Title: Outsider
Author: Kuroi Tenshi [kuroi_22@hotmail.com]
Pairings: RuHana
Warnings: Shounen Ai, cursing and some stuff but they're relatively harmless... ^_^
OOC as well, but you'll see why
Notes: This is actually important and not just minor rambling. If you've seen the episode with the "camp-shot-training" where Hanamichi learns to do jump shots [oops! You have seen it, right? ^^;; Sorry for the spoilers], you'll have to totally erase that from your memory as you read this little ficcie. Hanamichi's learning it himself, meaning he's his own sensei. That's all. Thanks. Back to your regularly scheduled fanfiction. ^_^
P.S. warning: this was written after finishing half the bag of Hershey's TasteTations. So yeah, Kuroi's a bit more hyper than usual and sugar-high. Btw, I love Hershey's TasteTations, especially the chocolate ones. Yum! ^_^
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Part 2
"Hey, I was calling you last night but you weren't home," Diana said, plopping next to him on the hard cemented floor, shielding her eyes from the sun as she stretched under the building's shade. A squall came and ruffled her long blonde hair.
Next to her, Hanamichi closed his eyes. He was still tired and lacking sleep from last night and his stomach was demanding food as well. They were expecting the other four to come any time now with the refreshments. "Humum…" he said as his reply. He missed cutting classes like this.
Diana chuckled. "I used to cut class back in U.S. But it didn't just stay at school to sleep. I usually ran around with my crowd, having fun. They might've been a 'bad crowd' for some people but I always felt that I belong there," she said, her voice becoming slightly distant. Then she cleared her throat. "Anyway, what's the plan after school?"
Before he could give her another one of his incoherent monosyllabic responses, the others arrived and Takamiya grinned happily to them as he deposited the bags of chips on the floor next to them.
"There, that should last us until the last bell ring. Then we can hit the ramen shop," the bespectacled boy said, sitting with them on the floor.
The others sat too, taking a bag of chips each and opening them. Yohei offered the only girl some cheese curlz but she declined, preferring the candies and chocolates Takamiya was digging in. she glanced at Sakuragi and smiled softly. He's missing him, she thought briefly before brushing the thought aside and joining in the fun and joking with the others.
~*~*~*~
She glared at guy who bumped into her, nearly crushing the bones of her big toe as he tried to get past her out of the classroom. She could never, for the life of her, understand why some people thought of going out of the room after the final bell has rung as a life and death situation. Sure, it meant freedom for the rest of the day. And yes, she was happy about it too but to push and run toward the door as if your life depended on it?
She shook her head as she grabbed her bag. She had clean up duty that afternoon so the rest of the gang had gone ahead of her to the ramen shop. Actually, it was Yohei's turn that afternoon but she switched with him last time because she had something important to do had agreed to do his duty that week. She was supposed to clean with Sakuragi but the redhead was missing.
She shook her head and sighed. "I can't believe he's dumping it all on me," she said, grabbing the mop leaning against the wall. Tying her long hair in a simple ponytail, she started her work. She had to mop the whole room alone since her "partner" was nowhere to be found. She might as well start now so she can finish early.
Diana brushed imaginary lint off the sleeves of her uniform as she walked, making her way toward the washroom. She was finally done fulfilling her destiny, mopping the floor of the room and the hallway outside it so clean it gleamed when the sun's rays reached it. She passed by a group of girls giggling to themselves as she passed them by on her way back to the room for her things.
"Did you see that girl? She was so cute!" she heard one of them say.
"I wonder whose sister she is. I swear, if she were my sister, I'd always hug her! Kawaii!" the other girl said, nodding happily to her friend. "I heard she's been walking around the school for a while now, probably looking for her older brother or sister."
"I wish I can take her home," another one said.
"What do you think of her? A stray kitten?" Diana rolled her eyes at the girl who hushed down when she got closer. She shook her head in disbelief as she walked back to the room. She passed by another group of girls huddling together at the hallway, crowding at something.
"Kawaii!" one of them gushed.
