Can't Get You Out of My Mind
By Autruche
Chapter 1 – The Meeting
The raven-haired boy strolled down the street with a basketball in his arms, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. He was extremely tall, his body that of an athlete's, and his long legs carried him forward with a smooth elegance that made one think of…
*BANG!*
Rukawa Kaede had just crashed into a telephone pole.
'Should be more careful next time,' his sleep-fuddled, pain-filled brain warned him, before his eyelids drooped and the boy began to doze off once more. However, as he neared his destination, the familiar sound of basketball slapping against concrete jolted him awake. Faintly annoyed that there was already somebody using his favourite out-door court, Rukawa peered around the surrounding bushes to examine the intruder. 'He's going to have to find somewhere else to play,' he thought obstinately to himself, 'Because I don't share.'
But it was… a girl.
She had short, black hair, and was quite tall. Her slender legs danced gracefully as she competed against an imaginary opponent. Two quick bounces and a swivel, followed by a jump shot that produced nothing but net. The fact that the unknown girl had beautiful, large brown eyes and a sweet smile was totally lost on Rukawa. The only thing he noticed was that she had an excellent three-point shot, and was quick on her feet. His own feet moved forward involuntarily, taking him to the side of the basketball court.
Hanging around the sidelines, as if waiting for the girl to notice him, Rukawa felt strangely self-conscious, and he almost reminded himself of one of his crazy, dancing, screaming, banner-waving fangirls. He shuddered. Well, almost.
Lost in his own grim thoughts, Shohoku High School's star player didn't realise that the girl had finished her game with her invisible friend, and her chocolate-brown gaze was fixed on him. A light blush spread on Rukawa's pale cheeks before he could stop it, and she grinned, eyes sparkling with good-natured humour.
"Hi! Wanna play a little one-on-one?" she invited cheerfully. Rukawa hesitated; he had planned to work on his (already perfect) outside shots this afternoon, since there were only two days left until the school year began again. That meant soon he would be too busy sleeping in class and training after school everyday, leaving no time for individual practices.
On the other hand…
Hanamichi, who was now the captain of Shohoku, much to everyone's immediate regret ("Of course I was chosen to be captain! Ore wa Tensai! Mwahaha!"), had been too busy these holidays with his summer job (the noble and selfless career of selling ice-creams on the beach), and so the two friends had been unable to play against each other as often as they would've liked. Those cut-throat, dead-serious competitions were what usually tided Rukawa over until the next basketball season. Without them, he was feeling rather–
"I didn't know that my question was going to provoke such intense self-contemplation," the girl commented dryly. "But if you don't wanna play… suit yourself."
She turned, preparing to leave, and for some strange reason unknown to him, Rukawa panicked. He didn't want her to go!
Suddenly, she looked over her shoulder and stared at him curiously. A smile played around the corners of her mouth.
"You don't want me to go?" she asked, lips twitching as if she was desperately trying to hold back a laugh.
Ugh. Mental slap. He had blurted the words out loud. There was no stopping the crimson splash that covered his entire face, and which felt like was spreading all over his body, too. 'I probably look like a tomato,' Rukawa thought disgustedly. 'And not just any old tomato… the ugliest, most deformed one you could possibly find.'
"Uh… I meant, yeah, let's play a game," he mumbled, once again feeling self-conscious with her eyes on his red face. With some effort, he managed to force his blush to subside, and set his features back into its usual cold mask. The intimidatingly tall, athletic boy strode on to the court like he owned it, and the girl couldn't help marvelling over his transformation from a blushing, awkward teenager to a confident and clearly talented player. However, blushing or not, he was definitely a gorgeous, drool-inducing specimen of mankind. Even if he didn't talk much.
"First to ten, ne?"
At his slight nod of confirmation, they began to play. Rukawa was surprised to discover that although his height and weight gave him an obvious advantage, she was able to penetrate his defence several times due to her speed. In fact, she reminded him of his former captain, the infinitely skilful Ryota Miyagi.
However, despite the dark-haired girl's hard work, the result was already decided before their impromptu game began. Rukawa won 10-6, which, to him, simply meant that he needed more match practice to get into shape. She was gracious in defeat, though, and when they shook hands, to his complete and utter embarassment, his face reddened yet again.
'Why am I acting like the do'aho all of a sudden? This is ridiculous!' a totally clueless (and blushing) Rukawa thought, confused at his apparent inability to control his emotions around this girl, who was around seven inches shorter than him and only a fraction of his weight. He watched as she efficiently gathered her belongings, and sauntered away with a cheery little wave.
Turning to collect his own things, an errant thought dawned on the raven-haired boy.
'I didn't even ask her for her name…'