Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer applies. I don't own SD (how I wish I do :P).
NB: akane's from the land down-under, i.e. Australia…so akane actually dun have any idea about how the high school games work in the States. So…please excuse akane for any falsities, besides, this is a fanfic and not reality right? :P *grins* Also, anything in brackets = akane's ramblings. Cheers~
Chapter 2 - She's Good!
Miyagi was the first one to recover. "Ano…Sensei, did I just hear what I thought I heard?" He asked Anzai sensei with bewildered eyes.
Anzai sensei was amused. "Ho. Ho. Ho…Yes Miyagi kondachi. Ho. Ho. Ho."
Miyagi returned to being dumbfounded on that! (LOL!!! :P)
Tsuki ignored everyone's blank expression. "Sensei, I need to get going now. I have a few things I need to take care of before school starts next week."
"OK." Anzai sensei nodded. "But will you join us for practice tomorrow afternoon at two?"
"Yes I will sensei."
Tsuki bowed to Anzai sensei, and nodded at everyone else before she left the Gym. She got into her car, a chrome colored Skyline GTR 34 N1 (yes, she's driving a very slick machine! :D) and drove off.
{ { { { {
Meanwhile, back in the Gym ……
Ayako finally snapped out of the little "trance" she and the others are having, and with her infamous paper fan, she hit everyone back to reality.
"ITAI!!!" Screamed everyone, and holding on to the newly grown bumps on their heads.
Satisfied with her handy work, Ayako swung around to face Anzai sensei.
"Sensei, I don't understand why you've appointed Tsuki-chan as the vice-captain."
"Ayako kondachi, you will find out soon." He said to everyone with a mysterious grin, "All of you will see the reason behind that at tomorrow's practice."
"Huh!?" Everyone returned to their silly blank faces again. (Sigh…)
{ { { { {
*Shohoku – Locker Room*
"Oi Miyagi, what d'you think about that new girl?" Mitsui asking Miyagi as he changed.
"Nothing so far." Stuffing all his things into his duffel bag. "Guess we'll find out tomorrow." Miyagi shrugged.
"Sou desu ne." Mitsui swung his bag over his shoulder. "Ja then, cya tomorrow."
"Ja ne."
Leaving the others in the change room, Mitsui and Miyagi begin to head home.
{ { { { {
*Fujima Residence*
Tsuki opened the high steel gates with the remote in her car then drove up the driveway and parked her car in the garage. Taking a few shopping bags out of the car, she went in the house.
"Tadaima."
"Okaili." Replied a cheerful voice, from a woman in her early forties seated in the living room, her Aunt Kazumi. "Come join me for tea Tsuki."
Tsuki held up her bags, "Maybe later. I need to go put these away first."
"OK dear."
Tsuki walked upstairs to her room and began to arrange everything she just bought into their rightful places. When she finished, she stepped out onto the balcony adjoining to her room and saw her cousin playing basketball, three on three with a few of his friends on the court downstairs.
Kenji looked up and saw his cousin standing on her balcony and waved, and gestured her to come down to join them.
Tsuki smile at that and went back inside. She quickly changed her sleeveless blouse and khakis into t-shirt and shorts. Grapping her snickers as she went out of her room, she walked towards the basketball court in the backyard.
The Fujima residence is huge. Its backyard has not only the basketball court, it also has a tennis court and a pool. There's also an outdoor alfresco entertaining area, set up with BBQ and all.
Before Tsuki went out of the house, she declined her aunt's invite for tea again. She walked down to the court and was just in time to see Hanagata make a dunk shot.
"Go Toru nii-chan!" She shouted cheerfully.
Hanagata Toru adjusted his glasses and smiled at Tsuki.
"Tsuki, join us for the game." Maki walking over to where she stood with the ball.
Tsuki looked at the court and counted. "You guys have enough players ne."
"You can sub in for me Tsuki." Kenji said as he reached for his towel.
"You sure Kenji nii-chan?"
"Yeah. I need a break anyways."
"Okies." With a shrug, Tsuki entered the court in place of Kenji.
On court, there were players from both Hainan and Shoyo. Maki, Jin, and Takasago from Kainan, and Hasegawa and Hanagata from Shoyo. Now with Tsuki stepping in, she's the sixth player among the guys, in place of Kenji.
With that little break, they've rested enough and the game started again. The Kainan guys are leading by 4 points at the moment, and it's Kainan's ball.
Maki dribbled the ball slowly with a grin on his face. "Be careful now, Tsuki-chan."
"Bring it on!" Tsuki accepted Maki's challenge with a smile.
