Standard Disclaimer Applied
Title: The Sakuragi Cousins
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CHAPTER 3 : Excuse Slip
"DEFENSE!" Ayako shouted, her undaunted spirit soaring as always as she watched the team's performance on court.
Miyagi and the other upper classmen have been practicing with the freshmen, testing their stamina and helping them sharpen their skills.
"Kobayashi! Guard Miyagi!" Ichiro, who was beside Ayako, called upon one of the rookies.
The boy named Kobayashi was somehow startled; nevertheless, he tried to block the captain's advances, only to be averted as Miyagi faked a right, passing the ball to Rukawa. As expected before any of the freshmen could stop it, the ball found its way to the ring effortlessly.
"Rukawa-kun!" Haruko exclaimed, tiny hearts dancing around her head and in her eyes too.
"Yosh! Rukawa-sempai! Eh, Kobayashi-san, nice try. That was good." Mizusawa Ichiro commented politely at his classmate.
Kobayashi, a dark haired boy, scratched his head shyly. "Anou... domo, Mizusawa-san. But we lost."
"It's OK," Ayako said. "What matters is that you've all been improving greatly."
"And if that keeps up, we might lead ourselves to the Nationals," Miyagi intervened.
"Hai, captain!" the freshmen chorused.
"Anou, sempai, we thank you for helping us with our play. It's an honor to be a part of this team. Definitely one of the best in Japan, no less!" a rookie named Abe stepped forward.
Miyagi slightly blushed in humble embarrassment, chuckling nervously for a moment. "Ha-hahaha... Well, you can say tha-"
The door banged noisily, diverting everyone's attention towards one of the entrance.
"Yo!" came the voice from the guy at the door. A mischievous grin plastered on his lips that was somewhere above a memorable scar. There on the mouth of the door stood the ex-MVP, ex-gangster and ex-shooting guard (whatever you call it) of Shohoku basketball team, Mitsui Hisashi. Right beside him was Kogure Kiminobu and Akagi Takenori, the former co-captain and captain of Shohoku basketball team respectively.
"Hey, missed us?" Mitsui's grin widened as he approached Miyagi; a spark of amusement flickered in his eyes when he saw the surprised expression on the latter's face.
Miyagi composed himself in an instant after seeing that sickening grin on the senior's lips.
"Missed you?" Miyagi snapped back, sarcasm dripping his tone and person. He scanned quickly at the three prominent figures approaching, nodding almost imperceptibly at the two silent others in greeting before glaring back at Mitsui and adding a bilious statement at length. " Kogure and Akagi, most probably. But you? Hell, you're the last person I wanted to see, bastard!"
"Why you ungrateful little punk!!!" growled Mitsui, dashing to the shorter boy and encircling an arm around his neck; a sadistic smile apparent on his face as he heard the strangled breathing, the almost dire outcome of his murderous intent upon the other, the shorter and supposedly stronger boy.
Akagi, regarding the riot presented at their sight as a 'friendly' gesture, as the others had also regarded it so with a shrug, headed towards Ayako with an always pleasantly smiling Kogure tagging along behind.
"Akagi-sempai! Kogure-sempai! It's so nice to see you again," greeted Ayako. "Oniichan, I thought you have classes today?" Haruko asked, walking towards the group.
"Aa," Akagi prompted, not a bit surprised to see his sister loitering around the gym since she was wont to do so. "Supposedly, yes. But the teacher was absent so we took leave and decided to come here."
" We heard that you'll be having a practice game against Ryonan next month. How's your practice going?" Kogure could not help but jump into the conversation.
"Nothing could be better Kogure-sempai!" Ichiro cheerfully answered his question, glancing appreciatively afterwards at the new members. "Everyone's been improving, even the freshmen. I sincerely think Shohoku can make it to the Nationals again this time."
Akagi merely nodded, giving subtle glances at the freshmen; his pleasures known yet impalpable to the naked eye. Silence settled upon them for some long moments; a forgotten question lingering eerily in the air. Even Rukawa Kaede who was sitting some feet away from the group cared to stop fiddling a basketball in his hand and looked at them as if waiting for a spectacle to occur.
It was then when they heard Yasuda's shaky and startling voice saying, " Anou.. aren't we suppose to stop them by now?" They averted their gaze to what Yasuda was pointing at and saw two troublemakers indulge in their killing session: Mitsui still out for blood as he tighten his grip on Miyagi's neck and Miyagi looking pallid by the second, his face nearing the shade of blue. Everyone (excluding Rukawa, of course) sweatdropped and a nerve just popped on Akagi's head.
"Aaaaghhh!! Mitsui, you bastard! Let go of me!"
" No, I won't! Not unless you turn purple!"
In a fight for dear life, well, basically breath itself, Miyagi raised both hands to his back, clutching what seemed to be Mitsui's head and banged the latter's forehead to his back, releasing him from the dreadful clutches of death, or suffocation.. or Mitsui, for that matter.
"ARRGGHHH!!! Why you little prick!" Mitsui groaned, holding his aching head. " This is what I get for visiting you??!!"
On the other hand, Miyagi was busy heaving up large gulps of oxygen to even retaliate back abruptly.
