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

Note: Sentences in italics are thoughts.

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mskitsune - bows Here it is!

tensaispira - this is the continuation, more Kogure suffering heheh...

arashi tissue - yep, Rani is not a typical Mary Sue, maybe because she was created to make Kogure suffer mwhahahahah!

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Madness

Chapter 4: The Madness Continues

Days passed by. Rani is improving on her Japanese and she still pesters Kogure to accompany her to festivals. A new member of the household was added when Rani decided to adopt a stray kitten. It's a cute male kitten with stripped brown and white fur. She named him Hiro.

Rani is lying on the sofa with Hiro lying on her stomach while she's reading. Kogure on the other hand is watching some basketball program on TV. She couldn't understand why basketball appeals so much to him. People in her country are known as basketball fanatics as well but she never gave attention to the games. She rubbed her eyes and placed down the magazine on the table beside her and started playing with her hair.

"Kogure-kun!"

"Hm?" Kogure responded to her without taking his eyes away from the TV.

"I was just wondering if Maru likes basketball."

Kogure didn't expect that kind of question from her. "I really don't know. Why do you ask?" He then faced her.

"Well, if you two are going to live with each other, I think you should know her likes and dislikes." Rani raised her brows to make a point.

Kogure sighed. He never thought about that. He really wanted to get to know Maru but he can't since they don't date and he was too shy to even approach her.

Rani got up and sat beside him. "Don't worry, Kogure-kun. There's always a way." She smiled at him. "We will build you up." She patted him on the back and grinned.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rukawa Kaede is doing his usual early morning practice when he noticed a girl jogging a few feet away from him. Rani, the hentai. Hair in usual ponytail, she is wearing a gray t-shirt, dark blue shorts and white sneakers. Her ears are plugged to her discman and she doesn't look like she was paying attention to her surroundings. She had been jogging for almost an hour already.

~ ~ BOINK!~ ~ Something hard bounced on Rani's head. "What the---?" She landed on the pavement butt first.

Uh-oh….I must have thrown it too hard…

Rani's eyes goes @_@

"Are you alright?"

"Unnggg….Why are balls always after me?" *_*

"Here…" Rukawa offered his hand so she could stand up but she was busy checking for damages on her discman.

"Don't worry about your discman. Are you alright?"

"Uh…yea " She got up on her own.

"Is your discman alright?"

Rani looked at him. "Yes, it's still playing."

"Gomen. It was my fault." He apologized.

"Alright. I really should stay away from balls. They are bad for my health."

"Is that so?" Rukawa walked to the bench to get his towel. "Where is Kogure-sempai?"

"He visited his grandma. He left yesterday after work. He said he will be back today."

"Why don't we get something to eat. I'm starving."

"Sure." Rani grinned.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I have this phobia about balls."

Rukawa raised an eyebrow. Balls? Uh…Of course she's talking about sports balls. What am I thinking? Uh-oh…not good, not good, it's rubbing on me!

"You see five years ago, we had a company sportsfest and my colleagues asked me to join volleyball. I don't know a thing about volleyball but I see them just letting the ball land on their wrists or something so I thought it would be okay. Needless to say, I joined, we had practice and such but I noticed that the ball just keeps on landing on me! On my head, on my back, or on my face. Ok so, maybe it was just me. I wasn't really good at it.

"All you have to do is practice more." Rukawa replied.

"Oh practice? I did that. Heck, I almost died."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one fine sunny afternoon," She made a gesture with her hand trying to picture a sunny afternoon. "…my teammates decided to practice. So we went to a memorial park because nobody would disturb us there. For some reason, they decided to do it there. I liked it too because the roads are wide, basically no other people around and you know how memorial parks are, very wide open space. To cut the story short, what happened was that the ball rolled away from us. Since I was the nearest person to it, I ran after it but it just kept on rolling so I did something stupid. What I did was I stepped on it thinking that it would stop rolling but what happened was, I became out of balance and the ball rolled under my foot and BAM! I landed on concrete back first. I couldn't move. My teammates started to swarm around me. My back, from my neck down to the small of my back hurt, then slowly the pain seemed to spread in all directions. Then, the pain started to move from my spine to my chest. At that time, I was thinking that maybe 'this is it, this is my end.'" Hey, I was already seeing the bright light ahead! Hahahaha!!"

