Date finished: 09 May 2003

Title: Infinity
Series: Slam Dunk
Status: 6/?
Pairing: Rukawa + OC
Category: Sap, slight angst
Warning: PG-13

A/N: This fic is not yet dead. I'm still going to finish this at some point.

'--denotes thoughts--' | /--denotes emphasis--/

Standard disclaimers apply.

***

"Infinity"
by Fall

Part 6 - "Pride vs. The righteous"

She had no idea when he first followed her.

The only thing she knew, was that when she passed by the mirror of some car parked on one side, she saw someone walking steadily just a couple of steps behind her. This someone had dark hair, was tall, and walked as if he was the king of the streets.

Yuki sped up her walking without showing that she was doing so. When they were both stuck at an intersection, she wheeled around and faced him pointedly.

"Rukawa Kaede! What do you think you're doing, following me from school?"

Rukawa just looked at her with confusion evident in his handsome face. "I'm not following you."

"Oh yes you are! Seems you've forgotten I'm not one of those passive girls."

"I'm merely going home. We /happen/ to live in the /same/ neighborhood."

That was the type of answer that Yukime was not expecting. It made her feel a stab of stupidity again as she stared at Rukawa's back, who was now crossing the street. 'Yuki no baka,' she muttered darkly. Her feet moved without her knowledge, and by the time she was aware of it, she had crossed the street at a run and was somehow face to face with Rukawa at the other side of the road, her irritated eyes challenging his passive ones.

But Rukawa only gave her a disdainful look and he suddenly turned his back on her and walked away.

This treatment was enough to snap Yuki out of her trance and made her blood pound furiously in her ears. How /dare/ he snub her like that?

"I hate you!" Yuki screamed. She took several long strides and overtook Rukawa, feeling much happier. When they were little kids, she was always given to saying the same thing to him every time he annoyed her. And although Rukawa never did anything to appease her wrath except to act as amiably as he can for a few minutes, she always felt good whenever she was able to vent her irritation through it. Yuki guessed that maybe it was because she knew that as long as the cycle never stopped; she can be assured of his friendship no matter what happens.

'That was before,' she reminded herself, the smirk on her face abruptly gone in an instant. She felt like a balloon being punctured of its air, plunging down to the ground because of gravity. With heavy strides, she continued walking down the path towards the junction that separated her friends' houses from hers. Mainly, Ana's and Kaede's houses.

"It has been that long since we last walked liked this, ne Yuki-chan?"

Yuki jumped at the sound of someone's voice jarring through her silent reveries. Trying to hide her disbelief from showing, she averted her eyes to her left side and found the source of the sad voice that had spoken.

It was Rukawa.

She couldn't find the voice to answer him, and he didn't press her to do so. They just walked in silence for a few minutes, each of them lost in their own memories. Yuki would steal a glance at Rukawa out of the corner of her eyes every now and then, but there was nothing to see. He looked like the same old Kaede she knew, but he was older and more matured than ever. He still possessed the silent, don't-mess-with-me demeanor, with his cold, passive eyes that make every girl giggle with interest and makes his enemies cower in fear. Once, he returned the look she gave him, and Yuki was so startled that she did not look at him again afterwards.

'I hate him, I hate him, oh I just /hate/ him!'

When they both reached the junction, none of them spoke a word. In the old days, there would be some teasing, and a lot of argumentative words would be exchanged before Ana would finally break the two apart and send them home. Yuki did not now why she lingered on the spot after a few steps nor why she looked at Rukawa expectantly before she said, "Well, this is it. See you at school tomorrow."

And she had no idea why Rukawa replied back with a, "Yeah, see you."

She was getting confused because the normal way wouldn't have been like that, that she should have retorted back, "You wouldn't be so lucky to see me" because that was the normal way. Instead she gave him the stupid sounding parting words and he replied back with another set of stupid sounding words. Yuki hated him for everything, right? Right?

***

"And yes, well, that was it!" Yuki was relaying this afternoon's events with her friend, Ana, on the phone. When she first dialed the numbers, her target was to ask about Ana's day and stuff, but as it usually goes, Ana was able to turn the tables and interrogate /Yuki/ about her day and stuff.

"That sounds interesting. Maybe you and Kaede-kun are starting over a new leaf of your friendship."

"We are not! I mean, I am not about to forgive him for /forgetting/ I was still alive all these years!"

There was a pause, and then the ripping of some foil wrapper was heard in the background. "Look, Kaede-kun did /not/ forget you were still alive. He was the first to send you a letter -- but you did not open it nor did you ever write him back."

Yuki chewed on her lips in irritation. "How can you be sure that he was the first to write me? There was you, and my onii-chan and our other friends. And hey -- even if I did not write him back a reply, he should have continued sending letters to me, right?"