" I never asked for you here!" snapped Miyagi after second of panting, temper rising to a good boiling point. And before a single drop of blood or cloud of dust could yet be seen on the clean floor of Shohoku basketball court, a tall, monstrous figure, which must have been perceived as heaven-sent by the onlookers (according to the relieved expression on their face), loomed before the two obnoxious boys, giving each a skull- breaking blow on the head; the action, having an infamous appellation of "Gori Punch", ceased the upcoming fracas.
" But he started it!" Miyagi practically (*choke*) squealed, pointing at Mitsui.
" Oww. really now?" Mitsui mocked, sounding like some utterly sickening sissy girl. " Aren't you going to stomp your feet, run home and tell your mom?"
" Yeah, I wi-- NO!! MITSUI! Grrrr!! I'm gonna tell mo-- AARRGH! DAMN YOU MITSUI!!!"
" Boy is he hopeless," Ayako commented; the others could only laugh nervously.
" But Aya-chan, I was just--"
" Gonna tell your mom?" she finished.
" Yes. I MEAN NO!! Aya-chan!" Miyagi cried inwardly, weeping at the thought that his Aya-chan could be so harsh to him.
*SLAP*
" Ryota! BEHAVE!"
" Ha-hai, Aya-chan!" he instantaneously beamed, giving a good imitation of a dog being pat by Ayako on the head while saying, "Sit, Miyagi. Sit. Good boy, Miyagi! Good boy. Here, have some doggie treats." Get the picture?
The former captain of Shohoko team sighed, embarrassed by Miyagi's outright submission displayed in front of everyone. " This is humiliating."
" Don't worry captain. We're used to it." Yasuda consoled.
" Hmmm. something's not quite right here?" Mitsui looked around critically. He felt it from the moment he had set foot on the gym but had chosen to ignore it. And the flow of normality seemed to promote that awkward intuition. Mitsui scanned the room carefully once more.
" I know. It's your face that's not right here."
" Ryota!"
" Hehehe. Gomen, Aya-chan. Ehehehe."
Mitsui momentarily threw deathglares at Miyagi before indulging back to his previous thoughts which was currently irritating him to no extent mainly because of the fact that he could not point a finger at it. There was something utterly wrong with this picture, something missing, something like a certain--
" Where's Sakuragi?"
BINGO!
Mitsui violently turned to look at Akagi, almost breaking his neck as he nearly twisted it to a good 180 degrees.
" No wonder it's quiet here," Kogure said. " Is there something wrong with him?"
" Everything's wrong with that do'aho."
Everyone jumped at the sound of Rukawa's voice. This was probably the first time he spoke that day, not really strange though. But this is Rukawa Kaede we dared to speak of. Rukawa Kaede DOES NOT WILLINGLY jump into conversation unless he was to insult the do'aho; other than that he would normally indulge in his usual silence.
" Rukawa-sempai?" Ichiro whispered, looking confused at the raven haired boy who now stood a few feet away from them, holding a ball with both hands and staring down at it intently with an undeciphered expression on his face.
" Ah!" Ayako exclaimed, tearing her gaze away from the weirdly acting Rukawa. " Anou.. sempai, gomen nasai. That baka must have decided to skip practice today. Don't worry. I'll see to his punishment tomorrow."
" Aa," was all Akagi said, nodding slightly and averting his gaze. Something was definitely not right. SAKURAGI NEVER MISSES PRACTICE; the fact making everyone seemed tense.
" But Ayako-chan, Sakuragi-kun NEVER misses practice!" So the horrible Haruko just have to rub it in, doesn't she? (*grrr. Author holds up a voodoo doll that looks just like the little trollop while piercing it with various sharp object and saying quite dryly, " Die, Haruko. Die." *) Her brother flinched at the bad timing.
Just then the door of Shohoku basketball court opened, less noisily this time (much to Miyagi's relief) and four distinct figures came entering the premise.
" Hey!" Youhei greeted, waving a hand at them.
" Oi, Youhei!" Mitsui greeted back, grinning widely at the said boy. " And the others. How's it going?"
" Others?!" Ookusu retorted indignantly. " Is that how you greet us? Guess the bad senior never changed."
" Hmp! Shut up!"
" Seems there's a reunion going on here," Youhei commented, ignoring the petty argument.
" You can say that," Kogure politely answered.
" Anou, Youhei-sempai," Ichiro began. " Have you seen Sakuragi-kun? Where is he? Did anything happen to him?"
" Hey, slow down kid," Takamiya said. " And no, we haven't seen Hanamichi today. Second, we have no idea where he is and lastly, what could possibly happen to him? Hopefully nothing but then we're also here to find out."
" What do you mean?" Miyagi asked, cocking up a brow.
Youhei raised his hand, holding up a piece of folded paper. " Our adviser requested us to give this to you since your captain of the basketball team and all. He said it's an excuse for Hanamichi coming from the principal's office. Here, read." He gestured the paper towards Miyagi.
As if Youhei was delivering a bomb, some of the members paled up a bit. It was evident that none could comprehend what was going on and surely, it was the strangest thing that had happened in Shohoku's basketball team. 'What's going on?' they silently asked but none uttered the dreadful question.
