Fandom: Slam Dunk
Summary: Rukawa goes biking around town one fine day and guess who he meets?
Title: Out Of My League
Author: Hana Rui
Genre: Romance / Humor / Song-fic
Pairing: Kaede Rukawa x Ayako [RuAya]
The cool morning breeze steadily hit Rukawa's face.
Not that the black-haired, blue-eyed guy could feel anything at this moment anyway. What with him taking that routine, peaceful journey through Slumber Island once again...
On his bike...
POW!
Front part struck something hard.
Kaede Rukawa, the young, fine lad and ace player of Shohoku High's basketball team flailed through space like an oversized kitten, thrown into wakefulness by some impassive bystander. He forced his eyes open a second before he went sprawling on the pavement.
Ch! Damn that lamppost! He thought. Or, was it a lamppost?
He sat upnot without effortand jerked his head to the direction of whatever it was that threw him off his bike. The culprit turned out to be a public mailbox, after all.
Damn that mailbox then!
He was about to stand up to check on his bike when the sudden surge of pain through his head bore him right back down. He felt the trickling of something warm down the side of his face.
His head was bleeding.
Dammit!
Before he could get himself to fumble through his pockets for a handkerchiefremembering in time he had not brought one anywayhis eyes caught a sight straight ahead that made him numb all over. Numb with something resembling bliss. Bliss that made him instantly forget the pain in his head and be aware of nothing else but the gradual welling of fondness in his heart.
It's her hair and her eyes today
That just simply take me away
She was sitting at a table inside the coffee shop across the street, her brown, curly hair cascading down her back. She was wearing a sleeveless, pastel-colored shirt that emphasized her fair, silken complexion. Her legs were cased tightly in a pair of cream-colored slacks. The usual boyish aura was nowhere in sight today, so was the ever-so-present baseball cap. But the familiar cheerful gleam of those lovely blue orbs was there. Even at this distance, Rukawa could deftly vouch for that since it was the very sight he was looking forward to and remembered the most during practice.
Well in short, she was such a refreshing sight...
And the feeling that I'm falling further in love
Makes me shiver but in a good way
He could feel every cell in his body vibrating. Reacting almost as violently as it would at the sight of a ghost. The mere thought of him feeling this way toward his senpai had always made him very uneasy. But, even though it may be strange, he had to admit that it was a wonderful feeling, nevertheless.
All the times I have sat and stared
As she thoughtfully thumbs through her hair
How many times had he basked in the loveliness of her face? When had he not tried to steal a glance at her during basketball practice, catching her at one of her tics which had eventually began amusing him more than anything else had ever amused him in the past?
And once practice was over, he would intentionally stay behind as his senpai and contemporaries rushed to the shower room. He would casually sit on the bench and pretend to do some ball handling exercises when in truth, he was actually just waiting for a chance to be of service to her.
He just loved it whenever she pensively frayed a loose clump of her hair until every strand was static enough to start a fire. Loved the way she mockingly appeared to be deciding on a "yes" or "no" answer to the cheekier freshmen's question of "Can I walk you home?"
And she purses her lips bats her eyes
And she plays with me sitting there slack-jawed
And nothing to say...
But best of all was when she would regretfully pout her lips, then turn her eyes with their fluttering lashes to him, as though quietly asking him to play along. "Rukawa-kun had already promised me a ride on his bike," she would say much to the younger guys' disappointmentmatched in a greater scale by his delight. "Ne, Rukawa-kun?"
The first time that was run by him when he innocently sat on the bench to fix his shoelaces, he hardly could utter a thing. Well not that he had uttered anything other than a low, stingy "Hai" to his senpai's previous attempts at a conversation anyway.
"Rukawa-kun?"
"Uh, hai..." See?
But, in time, it became a regular drill and he learned to ride along, nodding dutifullyand quite too willfullyto his senpai's enthralling, puppy eyes. After that, his service done and over with, he would finally go take a shower and smile privately up at the warm water spattering on his face.
She never rode with him, of course. But that didn't change the way he felt for her...
Coz I love her with all that I am
And my voice shakes along with my hands
When did he begin having this feeling for her, anyway? Rewinding the time back, he could vividly remember how much of a hassle it was to be a freshman in Tomigaoka Junior High. He thought he would never ever meet a nice face, until she came along one day, reaching out a hand to him and giving him her ready smile as she offered to treat the wounds he got from fighting with the bullies.
He was drawn to her ever since that encounter. And every time they would meet and she would try to interact with him, something inside of him would always recoil, making him feel slightly anxious and shaky...
