Disclaimer: (and this goes for everything I write about Slam Dunk) I do not own Slam Dunk. I own Yukie Shibahime.

Only When I Sleep

Chapter 4

[4:30 pm; saturday]

Ayako blew her whistle and declared, "minna-san! practice is over!"

The players gathered the basketballs and returned them to the basketball rack. Rukawa also returned the basketball he was using, much to the surprise of his teammates -- he often practised for an hour or so after the regular practice.

He walked over to Yukie, who was animatedly telling a story (about her stay in America) to Haruko.

"Shi-chan, let's go," Rukawa said quietly.

"What's wrong with your voice?" Yukie teased.

Rukawa glared at her.

"I was just about to invite Haruko to eat ice cream with us. My treat of course." Yukie grinned.

Haruko automatically shook her head. Two's a company, three's a crowd.

"No thank you, I--"

"Dozo Haruko-chan," Yukie interrupted, again putting on a sad-puppy-look on her face.

From the expression on Haruko's face, she's crumbling, Rukawa observed.

"Uh, well, I should leave the two of you, I imagine you two have a lot of catching up to do," Haruko said, uncomfortable. She was looking only at Yukie, avoiding Rukawa's gaze.

Yukie noticed this, of course. "Haruko-chan, why don't you look at Rukawa? I mean, after all, you are addressing the two of us," she said bluntly.

Haruko blushed. "ah..."

"Shi-chan," Rukawa cut in, sparing Haruko the embarrassment of having to answer.

"Maybe next time, I promise," Haruko sputtered. She smiled feebly and hurriedly went to her oniichan.

"What was that all about?" Rukawa asked.

"What do you mean?" Yukie asked, genuinely confused.

"Why'd you invite her?"

Yukie got more confused. "Why? Is she some sort of mad-woman?"

Rukawa glanced around and saw that almost everybody was looking at them. "Let's get out of here."

********************

[4:48 pm; Dairy Queen]

[A/N: surely they have dairy queen there?]

"Kaede-kun, what's gotten into you? You know, you have a lot of explaining to do...What was that you meant earlier when you said something weird about you talking?" Yukie asked in between mouthfuls of chocolate ice cream. [A/N: i'm torturing myself...]

Rukawa grimaced; his only response.

"Hello?" Yukie waved her hand in front of Rukawa's face.

"Shi-chan," Rukawa started, then stopped. He didn't know how to explain the situation.

"Come on, fess up."

"Remember when you first met me?"

"What is this, a trip to memory lane?" Yukie teased, but then, she saw Rukawa's serious expression and she sighed.

[flashback]

Yukie, a kid of 10 years, walked up to the boy who was sitting silently on the swing. It was recess and everybody was playing, except the boy who was alone.

"Hello! I'm new here! My name is Yukie Shibahime. You are?"

The boy stared at her.

"um, did you hear me?"

His blue eyes just stared back. He pushed his feet against the grass and the swing moved.

[A/N: i read somewhere that rukawa has blue eyes in fanfics but in the anime he has brown eyes. never noticed that, i'm not much of an observer. hehe. wala lang.]

"I was talking to you. Why are you so rude?"

He ignored her and kept on swinging, looking straight ahead.

"Fine!" Yukie stomped away and sat on a bench near a tree.

A girl approached her and introduced herself as Minako Keichi. "You're new, aren't you?"

"Hai. My name's Yukie Shibahime. It's very nice to meet you."

"I see you were just talking to our classmate," Minako said, smiling.

"He's our classmate? He's rude."

"Don't take it personally. He's like that with everyone."

"What's his problem anyway?" Yukie frowned.

"We don't really know. He doesn't have any friends, you know. We don't really like him," Minako whispered.

At that moment, Yukie's anger turned into sympathy for the boy.

___________________

Class had ended and they were all walking home. Yukie searched for the boy she had met earlier and was glad when she saw him walking towards the path she about to take. [A/N: gee...that sounds funny]

She quickly joined him and said, "Hello. We met earlier. Remember? My name's Yukie."

The boy ignored her again and simply kept on walking, his backpack slung over his left shoulder.

"Are you an agelast?"

The boy stopped walking and stared at her. He seems to have a habit of staring at people, Yukie thought.

"What's an agelast?"

Yukie smiled. "Someone who never laughs."

"I laugh," the boy said huffily. He started to walk again and Yukie walked beside him.

After a few minutes of walking silently, the boy complained, "why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you," Yukie said innocently. "I'm going home and home happens to be this way."

The boy glared at her and Yukie felt a little guilty for pestering him. Just a little, though. [A/N: little did she know that the boy would grow up to be a person who did nothing but glare at people...hehe]

"Well don't walk so near me then," the boy said, frowning at her.

Yukie put on her sad-puppy-look and looked at him beseechingly. [A/N: yup, she's been practising that for ages! and it ALWAYS works with the boy...it will ALWAYS work...hehe]

"Fine, do whatever you want," the boy decided.

"You never answered me."

"What?"

"What's your name?"

The boy looked at Yukie and her sad-puppy-look and relented. "Rukawa Kaede."

"That's a nice name."

They walked silently again until they reached Yukie's house.

"This is where I live," Yukie said, pointing to her house. "Do you want to come in and play a computer game?"

Rukawa shook his head.

Yukie's happy expression faded. She had hoped that he would agree.

"I have to go. I will see you tomorrow."

"Ok. Tomorrow then, Rukawa?" Yukie's expression was now imploring.

"Yes. You can call me Kaede," Rukawa said, smiling a little bit.

"Really?" Yukie grinned. "Okay, Kaede-kun! Sayonara!"

"Sayonara, Shi-chan."

Yukie was touched. He remembers my whole name!

He smiled fully (but still somewhat shyly) and walked home.

[end of flashback]

"Yes, well what about it?" Yukie said.

"I didn't talk to anyone back then, before I met you."

"Yes, I know that," Yukie replied.

"Well, I sort of went back to that after you went to America," Rukawa confessed.

"NANI???" Several people turned their heads to see who yelled.

"I can see you're overwhelmed," Rukawa muttered.

***********************

author's notes:

hello peeps! er, don't know what to say...

to diwata: i still can't think of a guy to pair off with Yukie... any suggestions? (i'm already planning a sequel...hehe)

to rook: you asked how i would bring haruko and rukawa together...well...i can't answer right now...you'll see soon!

to S.G.O.: here it is! thanks!

to renei: rukawa doesn't exactly see haruko's face when he dreams of her...have you had that kind of dream before? i've had plenty. i got the idea for this fanfic from one of my dreams: i dreamed of my "boyfriend" but he was faceless, still, i thought he was handsome. weird, huh? about the author's notes...thanks for the advice. i promise i'll keep it to the beginnings and ends of each chapter -- starting next time! arigato!

--mskitsune--

www.livejournal.com/users/mskitsune