Title

By Miku

miku_4444@yahoo.com

*Standard disclaimer applies… thank you*

Okay. Before I start with the story, let me tell you about my dream last night. *Sigh* The SD team was in my school and the first scene was… they were playing some game… I don't know… but it was not basketball because they were all sitting on the floor. And you know what? Rukawa was smiling. Hehe… Yeah. I saw him smiling on my dream. ^^ Nice dream ne… Then Haruko said something about Rukawa being unusual and that maybe he was in love… ^o^ hahahaha!!! And you know what? Haruko said that he could be in love with her!!!!! Arg! What made her think that?!?! Then she decided to confront Rukawa to ask, of all things, if he was in love with her! Argggggg!! And Rukawa just stared at her, face expressionless again, then he snorted and left her… poof! That was the answer. No. Nyahahahahahaha! I forgot how I heard this in my dream but… the last thing I knew was that Rukawa was in love, really, but not to any girl… to Sakuragi!!! Arg! But then it's alright I guess compared to him being in love with Haruko. Arg!

So there. Enough of my dream. And so I decided to make this fic now… this is… obviously… SenRu *wink wink* ^^;; hehe… It's just that I'm really a SenRu fan so… ehehe… (and I'm currently writing a RuHanaRu too ^^;;) hehe… oh well… I still love SenRu and was inspired by the fic "Staunch Fan" which was, I'm not sure, but unlikely to be a shounen-ai… a SenRu for that matter… but who knows… I'm hoping… Anyway, I'm just inspired to do a SenRu fic not to imitate the plot or whatever… so there…

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This is already the start…

Prologue of the Title

Let me start with the not-so-hoping plot of a fanatic. Rukawa Kaede is the star player of Shohoku. The super rookie. The Ice King. Or the stupid kitsune as what a certain do'aho redhead always asserts. Then his team made it to the National Championship. After proving his skill, Rukawa was acknowledged by the All-Team Japan (was that right?). Then he came back to Kanagawa. Yes. That was the SD plot regarding Rukawa.

And where's Sendoh through out this time? Of course, having his own life.

Was he playing one-on-one with Rukawa? Perhaps. They might have played once or twice. But then there was nothing more. That was the truth. Let's face it.

Okay. So here is where we will start. Let's play with their fate and make our wishes happen with Rukawa roaming the city of Kanagawa to buy his new pair of shoes. Yeah. Why was Sakuragi always the one buying new shoes? =P

So there. He was inside a huge mall, whatever the name was, and was walking casually making heads turned towards his direction. Let's not forget the Rukawa Brigade on the background and even some stalker. However, Rukawa did not care. He was… as usual… sleeping. Then his feet stopped in front of Park – the store where he buys his collection of Nikes. Still with his closed eyes, he entered the shop, turned to the shoes section and at last woke up. After gazing at the displayed Air Jordans, he grabbed one unmindfully, lent it to the salesperson, and waited for his chosen shoes to arrive. Then he went to the counter, passing a certain spiky-head boy who followed an eye on him, looking curious and childish (as always) as Rukawa paid for his shoes and left. Sendoh smiled but then continued choosing a right T-shirt for him.

Sigh. There would be no story if we continue this way.

So let us have them meet up somewhere again.

Hearing his grumbling stomach, he went to a burger house (still inside the mall), went to the unattended counter and waited for the cashier. Then he told her his order, large fries, spicy chicken burger, large coke and ketchups please. He pulled two straws, one to be used and the other to be saved just in case. And let's not disregard the fact that the cashier's eyes were shaped heart and that she actually offered a free strawberry sundae (she actually wanted to free Rukawa from any payments but of course she'd be dead). Then Rukawa waited for his food, closed eyes, arms crossed in his chest and foot tapping. The food was prepared fast and Rukawa quickly took the tray and chose for a seat. Finding one place in a more private area, he fixed his stuffs there and began eating. Let's not forget too that the place was almost empty when he came inside but then suddenly it was packed with females as he settled there.

The Sendoh came in sight, with a tray of foods in hand, scanning the whole place for a seat. But of course there was none anymore since it was already jammed with females. And it should be obvious too that the number of crowds doubled as Sendoh arrived. And the manager was very happy too. However, Sendoh was not since he had no place to eat his order. Then his face lit up, eyes sparkled, as he saw a flash of light from his savior.  

Sendoh trotted to Rukawa, beaming the latter a very insane smile as he said, "Can I share seat with you?"

Of course, Rukawa just snorted, eyes still closed as he sipped his large coke – his bangs falling softly to his face. Outside the window passed two females, one fainted as she saw the two infamous basketball stars. A child passed by them looking puzzled. The child's ice cream was already melting and dripped slowly to his small hands. The scene of the child was an added detail.

