Ore Wa Tensai Sakura: Midway
Part 4

by Annie D
the_80s_chick@lycos.com



They had won against Ryonan and had become the best team in Kanagawa, but…

They lost the first match of the Inter High league.

It was a slim margin, but still a loss.

Anzai-sensei had consoled all of them in that quiet way of his. After all, it was bad luck that their first match in the league had been against Rokin, who were the defending national champions. Ayako, Ryota and the other seniors were depressed as it was their final year in Shohoku, but knew that such things couldn't be helped, and they were still proud that they had truly tried their best. Haruko had cried a bit, but she knew that she still had the next year to make up for it and after all, they had done rather well against the current champions of Rokin, and that was saying something.

Rukawa blamed himself as he always did.

Sakura blamed herself as she always did.

*****

School continued as usual for the team, who were feeling down about not being able to play the rest of the season, but were cheered up a bit when other students congratulated them on being the best in Kanagawa. Being the best surely made up for the loss and humiliation, didn't it?

Rukawa did his brooding, telling himself that it had been his fault et cetera. Shohoku should have gone further. Shohoku should have won nationals.

But despite the brooding thing, he did manage to notice that Sakura hadn't attended school since the lost game, which made it a total of four days so far. Four days of absentees, and he hadn't seen her wandering around town either.

Stupid girl, blaming herself as usual, he thought. He settled down in his chair in his class and leaned forward to sleep. Around him students buzzed in the normal break time mess.

He hadn't gone a few minutes before his Sakura radar woke him up. Voices just outside the class indicated that the gundam friends of hers were just hanging around the corridor.

"Have you seen Sakura?" The voice belonged to Yohei, Sakura's best friend. "Did she skip school again?"

"I guess she did," said Ohkosu.

"Do you think she'll shave her head?" Takamiya asked. "You know, like last time when they lost against Kainan?"

Rukawa didn't change his comfortable position of leaning forward into his crossed arms on the desk, instead just imperceptibly moving closer toward the sounds of the gundam so he could listen without them knowing he was awake.

"Who knows?" Yohei said.

"What a shame, I really liked her hair," said Noma.

"Are you talking about Sakura?" Rukawa recognised this new voice belonging to Akagi's sister.

"Hai," said Yohei.

"I'm really worried," Haruko said. "She hasn't been to class for four days in a row. Have you guys seen her?"

"We haven't looked," said Takamiya. "She'll be in a horrid mood now, we don't want to get beaten up just yet."

"She could be depressed," Haruko said.

"She always does that," Yohei said softly. "Blaming herself whenever something goes wrong."

"But it wasn't her fault that we lost!" Haruko exclaimed.

Rukawa nodded mentally. It was my fault. Not hers.

"It wasn't anybody's fault." This voice belonged to Ayako. "We all worked hard together equally, and it wasn't any individual person's fault that we lost. If Sakura wants to get all silly and blame herself for something she has no right to take responsibility for, that's her business."

"Ayako!" Haruko exclaimed.

"It's true," said Ayako. "We all worked hard together. Who is she to claim that it's solely her fault that we lost? It's our fault. We're a team, we take the win or we take the fall. Together."

We're a team… We take the win or we take the fall… Together.

Rukawa suddenly remembered what Sakura had told him before the Inter High had started. You play for yourself, not for the team.
His memory rewinded itself to the three games they had played. What Sakura had said to him had subconsciously changed his playing style, and it surprised him that he hadn't noticed it before. It's different now. Both of us used to play for ourselves, but not anymore. We play for the team. We play with other people, not just among them.

We take the win or we take the fall… Together.

We have no right to take sole responsibility.

The epiphany popped a metaphorical lightbulb in his head, and Rukawa sat up suddenly, causing everyone around to jump in surprise.

"Rukawa?" Ayako said.

We take the win or we take the fall, together. Rukawa looked at the team manager and nodded. Then he stood up and ran out of class.

*****

So what if he got caught for skipping class in the middle of the day? He had skipped class dozens of times before, but only to take refuge on the school roof where he could sleep without being bothered (much). He just hadn't any reason to leave campus because to him anywhere was the same when it came to napping.

Only now for the first time he had a real, solid reason to leave.

The bike swerved dangerously past a moving car, but Rukawa wasn't even aware of how the driver was cursing wildly at him. It was unfortunate that Rukawa's bike-riding skills were hardly improved even when he was awake, but he always managed to cope somehow.

There you are.

The Kanagawa beachside front park basketball court. Quite a distance from school, so it wasn't much of a surprise that Sakura hadn't been spotted so far.

She was lying stomach down on a foot-wide concrete fence-wall, arms dangling limply on both sides, head facing away from him and toward the ocean-line. Rukawa jumped off his bike, ignoring the clatter it made on the pavement, and strode up to her.

"Sakura." Rukawa realised that it was the first time that he had called her by that name.

"Go away." She didn't bother to turn, and made no acknowledgement that she knew who he was.

"Sakura. It's not your fault."

Painfully slow, Sakura sat up and turned her head to look at him. (At least she hadn't shaved her head.) It was just a look, not the usual glare she bestowed him with. Her brown eyes were tired, and looked as though they had no more energy to manage anything other than a near-dead stare. She sighed, then turned to look at the oceanline again.

Rukawa clenched his fists angrily, then reached out and pushed her, causing her to fall off the fence and onto the bike pavement. She picked herself weakly then just sat there on the pavement quietly, ignoring him.

He hopped over the fence and kneeled down next to her.

"Do'aho."

"I want to be depressed, can you go somewhere else?"

Rukawa clenched his teeth. This isn't you, Sakura! Where's the fighting spirit? You're supposed to hit me, or curse me, or something!

He slapped her. Fight me.

Sakura flinched and blinked rapidly. Then, slowly, she lifted her eyes to look into his. "Go away."

He slapped her again. Fight me!

Sakura's right eye started to twitch.

Yes, that's it. Come back. Fight me.

"You think you're the only one that's so important?" Rukawa asked. "We win together and we lose together. As a team."

"What do you know about being a team, kitsune?!" Sakura shouted, her hands drawing into fists. "What would you oh-look-at-me-I'm-the-super-rookie-I-have-so-many-fans bla bla bla bla bla know about being in a team?!"

"It means you share the joy and the pain," Rukawa told her matter-of-factly.

"Hah!" Sakura snapped.

Rukawa stood up. "If you really cared, you'd work to make the team win next year, not brood around like this. Do'aho."

Sakura screamed and leapt toward him.

Rukawa grunted slightly as she punched him in his stomach. He fought back by shoving at her and kicking her in the shins, although he made sure that he wouldn't particularly hurt her (which wasn't really likely anyways).

There you are, Sakura. Fight me.

"Kitsune!" Sakura's fist went flying and hit him just under his left cheekbone. The other fist struck him in the stomach again, sending him stumbling back.

He paused to take a breath, then kicked her again. Sakura yelped in pain, but then punched him a few more times in various regions of his upper thorax and face.

This seemed enough for Sakura, and life was back into those brown eyes of hers. She glared.

Rukawa smiled. Not physically, but mentally. This is who you are. Alive and burning.

"Baka," Sakura snarled, leaning against the concrete face to gather back her breath. She glared at him, her eyes the way he knew they should be. He glared right back, ignoring the pain within the various places where she had hit him.

"Next year. I'll get you, kitsune," she muttered, before turning around and leaving.

You already have me, Sakura.


FIN