Let One's Heart Decide
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is © Inoue Takehiko and all its other companies. This fanfiction is © Hitora. It is not allowed to be put up on any other site without permission. Other characters in this fiction belongs to Hitora.
Chapter 8: The Truth?
Sakuragi looked at his sister standing by the door with two tall silhouettes behind her. His heart ached to see Hatsuko barely standing, with bruises all over her. He could see a trail of blood from her lips to her chin.
"Hat… Hatsuko…" he whispered. "What happened to you?"
Hatsuko stumbled towards him and she tripped, falling forward. Though very injured, Sakuragi's quick reflexes enabled him to swiftly move forward and catch his sister in his arms. The two figures behind her also moved towards her but not quickly enough. Sakuragi was finally able to tell who the two were when they entered the kitchen through the back door. They were Rukawa and Sendoh.
"RUKAWA! SENDOH! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Both kept silent as they watched Sakuragi hold his sister protectively in his arms. All of them had grim expressions on their faces.
Rukawa watched Sakuragi's mother as she looked at the scene before her in horror. She then picked something up from the floor and proceeded to wash it under the sick. Then, she used a wet dishrag and wiped something on the floor. Rukawa was unable to clearly see what she was doing because the little table in the center of the kitchen blocked his view.
Sakuragi could feel his temper rising, and he began to perspire heavily. He also noticed that Rukawa was looking distractedly at his mother.
'Kuso. What if he finds out? What if all of them find out?' he thought, a sense of worry creeping into his mind.
"Nii-chan," Hatsuko said, looking up at her brother as they sat on the kitchen floor. She bit her lip at the sight of the blood on her brother face and the stench of it. "Tell me what's going on."
"I… I…" Sakuragi stammered, as he looked at his sister, then his mother. "I can't."
Hatsuko pushed herself away from her brother, and with the little strength that she had, she slowly stood up, meeting her brother's eyes with a look of disappointment, anger and sadness. When her legs gave way, Sendoh caught her from behind and steadied her.
Sakuragi's heart ached to see his sister treat him with such hostility but he had no choice. His eyes began to sting, and his throat began to tighten. Not wanting Rukawa or Sendoh to see how vulnerable or pathetic he was, he stared at his large hands, clenching and unclenching his fists.
With a sigh, Mrs. Sakuragi said, "Your sister deserves to know the truth, Hanamichi… about the gangsters."
Mrs. Sakuragi shot him a look and Sakuragi when he looked up at her, and he gulped. No one saw this. No one but Sakuragi and Rukawa. Hatsuko was still looking at her brother and Sendoh was looking at Hatsuko.
"Okay," he said with finality, but a little doubt was evident in his voice. With that, Mrs. Sakuragi left the kitchen, with a hand to her head, as though she had a headache.
Sakuragi turned to his sister, and after taking a deep breath, he stood up.
"You have to tell me what happened to the three of you first."
"Fine," she said. She turned to Rukawa and Sendoh. "Let's all sit."
"What?! Them too?!" Sakuragi shouted.
"Is there a problem, Nii-chan?" Hatsuko asked, her eyes darkening as she looked at him.
Pursing his lips, and with a frown on his face, Sakuragi pulled a chair out and slumped in it.
Hatsuko, Rukawa and Sendoh followed suite and the four just looked at each other.
"Come, come. Why look like that?" Sendoh asked, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.
When no one replied, he cleared his throat and shifted uneasily in his seat.
"I shall start, but Nii-chan, you better tell me everything later," Hatsuko started. When she received a nod from her brother, she continued.
"You told me to wait for you to send me home after your practice but you never came. So, I asked Rukawa-san to send me home since I promised you that I will never go anywhere on my own."
"On our way home, we met up with a group of thugs and they wanted to know if I was your sister."
When Hatsuko said this, Sakuragi lifted his head to look at his sister with horror.
"They also started to call you names too. Then, we fought. Rukawa-san and I. However, Sendoh-san, who was passing by, came and helped us in the midst of our fight and we were able to defeat them. So, here we are," Hatsuko finished, her voice dull.
