A/N:

Well this is certainly going slower that I thought it would! Gomen… got so distracted by Meteor Garden nyahahaha… hope you'll bear with me and my non-existent commitment to this ficcie… I just hope this won't turn out icky… X(

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Sakuragi opened his eyes lazily. The sun felt warm on his face. Every day now he woke up with this feeling of fatigue, not that anyone could blame him. He had undergone so much intensive training during the last three weeks. With his 20,000 jump shot training camp while the rest of the team was away at Josei High in Shizuoka, then their regular, even more intensive daily training back in Shohoku, and just a couple of days before today, the practice game against Shoyo and Ryonan.

His eyes widened as they caught sight of the alarm clock next to his bed. It says 11 AM.

"Shimatta!!!" Sakuragi yelled as he sprung up all of a sudden from his bed. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm laaaaaateeee!!!" he ranted as he stumbled across the untidy floor, stepping all over his dirty clothes that he hasn't taken out for his mom to launder in… weeks.

He scrambled upon the mountain of dirty clothes, trying to find something, and the room exploded into a bigger mess. But Sakuragi didn't care. All he is thinking about right now is to find his basketball shoes and rush to Shohoku's gym before Gori goes into stealth mode and decided to terminate him upon sight.

"Hanamichi, are you coming home for lunch today?" his mother's voice called out after him as he stumbled down the stairs towards the front door.

But Sakuragi didn't hear her question and had sprinted out the door. His mother smiled, and just shook her head in ridicule at her son's behavior. Although she is glad that he finally found something that he could be so passionate about. Something she had never seen occuring in him before.

* * *

"CHUU-SU!" Sakuragi yelled out as he screeched into the gym, only to find himself greeted by the echoes of an empty space. It was only then that he remembered Akagi saying yesterday that the basketball team could have a day off tomorrow, which is today. Something that had completely slipped his mind.

Baka! Sakuragi cursed at himself. But then again, he knew that even if he had remembered that the basketball club had no practice today, he would've come to practice on his own anyway. And so he advanced to grab himself a basketball, and started doing his warm-ups.

It was most definitely a nice summer day. No Haruko-san at the gym today, but that's all right. She's been with him all through the weeks of his training camp, and with every day, he grows more and more fond of her. He realized now that without Haruko, all this would be meaningless as ever.

One of these days… Yes, one of these days, he will tell her how he feels about her. All this overflowing emotions buried in his chest. One of these days. Soon.

And so he continued with his jump shoots.

First shot.

The ball didn't even come close enough to the ring.

Second shot.

This time, it went over the ring.

Sakuragi cringed everytime his shots missed. Nanda yo… teme… He took a deep breath and tried to gather himself. Thinking about Haruko had definitely distracted him. Rhythm… get the rhythm straight… He remembered Anzai-sensei's words.

Relax…

Bend your knees…

Narrow your right elbow… and…

"Sakuragi-kun?" Haruko's voice startled him as his palms curved to make his shot. The ball flew high up in the air, and hit the ring's side, then bounced off to the floor.

Sakuragi turned around abruptly, forgetting instantly the fact that he had been upset for a nanosecond because he had missed that shot, and is now completely in glee because his favorite girl had showed up in front of him. "Haruko-san!!!" he beamed happily, his face turning red as he looked at her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking towards him. "Didn't onii-chan gave everyone a day off today?"

"Aa… hai!" Sakuragi scratched his head sheepishly. "But I had nothing to do! So I thought… might as well come and practice again today!"

"Soo desu…" Haruko replied as her face grew grim all of a sudden. She picked up the ball that had rolled towards her feet, and held it in her palms as she looked at it with sad-looking eyes.

"Ano… Haruko-san…" Sakuragi started as he saw the look in her eyes. "Is something wrong? And why are you here today?"

She looked up at him, and her round clear eyes reflected such a painful look that completely wrenched him inside. He wanted to take her in his arms and made it all right for her. But, he couldn't. He wouldn't dare.

"Sakuragi-kun… have you, by any chance… seen… Rukawa-kun?"

His dream of comforting Haruko popped at the mention of the kitsune's name. His flaming red-head started to put his version of two and two together, and by now, the anger in his chest was about to explode. How dare that kitsune saddened Haruko-san like this!

"What did that baka kitsune do to you, Haruko-san?!" Sakuragi bellowed suddenly. "Don't worry, I'll make him pay for it!!! Just wait and see, yarou… Rukawa… I'll… I'll…" he cursed at first, but he suddenly stopped as he saw Haruko's face turning even sadder.

"Iiya yo, Sakuragi-kun!" Haruko exclaimed, stopping him. "It's not like that at all…" Haruko's voice grew softer. "Haven't you heard of what happened?"

Sakuragi shook his head, and listened intently. Now he got curious.

