**Tabula Rasa was taken from Buffy The vampire Slayers series, I didn't invent it either. That's it. I wan't to dedicate this fiction to my brother ^^ who is a BIG Buffy fan and thanks to whom I watched the Tabula Rasa chapter. Gu I love you~~~~!!!
Tabula Rasa [yaoi/ HanaRu-RuHana w/MitKo (s.story) MitHaru (lil'bit)]Slam Dunk Fanfiction by Yumi Rukawa
Part One
Friday afternoon, Shohoku's gym:
"Minna!!" Ayako called her guys, at the end of an every-day training; "I've got great news for us today!!"
Everybody gathered around the pretty manageress. It was a new year at Shohoku. Akagi and Kogure had gone to university already, and Ryota was the new chosen captain (much to Hanamichi's dread). However, the red head hadn't entered the team yet, due to his column problem. Mitsui? He still had some time to go to leave school, as he hadn't done so well on the final exams…
"Listen, minna, I've heard from Haruko-chan that Hanamichi Sakuragi will be joining the team very soon, so I thought we could maybe organize something to celebrate, what do you think??"
"Party! All right!" Mitsui said, enthusiastically, "I know a friend that owns a bar where--"
"No way, senpai, Hanamichi has just had a very serious problem on the back, we're gonna keep it light, OK??"
"Okok, whatever…"
"Hey, what about going to that new roller coaster thingy that opened last month over here??" Ryota suggested. (They said they wanted to keep it light…?)
"You mean the Fun park?"
"Ya, kindda. I think Hanamichi'll like it"
"That doahou…"
"It ain't a bad idea… OK, so I'll ask Haruko-chan to tell him. What about this Saturday? It'll be great if we could ALL go. That includes you… Rukawa-kun"
"…whatever…"
"It's settled, then. Saturday at 11, at the door. Don't miss it, ok?!"
"Ok, team. End of today's training, go home" Ryota concluded, and with that everybody went home, except Rukawa, as Ayako called him for a word before he disappeared.
"Rukawa-kun, do be good to Hanamichi tomorrow, please? I mean, I know I can't actually keep you two from arguing like babies, but just try to be easy on him, k?"
Rukawa just stared blankly. 'Arguing like babies'?? He surely wasn't the baby of the duo, it was that darned doahou the one who kept opening his mouth no question.
"Ok, whatever" he repeated, as if he couldn't care less. However, he was kindda excited Hanamichi was rejoining the team. Everything had turned so boring since he wasn't there; the newcomers where dumb and useless, no point in bothering them. And Mitsui and Miyagi were out of question, as well as Yasuda, Shiozaki and Co. It had to be Hanamichi.
"Ok, go home. But I have your word you will be there, right? Hanamichi will just freak out when he sees you there, he he he" she laughed, to Rukawa's surprise. What is going on with this lady?! With that, he went home.
On the way home, he really though a great deal about the red headed doahou. When was the last time he had seen him? Someday back on the beach, yap. He remembered the face he had pulled when he showed him the Japan T-shirt he had won. Of course back then Hanamichi had said he had let Rukawa win, adding he was a tensai. That stupid baka, he could be so annoying if he really ment to. Whatever Ayako wanted him to go to this fun park, anyway? 'Damned women, they're all freaks, now I know what keeps me from getting a girlfriend…' he thought.
************
At Sakuragi's
*the phone is ringing*
"Mom!! Answer the phone, I'm upstairs!!"
Nobody answered, but the phone kept on ringing like crazy.
"Dammit! MOM!"
No answer again, and Hanamichi had to rush downstairs to get the call.
"Moshi moshi…" he answered, roughly.
"Sakuragi-kun??"
The voice on the other side of the line sounded sweet and girly-like. Hanamichi immediately recognized it and went into 'I'm-so-in-love-mode', little hearts spreading about him everywhere.
"Haruko-san!!" he smiled.
"Genki desu ka, Sakuragi-kun? I've told the team you'll be coming back soon and we have decided to go somewhere with you to celebrate, what do you think?"
"Great, oh, Haruko-san, you are so good!!" he said, staring at the imaginary Haruko that had appeared on the wall. This meant he could probably spend some time alone with his Haruko-san, without that stupid kitsune near to ruin everything, "So, when and were?"
"Um, we thought about the new fun park. Ayako said it would be a good idea, and I thought it would be nice of the whole team to agree. And, oh, the time is Saturday, at 11 am".
"Whatever you say, Haruko-san… wait, what do you mean the whole team?? Don't tell me kitsune otoko will go too?!"
"Yes, everybody!"
Hanamichi's hopes of an evening alone with Haruko-san faded away unhappily as some tears begun coming down his cheeks. WHY?! Why did that stupid fox always had to be around him no matter what, when or how?! Was he that bad heaven had to punish him in that way?!
"Ok, Haruko-san. I'll be there" he concluded, giving up. Maybe it was just destiny, but off course a tensai like him wouldn't have to bother for minor problems like Rukawa. He would manage to get the kitsune out of the way anyhow.
But just like that Hanamichi couldn't get his mind off Rukawa the whole afternoon, no matter how hard he tried. He kindda missed the kitsune, even though he wouldn't notice, or at least wouldn't want to notice, not even if his life depended on it.
Saturday arrived soon. It was a fair and good day. Sun shone, birds sung, everything was just perfect.
At Ayako's, 10 am
Haruko had stayed at the manageress for the night, as their plan of receiving Sakuragi went further than a simple day at the fun park. They would do him a really really BIG favor; make him friend of Rukawa.
