Revised Version
by Garnet Alexandria
CHAPTER 1: Family Traditions
'School Again,' Rukawa sighed as he rode his bike to school one morning. He enjoyed the feeling as the cool wind caressed his skin, making him feel comfortable and free. He, then, thought of basketball instead of going to school. 'Why do I have to attend such a thing, anyway?' After riding his bike for a few more minutes, he finally reached Shohoku High. Suddenly... TOINK! He bumped into something then fell off his bike!
"ITAI!!!" an angry voice exclaimed. (author's note: the japanese translations are near the ending part of this story, in case you don't understand japanese..)
Surprisingly, the Rukawa Brigade popped our of nowhere and helped Rukawa. As the fangirls helped Rukawa, he noticed a young woman with long auburn locks who obviously fell on the ground, head first. It was Chiharu, one of the heartthrobs in school.
Finally, when Chiharu stood up, she cleaned the dirt off her, then glared at Rukawa. Everyone stared at her. Well, ofcourse, she was the first woman to ever glare at Mr. Kaede Rukawa. "What were you thinking, baka?! Your bike nearly squashed me!"
Rukawa stared at her blankly, and mumbled something like "Stupid lady, disturbing my sleep"
Hearing how rude the lady was towards their beloved Rukawa, the Rukawa Brigade commenced an argument with Chiharu. Rukawa, on the other hand, just shrugged then walked away with his bike.
Seeing this, Chiharu threw a book at Rukawa, but missed. "How dare you!" the leader of the fangirls exclaimed.
Rukawa turned to the lady then glared at her. "Get lost," he muttered.
When the lady was about to skin him alive, the bell rang. She gave Rukawa one last icy glare then dashed to her classroom. The Rukawa Brigade, on the other hand, approached Rukawa.
One of the fangirls asked, "Daijoubu desu ka, Rukawa-san?"
Another said, "That annoying freak!"
All they got was a blank expression. Then, Rukawa left and went straight to his classroom, as well.
~`~`~
Later, during lunch... "Haru-chan, I heard you finally met Rukawa this morning." a young woman with wavy, black hair told her red-headed bestfriend.
"Uh, yeah." The lady with auburn locks who turned out to be Chiharu, said dryly, remembering her unpleasant encounter with Rukawa.
"So, what do you think of him?"
Chiharu frowned. "A disgusting git who is very nonchalant. I heard he's a really handsome guy and all... but he's definitely not my type. He hit me with his bike, didn't say sorry... And... ugh... there was even dry saliva on his cheek!"
"How very untypical, of you. You, know I used to think that you two would make a cute couple..."
"Oh, puh-lease, Ayako! I don't like him and I never will. That's final."
"Fine," Ayako said, grinning widely.
"Oh, by the way, do you know where that baka hangs out?"
Ayako stared at Chiharu suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"
~`~`~
After asking Ayako for almost a hundred times, Chiharu finally found out that Rukawa usually hanged out in the school rooftop. When Chiharu went to the rooftop, she looked around and found out how nice it was to stay up there, looking up at the clear blue sky, and the bird's-eye view of the school buildings and plants below.
Lost at her thoughts, she suddenly remembered why she was there. When her eyes caught a sleeping figure at the corner, she immediately approached him. Chiharu lightly poked the sleeping figure on the shoulder, but got no response. So, she yanked Rukawa's hair... To her surprise, Rukawa punched her on the shoulder... hard.
"Itai!" she exclaimed, clutching her shoulder.
Chiharu glared at Rukawa but found out that he went back to sleep, once again. "Do'aho," she muttered, then finally left him alone.
~`~`~
During dismissal, when Rukawa went "home", he found his parents there, waiting for him.
"Ah, Kaede, anata! You're home... I missed you so much!" Mrs. Rukawa said, then flung her arms around Kaede. (author's note: I'll call him Kaede from now on to prevent confusion, okay?)
Kaede rarely sees his parents since they were always busy in their work, and because of that, they had the tendency to come home very late. Whenever he sees his parents at home, it usually means something important was about to happen.
After Kaede was released, he glared at his parents, then asked coldly, "Why are you here so early?"
"We're expecting visitors. You better change now." Mr. Rukawa ordered.
Kaede turned to his father and protested, "Your visitors have nothing to do with me."
Mr. Rukawa's blank face turned into a scowl. "You better do what I said, young man. The visitor's we're expecting has something to do with you."
Kaede wanted to argue more, but he knew that arguing with his father was useless. Thence, Kaede forcefully obeyed.
A while later, a black van stopped in front of the Rukawa Manor and out came three wealthy looking people: a man, a woman, and a young lady about Kaede's age.
"But, otousama... I don't even know him!" the young lady whined.
The man, obviously her father, just smiled.
As the visitors were led inside,
Kaede was dragged by his parents to greet the visitors. "Kimizawa-san,
Hisashiburi!
This is Kaede, my son." Mr.
Rukawa said, placing his arms around
Kaede's shoulder.
Mr. Kimizawa smiled at Kaede. "Ah, Kaede... What a good looking young man. This is my daughter, Chiharu."
With that, Mr. Rukawa and Mr. Roji smiled at each other. Mr. Rukawa then announced, "Son, meet Chiharu... the woman engaged to you."
The parents all turned to Kaede to see his response... but all they got was a blank expression. ^_^;
At the same time, Kaede and Chiharu looked at each other. "YOU?!" Chiharu suddenly exclaimed. Uh, oh... it turned out Chiharu was the lady Kaede had an argument with, that morning.
