Ore Wa Tensai Sakura: Midway
Part 3

by Annie D
the_80s_chick@lycos.com



And then, finally, the day of the final block match was there. Sure enough, the team they were up against was Shoyo.

Sakura, although declaring to herself every five seconds that she was the tensai and nothing would stop her from beating Shoyo down flat, felt very nervous. And, technically, it was her first game. It was like being a newcomer all over again.

Not to mention Shohoku were defending their position as the second best team in Kanagawa. Shohoku success in the previous year had been unexpected, and she'd be damned before they lost everything Akagi, Mitsui and Kogure had worked for.

In their locker room of the sports centre, the Shohoku basketball team nursed their jitters among themselves.

"Sakura-chan," Ayako said softly, appearing in front of her. "Your jersey."

Sakura looked down and took the small red cloth. She carefully unfolded it and smiled. "Arigato, Ayako."

"Are you ready?" Anzai-sensei asked from the doorway.

There was a chorus of, "Hai!"

*****

Sendoh Akira, along with the rest of his Ryonan crew, were in the audience of the Shohoku-Shoyo game. Hikoichi was blabbing away alongside Taoka-sensei, as per usual, but Sendoh kept his eyes on the double doors from which the Shohoku team would step out of.

"The Shoyo team!" the announcer boomed over the sound system. The team donned in green stepped onto the arena.

"The Shohoku team!" and the double doors opened to allow the red-donned team into the arena.

"Ah, finally!" Hikoichi exclaimed. "This will be a great game, don't you think, Taoka-sensei?"

Koshino was the first to notice and he announced loudly, "Look, they've got a girl on their team!"

"Nani?!" Hikoichi's leaned against the railing to get a better look.

Ryota led the way, being captain and all. Ayako and Haruko were there, but they were in civilian clothes, and they flanked Anzai-sensei toward the bench. And there in their red jerseys: 11, 5, 6, 12, 8, 7, 16, 13, 14, and then 10, which was on a jersey worn by the red-head girl Takemoto Sakura.

"I didn't know they allowed girls to play," Hikoichi said, turning to Taoka-sensei.

"They must have appealed to the board," Taoka replied, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "She must be really something for Anzai-sensei to want on his team."

"Yo-check-ya!" Hikoichi chirped.

Sendoh smiled. He had known she was on the team all along.

"Oooooh! What was her name again, Sendoh-san?" Hikoichi asked eagerly, pen poised over the page of his book.

"Takemoto Sakura," said Sendoh.

"Takemoto Sakura," Hikoichi echoed as he wrote it down. "Shohoku number… 10. Wait, wasn't that Sakuragi's number? And she's a red-head, too. Wow, what coincidence!"

Sendoh nodded. "Indeed." He watched as Anzai-sensei spoke to the team members. They all nodded, then leaned forward for a huddle.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

The Shohoku team dispersed onto court.

And Sendoh had to admit, the game was really something worth watching. (No play-by-play, because this writer is no basketball expert.) Rukawa was the new Centre – not much of a surprise there – and eventhough the Shoyo Centre was slightly taller than him, he took quick advantage, and the game smoothly started at Shohoku's pace. Not constantly, of course, as there were times that Shoyo took over, and it was quite a close game throughout.

Takemoto Sakura herself had quickly been given the spotlight because of her gender and her hair. She also paused many times in the middle of the game to yell at someone (a friend or a stranger in the audience, or a friend or foe player on the court, it didn't seem to make any difference) but performed really well as a backup point guard and also having her fair share of action under the basket. Sendoh noted that she certainly didn't run like a girl, what with the open-palm wide-bounding stride she had. In fact, her easily-distracted playing style reminded him of a certain other player.

One particular highlight was when a Shoyo player made a charging foul against her, a foul that consisted of accidental contact between his hands and her, um, bum region. As the referee whistle blew in the background, Sakura turned around slowly, her face a very fetching shade of bright red.

"Hentai!" she screamed, charging toward the player who looked terrified out of his wits. It took Ryota and Nakajima to pull Sakura back and calm her down.

The other players did well, too. Rukawa was Rukawa, did his thing and impressed everyone every chance he got, making Sakura fume and his brigade cheer. Sendoh noted, as perhaps only a few others would, that Rukawa's playing style had changed ever so slightly. He was passing the ball more and being less of a glory hog. Sakura didn't notice and took every chance she could to insult him.

Ryota was a surprisingly good captain and with brief words or gestures got his teammates to move at the pace he wanted. The freshmen Nakajima and Nori did pretty well, too, with the former scoring quite a few three-pointers to take the lead from Shoyo at times.

Even when former Captain and vice-Captain Fujima and Hanagata made cameo appearances in the audience to boost their team's morale, Shoyo didn't have a chance.

And in the end, Shohoku won 74 to 61.

*****

The next week went by pretty quickly. The euphoria of winning the block match lasted throughout their practices, but soon the weight of the oncoming final league match pressed down on them.

"It's against Ryonan," Ayako told them. "Ryonan had beat Kainan in their own block match and we're facing off against them now. Although both winners go to IH, we want to be the best, don't we?" Ayako paused. "Don't we?!"