" I'll take that," Ayako bravely cut in through the tense atmosphere, grabbing the letter from the black haired boy. She hastily unfolded the piece of paper, trying hard to cover her fidgeting hands by her abrupt movement.
It's from the principal's office alright, thought the perplexed young manageress.
" Aya-chan." Miyagi looked at his beloved Ayako's face intently; so did everybody else. She wore a scowl as her eyes scanned the first part of the paper. A tinge of vexation grazed her fine features and it grew to a visible extent as she continued down the page. Her eyes showed an uncharacteristic bewilderment when she finished reading and began to stare pensively at nothing in particular.
" What is it, Ayako?" Akagi inquired, a hint of concern on his voice.
" What's wrong? Did something happen to Hanamichi?" Noma seconded the same notion. The rest have been anxious for her to speak. Even Rukawa seemed to be moving closer within ear range.
As if out from a daze, Ayako jolted back to life. " H-huh?" she stuttered, her puzzled expression vanishing, replaced now by a relieved one. " Ow, nothing's wrong. I guess. It's just a notification that Hanamichi will be out on a leave for school for about a week or two."
" WHAT??!!"
*SLAP*
" Don't shout on my ear, Ryota!"
" AHHH! AYA-CHAN!! GOMEN NASAI!"
" So the stupid truant's on vacation again. The lucky bastard." Mitsui chuckled to himself.
Loud buzzing sounds were heard afterwards from the members. Some gave out their relief; others who have been closely acquainted with the redhead expressed their concerns while a few kept quiet, either they don't have any idea what's the big fuss about or they're just too arrogant to admit that they DO CARE. a lot, I should say.
" That baka never told us!" Takamiya muttered at the three gundan, sounding angry.
Kogure heard the fat one and was quite shocked. " What? I thought you guys knew."
" Unfortunately, we didn't." Much as Youhei wanted to hide it, his disappointment surfaced a little, yet not too evident as to be seen by many. " He never said anything about this."
" Don't you think something's wrong with Sakuragi-kun?" All eyes fell on to the female voice which was Haruko's.
" He looked normal yesterday," said a sophomore who was in Hanamichi's class.
" Hmph! The baka. I couldn't possibly think of him in any other way. Who could possibly think of him in any other way?"
" Hahahaha! You're right, Gori!"
*POW*
And Takamiya was sent sprawling on the floor with an impressive mark on his head.
" Urusai!"
" Hey, Youhei-sempai. Didn't you say this came from the principal's office? Then who informed the principal about this? And doesn't anybody know what's going on with Sakuragi-kun?"
" Come to think of it, Ichiro's right." Ayako scanned the letter once more. " Didn't your adviser tell you anything?"
" Nope. Nothing," came the brief reply.
" Very well, I don't think you should bother yourselves with this too much. You should focus more on your practice right now."
Miyagi smiled at Akagi's statement. " Yosh! You heard that. I've no doubt that Sakuragi would come back and start being a prick as always. But as of now, we have to concentrate ourselves on the upcoming game." He started to give morale boast on the members, pushing aside the latter topic of Sakuragi Hanamichi.
The gundan seemed to settle themselves comfortably among the crowd, listening and even cheering for the members, all except for Youhei who never took off that unusually silent yet brooding self. At a glance, he looked normal, quiet than usual but normal no less. He asked Ayako if he could read Sakuragi's excuse slip and the manageress conceded, instinctively knowing and sympathizing for his worries.
Not that he totally knew Hanamichi; everybody thinks that he's so easy to read, that he's just some goofy, hot-headed, simpleton and that there couldn't be any depth in him. Unfortunately, he could say that they're somehow wrong. They haven't been with Hanamichi long enough to know, or more accurately stated, notice his other self. And that side of Hanamichi appalled him for reason he himself can not describe.
Safe enough to say, Youhei hadn't had any formal confrontation with Hanamichi's 'depths'.
Nevertheless, he was sure enough of it; he had actually seen it surfacing from the redhead's face rather than hearing it from him. That day when he saw Hanamichi in a very different angle seemed to have etched itself on his mind.
***
It was one fine day in their junior high and as was the way of life, the gundan proceeded merrily with their delinquency. At that time, Hanamichi was sulking because of a successful 45th rejection. As tradition, the gundan took it as a celebration. And as celebration came, so were headbutts. That gave them cue to cease their taunting, leaving Youhei, a no less than a caring friend, to console the fuming youth.
He heaved up a sigh before deciding to pull the door open. It would be hard calming down Hanamichi but he couldn't just stand there and watch him in misery like that. Sure they made fun of him, but that was just to momentarily divert the redhead's emotion to anger, so to forget his heartache.
Well, that was what Youhei perceived his intentions to be; he didn't know what's it for the others. Heedless of what the reasons maybe, he was definitely thankful for their taunting. He hated seeing Hanamichi sad. Drawing his anger made them relieved in a subtle way.
Youhei had stepped forward and raised his head to search the room for a familiar blob of red which was definitely not difficult to find considering that Hanamichi was the only one in Kanagawa with that certain peculiarity. He stopped dead on his tracks as he set his eyes upon the figure at the end of the row nearest to the window. It was a blob of red alright, though he was not certain if that was Hanamichi sitting there with a hand supporting his chin and having that uncharacteristic look on his face as he stare outside the clear blue horizon.
