Chapter 10 - A Promise Made Amidst the Study Hour
"Ohayou minna." Said a cheery Tsuki as she stepped into the classroom.
About half of the class's populations, the male population returned her greetings, whereas most of the females glared daggers at her (need to say more? Rukawa fans~). She smiled brightly at everyone, even those girls who glared at her.
Sitting herself down at her seat, she turned around and flashed a big bright smile at Rukawa. (Surprise, surprise, he's not asleep!!! ^o^)
"Ready for the study camp, Rukawa-kun?"
"What are you so happy about?" Rukawa frowned and mumbled.
Tsuki just smiled at him. She then moved her head forward and looked to the right. "Ne Sakuragi-kun, how about you? Ready to start studying tonight?"
Sakuragi growled a little. "Yare, yare … … … Whatever."
Tsuki smiled to herself at their responses, couldn't blame them for feeling off about the situation. She herself could remember how ticked she was yesterday when she was assigned as their tutor. Another scene she could remember from yesterday was the expression on her Kenji-nii chan's face when she told him about this, his expression was priceless! She grinned to herself when she thought of this.
The day went pass rather quickly and so did practice. Tsuki waited for Rukawa and Sakuragi outside the gym. Soon, the two showed up walking side by side with glum faces, and were not at each other's throats for once!
Tsuki bounced over to them cheerily, "Iko, Rukawa-kun, Sakuragi-kun."
"Hai … … …" Both grumbled.
When they reached Tsuki's car, and were putting their 'luggage' into the trunk, Tsuki let out a disbelieving gasp. "Sakuragi-kun, why have you brought your sleeping bag with you?"
"Do'aho." Commented Rukawa, rolling his eyes skywards.
"What? How'd I know if you've got sleeping gear available for us or not!?" Sakuragi exclaimed sheepishly.
"Okay, don't worry about it since you've brought it already… … … iko." She gestured them to get into the car.
Rukawa and Sakuragi squeezed themselves into the front and back bucket seats. Once they've settled in, Tsuki started the engine and they headed for the Fujima residence.
* * * * *
When they drove onto the driveway of the Fujima mansion, Rukawa raised his eyebrows. Seeing this, Tsuki smiled, "Never thought that we'd live that close to each other huh, Rukawa-kun."
Rukawa turned to look at Tsuki. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Tsuki shrugged. "I didn't think there's a need to."
(Remember, the Rukawa's and Fujima's residences were just a few streets from each other :))
As she maneuvered her car towards the garage, she saw Maki's red RX-7 parked on the driveway and Kenji's S2000 on a tow truck!?
She thought: What the!?
She quickly parked her car in the usual spot and jumped out, heading toward the tow truck leaving Sakuragi and Rukawa still sitting in her car.
"What happed!?" She gasped wide-eyed.
Kenji, Maki, and the tow truck driver turned to look at her. In the mean time, Rukawa and Sakuragi also got out of the car and headed toward the commotion stirred up by Tsuki.
Seeing Tsuki, Kenji sweat-dropped. "No idea… hehehe…" He said uncomfortably.
"Okay, I'll send you the bill for this in a few days." The tow truck guy said and climbed into his truck then drove off.
Tsuki glared at Kenji, "What do you mean no idea?"
"I don't know, the engine just won't start. I guess there's just something wrong with it…" Kenji said feebly.
Tsuki continued to glare at Kenji, "You dare say there's something wrong with your car? A brand new car that's been on the road for what, two months?!"
Kenji nodded sheepishly. Maki decided to help his friend out a bit, "Mou Tsuki-chan, the car really can be started. We've tried our best to get it to start but with no success."
Tsuki now glared at Maki as well. Maki and Kenji immediately turned chibi under her glares and not to mention sweat-dropping furiously.
Tsuki walked over to the S2000 and popped the hood up. She checked for all common mishaps that can happen to find none. She turned to Kenji, "Where's the keys?"
