A Rocky Love Story, by Oddsbodikins
Obligatory Disclaimer:
The characters from Slam Dunk are the creations and property of Inoue Takehiko and related enterprises. I do not own them, and do not make any profit from this fiction except for my (and my readers') own enjoyment in spending time with them.
Warning:
Excessive length. But please hear me out, before you leave! Ü I am heartily sorry for inflicting such a time-consuming, lengthy piece of work on you, dear reader. It's just that I am leaving today for a week-long vacation, at a place with no Internet access. I hate leaving things unfinished, but… oh well, I don't have a choice. I hope that this extended offering of mine would tide my readers (if any) over my absence. ÜÜÜ
Chapter I
Revelation
~ 3 weeks later ~
Fuji sat, left elbow propped on her table and chin cupped in her left palm, trying vainly to twirl her red pencil around and in-between the fingers of her other hand. It was a sweltering hot day, the kind of day made for afternoon swimming or ice-cream bingeing at Danny's, and the fact that she along with 24 other active high-schoolers were currently imprisoned against their will in classroom I-5 of Shohoku High School was giving them – and her – a headache. Even the sensei crammed in with them seemed to have lost interest in his own subject, his voice a droning hum of jumbled vectors, coordinates, and motion equations. He was also apparently oblivious to the fact that most of his students were either fighting the sleep fairies, already on their way to dreamland, or totally knocked out.
Fuji sighed. She glanced across the aisle where her best friend, Haruko Akagi, was among the heroic few still struggling to take down notes. Their other best friend, Matsui Kinimoto, was in the seat behind Fuji's, bent head lolling on the windowsill beside her as she tried to hide her dozing from the sensei. Haruko seemed to have sensed Fuji's look, for she glanced to her left, and meeting Fuji's eyes, she smiled. Fuji rolled her eyes back at her. They shared a friendly grin, before Haruko turned back to her notebook and Fuji to her pencil twirling.
As always, when her mind was free, Fuji's thoughts drifted idly over various things… staring out of the window just beside her seat, her gaze wandered lazily over the empty school grounds below her. Inexplicably her eyes were drawn to a gray building in the distance, and she was reminded of the special assignment her editor had personally given her today. An aspiring journalist, it had always been her dream to be a writer for the school paper. Shohoku High was known throughout the prefecture for its critical school paper, written by and for its students, and Fuji was extremely honoured to have passed the difficult evaluative exam required to be a staffwriter. Smiling fondly to herself, she recalled how she stood, dumbfounded, by the bulletin board where the list of accepted staffers was posted, while around her Haruko and Matsui were hopping up and down, engulfing her in hugs while screaming their lungs out. "Bakas," she thought affectionately.
Being a rookie staffer, she was surprised to be given an investigative assignment this early.
"M… me?" I squawked, my horrified gaze locked on my editor.
"Yes, Fuji-chan, you," she replied impatiently as she turned back to the article she was proofreading on the computer.
"Bb..b..but, sempai, I'm just a… that is… this is my first…"
"Yes, yes, I know you're new. I also know this's your first assignment – I'm your editor, remember? But you're perfect for the job. You can do this. Think of it as training for your future career as an investigative journalist."
"Uhh… demo… I don't… that is, where do I start?"
The news editor swiveled in her chair to face me abruptly. "Fuji-chan, I know this is a shock to you, but really, it's a great honour and great practice to boot. Remember the EIC herself assigned you to do an exposé. Well, here's your chance. You were chosen because you have connections no one else on the staff has."
"C..connections?"
"Your onii-san's on the basketball team, right? Right. This assignment involves the varsity basketball team, right? Right. There, you've your first contact already!"
"Oh, but…"
"No more but's. It's settled. You have 3 weeks to get on this thing. Find out what you can about it – remember, our source said it's not what it seems. Dig through whatever dirt there is. And come back to me with what you get. Understood?"