"Um… are you sure this will be OK, Ayako-san?" asked Haruko, shyly. The two girls were in front of Ayako's chimney, a little 'special' fire burning in it.
"Off course, don't worry, Haruko. After I work my magic on this two guys, they'll act as if they had been friends all of their lives. It will be a great advantage for the team, you know? You saw what it was like at the match with Sannoh… they're such a powerful combination, but the fact they hate each other doesn't really help at all… pass me the Bramble flowers, please."
Ayako actually had some magic knowledge, as one of her aunts was a real witch (well, who knows!). Haruko couldn't believe it the first time she heard it, but when Ayako showed her what kind of stuff she kept in her kitchen, Haruko totally bought it.
The small girl passed the flowers.
"So what are these for, anyway?"
"I'm casting a spell on those two, I told you. If this works, they'll forget they hate each other and be friends. Here, pass me that crystal and place those flowers over the fire… you ready?"
Haruko nodded while she placed a small cherry tree flower and a mapple tree leave in the fire (in case you haven't noticed, 'Sakuragi' means 'cherry tree' and 'Kaede' 'Mapple tree').
"To Sakuragi-kun and Rukawa-kun" Haruko said.
"Ok, here we go," Ayako said. She took hold of the crystal and put the Bramble flowers together with the other things in the fire, while she chanted:
For Hanamichi and Kaede this I char,
Lethe's Bramble do its chore.
Purge their minds of memories grim
Of pains from recent slights and sins…
When the fire goes out,
When the crystal turns black,
The spell will be cast.
Tabula rasa,
Tabula rasa,
Tabula rasa.
The fire turned slightly green and then made a little explosion, burning the leaves and flowers rapidly.
"That should do. Now I must take this crystal with me and when they are left alone…"
"Wait, what do you mean, alone?"
"Well, alone. The two of them, nobody around… you know, alone. Never mind, I've already spoken this with Ryota and Mitsui, and they agreed to help. Now let's get going or we'll miss the bus, come on!"
They rushed to get their stuff, but they couldn't notice a little spark from the green fire getting out of the chimney, right into the little bag where they kept the sakura flowers and maple tree leaves they had gathered, burning the whole of them.
Fun park's entrance, 10:50The whole team was already there; even Akagi and Kogure had come. Hanamichi had arrived first, together with Ryota and Mitsui. Everybody was congratulating a very happy Hana who was wearing a big tensai smile on his face. Only Rukawa was missing.
That baka, Hanamichi thought. He was probably doing this on purpose just to bother him.
Ayako grunted. That kid had promised he would go.
"Don't put that face, Aya-chan. He probably fell asleep or something. You know that guy" said Ryota.
"I'll kill him if he misses this, I SWEAR!".
"Don't, here he comes" pointed Mitsui. Everybody turned their faces towards a small bicycle approaching the place. There he was, Kaede Rukawa. Half asleep but looking kind of on a hurry.
"I'm… I'm sorry, I think I ran over somebody on my way here…big problem…" he apologized when he came near Ayako. She was the only person he ever said 'sorry' to. Ayako didn't hear, anyway, she was too amazed staring at how Rukawa had dressed himself that day. And she had a good reason too; Rukawa just looked gorgeous in his black jeans and the blue shirt over his raven turtle-neck T-shirt. Hanamichi wasn't very pleased with her and Haruko staring at him like idiots, though.
"What's with the clothes, we ain't going to a party, you know? And I don't reckon Smiley is anyway near, in case you hoped you would see him here…" he provoked.
Rukawa gave Hanamichi a freezing glare.
"Your clothes sucking doesn't mean mine also have to" he stated, plainly.
Hanamichi freaked off, as Rukawa had predicted. Mitsui and Ryota caught him before he could do anything.
"TEME~~~~E KITSUNE!!!" he raged.
*STUNK!* Hanamichi backed off with a very painful Gori punch on his head.
"Let's go, you baka" Akagi said, and they all entered.
**************
First thing they did was look for a map or something, as there were a lot of attractions and they didn't want to miss them, so they planned their day there. Ayako, Kogure and Akagi were dealing with this, while Rukawa and Hanamichi kept on arguing and Mitsui discussed with Ryota the best way of leaving them alone. The other members were over there too (yeah, lets just suppose they were having fun, ok?).
"I say lets get them together on some roller coaster…"
"That things go too fast. Aya-chan's spell won't work there"
"Hm, I don't think they'll agree on getting together on the tunnel of love…"
"Maybe we should just lock them in the bathroom"
"Nyeh he he, I'd pay to see them locked up alone in a bathroom!"
"Mitsui, please, focus!!"
"Ok, I'm sorry… what about the mirror house? It's big, they'll get lost in there… they'll have to figure a way out and they can become friends in no time" Mitsui smiled, though his head was still on some Superdeformed Hana and Ru fighting in the bathroom.
"Hmm… it's not a bad idea… That will be then… but how--"
"Easy, we'll make groups of two, I'll go with Kogure, you can go with Ayako and Akagi won't let his beloved sister go with any of the other two freaks, so…" he added, matter-of-factly.
"But what if Haruko asks Rukawa first?"
"You really think Rukawa will accept??"
"It's settled then, I'll tell Aya-chan" Ryota grinned. The only idea sounded so fun he wouldn't miss the chance of seeing the two guys actually trying to be friends with each other.
While they talked, Ru and Hana were obviously throwing daggers at each other. Hana had made a stupid comment to Haruko and Rukawa couldn't help a little 'doahou' escape from his lips, to which Hana threw a very audible 'goddamed kitsune!' and then they got into a catfight again. Haruko was getting rather nervous but she dared not get involved.