This is the first time she'd stepped on to a basketball court after arriving back in Japan. So…no one knows how her skills are, but they're about to find out.
As the game proceed, Maki find it rather difficult to get pass Tsuki's defenses. It's so damn tight, not even a small crack in it! It seems that Tsuki's covered every single position and it's hard for him to dribble up to the basket or attempt a shot from where he is now, and he definitely don't want to risk passing the ball to either Jin or Takasago.
With Maki off in his little mind trip, Tsuki saw the chance and took it. She slapped the ball out of Maki's hand and before Maki can react, she did a long pass to Hanagata who's standing right below the basket. Upon receiving the ball, Hanagata made a beautiful fade-away shot immediately.
They were all rather shocked at what just happened. TSUKI STOLE THE BALL FROM MAKI! MAKI UNABLE TO BREAK THROUGH TSUKI'S DEFENSES! (we know how big a deal this is right? *akane grins evilly*) So…they all jaw-dropped! Including Kenji, who's standing on court side.
"What…how…how the heck did you do that Tsuki!?" Kenji blurted out.
Tsuki just shrugged. "No biggie."
With that statement, everyone present retorted. "What do you mean no biggie!? You just kick Maki's ass back there! He's the best guard, in fact the MVP of the Kanagawa prefecture!"
"Eh?" Tsuki look at them all with a confused look. "So your point is?"
They all sweat-dropped. Big time!
Regaining his composure, Jin said: "So the point is you just managed to get passed one of the best player in Japan, in the high school section anyways."
"K…and that's a big deal?" Tsuki asked back. Everyone sweat-dropped again.
Tsuki stared at all of them. "What!? Shinichi nii-chan had quite a few openings in his defense just now. So I broke through them, that's not that big a deal."
"Yes it is!" They all replied in unison.
Tsuki sweat-dropped this time, and turned chibi formed.
"Well, I guess she's not the MVP player in the female division of the state and national high school games back in the States for nothing." Kenji blurted out sheepishly.
"NANI!?" Everyone stared at Kenji and shouted. "And you didn't tell us that!?"
Kenji sweat-dropped, "Ano…oops!? Hehehe…" (:P)
Maki threw his hands up in the air, "K, that's it. I've had enough for today, enough shocks for my system that is." He glared at Kenji. Kenji extra sweat-dropped.
Tsuki still didn't get the drift of things. "Huh? Does that mean you guys wanna stop playing already?"
"Yes!" Everyone replied her in unison with a death glare, except for Kenji.
(Gees…Tsuki's slow at times. But what can I say? *shrugs* :P hehehe…)
"Err…K…" Tsuki blurted out.
Kenji walked over and patted Tsuki on the shoulders. "Don't worry, we can play some other time. But honestly, I guess I should've told them about your bball history before."
At that, everyone nodded in agreement.
"Ah!" Tsuki finally realized what the problem is. "Guess the Jap bball standards are not as good as the State's huh?"
Everyone sweat-dropped and nodded again, and let out a mushroom breath each.
"But you guys can still play with me right? I mean, it's a chance for you guys to learn as well." Tsuki snickered.
"Hmph!!" Everyone glared at Tsuki, and she sweat-dropped turning chibi once more.
{ { { { {
*Next Day – Shohoku Gym*
Tsuki arrived at two on the dot, but she's the last one here. She quickly dumped her bag at one corner, said hi to everyone and joined the group for warm ups.
After the warm ups and dunno how many laps around the courts, Anzai sensei showed up telling the members to start practice off with some shooting.
Split up into groups, Tsuki was asked to lead the group consisting of herself, Sasaoka, Ishii, and Kuwata (basically, the ex-freshmen now sophomore members) to one end of one court to check out their shooting skills. If she finds any problems, she should correct them.
"So what do you think Miyagi?" Mitsui asked Miyagi as he walked up next to the captain with a ball in his hand. Both Mitsui and Miyagi (and practically every single member of the team) were observing Tsuki.
Miyagi shrugged, "Just by looking, she's got good posture and techniques and all when she's shooting. But can't really tell how good she is, not until we see her in a game."
Mitsui nodded in agreement.
After about an hour of shooting practice, Anzai sensei gathered everyone and asked them to start a three on three game. Seniors vs. sophomores.
Sophomore team members were Ishii, Sasaoka, and Tsuki. The other side, the seniors' team members were Miyagi, Kakuta, and Yasuda. Mitsui was the umpire (Mitsui gets that a lot huh? Wonder y …).
Just before they're gonna start the game, Akagi Haruko, the team's vice-manageress arrived.
"Gomen minna, I'm late." She said apologetically.
"Haruko chan, where have you been?" Snapped Ayako.
