AUTHOR'S NOTES: Damn has deleted my account. I am therefore reposting this fic in this account.

I think a lot of people would agree with me in saying that this fic is getting really stale, ne? Stupid blockies...go away will you??!!

Yeah, so this chapter is quite mild, I think. Looooooong, dragging and mild. I'll try to post the next (and, for me, more interesting) chapter ASAP. Just four or five more chappies left after this! Wheeee!!!


The Seventh Task: Hot Stuff


The two boys sat in Sendoh's living room, watching a silly game show and drinking more hot chocolate. The rain was still pouring hard, and much as Rukawa wanted to go home right now (because of some perfectly valid reasons), he couldn't. He'll have to wait until the rain stopped which, by the looks of things, wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

It was four thirty in the afternoon.

The two boys sat on either end of the couch, pretending to watch that silly game show. They were really bored; honestly, aren't there any good shows on Saturday afternoons?

Sendoh kept throwing quick glances over to Rukawa, watching him from the corner of his eye. The younger boy looked more bored than ever and it looked as though he would fall asleep anytime. Sendoh, however, didn't really care about his face right now; his attention was on the fact that Rukawa was wearing his clothes. He can't get over it somehow and felt like any of Rukawa's fans in the given situation. He felt an affinity with him in a sense and swore that he will not wear those clothes again but instead will hang them on his bedroom wall.

Thankfully, before he could delve into the more perverted side of his mind, the phone rang.

"Moshi moshi."

"Akira!"

"Okaasan!"

"Listen; your father and I probably won't be able to go home tonight. It's raining too hard. We're at your aunt's, so if you need to call us, you already know the number. Just cook yourself some dinner, OK?"

"I've got someone over."

"Oh...then feed her too!"

"Him. Rukawa Kaede, the Shohoku guy I told you about?"

"Oh. The one who never smiles? Pity, he's such a nice-looking boy."

"Yeah, that one."

"Well, make sure the house is still standing when we come home."

"Sure, mom. Take care. Ja!"

"You too. Ja!"

Sendoh sighed and walked off to the kitchen to start with dinner. There was a great chance that the younger boy would be staying over for dinner AT LEAST and the thought of having Rukawa in his house, wearing his clothes, and eating their food was...weird.

Rukawa stared blankly at the TV and yawned. He looked exactly like my Microsoft Office Assistant right now, cheek resting on his hand, eyes heavy- lidded. He quickly glanced at the window and frowned; the stupid rain prolonged his stay at Sendoh's house. He was ready to curse the gods anytime now, but it won't change a thing.

Ramen was perfect during rainy weather, thought Sendoh. Fortunately, they had a stock of instant ramen; he'll just add toppings to customize it. It's been a while since he had a nice, hot bowl of real ramen and decided that he'll ask his father to cook some for him one day. For the meantime, instant will have to do.

Exasperated, Rukawa stood up and followed Sendoh in the kitchen. He had to go home now and change into more comfortable clothes and by comfortable, he meant HIS own. It felt different wearing other people's clothes, much more so because it was Sendoh's.

"I'm going now."

Sendoh frowned. "Why? It's still raining cats and dogs!"

Rukawa shrugged. "I just have to."

"Won't you at least stay for dinner? My umbrella's broken."

"Then I'll just have to do without an umbrella."

Sendoh sighed at Rukawa's stubbornness. He was seriously considering hitting Rukawa upside the head and tying him up on a chair just to put some sense in him, but that would put more ahem hentai ahem thoughts in his spiky head. "No, you don't," he said, with the most serious look on his face. He pushed Rukawa back to the living room and onto the couch. "If you leave that couch, I'll back out."

Rukawa stayed calm and retorted, "That just proves that you lose."

Sendoh bent down and brought his face exactly an inch from Rukawa's. "You wouldn't be able to prove that then, would you?" he taunted, grinning mischievously at the now-blushing boy. "Now, why don't you just wait for the rain to stop, eh? I'm sure that won't be too much."

Rukawa had to then admit that Sendoh had a point, although he proved that by far-fetched means.

"Want some tea?" Sendoh offered. "We ran out of chocolate, hehe."

The younger boy nodded.

The host busied himself with making hot tea (and ramen) for his guest. Now that the problem with Rukawa has been partially solved, he only had to concern himself with making dinner and waiting for the weather to get better.


"Hey, I'm getting wet!"

"This is my umbrella, stupid! You should thank me for sharing this with you!"

"It's not my fault, is it?"

"It is, you baka. If you brought enough money, you leech, you'd be dry! You still owe me, remember?"

"Teme! You're such a selfish jerk!"

"Me? Look who's talking!"

"Lemme hold the damn umbrella, Ryochin. I'm taller!"

"No way! Go buy your own!"


"Itadakimasu!"

The ramen served its purpose well; the rain made it colder and the warmth was just perfect for the temperature. It also went well with tea. Overall, the meal made them feel like they were in ancient Japan. All that was lacking was mood music.