"Why did you have to come, anyway?! This is my welcome celebration, you don't need to be here as I don't like you at all, kitsune!"
"The only reason I came is Ayako asked me to, doahou"
"Well, nobody wants you here, asshole, go home!"
"Make me go if you dare, freak"
"Grr! Rukawa!!!". For some reason, today they were arguing higher and a lot more than usually. Maybe it was the fact it's been a lot since the last time they saw each other, but they surely were getting on everybody's nerves. Especially the gorilla's.
"Doahou" he repeated, and turned around, moving towards a little fountain over there. Just then Hanamichi though he had this wonderful idea… as he saw the kitsune sit down at one of the borders, turning his back at him.
Meanwhile, Ayako had already finished organizing the day.
"Ok, team! Listen, this is what--"
She was interrupted by a *SPLASH* sound, and a very confused Rukawa falling into the fountain, thanks to the fast red head that managed to push the kitsune into the fountain and avoid falling with him into the water.
"NYA~~~~~~HAHAHAHA!!!!" he laughed, while Rukawa coughed and swore from the water and tried to get out the fountain, "I'm sorry, I think I tripped with something, nyahahahahaha!!!"
That was it, Hanamichi had really reached Rukawa's patience limit; he was fed up and had had enough. A very wet and upset Rukawa stood up from the water and looked at Hanamichi, death in his eyes. If looks could kill, Hanamichi would have been six foot underground by then.
"What? I said I tripped, I'm sorry" Hanamichi defended himself, pulling a very fake innocent face, tensai smile on his lips. Rukawa gave him the worst glare he had even given anyone, breathing hardly. You will suffer, doahou, I will take my revenge, he thought, but not now. After all, he had promised Ayako.
Next thing Hana knew, Ayako's paper fan was on his head, together with one of Gori's fists.
At the bathroom, 5 minutes later
Rukawa was trying to get himself dry. His hands were trembling and he suddenly felt like bursting to tears. Why was the doahou treating him like that, all of a sudden? I mean, they had never gotten along very well, but today Hanamichi had really made him feel insulted. It had been so much since the last time they had seen each other, yet Rukawa couldn't think of any other reason the red head could have to treat him like that. He hadn't done anything bad, that he new.
He looked at himself in the mirror and saw a little tear run down his cheek.
A tear.
It had been many years since the last time he had cried, and now he was feeling the urgent need to do it though his cold heart couldn't understand why.
A slamming-door sound instantly woke him up from his day dreaming and he wiped the tear away, impulsively.
"Rukawa-kun, are you OK?"
"I'll be there in a minute, Ayako-san" he said in his typical monotony. He took in a deep breath, and fixing his wet hair (well, at least he tried) he went with his other teammates.
Outside, somewhere in the park"So, this is the plan. We'll try to be organized so we don't get messed up, ok? This is a big place and if anybody gets lost we shall meet by the bathrooms at 5. Ok, first thing we'll do is get in pairs, and we'll remain with that person the whole day, in case anything happens."
Hanamichi though this could be a *really* good opportunity to be alone with Haruko-san, but he missed Ayako winking at Mitsui, making sure this wouldn't happen. It had already been arranged. Haruko would go with Akagi, Ayako with Ryota, Mitsui with Kogure and so on…
However, Rukawa had other things on his mind. He went towards were Ayako, Mitsui and Haruko were, and towards were Hanamichi was also going. They both stopped at the same time near Haruko. Hanamichi wondered what did the kitsune wanted there, but he didn't really appreciate the answer he got.
"Haruko-chan", Rukawa started, giving Hanamichi a very (and I mean *very*) evil look, "Would you like to come with ME??"
Haruko froze. Hanamichi froze. Mitsui froze too and Ayako started to panic. No way! Sakuragi Hanamichi and Rukawa Kaede HAD to be the ones together! Mitsui tried to think quickly, but the only answer coming to his mind ment he would also loose the opportunity to spend the afternoon with *his* four eyed boy.
Ayako, I'm doing this for you, he though, and closing his eyes he put one hand over Haruko's shoulder.
"She is coming with me" he said, stiffly, much to Rukawa's amazement. Haruko could only nod, beet red, encouraged by Ayako.
"What?!!" Hanamichi yelled, "No way!! You go with Ryochin or Megane-kun, I want to go with Haruko-san!!"
"Go get yourself another person, Haruko is going with me, boy"
Hanamichi looked at Ayako broken-hearted, pleading with his eyes, but she just shook her head.
"It's been decided, Hanamichi Sakuragi"
"You come with me then" he insisted. He feared the worst...
"Um, I'm with… Kogure-senpai" she lied, "And Ryota is going with Akagi-senpai, so, um, I guess you're left with Rukawa-kun…?"
A deep, heavy silence fell over the two Shohoku boys.
"WHAT?!! THAT'S INSANE!!!"
"…….yare yare, I'm getting the hell outta here…!"
**************
12 am, House of Mirrors
Somehow Ayako had managed to make Hanamichi and Rukawa stay in the park and cooperate (after all she was a witch), though she felt rather bad about it as it was Hana's welcome-day and he wasn't enjoying it at all. And Rukawa looked so miserable to her eyes… However, everything would change as from then. It was just a little sacrifice.
Hanamichi and Rukawa were made to enter first to the House of Mirrors, much against their will, followed by Ayako and Kogure and Mitsui and Haruko. Akagi and Ryota waited outside. There was almost nobody inside this house, and it was big enough to let the two freshmen get lost easily. The manageress took out the crystal she had on her pocket. It was just about time, and holding it tight in her hands, she repeated:
Tabula rasa,
Tabula rasa,
Tabula rasa.
