The next morning greeted a Sakuragi with puffy,
red, bloodshot eyes. He groaned loudly and propped himself up on an elbow
trying to get his eyes to focus on his clock. 6 A.M. He groaned again falling
back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. 'It's Saturday and I can't
sleep in on one of the few days that I don't have to go to school.' Finally
deciding that staying in bed would not help him, he dragged himself out of bed
and into the shower. After sufficiently cleaning himself, he pulled on a loose
white shirt and gray jogging pants for his morning run.
He established a steady rhythm and found himself
thinking about what happened last night. 'So what am I going to do about
Rukawa? Should I explain that it was only an accident or should I say nothing
at all?' He pondered some more and then muttered to himself, "I think I'm
thinking too much on this subject."
Sakuragi then looked up. He had jogged further
than he usually did from his house. He was now in the neighborhood where Rukawa
lived. The sound of a basketball being dribbled drifted to his ears. Curious,
he jogged towards the basketball courts. As the courts came into view, he saw
two figures playing basketball together. He moved closer behind some bushes and
a familiar dark mop of hair came into view. 'Rukawa!' The other boy that
Rukawa was playing with had dark spiky hair that also seemed very familiar. He
thought for a few minutes and finally came up with an answer. 'That's
Ryonan's star player Sendoh Akira! How come Rukawa is playing basketball with
him? How did they meet?' He thought to himself, as a pang of jealousy swept
through him.
He watched glaringly as Sendoh slid through
Rukawa's defenses and threw the ball into the hoop. Sendoh then called a
timeout and the two boys sat down together underneath a nearby tree drinking
from their water bottles. Sendoh said something to Rukawa and the kitsune-eyed
boy looked up in his direction. Sakuragi's heart got caught in his throat as
dark blue eyes focused on him. He was torn between running and staying to find
out why Rukawa was playing basketball with Sendoh. His decision was made for
him when he found that he couldn't get his feet to move. Rukawa then got up and
walked towards him with an unreadable expression in his piercing blue eyes.
Sendoh gulped down the water from his bottle and
glanced at the beautiful boy beside him. 'I'm pretty sure that this boy is
Rukawa Kaede of Shohoku. He's definitely as good as the rumors say he is. But
he needs to work a bit more on teamwork.' He thought with a big smile on
his face.
He shivered as he felt an extremely unfriendly
gaze on him. He surreptitiously looked around and spotted a mop of red hair
disappear in the cover of bushes. 'Hmm… a redhead.' He gave a start. 'Could
it be…?' He spoke up.
"Is he a friend of yours?" He nodded towards the
cluster of bushes near where they were sitting.
Rukawa stared hard at the bushes and then got to
his feet.
"Wait here." Rukawa dropped the words as Sendoh
watched him stalk towards the bushes.
'What is he doing here???' Rukawa thought
incredulously to himself. 'Was he looking for me to talk about last night?
But that was just an accident. I know I overreacted, but it's not everyday that
I wake up with my lips touching another boy's.' Rukawa adamantly refused to
think of it as a kiss. 'I'm sure that it was accident on both parts.
Sakuragi didn't want to kiss me and I didn't want to kiss him. Therefore it was
not a kiss.'
Soon he found himself standing a few feet from
the redhead. Sakuragi looked like he didn't sleep at all last night and had a
dazed expression on his face. They stared at each other silently for a few
minutes and then Rukawa broke the silence.
"Sakuragi?" He asked a bit hesitantly.
He watched silently as Sakuragi visibly snap awake
at his voice.
"What are you doing with him?" Sakuragi growled
out angrily, jabbing a finger in the direction of the boy he was playing
basketball with.
Rukawa was a bit taken aback by the apparent
anger in the redhead's voice but he didn't let it show on his face. He thought
carefully for a moment and then decided to answer the boy instead of telling
the do-aho that it is none of his business. He didn't feel like fighting with
the redhead at the moment and he didn't want to disappoint Youhei by breaking
the truce.
"He asked me to play basketball with him. I
don't know him." Rukawa replied calmly.
Rukawa was fascinated at the number of emotions
that appeared on the other boy's face. He never knew anyone whose features were
so… lively. Anger, jealousy, confusion, longing, sadness and finally regret. A
whisper from Sakuragi brought him back from his thoughts.
"I'm sorry."
Rukawa was shocked to say the least. 'Did I
just hear that? Sakuragi apologized? Pigs must be flying!' He looked up at
the clear blue sky to check for any unusual behavior by pink, fat animals. The
sun was just peeking over the horizon and the birds were chirping greetings to
each other. Finally deciding that it wasn't his imagination, he looked at the
redhead and asked coldly, "For what?"
"Everything!" Sakuragi replied hastily, running
fingers through his red locks nervously. "Look, can we start over? Hello. I'm
Sakuragi Hanamichi." The redhead held out a hand towards him.
Rukawa looked suspiciously at the outstretched
hand and then at Sakuragi's face expecting it to be a trap or a trick. The
other boy certainly looked sincere enough with large, pleading, puppy dog eyes.
