[Fic] Two Rows of One Flower (for illuminations)

[reposoir]

Title: Two Rows of One Flower
Author: willowscry
Recipient: illuminations
Pairing/Characters: Inui Sadaharu, Yanagi Renji
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The ebb and flow of fate bring Inui and Yanagi back together again, this time as adults teaching at rival schools. The heat of competition between their students brings them together in a common cause of a sort.
Warnings: Definitely some original characters in here (the students on the teams). Philosophy.
Notes: I know that in-story the names of the students might be or get a bit confusing. Also, yes, the students were named after random seiyuu and other Japanese artists. .
Inui's students are: Koizumi Yuki (captain), Maeda Umi, Mitsumune Tarusuke, Takemoto Junko, Ookawa Megumi, and Kato Hiroki.
Yanagi's students are: Yagami Junichi(captain), Ishida Kouji, Kiuchi Masami, Kawamoto Shinkichi, Wada Shoutarou, and Tsuda Sachiko.
With that, I hope that everyone enjoys the ride.


Koizumi Yuki straightened down her skirt and adjusted her blazer as she rose for the drawing of where her Quiz Bowl team would be in the ladder of the tournament. There were not as many teams as there was for say, tennis, but there were still enough that they went through this formality. There were just over forty-five teams so separating the schools this way seemed more than fair.

"Hey, Yuki-chan!" A male voice called as she walked down the aisle to the box. "Why bother because we're going to kick your guys' asses anyway?"

"Shut it, Yagami-kun." She said. If she was a meaner person and if the school would allow her to wear heels, she would have gladly kicked him in the balls with the sharp point of them. As she was wearing flats and it was a public gathering, she refrained from doing so. Besides, it was just their school pride showing. Yagami was from Koizumi's rival school, and Koizumi thought everyone she knew from there was a stuck up, arrogant and self-important.

"Admit it, you're all shaking in your boots at having to meet up against us." Yagami sneered at her.

Ignoring his annoying attitude, Yuki continued and ignored him until after this formality was completed.

As the students were filing out, Yagami came up to her again. "It's too bad we're on the opposite sides of the ladder. I was hoping we would meet up. I doubt we will see each other since I do not think you will make it past the first round... I'm sorry for your loss in advance."

Yuki glared at him. "We'll kick everyone's ass harder than you've ever dreamed." She said, her look promising both a literal and figurative ass kicking. "You're just scared because you think a bunch of girls can't do well. Well, I have news for you. Inui-sensei has plenty of preparatory questions for us, and we're going to prove that we're more than capable of getting to the national championship and show we're the smartest bunch of students in Japan!"

Yagami looked a bit taken aback at her vehemence. Scoffing, he turned away. "Enjoy your delusion there, Yuki-chan." He said. "Do you guys even have any male students on your team?" He asked.

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Of course we do." She said. They did not have very many, but they did have a couple of boys on their team, but the girls did outnumber the boys. Most of the boys at their school were mostly occupied with athletic pursuits rather than intellectual ones. "And they'll kick your butt too." She promised, walking off, mumbling under her breath about what a jerk Yagami was.

The classroom was arranged with tables and various lab equipments around the edges of the room since it doubled as a classroom for more than one science discipline. On the teacher's desk was one of those desk decoration things that have five metal balls on it that swing back and forth, making it a perfect example of one of the basic concepts of physics.

Currently the balls were clacking back and forth, the metallic 'click-clack' making the classroom less quiet as the sensei waiting for his club to file into the room. Four girls and two boys entered the room almost at once, not surprised that their sensei was waiting for them. Since they were the only members of the Quiz Bowl team, they all sat up front, in a loose semi-circle.

One Inui Sadaharu, teacher of physics and the faculty sponsor/coach of these brilliant students that liked to prove their knowledge to the other schools. "We're all here. Good." He said, leaning against the front of the teacher's desk. "How did it go at the drawing, Yuki-chan?" He asked.

