Chapter 3 - Fire, Ice and "Cat"?
*Parking Lot of Shohoku*
Tsuki was just about to get into her car and heard Haruko shouting.
"Tsuki-chan!"
Tsuki turned around and saw Haruko and Ayako running towards her.
"Hey Haruko-chan, Ayako sempai."
"Wow, this car is yours?" Ayako asked in bewilderment.
Tsuki nodded. "My father bought it for me on my sixteenth birthday." There was a flash of pain in her eyes when she spoke of this, but it was gone as soon as it came.
Ayako whistled. "Nice car! But how can you drive? Aren't you still too young to drive?"
"I've got my driving license back in the States, and converted it to an international driving license before I returned to Japan. So I can drive anywhere."
"Lucky you! I don't even have my student license yet." Ayako said jealously.
Tsuki laughed softly at that. "Hey, where're you guys going? I can give you a ride there."
The two girls' eyes sparkled and their faces lit upon that offer. "Honto ni?"
Tsuki nodded. "C'mon, get it." She gestured them to climb in and got into the driver's seat herself.
"So, where are you guys headed?" Tsuki asked as she backed the car out of the parking lot in a swift J-turn.
"No where actually, we're just going home." Answered Haruko
"K, tell me where your houses are then, I'll drop you guys off."
"Okays." Ayako and Haruko answered in unison.
The chrome Skyline moved out of the school ground like an elegant panther, carrying Tsuki with new found friendship.
{ { { { {
*Shohoku Gym*
"Tadaima!" Shouted a tall boy with bright red hair, whilst the other, a tall raven haired boy standing next to him remained silent, and his icy blue eyes scanned the gym.
"Okaili Sakuragi!" Everyone in the gym shouted back enthusiastically.
"Okaili Rukawa!" Softer, but still loud enough to reach the other end of the courts where the two stood to hear.
Ayako came over to Sakuragi and Rukawa smiling, and gave both of them a friendly smack on the back. "Welcome back you two, we've all missed you."
"Ayako-chan! I've missed you too ne." With that Sakuragi hugged the curly haired manageress.
"Itai!" Sakuragi screamed and let go of Ayako. Turning around he saw a very hyped up Miyagi. "Nani o Ryochin!? That hurt!"
"Shut up Hanamichi and keep your hands to yourself! Don't you dare touch Ayako-chan again! AND DON'T CALL ME RYOCHIN!" Exploded the captain.
With his fingers in his ears to block out Miyagi's shouting, Sakuragi grumbled, "OK, OK, no need to shout…"
"What was that Hanamichi?" Miyagi asked with a raised eye brow.
"Nandamonai." Sakuragi ran off to join the other members.
Miyagi glared at Sakuragi. He later turned around, "Great to see you back Rukawa."
Rukawa nodded his head in reply. He walked over to the bball rack, took a ball from it and started shooting hoops.
Tsuki walked into the gym with Haruko, her brother, Akagi Takenori the former captain and the former vice-captain, Kogure Kiminobu. Haruko had just introduced Tsuki to the two seniors before they reached the gym, and the two older boys were impressed with what Haruko had told them about Tsuki. As they walked into the gym, they said: "Konichiwa minna."
Everyone turned to look at them. "Konichiwa."
"Akagi sempai, Kogure sempai! How come you two are here?" Ayako asked.
"Just here to see how's practice going." Kogure smiled.
"Ho. Ho.. Ho. Akagi kondachi, Kogure kondachi. Nice to see you both." Said Anzai sensei who was standing behind both seniors.
They quickly moved aside and let the coach in, and bowed. "Konichiwa sensei."
Anzai sensei patted them both on the back. "Since the two of you are back, why don't you join us for practice and we can have a game later?"
"We'd be glad to sensei." Replied Akagi.
"Nyhahahahaha! Look who's here! It's no other than the Gori himself and Megane kun!" Sakuragi shouted.
The next thing everyone heard was: "ITAI!!" For Sakuragi's been Gori punched, and everyone sweat-dropped in chibi forms.
"Do-aho." The Rukawa trademark.
"Teme kitsune!" The Sakuragi to Rukawa trademark.
Yeaps…the Shohoku team is definitely back to "normal"! (Oh joy! *Roll eyes*)
Just when Sakuragi's about to launch for Rukawa and start another one of their stupid fights, he spotted Tsuki with the corner of his eyes and stopped in his tracks.
"Oi Yasuda, who's that girl?" Sakuragi asked the person he saw standing close by, which is Yasuda.
"Her name's Fujima Tsuki, the new vice-captain next to Rukawa."
