May 2, 2003 . (--,) .sars fic na ito!!!
Till S.A.R.S. Do Us Part
gurl_labo: wahaha! kaesaku, tnx 4 the pen name!!!
What will happen if three of the members of the Shohoku basketball team will be placed under quarantine for a suspected SARS case? Read on to find out. (--,)
RuHanaRu, MitKoMit, RyoAyaRyo, AkaUozAka. yaoi and non-yaoi. rated p.g. comedy slash romance. 1/1
Analogy: Inoue Takehiko is to tensai as to gurl_labo is to an insomniac- psycho slash weirdo. Slamdunk is not mine. 'di ko siya inaangkin. standard disclaimers apply.
MEN IN WHITE
"Ayako-chan, somebody's looking for you downstairs," Mirei said as she pulled the big fluffy pillow her roommate was hugging, but practically ignored her.
"Go away."
Irritated, Mirei then started to throw stuffed toys to Ayako's bed from afar. "Oi, Ayako-chan, you better wake up there, those people downstairs are causing this big commotion at our dorm lobby! AYAKO!"
"Huh?. Wha?. Who?" Ayako sat up from her bed and rubbed the sleep off her eyes. "Goodness, its Saturday morning, can't they just visit me some other time." She complained in between two big yawns and stopped when she noticed Mirei from the far end corner of the room they are sharing. "Oi, baka! That's quite offending you know!" She smelled her own breath and then her underarms. "Why the heck are you covering your nose?"
Mirei continued to stand at the far corner with one hand covering her nose and mouth and the other with a Doreamon stuffed toy she was about to throw to Ayako's bed that she now held like a shield from her puzzled roommate. "Um. eh. just.just get your ass down there, okay." She replied but Ayako vaguely understood because of the hand muffling her weird roommate's mouth.
"Hai, hai." Ayako said in an irritated tone. /This should be something of great importance./ She thought as she stood up from her bed and walked out of the room and down to the hallway of her dorm still smelling her own breath and underarms.
***
/Can't some housemate with compassion for the sleeping me get that?/ Mitsui thought as he covered his head with a pillow and tried to continue to sleep inspite of the loud knock on the door.
Knock. knock.
/Cut. The. Crap./
Knock.knock.knock.
"It's Saturday morning! Stop knocking on our apartment's door!" Mitsui angrily shouted as he jumped off his bed and stood by his bedroom's door in his boxers.
But the knocking still continued.
An enraged Mitsui rushed to the door and grabbed the person knocking behind it by the collar.
/What the hell is this man wearing?/ Mitsui released the collar from his grasp and closely looked at the man, who is dressed in a white overall suit, white gloves with a white thing on his head that seemed to look like a helmet with an attached gas mask to cover his nose and mouth.
The man was about to say something but sweat-dropped when he was interrupted.
"Oi, Astronaut-san, its too early for trick or treat."
***
"Ohayou..." Rukawa greeted with closed sleepy eyes as he opened his apartment's door.
"Ohayou gosaimasu, sir," The man standing in front of the sleeping boy greeted back. "Is Mr. Kaele Hukaiwa home?"
"Hai.." Rukawa struggled to open his eyes and raised his hand.
"Sir, we we're asked to instantaneously bring you to a specified quarantine near Kanagawa hospital," The man explained as he showed Rukawa a bunch of papers fastened in a silver clipboard. "You we're said to have a close contact with Mr. Kodaime Fujiko before he died."
Rukawa dozed off again as the man continued to blab for what seemed to be a millenium for him.
".He is a man who just died after showing symptoms of a person with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus or SARS."
Zzzz...
The man continued. "In order for the virus to be prevented from spreading further to other people, especially after finding out in your profile investigation that there is an 85% chance that you'll affect a large population of people including your housemates and students at your school."
Zzzzzzzzzz.
The man continued with the SARS talk, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions of worry, concern and full-authority of the matter behind the white helmet and mask he is wearing. Totally oblivious of the fact that he is talking to a narcoleptic boy with a special talent to sleep in a normal standing position. He then shoved the clipboard closer to Rukawa's face and finished his dialogue ".therefore sir, we are asking you to readily cooperate with us in this preventive measure."
Rukawa blinked off his sleep and tried to read the blurred letters on the clipboard placed an inch from his nose.
"Sir, we don't have enough time, you should be taken to the quarantine immediately."
"Hai.." The fox-eyed sleeping boy answered and sleepwalked outside the door.
***
/I should have bought my paper fan with me./ Ayako thought impatiently as the man in white over-alls continued with his SARS talk that turned out to be a SARS symposium for her dorm mates at their dorm lobby. And what made the situation perfect for some serious paper fan whacking action for her is the exaggerated distance of several thousand feet of the entire dorm citizenry gathered at the lobby from her.
/What is this man yakking about anyway? I have SARS? I don't even know what that man is talking about./ Ayako massaged her temples to stop the throbbing migraine in her head when she saw a girl at the lobby raise her hand for a question.
"Yes, dear?" The man in white pointed at the girl for the question.
"What disinfectant would you recommend that we should spray right after Ayako-chan leaves the building?"
/Yare. Yare./ The Shohoku basketball team manager sweat dropped. The man placed a hand on his chin and was about to answer the question but a flaming Ayako yanked him away from the dorm spotlight.
"Oi. Astro-man. That's enough talk. I have SARS. I need to be isolated. Let's Go." The man was practically dragged out of the building by Ayako to end the humiliation frenzy especially organized for her.
***
Mitsui grabbed again the weird man in white's collar. "Nani!?!" Question marks begin to pop on his head. "What LARS are you talking about?!"
The man struggled to get away from the scarred boy's grasp on his collar. "It's SARS, sir..." He corrected. "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome."
More question marks popped as the boy in boxer shorts released the man's collar.
"We need to put you in quarantine immediately. Doctor's orders."
Question marks all over. /I don't get all of this crap./
The man tried to continue but stepped back when Mitsui snapped out of his thoughts and gave him again the you-disturbed-my-sleep-to-tell-all-this- crap-I-can't-comprehend look.
"Sir. I suggest, sir. that you just cooperate." The man wailed in a high pitched frightened tone while making a karate defense pose.
/Weird man./ Mitsui thought as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
The man brought out his mobile phone. "Doc, we're about to take necessary actions to take this man to isolation... hai, hai. bye." He turned off the phone and signaled two men in overalls inside the ambulance to approach Mitsui.
"What the." Mitsui struggled as the two men grabbed each of his arms and forced him outside of his apartment barely dressed.
***
"Nice p.j's," Mitsui smirked as he stared at what Ayako was wearing.
"Look who's very dressed for the occasion." The girl with curly hair wearing a tight fitting pink spaghetti -strapped tank top and draw string pajamas with muffin prints on it commented back as she stared at the half- naked, almost bare Mitsui. *throws a box of Kleenex to the nose-bleeding kaesaku* (--,)
"Urusai! 'Not my fault. These men in white practically kidnapped me like my parents have money for ransom or something." Mitsui looked down at the eyeglasses printed boxer shorts that he is wearing.
"I think Rukawa was too sleepy to argue." Ayako concluded after observing the sleeping rookie in his white sleeveless top and plain red boxer shorts.
A lady in her late thirties approached them wearing the same frustrated astro-suit like the rest. She cleared her throat and the said three teenagers to be infected with SARS looked at her irritatingly, knowing that she's the mastermind behind all these.
"I'm Dr. Ichigaki, head of the Kanagawa SARS Prevention Program." The lady in white introduced herself. "This house will be your temporary shelter for 14 days while we put the three of you under observation so we may know if you will display any of the symptoms of a person infected with SARS." Dr. Ichigaki explained further the reason why they are ordered for quarantine but for the three, they already summarized the entire thought of the whole lecture. 14 days of boredom to the maximum level for them.
Apparently, this mutilation of their beautiful and promising Saturday and the rest of their lives for fourteen days, as explained by the astro-clan in white who came to earth to save Kanagawa from SARS, was caused by a traced close contact by the three of them with a man named Kodaime Fujiko. This man recently died with a suspected case of SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. To prevent the spread of the virus, which at present still doesn't have anything researched to be a cure for it, every person who encountered a close contact with Kodaime, the first suspected case of SARS in Kanagawa, will be placed under isolation. Unluckily, though it still beats the hell out of them whoever Kodaime Fujiko is -- Ayako, Mitsui and Rukawa were said to be under that list.
"Come in, come in." The cheerful doctor said after opening the last of the seven locks on the door of the apartment and finally opened the door. "And feel at home!"
Ayako gave her a scripted annoyed smile.
Mitsui looked as if he was about to punch her.
Rukawa icily glared at her.
The three stood outside the assigned single-detached apartment to be their quarantine, which was a block away from the hospital and they were all thinking of the same thing.
/Omae wo korosu. I will kill you for spoiling my Saturday./
***
GOIN' BANANAS
Ayako, Mitsui, and Rukawa were about to go inside the apartment when they saw a gorilla-looking man frantically running in the street.
Akagi was blocked by the rest of the astro-folks and he bowed and introduced himself.
"Sumimasen. Excuse me sir, but I think I should be here also." Akagi explained. "I'm Akagi Takenori."
Dr. Ichigaki approached the commotion outside the apartment's gates and checked her silver clipboard. "Gomen nasai. Akagi-san, but you are not included in our list."
"Hai, I know. But I think I am also contaminated with the virus."
"???"
".therefore, I also need to be placed under quarantine."
"??????"
"...you see, I touched objects that these three made contact with."
"Could you please elaborate what these objects are?"
"Um... like the ball."
"Huh? A ball?"
"Yes. A ball."
"What ball?"
"The basketball we use for our basketball games and practices. I touched it, as well as the other members of the basketball team. As the captain of the Shohoku high basketball team I can order other members to be quarantined too."
"But Sir, it is still not proven that the virus could be spread through touched objects by people who should still be observed to conclude a probable case of SARS, like these three."
"Hai, but it's better to be safe than sorry." The tall basketball captain explained. "I volunteer myself to be with these three to stop the spread of the virus. For the safety of the people, for Kanagawa and for the rest of Japan." He held a hand against his chest and wiped a tear, which was about to fall from his eyes with the other.
/Such a gentle giant... Such a concerned gorilla-looking citizen./ Dr. Ichigaki, thought as she also wiped off tears from her eyes with antibacterial wipes and offered some to Akagi. "Hai. I welcome you to this quarantine."
"Domo arigatou gosaimasu"
Ayako, Mitsui and Rukawa sweat-dropped.
***
LOVE SICK PATIENT #1
Ryota tried to make a simple shot but landed on the wrong foot and missed it. He tried other moves he struggled to perfect since he stepped inside the gym that morning to practice, but can't execute any of it successfully.
/Baka. I can't even make a good shot by the free throw line./ He thought after trying to make one. Irritated, he sat down the gym floor and stared at the hoop.
/Waaah! I miss Aya-chan./
It's been two days since Ayako, Mitsui and Rukawa were brought to quarantine. Akagi canceled basketball practice for the team before finally volunteering to be quarantined as well. Ryota was very bored and decided to shoot some hoops alone that morning but he can't do anything right with the thought of Ayako not seating by the benches to cheer him for a good play.
/K'so, what's wrong with me?/ He thought worriedly and smacked his forehead several times to squeeze out any form of focus for practice he could squeeze out.
A light bulb appeared on top of his muffin like hairstyle.
The desperate player started folding a newspaper accordion style to what looked like his Aya-chan's favorite paper fan and whacked his own head several times with it.
"Concentrate, Ryota Miyagi! Concentrate!" He scolded himself.
Ryota thought of another idea and rushed to the locker room.
/Damn it. I should have done this earlier to direct my concentration./
He came out of the locker room with a mop and a red baseball cap. He turned the mop upside down, leaned it against the wall, placed the red cap on it and imagined it was Ayako.
/Let's see if this works./ The point guard thought as he dribbled the ball towards the free throw line and tried to shoot.
The ball didn't even made it to the ring.
/This is too much./ He thought and looked at the huge gym entrance. /I can't stand this pathetic act no more./
"I'm coming Aya-chan!" He shouted and ran towards the gym door, hands waving crazily in the air.
***
Ayako looked up from the magazine she was reading and looked out the window.
/Kirei./ She thought, adoring the blue sky from where she was sitting.
Ayako tried to divert her attention back on the magazine she was reading.
Too bad the useless window is locked and I can't open it to let the morning summer breeze get in this boredom oriented room. She sighed shaking the sinister thought in her mind of finally opening the window, pushing Dr. Ichigaki out of it and having a triumphant 'nyahaha' after.
