Need
A Hanaru / Ruhana fic by Star!

Rukawa silently opened the door to his room and looked in. His fox-eyes rested on a shirtless Sakuragi. Of course he'd seen Sakuragi shirtless before, although they'd never actually... *ahem* shown their love for each other in a *you know* kinda way... well, anyway, this time Rukawa could feel a slight blush caressing his cheek, so he quickly averted his eyes to the floor and gave a small cough to alert Sakuragi to his presence.
He'd been thinking about Sakuragi all day, which was pretty normal... they had been playing basketball together and had returned to Rukawa's house to freshen up. But today had held different kinds of thoughts... *sexual* thoughts.
Thinking was easy... but now came the hard bit.
Sakuragi must have realised that something was up by the way Rukawa looked at the floor blushing, however, sensing that Rukawa wanted to talk he refrained from commenting.

"Hana I... I've been thinking... and... well..."

Rukawa looked up briefly to check that Sakuragi was listening. He recieved an encouraging smile from his koi, inviting him to continue.
Sakuragi understood the difficulty that Rukawa had in expressing his thoughts and feeling in words, so he patiently waited for the boy to speak again.

"I've found that I... I want you... more than... more than I thought and... I was wondering if... er... you'd be comfortable to... you know... er..."

Embaressed by the mess he was making, Rukawa nervously scratched the back of his neck in a Sendoh-like gesture. He raised his eyes to meet Sakurgi's, but, finding that he couldn't hold the intense gaze that passed between them like bolts of lightning, he looked down again.
Realising that he'd finished halfway through a sentence, and feeling obliged to continue, he stumbled over a few more words;

"Well, what I mean is... er... I want you and..."

A pair of strong arms incircled his waist and hot kisses trailed down his neck.

"Then I am yours."

A little shocked and /very/ surprised, Rukawa stood numbly as Sakuragi took over his body, covering him in butterfly kisses and carresses. Realisation only crept in when Sakuragi lowered him gently onto his bed.

~*~*~*~*~

Sakuragi stared at the ceiling, his mind blank for a few short seconds before thoughts began to rush in like a torrent. The boy snoozing beside him smiled in his sleep. One arm was thrown carelessly across the red-head's chest, his head rested against his shoulder, hot breath tickling Sakuragi's skin.

"Kaede... my Kitsune..."

Sakuragi sighed loudly, his breath ruffling the other boy's smooth silky hair.

Sakuragi had always felt that he was a /comodity/... someone nice to have around, but not really needed. A slight jealousy of Rukawa nesstled in his mind, jealous because Rukawa, especially in basketball, was an essential, someone who /had/ to be there.
The ravin-haired boy stirred next to him, and Sakuragi looked down. He watched, fasinated, as a pair of eyes slowly opened and brillent sapphires stared back at him. Sakuragi was amazed by the depth of these unguarded eyes, the feelings they portrayed.

"Hana...?"
"Hmmm?"

Thoses eyes... endless stormy eyes... they looked him in utter wonder, utter longing and /awe/.

"...nothing."

Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the emotions faded from his eyes as a layer of ice glassed over them.
Sakuragi's fingers played in Rukawa's hair and he smiled sheepishly at his koi.

"How are you feeling Kitsune?"

Rukawa's eyes rolled, then closed and he snuggled closer to Sakuragi, tightening his grip round the fiery boy's chest. His actions were clear; I'm not going to grace that stupidly pointless question with an answer.'
Sakuragi chuckled softly under his breath and allowed his fingers to trail down Rukawa's back.

"Tell me Kitsune... do you need me?"

Unlike Rukawa, Sakuragi found no difficulty in expressing his thought's in words.
The icy eyes shot open.
The thought that Rukawa needed him provoked a powerful feeling in Sakuragi. It was mainly to do with the love he felt for the fox, but also, and more importantly, deep in his mind it gave Sakuragi a sense of worth, a worth that all his life he'd doubted that he'd had. Everyone relied so much on Rukawa, and if Rukawa need him, well, it wasn't so much a sense of power, more a sense of security.

"Why do you ask?"
"I need to know."

Sakuragi quickly made up his mind. If Rukawa didn't need him, then he was going to get up and walk away from this relationship, never to look back. This love he had, he knew, would never progress, would never grow if Rukawa didn't need him
Sakuragi was the kind of person who needed someone who needed him.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this, but..."

That didn't sound very promising. Immediately Sakuragi felt his heart sink, he braced himself in preparation for it to break...

"...I couldn't live without you."

Sakuragi smiled, either in relief or pure happiness, he didn't know. He squeezed the boy next to him so tightly that Rukawa protested in pain.
Sakuragi put his nose in Rukawa's hair and breathed in deeply, letting Rukawa override all his senses.
"Mmmm... Kitsune... I need you..."

*Owari*

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Hya! Just thought I'd mention that the Japanese word /koi/ means love, i.e the person you love.
/Owari/ means end, although I think that's pretty obvious really, seeing as it's written at the end... *opps, I'm blabbering again!*
I think that's about it...
This fic is dedicated to Amis Lee, whose Senru fic Study in Light' was the first I ever read, and it introduced me to the wonderful world of slamdunk yaoi... and I've been here ever since *grins*. Thanx 4 reading my fic... hope you enjoyed it! *Comments welcome!*