Rukawa Kaede laced up his trainers for the start of practise. All around him the locker room echoed with the chat and banter of his teammates. But Rukawa did not participate. Instead, his thoughts were still full of Sendoh Akira.

It was becoming a problem for him. The more he tried not to think about him, the more his thoughts turned towards him.

It had always been an easy thing for Rukawa to ignore the whole world. Yet now it felt like the world had shown up at his door and begun hammering upon it. And he couldn't comprehend why.

He'd always had a single focus. A single goal. He wanted to win. He would climb his way hand-over-hand to the top of the basketball world, and he was prepared to do anything necessary to achieve it. Each step was another bloody footprint on the road behind him.

He had brought his high school team to the top of the province. Then, the top of the country. And now, he'd do it again with his university team. He'd fight to bring them to the top, force the professional leagues to take note of him. He'd get his hands on the captaincy and secure the championship. By the time he graduated he'd have the domestic league salivating to buy him, but by then he'd already have his eyes on the international stage. He'd improve his language skills, participate in the Olympics, and then he'd get into the best teams in the world.

That was it. Everything else was irrelevant. He'd never wasted time looking backwards, or looking sideways. There was only straight ahead; one clear bright path. He'd turned his back on his past teams, his past coaches, his past rivals, without even a backwards glance. He had no time for friends. No time for other pursuits or hobbies. No sentimentality or tenderness. Each thing he had done, each moment of passion he'd held in his hand, had been just a stepping stone. Serving its purpose in facilitating his rise, then discarded.

And then there was Sendoh.

Sendoh was just another of those things, Rukawa told himself. Someone who was talented. Someone Rukawa was curious about. He would learn more. And then he would walk away, discard him, like all the rest.

But at the moment, things seemed to be getting unusually… sticky.

He was distracted by this so-called friendship he suddenly found himself with. Bothered by new daydreams. Imagining other things. Things that were different from his meteoric rise to basketball dominance.

People always spoke of friends as good things. Useful things. Rukawa had thought that having a friend was supposed to be... convenient. A kind of support he could rely on.

But it didn't seem to be working out that way.

In fact it was becoming a problem.

Maybe it's better to stop this? I should keep away from him.

I seem to... like him too much? Maybe something is wrong with me. Maybe because I haven't had many friends and I... don't know what to do? I don't know how to feel?

It's too much. This feeling.

Why can't I control this...?

He grit his teeth, straightening from tying his laces, trying to drag his attention back to the matters at hand.

Today, they'd be training with the Warriors for the first time.

The Warriors were a basketball team from an American university with whom the Wildcats had a yearly exchange programme. Each year, the final year students would visit each other's campuses, training in new ways, making new friends and connections, and expanding their abilities through international collaboration.

Rukawa had not yet been to the Warrior's university in America, since he was only a first year. But he was going to be training together with the American team while they were visiting here in Japan. And he intended to make the most of it, too. He'd seek out their most talented players and he'd use them to improve himself.

"I owe major payback to those arrogant bastards," someone was saying, and Rukawa glanced up to see Mitsui - their shooting guard - standing by the locker room door and looking impatient. "You guys better not let me down."

Mitsui had already visited the Warriors university earlier in the year and rivalries, it seemed, had been firmly established. Mitsui had been ranting for a few weeks already about the Warriors' "unbearable" shooting guard.

Myagi clapped Mitsui cheerfully on the shoulder on his way out. "We've got you!" he promised with a wink.

Rukawa also rose to his feet. Mitsui's eyes went to him. "You'd better dunk right over that bastard's head," he growled out. "Darius, his name is. He's a real piece of shit. Arrogant, rude, smart mouthed-"

Rukawa just ignored him, and walked by, heading for the hall.

Mitsui was still cursing Darius' name as Rukawa continued down the corridor. Rukawa wasn't particularly interested in getting into messy rivalries. His motives were much simpler. Observe, learn, imitate, destroy. He walked into the court with no other intention.

But somehow things got messy straight away.

One of the Warriors approached him the minute he appeared.

"Hi-!"

Rukawa blinked. Standing before him was a youth, dressed in Warrior's colours. His hair was cropped short, his expression cocky, his face strikingly handsome. He smiled.

"Rukawa Kaede, right?" he held out his hand. "I'm Sawakita Eiji. You can call me Eiji."

Rukawa stared down at the offered hand. Looked up into the nearby smiling face. Then he turned on his heel, and walked purposefully in the opposite direction.

Sawakita was not put off, and followed him at once. It seemed he was not the sort of person who gave up very easily.

"I play small forward, same as you," he continued, strolling along beside him as if Rukawa had invited him along. "We should pair up. You know. For the training activities."

Rukawa glanced at him from the corner of his eye.

Sawakita grinned. "I'm sure I can teach a little kitten like you a few things."

Rukawa stopped dead, his face turning thundery.

…kitten?

Before he could say anything, however, a shrill whistle sounded, and everyone looked up to see the coaches waving from the centre of the court. "Gather round!"

With a final death-glare at the annoying person beside him, Rukawa headed for the centre together with the rest. Sawakita followed.

The visiting team were introduced. Their centre and captain was a huge man named Tyrone. He had a large, slightly crooked nose, with blonde hair and flashing blue eyes full of confidence. Then there were two brothers - twins by the look of them - as tall as the captain but quite quite as broad. Tall and muscular, their impressive physique was obvious through their jerseys but it was difficult to tell them apart. They both had the same dark skin and short black curling hair. Michael was the oldest, playing power forward. Darius, Mitsui's rival, was the younger and played shooting guard. Next, Sawakita was their small forward, of Japanese descent. He flashed a confident grin as he was introduced. Finally their point guard was a shorter boy named Kieran who had brown hair, green eyes, and freckles on pale skin.

