The *I can't think of a title* fic
A yaoi fic by Star
The boy looked silently into the Shohoku High gym. He hadn't been here for over a year, and
it still looked the same. It was full of new first years hoping to join the legendary Shohoku High
basketball team, they were all screaming and shouting loudly, so the boy tried to ignore the
pounding headache he was getting and concentrated on looking out for familiar faces.
On the far side of the court stood two boys in deep discussion, one short and one tall, the picture
was almost comical.
After a few seconds the taller of the two, with flaming red hair, turned to the thong of first years
and shouted for silence. Although his voice was barely audible above the noise, somehow
everyone got the idea that they should be quiet. All attention focused on the boy.
"Alright! I am Sakuragi, *you may call me Tensai if you wish* and this is my assistant Myagi."
Myagi frowned.
"What do you mean assistant'?"
"Errr..."
Sakuragi gave a nervous laugh and waved Myagi away.
"We've been watching you through the tests we've devised, and now we have a list of about 10.
In order to narrow this down still further *if we can* we want the 10 people on our list to play
a short one-on-one with either myself or Myagi so we can assess you in different areas. Any
questions!?"
All the young boys in the hall began to look extremely worried. Having to play a one-on-one with
either of these two was very daunting, especially the red head... he was just /scary!/
"OK, first up... *sucker one* against me!"
A tall but weedy boy stepped out from the crowd as his name was called and Sakuragi smiled
warmly at him. His skin was pale and his dark, silky hair fell messy about his head, however his
eyes were friendly and Sakuragi liked him instantly.
Myagi leaned close to Sakuragi and whispered in his ear, "remind you of someone?"
Sakuragi blushed and hissed back, "/someone/ doesn't have eyes like that."
Turning back to the boy he smiled again and indicated they should play away from the crowd.
They went to an empty part of the hall and prepared to play, all eyes were on them, even the
hidden ones from the doorway.
As the game started, Sakuragi had little trouble getting close enough and stealing the ball, twisting
round in a neat circle he jumped with the ball resting lightly but securely on his fingers above his
head to score a perfect 3-pointer.
All the first years ohhhed and ahhhed at the beauty of it.
The eyes at the door widened. Sakuragi had obviously improved a lot since he last saw him, he
moved much more fluidity and made a shot with much better accuracy.
Sakuragi, amazingly, didn't even boast about his wonderful shot, *you see, Sakuragi is only
boastful when he is feeling insecure* he mearly smiled at the weedy boy he was playing and
invited him to have another go.
This time the first year put up more of a fight. Try as he might, Sakuragi found it impossible to
steal the ball, the new boy had amazing speed. Suddenly, and without warning, the first year took
a shot from just outside the key area, Sakuragi wasn't fast enough to stop it. However, as the ball
began it's decent, it became apparent that it wouldn't even touch the basket's rim. Sakuragi
breathed a huge sigh of relief before striking a Tensai pose and declaring:
"Ha ha ha ha ha, no one can beat the TENSAI!" *See what I mean?*
Suddenly there was a gasp from the year ones and Sakuragi spun round to see what was taking
the attention away from him.
The boy from the doorway was running easily across the court. He jumped up and gently pushed
the basketball so it slid into the basket. He landed gently then snatched the ball from where it was
bouncing gently on the floor of the gym. When he spoke his voice was deep and expressionless.
"What Tensai? I don't see any Tensai."
Sakuragi's mouth dropped open.
Then he blinked, rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear the hallucination from it. But when
he looked up again the boy was still there. After a second a smile broke out on his face and he
ran into the other boy's arms which such a force that sent the dark haired boy crashing to the
ground.
"Kitsune!"
Sakuragi fell heavily on top of Rukawa, but the fox-eyed boy didn't complain, he just hugged
Sakuragi tightly.
After a few seconds Sakuragi pulled away and heaved himself up to sit on his hunches, peering
inquisitively at the boy who was still sprawled on the floor.