"Where were you anyways? How could you promise your sister like that and not keep it?" Rukawa asked, his blue eyes ablaze.
"I had to take care of those morons! That's why! It's none of your business anyways, Kitsune!"
"Nii-chan, since Rukawa-san and Sendoh-san were involved in this fight, it has become their business," Hatsuko interjected, protecting Rukawa.
A heavy silence hung after that, with the two Sakuragi siblings glaring at each other, neither wanting to give up.
"So, you were fighting them, that's why you were unable to fetch Hatsuko?" Sendoh asked.
"Yeah," Sakuragi mumbled, breaking the glare to look at the embroidered tablecloth which covered the tabletop.
Forcing a smile on her face, Hatsuko reached across the table and placed a hand over her brother's.
"Nii-chan. I don't want to argue with you. Tell me what's wrong. I can try to help."
"We can try to help," Sendoh corrected her, a genuinely wide smile on his face. Rukawa nodded in agreement.
After a few hesitant openings, Sakuragi finally said, "We're in debt. Ever since dad passed away, I've been getting loans from the loansharks…"
"Your family in debt?" Rukawa and Sendoh asked in unison.
"We're in debt?" Hatsuko echoed.
Sakuragi nodded. "Kaa-chan, no matter how hard she worked, could never pay off all the debts on her own so I had to help."
"So you've been working?" Sendoh questioned.
"Sort of…"
"Is that why you missed practices?" Rukawa asked.
"Um… yeah. I had to find a job."
"Nii-chan, why didn't you tell me?" Hatsuko asked, obviously hurt to be left out on this important matter. "I could've found a job and lighten the burden that you and Kaa-chan were carrying…"
"I didn't know about it either… not until Yohei told me that some gangsters were looking for me after they had a scuffle with my Gundan," Sakuragi admitted.
"So you've been trying to find a job after school and also trying to fight them off?" Hatsuko continued to question.
"Basically, that's it. But they mentioned that our family will never get any peace until we've settled our debt… and since we started owing them for the past two years, the interest is been pretty high."
"Why leave Hatsuko in school and at practice when you knew that you couldn't protect her?" Rukawa asked, since the question has been bothering him.
"Hmph. Though I can't believe it myself, I knew that I could trust you to take care of her," Sakuragi answered, a wry smile on his lips as his amber eyes met Rukawa's blue ones.
Rukawa's eyes widened in disbelief and his heart thumped heavily in his chest. 'Did he just say that he trusted me to take care of Hatsuko? Sakuragi? That d'aho?'
Sendoh was amused but he knew that this was a serious situation.
"How much is the debt?" Sendoh asked.
"It's too much and telling you would be useless anyways," Sakuragi answered.
"That's true…" Hatsuko agreed softly.
"But we can help…" Rukawa supported Sendoh, his eyes no longer cold as he looked at Sakuragi.
"Plus, no interest charged," Sendoh said with a smile.
"Hmph. How exactly are you two supposed to help us?" Sakuragi retorted, rolling his eyes.
"I'm not bragging or anything but we are rich, you know," Sendoh responded, scratching a side of his head, careful not to mess up his hair.
"Hmph. If you think you can help, it's US$100 000. Convert that to yen."
"What?!" Hatsuko yelled. "That much?!"
"That's why I doubt that they can help. Anyways, it'd take forever for us to come up with that kind of money to repay them," Sakuragi said, resting an elbow on the table.
Sendoh and Rukawa were silent.
"Heh. It's okay if the both of you can't help, Rukawa-san. Sendoh-san," Hatsuko started.
"I can get my parents to pay a quarter of that… and I have the other quarter in my bank," Rukawa said. "So, that's half."
"I can get my parents to pay the other half. They wouldn't mind if I told them that I'm helping out a friend," Sendoh replied.
