Chapter 2 – The Try-outs

"Rukawa Kaede!  Wake up this instant!  How dare you fall asleep in my class, and on the first day of school, too?!  Rukawa!  Are you even listening to me…?!"

The dark-haired boy, seated at the back of the room due to his height, felt a none-too-subtle nudge (which almost sent him flying off his chair) coming from the direction of his friend and captain, Sakuragi Hanamichi.

"Oi, Kitsune, looks like the teacher's gonna burst a blood vessel," the redhead 'whispered'.  Of course, the whole room heard him, and had to hide their snickers behind their textbooks as Hanamichi dug into his pockets and grumbled, "Dammit!  I was so sure that I would win.  Baka Kitsune!  This is a whole week's wages…"

The two boys had obviously made a bet to see who would be the first to irritate the teacher.  Which Rukawa had just won.

Unfortunately for the bored third year class, the two basketballers were relatively obedient for the remainder of the day, except for the occasional exclamation from the back of the room ("Eww, Kitsune!  You're drooling all over the desk!").  As soon as the final bell rang, students poured out of their classrooms and the previously empty corridors were bursting with chatter and laughter.

The star players of Shohoku's basketball team were the last to leave the room, as they had plenty of time before the annual team try-outs were due to begin.  Strolling towards the gym (and falling asleep while doing so), Rukawa managed to arrive there in one piece solely thanks to Hanamichi, who prevented him from walking into a wall, falling down the stairs and tripping over a stray baseball (which the intimidating redhead had hurled back at a frightened second-year player).

"Kitsune… what would you do without me?"  Sigh.

"Do'aho," was the cold response.

"Teme, Kitsune…!"

This old and, as always, extremely loud argument was still being carried out as the two tall, athletic boys entered the gym.  They paused for a moment to savour the familiar sight and comforting, musky smell of their favourite place in the whole world.  Within these walls, fights had been fought, champions had been formed… and most importantly, friends had been made.

"It's good to be back, ne?" Hanamichi remarked softly, his earlier anger at his friend totally forgotten.

"Hn."

The large, square building was already quite packed with students, all eager to take a look at the new line-up of the basketball team, the all-conquering National Champions of the previous year.  Nervous first-years lined up to greet the captain, who grinned arrogantly and unwittingly caused nearby fangirls to swoon, pink hearts in their eyes.  Rukawa sighed imperceptibly, rolling his eyes at the do'aho's behaviour.  In any case, he reflected, as he leaned against a wall and surveyed the young hopefuls, he didn't mind staying out of the spotlight.  After all, he did all his talking on the court.

"Fancy meeting you here," a vaguely familiar voice greeted cheerfully.

Startled out of his reverie, the raven-haired boy spun around to find himself face-to-face (or rather, eye-to-eye) with the deep, melted-chocolate-brown gaze that had been at the back of his mind for the past three days.

"Sukinami-san, you didn't tell me that you knew Rukawa-san."

He almost winced at the sound of that voice, but just managed to control himself.  Strange.  He always seemed to have this sort of knee-jerk reaction around Akagi Haruko, the team's new manager after the departure of the infamous, fan-wielding Ayako.  Maybe it was a hangover from the days when the petite girl would follow him around with stars in her eyes, not unlike the ear-splitting fangirls who were drooling over Hanamichi right now.  Of course, the younger sister of the "Gori" had long since had a change in heart, and now had a massive crush on the redheaded captain.  The greatest irony was, Hanamichi had also lost interest in his first-year crush, and his one and only true love had become… yep, basketball.

"Haruko-chaaan!  I thought I told you to call me Ami, ne?" the tall, dark-haired girl admonished her new friend mischievously.  Turning back to the boy beside her with a friendly smile, "So you're Rukawa Kaede… I've heard a lot about you.  If I'd known who you were, I wouldn't have felt so bad about losing to you the other day!"

At that compliment, along came that blasted blush (another involuntary reaction which Rukawa found himself hating). 

'Why does this keep happening to me?' he fumed to himself.  'I will not blush… I will not blush… I will not blush…'

While he was busy ordering his rebellious body  to behave, Ami was giving Haruko a brief explanation of how they had met a few days ago, only to be interrupted by…

"Ami-chan!" the loud yell was the only warning Ami received before the red blur that was Sakuragi Hanamichi launched at her, wrapped her up in his arms and swung her around in a crazy circle.

"Hana-kun!" she laughed delightedly, as Rukawa and Haruko both looked on enviously.  Hanamichi, completely unaware of the many surprised and curious glances he was receiving from all over the gym, began to chatter excitedly.

"When did you come to Kanagawa?  Why didn't you call me?  What are you doing here?"

Head spinning, from the hug she had received as well as the rapid questions, Ami decided to answer them in the same order that they had shot out of Hanamichi's mouth.

"I arrived in Kanagawa last week.  I didn't call you 'cos I wanted this to be a surprise, and a pleasant one, I hope!  And as for why I'm here… I'm a Shohoku High student now, Hana-kun."