Deciding she'd had enough of girls treating a little girl like some sort of cute stray animal, she walked toward them, smiling slightly as the girls stepped away when she got closer. She tapped the little girl's shoulder, not seeing her face because of the pretty hat she was wearing. "Hey," she said softly.
The girl turned and she saw herself looking at a pair of beautiful deep brown eyes. The girl's long black hair bounced as she did. She smiled at her. "Hello," the girl chirped cheerfully. "Have you seen Hana-chan?"
"Hana-chan?"
The girl nodded. "I told Hana-chan Ayi-chan go to school and so…" she blinked cutely at her. "'Kaachan buying clothes again so Ayi-chan walked out of shop. And asked the boy to take me here. Where's Hana-chan?"
Those girls weren't exaggerating when they said she was cute. But she wasn't about to go all giddy just because of how cute this girl is. "Hana-chan?" she repeated, brain working overtime. She knew there must be a lot of students who had Hana in their names. And that was both for girls and boys alike.
She looked at her again and smiled. Why didn't she notice it before? "I think I know where Hana-chan is," she told the girl, taking her small hand into her own.
They started to walk away together when she caught wind of the murmurs around her from the girls. She sharply turned to them and glared. "Excuse me, I'm very much aware of the fact that kidnapping is against the law. For your information, I'm taking this girl to her older brother, Sakuragi."
~*~*~*~
Rukawa caught the ball easily, not allowing the approving and admiring cheers from the crowd watching affect him. His brows knitted as he prepared to take a shot. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't concentrate on anything that day.
He played basketball superbly as always but he knew he wasn't playing to his full potential. And during class earlier, he didn't fall asleep, which was already some sort of a miracle. If he was one of Japan's best basketball players, he was one of the world's greatest sleepers.
But nothing could make him sleepy. Not even his teacher's monotonous ramble about the periodic table and the elements—things that usually made him feel drowsy just thinking about the notion of discussing it in class.
Akagi nodded in approval as the ball went in. But Rukawa inwardly flinched as the orange sphere touched the metal ring, disrupting its supposedly graceful flow. He followed suit with everybody else as they fell into a single line, waiting their turn to shot the ball.
Practice dragged on and the raven-haired boy wanted nothing more for it to end. As they moved on to passing, his already dwindling concentration finally broke and the ball sailed way past the waiting hands of Yasuda.
The older boy was already running toward the ball that rolled outside toward the small courtyard beside the gym when Rukawa called out to him. "I'll get it," he said quietly, jogging out.
The second year only nodded mutely. Rukawa was being unusually quiet that day, too quiet even for him. He figured something must have been bothering him. The momentary fresh air outside would offer him might help him relax.
Rukawa scanned the area for the ball but saw nothing. He finally caught sight of it resting motionlessly at the near middle of the courtyard. As he made his way toward it, he heard a cheerful shriek from behind him. He turned around and saw a little girl running toward him, no doubt after the ball.
"Bally!" she shouted happily, giggling to herself madly.
"Ayi-chan!" the newcomer shouted after her, running as she tried to keep up with the gleeful bundle of energy. "Come on, we'll go see your oniichan!"
The girl paused then nodded, still giggling a bit. "But I'll get bally first!" she cried out, running ahead.
Obviously, she wasn't the kind who paid attention to where she was going. For if she had, she would've seen Rukawa and she wouldn't have stumbled backward, falling flat on her behind when he collided with his long legs.
Rukawa crouched next to her, helping her up. He expected her to cry and shatter his eardrums but she didn't. Instead, she smiled at him and started laughing.
"That was fuuun!" she clapped her hands happily. Then frowned, looking at him closely. "You're a giant!" she exclaimed, looking at him up and down. "Like Hana-chan! Hana-giant!"
The girl finally caught up with them. When she saw Rukawa, she smiled. "Why hello there, Rukawa," she greeted, kneeling next to them and dusting the dirt of Aisha's white dress. She knew from the looks of her clothes that they were expensive.