Kenji handed her the key to his car. She moved around and sat in the driver seat, putting the key into the keyhole and turned the ignition. The engine didn't start, just like Kenji and Maki had told her. She frowned a little, but when she looked at the dash panel and saw the fuel gauge … she fumed.
She turned to look at both Kenji and Maki menacingly and spoke with a very flat and cold voice. "You two bakas want to take a look at the fuel gauge!?"
Kenji and Maki looked at each other and gulped: We're in for a thrashing …
Both of them knew how up-tight Tsuki could be when it came to the topic of cars.
They both moved towards the car slowly and gaped as they saw the fuel gauge.
"It's empty …" Kenji and Maki both squeaked.
Tsuki got out of the S2000 and threw her hands in the air in hopelessness. "I can't believe you two! Both of you have the brains to get straight A's in your studies and in basketball, yet you don't have the brains to figure out that the car's out of fuel and cars can't start without fuel!?" She shouted at both of them out of disbelief and hopeless rage while the two older boys remained chibi with their heads lowered.
She then turned to Kenji. "Especially you Fujima Kenji! You've been around me long enough to know better than that! How can you call yourself my cousin and know nothing about cars!?"
(Ooh… a bit too harsh on Fujima and Maki? Or is it just right? *grins evilly* hehehe…)
Rukawa and Sakuragi both gulped while sweat-dropping at what they saw. They could imagine how she's pound them to pieces if the two of them didn't pass their deferred exams next week.
Kenji and Maki were now beet red. They remained chibi and silent due to embarrassment. Tsuki gave-up and rolled her eyes as she let out a disheartened sigh. She walked over to her car and took her school and gym gear out motioning Rukawa and Sakuragi to grab their things and follow her.
* * * * *
When the two Shohoku players stepped into the huge house, Sakuragi couldn't stop his curiosity from getting the better of him. He kept oo-ing and ah-ing as Tsuki brought them to the guest rooms and showed them around. Rukawa on the other hand remained as aloof as usual.
As they went round to the back of the house, Sakuragi yelped and pointed at the basketball court. "Basketball court! You have a basketball court at home?!"
Tsuki smiled at his astonishment and nodded. Rukawa's expression livened up upon hearing Sakuragi's yelping and looked toward the direction in which the red head pointed.
"You guys can use it any time you like, but …"
Both turned to her as she spoke. When she lingered on the 'but', Sakuragi looked at her with utmost eagerness. Rukawa, well, Rukawa was Rukawa, as pokerfaced as ever.
Tsuki grinned evilly, "But you'll have to finish your study schedule before you can touch the court with your feet."
"Nani …" Sakuragi began to wail. Rukawa just looked at her blankly, but his cerulean eyes were gleaming with a tint of annoyance.
Maki's voice came from behind them, "So, these two are here for the study camp huh?"
The three Shohoku players turned to look at Kenji and Maki who'd just arrived wearing t-shirts and shorts. Kenji was holding a basketball in his hands, his intention clearly stated.
Tsuki nodded in answer to Maki's question. "You guys gonna play?" She asked Maki and Kenji as she looked at the setting evening sky.
Kenji answered, "Yeah, just for a while." He threw the ball at Maki, "First one to 10 points?"
Maki nodded in agreement and the two headed for the court. Sakuragi was ready to follow them when Tsuki spoke, "You two better go and freshen up and get ready for dinner. We'll start your tuition straight after dinner in the library."
Tsuki tugged at Sakuragi and Rukawa's sleeves and pulled them into the house with her. Sakuragi went in unwillingly, turning his head to look at the playing pair on the court longingly. Rukawa also took a glance at the pair before he let himself be pulled away by Tsuki.
* * * * *
Tsuki, Sakuragi and Rukawa retreated to the library to start their tuition session after dinner; while Kenji and Maki went to Kenji's room to complete their reports (they're in the same university and faculty).
