Author's notes: YES! I have discovered the wonders of html. Oh wonderful little thing, made my stories neat and tidy, just the way I wanted them. * Grins like Nakamura * LOL, I'm starting to act like my characters! Sure, I wouldn't mind being filthy rich or meeting Kaede in person…* starts daydreaming with star-studded eyes * Waa…I'm hopeless! Sheesh..yeah, you could say Emi was a little bit based on me, I daydream a lot! In the bus, the car, my room, while watching Slam Dunk on TV, eating, in the…sheesh…I'm not gonna say it out in the open…:P..hahhah…I bump into several things too! LOL, but I haven't explored the wonders of banging into a lamp post or pole. * Kaede: That can be arranged… * Oii! You handsome baka, don't go making me bump into anything! :P Okay, I'm blabbering again…here's Chapter 5! As always, disclaimers apply and gomen for all my grammatical errors!
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// … // Character's thoughts
( … ) I refuse to babble! (*.^)
*…* Background noise/sound…
^ … ^ Actions..lol..
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Chapter 5
"Kaede?" Emi asked in a small tone, maintaining the death grip on her bag. She could roughly make out the forming of a crowd not too far away from them, over Rukawa's shoulder. Resisting the urge to scream his name, she made another unsuccessful attempt at waking the sleeping kitsune.
"KAEDE!" Emi desperately called as the crowd started chanting * RU-KA-WA! * It was pure torture for Emi, as she already had to deal with an upset stomach, a sleeping Kaede and now this? // Oii! Wake up! You baka! Wake up! //
With nothing left to do, Emi gave a last glance at the chanting crowd and…took of…tugging hard on the hands of Rukawa Kaede, school heartthrob and ace of Shohoku in the direction of…where exactly? Emi just kept running, using both her hands to tug on Rukawa's large one.
Rukawa followed all the way in an unconscious state. (How surprising? After all he does cycle sleeping, why not running too?)
Dream sequence
"Now presenting the new member of Team Japan…our very own…Rukawa Kaede!"
Screams erupted immediately from the crowds as the 'Ace of Japan' jogged onto the court. They were having a match Team USA. As the whistle signaled the start of the game, Rukawa immediately worked his magic. The opposing team much to the dismay of the crowd caught the first ball, but Rukawa later stole it. Too slow to react to the sudden turn of event, Rukawa charged towards the hoop unchallenged. // I'm the best!// However, he didn't aim for the hoop like he was suppose to, instead he charged off the court and headed out of the stadium, leaving his teammates dumfounded and his opponents laughing in his wake. // What the hell is going on!? Stop running! Damn it! * You baka! Wake up now! * Huh? Mom? //
End dream sequence
He looked around to find, what was once a parking lot, parked with cars, was now changed into the buildings of Shohoku. Rukawa turned around to find, not to find a stadium, but angry Rukawa fan girls. His fans, oh so dedicated. It touched him all right, somewhere at the point of annoyance.
He saw the very lost and very sick-looking Emi; he quickly took the lead. Having an advantage in more stamina he pulled Emi into a building, the main building where all the staff rooms located, offices, and rooms. Mainly empty rooms, just the perfect place for hiding from those crazed girls. Running through the first year level hallway he and Emi passed by surprised students, nearly collided with the janitor, startling the Math's teacher who was on his way to class and skidding into a halt in front of his intended destination. At least that's what Rukawa did, he halted, Emi slid right bang into him.
"Oof!" she muffled into the front of his uniform. Rukawa carelessly grabbed the distressed Emi and shoved her into the room. After a moment, he followed her in. The room, well it wasn't exactly a room, oh more in the terms of toilet. Yes nothing to be worried about, perfectly safe here for Rukawa that is. It was in fact the men's toilet.
"The Men's toilet?" Emi launched a full out lecture. "Tell me, Kaede what exactly MADE you choose the men's toilet? Huh? Are you trying to make my life miserable or something? Why couldn't you choose an empty classroom? I don't think it's THAT hard!"
"…" Getting no response from Rukawa, Emi bowled her hands into fists.
"Say something you baka! You jerk! You- ah forget it!" Emi said in defeat as she collapsed onto the floor on her knees. // Him and his stupid fan girls! I should've known better that he would be popular. Too popular! Dammit, don't cry! Crybaby!//
Let the floodgates open! Big fat tears began to run down her cheeks as she began to sob quietly. "Everything's ruined now and you know what?"
"…"
"I was actually looking forward for today!" she wailed.
Rukawa leaned on the door as he watched the distraught Emi cry. What was he suppose to do? Cry along with her? (No you baka!) // At least the ones I turned down run away crying… Mom never really did teach me how to calm down a girl…// Shoving his hands deeper into his pockets, Rukawa went over his experiences with girls.