Coz she's all that I see and she's all that I need
And I'm out of my league once again
Whenever they were standing face to face during those times, he would always be thrown in a dimension where everything around him seemed surreal and unreal... everything, except for her. It would always take him a good few minutes to get over this trance and remember the vastness of the real world surrounding them.
All he needed to hear was her melodious, girlish giggle...
"Rukawa-kun, you're staring at me again!"
"Uh, hai... gomen..."
He changed a bit as time passed bywell, merely dropped the 'gomen' and stuck to plain 'hai'... Okay, he must admit he's still every bit of the fumbling idiot he was in the past whenever he's around her. Though, he did learn to keep it a little less obvious than before... Actually, it was hardly obvious today that his senpai herself couldn't tell he still felt the same for her... after all these years...
Who could possibly blame him, anyway?
It's a masterful melody
When she calls out my name to me
Rukawa shook his head to free himself from the train of memories chugging uninvitedly through his mind. And as he pulled himself out of the numbing reminiscence back into the tormenting reality, his jeeringly sentient neurons reminded him immediately of the agony he was supposed to be going through... And in response, his sight suddenly began to fuzz... His wound made him feel queasy and the blood on his face seemed to seethe him to the flesh...
And just imagine how his senses shattered altogether when he looked at the coffee shop again and found no sign of that particular girl... He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wishing he could just die right then and there...
"Rukawa-kun?"
As the world spins around her
She laughs, close her eyes
And I feel like I'm falling but it's no surprise...
The chortling voice almost made him jump out of his skin. He turned his heada little too violently for his neurons' likingand, despite his blurry sight, found himself staring into the face of the angel who had just a while ago sat on the pedestal of his thoughts and memories. She was crouching beside him, giggling heartily like a little girl. Now, how the hell did she get there?
Rukawa inched away slightly, considering the shock he must've had.
"Sleeping again, I bet," she said, showing off the smile that had always turned Rukawa's insides to goo. "Come," she was reaching out her hand to him again. "I'll treat your wound... and you to breakfast."
Rukawa stared dumbly at her hand, then back at that girl's face. The smile that had sent him fumbling like an idiot through these years was there again, plastered widely and genuinely on her soft, red lips. Lord, tell him, how could he possibly survive this day?
She laughed again. Laughed so hard that the contours of her face pushed her eyelids together, almost shrouding her glowing blue eyes. "You're staring at me again!"
"Uh, hai... gomen..." His eyes instantly darted to the ground as he fought off the blush fighting its way to his cheeks.
The vivacious girl made a grab for his shoulder and helped him up to his feet, the sparkle in her eyes dancing to the notes of her giggle. "What are you without me, Kaede Rukawa?"
"Nothing..." he mouthed quietly, soundlessly as he let himself be led into the coffee shop by a girl several inches shorter than he was.
Had he ever mentioned how fitting a word fumbling was for him?
Coz I love her with all that I am
And my voice shakes along with my hands
"S-S-Senpai..."
"Hm?"
The sound of leaves brushing against each other above their heads drowned out the disturbing din of his own heartbeat. Well, almost... "I-I-I..." Needless to say, he absolutely despised the way his whole body shook as he struggled to force that simple word out from his throat through his mouth.
"What is it, Rukawa-kun?" she prodded, smiling persuasively up at him as they walked along the queue of cherry blossom trees leading to Tomigaoka.
"I-I-I love you..." At last he managed to say in a mere whisper that froze the dumfounded girl in her tracks, a questioning frown consequently taking the place of her smile.
"W-What did you say?"
He himself froze and was hardly aware of his lips as they moved of their own accord, translating the beats of his heart into the language of the earth, "I love you, Aya-chan..."
Coz it's frightening to be swimming in this strange sea
But I'd rather be here than on land
The look that she had given him on that certain morning, several weeks before her graduation, scathed him to the soul. She had smiled wrylyalmost mockingly at his rather hasty and unexpected confession. Again, who could blame him? He was desperately in-love with his nice and affectionate senpai, and she was about to leave Tomigaokaand him soon! What was a guy like him to do?
Wholly expecting the girl to laugh sardonically to his face and tell him to get lost, he was utterly taken aback when a rather playfully mischievous gleam flitted across her eyes a second before she propped herself up on her toes and planted a light peck on his cheek. Steam went off from every hole in his head, almost launching him off to space...
"I love you, too, Rukawa-kun." ...and he went off to the moon, his heart beating 10 light-years a minute... "But, I don't want you calling me Aya-chan ever again."
Poor Rukawa's newly fueled engines malfunctioned and sent him reeling back to earth, dazed and confused. "W-Why not?"
