Author's notes: Lol! Did you know I wrote this chapter THREE times just to get the right feel for it! Gah!

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 //… // Thoughts of characters

( … ) My ramblings.

* … * Background noise?…

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            And so the night went on for the Rukawa household except a certain must-sleep-every-one-second-guy who had willingly retired to his room. Kaoru and Emi seems to have no problems talking nonstop, but later throughout the conversation, our dear old Emi began to feel the horrors of jet lag.

" Yeah…huuuaaaaahhhhhhhhh," yawned Emi. They were sitting on the floor and Emi was slowly drifting off into, luckily this time it was not space, but the place we all know and love called slumber-land. (I love sleep, craves for them. )

Her heavy lidded eyes could only allow her to see the blurry version of Kaoru gesturing wildly as if her life depended on it.

" An…whe…ghoes.…lihe…fis…." were the only words Emi could make out before her head was completely over run with dancing fairies, fuzzy bunnies and a very hunky-looking Rukawa minus the T-shirt. ( I know, I know, I sound like a VERY bad girl..heheh )

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"…And what does he do? He took the…???" Kaoru stopped when she heard a light snoring coming from Emi.

"Eh? How am I gonna bring her up to the guest room?" she pondered while standing up. // I'm not strong enough, but Kaede is! Of course, I wouldn't want to break my neck or something like that, right?// She crept up the stairs and headed Kaede's room. Carefully, she turned the knob and opened the door. It made a slight creaking sound and Kaoru quickly entered the room. The room was dark, Kaoru cautiously flicked the light switch on. Bright light flooded the room instantly as she tiptoed towards Rukawa's bed. His head was under a very messy-looking pillow (What with him drooling all the time?). Eyeing him for any possible movements that might prove he wasn't sleeping and seeing none, she tiptoed faster into uncharted territory. Even as a mom, Kaoru never really had woken up a slumbering Rukawa in the middle of a night. //God, I feel like I'm spying on him!// Suddenly her right foot connected with something hard and ( Well, the usual… ) she tripped. As her off-balanced body connected with the floor, it made a loud thud which could've woken up the whole house. Kaoru's face was ( thankfully for her :))  cushioned with (What's this?) a highly annoying looking stuffed Panda bear. // For once, I thank those pesky teenage girls who come about with stuffed bears and flowers.//

All this time Rukawa was having a rather victorious dream.

Dream sequence

As he cut through the defense of his opponent which was unsurprisingly Sendoh, he flew past Maki and performed a powerful dunk that seemed to have a strange echo to it. * thunk * When his feet landed on the court he turned around to find Sakuragi Hanamichi looking at him with star studded eyes. ( Of course the * thunk * part refers to poor old Kaoru falling to the floor. )

"Wow, you're a Tensai, Rukawa-sempai!" Sakuragi said as he continued to hover around the annoyed Rukawa. // Even if he is praising me, the guy still annoys me to no end. // ( Rukawa is not really Sakuragi's senior, we all know that right? )

"Hmph!" Rukawa turned away and headed towards a spiky-haired player who was kneeling down on the   middle of the court. Stopping just in front of Sendoh with a slight squeak of his Nike sports shoes, he towered over him.

"Who is the best?" he questioned with a barely visible satisfied smirk.

Sendoh looked up and with a defeated sigh admitted. " You are."

"WHO?"

"You, Rukawa Kaede is the..* Oi! Hey, hey wake up! *…bes…"

End dream sequence

// Arggh! What is that awful sound?! No. No. No! I'm just getting to the good part! // Slowly coming from his much cherished dream, he felt his pillow being tugged with great effort. Letting go of the pillow he quickly shut his eyes and covered his eyes with his arms. // Think of Sendoh! He was going to say that I'm the best player in the * Okay, that's it no basketball in the house. Unless, you want to go home straight back from practice, I suggest you, Kaede wake up this freaking instant! *…Oh no, Mom said the word freaking… //

Opening his eyes, he looked into the very pissed-off looking woman infront of him for the second time. // Sheesh, what is up with the mood swings? //

"Mom, what is it?" he said calmly sitting up on his bed.

"You kept this?" Kaoru questioned as she thrust the panda bear towards Rukawa's face.

"No," he flatly denied.

"Yeah, right!" Kaoru shot back, waving the panda bear around.

"…"

"Oh I see, this bear just happened to miraculously appeared here, right?"

