Chapter 6: Hisashi-niichan & Hana-chan

"Are you ready, Miyagi-sempai?" Hanayuki asked the guy in front of her.

"You are going down, Hanayuki-san," came the reply.

Hanayuki smiled. Not this time, I won't.

She dribbled the ball, eyes fixed on Miyagi Ryota, the second-year point guard of Shohoku's basketball team. Like his team-mates before him, he had been challenged to a one-on-one by Hanayuki, for she could clearly see the doubt on his face when he had been told that she was taking over Anzai-sensei's place as Shohoku's basketball coach. He had readily accepted the challenge, confident that he would beat her. Now, the game was about to start.

Hanayuki glanced to her left, distracting Miyagi and drove to her right immediately, charging towards the hoop. Being the lightning-quick point guard he was, he was behind her in no time at all. As she was about to make a jump shot, he appeared behind her, hands raised, ready to swat the ball from her hands, when she swung her hands in mid-air and threw the ball lay-up style towards the basket. Because the basket was too far away for a lay-up, she pushed the ball a little harder than usual. It bounced on the rim before going through the hoop.

Gasps could be heard from every corner of the gym. Hanayuki clenched her fists in victory and smiled. She turned around to face a shell-shocked Miyagi, who quickly composed himself and went to retrieve the ball. It was his turn to attack. Hanayuki prepared herself for his quick attack, and quick it was, when he suddenly charged forcefully against Hanayuki, and succeeded in eluding her.

He ran towards the basket, dribbling the ball skilfully and prepared to shoot. Hanayuki had already jumped up in front of him to block his shot, when she realised that it was a fake. He was about to do a lay-up shot when the ball was tapped away from his hands. Looking behind him, he saw Hanayuki standing there, panting slightly, but smiling nevertheless.

"Destroy him, Hana-chan!" Sakuragi shouted from the sidelines. He was hoping that his sister would be able to defeat the 'shortie', as he called him because of what had happened earlier that day.

He was walking towards the gym when he bumped into Ayako, who was also on her way there. Walking together, they had come across a bunch of people, with Miyagi as one of them. Seeing his beloved Aya-chan (that's what Miyagi calls Ayako) with Sakuragi, he thought that Sakuragi and Ayako were together and had launched himself at the unsuspecting Sakuragi. Sakuragi of course had fought back, and ever since that incident, they had not been getting along well with each other.

Hanayuki heard her brother and flashed him a smile with a thumbs-up sign. Then, she turned to face Miyagi again, with the smile plastered on her face. Rukawa, Akagi and Kogure recognised that smile. She had been smiling at them the exact same way when they had been challenged. To put it simply, if Sakuragi has his Tensai laugh, then Hanayuki has her 'confidence' smile.

Like brother, like sister. And they aren't even related in truth, they thought.

The game went on, and ended with a score of 20-18, in favour of Hanayuki. Miyagi was naturally shocked that he had lost to a girl, while the others were awed and impressed by their new coach. Sakuragi wasted no time in taunting Miyagi about the loss and laughing his Tensai laugh, causing yet another fight to erupt between the two people.

While Miyagi still had some energy left in him, Hanayuki, however, was rather exhausted. She trudged slowly to the sidelines, and sat down on the floor, leaning against the gym wall. Rukawa looked at her with concern, as he knew that she still had heart problems despite undergoing a heart transplant years ago when she was still a kid.

He left where he was standing and walked towards the benches at the sidelines. After making sure that no one was looking (they were either busy trying to stop the fight between Sakuragi and Miyagi or busy watching the fight), he took her bag, and, walking past her, he dropped the bag at her feet.

Surprised, Hanayuki looked up to see Rukawa already walking towards the other side of the court. Understanding what he was doing, she felt the corners of her mouth curving to form a small smile. She opened her bag and discreetly took out two tablets before putting them into her mouth quickly and gulping them down with water. Then, she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, the small smile still playing on her lips. Arigatou, Rukawa-kun.

Shohoku's basketball gym, the next day...

It was a miracle. It was incredible. Most importantly, it was unbelievable.