Yuki twitched. "I'm going to kill Yagami Junichi." She declared. The other girls tried not to laugh, and the boys just stared.

"It couldn't have been that bad." Kato Hiroki finally told her.

"Yes, it was." Yuki said. "He said mean things about us. And implied we're going to lose in the first round."

"There's no way we're going to do that." Mitsumune Tarusuke, the other boy on their team told her, patting Yuki on the back.

Inui hid his own smile under his hand. "Well, that just means we have plenty to prove, right?" The students nodded in agreement. "Shall we get started?" He asked, pulling out his sets of index cards with questions on various subjects.

The sound of frustrated pounding on a piano's keyboard filled the air of the music room. At least, no one in their right mind would consider the sound actual music.

"Must you fill the air with that despicable noise?" Yagami Junichi asked, glaring a little at the other boy as if he was insane.

"Why not? It's fun." Ishida Kouji responded to him, poking at a few more keys.

"Why not just learn how to, you know, actually play it?" Tsuda Sachiko asked, sitting down next to Ishida, and tapping out an actual piece of music on it. Ishida frowned. Everyone just wanted to ruin his fun. However, he had to admit that Sachiko's playing was rather beautiful. "Is Masami-chan here yet?" She asked, just as the missing students from their group came into the room.

"Actually, we're just waiting for Yanagi-sensei." Yagami said. "I think he went to get some coffee and aspirin. I heard there was an incident involving a tuba."

"A tuba?" Wada Shoutarou asked incredulously.

Yagami shrugged. "It involved something." He said. "I just know that sensei didn't look too happy and there was some rather loud noises coming from here during the last hour, and from being next door, I heard most of it."

The door opened yet again and their sensei, one Yanagi Renji, walked in. Thank goodness, a sane set of students. He thought, trying to not look like he was trying to hide a migraine that was coming on. Hopefully the aspirin would start working before his headache got worse.

"You seem to be wasting your time." Yanagi said, frowning a little. "What is the name of the element abbreviated 'K'?" He asked to see if they would answer quickly.

A chorus of "Potassium" answered him, improving his mood somewhat.

"Good." Yanagi said. They continued in a similar fashion, Yanagi calling out a student's name, and asking them random questions about anything and everything he could think of for the next hour.

Once Yanagi was satisfied that his students were confident in their answers, they stopped with the questions. "The first competition is this Saturday. Please be here in your school uniform an hour before the scheduled time." Yanagi told them. "Junichi-kun, is there anyone you think we should be watching out for?"

Yagami smirked. "There's no one that can match us." He said, confident in their abilities.

Yanagi raised an eyebrow, but smiled a little. "Alright then. You're dismissed." He said, watching as they filed out the door. He turned to sit down in the nearest chair, when he realized that he still had a couple of students still there. "What is it, ladies?" He asked the two girls sitting on the piano's bench.

"Can we tie Ishida-kun up if we get here before him?" Masami asked. Sachiko stared at her for a second before looking like that was the stupidest question in the world.

Yanagi just raised an eyebrow. "No." He said as he could only imagine the rumors that could get started if they did that. "I'll see what I can do about his bad playing." He promised. "Even if it means moving to a different room."

"Aww..." Sachiko pouted. She enjoyed coming into the music room for their practice sessions because it meant she could play on the piano while they waited. That is, if Ishida-kun doesn't beat her here like he had today and starts abusing the beautiful instrument.

Yanagi smiled a little. "I'll try to keep it from coming to that." He said. "I make no promises though."

Sachiko cheered up. "Thank you, Sensei!" She said, as she stood up.

After finally leaving the school grounds, Inui sighed as he headed home. It had been a long day, but the quiz bowl kids managed to cheer him up a bit. Now, it was time to return to his lonely apartment, and sit down with a simple meal from the microwave and assignments to grade. In the background, the news on the television provided what was going on in the world and in the country. The news faded into entertainment programming, but Inui barely noticed as he worked.

