Just a little shot for Ryota and Aya-chan, my favourite Slam Dunk couple. I kind of wanted to write an actual story rather than just these little drabble-ish vignettes, but maybe later, right?
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is not owned by me, but rather by the incomparable Takehiko Inoue.
Enjoy!
About Ayako
1.
Her curls.
They were the very first thing he noticed about her, when he first came face-to-face with her in the hallway as a freshman. Ayako's curls are that delicious colour of rich, dark chocolate, and no matter how she tames them they're always wild. They bounce when she walks, sway when she turns her head, float when she stands in the wind, and he watches them, hypnotized.
Her curls are just like she is – energetic and so, so alive.
2.
Her optimism.
Somehow her voice always pierces through all the others on the bench or in a crowd when she calls out "Go Shohoku!". Even if he's on the opposite side of the gym, her encouragement carries over to him, filling him up to overflowing, giving him what it takes. When she's down, the world sinks; but she's never down, and when she's up, like she always is, the earth is just a little closer to heaven.
Her optimism does what she does - puts him at his best.
3.
Her lips.
She speaks, she breathes, she smiles – her lips do all that, and they make those mundane actions amazing. They're deep red, a perfect elongated M shape, and they suit her bold face exactly. Their movement arrests him, makes him feel weird and embarrassed and so wonderful. He does anything and everything to render them active – to get her to talk to him, to smile at him, to show them grow and blossom across her cheeks.
Her lips remind him of what he's already aware of - that he wants to kiss her.
4.
Her style.
She looks good in a skirt – he can see that very clearly every day at school – but she never wears one elsewhere. She'll walk into the gym in her T-shirts and baggy sweatpants or shorts, looking her most comfortable and in his opinion, her best. That backwards baseball cap sits on top of her head like it belongs there, and he wants to go and give it a tug just so that she'll turn and look at him, pay attention to him, maybe even laugh. She doesn't look boyish in her loose, athletic clothes – she doesn't look tomboyish either. She just looks beautiful.
Her style tells him what he'd like to tell her – that he wants her just as she is.
5.
Her skills.
He can't see himself ever having a serious relationship with anyone who doesn't like basketball, but she goes one better than that: she plays basketball. She doesn't play on the girls' team, but he won't fault her for that; as long as she's with the boys' team, she's with him. But even if she does prefer to be an observer, she knows all the moves like the back of her hand, and can pull most of them off too. He sees her teaching Sakuragi, pounding that fundamental formation into his thick skull, and he's proud of her. She's not his – not yet – but in the meantime, he's proud to be on her side.
Her skills prove what he's believed all along – that she's unbeatable.
6.
Her spunk.
She's not a "bad girl" – he'd punch anyone who said she was – but she's not one of those flawless good girls either. She can keep her mouth shut but she speaks up when it matters. She can bop Sakuragi over the head with a newspaper when he deserves it, and what's more, she can make him stand there and take it. She knows when to pick a fight, when to join one, when to stop one, and when to simply stay out of one. She tells him that he should learn that too, and maybe he would, except he keeps hoping that she'll always be there to straighten him out when he goes wrong. But then, maybe he'll learn it anyway, just to make her happy.
Her spunk still attracts him now like it did then – the day he met her.
7.
Ayako.
He has liked her since the beginning of high school, but it feels like forever. Like turning to love has made that time so much longer, yet at the same time it makes all the moments with her pass by quicker, as she flies past him at rocket speed, leaving a blur in his eyes and a trail of bursting clouds in his heart. He wants to always do this, to always go to the gym after school and see her there in her shorts and cap, long curls spilling over her forehead, hugging that basketball, whistle to her lips. Coax a smile out of her, earn himself a wink, catch a glimpse of laughter, hear her cheer. She's Ayako. He dares to hope that someday she'll be his Ayako.
One second spent with her tells him all he needs to know for the rest of his life – that she's the only one for him.