Disclaimer : Slam Dunk is owned by Takehiko Inoue. Rani is mine!

Note: Sentences in italics are thoughts.

Madness

Chapter 1: The Madness Starts

"Kogure-kun! Wait up! I will go jogging with you." Rani hastily slipped on her rubber shoes. Her long, black hair is pony tailed at her back and she is wearing a hanging t-shirt and jogging pants that made her look like a girl who is going to attend her PE class.

A man wearing eyeglasses stopped reaching out for the doorknob and turned around. "I thought you are not coming. Last time you jogged out with me, you almost fainted."

"Hey, that's because I really lacked exercise before. But I am planning on making it every weekend, for now. And if I can handle it, make it three times a week." She started working on her other shoelace.

"That's good. I've never known you to be a sports buff though."

"I am not a sports buff and I don't think I will ever be. But I liked jogging. Wait, is jogging considered a sport?"

Kogure laughed softly. "You've been staying with me for 8 months and you never jogged before except last week."

"You know I can't find time to do that. That nursing review took up my weekends!" She then straightened herself. "C'mon…let's go!"

"Just promise you won't faint on me hahahahah!!!"

"I won't. Let's just start slow. You know, warm up is for exercise like foreplay is for sex." She shrugged nonchalantly.

Kogure turned red. Eversince Rani became his housemate, he had to cringe once in a while as she could be so direct and outspoken. But even then, she treated him like a brother. He met her at the Kitamura General Hospital when she was introduced as one of the gaijin [foreigner] nurses. Her face is not exactly pretty but average. But being a cheerful person and always ready to smile, she radiates a personality that make people feel at ease with her. Being from a brown race, she has a natural tan making her skin darker compared to Japanese women. She has long black hair that almost reached her waist but she usually turn it into a pony tail to tame it because 'my hair flies in all directions.' With the exception of her frankness, he thought she was really nice. He guessed he is just not used to people who are very frank and outspoken. She is also very fond of music except that sometimes she could get carried away.

Rani knows a few Japanese words and phrases when she came to Japan. When they were assigned on the same shift, they hit it off as friends, more like brother and sister for that matter. Even though she is two years older than him, she doesn't look like it or acted like it. People always mistook her to be in her late-teens if not for the nursing uniform she is wearing at the hospital. The fact that she is barely 5 feet tall and petite doesn't help. She digs boy bands even though she listens to some new wave and music from the 80's. Though she cannot speak Japanese fluently yet, she is making some progress on the language. She speaks English if the person she is talking to can speak English as she finds it so hard to struggle for the right Japanese word when she wants to speak her mind. Kogure is just thankful that she hasn't gotten into trouble because of that.

"What? Why are you carrying a discman?"

"Why? It's ok to jog while listening to music. It gives you that adrenalin. Besides I can still hear you as I only have one earphone plugged to my ear."

Kogure sighed and shook his head.

"Why are you wearing your glasses? It just keeps on sliding down your nose." Rani muttered between breaths as they jogged going to the park.

"Ah… I would trip or something. Surely you cannot carry me hahahaha!!"

"You're right. I think you better wear it because surely I cannot even drag you. Me being barely 5 feet tall and you being ….."

"But I am not that tall."

"I know but I still can't carry you so be careful with your glasses."

"You do know that a lot of Japanese men are taller than me. You should have seen my teammates. They are--- Oh no! I forgot, Mitsui called me the other day about playing basketball!"

"Oh nononono! Don't tell me you are going to ditch me for basketball. Great. I am Rani, dumped by my jogging partner for basketball."

"But they will be waiting for me." He looked at his watch. "It's ok, it's just 5:30 in the morning. We agreed to meet at six.

"Sex? Awww…Kogure-kun…I didn't know you are having sex with your teammates hahahahah!!!!"

"Rani!!!!" Kogure blushed furiously but somehow he is thankful that Rani spoke in English so people on the street couldn't understand what she was saying.

"Hahahaahah!!! You know what? The more you get upset, the more I love picking on you! So where is your rendezvous?" She gave a teasing grin but he chose to ignore it.

"At the basketball court at the park."