The whole morning was spent by Ayako reading sports magazines in bed as she waited for a little sneeze, a tiny cough or any teeny bit sign of sickness from her that will prove that she has the flu but none came. Nada. Nothing of any said symptom that should have been the reason for her 14 day quarantine imprisonment slash boredom to infinity and beyond.
/Waaaah!!! Excitement, rain on me!!!/
She combed her hand through her long curly hair and plopped herself flat on the bed and examined the plain white ceiling.
/Maybe if I think about Ryochin.../ She thought. /I can keep my mind off department of boredom. Hai. Distraction. That's what I need./
Ayako continued to stare at the ceiling and made a run down of Ryota Miyagi suggestive thoughts. /Hmm... Let me see... Ryochin's rubber shoes. 'Yochin's duffel bag... 'Yochin's jersey... 'Yochin's hair. Choco-banana walnut muffin. Blueberry muffin. Corn muffin. Hey. Where did those came from?/ She asked herself, suddenly feeling hungry and convinced that Project Miyagi distraction will not work because it only makes her miss the muffin head.
"Crap!" She said out loud as she grabbed and threw an issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.
"Ouch!"
Bored Ayako sprang up from her bed and couldn't believe whom she just hit with the magazine bull's eye on the face.
"What the-"
The boy was already half way inside the room as he struggled to lift the heavy glass of the window and successfully got his other leg inside but fell face flat the floor. But he managed to stand up, to blush, to smile and make a peace sign for the pretty girl in front of him.
"Aya-chan!"
"Ryota Miyagi," Paper fan whack. "Why on earth are you here?" Paper fan whack, paper fan whack.
"I can't help it, I miss you."
"You baka! How did you get in here?" Paper fan whack. "The window was locked." Paper fan whack and another, and another.
"I managed to open it with this clip. I almost fell from the roof and died because of that Sports Illustrated issue."
"Gomen." Paper fan whack.
"It's okay. It's my fault anyway. I shouldn't be sneaking inside quarantine windows like that." The point guard apologized and then blushed. "But I really can't help it, I missed you a lot.a lot, a lot."
Ayako blushed and smiled. "I missed you too." Paper fan whack. whack, whack.
***
LOVE SICK PATIENT # 2
Kogure placed the can of disinfectant spray on the coffee table and sat on the couch.
/Is my apartment disinfected enough?/ Kogure thought as he examined every inch of the apartment he alone is renting.
The boy in glasses raised from his seat and grabbed the disinfectant spray to disinfect his apartment for the gazillionth time that afternoon.
/Die, SARS virus. Die./
It has already been three days since Mitsui, Ayako and Rukawa were placed under quarantine. Still no basketball practice after Akagi concluded that he also has the virus. Kogure even heard that Ryota managed to get inside the house to be with Ayako and the doctors couldn't do anything but let the second curly head of the isolated bunch stay. It has also been three days since Kogure stayed inside his house with a face mask and surgical gloves, spraying disinfectant all over the place every now and then.
After finally convincing himself that he disinfected the house enough, the SARS-paranoid boy went to the kitchen to grab a gallon of orange juice from the fridge and an apple from the fruit basket.
/I'll be SARS free as long as my immune system is strong./ He thought as he snacked on the apple and juice.
When he finished his an-apple-a-day-keeps-the-SARS-virus-away ritual, he went to the medicine cabinet and gobbled a couple of tablets of his vitamins.
/I hope Mitsui's just doing fine./ Kogure thought and tried to push away the thought of following Akagi and Ryota's footsteps as noble quarantine volunteers. /I can't go there. It's SARS. SARS party. SARS virus everywhere./
/Good for Ryota to be with Ayako. I wish, I could be with Mitsui./ Love sick patient number 2 sighed, as he drifted in a daydream of being with the three-point shooter.
Kogure absentmindedly sprayed disinfectant all over the house while thinking about sneaking inside the quarantine like Ryota did and just finally be with Mitsui. He barely realized that the bottle was already empty and made funny sounds as it gakked out practically nothing.
/Must. Buy. Another. Bottle./
Securing the straps of his face mask, he then slipped on his SARS protective gear, which is comprised of a blue overall suit he found in the garage, a pair of gloves meant to be worn during winter plus a scarf to cover his neck. And to top it all, a funny looking helmet which has a net like material in front. It looks like the bee sting protection type for the head meant to be used by honey farmers.
SARS-paranoid-freak Kogure found himself walking towards the direction of the block where Kanagawa Hospital is, and instinctively turned for the block where the rest of his friends are temporarily staying.
/Damn. What am I doing here? I shouldn't even be a couple of meters near their house. I could catch SARS./ Kogure thought as he made funny shooing gestures in the air as he stood in front of the apartment.
/Nice apartment./ He thought again as he observed the single detached unit with low hedges lined in front and a low wooden gate entrance at the center, directly leading to the door where a man in white overalls was sitting.
/If I crawled through the hedges, that man wouldn't even know I'm already inside./ He thought with a smile as he pictured the formulized operation in his Mitsui-love-sick-mind. /Hmmm, that would be nice./
/Wha. What am I thinking?!/ He smacked his forehead to wake his senses up from the almost concluded daydream of doing a victory dance inside the gates, but he barely touched it because of the funny looking helmet that just wobbled from its place.
/Kogure, Snap out of it. SARS inside. SARS inside./
But he crawled anyway to the hedges.
/Hai. Daijobou. I'm wearing my protective gear./
***
Mitsui sat by the couch and cursed all of the other house furniture around him for not being his Min-kun. He stared out the tall sliding glass windows in front of him and thanked God that the day will almost be over for its already dark outside.
/Yosh. 6:00 p.m./
He rubbed his eyes after seeing something weird by the window after looking at the clock.
/I think Astro-clan started a funny fashion statement./
He observed the man by the gates dressed in a blue astro-suit, which closely resembles what the rest of the excited for trick or treat people guarding the house are wearing, except for the color.
/Am I becoming delusional out of extreme boredom or did that astro-minion just started to do a Sadako crawl by the hedges?/
/Nah. Just my baka imagination./
But the tall three-point shooter jumped out of the couch and stayed behind it as the weirdly dressed man crawled nearer the glass windows.
/Oi. Sadako wanna be. Stay back!/
And nearer, and nearer.
/Okay. Now. I'm. Freaked. Out./
The man stood up and started tapping at the glass of the window with a finger.
"Help! Some creepy man is trying to break in our house!!!" Mitsui yelled out.
The man made hand waving gestures like a hello or something.
/I think he knows me. Is he my fan or something?/ Mitsui thought, now with a smile. /Hah! I have a stalker fan./
The tall basketball player waved back celebrity style to the man, mouthed and gestured 'No autographs right now, I'm here for isolation."
The man sweat-dropped and tapped again at the glass.
/Some obsessed fan./ Mitsui theorized in his mind as he tried to figure out if he has seen the man from before. He walked closer to the window and found something familiar about the man's glasses.
"Min-kun?"
And from behind the glass, the man nodded, making his netted helmet do a funny wobble.
The three-point shooter gestured for Kogure to wait and excitedly went to the door.
Kogure started to do his panic drill of waving both his hands for a 'No, I will not go inside, I'm just fine here.' from the other side of the glass window but was practically ignored. Regretting the stupidity of being there in the first place, he tried to smack his forehead as his netted helmet wobbled again in place.
Mitsui tried the door but gave up as he came to the realization that it is miserably locked, times seven, with an astro-guard seated on opposite side of it.
"Damn it." Mitsui cursed as he punched the door and headed for the intercom.
"Yes?" The astro-guard asked.
Mitsui made exaggerated coughing sounds.
"Sir. Daijobu ka?"
"No." Mitsui said in between coughs. "Do I sound okay? I am having a sudden SARS attack." Cough, cough. "I need help. onegai. please open the door." Cough.
/Sudden SARS attack? Like Heart attack or something? Where did he get that term?/ Kogure sweat-dropped when he heard Best Actor Mitsui from the intercom.
"Sir, hold on, I will call Dr. Ichigaki." Astro-guard instructed.
"What call Dr. Ichigaki? I don't sound okay here so just open the door." Mitsui yelled angrily on the intercom and remembered that he should keep up with his 'Sudden SARS attack drama' and managed to add one single pathetic cough a few seconds after his outburst.
Astro-guard thought for a second and finally decided to start unlocking the door. When the door was finally opened a fist greeted him in the stomach and he passed out by the doorstep.
Mitsui pulled Astro-guard out of the way and waved at Kogure to come inside.
"I won't come in." The boy with glasses shouted from the spot that he's standing, steady as a statue. "I shouldn't even be less than a meter near you." He added.
"You came all the way down here because you missed me so much 'ne, Min- kun?"
Kogure blushed. "Yah. um. er. but, no. That's not my point. I came here to see you, but I'm not going inside."
Mitsui just smiled in reply a I'm-very-happy-to-see-my-Min-kun smile and didn't even listened to what the other boy was explaining.
/He's smiling. Why is he smiling? I'm explaining here. He's too cute when he smiles. Damn, he shouldn't have done that./ Kogure thought as he inched his way towards the door and inside the house.
"Ei, by the way, cute costume." Mitsui joked with a smile as he pushed the door close behind Kogure.
"It's my SARS protection gear. You know, to protect me from SARS."
"Hai. Hai." Mitsui replied with a smirk.
Kogure stopped walking and just stood at one corner of the room as he watched Mitsui sat on the couch.
"Have a seat."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I told you, I should be a meter away from you."
"But Min-kun, you're already inside the house... you know. the one where the suspected SARS patients are staying." Mitsui said with a smile, not even offended by the way Kogure was acting. Instead he's thinking how cute his boyfriend is with little paranoid plus panic moments like this.
"Yah. But you see, I think I can come in since I have my protective gear and I think my immune system's well with a gallon of orange juice I drank this breakfast." Kogure explained, but sat on the other end of the couch anyway. "But I still have to be a meter."
"How about me coming closer?" Mitsui asked as he sat closer to the boy with glasses.
Kogure blushed.
"Cute little helmet, mind if I remove it..."
The other was too weak to argue, too longing to resist his Mitsui. He sat there near him, making more excuses in his mind that he drank more orange juice during lunch so it's alright, everything's alright as long as he's near Mitsui.
".and kiss you?" Mitsui continued as he kissed his Min-kun.
Kogure just savored the moment and tried to free his mind of any stupid thoughts about his paranoid tendencies. He fears to be sick but he feared losing his Mitsui the most. His will to be with him is stronger as always as he surrendered to the kiss. It just can't be helped. He can't even stand the thought of being apart from his boyfriend. He thought of how happy he was that moment for he missed his Mitsui all this time; he missed everything about him, every single smile and all things in between, especially his kiss. He wished that moment wouldn't end.
"You should have come here earlier.I missed you badly." Mitsui said after the kiss.
"I missed you too." Kogure said with a smile and kissed Mitsui back.
"Wait." Mitsui stopped and moved an inch back from the boy in front of him.
"What?"
"You'll get SARS." Mitsui joked.
"Daijobu. I told you, my immune system is good. I do this an apple-a-day- keeps-the-doctor-away ritual." Kogure explained with a smile.
And with that, the two kissed again.
***
LOVE SICK PATIENT #3
Rukawa went down the stairs and found Mitsui and Kogure kissing by the couch. He came down to sit by the couch but it looked too occupied that moment. The two were totally unaware of him staring at them as he thought about the house beginning to be crowding with more people from the basketball team as days pass by. It came to him that he would be standing there for a while if he will wait for the couch to be vacant. He was about to go straight to the kitchen when he noticed that the main entrance door was slightly ajar.
The fox eyed boy thought at first that it was just an illusion, debating his thoughts that it is usually locked several times from the outside. He looked back again at the reunited couple on the couch, then back to the door and he need not to analyze the situation more after finding astro- guard sprawled on the home sweet home rug near the doorstep after passing out because of Mitsui's punch. Without hesitation, he took a wide single step on top of astro-guard to avoid stepping on his face and walked out of the gates knowing where exactly he would go.
It's almost seven in the evening, Rukawa estimated. He knew exactly who to find and where he is that hour. He knows that person too well. He memorizes his every move and his daily activities. It beats the heck out of him why he's that obsessed with that person but he can't help himself. And now, he can't help himself from missing that person.missing that do'aho.
