rukiruki86: Thanks for the review, good to know someone out there is reading :)


Kaede strode through the gym doors, just in time to see Koshino attempt a three-point shot. Perfect form. The ball swished cleanly through the net.

Despite his height disadvantage, the former Ryonan guard had earned a starting place on the Seikei team due to his near-perfect shooting percentage. Somewhere between high school and college, he had greatly improved that aspect of his game to rival even Jin, though Kaede had yet to see it in an official game.

"Ah, Rukawa. You're early."

Kaede nodded curtly in reply and headed straight for the locker room to get changed. Maki arrived next, followed by the team's imposing centre and vice-captain, Eda. One by one, the other members of the team started streaming in.

"Guys! Announcement!" Masumi, the Seikei team manager, burst in excitedly. The bookish-looking girl scanned the gym, pushing up her glasses. "Is Sendoh-kun late again?"

Maki sighed. "It seems so."

As if on cue, Sendoh strolled in casually, wearing his trademark smile. "Hey guys."

She frowned at him. "Right. Come here." The players went over to Masumi, whispering in excitement. The tournament season would be starting soon and a practice match before that was customary. As reigning champions, Seikei would be automatically entered into the semifinals while the rest of the universities battled for the remaining three spots.

"We'll be playing Todai University this Saturday, here, in a practice match," she announced without preamble. The murmurs rose. Todai University had ranked 3rd in Tokyo last year, narrowly missing a place in the Nationals.

Though his cool exterior showed no sign of it, Kaede was fired up at the prospect of his first college match. It had been too long since his last organized game and he longed to get back into it. He lived for competition.

"Thank you, Masumi-san." Maki turned to address the team. "Even though it's just a practice match, let's start the season right and remind them why we're the champions. Now give me 20 laps around the court!"


With the practice match looming, Maki put them through the paces harder than usual. After two hours, even Kaede had to admit he was tired.

"We'll take a five-minute break here," Maki announced. "When we get back, we'll scrimmage."

"Roger that!"

Exhausted, Kaede sank onto the benches and drank deeply from his water bottle. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that Sendoh was already making good use of his break time to chat up one of the many fan girls that had come to watch their practice. His reputation as a playboy and a flirt was truly well deserved. Do'ahou…

If he had his way, he would make sure to lock the gym doors for every practice. That was the only way to keep out annoying distractions. In fact, he could think of a number of other rules he would like to institute…

Sendoh broke his train of thought. "Hey, Rukawa. Why didn't you invite us to your housewarming party?"

What?!

Kaede turned with dread. Beside Sendoh was Yanagi, smiling down at him innocently. That brat! He was fuming, but his voice was quiet and controlled. "A word, please."

"Oh, I wouldn't want to disturb your practice – "

He walked over and grabbed her wrist, dragging her away from a bewildered Sendoh. "I wasn't asking."

"Undo it." He said when they were out of earshot.

"What?"

"Whatever you just did." The grip on her wrist tightened and she let out a yelp. Realising they were still in contact, Kaede immediately dropped her wrist like it was the plague.

She stared at him defiantly. "You said I could invite my own friends."

"Sendoh?" He asked, barely concealing his disdain. "Are you that kind of girl?"

Her eyes widened, taken aback by his loaded question. "What are you implying?"

As socially inept as he was, he knew instinctively that saying any more would be going overboard. And so, with great effort, he managed to hold his tongue. What a gentleman I am, he thought dryly.

"Break over!" Maki called from a distance. Saved by the bell.

He held up a warning finger. "Have your party, but don't expect me to show up."

He turned to walk away, but paused after a few steps and looked back over his shoulder. She was still standing there, as if rooted to the ground. "And your sandwich looked disgusting."


Yanagi stood at the same spot for a few moments just glaring at his retreating figure, clenching her fists in a mixture of hurt and rage. Was he going to call me a…

She had known since their first encounter that Rukawa Kaede was far from nice. That boy was like a porcupine; you got pricked anytime you got too close. It was just how he was. She had seen that, and resolved to be strong. Words cannot hurt me, she had told herself. He doesn't really mean it. But at that moment, she found herself struggling to believe it.

She was so consumed by anger that she did not notice Sendoh walking up to her. "Are you all right?" he asked, waving his hand in front of her face.

She nearly jumped. "S-senpai!"

He tilted his head, smiling. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Is that so?" She laughed nervously, trying to pretend that everything was fine. I would much rather see a ghost than Rukawa Kaede, she thought angrily.

"I just wanted to let you know that we'll swing by after the match this Saturday. Me, and some of the guys."

"SENDOH! GET OVER HERE!" roared Maki.

"Ah – I'd better get going," he smiled sheepishly, already backpedalling away. "Thanks again for the invite!"