"Why are you here, Kitsune? You should be in America training."
Rukawa shrugged as he pulled himself into a sitting position in front of the red head.
"You've improved much."
Sakuragi looked puzzled, not understanding what Rukawa was talking about.
"Basketball, do-aho."
"Baka Kitsune, all you ever think about is basketball!"
"Iie, all I ever think about is /you/"
Sakuragi scowled at Rukawa, angry that the fox could talk about their relationship so casually.
"Why are you here, Kitsune?"
Rukawa glanced past Sakuragi's broad shoulder at looked in annoyance at the mass of boys who
were watching them.
"I'll talk later, do-aho, in /private/, but I think we should sort out these boys."
Sakuragi gave a start and looked behind him, as if realising for the first time that they weren't
alone. He sighed loudly and pulled himself to his feet.
"Gonna help us Kitsune? Ayako isn't here, she'll not well, and Haruko's celebrating /another/
of Akagi's scholarship with the family."
Rukawa shrugged and stood up smoothly.
"Might as well."
The boy who Sakuragi had been playing against earlier approached them tentatively.
"Are you... Kaede Rukawa?"
Rukawa turned his icy eyes on the boy, a cold glare which made the boy step backwards in alarm.
"Well... it's an honour to meet you finally... Sakuragi-senpai speaks of you so much."
The icy eyes turned to Sakuragi, making the red head also take a step back.
"Err..." Sakuragi waved a hand nervously "...you may have popped up once or twice in
conversation."
Rukawa raised his eyebrows.
Feeling the tension mount up, Sakuragi tried desperately to change the subject;
"So, Kitsune... you gonna play these guys for us so we can see what potential they have, but go
easy on them huh?"
Rukawa shrugged again. "I play to win."
"Oh."
Sakuragi hastily turned away. "Go ahead *sucker 1*, give it your best try."
With Rukawa's help, although his new level of skill was almost impossible to beat, the list shrunk
to 6 people.
Afterwards, in the changing room, Sakuragi finally spoke with Rukawa alone;
"Why are you here, Kitsune?"
"You've asked that question 3 times now."
"And I'll keep asking it till I get a straight answer."
"There isn't a straight answer."
"Fuck it Kaede, why are you here!"
Rukawa let his head hang, and kept his eyes firmly on his hands that rested in his lap.
"I wanted to see you just in case."
"Just in case what?"
"Just in case... something... something /bad/ happens... you never knew where the winds gonna
blow in this life huh?"
Sakuragi slowly got up from his seat next to the fox and knelt on the floor in front of him. Gently
he lifted the raven-haired boy's head with a finger until their eyes met.
"Tell me Kaede."
There was a long silence.
"I have cancer."
There was a even longer silence.
"No... no, Kitsune, that isn't funny, it's not funny, it's not true, it can't be, I mean, you... /you/?"
But one look into the fox boy's eyes told him it was.
Sakuragi removed his finger from underneath Rukawa's chin, who again looked down at his
hands.
"You mustn't, /mustn't/ worry, do-aho, I'm responding well to the chemotherapy, and it looks
like I'll be fine, I'll be fine, okay?"
Sakuragi's own head was hanging, and tears leaked out of his eyes. Slowly he raised them, but
couldn't quite look into Rukawa's.
" Don't worry'... don't worry' you tell me... ha! Kitsune! I watched my own mother die of
cancer... I watched her slowly die, and /you/ tell me not to worry. Why the fuck shouldn't I
worry??!!"
He stood up, suddenly angry at the old, familar fears he felt, tears streaming freely down his
flushed cheeks.
Rukawa continued to stare at his hands, his own tears dropping off his nose onto his lap, his
shoulders and hands shaking.
Sakuragi stood still for a moment before turning sharply and walking out, slamming the door as
he went.