Sakuragi is playing basketball alone in the court located in the middle of the park. It is usually empty around seven in the evening so he goes straight there to practice after hanging out with his friends. He was about to make a jump shot but stopped when he saw somebody familiar approaching him.
"Nani?! Why is the Kitsune here?!"
"Oi. Do'aho. One on one?"
"You're disturbing the tensai with his practice, go away!"
"You don't need practice. You're too brainless to improve."
"What did you say?! You can't talk to the tensai like that!"
"Do'aho."
"Why are you here anyway? I thought you were sick and dying inside the quarantine?! Nyahahaha!"
Rukawa just stared at the laughing red head.
"Too bad for you to be this sickly kitsune and totally different from this very healthy tensai! Nyahahaha!"
The raven-haired boy grabbed the ball from Sakuragi, dribbled it and made a perfect jump shot.
"K'so. Stop showing off, Fox. You should be sick and dying!"
Rukawa said nothing and made another shot.
"What are you up to, Fox?" Sakuragi angrily asked as he walked towards Rukawa and stole the ball from his hands.
"Nothing, Do'aho. Just this." Rukawa said and kissed Sakuragi on the lips.
Sakuragi dropped the ball he was holding and stared in disbelief at Rukawa when the kiss was over.
"How dare you kiss the tensai!"
Rukawa picked up the ball from the floor and counted in his mind the seconds to proclaim success for his plan. Moments later, an ambulance siren sounded louder and louder as it neared the park basketball court and a bunch of men in white came out of it and approached Rukawa. Dr. Ichigaki led the interrogation.
"Sir, why did you leave the quarantine? We instructed you to stay there for days to be observed. This will be your last warning. Further escape from the quarantine will no longer be tolerated and we have no choice but to charge you for further damages of affecting other people's health because of your irresponsible actions," was the doctor's ultimatum and Rukawa was escorted to the ambulance.
"Serves you right, Kitsune, for kissing this tensai, like I wanted to be kissed or something by a sick and dying fox like you!" Sakuragi yelled from behind.
The boy inside the ambulance smiled.
"Excuse me, sir. What did you just say?" Dr. Ichigaki asked the tall red head as she made notes in her clipboard. "Did you just say that he kissed you?"
Sakuragi turned red. "Um. er... hai." He stuttered and scowled at Rukawa who was looking at him from the ambulance. "Hai. He kissed me so I suggest you should lock him inside a room alone without food until he starves to death as punishment for escaping quarantine. Nyahahaha!" He added laughing out loud with his famous tensai pose.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we should also take you with us to the quarantine." Dr. Ichigaki interrupted the tensai moment.
"Nani?! Nani?!" The self-proclaimed tensai asked in confusion. "You can't take this tensai to the quarantine with that dying fox!"
"But sir, you could already be infected with the SARS virus and to avoid."
"What SARS virus?! I cannot be infected with that, the tensai is healthy as always!"
"No, sir, we have to avoid any further possible spread of the virus. Therefore, we advice you to cooperate with us."
"K'so. Kitsune! This is all your fault!"
The men in white dragged Sakuragi to the ambulance but he struggled and insisted not to go.
"You can't take this tensai to quarantine! Go away! Bakero! You all disturbed the tensai at practice."
More men in white approached the struggling boy and he was practically carried to the ambulance no matter how hard he restrained and was pushed in the ambulance and fell on top of Rukawa who is sitting inside. Their faces were so close to each other Sakuragi thought about the kiss and blushed. Rukawa looked into the eyes of the boy on top him and Sakuragi's face turned redder. Sakuragi was helped by the men in white to stand up and sit properly.
"Sir, please sit properly." The man instructed as he pulled Sakuragi to sit on a chair.
The ambulance's siren sounded as it drove to the quarantine with its newest member to join the bunch.
"Kitsune! You're gonna pay big time for this!"
"Do'aho."
***
Sakuragi sat by the couch inside the quarantine with thoughts in his head.
/Baka kitsune. This is his entire fault. I should not be here./
Four days passed by since Mitsui, Ayako and Rukawa we're placed under quarantine. Evidently, no basketball practice because the first five of Shohoku basketball team together with one reserve player and the team manager were quarantined. Well, not all of them were supposed to be there in the first place since three were the only ones originally on the list and the other three are just crazy volunteers. And as for the seventh and newest member of the group. he was practically dragged there because of a kiss, although according to him, the virus can never affect him because he is a tensai. But what bothers him most and is putting his tensai thinking to the very edge is the answer for the question of the millenium for him- 'Why the heck did the kitsune kissed the tensai?'
/Why did he kiss this tensai, anyway?/ He asked again himself the question, thought about the kiss again and blushed. /Damn it. Why do I feel this funny feeling?/ He added to his confused thoughts. /A tensai like me shouldn't feel this way. Am I actually thinking that I kinda liked it when the fox kissed me? K'so. I didn't liked it. I liked it very much./ And with that thought, he banged his head on the coffee table in front of him. /Waaah. Why do I like the feeling of the kitsune kissing me? The words 'tensai', 'kitsune' and 'like' don't even go well together in one sentence./ Then Sakuragi thought again. /Hai. That's true, a tensai like me will always hate the kitsune. I can never like that fox... ever! Why am I even thinking about this?! A tensai like me shouldn't even be bothered by thoughts like this. Baka kitsune!/
The red head chanted the last phrase to himself in order to keep his mind off the image and feeling of the kitsune kiss that happened last night. The thought about it was driving him crazy since the moment it was over. At first he thought that it was only one of those things kitsunes do, which are listed under 'A thousand and one ways to annoy the tensai.' But judging from the way Rukawa looked into his eyes when he fell on top of him inside the ambulance, he's having a hard time considering the kiss under that category because it looked as if Rukawa wanted to kiss him again -- right then and there inside the ambulance.
Sakuragi can't get over the notion all night. He couldn't even properly answer the questions the doctors asked him in the hospital before he was finally taken to quarantine. He even recalled answering 'Yes, yes, he kissed me in the lips and it felt good' to the fourth doctor who asked him the 'Did he really kissed you? Where?' question just like the rest. For Sakuragi, it was one entire interrogation with the objective to bombard him with that same question over and over again. It played like some irritating Kylie Minogue song in his mind, he couldn't sleep well that night and it was even in his dreams. He woke up with dark holes under his eyes but still with the thought of it - the whole kissing thing and questions in between.
Still with the 'Baka kitsune' chanting in his mind, he heard someone singing one particular song - the last song he would like to hear that day.
"Na, na, na. nana, nanana. Na, na, na, nana, nanana. I just can't get you out of my head. boy, your loving is all I think about." Ryota sang as he sat beside Sakuragi on the couch after doing some funny dance he saw for the song's music video.
The taller boy with red hair gave him a would-you-like-me-to-gladly-give- you-a-head-butt look.
"Hey, what's wrong with my Kylie Minogue singing?"
"It's irritating the tensai!"
"Huh?! Irritating? It's my favorite." The shorter boy defended and did more of the dance routine while singing the rest of the song, louder this time. "See... I can even do the dance."
"K'so!" Irritated Sakuragi yelled with a head butt combo and Ryota ended up with a huge lump on his head, that kept Ayako busy putting an ice bag on, the rest of the afternoon
***
Rukawa went down the stairs and found Sakuragi lost in a spacey stare outside the window.
"Oi. Do'aho. Bored?" Rukawa flatly asked.
"Huh? Me? Bored?" Sakuragi asked after snapping out of his kitsune kissing thoughts plus an l.s.s. of the Kylie Minogue song courtesy of Ryota. "I am the tensai. The tensai is never bored."
"Whatever you say, Do'aho"
"Shut up, fox! Just to remind your sick and dying mind, I am quarantined because of you. So that would be a million thanks to you by this tensai, with credits rolling."
Rukawa replied nothing and went straight to the kitchen and Sakuragi stood up from the couch and followed him.
"Why are you following me, Do'aho?"
"Because you can't just walk out in the middle of a tensai's speech!"
"Tensai my ass."
"Correction, that's sick and dying ass!"
"Do'aho"
"Sick and dying fox! Nyahahaha!"
Rukawa replied nothing again and opened the fridge door.
A very annoyed because he was ignored Sakuragi rummaged for something to eat inside the cupboards. He found a box of Oreos, behind a peanut butter jar, sat on a chair by the dining table and ripped opened the foil wrapping of the stack of cookies. He watched as the other boy in front of the fridge drank milk straight from the carton. He stared and stared some more at the raven-haired boy who is drinking milk without a use of a glass through the carton opening. Sakuragi couldn't help himself but be mesmerized by the kitsune and the milk carton scene in front of him like he has never scene any other person do that thing with milk before. He adored how Rukawa gulped down the milk to the very last drop.
/Is the Fox seducing me? Why do I feel this funny feeling just watching him drink that milk?/ The red head thought as he took a bite from an Oreo sandwich and watched milk-mustached Rukawa threw the empty carton on the wastebasket near the fridge.
Sakuragi snapped out of his thoughts, stood up from the chair and shoved the other boy out of the fridge's way to get himself some milk for his Oreo. He frantically looked from every corner of the fridge including the freezer but he found no milk to his disappointment.
"That was the last carton." Rukawa said and Sakuragi flashed him an angry look.
"You finished up all the milk?! How dare you leave the tensai with zero milk for his Oreo dunking!"
"I have to drink milk. Doctor's orders."
"For all I care if you die of calcium deficiency, you sick and dying fox!"
"You can lick the box." Rukawa pointed at the box inside the plastic lined wastebasket.
"Stupid and greedy fox! I want my Oreos with milk!"
"Dig up a hole, maybe you'll find some."
"Stupid kitsune!"
"Do'aho." Rukawa replied and started to walk away from the fridge.
It has always been like this-- a typical conversation with Sakuragi. But Rukawa is happy that he could talk to him though it sounded that the only way to do so is to annoy the self-proclaimed tensai. It was really the obvious most effective way though Rukawa wished for the routine to change. He hoped that one day, he can talk about other things with the boy aside from the typical 'he is the stupid kitsune' affirmation topic. Since he can't think of any other way to get the do'aho's attention, he can live with the usual exchange of words. He thought it was better than having no conversation at all. He likes the do'aho too much its painful if any form of contact, even if it is in a form of fight, will be taken away. He even escaped quarantine just so he can see the red head.
Rukawa's thoughts from last night comprised of wondering how Sakuragi felt when he kissed him and how he yearned that when the time comes he will do it again, the red head will kiss him back. Clearly, Sakuragi's reaction was more on the surprised side. Rukawa is convinced that Sakuragi is tearing up his brain right now for reasons why the hell did the boy he calls 'stupid fox' kissed him. For Rukawa, evidently, he kissed him because he liked him.a lot. The kiss was really not a part of the original plan. All he had in mind was to let the astro-folks discover that he had a close contact with Sakuragi, which will be the reason for the redhead to be with him, much to his approval, in the quarantine. But Rukawa missed him so much that he couldn't control himself from kissing the do'aho when he saw him at practice. He wondered how the other felt for the kiss.
But Rukawa was already convinced based from the way Sakuragi reacted, the kiss was just one of those things Rukawa does to annoy him, to prove to him that he's one big do'aho. Rukawa felt hopeless on that part, he wished that he could tell Sakuragi how he feels for him right then and there instead of that stupid kiss but he never really had the courage. He was always afraid of finally losing his do'aho because of some bizarre confession of love. Now, that same boy is looking as if he's ready to punch him because he left no milk for his Oreo snack and all he can do is say 'do'aho' and walk away.
"Oi, kitsune, don't walk away if the tensai is talking to you. I know now where to get milk." Sakuragi said as he grabbed Rukawa's arm to stop him from the walk out act.
"Where?" Rukawa asked as he turned around and looked at his arm Sakuragi was holding.
"Right over there..." Sakuragi said as he smiled at Rukawa's milk mustache. He released Rukawa's arm and kissed him on the lips.
The two savored the moment. The kiss just felt so right, it was all both of them needed to answer all the questions in their minds.
"No more milk." Rukawa said after the two of them parted from the kiss.
"Yah. Too bad for this tensai." Sakuragi smiled.
"Have you tried Oreos with peanut butter?"
"Not yet. But I saw a jar of peanut butter and a couple more boxes of Oreos inside the cupboard. Would you like to have some with me?"
"I'll go get it." Rukawa said with a smile.
***
LOVESICK PATIENT #4
Akagi looked up from his breakfast plate with a grim expression on his face complete opposite of the comical happy face of two sunny side up eggs for eyes, a roll of bread for a nose and bacon for a smiling mouth on his plate.