"I am your senpai, Rukawa-kun." She smiled affectionately at him and reached out to fasten a wayward button on his uniform. "I expect you to respect me."
Awfully hurt and embarrassed by the incident, he had never really gotten himself to call her by any other name. At all.
Yes she's all that I see and she's all that I need
And I'm out of my league once again
Nevertheless, the thwarted feeling stayed etched in his heart and he just kept on nurturing it. Not even letting it die a natural death. It was the very reason that got him to Shohoku despite offers from more prestigious high schools. Ch! He could not believe people actually fell for his "it's-near-our-house" excuse. The only thing he ever wanted to be close to was her...
Even if it meant playing for the then weakest team in the district...
That had changed, of course. But he stayed the same... His undying desire to please her, to make her happy never failed to give more impetus to his determination to win.
They're now sitting opposite each other at a table in the middle of the caf. Rukawa wouldn't have liked the idea of being in such a conspicuous place, but it was the only available tableand the only area in that fully packed place wherein he could be with her.
The smell of antiseptic reeking from his wound wafted to his nose. Even the adhesive bandage and the aroma of brewed coffee hovering all over the place weren't enough to keep that annoying stench from bothering him. Add to that the faint smarting of the top of his headthe persistent side-effect of gaining for himself the honor of being hit by her pernicious fan for being, in her very own words, "recklessly silly".
And at the sight of her eating nonchalantly in front of him now... Rukawa's world just went and reeled like... crazy.
It's her hair and her eyes today
That just simply take me away
Staring at her cascading locks. Her silken skin. Her dancing blue eyes... Rukawa felt the overwhelming emotion begin its violent swirling dance around his heart. Subsequently taking control of his senses. Of his rationality. Everything he believed in... Enlisting him right away to a fresh, new religion
"Rukawa-kun?"
Though against his every volition and will, the mesmerized kitsune had to pull himself back to the real world to respond to his goddess's call. "Uh, hai..."
"Don't you like your food?" She was peering intently at him, her breakfast transiently forgotten. "You can get something else if you like. I'm paying."
"N-No," he merely mumbled in protest. What kind of a guy would let a girl pay for his food? "I'm" His eyes suddenly darted to the maple-coated pancakes in front of him as realization dawned in a flash. He had not really intended to eat breakfastmuch less have it with her! So, logically he had not bothered to bring a single cent with him.
"Ruka"
"I'm good," he said, resigning himself to the ego-gnawing reality.
A wicked smile stretched her lips and put that all-so familiar gleam in her eyes. "If you don't eat breakfast, I'm not gonna let you out of this place."
Rukawa regarded the girl carefully and realized the vicious veracity of her words. He sighed and picked the fork up. There wasn't much a broken guy like him could do, was there?
Not that he would ever want to depart this spot on earth he was currently sharing with her anyway...
And the feeling that I'm falling further in love
Makes me shiver but in a good way
It took him only three minutes to polish off all five pancakes and gulp down his cup of coffee. Then he occupied himself with watching her eat again. And he seemed amused and content doing just that despite the fact that it was gradually forcing every one of his cells to burst out and atrophy.
God, what he wouldn't give to have her love him in return. The way he knew he would always love her. Forever love her...
"Still hungry?"
Rukawa was once again unceremoniously snapped back to reality. "N-No." His yet to be fulfilled stomach grumbled faintly in protest, but he wasn't giving in to it in a million years. He had been embarrassed and degraded enough. "I-I better go."
"And leave me here alone?" her tone was incriminating, her eyes flashing with defiance.
"Uh..." Rukawa's butt seemed to have automatically fused with the chair. "I-I- I might meddle with your affairs."
She raised a questioning eyebrow at him, "What affairs?"
He looked back at her rather doubtfully, "W-Well... the one you came here for?"
All the times I have sat and stared
As she thoughtfully thumbs through her hair
She popped the last bite of pancake into her mouth and regarded him silently as she slowly set her mouth to work on the syrupy ambrosia.
It made Rukawa feel more tensed and uneasy. A horrendous blush was slowly taking siege of his face and he began feeling cold and numb to his guts.
And as though it wasn't enough torture already, her hand unconsciously snapped up and began fraying a clump of her curly locks, putting on that thoughtful, faintly confused frown on her face. It was the tic that had always made Rukawa so enthralled, he nearly forgot how to breathe!
Knowing full well that staring longer at her would only cause him an untimely death, he turned his gaze on the empty plate in front of him instead and continued to fight a noble battle with the turbulent blood rising to his cheeks.
"What do you think I came here for?" she asked rather casually.
