Disclaimer : Slam Dunk is owned by Takehiko Inoue. Rani is mine!
Note: Sentences in italics are thoughts.
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Lady Artemis - Um.... there are vending machines in Japan where they sell soiled school girls' underwear, yes, it's true. Yup, pretty gross if you ask me. *LOL* I never really intended to make Rani's name sound Indian.
mskitsune - *snickers* She wasn't branded a hentai by Mitsui for nothing.
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Chapter 8: Of Karma & Dignity
Rukawa felt relieved when he learned that there's going to have a live concert at the festival venue. One of the performers was Daishi, one of his favorite male performers. At least there is a part of the festival that he will get to enjoy, he thought to himself.
"Daishi!? You mean The Daishi!?" Rani began to swoon. "That rock star who looks so cool in those tight leather pants!?" Ok, she's squirming in delight now. Actually, the guy is a lead singer of a rock group but Rani chose to ignore the rest of the group members. And obviously, Rukawa doesn't know that Rani is very much into Jrock.
Rukawa didn't get to answer her question when the crowd started roaring as a tall, handsome man in his mid-20's appeared on the stage. He is wearing his signature tight leather pants and gelled up, brown-dyed hair, looking like spikes pointing in all directions.
When the concert started, Rani kept on grabbing Rukawa's shirt in excitement and yanking him but the basketball player is as stiff as a board. "You are such a boring person, Rukawa-kun!"
Rukawa on the other hand was starting to feel dizzy with all the yanking and being in the middle of a crowd that's getting wild at the beat of Jrock. He also likes Daishi because he always listens to Jrock but for some reason he is starting to hate the guy. No doubt pop idols and rock stars are more popular than basketball players.
Big deal! Why are women going gaga over him, anyway?
Rani was the one who dragged him this time as they squeezed themselves into the middle of fanatic females. He doesn't know why he let Rani dragged him all the way to the backstage just to get near to the rockstar. When they got there, she managed to get an autograph. After that, Rani hugged and kissed the rock star on his cheek.
Rukawa smacked his forehead. He couldn't believe it. Rani is even worse than his fans.
"Ahhhh!!!! Rukawa-kun, pinch me! Pinch me!!!! Tell me I am not dreaming!!!" She kept tugging on his shirt. By this time, Rukawa was already sporting a disheveled look, as his shirt was already crumpled from all of Rani's tugging. A portion of his left shoulder was already showing and his hair was messier than when he would play basketball.
Rukawa turned chibi. "How about I just punch you?"
Unfortunately, Rani was still on cloud nine and too caught up at the sight of her idol that she ignored his question. Rukawa on the other hand felt so embarrassed at his companion's behavior.
"I got his autograph!!!! I can't believe it, Rukawa-kun! And I get to kiss him! I get to kiss him!!! Ahhh!!! I can die right now!" She mocked a faint and landed on Rukawa's chest.
Rukawa sweatdropped. And I also want to die right now.
For the nth time, Rukawa dragged Rani out of the crowd and reprimanded her. "Stop acting and squealing like that! Where is your dignity!?"
Rani blinked at him. "Dignity? Oh…dignity…wait…I have it here somewhere…" she fumbled through her pockets. "Awww….shoooooot!!!" She flicked her fingers. "I must have left it at home." She made a silly grin.
Rukawa rolled his eyes.
Rani moved closer to him and gripped his arm. "Rukawa-kun, don't be such a killjoy, alright? Get real! If you like someone, say it. If you love someone, show it."
"And by the way," Rani raised her eyebrows at him. "You're not the judge to tell me if I have dignity or not." She placed her left hand on her chest for emphasis. "I'm the one who decides on that."
At last, the festival was over. Rani's back to normal, whatever normal means to her. Rukawa slapped himself once just to make sure that he hadn't died from embarrassment yet. He wanted to congratulate himself for managing to stay alive through the whole ordeal. The two decided to have dinner before going home.
"You see," Rani started as soon as they finished ordering the food. "There was this time when me and Levy went to this Japanese restaurant and we both don't know how to use chopsticks. We managed to look like two stupids hahahahah!"
"Who's Levy?"
