Disclaimer: I made a sever oversight in my prologue! I forgot to say that SD and its characters ain't mine. This proviso also applies to the previous chapter. Sorry! Plus, any similarities between this and any story are unintentional.
A/N:
This fic soooo has a life of its own. sigh
I took the names of the Sakuragi Gundan years ago from a website somewhere. I used this without permission because I can't seem to find where I took it now. BTW, the Sakuragi Gundan are:
Takemiya Nozumi, the fa—er—horizontally challenged one; Noma Chuichiro, the one with the moustache; Ookuzu Yuji, the one with the blond hair; and of course, my personal favorite, Mito Yohei.
Is that right? Plus, I'm not sure if they're correct and I'm totally confused as to which are their first names and which are their last names. Help!
BTW, this fic supposedly comes after the national tournaments, but the winter tournaments didn't happen. OKEI?
Thanks to crazy4u for the corrections and the vote of confidence!
Responses to the reviews are at the bottom, in case you're interested…
BTW, I'm looking for a beta reader. Anyone interested? =)
Chapter 1:
Glutton for Punishment
"Oh, sorry, Mouri-san," Noma chirped angelically as he accidentally propelled the high pile of paper works on the secretary's table to the floor. They flew everywhere before reaching the ground, creating a momentary shower of legal sized paper.
Mouri-san, being the naive person the she was, waved her hand in dismissal, not even suspecting that she was being set-up. "Don't worry about it," crouching on all fours, she began picking up the papers.
The group of misfits lovingly (or not) dubbed as the Sakuragi gundan, scrambled for position to help the curvaceous lady pick up the paper. However, five seconds later, the papers were forgotten, their attention stolen by the ever-short skirt Mouri-san was wearing.
"There! It went up an inch," Takemiya whispered frantically, trying hard to prevent a nosebleed.
"I think she's wearing a thong," Ookuzu's tongue hung out a bit as he leered at the outline of the secretary's behind.
"Aherm,"
"Shh," Yohei waved the newcomer off. "You'll alert her,"
"I see,"
Yohei grinned. "Come, join us," Yohei looked up and cringed at what he saw. He immediately stood up. "Guys," he whispered frantically, hoping that his friends would listen to him.
"Can't you see we're busy?" Noma hissed as he inched forward to see the elusive slip.
"Guys!"
Mouri-san turned around, looked up, then stood up, much to the three's disappointment. "Oh, good morning, sir!" She called out cheerfully. "Boys, the principal will see you now,"
"Principal?" Ookuzu turned pale under his blond head.
"Step into my office, gentlemen," the principal glared at them.
They had no choice but to obey.
Mouri-san smiled cheerfully at the principal, and then crouched to commence picking up the papers on the floor.
Yup, it's definitely a thong. The principal paused for a minute to admire the view.
"Uh, sir?" Yohei called out tentatively when the principal didn't follow them inside the office.
The principal cleared his throat, hoping that his face weren't as red as he thought it was. "C-coming, coming," with that, he stepped into the office and closed his door.
The four sat nervously beside the table. Actually, meetings like this were as common as students wearing school uniforms in Japan. In fact, the principal had commented more than once that he should ask for an extension of his office just for the four of them. However, today was special. It was only the first day of school (it wasn't even lunch time), and they were already in trouble.
Yohei sweated a bit as from behind the massive desk, the principal took out four folders, all of them thick with sheets of bond paper.
The principal dropped the folders with a thud on the table for effect. "I guess you know what this is,"
"Uh, a copy of a pop quiz in math?"
"Xerox copies of a porn magazine?"
"Mouri-san's personal information sheet with her vital statistics?"
The elder man was sorry he asked. "THESE ARE YOUR PERMANENT RECORD!" The principal screamed as the four boys grabbed on to something for fear of being blown away by the sheer force of the principal's voice. "Ahem."
"Oh."
"Yes. It seems like the four of you are bent on setting a world record." The principal frowned.