Rukawa picked up the pretty white hat that fell off the girl's head when she was knocked down and handed it to her. "You better be careful next time, alright?"
"You should know better than to bully little girls, Kitsune."
They turned around and saw Hanamichi standing behind them hands shoved in his pockets as usual. "It's a good thing this little monster has strong bones or her mother would've raised hell if she broke anything."
"Hana-chan!" Aisha exclaimed, jumping up and launching herself at him. "Ayi-chan went to school like she said!"
Hanamichi caught her easily mussed and her hair, chuckling as she cried out in protest. When he put her down on the ground, Aisha was making faces. "What's with the face?"
"Kaachan said to keep my hair neat," she said. Then grinned. ""But I like it better this way!" she said, shaking her head wildly. She stopped then turned to Rukawa. "Hana-chan, another giant, like you!" she pointed at Rukawa.
Her brother laughed. "We're not giants, just tall." He turned to Rukawa. "Kitsune, my little sister, Aisha. Ayi-chan, be polite to Kitsune."
The little girl nodded. "Kitsune-chan?"
Rukawa shook his head. "No, my Kaede-kun."
Aisha shook her head. "Iie, Kitsune-chan!" Then ran past him and took the ball that had been lying on the grass all this time.
Diana burst out laughing. It seemed as if Rukawa would be stuck as the Kitsune as far as these two were concerned. She then turned to Hanamichi. "Sakuragi Hanamichi, you owe me. Not only did I clean alone when you were supposed to be helping me, I also saved your sister from being ogled at like some stray kitten!"
Hanamichi smiled at her guiltily. "Oops, sorry about ditching cleaning duties like that. And thanks for bringing Aisha here. How 'bout I make it up to you with ice cream?"
"Ice cream!" the girl exclaimed, kicking the ball lightly.
Diana nodded. "Sure, looks like Aisha would be hungry after playing with that basketball."
Rukawa remembered why he was there. The ball!
Hanamichi took the ball from Aisha, who was getting ready to kick it and handed it to Rukawa. "There you go, Kitsune. You can go back to practice now."
He nodded and took the ball, his fingers brushing lightly with the redhead's. He blushed and looked down, avoiding Hanamichi's eyes. Now that he had the ball, there was no reason for him to stick around. "I'll, uh, I'll go now," he said, having difficulty with words. He turned to Aisha and smiled at her.
It wasn't a big smile, not as big and wide as hers anyway. But it was a smile and a smile form him was almost priceless. The two didn't notice him smile, as they were too busy that time discussing ice cream. But Aisha saw and returned it. "It was nice meeting you, Ayi-chan."
"Hai, you too, Kitsune-chan!"
The two sweatdropped. The nickname really was stuck with Rukawa. Hanamichi frowned. "Hey! How come you let her call you Kitsune?"
"Because she's not a do'aho," he answered simply. Turning around with the ball on his hand, he walked back toward the gym. As he rounded the corner, he made sure no one was watching and crouched behind a hedge.
The three were still at the middle of the small courtyard with Aisha running around happily while the two teenagers sat on the ground, talking. Rukawa felt a tinge of jealousy toward the foreign girl as she laughed and talked with the redhead.
"Why can't we be like that?"
"Can't be like what, Rukawa?" Kogure asked, standing behind the crouched boy. He went out to check on him when he didn't come back after fifteen minutes when he retrieved the ball.
"Found the ball!" the normally expressionless and wordless boy exclaimed, voice a tad too loud in Kogure's opinion as he grabbed the ball resting next to him and stood up. "We can go back and practice now, sempai."
Kogure nodded as Rukawa passed by him ball in hand. He wasn't about to be fooled. He knew perfectly well that he wasn't really looking for that ball when he was crouched behind the bushes.
Rukawa was spying on Hanamichi.
~*~*~*~
"I knew I'd find you here," Diana commented as they watched Aisha frolicking around the grass. She smiled at him. "If you miss playing with them, you can go back. No one's stopping you."
"They don't want me."
"Says who?"
"Nobody has to say it."
