent. And after each set he would jot down his observations in that notebook of his bestowing on it what his calculating eyes picked up on the tennis courts.
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And before Kaidoh realized it he had gravitated towards him so close he could hear the rasping of his breath, taste his sweat in the air, and see the subtle fatigue in his movements.
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And before he knew it, he was hooked.
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So in tuned to the older boy's matches, he forgot all about tryouts and focused solely on this mystery regular. Kaidoh stayed long after all the opponents were defeated. He stayed long after even the steady flow of fangirls long gone home. Until it was only them two that remained as he watched him playing against his shadows, dueling with opponents that only he could see.
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But even after that Kaidoh stayed.
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Thinking back Inui must have realized he had a spectator that stayed past the norm but he paid him no mind. Of course back then Kaidoh was only a scrawny 6th grader. He wouldn't even be attending Seigaku until next semester.
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Inui eventually left, the drying sweat drops on the green tennis court being the only evidence that he was even there. Well that and…
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Kaidoh looked both ways before he scaled up the iron linked fence. The wire cut at his palm but he ignored the pain. He skinned his knee when he landed inside but he blocked the burning sensation out. Running to the court that the then unknown tennis regular was practicing at he picked up the forgotten object almost in a reverent manner.
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It was the face towel that the tennis player was using and it felt damp to the touch still covered with the sweat it was wiped in.
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In the corner painstakingly stitched was the answer to the question that Kaidoh didn't even know he was asking.
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Sadaharu Inui it read.
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It was then that Kaidoh knew that not only would he join this team he would become a regular.
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And then maybe Inui-sempai would notice him.
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Perhaps just as much as Kaidoh still notices him.
A/N: Now I don't know Kaidoh's back story on joining Seigaku. Or maybe I conveniently forgot. Well I made up my own version of it…review?