Disclaimer: Blah blah blah. You already know the drill. SD characters ain't mine although the story, obviously, is. And one day, Mitsui shall be mine. Bwahahahahaha.

Chapter Seven: Duel

I duck under Sendoh's outstretched arm and drive towards the basket. Ha! The smiling idiot fell for my feint! Quickly, I jump lightly into the air and lay the ball in. Two more points for me, and I've taken the lead. The score now is 10-8.

Pretty close fight.

I'm perspiring and my sweat could practically flood the Sahara. This is one of the most gruelling workouts I've had in months. Sendoh, he's tough, I'll give you that much. He blocked a few of my shots that have always worked in actual matches, even against Shoyo. Like when I tried to toss the ball in with an underhand but Sendoh swatted it down before I could even blink. Needless to say, that got me pretty pissed off. And when I'm pissed, I play like a mad man. No pun intended.

Knees bent, body crouched low, I fix my eyes steadily on the ball -- my precious ball -- in Sendoh's hands. He's passing it back and forth between his hands and he's staring straight at me. Is it just me, or is there a mocking glint in his eyes?

God, he's infuriating, perhaps even more so than that baka Sakuragi. He's not going to score this time. You can count on it.

After what felt like eternity, Sendoh finally moves. He dribbles towards me, heading straight for where I'm standing. That throws me off but not for long; I do a quick right to block his way to the goal. He responds by switching to the left. His movement is snappy and rapid, almost like lightning. I don't even have time to regain my balance before he takes his shot.

Swish. Nothing but net.

I breathe heavily as I stare at the ball -- my precious ball -- that is now bouncing away from me. Sendoh picks it up, throws it carelessly in my direction, almost hitting me in the face but my reflexes save me and I catch it just in the nick of time.

"What's wrong, Rukawa? Getting tired?"

Okay, that glint in his eyes before was definitely a mocking one. It matches perfectly with his taunting words. I growl silently. Stupid, stupid Sendoh. I'd give anything to be able to disfigure him and get away with it.

I don't answer him. Taking advantage of his cockiness, I don't give him a second to think. I fake a right; he falls for it. I dribble to my left, running for the goal, leaving Sendoh behind to eat my dust. I leap into the air and, aiming for the centre of the hoop, slam the ball in.

12-10, to Rukawa Kaede! The crowd goes wild!

"What's wrong, Sendoh?" I mimic. "Losing your touch?"

His eyes narrow. For the first time today, he's stopped smiling. So, he's finally realised that things are getting serious. That's what he gets for looking down on me. So bloody what if he's from Ryonan? Big deal. Shohoku can kick their asses anytime.

"The game's not over yet," he replies smoothly. "You still have 8 more points to go."

Again, I don't bother to reply. Eyes fixed sharply on the ball, I prepare to defend my lead. I'm prepared for whatever weird gimmicks Sendoh throws at me.

Sure enough, Sendoh decides to fake me out. He pretends to shoot, but when I don't move, he loses balance, and I take that chance to grab the ball from his hand.

"Hey!" he yells out in surprise. I roll my eyes. Not wasting even a second, I aim, and release the ball from my hands. It sails through the air, heading towards the basket, and -

Blocked! No, not just blocked! Stolen! Sendoh suddenly appeared in front of me and grabbed the ball in mid-air. He doesn't waste a second either; he dunks the ball in.

"Score," he says. He shrugs good-naturedly and flashes that annoying smile at me again. "Sorry."

I feel something boiling at the pit of my stomach. This feeling is awfully familiar. What is it? Oh, yeah. It's rage.

I'm so tempted to just hurl the ball in that smiling idiot's face. Does he have to smile all the damn time? Are his lips made of rubber?

"Want to take a break? You look pretty exhausted."

I look exhausted? What about you? You're breathing just as heavily as I am! Don't act all concerned for me when it's you who want the break. At least have the balls to admit it!

"No," I answer icily. "I'm okay."

His eyebrow shoots up. "Okay," he drawls. "Let's go on then."

Current score: 12-12. Eight more points to go, which totals to four more baskets. I can do this, and by god, I will. Dammit, I want ice-cream, for crying out loud. I deserve ice-cream, after playing with Sendoh for god-knows-how long. It feels like forever.

