Family Ties
The Matchmaker
Part One
A RuHana fic by: Laree McKenzie
Please send all comments to lareemackie@hotmail.com

" Come on, Kaede-kun! Why the sad face? You can tell elder brother Akira what the matter is!"

" Sad face? What are you talking about?" Koshino demanded, giving Rukawa's features a cursory inspection. Impassive and without a trace of emotion, as always.

" You don't go out with someone for a whole year without getting in touch with their emotions, Hiro-kun!" At the reminder of his past relationship with Rukawa, Sendo's team mate and current love of his life, Koshino Hiroaki, scowled. Seeing this, the spiky haired boy draped an arm casually about his shoulders and pulled him closer to him. Though Koshino made a feeble attempt to pull away, he knew that his boyfriend had been pleased by his show of affection. Sendo continued, " In fact, I know Kaede-kun very well. Too well, I guess. That was the reason that he broke up with me in the first place, you know? Because I knew too much about him already! You see, Kaede-kun likes to keep his distance from people and I guess he felt threatened by me-"

" Spare me the psychoanalysis, Akira. Rukawa spoke up for the first time since they had come into the tiny diner for an after game snack. " And that wasn't the reason at all. I just got tired of you feeling me up all the time whenever we were together."

" I've got exactly the same problem." Koshino commiserated, capturing a wandering hand and placing it firmly on the table top.

" Under the smile lies a pervert."

" Damn right." Koshino agreed.

Sendo grinned. It looked as though all the months of hard work that he had put into getting his two best friends in the world together were finally paying off. It didn't matter to him that the two of them were ganging up against him. At least now, he could leave the two of them alone in a room together without fearing that one of them might be dead by the time that he got back. " You're just trying to avoid the subject, Kaede-kun." He remarked, nodding sagely. " Avoidance has always been another one of the tactics that you've used."

" Is he for real?" Rukawa demanded of Koshino.

The Ryonan player nodded in reply. " Ever since he started taking those psychology courses he's been talking like this. Be thankful that you got out when you did! Every time I say something he feels the need to explain my feelings to me."

" You guys!" Sendo wailed, " How come you never take me seriously?"

The younger boy shrugged. " Hard to, what with the hairstyle."

Chuckling, Koshino gave Sendo's gravity defying coiffure a few affectionate pats. " I don't know. I sort of like it."

" Want me to put your hair up like this too? I can do that if you want!" Sendo offered. " The two of us would look so cute together then!" He clapped his hands together gleefully at the thought.

Sendo was so cute whenever he got all excited like this! Koshino squeezed his hand affectionately. "We already do."

" No comment." Rukawa wrinkled his nose in distaste.

" You're just jealous because Sendo and I make such a perfect couple!"

" No. I'm just sickened by this public display of affection." Rukawa corrected Koshino.

" Why, Kaede-kun? You never minded cuddling up with me before!"

The Shohuku forward chose to remain silent and focused on the drink before him, hoping that the love birds would get off the subject and onto safer ground.

" You know what would make me really happy, Kae-chan?"

" A quickie in the toilet with Koshino?"

Sendo shot his snickering team mate a reproving look. " And you call me the pervert! The two of you are just sick! And you never take me seriously either!"

Koshino managed to get his laughter under control after a while. " I'm sorry, Kira-kun. Go on with what you were saying!"

Reassured of his companion's good behavior, Sendo continued, " The thing that would make me happiest in the world is to see my two best friends with the person that they love. Now, that's obviously already the case with Hiro-chan here..."

Koshino frowned, tipping his head to one side thoughtfully, " The thing is that I'm not really sure about that..."

" One more crack like that and you can forget about our date for tomorrow night."

" Ooh, wouldn't want that!" Koshino sat back on his chair and winked suggestively at Rukawa. " His parents are going to be out of town! Time for the two of us to get busy!"

Sendo punched him on the forearm, frowning slightly. " That's it!"

" I'm sorry!" His boyfriend put in hastily, knowing full well that Sendo could do just what he had threatened to.

The spiky haired boy continued, mollified slightly. " As I was saying, Hiro-chan here is obviously happy with the person that he loves, isn't he?"

Koshino nodded adamantly in agreement. " Very much so."

" So now, that leaves only you, Kaede-kun." Sendo pointed out. " I know that it's hard to get over such a charming, handsome guy as me but-"

" You're beginning to sound exactly like Hanamichi."

