CHAPTER NINE

~ like a soft, gentle breeze, he whispered most tenderly, "And you were right." ~

Yukkuri to dakeredo hitotsu dake

Kizu ita koto shinjitai kara

-0-

Gradually, finally, you're the only one

Always call me, because I will believe in you

Rukawa wheezed and eyed his opponent with contempt as the latter jumped up and scored another basket. It was an hour past noon and he could already feel his stomach churning. How the hell did he end up in this court pitting himself against this spike-haired freak? He was supposed to be on his way to Mito's place by now, rejoicing at the thought of basking once again in the glory of Ayako's sight.

"What's wrong, Kaede Rukawa?" Akira Sendoh, ace player of Ryonan High, scoffed good-naturedly. "You haven't scored a single basket."

Rukawa cursed under his breath as he stared at the ball resting on the end line. He clasped a hand to his abdomen and wished he wasn't in too much pain right now to make this guy eat dust from hell. He had taken the bandage off his head this morning, knowing that the sight of it would worry his grandmother to death. But even though it was easy enough to hide his abdominal wound, he just couldn't keep the pain that was harboring it from getting to his every move. There was also the nasty abrasion on his left leg

"You look pale. Are you hurting somewhere?" Sendoh's voice dripped with concern. Or did it? Rukawa couldn't quite make up his mind whether Sendoh was really concerned about his condition or was just simply mocking him.

Sendoh shrugged and turned to pick the ball up from the ground. "I knewI shouldn't have challenged you to this match." He then faced Rukawa and smiled in what looked to the younger guy as mock sympathy. "I don't like competing with injured wimps."

"I'm not a wimp," Rukawa said tersely.

"Oh yeah?" Sendoh raised a skeptical brow at him. "But you are injured, ne?"

Rukawa just simply stared at him. Me, injured? That was an understatement. He felt like banging his head on the ground and killing himself altogether to free his body from the agony.

"Are you?" Sendoh prodded.

"No," Rukawa's voice caught in his throat, making his curt reply an obvious lie.

Sendoh's eyes locked on the hand in his abdomen. "Let me see that," he said demandingly as he strode forward.

But the older guy had already ignited too much flame of indignation in the other guys ego that before he could even come close enough to discover the root of his kouhais distress, Rukawa managed to snatch the ball from his hand and went sprinting like the wind towards the basket.

Swak! The ball fell into the basket in a graceful lay-up shot that only the likes of Kaede Rukawa could do even while injured.

"That was pretty clever," Sendoh remarked with a look of awe in his face. "Pretending you were sick and then stealing the ball from the unsuspecting opponent. That's a new trick." The ball rolled to his feet and he bent down to pick it up. "But your one against my ten means you'll have to think of more clever ones... wimp."

Rukawa's blood turned to lava as he stared at the frowning ace player. He felt the situation was getting really serious for Sendoh was no longer teasing good-naturedly like he did before.

And was there a tinge of vengeful contempt in those flashing blue eyes? Perhaps the older guy still felt bad about not making it to the National Finals in his last year in high school. But was it his and Shohoku's fault that Ryonan High's basketball team was just a bunch of wimps?

"Ja," Sendoh smiled wryly as he began dribbling the ball. "Let me see you stop this." He then turned around and began advancing toward the front court.

What theRukawa was stunned for a while. Weren't they supposed to be playing a half-court game? Then how come Sendoh was making a run for the other basket? Realizing he had no other choice but to go by Sendoh's whimor else be branded a wimp foreverhe sprinted after his senpai as fast as he could, completely oblivious to the shooting pain in his leg and abdomen. All that really seemed to matter at that very moment was thwarting Sendoh's attack at all cost.

Sendoh leaped into the air for a dunk, but so did Rukawa to swat the ball away from behind. Rukawa managed to touch the ball, but Sendoh, in an attempt to save it, instinctively withdrew to make an adroit transfer to his other hand. But as he did so, his left elbow accidentally hit Rukawa's wound, causing the startled guy to howl in pain and grab his senpai's left shoulder. To his surprise, the spike-haired howled even louder before losing hold on the ball, which went thump-thumping casually as the two basketball aces crashed with rattling forces on the ground.

Rukawa had both hands pressed against his bleeding wound, while Sendoh's hand was clasped against his bleeding shoulder.

Bleeding? Despite his pain, Rukawa managed to lock his eyes on Sendoh's shoulder. He had torn the sleeve off his senpai's shirt when he made that grab and now he could clearly see the bandage which was slowly turning red from blood.