/I think this whole volunteer for quarantine thing is a bad idea./ Akagi thought.
It's the morning of the sixth day for quarantine. Breakfast hour. Five days already passed by after Akagi ran to the gates of the quarantine house to volunteer for isolation, which was primarily for Mitsui, Ayako and Rukawa only. Days passed and the house for quarantine turned out to be this shelter for lovesick patients who missed each other and can't stand a day apart from their loved-ones. Fifth quarantine member lacked inspiration for practice and climbed up the roof and used the window as entrance. The doctors couldn't do anything but make him stay for he could already have the virus after a close contact with the only girl in the group. Sixth quarantine member crawled through the hedge in a honey farmer outfit and made his boyfriend beat up the man guarding the door after some scripted coughing so he could get inside no matter how health conscious he was. Same decision by the doctors applied after finding the pair making out on the couch. Seventh member was welcomed to quarantine because of an unwanted kiss that turned out to be a happily ever after love story for the two of them that they officially started last night thanks to Oreos and milk. And as for Akagi, the fourth member, he's beginning to be bored with the quarantine routine of eating, sleeping and finding other members of the group do happy lovey-dovey things everyday leaving him feeling out of place and wishing he was not there in the first place.
/I miss basketball practice./ The Shohoku basketball team captain thought as he observed the happy couples around him.
"Ei, you're doin' a good job with that pancake flipping thing, 'Yochin." Ayako said to Ryota while she continued mixing the batter.
"Jiyeah! I'm a pancake-flipping machine! Haha!" Ryota proudly implored while he flipped one pancake high up in the air without the use of a turner and the pancake landed on Akagi's head.
"Thanks. But you could have aimed for my plate." Akagi said as the pancake slid down his head and landed on his plate.
"Gomen, Captain. Gomen. Gomen." Ryota bowed with apology to the tad bit angry Akagi.
"What can I say. Good job lean mean pancake flipping machine!" Ayako joked as she sprinkled some flour on top of the muffin-like head of her boyfriend.
"Stop that, Ayachan!"
"I like my muffins with confectioner's sugar on top. Haha."
"Hey no fair!" Ryota complained as he threw some flour to his Aya-chan too. "Here, take this! I like my spaghetti with cheese on top!"
"Muffin top!" Ayako threw a handful of flour to Ryota.
"Spaghetti head!" Ryota threw two handfuls back.
"White looks good on you. here, have more!" The girl laughed and dumped the bowl of sifted flour on top of her boyfriend's head.
"Hah! Have the rest of the box!" White all over with a mixing bowl helmet Ryota emptied the entire box of flour on Ayako.
And the two ran laughing all over the kitchen with the flour fight.
"Oi. Curly tops! Make sure you clean up after that!" Akagi reminded as he peeled a banana.
"Hai!" Ryota and Ayako answered in chorus from the kitchen.
Akagi sighed and took one big gorilla bite from his banana. He looked up from the fruit and stared at the other couple who is having breakfast with him at the other side of the table.
"I like my pancakes with lots of syrup!" Mitsui said in a singsong voice as he poured syrup on the high stack of pancakes in front of him.
"Mitchy, that's not 'lots of syrup', its 'pancakes drowning in a flood of syrup'." Kogure corrected with a smile as he stared at what his boyfriend is doing.
"I like it sweet, but you're sweeter." The other boy explained.
Kogure blushed.
"Ohayou, Akagi. Right over here is exhibit number two. The mushiest couple in the face of Kanagawa. Enjoy." Akagi mumbled to himself while watching Kogure wipe off the pancake syrup from the side of Mitsui's mouth with his thumb.
"Huh? You're saying something, Akagi?" Mitsui asked.
"No. Nothing." Akagi lied.
"Oh. Okay." Mitsui said as he looked back at his boyfriend who is now making a smiley face with chocolate syrup on top of his pancake stack.
"Cute smiley. Who's that?" Mitsui asked.
"Nobody. I just like my pancakes like this."
Mitsui looked closer at the smiley on the other boy's plate and added eyeglasses with the honey-colored pancake syrup on the chocolate dot eyes.
"There!" The taller boy grinned as he finished his masterpiece.
Kogure smiled.
"Kinda looks like my Min-kun, but he's a lot cuter."
Kogure blushed again.
Akagi sweatdropped and looked back on his own smiling breakfast plate with one sunny side up egg eye missing. Yareyare.
"Ohayou." Rukawa said with a low and sleepy voice from the stairs.
"Wow! Pancakes!" Sakuragi exclaimed as he ran towards the table and happily sat on the chair. "Itadakimasu!"
The other boy who is still sleepy sat beside him and poured himself some orange juice.
"Hey, Kitsune, how about pancakes with peanut butter?" Sakuragi suggested. "That sounds good! A peanut butter pancake sandwich! Nyahahaha! What do you think?!"
"That sounds gross, do'aho."
"Hey! I think it's a tensai idea next to peanut butter and Oreos."
"No more peanut butter." The raven-haired boy reminded.
"Nani?! We're out of peanut butter?! Too bad. I would love to try that peanut butter pancake sandwich!"
"You sentenced the jar empty last night."
"Hmmm. You're right." The redhead agreed and placed a hand on his chin. "I should come up with another tensai idea."
"Figure out again where you can get some." Rukawa said with a teenie-eenie bit of what looked like a smile.
Everybody else inside the house, except for Sakuragi, froze from whatever they were doing and gave each other an Is-the-world-about-to-end-or-did-I- really-saw-Rukawa-did-something-unbelievable-like-a-smile look.
Rukawa looked away from Sakuragi and wondered why the rest of the household citizenry is looking at him like he just did some acrobatic circus act or something.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing!" Akagi, Mitsui, Kogure and the flour covered Ryota and Ayako answered with a don't-mind-don't-mind smile and resumed to whatever they're doing.
/Weird people./ Rukawa thought.
/Rukawa smiled?! Talk about a miracle!/ Akagi thought. /What can I say. This house for quarantine really morphed into a love heaven for all of them, like its already Valentine's day or something./ He sighed. /I'm getting more and more into the feeling that this volunteer for quarantine move is really a bad idea. I'm kinda feeling homesick right now. And it's been several days already, but none of us are showing any sign of sickness or anything that will prove that we have the flu./
Akagi looked around the house again to observe the three pairings. Ryota and Ayako started to eat breakfast though they're still dusted all over with flour. Mitsui and Kogure are now sharing an apple. And Rukawa and Sakuragi are debating over whether jam will taste good with Oreos or with pancakes, but much to Akagi's surprise, he thinks Sakuragi is winning because Rukawa is doing that smile again.
/Good for them./ Akagi thought but couldn't help but envy the bunch. /I'm the only one who doesn't have a partner here. And it makes me miss Uozumi./ He sighed. /I miss those one-on-one games with him. We're supposed to have this dinner date the other day but since I'm here and he's there, too bad for us. Maybe he'll drop by tonight and be with me like just like what Ryota and Kogure did for Ayako and Mitsui./ Akagi thought of the possibility and smiled dreamily. /Hmmmm. Or maybe, I should sneak out like what Rukawa did for Sakuragi.../ He thought again and drifted off in a daydream of Uozumi and him finally being together.
"Hey, why is Gori blushing?!" Sakuragi asked as he noticed their captain staring in space with a dreamy smile on his face and blushing cheeks.
"He's not blushing, do'aho."
"Nyahahaha! A blushing gorilla! That's funny!" The red head laughed.
"There's a tinge of red on his cheeks. Maybe he's got fever." Kogure theorized.
"Will he be alright? Maybe we should go check his temperature." Ayako said with a worried look on her face.
The basketball captain stayed in his dreamy state, completely unaware that he's being talked about.
"Hihihihi! Funny Kingkong scene!" Sakuragi giggled with his mouth covered.
"Earth to Akagi. Earth to Akagi." Mitsui said as he snapped his fingers in front of Akagi's face.
"I think we should go call the doctor." Ryota suggested. "This could be bad, the virus could have already reached his brain. Look! We could consider him in an unconscious state!"
"Nah! He's gonna be alright, he's a gorilla. They're excluded to be affected by the virus."
"Do'aho."
The daydreaming captain snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door.
"I'll go get it." He said as he stood up and went straight to the door.
Everybody else inside the house sweat-dropped.
"See!" Sakuragi pointed out. "I'm a tensai, I know these things. Nyahahaha!" He added with a tensai pose.
***
ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL
"So what are you trying to tell us, that we don't have the virus?" Ayako asked Dr. Ichigaki.
It was Dr. Ichigaki who knocked on the door much to Akagi's wishful thinking that it was Uozumi. The doctor gathered them all by the living room to talk about something very urgent and important. She bowed her head apologetically after Ayako asked the question.
"Yes. And we apologize for all of the trouble we caused you for placing you under quarantine." Dr. Ichigaki replied.
"I don't get it. This was all a big mistake?" Mitsui asked with question marks on top of his head.
"Yes. It was found out that there was this mix up with the names. Our research team confused the three of you with other people whose names sound alike like yours."
"So, the real ones who made close contact with that man who died are free outside and happily spreading the virus while the healthy us were here all this time?" Asked Ayako.
"Apparently, based from our most recent investigation, the man who died of a suspected SARS case, was not a SARS case at all. As of now, Kanagawa is declared SARS free."
"What will happen to us now?" Mitsui asked.
The doctor bowed her head again. "In behalf of the Kanagawa SARS Prevention team, we apologize for all of these. We now discharge you from quarantine."
"NANI!?" Ayako, Mitsui, Rukawa, Ryota, Kogure and Sakuragi exclaimed.
"Nani?" Akagi asked. "You mean we can go back to our normal lives now?"
"Yes." The Doctor answered.
"Yosh!" Akagi said as he ran straight to the door and shouted. "Uozumi! I'm coming!"
"Wait." Kogure said. "We really have to leave now?"
"Yes, you are officially discharged." Dr. Ichigaki repeated.
"But I thought this quarantine was supposed to be for 14 days." Ryota added.
"I think its better if we stay." Rukawa suggested.
"Hai! It's a tensai idea to stay here. The tensai suggests that we all complete that 14-day quarantine stay! Nyahahaha!"
"No. No. You can go back now to your homes. There's really no point of staying here." The doctor who's already on the verge of losing patience explained.
"No. We'll stay here." Rukawa said.
"Hai. We have to be sure that we really don't have SARS." Mitsui pointed out.
"But..." Dr Ichigaki tried to start her speech again but was shoved out of the door.
"We'll be alright, Dr. Ichigaki. Please don't forget to lock the door." Ayako shouted when the doctor was finally outside.
"Um... maybe several days more, till we're really SARS free?" Mitsui pointed out as he leaned on the door to stop the Doctor who was kicked out of the house from her struggle to come inside again as she pushed the door open.
"BUT YOU ARE SARS FREE!" Dr. Ichigaki yelled from the outside.
"No. no. We're fine if we stay, Dr. Ichigaki." Kogure said in a polite semi in panic tone. "We're fine if we stay here. Right guys?" Ryota asked the rest of the group who seemed to have enjoyed staying in the quarantine that turned out to be a house for lovers.
"Hai!" The rest chorused in reply.
-THE END-
heeheehee. there goes my SARS fic..
Sorry for those I might have offended *bows head apologetically* I know SARS is some serious case that should be taken seriously (hearing mom's SARS speech in mind right now), but I can't help my weirdo mind from thinking about Shohoku basketball team's own SARS story. (--,)
Gomen. Gomen. All blame should be for dear kaesaku for persuading me to write this fic. Heeheehee. (jodan!) *docks head to evade whatever that thing is that kaesaku threw at me* (I think that was a table or something)
***
Roll the credits.
Tnx to my bro for suggesting that Dr. Ichigaki name. Nope. 'Not the same YuYu Hakusho monster transforming doctor, though he thought at first that it would be cool if that will really happen. (--;)
Arigato, kaesaku, a.k.a. kitsune, for helping me edit and fix my stupid grammar. Heeheehee.
To Oreos and milk, the dynamic dunking duo and a bunch of other junk foods for accompanying me while I write this fic.
Thanks to all and to all who bothered to read and review this, 'ope you liked the crazy plot.
'hope countries affected by SARS will be SARS free soon. But in the meantime, wear those face masks!!!! Ja!
***
Kogure: (pops out of nowhere) And remember, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!
gurl_labo: *sweatdrops* Hai, my fellow megane, I think they already know that.