Those were the phrases that were playing in each and every Shohoku basketball player's mind when they saw Sakuragi and Miyagi entering the gym together, arms around each other (shoulders, I mean). They couldn't believe that the two troublemakers had actually become friends, when it was only, like what, the day before, when they had been fighting non-stop with each other.

Nevertheless, the sudden change was welcomed with open arms by all the members, especially Kogure. He watched as Miyagi and Sakuragi practise together on the court, with the former teaching the latter how to do a fake play. Akagi was having extra Physics class that day, so he would be coming to practice later than usual, leaving Kogure in charge during his absence. Remarking to no one in particular, he said, "I'm so glad those two managed to get along with each other. It will do the team a lot of good, no doubt about that."

"That's my oniichan. Ever so unpredictable. Not a very good thing actually, but when it comes to basketball, that trait of his will be his ultimate advantage."

Kogure looked at the girl standing beside him. "Yes, Yuki-chan. He is very unpredictable, isn't he? And a very fast learner too. In such a short time, he had progressed so much."

"Why do you think he calls himself the Tensai?" Hanayuki jokingly replied (not that she didn't think that her brother was a genius of course). Both of them laughed at the remark.

Their laughter was cut short when they heard a loud 'bang'. Everyone looked to where the sound had come from. What they saw made their eyes widen with surprise, and fear. Especially Miyagi's.

"Mitsui..."

"Akagi, can you please come up to the board and answer this question."

"Hai, sensei." Akagi went to the front and picked up a chalk. As he wrote the answer on the board, the chalk broke. Akagi frowned for a moment, before picking up another chalk. It wasn't long before the chalk broke again.

"Akagi, what do you think you are doing?" the sensei demanded.

"Gomen, sensei," Akagi mumbled, picking up another chalk. Finally, he finished writing down the answer on the board and walked back to his seat.

As the sensei continued the lesson, Akagi was deep in his own thoughts.

What's wrong with me? Why am I feeling so restless?

"Rukawa-kun!"

Hanayuki watched in horror as the mop came into contact with Rukawa's head. It started bleeding profusely. No, this cannot be happening. Please, make them stop, she thought as she watched the same guy who had hit Rukawa on his head punch him in the stomach a few times.

Rukawa doubled over in pain for a while, before straightening up and touching his head. Seeing blood on his hands, he looked at the guy standing in front of him. Suddenly, he kicked the guy hard in the stomach before sending another few punches.

As the guy went sprawling onto the floor, the long-haired guy Miyagi called Mitsui walked up to Rukawa and laughed, saying that since Rukawa had fought back, the team would be disqualified from entering the Inter High Preliminaries and disbanded, only to be punched in the face by Rukawa. Another guy tried to help Mitsui, but Rukawa almost broke his arm until Ayako laid her hand on his and asked him to stop, saying that they would be in trouble if he didn't. He finally let go, but the guy vented his anger on Ayako by slapping her across the face.

Seeing his beloved Aya-chan hurt, Miyagi practically leaped up and attacked the guy, raining him with kicks and punches. Rukawa started fighting fiercely against the others as well, and didn't notice the other leader of the gang, Tetsuo coming from behind. Hanayuki saw this and screamed to Rukawa to look out, but it was too late. Rukawa was grabbed by the neck, dragged and slammed down hard onto the floor, knocking him unconscious. Then, the big bruiser went on to kick Kakuta and attack Shiozaki.

Tears started stinging Hanayuki's eyes. Without a second thought, she ran towards Rukawa and knelt down beside him, gently lifting his head and laying it on her lap. "Rukawa-kun... Rukawa-kun... can you hear me? Rukawa-kun..."

"Ah... what have we here? Such a pretty little girl," said Tetsuo.

"Yes. It's such a waste of time for you to stay here, since the team will be disbanded anyway," Mitsui added. Reaching out his hand, he grabbed Hanayuki and pulled her towards him. She tried to pull away, but he was too strong for her. Hanayuki could feel the familiar sense of panic rising in her, but she put up a brave front, and looked up at him.

He... he looks strangely familiar. Like I've seen him somewhere before...

Mitsui looked down at the girl he was holding, and felt his breath taken away at the sight of her violet eyes. Strange, I think I've seen them somewhere before...

