Babes of the World Unite Chapter 7: [Hole in Seven – if you don’t succeed, try try again], a slam dunk fanfic

[Hole in Seven – if you don't succeed, try try again]

*Match at 1545 hrs * I'm so excited !* Can we make our target Rukawa this time, Wa? * NO * Fine, how about Miyagi? * NO * Hey, who asked Ayako? * Oh no, I'm going to puke * How boring, I'm sitting out again… * Hey, don't complain, you don't have to be the referee for every single game * Good Lord save my soul * Hey, Yuriko, relax… * Oh. My. God. * What? * I just heard: the boys DIDN'T even PRACTICE for this match. * What? * What?!? * WHAT! * What?!? * What? * Never mind girls, they think they're so above us? We'll show them * Yeah, kick their asses. * Matsui, you are so crude. * Whatever. *

[The miscellaneous conversations and thoughts pieced together throughout the day, of Matsui, Ayako, RuKaWa Brigade, Haruko and Yuriko. The match is beginning in half an hour's time. The girls have gathered at the gym]

"Target acquired…" Wa whispered to Matsui. Both began to grin evilly as Sakuragi Hanamichi approached the gym…

"Hmnhmmhmm…" Sakuragi smiled. Aha. So girls were beginning to look at the tensai weren't they? He knew it. Too bad ladies, but this man is taken. Haruko-chan… today the tensai will prove himself worthy of you…He will be forced to fight you, but he hopes to play a gallant match.

"Okay… today is the day. We've practised for weeks on end. Slogged away for hours on end. And its all come down to this. This match." Ayako's attention was suddenly divided from her team. "Ryota? Did you know it was rude to stare?"

Immediately a red faced Miyagi turned away. "Don't want to play against you."

"Don't be silly. Women admire men who can prove to be stronger than them, yet remain their slaves."

Ayako slapped Matsui with the fan.

Just then, a familiar laugh rolled out from behind them. "Ho ho ho…don't you think you'd better get inside? The match is starting soon…"

"H-Hai! Anzai-sensei!"

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The great double doors creaked open as all the team members entered.

"Wh-what is going on?"

"Nyhaha! They came to see the tensai. Isn't it obvious?"

"A mass of a sea of a swarm of strange faces…" Yuriko whispered…

From up in the gallery, to down by the sidelines of the court, were spectators, cheering the teams in.

"Teams ready?" Ru, the ever-ready referee, was holding the ball up.

Yuriko turned pale. She was playing center.

And the whistle blew.

And Yuriko ran out of the gym.

The game had started already, and all the spectators were waiting impatiently. So Ka stepped in as a replacement.

There is no real need to describe what went on next. (No, this is not an excuse because the author is too lazy/ too sick/ too busy wrangling with a stubborn piece of tissue paper stuck to her face, no, not an excuse at all.) The result was both anticipated and predictable. The girls were trailing behind by the first round, and were utterly defeated in the next.

Sakuragi Hanamichi, however, was out with no less than 5 fouls by the end of the first round.

The RuKaWa Brigade was there too. But their sympathies were entirely divided, and one really had to pity them. At one moment, they would be cheering their Rukawa on; he had scored a point. Then next they would have to rush to the other side of the court to boo Sakuragi and scream for Wa to 'crush that nasty amateur'.

There were also many little personal affairs, which prevented the girls from playing as well as they normally did.

One, of course, would be pitching Ka and Haruko against Rukawa. Ayako wasn't too sure what might have happened, and she wasn't about to risk it. Another, but to their advantage, was Haruko and Akagi. Akagi, always the protective mother hen, didn't even jump, or try to block her as she made an easy three-pointer.

And most surprisingly of all, Ayako found, was when she played against Miyagi. He wasn't playing with all his strength, but indeed with all of his concentration, as his intense face betrayed. The problem wasn't with him - it was with her.

She couldn't help it… All of a sudden a strange bubbly feeling sprung up within her as she looked at him on the court. She impatiently pushed it down again, but annoyingly, it sprung right up, like one of those toys that one owned when very small, the one that refused to fall over. (A Wibbly-Wobbly man, I believe it was called? Or a Bu Dao Weng in Chinese.)

Irked and disconcerted by these newly aroused feelings, she found that to her furious irritation, that she simply could not concentrate on the game.

A rematch was rescheduled for two days later. The girls left the match, annoyed with themselves, and a number of them annoyed at Yuriko as well.

There was one bright spot in the other wise rather muddy puddle. After the game was over, and the spectators had gone, a man came up to them with Anzai-sensei.

"Oi, Ayako, who's that?" Wa whispered. The man seemed familiar, but she just couldn't place him. That slight paunch, the head as bald as that of a parking meter, and the distinct 'S' shape his body made due to the weak spine…

"It's the head, you baka!" Ayako whispered back, wondering what the head had to say to them.

"Well, you girls didn't win. I was intending to see this match, but then I was held up. So instead, I will see your rematch. Anzai-sensei here assures me that you are definitely worth considering to be placed as an official activity in school. We shall see if you can prove this in your next match. So, good luck girls." and with that, he walked off.

Wa and Matsui exploded into giggles at his duck-like manner of walking off. Ayako sighed and hit them over the head half-heartedly. She had so much to worry about, and now this.

Yuriko was hiding at home, under the covers of her sheets. She didn't want to face the world, she could just stay nice and comfy in the little cocoon she had made for herself. Feeling ashamed. She didn't ever want to emerge again. Maybe she could move to Uganda?

Which was when the door was rudely opened, and the lights switched on.

[#] I'm sick. Wachoo. Feeling nasty and all gluey and snutchish all over, if you know what I mean, so please, if you don't like this chapter, you have every right to complain. [#]

PS. Now… If my memory is still functioning properly…Isn't a certain someone supposed to do the next chapter of her own fic right now, please?