A/N: *yawns* Somehow, every chapter seems to get harder to finish, I always start of very enthusiastically, but as I go on my enthusiasm kind of fizzles away. Oh well, I'm rather proud of my determination and as a result *cue drumroll* another chapter is up!

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is not mine, has never been mine, and will sadly never be mine. For someone who is too computer illiterate to design a website and yet is a big fan of Slam Dunk, my choices are limited so I write fics, don't sue me!

Suddenly, Haruko's head swiveled in another direction, and she completely forgot what she was about to say. "Rukawa-kun…"

Saemi's eyes followed the direction Haruko was looking at and locked themselves on an exceptionally tall and dark-haired student. Haruko's eyes had turned into hearts and both Sakuragi and Youhei sweatdropped. = True, he is good-looking, but she doesn't have to drool all over him! =

"Rukawa! Rukawa!" 3 girls appeared out of nowhere and started to fawn over him as they walked, struggling to keep up with his long strides. However, Rukawa paid no attention to them, not even so much as glance in their direction. Saemi sneaked a look at Haruko out of the corner of her eye. Poor Sakuragi was waving his hands up and down in front of her face in a vain attempt to snap her out of her stupor.

= Hmm, I spot trouble. Unrequited love on the horizon = An idea started forming in her head. =Let me see, Hanamichi likes Haruko, Haruko likes Rukawa and Rukawa likes? = Playing matchmaker was one of her favourite pastimes. However, things were slightly more complicated in this situation. Should she help Hanamichi or should she help Haruko find their true love? = Hisa-kun is right, I watch too way too many drama serials = Still, she was determined to "help".

Mitsui changed into his playing attire and started to warm-up. = I wonder if Saemi is going to stay back to watch me play? The last time we played together I was so short I couldn't possibly do a dunk. She'll be so impressed now = Smiling at the memory, he imagined how shocked she would be to find out how he had improved.

They held a friendly match with the year ones and the year two's against the year threes. = We're going to win for sure, with me in the team = That thought simultaneously popped into 4 people's heads at the same time. Wearing a confident smirk, Sakuragi, Mitsui, Rukawa and Miyagi stepped onto court.

A/N: I really cannot describe how they play basketball, believe me I tried. So… I'm just gonna skip the basketball match

"Ha… Ha… Haruko-chan!" Rubbing his head and wearing a sheepish smirk, Hanamichi turned to Haruko, he was dying to hear her congratulate him on his wonderful performance. As usual, Haruko, oblivious that she was boosting his already swollen ego, smiled sweetly up at him.

"Sakuragi-kun honto sugoi ne! That dunk you made was wonderful!"

What ensued caused Saemi to cringe and cover her ears. = I didn't know that it was humanly possible to laugh that loudly, and horribly too! = Noticing her pained expression, Ayako giggled and leaned over. "Saemi-chan, if you think that his laughter is bad, you ought to hear his singing!" Unable to control herself, Ayako burst into infectious giggles, causing Saemi to laugh as well.

Miyagi's finely tuned ears caught the sound of his beloved Ayako's laughter. "Aya-chan…" He blushed and smiled that stupid smile which he always wore around her. Suddenly, Saemi was aware of a hand on her shoulder, turning around, she saw Mitsui smirking down at her. = Basketball is the one thing that makes him truly happy, he's always been like that since young =

Grinning her encouragement, she gave him a bear hug, "Hisa-kun, you played exceptionally well today, your 3-point shot has really improved ne?" However, she quickly grimaced and stepped back, frantically brushing perspiration from her arms. "Ewww, Hisa-kun, you could have told me how sticky you were!" Spotting a towel on the bench, she grabbed it and started cleaning herself with it. Across the court, Hanamichi was squeezing his sweat from his T-shirt, seeing Saemi using his towel, he smiled broadly and walked over.

"Aaah, I thought that I lost my towel, arigatou Saemi-chan, for finding it for me. I took so long to squeeze it dry."

"What do you mean by 'dry'?"

"I just finished squeezing it free of my sweat."

Mitsui watched his cousin's face turn a sickly shade of green and laughed, when she pouted in mock anger. Deciding to ignore the evil look he received from her, he gazed in the general direction of the freshmen, who, with the exception of Hanamichi, were cleaning the floor and stated loudly, "A bunch of year ones could never hope to beat us, especially not with me around."

As punches started flying at him, he grabbed Saemi's hand and made a break for the door, ignoring the cries of protest from her. Once outside, he put his hands behind his head and basked in the glow of the setting sun. On the way home, Mitsui pedalled leisurely, with Saemi perched in front of him, humming softly to himself.

An insistent voice jarred him out of his daydream, "Hisa-kun, we'll never reach your house at this rate!" = How dare she say that, when I'm the one who's doing all the work and she's relaxing =

"Well, I can see that someone's been eating loads of good food, from the way she's so weighs a ton."

"Yamenka do'aho! Anata yakamashii!"

Like siblings, their cheerful bickering could be heard all the way home, much to the annoyance of Mitsui's neighbours, for despite her size, Saemi's voice could travel very far. It had been so long since they had last had the opportunity to catch up on each other's lives and judging from the wide smiles on their faces, those few years when they were separated had not in the least harmed their friendship.

^___^ owari ^___^

Hope you enjoyed reading the story minna-san, feel free to review and give suggestions, I'm always open to new ideas. Anyway, another new story is in the pipeline so don't be too surprised if I don't continue this story for a long time. By the way, have any of you tried out the Slam Dunk compatibility test? I think it was created by Jem, ( its on http://sg.geocities.com/sd_ff ) … Its pretty fun and I think she was really brilliant to create it!