Meanwhile, Kogure tried to stay calm and asked everyone to close all the doors and pull all the curtains close. He couldn't stop the fight, but he could at least try to avoid from letting anybody see them.

"Teme. Let go of my sister, you sissy punk!" Sakuragi shouted at Mitsui and started advancing menacingly in his direction, but was stopped in his tracks by Tetsuo. "Get out of my way, you bastard," he growled.

Tetsuo looked at him with a bored expression on his face and said, "Make me."

"Why you..." Sakuragi was about to attack the guy when he heard Hanayuki calling out to him.

"Oniichan, no. Don't start fighting. I... I'm fine. Just let me handle this, ok?" Hanayuki said to her brother.

"Hana-chan..." Sakuragi tried to protest, but couldn't get the words out of his mouth.

Hana-chan? Now where have I heard this name before? Mitsui looked down at Hanayuki again. She really looks familiar, like I've seen her before, but where? And when?

Turning back to face Mitsui, Hanayuki saw him looking at her. Don't panic. He cannot do anything here. You're safe. Gathering all her courage, she spoke, "Mitsui-san. I don't know what your problem is. But I demand that you take all your friends with you and leave at once."

Despite being mesmerised by her eyes, Mitsui couldn't help but start laughing at her 'demand'. "My dear girl, I'm afraid that cannot be done. Haven't you heard me clearly enough just now? I said that I will destroy the team, and until I have achieved that goal, I will not leave." He tightened his hold on her and continued, "How about you join me for a ride later when I am done? I can assure you that you will have much more fun than watching basketball practices." Hearing this, Hanayuki struggled to get out of his hold, but to no avail.

"Let go of her."

At the sound of Rukawa's voice, Hanayuki turned to look at him. "Rukawa-kun!" She struggled harder, but still couldn't get away from Mitsui. "Let go of me!"

"Now, now... my dear. This is not very nice. When lover boy here was still knocked out, you hadn't been struggling as much as you are now. Anxious to get back to him aren't you?" Mitsui sneered. "Perhaps I should knock him out again so that you wouldn't struggle so much."

Hanayuki froze at his words. Seeing that she had stopped struggling almost immediately, Mitsui felt a tinge of jealousy in him, but shrugging it off as his imagination, he laughed. "Ryo," he called out to the guy whom Rukawa had been fighting with earlier (the one who whacked the mop against Rukawa's head). "Care to knock him out for me again?"

"No! No, please, don't! He's already badly injured. If you hit him again, he might not be able to take it! You might ruin his life!" Hanayuki pleaded, tears coursing down her cheeks.

"Ask me if I care." With that, he signalled to Ryo to go forward. Two others followed to help Ryo subdue Rukawa. Overcome, Rukawa was forced to go down on his knees with his hands behind him. Having lost a lot of blood, he was slowly beginning to lose consciousness, and therefore could not fight back. Ryo picked up the broken mop from the floor and raised it high above Rukawa's head, ready to bring it down hard.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Just as the mop was being brought down, Hanayuki screamed, and mustering all the strength that she could gather, she stepped down hard on Mitsui's foot and pushed him away. A few seconds before the mop came in contact with Rukawa's head, she ran towards them and threw herself at Rukawa, covering him. And the mop, instead of Rukawa, hit Hanayuki at the back of her head.

There was silence, as everyone watched in utter shock at the scene before them. Even the thugs who were holding on to Rukawa had let go out of shock. And Rukawa, free from their grasps, caught Hanayuki in his arms before she crumpled to the floor.

"HANA-CHAN!" Finally losing his temper and self-control, especially after seeing what had happened to his sister, Sakuragi lashed out at Tetsuo, unleashing his pent-up anger.

As they started fighting, both Ayako and Kogure rushed to Hanayuki's side. Seeing the amount of blood oozing out of her wound, they started panicking. "Oh my god! She's bleeding so badly. What do we do, Kogure-sempai?" Ayako frantically asked Kogure.

Kogure was on the verge of a panic attack again. But he forced himself to think clearly. "We need to try to stop the bleeding first. Then we'll figure out a way to call an ambulance. We can't go out now, there's a teacher out there. However, if the bleeding doesn't stop, then we'll just have to risk everything and get an ambulance."