Akira Sendoh was wounded!

Before he could even begin wondering over it, numbness slowly flooded Rukawa's body and he gasped as he tasted blood in his mouth. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to will himself to forget the pain. The pain that was slowly pulling him closer and closer to absolute peace

No! He would never let this stupid wound make him give up on his life. Not until he could be sure Ayako was safe. Safe in the arms of her beloved, though the very thought of it may hurt him so. He had sworn this on his father's grave when he visited it this morning...

This morning had been a totally emotional one. He brought some fried udon to his grandmother and couldn't forget the look of shock on her face when he asked her to accompany him to his father's grave. This was where, piece by piece, Rukawa managed to destroy the walls of apathy he had built around him and bonded at last with his grandmother.

He could still feel the warmth of Obaa-san'sarms wrapped tightly around him as he broke down and cried into her bosom. The tears of the years came rushing down his face and Obaa-san stayed there with him, just holding him. Not telling him to calm down but instead urging him to cry on and on until all the pain, all the miseries, and bitterness were completely drained out of his soul.

Right then and there Rukawa knew how nice it felt to forgive and be forgiven... To love and be loved in turn...

"Kaede!" the utterly familiar voice snapped his eyes to the entrance to the public court where he saw Ayako rushing towards him followed closely by Youhei Mito.

Seeing this instantly made Rukawa's heart beat with alarm as his head pounded with anger. "I told you not to let her out!" he snarled at Youhei as he struggled to sit up, the pain of his wound now completely forgotten.

The stunned Gundan stopped dead in his tracks and opened his mouth to try to explain his side. But instantly thought better of it when he saw Ayako drop to her knees before Rukawa, consequently slapping the scowling guy on the face.

"Don't be such an asshole, you," Ayako growled under her breath, her face creased with a vicious frown that stunned Rukawa to silence and held him gaping at her like a total idiot, his face red and throbbing from both the pain and embarrassment.

The sight of it stunned Youhei just as much, but his attention was shortly averted to another presence struggling against his own pain as he pulled himself off the ground with a hand still clutched on his shoulder.

"S-Sendoh?" Youhei muttered in disbelief.

"That was pretty good, Rukawa," Sendoh said as he grinned wryly at the younger guy. "But you still lose."

Ayako's frown deepened as she gazed back at Rukawa, "You've challenged Akira Sendoh to a match?"

Rukawa wouldve opened his mouth to defend himself, if he really did care enough to. But the look of rage in Ayakos face seemed to have paralyzed his lips completely.

"Don't be angry at your boyfriend, Ayako," Sendoh teased.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Ayako snapped back while Rukawa simply threw a disdainful frown at the spiteful guy, his cheeks faintly tinted red.

Sendoh chuckled as he went to get his ball. "Anyway, I was the one who challenged him to the match." He bent down and palmed the ball with his left hand. "I didn't know he was wounded. Sorry."

"You're wounded yourself." Youhei's voice dripped with suspicion as he regarded Sendoh with a look of scrutiny.

The spike-haired guy responded with a weak smile and said, "Yes. But only just." He then turned to Rukawa and grimly vowed. "I'll see you later, Kaede Rukawa," before dragging himself out of that court with Youhei's suspicious scowl following him until he was out of sight. Rukawa and Ayako, on the other hand, were too busy making amends to take notice.

"Sorry if I've worried you," Rukawa said quietly, too afraid to raise his head and look again at that horrible frown on Ayako's face.

"No," Ayako said just as quietly. "Sorry if I've upset you."

Rukawa dared to look at her and was relieved to see a coy smile playing on her lips.

"It's just that..." Ayako appeared to be struggling over whether or not to say what she wanted to say. But when blue eyes met blue, she expelled all her hesitations out in a sigh and threw her arms around his neck, whispering, "It's just that I felt you needed me."

For a second, Rukawa was so dazed he nearly forgot how to breathe. It took a while for him to realize that Ayako was actually hugging himwarm and tightagain.

He didn't care at all that Youhei was watching them. His arms just went and wrapped themselves around Ayako's body, giving her as much warmth as she was giving him. There were indeed a lot of other things more important than basketball. And he felt glad and grateful that he was finally realizing them, one by one...

Rukawa moved his lips close to Ayako's ears, then like a soft, gentle breeze, he whispered most tenderly, "And you were right."

tbc