Standard Disclaimer Applies

Chapter 3 "Rough Draft"
Basketball Practice

Rukawa was ecstatic (even though his face remained frozen ^_^) as he entered the basketball court for that day was hell for him, having that bakemono for the whole day. He stretched and started his warm-ups. He looked around and was glad that everything was normal. He grabbed a ball and started shooting, irritated when that damnable Rukawa brigade started their cheering. And as he usually does, he shut off their irritating voices and concentrated on the hoop.

"Oi, BAKA KITSUNE!" someone shouted and he frozed at that voice and then shook his head and continued practicing, convinced that that female voice was just a figment of his imagination.

Chiara, who was at the court to talk to Rukawa about their tutoring schedule was annoyed when there was no response at her shout.

"Hmmm...shouting doesn't work, huh?" she murmured, eyes glinting as she took a ball and aimed straight at the boy practicing, much to the surprise of the team and the anger of the Rukawa brigade.

Rukawa, who was taking his shot when the ball hit him, looked around and searched for the person who had thrown the ball. When his eyes saw Chiara, he groaned in horror as he realized that the bakemono was not a figment of his imagination. She was there at the court smiling smugly at him.

"Oi, bakemono, what are you doing here?"

"Grrr! Baka Kitsune! I am here to discuss our tutoring schedule. I already talked to sensei and your grades' a mess Baka!"

At this, Rukawa promptly turned his back on her and continued practicing. Ignoring her once again which really irritated Chiara. Toying with the idea of throwing another ball at Rukawa, she suppressed it when she saw Anazai-sensei entering. As she saw the coach approaching, she finally realized how to force Rukawa to talk to her. She turned and walked towards Anzai-sensei, waving at him.

"Gomen nasai, Anzai-sensei. I'm Chiara Sakuragi, Hana-kun's sister.Could I talk to you for just a second?"

"Oh! Ho!ho!ho! Sou da ne. Hanamichi-san's very pretty sister, " the coach replied, smiling as he saw Chiara blush at his compliments, "Go ahead Chiara-san."

"Ano, Anzai-sensei," she replied, embarrased, "I would like to talk to you about Rukawa-san, about a tutoring schedule."

"Oh, is there a problem with his grades?"

"Yes, Anzai-sensei. I really need to talk to him. Our Physics professor assigned me to tutor him. I also just found out from sensei that Rukawa-san needs to get at least 90% for his next two quizzes in order to pass the subject. For that to happen, I have to start tutoring him immediately. I'm free after class so I just thought of teaching him for at least an hour per day." she explained.

"Ho!ho!ho! I see. You want him to cut short his practices, ne? That would be hard."

"Iya, not really! It would be fine with me if I teach him after basketball practice. I'll just teach him here in court after the team's finished practicing."

"Sou da ne. So you want me to tell him this?"

"Not really. You could just command him to talk to me. he!he!he!"

Upon hearing this, the coach smiled and called for Rukawa. His eyes narrowed when he realized that Anzai-sensei wanted him to talk to Chiara. He approached her with a mutinous expression in his face which made Chiara guffaw in laughter.

"He!he!he! baka kitsune! I'm a genius! You now have to talk to me!" she announced proudly.

"........"

"Fine! Don't talk!" she replied at his silence, "Here's the deal, after your practice, I need to tutor you. Exams are two weeks away and you need to get 90% to pass Physics so we should start now."

"Fine. whatever" Rukawa replied giving in as he realized that he wouldn't win this argument anyway.

"What?Hello???!? Is that you baka kitsune?" she asked dumbfounded.

"......"

"He!he!he! didn't know you would agree immediately" she teased. Seeing no response from him, she pushed ahead. "That's a deal, right?" she asked, extending her right hand to seal the deal.

Rukawa was taken aback at this gesture. Seeing that everyone was watching them, he extended his hands because for some reason, he did not want to embarrass Chiara in front of the team. Not really understanding why her offer warmed him.

He gasped when her hands reached his. Electricity seems to shoot off his body at the contact. He jerked up and glanced at her face and realized that she was also taken aback as her face reddened. He felt the softness of her palm and the warmth it exuded, removing the chill in his body. Mesmerized, he looked at their hands then slowly raised his eyes to her face.

Seeing her flushed and blushing face, he stifled a smile at the adorable picture she presented. He wanted to reach his other hand and touch her face, to feel the softness and warmth of her cheeks. And when his eyes locked into hers, he was lost at the innocence and life it reflected. An eternity seems to have passed when a loud voice broke the magic of the moment.

"OI! BAKA KITSUNE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER!" Sakuragi shouted.

At this, Rukawa and Chiara pulled back their hands and turned back, embarrassed.

"Hey, am I missing something here?" Hanamichi demanded.

"Do'ahou." Rukawa replied and walked toward the court.

"Baka!" Chiara answered and sat on the bench, opening the books she brought with her, attempting to read.

Confused, Hanamichi followed Rukawa then shouted."OI! DO YOU LIKE MY SISTER!"

"Do'ahou, who would like a BAKEMONO, baka!"

"NANI!" Chiara shouted then proceeded to the court to attack Rukawa. She was stopped by Akagi whopulled her back and Hanamichi who was laughing at her sister.

"Bakemono ga." Rukawa replied and Chiara glared at him, sparks flying in both of their eyes. The team sweatdropped at this, relieved that everything was back to normal. When everything settled down, the team finally started practicing.

At the end of the game, Chiara waited impatiently outside, still seething at Rukawa's remark and trying to forget the attraction that she felt for him.

"It's nothing baka!" she murmured at herself.

After showering, Rukawa and Hanamichi, both headed towards Chiara. Hanamichi grew suspicious at this.

"Oi, kitsune are you heading towards my sister!?" he demanded.

"Do'ahou!"

"Nani? Baka kitsune!!!"

Chiara, seeing a fight brewing between the two started to interfere, not wanting to teach a black and blue student. "Onii-chan, I need to tutor that BAKA for Physics after basketball practice!"

"Nani! He!he!he! the baka kitsune's failing! He!he!he!"

"Baka!You're also failing, I heard kaa-chan say. So you should also start studying! Hmmm, you should join us, baka!"

At this, Sakuragi's eyes widened then backed off, smiling nervously. "He!he!he! just kidding Chiara-kun. He!he!he! Beware baka kitsune, my sister is a bakemono!" he said and ran, avoiding her sister's anger.

"Grrr..." Chiara said, glaring at her departing brother. She turned towards Rukawa to start teaching him and her eyes widened at what she saw. Rukawa was already sleeping, drooling at her books.

"AHHH! YOU BAKA KITSUNE! Wake Up!!!" she yelled and pulled at his ears.

Rukawa shot up, awakened at her shout. He glowered at Chiara and mumbled, "Bakemono."

"Baka! you better stay awake during the whole hour or I'll throw you over the court!" she threatened. Rukawa just closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep. And so the tutoring session went on like this and it ended with both of them glaring at each other, stalking out of the court and with Rukawa black and blue.

Author's Notes: Thanks for the review ^_^, i was really nervous about this fic. About chiara's name, this was the name of someone I met recently. I was confused with her name (i thought it was Sharah and then i thought it was Tiara, he!he!he! i just hope that wasn't you, issei ^_^!) but when i got the real spelling, i really loved it. It's so different and unique...i think. Never heard anyone with that name before. And sorry Yuuki, I'm really throwing those two together...eheheh! Again, R & R greatly appreciated!

Oh, btw, is this getting boring and am i going too fast with Chiara and Rukawa's emotion? At this rate, I'll probably get angsty and dark....grrrr, just can't seem to write light fics. ^_^