They heard the others gasp, and turned just in time to see Sakuragi's head being grabbed by Tetsuo and brutally slammed against the door. Much to their surprise, and a little relief, Sakuragi merely scratched his wound and said that he was being bothered by a pesky mosquito. Gazing strongly at Tetsuo, he declared his wounds meant nothing to him. As he got up, he was immediately surrounded by the entire gang. Snorting in disgust, he called them cowards. Before they could attack him, however, Sakuragi's gundan arrived just in time to help him, swinging down from the rafters.

After a quick but rather hilarious introduction (Mitsui asked Hotta (one of his friends in the gang) who they were and he answered that they're the bad boys from Wako Junior High, the Sakuragi Gundan (consisting of Mito Youhei, Takamiya Nozomi, Noma Chuichiro, Ookusu Yuji, and of course, Sakuragi Hanamichi). Introduced Sakuragi and Youhei, but called the others extras, infuriating them with that remark. Of course, they got even angrier when Sakuragi and Youhei called them the 'Three Stooges'), Sakuragi's gundan easily dispatched Mitsui's gang, leaving Sakuragi to deal with Tetsuo while Youhei faced off with Mitsui. While Sakuragi was being beaten up by Tetsuo, Mitsui was given a brutal beating by Youhei, who then demanded that he left the basketball club alone and never return to the gym again, but, for some strange reason, Mitsui stubbornly refused.

As for Sakuragi, he finally drew blood from Tetsuo after letting out a powerful punch and sending Tetsuo flying to the same door he was slammed upon a while ago. Sakuragi was not done with him yet of course. He started counting down the number of punches Tetsuo should be receiving for hurting his team-mates, and proceeded to beat him up for Yasuda, Kakuta, Shiozaki and Miyagi. For Rukawa, however, he only gave Tetsuo a small tap on the face, drawing sweatdrops from everyone in the gym.

Rukawa didn't care that Sakuragi didn't beat Tetsuo up for him. All he cared about was the precious bundle he was holding in his arms, determined not to let go no matter what.

"Rukawa, you are bleeding badly too. Let go of Yuki-chan and let Kogure-sempai help cease the blood flow from your wound," said Ayako, seeing that he was still bleeding, although he was still conscious. When she didn't get any response from him, she asked, "Rukawa, did you hear what I've just said?"

He had heard her alright, but had chosen to ignore her, because he didn't want to let go of Hanayuki. He was afraid of what might happen if he let her go. If I had held on to her earlier before, she wouldn't have been caught by that bastard, and he wouldn't have used me to threaten her, and she wouldn't have tried to save me and hurt herself. He held Hanayuki closer to his chest.

Noticing this, Ayako felt slightly annoyed, but she restrained herself and calmly said, "Rukawa, this is no time to be stubborn. Even if you hold on to her for the rest of your life, she wouldn't heal by herself. She needs help, and you are in the way." Again she got no response from her junior.

Anyway, back to the fight between Sakuragi's gundan and Mitsui's gang. Mitsui's gang was suddenly afraid, more so Hotta, who now realised that they were no match for Sakuragi and Youhei. Youhei demanded again that Mitsui and the others leave, and Hotta begged his friend as well to make a retreat, but Mitsui slapped Youhei on the face, making Youhei truly angry. Mitsui cried that he will destroy them all, prompting Youhei to beat him up even more.

Unable to take it anymore, Kogure walked up to them, laid a hand on Youhei's shoulder and told him to stop. Kogure approached Mitsui, only to be slapped by Mitsui, throwing his glasses onto the floor. Solemnly, Kogure looked at Mitsui straight in the eyes and, after telling him to grow up, picked up his fallen glasses. Everyone looked curiously at the two seniors.

Meanwhile, Hanayuki was slowly regaining consciousness. She was still bleeding, but it was somewhat lesser than before as Ayako had tried to do the best she can to stop it. She opened her eyes, and saw Rukawa looking down at her, his dark blue eyes clearly showing his relief at her consciousness.

