Baabaablack sheep.

My first Akira Sendoh ficcie in 14 chapters-

Story: Ruki Aida is a freshman. The youngest of the three Aida's, Hikoichi being her twin and Yayoi being her older sister, she is nothing like them, at least in the Akira-Sendoh-hailing-department, a graduate of Tomigaoka Jr. High herself, she's best friends with no other than Kaede Rukawa. To all the black sheeps out there.

(=.=)

Chapter 2: Broken – Fixed.

She had the best form he'd seen and laid eyes on ever since he entered Tomigaoka Jr. High, and it didn't matter to him whether she was a boy or a girl, it was a breath of fresh air since the day he entered the basketball club and realized that snatching a championship will be like climbing Mt. Everest alone.

The girl was quick and her technique was flawless she couldn't be more than fifteen years old too, but her skills were a huge contrast compared to his teammates. How can a basketball team suck that much? Not to mention, they were all young boys to begin with and not one of them could time a perfect pass nor be a reliable shooter!

"Hey."

"Hey you!"

"Oie… you with the dumb look on!" Rukawa stared at the raven haired girl who seemed to have stopped shooting free throws from all corners of the 3 point lane. She seemed to be talking to him, he stared at her, neat face, neat ponytail, she had on white basketball shoes, neat white t shirt and black boy-shorts.

"Would you mind daydreaming someplace else since I'm busy practicing here and you're a distraction." She said in a condescending tone, she was no more than 5'3 and yet she dared talk down on him, but she was dead-serious.

"You don't own this court." His voice hasn't reached puberty yet, but it bore the darkness and clarity of his character.

"Yeah, but the girls' basketball team had this reserved and I'm practicing."

"YOU are the girls' team?"

"Are you stupid? I'm part of the team and you're wasting my time. Shoo. Fly away foxy."

Rukawa threw her a bored look. Of course someone as talented as her would feel entitled to a diva-attitude.

Rukawa held his ground, "You don't own this court."

"You… You just said that! Do you know who I am!?" she clutched the ball with one hand, pointing it at him. Kaede Rukawa was indeed amazed by an inch but he didn't show it. A skinny thirteen or maybe even fourteen year old can grab a full basketball with one hand,

"I'm Tomigaoka's Ace and one day I'm going to be Japan's Number One Basketball Player!"

"Girls can't be number one."

That broke her fuse, "W… What did you… just… say?" her huge eyes twitched at him. Rukawa swore he was looking at a well-bred young girl but she acted insane when it came to basketball.

"It's a fact stupid. If you're a fan of basketball you'd know that." He said nonchalantly.

"W… Well… This is the new age, and it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman. Talent determines strength!" she sneered at him, "Get your head out of the olden days." She continued, Rukawa drooped his head towards the floor, it might seem like a rude gesture to her making it seem like he did it out of exasperation, but he was just hiding the sparkle in his eyes re-ignited by someone with the same spirit for the sport, she was female but she was better company than his uninspiring teammates.

"Kaede Rukawa." He said nonchalantly. Staring at her without expression on his face, the girl studied him for a bit, not wondering what he just uttered and why. With a suspicious look she said,

"Ruki Aida, 12 years old, Class I-D."

-o-

From then on, Rukawa always visited the west gym at that time of the day whenever he felt the need to freshen up. From that time Ruki's talent was on par with him, but he knew that he's potentially better. They were both 12 years old then, she was the tough one in school, he was the laid back student who didn't care about anything in the world.

When it came to basketball the two of them would train in secret. Ruki would go psycho if she was unable to pull out a stunt she saw online or on television but nobody knew how hard she trained, nor that she even trained after training other than Kaede Rukawa. Everyone just thought she was born gifted and talented. She was after all flawless in basketball.

"Hey! Fox face! Look at this new trick I invented!" she yelled while Rukawa was practicing 3 point shots at the village basketball court. He turned and Ruki showed him the turn around fade away jump shot she perfected. Rukawa clapped his hands two times, albeit bored, and then resumed his own training.

"That's it!? You know that was amazing!" she yelled back.

He didn't tell her that what was amazing was how she could move like there really was a 'Michael Jordan' like player in front of her, blocking her or stealing the ball from her. Her visualization skill was on a different level, it's as if he himself can see and measure the ability of her 'shadow blocker', it was insane.

-o-

At 12, she didn't care about anything but basketball. It was when they were in year II of Jr. High that things started to change.

"Ne, Rukawa-kun, does your parents support you with basketball?" she asked him. He didn't need to answer her question. They were on the rooftop, Ruki skipped English to steal an afternoon nap to be able to train longer later that day. She sighed and laid on the floor, "I really don't care about them, nor what anyone thinks. They don't understand basketball. They think it's just a game. Anyway, can I borrow money from you?" she asked casually.

"No." Rukawa replied.

"Tch. Cheap ass." She said before getting up and preparing to leave, normally Rukawa would just let it go, but something told him that it wasn't normal this time, "What do you need it for?"

"I spent all my allowance for the week." She said

"Lie." He muttered.

"... I'm not lying!"

"It's just Tuesday. You packed lunch yesterday which means you couldn't have run out of money. 'Ahou. Check your lies first." He said, opening his eyes to look at her, her small flushed face and her crinkled nose told him she was annoyed,

"They didn't give me money for the week, except for transportation." She got leaned on the wall beside Rukawa, "Last week my parents saw my grades, I've never told you this but I have two sibling, a twin and an older sister and they're both high achievers but they both… suck… I mean, average at sports. But my older sister, she's beautiful, she's at the top of her class and she's really cool."

"Where do they go to school?"

"Ah. She goes to Ryonan High School. While my twin brother goes to this school where his idol studies. Akira something."

Rukawa laughed for the first time, "'Ahou." He muttered.

"What?!"

"You don't even know where your twin brother studies."

"What?! Because it's not important! We have separate lives and… hell, I just don't need to know! I don't want to be associated with that 'goody-two-shoes', know-it-all- wimp! Do you know that because of him my parents have been comparing us? Me? To them! Err… sorry. You don't need to hear me rant about these unimportant things! BUT!"

"Hah! I swear one day! I'll show them what basketball really is and how it should be played! I'll show them how great Ruki Aida is destined to be!"

And that was how he met Ruki Aida… The then-Diva, super star, high spirited Ruki Aida.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Reviews and comments are greatly appreciated 3

o^-^o