Upside-down

by:
Darkness VII

Author's Notes: Tee-hee-hee. I know. It's a dumb idea, but hey, it's cute. Come on, isn't the idea of Rukawa having a girlfriend pretty cute? And don't tell me that you never thought Ayako and Miyagi looked oh so kawaii together.

Disclaimer: I do not own Slam dunk or any characters in this fic (except probably one). Don't even think of suing me. All you'll ever fork out of me is this computer, a PS1, a bunch of Anna Rice novels and a MD player.

Warning: Total ooc-ness, mush and sap. This is NOT for Rukawa fans

PS.

If anyone knows Ayako's last name, please tell me! E-mail me, k! It will be gratefully appreciated.

CHAPTER 1- Rukawa Kaede falls for her

Early in the morning, the autumn breeze blows through the school grounds of Shohoku High. Teenagers chattering their way. But it was not a normal day for Year 1 class 10 because they were having a new student arrive from the U.S. that morning. SQUEAK!!! Was the sound that broke the peace in the grounds of Shohoku High for two black cars pulled over and then a black limo, then another two black cars.

All free heads turned to the gate where all the commotion was. They saw a man in a black suit open the door to the limo where a girl with rather blonde, twirly hair emerged. She was about five-nine, with light royal-blue eyes. Her hair was up in pig-tails and she was carrying a dark blue backpack with only one strap slung over her right shoulder.

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Rukawa Kaede, who was riding his bike to school also noticed the fuss. He stopped for a while and noticed the girl standing at the side of the limo. He just stayed like that, surprised, enchanted by her beauty. Although she was pretty, he didn't want to be late, so he started pedaling his way to school. Ooh! Looks like Mr. I'm the ice-cold Super Rookie's got a crush on someone...

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The man in the black suit escorted her to her classroom. As she entered the room, there were 'ooh's' and 'ahh's' from everyone except Rukawa. He woke up for a moment, just to see what was going on. Then, he saw her, the blond hair and all. He couldn't fall back asleep now. Not now when the only empty seat was the seat at his left. (the one beside the window at the LAST row) All he could do was stare at the front where she was as the teacher introduced her.

"Her name is Katakura Kim," Oota-sensei introduced "daughter of the owner of Katakura Industries, a multi-billion dollar company" Kim glared at Oota-sensei, at the mention of her family company, then at the class, who were obviously awed by her wealth. "Would you kindly say something to the class?" Hate new fucking schools. She gave another glare that could make Egypt snow, but she didn't say anything. After a long silence, Oota-sensei broke the silence. "Anytime today, Kim". Then she finally said something, sorta. "Yo" and raised her left hand like she was saying 'Hi' but the hand didn't wave, at all.

"You may take that seat beside Rukawa" gesturing at the empty seat at the far end of the room beside the window. As she walked toward Rukawa (actually the empty seat beside him), his heart beat faster, but he was able to hide his nervousness behind his usual ice-cold mask. "Hey" he greeted, tonelessly. He wouldn't usually care about people, but not even Shohoku's ace can resist the charms of a lovely American girl. She looked nothing like a Japanese girl, but there was something special about her he couldn't resist. "Hey" she answered, also tonelessly.

As soon as she sat down, Oota-sensei started babbling about WWII. Kim took out a notebook and a gold CROSS ™ mechanical pencil and started jotting down notes as the sensei spoke. Rukawa thought of sleeping this lecture off, but something told him to stay awake and start jotting down notes too. So he can make a good first impression. Nanda? A good first impression? Where did that come from? Why would I want to make a good first impression? I must be sick... Even though he had this inner debate, he started jotting down notes, too.

As soon as recess came, all the students rushed out of their classrooms to either go talk to their friends, catch up on forgotten homework or just simply eat. Even though the bell has rang, there were still two students left in the classroom of Year 1 Class 10. One was Kim Katakura who was busy arranging her schedule in her palm-top and the other was Rukawa Kaede who was asleep with his arms swinging along the sides of his table and a puddle of drool forming beneath his mouth. Should I wake him up or leave him like that. It seems to me that this 'Rukawa' person is very popular with girls. I guess I see why... He did look kind 'a cute while asleep in that position. While asleep she thought.

Maybe I should wake him. He doesn't seem well rested like that anyway. He could find a better position if I wake him. She started tapping on his left shoulder and he started to toss a bit. He finally opened his eyes just to see Kim packing away her palm-top and ready to leave. "Wait" he said, ever so coldly. "Whyddya wake me up?" "Recess" she answered coolly. It was a habit of hers to either say something with one syllable, one word or one sentence a time. She hasn't had a nice conversation with someone for five years now and she's probably TRYING to change that this year. Not now though.

