Notes: This is my first fic… although it does include an OC, it's still a RuHana fic ^^; C & Cs are welcome.

Disclaimer: SlamDunk belongs to the one and only Takehito-sama.

Cupid

Prologue

She was walking home, oblivious to the route she took. The girl felt angry and frustrated. She had just argued with the coach and the captain of her school's basketball team that morning. And lost.

'Damn it! Why can't they just accept a girl into the basketball team! So what if the school did not have a girl's basketball club! I could have joined the boy's basketball club just like those days in Tomigaoka Junior High.   It doesn't matter if I was manager, at least I got to play....

'But not in the finals' a quiet voice in her mind reminded her.

'I couldn't ruin their chances by having a GIRL in the team!'

She glanced down at herself. She wore a plain T-shirt with a jacket over it and black pants.

' Not that anyone would discover it.'

The only way to recognize her real gender was when she was in her school uniform. In Tomigaoka, the team knew of her true gender, so it did not matter. She was quite tall for a girl, and her features were rough anyway.

She was too engrossed in her own thoughts that she did notice that she had taken a wrong turn. A hand yanked her roughly and she found herself slammed and pinned against a wall, a body pressed warmly against hers. She looked up, and saw her attacker. It was the gang she always passed by when she jogged home after her usual session at the basketball court everyday. Rumour has it that their leader was -

'Oh shit.'

" Alone so late at night? I've been waiting for you, pretty boy."

The leader grabbed her chin and forcefully pressed his lips against hers.

She clamped her mouth shut as she tried to move.

'I'm no BOY for goodness sake! THAT IS IT! I'M SICK OF LIVING LIKE THIS!'

She broke off from the guy's grasp and pushed him away roughly, kicking him in the stomach and left him sprawling on the ground. Turning around, she growled at the others,

" Now you're gonna pay."

Her back hit the brick wall roughly before slumping down in pain. Something trickled down her cheek. She licked it tentatively. Metallic and salty. Blood. She groaned at the throbbing pain in her head. When she was beating the gang up with her bare hands, someone must have struck her with some stick. Now she was totally helpless as the remaining gang members surrounded her crumpled figure menacingly. Mustering all her strength, she tried to get onto her feet shakily. Anticipating the in coming blow, she closed her eyes.

"OI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

The next thing she saw were two figures, one tall and the other shorter, beating up the gang. She felt a pulsing shock of pain rip through her head and she collapsed, losing consciousness. The only thing she remembered about the two who saved her was the colour red.

**************************

Sakuragi looked at the unconscious boy. He and Youhei were walking back home when they heard a girl scream. When they reached the source, they saw a girl looking into the alley, trembling all over before running away in the other direction. Curious, they looked into the alley and found the boy struggling to stand, while trying to fight back. Blood was trickling down from his forehead to his cheek, but it stopped there after he had licked it. Four other people were surrounding him, and then, one of them with a baseball bat stepped out and hit the boy hard. He winced and then backed up against the wall before slumping into unconsciousness. By then, Sakuragi and Youhei had already beaten the crap out of the gangsters. They brought him back to Youhei's house since it was nearer, and there was no way anyone would allow them to get into hospital without putting the poor guy in trouble again.

"...hn..."

Sakuragi startled a bit when he heard the boy groan softly as he tried to get up from the bed. He reached tentatively for his forehead, and winced at the sharp pain that shot through his head at the featherlight touch. He squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again, waiting for his vision to focus. He blinked a few more times before the blurry colours changed into a room.

Her eyes wandered about the room. A normal bedroom, probably some high school guy's, judging from the clothes scattered on the floor and posters of J-rock stars on the walls. Hmmm, pretty nice, but where is this? Wait a minute! A high school guy!? What the heck!? She whirled her head round, just to come face to face with a tall redhead sitting beside the bed, surprised.

"Nani!? What's with that look? You feeling better now?" Sakuragi bombarded the sleepy, yet suddenly awake boy with many questions. The boy stared back at him stupidly. He blinked a few times before registering Sakuragi's questions in his head. He blushed furiously and then replied hastily

" Gomen! What happened to me? Why am I here?"

" You got whacked pretty badly there. You sure you're ok? You sound like you lost your memory or something."

"Aa."

She remembered. She vowed to herself that she would take her revenge the next time.

" Oi. What's your name? I'm Sakuragi Hanamichi." A coarse voice broke through her thoughts. She looked up at her companion, and for the first time, she looked at him carefully. The guy was tall, about 10cm taller than her, or maybe even more. Flaming red hair crowned his head and he looked really fierce, although his eyes reflected the innocence of a child. His features were rough, making him look rugged.

"Oi, baka. I'm asking for your name. Quit staring at me like that." Sakuragi was embarrassed at the way the shorter boy was staring at him. The boy raised an eyebrow, amused and then twitched his mouth into a grin.

"Makoto. Watashi wa Aoshima Makoto. Nice to meet you."

tbc