A/N: christmas is coming! I'm so happy! I hope I get everything I want… ( near impossible, seeing what I want is for fujima to turn up on my doorstep! Jin or koshino will do too… Can you hear me santa?) ok, I hope all of you had wonderful christmases! OH! And check out my survivor story! It's a round robin between my sister and me…
Disclaimers: I don't own slam dunk. I'm just a penniless fic writer trying to give my imagination wings.
Special thanks to: all my wonderful readers who actually took time out to review this pathetic little story that won't stop growing… big hugs and kisses to you all! ( Esp Dark Phoenix and my best friend!) and not forgetting those lovely folks at fanfiction.net who let me have a place to stuff this story.
And I must thank my baka imuto, who insists that she be thanked, although she didn't do anything but irritate me and give me useless ideas.
Part Four:
He clapped his hands. " Practice is over for today!"
The gym resounded with cheers. He frowned. Had he really been that hard on them? They seemed so happy that it was over. But he had no choice! The nationals were coming soon, and if they didn't practice hard now… …
His train of thought was broken by a voice. " Fujima, do you need any help?" It was Kogure.
He started to shake his head, then, remembering his promise to Saeko, nodded. Since it was an awkward question, now was as good a time as any.
They both put the balls away and headed for the locker room. Since they were the last two people there, he decided to go ahead with the question.
" Hey Kogure. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"
" No, I don't think so. Why? Are you thinking of having another practice session?"
" Nah, you can't push them too hard, can you? They might just drop dead and die." He grinned at the thought. " Well, I was just wondering if you'd like to go and try the new buffet in town. You know, to escape Uozumi's cooking."
Kogure laughed. "Oh come on, his cooking's not that bad. It's improved significantly, hasn't it?" They both thought of the past two years and how the food had tasted then, and shuddered.
" It was really bad then. Ugh." Fujima pronounced.
" Yes, it was. The buffet does sound good though. I'll have to give it a try."
He heaved a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it had been so easy. He hadn't had to cook up a long story to explain, and Kogure hadn't felt that anything was suspicious.
" Ok, so I'll see you tomorrow then. We'll meet at the fountain."
"Ok. See you!"
He left the locker room first and headed to his room. When he'd closed the door, he felt a pair of hands covering his eyes.
" Guess who?"
He gently pried off the hands. " Of course it's you, Saeko – chan. Who else could it be? Don't be daft."
She pouted, then bounced to his bed and flopped down on it.
" So, did you do it? Did he agree? Yes, right? He can't have said no!"
" Calm down! Yes, he said yes. We'll be there tomorrow."
" Oh goody! Now you have to help me think of a way to get them together."
" Me? Since when did I promise to help you this far? "
" You just did! Quick! Set the wheels of your genius brain working! I'm sure you'll come up with something! "
He flopped back on his bed with a groan." Why is it always me?"
She pounced on him. " Because you're the smart, brainy one! Now, are you going to help me or not?"
" Can I say no?"
" Yes, you can." She promptly dug her elbows hard into his chest.
" Ouch! That hurt!"
She smiled down angelically at him. " Well, so are you going to help me or not?"
" Ok! Just let me take a shower first!"
They stayed up late that night, coming up with the perfect plan.
" Kenji – kun! Wake up! You don't want to be late, do you?"
He was rudely awakened by Saeko, who had climbed onto his bed and was attempting to tug the blanket off him in a bid to wake him up.
He sleepily turned and peered at her through heavily-lidded eyes, then turned to look at the clock. Then he exploded," It's only 7 o' clock in the morning! We slept at 4a.m! Are you nuts?"
" No! We need to finish our plan!" Now she was pulling the pillow from under his head.
He sighed exasperatedly and grabbed it back from her. Man, he loved her like a sister, but really, sometimes, she did worry too much.
" Saeko – chan, calm down!" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard. " Our plan is foolproof! We've even got 3 back-up plans! Even if it does go wrong, maybe they're just not meant to be together, ok? So just go back and sleep." With that, he rolled over and tried to back to sleep.
She gave one last poke with her finger and left his room. Now she felt better. He always was able to help her calm down, she had to admit, and she did worry unnecessarily over nothing.
She collapsed on her bed with a sigh and pulled the sheets around her, wondering how their plan would go before drifting off into dreamland.
" Saeko – chan! Wake up! We're late!" She was awakened by a frantic Fujima, who was ripping the sheets off her and using a pillow to hit her. " You've only got 5 minutes before you're supposed to meet Cruella!"
" What? We're late? Oh no! We should have woken up at 7!" she wailed. Then remembering what he said, she narrowed her eyes. " Who's Cruella? I hope, for your sake, you don't mean Kaoru."
