Disclaimer: I do not own Slam Dunk nor any of the characters, this is purely fiction, so please do not sue me.

Unexpected

Chapter 7

"..." Talking

'...' Thinking

Catherine parked her car and pulled out her keys, the corner of her eyes glancing upwards. In front of her, she sees a laughing Ayako and a tired Rukawa. Catherine paused in her car and looked on with mixed emotions in her eyes.

She sees the two of them walking towards the gym casually. His hand is holding onto his duffle bag and a more feminine bag. It must be Ayako's. It's evident that Ayako just dragged Rukawa out of bed, and with his sleeping habits, she needs to be worshipped.

Then out of nowhere, Ayako yelped and titled to her left. Apparently, she stepped on a rock and was unable to balance herself. Rukawa's empty left hand shot out and grabbed onto her waist, pulling her back. Then, he said something to her and caused her to turn and swat his arm.

Catherine took in a deep breath and turned her head away. Opening her car door, she stepped out and slammed the door shut. Why was that entire ordeal so blinding? It's not as if she's the kind of person that wouldn't allow him to help another female. It's just that... the scene itself felt so natural to her.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, wanting to clear that picture from her mind once and for all... or at least for now.

"Catherine?"

She turned and saw Ayako smiling at her, unconsciously, she smiled back. Then she noticed the hand around her waist, his arm is still there. Looking back at her face, the smile is still bright on her face. How can anyone hate a girl like her?

"Morning you two."

Ayako waved for her to come over and she has already started limping towards her. Rukawa's grip tightened just a bit and he looked down at her. "Your foot."

"It's fine." Ayako waved her hand casually and his hand let go.

"Are you all right?" Catherine quickened her pace so Ayako wouldn't have to limp anymore.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Then she dropped her smile and turned around to face Rukawa. "What are you still doing here? Go change!" The order was given; Rukawa looked towards Catherine before turning to walk towards the gym. Ayako looked after him, and after he entered the gym, she spun around to face her again.

"Here!" Ayako put something metallic in her hand.

"What is this for?" Catherine looked down at the key in her hand.

"It's Rukawa's house key." Catherine looked up at her shocked. "You know that kid! In his world, there's only basketball and sleeping. Anything else doesn't relate to him at all!"

"Then why are you giving this to me?"

"Two reasons!" Ayako held up two fingers at her. "One, Ryota and I are going back to Kanagawa for some business, so he needs someone to be his maid slash mother for a while."

"Who's Ryota?" Catherine asked curiously.

"My husband." Again, Catherine looked at her shocked. "Anyways, the most important reason is that you're his girlfriend. You should take care of him, and relieve me of my duties."

"Duties?" Catherine's mind is definitely not spinning fast enough in the morning to keep up with Ayako.

"Yes, I've been doing that since I can remember. Anyways, just take care of him. I got to go have my ankle on ice, I'll see you later." With another wave, Ayako had already turned and is already walking... limping towards the gym.

Catherine looked after her stunned. Then, her gaze slowly traveled back to the key in her hand and a smile appeared on her face. Though, just as quickly, the smile disappeared.

Where the hell does he live?


Casino

"Morning everyone, how's... What are you doing here?" Kita's voice edged upwards involuntarily.

Everyone around her paused and looked at her strangely. She smiled nervously while sending glares towards Maki, whom is sitting at the front row comfortably.

"I'm just here to inspect on the play's goings, Director Shay." Maki said politely, his smile is genuine. However, Kita could tell from the gleam in his eyes that he's enjoying teasing her.

"That's nice, you just sit there and enjoy!" She said that sentence through gritted teeth and turned to the stage hastily.

What the hell is he doing here? She thought she has told him to never come down here unless no one is around, or if there's an emergency. Just great! Now, how is she supposed to act around him? Looking around this entire place, no one knows that they're living together. No! Wait! That didn't come out right! They're not living together in that sense, they're not living together, living together, they're just... living together.

Kita's shoulder slumped as she had this inner battle of words with her mind. Either way is still wrong. What is wrong with this world?

"You all right?" Jennifer asked as she walked towards Kita directly from the stage.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Kita put on a smile immediately.

"It's just that you seem really jumpy and nervous." Jennifer lowered her voice and looked at her friend with concern.

"I'm a bit... nervous. After all, the boss is here inspecting." Kita admitted truthfully, it really is part of the reason. She's someone that can't stand having another person standing behind her and looking at her while she's doing something. She remembers when they were still in high school, and Christina came over to help her with Chemistry. She was saying 'Na', but wrote down 'Al' instead. After that day, Christina has not stopped bugging her about that.

"It's normal, just relax." Jennifer smiled and patted her shoulder. Then, she leaned in a bit and spoke to Kita seriously. "Though, Mr. Maki has been starring at your back ever since you walked in."