As he retreated, she let out a deep sigh. She'd thought that a housewarming party would be a good occasion to get that stupid boy to socialize. It was so silly that he spent so much time with his teammates but could not count a friend among them.

Not for the first time in her life, she cursed herself for being so meddlesome. Glancing at the court, she saw the scrimmage had already begun. She would have stayed to watch, but unfortunately parties did not plan themselves.


Not one to go soft, Maki had called for a 5-on-5 full court scrimmage. When the final whistle blew, most of the team collapsed on the court in exhaustion. Kaede was worn out as well, but he didn't quite feel like going home. He wasn't sure why.

He walked up to Maki. "Captain. Could I have a set of gym keys?"

"Staying back?"

He nodded, wiping perspiration off his brow.

Maki studied him with mild interest. Not many players could take that kind of training he had just dished out, and for them to stay back afterwards was unheard of.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Maki lectured, handing him the keys. "I want you fresh for your debut."

Kaede merely nodded again, taking the keys. He looked at the clock. 7pm. Plenty of time for a one-on-one.

He walked over to the benches, where Sendoh was lying with a towel over his face. "Sendoh. A game?"

Sendoh peeled the towel off. "You're staying on?"

Kaede felt inexplicably triumphant at hearing the surprise in his voice. I have more stamina than you think. "Yeah."

Sendoh glanced at the clock. "Damn. I was supposed to meet my girlfriend an hour ago."

"Do you care?"

He shrugged, sitting up. "Isn't Yanagi-san waiting for you at home?"

Hearing her name made Kaede think back to their earlier encounter, and that made him extremely uncomfortable. It felt like… guilt? I didn't do anything wrong, he thought stubbornly. She started it.

"It's fine if you don't want to," Kaede said coolly, sidestepping the question.

"Yeah, sorry. I should get home."

One by one, the team trickled out until only Kaede was left.

An hour later, the gym was silent except for the sound of his casual dribbling. Todai University, eh? He burst forward from the half-court line, performing a series of crossovers to outmaneuver his imaginary opponents. He then jumped, lobbing the ball towards the backboard before landing. In a split second he had leapt up again, reaching for the rebound and dunking it in.

Satisfaction. He let go of the rim and stumbled backwards. Damn, I'm so tired…

He allowed himself to fall. Lying sprawled out on the empty court, he could feel his pulse racing, hear his heart pounding in his ears. He closed his eyes, savoring the sensation. This is life. It would not be too long before exhaustion overcame him, he knew that. His life was a cycle of pushing himself, pushing his body until it could no longer take it, then falling into deep sleep to recover. The things in between did not matter.

The best… I want to be the best. This was the thought he kept foremost in his mind as sleep claimed him.


Yanagi turned off the TV and checked the clock with worry. It was already close to midnight and that boy was still not home. She hadn't completely forgiven him for earlier, but all that seemed very distant and trivial next to the grim scenarios she was playing out in her mind.

Kaede, blood pooling around his head, his bicycle just a twisted mass of metal.

Kaede, mugged and left to bleed out in a dark alley.

She shook the images out of her head. He's probably still at the gym shooting hoops. But the nagging feeling refused to leave her.

Sighing in resignation, she made up her mind to go check the school gym. Just to be sure. He'll probably tell me to go away again, she thought glumly.

The public buses had stopped running by this time, and she was without a car or bike.

She would have to walk it.


Kaede felt a splash of cool water on his face. That felt strangely good. It was very warm in here. Where am I…?

"Hey!" A voice called out to him. Whoever it was sounded agitated. "Do you know what time it is? Wake up!"

He shut his eyes tighter. Don't want to…

Someone was touching his face and neck. He wanted to tell them to go away, but the energy would not come.

"Oi, you have to wake up." The voice was softer now. That was good. It was very irritating before. "Please. I can't carry you all the way back."

He was then assaulted with a towel, dabbing away the water on his face.

"Don't… touch me." He managed, weakly pushing the towel away.

"How are you feeling?"

He opened his eyes, grunting with effort. Everything seemed hazy. He rubbed his eyes. Yanagi stared back at him, a look of concern on her face.

"What time…?" He asked, breaking into a yawn.

The concern on her face was rapidly replaced with disgust.

"It's 1am!" She barked, throwing the towel on his head. "How could you just fall asleep in the gym? Are you a moron?"

He sat up, annoyed. "It's none of your business where I sleep."

She bit back a retort and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths. "I'm not here to bicker," she said levelly. "You have a fever. Can you cycle home?"

A fever? He did feel slightly warm, his whole body ached, and he was starving. But cycling home probably wasn't an issue. "Yeah."

"Can I ride with you?"

Something suddenly dawned on him. 1am? He glanced at the gym clock for confirmation, eyes widening. Did she… alone? After midnight?

"You walked here?" he asked quietly.