Doesn't matter. I'll focus on the task at hand and dream about ice-cream later. Right now, I have to beat Sendoh.

Dribble, dribble, stop. Hustle, jostle, turn, fake, turn again, shoot. Score.

14-12 to me. So far, Sendoh has fallen for most of my feints. I'll remember this weak point and use it for future games against Ryonan.

Sendoh smiles again. What is there to smile about? I just scored a basket over his pricky head. He should be worrying, and not smiling away like he's just won the damn lottery. Did I ever mention that he's getting on my nerves? He is. Well and truly.

"Six more points," he says.

Thank you, Sendoh, but I can count. You focus on taking a lead, because you haven't so far.

I hold out my arms and adopt the standard 'defence' pose. He's standing quite still, his eyes darting back and forth, from the basket to me. Argh, my knees are beginning to hurt. Can he just move already?

Then, without warning, he holds the ball in front of his head and releases it. I turn back and watch in horror as the ball enters the net safely.

I look back at Sendoh again. Shit. He shot from the three-point line.

"That's three points," he says. He smiles. "Sorry."

Stop smiling, for crying out loud! And while you're at that, stop saying 'sorry' when you obviously don't mean it!

"Fine. Three points." I'm really, really beyond being pissed now. I'm enraged. What made him think he could shoot from the outside? Or rather, what made him think I couldn't? Two could definitely play the game.

I pretend to shoot from the outside. I know he'd attempt to block my shot, so I decide to reserve my three-pointer for later on. For now, though, this is what I'd do.

I throw the ball over Sendoh's pricky head and send it flying towards the basket. Immediately, I run after it. I push my feet against the ground and elevate myself into the air. I grab hold of the ball. Using both hands, I slam it into the hoop with as much force as I can muster. The ring rattles and creaks noisily as I hang on to the rim.

I land safely on both feet. Sendoh is gaping at me. 16-15.

"That's a dunk," I say coolly.

*****

We're going for the final point now, the decisive point. I tried a three-pointer but Sendoh blocked it. I did manage to make a successful lay-up though. The score is now 18-18. He scored again by a three-pointer.

It's Sendoh's ball, which means I'm in potential danger. Sendoh is a tough player to mark. He moves smoothly and quickly, and he fakes without giving his opponent time to think and to recover. So okay, he's good. Fine. He's really good. But I don't think he's better than me. If he were, he would've beaten me a long time ago.

"You ready?" he says. "It's the final basket."

"I know," I mutter. And I'm going to win, I add silently.

Okay Kaede, steady yourself. This is it. This is the final show down. And you're so going to win.

Sendoh moves slowly, deliberately dragging out the time before he takes action. He glances at my outstretched arms. Shit, is that a smirk I'm seeing on his face? The nerve of him!

Finally, he starts his play. He dribbles to the left. I follow suit and block his way with my body. He tries to get around me, but I have him marked tight. Then, he tries a feint, but I don't buy it. I try to steal the ball. This time, he has a firm grip on it.

He tries to go to the right. I don't allow him to. He circles around my left again, looking for a way out, but he finds none. I'm so intent on blocking his way that I don't realise we're almost directly under the basket, until, to my absolute surprise and indignance, he fakes a left and I fall for it, and he jumps into the air and executes a slam dunk.

I can do nothing right now but stare as he retrieves the ball and hands it to me.

"Sorry, I win," he tells me. As if I don't know. "But it was a good game. You put on a tough fight."

I stare some more. He is smiling again, like it would make me feel better. To hell with his stupid smile! I don't want to look at his face anymore, for I fear I may do something drastic. Like picking up the nearest rock and smashing it repeatedly against his smug face. Or holding him in a tight deadlock with my arm around his neck and crushing his windpipes. Or even better, pushing him in front of the speeding cars that are zooming by every few seconds and watching as he becomes roadkill, and revelling in it.

I snatch my precious ball from his hands. Without a word, I stash it into my backpack and stalk off the court, leaving Sendoh behind.

*****

Despite having lost to Sendoh, I bought an ice-cream for myself anyway. I think I deserve it. I did some thinking after blowing Sendoh off, and I reached the conclusion that, as much as I hate to admit it, he was right. It was a good game. Sendoh is a good basketball player. I shouldn't be ashamed to lose to him.