Hatsuko and Sakuragi sat, stunned. Hatsuko knew that both Rukawa and Sendoh were nice but she didn't know that they were so helpful and concerned towards this whole situation. Sakuragi, however, thought otherwise. He thought of both of them as rivals and always thought of Rukawa as an arrogant and selfish moron whereas Sendoh was a formidable opponent with loose screws in his brain.
"You're honestly going to help us?" Sakuragi asked, his voice unable to contain its happiness.
"There's a catch for my part though," Rukawa said, his eyes turning to Sakuragi.
"I expected that much from you, Kitsune. Well, what is it?" Sakuragi sighed.
"That you don't work and come for every practice," Rukawa mumbled quickly. "It's not that I like you or anything… I'm only doing this for Shohoku's Basketball Club."
Sakuragi was speechless. 'Rukawa wants me to keep playing basketball? Could it be that he senses that I never wanted to quit?' he thought. Then, he started laughing with joy.
"NYAHAHA! Then Tensai won't put so much pressure on the both of you during matches! NYAHAHAHAHA!"
Amused by the great change in Sakuragi's character, Sendoh smiled.
Rukawa, however, rolled his eyes and sighed. "D'aho."
Sakuragi was too cheerful to be affected by Rukawa so he continued to laugh. Hatsuko eyed the three. She was thankful; that her brother was back to normal, and that Rukawa and Sendoh were helping her family.
"Rukawa-san, Sendoh-san," Hatsuko started, getting up from her seat.
Sendoh and Rukawa looked at her and were surprised to see her bow at them. They were even more surprised when she looked up with tears shining in her eyes and a large grin on her face.
"Arigatou! Hontou ni arigatou!" she said, and went to each of them and gave them a peck on their cheek each.
Rukawa turned a little pink and mumbled something under his breath whereas Sendoh grinned and said, "No prob."
"Hatsuko! What are doing?" Sakuragi asked with disapproval.
"Just showing them my appreciation, Nii-chan," Hatsuko answered, wiping the tears from her face.
"Thank them! Don't kiss them!"
Suddenly, Mrs. Sakuragi bustled into the kitchen with a first aid kit, causing Sakuragi to stiffen.
"Come, let's get all of you treated," she said, her eyes reflecting her concern. "Rukawa-kun soushite Sendoh-kun, thank you for bringing Hatsuko back when Hanamichi was unable to… I trust that the both of you can take care of Hatsuko when Hanamichi's not around?"
Rukawa and Sendoh nodded.
After helping to apply some ointment on Rukawa, Sendoh and Hatsuko, and bandaging the necessary injuries, she went over to Sakuragi and wiped the blood off his face with a damp towel.
"Hanamichi, you should be really careful when you get into a fight. It's not that I like it when you fight but I know that you have to sometimes…" Mrs. Sakuragi said, her voice trailing.
Sakuragi did not even bother to look at his mother as she treated his wounds nor did he bother to reply. Instead, he just looked at his hands and he began to clench and unclenched again.
Rukawa got up and went to the door. "Thanks, Mrs. Sakuragi."
Sendoh followed suite and smiled at the Sakuragi family as they left. Hatsuko and Mrs. Sakuragi smiled as they left but Sakuragi remained quiet.
Outside of the Sakuragi residence, Rukawa leaned against a streetlamp and waited for Sendoh to emerge from the house. Once he did, he walked off and Sendoh followed after him.
"Something about that place is not right," Rukawa suddenly said.
"You're right," Sendoh responded. "When I smiled at them, only Hatsuko gave me a genuine smile. Usually Sakuragi would give me an amusing remark but he didn't. And their mother… she smiled at me but it was somewhat forced…"
"I guess I would expect you to be able to tell if someone's really smiling or not…" Rukawa said, sarcastically. 'When I said place, I really mean place. That place wasn't like a home at all. And Sendoh's right. They're acting strange too…'
Author's note: Aah… ^^ I'm so tired. Well, I wrote some hints in this chapter and let's see if you can figure out what's behind them X3 ~hee. I think that every chapter I'm writing is going from bad to worse… Oh well ^^6
Disclaimer: Slam Dunk is © Inoue Takehiko and all its other companies. This fanfiction is © Hitora. It is not allowed to be put up on any other site without permission. Other characters in this fiction belongs to Hitora.