He started to stand up while Kim went out the door. Rukawa followed her lead and went out the door too. "Need help?" he asked, his voice tipping over and gave a hint of his feelings. "Nope" she said this as she turned to the way of the main exit and to the school grounds where the man in the black suit was there again, now holding a black bag that contained her dark blue, transparent laptop. Kim went there (Rukawa was probably on his way to the rooftop and didn't see her anymore) sat at the top step in front of the Year 1 building. She turned her laptop on and started doing something with it. She was either playing a game or deliberately trying to break the keys.

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At the rooftop of the Year 1 building, we find a sleeping Rukawa lying on the floor, all stretched. No actually, he wasn't really sleeping. He was lying there, wondering where Kim disappeared to. He was just lying there, thinking, for about twenty minutes (Recess was only for 30 min.) Then, Rukawa stood up and went down from the rooftop and through the halls, where many of his fan girls scream "Kawaii!" or pass out or just plainly holler on the top of their lungs. He was used to this though. All the girls going crazy over him. That's what makes her different. He thought. He was right. Any girl would die for a chance to actually talk to Rukawa. Just before he got to the rooftop, he actually OFFERED help to a girl and she DECLINED! Has the world gone crazy? Or is she just different?

He finally spotted her outside the glass doors of the building. He approached the door and opened it. Kim turned her attention to the door to see who it was. "You" she said coldly "What are you doing here?" she asked with a nasty glare on her face. "Looking for you" he answered coolly. She stood up, put her laptop back in the bag, handed it to the man in the suit. "Bring my stuff later this afternoon, Peter." And the man in the black suit, Peter, walked into one of the black cars that was there that morning, then it drove off..

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After the classes, Rukawa immediately rushed out of the classroom. Wonder where he's off to... Kim wondered. She too had to rush off somewhere. She had to go to the gym where the basketball team practiced. As she entered the gym, all eyes turned to her direction. All the guys' noses started bleeding when they saw her. Perfect curves, lengthy legs and a bit of big you-knows. Everyone except Rukawa of course. Not even Miyagi Ryota, who was utterly devoted to his beloved Ayako, couldn't stop his nose from bleeding. Oh yeah, even Akagi couldn't stop. Uh-huh, even Kogure who has so much will-power couldn't help himself. She was perfect except she never wore a smile. Her facial expressions were either a glare, a mean stare or just the neutral look.

"Anzai-sensei here?" She asked, in her usual cold tone. A girl with curly hair tied in a pony tail answered her "There" pointing at a flubby guy with white hair and a white mustache. "Oh, ho, ho, ho. It's you" he said as she approached him. "Yeah" she answered coldly. " I hear you're here to help the team" "Yea" "You want to play?" "Wait for my clothes" "Okay, introduce yourself to the team" Anzai-sensei called for the team and she introduced herself. She was too mad at Peter for making her wait so long to notice Rukawa who was dazed at seeing her there. None the less, she still introduced herself. "Katakura Kim, 178 cm, I play any position" she said this with no enthusiasm at all. Truthfully, she loved the game, but speaking enthusiastically in public was not her favorite thing to do.

Finally, there was a man standing in front of the door and Rukawa's fan girls stepped out of the way to let him in. He was about to enter when Kim said, "Shoes, off" pointing at Peter's shoes. Peter immediately took off his shoes, entered the room and handed a dark blue sports bag to Kim. Probably now you see the fact that Kim's favorite color is dark blue. She took the bag and went to the girl's locker room and changed.

When she got back, she got the attention once again. She wore black shorts up to mid-high and wore black cycling shorts under it which was just a wee bit longer than her shorts. And a long shirt that was, you guessed it, dark blue. "Do your warm-ups and pick someone you want a one-on-one with." Anzai-sensei said. She did what she was told and finished her warm-ups. "Pick someone" the coach said. "Him" she pointed at Rukawa, he just shrugged, like he always did. I guess she's just curious at Rukawa's skills. You and I are very familiar with his skill (right?), but Kim just wanted to know. Ya know, friendly curiosity and all.

