Authors Notes: Well Minna-san, this is one of the four remaining stories I have to get one chapter out at a time and then cut myself off from further ideas until further notice of actually finishing something. I've been addicted to sport anime for the moment and thus as usual an idea centred mainly around Aoshi and Misao in a whole "sport" environment plus the ever touchy subject of "teacher/student love affair" and thus this was born! Well only three more to crank out and then the toss up begins! Enjoy!

To the Top

It was an extremely hot day at Tokyo Private High School, but that didn't stop several female students from running the length of the gymnasium as they stretched for a match. The girls in the TPHS Basketball Team were only playing their fellow basketball friends, but that never stopped their coach from being his ever serious self.

"Megumi-san over here!" One of the females yelled to a taller team mate as a young woman darted about the court with a basketball in hand as she practices her dribbling before tossing the ball to her fellow classmate.

"Shoot a 3-pointer Kaoru-chan." The young student known as Megumi yelled while the other dark haired girl, who was shorter then Megumi stopped at the three-point line and poised herself before aiming the ball and then threw it with precise precision. It went straight through the hoop.

"Well done." Came a stern deep voice from the side of the court as female eyes moved to a 6-foot tall man dressed in a black tracksuit set and holding a whistle, clipboard and basketball. The only colour that he wore was the colour of his eyes, an icy green to be in fact but they were mostly hidden by spiky long bangs.

"Arigatou Shinomori-sensei!" Chirped Kaoru as she raced to get the ball and then gathered with her fellow teammates as they had been called over by their coach.

"Alright, settle down, we'll be having a scratch match to see who will be picked for this weekends practice match against Seto Private High School."

"Demo Sensei, the team at Seto High is re-" A female student cut in, worry on her face at hearing the mention of last years championship winners.

"Kaoru, Megumi, Sae, Tae and Yumi will be on one side, the rest of you shall make up the other. Make no mistake this isn't a slack off game. Go hard."

"HAI!" The females chirped as they grabbed the numbered and coloured shirts to identify who was on their team.

"Ten minutes a quarter for today." Bringing out his stopwatch Aoshi moved into the centre of the court and threw up the ball while blowing the whistle to begin the game. The stopwatch soon clicked on as well. Green eyes moved about the court as the girls scurried to get to the ball, while others place up defences.

"Sae move your feet more. You're going too slow!" He barked at one of the girls as she pressed on trying to run after the opposing player to try and steal the ball. "Good rebound Yumi, keep going!" He spoke once more as he ran up the line of the court, eyes glued to the foot movements of Kaoru. He watched as she darted around one player to head closer for the centre of the foul line to place in a two-pointer but was knocked over instead.

"Foul! Charging applied, Kaoru you get two free shots." Aoshi retorted as he quickly wrote down some notes on his clipboard for later discussion. When he lifted his eyes back to the game, a blur from the opened double doors of the gym attracted his attention as he gazed at the young girl watching Kaoru take a free shot. His eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed a basketball was positioned under her right arm as she locked it in place against her petite body. She looked extremely short.

"Yattaa Kaoru-chan!" Cried one of the players on Kaoru's team as she got in the two free shots quite easily and that's when Aoshi darted his eyes back to the court.

"Good going, but don't slack off, there is four quarters of this!" He remarked before quickly moving his eyes back to the entrance but no one was there.

# Twenty Minutes Pass #

The female team sunk to the ground as the boys' team just stepped into the gymnasium to begin their warm up exercises and practice session. They were all dressed in black shorts and white shirts with black print of TPHS on the back. Several were bouncing basketballs while some just chit chatted away, namely one,

"Sagara, quieten down." Aoshi contorted and the senior shut his mouth immediately. He knew one thing was for certain. Never piss of his coach.

"Start warming up. Himura lead the way." He retorted once more and the boys sprung into action when their captain began to stretch away.

"Megumi you must speed up your foot work. Any slower and I would have fallen asleep. Kaoru, your shots are not accurate from the sidelines, work on it. Yumi your rebounds have gotten a lot better, but continue to practice strengthening the muscles in your legs. Tae your work as a blocker is exceptional, but Sae as of today you are back to the bench." There were collected gasps from the ten females, but Sae never placed up an argument.