Hesitantly he reached out a hand slowly, ready to snatch it back immediately if
he noticed anything amiss. His slender hand lightly clasped Sakuragi's hand as
the taller boy held his hand in a warm and firm grip.
"Aww… how sweet." A cheerful voice cut in.
They both let go in reflex and turned towards
the voice. The spiky-haired boy he was playing basketball with was standing
there with a big grin on his face.
"I hate to break the moment but I thought you
agreed to play basketball with me. So are we still playing or what?"
Sakuragi glared balefully at Sendoh, anger and
jealousy surging to the fore once again. "Sendoh Akira, what are you doing
here, so far from the Ryonan district?" Sakuragi grew even more jealous as he
saw Rukawa eye the Ryonan player with renewed interest.
"So you have heard of me." Sendoh sounded
amused. "You must be Sakuragi Hanamichi and you, my pretty boy," Sendoh turned
towards Rukawa, "must be Rukawa Kaede."
Rukawa arched a fine eyebrow at Sendoh and then
shrugged letting the comment pass.
"So you heard of the Tensai, haven't you? You're
here to spy on my amazing skills, aren't you?" Sakuragi boasted, forgetting his
anger and not hearing the comment Sendoh made about Rukawa.
Sendoh just grinned widely and opened his mouth
to say something more when Rukawa cut in.
"Let's play."
The fox walked back to the court, picked up the
basketball and twirled it on an index finger. Rukawa threw a small smirk over
his shoulder. The smirk was a definite challenge and it was one that Sendoh
immediately responded to.
The game started.
*****
The 10 point game ended a half and hour later.
Sakuragi took the chance to observe both players. He was reluctant to admit
that Sendoh was really good and a better player than Rukawa. The kitsune had an
internal fire to win that matched Sendoh's but the spiky-haired boy was
apparently more skilled and had more endurance. The score ended as 10-8 Sendoh.
"Good game, Rukawa." Sendoh grinned at Rukawa
who was drinking from his water bottle.
"…"
Sakuragi looked back and forth between Rukawa
and Sendoh, unsure of what to say. Rukawa suddenly spoke up.
"I gotta go." Rukawa packed up his things
quickly and climbed onto his bicycle.
Sendoh called out, "Will you play basketball
with me next Saturday?"
Rukawa looked back impassively and then replied
in a low voice. "Maybe."
As Rukawa began to cycle off, Sakuragi was hit
with the realization that the fox was leaving. Their conversation was not
finished. Sakuragi started forward running after the raven-haired boy and
shouted, "Wait up, kitsune!"
Rukawa winced internally at the extremely loud
voice behind him. He turned around slowly and watched Sakuragi run up to him.
He noted detachedly that Sendoh was watching them. The redhead stopped a few
feet in front of him. The other boy's eyes were downcast and one of his
sneakers was digging nervously into the dirt. Finally when Rukawa was about to
turn and leave, Sakuragi looked up into his eyes.
"Rukawa, we need to talk."
'Wow. He actually called me by my name. This
has got to be one of the weirdest days of my life. First, Sendoh challenges me
to a game of basketball and then Sakuragi apologized and now this. The day has
barely even started yet!' Rukawa thought to himself. He then thought about
Sakuragi's proposition. 'Well I am certainly curious about what he has to
say.' He nodded slightly at the redhead, and to his immense surprise, the
redhead gave him a brilliant grin.
"Great! Let's have breakfast together. I'll meet
you in Danny's in an hour. Well, I gotta go finish my morning run. See ya
later!" The redhead was gone before he could get a word in. Rukawa stared
impassively in the direction that Sakuragi had gone and sighed silently to
himself. He shook his head slightly and started to pedal home.
Sendoh watched the juniors amusedly. 'Hmm…
Sakuragi has a thing for Rukawa but Rukawa does not know.' He found both of
the juniors interesting and intriguing. Rukawa was definitely one of the most
beautiful boys that he had ever seen and Sakuragi was definitely one of the
most adorable. 'They are so perfect for each other! Sort of like… me and
Hiro-kun!' He thought gleefully to himself. 'Hmm… maybe I should play
matchmaker.' He had a mischievous grin on his face. 'I wonder if
Hiro-kun will help me…'
*****
Sakuragi fiddled with the collar of his shirt
impatiently. He was fifteen minutes early for his meeting with Rukawa. He
looked out the window again searching for a head of dark tousled hair. He
looked at his watch and then cursed softly. Barely five seconds had passed
since he last looked at his watch. Sakuragi almost jumped out of his skin when
he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up expectantly and his heart
plummeted to his stomach when he saw whom it was. Youhei. "Ohayo, Youhei. What
are you doing here so early?" He said, trying to hide his nervousness from his
best friend.
Youhei arched an eyebrow at him and then slid
into the seat of the booth across from him. "I should be asking you that
question. You usually sleep until early afternoon on the weekends." His best
friend replied. "Are you waiting for someone?"