Kita's body tensed up at her sentence and she looked at Jennifer with questioning eyes. Jennifer nodded and glanced towards Maki, whom is still looking at Kita's back with a slight smile on his face and clear amusement in his eyes. Kita took in a deep breath and forgot how to breathe for a second. Then she slowly exhaled and turned her head around mechanically, and instantly, her eyes made contact with his and she turned her head back to Jennifer quickly.

"He's coming towards us!" Jennifer hissed and turned her body side-ways, trying to act casual.

Kita's body got even more rigid, she did not even know if she's actually breathing at all. This all ended with Maki placed his hand on her shoulder casually. "I'm going upstairs, keep up the good work." He spoke softly, only Kita and Jennifer heard this.

Both of them smiled and nodded their heads, and then Maki smiled as well and leaned down towards Kita even more. "I didn't know it was your turn to do the laundry this week." He whispered.

Kita's eyes widened and she turned to him questioningly. His smile deepened as she felt him pull something off of her back, and put it in her pocket. With that, he nodded towards Jennifer and headed straight for the elevator.

Jennifer then sighed dreamily and placed her hands on her cheeks. "I swear I thought my face was going to burn off! He's so freaking hot!"

Kita smiled nervously and dug her hand into her pocket to find that something he pulled off her back. Looking at it, it's a piece of paper. She flipped it around and saw the message on there.

Kita, a reminder, you're doing the laundry this week.

Her eyes widened and she narrowed her eyes after a moment of realization. She knew something was wrong when Christina hugged her extra long this morning.


Modeling Agency

Grace hummed an unknown tune as she walked into her work place. Looking ahead of her, she sees Fujima standing and talking with some guy that's taller than him. He has black hair and has a smile on his face, giving people a very quiet yet polite feeling.

Who is he?

Frowning a bit, Grace walked closer towards them. Fujima turned to her and smiled at her. The guy followed his action and nodded his head at her politely. Grace smiled and stopped a couple of feet away from them and waved.

"Grace, this is Jin Soichiro. He's the assistant photographer for today, the one that John talked about." Fujima introduced him simply and Jin extended a hand towards her.

"Nice to meet you, Fujima has been telling me about you." Jin said with a smile.

"My pleasure, I hope he told you good things." Grace laughed shortly.

Fujima rolled his eyes and pushed away from the wall that he was leaning on and looked at them both. "I'll go change so we can get started." With that, he turned and walked away. He has one hand in his pocket, the other one unbuttoning his shirt.

Grace and Jin then glanced at each other and smiled, still not knowing what to say. "I can't believe Fujima would choose this line of career. I always thought that he was going to continue on with basketball." Jin said thoughtfully.

"You know about his basketball days?" Grace asked, totally surprised.

"Of course. I used to play against him all the time when we were in high school." Jin commented and turned towards where Fujima left and looked on. "He was one of the best players ever; he can even compete with my captain, Maki."

"Wait. Maki? Maki Shinichi?" Grace stopped him again.

Jin looked back at her and nodded. "You know him?"

"Yeah." Grace nodded her head, considering if she should tell him that Maki's living with them now.

"Maki and Fujima used to be rivals in high school, both of them played point guard and both were brilliant players. We thought aside from Miyagi, no one would be able to challenge them. Then there came Sendoh."

Sendoh too? Grace blinked and blinked. Okay, this is something new.

"Sendoh going against Maki was the match to watch for. It's too bad we never got to see Sendoh playing against Fujima, though I heard they did play together in a friendly game against Shohoku." Jin smiled and looked down. "I heard that their compatibility was very strong, I wonder if Fujima ever played with Sendoh after that."

"We never did."

Grace and Jin looked to their right to see Fujima walking towards them; he wears a calm expression when speaking about this. He walks closer to the two of them and looked at Grace then looked at Jin. "We never got the chance. The next year, we were beat by Shohoku again; Ryonan and Shoyo never met face to face."

Jin looked at him and then smiled. He leaned back onto the wall fully and looked up at the ceiling wistfully. "I miss those times. I remember Maki used to get really excited before a game against you. He really considered you to be his greatest rival, before Sendoh came along. I wish we could go back to those days."

The three of them was silent. Grace looked at them, not knowing what to say. She was never part of that section of their life; she has no idea what they're talking about. However, it would seem that most the guys she knows played basketball before. And they all knew each other one way or another.

"Then let's go back to that time." Fujima said quietly. The other two spun their necks around to face him surprised.

"What... do you mean?" Jin asked carefully, the smile gone from his face.

"Let's call up a few of them and have a basketball game tomorrow night." Fujima suggested with a smile. "You, me, and we'll need 4 more people. Then we can have a 3 on 3." Fujima pointed at Jin and then himself, he then shoved his hands into his pocket again and tilted his head. "What do you say?"