"Nani?!" Sakuragi stomped over to where Tsuki and the others are standing, and started "pulling" their coach's chubby face (as usual). "Oyaji! How can you do this? The tensai should be the vice-captain, not some…some girl from no where!"
"Sa…ku…ra…gi…kon…da…chi…" Before Anzai sensei can finish what he wants to say amidst Sakuragi's chin pulling, he was suddenly let go of, and almost fell to the ground if not for Ayako and Haruko who were standing nearby to hold on to him just in the nick of time.
Storming over to Tsuki, Sakuragi pulled out his fly-squishing frown: "Oi, how dare you steal the vice-captain position from the tensai, you neko!"
Rukawa was still expressionless (no prize for guessing that) after hearing Tsuki's to be the vice-captain alongside him.
Tsuki sweat-dropped. "Excuse me, 'neko' (cat in Japanese)?" She asked Sakuragi.
"Itai!!!" Sakuragi yelped as he's Gori punched again. "What did you do that for Gori?"
"Shut up Sakuragi!" Akagi was fuming.
"Do-Aho." Rukawa let out a mushroom breath.
"Teme kitsune!" Sakuragi started stomping towards Rukawa.
"Sakuragi-kun."
Sakuragi stopped dead in his tracks, and turned around to face Haruko puppy-faced. This trick works wonders every time, and of cause, everyone sweat-dropped.
"Ha…Haruko-san." Sakuragi was now redder than a tomato.
"Sakuragi-kun," Haruko smiling at Sakuragi ever so sweetly, "Let me introduce you to Tsuki-chan."
Haruko turned around and pull Tsuki over to where she is. "Sakuragi-kun, this is Fujima Tsuki-san. She just came back to Japan from America, please be nice to her." Haruko said softly, which melted all of Sakuragi's tempers.
"Tsuki-chan, this is Sakuragi Hanamichi-kun who plays center position for our team."
Tsuki held out her hand to Sakuragi, sweat-dropping at the same time trying to hold a smile on her face. "Nice to meet you Sakuragi-kun."
At the other side of the court, upon hearing that Tsuki just returned from America, Rukawa raised an eyelid, but it was gone in an instant, too fast for anyone to noticed that little change in his expression.
Rukawa thought: America huh?
Tsuki thoughts at that moment: Hope he's not gonna squash my hand.
To her surprised, Sakuragi took her hand civilly and shook it. He then smiled politely at Tsuki, "Nice to meet you too, neko-chan."
Everyone on scene fell to the ground anime style, except for Rukawa who rolled his eyes and muttered "Do-Aho" under his breath.
Finally regaining their composures, Tsuki asked Sakuragi, "Ne Sakuragi-kun, why do you insist on calling me 'neko'?"
Sakuragi shrugged, "Ano…you look like one?"
Tsuki was dumbfounded by that, since never has she met anyone who'd call her a cat, less to say said she looked like one.
Ayako came over to the pair and smacked Sakuragi with her paper fan.
"Itai! What you do that for, Ayako-chan?" Sakuragi all teary eyed, putting on his I'm-innocent-what-did-I-do-to-deserve-this look.
Ayako simply ignored him. "Tsuki-chan, ignore this idiot. He has a nick name for everyone here anyways. No, make that he's got a nick name for every bball player in the prefecture."
Tsuki then started laughing softly. Looking down at the t-shirt she's wearing that day, it had a few cats printed on it, Persian Blues to be precise, which were her favorites.
"Sakuragi-kun, you're one amusing person." Tsuki said that with a pleasant smile.
That statement of Tsuki took everyone by surprised. No one has ever commented Sakuragi's foolish acts as amusing before … …
"Ahem." Miyagi brought everyone back down to earth. "Let's start on the warm-ups now people!"
"Hai!" Everyone answered spirited in unison. "Fight! Shohoku, Fight!"
The team started on their usual round-the-courts jog and general stretches.
Ayako stood watching the team on court side and thought: I guess Tsuki's just one amazing girl, and she's definitely going to stir up sparks soon, very soon.
Upon finishing the warm up routines, Miyagi finally got Rukawa over and introduced him to Tsuki. He simply nodded in gesture of acknowledgements.
"A cool guy huh?" Tsuki mumbled.
"Don't mind him Fujima, that's how Rukawa faces everyone." Miyagi said after Rukawa went off to get a ball out of the racks.
Tsuki just shrugged and thought: You sure don't see a walking ice block everyday.