"Okay," Tsuki gestured the two boys to sit at the large oak desk, "Here's the timetable I'd made up for this week." She took a piece of paper from a folder seated on the table and laid it in front of the two. Written on it was a charted schedule regarding which subject they were to be tutored on, and on which day.
Sakuragi groaned, "This is silly, why do we have to do this?"
Tsuki whacked the red head. "Because you were bright enough to fail your exams!" She exclaimed.
"Itee… You're starting to act like Ayako." Sakuragi commented rubbing his head.
Tsuki rolled her eyes and pointed at the schedule. "Since chemistry is the last exam you will be taking, we'll start with chemistry today, and revise it on next Thursday for your exam on Friday."
With that, she slipped the schedule back into its folder and took the chemistry text book from the top of the pile of books that was on the desk.
"OK, let's see how your chemistry foundation is." She pulled a few pieces of scrap paper from one of the paper trays and scribbled the names of a few common elements and chemicals on it, then handed the paper to the boys asking them to write down the chemical symbols for them.
After five minutes, she collected their answers and started fuming when she saw Sakuragi's answer.
"Baka! How can carbon's symbol be Ca!? Ca stands for calcium! And, H2SO4 is Sulfuric Acid, not hydro-sodium oxide!" She whacked Sakuragi on the head again. (It was basic chemistry they're talking about… -_-;)
On the other hand, she was surprised with Rukawa's answers. He got them all right! (Sugoi~ Rukawa knows his chemistry! Hehehe… :P)
"Okay, let's try this again." Tsuki took in a couple of deep breaths and started teaching them both from scratch. Although it didn't seem like Rukawa required this, she thought it'd be for his own advantage if they did that.
The night rolled on, and Tsuki finally had had it with Sakuragi. Even though Rukawa kept falling asleep, she could still manage to awaken him and continue. But with Sakuragi, she almost pounded him into nothingness literally due to frustration. Therefore, after glaring and whacking Sakuragi for one last time, she stormed out of the library and barged into Kenji's room.
"Kenji-nii chan, you have to come and help me deal with that baka!" She pulled Kenji out of his room before he had a chance to rebut. Maki just stared at the cousins as that happened and erupted into a laughing fit. After laughing for who-knows-how-long, Maki decided to finish off the joint report that he was supposed to complete together with Kenji.
When Tsuki returned to the library with Kenji, Rukawa was asleep again and Sakuragi was doodling rubbish on the piece of paper he had in front of him, which was the quiz sheet Tsuki conjured up for them.
"Kenji-nii chan, you deal with Sakuragi, I've had enough of him tonight." She threw a death glare of her own at Sakuragi and went over to sit next to Rukawa, whacking him on the head to wake him at the same time, and she avoided the expected fist that flung at her.
She eyed Rukawa warningly before she went back to tutoring him on the chemical calculations and drawing of chemical reactions. Rukawa frowned slightly but still pulled back enough concentration to listen to what Tsuki was talking about.
With Sakuragi however, Kenji was not having as much progress with him. But Kenji was stern enough and showed his coaching characteristic which made Sakuragi succumbed and started listening to whatever he was teaching him.
It was around 11:30pm when Maki came around and said he was going home. Kenji saw him out and came back to the library to continue the tutoring afterward. Sakuragi and Rukawa were both attempting a new set of questions that Tsuki made up not long ago.
When Kenji entered the library, he found Tsuki leaning on the desk already asleep. The weirdest thing happened at that moment. Rukawa picked up his team jacket and placed it over Tsuki's shoulders and a gentle smile crept up his face softening his features. (I told you it's weird!! Hehe…) Kenji's and Sakuragi's eyes bulged like they were going to fall out and detach themselves from the sockets when they saw this.
The same thought appeared in both Kenji and Sakuragi's mind: Is that the Rukawa we know!?
