Words in Italic Bold: What the silly characters are thinking. If you're confused bout the whole thing, just note that each paragraph focuses on a certain person's point of view.

Words in " ": The character's speech

Hey everyone! I decided something must be done if Rukawa is to have a girlfriend. But he mustn't go ooc! So I decided… And this is the result. Only Love Sets You Free Chapter One: Memories & Shohoku

Words in Italic Bold: What the silly characters are thinking. If you're confused bout the whole thing, just note that each paragraph focuses on a certain person's point of view.

Words in " ": The character's speech

Shioko sat on her bed, inspecting her wounds. Given to her by her dad. That fool. Ever since her mother died, he had been treating her that way. Her brother, Takeshi wasn't much help at all. He didn't exactly dislike her, but he didn't exactly like her.

"Why do you hate her so much? I know you wanted a boy. But you already have one. Besides, she's a good girl." Her mother said, not knowing that Shioko was standing at the doorway. "I wanted a boy. Forget it. She's a waste of my money." Her father replied, and he saw her. "GO TO BED SHIOKO. IT'S PAST YOUR BED TIME." He said loudly.

Her mother turned and gasped. The nine year old turned and ran to her room. Her father hated her? She never thought he hated her. That night, she cried herself to sleep. Six years passed, and her mother died of a disease. She became her dad's beanbag and stuffed toy.

What she didn't know was that her father loved to see her in pain. Her father was a sadist. When she found that out, she knew what to do. She would tolerate all his crap.

She rubbed some ointment onto the wound on her thigh. Stupid. Hurts. Damn. Idiot. She got up and drew the curtains. Tomorrow she would be starting school at Shohoku. Her father decided to transfer her from Shoyo to Shohoku, saying she was too stupid for Shoyo. But she didn't care.

Perhaps the only reason she hadn't killed herself was that she had dreams of being a great basketball player. She loved basketball and had been one of the starting members of the almighty Shoyo Girls' Basketball. She wasn't very sociable, and never really hung out.

She was wondered if Shohoku had a basketball team for girls. She knew the boys' team was strong, and managed to get into the Inter high, along with Kainan Dai.

"Shioko Toume. Represented Shoyo in the basketball girls' team. Straight As student." The principal smiled at her, and pushed his glasses up. Shioko looked at him. "Let me bring you to your class." He got up, and escorted her to 1-1, the best class.

"Tokuno. This is Shioko, the new girl from Shoyo." The principal told the sensei in the class. "Ah, Shioko. Come in. Class, this is Shioko Toume. Would you like to tell us more about yourself?" The sensei asked her. Everyone started to whisper. She shook her head. "Alright then, you may sit over there." He pointed to the chair beside the window. She strode to her sit and sat down.

The girl beside her smiled. "Hi Shioko, I'm Chika Shie." Shioko glanced at her and nodded curtly. She took out her Math textbook and started to doodle on it as the teacher taught. The lunch bell rang, and a whole group of people gathered around her table.

"Hi Shioko!" The girls said. "Where are you from?" "Shoyo." She answered without looking up from the book she was reading. "Do you know Fujima? He's so cute!" "No! Hanagata is cuter!" Shioko stared at them and nodded.

She knew Fujima. He was a good guy. He would stay after the boys training to train. Sometimes, when she felt like going home late, she would stay in the gym and practice shooting. That was how he knew her. He had small talks with her, and taught her loads of stuff. Yesterday, he took off the friend ship band that hung on his shoe bag and gave it to her, saying he would miss her. She knew she would miss him too, but she was too haughty to admit that.

The girls started to squeal. "Honto?!" She nodded again. "Can you tell him he's really cute? I love him!" One of the girls squealed. Shioko started to get irritated. "He has a girlfriend already." Crazy girls. What's with Kenji? Ok, he's nice and cute. Forget it.

"Are you his girlfriend?" One of them asked incredulously. "No..." "Oh. Do you know Hanagata?" Shioko nodded. Hanagata would wait for Fujima sometimes, and he would smile at her. Sometimes, he would teach her certain defense moves and techniques. "Lucky girl!" The girls started to squeal again.

"How do you know them?" A girl with two pigtails asked her. "Basketball." Shioko said. "You play basketball?" "Are you good?" "Will you join the Shohoku Girls Team?"

Blah, blah, blah. Shut up! Freaks. Mad dogs. You guys are driving me crazy! Shioko was becoming more annoyed by the second, and the girls' voices buzzed around her head like an annoying bee.

Later that day, she found out the Girls' basketball was just an ordinary team. They had never been to the Inter high before. She joined their practice, and noticed that most of them weren't very good. There were a few good ones, which could improve with tougher training.

But one of the girls caught her eye. She could defend well, and was a great jumper. She had speed and a precise timing, and her balls were hard and fast. And the fact that that girl looked familiar to Shioko, like she had seen her somewhere before.

"Shioko, tell me what you think of the team." Her coach asked her. "Alright. Its not bad..." Shioko replied. Her coach nodded. "They need more training."

"I see… Would you like to join the team then?"

Shioko nodded.

How was that for the first chapter? Please review!