Her cheeks turned crimson and she looked away hurriedly. "I... I thought something might have happened." She shot him a furious glare. "Looks like I shouldn't have bothered."

He knew what the correct response should be – to feel grateful, or even touched – but he could not find it in himself. It was as if such feelings had been out of use for so long, they had wasted away, much like muscles that had atrophied.

Instead, he felt anger rising underneath his cool façade. The girl was a total idiot. "Do'ahou."

"What?"

"Have you no sense of self-preservation?" he asked coldly. "I can take care of myself. Nobody asked you to come."

She stared at him in disbelief. "You're right. I was a fool to come here." She picked up her bag and stalked towards the exit.

"Hey," he called, but she did not stop. Cursing under his breath, he ran to get his gym bag from the locker room and hurried out of the gym. It wasn't safe for a girl to be out on the streets alone at this time of night. If anything happened to her, his father would kill him. I shouldn't have provoked her. "Hey!"

Damn it, have to lock up.

He shut the double doors and fumbled around for the keys. She was already out of sight. That idiot…

Once the doors were securely locked, he went over to his bike and unchained it. His bike had no pillion; it was just one of those things he never thought he would need. He mounted his bike and pedaled. Since she was on foot, he could still catch up to her, no problem.

True enough, he soon spied her from a distance. He gradually slowed his speed until he was alongside her and hopped off his bike.

She paused to glare at him. "What do you want?"

"My bike has no pillion."

She turned away haughtily. "I can walk by myself."

"Don't be an idiot."

Surprisingly, her expression softened. "Are you… worried about me?" A cheeky smile spread across her face, illuminated softly by the orange glow of a street lamp.

Kaede had never realised it before, but in that instant, she looked beautiful. Her big brown eyes were filled with warmth and life, and even though her cheeks looked slightly chubby when she smiled, it only enhanced her innocent appeal. The fever must be turning me dotty, he thought wryly.

"Don't be an idiot," he repeated. "Let's go home."

Her eyes twinkled with mischief. "I'll race you."

"What?"

"One… two…"

Kaede frowned at the unfairness of the challenge. He was exhausted after training, and there was still his bike he needed to drag along. "I'm not playing along with your nonsense."

"Three!" She sprinted off.

Sighing, he hopped back on his bike and pedaled leisurely behind her.


She has good stamina, he noted as he parked his bike outside of their house. She had run for half an hour without letting up, which was pretty good for a girl, he supposed.

"I'm so tired," she complained as he entered the house.

"Do'ahou. Nobody asked you to run back."

"I enjoyed it." She smiled, panting. "You must run with me sometime." For the second time that night, it occurred to him that she looked nice when she smiled. Must be the fever.

She tiptoed and pressed the back of her hand onto his forehead. He brushed it away in annoyance.

"Have you eaten?"

He shook his head and removed his shoes.

"I'll make you something."

He remembered the tasteless breakfast and horrible sandwich. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Shut up and sit down," she ordered bossily. "Even I can cook instant ramen."

With no energy left to protest, he obeyed meekly. The ramen was ready five minutes later. "Eat up, then take this," she said, placing two pills and a glass of water on the table.

He attacked the ramen voraciously, finishing it in minutes.

"The medicine," she reminded him from across the table. Sighing, he popped the pills in his mouth and washed them down quickly. "Good boy." She sounded very pleased. "I think I like you better when you're sick."

She stood up before he could bristle at her remark. "I'll wash up," she offered, taking the pot and glass into the kitchen. "You should get some rest."

He trailed behind her, deep in thought. Something had been bugging him all day, but he had just gotten a sense of what it could be. "On the rooftop…"

She blushed furiously. "I- I didn't know you would be there," she said defensively. "I just wanted to get some fresh air."

He waved her excuses away. "I don't care about that."

"Then?"

He paused, trying to piece his thoughts together coherently. "That… you made that for yourself."

She frowned at him, puzzled. "You mean the sandwich? I know you didn't eat it. Just throw it away."

"Then what did you eat?"

Her eyes widened a little before she broke into a nervous laugh. "You're not making any sense right now, Rukawa Kaede. Go to bed."

He frowned. He could have sworn… was he reading too much into it? Perhaps the fever was messing with his head again.

She scrunched up her face. "Go away," she said, in a comical impersonation of him. "You're annoying me." Chuckling at her own joke, she turned towards the sink.

He gave her a last skeptical look before abandoning the topic. "Oi, do'ahou."

"Hmm?" She set the pot to dry and turned to him.

"I practice late all the time," he said coolly. "No need to wait up."

She gazed at him for a few moments before breaking into a small smile. "I'm happy to."

He stared at her blankly as a strange warmth stirred from the pit of his stomach. Is this how it feels like…? To have a family?

He realised he must look like a fool, just standing there and staring. "Goodnight," he blurted, and abruptly left the kitchen.