Chapter 7


Disclaimer: I own the lines in the "Song" Yume. It's a stanza in a poem I wrote.

I don't own Slamdunk.


Friday passed by with ease for the team. They did their daily routine of practice and work out and so on and so forth. Hanamichi practiced doing jump shots yet, Takenori doesn't seem to trust him much with that aspect. The team expects Rukawa and Mitsui's perimeter shots, Ryota and Kogure's guard and Takenori and Sakuragi's rebound. Coach Anzai was confident that with a powerhouse team like this, they would stand a chance in beating Ryonan.

The whole day, Haruko was lost in her thoughts. After figuring out what could've been bothering Rukawa from yesterday. She was often yelled at by her brother who immediately noticed his sister spacing out. Both Rukawa and Sakuragi looked at the girl at the same time.

"Sorry oniichan…"Haruko said as she started scribbling again.

What's wrong with her? Is something bothering her? Takenori, Sakuragi, and Rukawa thought altogether.

Eventually, everyone inside the gym got so consumed about the game a day away that they didn't recognize that it was getting darker every minute.

Finally…

"Practice is over, everyone go home now. Rest and prepare for Sunday. Remember, we'll leave tomorrow evening." Coach Anzai ended the day's practice when he checked his watch to see that it was already 6 o'clock in the evening.

Everyone inside the gym gradually dispersed. Haruko as well shoved her way out of the emptying gym.

"Yow Haruko!?" Sakuragi called from behind.

"Oh hey Hanamichi…" She replied as she faked a smile.

"I noticed you were spacing out, you went a bit pale too. You okay?" Sakuragi's voice was full of concern.

Meanwhile, Rukawa thought of catching up with Haruko to ask her what's wrong. As he left the gym, he sighted Haruko walking towards the gates with Hanamichi. He rode his bike as he silently stalked the two.

That idiot! That's why he almost tripped when he was walking out of the gym! He was following her! He balled his hands into a fist around the handles of his bike. He was angered by the thought that Hanamichi would walk Haruko home.

Going back, Hanamichi was babbling some jokes with Haruko. His intention was for her to spill whatever she had in mind. But, the girl was just laughing along, letting him do all the talking. He got impatient as he asked, "Something's wrong with you, you know?"

Haruko was perplexed, she remembered herself asking the same question to Rukawa who by the way was following them by a few feet behind.

"Yeah…" She replied as she gave him a sincere smile.

Sakuragi's face was dead serious. "What is it?"

"Hmm. I don't think you ought to know."

"Come on… Just give me an idea. You know you can trust me. I mean, I am moronic sometimes, but I am very trustworthy." Sakuragi said without even stopping to breathe.

"Well… What if…"

From behind, Rukawa could hear the two's conversation. She's telling HIM, but she wouldn't tell ME? He got so immersed in the thought when suddenly…

Clash! DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"What the….." Sakuragi turned around only to find Rukawa bleeding in the forehead.

Haruko's eyes nearly popped out of its sockets when she saw blood dripping from the lad's forehead which stained his white shirt. "Rukawa!!!" She yelled in fear.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Hanamichi was suppressing his laughter.

"Are you alright?!" Haruko inspected Rukawa's arms, legs and face as the lad simply looked down on the concrete ground. "GOD DAMN IT! ANSWER ME! ARE YOU OKAY!?" She screamed in panic.

"Yeah I'm fine. I fell asleep on the bike." Rukawa lied. Actually Haruko, I was so maddened that you were confiding with that idiot Hanamichi. I was so absorbed in that anger that I didn't see the post I was about to hit! His eyebrows met in the center.

"HA HA!! WHO"S THE IDIOT NOW!? SLEEPING WHILE RIDING A BIKE! NOW THAT'S NEW! HA HA! REALLY! TOO MUCH OF A SHOW OFF!! HA HA…" Sakuragi was laughing his heart out.

"CUT IT OUT SAKURAGI!" Haruko yelled at him, and then she turned to the bleeding lad who was now getting up and picking his bike. "No you won't!" She placed her hands on his shoulders stopping him from doing anything.

"I'm fine really…"

"I said no! You're bleeding!" Her voice was like a mother caring for her child. She took her pink hanky from her pocket and folded it couple of times.

"Give me your hanky…" She asked for Hanamichi's…

"No… No… use mine instead… His is nasty…" Rukawa said as he felt the sting in his forehead.

"Hmpt, I wouldn't bother giving you mine anyways!" Sakuragi muttered as he rolled his eyes.

"Fine then, Give me yours…" She ordered as he handed his blue hanky to Haruko.

She pressed the blue one onto his forehead. He cringed at the sting as he said "OW!"

"Applying pressure to the wound would stop it from bleeding." Haruko explained.

