I wonder if I like Arai *because* he's a jerk. *g* But he's changing too, just like the rest of them. And he wants so much to succeed. There was definite character growth during his match with Kachiro. I don't think I could slash them, though! Somehow, I think the most I could manage with Kachiro would be for him to have a crush on Sakuno. (Actually, I have a yen for Horio/Sakuno for some reason.)

By the by, something I meant to put on that list but forgot: chibi!Kachiro looks *exactly the same* as normal Kachiro.

And the MomoKai! It just crept up on me in the last 25 or so eps. I started to notice that they were always standing beside each other and I even saw them sitting together on one of the bus trips. I haven't yet looked for fic, etc, but I'll get to that soon.

In the random fic universe in my head, Kaidoh is always trying to impress Momo, though he's not sure why. And Inui is putting the moves on Kaidoh and Kaidoh is unable to resist him. And Momo is mostly straight and clueless but he's starting to think that Kaidoh is actually a stand-up guy. We'll see if anything ever distills out of that. :)

Do finish your fic and feel free to send it to me when you're done. Or if you want to discuss it while it's in progress.