Going back to the two aces, Sendoh was now sitting in front of Rukawa, eyes closed and lips still smiling as he took one huge bite. Rukawa was still quietly sipping his large coke; the paper wrapper of his burger was now crumpled – it was, yet again, an added detail.

[author checked spelling and grammar, learned that there were already… 1030 words.]

Yes. A thousand words but no story so far so let us consider that this is going to be a chaptered story unless the author changed her mind.

Back to Rukawa and Sendoh: Finally emptying his large plastic cup of coke, Rukawa stood up, grabbed the paper bag containing his newly bought Air Jordan, and left the spiky boy without even saying goodbye or nodding just to saw some… acknowledgement. We could imagine Sendoh narrowing his glinting eyes but then smiled. We believed it was a forlorn smile. Who knows? The spiky boy continued eating. The girl who just fainted a while ago was no more in sight together with her friend. But the child was still there licking the ice cream drips in his small hand.

Still the story seemed useless so we would have to stick with the most probable place of some sensible meeting - the enclosed basketball court.

Rukawa was dribbling the ball, posed and aimed for the ring, then shoot. Perfect. Clean. And beautiful three-point. Let's make this one more meeting picturesque and artistic since we knew this would be the memorable start. The wind blew softly sending some already withered leaves – brown and crisp, very fragile leaves that would crumble if touched… The sky was orange with the gray clouds being bordered by a golden light that was due to the sun's rays. Rukawa's hair was softly swaying with the breeze, so was his soft white cotton shirt contouring the shape of his body. Then Rukawa lifted his head and closed his eyes as he smelled the scent of the fresh earth. So relaxing. So warm.

Then his eyes snapped open as the sound of a ball being dribbled suddenly rose to the place. He slowly lowered his head and turned looking uninterested as usual but we believe that he was just hiding his curiosity. He still looked stoic as he recognized the new comer who was no other than who we planned… Sendoh Akira.

The spiky boy was still wearing that adorable (and at times annoying) smile as he tossed the younger boy (who was Rukawa, FYI) a basketball. For us it was a very clear challenge for a one-on-one. Rukawa was not dumb however not to realize it so he started dribbling the ball, raised his hand, fingers in a graceful gesture of 'one', and at last he spoke his first written words in this fic, "First to get ten points."

Sendoh nodded in agreement, still flashing his killer (yes, killer) smile. He had no stuffs that he carried in this place so he need not to place anything on the one and only bench. Sendoh walked slowly, stood in front of the younger boy, parted his feet wider, extended both arms to his side, obviously he just prepared himself in a guarding stance. "You first," he offered, eyes narrowed and lips twitched in a challenging smirk. Rukawa bent and started dribbling the ball again, his eyes concentrating as well as his body as he made his first attempt of offence.

Of course we don't care about the game. We only wanted to know what 'intimate' things happened, or even the slightest hint of it. There was none however so we feel already bored. But they were still together so there was still hope…

It took them a good forty minutes before one of them reached ten points – and we had not expected for him to be Rukawa because we always read in most fictions that Sendoh was mostly the one who wins during their one-on-ones. But this time it was Rukawa so it was something new, at least for the author.

Then they sat on the bench, heaving hardly and sweating profusely. Of course, Rukawa was the prepared one so he had a bottle of water. Sendoh had none. Good thing the latter still brought with him a towel. So while Rukawa was drinking, Sendoh was still catching his breath and we knew he was thirsty too. Fortunately, the raven boy knew that too so he lend Sendoh his bottle of water, still half-filled, but said nothing. Sendoh smiled wider for he was still smiling even when he was grasping for air.

"Thanks," he uttered before drinking but still leaving a good amount of water.

Then we felt really desperate since they had not yet uttered or did something 'subtly intimate' disregarding the fact that Rukawa had been actually thoughtful and that Sendoh was still sensitive enough not to satisfy his need (of water that is). So the author made Sendoh do the first move of asking, "Hey, Rukawa, would you like to visit my place for some snacks, and drinks. I'm sure you're still dehydrated. It's only a short walk from here."

Rukawa just shrugged but we knew it meant 'affirmative' so we rejoiced. We could make them… aherm… do something… aherm… incredible.

So after regaining their strength, the two stood up and left the court and, of course us, the awaiting (and actually frustrated) witnesses since this is already the end of the Prologue.

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…to be continued…

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Ehehehe… bored eh? Ehehehe… sorry… this is just the prologue anyway. The following chapters would be more sensible…. Ehehehe… okay?

What can you say? Review minna! I would certainly appreciate it! Thanks!

The title of this fic??? Hmmm… the title of this fic is actually "Title"… ehehehe… weird… but I am weird… so there. I'll try to make the first chapter more… interesting… hehe… But actually I enjoyed writing this prologue… ehehe… ^^;;