Hi!

To those who don't know yet, this fic is a dare given to me by my sister (Shirodachi). She gave me a list of random sentences that I should place in the story. I will try and do my best to try to squeeze in those sentences in order to fulfill her dare. The sentences will be in italics (sentences, and not words). The reason why it became a Rukawa fic is because she wanted the first line of the fic to be: 'Rukawa Kaede Tastes Like Cinnamon'. So there.

I'm a conservative and simple kind of person, so I don't do YAOI fics. ^_^v My OC's are there to make the story a little intriguing.

For your information, the 'letters' you will read here, are taken from the english translated lyrics of some Slam Dunk songs.

Thank you to all of those who reviewed. Would you like me to email you when the next chapter has been uploaded? Just tell me.

You might find it freaky again, but that's how the story goes.

Enjoy!

Chapter 3 - Letters

A week passed and the school gym was now open…or more or less welcome to the public again. The time was already 8:35 in the evening, the members of the Shohoku Basketball club just finished their training and instantly hit the showers.

"You dropped this." Kogure Kiminobu picked up a piece of paper. The person he called didn't even try to look back.

"Oi! Rukawa-kun!" He tried calling again.

The tall freshman stopped and took a quick glance from behind his shoulders.

Kogure, with a towel still hanging on his bare shoulders, his hair wet and his face fresh from the shower room, approached Rukawa and handed him the piece of paper.

Rukawa just stared at it.

"You dropped it." The deputy captain repeated, returning the neatly folded piece of blue paper. "It was in your locker."

"No." Rukawa turned away and reached for the door knob.

"It must be important, you shouldn't go ignoring these kind of things." His hand still held the paper, giving it back to it's original owner.

Rukawa finally reached for the paper, then he crumpled it and threw it in the waste basket beside the door. He turned the knob slowly and left Kogure all dripping wet.

Kogure was left with a confused and shocked look on his face. He clenched his fist and looked at the waste basket. "It's none of my business but…" He adjusted his glasses, then reached into the basket and picked up the crumpled paper.

Carefully, he uncrumpled the piece of paper. It had Rukawa's name written on it with a flourish. "It is for him." He thought. Kogure stood eyeing the paper, thinking if he will give it back or he will just go read it.

"He threw it away, that means he doesn't want to read it." He concluded, unfolding the paper. Upon reading, he gave a sudden gasp, his face turning red. "It's a love letter?"

"I just want to love you, although I can offer no proof of that.

I swear it, It's forever. because no matter the doubts and hardships,

We long for each other.

Everflowing love is melting into your heart now,

while you keep your eyes on the still undetermined future time goes by,

but we are never alone. "

Kogure felt a tingle creep down his spine. He noticed there was another letter slipping out of Rukawa's locker. Slowly he pulled it out and unfolded it. As he began to read, there was a tap on his shoulder.

"Oi, Kogure… what are you doing to Rukawa's locker?" Mitsui's husky voice came from behind him.

Kogure's body stiffened. He accidentaly dropped the letters down of the floor.

Mitsui raised an eyebrow, waiting for his friend to say something.

"Mi-mitsui! You scared me!" Kogure took a step backwards, his face pale. "I… I was just…"

Shohoku's shooting guard bent down and picked up the papers and looked at it. "What's this?" he asked and began to read it aloud:


"I'm lost in your casual glance.

It feels like I'm in love with you, yet it's like I'm being toyed with.

I can't lie to my soaring hearbeat anymore."

His serious expression turned surprised all of a sudden. Mitsui gave Kogure a loathy stare. "Don't tell me you wrote this?"

"No! I just picked that up…it belongs to…Rukawa."

"Rukawa?" Mitsui looked at the other piece of paper. "Rukawa wrote this?" his voice sounded disgusted.

"No!" Kogure shot back, "It's for Rukawa."

"Nani? Then why are you reading it?"