Rukawa collapsed into a sobbing mess. He hadn't expected a /good/ reaction from Sakuragi, the
doctor had told him not to be angry at the way Sakuragi might behave, but... why couldn't
Sakuragi see?
Slowly he whispered;
"Hana... I'm so scared..."
~*~*~*~*~
The alarm rang shrilly in Rukawa's flat, but the fox boy had already left. He was, in fact,
presently walking down one of the back streets to where Sakuragi's flat was. When he reached
the huge tower block, he fitted one of his keys into the foyer door without needing to call
Sakuragi's doorbell.
When Rukawa and Sakuragi had been a couple before the fox's adventure to America, they had
practically been joined at the hip. They both had keys to the other's house and generally lived in
whichever took their fancy at that time. Even for as long as a week they might live together.
There was a small plump man sitting in a reception area, when he saw Rukawa he sat up in
surprise.
"Rukawa-San! Are you back from America... the place has been so lonely without you!?"
Rukawa actually smiled at the man *nods... yep, you read right!* of whom he was very fond.
"Hai, I am back."
"Well, go on up... I'm sure you and Sakuragi have a lot to catch up on."
The man gave a short, nervous laugh as he watch Rukawa disappear up the flight of stairs. Then
he shook his head sadly, "oh poor, poor Rukawa-San. I hope Sakuragi-San tells him gently."
Rukawa stepped into the flat, then stepped back out again, then he closed his eyes, stepped in and
opened them again.
His mouth hung open.
The place was /clean/!
There were no clothes, no magazines, no school work lying about the place as it had once done,
everything was in it's proper place and although Rukawa had strived for a long time to get the
flat looking like this, it kinda made him sad to see it. I'm really not a part of Sakuragi's life
anymore...' he though dejectedly to himself. Then, shrugging and telling himself he should be
happy to see the flat clean, he made him way across the flat to Sakuragi's bedroom.
Slowly he pushed open the door, and breathed a sigh of relief... the room was filthy. Empty tea
cups, cans of drink, sweet wrappers and chocolate bar wrappers and all the rubbish you can
imagine was fitted into this small bedroom.
Sakuragi himself was hidden almost completely under the covers of a new double bed he'd
obviously invested in during Rukawa's absence. Rukawa grinned at the memory of them trying
to push the two singles together after one romantic night at a restaurant.
The fox-eyed boy had to tiptoe across the room, with every step he took he stood on something
that made a loud noise under his feet. Finally he reached Sakuragi's side, a mop of red hair the
only thing visible, the duvet was hanging half off the bed, and was twisted wildly round Sakuragi's
body, the boy had obviously had trouble getting to sleep last night after Rukawa's revelation.
Rukawa gently pulled the duvet so that Sakuragi face was uncovered from it's folds. Sakuragi
looks so /kawaii/ when he was sleeping!
Gently... very gently... Rukawa traced a finger across Sakuragi's face like he used to when the
do-aho refused to wake up in the morning. Sakuragi's nose wrinkled in annoyance as Rukawa's
finger ran down it. The gentle touch persisted and Sakuragi *still asleep* waved a hand to bat
it away, but the touch continued. Sakuragi, slowly slipping back into consciousness stretched and
yawned widely. The touch still didn't stop so Sakuragi murmured;
"Stop it... go away... leave me alone... go away Akira."
The finger was suddenly pulled away so Sakuragi rolled over and allowed himself to fall back into
sleep.
Rukawa stood, unmoving, trying to disbelieve what he'd just heard;
/Sendoh/!?
*End of part 1*
I haven't decided how to end this fic... so I thought I'd leave it up to you guys;
1) Should Rukawa recover or no?
2) Should Sakuragi get back with Rukawa, or stay with his new love Sendoh?
3) Can anyone think of a title???!!!
And obviously any constructive criticism is welcome
PS, I'm terrible at making up Japanese names... so I didn't... sorry!