"OK, assemble please minna san!" Miyagi shouted, and everyone gathered around him. "Now, we're going to have a game. Seniors versus juniors. Akagi sempai and Kogure sempai will be playing, so the senior team members are Akagi sempai, Kogure sempai, Mitsui, Kakuta, and myself. Junior team members are Sakuragi, Rukawa, Fujima, Ishii, and Sasaoka."
After naming the teams, everyone grabbed their team color bibs and moved into positions. The position pairings were:
Position 1 (Guard) – Miyagi Ryota (168cm) vs. Fujima Tsuki (170cm)
Position 2 (Point Guard) – Mitsui Hisashi (184cm) vs. Sasaoka Satoru (171cm)
Position 3 (Small Forward) – Kogure Kiminobu (178cm) vs. Ishii Kentarou (170cm)
Position 4 (Power Forward) – Kakuta Satoru (180cm) vs. Rukawa Kaede (188cm)
Position 5 (Center) – Akagi Takenori (193cm) vs. Sakuragi Hanamichi (189.2cm)
(Really bad pairings…yucks~ X_x)
Referees were Yasuda and Kuwata.
With the sound of the whistle, the game began. At jumping for the ball, Sakuragi definitely had the advantage with his ability to jump higher than Akagi. But, as usual, Sakuragi swatted to ball to the position where no one's standing at (sweat-dropped). Fortunately, Tsuki's eyes were following Sakuragi's moves, so she's able to sprint to the direction the ball was headed. Just as she jumped to get the ball, she almost bumped into Rukawa, who also was trying to get the ball.
Seeing Rukawa at that spot, Tsuki decided she should hold back for the moment and observe the play first before she starts her attacks since they've got new players today. So she let Rukawa have possession of the ball, and 'strolled' to face Miyagi.
Miyagi grinned at Tsuki. "This is where the REAL GAME begins."
Sensing the challenge in Miyagi's tone, Tsuki smiled back. "We'll see."
Throughout the first half, Tsuki didn't do anything that showed her skills. She went about leisurely and guarded Miyagi just like any normal guard would be doing. However, unknown to the other players on court, Miyagi was having a heck of a time trying to get pass Tsuki's defenses throughout the first half. Also, he wondered why Tsuki didn't attack when she had the chance to, she always passed the ball to her teammates when the ball came into her hands. This was just weird. So, the first half came and went, with the game in favor of the seniors at 23 – 17. Rukawa and Sakuragi were the ones who scored, and Tsuki didn't score anything since she didn't even attempt to shoot.
Rukawa and Sakuragi both had the same thoughts: Doesn't look like she's a good player, so why the hell is she a vice-captain!?
Ayako walked over to Tsuki, "Tsuki-chan, how come you …"
Before Ayako can finish what she wanted to say to Tsuki, Tsuki smiled and said: "Don't worry Ayako sempai, the second half is where the game really starts."
Ayako was left speechless after hearing that.
A mischievous grin hanged onto Tsuki's face as she walked back onto the court for the second half of the game, which made her looked like a sly cat. She walked over to where Miyagi's standing and said with the grin, "Now the real game begins Miyagi sempai."
"Huh?" Miyagi was confused by Tsuki. "What do you mean?"
"You'll see sempai."
As the ball was tossed into the air, both Akagi and Sakuragi jumped for it again. This time Tsuki wasted no time and gained possession of the ball. Miyagi ran over to guard her, but she's too fast. Before Miyagi can put on his defenses, Tsuki had moved pass him. Tsuki attacked the seniors' defenses aggressively, taking them all by surprise. Mitsui was fast to react and rushed over to block Tsuki, but she managed to elude Mitsui at the blink of the eyes. Before anyone know it, Tsuki's already within shooting range of the seniors' basket, and she made a fade-away three pointer as Kogure jumped to block her shot. The shot went in and everyone was stunned, extremely stunned with all of them jaw-dropping, except for Rukawa (as usual).
Tsuki turned to face everyone, and directed a question at Miyagi. "So, what do you think of that Miyagi sempai?"
Miyagi returned her with a big grin. "Smooth, Fujima." He gave her a Hi-5.
Tsuki returned the Hi-5 and smiled brightly.
At the signal of Anzai sensei, Yasuda blew the whistle. That brought everyone out of their stunned state, and closed their mouths.
"OK, let's continue the game." Akagi said loudly with a couple of claps of his hand.
Everyone resumed position and began to play again.
In this second half, Tsuki showed the skills she was holding back in the first half. By doing so, the seniors lost their lead in the brink of time, whilst the juniors gained lead and held it. Miyagi found it almost impossible to break through Tsuki's defenses. Tsuki however was able to elude Miyagi and everyone else who tried to block her advancing towards the basket or blocking her shots.