"Reading what?" Miyagi came into the picture. He had a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Rukawa's love letters." Mitsui replied, grinning mischivously at Kogure. "Kogure here says he found it."

"I swear!!! I---" Kogure exclaimed as he tried to defend himself but Mitsui cut him off.

"Shut up, Kogure." He said casually, turning to Miyagi who had his forehead creased.

"I'm actually lost. Can you please explain that to me again?" Miyagi walked to his locker and opened it.

Kogure approached Miyagi and looked at Mitsui. "Let me."

"Fine." Mitsui shrugged handing Kogure the papers.

"I found this---" Kogure waved the papers in front of Miyagi, "---fall off Rukawa's locker when he closed it. He didn't seem to notice so I gave it to him. But, he didn't take it, instead he threw it in the trash can… I… was a little curious so I took it and read it."

Miyagi and Mitsui's face blankly stared at him. "That's cheeky." Miyagi sneered.

"Yeah, I didn't know you were into peeking into other people's businesses." Mitsui walked to his locker, he opened it and pulled out a shirt.

Kogure's jaw dropped. "I wasn't! I just got curious! Who would put something like this in his locker?!" He walked to his own locker on the other side, the papers still in his hands.

"Come to think of it. Yeah… who would? We are the only people coming in here." Miyagi thought for a moment.

"You suppose it's one of us? No one else comes in here but us, guys." Mitsui's eyes grew wide with excitement. "You think someone in the club is gay?"

Kogure felt that he would faint. "That's absolutely ridiculous! Ayako is a girl."

Upon hearing the name 'Ayako', Miyagi felt a sudden explosion in his mind. He quickly leaped from his side of the room to Kogure's and grabbed him by the towel. "What did you say?! Are you trying to say that Aya-chan could have placed those letters to Rukawa?!" His face was red and fuming.

"Anou… Miyagi…" Kogure panicked. "I didn't mean it that way. I'm just saying that some girls can enter this room too… if they want to…"

"Chill out, Miyagi." Mitsui calmed him down, "Kogure is right. Why would Ayako do such a thing. I mean, come on…don't you even trust her?"

Miyagi slowly let go of Kogure, "Don't make predictions like that. It scares the hell out of me."

"Well, you should give those back to Rukawa. He has to know." Mitsui slapped Kogure's back. "Maybe it was the same person who decorated the wall last week."

"You may be right." Kogure fixed his glasses. "I'll give it back tomorrow. He probably went home by now."

* * *

Ichihara Yumi strolled along the park that night with a frown on her face. In her hand was a book.

"I can't believe they didn't have the fourth book." She grumbled. "I can't wait all week doing nothing."

She took a left turn and arrived in her neighborhood. "I must go to the library first thing in the morning." She clenched her fists and continued walking. Then she heard some dribbling sounds coming from their local court. "Who could be playing basketball at this time of thr night?" She didn't really have a clue why she was so curious all of a sudden. Yumi hid behind the trees and took a peek.

"Ru-rukawa-san?!" She held her breath.

Yumi watched the tall rookie dribble the ball, running swiftly like the wind. He made a sudden leap with a matching perfect form and threw the ball high into the air. The ball, gracefully soared into the night and went through the hoop smoothly without bumping onto the ring.

"Sugoi!" She exclaimed. Rukawa who stood silently in the middle of the court heard her from afar and took a quick glance at her. The shy girl felt her cheeks burn, then she gasped and dropped on the ground, trying to hide herself. Slowly she crept away from the court, panting, her face terrified.

"No. I promised myself. I… can't…I…musn't let him see me…" She felt like she could cry, gritting her teeth, she ran away headed home.

* * *

"At twilight, when your profile reflects bittersweetly in my eyes selfishly,

I want to sweep you away since gentleness is erased by the bustling streets.

Let's combine our warmth in this quiet room.

The two of us as we are now are no mistake.

The more I think dearly about you, the crazier I become."