Thanx 4 reading my fic... hope you enjoyed it... Star :-)
A yaoi fic by Star
The boy looked silently into the Shohoku High gym. He hadn't been here for over a year, and
it still looked the same. It was full of new first years hoping to join the legendary Shohoku High
basketball team, they were all screaming and shouting loudly, so the boy tried to ignore the
pounding headache he was getting and concentrated on looking out for familiar faces.
On the far side of the court stood two boys in deep discussion, one short and one tall, the picture
was almost comical.
After a few seconds the taller of the two, with flaming red hair, turned to the thong of first years
and shouted for silence. Although his voice was barely audible above the noise, somehow
everyone got the idea that they should be quiet. All attention focused on the boy.
"Alright! I am Sakuragi, *you may call me Tensai if you wish* and this is my assistant Myagi."
Myagi frowned.
"What do you mean assistant'?"
"Errr..."
Sakuragi gave a nervous laugh and waved Myagi away.
"We've been watching you through the tests we've devised, and now we have a list of about 10.
In order to narrow this down still further *if we can* we want the 10 people on our list to play
a short one-on-one with either myself or Myagi so we can assess you in different areas. Any
questions!?"
All the young boys in the hall began to look extremely worried. Having to play a one-on-one with
either of these two was very daunting, especially the red head... he was just /scary!/
"OK, first up... *sucker one* against me!"
A tall but weedy boy stepped out from the crowd as his name was called and Sakuragi smiled
warmly at him. His skin was pale and his dark, silky hair fell messy about his head, however his
eyes were friendly and Sakuragi liked him instantly.
Myagi leaned close to Sakuragi and whispered in his ear, "remind you of someone?"
Sakuragi blushed and hissed back, "/someone/ doesn't have eyes like that."
Turning back to the boy he smiled again and indicated they should play away from the crowd.
They went to an empty part of the hall and prepared to play, all eyes were on them, even the
hidden ones from the doorway.
As the game started, Sakuragi had little trouble getting close enough and stealing the ball, twisting
round in a neat circle he jumped with the ball resting lightly but securely on his fingers above his
head to score a perfect 3-pointer.
All the first years ohhhed and ahhhed at the beauty of it.
The eyes at the door widened. Sakuragi had obviously improved a lot since he last saw him, he
moved much more fluidity and made a shot with much better accuracy.
Sakuragi, amazingly, didn't even boast about his wonderful shot, *you see, Sakuragi is only
boastful when he is feeling insecure* he mearly smiled at the weedy boy he was playing and
invited him to have another go.
This time the first year put up more of a fight. Try as he might, Sakuragi found it impossible to
steal the ball, the new boy had amazing speed. Suddenly, and without warning, the first year took
a shot from just outside the key area, Sakuragi wasn't fast enough to stop it. However, as the ball
began it's decent, it became apparent that it wouldn't even touch the basket's rim. Sakuragi
breathed a huge sigh of relief before striking a Tensai pose and declaring:
"Ha ha ha ha ha, no one can beat the TENSAI!" *See what I mean?*
Suddenly there was a gasp from the year ones and Sakuragi spun round to see what was taking
the attention away from him.
The boy from the doorway was running easily across the court. He jumped up and gently pushed
the basketball so it slid into the basket. He landed gently then snatched the ball from where it was
bouncing gently on the floor of the gym. When he spoke his voice was deep and expressionless.
"What Tensai? I don't see any Tensai."
Sakuragi's mouth dropped open.
Then he blinked, rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear the hallucination from it. But when
he looked up again the boy was still there. After a second a smile broke out on his face and he
ran into the other boy's arms which such a force that sent the dark haired boy crashing to the
ground.
"Kitsune!"
Sakuragi fell heavily on top of Rukawa, but the fox-eyed boy didn't complain, he just hugged
Sakuragi tightly.
After a few seconds Sakuragi pulled away and heaved himself up to sit on his hunches, peering
inquisitively at the boy who was still sprawled on the floor.