Blocking Rukawa was no longer the main agenda of the seniors, because they now have to not only deal with Rukawa the super rookie, but also Tsuki since she's the one who start the juniors' attack strategies (the duty of position 1). In no time, the seniors' defenses practically crumbled to nothing. Even the Ishii and Sasaoka managed to score at this point.
In the last minute of the game, Kogure, Mitsui and Miyagi made a last attempt to stop Tsuki. But with the game as it was, 68 – 53, in favor of the juniors, Tsuki held back her attacks. She began stalling. Just before the timer sounded, she passed the ball to Rukawa who made a shot just in the nick of time. The score is now 70 – 53, and there's less than 30 seconds left. Miyagi passed the ball to Mitsui quickly, hoping he shoot a three pointer. Mitsui did manage the three point shot, but the seniors still lose by 14 points.
After the whistle went off, Sakuragi jogged over to Tsuki and slapped her friendlily on the back, at which she coughed. "You're great neko-chan."
"Err…thanks Sakuragi-kun. But, can you use less force on my back next time?" Tsuki said with a lop-sided smile.
Sakuragi just grinned more widely at her.
"Do-Aho." Remarked Rukawa as he walked pass them.
Akagi and Kogure, together with Miyagi and Mitsui walked over to where Sakuragi and Tsuki were.
"Tsuki-san, you're a really good player. Those moves you made were incredible." Exclaimed Kogure.
"Yeah, think she's even more skilled than Rukawa." Mitsui added.
(Rukawa wasn't around to hear that, so Mitsui wasn't frozen by Rukawa's icy glares…hehehe…)
Tsuki smiled politely. "Thank you for your comments sempai. But, I don't think I deserve any praises, since it was teamwork which brought us victory."
The seniors laughed softly.
"You don't have to be so modest, Tsuki-san. You are truly a great player." Akagi commented.
Tsuki remained smiling and did not comment further.
"Nyhahahahaha! Neko-chan is a good player, but she's never gonna be as good as the tensai. Nyahahahaha!" Here goes Sakuragi's boasting again.
Everyone sweat-dropped.
"Do-Aho." Rukawa muttered from the other side as he's drinking.
"Teme kitsune! I heard that!" Sakuragi turned and screamed at Rukawa.
"Do-Aho."
"Kitsune!"
At that, Sakuragi and Rukawa started one of the senseless bickering again. Everyone let out a mushroom breath, and ignored the two.
Anzai sensei went over to where the seniors and Tsuki were standing. "Ho. Ho. Ho. You did very well today, Fujima kondachi."
Tsuki bowed, "Arigatou sensei."
Anzai sensei nodded, and called the group together.
"Minna san, that was a good game you played. Keep up the good work and you will improve further. That will be all for today. We'll meet back here for practice tomorrow at the same time. Dismissed." Anzai sensei ended the practice with words of encouragement to all the players present.
Before Tsuki left for the lockers, she went to Anzai sensei.
"Sumimasen sensei, I'm sorry that I won't be able to attend practice for the rest of the week. I still have some matters which I have to take care of in Tokyo before school starts next week. Therefore, can I please be excused from practice till the term begins?" Tsuki asked most politely.
"Of course you may, Fujima kondachi. I will see you next Monday after school at 4:15pm here for practice then." Anzai sensei replied kindly.
"Domo arigatou gosaimasu sensei." Tsuki bowed respectfully to Anzai sensei and turned to leave. "Ja ne minna san."
"Ja." Replied the others at different time intervals.
"We had a block of ice and a crackling fire in the team, and they were damn troublesome. Now add on a cat. I wonder what sort of mischief these three are going to conjure up. Tsuki sure don't look like a person who's going to take things as they're thrown at her." Ayako mumbled under her breath after Tsuki left.
Ayako contemplates the future of the team as she watched the squabbling that's going on between Sakuragi and Rukawa. She sighed a mushroom breath and shrugged.
"Whatever, at least we've got ourselves another strong player …"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------akane's tea house:
I know, I know…this chapter's really yucky. But I guess I just had to do this to emphasize how good Tsuki is at bball (I do admit that I love Tsuki, since I created her…hehehe). So, I'm really sorry that I've been bragging a lot here. *akane bows to everyone apologetically*
Anyways…what are you thoughts on this so far? Hmm……
Ciao then… 81~ J
P/S: This chapter's written in the wee hours of the morning, a time when akane's suppose to be asleep! That's why it's so icky and unedited. X_x Anyways…oyasumi minna san.