Till S.A.R.S. Do Us Part
gurl_labo: wahaha! kaesaku, tnx 4 the pen name!!!
What will happen if three of the members of the Shohoku basketball team will be placed under quarantine for a suspected SARS case? Read on to find out. (--,)
RuHanaRu, MitKoMit, RyoAyaRyo, AkaUozAka. yaoi and non-yaoi. rated p.g. comedy slash romance. 1/1
Analogy: Inoue Takehiko is to tensai as to gurl_labo is to an insomniac- psycho slash weirdo. Slamdunk is not mine. 'di ko siya inaangkin. standard disclaimers apply.
MEN IN WHITE
"Ayako-chan, somebody's looking for you downstairs," Mirei said as she pulled the big fluffy pillow her roommate was hugging, but practically ignored her.
"Go away."
Irritated, Mirei then started to throw stuffed toys to Ayako's bed from afar. "Oi, Ayako-chan, you better wake up there, those people downstairs are causing this big commotion at our dorm lobby! AYAKO!"
"Huh?. Wha?. Who?" Ayako sat up from her bed and rubbed the sleep off her eyes. "Goodness, its Saturday morning, can't they just visit me some other time." She complained in between two big yawns and stopped when she noticed Mirei from the far end corner of the room they are sharing. "Oi, baka! That's quite offending you know!" She smelled her own breath and then her underarms. "Why the heck are you covering your nose?"
Mirei continued to stand at the far corner with one hand covering her nose and mouth and the other with a Doreamon stuffed toy she was about to throw to Ayako's bed that she now held like a shield from her puzzled roommate. "Um. eh. just.just get your ass down there, okay." She replied but Ayako vaguely understood because of the hand muffling her weird roommate's mouth.
"Hai, hai." Ayako said in an irritated tone. /This should be something of great importance./ She thought as she stood up from her bed and walked out of the room and down to the hallway of her dorm still smelling her own breath and underarms.
***
/Can't some housemate with compassion for the sleeping me get that?/ Mitsui thought as he covered his head with a pillow and tried to continue to sleep inspite of the loud knock on the door.
Knock. knock.
/Cut. The. Crap./
Knock.knock.knock.
"It's Saturday morning! Stop knocking on our apartment's door!" Mitsui angrily shouted as he jumped off his bed and stood by his bedroom's door in his boxers.
But the knocking still continued.
An enraged Mitsui rushed to the door and grabbed the person knocking behind it by the collar.
/What the hell is this man wearing?/ Mitsui released the collar from his grasp and closely looked at the man, who is dressed in a white overall suit, white gloves with a white thing on his head that seemed to look like a helmet with an attached gas mask to cover his nose and mouth.
The man was about to say something but sweat-dropped when he was interrupted.
"Oi, Astronaut-san, its too early for trick or treat."
***
"Ohayou..." Rukawa greeted with closed sleepy eyes as he opened his apartment's door.
"Ohayou gosaimasu, sir," The man standing in front of the sleeping boy greeted back. "Is Mr. Kaele Hukaiwa home?"
"Hai.." Rukawa struggled to open his eyes and raised his hand.
"Sir, we we're asked to instantaneously bring you to a specified quarantine near Kanagawa hospital," The man explained as he showed Rukawa a bunch of papers fastened in a silver clipboard. "You we're said to have a close contact with Mr. Kodaime Fujiko before he died."
Rukawa dozed off again as the man continued to blab for what seemed to be a millenium for him.
".He is a man who just died after showing symptoms of a person with the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus or SARS."
Zzzz...
The man continued. "In order for the virus to be prevented from spreading further to other people, especially after finding out in your profile investigation that there is an 85% chance that you'll affect a large population of people including your housemates and students at your school."
Zzzzzzzzzz.
The man continued with the SARS talk, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions of worry, concern and full-authority of the matter behind the white helmet and mask he is wearing. Totally oblivious of the fact that he is talking to a narcoleptic boy with a special talent to sleep in a normal standing position. He then shoved the clipboard closer to Rukawa's face and finished his dialogue ".therefore sir, we are asking you to readily cooperate with us in this preventive measure."
Rukawa blinked off his sleep and tried to read the blurred letters on the clipboard placed an inch from his nose.
"Sir, we don't have enough time, you should be taken to the quarantine immediately."
"Hai.." The fox-eyed sleeping boy answered and sleepwalked outside the door.
***
/I should have bought my paper fan with me./ Ayako thought impatiently as the man in white over-alls continued with his SARS talk that turned out to be a SARS symposium for her dorm mates at their dorm lobby. And what made the situation perfect for some serious paper fan whacking action for her is the exaggerated distance of several thousand feet of the entire dorm citizenry gathered at the lobby from her.
/What is this man yakking about anyway? I have SARS? I don't even know what that man is talking about./ Ayako massaged her temples to stop the throbbing migraine in her head when she saw a girl at the lobby raise her hand for a question.
"Yes, dear?" The man in white pointed at the girl for the question.
"What disinfectant would you recommend that we should spray right after Ayako-chan leaves the building?"
/Yare. Yare./ The Shohoku basketball team manager sweat dropped. The man placed a hand on his chin and was about to answer the question but a flaming Ayako yanked him away from the dorm spotlight.
"Oi. Astro-man. That's enough talk. I have SARS. I need to be isolated. Let's Go." The man was practically dragged out of the building by Ayako to end the humiliation frenzy especially organized for her.
***
Mitsui grabbed again the weird man in white's collar. "Nani!?!" Question marks begin to pop on his head. "What LARS are you talking about?!"
The man struggled to get away from the scarred boy's grasp on his collar. "It's SARS, sir..." He corrected. "Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome."
More question marks popped as the boy in boxer shorts released the man's collar.
"We need to put you in quarantine immediately. Doctor's orders."
Question marks all over. /I don't get all of this crap./
The man tried to continue but stepped back when Mitsui snapped out of his thoughts and gave him again the you-disturbed-my-sleep-to-tell-all-this- crap-I-can't-comprehend look.
"Sir. I suggest, sir. that you just cooperate." The man wailed in a high pitched frightened tone while making a karate defense pose.
/Weird man./ Mitsui thought as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
The man brought out his mobile phone. "Doc, we're about to take necessary actions to take this man to isolation... hai, hai. bye." He turned off the phone and signaled two men in overalls inside the ambulance to approach Mitsui.
"What the." Mitsui struggled as the two men grabbed each of his arms and forced him outside of his apartment barely dressed.
***
"Nice p.j's," Mitsui smirked as he stared at what Ayako was wearing.
"Look who's very dressed for the occasion." The girl with curly hair wearing a tight fitting pink spaghetti -strapped tank top and draw string pajamas with muffin prints on it commented back as she stared at the half- naked, almost bare Mitsui. *throws a box of Kleenex to the nose-bleeding kaesaku* (--,)
"Urusai! 'Not my fault. These men in white practically kidnapped me like my parents have money for ransom or something." Mitsui looked down at the eyeglasses printed boxer shorts that he is wearing.
"I think Rukawa was too sleepy to argue." Ayako concluded after observing the sleeping rookie in his white sleeveless top and plain red boxer shorts.
A lady in her late thirties approached them wearing the same frustrated astro-suit like the rest. She cleared her throat and the said three teenagers to be infected with SARS looked at her irritatingly, knowing that she's the mastermind behind all these.
"I'm Dr. Ichigaki, head of the Kanagawa SARS Prevention Program." The lady in white introduced herself. "This house will be your temporary shelter for 14 days while we put the three of you under observation so we may know if you will display any of the symptoms of a person infected with SARS." Dr. Ichigaki explained further the reason why they are ordered for quarantine but for the three, they already summarized the entire thought of the whole lecture. 14 days of boredom to the maximum level for them.
Apparently, this mutilation of their beautiful and promising Saturday and the rest of their lives for fourteen days, as explained by the astro-clan in white who came to earth to save Kanagawa from SARS, was caused by a traced close contact by the three of them with a man named Kodaime Fujiko. This man recently died with a suspected case of SARS or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. To prevent the spread of the virus, which at present still doesn't have anything researched to be a cure for it, every person who encountered a close contact with Kodaime, the first suspected case of SARS in Kanagawa, will be placed under isolation. Unluckily, though it still beats the hell out of them whoever Kodaime Fujiko is -- Ayako, Mitsui and Rukawa were said to be under that list.
"Come in, come in." The cheerful doctor said after opening the last of the seven locks on the door of the apartment and finally opened the door. "And feel at home!"
Ayako gave her a scripted annoyed smile.
Mitsui looked as if he was about to punch her.
Rukawa icily glared at her.
The three stood outside the assigned single-detached apartment to be their quarantine, which was a block away from the hospital and they were all thinking of the same thing.
/Omae wo korosu. I will kill you for spoiling my Saturday./
***
GOIN' BANANAS
Ayako, Mitsui, and Rukawa were about to go inside the apartment when they saw a gorilla-looking man frantically running in the street.
Akagi was blocked by the rest of the astro-folks and he bowed and introduced himself.
"Sumimasen. Excuse me sir, but I think I should be here also." Akagi explained. "I'm Akagi Takenori."
Dr. Ichigaki approached the commotion outside the apartment's gates and checked her silver clipboard. "Gomen nasai. Akagi-san, but you are not included in our list."
"Hai, I know. But I think I am also contaminated with the virus."
"???"
".therefore, I also need to be placed under quarantine."
"??????"
"...you see, I touched objects that these three made contact with."
"Could you please elaborate what these objects are?"
"Um... like the ball."
"Huh? A ball?"
"Yes. A ball."
"What ball?"
"The basketball we use for our basketball games and practices. I touched it, as well as the other members of the basketball team. As the captain of the Shohoku high basketball team I can order other members to be quarantined too."
"But Sir, it is still not proven that the virus could be spread through touched objects by people who should still be observed to conclude a probable case of SARS, like these three."
"Hai, but it's better to be safe than sorry." The tall basketball captain explained. "I volunteer myself to be with these three to stop the spread of the virus. For the safety of the people, for Kanagawa and for the rest of Japan." He held a hand against his chest and wiped a tear, which was about to fall from his eyes with the other.
/Such a gentle giant... Such a concerned gorilla-looking citizen./ Dr. Ichigaki, thought as she also wiped off tears from her eyes with antibacterial wipes and offered some to Akagi. "Hai. I welcome you to this quarantine."
"Domo arigatou gosaimasu"
Ayako, Mitsui and Rukawa sweat-dropped.
***
LOVE SICK PATIENT #1
Ryota tried to make a simple shot but landed on the wrong foot and missed it. He tried other moves he struggled to perfect since he stepped inside the gym that morning to practice, but can't execute any of it successfully.
/Baka. I can't even make a good shot by the free throw line./ He thought after trying to make one. Irritated, he sat down the gym floor and stared at the hoop.
/Waaah! I miss Aya-chan./
It's been two days since Ayako, Mitsui and Rukawa were brought to quarantine. Akagi canceled basketball practice for the team before finally volunteering to be quarantined as well. Ryota was very bored and decided to shoot some hoops alone that morning but he can't do anything right with the thought of Ayako not seating by the benches to cheer him for a good play.
/K'so, what's wrong with me?/ He thought worriedly and smacked his forehead several times to squeeze out any form of focus for practice he could squeeze out.
A light bulb appeared on top of his muffin like hairstyle.
The desperate player started folding a newspaper accordion style to what looked like his Aya-chan's favorite paper fan and whacked his own head several times with it.
"Concentrate, Ryota Miyagi! Concentrate!" He scolded himself.
Ryota thought of another idea and rushed to the locker room.
/Damn it. I should have done this earlier to direct my concentration./
He came out of the locker room with a mop and a red baseball cap. He turned the mop upside down, leaned it against the wall, placed the red cap on it and imagined it was Ayako.
/Let's see if this works./ The point guard thought as he dribbled the ball towards the free throw line and tried to shoot.
The ball didn't even made it to the ring.
/This is too much./ He thought and looked at the huge gym entrance. /I can't stand this pathetic act no more./
"I'm coming Aya-chan!" He shouted and ran towards the gym door, hands waving crazily in the air.
***
Ayako looked up from the magazine she was reading and looked out the window.
/Kirei./ She thought, adoring the blue sky from where she was sitting.
Ayako tried to divert her attention back on the magazine she was reading.
Too bad the useless window is locked and I can't open it to let the morning summer breeze get in this boredom oriented room. She sighed shaking the sinister thought in her mind of finally opening the window, pushing Dr. Ichigaki out of it and having a triumphant 'nyahaha' after.
