BUYING SMILES
originally published 03-08-07
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"Go away!"
Sendoh hid a smirk as he promptly caught the ball passed to him. He sneaked a peek to the young man watching by the door. "You heard him, Rukawa. Why don't you run off before Koshino throws the ball to your face?" As if taunting him, Sendoh passed the ball to Koshino.
Rukawa watched as Koshino gripped the ball tightly, his face painted with murderous intent. Thinking about his own behalf, Rukawa decided to leave. He slunk away from the gym door and walked away. He heard Koshino yelling after him, warning him not to watch their practice ever again. Just like every other day.
The number one ace of Shohoku was feeling down. He sighed as he removed the chain and lock from his bicycle and mounted it. Everytime he went watching Ryonan's practices, he was always driven away, and quite violently at that. He did not go there to spy on them, everyone knew that. Heck even their coach knew that. But somehow, Koshino would always throw something at him and shout to kick him out of the gym.
That was a bit depressing, Rukawa thought.
He merely wanted to watch. The passion, the excitement, the shouts, the smiles, the sweat. Rukawa did not want to miss any of those. Even though he experienced it, too, when he was the one on court, watching Ryonan's was different.
Koshino was there.
Ryonan's number 6 was a man of passion. He rarely smiled, his face always scrunched up to a frown even though he was not playing basketball. He always looked so annoyed and stressed even though he and Rukawa were merely eating ice cream in a nearby parlor. He would always be worried that someone might see them.
Sometimes, Rukawa wondered what was the real reason why Koshino agreed to go out with him. He was not being a substitute for Sendoh, right? He knew from the start that Koshino had issues with his nemesis, but he ignored it. Besides, Koshino seemed serious about them. That guy would never miss an opportunity to ask Rukawa if he had eaten, or if he had gotten enough rest (even though Koshino need not worry about that aspect). He would also send Rukawa lots of e-mails through the cellphone, each ending with a smiley.
Rukawa was happy. But sometimes he just wished Koshino would smile like the smilies in his e-mail.
Although he himself was not an often smiling face, Rukawa found watching Koshino smiling a treat. But the young man would not treat him to such pleasure. The only time Rukawa found Koshino smiling -- almost smirking slightly -- was during their practices, especially after doing a particularly nifty three-pointer and looking at his underclassmen's awe. That was why Rukawa made it a point to watch Ryonan's practices: to see that smile Koshino was too selfish to share.
It was stupid. Koshino would probably say that to his face when Rukawa told him the real reason he was always watching their practices. The Ryonan player would probably not believe him. After all, Rukawa was someone who wasn't good in conveying his emotions. But even though he was expressionless, it didn't mean Rukawa had no ability to yearn for anything or feel anything. And at this time, he wanted to see Koshino's bright smile; that kind of smile that gave him inspiration. He wanted to see Koshino smile happily, even for once, just before he went to Shohoku's game against Kainan.
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***
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"Oi, Kitsune! Get your ass off that bench and start warming up!"
Rukawa made a face as Sakuragi gave him a kick to the shin. He slowly got up from the bench and looked around. Kainan was on the other side of the court, with one of their players (that monkey-boy Kiyota) snickering while checking out Shohoku's side. Rukawa narrowed his eyes. He was bored and he hoped the game would start soon.
The past week had been a little near hellish for him. He tried everything to make Koshino smile to show how happy he was. He had brought flowers during one of the Ryonan practices, but Koshino threw the bouquet back to him and shouted obscenities Rukawa usually heard from Sakuragi. He then decided that Koshino hated flowers -- red roses to be exact.
He then brought cake in hopes of pacifying the rather hot-tempered player, but he ended up making Sendoh angry because he and Koshino made such a mess in the locker room (the lockers ended up smeared with icing as he realized Koshino had amazing throwing powers). The cake was murdered until it was inedible, and Rukawa had sweet-smelling hair with streaks of icing when he finally thought of going home.
After two days, Rukawa invited Koshino over to for a movie night since his parents aren't home. Koshino agreed and seemed to be excited. Halfway through the movie, though, Rukawa felt really drowsy and his eyes became heavy. When he woke up, the movie was already over and Koshino had long gone home. It was morning already, after all.
Sendoh and the rest of the Ryonan team were already pointing out how wooing seemed to be out of Rukawa's league...and ability.
Rukawa decided he should stop listening to Mitsui's and Miyagi's advices. No wonder they were sniggering like crazy when they talked to him about wooing.
He looked up and saw the whole Ryonan team seated on the third row bleachers. Koshino was, as usual, scowling. Rukawa was just glad Koshino was not scowling at him, but rather to the monkey-boy in the other team. If looks could kill, the poor guy would have dropped down dead and been buried.
The buzzer signified the start of the game and Rukawa took his position with the team, his usual calm facade set on his face. Inside though, he was regretting annoying Koshino the week before. Now the young man would smile even less.
Sakuragi was the jumper today. He managed to tap the ball with his fingertips and throw it towards their court. Rukawa quickly backed him up and received the ball, dribbling and running towards the goal as fast as he could, ignoring his teammates calls to make him pass the ball.
He was not allowed to go beyond the three-point line. Maki himself was guarding Rukawa like a hawk. The rest of the team were also shielded quite effectively, and the monkey-boy was blabbering again with Sakuragi. It was getting annoying, and since Rukawa had been annoyed with himself from the start, this made matters worse.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself and not go towards the monkeys and kick them off, Rukawa poised for a three-point shot. Akagi was shouting at him. It was not the time for a three-pointer since the game barely started. But Rukawa knew better than to listen.
The ball left his hands and gracefully made an arc over the court. It went through the goal neatly, earning them their first points. Rukawa clenched his fists and the crowd roared.
As he ran, he looked up and caught a glimpse of the Ryonan team sitting on the bleachers. He paused.
Koshino was wearing the widest smile he had ever shown. And it was not a smirk or anything malicious. It was a smile that showed pride. He was not shouting like the other people rooting for Rukawa, but his smile was worth every encouragement Rukawa needed.
With his own little smile playing on his lips, Rukawa realized he need not be pompous or corny or aggressive to buy Koshino's smile.
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He just had to win.
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END