Disclaimer: SD not mine
"What are you doing here?" Rukawa Kaede asked his onetime rival, his voice calm and unemotional.
"Now, now Kaede is that anyway to treat an old team mate?" Sendoh asked Kaede, marveling at the person in front of him. Gone was the boyish teammate he loved to tease and play with, and in his place stood a man who knew what blows life can give you when you let your guard down, even for a second.
Meanwhile Kaede was contemplating whether to be polite or just slam the door in Sendoh's face.
"I've come about basketball." Sendoh said cheerfully smiling an, oh, so familiar smile.
"Slam the door in his face Kaede, that idiot just wants to add salt to your wounds." his Ghost's voice carried into his mind again. "Just tell him he's not wanted here. The bastard ruined your life, it's not like you have to be polite. "
Apparently though, while Kaede was listening to his Ghost, Sendoh decided to invite himself in.
"Lovely home you've got here Kaede" He remarked, walking through the small brown front door.
"Oi!" Kaede said, surprised at Sendoh's brashness. "I didn't say you could come in. Get out." He told Sendoh coldly, gripping the taller man's arm as he tried to go into his living room.
Sendoh whirled around and faced Kaede, still grinning innocently "Okay we can talk outside if that's what you want."
"Don't be an idiot. I don't want to talk to you. Ever." Rukawa crossed his arms across his chest and glared at Sendoh, making sure the smiling man got the message that he was unwanted here. "Go away" Kaede insisted.
Sendoh inwardly sighed. "I forgot that you were like this" he smiled ruefully, leaning against the living room doorframe "You like things straight and to the point"
Kaede lifted a black eyebrow as if to tell the other man 'who cares?'
Sendoh chuckled at the action and sighed again, this time seeming to loose some of that carefree attitude he surrounded himself with. " I'm with the Ryonan City basketball team now"
Kaede didn't seem to show any feeling toward this information so Sendoh continued "We lost our small forward to the Kainan City team and we're scouting for new players."
Still no reaction from Kaede so Sendoh felt it safe to kept talking "As soon as they said we needed players I came out here to try to convince you to play. I know it's always been your dream to play pro ball and now you have a shot." Was that a surprised look on Kaede's face?
Encouraged, Sendoh continued to plead " Please Kaede, you love basketball more than anyone else in this world. Come to Ryonan City and play again." Sendoh said begging the man with his eyes and knowing he could win because Rukawa Kaede loved basketball more than anything and anyone in this world.
A chance to play again. Rukawa thought wildly, his face showed no emotion, still the usual mask of cold unconcern but his mind alight with hope and possibility. I can play again…I can play basketball again … BASKETBALL …My dream can come true! I can play again! I can play! Genuine happiness seemed to spread through him making a small imperceptible smile come to his lips, until…
"Are you going to trust him !? The man who stole your scholarship!? The man who stole your dream? The man who left rotting you here in the first place? I can't believe you! You can't trust him!! He's just setting you up to have you crushed again!! He just wants you to go there to see that he made it and you didn't" Rukawa jerked up suddenly from the sheer force and hostility of his Ghost's voice in his mind. He grabbed his head and doubled over in shock and pain. It hurt.
"He'll make you clean floors, wash towels, shine his rubber shoes. That's the work he'll make you do! He'll be too afraid of the competition to let you play! Do Not Listen to him! Kaede!" Rukawa's Ghost's panic hammered through his brain.
"Kaede are you alright?" Sendoh approached him, alarmed and concerned at Rukawa's sudden movement.
But Rukawa didn't hear him…all he could hear was the voice of his Ghost telling him, screaming at him to stop. think. don't trust Sendoh. Don't trust the man who ruined you life. Don't trust anyone but me…
A face flashed before his eyes and a scene seemed to come alive in his mind…
A redheaded man in a basketball jersey…
My Ghost?
And words… talking and muttering and then screaming. The redheaded man seemed…scared? A man approaching the redhead, then… a basketball? What?
"Don't trust him" his Ghost's voice seemed to echo across his mind…
Who?
"HIM!"
Who?!?!
"The man who…who… killed me"
…and then all went dark.
A/N: I cleared some stuff up. I think it's more understandable this way… What do you guys think?