Expectations

Author: miku

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimers apply.

Warning: This story contains shounen-ai (boy/boy relationship).

Part Three

Sakuragi's Plan

*RIIIINNGGGG*

Rukawa was getting annoyed. He had managed to doze off after hours and hours of thinking and here was this f****** phone waking him up. Maybe he should've not placed it beside him – maybe under the bed or wherever he could not hear it ringing.

He did not bother to get up and allowed the phone to ring for sometime. Then it stopped and he sighed relieved. He thought he could go back to sleep but it rang again.

Annoyed, he stood up and picked it up angrily.

"WHAT?!" was his very cheerful greeting.

"Oi! Kitsune! That's not a very polite greeting, you know!" the man on the other line commented. He immediately recognized the voice. Sakuragi. Now what do you want at this time of the night!

"Do'aho. Do you know what time is it and you expect me to be polite!"

"Oi, the kitsune can manage more than ten words in a sentence if he's mad!" Hanamichi teased which only intensified Rukawa's rage.

"What?!" Rukawa repeated the question.

"What 'what'?"

I can't believe this guy! Rukawa thought exasperated. "What made you call, baka!"

There was a moment of hesitation in Sakuragi's part before he replied, "Well, nothing… Just wanted to talk to you."

Now what the hell is this do'aho thinking? But instead of saying that, Rukawa snorted and made an attempt to put down the phone. Sakuragi seemed to realize this.

"Oi! Wait! Don't be such a brat!"

Who's the brat? You called at a very late time, waking me up, only to say 'nothing'? NOTHING?! "Do'aho. If you have nothing to say then it's no use talking to you at all," Rukawa said and made another attempt to stop the conversation right there and then only to be prevented by Sakuragi again.

"Kitsune!! Just talk to me for a minute, will you?!" Sakuragi did not ask, but rather, demanded.

Why do I even bother! "Are you going to say something important?" Rukawa asked trying to calm his temper.

Sakuragi did not answer.

"If not then you are just wasting my time," Rukawa continued and waited for a reply. Receiving none, he made his third attempt to hang the phone but Sakuragi quickly called his name.

"Rukawa!"

The raven-haired boy sighed. "What?" he asked again between gritted teeth.

"I can't sleep," Sakuragi answered softly.

You can't sleep?! That's all?! Dammit!! "If you can't sleep, baka, then don't involve me. I want to…" but before Rukawa could finish with his unusual yapping, Sakuragi corrected him. "Your fault so you're involved."

WHAT?! Rukawa took a long time before finally digesting what the red-haired do'aho just said to him. My fault? Rukawa stood still for a long time pondering. I did not injure him or whatsoever… Neither did I see him today since it's Sunday… Oh well, I saw him at the court this morning but I did not do anything to cause him… sleeplessness…

"Why is that my fault?" Rukawa could not resist asking. He heard a sound from the other line, which he could imagine that Sakuragi just smirked.

"Well… I can't sleep co'z I've been thinking a lot about you," Sakuragi confessed softly but clear enough for Rukawa to hear.

Rukawa was perplexed. What did Sakuragi just tell him? He could not sleep because he had been thinking a lot about him? HIM? "What's that?" Rukawa unintentionally asked. He was not actually asking; he just could not believe it.

"I said I can't sleep because I'm thinking about you," Sakuragi repeated.

Upon hearing that, Rukawa quickly put down the phone and unmindfully dropped himself to the bed.

"Whew. That was tough!" Sakuragi whispered to himself after his conversation with Rukawa. He never expected that reaction though. He was hoping that Rukawa would just remain silent that he could continue narrating his so-called love-problem. His invented love-problem. He grinned. Anyway, the outcome of what he just told to Rukawa would be the same. The latter's poor game. Well, he had other reason, too.

/Flashback/

Sendoh dribbled the ball thrice and shoot it. Perfect aim. Sakuragi just watched him with irritated eyes. Sendoh got the ball and walked towards him still wearing his usual smile.