Leaning back once he was finished, he caught the end of some drama and turned the TV off. It wasn't really too late, and he had a curious streak in him. He was not usually too concerned about the students that like to prove that they were quite knowledgeable. The way that Koizumi sounded, it seemed that they would be up against some rather arrogant boys.

Inui smiled a little. Thank goodness it was the weekend... Moreover, they happened to not have their own round of competition this weekend. The other school did.

The students were milling around the campus where the Quiz Bowl competition was being held. There were at least six schools here, some competing for the lower rankings while others had moved up and will be moving on.

Inui moved among the crowd, an old hat on his head, and wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He was milling around when he heard the name of his captain mentioned. Inui pressed himself against the wall, intending to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Why don't you just admit you have a crush on Koizumi-chan?" One boy asked.

"Because I don't." The accused responded.

Another, female voice piped up. "Wow, talk about being in denial." She said. "Right, Shou-tan?"

Yet another voice snickered. The female voice continued. "Yagami-kun is just a master of being in denial." Inui could hear the smirking in her voice. "Besides, if she was on the team, I bet she'd be picked to be out on the floor." She said, a bit sourly.

"You'll be up in the next round." The one named Yagami assured her. For that reassurance, he was rewarded with a high-pitched squeal of excitement from her.

Inui smiled a little. Apparently, their team was not too balanced on the sexes front either. Inui now understood Yuki-chan's dislike of their leader. Inui wondered where the team's advisor was though. He was rather lost in thought when a shadow came upon him. Inui jumped almost out of his skin when someone behind him cleared their throat.

"I know we have fans, but stalking them is not exactly a way to support the children on our team." A rather smooth tenor with a tone of disappointment that rarely left his voice said.

Inui did not even acknowledge the person. "I'm not a supporter." He said.

"I see. Then might I ask what you are doing...Sadaharu? The smugness caught Inui off guard and he turned around to be face to face with an old, old friend of his.

"Renji?" Inui was taken aback in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Those students around the corner are under my supervision. I'm sure you have a logical reason for spying on them, as usual."

Inui coughed and tried not to admit to being caught. "I wasn't spying." Inui denied. "I was just...admiring the competition."

Renji's face formed into a frown. "It's still spying." He argued. "Though, I'm curious. Are you advising your own team?"

Inui's shoulders slumped as he nodded. "In fact, your team seems to have a fascination with mine. I wanted to know what we might be up against eventually. I don't think we really have much to worry about, really." Inui smiled, feeling confident about this.

Renji just shook his head. "We'll talk later." He promised. "I believe they're calling for us." He said as he left to herd his students to the theatre the competition was to being held in.

Inui stared after them, and then went to sit in the far back of the audience. He sat and watched the competition, blanching a little at the final score. Renji's group had outscored their opponents by more than 50 points. The opponents had been out buzzed and when they did manage to get a turn in, they froze and answered their questions incorrectly.

Inui was now worried more than he had been previously. As the teams filed out, Renji had found his way to the back, and sat down next to Inui. "We have to wait for them to refigure the rankings, but I know we're number one." He bragged. "So tell me, obviously you're a teacher. What are you teaching?" He asked. They might as well catch up yet again. It had been almost ten years since they had last seen each other. Who knew something in common would come up.

"Physics." Inui said in answer, choosing to ignore the other words. "You?"

"Music theory." Was the answer that came from him. "Are you scared of them?"

"I'm not, and judging from our captains reactions to each other, well...I don't think we have much to fear." Renji raised an eyebrow.

"Koizumi Yuki. Third year student, and quite angry with Yagami Junichi's 'affections'" Inui smiled.

"Ah, so you know this 'Yuki-chan' my team keeps talking about. If I had known you were her advisor, I might have quashed this obsession. As it is, it's a rather interesting motivation for both of them, isn't it?" Renji said.

"I'm sure it will be." Inui said.

Renji rose from his seat. "Oh, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't spy on us again."

Inui snorted a little. "Of course." He said. Inui did not mean it at all. He would be watching them like hawks when he was able to.

