Am I late in updating again? Eheh.
Unchained: *eyes wide* Relax! Relax! Suspense won't kill! It just frustrates!
Alexia: Strangle Takeshi for you? And what would the payment be? ^_^ Enjoy reading!
Krappkarmin: Sorry too. Did I sound mad? I didn't mean to sound mad. To tell you the truth, during one crazy evening which happened a matter of days ago, I had this itch to write both a Koshino fic AND a Sawakita fic. But managed to restrain myself – for now. I promise you, if I have the time, I will, and you'll be the first to know. Okay? ^_^
Tiran: What am I going to do after I finish writing all my fics? *a dozen of ideas jump in* I dunno. Most probably try to focus on my upcoming HUGE exams (note the word try ). Have you got any other suggestions for me?
Tensaispira: Haha! I didn't see the connection between Konserto Terakhir with this fic!! Omigosh! You're right! BTW, my reading of KT was spoiled when somebody smugly said: "HE DIES IN THE END! HE DIES IN THE END! HA HA HA HA!" Spoiler betul!
Patty g: Maybe. Who can say? *turns into a pervert* *turn back to normal* Ahem. Sorry to keep you waiting!
Fiery-ice: Love ya too! ^_^ yep! I think he has a cute ass. But we can only look… *sigh* Ha ha! Help my hentai brain!
Mitchy: No problem! Ha ha! Can't believe you did ANOTHER review to apologise for that!
Celestial Moon: Next chap up!
Lady Artemis: Thanks! Glad you liked it!
sLL: Updated! Dunno about the 'soon' part! Ha ha!
Frozenfemale: Find out what's going to happen. Heh heh. Don't hate me! ^_^
Enigma_girl17: *blinks at the capital letters* Whoa! Calm down! I cut the part where it gets good (eh? It actually gets good?) so you'll come around again! ^_^ I'm busy, yes, sad to say, but I'm doing my best to do as much as possible! Be patient!
Reika Zelon: Beautiful flow? Wahahaha! Don't! My bum's ballooning up!
They stared at him, Takeshi pausing at the act of struggling to release his hand from Rui's carnivorous teeth and Rui all wide-eyed and growling. She spat Takeshi's hand back out, saw for a brief moment the valleys she'd carved out with her sharp teeth and grunted in satisfaction. Then: "WELL?? Are you just going to stand there??!" She kicked Takeshi out of the way and scrambled up.
A frown formed on Fujima's face and he placed his hands on his hips. "You were about to get it on," he accused furiously, teeth gritted at the thought of all the worrying he'd done when all along … "Sorry if I interrupted anything."
Takeshi's eyes were narrowed. "What a sorry ass you are," he murmured, almost in amusement. "You're not into her too, are you?"
Fujima glared at Rui. "Big mistake, as it seems."
Her face formed a vague irritated and lost expression. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded. "Did I ask you for it? No, I didn't. Did I go all out to make you fall under my spell? No, I didn't. Did I even WANT you to fall for me in the first place?" Yes. "Never mind."
"Yeah, well, you could have just TOLD me you've got this earthworm for your boyfriend."
Takeshi glared. "Hey."
"This earthworm is my STEPBROTHER for three lunar months." Rui hissed. "The prospect of him being my boyfriend is even more terrifying than his abnormal hormone imbalance."
"Hey!"
"Oh, right. So that's why you were down on the ground with him."
"Look, he was the one who dragged us down. He attacks, I fight. Hello?"
"So now you're saying he was going to rape you."
"Hah! He can't even rape a kitten for all he's worth. He was just trying to scare me, and it didn't work. And you're just pissed off because you wished it was you who was on top of me." Rui caught herself. "Whoa. Did I just say that?"
Fujima's eyes were nothing but narrow slits now. "So now I'm the stupid moony pining guy."
"You always have been."
"Damn it, you like me too. You're just too bigheaded to admit it."
"All right. I like you. No, I'm infatuated with you. I want to marry you. Let's jump off a cliff and die together." She ignored her reddening cheeks. "Now are you going to win us the game or what?"
They stared at each other, blinking.
Then Fujima cleared his throat. "Okay." He turned to Takeshi, who seemed to be dazed by the conversation that just took place. "All right, big guy. It's you and me now. Your entire team is under our total control. All you have to do is proclaim your surrender and then we'll all troop back, make use of the walkie-talkie and make the organisers bring us some fried chicken."
Takeshi's mind cleared at the word surrender. "Give up without a fight? You underestimate me too much." He stood up, gave one sullen glare at Rui and then turned back to Fujima. "One on one. Wrestling match."
Fujima rubbed one finger over his cheek. "I don't wrestle –" One mighty punch landed on his face. Shocked and seeing stars, he blinked a few times and saw three grinning Takeshis. Then his vision cleared, and along with it, fury bubbled. "You asked for it!"
The wrestling match began as both fell on the muddy ground.
Rui leaped out of the way when they threatened to drag her into the fight as well. Fascinated by a rather violent Fujima, she didn't register concern until he tumbled straight into a tree trunk. "Captain!"
"Tsk-tsk," came a familiar voice. "He's such a terrible fighter."
Rui turned, eyes wide. "Sakuragi! Kiyota!" The mentioned two were comfortably crouched on the forest floor, watching and munching on chips. "What are you doing here??"
"We stopped fighting because we were hungry," Sakuragi said distractedly, shaking his head again when Fujima received another blow. "Got back to camp, got chips and was told Fujima was here. So we came for the show." He snorted. "I could've avoided that like a flyweight champ."
"Liar." Kiyota muttered.
"Amateur."