"This girl… Yamazaki-san… she's always so quiet in school…" Haruko started her story. "She got hit by a car yesterday… and died… but she saved Rukawa-kun's life…"

Died? Someone would die for Rukawa? Nani!? The reason just completely escaped Sakuragi's logic. He couldn't understand why anyone would do that.

"And… I was just wondering… how Rukawa-kun is coping… with what happened…" she said again.

"Tscheh…" Sakuragi snorted all of a sudden. "That heartless kitsune? I'll bet that he's not affected at all. He's probably at home sleeping it off and…" But he promptly stopped his words as he saw Haruko's face turning… angry.

"Hidoi…" Haruko muttered softly. "Sakuragi-kun… hidoi desu yo…! How could you say such a thing about Rukawa-kun?! Why do you hate him so much? Why?!" she exclaimed with tears streaming across her face all of a sudden, and without waiting for any further reply from him, she dropped the ball onto the floor, turned around and ran out of the gym, leaving Sakuragi alone in the echoes of her angry words.

Haruko-san…

He just stood there, his eyes staring blankly into the now empty space.

It's not that I hate that baka kitsune…

But you…

You seem to only have eyes for him.

Why?

Why won't you look at me at all?

What does Rukawa have that I don't?

* * *

Rukawa stood in front of his locker silently. He knew that there was no practice today, but his feet seem to brought him there anyways. Perhaps he just needed the distraction from reality in which he always found in basketball. He had been unable to sleep a wink last night, even with his sister's presence by his side for the whole night.

"The police called…" Sumire said earlier that morning. "They just called to tell you… that they've identified the girl."

Rukawa looked up at his sister at her words.

"Her name is Yamazaki Mariko." She continued. "Maybe… just maybe… you would want to…"

"To what?" Rukawa snapped at Sumire's words as he stood up. "To pay my respects? Thank her family for saving me? Do'ahou…" Rukawa snorted in ridicule as he made his way out the door.

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "Where are you going?"

"Out." He replied briefly, and slammed the door.

And so he was now here, alone. He just stood there, and the image of her lying on the concrete returned into his mind. It was that image that had haunted him for the whole sleepless night.

Rukawa slapped himself. Again. And again, and again. Just forget about it, do'ahou! He scolded himself as his hands reached out to open his locker. As the door swung open, he found a mountain of pink envelopes, teddy bears and boxes of chocolates inside his locker. And his eyes widened as he caught sight on what was written on the front of one of the envelopes…

"To Rukawa Kaede. From Yamazaki Mariko."

He doesn't know how long that envelope had been sitting there, or how it got in there. Maybe she had put it in there that very same day, or maybe the day before, or even maybe a week before since that's pretty much how long he hasn't opened that locker. Rukawa would usually do his regular locker cleaning every week, in which he would open it, and just grab all the letters and gifts that had been showered by his "admirers" that had piled in it, and dump it straight into the trash without even looking or even glancing at them.

Why? Why do you keep haunting me?

Frustrated, he grabbed that particular one in his hands and walked straight towards the trash but just as he was about to slam it straight into the bin, his trembling hand hesitated in midair, and slowly pulled back. He stared into the crumpled pink envelope for a moment, not knowing what exactly he was feeling looking at it. Not knowing what he should do with it.

But something in his heart moved him, and so he took a seat on the bench, and slowly opened the letter.

Dear Rukawa-kun,

This is my twentieth letter to you. I don't know why I keep writing you these letters even though I know that you'll never read them. Maybe it's just something that I had to do, or I feel that I need to do.

My friends say I'm the biggest dreamer in the world. Because I'm always dreaming of you. In my eyes there's always you. You are all I see in my world. Maybe you'll just think I'm crazy. Maybe I am crazy. I can't understand why I feel this way, but I know my feelings cannot be changed, not by anything.

Rukawa-kun, I love you. With all my heart, I love you.

If only I could just have one look from you, even just for a very short moment. Wishful thinking, I suppose. But just one look from you, and I'll be happy forever. But then again, it's just me, the dreamer, dreaming of the impossible.

I don't care if you never speak to me, or even if you'll never know me at all. Just as long as you're there, being you, so that I can see you every day, that would be enough for me.

Yours truly,

Yamazaki Mariko

He paused for a moment, just staring blankly into the letter.

Just one look from you, and I'll be happy forever.

And the image of that faint smile on her face just before she closed her eyes and left this world forever returned inside Rukawa's mind. Suddenly, a drop of water dripped onto the crumpled letter he was holding. It was a drop of tear from his cobalt eyes.

Surprised at himself, he wiped his eyes sheepishly.

"Rukawa-kun?"

Surprised at the sudden presence of another around him, Rukawa looked up, finding himself looking straight at Haruko, who was standing at the doorway.

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to be continued…