Diana shrugged. "If you says so." Then paused. "She doesn't call you Hana-oniisan or something? I think it's a custom for your people to put tags at the end of the names or something."
"She's got issues with addressing people properly. She puts 'chan' after the names of the people she knows and it's good enough for her. She's spoiled that way since she gets away with it. It's been my mother's biggest achievement that Aisha's calling her kaachan instead of Minako-chan," Hanamichi smiled.
She laughed. "I guess she's that spoiled, huh?"
"Her parents spoil her. Fuuji gives my mom lots of money and she buys Ayi-chan a lot of things she rarely uses. I guess people with a lot of money are like that, they have so much they don't know how to spend it anymore."
"Fuuji is your…?"
"Stepfather. He's a businessman."
His friend nodded. From the tone of his voice, he wasn't exactly thrilled to elaborate on the subject. So she let it drop. "Won't your mother be worried when she realizes Aisha's gone?"
Hanamichi shrugged. "You're right," he said, standing up. He brushed the grass off his pants and smiled at her. "Would you mind watching her while I call her and tell her it's not necessary to alert the police and the whole army?"
She chuckled. "Sure. Ayi-chan's not that hard to handle anyway."
"Can't say her past sitters share the same sentiments," he sniggered. He nodded to Aisha who looked their way when she paused from running back and forth across the grassy terrain. "I'll just call mom for a while. Diana will watch you while I'm gone."
The girl nodded and waved at Diana. Then resumed running around. The foreign girl sat on the grass, hugging her knees close to her as she watched the girl play, happily chasing after the colorful butterfly that caught her eye.
Hanamichi returned few minutes later, shaking his head as amusement filled his eyes. "Caught her just in time. She was about to raise hell and demand every able man search high and low for Aisha. She hadn't realized Aisha was no longer following her to the next store half an hour after she ran off to go here." He shook his head again. "My mother forgets everything else when she's shopping."
"At least Aisha made it here safely. And good thing I saved her from being treated like some poor, helpless little furry animal," she smiled. "You should've seen how those girls were gushing over her! It was as if they were talking about a stray kitten they want to take home."
"How'd you know I was here anyway?"
Diana looked at him for a moment then sighed. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know you miss it. Them. Him. And I've always prided myself for being smart."
"You're smart?"
"Don't you dare say I'm not!"
Hanamichi just shrugged. Then paused. "Him?"
"Forget about it," she advised, standing up. They watched the little girl play for a few more seconds in silence before she spoke up again. "You know, nothing's more miserable than being miserable because of regret. If you'd for once ponder on things and reflect on how much they mean to you, you'll see how easy the solutions are."
"What do you mean?"
"The problem with people these days is that they tend to make simple things too complicated," she answered, shaking her head as she brushed the grass off her uniform. "I think your ice cream debt's overdue. Can I collect it now? I'll get Aisha."
Hanamichi watched her in confusion as she walked toward his sister. What the hell was she trying to say just then?
~*~*~*~
Rukawa looked up from where his head was resting on top of his folded arms on the table. The girl he often sees with Hanamichi and his gang smiled at him. "Hey there, Kitsune-chan," she said, using the name Aisha insisted on calling him.
"Don't call me that," he said, eyes narrowing into thin slits as he remembered the way she laughed and talked with Hanamichi yesterday. "What do you want?"
She shrugged. "Nothing," she replied. "I passed by your room and thought I'd stop by and say hi. Hanamichi asked me to post this around the school to help him but I'm feeling generous today so I won't. Instead, I'm giving all the copies to you, all thirty of them so you can have the job all to yourself." With that said, she placed a neat stack of flyers on his desk, where his head had been just moments ago. "Have fun with her," she waved as she walked out.
Rukawa stared at the flyer in front of him. It was the flyer looking for a babysitter.
"Are you sure the new sitter can handle the job?" Hanamichi asked, frowning at how easily his mother hired a new one for Aisha. There used to be tests and long interviews in choosing a sitter. His mother told him she hired the new one on the spot.