The whole morning was spent by Ayako reading sports magazines in bed as she waited for a little sneeze, a tiny cough or any teeny bit sign of sickness from her that will prove that she has the flu but none came. Nada. Nothing of any said symptom that should have been the reason for her 14 day quarantine imprisonment slash boredom to infinity and beyond.
/Waaaah!!! Excitement, rain on me!!!/
She combed her hand through her long curly hair and plopped herself flat on the bed and examined the plain white ceiling.
/Maybe if I think about Ryochin.../ She thought. /I can keep my mind off department of boredom. Hai. Distraction. That's what I need./
Ayako continued to stare at the ceiling and made a run down of Ryota Miyagi suggestive thoughts. /Hmm... Let me see... Ryochin's rubber shoes. 'Yochin's duffel bag... 'Yochin's jersey... 'Yochin's hair. Choco-banana walnut muffin. Blueberry muffin. Corn muffin. Hey. Where did those came from?/ She asked herself, suddenly feeling hungry and convinced that Project Miyagi distraction will not work because it only makes her miss the muffin head.
"Crap!" She said out loud as she grabbed and threw an issue of Sports Illustrated magazine.
"Ouch!"
Bored Ayako sprang up from her bed and couldn't believe whom she just hit with the magazine bull's eye on the face.
"What the-"
The boy was already half way inside the room as he struggled to lift the heavy glass of the window and successfully got his other leg inside but fell face flat the floor. But he managed to stand up, to blush, to smile and make a peace sign for the pretty girl in front of him.
"Aya-chan!"
"Ryota Miyagi," Paper fan whack. "Why on earth are you here?" Paper fan whack, paper fan whack.
"I can't help it, I miss you."
"You baka! How did you get in here?" Paper fan whack. "The window was locked." Paper fan whack and another, and another.
"I managed to open it with this clip. I almost fell from the roof and died because of that Sports Illustrated issue."
"Gomen." Paper fan whack.
"It's okay. It's my fault anyway. I shouldn't be sneaking inside quarantine windows like that." The point guard apologized and then blushed. "But I really can't help it, I missed you a lot.a lot, a lot."
Ayako blushed and smiled. "I missed you too." Paper fan whack. whack, whack.
***
LOVE SICK PATIENT # 2
Kogure placed the can of disinfectant spray on the coffee table and sat on the couch.
/Is my apartment disinfected enough?/ Kogure thought as he examined every inch of the apartment he alone is renting.
The boy in glasses raised from his seat and grabbed the disinfectant spray to disinfect his apartment for the gazillionth time that afternoon.
/Die, SARS virus. Die./
It has already been three days since Mitsui, Ayako and Rukawa were placed under quarantine. Still no basketball practice after Akagi concluded that he also has the virus. Kogure even heard that Ryota managed to get inside the house to be with Ayako and the doctors couldn't do anything but let the second curly head of the isolated bunch stay. It has also been three days since Kogure stayed inside his house with a face mask and surgical gloves, spraying disinfectant all over the place every now and then.
After finally convincing himself that he disinfected the house enough, the SARS-paranoid boy went to the kitchen to grab a gallon of orange juice from the fridge and an apple from the fruit basket.
/I'll be SARS free as long as my immune system is strong./ He thought as he snacked on the apple and juice.
When he finished his an-apple-a-day-keeps-the-SARS-virus-away ritual, he went to the medicine cabinet and gobbled a couple of tablets of his vitamins.
/I hope Mitsui's just doing fine./ Kogure thought and tried to push away the thought of following Akagi and Ryota's footsteps as noble quarantine volunteers. /I can't go there. It's SARS. SARS party. SARS virus everywhere./
/Good for Ryota to be with Ayako. I wish, I could be with Mitsui./ Love sick patient number 2 sighed, as he drifted in a daydream of being with the three-point shooter.
Kogure absentmindedly sprayed disinfectant all over the house while thinking about sneaking inside the quarantine like Ryota did and just finally be with Mitsui. He barely realized that the bottle was already empty and made funny sounds as it gakked out practically nothing.
/Must. Buy. Another. Bottle./
Securing the straps of his face mask, he then slipped on his SARS protective gear, which is comprised of a blue overall suit he found in the garage, a pair of gloves meant to be worn during winter plus a scarf to cover his neck. And to top it all, a funny looking helmet which has a net like material in front. It looks like the bee sting protection type for the head meant to be used by honey farmers.
SARS-paranoid-freak Kogure found himself walking towards the direction of the block where Kanagawa Hospital is, and instinctively turned for the block where the rest of his friends are temporarily staying.
/Damn. What am I doing here? I shouldn't even be a couple of meters near their house. I could catch SARS./ Kogure thought as he made funny shooing gestures in the air as he stood in front of the apartment.
/Nice apartment./ He thought again as he observed the single detached unit with low hedges lined in front and a low wooden gate entrance at the center, directly leading to the door where a man in white overalls was sitting.
/If I crawled through the hedges, that man wouldn't even know I'm already inside./ He thought with a smile as he pictured the formulized operation in his Mitsui-love-sick-mind. /Hmmm, that would be nice./
/Wha. What am I thinking?!/ He smacked his forehead to wake his senses up from the almost concluded daydream of doing a victory dance inside the gates, but he barely touched it because of the funny looking helmet that just wobbled from its place.
/Kogure, Snap out of it. SARS inside. SARS inside./
But he crawled anyway to the hedges.
/Hai. Daijobou. I'm wearing my protective gear./
***
Mitsui sat by the couch and cursed all of the other house furniture around him for not being his Min-kun. He stared out the tall sliding glass windows in front of him and thanked God that the day will almost be over for its already dark outside.
/Yosh. 6:00 p.m./
He rubbed his eyes after seeing something weird by the window after looking at the clock.
/I think Astro-clan started a funny fashion statement./
He observed the man by the gates dressed in a blue astro-suit, which closely resembles what the rest of the excited for trick or treat people guarding the house are wearing, except for the color.
/Am I becoming delusional out of extreme boredom or did that astro-minion just started to do a Sadako crawl by the hedges?/
/Nah. Just my baka imagination./
But the tall three-point shooter jumped out of the couch and stayed behind it as the weirdly dressed man crawled nearer the glass windows.
/Oi. Sadako wanna be. Stay back!/
And nearer, and nearer.
/Okay. Now. I'm. Freaked. Out./
The man stood up and started tapping at the glass of the window with a finger.
"Help! Some creepy man is trying to break in our house!!!" Mitsui yelled out.
The man made hand waving gestures like a hello or something.
/I think he knows me. Is he my fan or something?/ Mitsui thought, now with a smile. /Hah! I have a stalker fan./
The tall basketball player waved back celebrity style to the man, mouthed and gestured 'No autographs right now, I'm here for isolation."
The man sweat-dropped and tapped again at the glass.
/Some obsessed fan./ Mitsui theorized in his mind as he tried to figure out if he has seen the man from before. He walked closer to the window and found something familiar about the man's glasses.
"Min-kun?"
And from behind the glass, the man nodded, making his netted helmet do a funny wobble.
The three-point shooter gestured for Kogure to wait and excitedly went to the door.
Kogure started to do his panic drill of waving both his hands for a 'No, I will not go inside, I'm just fine here.' from the other side of the glass window but was practically ignored. Regretting the stupidity of being there in the first place, he tried to smack his forehead as his netted helmet wobbled again in place.
Mitsui tried the door but gave up as he came to the realization that it is miserably locked, times seven, with an astro-guard seated on opposite side of it.
"Damn it." Mitsui cursed as he punched the door and headed for the intercom.
"Yes?" The astro-guard asked.
Mitsui made exaggerated coughing sounds.
"Sir. Daijobu ka?"
"No." Mitsui said in between coughs. "Do I sound okay? I am having a sudden SARS attack." Cough, cough. "I need help. onegai. please open the door." Cough.
/Sudden SARS attack? Like Heart attack or something? Where did he get that term?/ Kogure sweat-dropped when he heard Best Actor Mitsui from the intercom.
"Sir, hold on, I will call Dr. Ichigaki." Astro-guard instructed.
"What call Dr. Ichigaki? I don't sound okay here so just open the door." Mitsui yelled angrily on the intercom and remembered that he should keep up with his 'Sudden SARS attack drama' and managed to add one single pathetic cough a few seconds after his outburst.
Astro-guard thought for a second and finally decided to start unlocking the door. When the door was finally opened a fist greeted him in the stomach and he passed out by the doorstep.
Mitsui pulled Astro-guard out of the way and waved at Kogure to come inside.
"I won't come in." The boy with glasses shouted from the spot that he's standing, steady as a statue. "I shouldn't even be less than a meter near you." He added.
"You came all the way down here because you missed me so much 'ne, Min- kun?"
Kogure blushed. "Yah. um. er. but, no. That's not my point. I came here to see you, but I'm not going inside."
Mitsui just smiled in reply a I'm-very-happy-to-see-my-Min-kun smile and didn't even listened to what the other boy was explaining.
/He's smiling. Why is he smiling? I'm explaining here. He's too cute when he smiles. Damn, he shouldn't have done that./ Kogure thought as he inched his way towards the door and inside the house.
"Ei, by the way, cute costume." Mitsui joked with a smile as he pushed the door close behind Kogure.
"It's my SARS protection gear. You know, to protect me from SARS."
"Hai. Hai." Mitsui replied with a smirk.
Kogure stopped walking and just stood at one corner of the room as he watched Mitsui sat on the couch.
"Have a seat."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I told you, I should be a meter away from you."
"But Min-kun, you're already inside the house... you know. the one where the suspected SARS patients are staying." Mitsui said with a smile, not even offended by the way Kogure was acting. Instead he's thinking how cute his boyfriend is with little paranoid plus panic moments like this.
"Yah. But you see, I think I can come in since I have my protective gear and I think my immune system's well with a gallon of orange juice I drank this breakfast." Kogure explained, but sat on the other end of the couch anyway. "But I still have to be a meter."
"How about me coming closer?" Mitsui asked as he sat closer to the boy with glasses.
Kogure blushed.
"Cute little helmet, mind if I remove it..."
The other was too weak to argue, too longing to resist his Mitsui. He sat there near him, making more excuses in his mind that he drank more orange juice during lunch so it's alright, everything's alright as long as he's near Mitsui.
".and kiss you?" Mitsui continued as he kissed his Min-kun.
Kogure just savored the moment and tried to free his mind of any stupid thoughts about his paranoid tendencies. He fears to be sick but he feared losing his Mitsui the most. His will to be with him is stronger as always as he surrendered to the kiss. It just can't be helped. He can't even stand the thought of being apart from his boyfriend. He thought of how happy he was that moment for he missed his Mitsui all this time; he missed everything about him, every single smile and all things in between, especially his kiss. He wished that moment wouldn't end.
"You should have come here earlier.I missed you badly." Mitsui said after the kiss.
"I missed you too." Kogure said with a smile and kissed Mitsui back.
"Wait." Mitsui stopped and moved an inch back from the boy in front of him.
"What?"
"You'll get SARS." Mitsui joked.
"Daijobu. I told you, my immune system is good. I do this an apple-a-day- keeps-the-doctor-away ritual." Kogure explained with a smile.
And with that, the two kissed again.
***
LOVE SICK PATIENT #3
Rukawa went down the stairs and found Mitsui and Kogure kissing by the couch. He came down to sit by the couch but it looked too occupied that moment. The two were totally unaware of him staring at them as he thought about the house beginning to be crowding with more people from the basketball team as days pass by. It came to him that he would be standing there for a while if he will wait for the couch to be vacant. He was about to go straight to the kitchen when he noticed that the main entrance door was slightly ajar.
The fox eyed boy thought at first that it was just an illusion, debating his thoughts that it is usually locked several times from the outside. He looked back again at the reunited couple on the couch, then back to the door and he need not to analyze the situation more after finding astro- guard sprawled on the home sweet home rug near the doorstep after passing out because of Mitsui's punch. Without hesitation, he took a wide single step on top of astro-guard to avoid stepping on his face and walked out of the gates knowing where exactly he would go.
It's almost seven in the evening, Rukawa estimated. He knew exactly who to find and where he is that hour. He knows that person too well. He memorizes his every move and his daily activities. It beats the heck out of him why he's that obsessed with that person but he can't help himself. And now, he can't help himself from missing that person.missing that do'aho.