He looked like Hanamichi; only this one didn't seem to be the hot- headed, readable friend of his that would pound anyone who insults him and chase girls like there's no tomorrow. If anything, he looked so. serene and his hair seemed silky soft, swaying and framing his serious figure almost seductively. But what caught Youhei was the glint on Hanamichi's eyes, something he had never seen before and had never thought of seeing from him. It was a nondescript glint of calmness mixed with a bizarre atmosphere of sadness and pure longing emanating from his entire being.
It felt like eternity had elapsed; Youhei continued to stand there by the door, mind swirling and totally oblivious of his surrounding. There was something in Hanamichi's countenance that bothered him, that alienating expression that made Youhei drop everything he had ever believed to be Hanamichi. Also there was this unspeakable dread that was creeping up to his spine, that appalling notion that he felt as he saw the reticent face of Hanamichi.
A blur of phantasmagoria appeared before him, extending a gap between him and the stranger by the window. The stranger was Hanamichi, no doubt; and the recognition further agitated his fear that he did not notice he was actually holding his breath.
Youhei only gaped, shock rendering his entire body weak and stationary. Hanamichi was so far away. He wanted to shout at him but he couldn't; he wanted to reach out, but for some strange reason he was afraid to do so. That if he were to reach out, Hanamichi would suddenly disappear from his sight.
Not a moment lingered when he conceived the fog intensifying from his sight. Tears were welling up from his eyes and were threatening to break free. He tried to blink them off and then kicked himself mentally for harboring nonsensical emotions.
He opened his eyes, but there it was again: Hanamichi sitting by the window looking somewhat desolated and fragile yet strong and intact; silent agony screaming from his very being.
Hanamichi. He thought of his name.
What happened next seemed like a dream to him. Hanamichi turned to his direction, bearing still the placidity and puerile innocence that was undoubtedly his but not with the same brashness of his youth; instead, those lovely brown eyes flashed wisdom coming from hidden sorrows.
Youhei's throat was clogged. He had heard him; he had said his name out loud. How Hanamichi had heard him through their distance didn't matter. He hardly noticed that they were the only two inside the classroom and that you can almost hear a pin drop through the silence. What more of a soft utterance?
" Youhei."
A whisper. It was a bit husky, soft and soothing, a bit inquiring and somehow startled. He sounded much like his expression, his innocence never wavering for a moment.
They stared at each other. He had lost count of the seconds passed. As fast as a flick of a finger, that enigmatic glint on him faded, resuming his usual idiotic innocence, not a trace nor hint of what was once there a moment ago.
" Oi! BAKA! What are you gawking at?!"
Youhei was taken aback. A major part of him wanted to sag in relief. The Hanamichi who was sitting there a while ago unnerved him. He could not say why though, but he earnestly hoped that this will be the last time he would have of it.
" N-nothing." He finally choked out, trying to hide his fear from him.
***
Youhei never forgot that instance in his life. Every time Hanamichi would feel discomforted or down, he would always be terrified, afraid that that side of Hanamichi will lash out and devour the redhead's being, closing him away from the others. It has been years now since that incident but Youhei was still alert. He had a premonition that it will inevitably come out one day. Hanamichi's depths will show up and hopefully, how he had prayed for this, it will not create an impossible distance between him, or them, and Hanamichi; nor will it make him disappear or something of that sort.
He knew he sounded crazy. That cryptic side of Hanamichi was making him paranoid. He looked so reserve, so close, so unreachable and unreadable which were all definitely un-Hanamichi-like characteristics; it made him think how little did he know of his best friend.
As he watched the basketball practice together with the other gundan, he did his best to stifle his shudders and to fake a normal facial cast. He can not afford to show any other sign of emotion, less he wanted someone to know of his pathetic worries regarding Hanamichi's inner side. It would be best if he was the only one who knew since he couldn't verify it as of now.
He still couldn't figure out what it was and as time goes by, a tiny voice in him grew louder and louder; a question he had dreaded to entertain became clearer and persistent. He didn't know when will he pop that question to Hanamichi.
Probably soon. he thought.
He let himself be distracted by the banging of the ball in Miyagi's hand as the short captain drove through the freshmen's defenses suavely.
Yes. It will be soon.
The small point guard sped under the goal and delivered a lay-up with a gentle swosh.
What is it that you're hiding, Sakuragi Hanamichi?
-_-;; TBC
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(~_~) Sorry for the major delay. There were some deliberations and a whole lot of distractions and technical difficulties encountered while doing this chapter. Hell- I mean, school had finally broke loose and you know what I mean. *sigh* To those people who even bothered to read my fic, I sincerely express my deepest gratitude. Same goes for those who gave me their reviews, either their purpose were to cheer me up or to keep me wondering (?). About the pairings, I know there's a bit of YouHana in here but it couldn't be helped. Well, probably it could be helped but I refuse to. hehehe. RuHana, you may ask? I have no idea how to start it but I'll try. neway, sorry for the grammatical errors. English is not my best subject nor is it my native language and I did this in a hurry so kindly bear with me. ok, see ya. (;*_*)
Title: The Sakuragi Cousins
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CHAPTER 3 : Excuse Slip
"DEFENSE!" Ayako shouted, her undaunted spirit soaring as always as she watched the team's performance on court.