Rukawa stared at Haruko's bleak face. She was concentrating hard in pressing the hanky to the wound.

"Can you walk?"

"Yeah I can…"

"Hanamichi, a little help please…" Haruko called for Hanamichi who was spacing out.

"HUH? Oh…" He snickered as they yanked Rukawa up.

"I said I'm okay Haruko, no need to worry. Go ahead." Go ahead and continue your little chat. He deliberated with jealousy.

"What if you had a concussion upon the impact? Please stop acting tough!" She scoffed as she wrapped the pink hanky around Rukawa's head.

"I'm fine, see? It bled. There's no internal bleeding whatsoever." What do you mean stop acting tough? I am already weak in the guts because of you. I don't know why but I can't hate you for that.

Haruko must really care about Rukawa. I've never seen her shaken just because someone got injured. He's special to her. The red hair thought and sighed.

Sakuragi could see that neither one of them is backing down, so he interrupted. "You know Rukawa, if you don't get that booboo checked out, you might not be able to play on Sunday. Hesitate at your own risk." He smirked, then he turned to Haruko who was red with fury but her eyes were teary due to excessive concern. "Haruko, that guy's head seems to be stronger than a coconut. He wouldn't even twitch if he had his skull cracked." Hanamichi thought the joke was funny, Haruko on the contrary, sobbed at once at the thought.

"Oh shit… You know I was just fooling around. I didn't mean that…" Both Sakuragi and Rukawa were guilty beyond reasonable doubt for making Haruko cry.

"Fine, I'll get this checked out tonight. Please… Please stop crying." At that moment Rukawa felt pain. Not because of his bleeding forehead, but because he made Haruko cry. Stop crying please… It's agonizing. "You idiot… See what you did!? You made the girl cry!" He barked at Sakuragi whose face was twisted with guilt and concern.

"I said a joke! You're the hard headed buffoon!" Sakuragi bawled back.

"Jokes are meant to be funny, not to be sorrowful! Always so idiotic!" I really hate you to the core Hanamichi!

"Drop it…" Haruko said in between tears. "I'm going home…" Rukawa and Sakuragi stared at her.

"I'll come with--" Sakuragi cut his sentence off when Haruko raised a hand warning him to shut up.

"Don't… Follow me… okay?" Haruko said as she turned to walk away leaving the two bickering players behind.

"I'm leaving too…" Rukawa said…

"I'm leaving first!" Hanamichi 'hmpt' and rode his bike.

"IDIOT…" Rukawa called after him.

***

"I'd better go get this checked at the hospital. Haruko might get worried again." He muttered to himself as he pedaled his way to the nearby hospital. Aren't you supposed to think about the game this Sunday? You should get that checked so you would be able to play, not because a silly girl would cry over your booboo.

"Damn it! What's gotten into me? I'm fighting against myself! I'm no longer sane!" He was talking to himself in a louder voice now.

He reached the hospital when a nurse attended him even before he was inside the doors. Panic stretched across her face as she saw fresh bloodstains on his polo.

"Honey what happened to you?" The nurse in her late thirties asked. She wore a bar pin indicating her name was "LYN"

"I bumped into a post." Rukawa replied bitterly.

"Why!?" The nurse asked, perhaps she found that very impossible.

"I got distracted while riding my bike." That's true!

"Honey, next time, please watch where you go." Call me honey again woman and I'll sue you!

"Yeah Yeah… Scan my head, get some blood and get it over with." Rukawa said impatiently. If it wasn't for that girl I wouldn't be here!

The nurse gave him a glare and then she shook her head. He is one impatient boy. The nurse thought exasperatedly. "Come on honey. Let's go to the CT scan room. Could you walk, or would you like to sit in a wheelchair?"

"NO! I pedaled myself to get here. I can even run! No need of wheelchairs." He barked at the nurse.

"Alright honey calm down." The nurse patted his shoulders.

Remind me never to go to this 'honey' calling hospital ever again. He thought, pissed.

After a few hours, he was released from the hospital. There was nothing wrong with his head though a 'band aid' kept his wound secure. He was prescribed with a pain reliever to ease the sting. All of his laboratory tests resulted to normal. He checked on his watch and thought that it was still too early to get himself home, so he decided to bike around the city for a while. A few moments later, he thought, I could bring these results to their house so she won't worry too much about me. She overreacted a bit earlier. She must really worry about me. He smiled as he header for their house.

Knock

Knock

Knock

"Coming! Stop knocking!" Takenori's thunder of a voice said.

He opened the door, surprised to see Rukawa wearing only his thin undershirt with his polo stained with blood slung on his shoulders.

"No practice tonight! And this is my house!" Takenori said. His voice sounded like he was yelling rather than talking.

"I'm here to talk to Haruko, Captain… Is she around?" Rukawa asked in a gentle tone, enough to widen Takenori's eyes.