Minako sighed. "The sitter and Aisha seems to get along well, I don't think there'd be any problem. Besides, Aisha only needs to be babysat once or twice a week when I'm not around to look after her all the time."
The redhead stared at the black cordless in his hand in disbelief. Why was his mother suddenly being cool about everything? She used to raise hell fussing over everything that concerned her "angel." Why hasn't she conducted a thorough investigation on the new sitter's background this time?
"Won't you just trust me when I say it's okay?"
"If you think the new sitter's capable of taking care of her…"
"He seems weird but I think he can handle her perfectly well. They have this certain chemistry between them that makes me positive I'm not entrusting my angel to someone who can't take care of her well."
"If you say so… wait a minute! He?"
"Didn't I tell you? The new sitter's a young man. He came here for the job—I think I just heard the new maid scream. I'll call you again, alright?"
"But what about the—"
"Don't worry about it," his mother assured him one last time. "Ayi-chan liked him. Talk to you later, sweetie. And don't forget to feed yourself!"
"I do feed myself," he replied, but she had already hung up. He shook his head as he replaced the receiver. Why did he feel as if there was something he was missing about the new babysitter?
He was about to leave the room when the phone rang and he heard his mother's voice when he answered. "Hana? Angel accidentally soiled—how, I have no idea—almost the entire first floor of the house. We'll be cleaning all week and replacing the furniture and stuff so I hope you don't mind that Aisha stays at your place until everything's fixed?"
"What happened? How did she do that?" he asked, marveling how someone so little could do so much damage. "Wasn't the maid looking after her?"
"She went to relieve herself for a while and when she came back, Aisha was already tracking the whole house with soil and dirt from the garden," her mother explained. "Oh, I don't think Yuuji would appreciate coming home with the whole house full of dirt!"
"I'm sure he'll understand," he said. "Can't you just clean the place overnight? Not that I'm objecting to having Ayi-chan stay here with me but…"
"I was thinking she could stay upstairs until everything's clean but knowing her… I'll send her and the maid there tomorrow morning. Her babysitter will arrive in the afternoon—let me call him and everything will be okay."
"You don't have to hire one, I'll take care of Ayi-chan," he said.
"No, no, I'll call him and that's final. You go to your basketball practice, alright?"
Hanamichi bit his lower lip guiltily. He still hasn't told her that he was no longer part of the team. She still thought he attended the practices in the afternoon. "There's something I have to tell you," he began. "The truth is—"
"That can wait, dear," she said, cutting him off. "Yuuji just came home. And he's not exactly praising Aisha for plowing the first floor with dirt. They'll be there in the morning, bye!"
"Mom, wait!" he exclaimed but again, she had already hung up. Replacing the receiver again, he sighed. "I guess there's nothing I can do about it," he said aloud. Whenever concerning his family, his mother was the figure of authority. Her words are laws.
"I suppose I should fix the old guestroom for Ayi-chan and her maid," he said aloud, to himself. He made his way toward the room across his and switched on the lights. It was a Thursday and he was sure his sister would be staying with him all weekend so he brought out all the toys he kept in the cabinet and neatly placed the stuffed animals on the bed.
There was a small cot at the storage room so he could bring that out for the maid since he knew how much of a bed hog Aisha was. He dusted the tabletops of the room and removed every expensive and fragile object from the room. The last time Aisha stayed over, she had a "snowball" fight with her babysitter. And since there weren't any snowballs, she improvised by hurling whatever her hands made contact with, not the least bit concerned that it was a beautiful piece of china she was tossing.
As Hanamichi turned off the lights, he briefly wondered who Aisha's new babysitter was. Was it someone from school? He had asked Diana earlier that afternoon to post flyers looking for a babysitter for Aisha. Was it someone he knew?
Tbc
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Sorry it took me forever to write the next part! -_- But school started for me [while it was ending for most of you] so I had to pause from writing as I adjust to the back-to-school crap that goes with it. ::makes face:: Sorry tot hose who had to wait long for the next part [are there even who are people reading the fic?] ^__^