Cimorene

renji, at least, definitely thinks he's always one step ahead - that's why he's so surprised when inui surprises him in their match in the semi-finals (that part is so ... affecting!). i think it's clear he's accustomed to it from when they were children. but as much as they have in common, they aren't exactly alike, as inui's ability to surprise him there showed. it wasn't that he outwitted him, exactly, it was just that yanagi didn't predict his behaviour because it was foreign to him (at least, as i see it). it also showed him something new about inui, i think. you say yanagi was wiser, and inui was kind of more... innocent and artless in the flashback, which goes with that.

(i find it so hard to talk about this in complete, reasonably-intelligent sentences instead of just wibbling. gosh. there is something about this pairing and its story that really pushes my buttons, or something.)

"Just once, I'd like to play against you until my heart is content," and I think that really fits with what you're saying about the singles played by opponents vs. doubles played by partners. It's a whole different expression of feelings between them, even more emotionally charged than their perfect cooperation while on the same side of the net.

yes, yesyesyes. doesn't he say that in the anime? wasn't it something similar? or maybe i picked that up from a piece of fanfic along the way. god, i want to rewatch all of it right now but i can't. :(

that scene where eiji teaches the silver pair that little fact about doubles and the true meaning of partnership seems so important to me in canon - i definitely think that is what yanagi is thinking. just the way he says it even - until my heart is content! it's almost poetic, and so romantic. playing against each other is different and, in a way, more intimate than playing together the way they usually do, for a doubles pair. guh. aöslkdfjyaalksf. of course part of the reason yanagi asks then, when apparently it's something he's been thinking about for a long time (which also makes me want to wibble - it's like everything about them does), is because he knows he's leaving and he wants something to fill his heart and... sustain him, sort of the way tezuka cleanses his palate and centers himself in the hyotei arc by playing ryoma in warm-up before the match with atobe. but while inui doesn't realise the match is goodbye, perhaps doesn't really understand the nature of their affection, he's not as innocent as yanagi thinks. as evinced by the way he obsesses over it and after all that time, is able to force yanagi into an exact re-enactment of it when yanagi doesn't even recognise what's happening. (... guh.)

i am afraid it will be a while before i get to the rikkai arc. i am kind of impatient. :/