"Why are you here, Kitsune? You should be in America training."
Rukawa shrugged as he pulled himself into a sitting position in front of the red head.
"You've improved much."
Sakuragi looked puzzled, not understanding what Rukawa was talking about.
"Basketball, do-aho."
"Baka Kitsune, all you ever think about is basketball!"
"Iie, all I ever think about is /you/"
Sakuragi scowled at Rukawa, angry that the fox could talk about their relationship so casually.
"Why are you here, Kitsune?"
Rukawa glanced past Sakuragi's broad shoulder at looked in annoyance at the mass of boys who
were watching them.
"I'll talk later, do-aho, in /private/, but I think we should sort out these boys."
Sakuragi gave a start and looked behind him, as if realising for the first time that they weren't
alone. He sighed loudly and pulled himself to his feet.
"Gonna help us Kitsune? Ayako isn't here, she'll not well, and Haruko's celebrating /another/
of Akagi's scholarship with the family."
Rukawa shrugged and stood up smoothly.
"Might as well."
The boy who Sakuragi had been playing against earlier approached them tentatively.
"Are you... Kaede Rukawa?"
Rukawa turned his icy eyes on the boy, a cold glare which made the boy step backwards in alarm.
"Well... it's an honour to meet you finally... Sakuragi-senpai speaks of you so much."
The icy eyes turned to Sakuragi, making the red head also take a step back.
"Err..." Sakuragi waved a hand nervously "...you may have popped up once or twice in
conversation."
Rukawa raised his eyebrows.
Feeling the tension mount up, Sakuragi tried desperately to change the subject;
"So, Kitsune... you gonna play these guys for us so we can see what potential they have, but go
easy on them huh?"
Rukawa shrugged again. "I play to win."
"Oh."
Sakuragi hastily turned away. "Go ahead *sucker 1*, give it your best try."
With Rukawa's help, although his new level of skill was almost impossible to beat, the list shrunk
to 6 people.
Afterwards, in the changing room, Sakuragi finally spoke with Rukawa alone;
"Why are you here, Kitsune?"
"You've asked that question 3 times now."
"And I'll keep asking it till I get a straight answer."
"There isn't a straight answer."
"Fuck it Kaede, why are you here!"
Rukawa let his head hang, and kept his eyes firmly on his hands that rested in his lap.
"I wanted to see you just in case."
"Just in case what?"
"Just in case... something... something /bad/ happens... you never knew where the winds gonna
blow in this life huh?"
Sakuragi slowly got up from his seat next to the fox and knelt on the floor in front of him. Gently
he lifted the raven-haired boy's head with a finger until their eyes met.
"Tell me Kaede."
There was a long silence.
"I have cancer."
There was a even longer silence.
"No... no, Kitsune, that isn't funny, it's not funny, it's not true, it can't be, I mean, you... /you/?"
But one look into the fox boy's eyes told him it was.
Sakuragi removed his finger from underneath Rukawa's chin, who again looked down at his
hands.
"You mustn't, /mustn't/ worry, do-aho, I'm responding well to the chemotherapy, and it looks
like I'll be fine, I'll be fine, okay?"
Sakuragi's own head was hanging, and tears leaked out of his eyes. Slowly he raised them, but
couldn't quite look into Rukawa's.
" Don't worry'... don't worry' you tell me... ha! Kitsune! I watched my own mother die of
cancer... I watched her slowly die, and /you/ tell me not to worry. Why the fuck shouldn't I
worry??!!"
He stood up, suddenly angry at the old, familar fears he felt, tears streaming freely down his
flushed cheeks.
Rukawa continued to stare at his hands, his own tears dropping off his nose onto his lap, his
shoulders and hands shaking.
Sakuragi stood still for a moment before turning sharply and walking out, slamming the door as
he went.