"Hai!" the team shouted.

Simultaneously, Rukawa and Sakura scowled. Sendoh…

"So let's practice!" Ryota shouted, clapping his hands. "We beat Ryonan and we're the best in Kanagawa, then on to the nationals!"

*****

Haruko wrung her hands nervously as she glanced from player to player in the locker room. The final league match was there at last, and the tension in the room was so thick one could cut it with a knife (pardon the cliché).

Sakura, whom everyone had expected to be more irritable and annoying that usual, had gone over the other side into complete silence. The only evidence she was still alive was her mechanical motion of popping her bubblegum.

Rukawa was sitting near the back of the locker room, not asleep, but just staring off into nothingness.

Ryota would have been also doing his brooding, had he not been the captain. It was his job to make the players relax, and he did so by talking to each of them one by one, giving them last minute reminders and the such.

Haruko kneaded her palms in nervousness. Should she talk to Rukawa or shouldn't she? Well, she was the assistant team manager after all, and perhaps a few words of encouragement would help him. But then, he'd never really paid her much attention. But on the other hand, he had told her – HER – about his idea of training Sakura as a point guard, so maybe he did notice her, or maybe…

Oh,what the hell.

She carefully walked across the room to the small bench opposite Rukawa and sat there. "Rukawa-kun?"

He looked at her.

Wow, his eyes are so blue… She willed herself not to blush, but did anyway. "You will do your best today, right?"

It took a moment, but he nodded slowly.

She smiled shyly. "I just wanted to… to thank you for coming back to Shohoku. I know you want to be the best, and it's just so amazing that you left the All-Japan team when I know that was your dream to join and everything…" Oh no, I'm babbling! "…so I just, well… thank you."

Rukawa blinked slowly. "I did it for the team."

Before Haruko could reply, Anzai-sensei spoke from the doorway. "Ready?"

*****
As the double doors opened, the roar of the audience hit them in full force. Sakura looked up, and between the lights and banners, she was able to spot her best mates Yohei, Takamiya, Noma and Ohkosu waving at her with empty soft drink bottles.

"Everyone, look!" Haruko said suddenly, pointing.

They all looked to the particular spot in the audience stands that she was pointing at. Sitting there, watching them with proud smiles, were the ex-members of their team: Akagi Takenori, Mitsui Hisashi and Kogure Kiminobu.

"Ganbatte, Shohoku!" Kogure shouted at them.

Sakura grinned. I am the tensai. Ryonan doesn't stand a chance. She rubbed her hands together eagerly.

Rukawa walked past her. "You better not mess up."

"Nani?! The tensai never messes up!" Sakura shouted back. "You will know the true power of the tensai, kitsune!"

"Hey, Sakura!" Yohei shouted from the stands.

She looked up. "Hai?"

Yohei pointed at somewhere down the stands, and Sakura turned to look. A bunch of girls were waving at her, and they were carrying a banner that read: ITE ITE SAKURA! GIRL POWER! A little further down a bunch of guys were also waving a banner that read: SAKURA - THE SHOHOKU FIRE! Not too far away, the Rukawa brigade (which had greatly multiplied in members) were looking slightly peeved at the banners and retaliated by cheering even louder for their beloved Rukawa.

Tears flooded Sakura's eyes. "I have fans… Nyahahahahaha, do you see that, kitsune?!"

"They're as useless as you are, do'aho."

"Nani?!"

"Woi, everyone!" Ryota shouted, clapping his hands together to get their attention. "Huddle!"

Anzai-sensei looked at each of them, his eyes careful behind their spectacles. "Starting line-up is Rukawa, Miyagi, Nakajima, Nori and Takemoto."

"Hai!" they chorused.

"Rukawa, you will balance out Sendoh. Nori, back-up Rukawa's defense as often as you can. Nakajima, you will guard under the basket. Takemoto, you back-up Miyagi's lead and get the far-away rebounds."

"Hai!"

Anzai-sensei smiled. "Good luck."

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

They stepped onto the court and took their positions, each Ryonan and Shohoku taking a few moments to regard their opponent. Rukawa and Sendoh walked up to one another in the centre and regarded each other. Rukawa did the whole I'm-going-to-beat-you glare while Sendoh gave his trademark I'm-nice-even-to-my-rivals smile.

"Shohoku against Ryonan, game start!"

*****

"They're evenly matched," Kogure told Akagi and Mitsui. "Although that goes without saying."

"Just like last year," Akagi said.

"Rukawa's certainly a worthy adversary against Sendoh," added Kogure. "And it's almost as if Sendoh is enjoying the challenge."

"It's practically a stand-off," Akagi said.

"I'm sure you're pretty impressed the Ryota got the team together," Mitsui told Akagi. "He may be even a better captain then you were."

"Hmph," Akagi grunted.

"Have you noticed that Rukawa plays differently now?" Kogure asked as he adjusted his specs.

"Yes," said Akagi, who crossed his arms. "He's more of a team player."

"See, Ryota could do it, while you couldn't," Mitsui taunted.