"Uh..." Rukawa desperately racked his brain for an answer. What, for all heaven's mercy, had made him think that she was having an affair here or something? Well, most ladies often did! Especially if they're dressed like some super models or something... "To see someone?"
"Oh yeah?" her voice was taunting this time. "And who do you think am I waiting for?"
Seriously,did she really have to ask? "Captain," Rukawa said matter-of-factly. The only guy in the team you call by his first name. The only guy in the WORLD you've so generously given all the glory of calling you Aya-chan. The only guy
His train of bitter thoughts was cut off by her melodious giggle deftly reaching his ears.
"Ryota hardly ever comes this way..."
And she purses her lips, bats her eyes
And she plays with me sitting there slack-jawed
And nothing to say
"Oh," was all he could say as his eyes darted back to that spot on the plate he had been trying to bore a hole on for the past few minutes. He was wrong, and dumbly so. She was here just for breakfast. Just for breakfast... He was not only a fumbling idiot, but a stupidly perceptive guy as well!
"Are you off somewhere?"
Disturbed once again in the middle of his thoughts, Rukawa almost jolted up from his seat. He composed himself right away and simply nodded.
"The usual?"
The usual? "Uh, I guess..."
"You guess? What? You off somewhere else?"
"Uh, no... I'm off to the court."
"I thought so."
Rukawa's eyes unconsciously snapped up and stared at her. There was a wide, knowing grin on her lips and her eyes glinted rather mysteriously. Well, it did look mysterious to him. Intriguing. He was almost tempted to ask what she meant by that but decided it wasn't much of a big deal anyway. A hundred other people knew where he was off to on that fine Sunday morning. So what use would it do to ask her how she knew?
"Ja, since we're both done with breakfast, I think I'd better go." She gently pushed her chair off and stood up, grabbing her shoulder bag off the empty seat beside her.
The chair, unfortunately refused to let go of Rukawa's butt and he remained sitting there like a total idiot, watching her walk to him as she sling her bag on her shoulder. And, needless to say, nothing on the face of the planet could've prepared him for what happened next...
She reached out her hands, cupped her face, and looked affectionatelyfaintly flirtatiously?into his eyes. Then, she leaned forward, pursed her lips, closed her eyes and...
For one blissful moment, Rukawa felt the divine, supple lips of his goddess on his own.
His rusting engines were immediately re-fueled and sent him flying off to heaven...
"I'll see you tomorrow...," she said, a faint blush tinting her cheeks. "...Kaede..."
Coz I love her with all that I am
And my voice shakes along with my hands
Rukawa looked dumbly at the back of the one and only goddess he had sworn his eternal faith and devotion to. His neurons were currently having trouble sending the message to his brain.
Did... Did she just kiss me?
Ayako opened the door, took one last look at him, smiled, and stepped out.
Wait, he wanted to call out, but all his senses were currently down. It was a mere miracle he was still breathing.
It would be sheer luck if he managed to stay alive
Coz it's frightening to be swimming in this strange sea
But I'd rather be here than on land
After a while, having somehow resurrected himself from that blissful death, he stood up, departed that sacred place, crossed the street and was soon back on his bike, pedaling toward his supposed destination.
Still suffering from the after-effects of the baffling incident, he was hardly aware of his surroundings as he went on his way. Not that he was ever aware anyway.
God... she really did kiss me... His heart was thrashing with delirium around his chest. He could almost smile, but decided against it. Afraid that the mere movement of his lips might disseminate the remnants of that blissful feeling.
And... And she even called me Kaede! It wouldn't take a thousand Sakuragis to tell that this meant... something.
Rukawa wheezed, feeling the onset of a severe case of apnea dawning on him once again. It was as strange and suffocating as no other emotion could ever be. At least for him. But he was more than willing to die a thousand deaths just to have this kind of rapture. This kind of bliss.
He could drown in this feeling forever...
Yes she's all that I see and she's all that I need...
He pedaled on, seeing only the image of her passing by his eyes. Of her laughing. Of her smiling. Of her fraying her hair, closing her eyes, talking, eating...
Basically, he was seeing her, period. Nothing but her. He was obviously still reeling from the glorious memory of that ecstatic experience. The glorious truth of her mere existence... The glorious possibility that she must at least
A pernicious looking lamppost appeared unnoticed right in front of the spellbound kitsune...
POW!
Front part came into rattling contact with the merciless nemesis...
...and I'm out of my league once again...
Kaede Rukawa, the young fine lad, and ace player of Shohoku High's basketball team, went sprawling on the pavement for the second time that day.
Dammit!
-end-
Song: Out Of My League
Artist: Stephen Speaks
Thanks for reading! :)