Fade Away
Chapter 01: Meet Gwen
~Jadis
Gwen. No last name. Just… Gwen. Well, maybe Wennie, but no existing real last name.
Eyebrow Gwen? Eyelash Gwen? What about Fartknocker Gwen?
Haha, doesn't matter…
Gwen no last name … it was just easier to fade away that way.
So let's start over.
Gwen. Gwen inhaled deeply. She finally made it. She made it to Kanagawa. Kanagawa seemed friendly, just like her dad told her it would be. Gwen shifted the weight of her bag to the other shoulder and got off the train.
Dad. I finally made it to your homeroom. It's going to be great. I just know it.
The weather was fair – okay … slightly chilly but no need for a sweater or anything. She continued to walk along the railroad when she came to a park. The park was empty; it was just the wet trees, grass, playground, tennis court, and, parallel to a residential street, a basketball court.
Oh yeah, Shohoku would have a basketball team also. How come dad never told me about Shohoku's basketball team?
She looked at her watch; she still had plenty of time. Gwen made her way to take a peep at the tennis courts but was distracted when she heard sounds of dribbling. Gwen had always thought about actually learning how to dribble down the court without tripping for her dad to see when he came back – it was hard… the scars on her knees, the near concussions on her head … nothing compared to the pain it brought to her heart to see a basketball.
She smiled when she pictured her actually playing basketball. She rolled her eyes upwards.
"Glad I chose tennis,"
She got close to the gate and breathlessly watched a tall athlete gracefully run fly up in the air to guide the basketball into the hoop. He was like a crane with his white skin and black hair.
Gwen moved towards the open section of the gate and entwined her fingers onto one side of the gate. Unknowingly, she wiped a tear away from her rosy cheeks. She usually kept her emotions to herself, but watching this one person swim through the air brought back all the great times she had and could have had with her dad.
The basketball rolled towards her, in the midst of her gawking. The tall figure slowly paced towards her. Gwen held out the ball with a smile. The cheeks of her heart shaped face pulled back to unearth sleek lines for dimples on the each side of her cherry lips that capturing the explosive rays of positive energy.
"Here, I-" The tall figure snatched the ball from her hands without a thank you. She immediately pursed her lips, deepening those dimples, in irritation. Gwen saw the name Rukawa Kaede printed on his shirt.
Hmm, Kaede…that's pretty…
Rukawa didn't even bother to look at her twice but to continue playing basketball. Steam radiated from Gwen's nostrils.
Rukawa jumped up to guide the ball in when he felt a slight weight on his knee. When he looked to see what it was, he saw a smaller shadow that did not belong to him.
Huh?
The shadow, still in mid air, awkwardly threw the ball towards the hoop.
What in the world? Thought Rukawa.
Rukawa landed first and turned to see a composed landing softly – right foot and then left. As composed as the landing may be – the basketball ruined the perfect portrait by ricocheting off the rim and smacking her on the back of her head. There was a loud ttuong~! when it hit the top portion of her head – again rebounding .. miraculously back into the hoop to make a rather odd, nothing by swish.
"DAH!!" Gwen grabbed at the back of her head and jumping up and down. She slowly backed away, thinking to save the dignity that she left. Gwen made it back to the entrance … only to trip backwards on her travel back. She tumbled backwards, landing in a small puddle from the rain hopefully last night. Gwen winced and slowly got up.
She peeped up at Rukawa with one eye while furiously rubbing her shoulder and head at the same time.
Sympathy? No way~! He wasn't even looking!! He was focused on his game once more.
Gwen felt a sudden burst of anger (perhaps her shame fueled the anger more) burning, itching at her lips.
"WHY DON'T YOU TAKE FIVE MINUTES OUT OF YOUR PATHETIC LIFE AND PRACTICE SOME MANNERS YOU SHI-"
TONG…TONG..FLAP~FLAP~ (noise of shirt in the air) … SWISH!
Rukawa checked the ball to himself again and began the cycle over again.
"It wouldn't hurt…" said Gwen in a much much lower voice. The thing with Gwen was this: she has moments brief moments of adrenaline plus passion which equals a short two-second time frame of LOUDNESS – and then when those two-seconds were over… it was over – boy… just like that.
Gwen turned around just as her pathetic eyebrows drooped down. Pride. Yes, pride was all she had left!! So… ahem… SO~ She turned around and gave him the most oddest-looking insult… a nose flare. She throbbed her nostrils like a horse.
Rukawa, having caught sight of this, missed his fade away shot. The ball bounced off the rim and landed on his face like a fly swatter. He awkwardly landed on the ground and grabbed at his face.
"Ah ~ HA!!! How's that? Well~, I've decided that I'm not going to like you, Rukawa Kaede," She pulled her bag to her shoulder. Her voice was dripping with venom. "Basketball is not all talent … it's heart too!"
Rukawa pulled his hands away from his face just as Gwen made her graceful excite out of the courts.
First he looked back to see the last strands of black hair follow the girl out of the court, then, he looked back at his hands – they were shaking like a caffeine addict's hands. He balled them up into fists and opened them again; they were still shaking.
Rukawa looked up once more at the entrance. It was empty.
His hands immediately stopped shaking.