"What?! Why?" Takenori's voice roared.

Easy gori! "I think I owe her a 'thanks'. She kinda helped me with my wound here. I made her worry too." Rukawa explained. His patience was now fading.

"Get in" Akagi stepped aside to let Rukawa enter. "HARUKO!" He yelled towards the kitchen

"Oniichan, who's--" Her eyes widened as she stepped outside the kitchen to see Rukawa in her living room.

"Hey Haruko…" Rukawa did his signature chuckle and combed his hair with his fingers.

"What are you doing here?" Haruko's eyes scanned him from head to foot. Clearly this isn't what she expected. "You look better." She said as she pointed the band aid on Rukawa's forehead.

"I told you I am fine. Here…" He handed the envelope with the results to Haruko as Takenori gave them a scrutinizing look.

"I'll be in the kitchen Haruko…" Takenori excused himself leaving the two in an awkward silence.

"What's all these?" Haruko said, perplexed.

"CT scan results, MRI… Whatever those are, it says clearly that nothing is wrong with my head." He smiled.

He's smiling again! REALLY KAEDE! SUCH A MAYHEM! "You honestly went to the hospital to show me this?" What's gotten into you!?

"Yeah, I made you worry didn't I?" You cried because of me. What do you reckon I would do!?

A burning smell cut their conversation. They rushed to the kitchen to see Takenori burning a kebab.

"Oniichan!" Haruko yelled as Takenori flushed.

"I… I thought I…" Takenori trembled.
"You could've burned the whole house in no time oniichan!" Haruko complained.

"I'm sorry…" Takenori sounded like a baby. "I was hungry" He said in a voice so low only Rukawa heard it, he bottled his laughter.

Haruko ordered Rukawa and Takenori to sit in the living room and wait for her to finish cooking their dinner. Rukawa hesitated at first, but when Haruko gave him the: you-owe-me-something look, the lad surrendered.

In the living room…

"What happened to your head?" The older Akagi showed no concern at all.
"I hit a post…" How many times do I have to explain this stupid accident?

"HA HA! Silly you!" Takenori laughed as Rukawa faked a smile.

From the kitchen, Haruko called. "Time to eat!"

Rukawa and Takenori rose from their seats, as they headed for the kitchen. Haruko served steamed fish and prepared enchiladas as a side dish. On her peripheral view, Haruko was watching Rukawa eat. His perfections saddened her. He can never be mine. He had his goals set on his career as a player. I've got no chance.

Takenori noticed his sister lost in her thoughts again, so he broke the silence. "Haruko" He successfully caught her attention.

"What?"

"You'll have to go to Tsukubu district by yourself if you want to watch the game." Fortunately he was able to come up with something.

"What?! Can't I ride with you?" Haruko said.

"Only the players, the Coach and the team manager are allowed to ride the shuttle bus." Rukawa exclaimed.

"Oh well… Fine…" She sighed.

After dinner, Rukawa bade goodbye and extended his gratitude to the Akagi siblings. Haruko smiled at him as he chuckled back.

***

He doesn't even realize that he's leaving me breathless every time he does his signature move. On or off court, he is hot. Kaede Rukawa, you're ambiguous. I don't know why you treat me this way. Did I misunderstand you? Or are you changing course? I don't know what to think anymore.

She closed her diary, went to bed and tried to sleep. Yet, Morpheus didn't seem to hear her plea.

"This night is going to be sleepless and restless." She concluded. She turned left and right, Read a book, but she found it annoying rather that boring so she gave up on that. For a moment, she stared at the ceiling, but Rukawa's face popped into her mind so she just shut her eyes closed.

She took her i pod resting again on her bedside table. She gave it a shake and she landed on a song entitled 'yume'(Dream).

My mind says I gotta let it go

My heart hopes I can still let it show

When Can I be with you?

Would I stand a chance?

Should I throw it all away?

Or Cling onto a chance that once made me stay?

It was already past midnight when the sandman made her sleep.

***

"Damn it hurts!" Rukawa said as he took a bath. Perhaps he forgot that he had a cut on the forehead.

He stepped out of the shower and went to the medicine cabinet. He popped one of the pain killers the doctor gave him to ease the pain.

After dressing up, he laid on his bed as he felt more and more drowsy. "This medicine is a downer!" He blurted out before unconsciousness took over him.


A/N: Yey, thanks for the reviews. :) Expect a more revealing Keade Rukawa in the next Chapter/s. Thanks for sparing some time in reading this RuHaru Fic! :)

P.S: Please understand if I would not be able to update frequently. Classes already started and I would only manage to allocate a little time in writing. I wish you guys would understand. :) Still, leave your reviews alright? :)

Thank you so much.

Liza, now signing off -_-