Then the crystal turned black and the spell was cast.
Both the fox and the red head were walking silently among the mirrors when they started feeling dizzy and light on the head. Rukawa started shivering, for he was still kindda wet. They hadn't spoken a word since then, and Hanamichi was starting to feel some kind of pity for the kitsune, as he had yelled him strong words he hadn't really meant. He didn't actually hate the fox, it just was that everything was so easy to him; he had Haruko-san's love, the National Junior team's attention and his back was in perfect state. And all this taking to consideration he wasn't that good person. Hanamichi had to face so many troubles to get into the team and what for? So that Rukawa ended with the honors and him with a very painful spine treatment that disabled him from both playing basketball and seeing his beloved Haruko.
Rukawa didn't deserve being in the Junior League, he did. After all he was the tensai here!
Hanamichi started feeling dizzy too. As if all this weird looking mirrors had suddenly started to go round and round… he shook his head trying to regain consciousness.
"Ru… Rukawa" he mumbled, while his eyes searched desperately for the black haired kitsune. He spotted him leaning over a mirror with one hand on his face, falling to the floor. Hanamichi tried to reach him before he fell heavily to the floor, but all he managed was to trip very near Rukawa and fall soundly asleep.
Ayako's spell had worked, but as the crystal she had in her hands turned from black to slightly purple, the burning flowers at her house erased something more than bad memories out of the two basketball player's heads.
*Some ten minutes later, Hana and Ru are waking up*
"Ough… my head hurts like hell… what on earth is going on here…?" Hanamichi woke up, trying to figure out what had happened. He felt a slight pain on his back, but gave no importance to it. He had to know what he was doing there… whoa! He suddenly came across a pale face and a pretty pair of clueless blue eyes.
"Whoa! Who are you?!" he jerked. Right before him there was this very handsome young man, black hair and same staring blue eyes.
"I dunno. Who are you?" he asked, looking for an answer in the chocolate eyes.
"Well I… I don't know either… argh" Hanamichi's head was a real mess, he felt as if to fall again.
"Watch it. Trying to guess will only make it hurt" the blue-eyed boy warned, standing up.
"What's going on?!"
"I told you, I don't know" he shrugged, "I can't even remember who I am"
"Maybe we have amnesia or something…"
"The two of us?? At the same time?? That sounds kindda eerie… do you think we know each other? Your face sounds somewhat familiar…"
"Ya… yours too. Hey, maybe we're brothers" Hanamichi smiled.
"…maybe… don't you have any document on your pockets or something?"
They started checking their pockets for some info on themselves… Hana was the first to find a brown wallet on his blue jeans.
Here, look!" he shouted excitedly, "I'm… Sa. Ku. Ra. Gi… Hana… michi. Hey, my name's Hanamichi, funny name. What about yours?"
The other boy searched through his 4 pockets but couldn't find a thing (did I mention Ayako kept his wallet when he entered the bathroom?? Didn't I?? Well, then, she kept it).
"Nope, not a thing…" he sounded faintly disappointed.
"Oh, well, never mind. Maybe we decided to bring just one wallet, I mean, if we are brothers and so. That means we probably have the same surname. So I can call you Sakuragi untill we know your name, ok?"
Rukawa nodded, "if you say so…"
"Come on, lets get out of this place. There's something about these mirrors that give me the creeps…"
With that they went out, (well, they tried, it took them some 20 minutes to find an exit), and managed to get to some benches near another small fountain.
Meanwhile, somewhere else in the House of Mirrors, Ayako was waking up, very confused. She put her hand over her head and tried to get something out of the situation, but got to the conclusion she couldn't remember a thing about… well, about *anything* at all. She looked around, and she realized she was sitting over some other guy. Some other tall guy who wore glasses. He grunted when the girl woke up, which made her jump nervously to her feet.
"Who—who are you?!"
"That's my question, I guess. What were you doing over me??"
"How am I supposed to know? I can't remember a thing…"
The bespectacled guy got up from the floor, adjusting his glasses.
"Me either. Maybe you just fell over me and when our heads got hit we lost our memories…"
"Weird stuff, that means we probably have temporary amnesia, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Scary, what are we to do, then?"
"Mh, find some help??"
They suddenly heard a horrified scream from somewhere near there. It sounded like a girl in dire need of help.
"What was that?!"
"It came from here, come on!!"
Meanwhile very near that place, Mitsui was trying to convince a very confused Haruko not to keep on screaming like if he was going to kill her or something.
"Shut up, girl! I'm not gonna eat you!!"
"Get away from me, you look dangerous!!" she yelled, desperately.
"Hey!! That was really insulting, you know--"
"What's going on here?!" a guy with glasses appeared out of the blue, panting.
Mitsui and Haruko looked rather puzzled at his sight, but at least Haruko stopped her shouting.
"What are you doing to that girl?!" Ayako joined.
"Nothing!! She just started crying like crazy!!"
"He looks dangerous" the girl insisted.
"It's OK, can any of you tell me were we are?"
Haruko and Mitsui both looked at each other blankly.
"Well… I don't…"
"I can't either…"
"So this isn't just four eyes and me, right?" Ayako interrupted their mumbling, "Something really weird is going on here…"
"And what about you two. Who are you?"
