BECOMING POPULAR
*CHAPTER THREE*~Innocence~
Author's Notes: I suppose that you have enjoyed the previous chapters 'cause you continued reading and have reached Chapter Three. I'm telling you, there's a bit of OOCness of Rukawa in my story. But please continue to read please?
Chapter Advertisement: Last week, I have nothing to do on the Internet so I checked a fanfiction in ff.net (where else?). It's a comedy script-style fic entitled "Rukawa vs. Mitsui—who shall prevail?" It's full of comparison for both players. It was really funny that you should read it some time.
Disclaimer: After 5 to 10 minutes of reading the Prologue, 1st and 2nd chapters, I'm going to piss you off again. Slam Dunk is not mine. It's Inoue's (a/n: and if I own this, do you think I'd be a broken hearted fan to write in fanfic? duh! I'd be writing my script and give it to MY people and let them draw it. I wouldn't waste my time doing this!!!). The only characters I own are: Yume Renaka, Mire Sutaka, Rukawa Boosters (I didn't make the Rukawa Boosters but I just named them), and G's.
~%~%~%~ SHOHOKU HIGH ~%~%~%~
That Monday, both of them didn't have the courage to talk to each other yet. But both of them were planning to. At last when lunch came, they got a hint that they must eat together. Rukawa bought his lunch faster than his usual slow motion and he hurriedly grabbed the bouquet of Lilies in his classroom and looked for Renaka.
He saw her and gave the flower. Renaka blushed. Rukawa looked for anyone, if they saw it or what. And he caught at least fifteen girls who were staring, drooling and shocked about what he did. Rukawa held Renaka's hand and shuddered. He led her to his table.
"I told you to start courting me tomorrow," she scolded.
"But I forgot! I bought that awhile ago at a flower shop," Kaede protested.
"Thanks! By the way, how did you know that I like lilies? I thought you'll buy roses," she asked curiously.
"I don't know. I just… know!" he answered undecidedly.
"You really got some great instincts out there! It matches your eyes. Definitely like a---" she said just as a guy greeted, "Kitsune!"
They turned their heads to where the voice came from and saw Sakuragi Hanamichi. Sakuragi hurried to their table and said, "Just wanted to tell you that there'll be no practice later. That's all! Hi Yume!"
Renaka looked at him, smile and said, "Hello Sakuragi. Nice game last week!"
Sakuragi laughed in his usual dumb laugh and said, "Of course! That's what this tensai must do! Well, got to go, still have lots to do with Haruko-chan,"
"So, since there's no game later, want to go out?" Rukawa asked and a bit blushing.
"If it will help me become popular, why not?" Renaka answered.
"It's time I pick my own choice… Let's billiards!" he said.
"But I don't know how," she complained.
"I'll teach you then," he reasoned.
"Whatever!" she muttered.
~%~%~%~ BILLIARDS BAR ~%~%~%~
That afternoon, Kaede and Renaka walked to the Game Area where as expected, Shohoku girls filled the place with guys to flirt on. Rukawa rented a private pool. Kaede made the first shot.
Of course, it was successful. "I didn't know you're good in playing billiards," she commented.
"Now you do," Rukawa simply said.
When it was Renaka's turn, Kaede wrapped his body against Renaka's back and held her hands. They felt some sort of electricity that filled both of their bodies.
"Ahem," Renaka cleared her throat when Kaede hasn't started yet.
"Gomen," he apologized.
He positioned Renaka's left hand and pushed Renaka's right and made a shot.
Billiards turned to be a nice experience for Renaka. When their hour ended, Renaka already knew how to play the game. Kaede walked Renaka home and kissed her on the cheek (both had traumas about what happened the day before).
~%~%~%~ TUESDAY NOON ~%~%~%~
On the lunch of Tuesday, Rukawa was so excited to see Renaka because she promised that she'd buy the G's newspaper. Because of sudden hunger, Kaede started eating without waiting for Renaka. Renaka arrived, holding her tray and the G's.
"Why didn't you wait for me?" Renaka asked.
"I was so hungry and I couldn't help taking a bite," Kaede complained.
"You call that a bite, eh? For me, I call it eating half of the course! Here's the G's, if ever you wanted to see it," said Renaka as she grabbed her spoon and fork and started eating.
Instead of looking at the G's, Kaede opened his lunch bag and got the favorite chocolates and said, "Three TOBLERONEs, Two CHRUNCHs" handing her the chocolates inside a little heart-shaped basket.
"Why five? Isn't it supposed to be three to make it 'I LOVE YOU'?" she asked.
"To make it 'I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH'," he answered.
"But the truth is?" she asked with her eyebrows lifted.
"I LOVE YOU… SAYS WHO?" he said while snickering.