"Rukawa-kun?" she croaked. Her throat felt dry, and she could also feel the wetness at the back of her head. Rukawa gently stroke her face with the back of his hand (his palms were stained with blood), and she snuggled closer to him, taking in the warmth of his body. Even so, her eyes were scanning the gym and its contents, and stopped when she caught sight of Kogure and Mitsui facing each other.

The door to the gym opened, and in came Akagi, who had finished his extra Physics class. His towering form totally blocked the whole doorway, and therefore did not enable the teachers outside the gym to see what was happening inside. Before the teachers could barge into the gym after him, Akagi swiftly shut the door in their faces, saying that the team was undergoing intensive secret training to prepare them for the heat and he couldn't allow them to enter.

Seeing his captain, Miyagi was about to explain to Akagi that it's all his fault, but Akagi ignored him and continued walking. Turning briefly to the others, Akagi ordered them to take off their shoes, which they quickly complied to. Then, he caught sight of Rukawa's bloodied face, and he looked down to see what was in his arms.

"Yuki-chan!" Akagi dropped to his knees, and saw immediately that she was suffering from a blow to the back of her head. The cloth Ayako had been using to stop the bleeding was completely soaked in blood. Realising that she was losing a lot of blood, Akagi was about to order someone to go call an ambulance, when he felt a hand tugging at his arm. It was Hanayuki.

"No, sempai. The... the teachers are still outside. We cannot let them... see us... like... this..." As she spoke, her breathing got slower and slower. But she didn't let go of Akagi's arm.

"But I cannot leave you like this!" said Akagi, his face contorted with worry and anger. Hanayuki shook her head.

"No. It... it will be... the end... of the team..."

Akagi froze. Then, he gently pulled his arm away from Hanayuki, before standing up and turning to look at Mitsui. All stared in surprise as Mitsui muttered Akagi's name. Akagi walked up to him, and everyone held their breath when Akagi stopped in front of Mitsui. Suddenly, Akagi slapped Mitsui three times. And, to everyone's shock, Kogure painfully revealed that Mitsui was once a member of the Shohoku basketball team.

At this revelation, a sudden thought came into Hanayuki's mind. It...it's him. The boy otousan had told me about. As Kogure proceeded to narrate the story of Mitsui, she found herself piecing up the little bits of information together. And slowly, realisation began to dawn upon her. It cannot be. It was... it was him all along.

She heard Mitsui shouting at Kogure to stop. And then, bangs could be heard on the door, as the teachers outside the gym continued demanding that they be let inside. She could feel herself slowly slipping away into unconsciousness, but she forced herself to stay awake. She took a deep breath.

Mitsui looked at Kogure in surprise. The usually calm and mild boy was now facing him, his face red with anger, his body shaking, and his hands grabbing his shirt by the collar. The gym was silent for a while, and then, a voice broke through the silence. Though soft, it could be heard clearly by everyone present.

"If otousan knew about this, he would be so disappointed, Hisashi-niichan."

Upon hearing his name, Mitsui turned his head slowly towards the owner of the voice. "What did you say?"

Hanayuki was starting to feel exhausted, but she carried on. "I could still remember that day... when otousan had come back from school, and excitedly told me that he had found someone who could help him realise his dream. In fact, there were two of them. One, by the name of Akagi Takenori. And... and the other... Mitsui Hisashi."

Sensing another story coming up, everybody paid their attention to her. Kogure let go of Mitsui's shirt. Mitsui whispered, "What?"

"Ever since then, I... I have always wanted to meet them. And I did. I saw Akagi-sempai for the first time from the stands during their first game of the Inter High Preliminaries. But... but I didn't get to see Mitsui-sempai. Little did I know that... that I have already met him... many times... at the public basketball court near my house."

Public basketball court?

"I should have known that they were the same person. But... but then again, who would have thought that... that the Hisashi-niichan I knew, the boy who had taught me never to give up, was also Mitsui Hisashi, the... the boy who had given up basketball so easily..."

"How...? Who... who are you?" Mitsui asked, confusion written all over his face. He was now confident that they knew each other, but he still couldn't remember who she was.

"Haven't you already guessed, Hisashi-niichan? The... the basketball court near the playground. The basketball lessons..."

And then, realisation hit him in the face. His mind began to clear as past events started coming back to him. I do know her. She's... she's...

"Hana-chan?"