"We don't know. We were hoping we could find some help when we heard her screaming…"
Haruko turned slightly red, "I'm sorry, I was just scared… you don't look that dangerous, I'm really sorry…"
"Yeah, it's OK. Mustn't be funny to wake up not knowing who you are and finding yourself over some stranger…"
"Well maybe you weren't strangers at all" Kogure suggested.
"Whatddya mean?"
"Yeah, if you were *that* near…"
Mitsui looked at Haruko. She actually *was* a kindda cute girl, maybe they had some closer relationship or something, and it really felt as if he knew her from before…
"Yap, should be that. Hey maybe you're my girlfriend" he smiled, making Haruko turn even redder. There were something on those blue eyes and black hair that caught Haruko's attention as well, so she though then maybe that was true.
"Maybe" she smiled back, and Mitsui immediately wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Any idea about your names?"
Kogure inspected the jacket he had on and found some papers on one pocket. It was the map and the paper with the names of every team member.
"Look, there are only three girl names here. Haruko, Ayako and Kaede"
"Kaede Rukawa…" Haruko repeated to herself. That name surely rang a BIG bell on her head, "I really know that name from somewhere…"
"If you know that name that means we must know each other from before… Your faces look familiar too. That must be your name then… but it also goes for boys, so it could be your boyfriend's name as well."
"Maybe that is you" she smiled to Mitsui.
"Yeah… but I don't really get anything out of that name… gimme that list… Miyagi… no… Sakuragi?? No, no… Kogure… hey I know that... Mitsui… Mitsui Hisashi… no… damn!"
"Easy, boy, check out your pockets you might find something as well"
He did exactly as he was told. "Hey look, I've found some money over here, but no names."
"Kogure" the glassed guy said, "look, my name is Kogure"
He had a nametag inside his jacket, and a little paper where some of the couples' names of that day were written.
"That would make you Ayako. Here, take a look. It says Ayako goes with Kogure, Akagi with Miyagi and Mitsui with Haruko. What do you think?"
"Kaede is not here"
"Maybe we came on our own, sweetheart" Mitsui decided. Haruko's grin enlarged. Off course, she thought.
"So this means some people are missing, right?"
"Yap, we should go look for them before something weird happens, since we still don't know why we suddenly can't remember anything at all…"
"But we don't even know this people, how are we supposed to find them then?"
"Maybe they can remember us and tell us who we are…" Haruko suggested.
"Yeah, she—Kaede is right. Let's go…"
Same time, not so far from the House of MirrorsRukawa sneezed strongly, while Hanamichi came with some drinks he had just bought and sat beside him.
"Bless you. You cold??" he asked, giving Rukawa a drink.
"No, it's ok. Thanks… It's just… This is so weird…" he sipped his Sprite and looked into the bright blue sky, "You've got your name at least…"
Hanamichi shrugged, "It's not that it means that much. It could be any name, it still has no meaning for me… come on, cheer up, kitsune boy"
Rukawa blinked at his new nickname.
"Kitsune boy??". Hanamichi smiled broadly.
"Your eyes are foxy-like" he explained, very pleased with his discovery, "And besides it sounds kindda cute, don't you think?"
Rukawa just stared. Kindda cute, huh?
"Yeah…". Hanamichi gave one last look at the sad kitsune eyes. Seeing this raven-haired fellow feel so miserable made him feel bad too. After all, they were brothers, right? It must have been that, since he could feel he shared some kind of bond with this guy.
"Hey, I say, if we are in this place, that must mean something, right? I mean, look, there's so many attractions over here, why don't we give ourselves a break and go have some fun??"
I didn't sound like a bad idea. Too much thinking was making Rukawa's head go crazy, anyway.
"Ok, let's go"
"All right! I wanna see the big roller coasters, come on!!" he jumped excitedly, and taking Rukawa's hand he started running towards the roller coaster area. Rukawa smiled faintly when he saw the red head's enthusiasm.
*Ok, now let's just suppose they had a great time that lasted for an hour or so*
Meanwhile, however
Ayako, Kogure, Mitsui and his new *girlfriend*, Haruko, were sitting at some tables, eating. Their situation wasn't very different to Hana and Ru's.
"…no luck at all. Nobody here seems to recognize us. What will we do?"
Mitsui hugged his 'Kaede-chan'.
"The hell with it. Kaede-chan, why don't we give the Tunnel of Love a try?" he smiled.
"I'd love to, darling" she said, hearts on her eyes. She looked so sickly in love…
"What a cute couple. No wonder they were together, don't you think, Kogure-san?"
Kogure smiled rather disappointed. "Yah…" he said vaguely. He had a nasty feeling all over his chest.
Mitsui got up from his chair. 'Lets go, love' and he and Haruko went away.
"We'll meet here at 4, ok? Tell us if you find something" Mitsui said as he walked away, his hand holding Haruko's. Kogure waited till they were out of sight to talk.
"I have a bad feeling about this"
"What do you mean?"
"Those two… I dunno, I just feel it's not right"
"Well, that guy said your name was familiar. What if you were friends in love with the same girl? Hey, you could have probably helped him get her love despite your true feelings… so sad, ne?"
Kogure sweatdropped, "you think so?"
"Anou… it could be anything, you know… But don't worry, Kogure-san, you—"
"AYA-CHAN!!!!" a voice called from behind, "Aya-chan, Kogure! Were where you, where is everybody??"
Ayako turned round impulsively. Ah, so her name was Ayako!
"Who are you?" she asked to a panting Ryota.
"What do you mean, who am I?? It's me, Ryota! Don't go fooling around, this is important!"
Kogure smiled happily surprised, "You know us??!"
