More than what you perceive:
More than what you perceive
Kaidoh was someone who liked to run.
He ran everyday, ran the miles that his training menu prescribed. He ran not only because he liked the feel of the air rushing through him; he ran because it improved his body. It made him very flexible on the court.
For Kaidoh, every time he ran, it was a journey to a goal. A goal to become stronger.
And though he knew he could run more than what his Inui-sempai had recommended, he didn’t dare break the menu. If Inui said that only that was supposed to be run, then only that was supposed to be run. After all, never had his sempai put him in any danger. Inui was always right.
Kaidoh breathed in the air. He loved running. He loved the journey.
Yet there was one journey that he took that he didn’t like running. The journey from his head to his heart.
He hissed as the reason for his unwanted journey passed by.
Why, he thought. Why him of all people? Why that loudmouth, brash, happy-go-lucky, dunk smashing idiot? He could’ve fallen for anyone other than Momoshiro.
But it was Momoshiro who became a bridge to that journey between his head and his heart. It was that smile that brightened his day. It was that loudmouth that put music - however unmelodious it sounded - in his life. It was those passionate amethyst eyes that taught him that victory wasn’t always felt in winning your matches. There were times that losing was as victorious as a real win.
However, if there was one thing he wasn’t capable of doing, it was saying and showing what he really felt.
Every time he tried to be nice to Momoshiro, it looked so awkward, sounded so weird. It would always seem like he’d gone crazy or something. And perhaps he already was.
He tried convincing himself that there would be no way that Momoshiro would ever look at him the way Oishi-sempai looked at Kikumaru-sempai. He tried it several times but it was in vain. It was a journey he could not begin taking. It almost seemed like his feet was already anchored in that path. Momoshiro’s path.
He remembered something Inui had been mumbling about one time: the thing and the thing in itself. They were two different things, Inui had said. The first was how we saw everything - our point of view. The second was how the thing saw itself.
The Kaidoh everyone saw everyday - the gruff and serious looking Kaidoh - was the one who he wanted them to see. The one who treated Momoshiro like trash. The one who always looked down on him. The one who he didn’t seem to care about him.
But the other one, the only one he himself knew, was the one who cared so much about Momoshiro. The one who wanted the other to look at him the way his Fuji-sempai looked at the brat he had for a boyfriend. The one who wished every night that at the end of the journey, Momoshiro would be there with a big smile - like the smile he usually gave Echizen.
“Oi, Mamushi! Keep slacking and Tezuka-buchou will make you run laps.” A laugh erupted from those lips when he saw the other stiffen at the statement. “That is, if buchou was around! Fooled you, Mamushi!”
Kaidoh hissed and glared at the other boy.
But there would never be a time that Momoshiro would see that side of him. There would never be a time when he’d return his feelings. For he was already looking at someone that way.
Yes, he thought. Momoshiro would never stop running to wait for Kaidoh and see more than what the other would like everyone to perceive.
.owari.
::648 words:: :: 03Dec04:: ::08:55p::