CHAPTER 4: EVERYTIME

Yes! Finally, chapter 4 is done -- Korosu, gomen ne!! I had to make you wait for so long!!!!
Hehehe... It's hard to find inspiration to NOT do school work when it isn't exam week... I had started work on this only during the last week of school before Christmas break (2nd week of December, if I'm not mistaken -- Dec. 9-13), but I only finished it on Dec.28

DISCLAIMERS:
- Slam Dunk™ is property of Takehiko Inoue (and Toei Animations, I think...)
- Fic was made merely for self- and public-entertainment purposes. No monetary profit is made from these twisted works of a delinquent.
- The song used in this chapter is Janet Jackson's. (I'm not sure if it's a remake... I think it is.)

I'm afraid I'm starting to feel
What I said I wouldn't do
Coz the last time really hurt me

"Hana-chan... itomagoi o suru nai..." [A/N: If I'm not mistaken, that means "don't leave" or "don't go"]
Kaede opened his eyes, expecting to find himself kneeling down and hunched over in the midst of an open field.
Instead, he was lying facedown on his bed, the pillow thouroughly soaked with tears.
Yume dake wa... yume dake wa... he kept repeating to himself.
Yet, when he made his way to his desk and his eyes chanced upon photographs of him and Hanamichi, a fresh wave of sadness hit him. Tears gently made their way down his cheeks in rivulets of sorrow.
It's over. Stop being such a wimp!
He stared at his reflection in the mirror for a while [A/N: *grin* the mirror's already been replaced... If you remember in chapter 1, our Kaede showed some emotion by giving in to his urges and punching the mirror], contemplating on how pathetic a creature was facing him -- until the phone rang.
Hoping against hope that it was Hanamichi, Kaede raced for the phone.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Rukawa? It's Sendoh Akira."
Kaede lost heart momentarily, then beat furiously (against his will) upon hearing Akira's voice.
"Just calling to see how you are... I mean, you were pretty desolate last night."
Don't remind me.
"Hey, you know what? A guy in your depressed state needs some serious cheering up. What say we meet somewhere, and do something together?"

I'm scared to fall in love
Afraid to love so fast
Coz everytime I fall in love
It seems to never last

Better not seem too eager.
"..."
"Come on,k Rukawa! You should get out a little more, you know?"
Like you care.
"And before you say anything, I do care, actually."
Hell... Is this guy a mind reader? "Tch. Fine. Nothing to do here anyway."
Akira chuckled. "Kami-sama... Rukawa Kaede, who never ceased indulging in practice, is bored?! Hah! The end of the world is coming!"
Kaede snorted. "Urusei." Then he sighed. "I'm too exhausted to practice, anyway."
"Yosh! Meet you outside the Pachinko parlor in an hour." [A/N: *grin* I couldn't think of anything else... ^-^']
Kaede nodded curtly, then remembered that Akira couldn't see him. "OK."

Akira felt like poncing around his room.
"Whoa, horsey," he whispered to himself. Eventually, he was able to force himself to stop prancing around like a git [A/N: er... yes, the comparative adjective's too strong...] and get ready for his date.
Date?
He stopped infront of his mirror. His gaze traveled to a picture of him and Kari at the last dance they'd been to together.
Akira reached for it, and stared at it briefly before unlocking and opening one of his desk drawers ro drop the photo inside, where it landed face down. He slammed the drawer shut and locked it, making a mental note to lose the key ASAP. [A/N: *grin* Oh yeah... Kari is slightly based on the author...]
He checked himself in the mirror for a while, gave a satisfied nod, and headed out towards his destination.

Where is he?
Akira had been checking his watch for the last thirty minutes since he arrived -- still no sign of Kaede.
Serves you right for coming ten minutes too early. Besides, he probably fell asleep somewhere along the way. The thought made him smile.
"Oi, Smiley!! What's with the stupid grin on your face?"
Akira looked up, and saw Hanamichi with his friends coming toward him from his right. [A/N: no doubt taking the opportunity to be thrown out again...] "Sakuragi," he greeted with a wave.
A loud bang! to his left made him start. He looked towards the source of the sound, only to discover upon perception that Kaede had been sleepwalking and thus rammed headlong into a lamppost. [A/N: *sweatdrop]

[Intermission... Rukawa Shinetai comes rushing to the aid of their fallen hero. They stand up and glare at the author. G Lee smiles ever-so-innocently, then, with a few keystrokes, deletes the Oendan from the scene.]

Upon seeing Kaede, Akira immediately rushed over and knelt down next to him. "Oi, Rukawa, get up. People are staring," he whispered. Then, just for a tease, he blew into Kaede's ear.
Well, that was effective.

Kaede sat up and rubbed his eyes, not bothering to stiffle a yawn.
His eyes met Hanamichi's.
Whatever life there was in the redhead's eyes suddenly died out, and the gundan warily backed away. In those moments that the two stared at each other, Kaede tensed, feeling horribly down, depressed -- and guilty.
Hanamichi was the first to pull away. He walked past Kaede, stopping momentarily to look back at the latter, his eyes full of pain.
Kaede froze at the accusatory glance. Did I do that? Did I put the hurt there? Hana-chan... Gomen... [A/N: OMG... it's so emotional...]
He felt a slight, reassuring sort of pressure, and looked up to see that Akira had gently cupped his shoulder and was looking intently at him with something that seemed oddly like sympathy and understanding.
"I think I get it."