Inui didn't really have the time to spend spying on Renji's students for the next few weeks. He was busy with his own students, who were on a winning streak, though some of their wins were close calls on tiebreakers. Inui was satisfied with those results. He knew the feeling of getting a close win, and the thrill behind it.

This latest win had put them into the regional finals. Beyond that would be the greatest prize they could get - the National Championship. They would be known as the smartest high school students in Japan until next year.

"Inui-sensei?" One of his students approached him.

"What is it, Umi-chan?" He asked.

"Yuki-chan is having some...difficulties." She told him. "She's still in the auditorium."

Inui raised an eyebrow. "Thank you." He said, heading off in that direction.

It wasn't too hard to figure out what was going on, considering Inui could hear a set of raised voices from the stage all the way into the hallway leading to the auditorium.

"What's going on?" Inui asked as he entered the large room. Yuki and Hiroki looked over at their teacher, along with a student dressed in the uniform of the school that Renji teaches at. If Inui recalled correctly, this was Yagami Junichi, the one that he overheard the team talking about having a thing for Yuki.

"Inui-sensei!" Hiroki called out in relief. He had been trying to keep his own captain from killing Yagami. Yagami glared at the adult interrupting their discussion. Yuki glared at Yagami.

"I'm going to ask one more time. What is going on here?" Inui asked.

Yuki just kept glaring at Yagami as she answered. "Just a matter of school pride." She said, turning on her heel and making sure to step on Yagami's foot with the heel on her shoe.

Yagami turned to Inui. "I apologize for...antagonizing your captain." Under his breath, he muttered, "I didn't realize she was PMS-ing."

Inui was not close enough to hear that, but Hiroki did hear it, and kicked him lightly as he walked past. "I'll explain later." Hiroki said, walking past Inui out to the hallway to search for a vending machine. Inui was still just as confused as ever. As much as he wanted to, he was not going to pry into matters that were not related to their team activities. Then again...maybe he should.

Inui turned back to the remaining student from the other school. "I'll consider passing that along." He told Yagami. "Though I would greatly appreciate it if you'd stop bothering our captain." He said.

Yagami nodded, and left, not saying anything else.

That boy really is full of himself Inui thought to himself. His phone vibrated with a message. Inui glanced at it, the number was unfamiliar, but it had an address and time written on it. Curiosity always did manage to get the better of him, and this wouldn't be any different from usual. Then again, the timing was rather too convenient for it to be someone he didn't know. Inui smiled to himself and typed a reply to the message. "I'll be there."

The only light in the room was a small table lamp next to a chair. The table contained not only the lamp, but also an open book with a bookmark in it in case the pages turn without the help of a human hand. There is also a pair of reading glasses next to the book, as with age, the owner's eyesight was starting to deteriorate just a little.

On the floor, a kotatsu kept the owner's legs warm while he waited for his guest patiently. He had said he would be here, and he knew that Sadaharu would not pass up a chance to visit. After all, Renji wanted to congratulate Sadaharu's team for winning their division. Renji smiled to himself a little. It was almost like old times, except the clubs were different, and they were the sponsors of their respective clubs. And with some of the rumors he had heard earlier - actually, it had been an email from Masami-chan - he was a bit curious as to what exactly was going on with their students.

Renji almost missed the knock on his door, as he was lost in his thoughts. He just caught the last part of the knock, and rose to greet his guest. It was Sadaharu and right on time. "Come on in, Sadaharu." Renji bade him.

Inui nodded and entered, taking his shoes off. "This is a rather... unusual request." He said as Renji brought a couple of drinks to the kotatsu and sat down again, indicating for Inui to do the same. "Though I'm sure you have your reasons for it." Renji just smiled at that.

"Perhaps." Renji said. "I heard there was an... incident with some of our students."

Inui raised his eyebrow. "You might say that. It at least wasn't a violent one." Inui paused for a sip of the drink. "I take it you heard it from a reliable source."

