Your heart's desire
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Disclaimer: Honestly, I wouldn't be here if I owned either Rukawa or Sawakita. I'd be out showing them off. Anyway, Slam Dunk belongs to the Holy Guru Takehiko Inoue and I own the gorgeous Rukawa Kuroko.
Setting: Post-Slam Dunk
Pairing: Sawakita Eiji X OC (Rukawa Kuroko)
Character age guidelines:
Rukawa Kaede [32]
Rukawa Kuroko [20]
Genre: Romance/ maybe humour in some parts
Pre-script note: This fic doesn't have a beta-reader because I post chapters on impulse. However, my eternal devotion and love goes to Fen and the others who'd always be there to beta-read my horrendous works. (Stop scowling at me, Si En, I know this is another one of my romantic streaks…) I beta my own fic and so blame all the mistakes on me and I'll die a happy person if you point out blatant mistakes that I made.
Pre-script note 2: Constructive criticisms are very much welcomed. I'd be happy with a one-line review, but I give you my heart if you'd go past a paragraph assessing the fic, pointing out the strengths, weaknesses, where I should improve on and all. =D
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Chapter Three
"My sister got in a killer crash. I don't even know if she'll live and you are telling me that I have to leave her for that stupid show?"
"Look here, Rukawa, it's a 2 million US dollar contract, alright? If you break it, you won't be able to pay for the losses even if you pawn everything of yours down to that gorgeous body of yours."
"Frigging hell!"
"Yes it is, shit happens. Get someone to stay with your sister and you get your arse down to the airport tomorrow, period,"
"Damn you!"
-Click-
Rukawa put his mobile phone away and buried his face in his hands. People walking down the hospital corridor were all ogling at him, but he couldn't care less. Sawakita patted his shoulder, "Hey mate, your manager said no?"
He nodded. Both men were silent for that painful moment.
"You just go for the show, okay? I'll stay with Miss Kuroko, I have no important games for about two months," Sawakita put a hand on Rukawa's knee, trying to settle the worried man's strung nerves. The lights of the operating theatre were still shining a blood red.
"You…you don't understand," Rukawa bit back traces of wetness in his eyes, "I won't be able to live it if I just go…and come back to find her…well…dead,"
"She will be fine," Sawakita assured both Rukawa and himself.
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Kuroko suffered a severe crack on the base of her spinal cord, rendering her paralysed waist-down. Sawakita couldn't believe what he heard. That meant that Kuroko would be unable to ride her motorbike again until her recovery, which according to the doctor, would take years to accomplish. He knew that she'd be devastated, and it was too unfortunate that Rukawa could not be there with her.
He made up his mind to stay with her through this ordeal. Kuroko had shown signs of waking up a day after the operation – her heartbeat was regular, her eyes moved beneath her eyelids and her fingers – those long, strong fingers – quivered ever so lightly. Sawakita didn't know what got him, but he couldn't bring himself to leave her side, afraid that she may wake up anytime and become distraught over her paralysis.
He wondered if she would cry – but no, Kuroko is a strong woman, she will not cry.
But she is also a young woman full of vitality and the need to be running about, with the need to feel alive and energized. Sawakita had never seen her cry – he only knew her for two days – but he felt his heart clench at the picture of tears in the dark hazel brown eyes.
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It was like waking from a deep sleep. Her eyes were gummy and foggy; everything around her was a white blur. She tried to lift her right hand to rub her eyes, but realized that there was something holding it. There was someone, she knew, and the person was grasping onto her hand like a lifebuoy.
"…Kae…?" Her voice was raw and coarse. The person raised his head from its position – the space on the bed beside her, and he gripped her hand with another hand, "You are awake?"
"Kae…" It wasn't her brother, yet the voice was oddly familiar.
"Rukawa had to go to Milan, I'm Sawakita," He reached for the emergency button to alert the doctor and nurses, who rushed over in a few minutes' time. He went out to call Rukawa.
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It was as he had expected – despite the fact that the doctor broke the news to her as gently as possible, Kuroko couldn't accept the fact. The doctor told Sawakita to try to calm her as much as possible, so that they could avoid having to give her stabilizers.
"You will recover," He told her gently, but firmly. Kuroko turned away, her porcelain smooth face, was covered in gauze bandages, which he knew, would be streaked with ugly gashes and deep cuts.
He sighed at her silence.
"I don't know what to say. I'm not Rukawa. But I…" He gestured helplessly in search of appropriate words, "I don't want to see you…sad,"
She refused to reply, her eyes shut tightly. Sawakita suspected that there were tears that she wanted to conceal from him. Hesitantly, he touched her hand, feeling the lightly callused texture, and finally gripping it in his own. She was too weak to withdraw from him, but he felt her distance.
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Kuroko felt hot tears sting her eyes. I could never ride my motorbike again, she thought. She hated the loss of freedom and the feeling of being helpless. When she lost her parents in the plane crash, she had her brother with her – and when she was older, she swore to be strong for him and herself.
When Sawakita gripped her hand, she felt the warmth traveling from his large, thick palms through her entire being. She wanted to draw away, but her body felt like a lump of loose rag and she hated herself for being unable to even refuse this strange yet familiar presence. With thoughts racing through her head, she fell asleep from the remaining effects of the anesthetics, still feeling the comforting warmth of his hand and his body.
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[A/N: More interaction… ^_~]