"No,"

"Fine, I'll burn it, first thing in the morning."

"NO!"

"No?"

"I mean I'll do it."

"Kaede, it's alright, I know you love me and all, but I won't hurt myself, okay?"

"Mom." // What?! How could I say I don't want to burn that panda without making it too obvious!? //

"It's okay, I understand."

"But,"

"Oh yeah, before I forget, would you mind carrying the last bit of luggage upstairs?" Kaoru asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Hm." Rukawa agreed without much enthusiasm seeing as he would not have much say against his mom. // Mom, you woke me up because of a piece of luggage!? I thought I already carried them all up?//

Both of them crept downstairs and entered the living room. Rukawa, not noticing the sleeping Emi quickly searched for the remaining luggage. After a long but unsuccessful search, he turned towards his mom who was still hugging the panda in her arms. Smirking, Kaoru pointed towards Emi.

"Huh?" Rukawa sputtered. // THAT IS the luggage? No. // He shook his head no towards his mom.

"Yes!" Kaoru hissed as she shook her head up and down quickly.

"No!" he whispered back stubbornly giving his mom his usual ice-cold glare.

Upon receiving the glare, Kaoru marched silently towards Rukawa and guided him none-too-gently into the kitchen. The kitchen was thankfully cleaned after Kaoru's usual cooking spree and it offered some privacy for the twosome.

"Don't you dare try that on me! I am your mother whether you like it or not! And as your mother I COMMAND you to carry our teenage guest into the guest room!" Kaoru hissed again her voice dangerously low.

"She's a girl." Rukawa shot back.

"So?"

"…"

"Go."

"…" Rukawa's feet remained rooted to it's spot on the kitchen floor.

"Fine," Kaoru sighed giving up as she racked her brain for a solution. She didn't have the heart to wake up Emi. " Stubborn little weasel," muttered Kaoru under her breath as she swung the panda to Rukawa's head. Unaffected by the panda, Rukawa folded his arms and maintained his expressionless exterior.

"Okay, I'll make a deal. You can 'burn' this panda if you carry her up," Kaoru offered hiding a knowing smile, her past threat temporarily forgotten.

"…" Rukawa not wanting to pass up this opportunity allowed himself to consider the offer openly.

"Oh, come on Kaede, don't hide things from me. As strange as it is, I know you want this panda." Kaoru pointed out.

Rukawa nodded his head slowly indicating 'yes'. Walking into the living room, he kneeled down besides Emi. Glancing up to find his mom smirking again, he carefully placed his left arm under her knees and his right arm supporting her back. Slowly lifting her up, Rukawa carefully headed to the guest room followed by Kaoru and (For now.) HER panda. Kaoru turned the knob to allow Rukawa access into the room as she switched on the night lights. Placing Emi onto the bed he noticed her pale skin seemed to glow under the night lights. How her long eyelashes made a slight shadow over her eyes. 

"Kaede, honey? What's wrong?" asked Kaoru in a quiet voice.

"…No, it's nothing," Rukawa answered as he turned around from the bed and continued to exit the room. In his room, he collapsed onto his bed and closed his eyes. Hearing a slight shuffle in the hallway, he moved into a sitting position just as Kaoru came in. She smiled and handed the panda back to Rukawa.

 Giving him a hug and a goodnight kiss on the cheek, Kaoru headed for the door.

"Goodnight, Kae," Kaoru said as she tried to muffle a yawn.

"Night mom," Rukawa responded as she shut the door softly.

Looking at the panda in his hands, he noted every aspect of it. It's soft black and white fur, it's ears, arms and legs. One thing that really gained his attention was it's big-blue eyes. He founded the panda one day on his doorstep. ( A panda with blue eyes???!!! Okay…:p) He kept it personally because it reminded him of someone. Those eyes that used to haunt his sleep when he was a child. That someone he met at a playground long ago.

Author's notes: Oh, I know what you guys are thinking…such a short chapter??!! Sorry…this was written in the spur of the moment things, you know? Grammar mistakes? Sorry! I'll edit this sometime when my head is not pounding… :( . Oh, read and review? Please? I'll swear I'll get more chapters out…when my head calms down.

Yeah, read and review??!!….Please?????!!!!!!!!

Jt: Oi! What do you mean puzzling thing! I'll get you yet! Just wait! :P :)

~Ja~