Rukawa's Secret Passion
pt 7 *finally... sorry for the delay folks ^^;;*

The sheets rustled as Sendoh poked out his head when the bright sunlight
filtered in though the window.
Everyone was sleeping in their proper beds, and a glance at the alarm clock
beside him showed it was already 7:00am. Yawning, he dragged himself out of
bed, stretching his aching muscles from yesterday. Dragging his feet
towards the entrance to their dorm, he failed to notice the blue eyes that
followed him.
Outside in the passage way, a few people were rushing backwards and
forwards, struggling with bags or sewing elastics to their dance shoes, one
boy was even brushing his teeth as he rushed towards his dorm.
Three girls, he noticed, were standing by the entrance to room 07 talking
quickly together in hushed voices. As soon as they saw him emerge, they
looked up excitedly, but seeing who it was they returned to their
discussion. Sendoh was disgusted to see that one girl was holding a pair of
pom-poms behind her back. So, this must be the infamous Rukawa Shintai...
Sendoh shuddered before continuing down the hallway.
People didn't give him a second glance as they all hurried off to where they
were supposed to be, various early morning classes and so forth.
Sendoh loved this time of the day, busy, morning people, like him already
preparing for the day. Classes all started at 8:00... but that didn't stop
many late risers from sleeping in until 8:30! Sendoh had heard a rumour
that one day, Rukawa hadn't gotten up until lunch time at 1:00! (Besides
his dancing, his looks, and his icy personality, the next best thing known
about the super rookie was his ability to sleep any place at any time.)
Sendoh couldn't help yawning again, not having slept very well last night.
He'd kept waking and finding himself unable to return to sleep, thinking
about Anzai-sensai and the dance.
Was he really good enough to do it?... the steps all seemed so difficult!
And the show was only a few months away... and dancing next to Rukawa was
going to be some tough act. He had so many worries that he failed to notice
a door open in front of him and a boy step out.
They collided painfully.
"Itai!" They exclaimed together, Sendoh vaguely thinking that banging
into people was becoming a speciality of his.
The boy in front of him was tall, but no where near as tall as himself, with
a small scar on his chin. His hair was tousled and there were dark marks
under his eyes showing that he also hadn't had much sleep. He rubbed his
arm sheepishly and cast an eye over Sendoh.
"You the new guy?"
Sendoh raised his eyebrows... does everyone know everything in this school!?
The scar faced boy saw the look of surprise on his face and grinned, waving a
hand idly.
"Kogure mentioned you."
"Oh, right."
There was an awkward silence, and Sendoh racked his brains, thinking of
something to say.
"Wanna join me for breakie??"
"Sure. I'm Mitsui Hisashi by the way."
"Sendoh Akira, nice to meet you."
And the two made their way towards the breakfast hall.


As Sendoh drained the last of his miso soup, two familiar looking figures
entered the hall together, one happy looking Sakuragi and one shattered
looking Rukawa, who looked as sleepy as Sendoh felt. Obviously
rehearsals last night hadn't been too kind to him either.
Sendoh watched them, jealously creeping through him, as they sat down together and
Sakuragi began munching on a piece of toast, chattering away idly. Rukawa,
however, was obviously not listening to a word he was saying, and eventually
his head drooped and rested on the table. He began to snore.
Sendoh smiled secretly to himself and turned his attention back to Mitsui,
who was proving to be very interesting, having a wealth of knowledge about
dancing and the school, but in no way seeming like a know-it-all. There was
something about him that Sendoh liked, maybe it was the sense of mystery
that seemed to surround him.
Kogure joined them not long after, greeting Sendoh cheerfully but also
looking quite tired and yawning widely every so often. The adoring looks
Mitsui kept throwing at his spectacled companion did not go unnoticed by
Sendoh.
Glancing up, Sendoh saw Sakuragi getting up to depart, leaving Rukawa still
sleeping at the table. Sendoh quickly excused himself and hurried off,
hoping to catch up with the red head as he made his way back to the dorm.
"Hey! Hana!!"
The boy stopped and looked back, a grin on his face when he saw his friend.
"Akira! Good morning... did you have a nice sleep??"
"Yes thanks...." Sendoh lied "...are you heading back to the dorm??"
"Yep... I have a warm up session in..." he glanced at his watch
"...exactly 5 minutes, and I'm still in my pyjamas!"
"I'll come with you."
They continued walking for a while in silence, Sendoh simply enjoying being
in Sakuragi's company.
"Um... Rukawa mentioned you last night, when he came back from
rehearsals."
Sendoh looked up quickly.
"He did? What did he say?"
"Um... he said you were a very good dancer... um... his exact words were
that you were... fascinating."
"Fascinating?? Wha-"
"I've never heard him compliment anyone before..." Sakuragi looked at him
seriously, with some sort of awe in his eyes "...you must be amazing."
"Eh?" Sendoh could feel that he was turning the colour of a beetroot
very rapidly, nevertheless his heart seemed to be soaring.
Sakuragi's words replayed themselves in his head throughout the day;

You must be amazing.

~*~*~*~*~

First class was exhausting. Sendoh's limbs seemed to have turned to lead by
the time he walked out of it an hour later, and he still had 2 more classes
this morning before lunch time.
As everyone else hurried past him to their performance lesson at the other
end of the building, Sendoh took a second to lean again the wall in the
corridor and catch his breath.

His heart was still pounding in his chest when a voice spoke in a concerned
tone;
"Sendoh??"
Sendoh looked up quickly and made a noise that sounded a bit like 'euk' when
he looked into the cheery eyes of Anzai-sensai that were peering at him with
interest over the top of his glasses.
"Sensai!" He stood bolt upright, "I was... um... I was..."
"Catching your breath??"
Slightly embarrassed Sendoh nodded, acutely aware that the other's hadn't
been out of breath when they had exited the class room. Anzai, however,
seemed unperturbed and carried on as if he hadn't noticed the embarrassment in
Sendoh's eyes.
"I was just on my way to another lesson... and I was looking for an
opportunity to talk with you today... come. We'll walk together. Unless,
that is, you are meeting someone, or if walking with a teacher is
considered..." He smiled at Sendoh, his eyes twinkling ".../uncool/, in the
words of the young."
"Not at all!"
So they started the walk to the area of the school know as the 'Maki Wing',
built after the departure of one of Shohoku's world class dancers from the
school.


Anzai left Sendoh at the door to his next class. As the man entered the
room and closed the door behind him, Sendoh finally had a chance to ponder
upon what the old coach had just told him in the deserted corridor.
Tonight, Anzai wanted him to practise along with Rukawa, to see if they
would work well together. Sendoh's heart began to sink, how was he supposed
to work well with that block of ice, and to make it worse, the block of ice
who happened to be dating his crush?!
Yes, Sendoh had decided that his feelings for Hanamichi were just a crush,
he'd get over it soon enough.
He began to walk with a new, more determined stride to the appointed studio
for his performance class.
He just had a crush.
But already... something was telling him that wasn't true.
And really... he knew he was lying to himself.

You must be amazing...

Tbc~

Star ~Indifference is a talent