"I would say a student at the event is a rather reliable source." Renji stated.

Inui looked confused. Why would the student that caused the trouble report it back to his sensei? Not unless...."Someone other than Yagami-kun was there?" Inui hadn't even noticed anyone else from that school there.

"Your powers of observation are slipping Sadaharu." Renji said. "Yes, another student from the Quiz Bowl was there. She more or less has taken it upon herself to keep Yagami-kun out of trouble. As you can see, she sometimes doesn't do too well a job of it."

That explained it. Inui hadn't been looking for any of the females from their school. "No, it seems she didn't earlier. Kato-kun from our school was trying to keep them apart." Inui smiled a little. "So there is something to the rumor about him having a crush on her?"

"Perhaps." Renji answered. "I don't think it's going to actually lead to anything. Then again, Yagami-kun can be quite stubborn. I'm almost convinced it's a game for him."

"Quite possibly." Inui said. "Koizumi is the type that doesn't play games though."

"Doomed to failure." They said in unison, chuckling.

The two drifted off into friendly silence. They knew each other enough that they knew what the other would say and they could not say.

"How is it that after so many years, we're still on opposite sides?" Inui finally sighed.

"Fate." Renji answered simply.

Inui looked over at him. "'Fate' doesn't fit in with logic." He said.

"No, it doesn't." Renji said simply. "But will you find anything in life without it? After all, the truth lies at the end of fate." Renji hummed a little to himself. That would make an interesting theme for his students to work on projects with in the coming weeks.

"Music shouldn't either." Inui commented.

Renji smiled. "That's where you're wrong, Sadaharu. Music is the beauty of logic and sound intermingling. There's logic in it, it's just lost in the beauty of the sounds that use it to combine it into something that defies logic and appeals to the artistic part of the brain."

Inui smiled a little. "I suppose that's one way to look at it."

"Logic is why percussion is necessary for most pieces." Renji explained. "But you realize, fate has this habit of ebb and flow with us. Years apart, years together, years apart...It's a cycle that never ends."

"If we're conscious of this cycle, why can't we just end it?"

"Do you question fate?" Renji asked with one eye opened.

"Isn't that what most people do?" Inui asked. "We could be at these jobs next year, or we could move on to another school, and so on, we'll end up losing touch and we'll go through this all over again." He pointed out.

Renji knew what Inui was not saying. He did not like it either. Renji was used to this infinite loop of fate.

"So we will." Renji said quietly.

Inui looked over at him, and then sighed softly. "I should get home." He said, rising from the floor. Renji nodded and walked Inui to the door.

"It was good seeing you, Sadaharu." Renji said, even if the conversations didn't go so well. "I'll see you in two weeks at the tournament. May the better team win."

Inui nodded. "Of course." He said as he pulled his shoes back on. "I hope your team is prepared."

"We're always prepared." Renji promised. Inui frowned, but nodded, knowing that was true.

The only thought Inui had on the way home was that Renji's apartment looked about as bare and as lonely as his own.

At the finals, several schools were in attendance, whether they had participated in the Quiz Bowl competitions or not. There was actually more of an audience than any had expected, but the auditorium still wasn't anywhere near full.

The stage had two tables, each with four buzzers set up on them, with a podium in the center for the host to ask the teams their questions. The only decoration was a banner that read "National Quiz Bowl Championship" hung behind the podium.

Yuki was bouncing on her heels, she was so nervous. "I can't believe we're here!" She said, excited about it. Then she grinned evilly. "I can't believe we're about to kick Yagami's butt."

Her other teammates just rolled their eyes at that.

Inui came up to his students. "Who's going to be on stage?" He asked. The coordinators of the event needed to know so they would be able to introduce the students.

"Me, Umi, Junko, and Hiroki." Yuki answered quickly, still bouncing around. Inui wrote that down quickly.

"You may want to save your energy." Inui advised her. Yuki pouted, but tried to calm down somewhat.