"One of my ex-boyfriends," she answered.
"Uhm?"
"My second ex-boyfriend to be exact."
"What happened?"
"Rukawa Kaede, don't you know how rude it is to ask a woman about her past?" She put on an angry face.
Rukawa froze, as he didn't expect that Rani would get angry knowing that she's a very open person.
"Joking!" Rani grinned at him and held out a peace sign, much to his relief. "Ok. My first boyfriend broke up with me when we were first year in college. He thought I would distract him from his studies and he wouldn't fulfill his dream to become a lawyer."
"Did he become a lawyer?" Rukawa asked.
Rani shrugged and made a face. "I don't know. That second one, well, I broke up with him because he wanted to have sex all the time. I mean, I like sex but he craved a lot for it… you know what I'm saying?"
Rukawa nodded. By this time, he's already used to Rani's outspoken personality but that made him raise an eyebrow for a second.
"The third one," Rani continued. "His religion is somewhat strict and wouldn't allow marriage with a non-believer. By the way, he was a foreign student in my country so he had to go back. That was it."
"I see. And the last one?"
"I married him. Hahahaha!!!!"
After having their dinner, the two walked out of the restaurant and started treading towards the train station.
"So… you're married?"
"No. Not anymore. I got my annulment before I came here. I waited for it so things wouldn't be hanging while I am out of the country."
"How come it didn't work out?"
"Oh…the usual stuff. He was sleeping with another woman. Some people told me I should have just tolerated him if I wanted our marriage to work out. But I don't know……. I have a very low tolerance level for those kinds of things. He's lucky I didn't cut his throat!" Rani kicked out an empty can of soda. A cat jumped when the can landed in front of it.
"Did you have a child?"
"Hm? No. He doesn't want to. He said he doesn't want responsibility."
"That's a sad story."
Rani made a face. "It's not that bad. Well, I almost committed suicide once but after that I always looked at the sunny side of everything. Painful experiences teach us a lot of things, you know. There's this saying that applies to us women, 'to find your prince, you have to kiss a lot of frogs' hahahahah!
"Rukawa-kun!" Rani was still rubbing her eyes when Rukawa came to see her the next morning. She had just gotten out of the bathroom and obviously hadn't combed her hair yet.
He shoved a tabloid in front of her. "Now everyone thinks I'm a pervert. Thanks to you!"
Rani looked at the tabloid's front page and saw a picture of Rukawa holding the 'soiled underwear' with his two hands. The headline, RUKAWA'S LATEST PASSION!
Rani turned her back to him and tried to suppress her giggling. Hahahah….Heheheh… Hahahaha.."
Rukawa throws another tabloid on her head. "Aho."
Rani faced him. "You know, you should be thankful. At least now, those girls wouldn't think you're gay!"
"Right," Rukawa went to sit on the couch. "Now everyone thinks I have a passion for those….those abominable things! Ugh!"
Rani grabbed the other tabloid that Rukawa used to hit her and read, RUKAWA ENDORSES A NEW PRODUCT!
"Hehehe….." Rani burst in a fit of laughter clutching her stomach. "Hahahahahah!!! Oh my God! Hahahahaha!!!!
"Aho."
"Awww…you're so cute here. Hahahahah!"
Kogure went out of his room when he heard Rani laughing like mad. "Wha-Rukawa-kun! What's going on?"
"Ask that aho," Rukawa cocked his head towards Rani.
"Hahahahaha!!! Kogure-kun, look at these!"
Kogure reached for the tabloids and immediately had a big sweatdrop at the back of his head.
"Hahahah!!! Where's your dignity now, Rukawa-kun?" Rani picked on him even more.
Rukawa lunged to grab the laughing 'aho' but the laughing 'aho' was quick enough to run away. The commotion created by the two knocked out some of the things in the living room.
Rani ran behind Kogure and used him as a shield.
"Errr…." Kogure's glasses got fogged. He raised his hands in an attempt to pacify Rukawa. "Would…. the two of you like some brownies? M-Maru gave them."
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A/N: Err...I don't know why my title and dividers won't go center. It was set on center on my Frontpage. Anybody knows why?