A/n: Thanks to all the people who reviewed!! You guys are soo nice. Well, here chapter 14 for you all!!!
Chapter 14- Together at last
'Hey, people,' Sendo said absently.
'Don't you think it's weird? We call Aya by her first name, but then we call each other by our sir name,' he continued. Aya looked up from her comic book, startled. Rukawa, who was sleeping on the bed sat up, blinking. Fujima and Jin who were playing chest looked up at Sendo who was at his study table, having trouble, as he usually did, with his schoolwork.
It was two days since the encounter with Aya's dad, and they were all at Sendo's house. Sendo, suddenly aware that he had caught a whole lot more attention than he meant to…
'Nani? Did I say something wrong?' he asked innocently.
'Well,' Aya said, wondering in her heart what her "well" was for. She herself didn't know the answer to his question, which was though unimportant, yet it seemed to signify something very important in all their life.
'I dunno… what you said was…' she trailed off, shrugging, looking at her brothers, who were the brains in their group.
'Yeah, why did we do that? I mean most people called her Kenzen when they first met her, but we didn't. Don't include our parents, they learnt it from us… Sendo calling her Aya is understandable… but us? We called her Aya ever since we met her right?' Fujima said thoughtfully.
'Besides, why didn't Aya call Sendo Akira?' Jin asked. Rukawa, who was already nodding off said,
'Probably she was waiting…' and he fell asleep, letting his sentence hang, unfinished. The other four exchanged looks, then sighed.
'Waiting for what?' Sendo asked.
'Ask him,' Aya said, leaning over to shake Rukawa.
'What was I waiting for?' She received a punch.
'Baka!' she scolded a blinking Rukawa, rubbing her face.
'Ei?… oh… gomendasai, it was a reflex action. But again, you should have known that I hate being awoken, do'aho,' he replied.
'But we were in the middle of a discussion!' Sendo said, smiling at him.
'Yeah, maybe she was waiting,' Fujima said mysteriously, breaking their happy air into pieces.
'Nani?' Jin asked.
'Maybe she was waiting for us all. I think we were fated to be friends, like this, and she was unconsciously waiting for us. We, on the other hand called her Aya because we knew, somehow felt, that Kenzen wasn't her real name,' Fujima continued. Aya stared at him.
'Must you be so philosophical ne-onichan? Can't it be coincidental?' she questioned.
'The possibility is very slight. Very,' Jin said. Aya rolled her eyes. It was so hard, having people from first class to be your brothers. Jeez!
'Sendo-san, what made you say that?' Aya asked her best friend.
'Well… I dunno. It just stuck me at that time… that it was odd.' He replied.
'Why don't we just start calling each other by their first name and end the discussion on this topic?' Rukawa asked.
'I'm sleepy.'
'Are you ever not?' Fujima asked.
'Yeah, why don't we do that?' Aya asked.
'Sure,' Sendo said, without even giving it a thought. After a moment hesitation, Fujima and Jin nodded. By that time, Rukawa had already fallen asleep, and Aya was buried in her book.
'So, all of us are in the final league,' Sendo said, grinning at the only two who weren't so engross in their work.
'Yeah… I wonder whether Kainan can get the championship this year. I even wonder whether we'll make it to the Inter High,' Fujima said thoughtfully.
'Shohoku's strong this year, very strong. Imagine, Shohoku was defeated in the qualifying round last year, but this year, they entered the Final League, alongside us… Ryonan, Shoyo and Kainan. Man… it's almost impossible,' Jin said softly.
'Ah, well, you two are going to have a game in two days time,' Akira said, smiling mischievously at them all.
'Onichan, let's play one-on-one,' Aya said looking up from her book.
'Okay,' Fujima said.
'NO! I wasn't talking to you. I've played with you so many times that I think I can read your mind. I was talking to Soichiro,' Aya replied. Fujima shook his fist at her, and she just laughed away.
'Okay,' Jin answered.
'Kenji, I'll play with you,' Sendo said to the pouting Fujima. His pout disappeared at once, and he nodded.
'Kaede! Kaede! We're going to play!' Sendo said, shaking Rukawa who got up immediately.
'Matte!'
The two days passed…
In the basketball court,
'The first game of the final league, Kainan against Shoyo will start now. Tip off, the referee said loudly. Aya, Rukawa and Sendo who were watching their two friends playing in silence, silently cursed all the noisemakers around them.
'Look, there's the slut! There, between our Rukawa and Sendo,' a girl whispered. Aya sighed heavily. Ever since the rumors that she was dating all four Rukawa, Sendo, Fujima and Jin started spreading, she'd been called all kinds of names. She always wondered why her circle of friends, which consisted of her best friend, lover and her brother, couldn't be someone less important, less popular. Sendo patted her softly on her back. Aya flashed him a small smile, then fixed her eyes on the game again, trying her best to ignore the whispers of the girls behind them. She could see Rukawa was getting irritated too.