Inui smiled a little as he went to give the note to the host. He had to wait, as Renji had gotten to the host first. Renji nodded to Inui as he walked back to his team. "I wish your students luck, Sadaharu."

Inui nodded. "I wish yours luck as well, Renji." He responded, giving the host the students from his school that was to represent them.

Renji smirked just a little. "I'll relay that to them, but we don't rely on luck." He said.

The words made Inui bristle just a little, but he ignored it. They were not relying on luck either. They were just as smart as the other school.

At one o'clock, the competition got under way. Backstage, Inui breathed a small sigh of relief. The two remaining students of his looked at each other, shrugged, and went to take seats in the audience. It was probably best to let Inui-sensei be. It had been a rather tense couple of months.

On the other side of the backstage area, Yanagi Renji was left with two students of his own. He looked at the two. "Ishida, Tsuda you two go ahead and sit in the audience." He told them quietly. Renji wanted his own breathing room.

"Yes, sensei." Ishida answered him, pulling the girl with him. "Come on. There should be some decent seats yet."

Tsuda Sachiko sighed. "The place is half empty, Kouji-kun. I'm sure we'll find something." She said as she rolled her eyes and followed obediently.

With the teams on stage, and the first round underway, there wasn't much left for the sponsors to do. Renji crossed the backstage area where Inui was sitting. "There's nothing for us to do." He said, taking a seat next to his old friend.

Inui looked over at him. "Well, except cheer them on." He said, smiling a little.

"Ah." Renji replied. They sat in quiet companionship, hearing their students answer question after question. "Your students are very knowledgeable." Renji said, actually impressed. Inui smiled to himself.

"They are." He said. "Yours are as well. I see this ending in a close score." Renji nodded at that.

Inui turned to his friend. "Renji." He started.

"What is it, Sadaharu?"

"Do you have the feeling we're using our students to prove which of us is smarter?"

Renji chuckled at that. "I wasn't even aware you were supervising a Quiz Bowl team. So how would I have been able to set this up?"

Inui chuckled as well. Renji did have a point.

"Your students have an attitude."

"No, it's mostly just Koizumi-kun. However, he does have that natural flare for leadership, but that attitude makes people want to follow him. He's a bit of a mix of Seiichi and Atobe." Renji said, talking about people they knew back in junior high.

Inui nodded, letting the companionable silence take over again.

"Sadaharu?" Renji started this time.

"Hmm?" Inui asked.

"Are you married?" Renji asked, figuring they might as well catch up.

Inui chuckled a little. "I’m not even interested in women." He said. "But no, I'm not attached." Renji nodded at that. Somehow, that didn't surprise him. "The first round is over." Inui said. That would give the students and the audience a chance to use the restroom and such. Renji nodded, returning to his school's side of the stage.

Inui's students came back stage once they were allowed to. Yuki started marching to the other side of the stage. Junko caught her by the arms.

"Inui-sensei!" Junko called him. "Yuki-chan's going to go kill Yagami!"

"I am not!" Yuki said. "I'm just going to go give him a piece of my mind." She explained, struggling against her friend.

Hiroki looked at Umi. "I’m not getting involved." He declared.

Inui sighed, and then went over to the two girls. "Whatever it was that he did, it's not worth antagonizing him any more." He said, pulling the girls apart and keeping a hand lightly on Yuki's shoulder. "I know we're not doing as well as you'd like right now, but there's still another round to go and we can catch up. Take a couple of deep breaths." Inui advised her.

Yuki did just that. "I still want to hurt him." She said, after a couple of deep breaths.

Umi looked back at Hiroki. "Yuki-chan and Yagami-kun fight like an old married couple." Hiroki snickered at that. Yuki glared at them.

Inui patted Yuki on the shoulder. "Don't listen to them." He advised. "Get something to drink, and prepare for the next round." Inui said, guiding her towards the table that was set up back stage for the participants.

On the other side of the stage, the other team was relaxing. "We're so far ahead that there's no way we can't win!" Shinkichi said excitedly. Renji gave his student a mildly disproving look.