Takemiya nodded proudly. "Wow. I'm finally the best in something,"
"Uh, we're sorry sir, we promise not to do it again," Yohei interrupted Takemiya from digging an early grave for himself. He stood up and he bowed down his head repeatedly.
The three others quickly imitated what he was doing.
"Now, where have I heard that before?" The principal grumbled, more to himself. "However, I'm willing to overlook today's little, uh, adventure,"
The four stifled a giggle. It was sure worth getting sent to the principal's office to win the sophomore betting pool on whether Jin-sensei's hair was real or not. It took a lot of creativity and a dash of luck on their part to be able to tear the wig off the music teacher's head. And the look on his face when he realized that he was walking around the school hairless was next to priceless.
"On one condition,"
Yohei knew it was too good to be true. Plus, he didn't like the evil glint on the principal's eyes. "I was inspired by the story of your friend, Sakuragi-san. Ever since he joined a sports club, I haven't seen him in this office." He then took out Sakuragi's rather thin file (as he only made trouble during the first week of his freshmen year).
"So what are you saying?" Ookuzu choked out.
"You want us to join a sports club?" Takemiya clarified.
"As in any sports club?" Noma demanded.
There was a moment of silence as the three looked at each other. "YES!" They collectively celebrated as confetti started pouring down.
"What?" The principal gasped as he inspected his ceiling, wondering where on earth did those little colored sheets of paper were coming from. Then he looked down. He didn't want to know.
"We're joining the basketball team!" Ookuzu, Takemiya, and Noma sang out loud, doing a little dance. "Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!"
The principal looked away. That scene would surely make him have nightmares for weeks. It was more than a little disturbing. He shuddered. Then, he noticed that the group's leader wasn't joining in the fun. "Yohei-san, anything the matter?"
Yohei held out his left arm that was covered with bandages due to a scooter accident (don't ask!). "I'm afraid I can't join a sports club any time soon, sir."
But before the principal can comment to that, the door to his office slammed open.
"This is an outrage!" A very tall girl stood outside, her eyes blazing with fire. Behind her stood a harassed-looking staff of the principal.
The four looked up at the girl in interest. She was almost as tall as Sakuragi! And her hair! It was pink, hot pink, in fact. Yohei was almost confident it was a wig. Hmm, I smell another bet coming. That wasn't all. Though donning the school's uniform, she managed to convey her individuality not just with the wig she was wearing. Her eyelids and cheeks wore a touch of sparkly pink make up. So were her lips. And oddly, her eyes were violet, such an unusual color. Her ears were liberally decorated with small hoop earrings. Three in each ear, Yohei counted. Her right wrist was bundled with silver bangles that made a jingling sound whenever she moved. She wore a silver anklet on her left ankle, over her socks.
"May I help you, Miss—." The principal greeted the newcomer.
"Maia," the tall girl said with a toss of her hair. "But that's not the point,"
"I tried to stop her, sir, but she's too stubborn," the harassed looking staff bowed down apologetically.
The principal waved the staff away. The staff bowed down once more before going away, closing the door behind her.
The girl stalked to the desk, ignoring the four men who were watching her every move with interest.
"I can't believe such oversight. Of all the nerve! I mean, you've got all imaginable sports club in your school." She was ranting, barely pausing for breath. "All for men! And not one for a woman like myself. I thought that this school lobbies for equal rights! The absence of such a club only means that you are still stuck in the stone ages! This is discrimination! I am constitutionally guaranteed a right to equal protection. Whom do I complain to about this?"
"About what?" The principal asked in confusion. "What club are you looking for, young lady?"
"Why, the fashion club, of course!"
The men in the room face faulted.
Dear God, are you up there? Miyagi Ryota was down on his knees, his hands clasped in front of him, tears running down his cheeks. I know I did a lot of bad things in the past. But I thought that I already atoned for them.
Scenes of his former teammate Mitsui beating him (and the rest of the basketball club) flashed before his eyes. So did his hospital stay. A beam of sunlight from the outside window highlighted his form, as the rest of the room faded into gray.
