What's The Point Of This Story?
By Ryu-chan
Author's Note: I always liked Slam Dunk, especially Rukawa Kaede, Mitsui Hisashi, Sendoh, and Kenji Fujima.
Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk or it's characters. Don't sue; I'm just a high school student.
The Shohoku team was practicing in the gym as usual for their game for the next day. Mr. Anzai divided them into two teams: the red team and the white team. Rukawa, Akagi, and Mitsui were in the red team with two other players and Sakuragi, Ryota, and Kogure were on the white team together with two other players. Ayako tossed the jump ball to start the game. Akagi tapped the ball to their team while Sakuragi tried to block Rukawa. As Mitsui dribbled the ball to shoot, the door of the gym opened and a girl of 16 entered. With Mitsui's focus gone, the ball slipped away from his hand and bounced towards the outside line. Ayako blew the whistle to signify that it was the white team's ball. The girl got the ball and dribbled it. She ran across the court as if she was one of the team, passing every player. When Rukawa realized what she was doing, he blocked her. Having experienced nothing with girls, he didn't know how to steal the ball from her. "Having a hard time, Kaede?" She asked. She passed him and shot a three-pointer. Everyone in the gym froze. No one from the team ever passed Rukawa. "Tough luck buddy." She said winking. Mr. Anzai stood up from his seat. Everyone looked at him, even the girl. "Rein, I thought you'd never come." He said smiling. "I'm sorry I'm late grandpa." She apologized. "GRANDPA?!" Everyone shouted surprised. "Shohoku, this is my granddaughter, Rein Anzai. Rein, this is the Shohoku team." Mr. Anzai introduced. Rukawa glared at her. She's good…better than me. He thought. "Better practice more. I heard Rukawa here is the best, am I right?" She asked looking at Rukawa. "No! Rukawa's not the best!" Sakuragi protested. "Oh really?" Rein asked, not convinced. "Yeah! I'm the best! I am the genius!" Sakuragi praised himself. "Well then. Why don't we have a one-on-one?" She asked snatching the ball from Sakuragi. "Let's get it on!" He shouted. "That's enough!" Akagi said getting irritated. "I'm sorry captain." Rein apologized. Akagi was taken aback. At least she knows who's the boss, not like a certain red head I know. He thought. "Rein, show Akagi what you can do." Anzai offered. "But who'll block me?" She asked. Everyone looked at Rukawa. "What?" He asked. "You're going to block her." Kogure said. Rukawa eyed him. "You just saw how she passed me a while ago! You should choose Akagi. He can block her better than me." Rukawa protested. "Fine." Akagi agreed. The match between Akagi and Rein started when Akagi gave the ball purposely to Rein. "You go first." He offered. "You sure?" She asked. "Yeah." Akagi tried to block her shot but unfortunately, she smoothly shot the ball for a two-pointer. Everyone was stunned while Anzai was smiling at his granddaughter's improvement. She has improved a lot since I last taught her in junior high. He thought. The game went on and on until Mr. Anzai called it off after 10 minutes. Rein scored 68 points and Akagi scored 59 points, a 9-point difference. She was really good. "The problem now is how to enter her in your game tomorrow." Anzai suggested. Akagi looked up in shock. "Enter her in our game? But she's a girl." Akagi protested. "What about Haruko? She played basketball and she's a girl too." Rein argued. "But this is different. She was in junior high then." Ryota opposed. "So?" She asked. "Anyone can enter actually, even a girl." Ayako butted in. Rein smiled at the show of defeat their faces showed.