Crunch, crunch, and swallow. "Yukime-chan, I asked everyone not to write you before Kaede-kun could send his." Ana could distinctly hear the sound of Yuki muttering, but decided to overlook it. "And how do you expect someone to write you back when he did not even know if you received the first one?"

"Hey, if you really want to write someone, you will not stop trying. And /stop/ munching on your snack, it's making this stupid crunch-crunch noise!"

"Oh, right, sorry." The sound of foil being stashed inside a drawer was heard. "Right. So, Yuki-chan, do you mean to say if you write me and I will not write you back, you /will/ continue writing me for years even if I never reply to you?"

"Don't be sarcastic. Of course, I wouldn't. Why should I waste my time on someone who obviously doesn't want to write to me in the first place?"

"Bingo. Now reflect on what you just have said and then tell me how come Kaede-kun acted like that." Ana resisted the urge to laugh at her friend's puzzled reaction. Sometimes, Yuki is given to bouts of irritation, voicing out everything that's wrong in this world, until someone would point out that Yuki was irritated at something that she herself was liable to do. And when that happens, Yuki would be liable to rant on how she wouldn't do such a thing and so on. In which cases it was best to leave her alone.

"MrmImguessIwasmrrrmwrong..."

"What is it Yuki-chan? I didn't hear you," Ana cheerfully said, knowing that she'd just heard Yuki mumble; 'I guess I was wrong'.

"I said I have to get off the phone. Talk to you next time." Came the irritated answer.

There was a suppressed laugh and then, "Yeah, Yuki-chan. Bye!"

Yuki waited until Ana had dropped the receiver back to its cradle before slamming her own. Sendoh poked his head around the doorframe and asked whether she was in a bad mood about whom. To which query Yuki only smiled at, coming up with an excuse to go upstairs and bury her head with a pillow.

"I shouldn't have come back in the first place..."

***

The next day...

"Ohayo, Yuki-chan!" Chidori was quick enough to hop over to her desk, complete with a poster obviously taken down off the first years' bulletin board. "Look!"

--"The Shohoku High Basketball Team would conduct its drafting for new members this afternoon. All freshmen interested to join should bring their registration cards to the gym at 5pm."--

Yuki raised an eyebrow. "So...?"

Chidori heaved a huge sigh and dramatically pointed over to Rukawa's desk. "We should /go/. Kaede-kun's joining, he told me so minutes ago, and we /need/ to be there."

"Chidori-chan, I still don't get it." She did, but she wouldn't allow herself to admit it. They need to be there to show their support. And Yuki doesn't want to show Rukawa that she's supporting him. She has her pride, and no matter what Ana says, Yuki hates him for forgetting all about her and treating her like some acquaintance and not the childhood friend that she was.

"Yuki-chan, see? Our friend is joining and this is the best time for us to show how much we support him! Think, Kaede-kun would soon become the team's Ace player and lead them to winning every game there is! We /have/ to support him!"

Grinding her teeth in irritation, Yuki took a deep breath and said clearly, "I will NOT go. Period." Of course she wouldn't -- she will watch his games all right, but she will not show up at the drafting. Why should she?

"Yuki-chan, onegai?" Chidori was not someone who will give up easily. Pulling her face into a pleading one, she repeated, "Onegai?"

But Yuki was spared from answering when Rukawa himself spoke behind them.

"She said she wouldn't, so stop asking her to reconsider, Chidori."

There he is again. He spoke Chidori's name, but he referred to Yuki as "she", doing so twice and adding the "her" to his sentence. Does he hate saying her name that much to avoid doing it?

Throwing him a disdainful look, Yuki turned to Chidori and smiled. "Sorry Chidori, but I really won't go. I'm doing this as a favor because you see, /he/ won't be able to shoot a ball correctly if I appear at the drafting later."

Yukime loved the glare that Rukawa shot her, but he couldn't say anything because the teacher had just came in. She felt in her element as she hissed, "I /so/ hate you." This earned another glare from Rukawa, who seemed to have lost the sleepiness that usually overcomes him at this hour of the day. Or rather, at all hours of the day except when he is playing basketball.

This little exchange was not lost on Chidori, who looked on with some sadness flitting across her eyes as she watched Rukawa's usual passive eyes glow with fire as he glared at Yuki. Her Kaede-kun was never alive like that. Oh yes, he would talk to her if she makes him, but he had never looked lively -- there was no other word for it -- as he was now.

Rukawa caught Chidori's eyes and returned it with a confused one. Chidori shook her head and gave him a smile. She made sure that Rukawa's eyes was on Yuki's back again before she glanced back at the poster she'd taken. She smiled sadly again, folded it two times and slipped it inside her pocket.

***

A/N: I'm no sap writer. Humor me and pretend that my sap was nice enough.

Constructive comments and criticisms are welcome.