Rukawa put down his bowl on the table and sat back up, back stiff and straight. He was getting annoyed because the rain was as hard as ever and his chances of going home ASAP were really slim. Which puts him in a major problem because it would mean he had to sleep over.

No way that's gonna happen.

It was five forty-three.

The author yawned.

So did Rukawa.

"Gochisosama!"

When Sendoh put down his ramen bowl, he didn't find Rukawa in his seat, but in the kitchen, washing his dishes. The Shohoku ace really lived up to his reputation of being speedy. "Hey!" Sendoh called out, trying to stop Rukawa from washing his dishes. "You sit down there; I'll do that."

Rukawa glared at him and defiantly put the bowl in the dish drier. "Too late," he said, walking past Sendoh and plopping back down onto the living room couch.

Shrugging, Sendoh started to wash his own set of dishes.

And the author does the same. Excuse me.


"Oi! You're hogging my umbrella!"

"Am not!"

"Are to!"

"Hurry up, Ryochin! I thought you were fast."

"I am, but it's difficult to move when a dumb redheaded monkey is taking up my umbrella!"

"Stop complaining, shorty! Look! My house is just around that corner. Hurry!"

"Yeah, yeah."


A music show was on TV. Rukawa had learned to calm his heart and stop it from doing various acrobatics, thankfully. The blanket that Sendoh had lent him kept his body warm, but he still kept on fidgeting in his seat because...oh, you know why.

It was seven eighteen.

Sendoh looked out the window. The rain did not decrease it's intensity nor increase it. It was still raining as hard as before. No lightning, no thunder...just cats and dogs.

Where I am, there is storm signal number one.

"Eh?"

Sendoh blinked as a round, solid object came in contact with his shoulder and blinked once more when he realized that it was Rukawa's head. The younger boy had fallen asleep so quickly. Sendoh chuckled at Rukawa slumbering so peacefully, mouth half-open, eyes shut, chest rising and falling in relaxed breathing.

Sleeping over seemed to be the only possible way then. He didn't have the heart to wake him up. As in he was kinda afraid that Rukawa would give him a nice punch if he did.

AAAAAAACHOOOO!

Oops, sorry about that. That was me.

Ever so carefully, Sendoh reached around and pulled the blanket over the both of them, but the motion sent Rukawa's head onto Sendoh's lap. Sendoh froze as he heard Rukawa groan and shift, but thank goodness the sleeping boy remained asleep.

What a very nice position to be in, eh?

Sendoh blushed thoroughly, petrified of their current situation. He thanked the gods first that Rukawa was facing away from his, ahem, crotch, then pushed his luck by praying that Rukawa wouldn't move. He could feel his warm breath against his cotton-clad thigh and it felt ticklish, causing his face to heat up further.

I could use some heat. Brr.

But when he looked at Rukawa's face, he calmed down. It was really rare to see Rukawa this relaxed; sure, he didn't look openly hostile, but his aura radiated tension. When Rukawa slept, a different sort of calmness was reflected on his face, not smug but peaceful. Sometimes, he did look stupid and idiotic; no, make that most of the time. The last time Sendoh saw him like this was...two weeks ago. It seemed a long time ago already. So much had happened since then.

Smiling, Sendoh carefully twisted slightly to the side to rest his head on his arm and closed his eyes. Rain all you want, I don't care, he said to himself before completely surrendering to the pull of stupor.

Awwwwww, aren't they cute?

Now this is the part that I love: the morning after.

Sunday morning was as beautiful as ever, the sun still smiling warmly at the earth and everything in between, birds chirping a good morning song. Sunlight poured through the windows and unfortunately through Rukawa's closed eyes too.

Annoyed once more because of disturbed sleep, Rukawa groaned and rubbed his eyes then opened them slightly. Seeing foreign surroundings, he rubbed them again, but they didn't change into his bedroom. Then he noticed that his pillows felt strange, slightly harder but soft to an extent. Much like...

Thighs.

Sendoh's thighs.

Kuso!

Immediately, he sat up, or tried to, for the motion sent him rolling onto the floor, pulling the blanket with him. The yanking movement woke Sendoh up with a grunt.

Rukawa rubbed his lower back. He was fully awake now and so was Sendoh. "Good morning!" Sendoh cheerfully exclaimed.

Rukawa glared at him. "You didn't wake me up," he deadpanned. Yeah, and you let me sleep on your lap! What kind of a person are you, dumbass?

Sendoh sweatdropped. "Ehe, sorry. It's just that you seemed to be sleeping soundly already that I didn't bother," he explained, scratching his head. His hair was slightly disheveled now, and the spikes that he, for some reason, kept even if he was in his own house were mostly down.

It was only then that Rukawa noticed.

"You look stupid," he said, rising and stretching his limbs. He looked at the clock and saw that it was five minutes past nine.