The game started as planned. Jonan scored more than Shohoku did. During the second half, Mr. Anzai called in a change of players. He changed Kogure with Rein. "Rein, don't be rash in shooting hoops. Jonan is good." Kogure explained. "Don't worry. I'll be fine." Rein assured him. Both teams came out of the locker rooms for the second half of the game. Jonan students were surprised that Shohoku would enter a girl in the game. "Hahaha… what are you thinking about Akagi? With all guys in your team, you can't beat us and now you're entering a girl? You really don't want to win, do you?" The captain of Jonan said. "Don't underestimate us, Daisuke." Akagi said as if challenging him. The players positioned themselves for a jump ball. "Be careful missy. You might break a nail." A player from Jonan teased. "Be careful buddy. You might break something bellow the belt." Rein teased back. The second half of the game started. Mitsui snatched the ball when Akagi tapped it into their team. Mitsui ran towards the ring when a player from Jonan blocked him. He passed the ball to Rein. Having a girl in the team is an advantage. Why? A girl is shorter than guys so she can shoot under them. And as planned, Rein shot a lay-up. "YES!" The whole team of Shohoku shouted. The game went on and on until Jonan realized that they never moved from their score. It was still 37 points and Shohoku had 94 points. There was only 30 seconds until the second half finished. Jonan was desperate to get a point. "OK, this is what we'll do, injure the girl." The captain told the team. "But isn't that a foul?" Another player asked. "But at least we have time to catch up. Without the girl, they're nothing." The captain explained. Their plan was fool proof; the problem was… they were the fools. When they tried to injure Rein, she would always avoid it. They had a hard time injuring her because, first, she was smaller than them and, second, she was a girl. They didn't want her to think that they were perverts just because they wanted to win. The timer buzzed signaling that Shohoku won by 102 to 37, a 65-point lead.
The next day, instead of playing in basketball, Rein was picked to be the muse of Shohoku since she was fit for the part. She denied it. Its not that she was kind of boyish and that she didn't wear mini-skirts, she just wanted to play basketball. You can't play basketball in mini-skirts! "You're more fit to be a muse than a player." Rukawa said. "Thank you very much but no." Rein grumbled. "And besides, you'll look cute in mini-skirts." Ryota smiled. "Haha very funny." Rein said sounding irritated. "Rukawa'll be your escort." Kogure suggested. Rein turned a bright red. She had secret feelings about Rukawa. "What do you mean?" She asked denying the fact that she does like the idea. "Rukawa will be your escort. As simple as that." Kogure explained. "No!" She said turning a deeper red. Sakuragi could see the blush building in her cheeks. He approached her. "You like Rukawa?" He asked in a whisper. She looked up. "No." She simply said. "Oh really? Then why are you blushing?" He asked again. She kept silent. The day of convincing her to be a muse and Rukawa being her escort ended when she made a final decision… no. She still didn't want to be a muse with the exception of Rukawa being her escort. Since Rukawa lived near Rein's village, he decided to walk her home, knowing that it wasn't safe for a girl to be alone at night. "It's actually alright for me to go home alone, you know." Rein said hiding the blush that was evident in her cheeks. "Then I wouldn't feel comfortable knowing that you might get raped or you might get kidnapped." Rukawa reasoned. Rein looked at him confused. Is this Rukawa? The Rukawa I played with in court, who doesn't care anything about the world? She thought. "Are you alright?" She asked. "Yeah. Fine." Rukawa answered not looking at her. She was surprised. Even though it was dark, she could see the blush that was forming on his cheeks. They arrived at Rein's house. "Well, thanks for walking me home. I really appreciate it." Rein said. "Sure no problem." Rukawa assured. They stood there staring at each other. "Well, good night." Rein said turning around. When she was about to enter the house, a hand gripped her wrist and swung her around. When her senses were regained, she felt Rukawa's lips touch hers in a gentle kiss. Whoa! Talk about fast move. She thought. Rukawa broke from it and apologized. "I'm sorry." He said. Rein kept silent. "Why did you do that?" She asked. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was thinking." Rukawa apologized again. "What I meant was, why did you break away?" She asked again. Rukawa was shocked. And then smiled at the thought that she did like it. "I told you, 'I didn't know what I was thinking'." Rukawa said moving closer and taking her into his arms. "Well, what are you waiting for? Christmas?" Rein asked teasingly. Rukawa dropped his bag on the ground and kissed her.