'These girls don't really treasure basketball,' Aya told herself impatiently, watching Maki stealing the ball from Hasegawa.
'They're all here because of Akira, Kaede, Kenji, Soichiro, and the rest,' she continued to herself unconsciously. Jin's perfect three-pointer sailed into the net, earning Kainan three points. The score was 5-2, in favor of Kainan. Then, Fujima stole the ball from Maki, and performed a quite breath-taking three-pointer. 5-5. Considering they played together almost everyday, they could almost always interprete each other's moves. Fortunately, Fujima was guarding Maki, not Jin.
'Basket count, I throw,' the referee said, after blowing his whistle at Takano. Maki's free throw gave Kainan another point, making the score 53-52. Hanagata got the ball. Unfortunately, it was stolen by Maki, who passed it to Jin. However, before Jin managed to shoot a three-pointer, Fujima stole the ball back, dashing forward at the same time. Then, he passed the ball to Hanagata, who caught it in the air, and made a dunk.
'Alley-oop!!!' all the Shoyo supporters said… screamed. Aya shot them an irritated glance. Suddenly, the interschool-sports section head interrupted the game.
'Sorry to interrupt the game, but we must have an important meeting with all the basketball teams who managed to enter the Final League. I repeat, this is very urgent, I have to go to Australia in three hours, so please, all the basketball members of Kainan, Shoyo, Ryonan, and Shohoku, meet at Kainan High school, now. Oh, and for everyone's information, the Inter High this year will be canceled.' Groans were heard everywhere. The interschool-sports section head, oblivious to all the groans and questions, turned and left, leaving everyone bewildered.
'Ei? Why?' Aya asked.
'Well, we'll know if we attended the meeting right,' Sendo said. Aya, Sendo and Rukawa fought their ways to Jin and Fujima's side. They were as bewildered as everyone else. The five left for Kainan.
'Okay, we have to form two new teams. These two teams will compete with other teams from Japan, and the two teams who win will represent Japan for the world games (is there such a thing? If not, the Olympic then, not that it makes any sense, but well…) We're allowed to combine the members from different teams,' the interschool-sports section head, Shun said, looking at the coaches expectantly.
'Well, Sendo, Uozumi, Mitsui… Taoka sensei was saying, until Sendo interrupted him.
'Sensei, if it's possible, we want to be together,' he said, pointing at his four friends, and then himself.
'Well… it would be possible, if Kenzen was replaced with either Uozumi or Akagi,' Taoka sensei replied.
'Or maybe Takasago or Hanagata. You need a center. And anyway, you already have a guard, Fujima will obviously be the guard in…' Takotah sensei replied, but he didn't finish his sentence because the four boys, Rukawa, Sendo, Fujima and Jin were shaking their heads.
'It's better if we are together,' Fujima said.
'Teamwork,' everybody stared at Rukawa.
'Aaa… Kitsune! What do you know about teamwork? Let the tensai basketball teach you about it,' the noisy redhead said.
'Yare, yare,' Rukawa said shrugging.
'Rukawa I think it's better for all of you to have Akagi or Hanagata, rather than Kenzen,' Anzai sensei said.
'N-O' they all replied. Aya, who knew better, just kept her mouth shut.
'Demo… you have no center, jumper,' Taoka sensei said.
'Akira and Kaede can do that,' Fujima countered.
'They don't have to play as a center, they can just be a jumper,' Jin continued. The couches tried to persuade them, but failed.
'Fine, the first team will consist of the five starters, Fujima, no.4, Sendo, no.5, Jin, no. 6, Rukawa, no. 7, and Kenzen, no. 8. They'll need substitutes too…'
To cut the long chat short, Ryota, Mitsui, Hanagata, Koshino and Hasegawa were our substitutes. The other team had Akagi, Uozumi, Sakuragi, Kiyota, Maki, Kogure, Nagano, Takano, Ikegami and Fukuda.
'Okay, now, tomorrow, you'll start competing with other teams from Japan. This competition will only last for five days, so you'll all be having two games per day,' Shun said. Everyone nodded.
'Well, we're playing together at last,' Sendo commented on the way home.
'Yeah, I've been waiting… cool,' Fujima said.
'Kaede, how about a one-on-one?' Sendo asked. He flashed his most challenging grin, and nodded.
A/N: oh… just for your info, I have two more fics, Terror… and Malice in Darkness, please do read and review it! Arigato…. And I hope you guys liked this chapter.