"Ritz."
Kiyota blinked. "What's a Ritz?"
Sakuragi looked smug. "Ha ha! Only a genius could come up with a word like that! I created it myself! It means… aah … a stupid airhead!"
Rui sighed. "It's a name of a biscuit."
Kiyota threw his head back and laughed out loud.
Damn it, Fujima swore quietly as he threw out all his available limbs in Takeshi's direction. I'm half-dead here and they're laughing out there. "Aaargh!" Takeshi had just slammed an elbow into his stomach. He'd never be able to digest food properly again.
Revengefully, Fujima threw himself onto his opponent and they fell again, rolling on the ground, pushing one off the other and giving punches at every given opportunity. Covered with drying mud, he winced as Takeshi managed to push him down and started to rain blows on the sides of his face.
Since fighting with fists wasn't exactly his everyday hobby, Fujima found himself clearly disadvantaged. He couldn't even feel his arms anymore. But he'd sooner swallow his own tongue than lose to the earthworm. As if he'd let Rui see him in any other condition than victorious anyway.
"You know why I can't lose?" he managed, bracing for another punch.
Takeshi paused his swinging fist. "No." he sneered. "Why?"
"Because," Fujima wiped a hand over his bloodied lips, "she'll have to be your slave, as your bet dictates." He smirked, succeeded in not wincing at the cutting pain as his lips split. "And I can't allow that to happen to my girl."
"Your –"
One swift move, and Fujima had reversed their positions. Not seeing the huge rock they were right next to, he didn't realise he'd slammed Takeshi against the hard object until Takeshi's eyes rolled up. "Whoops."
Takeshi groaned, and fell into unconsciousness as the bump on his head swelled. "Well then," Fujima rubbed his sore arms, smiling smugly. "I guess that concludes our deal." Then he sighed. "Shit. Now I have to carry him."
"And so ends the game between Shoyo High School and Miuradai High School, with a final score of 115-98. Teams, please shake hands."
Fujima wiped the sweat zooming down the sides of his face with an equally sweaty hand. He smiled briefly at the Miuradai captain as they shook hands firmly, and then stepped back to join the celebration at their first victory in their first game of the season.
"Good game." Somebody said.
"Hmm. Thanks."
"Excellent fake you did there." That was somebody else.
"Yeah? Thanks." He accepted the mineral water bottle Hanagata passed him and took a long guzzle. "What's your plan tonight, Hana?"
Hanagata peeked out of the towel he was wiping his face with. "Tonight?" he grinned. "I've got a date."
Fujima grinned back. "Shocking. All right then. I thought I'd have you come over to my house so we can discuss our next game against Tsukubu, but –"
"Hold it! Hold it!" Hanagata crossed his long arms over his broad chest. "We haven't even begun celebrating our win and you're already thinking about the next game?"
"Don't I always?"
"Yeah, but it's usually ten minutes AFTER we've had our shower. And we've barely even reached the players' room yet." Hanagata shook his head. "You need to get a life, Fujima."
"I already have one, thanks. If I get another life, then it'll be sort of complicated. I'll have to sort of die first and be reincarnated and – well, well, well." He paused so suddenly that the team bumped into each other one by one behind him. "Hello, Rui."
She was leaning against the water cooler – looking entirely different in slightly more feminine clothes than the sweat pants and shirts he was accustomed to seeing her wearing, eyes on the floor, though her small smile showed she'd acknowledged his presence.
The Shoyo team peeked curiously over their captain's shoulder. Knowing all too well the nosey noses of his teammates, he urged them to go on, refusing to relent to the persuading looks they were giving him that said oh-please-just-for-a-minute-how-can-I-possibly-miss-this.
"Tell me she has nothing to do with you and I'll cancel my date and ask her out instead," Hanagata whispered as he passed.
"Get a life, Hana."
He scowled, and then raised an eyebrow at the implication. Snickering, he raced to catch up with the others to start spreading his suspicion.
Rui still didn't lift her eyes away from her fascinating study of the cement floor and Fujima didn't feel any hurry to start a conversation. They hadn't seen each other after departing from the Ranger Camp. Hadn't even said a word after he'd beaten Takeshi out.
She had just stared at him when he, Sakuragi dan Kiyota shared the burden of lifting Takeshi back to their camp. And they had bumped into each other a few times after that – the prize-giving ceremony, the entertaining marching show Takeshi's team had made and the farewell camp party – but for some reason, they never spoke. Looked, yes, but not talk. And then they'd gone back to their own lives and schools.
Just like that.
"What are you doing here?" he asked after a while.
"I don't know," she shrugged, finally looking up. "Maybe you can tell me?"
"You're here to see me."
Her eyes twinkled in amusement. "Maybe."
"You missed me."
"Perhaps."
He started to grin. "During our last conversation, you said something about being infatuated with me and marrying me and jumping off a cliff together. You meant that, didn't you?"
"Possibly."
"You're free tonight, aren't you?"
Her eyebrow rose. "Probably."
His grin was fully stretched by now. "Wait here," he told her. "I'll come back." He started to jog toward the players' room, paused and turned back. "I missed you a lot," he confessed then, following impulse. "Couldn't stop thinking about you. I think I might be in love with you. You know that, don't you?"
She smiled, though her heartbeat zoomed past 100mph. "Yes, Fujima," she nodded. "I know."
He burst into the shower room. "Hanagata, get your ass out of there and let me have my turn first." He dragged his baffled and towel-wrapped friend out. "You're not the only one with a date tonight."
^_^ So ends 'Roger, Captain!'
Apologies first in case I bored you to death, and thank-yous for actually reading this!!