I sighed. Further struggle seemed futile. "Hai."
Fuji shook her head to clear it. That had been this lunchbreak. Though she was flattered to have been chosen, her hesitation to accept the job was not simply because of her inexperience. "It'll be weird. Uncomfortable. Onii-san and I haven't been the best of sibs lately. And… I can't blame him."
I got home that day in a daze. Nothing was wrong with me, I was perfectly fine. Just… unsettled. My brother was shooting hoops in our garage.
"Ne, Fu-chan, where've you been? Here I was feeling guilty for having left you to walk alone 'cause I had practice… so that you could get home early… and here you are, later than I was. Tsk, tsk. You're squandering my emotions."
"Squandering?"
"Have to be glib to keep up with you." He twirled the basketball on his forefinger.
"Gomen, nii-chan, I had a late meeting at the school paper, plus the article I was supposed to hand in today…"
"That you didn't finish…"
"Yeah, I was to do that…"
Suddenly he shoved his face in front of mine. "What's wrong?"
"H..huh? Nothing's wrong…"
"Don't give me that crap. I'm your older brother. What happened?"
Instinctively I chewed my lower lip, thinking of a way to fool him. Of all the times to go on the overprotective rampage!…
He grabbed my chin. I tried to wrench free, but his eyes were glued to my… oh sh*t…
"What happened to your lips? There're purplish spots on them."
I wrenched my face out of his grasp. "Nothing! I told you! I just… Haruko-chan had me try this new lip gloss, I must've had an allergic reaction to it or something…"
He didn't believe it for a second. His eyes were narrowed into slits, suspiciously watching me. I couldn't look into his face.
"I… I'm going in now."
I could feel my brother's grunt of reluctant assent. His eyes bored into my back. I tried to walk, as calmly as I could, down the path to our front door, and was inside before my usually calm brother could decide to lose his cool.
Thinking of the events of that day led Fuji's thoughts, again… for the nth time… to that… to his kiss. "My first kiss," she thought. Even now, thoughts of that kiss, and of the guy who gave it to her, gave her butterflies in her stomach. Fuji fixed her stare on her teacher, a foil to let him think she was listening to him, even though in truth she was lost in her own thoughts.
The first days after the incident, Fuji was withdrawn, silent more than usual. Haruko and Matsui noticed the change in her, but though they tried to talk to her about it, Fuji evaded their questions. When asked about her bruised lips, she gave the same lie she told her brother.
Fuji was depressed. She ate very little, laughed less, and seemed jumpy at sudden movements around her. She especially avoided being alone, taking the initiative to seek others' company, which was a radical change from her previous introverted personality. Her brother got fed up one day, when he found her in front of the TV with her favourite show on, yet her eyes remained vacant… when he tried to talk to her she left him to go to her room, where he followed and tried to pry the truth out of her, but… she just couldn't. Yet. She couldn't tell anyone yet. She wasn't ready. Exasperated, her brother stormed out after the confrontation – the worst fight they have ever yet had.
Try as she might, and even though she wanted to with all her heart, Fuji couldn't bring herself to cry. She wasn't sad. A bit afraid, yes, but that was understandable. She was… confused. She knew she shouldn't have liked what had happened, and she didn't – she felt violated and her trust in the safety of the world was cracked. But, however hard she tried to deny it, there was a niggling sense of… pleasure… whenever she remembered the kiss. She didn't know the guy, and she abhorred the situation where the kiss occurred, yet… when his lips had touched hers, all her jumbled thoughts and feelings melted away, and she was enfolded in a dizzying, dazzling rush of happiness. Giving in to something as shocking as a stranger's kiss was definitely out of her nature, and she knew, intuitively, that she wouldn't have done so if she hadn't wanted it, even just a teeny bit. Somehow, even though everything about it was wrong, that kiss just felt… right.