When Rukawa turned back to his work, the other two boys looked at each other with a huge drop of sweat hanging on their temples. Both didn't say anything about the situation, and they didn't know what to say about it either, so they kept quiet.
Another hour or so went by and Sakuragi had also fallen asleep on the desk, but this time Kenji didn't smack him awake since he's already done his quiz and the results were pleasing. Kenji turned to Rukawa who was looking at the sleeping Tsuki with tender-filled vision. Kenji smiled to himself. He knew it was rude to break that little magic bubble of Rukawa, but he decided to break that silence and have a talk with the super rookie.
"Rukawa." He spoke softly, but loud enough to grab hold of the other's attention.
Rukawa turned to Kenji and looked at him questioningly.
"You like Tsuki don't you, Rukawa." Kenji stated rather than a questioned.
Rukawa raised an eyebrow and spoke monotonously as usual, "You don't approve of it?"
"No, but I'd rather it be you than Sendoh." Kenji smirked knowingly.
"Sendoh?" An unnatural flame flashed across the sapphire eyes of Rukawa.
Kenji nodded. "Sendoh's made his intention very clear lately."
"What do you mean 'lately'?" Rukawa's tone turning colder by the second.
"Oh, he just comes over for basketball on the weekends." Kenji said apathetically.
"Since when did he start doing that?" Rukawa asked, his tone now cold enough to freeze the cup of hot cocoa in front of him.
Getting the reaction he wanted, Kenji smiled warmly at him. "Relax Rukawa, Sendoh's not getting anywhere. Well, at least not yet anyways."
Rukawa glared at Kenji, but Kenji disregarded him and continued, "Honestly Rukawa, Sendoh isn't getting anywhere close to what he intended on because Tsuki told him she's just interested in being his friend, not his girlfriend."
Rukawa calmed a little after hearing this. "He asked her directly?"
Kenji nodded. "Hai. And Tsuki told him straightforwardly about how she felt also."
Rukawa nodded. This time, Kenji's tone turned more solemn as he spoke.
"Rukawa, I don't think you know enough about Tsuki to pursue her heart yet." He looked up and saw Rukawa throwing icicles at him with his glare. But he didn't mind that, he smiled, "Don't get me wrong Rukawa, but you have no idea what Tsuki went through to regain her old self. To say that is an understatement actually since I've got the feeling that she still hasn't recovered fully yet."
Rukawa looked puzzlingly at Kenji. "What do you mean? I thought she's recovered from the injuries that accident gave her?"
Kenji sighed heavily. "So you've heard about that accident huh?"
Rukawa nodded.
"It's not the physical injuries that I was talking about," Kenji paused and looked Rukawa straight in the eyes, "It's the psychological damage. She lost her parents in that accident, and it hurt her immensely. Looking at her now I bet you would never think of her as someone who will close herself off to the world no matter what happens, right? Well, she did just that. She closed her heart off the world and encaged herself in her sorrows after my uncle and aunt's death. We were so scared that she'd never come back to us and be like that forever."
Rukawa gasped at what he heard. He could feel the pang tugging at his heart because he felt so sorry for Tsuki. At that moment, he wished that he could switch places with Tsuki and let her be free of these cruelties. (Awww~ how sweeet~~~ ^_^)
Kenji's eyes were filled with pain as he spoke of Tsuki's past, and Rukawa was shocked. Then, Kenji looked off into the open and smiled gratefully as he continued to speak, "You know, we really had to thank that little kitten. It was that kitten that brought Tsuki back to us."
"Kitten?" Rukawa queried.
Kenji looked back at Rukawa and smiled. "Hai, it was a kitten that brought her out of her shell. I could still remember that day. I'd pushed her out into the hospital's courtyard for a little sun when out of the blue a baby kitten jumped onto her lap. The kitten looked at her and meowed. It was at that very moment that Tsuki smiled, her first smiled after the accident. God it felt so wonderful to see her smile again! She picked up the kitten gently and nuzzled against its soft fur then looked up at me. The first words she said to me were: 'Gomen ne, I've worried you all.' She smiled so sweetly then, as tears fell from her eyes. I was so overjoyed that I hugged her for so long then rang my parents shouting out my happiness to them across the line from my cell phone."