Flashback
In the basketball gym of Tamigoaka Junior High, Rukawa Kaede was shooting some hoops.
"Rukawa-kun, I-I love you!" an unrecognizable girl in Tamigaoka uniform blurted out.
*Thump* (Now, I know what you ppl are thinking, probably thinking she fainted dead away. Guess what? :) You're right! She did! )
Rukawa, who was doing some hoops at that time didn't even spare the girl a glance. However after a moment of heavy breathing from the rookie, he approached the still unconscious girl. Slowly, he kneeled down beside her and reached out his hand. He slipped a hand under her back, and flipped her over with a sigh. The girl, now face down to the floor, bear her clothed back to him with her skirt riding up a little bit.
Reaching out a strong and very capable arm, Rukawa snatched the cloth off the floor with an exasperated yank. // Some girls, so stupid, why couldn't they faint somewhere else! They JUST had to faint right ONTO my sports towel! // (Bet you people thought other things, ne? And please don't take offense about girls being stupid, after all I am a girl but this is what my take of what Kae-umm..Rukawa will say...guys…sheesh!) .
End flashback
Closing his eyes, Rukawa argued with himself. // Kaede you baka! Girls crying, not girls fainting! Now, cut with the crap and start remembering. You can do this, Kaede. Girls crying, girls crying, girls fainting, girls falling, no! GIRLS crying, girls crying, girls puking? Now where did you see that one, eh? Shut up! Okay I got it! Sort of…//
Flashback
Sometime long ago, in the Rukawa household.
"Honey bye! I'll be back soon!" called Kaoru who was in the process of closing the door. Rukawa was on the couch clicking the remote away. Arm casually thrown over his head; he lazily watched the television change from channel to channel. Thanks to his ever reliable other hand. Now to everyone who knew Rukawa as the basketball rookie he was, would think this was odd. Surely this rookie would have been practicing away in some open-air court on the weekends. Unknown to them, this sleep-prone being has nothing better to do then watch television all day long. This of course was thanks to Kaoru's Sunday-stay-in policy. No outdoor activities for her son on Sundays as she would say it. We all know that Rukawa tend to spend every waking hour practicing basketball, or a very little part of it doing, to him, his non-existent homework. On Sundays, it means no basketball and to Rukawa that means hell. Oh well, there's always, other things to do. Basketball rookies have healthy appetites, that includes our dear old' Rukawa too. Unfortunately he already attacked the fridge not long ago. Now, there's sleeping, a hobby of Rukawa that today of all days just had to not affect him. So here he was, clicking away to the huge television located in the entertainment room. Suddenly, the television decided to stick to one channel, much to the dislike of Rukawa. It was unfortunately for him, a soap opera channel. (Umm, bear with me? *pleading eyes*)
"Oh Brad, what am I going to do?" wailed the actress from the television. She was on the floor, sniffling loudly.
"There, there," a muscular man came in onto the screen and kneeled beside the supposed-to-be crying actress.
"I'm soooo...crushed…"
"It's not that bad,"
"It is!" The actress cried as she wound her hands around the man's neck.
"You've got me you know?"
"Really?"
"Yeah,"
"Oh, Brad you're so wonderful! What can I do to repay you?"
"You could do this," the man requested as he swooped down to capture the actress's lips. The camera viewed closer to give Rukawa a closer look of them kissing.
"Mpmh, mmph, mpmh," was the only available sound heard from the television. (Lol, how was I suppose to describe them? ;))
In record time, Rukawa fell off the couch and manually clicked off the television. // I think it's time for the chores, mom threatened me to do earlier. //
End flashback
Immediately Rukawa's eyes shot open. Hoping that Emi was still crying her eyes out, (Mean of him, right?) he switched his position from hands in pockets to folding his arms, then back again. He tried switching his foot from one position to another, trying in vain to avoid looking at Emi. His wandering eyes maintained its struggle to arrive at its destination. At last, Rukawa's eyes won. His eyes went from Emi, to the floor, his feet then back again. Repeating this awkward motion for at least another minute until Emi finally stopped crying.
"…*Sniffle*…Never mind, its okay," Emi said as she struggled to stand up. She gave him a wobbly smile after standing up with bag in hand. // Crying over a little thing called first impression. Really, Emi grow up! At least you didn't barf in front of anyone or anything. //
"…" Rukawa shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
"It's not your fault anyways,"
Now, full-fledged guilt washed over Rukawa so he opted for an honest apology.
"Ore wa…*I'm…* TENSAI," his voice was drowned out by the off-key singing of the legendary Sakuragi Hanamichi. // This day just gets better and better. //
"OH MY GOD!" Emi panicked as she heard the shuffle of feet just in front of the toilet's entrance. Emi started to hyperventilate, a thing she always do when she gets really nervous. "Kaede ^breaths in^…what…to…^breaths out^ do?" Emi started fanning herself as she paced in front of Kaede. // Oh god, oh no, what am I going to do? Don't even think about crying! //
Rukawa did the only thing he could think of, he shoved her. Not out of the window (She's not THAT desperate!) , but into one of the nearest stalls.
