Standard disclaimers apply.

PART 17: MORE THAN WORDS

           

          Koshino walked straight to his bedroom when his brother noticed his cuts. He followed Koshino to his bedroom. This didn't surprise Koshino.

          "What happened, Hiroaki?" Waki asked worriedly as he closed the door behind him.

          "Nothing. Accident…"

          "Accident? Who are you fooling? Someone beat you up, who's this guy?" Waki asked.

          "Okay, I'll tell you, but you're not gonna tell mom and dad, are you?"

          "I won't. But I'm sure they'll know about it soon, those cuts aren't hard to notice."

          Hiroaki told him everything and when he finished, Waki spoke, "Why didn't you fight back? I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, are you gay or something?"

          "You don't understand, if I fought back I'm sure he wouldn't stop. I don't want anyone, especially Ayako, to get away with the idea that I'm another crack-head git."

          "What are you planning to do now? I'm sure you wouldn't tell mom or dad cos they'll cuss about it for like… forever and they probably wouldn't let you stay on the team."

          "If they find out I'll just promise them that it's not gonna happen again, Miyagi gave his word. At least I didn't turn out a loser."

          "Okay, if this happens again I'll crack his skull myself. You rest, okay, and you call me if you need something." Waki said looking outside the window.

          "Yeah, thanks."

          Waki was to walk out when he remembered something.

          "Ah, by the way, Sendoh-kun called a while ago, I told him you were in practice so he just said he'll call you later. Er, he's still your friend, and it won't hurt if you tell him about, er, this. I mean you two know each other very much and he seems to be very concerned about you, I think he can help you." Waki said and walked out of the room without another word. Koshino wasn't sure if he would tell Sendoh. Maybe I don't have to tell him everything…or maybe he can help. Whatever, he thought.

          Waki brought him food at seven telling Hiroaki what lame excuses he told their parents. "Mom and dad called and I told them you were tired and that you want to be alone. Gosh, I didn't know it would be that hard." And he left him again.

          He was bored. He needed to talk to someone so he picked up the phone and dialed Sendoh's number.

          "Hello, may I speak with Akira?"

          "Ey, Hiroaki, this is Akira speaking. Er, I called earlier but they said you were in practice."

          "Yeah. Hey, I, er, would you come over? You see, my dad's not home 'til midnight and I think we can have a little talk. I haven't seen you for awhile."

          "Ah. Okay that would be nice. I'll be there in an hour."

          "Alright, I'll wait for you then. Bye." And they hung up.

          Sendoh arrived at 8:30 and Waki led him to Hiroaki's room. He wondered why Hiroaki wouldn't go down. When he knocked at his door, Hiroaki asked him to enter.

Sendoh was too shocked to say anything; he couldn't believe anyone would do such to a boy like Koshino who was liked by everyone in Ryonan High. He sat on the chair beside the bed.

          "Hiroaki, what happened, who did this to you?" Sendoh asked finally reacting.

          "I'll tell you, but tell me how's the team going? How are you?"

          "We're doing alright but not as ok when you were around, and I think I'm better since you-I mean-I'm more than glad to see you again, you see' I've been looking forward to chat with you but our schedule is you know…so what happened?" Sendoh asked, not able to hide his anxiety.

          Koshino told him everything from the first time he met Ayako. Sendoh didn't know how to react. But he couldn't blame Koshino as well. He held Koshino's hand and looked at him directly.

          "You are, somehow, responsible for what happened. You shouldn't have made Miyagi that angry…" Sendoh said.

          "I know. I was wrong."

          "Everything will cool off." Sendoh said reassuringly though his heart was pierced. He loved Koshino still beyond words. But he knew that the best he could hope for was this.

          "Thanks. I hope you're right." Hiroaki said. Sendoh smiled at him.

          "So, the exhibition games are two weeks away, are you playing?" Sendoh asked

          "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah, for the first time we'll be playing against each other, I hope you'll do well." Sendoh said without looking at Koshino. He wasn't really happy about it.

"We'll see. I'm sure you're giving them a good job, I mean you're a great captain. I hope next season will be ours, Shohoku and Ryonan to the nationals."

Sendoh couldn't help but smile at this, "Shohoku's strong, no questions there. As for Ryonan, I promised Uozomi-san and Ikegami-san that we'd make it to the nationals. I don't know what would happen if we didn't make it, I mean, coach is more obsessed than ever. I hope Kainan won't stand on our way, Hikoichi said Jin Soichiro's the new captain and he and the whole team had started practicing two months ago, right after nationals." He said.

"I hope so, that would make them champion 18 years in a row if they'd reach nationals. I heard Shoyo's doing well too, I mean Fujima and Hanagata, they've been visiting the new team during practice and train them. I heard Fujima even offered that he would coach the team, he said he could handle it. I've also heard they have two super rookies, who are twins." Koshino told Sendoh.

"We'll beat them all, I'm sure. We're not gonna let them this time, this is our last chance." Sendoh said.

"I hope you're right."

Sendoh stared out of the window for a while and turned to Koshino, "Listen. I have to go. I have to run an errand for my mom. You take care okay, and I'll see you later when you're fine and we can have more time."

"Okay, thanks for coming over."

"Sure, I'm glad to see you again. Catch you later." Sendoh said as he stood up. Koshino watched as he walked out and closed the door.

TBC

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