Miyagi and the other upper classmen have been practicing with the freshmen, testing their stamina and helping them sharpen their skills.
"Kobayashi! Guard Miyagi!" Ichiro, who was beside Ayako, called upon one of the rookies.
The boy named Kobayashi was somehow startled; nevertheless, he tried to block the captain's advances, only to be averted as Miyagi faked a right, passing the ball to Rukawa. As expected before any of the freshmen could stop it, the ball found its way to the ring effortlessly.
"Rukawa-kun!" Haruko exclaimed, tiny hearts dancing around her head and in her eyes too.
"Yosh! Rukawa-sempai! Eh, Kobayashi-san, nice try. That was good." Mizusawa Ichiro commented politely at his classmate.
Kobayashi, a dark haired boy, scratched his head shyly. "Anou... domo, Mizusawa-san. But we lost."
"It's OK," Ayako said. "What matters is that you've all been improving greatly."
"And if that keeps up, we might lead ourselves to the Nationals," Miyagi intervened.
"Hai, captain!" the freshmen chorused.
"Anou, sempai, we thank you for helping us with our play. It's an honor to be a part of this team. Definitely one of the best in Japan, no less!" a rookie named Abe stepped forward.
Miyagi slightly blushed in humble embarrassment, chuckling nervously for a moment. "Ha-hahaha... Well, you can say tha-"
The door banged noisily, diverting everyone's attention towards one of the entrance.
"Yo!" came the voice from the guy at the door. A mischievous grin plastered on his lips that was somewhere above a memorable scar. There on the mouth of the door stood the ex-MVP, ex-gangster and ex-shooting guard (whatever you call it) of Shohoku basketball team, Mitsui Hisashi. Right beside him was Kogure Kiminobu and Akagi Takenori, the former co-captain and captain of Shohoku basketball team respectively.
"Hey, missed us?" Mitsui's grin widened as he approached Miyagi; a spark of amusement flickered in his eyes when he saw the surprised expression on the latter's face.
Miyagi composed himself in an instant after seeing that sickening grin on the senior's lips.
"Missed you?" Miyagi snapped back, sarcasm dripping his tone and person. He scanned quickly at the three prominent figures approaching, nodding almost imperceptibly at the two silent others in greeting before glaring back at Mitsui and adding a bilious statement at length. " Kogure and Akagi, most probably. But you? Hell, you're the last person I wanted to see, bastard!"
"Why you ungrateful little punk!!!" growled Mitsui, dashing to the shorter boy and encircling an arm around his neck; a sadistic smile apparent on his face as he heard the strangled breathing, the almost dire outcome of his murderous intent upon the other, the shorter and supposedly stronger boy.
Akagi, regarding the riot presented at their sight as a 'friendly' gesture, as the others had also regarded it so with a shrug, headed towards Ayako with an always pleasantly smiling Kogure tagging along behind.
"Akagi-sempai! Kogure-sempai! It's so nice to see you again," greeted Ayako. "Oniichan, I thought you have classes today?" Haruko asked, walking towards the group.
"Aa," Akagi prompted, not a bit surprised to see his sister loitering around the gym since she was wont to do so. "Supposedly, yes. But the teacher was absent so we took leave and decided to come here."
" We heard that you'll be having a practice game against Ryonan next month. How's your practice going?" Kogure could not help but jump into the conversation.
"Nothing could be better Kogure-sempai!" Ichiro cheerfully answered his question, glancing appreciatively afterwards at the new members. "Everyone's been improving, even the freshmen. I sincerely think Shohoku can make it to the Nationals again this time."
Akagi merely nodded, giving subtle glances at the freshmen; his pleasures known yet impalpable to the naked eye. Silence settled upon them for some long moments; a forgotten question lingering eerily in the air. Even Rukawa Kaede who was sitting some feet away from the group cared to stop fiddling a basketball in his hand and looked at them as if waiting for a spectacle to occur.
It was then when they heard Yasuda's shaky and startling voice saying, " Anou.. aren't we suppose to stop them by now?" They averted their gaze to what Yasuda was pointing at and saw two troublemakers indulge in their killing session: Mitsui still out for blood as he tighten his grip on Miyagi's neck and Miyagi looking pallid by the second, his face nearing the shade of blue. Everyone (excluding Rukawa, of course) sweatdropped and a nerve just popped on Akagi's head.
"Aaaaghhh!! Mitsui, you bastard! Let go of me!"
" No, I won't! Not unless you turn purple!"
In a fight for dear life, well, basically breath itself, Miyagi raised both hands to his back, clutching what seemed to be Mitsui's head and banged the latter's forehead to his back, releasing him from the dreadful clutches of death, or suffocation.. or Mitsui, for that matter.
"ARRGGHHH!!! Why you little prick!" Mitsui groaned, holding his aching head. " This is what I get for visiting you??!!"
On the other hand, Miyagi was busy heaving up large gulps of oxygen to even retaliate back abruptly.