"Eeek," a small squeak escaped from Emi as she was shoved into the confines of the small stall. Luckily for her, it was clean.
Rukawa gave her a silencing glare and commanded in a quick but quiet voice, "Lock it." Emi could only nod and do as she was told.
"BASKETBALL TENSAI, BASKET KAWAII!" Sakuragi's voice rang through the silent toilet as he slammed the door open. His four companions followed close behind, with hands on ears, trying to block out that wonderful voice of his. The voice that seemed to frightened almost every species of animal known in the Kanagawa area.
"It's time," Sakuragi stopped short as he spotted his arch-enemy leaning on one of the doors of the stall. "Kitsune! What are you doing here?"
"Do'ahou," came Rukawa's usual reply // Hiding, what do you think? //.
"Teme-" Sakuragi lunged at him but was restrained by Yohei and Ookusu.
"Hanamichi, I don't think Haruko-san will appreciate you getting into a fight so early in the morning," advised Yohei hoping the hot-tempered red-head would cool down, for the umpteenth time that morning. His arms are starting to get tired from all that restraining he's been doing. It's even a wonder why Hanamichi didn't even head-butted him once.
"Haruko-chan…" came his much anticipated reaction. Carefully releasing a sigh of relief, the four began to guide the love sick Sakuragi out of the Men's toilet, leaving an unfazed Rukawa behind.
Rukawa resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his teammate's antics. // Always the same, see me, get mad, I reply, fight, Haruko-chan, and poof, turns to mush in record time!//
"Is he gone?" asked Emi from the other side of the door.
"Mm," Rukawa responded in his very own way.
"…"
"…"
"…Uh, what?" Emi frowned as she tried to unlock the door.
"…He's gone,"
"Oh, okay," Emi scowled as she tried to push the door open, when it won't budge she jiggled the lock again. With a click, it unlocked and with a satisfied sigh she pushed open door. Again, it wouldn't move. Giving a frustrated growl she backed up a little and pushed it open with all her might. *THUD*
"Uggh!"
She stepped out of the stall and discovered Rukawa in a very undignified position. On the floor and for the very first time, Rukawa Kaede was laughed at. It wasn't a very pleasant experience too, what with his face that scrubbed the floor clean, his hands sprawled over his head and legs raised due to the impact of the door pushed open by Emi just now.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…So…sorry…hehehehehe," Emi sputtered out while clutching her stomach and bending over laughing.
Rukawa, being at the receiving end of the intended apology, quickly picked himself up from the floor and angrily grabbed his bag which was on the floor. Emi stopped her laughing at the action and received a rather vicious glare that simply said 'Laugh-and-I-will-make-your-school-life-a-living-hell-and-feed-you-to-the-fan-girls'. Finally silencing Emi, Rukawa rubbed his cheek and headed for his classroom. Emi just followed through silently thinking about the horrors of meeting all his fan girls in person. //Why, they'll roast me alive!//
Author's notes: Gomen! This chapter was a tad bit too long so I decided to break it into two, so basically their introductions to the whole team will be in the next chapter. Sorry, again for the delay, hope u guys haven't forgotten the whole storyline!
I'm seeing a pattern here about answering reviews so I have no choice but to just go with the flow. ^^
Rikachan: Thank you for reviewing! Hope you'll follow through the rest of my fic! ^^ Kaoru, I find her cute myself…lol…^^…wish I had a mom like that…
Super rookie-san: Heheh, thought I was the only one! Now, there was that one time I nearly crashed into a moving scooter because I was daydreaming. Lol, thankfully I'm okay with ALL limbs attached. Heheh, I'm not gonna ramble on my very destructive life! Thanks for the review! ^^
Jt: You and you're hectic life! Can't blame you though…blame all those Evil. Uni. Ppl! Hehe, that right? Me, cheerful now that's a new one! :P Yeah, right!
LID-san: Gomen! I'll TRY to squeeze you in my fic somewhere! ^^ Thanks for your review, it means a lot to me! *grins* Keep on writing! Mail me more too! :p :D *hugs LID-san cutting off her air supply*
E-chan: Thanks! Hope you'll keep on reading it! *hugs E-chan while effectively cracking her bones* Lol, not really! Can you still walk?! :)
Kao-chan: Lol, there's my lil' nicky I call you by! Heheh, CONGRATULITISSIMO on Healing Hand! :)
Rei-san: I'm continuing! :p Hee hee…hope this will be okay!
Ja, everyone!