"Off course I do!! Stop playing, will ya?? Everybody's missing and—"
Ayako looked at Kogure, her face lightened up.
"He can tell us who we are!!" se exclaimed. Then she noticed Ryota looking at her very very confused and she explained what had happened that day.
"…so the spell went wrong." He said.
"Um? What spell??"
"You cast a spell over two guys that fight like a lot to make them become friends by erasing their bad memories… but it seems something went wrong and your memories were erased too… And as Kogure was with you in the House of Mirrors, that must mean everybody there suffered the spell's consequences…"
"Um… and how do we revert this?"
"I have no idea… anyway, were are Mitsui and Haruko?"
"I don't know. We just met Kaede and another guy… you know them, right?"
"Off course I do, we all know them… those were the guys you were trying to enchant…"
Ayako frowned. Ok, so that was why they were behaving that way. Kogure was right then, there was something wrong with all that, it's not fair using magic in love affairs!
"So where did those two go??"
"To the tunnel of love" Ayako said.
"TO WHERE?!" Ryota asked horrified, in disbelief.
"If you ask me," Kogure started, "they looked like if they had been a couple the whole of their lives"
Ryota turned green, ugh! Hanamichi and Rukawa, a couple?! That was just TOO much for him!! However, he tried to digest this and motioned Ayako and Kogure to follow him. Whatever was happening over there, he had to find Akagi who was also looking for his sister and friends, together with all the other missing Shohoku members as well.
Some hours later, roller coaster's exitHanamichi smiled broadly while pushing back his short red hair with his hand. He was feeling damn good despite the little fact he had no clue who he was. He could always count on roller coaster fun to help him recover his good spirits. As for Kaede Rukawa, we couldn't exactly say the same for him. He could be a basketball ace, but after eleven rides in a row to all different and inside-shaking attractions he was beginning to feel *really* sick. And I mean really. In fact, it was since the ninth ride he had started to feel this revolting sensation in his stomach…
"Come on, kitsune! We still have some more things to visit!!" Hanamichi exclaimed. Did he actually say he wanted more?!
"Hold… on… a… sec…" Rukawa pleaded, two Kenshin-like whirls on his eyes, while he leaned against a nearby tree, "I feel like… throwing up…".
"Huh? You ok? You look pale, maybe we should take you to the hospital…"
Rukawa suddenly lost his balance and almost fell to the floor, but this time Hanamichi was there to avoid it. He moved quickly and let Rukawa fall into his arms. He had fainted.
Hana sighted. Maybe he had pushed the kistune's limit too much. After all he had looked confused all along, and he had been all stiff as well. Too much for just one day.
"Don't worry, fox, it will be ok…" he whispered, and took Rukawa to the nearest nursery he could find inside the park. He felt guilty for this guy, for some reason. Like if he owed him something.
The tunnel of Love, 5 minutes later"Whatddya mean, closed for reparations?!" Mitsui yelled at a poor park maintenance assistant.
"Gomnennasai, demo, this attraction won't open until next week, gomennasai…" she said.
"Don't 'gomennasai' me!! What am I supposed to tell my girlfriend now?! She's been looking forward to this like a lot, you know?!! You… you—!!!"
"It's ok, dear" Haruko stopped him before he killed the poor girl, "As long as we are together, I don't care."
Haruko dragged a very upset Mitsui to a more lonely spot in the park, in order to have some more *ahem*
privacy.
"Che! I really wanted to have a nice celebration of our first anniversary, Kaede-chan, I'm sorry" he apologized (don't ask me where he got the 'first anniversary' thing. He just figured it out, I guess ^_^Uu).
"Never mind" Haruko smiled and hugged Mitsui's arm lovingly with both hands, "I love you either way."
"I love you too" he started, and with a gentle movement he let go off Haruko's hands and softly touched her smooth face, "Kaede-chan, happy first anniversary"
"Happy first anniversary" she repeated and let Mitsui kiss her lips. She felt this sudden great sensation, as if she hadn't ever kissed anyone before. How could have she forgotten about this too??! Her boyfriend was such a good kisser (not that she actually remembered having kissing anyone before to compare) and handsome man she felt she was one lucky gal, but being it that she didn't even know his name made it very very unreal and way too much weird for her modest heart.
Unfortunately for the happy couple, they were not as alone as they thought they were.
Ayako, Kogure and Ryota were casually walking near there, looking for Akagi or any other known face when they spotted the embracing teenagers. In fact, only Ayako and Kogure saw them, as Ryota had found Akagi and went towards him. Again, Ayako froze, and Kogure blanked. His heart sunk as it started beating very fast… he suddenly had the urgent need to shout… or get the hell out of there for a change… though he couldn't understand why.
Ayako made him hide behind a tree.
"Wow, those two seem to have recovered fully" she joked, a smile on her lips. Kogure couldn't answer, "Hey, you ok? You look sick"
"N… no… it's no—nothing…" he said, "Let's get out of here…"
They decided to leave the kissers alone and find Ryota, but they couldn't go very far, as the team's new captain had already found Akagi and was going towards them. Ryota had already explained the situation to the gorilla who was in a really bad mood, afraid something could have happened to his little sister.
"Where's my sister?!" he roared when he saw the two guys.
"Who is this guy?!" Ayako asked, puzzled.
"Easy, Akagi, they haven't got a clue, I told you. They don't even know who your sister is, ok?"
"Hey we just saw Kaede and the other one kissing" Ayako commented very excitedly.
"WHAT?! WHO?!" Ryota and Akagi exclaimed.
"Yeah, the small girl with brown hair and…" she explained.