" I never asked for you here!" snapped Miyagi after second of panting, temper rising to a good boiling point. And before a single drop of blood or cloud of dust could yet be seen on the clean floor of Shohoku basketball court, a tall, monstrous figure, which must have been perceived as heaven-sent by the onlookers (according to the relieved expression on their face), loomed before the two obnoxious boys, giving each a skull- breaking blow on the head; the action, having an infamous appellation of "Gori Punch", ceased the upcoming fracas.
" But he started it!" Miyagi practically (*choke*) squealed, pointing at Mitsui.
" Oww. really now?" Mitsui mocked, sounding like some utterly sickening sissy girl. " Aren't you going to stomp your feet, run home and tell your mom?"
" Yeah, I wi-- NO!! MITSUI! Grrrr!! I'm gonna tell mo-- AARRGH! DAMN YOU MITSUI!!!"
" Boy is he hopeless," Ayako commented; the others could only laugh nervously.
" But Aya-chan, I was just--"
" Gonna tell your mom?" she finished.
" Yes. I MEAN NO!! Aya-chan!" Miyagi cried inwardly, weeping at the thought that his Aya-chan could be so harsh to him.
*SLAP*
" Ryota! BEHAVE!"
" Ha-hai, Aya-chan!" he instantaneously beamed, giving a good imitation of a dog being pat by Ayako on the head while saying, "Sit, Miyagi. Sit. Good boy, Miyagi! Good boy. Here, have some doggie treats." Get the picture?
The former captain of Shohoko team sighed, embarrassed by Miyagi's outright submission displayed in front of everyone. " This is humiliating."
" Don't worry captain. We're used to it." Yasuda consoled.
" Hmmm. something's not quite right here?" Mitsui looked around critically. He felt it from the moment he had set foot on the gym but had chosen to ignore it. And the flow of normality seemed to promote that awkward intuition. Mitsui scanned the room carefully once more.
" I know. It's your face that's not right here."
" Ryota!"
" Hehehe. Gomen, Aya-chan. Ehehehe."
Mitsui momentarily threw deathglares at Miyagi before indulging back to his previous thoughts which was currently irritating him to no extent mainly because of the fact that he could not point a finger at it. There was something utterly wrong with this picture, something missing, something like a certain--
" Where's Sakuragi?"
BINGO!
Mitsui violently turned to look at Akagi, almost breaking his neck as he nearly twisted it to a good 180 degrees.
" No wonder it's quiet here," Kogure said. " Is there something wrong with him?"
" Everything's wrong with that do'aho."
Everyone jumped at the sound of Rukawa's voice. This was probably the first time he spoke that day, not really strange though. But this is Rukawa Kaede we dared to speak of. Rukawa Kaede DOES NOT WILLINGLY jump into conversation unless he was to insult the do'aho; other than that he would normally indulge in his usual silence.
" Rukawa-sempai?" Ichiro whispered, looking confused at the raven haired boy who now stood a few feet away from them, holding a ball with both hands and staring down at it intently with an undeciphered expression on his face.
" Ah!" Ayako exclaimed, tearing her gaze away from the weirdly acting Rukawa. " Anou.. sempai, gomen nasai. That baka must have decided to skip practice today. Don't worry. I'll see to his punishment tomorrow."
" Aa," was all Akagi said, nodding slightly and averting his gaze. Something was definitely not right. SAKURAGI NEVER MISSES PRACTICE; the fact making everyone seemed tense.
" But Ayako-chan, Sakuragi-kun NEVER misses practice!" So the horrible Haruko just have to rub it in, doesn't she? (*grrr. Author holds up a voodoo doll that looks just like the little trollop while piercing it with various sharp object and saying quite dryly, " Die, Haruko. Die." *) Her brother flinched at the bad timing.
Just then the door of Shohoku basketball court opened, less noisily this time (much to Miyagi's relief) and four distinct figures came entering the premise.
" Hey!" Youhei greeted, waving a hand at them.
" Oi, Youhei!" Mitsui greeted back, grinning widely at the said boy. " And the others. How's it going?"
" Others?!" Ookusu retorted indignantly. " Is that how you greet us? Guess the bad senior never changed."
" Hmp! Shut up!"
" Seems there's a reunion going on here," Youhei commented, ignoring the petty argument.
" You can say that," Kogure politely answered.
" Anou, Youhei-sempai," Ichiro began. " Have you seen Sakuragi-kun? Where is he? Did anything happen to him?"
" Hey, slow down kid," Takamiya said. " And no, we haven't seen Hanamichi today. Second, we have no idea where he is and lastly, what could possibly happen to him? Hopefully nothing but then we're also here to find out."
" What do you mean?" Miyagi asked, cocking up a brow.
Youhei raised his hand, holding up a piece of folded paper. " Our adviser requested us to give this to you since your captain of the basketball team and all. He said it's an excuse for Hanamichi coming from the principal's office. Here, read." He gestured the paper towards Miyagi.
As if Youhei was delivering a bomb, some of the members paled up a bit. It was evident that none could comprehend what was going on and surely, it was the strangest thing that had happened in Shohoku's basketball team. 'What's going on?' they silently asked but none uttered the dreadful question.