Chapter 8: The Truth?
Sakuragi looked at his sister standing by the door with two tall silhouettes behind her. His heart ached to see Hatsuko barely standing, with bruises all over her. He could see a trail of blood from her lips to her chin.
"Hat… Hatsuko…" he whispered. "What happened to you?"
Hatsuko stumbled towards him and she tripped, falling forward. Though very injured, Sakuragi's quick reflexes enabled him to swiftly move forward and catch his sister in his arms. The two figures behind her also moved towards her but not quickly enough. Sakuragi was finally able to tell who the two were when they entered the kitchen through the back door. They were Rukawa and Sendoh.
"RUKAWA! SENDOH! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Both kept silent as they watched Sakuragi hold his sister protectively in his arms. All of them had grim expressions on their faces.
Rukawa watched Sakuragi's mother as she looked at the scene before her in horror. She then picked something up from the floor and proceeded to wash it under the sick. Then, she used a wet dishrag and wiped something on the floor. Rukawa was unable to clearly see what she was doing because the little table in the center of the kitchen blocked his view.
Sakuragi could feel his temper rising, and he began to perspire heavily. He also noticed that Rukawa was looking distractedly at his mother.
'Kuso. What if he finds out? What if all of them find out?' he thought, a sense of worry creeping into his mind.
"Nii-chan," Hatsuko said, looking up at her brother as they sat on the kitchen floor. She bit her lip at the sight of the blood on her brother face and the stench of it. "Tell me what's going on."
"I… I…" Sakuragi stammered, as he looked at his sister, then his mother. "I can't."
Hatsuko pushed herself away from her brother, and with the little strength that she had, she slowly stood up, meeting her brother's eyes with a look of disappointment, anger and sadness. When her legs gave way, Sendoh caught her from behind and steadied her.
Sakuragi's heart ached to see his sister treat him with such hostility but he had no choice. His eyes began to sting, and his throat began to tighten. Not wanting Rukawa or Sendoh to see how vulnerable or pathetic he was, he stared at his large hands, clenching and unclenching his fists.
With a sigh, Mrs. Sakuragi said, "Your sister deserves to know the truth, Hanamichi… about the gangsters."
Mrs. Sakuragi shot him a look and Sakuragi when he looked up at her, and he gulped. No one saw this. No one but Sakuragi and Rukawa. Hatsuko was still looking at her brother and Sendoh was looking at Hatsuko.
"Okay," he said with finality, but a little doubt was evident in his voice. With that, Mrs. Sakuragi left the kitchen, with a hand to her head, as though she had a headache.
Sakuragi turned to his sister, and after taking a deep breath, he stood up.
"You have to tell me what happened to the three of you first."
"Fine," she said. She turned to Rukawa and Sendoh. "Let's all sit."
"What?! Them too?!" Sakuragi shouted.
"Is there a problem, Nii-chan?" Hatsuko asked, her eyes darkening as she looked at him.
Pursing his lips, and with a frown on his face, Sakuragi pulled a chair out and slumped in it.
Hatsuko, Rukawa and Sendoh followed suite and the four just looked at each other.
"Come, come. Why look like that?" Sendoh asked, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.
When no one replied, he cleared his throat and shifted uneasily in his seat.
"I shall start, but Nii-chan, you better tell me everything later," Hatsuko started. When she received a nod from her brother, she continued.
"You told me to wait for you to send me home after your practice but you never came. So, I asked Rukawa-san to send me home since I promised you that I will never go anywhere on my own."
"On our way home, we met up with a group of thugs and they wanted to know if I was your sister."
When Hatsuko said this, Sakuragi lifted his head to look at his sister with horror.
"They also started to call you names too. Then, we fought. Rukawa-san and I. However, Sendoh-san, who was passing by, came and helped us in the midst of our fight and we were able to defeat them. So, here we are," Hatsuko finished, her voice dull.