I mean, I try to be a good man. I am now obedient to my parents, respectful to the teacher, I do my homework, I almost never cheat during tests. What more do you want from me?
"Ayako-san," an urgent voice whispered. "What's wrong with Captain Miyagi?"
Ayako turned to the corner of the gym where Miyagi was kneeling and crying. She sweat-dropped. She was about to answer Yasuda, when Miyagi himself interrupted her.
"Why me?" Miyagi screamed at the top of his lungs as he started tearing off his shirt. "Why me?" He wept openly. "What have I done to deserve this?"
"Captain!" Shocked, Yasuda and Shiozaki ran to him as they attempted to keep their captain ball from hurting himself.
Rukawa looked up from his game and snorted. "Idiots,"
Ayako sighed. At times like these, there's only one thing left to do.
Whap!
"Itai!" Miyagi held his injured head with both hands, sniffling pitifully.
"Takemiya mega super shot!"
"Ookuzu-sama ultra swat!"
"Noma lightning fast dribble!"
Ayako fondly watched Miyagi as he nurse his head. She actually knows why he's being like that. On the first day of basketball practice for the year, Sakuragi's friends showed up and decided that they want to become basketball players too. Miyagi tried to stop them by asking the coach to throw them out, but Anzai-sensei merely ho-ho-hoed in reply.
"Thanks, Aya-chan, I needed that," Miyagi fixed himself as he surveyed the court before him.
It was in chaos.
The three newbies were chasing each other around the court, seemingly without reason or direction. Rukawa was on the far side of the court, playing by himself. The rest of the basketball team was watching the three stooges in amusement.
Ayako blew a whistle, which made the gym grind to a screeching halt.
Miyagi looked in admiration at the woman beside him. Such strength, such beauty. With such small act she was able to take control of the situation. He sighed. How I love you, my dear Aya-chan…
"Uh, Ryota?" Ayako looked at him quizzically.
Miyagi cleared his throat. "Ah, yes, yes,"
But before he could say anything further, a familiar laugh invaded the gym.
"We're here!" Haruko announced as she entered the gym with Sakuragi beside her. "The school nurse gave Sakuragi-kun a clean bill of health." The reason she and Sakuragi were late was because the school administration demanded a health check-up of Sakuragi before he can rejoin the team.
"Ahahahaha!" Sakuragi placed both of his hands on his hips, his legs spread apart and knees bent a little, the epitome of perfect confidence. "Did you miss the tensai? Don't worry; with me here, we'll no longer lose! We'll go straight to the top! We'll be number one! We'll conquer the basketball scene! Today, Kanagawa, tomorrow the world! Ahahahaha!"
The people in the gym sweat dropped. Except maybe for Rukawa (who was too cold to be able to shed body fluids) who muttered unfavorable phrases under his breath about the redhead.
"Yeah! Hanamichi!"
"Hanamichi for team captain!"
"You da man, Hanamichi!"
"Yes!" Hanamichi agreed, posing with a peace sign. "Ahahaha—" he suddenly stopped in mid-laugh. Something's wrong in this picture… "Nani? You?" He took several steps backward and pointed (quite rudely) to the three people who cheered him on.
"We're sportsmen now, too, Hanamichi," Takemiya grinned at him.
"We'll be together again!" Ookuzu declared as he fights the tears from his eyes. "Never to be torn apart!"
"And together, nothing can stop us from the national finals!" Noma agreed.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
-tbc
P.S.
Hikaru Itsuko: facts about the girl to be revealed next chapter! Glad you liked it!
Fiery-Ice: I am enjoying writing this fic. This is my release of sorts from the pressures of real life. ;)
akira-akisame: thanks for the info! And since summer's just around the corner, I can do this fic without interruptions. Yei!
crazy4u : thank you! Hope you don't get tired of me.
Love for all seasons: thanks! I've got more in store for the redheaded basketball man.
Wind: Thank you!
Chibiangel: I'll be updating as often as I can, or as soon as I find the plot. Ohohohoho!
