Disclaimers: Everything in Slam Dunk belong to Takehito Inoue-san!

Warnings:

1. OOC characters

2. This is a very boring and dragging chapter because I thought of this at 2 o'clock am

Pairings: RuHana



The rays of the rising sun settled over the district of Kanagawa. The birds are up and with a series of chirps like a choral ensemble, they enlighten the gradually waking district.

But there were also some people who rose up as early as those birds.



The ball left the hoop and the man who executed the shot landed gracefully on the ground. And the only way he showed his victory was the clenching of his fist.

"You win again," said his companion, matter-of-factly.

Rukawa turned around and faced Sakuragi, "But I must say, you have improved a lot ever since that afternoon five days ago."

Sakuragi picked up the ball and twisted it on his index finger. "It was already five days ago since you taught me some of your moves. And most people say that it would be impossible for anyone to improve that much. Let's just say you are a good teacher."

"Flatterer," Rukawa muttered as they both made their way out of the public gym. "You are the only person I've ever met who learned the ways of basketball that quickly. You are probably the fastest learner the world of high school basketball has ever seen."

"Ha! Who's the flatterer now?"

"Sakuragi, you hungry?"

"Huh?"

"Would you like to come over to my house? It's just a few meters away from here."

Sakuragi clipped the ball under his arm and replied, "Sure! My mom probably won't mind anyway."

"Great, let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As Rukawa said, his house was not far.

"Wow," whistled the redhead. "You have such a big house Rukawa!"

"Big but empty." replied the stoic boy as he opened the door. "Come on inside Sakuragi."

Sakuragi entered and was again awed as he saw the interior of the "mansion". "This is so beautiful! It's like a mansion, so big and spacious!"

Rukawa did not say anything as he went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast, leaving the redhead still exclaiming praises for the house.

When Sakuragi finally calmed down, Rukawa already finished making breakfast. "Sakuragi, let's eat."

Sakuragi went to the table and sat down beside Rukawa. "You fixed breakfast all by yourself?!"

Rukawa nodded. "Would you like some coffee to go with that?"

"Sure."

Rukawa went back to the kitchen to get some coffee. While he was away, Sakuragi looked at the food before him and was really awed to see that all of them were cooked just right. "Suke...Oi Rukawa!"

Rukawa came back, set down the cups he was carrying and sat down beside his companion. "Nanda?"

"When did you learn how to cook? Just by looking at them, I'm sure all of these taste great."

"My mom died when I was only eight, and since then my dad is always away on business trips. He always leaves me with a caretaker. But when I turned twelve, I decided not to have one and since then, I've lived by myself. So I really had to learn how to cook. I still see my dad but only about twice in a year. He sends me money and everything. But we're not close, I hardly know him since I only see him about a day in a year. It really won't surprise me if he comes here one day and tells me that he has another family elsewhere, as long as they don't move here and intrude my privacy."



"So that's why you're so quiet. You just want to be alone right?"

"Quite. I don't want to have another loved one leave me again, it's just too painful." He looked at Sakuragi and said, "Eat up or those will get cold."

"Right." Sakuragi ate up the breakfast that Rukawa had prepared, all the while exclaiming how good they were.

They finished breakfast and after washing the dishes, both boys went to Rukawa's room. Rukawa sat down on his bed while Sakuragi sat down on the chair opposite it. "You're lucky, you know?"

Rukawa looked at Sakuragi and asked, "What do you mean?"

Sakuragi took one throw-pillow and cuddled close to it as he said with longing and a tinge of sadness in his eyes, "You're very lucky because your father's still alive. I didn't even get the chance to talk to him man- to-man. He died when I was still in junior high and I was not mature enough to talk with him that way. My mom was so shocked after dad's death and we hardly talk to each other any more. It's harder to have them there but they seem not to exist at all..."

Rukawa stared at Sakuragi, "You've been keeping all of this to yourself?"

He nodded, "Yeah, even Yohei and the gundan do not know about this. You could say that while you hide behind that icy mask of yours, I hide behind a comical one." Then Sakuragi looked at him and smiled. "Kitsune, I'm really wondering why we never tried to become friends before."

"What do you mean?" Rukawa asked as he sweatdropped. "You always look at me as if you want to kill me!"

"Did I?" Sakuragi scratched the back of his head. He smiled and continued, "Well the past is the past right? We are friends now, aren't we?"

At that moment, Rukawa had decided, so he dropped his mask and smiled. "I hate to admit, but we are invincible when we work together on court. Would it be alright if I called you Hanamichi?"

Sakuragi resumed the usual cheer on his face and replied, "Of course, Kaede."



Tbc

Author's notes:

I really don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe I'm having another one of those writer's blocks or something. I really can't write a decent chapter. Dunno what's wrong with me these days. Because this was supposed to be the yaoi part. But I was not able to put it in. So it means that I have to extend the story...

C&c's are very welcome. Thank you to everyone who's bearing with such a slow writer like me ^^!