"THAT'S MY SISTER!! WHAT IS SHE DOING?!"
"She's kissing with the tall guy with black hair… Wait, she is your sister?!"
Akagi couldn't wait until Ayako finished her sentence. He was rushing to where she and Kogure had come from to find Haruko. He had always known how awfully in love she was with Rukawa but… kissing?! Them?! No way!! He couldn't, no, he *wouldn't* let that happen!!!
"Hey, where are you going…?!"
Ryota was still looking blankly at Ayako. Then he just realized something.
"Wait a minute, Aya-chan… you said Ruka—err this Kaede was with another guy, right??"
"Yap, she is with the tall blue eyed and black haired guy… funny, um, he also has this cute little scar on his chin and…"
"She?! With a guy with a scar?? Those are Mitsui and Haruko!!" he said, extremely astonished, "Oh my God, if they were actually kissing that means Akagi will beat the hell out of Mitsui… Damn, we gotta run!!"
"What??"
"Ok, ok, listen. The girl you thought was Kaede is called Haruko. Kaede Rukawa is a guy, and he is supposed to be with another red headed guy. The other guy with her is Hisashi Mitsui, ok? And he is *not* Haruko's boyfriend, he is dating… um, well, another person, ok?" he gave a little glimpse at Kogure, who looked kindda sad, "But when Akagi finds Mitsui with his little sister he will kill him, so we better get going if we don't want to have a funeral today…"
Ryota suddenly remembered the black crystal then and asked Ayako to look for it. She did as she was told.
"You say it was a little crystal?"
"Yeah, you put it inside your left pocket, there. It was the spell's instrument or something like that"
"Oh, here, I feel something!"
As soon as Ayako made contact with the purple crystal, she started feeling a horrible pain all over her body, together with a blinding headache that caused her to fall to her knees.
"Are you ok, Aya-chan???" Ryota asked while helping her up.
"Off course I am not, you baka" she answered, recovering, "I can remember now… but my head hurts like hell… seems like it was all in the crystal…"
"So, you can remember me, right??"
"Well! D'uh!"
"Well then, what happened??"
"I dunno, something must have gone wrong, maybe we used too much Bramble flowers… "
"But how do we reverse it?!"
"Mmm not sure… maybe strong feelings, bursting emotions… you know. I got to touch the crystal which was my connection with the spell… this shouldn't have happened, though. The Tabula Rasa spell is not supposed to come out like this…"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, as far as I know, Tabula Rasa is not able to erase so many memories at once… there's the dangerous part of it; if the spell fails, 'victims' have a certain time to recover their memories, otherwise they'll never get them back at all"
"WHAT?! HOW MUCH TIME?!"
"mmm… dunno, maybe some six hours…"
"It's 4 pm!! That means we have about two hours to find Hanamichi and Rukawa if we don't want them to be lost forever!!"
"Easy, there is a very high probability they have recovered, knowing those two. It will be ok, Ryota. Let's just not panic. I'm more worried about senpai Mitsui right now…"
Back with the other two bishies, hospital room (still inside the park)
Hanamichi carried Rukawa towards the bed the woman (the nurse) there pointed. He felt the kistune's body grow colder and colder, and he feared he might have gotten some illness, after all he had been wet when they first met. The women approached them two.
"What happened to him?" she asked. Hanamichi hesitated.
"Mmm we were coming out of a roller coaster, you know, when he… dunno, fainted…"
"Hm… maybe he needs some rest. Those tortuous games are making lots of young people sick lately… seems they can never have enough and go to the same things over and over again till their bodies stop working…" she complained, and with that she left the room. Hanamichi felt a little bit embarrassed with this. Seemed like it had been his fault his friend was now like that. He looked over to where Rukawa was sleeping.
At least his sadness has disappeared in his dreams. He looked so different now that he was sleeping, Hanamichi though. He looked… well, there were no other words to describe it; beautiful. His black hair felt carelessly over his white skin… Hanamichi wondered who that cute fellow might have been before that day. Somehow, however, he wished they could still be friends after that, even if they had been perfect strangers the whole of their lives.
He looked again at the boy's perfect face. Something motioned him to touch his delicate cheeks and he didn't resist, following gently his curved profile until he finally reached his thin lips.
"I'm sorry, this is all my fault" he whispered, absently.
Rukawa's eyes opened slowly.
"What…?"
Hanamichi smiled.
"You finally woke up, I though you would sleep like forever" he interrupted, abruptly returning to his own self. Rukawa sat down.
"I'm sorry for the trouble, you shouldn't have to…"
"Hey, it's ok. We're in the same position right now, remember?"
Rukawa smiled. It felt really good to be doing so, actually. Hanamichi noticed the bright change on the fox's face.
"Hey! I haven't seen you smile before! It looks pretty on you" he teased, laughing at his little joke, standing up and heading for the door, "I'll tell the woman you're ok, stay here"
Rukawa looked at him while disappearing after the door. In fact, he had awakened before that, even before the red head had touched his face. It's just that he couldn't help himself staying right were he was, paying careful attention to every movement and sound the other guy made. It felt strange. Maybe he should do something about it when the red head came back…
The door opened with a loud noise that made Rukawa jerk out from bed. Hanamichi entered.
"Where the hell could that woman be, right now?!"
"It's OK, I'm fine. Don't worry"
"Hmpf… women!" he grumbled and then sat down beside Rukawa. They didn't say anything for a while, until Rukawa took a deep breath and broke the silence.
"Hey…"
"What?". Rukawa looked into Hanamichi's eyes firmly, yet tenderly. There was a different bright on those liquid blue eyes that could leave any human soul speechless.
