The phone rang again. It's been ringing all morning, as it had been for the past couple of days. Both Rukawa and Sumire knew who it was and none of them are willing to answer it.

For the past couple of days, the house has been bombarded with flowers, letters, phonecalls, and even occassional visits from the gift-giver himself in his desperate attempt to catch sight of his lovely maiden.

But Sumire has locked herself in her bedroom. Refusing all calls, refusing all gifts, refusing Sendoh. Not even Rukawa could talk to her. Annoyed at the endless phone ringing that morning, Rukawa had opted to leave the house very early to start his basketball practice despite that it doesn't start until two hours later. Well, he can't do much for Sumire even if he's at home anyway.

Rukawa could guess what happened exactly between his sister and Sendoh Akira even if she never told him a word about it. He could see everything written in Sumire's eyes that night when he saw her crying. And it boiled his blood just to think about it, like any brother would. Especially that the person involved is none other than his own nemesis.

"Rukawa! Easy on the ring there!" Ayako called out from the side court as Rukawa had unconsciously did such a fierce dunk that the ring shook for a good whole two minutes.

Startled, Rukawa looked up at the still shaking basketball ring.

"Nanda, Rukawa?" Kogure's calm voice spoke as the vice-captain approached his freshman ace. "Is something bothering you?" He asked again, putting a hand on Rukawa's shoulder. Although Rukawa has always showed complete apathy over everything around him, and never showing what's really in his mind, apparently this time what's bothering him is too deep to conceal beneath his icy stare.

Rukawa looked at his senpai without any expression reflected in his eyes, then shrugged Kogure's hand off his shoulder politely. "Nothing." He replied as he picked up the ball and started doing his jump shoot practice again.

He can't deny that he's angry. Angry at what, he doesn't know. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't able to do anything in his situation. It's a wonder that despite he's extremely bothered, his basketball plays seem even more flawless and accurate.

But suddenly, he stopped his practice and slammed the ball onto the gym floor. It bounced hard against the wooden floor towards the side, almost hitting Ayako.

"Rukawa Kaede!" Ayako exclaimed. "Nani yatten no yo!?"

Rukawa didn't answer to her. He just walked off to the side of the court and out towards the basketball club locker room. Everyone in the gym has pretty much froze from whatever it is they were doing to see what was going on.

"Koraaa! What the hell is wrong with you, kitsune! Are you trying to kill Ayako-san!?" Sakuragi's brashy voice echoed throughout the gym as he stomped towards Rukawa, but Kogure's firm hands stopped him from doing anything further.

"Akagi…" Kogure turned to his captain with a look in his eyes that is asking Akagi to take care of the current matter at hand.

Akagi sighed and shook his head. "Let him be."

* * *

"Sendoh-san, daijobu yo?" Aida Hikoichi approached his seemingly-distracted senpai who has missed almost about half of the shots he made in the span of the last hour and has been completely oblivious of whatever else is going on around him in the gym, despite that as captain, he should be supervising his teammates' practice.

Sendoh turned to Hikoichi, who was standing with a bottle of water and a clean towel extended out towards him. The boy seemed genuinely concerned about him. He looked around the Ryonan gym, and realized that all of his teammates were watching him, and also a number of his most loyal spectators, be it female or male, who had spared their precious vacation time to come back to school just to see their superstar point guard, now captain of the basketball club, in action.

Get a grip on yourself, Akira. Look at them, they're all here for you. Don't be such a disgrace.

"Maybe you should rest for a moment, Sendoh-san!" Hikoichi said again.

"Thank you, Hikoichi." Sendoh nodded as he took the towel and the bottle of water, then he made his way to the side of the court to sit down on the bench for a while so that his head would clear. It's been hard for him these few days, with Sumire not taking any of his calls and refusing to see him. Maybe it's better for her not to see him again, but for him…

Somehow, someway, he had earned a reputation of being a flirt and a playboy around the high school student community. But Sendoh Akira is really not what he was said to be. He doesn't take his emotions and love lightly, and he would pursue it to the end of the road and not look the other way.

A deafening silence suddenly descended upon the gymnasium. Despite being engrossed in his thoughts, Sendoh caught the sudden stillness in the air. He turned around to see what was going on, and found himself looking straight at the cause, who is standing in front of the Ryonan gymnasium entrance.

Whispers started to become audible around the large hall. Intrigued by the presence of this unexpected guest, they wonder what had brought Shohoku's Rukawa Kaede into Ryonan's gym.

"Sendoh…" Koshino approached. "What's going on?"

"It's all right, Koshino." Sendoh replied calmly, and he stepped towards Rukawa, just as Rukawa stepped into the gymnasium interior towards him.

The silence returned as the spectators held their breath in suspense over what kind hell will break loose between the two rivals who were now standing face to face with one another.

But before their eyes could blink, suddenly Rukawa's fist had swung forward and with a great impact, landed right on Sendoh's face. The gymnasium roared in shock, and the Ryonan players instantly ran towards their captain and surrounded the Shohoku perpetrator.

"Kisamaaaa!" Koshino exclaimed, pointing to Rukawa. "Where the hell do you think you are, you bastard!" he yelled, ready to retaliate to Rukawa's offensive act towards Ryonan's ace. But Sendoh, who had staggered a couple of steps backwards from the impact of the powerful punch, suddenly raised his hand in signaling Koshino to back away.