"Where would we find 4 more people?" Jin asked with a frown and put a hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Especially on such short notice."

"Leave that to me." Grace snapped her fingers and smiled widely. "I'm sure I'll be able to bring 4 more people to you, trust me!" She practically bounced in happiness.

Jin looked at her carefully with an interested smile, she can be pretty... crazy when she is hyper. Fujima looked at Grace and his smile deepened. It's so rare to find a girl that's so herself these days.


Basketball Court

Christina stepped out of the car and smiled at Sendoh as he held the car door open for her. She turned towards the small court and towards the bench beside it to see the girls setting up while the guys are already doing their warm-ups.

"You two are late!" Catherine's voice rang out as she placed her hands on her hips and she glared at the both of them.

Christina smiled, wanting to say something before Sendoh sniffed and looked at Catherine with huge puppy eyes. "Is Cathy mad at us?" He then blinked and pouted.

"Asshole! Don't call me Cathy!" Catherine shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Yo! Sendoh! You're late!" Kiyota yelled first, jumping up and down from the court further into the park.

Sendoh glanced at him and turned to Christina as she held up his duffle bag. He smiled and took it with a huff, then jogged towards the group of guys. Christina walked towards the girls and set a few more things onto the table. She looks around at the court where everyone's busy doing warm-up.

The three former Kainan players were automatically in a team. Maki is just doing a few warm-up exercises calmly, while Jin is practicing his three pointers, his shots are still graceful and elegant. Kiyota on the other hand is jumping on the same spot, probably wanting to dunk a few baskets this time.

On the other side, Fujima is calmly talking to the two other players. He's probably talking about the game strategy or something, as he is most comfortable with being a couch. Sendoh is listening while drinking his bottle of water and occasionally glancing at the girls. Rukawa has his head tilted downwards and is fixing the black arm-band near his elbow.

Christina let her gaze run wild, she has never seen them this relaxed before. This is probably what it was like in high school for them, everyone getting along with everyone, like a big picture. She then looked at Kita, whom is just sitting a couple of inches from her. She appears to be dazed and zoned out. Christian pulled at her hair and stood next to her.

"What's wrong with you?" Christina asked and looked down at her.

Kita looked up and returned her gaze to the guys again. "Nothing. I just... never knew Maki could play basketball." She said thoughtfully. Then she hugged herself and leaned onto Christina's legs for support. "I wonder how many more things I don't know about him."

Christina didn't say anything, sometimes, finding out facts about the one you like can be a pleasure as well. Then a whistle blew and Catherine stood at the side lines with a goofy smile. "I'm going to be the referee, so play nice!" She then smiled and held out the ball. "Get ready guys."

With a flick of her hand, the ball went up in the air and the game started. Sendoh and Jin jumped up at the same time. Being the tallest on both teams, they obviously are the ones to start for the jump ball. Maybe being 1cm taller is more advantageous as Sendoh brushed the ball back to his team and Rukawa caught it. Immediately, Kiyota covered him sharply.

And with the gentle dribbling of the ball, the usual shouts here and there, the game was underway. Perhaps, this is more than just a game to them; it also serves as some kind of link that reawakes many feelings that were long forgotten. Maki passed the ball outside to Jin and he scored a perfect three pointer.

Fujima grabbed the ball and passed it onto Sendoh, whom calmly carried the ball into the other court and was blocked by Jin. They looked at each other and smiled. Never had they covered each other before. The one time they played against each other, Maki took care of Sendoh. Jin lowered his body a bit more, wanting to see for himself just how good Sendoh is, even if he hasn't played basketball in a long time.

Sendoh suddenly raised up the ball, going for a three pointer. Jin's eyebrows rose up and he extended his body upwards as well and realized that it was a fake. As soon as he lowered his body again, Sendoh was already past him with a low dribble. Jin turned around, wanting to block the ball. Sendoh had already released it high in the air. Jin tilted up his neck and frowned a bit. "Sendoh, no one is going to catch that."

Sendoh just smiled, his hands still in the air, in the position where he last released the ball. Then Rukawa jumped up, getting around Kiyota's defense and grabbed the ball then performed a powerful slam dunk perfectly. Sendoh's smile deepened as he let his arms drop and looked at Rukawa as he walked past him. "Nice one."

Rukawa said nothing and just walked by; Sendoh smiled awkwardly and scratched his head. "That's so cold."

"Sendoh! Defense!" Fujima called out, and Sendoh jogged back towards them lazily, knowing that he'll still catch up.

And the game continued on like so, counter and defense, then counters again and defenses again. The players have tried out some new moves here and there, some succeeding, some failing. Rukawa and Kiyota has just a little more edge in the breathing department as their daily routine allows them to breath a bit more easier in times like this.