"Tokio, do you think you can do it?" Aoshi remarked once more and watched the generally quiet girl nod her head; her dark eyes set in determination to prove a point that she could be a part of the TPHS Girls Team.

"You may feel tired, but remember each quarter is twenty minutes long and our opponents this coming weekend will search every weakening movement. Now lets go!"

"HAI!" And the game continued onwards into the night. When the match was over, eventually Megumi's team, as she was the captain, won the match, but now it was time to stretch once more and think over their weaknesses. Each breathed heavily, bangs sticking to their foreheads as sweat poured from their bodies. All was spent, but that is the way their coach worked.

"Alright, good game this evening, but remember to come back after school tomorrow and recognise your faults from this evening. Dismissed!" The girls bowed at their coach who was also the coach of the boys' team before they slowly walked towards the locker area.

"Oi, Kitsune-chan, let me show you my moves!" Yelled a boisterous spiky haired senior.

"Dream on Rooster!" Megumi flicked back while untying her long hair from the low ponytail it had been in. She completely ignored the now complaining Sagara who only received a smack on the head by his taller teammate.

"Ahou…" Came the deep deadpan voice as he moved into the court where Aoshi was waiting with folded arms over his chest.

"Saitou teme!"

"Sagara, move your ass!" It was late and no other teachers would reprimand their fellow co-worker for speaking such language, as he was the only one left on the school campus, well besides the ones that lived in the dorm rooms to look after the students who boarded here. Sagara did nothing but grumble but that ceased when a clap on his shoulder got his attention. His former captain, Souzou, was also his teammate and could easily settle the hard-headed teenager down.

"Himura, Sagara, Saitou, Souzou and Soujiro are on one team. The rest are on the other. Tire them out, find their weaknesses and do whatever is necessary to crumble their defences. There matches start in two weeks, so if you want a spot in the team now is your chance to prove to me you are worthy enough. Let's begin!"

"Let's go Minna!" Sagara yelled as he ran to his position as a rear guard.

Standing in the court, glancing from side to side to see the determined looks on the senior players, Aoshi throw up the ball and blew the whistle. The game was on.

# Time Passes #

"I'll see you tomorrow." Aoshi spoke while he closed up the gymnasium.

"Oyasumi nasai Shinomori-sensei." The short redhead voiced as he walked home with Sagara complaining about his body aching.

"Ahou, its because your lazy as hell." Came the voice of reason…or so Saitou generally thought as he walked passed the two boys and then down another street. Himura and Soujiro had to try and hold back the now pissed of Sano.

Aoshi did nothing but shake his head. Sure it looked like the five of them argued non-stop…or mainly Saitou and Sagara, but once the ball was in court all eyes changed and so did personalities. No one was better then the other…they were a team, something that lacked slightly in the girls' team. They all had the strengths and weakness, but there as something that just didn't seem right in the group. As Aoshi slung his bag over his shoulder to head for home, the echoes of a bouncing basketball assaulted his ears.

Moving around the grounds of the private school Aoshi halted in his footsteps as a young girl was moving around the outside courts that kids generally mucked around at and weren't serious enough about playing. Stern eyes watched her every footstep, the way her hands and legs moved about the place as she ran in a quick zigzag style towards the hoop.

"Makimachi, get inside this instant!" Yelled a voice from afar which not only startled the ever-stoic coach, but also startled the student as she missed the hoop. Aoshi remained where he was, watching as the girl collected her bag, as she was still dressed in her school uniform and hurried towards the female dorms. All Aoshi could remember of her was the long braid thrashing freely against her back.

"Interesting…" He muttered to himself before heading for the teacher carpark to head on home.

# The Next Day #

It was exactly 7am as Aoshi took his usual path towards the gym and felt his head tilt slightly as he noticed his main five players doing nothing but standing in the doorway looking inside.

"Is something wrong?" Aoshi remarked while heading closer towards the senior boys.

"Ohayoo Shinomori-sensei." Came the quiet and pleasant voice of Himura Kenshin.