Sakuragi's thoughts raced through his mind and
then finally decided to stick with the truth. "Yes." He replied, surprising
himself with how calm he sounded.
"Well, who is it? Is it some girl? You lucky
dog! You finally got yourself a girl! At least I don't have to try to stop you
from jumping off the roof anymore. Is it Haruko? Or is it someone else? Well
come on and tell me already!" Youhei questioned him excitedly.
"Um… actually… it's nothing like that…" Sakuragi
groped for the words in his mind. Youhei looked like he was about to burst with
curiosity. "It's Rukawa." He finally blurted out.
Youhei's eyebrows shot up to his hairline and he
jaw dropped down to the table. If it had been in any other situation, Sakuragi
would have fallen out of his seat laughing. But it wasn't. He looked at his
best friend nervously.
When Youhei finally got over his shock, he
started to fire questions at lightning speed at Sakuragi. "When did you and
Rukawa become friends? How come you didn't tell me? You know that it would make
me extremely happy to see you two finally getting along with each other. How
did it happen? What made you and Rukawa decide to become friends? How did you
convince yourself that you wanted to be his friend? Hell, how did you manage to convince
him?"
"He apologized." A smooth, low voice cut through
Youhei's barrage of questions. Both boys stared at Rukawa in surprise as the
kitsune-eyed boy slid gracefully into the seat right next to Youhei.
Youhei looked extremely like a goldfish as he
swung his head back and forth staring at both Rukawa and Sakuragi. His eyes
finally rested upon Sakuragi and managed to squeak, "You apologized?!"
Before Sakuragi could answer, Youhei sprung to
his feet, reached across the table and placed the back of his hand on
Sakuragi's forehead. "You don't have a temperature." The boy muttered somewhat
incredulously.
Sakuragi swatted irritably at Youhei's hand and
sent his best friend a glare that promised a head butt if the other boy didn't
stop his antics.
Youhei sweat-dropped and then plopped back down
in his seat. Silence reigned at the booth for the next couple of minutes.
Finally, Sakuragi broke the silence.
"Um Youhei? Do you mind? I would like to talk to
Rukawa alone."
Youhei growled ominously at him with frustration
and curiosity apparent in his eyes, but he stood up. Rukawa got out of the
booth so Youhei could leave and then slid back into the booth. Sakuragi could
clearly read his best friend's expression. It said that if he didn't tell him
what was going on soon, Youhei would beat it out of him. Sakuragi averted his
eyes from Youhei and studiously kept his eyes on the tablecloth. He heard
another growl from his best friend and then the boy left. He sighed slightly in
relief. He then looked up at Rukawa and found the fox-eyed boy staring at him.
He shifted uncomfortably under the piercing gaze and sought for something to
say.
"Why don't we order something to eat first? I'm
sure you're hungry by now…" His words trailed off as he looked upon the
beautiful boy before him.
Rukawa nodded after a few minutes and then
looked away from him, turning to look outside the window. Sakuragi quickly
called a waitress to their table and they both ordered some eggs, toast,
sausage and juice. When the waitress left the table, silence reigned once more,
making both boys fidget in their seats.
*****
Rukawa tried to patiently wait for the redhead
to speak up but the other boy kept avoiding his eyes and studying the
tablecloth. He had had enough. He wanted to know why the baka was being so
friendly to him all of the sudden. He wanted to know why the redhead wanted to
talk to him. He wanted to know why the do-aho apologized. And he wanted to know
now.
"Sakuragi…" He said somewhat hesitantly. When
the boy looked up, he asked the question that was plaguing his mind. "Why did
you tell me to come here?"
He was once again astounded at the amount of
emotions that flitted through Sakuragi's face and eyes. This time, however,
they were so quick that he couldn't tell what they implied.
Sakuragi spoke up. "Well… yesterday…"
Rukawa looked away quickly, a faint blush coloring
to his cheeks. 'Kuso! He's not going to mention IT, is he???'
"Forget it." Rukawa immediately cut in.
Rukawa could have sworn that he saw a flash of
hurt cross the redhead's face but in a blink of an eye, it was gone.
"Kitsune, hear me out why don't ya?" Sakuragi
said in a frustrated tone.
Rukawa gave the other boy a slight nod.
"Yesterday…" Sakuragi continued, glaring at him
to keep quiet. "I realized that maybe you are not such a bad person. Youhei's
mother likes you a lot and Youhei always has something good to say about you.
Also, I know that Youhei really wants us to try to become friends and I think
it would be a big waste if we don't at least try it. So what do you say?"
To say that Rukawa was surprised at Sakuragi's
words would be the understatement of the year. He blinked and then blinked
again. He then rubbed his eyes and then pinched himself discreetly to make sure
he wasn't dreaming. Nope. It wasn't a dream. Sakuragi was still sitting right
in front of him with those large puppy dog eyes. He weighed the pros and cons
in his mind and finally came up with an answer.
He shrugged and replied indifferently, "Okay."
*****
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