Disclaimer: Slam Dunk does not belong to me, and I doubt it ever will. J It was created by Inoue Takehiko. Inoue-san, please make part 2 of Slam Dunk already!!!!!!!
Special thanks to all the reviewers, especially to Karu, E-chan, Illy, and Selphie! Selphie!!! Mag-e-mail ka na!!!!! Good luck on your exams, ok?
Chapter 6: Half-time
Author: Mitsui no Miko
The game started. Akagi marked Uozumi, Sakuragi marked Fukuda, Miyagi marked Koshino, and Mitsui marked Ikegami. As usual, Sendoh was left to Rukawa.
Sendoh was surprised that Rukawa was moving faster and more accurately than before. Before he knew it, Rukawa had eluded him, and was on his way to their side of the court for a fast break.
Then Sendoh smiled. "Not good enough!", he hollered.
To Rukawa, it seemed that Sendoh had appeared out of nowhere. He managed to flytrap what would have been Shohoku's first two points in the game.
His hand accidentally grazed Rukawa's shoulder. It was light, but it felt like electricity to Rukawa. He was jolted, and found himself flying off-balance, and then onto the floor.
"Strange, he never reacted that way before," mused Sendoh.
His teammates rushed over to his side. Echoes of "Daijobu, Rukawa-kun," could be heard from them.
Rukawa rose again and stared at Sendoh with venom in his eyes. He hated the fact that he was so affected by Sendoh's presence. "This is a game, dammit!," he thought to himself. The slightest of touches set him off in a frenzy. He vowed at that moment to beat Sendoh at all costs.
The first half ended with Ryonan leading by two points.
During half-time, Sendoh caught Rukawa staring at him. But he didn't turn away. Instead, he stared harder, as though he was trying to say something. And Sendoh found himself admiring Rukawa's eyes.
"Such deep eyes," he noted. Then, as reflex told him to do, he smiled at him.
He was amused to see Rukawa turn paler than he already is. If there's one thing remarkable about Rukawa, it was the way he blushed. He recalled a conversation they had some time ago.
"Hey, Rukawa, how come I never saw you blush?"
"I do. It's just that no one notices."
"Whattdya mean? Blushes should be easy to detect on a face as pale as yours."
"That's exactly it. When other people blush, they turn redder. When I do, I turn paler."
"Weird, man!"
"Yeah, I know."
He was so intent on observing Rukawa that he didn't notice that half-time was already over.