" Exactly!" Sendo exclaimed, his eyes glittering excitedly in a way that was familiar to both Rukawa and Koshino. That was the look that the guy got in his eyes whenever an idea came to him. It made Rukawa instantly wary.

He looked at him quizzically, wondering what it was about his statement that had so excited him. "That's not a good thing, you know."

Sendo ignored this in light of his sudden stroke of genius. " Hanamichi!"

" The do'aho."

" Step one, Rukawa. Stop calling him that."

" Why?"

" Because he doesn't like it!"

" That's sort of the whole point in it..."

" Just stop it." Sendo told him firmly, bringing his fist down onto the tabletop. " If you want the guy to like you, then just do what I say."

" And I would want that because?"

" Because Hanamichi Sakuragi is the most perfect guy in the world for you! I can't believe that I didn't see it until now!"

Rukawa just barely managed to keep a straight face. " That's the stupidest thing that I've ever heard."

" What are you talking about? It's not stupid at all! It makes perfect sense! Two people who could hate each other so passionately should be able to love each other just as much! With just the right maneuvering..."

Koshino leaned across the table and said to Rukawa in a stage whisper, " He's in the matchmaking mode! Quick! Run! Run away as fast as you possibly can!"

" Don't you trust my matchmaking skills, Hiro-chan?"

" Is Hanamichi Sakuragi a sweet, mild mannered guy with the most pleasing personality in the world?"

" I'll have you both know that many of the couples at Ryonan have me to thank for bringing them together!"

Koshino snorted. " This coming from the guy who tried to fix me up with Hikoichi!"

" Are you serious?" Rukawa demanded, in his mind trying to picture Koshino with the little loud mouth.

" Dead serious." He affirmed. " When Akira-kun found out that Hikoichi had a crush on me, he arranged for him to interview me for the school paper, all sorts of things like that, hoping that something would develop between the two of us. Nothing did between Hikoichi and me but after that, well, Akira and I got together."

" See! That turned out well!" Sendo crowed victoriously.

" You originally meant to fix me up with Hikoichi, Akira-kun." Koshino pointed out, " Not with yourself. Admit it. Matchmaking just isn't your forte."

Sendo pouted. " I'll prove you wrong then! I'll make sure that Kaede-kun here-"

" What did I do to deserve getting pulled into this?"

" I'm doing this for your own good, Kae-chan!"

" You seem to have conveniently forgotten the fact that Hanamichi hates my guts."

Sendo pounced on that statement immediately. " But not the other way around, right? Right?"

Rukawa shrugged noncommittally. He really didn't care either way about anything. " He's cute when he gets angry."

" See! There's no problem then!" Sendo exclaimed, already running through several courses of action that he could take to draw the younger players together. " The two of you are perfect together!"

" Do me a favor, Sendo."

" Sure! What?"

" Don't try anything." Rukawa took one last sip of his drink before gathering his things and getting to his feet, " It's late. I should be getting home. See the two of you around, then?"

" For sure." After the younger boy had left, Koshino turned to his boyfriend once more and was surprised to see the little, conspiratorial smile still on his face. " You did hear what Rukawa said, didn't you?"

" Yes. I did."

" He said no meddling."

" I know."

" I think he was serious, Kira-chan." Koshino told him. He did not like the look on the spiky haired boy's face at all. " He really doesn't want you to try anything."

Sendo waved his hand dismissively. " He'll thank me for it later!"

" Look, Kira-chan. I love you." Sendo beamed at this and was about to say likewise when Koshino went on, " So I don't ever want to see you hurt. Listen to me. You are going to leave Hanamichi Sakuragi alone. Because if you don't, Rukawa will very likely murder you, regardless of past associations. And in that scenario, I'm afraid that I won't be able to stop him."

" Rukawa will be too happy with the results to think about anything like that!"

" I assure you that his reaction will be the exact opposite."

" Look. Why can't you just trust my judgment?"

There was an awkward pause. " Do I really have to answer that?"

Sendo chose to ignore this. " Don't you think Hanamichi and Rukawa would make the most perfect couple? After us, of course!"

Koshino sighed. " Is there really no way that I can convince you that this is a really bad idea?"

" I don't think so."

" You're determined to get those two together?"

" Uh-huh. Rukawa deserves to be happy."

Koshino shook his head, resigned to the fact that there was really nothing he could do to try and sway Sendo's decision. " Then good luck. You're going to need it."

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