"Where were you anyways? How could you promise your sister like that and not keep it?" Rukawa asked, his blue eyes ablaze.
"I had to take care of those morons! That's why! It's none of your business anyways, Kitsune!"
"Nii-chan, since Rukawa-san and Sendoh-san were involved in this fight, it has become their business," Hatsuko interjected, protecting Rukawa.
A heavy silence hung after that, with the two Sakuragi siblings glaring at each other, neither wanting to give up.
"So, you were fighting them, that's why you were unable to fetch Hatsuko?" Sendoh asked.
"Yeah," Sakuragi mumbled, breaking the glare to look at the embroidered tablecloth which covered the tabletop.
Forcing a smile on her face, Hatsuko reached across the table and placed a hand over her brother's.
"Nii-chan. I don't want to argue with you. Tell me what's wrong. I can try to help."
"We can try to help," Sendoh corrected her, a genuinely wide smile on his face. Rukawa nodded in agreement.
After a few hesitant openings, Sakuragi finally said, "We're in debt. Ever since dad passed away, I've been getting loans from the loansharks…"
"Your family in debt?" Rukawa and Sendoh asked in unison.
"We're in debt?" Hatsuko echoed.
Sakuragi nodded. "Kaa-chan, no matter how hard she worked, could never pay off all the debts on her own so I had to help."
"So you've been working?" Sendoh questioned.
"Sort of…"
"Is that why you missed practices?" Rukawa asked.
"Um… yeah. I had to find a job."
"Nii-chan, why didn't you tell me?" Hatsuko asked, obviously hurt to be left out on this important matter. "I could've found a job and lighten the burden that you and Kaa-chan were carrying…"
"I didn't know about it either… not until Yohei told me that some gangsters were looking for me after they had a scuffle with my Gundan," Sakuragi admitted.
"So you've been trying to find a job after school and also trying to fight them off?" Hatsuko continued to question.
"Basically, that's it. But they mentioned that our family will never get any peace until we've settled our debt… and since we started owing them for the past two years, the interest is been pretty high."
"Why leave Hatsuko in school and at practice when you knew that you couldn't protect her?" Rukawa asked, since the question has been bothering him.
"Hmph. Though I can't believe it myself, I knew that I could trust you to take care of her," Sakuragi answered, a wry smile on his lips as his amber eyes met Rukawa's blue ones.
Rukawa's eyes widened in disbelief and his heart thumped heavily in his chest. 'Did he just say that he trusted me to take care of Hatsuko? Sakuragi? That d'aho?'
Sendoh was amused but he knew that this was a serious situation.
"How much is the debt?" Sendoh asked.
"It's too much and telling you would be useless anyways," Sakuragi answered.
"That's true…" Hatsuko agreed softly.
"But we can help…" Rukawa supported Sendoh, his eyes no longer cold as he looked at Sakuragi.
"Plus, no interest charged," Sendoh said with a smile.
"Hmph. How exactly are you two supposed to help us?" Sakuragi retorted, rolling his eyes.
"I'm not bragging or anything but we are rich, you know," Sendoh responded, scratching a side of his head, careful not to mess up his hair.
"Hmph. If you think you can help, it's US$100 000. Convert that to yen."
"What?!" Hatsuko yelled. "That much?!"
"That's why I doubt that they can help. Anyways, it'd take forever for us to come up with that kind of money to repay them," Sakuragi said, resting an elbow on the table.
Sendoh and Rukawa were silent.
"Heh. It's okay if the both of you can't help, Rukawa-san. Sendoh-san," Hatsuko started.
"I can get my parents to pay a quarter of that… and I have the other quarter in my bank," Rukawa said. "So, that's half."
"I can get my parents to pay the other half. They wouldn't mind if I told them that I'm helping out a friend," Sendoh replied.