She still dreamed about it, sometimes. Actually, they happened often during those days immediately after the actual event. She'd wake up in the middle of the night, with the image of his piercing blue eyes branded on her brain, and the skin on her back tingling from the memory of the way his long fingers had caressed the length of her spine. Fuji didn't know whether to be alarmed or not at the obvious way her body, and not just her soul, felt the rightness of being with the dark stranger.
Eventually, she confided in her two best friends. Remembering their reactions made her chuckle – both faces had registered an identical onslaught of emotions like disbelief, outrage, anger, and then concern –-- which earned her a quelling look from the sensei. Deciding to keep her eyes on her notebook instead, Fuji felt the familiar warm, fuzzy feeling she felt then, when she told her friends – their anger and protectiveness in her behalf went a long way to restoring some of her trust in the security of the world. But she didn't tell them the full truth… she couldn't yet share the details to anyone, especially her feelings. Nor would she let them report the incident to any of the authorities – she couldn't bear being exposed to the public scrutiny that would inevitably result, and she didn't think it would do any good anyway. A similar reason explained her refusal to tell her brother anything of the truth at all – her normally easy-going onii-chan would go ballistic, which wouldn't help any. What was done, was done.
The shrill ringing of the bell jolted Fuji back to reality. Looking quickly around her she saw Haruko stuffing her notebook and pencil in her bag, while other classmates chatted to one another as they left the room – class was over. Packing her own things inside her backpack, she turned to find Haruko gently shaking Matsui awake. "Matsui-chan, riiiiissseee annnnddd shiiiiiinnnnnneeee!!!" The image of Matsui yawning like a bear sent the people around them into gales of laughter.
Walking down the corridor, jostling among the throng of students eagerly making their way out of the building and into freedom, the three friends conferred among themselves.
"Ne, girls, what're we going to do?" Haruko asked her friends with wide, puppy eyes.
"I'm hungry, let's eat!" Matsui announced to everyone within earshot.
"But you just woke up! How can you get hungry sleeping?"
"I'm a growing girl! I grow while I sleep!"
"Wouldn't you want to do something first? Y'know, to get you awake?"
"Eating wakes me up!"
"No, it makes you fat!," one of their classmates teased.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?!?!" Matsui looked ready to run the poor girl through with a katana.
"Ne, we know what you want to do, Haruko-chan." Fuji winked at her long-haired friend. "Or should I say, we know who you want to see."
"Wh…what?!? I'm goin… that is, I want to see my brother!" Haruko was blushing madly amidst the catcalls that came pouring in from all sides. "Hey you all, mind your own businesses, won't you!"
"The fact that your brother just happens to be in the same place with your crush doesn't have anything to do with your decision, right?" Matsui's knowing grin infuriated Haruko further.
"No, no, of course not! You're all hallucinating! Hentais!!!"
By this time they had reached the school lawns. The three girls stopped, while their classmates waved goodbyes and innuendoes at them as they left.
"I don't know. I have to get started on that reaction paper due tomorrow…" Fuji started saying.
"Oh come on, Fuji-chaaann! That's not due 'til tomorrow! You have all of tonight!" Haruko wheedled. "Besides," she paused as an idea struck her, "you have to do research on that special assignment for the paper, right? Well, why don't we go to the gym then? You bet the basketball team's there! You can talk to my onii-chan… or yours!"
"While conveniently giving your best friend a chance to ogle her crush…" Matsui added blandly, before leering suggestively at Haruko.
"Oh come on! That's… got nothing to do with it," Haruko stammered. The other two girls noticed her violently pink cheeks and sniffed disbelievingly.
"Look, let's be serious here. Fuji-chan needs to find out more about the fight that happened a week ago at the gym, right? And, she needs to talk to her brother…" Haruko held her hand up for silence when Fuji stirred to protest. "So, let's go to the gym so we can fix both at one go! I'm sure your brother couldn't ignore you in front of other people."
"Too bad Rukawa-kun ignores most people…"
"Oh Matsui-chan, please do be quiet for a moment..."