"What's the matter, sweetie?" Mrs. Kimizawa asked her.
Chiharu could only glare at Kaede. "You're the one from school a while ago! The one that nearly squashed me with that d*mn bike!"
Kaede retorted, "You were blocking my way."
"As if I would know if I were blocking your way. I was ahead of you, you moron!"
Kaede was about to argue back but he decided to keep quiet when Mrs. Rukawa spoke. "So, you two already know each other, huh? That's nice! In a few more days, you two will get along just fine."
Chiharu muttered, "Over my dead body."
~`~`~
The next morning, in the school grounds, Chiharu managed to kick Kaede off his bike as "revenge" for what he did to her the other day. Unfortunately, the Rukawa Brigade saw what she did to their Rukawa so what they did was "shower her with kicks". Kaede, on the other hand, got away, once again...
That afternoon, Ayako dragged Chiharu to watch Shohoku Basketball team practice. "Good, they're in high spirits! So, i'll leave you here for a moment. I still have to train Sakuragi."
But Chiharu wasn't listening. She was staring at the players, her eyes wide in shock. "This is basketball? Look... look at the players. So sweaty... disgusting!" Chiharu exclaimed, then turned to leave.
"Oh, come on, Chiharu. How can you play sports without sweating?"
Sakuragi, who happened to hear what Chiharu said, suddenly appeared in front of Chiharu. "I heard about what you said about us players. Look at that kitsune. He sweats the most. Don't compare us with that kitsune." After a moment, he added, "He's low class,"
Chiharu raised an eyebrow and looked at him like was was some sort of weirdo of something... "I don't care. Now get out of my way! I don't like it here..." And with that, Chiharu walked out of the gym, looking so disgusted.
~`~`~
During dismissal, Chiharu peeked in the Basketball gym... and unfortunately, when she opened the door, Kaede did a dunk... and the ball... well, it hit Chiharu's face.. X_X
Instead of saying sorry, Kaede glared at Chiharu and asked her, "What are you doing here?"
Chiharu glared back. Ignoring her question, she snapped, "Aren't you going to say sorry?!"
"Iie." He replied, coolly, grabbing his ball from Chiharu. Then, he added, "Why would I?" Kaede aimed for a shot, but to his surprise (yes, he was surprised, he's not really an expressionless person, you know!), Chiharu angrily grabbed the ball from him and dribbled towards the other basket. Kaede would hate to admit it, but Chiharu knows and can do the basics of Basketball really well.
"Hmm... not bad, Haru-chan!" Ayako cheered. Oh yeah, Ayako was there... and so was Sakuragi. Well, Ayako teaches Sakuragi the basic way of dribbling, every dismissal, right?
Meanwhile, Chiharu made an attempt to do a feint, but she was just too predictable, so Kaede successfully stole the ball from her. Hence, Chiharu chased Rukawa towards the other basket, but suddenly stopped when she noticed something glittery around Kaede. Kaede, on the other hand, dunked the ball, once again, since Chiharu wasn't defending. More glittering thingy flew around Kaede. Chiharu could only gape at him.
"Nanda to?" Kaede asked, annoyed by the way Chiharu was gaping at him.
"I'm outta here," was all Chiharu said, as she made her way towards the door.
Ayako, turned to her and asked, "What's the matter, Chiharu? You were doing just fine."
Chiharu turned to Ayako, and frowned. "Sweat, Ayako. I hate sweat... You know that." she paused for a moment, then continued. "And that... baka over there, seems to be sweating gallons already."
Ayako grinned. "Oh... that 'baka over there'. Right..."
Chiharu rolled her eyes and told her, "I'm going."
Kaede, who was watching them could only say one thing, "Do'aho."
~To be continued~
**DISCLAIMER** I do not own Slam Dunk or any Slam Dunk characters in this fanfiction. They are property of Inoue Takehiko. But I own Chiharu, Chiharu's parents and Kaede's parents! =P
Author's Notes: Was the story going too fast? Oh well, I know this story sucks... but the original one was so much worst. So, I need to know what you think of this story. I doesn't matter if it is a positive or a negative comment. As long as it would help me make this fanfic a better one. And about the second chapter, I promise it would be better than this one, and not to mention, longer! So please review this fanfic! Thank you...
Note about Ayako and Chiharu:
Yes, they're bestfriends, but to
prevent confusion, keep in mind that Ayako is a Sophomore and that Chiharu
is a freshman, okeydokey?
Original Characters: (a/n:
forgive me for putting this here, but I have to, to prevent spoilers)
Kimizawa Chiharu - a red-headed
girl who is one of the heartthrobs in school; she is engaged to Kaede Rukawa
because of family traditions
Mr and Mrs Kimizawa - Parents of
Chiharu, long-time friends of Mr. Rukawa
Mr and Mrs Rukawa - Parents of Kaede
Rukawa
Translations: (Japanese-English)
anata = darling
baka = idiot
-chan = added to the end of a female's
name
daijoubu desu ka? = are you alright?
do'aho = big fool / big idiot
gomen = sorry
hisashiburi = long time no see
itai = ouch
-kun = added to the end of a male's
name
nanda to? = what is it?
otousama = dad, daddy; used by wealthy
persons
-san = added to the end of a person's
surname; added to the end of a person not-so-close to you