" I'll take that," Ayako bravely cut in through the tense atmosphere, grabbing the letter from the black haired boy. She hastily unfolded the piece of paper, trying hard to cover her fidgeting hands by her abrupt movement.
It's from the principal's office alright, thought the perplexed young manageress.
" Aya-chan." Miyagi looked at his beloved Ayako's face intently; so did everybody else. She wore a scowl as her eyes scanned the first part of the paper. A tinge of vexation grazed her fine features and it grew to a visible extent as she continued down the page. Her eyes showed an uncharacteristic bewilderment when she finished reading and began to stare pensively at nothing in particular.
" What is it, Ayako?" Akagi inquired, a hint of concern on his voice.
" What's wrong? Did something happen to Hanamichi?" Noma seconded the same notion. The rest have been anxious for her to speak. Even Rukawa seemed to be moving closer within ear range.
As if out from a daze, Ayako jolted back to life. " H-huh?" she stuttered, her puzzled expression vanishing, replaced now by a relieved one. " Ow, nothing's wrong. I guess. It's just a notification that Hanamichi will be out on a leave for school for about a week or two."
" WHAT??!!"
*SLAP*
" Don't shout on my ear, Ryota!"
" AHHH! AYA-CHAN!! GOMEN NASAI!"
" So the stupid truant's on vacation again. The lucky bastard." Mitsui chuckled to himself.
Loud buzzing sounds were heard afterwards from the members. Some gave out their relief; others who have been closely acquainted with the redhead expressed their concerns while a few kept quiet, either they don't have any idea what's the big fuss about or they're just too arrogant to admit that they DO CARE. a lot, I should say.
" That baka never told us!" Takamiya muttered at the three gundan, sounding angry.
Kogure heard the fat one and was quite shocked. " What? I thought you guys knew."
" Unfortunately, we didn't." Much as Youhei wanted to hide it, his disappointment surfaced a little, yet not too evident as to be seen by many. " He never said anything about this."
" Don't you think something's wrong with Sakuragi-kun?" All eyes fell on to the female voice which was Haruko's.
" He looked normal yesterday," said a sophomore who was in Hanamichi's class.
" Hmph! The baka. I couldn't possibly think of him in any other way. Who could possibly think of him in any other way?"
" Hahahaha! You're right, Gori!"
*POW*
And Takamiya was sent sprawling on the floor with an impressive mark on his head.
" Urusai!"
" Hey, Youhei-sempai. Didn't you say this came from the principal's office? Then who informed the principal about this? And doesn't anybody know what's going on with Sakuragi-kun?"
" Come to think of it, Ichiro's right." Ayako scanned the letter once more. " Didn't your adviser tell you anything?"
" Nope. Nothing," came the brief reply.
" Very well, I don't think you should bother yourselves with this too much. You should focus more on your practice right now."
Miyagi smiled at Akagi's statement. " Yosh! You heard that. I've no doubt that Sakuragi would come back and start being a prick as always. But as of now, we have to concentrate ourselves on the upcoming game." He started to give morale boast on the members, pushing aside the latter topic of Sakuragi Hanamichi.
The gundan seemed to settle themselves comfortably among the crowd, listening and even cheering for the members, all except for Youhei who never took off that unusually silent yet brooding self. At a glance, he looked normal, quiet than usual but normal no less. He asked Ayako if he could read Sakuragi's excuse slip and the manageress conceded, instinctively knowing and sympathizing for his worries.
Not that he totally knew Hanamichi; everybody thinks that he's so easy to read, that he's just some goofy, hot-headed, simpleton and that there couldn't be any depth in him. Unfortunately, he could say that they're somehow wrong. They haven't been with Hanamichi long enough to know, or more accurately stated, notice his other self. And that side of Hanamichi appalled him for reason he himself can not describe.
Safe enough to say, Youhei hadn't had any formal confrontation with Hanamichi's 'depths'.
Nevertheless, he was sure enough of it; he had actually seen it surfacing from the redhead's face rather than hearing it from him. That day when he saw Hanamichi in a very different angle seemed to have etched itself on his mind.
***
It was one fine day in their junior high and as was the way of life, the gundan proceeded merrily with their delinquency. At that time, Hanamichi was sulking because of a successful 45th rejection. As tradition, the gundan took it as a celebration. And as celebration came, so were headbutts. That gave them cue to cease their taunting, leaving Youhei, a no less than a caring friend, to console the fuming youth.
He heaved up a sigh before deciding to pull the door open. It would be hard calming down Hanamichi but he couldn't just stand there and watch him in misery like that. Sure they made fun of him, but that was just to momentarily divert the redhead's emotion to anger, so to forget his heartache.
Well, that was what Youhei perceived his intentions to be; he didn't know what's it for the others. Heedless of what the reasons maybe, he was definitely thankful for their taunting. He hated seeing Hanamichi sad. Drawing his anger made them relieved in a subtle way.
Youhei had stepped forward and raised his head to search the room for a familiar blob of red which was definitely not difficult to find considering that Hanamichi was the only one in Kanagawa with that certain peculiarity. He stopped dead on his tracks as he set his eyes upon the figure at the end of the row nearest to the window. It was a blob of red alright, though he was not certain if that was Hanamichi sitting there with a hand supporting his chin and having that uncharacteristic look on his face as he stare outside the clear blue horizon.