But everytime your love is near
And everytime I'm filled with fear
Coz everytime I see your face
My heart does begin to race everytime

They sat quietly in the park, Kaede musing silently, Akira politely and patiently waiting out this spell.
Akira stood up. "Come on, Rukawa! I dragged you out here to have some fun, not to reply that break-up over and over again in your mind just because you encountered each other. And I'm going to make you enjoy this afternoon if it's the last thing I do!" he cheerfully declared.
He's right.
"Darn right I'm right."
Kaede looked up, surprised. ... the hell?...
"Lucky guess?" Akira winked.

"Yosh. Oyasumi, Kaede-kun."
Kaede turned to face Akira (wondering when he had given him permission to start calling him 'Kaede'), who had his hand held out. He took it (much to Akira's surprise -- he had expected another 'give-me-five'). "Ja ne, Sendoh."
And as Akira walked away, Kaede watched him go.
"Sendoh?"
Akira turned. "Hai?"
Kaede nodded, and smiled briefly. "Arigatou."

One half wants me to go
One half wants me to stay
I just get so all confused

Kaede woke up the next morning feeling considerably better than he had been the previous night.
What a sight for sore eyes, he thought, looking at his refelction in the mirror.
And to top it all off, he saw a corner of some decorative stationery peeking out from beneath his books.
He felt his heart break as he recognized the paper. He gently tugged it out from under the pile and read the contents.[A/N: Pictures are so tired...]
It was a poem that Hanamichi had written for him. [A/N: And it's uploaded as a different entry... *grin*]
Past is past. Get over it!
He was in the middle of debating between crumpling the paper into a ball and throwing it into the trash bin, rippiing it up, setting it on fire, or framing it and hanging it in a sacred spot on one of his bedroom walls when the phone rang (yet again).
Kuso... how's a guy supposed to keep his sanity with all these petty distractions?
"Kaede-kun!" the caller exclaimed as soon as Kaede picked up the phone.
Annoyingly cheerful, this guy is.
"Hai, Sendoh?"
Akira laughed. "Oi, meet me at the basketball court beside the park in an hour."
"...Naze?"
"I want to play."
Kaede grumbled. "Alright, fine." He gently fingered the edge of the paper, and a thought occured to him.
He grabbed his sports bag and jammed a change of clothes into it (along with his essentials). Before he left his room, he took the poem and stuffed it into his pocket. [A/N: gets cornier and cornier by the minute, ne?]

I'm scared to fall in love
Afraid to love so fast
Coz everytime I fall in love it seems to never last

Kaede waited expectantly as Akira read the poem.
Akira looked up, a bemused expression on his face. "This is... incredible. I didn't know he could write." [A/N: don't expect too much of my poem, though.] "Is this what... you know..." he added, blushing unexpectedly.
Kaede nodded. "It'd been a long time since someone understood me the way he did -- I mean..."
Akira smiled. "Many relationships, huh? Or should we call them flings?"
"They never lasted long... What am I saying? They never lasted, period."
"Oh?" Akira leaned against the backrest of the bench and hung his arm behind Kaede. [A/N: yah, and then he'll drape his arm around Kaede's shoulders like they do in those ultra-cheesy commercials...] "Excuse me for asking, but... Why'd you split apart, anyway?"
The younger boy snorted, amused. "You don't need to know."
Akira playfully pushed the back of Kaede's head in a subtly flirtatious gesture. "Come on, tell me."
After some more cutesy arguing [A/N: to borrow the phrase from a SenRu I read... I think it was "sick Cycle Carousel"...], Kaede sighed in defeat. "Does the word 'disloyalty' mean anything to you?"
Akira whistled. "What, he caught you out with someone else?"
"Iie." Kaede hesitated for a moment. "I was thinking of someone else when we were out the night you gave me a ride home."
"Guess it's no longer any of my concern to ask whom it was that you were thinking about."
You... "Why am I telling you all of this, anyway?"
"Wakatte nai. You tell me."
"..."


"Ya, ja ne, Kaede-kun!" Akira waved merrily as he walked away.
Kaede raised his hand and waved back [A/N: only one wave... that's how he is, right? Right] before swinging the gate open and stepping over the threshold to his home.
As he climbed the stairs to his room, he thought about his day with Akira.
He realized that he really enjoyed Akira's company, and that he confided in him more than he did in Hanamichi. [A/N: the ultimate in cheesy love stories]
It's weird though... But I can't help but trust him.

Could it be that this would be the one that lasts?...

~tsuzuku~

Yes! After such a long time, ch4 is complete!!!

I'm sorry if it's rather corny... I mean, I'm not exactly the most descriptive writer in the world!!! And I was writing this in the worst conditions possible for writing -- constant switching of pens, interruptions, desk is too cluttered with other essential junk...

I know, I know, too many A/N's...
Kaede's extremely OOC...
It's strange, Akira keeps calling...

Thank you to all those who have made it this far!!!
Reviews are highly appreciated, minna-san!!!!