Author's Notes:

This is my first fanfic, and I don't really think that I'm doing a good job, I mean, some of the stories here are simply great! Anyway, this story is NON-yaoi, so if you don't like this sort of story, then I'm sorry. I lurrve Rukawa, so you can be sure that he will be one of the major characters. J Oh well, just read the story and I hope you'll enjoy it!

Disclaimers:

I do not owe Slam Dunk, or anything to do with it. Slam Dunk is created by Inoue Takehiko, but… I'm hoping to owe the manga and some posters!! At least, I'm hoping that my sister will buy some of the Slam Dunk stuff, then I can "borrow" them. ^_^

Notes:

= means thoughts!

Prologue

Tired and grumpy, Mitsui trudged into his house after a particularly exhausting basketball practice. His knee hurt and all he wanted to do was to collapse facedown onto his bed. Slowly, painfully, he made his way up the stairs to his bedroom.

*Ring-ring! Ring-ring! *

Sighing heavily, he walked as quickly as he could (which wasn't very fast) to grab his phone. =this had better be good= As Mitsui entered his bedroom, he tripped over a stack of magazines (basketball magazines, what else?) and fell on his butt. Rubbing his sore butt and cursing, Mitsui picked up the phone.

"HELLO?" he growled into the phone.

"Hisa-kun, remember me?" A sweet voice chirped into the phone. =who in the world is that? = Only one person called him that - his younger cousin … but, he had lost contact with her ever since she moved away.

"Helllooooo?" Clearly, the person at the other end of the phone was getting impatient.

"Hisa-kun, Daijoubu Hisa-kun? Wait, don't tell me that you've already forgotten me!"

"Saemi-chan??"

"Yokatta! You haven't forgotten me after all!"

Stunned, Mitsui could only manage a very confused "huh?" He could not believe that she was actually contacting him after so long, she had never replied any of his letters. He remembered how hurt he had been when she had moved away to USA with her parents, they had always been close as kids even though they were 4 years apart.

As though she could read his mind, Saemi spoke up. "Hisa-kun, don't be mad at me… I heard that you wrote to me weekly for the first year but I never received any of your letters! Because of Otousan's job we had to move around a lot. In fact, I don't think that there's one country that I haven't been to."

=Japan, that's one country that you haven't been to in a long time= His excitement at the phone call quickly cancelled out the anger he felt. They talked a while, to catch up on what had happened in the past 11 years.

" I really have to go now Hisa-kun, I've been on the phone for half-an-hour and these long distance calls are really expensive, you know. Let's just say that you'll receive a VERY pleasant surprise in the next 2 weeks… Oh no! Okasan's calling me, Ja ne!"

"Ja ne!"

As Mitsui leaned against his bed, he wondered what the surprise was. Sleepily he rubbed his eyes. = that phone call was worth it =

Ookay, that's the end of the prologue, I hope that it was alright… ^__^ Reviews are very welcome, I'd like to see what you thought of it… So… go ahead and give a review! Just don't write nasty stuff or my heart will be broken! (just kidding!)