"Good one!" she praised nearly choking with his joke or idea, since he should be telling the truth.
~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@
BIGGEST MIRACLE
Do you remember the time when we made an article about Rukawa Kaede talking to a girl for the first time? Now, he didn't only talked to Yume Renaka but did many things with her. Tuesday afternoon, he asked her for a Saturday night date. After the date that Saturday, Nuto Miska (a member of the Shohoku Cheering Squad) saw Rukawa kissed her—on the lips. Another one is on the lunch of Monday, many girls saw Rukawa, giving Yume a bouquet of flowers. And the afternoon of Monday turned out to be really great (for Yume!) who was taught Billiards by Rukawa. I think that she's hot! A date, kiss, lunch, flowers, lessons of Billiards from Rukawa-kun will make her popular. That's for sure… Please standby for further articles that we'll publish. We promise that we'll give you updated news about the newest 'couple'.
Mire Sutaka
PRESIDENT OF RUKAWA BOOSTERS
~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@*%~@
"Now that's what I call cool!" Rukawa commented as he saw a picture of him wrapped around Renaka's body while teaching her billiards beside the article.
"You bet," Renaka said while chewing her food, "Any plans?"
"'Any money?' is the best question," Kaede said while groaning.
"We don't need money to have plans," Yume defended.
"Okay, okay! My house. Five PM. Available?" he asked.
"For the sake of being popular? Of course!" she exclaimed.
When it was Rukawa's practice. He saw someone familiar walking to the bench. It was Yume. She was wearing black short shorts, red shirt and tied her hair with a pink ribbon. Rukawa saw her sat alone on a bench and looked something inside her bag, got a mirror out and began fixing herself. A thing that Yume Renaka would never do.
Oh! Sakuragi was about to make a shot. Rukawa ran and covered the ring for their team and stole the ball from Sakuragi. He took few quick steps and made a three-point shot. As expected, it was successful.
After the game, Kaede went over to Renaka. "What's up with the mirror thingy?" Kaede asked irritably as he grabbed his bag, towel and free juice.
"Nothing. I just felt like doing the popular attitude," she said, smiling.
Kaede took an annoying glace from Renaka and said, "Well, I don't like it,"
"I didn't ask what you like and what you don't!" she protested.
On the way to Rukawa's residence…
"I'm sorry, you know!" Renaka said.
"It's all right," Kaede said, confused.
"Why were you like that?" he asked.
"I just thought that I might start myself in being popular," she replied.
He shrugged and said, "Being popular isn't by the attitude. It's with who you are or what you can do. Most popular people boast. Anyone can boast. But does it make them popular? Nope. So you just got to be yourself. The real Yume Renaka"
"I guess so," she said and added, "Sorry!"
Rukawa grabbed his keys from his pocket and opened the door. It was dark so he opened the lights.
"Nobody's at home?" she asked.
"20th Anniversary. 20th honeymoon. They always celebrate it. They're so mushy. Kiss and hugs everywhere. So they're off for a month. Meaning, the house is mine. All mine," he celebrated.
"That's good," she said as she tossed her bag on the couch.
"So what are we going to do here?" she asked.
"I'll watch TV. You'll make popcorn," he simply said. Seriously.
"You're kidding, are you? I don't even know how to make pancakes," she said.
"You don't?" he asked, shocked.
"I do but just for an exaggeration effect, I said that. I didn't think you'll believe it, actually" she said.
"Okay! Then let's do something else," he suggested.
Renaka looked around the room. The living room is pretty stuffed. Tables. Chairs. Big couch. Stereo. TV. VCD player. CDs. Playstation II.
"Playstation!!!" she yelled.
Then she turned the TV on, the Playstation, speakers and stuffs.
"I think there's something wrong," Kaede protested.
"No there's not. I know how to handle this from the tip to the bottom," she said proudly.
"I mean, do u think you should be asking me if you can play the Playstation or something? And I should be the one to operate that thing?" he said.
"Nah!" she replied.
"And why is that?" he asked.
"'Cause I know that the answer will be—yes!" she said while laughing.
"You're so smart!" he said annoyingly, sitting down on the floor to join her play.
"Thank you!" she replied teasingly.
Kaede rolled his eyes.
"What do you think you're going to do?" Renaka asked, stunned seeing Kaede sitting.
"Play a game or something?" he asked, feeling that he's wrong in someway.
"Duh! We're going to play Dance Dance Revolution," she said as she smiled evilly.
"Get ready!" she added.
"But I don't know how to play that," he protested.
"Why is it under the TV then?" she asked.
"My cousin usually plays that. Not me!" he said.
"Oh, whatever! Let's play…" she said.
"I said, I don't know how to play it!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled.