"Are you envious of me, Sakuragi?" The spiky-head asked. Sakuragi could not detect if there was seriousness with those eyes staring at him but he did no bother to think about it.

" No. Why would the tensai get envious?! Nyahahahahahaha!"

Sendoh smirked and shook his head before dribbling the ball again and made another clean shot. "Yes. You should not be."

"Eh?" Sakuragi just stared at the slightly taller boy in front of him. Yes. As much as he hated to admit it, he somehow envied Sendoh – popular with girls and good with basketball. Sakuragi could not deny that. And as much as he hated to admit it, Sendoh was better than him.

"At least you could just be yourself during games," Sendoh continued as he walked to get the ball, "You don't have to hide your exhaustion just to uplift your teammates…"

"The Tensai never get exhausted! Nyahahahahahaha!" Sakuragi once again bragged which only caused Sendoh to smile wistfully although Sakuragi did not know whether Sendoh was still talking or paying attention to him or that he already had his mind floating somewhere. From the looks of it, Sakuragi decided it was the latter.

"You don't need to act happy and all right if you are not." Sendoh continued dribbling the ball again as if what he was doing was already an involuntary movement of his body with his mind working. "Unlike me… unlike him…"

Him? Who's 'him'? Sakuragi asked himself.

"He's always so distant… always having his own world – his basketball…"

Sakuragi thought of only one person that fits that description. However, he waited to hear more. Sendoh was really not himself.

"He never even smiles. He never even talks about something else…"

His image became clearer and clearer to Sakuragi. He thought he already knew whom was Sendoh referring to. Someone so distant whose life revolved around basketball alone. Someone who never smiled: Rukawa.

"And you're lucky he talks to you more than the others. He talks to you not just about basketball but just about yourself…"

Does Sendoh really think that Rukawa actually talks to him? Insults him, maybe… but then… come to think of it, Sendoh was right. Whenever he insults Sakuragi, it's not about basketball just solely 'him'…

"You're lucky that he's always around you…"

Sakuragi stood frozen to what he heard. He wanted Sendoh to go on having a feeling of where the other boy was actually leading.

"You're lucky that you always get to near him and touch him even though just to punch or kick him. You're lucky that you could face him like the Saku…ra…gi…" Sendoh's eyes snapped wide open upon realizing what he was just telling the redhead.

"You like him?" Sakuragi suddenly asked, shocked and amaze.

Sendoh did not reply.

"You like Rukawa, don't you?" Sakuragi asked again. Still Sendoh did not reply and dropped the ball. He faced Sakuragi, smiling impishly while rubbing his nape mumbling lame excuses.

"I think I got to go, Sakuragi. Next time again, okay?" Without waiting for any response from Sakuragi, Sendoh abruptly exited, shaking his head in disgust of himself.

/End of Flashback/

That's what you call hitting two birds in one stone. Sakuragi would just have to act as if he was really infatuated with Rukawa, of course not in front of the others but only in front of Rukawa and Sendoh. Then, that would cause Rukawa to be baffled and that would somehow deteriorate his game play. Then of course, he would also beat Sendoh although not in basketball. But who knows, maybe upon learning that he, Sakuragi, was flirting with Rukawa, Sendoh might be disturbed by this and weaken his game play, too and at last he could beat him!

"I'm really a Tensai!" Sakuragi whispered to himself and went to sleep, all the while thinking how to fool the kitsune and the spiky.

To be continued…

Sendoh: That's all my scene?? Those were just hints! I did not even touch Kaede-kun!!

Miku: Well, well, Akira-san, as I've told you, I'm just starting, okay? Actually… (smiles mischievously) Sakuragi-kun will always get the touchy parts! Nyahahahahahahahaha!

Sendoh: Don't be mean!!!

Miku: I'm not! What do you say about that, Kaede-kun??

Rukawa: zzzzzzzzz