After the long narration, Rani took a bite from her sandwich and continued. "Even when I was walking on the streets back home and there were guys playing basketball, I always have to pay attention because the ball always gets within a foot from me. I don't know. I must be a ball magnet." She laughed out loud.

"I don't think so." Rukawa objected.

Rani smirked.

"I did it on purpose."

"What?" Rani's eyes grew wide.

Rukawa shrugged. "I've been calling you but you can't hear me so I just had to do that."

Rani leaned closer to him. "Did anyone ever tell you you're weird?"

"Half the population of Kanagawa, as a matter of fact."

"You could have just approached me!" Rani rolled her eyes.

Rukawa answered her with a shrug.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Maru-chan!!! Waiting for Hattori-san?" Rani greeted Maru at the hospital entrance. She's with Kogure who was trailing behind her.

"Hai." Maru smiled at the two. "Say, are you two an item?"

"What!? I got taste you know." Rani said it like Kogure is a plague or something.

Kogure facefaulted. So much for building me up.

"Besides, I think there is someone who is really suited for him." Rani started.

"Rani….." Kogure tugged at her sleeve but Rani ignored him.

"Kogure-kun is very shy when it comes to women. Must be some inferiority complex." Rani's face is serious as if she was just talking about a very casual topic. "What do you think about him, Maru-chan? Don't you think he is cute enough to attract attention?" Kogure turned red.

Maru walked beside Kogure and studied him like a caged bird at the zoo. "Of course, Kogure-kun. I think you are one of those few people who look good in glasses."

Rani faked a whopping cough.

"Are you alright, Rani?" Maru asked her.

"Oh me? I am perfectly alright. Why don't you ask Kogure-kun here if he is alright?" Rani answered while putting on an innocent face.

Maru turned to see a red-faced Kogure.

"Are you alright, Kogure-kun?" Maru placed her hand on his forehead. "Are you having a fever?" The poor man almost jumped at her touch. Maru turned to Rani.

Rani made a face. "Nah! Kogure-kun just blushes every time he is in front of a pretty woman."

"Hahah! You are funny, Rani. Oh, he's here now. Ja ne!" Maru waved to them at the sight of her boyfriend.

The two waved at her. When Maru and Hattori left, Kogure turned to his grinning friend.

"You…."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just another boring weekend. Rukawa decided to go to see Kogure and Rani. He saw her at the left side of the porch taking out clothes from the laundry machine. When he approached her, he saw that they were men's trousers and men's shirts.

"You are doing laundry for Kogure-sempai?" Rukawa couldn't help but ask. Why would she do laundry for Kogure in the first place?

"Hey, didn't notice you're there!" She wiped the sweat from her forehead with her left arm. "Ah….it's just this little deal we have."

Rukawa didn't say a word but he frowned and gave her the look 'what deal?'

"Um… you see, I promised I would do his laundry if he would take me to a festival." She grinned. She then pushed Rukawa towards the door. "C'mon, let's go inside. He's just taking a shower. I'm sure he'll be out soon."

Festival?

Rukawa went to the living room while Rani turned left to the kitchen/dining area. She whistled loudly when Kogure got out of the bathroom clad only in towel wrapped around his waist. He's not wearing his glasses, his hair is wet and still has beads of water around his body. "Did Adonis just got down from Mount Olympus or what? What a booodyyyyy!" [A/N: indeed… ***drool***]

"Maa…" Kogure blushed at the teasing Rani gave him.

Arms akimbo, she gave him a smirk and titled her head. "Well, go get dressed, Adonis because Maru-chan is at the living room." She winked at someone who is supposedly at the living room.

Kogure stopped on his tracks. "N-nani!?" What could Maru-chan be doing here?

Har! Har! Har! Rani is fighting hard not to burst out into laughter.

"B-but my clothes are in my room!"

"Aww…too bad." She called and winked to someone who is supposedly Maru at the living room. "Could you please give him his clothes?"

"Rani!!!"

Rani could no longer keep a straight face at the sight of her housemate's confusion and panic. She burst out into a fit of laughter. "Hahahaha!!! I was just kidding you! Go! It's Rukawa-kun who is at the living room."

Kogure let out a sigh of relief. Whew!