"Ugh! Don't be such a KJ (kill joy). I'm going to rock your world. Just kidding! Then I'll teach you—like how you taught me Billiards," she said in a force tone that no one can resist.
Rukawa fixed the Dance Revolution Pad. Renaka grabbed the 2nd Mix and played the song "Let them move"
"Don't worry, that's easy!" she said.
"I don't care if it's easy. For me, everything's hard since I haven't even tried this myself" he said but was ignored by Renaka.
Everything went so smooth for Renaka: the doubles, making long combos. While Rukawa, don't ask for it! It'll be your worst nightmare.
`,`,`,`,` Author's Notes: I can't imagine Rukawa playing Dance Revolution! ,`,`,`,`,`,
In the end, Renaka received an "X" while Kaede got a "Y"—of course, what did you expect?
After that, Kaede protested about his score and they agreed to change the game. They played the Street Fighter. It's the favorite game of Kaede. Though Renaka knew how to play it and is good at it, but no one will ever beat Kaede, that's for sure! He knew all of their super/secret powers.
Around 7pm, Renaka looked for something around the living room that her player nearly got its head off. "Where's your telephone?" she asked.
"It's behind the brown speaker," Kaede said pressing PAUSE on his joy pad.
Renaka picked the receiver up and dialed some numbers. "Yeah. I want to order a large Pepperoni and Hawaiian Pizza. And two big soft drinks… We'd prefer Sprite… The house's address is 783 Whatever st., Duh City (a/n: sorry 'bout that! I can't think of a good address!!!)… My name's Yume Renaka… Prepare yourself for the change of 1000-yen bill… 30 minutes? Thanks!"
"Don't tell me you ordered Pizza?" Kaede said, shocked.
"Don't tell me you didn't overhear it" Renaka mimicked what Kaede said.
"Don't tell me you forgot that I have no money left?" Kaede said while making a face.
"Don't tell me you think that I have no money?" Renaka said.
"Oh, you do? Okay!" Kaede said, cooling himself.
Then they continued playing. At 7:30, the deliveryman came and gave them their Pizza. They stuffed their stomachs with it while playing. After two and a half hours, Renaka felt like going home.
"See, I got to go now," Renaka said after she had gone from the Comfort Room.
"Are you sure? Don't you want to stay a bit longer?" Kaede asked.
"I'd love to. But it also includes seeing my parents' horrible faces," she said.
"Oh I see," Kaede said.
Renaka went to the black couch, picked her bag up and carried it on her shoulders with only one strap.
"So I'm heading off," she said.
"Do you want me to walk you home?" Kaede offered.
"Nah! That's a very un-Rukawa thing to do. Besides, my house is just 4 blocks away," she said while rubbing her eyes that seems to be sleepy.
"Well, just be careful! Bye," Kaede said.
"Bye!" she said as she opened the door. But she stopped.
Suddenly, voluntary muscles made her turn back and kiss him—on the lips. Kaede kissed her back. Voluntarily too, anyway. It seems like the two are discovering strange feelings.
The kiss seems to be like eternity. Strange sparks flowed through their bodies.
"Oh my! Did I just kiss you?" Renaka asked while panting, not actually expecting an answer.
"And did I just kiss you back?" Rukawa asked, stunned and not daring to move a single muscle.
After about 2 minutes of silence, Renaka opened the door and headed off.
"I can't believe I kissed him… do I like him?… never in my life… he's so cold… but sometimes, he's just so sweet… but he's doing all of that because he just wants me to be popular… not to be bullied by many people… of course he doesn't like me… Rukawa Kaede?? likes a girl… you must be insane… but what if he does? but duh! It'll be as unusual as a dinosaur to pop out on New York… but then… why did he kiss me back? oh… because he wants an article about it? I might just as well think of it as a dream… just a dream… never to come true… very impossible" Renaka thought on the way home.
"Oh my… why did she kiss me? she cant… but the real question is, why did I kiss her back? I don't like her… or maybe I do… but duh! maybe she kissed me because I also have some Shohoku Girls in the neighborhood and she might want a new article… probably to make her more popular… but it cant be… I don't know… well, why were there some sparks all over my body? mom said that it means you like the person… me? and Renaka? terribly impossible… it's like a flying cat… very unusual… Renaka? falling for me?… though I'm kind of wondering how it would feel… it's terribly impossible" Kaede thought while cleaning the living room full of breadcrumbs.
Author's Notes: Now people, don't you think this chapter is amazing? It's creative if you ask me—of course I'm the one who wrote it so I must praise it. Well, please review? I'm tired and my eyes are drained from the bright light of the computer. Do you know the only thing that will cure it? Reviews—lots of reviews. So please? Donate this poor little fellow a review so that her eye-ache (is there such word?) will be cured. Thanks people!