"Gomen ne sempai. I was talking to Sakuragi-kun on the phone before I came. He said he's coming back this afternoon." Haruko said cheerfully. "Also, Rukawa-kun's coming back today too. So we'll see both of them at practice tomorrow."
All the faces brightened up on hearing this news, except for Tsuki since she has no idea who Sakuragi and Rukawa are.
"Okay people, get back to the game." Miyagi said authoritively.
"Hai captain."
So, off the game went. The game lasted for about 30min and Tsuki's skill surprised and shocked everyone. She's faster than Miyagi at speed and can jump higher than Miyagi as well. Also, she's a damn good shooter. All the shots made by Tsuki went into the hoop, and when the ball's in her hands, no one managed to steal it from her. But most of all, she was able to bring out the positive sides of the other two sophomores' skills. Therefore, the two normally timid players shone in that game.
"Sugoi!" Grasped Haruko. "Ne, Ayako sempai, who's that girl?"
"She's the new vice-captain of the team. Her name is Fujima Tsuki." Ayako replied. She's also amazed by Tsuki's skill.
"Huh? I thought Rukawa kun's the new vice-captain?" Asked a puzzled Haruko, and not to mention slightly irritated. (you know what I mean minna)
"Rukawa is the vice-captain, just that we're having two vice-captains this year. Rukawa and Tsuki-chan." Explained Ayako.
"Aa. Sou ." A blushing Haruko whispered.
At this sight of Haruko, Ayako laughed and teased her more about Rukawa. As usual, Haruko turned redder and redder. (LOL!!)
When the game finished, everyone was praising Tsuki. However, Tsuki just smiled and kept quiet since she didn't know what to say in return.
Haruko went up to Tsuki and introduced herself. "Hi. Watashi wa Akagi Haruko desu. I'm the vice-manageress of the team."
"I'm Fujima Tsuki, nice meeting you Haruko-san." Smiled Tsuki.
"Nice meeting you too." "You know, you're the best female bball player I've met."
"Thanks."
"I bet'cha as good as Rukawa kun."
Tsuki thought: There's that name again.
"Ano…sorry to ask, but who is this Rukawa person?" Tsuki asked.
Haruko's expression practically froze at that question. "You haven't heard of Rukawa-kun? You're not one single bit familiar with the name Rukawa Kaede?" She asked wide-eyed.
Tsuki shook her head. "Nope. I just came back to Japan a couple of weeks ago, so I have no idea what the bball situation in Japan is like."
"Ah! I see. Well, Rukawa kun is one of the best bball players in the high school division in Japan. He went to the national bball youth training camp after the IH, but he's coming back today, so you'll be able to see him tomorrow during practice." Haruko explained enthusiastically.
"I see. Then who's this Sakuragi guy?"
"Sakuragi kun's a great player as well! But he's been rehabilitating in a hospital since he injured his back in the IH game against Sannoh, that's why he's not here. But he was released from hospital just this morning, so he's coming back today, and he'll also be here for practice tomorrow. I'll introduce you to both him and Rukawa-kun tomorrow."
"Okay."
"Oi Fujima!" Yelled Miyagi.
Tsuki and Haruko turned around to face Miyagi.
"You're good!" Exclaimed Miyagi, and nodded Mitsui who's standing next to Miyagi.
"Thank you captain." Replied Tsuki with a small smile curling up her lips.
"Ho. Ho. Ho. Minna, everyone has seen Tsuki kondachi displayed her skills. From now on, I hope that everyone will be able to learn from her." Announced Anzai sensei.
"Sakuragi and Rukawa are not going to like this." Ayako mumbled.
"OK, that's it for today then. We'll come back for practice tomorrow afternoon at the same time. Dismissed." Anzai sensei declared.
Miyagi assigned Kuwata and Sasaoka to clean up the gym and everyone else left.
akane's tea house:
Hi minna-san! We meet again… :D
How do you guys like it so far? In other words, review please? Pretty please??? *^_^*
Just to clarify one thing, Tsuki's gonna be paired up with our beloved ice block, Rukawa. ^_^ Can't help it, akane's in love with the guy. *sighs~~~ and akane's eyes just turned heart shaped* Oops…sumimasen, back to reality now… *cough cough and blushes*
Hmmm…do you think I should let Miyagi get Ayako finally? And, should I be nice to Haruko and pair her up with someone that she deserves, or should I do some Haruko bashing? akane do wonder … … …
Anyways…tell me what you think. If you wanna throw flames at akane, you're definitely welcomed as well…but akane hopes you won't be doing that *fingers crossed ^_~*
Okies…ciao then…till next time~ :D