"I… I think I… I think I like you" he said.
"What?" Hanamichi couldn't understand what this guy meant by that.
"I'm saying it doesn't feel like we are brothers… I'm saying I think I love you". Hanamichi froze.
"You—you—wha—what??" he mumbled. Rukawa immediately avoided his blank stare.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that… forget it" he apologized.
"…… it's ok" Hanamichi tried to break the tense atmosphere, "maybe you are just confused, hahaha" he laughed, patting Rukawa's back several times, nervously.
"I'm serious" Rukawa corrected, making Hanamichi shut his mouth. The kistune's eyes were a tough pair, he just couldn't keep himself from staring idiotically at them. Suddenly he realized he had Rukawa's face much too near to his. Maybe exceptionally near. In fact, they were almost kissing.
Hanamichi wanted to run away but he felt the sudden and very urgent need to stand still were he was. He felt how Rukawa's lips touched his softly and kissed him gently while he involuntarily kissed him back. It wasn't a bad sensation, the sweet lips lingering about his owns, the fresh breath over his neck and the burning feeling under his skin.
He moved his hands to the kitsune's back and neck, to hold him firmly and don't let go. Rukawa had his hand over his chin, forcing him to open his mouth and take the kissing deeper. He couldn't know if he had had any other previous kissing experiences, or if the fox had either, but if he had been seeing that scene from the outside, he would have sworn those two were something more than beginners in that area.
(Note: I suck at kissing scenes, don't hate me… =_=.)
They kissed for a couple of minutes and then stopped to take a little breath.
Hana's face was as red as his hair, and he tried to avoid Rukawa's eyes at all cost (he tried). A weird silence fell over them. Finally Rukawa stood up.
"I'm fine, let's get out of here"
Two minutes later they were walking past the same little fountain they had been some hours before. It was nearly 4:30 pm and Hanamichi's stomach had started complaining already. He needed some food, and he needed it NOW!! Being that so many things had happened he had completely forgotten the eating part, so he decided to take the kitsune somewhere were they could talk and eat peacefully (and they really needed to sort some things out!!).
They spotted a small Fast Danny's (a smaller version of the original Danny's) and bought some hamburgers and fries. As the place was full of people, they agreed on going to the grassy areas to eat (besides, Hanamichi thought, there are fewer people there, we can talk better that way).
They sat down. Hanamichi had ordered a ridiculous amount of hamburgers of all kinds he devoured in no time, while Rukawa could barely finish his chicken sandwich. Then there was silence again.
"…" Rukawa wasn't sure whether he should talk or not, "hey…".
"Hey" Hana said at the same time, but then turned red again and avoided, once more, Rukawa's eyes.
"You go first"
"Um… ki—kitsune… about today… I'm so—so—sorry"
"… it's ok… " Rukawa felt rather disappointed at this, but then again, he said nothing and they were dead silent again.
"Um… say… you know… how… how did it feel?? To you, I mean…" Hana started, though very nervous.
"Fine"
"Fine?"
"Yeah… you?"
"Um… fine too I guess…"
"Really?" Rukawa's eyes paralyzed Hana.
"Ha—hai" he mumbled. There was something mischievous in Rukawa's amazed stare, "Um… even if we are… you know… guys… it felt… good".
Hanamichi shrugged but then smiled broadly.
"It felt good…" Rukawa echoed, approaching Hana's face.
"Yeah, maybe we should… like… try it again… you know…"
"…again…" Rukawa managed to say before he kissed Hanamichi's lips again.
This time, the kissing was more intense than the first time. They went further into exploring their mouths, the feeling burning so badly, asking for more and more. Hanamichi suddenly found himself grabbing Rukawa by his back and taking him tightly towards his body, so as to feel his strong chest against his. Hanamichi took a deep breath…
"…Kaede" he whispered and kissed Rukawa once more, passionately… wait. Why had he said that??
Rukawa took him by the shirt too and pushed Hanamichi over him, so now the red head was lying over Rukawa on the smooth green grass.
Suddenly, however, Hanamichi's head starting to hurt a lot again. He let go off Rukawa and sat down, impulsively, holding is head with both hands. Rukawa looked at him clueless (dammit!) and sat down too, breathing hardly. What the hell was going on?!
Hanamichi gave a loud cry, which made Rukawa jump out of his place. He took his face near to Hanamichi's.
"What is it?? You ok??" he asked wondering what on Earth was happening to this guy. One minute they were kissing and now…?!
Hanamichi opened his eyes all of a sudden and found Rukawa's staring back, confused, waiting for an answer or so. He remembered the kissing and them…
"RUKAWA TEME!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, FREAK!!" he exclaimed, pushing Rukawa back, making him fall, and standing up, small tears on his eyes, "You—you—were—kissing me!!! You are horrible!!!!!"
Rukawa couldn't understand a thing. He was what?! He stood up, furious.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU WERE ALSO KISSING ME, DON'T YOU REMEMBER?!!!"
Hanamichi started trembling out of rage. Rukawa was looking at him defiantly.
"We weren't doing anything wro—"he started, but Hanamichi impulsively punched him on the face.
"DON'T SAY IT STUPID FOX!! I LOVE HARUKO-SAN, NOT YOU!! I HATE YOU!!" and with that he got his butt out of that place.
To be continued…
**Yumi Rukawa: hm… yeah, I wanted this to be a one shot but it just came out to be longer than expected… It's almost finished, though (just two parts and, God, *NO* sequel!). Hope you've enjoyed it ^^