Sakuragi is playing basketball alone in the court located in the middle of the park. It is usually empty around seven in the evening so he goes straight there to practice after hanging out with his friends. He was about to make a jump shot but stopped when he saw somebody familiar approaching him.
"Nani?! Why is the Kitsune here?!"
"Oi. Do'aho. One on one?"
"You're disturbing the tensai with his practice, go away!"
"You don't need practice. You're too brainless to improve."
"What did you say?! You can't talk to the tensai like that!"
"Do'aho."
"Why are you here anyway? I thought you were sick and dying inside the quarantine?! Nyahahaha!"
Rukawa just stared at the laughing red head.
"Too bad for you to be this sickly kitsune and totally different from this very healthy tensai! Nyahahaha!"
The raven-haired boy grabbed the ball from Sakuragi, dribbled it and made a perfect jump shot.
"K'so. Stop showing off, Fox. You should be sick and dying!"
Rukawa said nothing and made another shot.
"What are you up to, Fox?" Sakuragi angrily asked as he walked towards Rukawa and stole the ball from his hands.
"Nothing, Do'aho. Just this." Rukawa said and kissed Sakuragi on the lips.
Sakuragi dropped the ball he was holding and stared in disbelief at Rukawa when the kiss was over.
"How dare you kiss the tensai!"
Rukawa picked up the ball from the floor and counted in his mind the seconds to proclaim success for his plan. Moments later, an ambulance siren sounded louder and louder as it neared the park basketball court and a bunch of men in white came out of it and approached Rukawa. Dr. Ichigaki led the interrogation.
"Sir, why did you leave the quarantine? We instructed you to stay there for days to be observed. This will be your last warning. Further escape from the quarantine will no longer be tolerated and we have no choice but to charge you for further damages of affecting other people's health because of your irresponsible actions," was the doctor's ultimatum and Rukawa was escorted to the ambulance.
"Serves you right, Kitsune, for kissing this tensai, like I wanted to be kissed or something by a sick and dying fox like you!" Sakuragi yelled from behind.
The boy inside the ambulance smiled.
"Excuse me, sir. What did you just say?" Dr. Ichigaki asked the tall red head as she made notes in her clipboard. "Did you just say that he kissed you?"
Sakuragi turned red. "Um. er... hai." He stuttered and scowled at Rukawa who was looking at him from the ambulance. "Hai. He kissed me so I suggest you should lock him inside a room alone without food until he starves to death as punishment for escaping quarantine. Nyahahaha!" He added laughing out loud with his famous tensai pose.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we should also take you with us to the quarantine." Dr. Ichigaki interrupted the tensai moment.
"Nani?! Nani?!" The self-proclaimed tensai asked in confusion. "You can't take this tensai to the quarantine with that dying fox!"
"But sir, you could already be infected with the SARS virus and to avoid."
"What SARS virus?! I cannot be infected with that, the tensai is healthy as always!"
"No, sir, we have to avoid any further possible spread of the virus. Therefore, we advice you to cooperate with us."
"K'so. Kitsune! This is all your fault!"
The men in white dragged Sakuragi to the ambulance but he struggled and insisted not to go.
"You can't take this tensai to quarantine! Go away! Bakero! You all disturbed the tensai at practice."
More men in white approached the struggling boy and he was practically carried to the ambulance no matter how hard he restrained and was pushed in the ambulance and fell on top of Rukawa who is sitting inside. Their faces were so close to each other Sakuragi thought about the kiss and blushed. Rukawa looked into the eyes of the boy on top him and Sakuragi's face turned redder. Sakuragi was helped by the men in white to stand up and sit properly.
"Sir, please sit properly." The man instructed as he pulled Sakuragi to sit on a chair.
The ambulance's siren sounded as it drove to the quarantine with its newest member to join the bunch.
"Kitsune! You're gonna pay big time for this!"
"Do'aho."
***
Sakuragi sat by the couch inside the quarantine with thoughts in his head.
/Baka kitsune. This is his entire fault. I should not be here./
Four days passed by since Mitsui, Ayako and Rukawa we're placed under quarantine. Evidently, no basketball practice because the first five of Shohoku basketball team together with one reserve player and the team manager were quarantined. Well, not all of them were supposed to be there in the first place since three were the only ones originally on the list and the other three are just crazy volunteers. And as for the seventh and newest member of the group. he was practically dragged there because of a kiss, although according to him, the virus can never affect him because he is a tensai. But what bothers him most and is putting his tensai thinking to the very edge is the answer for the question of the millenium for him- 'Why the heck did the kitsune kissed the tensai?'
/Why did he kiss this tensai, anyway?/ He asked again himself the question, thought about the kiss again and blushed. /Damn it. Why do I feel this funny feeling?/ He added to his confused thoughts. /A tensai like me shouldn't feel this way. Am I actually thinking that I kinda liked it when the fox kissed me? K'so. I didn't liked it. I liked it very much./ And with that thought, he banged his head on the coffee table in front of him. /Waaah. Why do I like the feeling of the kitsune kissing me? The words 'tensai', 'kitsune' and 'like' don't even go well together in one sentence./ Then Sakuragi thought again. /Hai. That's true, a tensai like me will always hate the kitsune. I can never like that fox... ever! Why am I even thinking about this?! A tensai like me shouldn't even be bothered by thoughts like this. Baka kitsune!/
The red head chanted the last phrase to himself in order to keep his mind off the image and feeling of the kitsune kiss that happened last night. The thought about it was driving him crazy since the moment it was over. At first he thought that it was only one of those things kitsunes do, which are listed under 'A thousand and one ways to annoy the tensai.' But judging from the way Rukawa looked into his eyes when he fell on top of him inside the ambulance, he's having a hard time considering the kiss under that category because it looked as if Rukawa wanted to kiss him again -- right then and there inside the ambulance.
Sakuragi can't get over the notion all night. He couldn't even properly answer the questions the doctors asked him in the hospital before he was finally taken to quarantine. He even recalled answering 'Yes, yes, he kissed me in the lips and it felt good' to the fourth doctor who asked him the 'Did he really kissed you? Where?' question just like the rest. For Sakuragi, it was one entire interrogation with the objective to bombard him with that same question over and over again. It played like some irritating Kylie Minogue song in his mind, he couldn't sleep well that night and it was even in his dreams. He woke up with dark holes under his eyes but still with the thought of it - the whole kissing thing and questions in between.
Still with the 'Baka kitsune' chanting in his mind, he heard someone singing one particular song - the last song he would like to hear that day.
"Na, na, na. nana, nanana. Na, na, na, nana, nanana. I just can't get you out of my head. boy, your loving is all I think about." Ryota sang as he sat beside Sakuragi on the couch after doing some funny dance he saw for the song's music video.
The taller boy with red hair gave him a would-you-like-me-to-gladly-give- you-a-head-butt look.
"Hey, what's wrong with my Kylie Minogue singing?"
"It's irritating the tensai!"
"Huh?! Irritating? It's my favorite." The shorter boy defended and did more of the dance routine while singing the rest of the song, louder this time. "See... I can even do the dance."
"K'so!" Irritated Sakuragi yelled with a head butt combo and Ryota ended up with a huge lump on his head, that kept Ayako busy putting an ice bag on, the rest of the afternoon
***
Rukawa went down the stairs and found Sakuragi lost in a spacey stare outside the window.
"Oi. Do'aho. Bored?" Rukawa flatly asked.
"Huh? Me? Bored?" Sakuragi asked after snapping out of his kitsune kissing thoughts plus an l.s.s. of the Kylie Minogue song courtesy of Ryota. "I am the tensai. The tensai is never bored."
"Whatever you say, Do'aho"
"Shut up, fox! Just to remind your sick and dying mind, I am quarantined because of you. So that would be a million thanks to you by this tensai, with credits rolling."
Rukawa replied nothing and went straight to the kitchen and Sakuragi stood up from the couch and followed him.
"Why are you following me, Do'aho?"
"Because you can't just walk out in the middle of a tensai's speech!"
"Tensai my ass."
"Correction, that's sick and dying ass!"
"Do'aho"
"Sick and dying fox! Nyahahaha!"
Rukawa replied nothing again and opened the fridge door.
A very annoyed because he was ignored Sakuragi rummaged for something to eat inside the cupboards. He found a box of Oreos, behind a peanut butter jar, sat on a chair by the dining table and ripped opened the foil wrapping of the stack of cookies. He watched as the other boy in front of the fridge drank milk straight from the carton. He stared and stared some more at the raven-haired boy who is drinking milk without a use of a glass through the carton opening. Sakuragi couldn't help himself but be mesmerized by the kitsune and the milk carton scene in front of him like he has never scene any other person do that thing with milk before. He adored how Rukawa gulped down the milk to the very last drop.
/Is the Fox seducing me? Why do I feel this funny feeling just watching him drink that milk?/ The red head thought as he took a bite from an Oreo sandwich and watched milk-mustached Rukawa threw the empty carton on the wastebasket near the fridge.
Sakuragi snapped out of his thoughts, stood up from the chair and shoved the other boy out of the fridge's way to get himself some milk for his Oreo. He frantically looked from every corner of the fridge including the freezer but he found no milk to his disappointment.
"That was the last carton." Rukawa said and Sakuragi flashed him an angry look.
"You finished up all the milk?! How dare you leave the tensai with zero milk for his Oreo dunking!"
"I have to drink milk. Doctor's orders."
"For all I care if you die of calcium deficiency, you sick and dying fox!"
"You can lick the box." Rukawa pointed at the box inside the plastic lined wastebasket.
"Stupid and greedy fox! I want my Oreos with milk!"
"Dig up a hole, maybe you'll find some."
"Stupid kitsune!"
"Do'aho." Rukawa replied and started to walk away from the fridge.
It has always been like this-- a typical conversation with Sakuragi. But Rukawa is happy that he could talk to him though it sounded that the only way to do so is to annoy the self-proclaimed tensai. It was really the obvious most effective way though Rukawa wished for the routine to change. He hoped that one day, he can talk about other things with the boy aside from the typical 'he is the stupid kitsune' affirmation topic. Since he can't think of any other way to get the do'aho's attention, he can live with the usual exchange of words. He thought it was better than having no conversation at all. He likes the do'aho too much its painful if any form of contact, even if it is in a form of fight, will be taken away. He even escaped quarantine just so he can see the red head.
Rukawa's thoughts from last night comprised of wondering how Sakuragi felt when he kissed him and how he yearned that when the time comes he will do it again, the red head will kiss him back. Clearly, Sakuragi's reaction was more on the surprised side. Rukawa is convinced that Sakuragi is tearing up his brain right now for reasons why the hell did the boy he calls 'stupid fox' kissed him. For Rukawa, evidently, he kissed him because he liked him.a lot. The kiss was really not a part of the original plan. All he had in mind was to let the astro-folks discover that he had a close contact with Sakuragi, which will be the reason for the redhead to be with him, much to his approval, in the quarantine. But Rukawa missed him so much that he couldn't control himself from kissing the do'aho when he saw him at practice. He wondered how the other felt for the kiss.
But Rukawa was already convinced based from the way Sakuragi reacted, the kiss was just one of those things Rukawa does to annoy him, to prove to him that he's one big do'aho. Rukawa felt hopeless on that part, he wished that he could tell Sakuragi how he feels for him right then and there instead of that stupid kiss but he never really had the courage. He was always afraid of finally losing his do'aho because of some bizarre confession of love. Now, that same boy is looking as if he's ready to punch him because he left no milk for his Oreo snack and all he can do is say 'do'aho' and walk away.
"Oi, kitsune, don't walk away if the tensai is talking to you. I know now where to get milk." Sakuragi said as he grabbed Rukawa's arm to stop him from the walk out act.
"Where?" Rukawa asked as he turned around and looked at his arm Sakuragi was holding.
"Right over there..." Sakuragi said as he smiled at Rukawa's milk mustache. He released Rukawa's arm and kissed him on the lips.
The two savored the moment. The kiss just felt so right, it was all both of them needed to answer all the questions in their minds.
"No more milk." Rukawa said after the two of them parted from the kiss.
"Yah. Too bad for this tensai." Sakuragi smiled.
"Have you tried Oreos with peanut butter?"
"Not yet. But I saw a jar of peanut butter and a couple more boxes of Oreos inside the cupboard. Would you like to have some with me?"
"I'll go get it." Rukawa said with a smile.
***
LOVESICK PATIENT #4
Akagi looked up from his breakfast plate with a grim expression on his face complete opposite of the comical happy face of two sunny side up eggs for eyes, a roll of bread for a nose and bacon for a smiling mouth on his plate.