And the day went on and the game continued on, the girls sat and watched, sometimes cheering them on. Sometimes laughing when Maki would hit Kiyota on the head once again for something he's done or said. It's as if time never went by at all, it's as if they're still in high school. Then the game ended and everyone walked in, laughing and talking, chattering grew amongst all of them, especially when they sat down for food.

"Kiyota, I can't believe the National Japanese Team would want you." Maki commented as he received a glass of water from Kita, whom is just sitting down beside him.

Kiyota froze on the spot and looked at him rigidly, then his eyes widened in shock. "Ma... Maki!" He objected, earning a laugh from everyone.

Samera looked at him and gathered something onto an empty plate. "I think he's right. You were the worst out there."

"What?" Kiyota turned to his girlfriend with dinner plate eyes.

"Don't stare at me, eat up already!" Samera shoved the plate of food in front of him and went back to her own plate.

"Though, why did you stop playing basketball Sendoh?" Catherine asked and everyone looked at him.

Sendoh looked up with a mouthful of food and his cup raised half way to his lips. Then he blinked and tried a smile. Just then, Christina's cell phone rang and she muttered an apology before picking up and turning her head side ways to talk. In the midst of her conversation, she heard Sendoh give some kind of answer to them. Then she felt all their attention focused on her as she cursed lightly and ended the phone call.

"What was that?" Sendoh asked and looked at her intently.

Christina looked at him then looked at everyone else before frowning and squeezing her cell phone. "That was our new partner; he wants to sign the contract tonight. He has already made reservations at a restaurant."

"What?" The girls all yelled out unsatisfied.

Christina bit down onto her bottom lip and looked down, knowing that this is a big disappointment. Sendoh sighed and scratched his head again, then he gulped down the rest of his drink and stood up, pulling Christina with him. "Sorry guys, we have to go."

"What? But why do you need her to go with you as well?" Grace pointed out immediately.

Sendoh gave her his famous smile and has already started walking backwards. "Because I need her with me, and she likes me more."

The others waved after them as they made their way down the small hill towards where his car is parked. Samera sighed and supported her head up with her hand. "Why do they have to leave?"

"Business men are very unpredictable." Maki commented and put something into his mouth.

"Sendoh has changed." Jin commented and looked after them as well. "He wasn't the type of person that would just go because of a call or something."

"Not unless it's a girl." Rukawa commented coldly and just ate his food, his eyelids are already half way to the closing point.

"It's too bad, I really thought we'd be able to hear you guys catch up on the old days." Kita commented with a pout and jabbed at her food mindlessly.

"What do you want to know? I'll tell you! You want to know dirty secrets about Maki, right? I'll tell you!" Kiyota perked up immediately and an evil grin played at his lips.

"Really?" Kita's eyes lit up as well.

"No." Maki answered and raised a piece of pizza up to her lips for her to eat. Kita immediately took a bite and chewed on it.

"Did you know that Sakuragi used to call Maki the middle aged man in high school?" Kiyota continued on without bothering with Maki's response and the only thing he got was another whack on the head.


Sendoh's House

Pinning her hands down, he finally managed to get Christina's glasses off. He sighed and put the glasses on the night stand beside the bed and looked at her again. Who knew that the owner of that hotel would be so into drinking? Christina herself took much of the burden so that he can drive and have a clear mind. In the end, the secretary of the other owner was drunk and Christina's drunk as well. And the only two people conscious are the two owners.

And it was a hell of a time trying to get her from one place to another. He never knew that she would behave like this when she's drunk, if he knew he would have never let her drink that much. Freeing her from her jacket, he yelped and caught her before she rolled off his bed. Then he flipped her onto her back again and she giggled at nothing.

He raised an eyebrow and got rid of his tie that has been choking him for the entire night and pulled her up towards him. Wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her steady, he grabbed the glass of water he prepared and held it up to her lips. "Come on, open up your mouth, and drink something."

Christina's eyes barely cracked open and she flung out her hand carelessly, totally knocking the glass out of his hand. It's a good thing that he reacted fast enough and grabbed onto it before it shattered on the floor. On the other hand, Christina slumped towards him with yet another giggle. He put the glass down and tried to pry her off of him.

He often wanted her to be more initiative, but not under this circumstance. Then everything changed when he felt her nibbling at his neck, his actions froze and he turned his head sideways to look at her seriously.

"Christina, do you know who I am?" He asked in a serious tone.

Christina cracked open an eye and looked at him then smiled. "Akira." Then she went back to his neck again.

He rolled his eyes and took a hold of her shoulders; she probably has some kind of neck fetish. "Good, you know who I am. Then you better not regret this." Then he pressed her away from him roughly, causing her head to spin.

Before she has the chance to react to anything, he pushed her down onto the bed and soon his lips followed and found hers.

TBC...

Thanks for reading and please R&R...