Sendoh straightened up his stand, his other hand holding off the flowing blood from his nose. "Clear the gym, Koshino. All of you. Leave now." he said calmly, never taking his eyes off Rukawa.

Obeying Sendoh's instructions, the Ryonan basketball club members promptly moved and cleared the gym of all spectators, closing the doors behind them, leaving the two inside.

"That's a warning. You will leave Sumire alone from now on, do you understand that Sendoh?" Rukawa's cold voice spoke flatly, his eyes glaring coldly.

Sendoh looked straight into Rukawa's eyes. "I can't do that, Rukawa."

As he said that, Rukawa promptly grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him. "What part of 'Leave her alone' do you not understand, Sendoh?"

Suddenly Sendoh's hand grabbed Rukawa's and yanked its grip off his shirt. "I will not lie to myself, and I won't lie to you either. I will tell you here and now that I am in love with your sister, and nothing you do will change my mind about that."

"You're bringing nothing but more complications in her already hard life right now." Rukawa hissed. "Just leave her alone and let her leave in peace!"

By now, Sendoh's blood was boiling, and his hands lifted and he grabbed Rukawa's shirt. "Why don't you be honest with yourself for once, Rukawa!" Sendoh exclaimed angrily. "I know you don't want her to leave as much as I do! At least one of us had the senses to at least try and do something about it!"

Sendoh's words struck Rukawa into silence. With Sendoh's hands still grasping on his shirt, he just stared into his rival's eyes without saying a word, until Sendoh finally released him.

"I don't know what exactly happened to you in your past…" Sendoh said again, his voice lowering into his usual calm tone. "But whatever it is, it's time to grow up and put it behind you." He concluded his words, and walked slowly towards the exit, nursing his still bleeding nose. And soon, Sendoh was gone, leaving Rukawa alone in the echoes of his last words.

"… it's time to grow up and put it behind you."

Was that it? Has he been living in the past all these years, unable to let go of the anger that kept him so bitter and had made him into the cold person he is today?

But how?

How does one forget about the past and put it behind him?

* * *

Sendoh dragged his steps home along the empty streets. Everything felt heavy. His feet, the bag on his shoulder… He turned around the corner towards where his house is and was surprised to find someone standing right in front the gate, waiting for him.

It was Sumire.

He stopped his steps for a moment, surprised. That heavy feeling suddenly just lifted away, replaced by that immensely glad feeling of seeing her.

When she saw him, her face changed into a look of shock when she saw him. Even after a few days, Rukawa's punch had made quite a significant mark that his nose needed to be bandaged. And traces of the black and blue could still be visible around the area surrounding his indigo blue eyes. "What happened to you?" she exclaimed as she rushed over towards him.

"Aah… it's nothing. Basketball practice… you know, freshmans." Sendoh replied sheepishly.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, reaching out her hand to touch his face.

"Hmm… sometimes…" he replied. "Not as much as it hurts for not being able to see you."

She became silent at the words he just said, and looked away. "I'm sorry…" she finally said.

"Why are you here?" Sendoh asked, searching for her gaze.

Sumire exhaled, and looked up. "I'm leaving… tomorrow."

Sendoh could only force a sad smile as he nodded at her reply. He knew that if she had came looking for him today, that would mean that this would probably be the last chance he'll be able to see her.

"Will you come back… at all…? Ever?" he asked.

Sadly, she shook her head. "There's nothing left in Japan for my mother to come back for." She replied. "The only thing we have here are haunting bitter memories of the past. A broken family that could never be reunited. And Kaede could never forgive my mother for it… nor could he ever forgive me for leaving him." She sighed another long sigh. "But I suppose my mother is right, it would be better for us to be away from it all and to start a completely new life." She said her last sentence with a hopeful glimmer in her eyes.

He looked at her. It's that exact same glimmer in her eyes that he loved so much from her. He knew right then and there that she's the one. The one. But maybe this is how life is. Just when you thought you found her, it turns out that you can't have her. He exhaled, then forced another smile. "Well… I suppose we can always utilize the wonders of modern technology today… e-mails, telephones, letters…"

Suddenly, she threw her arms around him and kissed him. Startled by the completely uncalled for moment, it took Sendoh quite a moment before he finally received her in his arms.

Why wouldn't time just stop… right now? Forever…

"Thank you, Akira." Sumire said softly when she finally pulled away.

"For what?"

"For giving me a beautiful memory to think of when I think of Japan…" she replied.

"I love you."

She paused for a moment. "I love you too." She finally answered.

Sendoh smiled, then he leaned his forehead down against hers and closed his eyes. "No goodbyes, all right?"

"No goodbyes." She agreed.

Then he pulled away slowly, and his eyes brightened. "Might as well add greater moments to those great 'Sendoh Akira memories'." He said as he smiled. "What do you say we add the best one-on-one game in Japan for some more good memories?"

Sumire was quite surprised at the sudden change of his mood. She couldn't help but laugh at his comment.

"What's so funny?" he asked, pretending to look completely offended.

"Ahahaha… gomen ne!" she almost choked trying to stop her laughter. "Good clean fun, right?" she asked.

"Good clean fun, Your Highness. As always."

And so she took her hand, and they walked off to their basketball court under the twilight sun.

====================================================================================

(to be continued)