"Just because we're ahead doesn't mean that you can be overconfident." Renji told his students. "That overconfidence could be your downfall." That was one lesson he had learned many times over in his life.

Yagami rolled his eyes lightly. "Of course." He cleared his throat. "Though we are leading by thirty points."

"And the second round questions are worth more than that. They can catch up easily." Renji advised him. "They answer two questions correctly; we'll be the ones trying to catch up."

Yagami frowned. There wasn't any way they were going to lose this.

After the break was over, the students were back on the stage. Renji bit his lower lip, still wondering how he managed to get such a group of people that were too confident and ones that would not listen to the wisdom of age. Then again, that describes most teenagers. Renji let out a small chuckle under his breath.

"I take it some of your students are pig-headed and stubborn." Inui commented, wandering into enemy territory.

"In their own way." Renji said. "It makes me feel a bit nostalgic. If it wasn't for being at completely different schools than our respective alma maters, it's almost like the rivalry between Seigaku and Rikkai."

Inui nodded a little. He didn't really have much to say to that.

"Something wrong, Sadaharu?" Renji asked.

"No." Inui said, just lost in thought.

"I take it you'll take your students to celebrate if they win?" Renji asked.

"It's a tradition." Inui smiled a little. It wasn't that it was his current school's tradition, but it wouldn't have felt right. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with rewarding his students for a victory. "Will you do the same?"

Renji nodded. He felt that they would deserve something for winning, even if they were confident in their ability to do so before this had even begun.

Inui pulled out his phone and typed something up quickly. Renji looked at him as his phone buzzed. Renji looked at the message and smiled a little. "Perhaps." He said aloud.

Inui stood up, a slight smirk on his face. There was a 100% chance that the invitation had been accepted.

It had been 20 minutes. The second round was over, and so was the competition. A group of four confused and dejected teenagers headed towards Renji. Inui gave Renji a sympathetic look as he returned to what he knew were going to be some very ecstatic students.

Days off were always a godsend to Inui. He was rather content with how things had gone the day before - both with his students and with Renji. As Inui glanced at the clock, a knock was heard on his door. Right on time Inui thought to himself.

Inui opened the door, and in the frame stood Renji. Neither of them said anything as Renji stepped in, and removed his shoes, quietly muttering the traditional phrases.

"They didn't take it well, did they?" Inui asked, inviting Renji to have a seat.

"That's an understatement." Renji said. "Masami-chan was crying, Yagami-kun looked very lost and confused. The others didn't quite know what to do or say to them." He said, sighing. "I told them they were being over confident."

"They're teenagers, Renji. They think they're wiser than us with age." Inui said.

Renji nodded. "I suppose it was destined to happen."

Inui smiled. "There you go, talking about destiny and fate again. Are you still trying to compose your masterpiece?"

Renji chuckled. "Perhaps I am, Sadaharu." He said. "I'd be content if one of my students becomes a famous musician. I might be thanked at the Grammys or some other grand awards show some day."

"That's very wishful thinking." Inui said. However, he had quite a few thoughts of his own that were a dream as well.

Renji turned his head to Inui. "Says the man that wanted to take over the world with tennis." He gently teased.

"I honestly thought it was possible." Inui said. "We could have been the number one ranked doubles pair about five years ago."

Renji chuckled. "Fate." He explained. "It tears us apart and brings us back to the beginning."

Inui glanced at Renji from under the rim of his glasses. It was a slightly blurry picture, but that did not matter all that much. Inui took a small yet deep breath, leaned over and lightly kissed Renji on the lips. "Perhaps we should defy fate this time." He said quietly.

Renji raised an eyebrow. It was not every day that he was kissed by his best friend. Several thoughts raced through his mind as he was kissed. Quick glimpses of their childhood, his time at Rikkai, and reminders of relationships that had all fallen apart over the years. In one kiss, Renji understood why.

With a small smile on his lips, Renji finally had a reply. "We already have."