Mitsui said they'd be there at nine.

Shoot.

"We have to go."

"A little talkative, aren't we?"


"Anybody home?"

"Kitsune, you dumbass, wake up! Stupid foxes shouldn't make geniuses wait!"

"Oi, Rukawa open up!"

"What the hell could he be doing?"

Mitsui, Kogure, Sakuragi and Miyagi stood outside Rukawa's gate, waiting for the house's owner to come and open it. Mitsui rang the doorbell about twenty times, but still there was no answer.

"I think he's still sleeping."

"But it's nine-eighteen already. He knows we'd be here at nine."

"Yeah. He was never late for a task."

"Except for the..."

"Right."

An almost-laughing silence hung in the air as a mysterious wind blew to emphasize it. A grey cat passed by and stretched out a few feet from them then went on its way, skipping happily.

Mitsui blinked.

Miyagi blinked.

Kogure blinked.

Sakuragi blinked.

Then the furious ringing of the doorbell continued.

"Rukawa!"

"Maybe he's got diarrhea and he's been spending three hours in the toilet."

"Disgusting."

Here we go again with the theorizing.

"Maybe he's doing yoga."

"Err?"

"I don't think he's sleeping."

"Maybe he's listening to his stupid walkman max volume."

"But he would've known we're here! It's nine twenty."

Kogure chanced to look at Rukawa's front door. "Uh, guys, I don't think he's in there."

"WHAT?"

"Look, his front door's locked from the outside with a padlock."

The mysterious wind blew again.

"Could it be...that Rukawa isn't really a good boy?"

"No. Maybe he got stuck in the rain yesterday and stayed over at a relative's house for the night."

"He doesn't have relatives in Kanagawa. His parents are in the US."

"At a friend's house then?"

"No way. The closest thing to a friend that Rukawa has is Sakuragi."

"NANI?! I resent that!"

"Sendoh."

"What are you talking about?"

Kogure pointed to two tall figures running towards them. "There."

Ooh, hentai cogwheels starting to work.

Four jaws dropped.

"Er, hi guys! Sorry we're really late!" greeted Sendoh sheepishly the instant the two of them reached Rukawa's gate.

Rukawa raised an eyebrow at the four boys looking at Sendoh and him. What's the deal?

"Sendoh."

"Sendoh?"

"Damn, Sendoh."

"He's wearing Sendoh's shirt."

"And pants."

"Maybe he's wearing Sendoh's und—"

Sendoh and Rukawa blushed.

"My god! Sendoh?!"


After Sendoh had sorted out this misunderstanding with the grannies, er, the Shohoku guys with a lot of difficulty and Rukawa had showered and changed into his own clothes, and the author had gotten over her blockies, we now move on to the seventh damn task!

Man, when will this stupidity end?!

Sakuragi stared hungrily at the two neat pyramids of hotdog sandwiches on the kitchen counter. Even with all those ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, wasabi, and chili powder...those hotdogs still look yummy, he thought, licking his lips and rubbing his hands together.

"First to eat all of the hotdog sandwiches win," Kogure explained. "Only a 500 ml bottle of water will be provided."

Sendoh blanched. The hotdogs looked very much unfit for human consumption (thank you very much, MS Word thesaurus for providing us with a very nice expletive there) and smoking hot. He glanced over to Rukawa who was trying to project his Super Rukawa Icy Glare at the hotdogs to cool them down a bit.

But they were stronger. Tough luck.

Rukawa took a big bite out of the first hotdog. If he finished this one, he'd have five more to finish. Hey, this doesn't taste too bad.

Sendoh, not one to be outdone, followed suit.

Smoke shot out of his ears.

If this was anime, Sendoh would have blown fire right now. Wait, this IS anime. Baka.

Rukawa quickly shot a look at Sendoh and mentally smirked. Hehe, looks like he's got a chance to take his throne back. Mwahahahahahahaha!

Wait, Rukawa doesn't laugh like that. Sorry, it was me.

Sakuragi-tachi gaped as they watched the two red-faced boys chomp down the fiery hotdogs as fast as they can. Sakuragi was trying his best not to laugh. By the way, he already has tons of blackmail material against Rukawa. Maybe one of these days, he'll show them to Haruko. Hehehehehe...

Fired by the desire to beat Sendoh, Rukawa took the last bite off his last hotdog, glaring in triumph at Sendoh. He drank the water in one gulp, his tongue burning with the hot aftertaste of chili.

Sendoh fanned his mouth as he put down the hotdog he was eating.Well, at least I didn't have to finish that.

Sakuragi laughed and started finishing off Sendoh's hotdogs. There were still three left, not counting Sendoh's unfinished one.

"Ah! Water! Water!"

"Do'ahou."

"Teme!"


Yeah, this chapter doesn't have much happening in it. Sorry, I was just really pissed. Anyway, the next chapter will come sometime at the end of July or the beginning of August. Exams are looming...scary.