Rukawa gently stroked away the strands of playful hair that had fallen on to Tsuki's cheek. His eyes were so soft at that point in time that anyone could've drowned in them if they looked. "She's a fighter." He said softly, his voice full of tenderness.
Watching Rukawa then Kenji realized what a gentle person Rukawa's was: He has such a gentle soul yet he covered it up with the all the ice he built around him, making everyone think that he is such a tough cookie, weird.
Throwing that thought away, Kenji agreed with what Rukawa said. "Yes, she is a fighter, but she also has a fragile heart after that incident. And, that is why I said earlier that I'd rather it be you who win her heart rather than that clown Sendoh."
As soon as he had spoken, Kenji realized he actually meant what he said sincerely. He really did want Rukawa to be with Tsuki. Why, he didn't know, but it felt right to see them together.
Rukawa suddenly looked at Kenji most seriously as he would in a game when he faced an opponent. "I will not hurt her. This is a promise to you, her and me." He stated determinedly.
Nodding, Kenji smiled. "You'd better make sure you uphold what you promised, if not I'll make sure that you pay for your actions of hurting her, and I'll see to that myself." He grinned nastily at Rukawa when he ended the sentence.
Rukawa stood up and smirked at Kenji. "You won't have the chance to do such things since I won't let that happen."
Rukawa then picked Tsuki up in his arms gently without waking her. "Where's her room?"
Kenji smiled at the picture Rukawa and Tsuki presented. "Down the hall, last one on the left."
Rukawa nodded in gestured, thanking Kenji for the information he provided and turned to walk away. Amazingly, Tsuki wasn't woken by Rukawa. Instead, she snuggled closer to him. She found herself a more comfortable spot then let out a satisfying sigh, and a sweet smile crept on to her face. Rukawa looked at her and smiled ever so gently at her actions.
Just before they left the library, Kenji called out to Rukawa, "Rukawa, tell her how you feel. She can be really dense about certain things some time." And he smirked playfully at him.
Surprisingly Rukawa replied, "Don't I already know?" And his voice trailed off as he carried Tsuki to her room.
Rukawa's smiled wryly. His thought at that moment: Don't I already know? She's dense enough to ask another girl to confess her feelings for me. Sigh …
Rukawa placed Tsuki on her bed gently and tucked her in. Tsuki turned on her side to face Rukawa who was kneeling beside her bed with the smile still hanging on her lips.
Rukawa smiled: She looks so peaceful, just like an angel when she's asleep.
Before he left her room, he bent over and placed a soft kiss on her lips (more like he 'stole' a kiss from her … hehehe). "Goodnight, my angel."
He switched off the lights when he reached the door. He turned to look at her once more before he left and noticed that the crystal figurines in the glass cabinet by the dresser were shining brightly as the lights of the cabinet bounced off the beautiful stones. It was as if the crystals were smiling at him in gratitude for caring so deeply about their owner … … …
Meanwhile back in the library, Kenji took a thin text book and smacked Sakuragi hard on the head waking him.
"Go to your room and sleep you baka, I don't want your drool all over my desk!" Kenji said sarcastically.
Sakuragi woke up to the wake-up call Kenji gave him and stumbled to the guest room allotted to him. He fell asleep again as soon as he slumped onto the bed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
akane's tea house … … …
So … what do you think minna-san? :D Hope you liked it ^_^
Just a little spoiler … Rukawa's gonna confess his love to Tsuki in the next chapter, but, will she accept him!? *grins*
Anyways … Reviews please????? Onegai shimashita!!! *bowing and begging on both knees* ^_^;;
Ja matta ne~ ^_~