" Well, I do." He grinned at her as she leapt up and attacked him with her pillow. " How dare you say that about my friend? Take that!"
He responded with a few hard whacks of his own. They were in the middle of a hard fight when he glanced at the clock and freaked out. They were now 10 minutes late! When he pointed this fact out to Saeko, both of them went into "whirlwind mode", getting dressed and ready in record time.
In the lift, he reminded her," If it doesn't work out, there's nothing we can do."
" I know, Kenji-kun! But it will! "
He sighed inwardly. She had always been this optimistic, and he couldn't bear to be a wet blanket.
They stepped out of the lift and headed for their meeting places.
On seeing Kaoru by the fountain in the garden, Saeko ran over.
" What took you so long?"
" I'm sorry! I woke up late…"
" Oh well, it's a good thing I woke up late too. I just got here 5 minutes before you did!" Both girls grinned at each other.
" Well? Shall we go?"
" Yeah, I'm hungry! You lead the way."
Meanwhile……
" Oh, have you been waiting long? I'm so sorry! I overslept, and well…" he scratched his head.
" Nah, it's ok. I was using the time to study for our coming test."
" Test? What test?" Fujima stopped short in his tracks.
" Don't you know? The big test on Monday?" Kogure flapped his hands.
" Oh no! I'm dead meat… … I haven't started studying at all!" he groaned and slapped himself on the head.
" Don't worry, you'll ace it as usual. If you need any help, I can always study with you." Kogure offered.
" Thanks! I could do with the help!" with that, they continued on.
*******
" Hey Kaoru! Look at that dress! It's beautiful……"
" That's nothing. I have one that's nicer. It shows off my perfect figure!" She struck a pose jokingly.
" Hmph! Yare yare. You're going to wear it to the dance next Friday, I suppose?"
" Hmm, I guess so."
" Should I buy this dress? It's nice!"
" Buy it then. Girls can never have enough clothes!"
' Kenji – kun's sure to love it. Even if he is gay. If I can find it in green, even better.'
" Ok then Kaoru! I'll buy it! Let's go in!"
" What are you waiting for?"
(later)
" Kaoru, thanks for helping me! I love it!" she hugged the dress tighter.
" Don't mention it. That's what friends are for. Let's go eat now, shall we? I don't think my stomach can take it any more. Hear that? It's my stomach grumbling." She pointed to her stomach.
" Ok! Sorry to make you wait…"
(In the restaurant )
" Hey! Isn't that Kenji-kun?" she waved at him wildly. " And who's that with him?" she mock-squinted. " Oh! It's Kogure! Now you both can kiss and make-up!"
" What?! There's no way he'd take me back! And even so, we won't do that in front of everyone!"
" It's just a phrase! Calm down. There's no where else to sit. Looks like we'll have to sit with them after all…" she grabbed Kaoru by the wrist and dragged her over to the table.
" Hi! Mind if we join you? There's no where else to sit." She gestured at the crowded restaurant.
" Just like you to be so late." Fujima rolled his eyes and nodded his head.
" Thanks!" she slid in next to him, and beckoned Kaoru to sit next to Kogure, whose eyes widened in shock at seeing her.
" Hi, " she mumbled as she gingerly seated herself on the edge of the bench.
" Hi, " he mumbled back. " I didn't expect to see you here."
" Neither did I. " then they both fell into a silence.
Saeko exchanged glances with Fujima. This was not going well.
" I'm Saeko! You are…?" she extended her hand to Kogure.
" Kogure."
" Well, nice to meet you! Kaoru and I are going to get our food."
When the girls had gone, Kogure stared accusatorily at Fujima. " You didn't tell me that she was going to be here today!"
" Why? What have you got against her?" he put on his wide-eyed innocent look.
" It's a long story. Look, I'll explain later," he said hastily, seeing the girls approach.
At the buffet line…
" Why didn't you tell me he was going to be here?" Kaoru hissed at her angrily.
" Hey! Cool down, man! I didn't know Kenji – kun was going to be here, let alone with Kogure!" she shot Kaoru a look of wide – eyed innocence.
" Anyway, can't you just be civil to each other? Breaking up doesn't mean that you have to be enemies! Plus you said you missed him! So this is a perfect opportunity! " she smiled angelically at Kaoru, who glared at her less then angelically.
" Loosen up! Let's eat! Hey! They have my favourite food here……" Saeko greedily helped herself to the buffet.
A silently fuming Kaoru took her food too, and both of them walked back to their table.
A/N: there! That's chapter 4… this story seems to have taken on a life of its own… hope I can finish it soon… before I get too busy! Hope everyone has a merry christmas!