Rukawa collapsed into a sobbing mess. He hadn't expected a /good/ reaction from Sakuragi, the
doctor had told him not to be angry at the way Sakuragi might behave, but... why couldn't
Sakuragi see?
Slowly he whispered;
"Hana... I'm so scared..."
~*~*~*~*~
The alarm rang shrilly in Rukawa's flat, but the fox boy had already left. He was, in fact,
presently walking down one of the back streets to where Sakuragi's flat was. When he reached
the huge tower block, he fitted one of his keys into the foyer door without needing to call
Sakuragi's doorbell.
When Rukawa and Sakuragi had been a couple before the fox's adventure to America, they had
practically been joined at the hip. They both had keys to the other's house and generally lived in
whichever took their fancy at that time. Even for as long as a week they might live together.
There was a small plump man sitting in a reception area, when he saw Rukawa he sat up in
surprise.
"Rukawa-San! Are you back from America... the place has been so lonely without you!?"
Rukawa actually smiled at the man *nods... yep, you read right!* of whom he was very fond.
"Hai, I am back."
"Well, go on up... I'm sure you and Sakuragi have a lot to catch up on."
The man gave a short, nervous laugh as he watch Rukawa disappear up the flight of stairs. Then
he shook his head sadly, "oh poor, poor Rukawa-San. I hope Sakuragi-San tells him gently."
Rukawa stepped into the flat, then stepped back out again, then he closed his eyes, stepped in and
opened them again.
His mouth hung open.
The place was /clean/!
There were no clothes, no magazines, no school work lying about the place as it had once done,
everything was in it's proper place and although Rukawa had strived for a long time to get the
flat looking like this, it kinda made him sad to see it. I'm really not a part of Sakuragi's life
anymore...' he though dejectedly to himself. Then, shrugging and telling himself he should be
happy to see the flat clean, he made him way across the flat to Sakuragi's bedroom.
Slowly he pushed open the door, and breathed a sigh of relief... the room was filthy. Empty tea
cups, cans of drink, sweet wrappers and chocolate bar wrappers and all the rubbish you can
imagine was fitted into this small bedroom.
Sakuragi himself was hidden almost completely under the covers of a new double bed he'd
obviously invested in during Rukawa's absence. Rukawa grinned at the memory of them trying
to push the two singles together after one romantic night at a restaurant.
The fox-eyed boy had to tiptoe across the room, with every step he took he stood on something
that made a loud noise under his feet. Finally he reached Sakuragi's side, a mop of red hair the
only thing visible, the duvet was hanging half off the bed, and was twisted wildly round Sakuragi's
body, the boy had obviously had trouble getting to sleep last night after Rukawa's revelation.
Rukawa gently pulled the duvet so that Sakuragi face was uncovered from it's folds. Sakuragi
looks so /kawaii/ when he was sleeping!
Gently... very gently... Rukawa traced a finger across Sakuragi's face like he used to when the
do-aho refused to wake up in the morning. Sakuragi's nose wrinkled in annoyance as Rukawa's
finger ran down it. The gentle touch persisted and Sakuragi *still asleep* waved a hand to bat
it away, but the touch continued. Sakuragi, slowly slipping back into consciousness stretched and
yawned widely. The touch still didn't stop so Sakuragi murmured;
"Stop it... go away... leave me alone... go away Akira."
The finger was suddenly pulled away so Sakuragi rolled over and allowed himself to fall back into
sleep.
Rukawa stood, unmoving, trying to disbelieve what he'd just heard;
/Sendoh/!?
*End of part 1*
I haven't decided how to end this fic... so I thought I'd leave it up to you guys;
1) Should Rukawa recover or no?
2) Should Sakuragi get back with Rukawa, or stay with his new love Sendoh?
3) Can anyone think of a title???!!!
And obviously any constructive criticism is welcome
PS, I'm terrible at making up Japanese names... so I didn't... sorry!
Thanx 4 reading my fic... hope you enjoyed it... Star :-)