Mitsui was the referee and was starting the tip-off. Boy, she must be crazy. This guy isn't a regular player. He plays like a monster. he thought. The ball was high in the air and guess who caught it. Kim! Gosh, is the world turning upside down? Rukawa immediately ran towards her and guarded her, playing it cool. He thought that a girl was no match for him. He was wrong. By the end of the game, he finally realized it. He lost to a girl he has a crush on. Yeah. How painful was it? VERY painful. "I hear you played for America's All Star Team." Anzai-sensei pointed out. "Yup, won three times, I only played for them three times" she answered, still with no enthusiasm.

"All..." Mitsui trailed off "Star..." Miyagi followed "Team..." Ayako, the curly haired girl finished. They were stunned. Never before have they heard that a girl joined there. Then, the guy in the glasses introduced himself. "My name is Kiminobu Kogure. I'm the co-captain of the team" The gorilla looking guy followed "Akagi Takenori, I'm the team captain." "Miyagi Ryota, point guard" "Mitsui Hisashi" and the rest of the team introduced themselves, but a certain red-head didn't. He just stood there, mumbling something like 'Damn, bakemono. Could've picked me instead of that teme, Kitsune' "And that's Sakuragi Hanamichi over there." Anzai-sensei pointed at him. "Ah, ha ha ha ha! Finally, you've noticed the Basketball Tensai, Sakuragi Hanamichi!" "Yeah, right" she said softly, but loud enough to be heard by the people near her.

"Do 'ahou" Rukawa said this, like he always did. Not too soft not to loud. just enough to reach the ears of the do' ahou. "Got that right." Kim answered. Nothing, really. She just felt like it. "Baka, kitsune! Bakemono!!!" "Call me that again and you'll be a pile of mush" she threatened him. 'Call' one. 'me', two. 'that', four. 'again', five-six. 'and', seven. 'you'll', eight. 'be', nine. 'a', nine and a half. 'pile', ten and a half. 'of', eleven. 'mush', twelve. Ouch! A twelve syllable sentence. And what did I just say? Kim thought. "Shit!" she said silently, but out loud. Heads turned to her direction one more time as she cursed in her own tongue. What's the matter? No one did make anything out of it so why bother?

"Okay team, practice!" Akagi commanded, the rest followed. Kim went to the benches, sat and thought very, very hard. What's happening to me? Why am I actually speaking to these freaks? And did I just communicate with the team members. Wait a minute, why am I thinking of HIM? Rukawa What? I didn't catch the first name ? Why am I even thinking of my seatmate anyway? Girl, you are going crazy. And she just sat there thinking and thinking of many strange things happening to her in just one day. Am I in....oh shit, LOVE? "Oh, fuck it all" she cursed again in her own tongue, no one cared, much.

No one except Rukawa, who was thinking hard too and didn't notice that a ball was heading his way. It hit him, hard. On the head for that matter. Rukawa fan girls come rushing in. Kim, from the benches, saw what happened. Aww, what the heck. She immediately stood up and went to aid the fallen Rukawa. "Yo, get up" she said, in her usual whatever tone, not showing any concern.

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After practice, Kim was speaking to Ayako. "Contact me in my celphone. Do not use my home phone to contact me unless you're sure that I'm actually home" she told Ayako. Not caring how many words she said. The one thing she hated most was wasting time. What she valued most was time. That's why when she says something about conserving time, she doesn't really care if she gives a sermon, as long as time is saved. Like in basketball, every second counts. She believes so, too, in life. That's why she hated guys that drool over her. They didn't make much sense in her life so why bother wasting time on those fools when she can talk to someone sensible. Rukawa for example. He might not say much, but he did make a lot of sense on those three or four words he utters every now and then.

After Ayako received Kim's business card, Kim went straight out to her car and drove home. On her way home though, right before the last curve to her house (mansion actually) she spotted Rukawa riding his bike that looked that he ran in to a ten-wheeler truck. She told the driver to slow down and he did. Peter objected at first but was unable to convince Kim. She opened her window, "Hey, need a ride home?" she yelled from her window. He nodded silently as Kim told her driver to stop. And the car stopped. Kim asked the driver to open the trunk so Rukawa can put his bike in the trunk.