The senior trio hushed down as they watched the plays. The score itself refused to stretch between the two teams, even until the final few minutes of the game drew near.

"How long left?" Akagi asked, his voice almost a little too calm to be true.

"Under two minutes," said Kogure, who had stolen a glance at the board. "54 to 53, Shohoku's favour."

"Even Sakura has adapted well," said Kogure. "It was a good idea to make her a back-up point guard."

(Let us assume that Haruko told them the entire deal about Sakura being Sakuragi and they accepted it without much question, aight?)

"She still can't make long shots, though," said Mitsui.

"Mitsui, why do you keep putting them down?!" Kogure snapped. "It's obvious they worked hard, and they're doing very well." He paused. "Oh I know, you're upset they're doing so well even though you're not in the team anymore."

Mitsui hmphed. Kogure smirked.

"Rebound!" Akagi shouted as the ball rebounded off the Shohoku hoop. Rukawa got it and dunked.

"56 to 53, then," said Kogure. He smiled at the sight of Sakura spit-shouting at Rukawa, who ignored her as usual.

"Ryonan fast attack," Akagi murmured. "Sendoh wants to get back."

"Whoa, look at that!" Kogure exclaimed. "Koshino shoots as well as you, Micchy!"

Mitsui gritted his teeth. "I told you not to call me that anymore."

"They're even now," said Akagi. He looked at the board. "Barely a minute left. This is it."

*****

"Just keep your focus," Ryota told his players whom had all gathered into a final huddle. "We're stronger than them. Right?!"

"Hai!" they chorused. But their exhaustion was apparent.

Ryota clasped Sakura's elbow carefully as the others dispersed into their positions. She looked at him. "Ryocchin?"

"You have the better stamina than me and the others," he said, although the muscle under his left eye twitched as though it pained him to say it. "They will follow your guide if you show them you're not tired. Scare Ryonan."

Sakura's eyes twinkled. "Hai! You can count on me!"

Ryota went and took the ball, then raised his finger above his head. "Let's make this one count!"

Shohoku made their final attack. Ryota dribbled forward, carefully avoiding the Ryonan players who had moved block him. Just as Sendoh started toward him with eyes locked on to steal the ball, Ryota tried to pass to Rukawa.

Key word being tried. A sophomore Ryonan stole the ball (the audience screamed) and there was a quick pass to Sendoh. The Shohoku players stumbled a bit in the sudden change in direction, which Ryonan took to advantage.

But then superstar Sendoh found Sakura was running alongside him, eyes all a-blaze.

"That's our ball, Sendoh!" she shouted, and dived for it.

Not today, Takemoto, Sendoh thought, and side-stepped her attempted steal.

Sakura tripped slightly as she was caught off-guard by Sendoh's sudden change in direction, but her left arm flew out and hit the ball away from his grip, just barely missing Sendoh's fingers. "Get the ball!" she shouted as she fell down. "Wait, oh no, not—"

Rukawa caught the ball, and the game changed direction again to Shohoku's side.

"No, no, no, no, not Rukawa!" Sakura shrieked, quickly jumping up and running back.

The audience was screaming. Rukawa, a running contradiction of burning cool, charged toward the Shohoku hoop.

Sakura cursed. I want to win, but not because of him!

Rukawa leaned back, ready to make the final shot. Sendoh and another Ryonan player appeared in front of him, ready to defend.

"Rukawa, watch out!" Ryota shouted.

Rukawa's knees bunched. Sendoh and the other player jumped, hands oustretched.

But it was a fake, and the ball went to Nakajima who was on the other side of the defense line. Nakajima started, surprised that Rukawa had passed to him.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

The ball sailed… SWISH.

The buzzer signalled the end of the game.

"Shohoku wins 58 to 56!"

Everybody screamed. Sakura jumped up and down, shouting meaningless things at the top of her lungs. Ayako, Haruko and the other Shohoku players ran out onto court for group hugs. Ryota patted Rukawa on the back, commending him for the great pass.

Rukawa shrugged. "For the team."

Not too far away on the court, Sakura was doing her happy dance. "We won we won we won we won! Haruko-san, we won!"

"You were great, Sakura-chan!" Haruko exclaimed, bouncing with her. "That was an amazing steal, and from Sendoh no less."

"Oh, it was nothing," Sakura said, scratching behind her head. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder, and turned to see Sendoh looking at her.
Sakura grinned. "Don't expect me to apologise for beating you, Sendoh-san."

Sendoh smiled. "I don't expect anything less." He reached out a hand. "Congratulations, Takemoto-san."

Sakura looked at his hand. Well, there wasn't much point in being angry at him anymore, since he had lost and she wouldn't be playing against him next year. She took the hand and shook it firmly. "Nice playing, Sendoh-san."

Sendoh nodded, then turned to shake hands with Haruko, Ryota and the rest of the team (except Rukawa, who was still Rukawa).

The cheering swarmed around them, and Sakura felt her cheeks were going to cramp because she was smiling so much. Then she leaned back and shouted at the world in general, "Ore wa tensai basketball Sakura!"