"Alright, you can go play your basketball, I'll just jog in circles at the park till I drop dead." She looked at him and grinned.

"Don't you ever do that! When you start feeling tired, stop and sit down."

"Whatever."

As they entered the park, they joined the other people who are also jogging.

"Wow cute!" Rani spotted a cute young boy aged around 14 or 15 and left Kogure jogging. Kogure upon seeing her bolting from his side let out a low groan.

"Rani!!!!" Kogure turned back to follow her. "What. Are. You. Doing?"

"What?" Rani grinned at him. "Can't I even do some boy chasing once in a while?"

Kogure dragged her back. "You'd get into trouble, you know. It's almost six. I have already spotted Rukawa and Sendoh at the court when we passed by. I will have to join them soon so behave yourself."

"Shesshh…." She rolled her eyes. "You are even worse than my father."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Guys, this is Rani, my housemate. She works in the same hospital as I do. Rani, this is Sendoh, Rukawa and Mitsui." Sendoh and Mitsui smiled at her while Rukawa nodded.

"Hello guys!" She waved at them while having that silly grin. "Whoa, you're right Kogure-kun, you are the shortest." Kogure sweatdropped. "Ok, I'll leave you now, guys. I have some boy chasing to do hehehe…." She waved at the four. Kogure didn't have a chance to talk back to her as she already sprinted off.

"Housemate?" Mitsui started interrogating his friend.

"Hai. You know I have a house mate, right?" Kogure doesn't like it when his friend starts to sound like that.

"Yes, but I never thought you lived with a girl!"

"We have separate rooms, you know!" A blushing Kogure retorted.

"She's a gaijin [foreigner] and she mentioned about boy chasing." Sendoh raised an eyebrow at Kogure.

Kogure blinked. "What? I didn't know you could understand English, Sendoh?"

"Of course, I can. My father is a diplomat plus I get to study at international school when I was young."

Mitsui just gaped at Sendoh when he spoke in English. "Whoa! And I thought only Rukawa could speak English here! What is boy chasing, by the way?" He turned to Kogure. But before Kogure could answer, Rukawa nudged him to look ahead. Rani was grinning ear to ear. She waved at them while she was following the same boy she followed before.

Kogure slapped his forehead with his palm. "That girl!"

"Looks like you are in for some babysitting, Kogure." Sendoh teased.

"What babysitting? She is two years older than me!"

"Nani!?" Even Rukawa couldn't help but react.

Sendoh looked at the bespectacled man suspiciously. "You mean she is already 27?"

"Hai. She just looks younger for her age. Anyway, let's start." Kogure quickly retorted as he started to feel uncomfortable being interrogated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Rani felt that she was about to collapse, she dragged her body to the bench nearest to the basketball court. Not only was she sweating profusely, she was also panting heavily as she looked at the four basketball players who are so engrossed at their game. She just watched them uninterestingly while she was trying to catch her breath. After a while, she reached for her earplugs and plugged them both to her ears then she leaned her back completely on the bench to relax. Slowly she started flicking her fingers to the music and hummed along.

"….Love is just a game you played in high school…hmmhmmm….."

She was lightly tapping her foot and moving her head to the rhythm with her eyes closed. Slowly, she immersed herself into the music. Kogure saw her but let her be as their game is still going on. Then he concentrated on trying to block Rukawa as he was about to make a three point shot.

"..…..AT THE END OF THE DAY, MAKIN' LOVE TO A PAPER MOON!!!!"

~~BOING!!!!~~

Rukawa's three point shot missed. It hit the ring and bounced off. The four men stopped playing and turned to look at her direction.

"…...SHE SAID, BOYS DO FALL IN LOVE!!!!

THEY MAKE TIME….
THEY GET LOVE ON A SATURDAY NIGHT….."

Sendoh burst out laughing "Hahahaha!!! She…..hahahaha!!! She rocks! Hahahahah!!!!"

Kogure's glasses got fogged. Rani opened her eyes to see four men, no, make that two men staring at her, one man glaring at her and one man clutching his stomach while laughing like mad. Confused, she took off her earphones and asked. "What?"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Acknowledgement: Boys Do Fall In Love was written and sung by Robin Gibb