Hatsuko and Sakuragi sat, stunned. Hatsuko knew that both Rukawa and Sendoh were nice but she didn't know that they were so helpful and concerned towards this whole situation. Sakuragi, however, thought otherwise. He thought of both of them as rivals and always thought of Rukawa as an arrogant and selfish moron whereas Sendoh was a formidable opponent with loose screws in his brain.
"You're honestly going to help us?" Sakuragi asked, his voice unable to contain its happiness.
"There's a catch for my part though," Rukawa said, his eyes turning to Sakuragi.
"I expected that much from you, Kitsune. Well, what is it?" Sakuragi sighed.
"That you don't work and come for every practice," Rukawa mumbled quickly. "It's not that I like you or anything… I'm only doing this for Shohoku's Basketball Club."
Sakuragi was speechless. 'Rukawa wants me to keep playing basketball? Could it be that he senses that I never wanted to quit?' he thought. Then, he started laughing with joy.
"NYAHAHA! Then Tensai won't put so much pressure on the both of you during matches! NYAHAHAHAHA!"
Amused by the great change in Sakuragi's character, Sendoh smiled.
Rukawa, however, rolled his eyes and sighed. "D'aho."
Sakuragi was too cheerful to be affected by Rukawa so he continued to laugh. Hatsuko eyed the three. She was thankful; that her brother was back to normal, and that Rukawa and Sendoh were helping her family.
"Rukawa-san, Sendoh-san," Hatsuko started, getting up from her seat.
Sendoh and Rukawa looked at her and were surprised to see her bow at them. They were even more surprised when she looked up with tears shining in her eyes and a large grin on her face.
"Arigatou! Hontou ni arigatou!" she said, and went to each of them and gave them a peck on their cheek each.
Rukawa turned a little pink and mumbled something under his breath whereas Sendoh grinned and said, "No prob."
"Hatsuko! What are doing?" Sakuragi asked with disapproval.
"Just showing them my appreciation, Nii-chan," Hatsuko answered, wiping the tears from her face.
"Thank them! Don't kiss them!"
Suddenly, Mrs. Sakuragi bustled into the kitchen with a first aid kit, causing Sakuragi to stiffen.
"Come, let's get all of you treated," she said, her eyes reflecting her concern. "Rukawa-kun soushite Sendoh-kun, thank you for bringing Hatsuko back when Hanamichi was unable to… I trust that the both of you can take care of Hatsuko when Hanamichi's not around?"
Rukawa and Sendoh nodded.
After helping to apply some ointment on Rukawa, Sendoh and Hatsuko, and bandaging the necessary injuries, she went over to Sakuragi and wiped the blood off his face with a damp towel.
"Hanamichi, you should be really careful when you get into a fight. It's not that I like it when you fight but I know that you have to sometimes…" Mrs. Sakuragi said, her voice trailing.
Sakuragi did not even bother to look at his mother as she treated his wounds nor did he bother to reply. Instead, he just looked at his hands and he began to clench and unclenched again.
Rukawa got up and went to the door. "Thanks, Mrs. Sakuragi."
Sendoh followed suite and smiled at the Sakuragi family as they left. Hatsuko and Mrs. Sakuragi smiled as they left but Sakuragi remained quiet.
Outside of the Sakuragi residence, Rukawa leaned against a streetlamp and waited for Sendoh to emerge from the house. Once he did, he walked off and Sendoh followed after him.
"Something about that place is not right," Rukawa suddenly said.
"You're right," Sendoh responded. "When I smiled at them, only Hatsuko gave me a genuine smile. Usually Sakuragi would give me an amusing remark but he didn't. And their mother… she smiled at me but it was somewhat forced…"
"I guess I would expect you to be able to tell if someone's really smiling or not…" Rukawa said, sarcastically. 'When I said place, I really mean place. That place wasn't like a home at all. And Sendoh's right. They're acting strange too…'
Author's note: Aah… ^^ I'm so tired. Well, I wrote some hints in this chapter and let's see if you can figure out what's behind them X3 ~hee. I think that every chapter I'm writing is going from bad to worse… Oh well ^^6