Rukawa's face was stunned as he crumbled a piece of paper he found inside his school locker the next morning.

"What a shitload of crap." He mumbled as he threw the paper on the floor. "Why are they wasting their time."

Rukawa took off his shoes and replaced it with his school shoes. He silently headed to his homeroom class.

"Rukawa-kun!" One of his classmates called him.

Rukawa turned to the guy as he took his seat.

The guy's face went stiff, then he laughed nervously. "Some person wanted to give this to you." He fished in his pocket and handed him a piece of blue paper.

Helplessly, he took the paper and made a silent groan. "Not again." He thought, looking irritated. The guy went back into his chair and continued to talk to his friends.

Rukawa unfolded the piece of paper slowly, although he already knew what its contents could be. His eyes popped out as he read the message:

"I will hold you close and won't let go.
I will pour out the unchanging emotion called love
And that will be the link that will softly lead us to tomorrow.

You draw your slender shoulders to me, eyes begging for a kiss
A fleeting moment that was exchanged in embarrassment.

As much as we play around, as much as we gaze at each other
the excitement will know no end.

It's only you, Who I want to hold in my heart."

"Hn." He crushed the paper in his hands. After a while their teacher rapped on the table and began to discuss. Rukawa felt a little drowsy and went to sleep.

"Hey! Great day eh?" Mitsui entered the locker room, Rukawa appearing a few minutes after him.

"Rukawa-kun!" Kogure called him as Rukawa entered. "It's about those letters---"

A crumpled piece of paper flew straight at Kogure. Luckily, with his quick reflexes, Kogure caught the paper and unfolded it. "Another one huh?"

Rukawa ignored him and opened his locker. To his surprise there was no paper or whatsoever that didn't belong to him inside. He felt relieved for a moment.

"Lucky day?" Mitsui grinned, then he turned to Kogure. The deputy captain just shrugged.

"O-re wa…Tensa-i… Basket-to…Man… HANAMICHI…" Sakuragi soon entered with a big grin on his face.

"Do'ahou." Rukawa snapped silently, closing his locker. He got down on one knee to tie his shoe lace.

"Nani?!" Sakuragi jolted he opened his locker the moment he came it. "What's this? A letter?!"

Mitsui and Kogure looked at him from where they stood. Rukawa rose and just looked at Sakuragi as he opened the letter.

"Sakuragi-kun…" Kogure faltered, he moved forward to look at the paper.

"Nyahahaha!!!" Sakuragi blushed, "Crazy fans of mine. Don't they know that my heart is already taken?"

"You think you actually have fans?" Mitsui sneered. He followed Kogure to see it. "That ain't yours Sakuragi."

"How can you tell, Mitchi? You're just jealous!" Sakuragi grinned deviously, narrowing his eyes.

"It's says 'For Rukawa'" Kogure informed him.

"What!? This letter is for that stupid fox?!"

"That's what the name says doesn't it?" Mitsui shrugged, peeking behind Sakuragi's back. "Oi, Rukawa why don't you read this one. It's good."

Rukawa eyed him. "Hn." Then he walked towards them. Mitsui snatched the paper from Sakuragi's clutches.

"Gah! I don't have time for this." Sakuragi complained and stomped out of the room. "A genius must practice instead of reading crazy fan mail."

Mitsui handed the paper to Rukawa. Both he and Kogure anticipated for his response. If he would even elicit one.

The tall rookie, with his eyes of blue, read the letter.

"I've got my eyes only on you.

Since the day we met, now and forever.

when you're next to me, I don't need anything else,

I love you.

It's an entrance to the paradise in the hill,

Changing my mind, and my dream,

and keeps on running in my heart.

Like you will know how,

I'm crazy for you."

Rukawa felt a little uneasy and at the same time freaked out, but he didn't show it to his fellow team mates.

"Well?" Mitsui asked impatiently.

"It's nothing." Rukawa coldy replied. He turned and went back to the court.