He looked like Hanamichi; only this one didn't seem to be the hot- headed, readable friend of his that would pound anyone who insults him and chase girls like there's no tomorrow. If anything, he looked so. serene and his hair seemed silky soft, swaying and framing his serious figure almost seductively. But what caught Youhei was the glint on Hanamichi's eyes, something he had never seen before and had never thought of seeing from him. It was a nondescript glint of calmness mixed with a bizarre atmosphere of sadness and pure longing emanating from his entire being.
It felt like eternity had elapsed; Youhei continued to stand there by the door, mind swirling and totally oblivious of his surrounding. There was something in Hanamichi's countenance that bothered him, that alienating expression that made Youhei drop everything he had ever believed to be Hanamichi. Also there was this unspeakable dread that was creeping up to his spine, that appalling notion that he felt as he saw the reticent face of Hanamichi.
A blur of phantasmagoria appeared before him, extending a gap between him and the stranger by the window. The stranger was Hanamichi, no doubt; and the recognition further agitated his fear that he did not notice he was actually holding his breath.
Youhei only gaped, shock rendering his entire body weak and stationary. Hanamichi was so far away. He wanted to shout at him but he couldn't; he wanted to reach out, but for some strange reason he was afraid to do so. That if he were to reach out, Hanamichi would suddenly disappear from his sight.
Not a moment lingered when he conceived the fog intensifying from his sight. Tears were welling up from his eyes and were threatening to break free. He tried to blink them off and then kicked himself mentally for harboring nonsensical emotions.
He opened his eyes, but there it was again: Hanamichi sitting by the window looking somewhat desolated and fragile yet strong and intact; silent agony screaming from his very being.
Hanamichi. He thought of his name.
What happened next seemed like a dream to him. Hanamichi turned to his direction, bearing still the placidity and puerile innocence that was undoubtedly his but not with the same brashness of his youth; instead, those lovely brown eyes flashed wisdom coming from hidden sorrows.
Youhei's throat was clogged. He had heard him; he had said his name out loud. How Hanamichi had heard him through their distance didn't matter. He hardly noticed that they were the only two inside the classroom and that you can almost hear a pin drop through the silence. What more of a soft utterance?
" Youhei."
A whisper. It was a bit husky, soft and soothing, a bit inquiring and somehow startled. He sounded much like his expression, his innocence never wavering for a moment.
They stared at each other. He had lost count of the seconds passed. As fast as a flick of a finger, that enigmatic glint on him faded, resuming his usual idiotic innocence, not a trace nor hint of what was once there a moment ago.
" Oi! BAKA! What are you gawking at?!"
Youhei was taken aback. A major part of him wanted to sag in relief. The Hanamichi who was sitting there a while ago unnerved him. He could not say why though, but he earnestly hoped that this will be the last time he would have of it.
" N-nothing." He finally choked out, trying to hide his fear from him.
***
Youhei never forgot that instance in his life. Every time Hanamichi would feel discomforted or down, he would always be terrified, afraid that that side of Hanamichi will lash out and devour the redhead's being, closing him away from the others. It has been years now since that incident but Youhei was still alert. He had a premonition that it will inevitably come out one day. Hanamichi's depths will show up and hopefully, how he had prayed for this, it will not create an impossible distance between him, or them, and Hanamichi; nor will it make him disappear or something of that sort.
He knew he sounded crazy. That cryptic side of Hanamichi was making him paranoid. He looked so reserve, so close, so unreachable and unreadable which were all definitely un-Hanamichi-like characteristics; it made him think how little did he know of his best friend.
As he watched the basketball practice together with the other gundan, he did his best to stifle his shudders and to fake a normal facial cast. He can not afford to show any other sign of emotion, less he wanted someone to know of his pathetic worries regarding Hanamichi's inner side. It would be best if he was the only one who knew since he couldn't verify it as of now.
He still couldn't figure out what it was and as time goes by, a tiny voice in him grew louder and louder; a question he had dreaded to entertain became clearer and persistent. He didn't know when will he pop that question to Hanamichi.
Probably soon. he thought.
He let himself be distracted by the banging of the ball in Miyagi's hand as the short captain drove through the freshmen's defenses suavely.
Yes. It will be soon.
The small point guard sped under the goal and delivered a lay-up with a gentle swosh.
What is it that you're hiding, Sakuragi Hanamichi?
-_-;; TBC
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(~_~) Sorry for the major delay. There were some deliberations and a whole lot of distractions and technical difficulties encountered while doing this chapter. Hell- I mean, school had finally broke loose and you know what I mean. *sigh* To those people who even bothered to read my fic, I sincerely express my deepest gratitude. Same goes for those who gave me their reviews, either their purpose were to cheer me up or to keep me wondering (?). About the pairings, I know there's a bit of YouHana in here but it couldn't be helped. Well, probably it could be helped but I refuse to. hehehe. RuHana, you may ask? I have no idea how to start it but I'll try. neway, sorry for the grammatical errors. English is not my best subject nor is it my native language and I did this in a hurry so kindly bear with me. ok, see ya. (;*_*)