/I think this whole volunteer for quarantine thing is a bad idea./ Akagi thought.
It's the morning of the sixth day for quarantine. Breakfast hour. Five days already passed by after Akagi ran to the gates of the quarantine house to volunteer for isolation, which was primarily for Mitsui, Ayako and Rukawa only. Days passed and the house for quarantine turned out to be this shelter for lovesick patients who missed each other and can't stand a day apart from their loved-ones. Fifth quarantine member lacked inspiration for practice and climbed up the roof and used the window as entrance. The doctors couldn't do anything but make him stay for he could already have the virus after a close contact with the only girl in the group. Sixth quarantine member crawled through the hedge in a honey farmer outfit and made his boyfriend beat up the man guarding the door after some scripted coughing so he could get inside no matter how health conscious he was. Same decision by the doctors applied after finding the pair making out on the couch. Seventh member was welcomed to quarantine because of an unwanted kiss that turned out to be a happily ever after love story for the two of them that they officially started last night thanks to Oreos and milk. And as for Akagi, the fourth member, he's beginning to be bored with the quarantine routine of eating, sleeping and finding other members of the group do happy lovey-dovey things everyday leaving him feeling out of place and wishing he was not there in the first place.
/I miss basketball practice./ The Shohoku basketball team captain thought as he observed the happy couples around him.
"Ei, you're doin' a good job with that pancake flipping thing, 'Yochin." Ayako said to Ryota while she continued mixing the batter.
"Jiyeah! I'm a pancake-flipping machine! Haha!" Ryota proudly implored while he flipped one pancake high up in the air without the use of a turner and the pancake landed on Akagi's head.
"Thanks. But you could have aimed for my plate." Akagi said as the pancake slid down his head and landed on his plate.
"Gomen, Captain. Gomen. Gomen." Ryota bowed with apology to the tad bit angry Akagi.
"What can I say. Good job lean mean pancake flipping machine!" Ayako joked as she sprinkled some flour on top of the muffin-like head of her boyfriend.
"Stop that, Ayachan!"
"I like my muffins with confectioner's sugar on top. Haha."
"Hey no fair!" Ryota complained as he threw some flour to his Aya-chan too. "Here, take this! I like my spaghetti with cheese on top!"
"Muffin top!" Ayako threw a handful of flour to Ryota.
"Spaghetti head!" Ryota threw two handfuls back.
"White looks good on you. here, have more!" The girl laughed and dumped the bowl of sifted flour on top of her boyfriend's head.
"Hah! Have the rest of the box!" White all over with a mixing bowl helmet Ryota emptied the entire box of flour on Ayako.
And the two ran laughing all over the kitchen with the flour fight.
"Oi. Curly tops! Make sure you clean up after that!" Akagi reminded as he peeled a banana.
"Hai!" Ryota and Ayako answered in chorus from the kitchen.
Akagi sighed and took one big gorilla bite from his banana. He looked up from the fruit and stared at the other couple who is having breakfast with him at the other side of the table.
"I like my pancakes with lots of syrup!" Mitsui said in a singsong voice as he poured syrup on the high stack of pancakes in front of him.
"Mitchy, that's not 'lots of syrup', its 'pancakes drowning in a flood of syrup'." Kogure corrected with a smile as he stared at what his boyfriend is doing.
"I like it sweet, but you're sweeter." The other boy explained.
Kogure blushed.
"Ohayou, Akagi. Right over here is exhibit number two. The mushiest couple in the face of Kanagawa. Enjoy." Akagi mumbled to himself while watching Kogure wipe off the pancake syrup from the side of Mitsui's mouth with his thumb.
"Huh? You're saying something, Akagi?" Mitsui asked.
"No. Nothing." Akagi lied.
"Oh. Okay." Mitsui said as he looked back at his boyfriend who is now making a smiley face with chocolate syrup on top of his pancake stack.
"Cute smiley. Who's that?" Mitsui asked.
"Nobody. I just like my pancakes like this."
Mitsui looked closer at the smiley on the other boy's plate and added eyeglasses with the honey-colored pancake syrup on the chocolate dot eyes.
"There!" The taller boy grinned as he finished his masterpiece.
Kogure smiled.
"Kinda looks like my Min-kun, but he's a lot cuter."
Kogure blushed again.
Akagi sweatdropped and looked back on his own smiling breakfast plate with one sunny side up egg eye missing. Yareyare.
"Ohayou." Rukawa said with a low and sleepy voice from the stairs.
"Wow! Pancakes!" Sakuragi exclaimed as he ran towards the table and happily sat on the chair. "Itadakimasu!"
The other boy who is still sleepy sat beside him and poured himself some orange juice.
"Hey, Kitsune, how about pancakes with peanut butter?" Sakuragi suggested. "That sounds good! A peanut butter pancake sandwich! Nyahahaha! What do you think?!"
"That sounds gross, do'aho."
"Hey! I think it's a tensai idea next to peanut butter and Oreos."
"No more peanut butter." The raven-haired boy reminded.
"Nani?! We're out of peanut butter?! Too bad. I would love to try that peanut butter pancake sandwich!"
"You sentenced the jar empty last night."
"Hmmm. You're right." The redhead agreed and placed a hand on his chin. "I should come up with another tensai idea."
"Figure out again where you can get some." Rukawa said with a teenie-eenie bit of what looked like a smile.
Everybody else inside the house, except for Sakuragi, froze from whatever they were doing and gave each other an Is-the-world-about-to-end-or-did-I- really-saw-Rukawa-did-something-unbelievable-like-a-smile look.
Rukawa looked away from Sakuragi and wondered why the rest of the household citizenry is looking at him like he just did some acrobatic circus act or something.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Nothing!" Akagi, Mitsui, Kogure and the flour covered Ryota and Ayako answered with a don't-mind-don't-mind smile and resumed to whatever they're doing.
/Weird people./ Rukawa thought.
/Rukawa smiled?! Talk about a miracle!/ Akagi thought. /What can I say. This house for quarantine really morphed into a love heaven for all of them, like its already Valentine's day or something./ He sighed. /I'm getting more and more into the feeling that this volunteer for quarantine move is really a bad idea. I'm kinda feeling homesick right now. And it's been several days already, but none of us are showing any sign of sickness or anything that will prove that we have the flu./
Akagi looked around the house again to observe the three pairings. Ryota and Ayako started to eat breakfast though they're still dusted all over with flour. Mitsui and Kogure are now sharing an apple. And Rukawa and Sakuragi are debating over whether jam will taste good with Oreos or with pancakes, but much to Akagi's surprise, he thinks Sakuragi is winning because Rukawa is doing that smile again.
/Good for them./ Akagi thought but couldn't help but envy the bunch. /I'm the only one who doesn't have a partner here. And it makes me miss Uozumi./ He sighed. /I miss those one-on-one games with him. We're supposed to have this dinner date the other day but since I'm here and he's there, too bad for us. Maybe he'll drop by tonight and be with me like just like what Ryota and Kogure did for Ayako and Mitsui./ Akagi thought of the possibility and smiled dreamily. /Hmmmm. Or maybe, I should sneak out like what Rukawa did for Sakuragi.../ He thought again and drifted off in a daydream of Uozumi and him finally being together.
"Hey, why is Gori blushing?!" Sakuragi asked as he noticed their captain staring in space with a dreamy smile on his face and blushing cheeks.
"He's not blushing, do'aho."
"Nyahahaha! A blushing gorilla! That's funny!" The red head laughed.
"There's a tinge of red on his cheeks. Maybe he's got fever." Kogure theorized.
"Will he be alright? Maybe we should go check his temperature." Ayako said with a worried look on her face.
The basketball captain stayed in his dreamy state, completely unaware that he's being talked about.
"Hihihihi! Funny Kingkong scene!" Sakuragi giggled with his mouth covered.
"Earth to Akagi. Earth to Akagi." Mitsui said as he snapped his fingers in front of Akagi's face.
"I think we should go call the doctor." Ryota suggested. "This could be bad, the virus could have already reached his brain. Look! We could consider him in an unconscious state!"
"Nah! He's gonna be alright, he's a gorilla. They're excluded to be affected by the virus."
"Do'aho."
The daydreaming captain snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door.
"I'll go get it." He said as he stood up and went straight to the door.
Everybody else inside the house sweat-dropped.
"See!" Sakuragi pointed out. "I'm a tensai, I know these things. Nyahahaha!" He added with a tensai pose.
***
ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL
"So what are you trying to tell us, that we don't have the virus?" Ayako asked Dr. Ichigaki.
It was Dr. Ichigaki who knocked on the door much to Akagi's wishful thinking that it was Uozumi. The doctor gathered them all by the living room to talk about something very urgent and important. She bowed her head apologetically after Ayako asked the question.
"Yes. And we apologize for all of the trouble we caused you for placing you under quarantine." Dr. Ichigaki replied.
"I don't get it. This was all a big mistake?" Mitsui asked with question marks on top of his head.
"Yes. It was found out that there was this mix up with the names. Our research team confused the three of you with other people whose names sound alike like yours."
"So, the real ones who made close contact with that man who died are free outside and happily spreading the virus while the healthy us were here all this time?" Asked Ayako.
"Apparently, based from our most recent investigation, the man who died of a suspected SARS case, was not a SARS case at all. As of now, Kanagawa is declared SARS free."
"What will happen to us now?" Mitsui asked.
The doctor bowed her head again. "In behalf of the Kanagawa SARS Prevention team, we apologize for all of these. We now discharge you from quarantine."
"NANI!?" Ayako, Mitsui, Rukawa, Ryota, Kogure and Sakuragi exclaimed.
"Nani?" Akagi asked. "You mean we can go back to our normal lives now?"
"Yes." The Doctor answered.
"Yosh!" Akagi said as he ran straight to the door and shouted. "Uozumi! I'm coming!"
"Wait." Kogure said. "We really have to leave now?"
"Yes, you are officially discharged." Dr. Ichigaki repeated.
"But I thought this quarantine was supposed to be for 14 days." Ryota added.
"I think its better if we stay." Rukawa suggested.
"Hai! It's a tensai idea to stay here. The tensai suggests that we all complete that 14-day quarantine stay! Nyahahaha!"
"No. No. You can go back now to your homes. There's really no point of staying here." The doctor who's already on the verge of losing patience explained.
"No. We'll stay here." Rukawa said.
"Hai. We have to be sure that we really don't have SARS." Mitsui pointed out.
"But..." Dr Ichigaki tried to start her speech again but was shoved out of the door.
"We'll be alright, Dr. Ichigaki. Please don't forget to lock the door." Ayako shouted when the doctor was finally outside.
"Um... maybe several days more, till we're really SARS free?" Mitsui pointed out as he leaned on the door to stop the Doctor who was kicked out of the house from her struggle to come inside again as she pushed the door open.
"BUT YOU ARE SARS FREE!" Dr. Ichigaki yelled from the outside.
"No. no. We're fine if we stay, Dr. Ichigaki." Kogure said in a polite semi in panic tone. "We're fine if we stay here. Right guys?" Ryota asked the rest of the group who seemed to have enjoyed staying in the quarantine that turned out to be a house for lovers.
"Hai!" The rest chorused in reply.
-THE END-
heeheehee. there goes my SARS fic..
Sorry for those I might have offended *bows head apologetically* I know SARS is some serious case that should be taken seriously (hearing mom's SARS speech in mind right now), but I can't help my weirdo mind from thinking about Shohoku basketball team's own SARS story. (--,)
Gomen. Gomen. All blame should be for dear kaesaku for persuading me to write this fic. Heeheehee. (jodan!) *docks head to evade whatever that thing is that kaesaku threw at me* (I think that was a table or something)
***
Roll the credits.
Tnx to my bro for suggesting that Dr. Ichigaki name. Nope. 'Not the same YuYu Hakusho monster transforming doctor, though he thought at first that it would be cool if that will really happen. (--;)
Arigato, kaesaku, a.k.a. kitsune, for helping me edit and fix my stupid grammar. Heeheehee.
To Oreos and milk, the dynamic dunking duo and a bunch of other junk foods for accompanying me while I write this fic.
Thanks to all and to all who bothered to read and review this, 'ope you liked the crazy plot.
'hope countries affected by SARS will be SARS free soon. But in the meantime, wear those face masks!!!! Ja!
***
Kogure: (pops out of nowhere) And remember, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!
gurl_labo: *sweatdrops* Hai, my fellow megane, I think they already know that.