Rukawa took a while to make up his mind, and then sidled up to Mitsui discretely. "Their small forward-" he asked quietly. "He any good?"

Mitsui turned fully around in surprise. Their notoriously unfriendly freshman had never voluntarily come to speak to him before. "Well, yeah-" he said. "He's their ace."

Rukawa frowned doubtfully.

The Wildcats were introduced next, beginning with the starters and moving down through to the benchwarmers. Hanagata, their centre and captain, Mitsui shooting guard, Nobe, power forward, and Myagi the point guard. When Rukawa's name was said, he noticed the the Warriors exchanging glances. Someone elbowed Sawakita in his side and sniggered.

Great.

Was that idiot really any good?

"You'll need to form pairs for the warm up," the coaches announced. "If you're a starter, make sure to pair with your counterpart on the other team."

Double great.

Rather than wait to be sought out and approached, Rukawa decided to take the initiative and stride up to Sawakita first. He did not want Sawakita to think he was shy or, worse, intimidated. Rukawa stood in front of him, eyes narrow and disdainful. His face fixed into an expression that showed that, had it not been for the coach's instruction, he would never have deigned to interact. The rest of the team members spread out. From the corner of his eye, Rukawa could see that Mitsui was absolutely livid to be approached by the notorious Darius. But Sawakita drew his attention back with a cheerful smile.

"So..." he began, leaning forward a little bit, and causing Rukawa to take a half-step backwards. "Seems like we'll be working together quite a bit."

Rukawa didn't reply.

"You're cute."

At that, Rukawa's eyes widened, and then quickly became a glare.

Sawakita grinned happily. "I like you," he said outright.

Hard to believe that, after a lifetime of having heard nothing of the sort, Rukawa had heard this said no less than twice in as many days. He wanted to say something dismissive back, but he didn't know what. He'd never been much good with words. Instead he gave an irritated tut, narrowed his eyes, and muttered "whatever".

Sawakita did not look any less delighted.

To make matters more insufferable, it turned out that Sawakita was an even better player than Rukawa had expected. He outplayed Rukawa consistently, with a lingering arrogance, making constant teasing comments, "kitten" this and "kitten" that. Rukawa ground his teeth, and the rest of the team began to look a little anxious for Sawakita's safety.

But they needn't have worried. Rukawa didn't really hear praise or insults. He had never been one to take things personally. His pride was not born from a sense of superiority over others, and would not be ground down by the attitudes of others either. He knew his skill. He loved to play. And anyone who could meet him fair on the court was worth his time. But talent built of smoke and mirrors, mere attitude and arrogance, was of no interest to him.

And, if Sawakita Eiji was nothing else, he was definitely worth Rukawa's time. For now. At least. Another stepping stone. Another neck to stand on.

Rukawa would have tolerated much worse than silly nicknames for the opportunity offered by Sawakita's brilliant plays.

It wasn't long before the rest of the world had retreated from his consciousness, and there was only them.

And yes, even Sendoh. During these challenging plays he even stopped thinking about Sendoh. He had one aim. One aim. And when he looked at Sawakita it was easier to remember it.

He focused on the motion of the ball in Sawakita's hand, and narrowed his eyes.

Here.

Now.

No where else.

He made his lunge.

On the other side of the hall, Mitsui paused to pick up a loose ball, and let his eyes fall on the two small forwards where they were working together nearby. They seemed to be playing in a bubble. Heedless of anything else around them. Sawakita's face shining with excitement as he provoked the younger boy into a rash lunge that Sawakita avoided effortlessly.

"They're adorable," Darius said beside him. Mitsui turned his face quickly toward him. Darius was a head taller than Mitsui. His whole body was muscle and agility. An unbearably perfect specimen of a man. Beside him, Mitsui who was himself in perfect form, felt small and lumbering. And it pissed him off no end. "I've never seen Eiji look so excited," Darius said.

"Mm," Mitsui made a noncommittal noise, spinning the ball between his palms. "Rukawa too."

"Yeah?" Darius snorted. "You call that excited?"

Mitsui took in Rukawa's expression. His brows drawn. His eyes blazing. The occasional snarl visible in the curl of his lip. He looked like he was about to rip Sawakita's throat out.

"Oh yes," Mitsui confirmed. "Definitely."

Darius' hand came up unexpectedly and popped the basketball right out of Mitsui's hands, batting it up into the air with a sudden thrust, causing Mitsui to startle as the ball came towards his face.

Darius laughed.

"Fuck-" Mitsui growled as Darius moved and quickly snatched the loose ball up. He faced him in challenge, low in his crouch.

"Come on then sweetheart," Darius smirked.

"Fuck you-!" Mitsui spluttered indignantly.

Darius gave a very purposeful lick of his lips, and Mitsui's cheeks turned a little pink.

-tbc

ANs: thanks again for your kind comments; "Me", Guest Pau, KS711, RokudaimeLove, and Caro!

Guest Pau: "Sendoh fighting for a clueless Rukawa" - hahahaha yes! A genre in its own right. True classic!

Caro: Sawakita mades a very useful rival for Sendoh haha. Because although I don't mind hanaru on its own, I just can't take Sakuragi seriously compared to Sendoh XD

"Me": ahhhh yes it's quite easy (or difficult) to write dialogue for Rukawa hahaha. "Hn", "Okay", "Hm".