Fuji sighed. When Haruko got like this, it was next to impossible to contradict her. It was during these times that she most resembled her brother, the fearsome Captain Takenori of the basketball team, by sheer bullheadedness. Haruko had been more insistent lately about visiting the basketball team during their practices, since the InterHigh eliminations were starting on the coming weekend. She was their most avid non-team member supporter.
"Alright. Let's go."
The three friends strolled to the basketball gym, teasing one another occasionally. As they drew nearer the squeaks of rubber soles against a wooden floor increased steadily with the dull thudding of numerous basketballs against the same surface.
"Konichi-wa, onii-chan!!!" Haruko hollered as soon as they were inside the enormous building. A giant of a man turned at the sound of her voice, and getting up from his stretching exercises moved toward the doorway where the three girls stood.
"Haruko! Here to watch the practices again?" the giant greeted. He smiled at the two girls beside his sister. "Konichi-wa, Fuji-san, Matsui-san."
"Just for a bit, nii-chan. Anou, have you seen Fuji-chan's brother anywhere?"
"Hmm, not yet. He must still be in the locker room," Takenori answered. As he spoke, a beautiful brunette in sporty attire approached, with two players trailing behind her.
"Konichi-wa, Ayako-sempai!" All three girlfriends chorused.
"Hello, you three!" Ayako, the team manageress, beamed. "Are you here to support our team for the coming InterHigh?"
"Of course!" Haruko nodded her head vigorously. Fuji and Matsui caught each other's eyes, and giggled.
"Ne, Haruko, I have some things from my locker that need to be laundered. Would you please get them for me?" Takenori turned to his sister's friends. "Anou, I have to go now. Ayako will take care of you. Come on, Haruko, I'll give you my locker key."
"Onii-chan, you are impossible!" Haruko rolled her eyes. "Wait for me, girls, ne?" she called out to her friends, before following her brother.
The group left behind were laughing at the siblings, when Ayako suddenly thought of something. "Oh yes, you haven't met two of our newest members yet, haven't you?" she asked the other two girls, gesturing to the area behind them. "I know Haruko already has."
Belatedly realizing that two guys had been standing behind them, and had been privy to the whole conversation, Fuji and Matsui turned.
The shorter one, who stood behind Matsui, had curly hair cropped short at the top, but with the sides of his head shaven. His ear stud gleamed as he bowed and held a hand out to Matsui, introducing himself. "Konichi-wa, I'm Ryota Miyagi."
The taller guy, with close-cropped spiky blue-black hair, meanwhile bowed and stuck his hand out to shake Fuji's. Fuji gaped in open-mouthed shock at the small scar on his chin, as he grinned engagingly into her eyes. "Hey there. I'm Hisashi Mitsui."
to be continued… Ü
* EIC – Editor in Chief
Author's Privilege Ramblings:
Waah!!! 2, 680 words!!! pant, pant, wheeze, gasp That was one hell of a day! Yup, I wrote this chapter in a day!!! Well, as I said in my intro, I wanted to leave something for my readers to last them the whole week I would be away. (Would you miss mēēēh? Even just a teensie-weensie bit? Eheheheh ÜÜÜ)
So how was it? I know it's too long, but besides that? Please let me know. This chapter's pretty much unedited. I value what you guys think! Just review here or drop me a line at oddsbodikins@mail.com.
To shi-chan, Love-that-Fox, and Nellie, thank you so much for reviewing the prologue! ÜÜÜ
To everyone who has reached this far, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as I did writing this. ÜÜÜ
To the great Yoko Kanno-sama (if, by any miraculous chance, she is reading this), a million thank you's for creating the Escaflowne music!!! The "Escaflowne: Lovers' Only" OST has been my constant companion as I wrote this chapter. It's my favourite "thinking cd". ÜÜÜ Highly recommended! ÜÜÜ
'Til the next! Ja! ÜÜÜ