Yeah freaking right. Like I'd ever admit to that. I'd get him the next time, in a proper Shohoku vs. Ryonan match. I'd be all over his ass and I'd mark him so tightly that he wouldn't know what hit him. And then we'll see if he'd still be able to smile all the time.

Still miffed about losing, I take another bite of my vanilla ice-cream cone and proceed to walk home. I wonder what I'm having for dinner tonight. I hope Mom's re-stock our food supply. Last time I checked, which was this morning, we only had a can of beans left in the shelf and less than half a bucket of rice.

I grimace. I hate beans. I'm sick of eating it all the time. I'd rather live on ice-cream.

I start to walk up the steps to my apartment when I catch a glimpse of something familiar, stashed behind one of the garbage cans. I take a closer look, and realise that it's the bike I thrashed yesterday morning while cycling to school.

What the hell is it doing here? I thought I left it by the roadside and abandoned it forever. Slightly excited, I wheel it out of its hiding place. I hop on it. I paddle around a little.

Shit, it's working! My bike is alive! But how? It's impossible. I'm pretty sure no one I know saw my little accident yesterday. And I'm positive that the bike was totally wrecked after I fell into that heinous ditch. And not forgetting the small fact that it was hidden behind the garbage cans, almost like somebody didn't want me to find it.

Weird. A sudden drop in temperature induces shivers in me. Or maybe it's just the way I'm cold all of a sudden.

*****

"Mom, did you fix my bike?"

She looks up from the dishes that she's washing. "What are you talking about?"

"My bike. The one I thrashed yesterday and left at the roadside. Somebody fixed it and brought it back. I thought it was you."

Her look of confusion confirms it. She's not the one behind it.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Kaede," she replies, somewhat bewildered. "You thrashed your bike yesterday? What happened?"

I sigh. I don't want to go through this. "Nothing," I answer. I go back to wiping the table.

*****

I accidentally step on an empty beer can on the way to my bedroom. Shaking my head, I pick it up. I fling it carelessly towards the direction of the dustbin. It goes in with a soft 'plod'.

Switching on the light in my room, I sit down on my bed. I can't get over how my bicycle suddenly re-appeared. And it isn't just that it's working again. It is also the coat of new paint on it. And whoever did it managed to get the same bright neon pink as the old coat.

It's kind of freaky, if you think about it, almost like this were a Sherlock Holmes mystery. The only person who could've done it is my mother, and the exchange in the kitchen just now proves that it wasn't her.

So then, who was it?



A/N: I realised that I've been spelling "do'ahou" wrong the entire time. So sorry. Please mentally change the spelling. I'm too lazy to do it. :) The damn basketball scenes took me forever to write. It probably doesn't make sense but I really am too damn lazy to do anything about it, so um, sorry again.

At the time of writing this I don't know either who brought the bike back. I only threw in this plot detail because I couldn't continue the chapter. Don't worry though, my tensai mind will come up with something. Haha!

unchained: Finally! Somebody else agrees that I am a genius! It's time for world-domination! Um, anyway, I emailed you but I don't know if it got through. Tell me if you got my email okay? I'm glad you found Chapter 6 funny. =)

fourteen: Heh thanks for the feedback, especially that bit about the ex-girlfriend. I wanted to include a flashback about the girl but it was so corny that I axed it. Don't feel bad about yourself, I'm just really bored at home with nothing to do, which is why I update rather quickly. And because it's fun torturing Rukawa. Nyahahahaha.

jashuang: ...For heaven's sake, I KNOW where Suntec City is. Where IN Suntec City, exactly? You don't really expect me to scour the entire mall for something that probably doesn't even exist, do you?!

sLL: Haha I loved that part of that SD episode you mentioned, when Mitsui had his arm around Rukawa's neck and was kind of choking him, that was so funny. And yesterday (19 December) Mitsui did a wonderful elusion or whatever it's called, and although he missed his shot I started yelling like mad anyway. Hahahahahahaha. Isn't it sweet how his gangster friends are still so supportive of him? He is so well-loved by everyone! Including meeeee! Um, yeah, moving on...

Joana: You got your wish. =)

qianhui: Glad you liked Chapter 6. By the way I like your new site. =)

Frozenfemale: Mitsui ADORES flower pots. he buys them and throws them off his apartment. He's crazy. I gotta tame him real soon. Bwahahahaha.