Rukawa put his bike at the trunk and quickly entered the car. "Thanks" he said. This time, great fully. It wasn't really that obvious but if you were as sharp as Kim, you would've noticed. "No prob, Rukawa." "Call me Kaede" "Oh, so it's Kaede then, huh?" "Yeah, it is." "Where do 'ya live?" "At that corner over there" "Y-you live there?" saying this with utter surprise. "Yeah" "I live at that house over there, behind yours..." "Hontou?" "Aa." "Freaky" "Tell me about it" "Wanna come over for dinner tonight?" "Uh, sure I guess"

It actually felt nice to have a real conversation with the opposite gender. That went for both sides. Kim never really talked to guys. Most especially when they drool over her. Rukawa never really liked talking to girls. The last time her spoke with a girl was in junior high when they were paired up for a science project. She was giggling all the time so they never had any real chance of finishing their project. He hated wasting time, too. Just like Kim. He hated it when girls followed him wherever he went and he had to waste precious time trying to lose them. Now you see that they make a perfectly good match.

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As you might see, I'm going for the direct approach. The WAY direct approach. That's because I'm in a hurry to show you how Ryota and Ayako fall in love. Whoops! said too much...*laughs at herself*

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"No way...." she mumbled as she looked out the window. "No way..." she said again. "What do you mean 'no way'?" Rukawa asked. "Look" Kim said, pointing out the window. "So?" "So," "It's just a man and a woman. What's so 'no way' about it?" "The 'man' is my dad" "And the 'woman' isn't your mom?" "Yep" "He's cheating on her, then" "If you mean my real mom, no. She's six-feet underground, rotting" "Gomen" "And if you're talking about my step mom, no, they're divorced." "As in you don't have a mom?" Why am I talking to him??? I've never told anyone about my family. she thought But he's so cute! A voice inside her yelled. Yea, shyaddup! Oh, whatever.

"No, my mom died when I was four and my dad married again when I was seven. I didn't like my step mom. She thought she could run my life. I loved my mom. She was the best." She started getting teary-eyed. "She was a lawyer and she spent hours in the office, but she always had time to bake my cookies and muffins and brownies, cakes and cupcakes. Damn I miss those pastries. She took time off her cases to take me out for a walk or a trip to the ice cream shop." she couldn't keep it in anymore, tears started to streak down her cheeks. "You don't have to listen to me, you know" "I wanna listen but if it just makes you sad, don't continue anymore." Rukawa said in a very compassionate tone. You would rarely hear that tone from him, ever, but now was a different time. His friend was sad, and he started it.

"Nah, it's alright. Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I last thought of my mom." "Whatever..." was all the he could say. He was surprised of how events happen so fast. Funny how he hides his surprise. He fell in love, offered help, accepted a ride and had invited someone he barely knew to his house all in one day. To add to that, the girl he had a crush on was pouring her past to him and started to cry. (- not exactly cry) "She died in a boat accident. There was a conference on a luxury liner that my mom had to attend. The boat that she was riding to the ship unfortunately slammed into the port side of the ship and exploded. My dad told me about it but I was too young to understand. And when she was being buried, all I could think of was 'How come mommy isn't home yet?'" she started to have more tears come out.

"Oh, don't cry..." he said, trying to comfort her. She didn't stop crying, but she continued what she was saying "It took me three full years to realize that my mom was dead, but by that time my dad had already married this woman who treated me like a rag doll. My dad got so upset when he finally got it through his head that she was mean to me so he divorced the bitch when I was eleven." Her tears stopped coming at the mention of her step mother. True, Kim hated her and vice versa. "The bitch wanted to send me France and live with my grandparents, but I didn't want to. I also took ninjutsu lessons and she wanted me to stop. That bitch wanted me drop everything I loved. So I finally knocked some sense into my dad during my eleventh birthday." Each and every word dripping with deadly venom.

"Uh...we're here now." He informed her. It was obvious that she hadn't noticed because she was just glaring out the window as if nothing happened. She told the driver to stop and she dropped him off. "I thought you were having dinner here?" he asked. "I am" she answered. "Well?" he asked again. "You don't expect me to eat dinner in my uniform, do ya?" "Guess so" After Rukawa closed the door, her car drove off to Kim's house.

As soon as her car stopped, she ran upstairs to her bedroom, greeting all of the people she almost ran into. When, she reached her bedroom, panting, she opened her walk-in closet to find something to wear. After a few rummaging moments, she finally found something to wear. Dark denim elephant pants, a one-strapped fitted light-blue top and rubber shoes. (No, not the ones she uses for basketball, they'd stink to high heavens)

This oughtta get his blood pumping she thought, smiling at the same time while looking herself over on the mirror. She also had her hair down, which was just about 5-inches below the shoulder. She gave one last evil smile before she went outside her room, the house and into her car.

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Author's final blabber:
So, do ya like it? Review and tell me what you think. I won't get mad, I swear. Please review. I'll only get better if I know what you think.

Darkness VII