Disclaimer: Slam Dunk does not and will never belong to me. However, this plot belongs to me. If anyone dares to duplicate Cruel, be it rename it or change the characters' names and make it your own, be ready to get a letter from my lawyer.

Cruel -- Chapter 1: Our Destinies Crossed
-----------------------------------------
A new start. Finally. A new beginning in a new unfamiliar place. Shohoku High. Uncertainty and fear enveloped my heart. I'm nervous. I hesitated. All of my sudden, my excitement about starting high school was gone with the wind or rather eaten up by fear.

"Sakuragi!" Someone called my name. It was Mitsui, my primary school friend. At least now I know I'm not alone. Mitsui is in my class. We went up to class together. Actually we attended practically everything together. I made new friends in the new school on the first day too. It was pretty unexpected but well, due to my extrovert character, it's nothing surprising...

"Go peer support with me later k? We're in the same group." Rukawa, a new friend of mine, asked.

"Ok." I was more than glad. Mitsui was not in my group for peer support unfortunately.

After our lunch, Rukawa and I went straight for our first peer support session. We stood around this table together with another 9 people, on one of the side of the table was our names written with liquid paper on masking tape. I saw the name "Haruko" twice. This name has left quite a deep impression on my mind as in my class itself, there were two Harukos, but I don't think that they were in my group together. Only one was as far as I know. I nudged Rukawa.

"Who's the other Haruko?" I whispered but I guess I was too loud. Either that or that Haruko's ears were too sharp.

"Oh I'm the other Haruko." Like automatic doors, the people on both her sides stood aside and she was right before my eyes. I could barely breathe. My heart skipped a beat. I feel my face turning red and I felt utterly embarrassed.

"Oh." That was the only word that I could manage.

"Erm.. Let's settle down and we can begin our first session. The masking tapes on the tables have your name on it, that will be your name tag for the day since I don't know you people yet." Haruko began. She gave out the tags while we sat in a circle on chairs.

"U mispelled my name. U missed out the "i"." I exclaimed. I hate it when people spell my name wrongly.

"Haiz.. Sakuragi, never mind about it la.. It's just one letter difference. Don't make people's life hard." Rukawa said. "See la.. Your fault. People embarrassed already.." He whispered into my ears.

"Erm.. Come.. Give it to me. I write it in for you. I'm sorry." Haruko said. She was blushing slightly. I cursed myself. Why did I have to point out her mistake? I watched her as she altered my name on the masking tape gingerly. I do not know why, but I started blushing again when she looked up at me and smiled. She handed that masking tape back to me. And we went back and sat in that circle again.

"Erm.. Let me introduce myself. I'm your peer support leader, Haruko Akagi. I'm 2 years older than all of you. I'm in track & field and dance club. We'll go one round and introduce ourselves, ok?" She smiled at everyone. Her smile was so heart-warming.

After all the introductions, we began with a game, The Name Game.

"This game is very simple. Just come up with an adjective that begins with the first letter of your name, like "A" for "adventurous", "B" for "brave and like "S" for "strong". It's easy isn't it? Let's begin."

"God.. I can't think of any word for my name. Satoshi will use "strong", then what can I use?" I exclaimed.

"How about "straightforward" ?" She offered and smiled at me. I feel so embarrassed again and my face feels burning hot.

After we finished the name game, she said that we should come up with group rules and everyone is to come up with one rule each.

My turn. I was one of the last to speak. I can't think of anything. Ok. Got it.

"How about if anyone breaks any of the above rules, he/she will have to do a forfeit?" Immediately, everyone started protesting and the group was so noisy. Expected. No one would ever want to embarrass him or herself.

"Hey I like this idea! We can look forward to some entertainment..." Haruko said to my amazement.

"Sakuragi! YOU IDIOT!" Rukawa started tickling me. Haruko laughed as we looked extremely comical. The rest was rolling up their sleeves, going to get me for what I just did. The way she laughed made me blushed again. To see her so tickled was an enjoyment.

"Hey erm.. Enough already. Let's get back to it." Haruko broke in and saved me from being "murdered".

"Sakuragi, lets see if you can still laugh when you are the one being forfeited. Then we'll laugh." Satoshi, another group member, said.

"Haha... I will never get forfeited.. So u can wait.." I said cockily. I stole a glance at Haruko to see her smiling at me.

"It's 3:45 already. I planned a joint game with another group from your class. Let's make our way to the concourse now." Haruko said.

That was how our destinies crossed.

~To be continued~
Well.. I supposed that this chapter being the beginning is rather boring but please go on to the next chapter... Things are just getting interesting...