"Ne Sensei, who the hell is that?" Sagara voiced while pointing inside. Aoshi moved up the steps and looked over the shorter heads of Soujiro and Kenshin to see one single female, dressed in a girl's uniform race around the court on her own. Instead of the usual black shoes the girls wore to school, sneakers were placed on her feet as she bustled about the court dribbling here and there and weaving by imaginary players.

"Oi, shortie, we got a match to play, move aside." Came the gruff voice of Sano and the young girl froze in mid motion, head wiping around as she hadn't even realised she had grown an audience. The green eyes of Aoshi however caught the tight braid as it swung over the girl's shoulder. She was the girl from last night.

"Who the hell are you calling shortie? I could beat you hands down." Arching an eyebrow Aoshi moved through his other four students. She had great confidence in herself that was for sure, but he watched her stop in mid motion of going to give Sano a piece of her mind when her blue eyes met his tall from heading inside.

"Se-Sensei!" She squeaked lightly before bowing at him and yelling out a good morning.

"Amuse me." Was all Aoshi spoke and that was enough for Sano to grin like a maniac as he threw a new ball at this Makimachi which she caught in an instant.

"So what's the rules?" One student asked the other, but Aoshi had a better plan.

"Whomever can get the first basket in wins."

"Ano Sensei, that girl is m-"

"Enough, we'll see what skills she brings against Sagara." Aoshi interrupted Soujiro before turning to gaze at the boy. "You should know never to underestimate the ability of the female. Height should never play apart in this sport either. Sagara will have to learn this the hard way it seems." The both of them then silently gazed at Himura but he was too busy looking at the anger filled eyes of the two players on court. Himura was the best basketball player Aoshi had ever come across and although the generally quiet student didn't like to take the limelight he had exceptional captaining skills.

"Saitou, do the honours." Aoshi remarked as his tallest student headed for the court to throw the ball up into the air.

As soon as the ball left Saitou's hand, Sano was up in the air, a good head more then what the young girl was as he stole the ball and made a run for the left side of the court. Quicker legs soon outclassed his strong agility, as Makimachi skidded in front of him to block him from going any further.

"Heh, she's gotten quite fast indeed." Soujiro remark as Aoshi glanced at the short boy before his eyes wondered to his right were Himura was standing, his violet eyes never missing a single movement.

"Teme…" Growled Sano as he dribbled the ball beside him while placing out his left arm to keep his female opponent away from him but without touching her in any way.

"Its over shortie!" Sagara yelled as he jumped to shoot for the hoop. All eyes grew wide, including a pair of green and gold ones as the young girl yelled just like Sano had and jumped as high as her legs could take her and prominently knocked the ball from Sagara's direction of the hoop. In an instant she was crouched on the ground before running passed the still stunned Sano who was lagging behind her as she collected the ball and headed for the other hoop. Though Sano was gaining on the girl's shorter form she picked up pace, confidently jumping from the foul line, basketball in her right hand as she made a leap for the hoop.

"S-Slam dunk!" Himura stuttered out as the boys' team and the couch watched the youngster slam the ball through the hoop. She didn't even care or realised that she'd just flashed her black sport briefs to the lot of them as she let go of the ring and came falling down, only to land on her butt as she hadn't stayed upright on her legs.

All was silent as she picked herself up and dusted off her short school skirt. Standing to her short height she then pointed her finger over at Sano who was standing with his jaw open in the middle of the court.

"I win Roosterhead." Aoshi watched sparkling ocean blue eyes fix in his general direction before a bright smile broke onto her lips.

"Ah, Sou-chan, what are you doing here?"

"You know her?" Came the voice of Kenshin and Saitou at the same time.

"Mi-Misao-chan, sugoi! You finally made it here." And with that all eyes watched as Soujiro ran on over to the girl and hugged her lightly.

"Sensei, this is my cousin!"

"Ohayoo Shinomori-sensei. Watashi wa Makimachi Misao desu. I've just transferred here from Kyoto High, please allow me to play in the girls basketball team!" And with that not a sound could be heard in the entire gymnasium, as ocean blue eyes locked with icy green.

To Be Continued…