This fic was a one shot based on my Slam Dunk fic titled "Battle of the Sexes" and it was removed by me and deleted of in my computer... I feel regretted that I did them... but things cannot be reversed and so I willjust keep this fic.. only that there will be another fic ofalmost the same events happening here.. only that in the next chapter, it would be a one-shotbased on my "Battleof the Sexes 0-0 RELOADED"... So you can skip this chapter and go on to thenext one which would be a modified one...
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from SlamDunk, only my created OCs, nor am I as talented as Inoue-san...
/.../ Flashback!
"..." Talking!
'...' Thinking!
/It was a cold December night where snowflakes fell onto the wide pavement from the sky. A young boy wrapped in many layers of clothing stood numbly on it, his blue eyes staring coldly at the end of a narrow tarred road where a white Mercedes car disappeared from his view.
An old lady was behind him, her eyes widening at the young boy's emotionless stare. She could not believe that the boy, who was crying so heart-brokenly just now, could suddenly quiet down and just hold an icy and yet 'faraway' stare down the now empty street.
Then without warning, the young boy closed his eyes and collapsed backwards onto the cold hard floor. The old lady cried out, "Kaede!"/
Tuesday Time: 10.08 a.m. A certain Tokyo Basketball Gym
The training of basketball for the selected few to be in the All Japan youth team had been commencing for the past few weeks. And today would be the last session for all those players involved.
The players had been having one-on-one with each other, and a team practice to end the day. Most important of all, they had been training up their stamina by running long distances everyday.
And the coaches involved had been monitoring the improvement of their players. Most notably, among the players, one player stood out to the rest. His name? The 16-year-old Rukawa Kaede.
He had come a long way in improving his stamina through sheer hard work, though his skills had also improved by leaps and bounds. His hard work and talent in basketball impressed even the couches. Now, Rukawa could play his best for every minute of his play, without tiring himself at the end.
And so the coaches were starting to think of sending him to go to America to train and to be in the NBA. Yes. Rukawa Kaede might get a chance of holding a scholarship! But does he really need it?
'I am the best player in Japan.'
A raven-haired boy performed a fake in front of his opponent, went past him speedily and scored. He was sweating but not panting while his opponent was. "Rukawa! Nice work! But everybody will take a rest before we resume! Understood?" A tall, burly and blonde man with his moustache bellowed and his command echoed in the gym.
"Crystal clear!" The others, except the raven-haired boy, replied loudly.
Rukawa Kaede and the rest of his 'teammates' stopped their practice and slowly trudged their way to the side of the gym. Without a word, Rukawa went to his bag to drink some water from his bottle. He paid no heed to a sensei who approached him.
The sensei started. "Yuushi (nephew)... your sister is coming back to Japan today. Do you know that?"
Rukawa was shocked beyond his belief! His eyes widened and his expression changed from one of shock to hatred. "Otooji (uncle)... why did you not tell me until now?" His voice was dangerously low and cold, his eyes narrowing. 'They are back and I am the only one not knowing it at all? Shimatta!'
Rukawa Oya only gaped. "Sister-in-law did not tell you?"
"SINCE ARASHI IS COMING BACK, WHY DID YOU ALL TELL ME ONLY TODAY!" Rukawa's fury burst out abruptly, his eyes wide with anger... and with a hurt look in it. All the other players turned their heads towards the raven- haired boy in surprise. They had never before, in their practice, seen him shouted like that before. The air suddenly became heated around him, scorching the sensei's skin.
Oya-sensei held a pitiful look towards his nephew as he kept his distance away from Rukawa. His sister had been lying just to keep her favorite son with her. He also knew the frustration, insecurities and feelings of betrayal bottled inside Rukawa because of the leaving of his siblings and father to strike a blow to his heart. But most of all, it had to be the divorce of his parents that made him feel useless and even unwanted.
That was why Rukawa Kaede became cold and aloof, and busied himself with basketball practice. He did not want to let other people know what he is thinking or about his feelings in case they would use it to hurt him again.
Rukawa Kaede's heart was scarred by his family breakup. And so he shut his heart with many layers of walls, never letting others to peek into it. Because he would not allow that to happen. At all.
Basketball had become his only comfort in his tiny world that was built by him...
With a cry like an injured wolf, Rukawa Kaede sped to the door of the gym and left. "Kaede!" Oya sensei stopped abruptly. "Fuji-kun! You are in charge of them. I will go after him!" The burly man nodded grimly.
Kaede's POV
"Kaede! Stop! Listen to me!" My uncle Oya shouted but I ignored it as my head struggled to process the information that he had just given to me.
My biological sister is back. Back from America after she left with Father and Brother secretly in the middle of a cold December night. A night, which froze my insides and feelings as the realization of being abandoned, consumed me in hatred and in not knowing the reasons for their 'betrayal' I would call as.
/"You son of a bitch! You played with a woman behind my back! What a womanizer you are! How could you do this to me? Do this to your wife who gave you three children? Heartless bastard!" Mother would screech before falling to the marble floor, sobbing hysterically.
Then, Father would reply in a cold tone of his, so alike to mine now in the present, "Mandy. I really don't know if you would believe me but I did not play with her. I don't even know her well…"
"But to give her your child as well? An illegitimate child! An unwanted child!"
"I did not go to bed with her! She set me up. She made me drunk and took advantage of me. How many times do I have to tell you?" His voice remained as cold as ice and calm even though his anger is flaring. Anger for his wife's void of trust in him.
"You womanizer!" Mother would screech again. "We might as well divorce!"
"Whatever." Came the monotone reply of father. /
The whole scene would be reenacted every night for half a month since the first day a woman showed up at our door. The same dialogue. The same anger by Mother. The same coldness displayed by Father.
/As it begun, elder sister, my elder brother and I would hug ourselves together in one corner of the living room. In the small state of our minds, we could not understand why this was happening every night when in the day they looked to be so loving together… /
The night I got abandoned, was when my grandmother came over, Mother told us that she would be staying with us for Christmas Day, Never would I know that she was to bear witness to me being dumped by his Father. Betrayed by his siblings! One a Christmas day, what an ironic Christmas present they had given to me….
So…
In the dead of the fateful night, I heard faint noises in the living room and I got up from my bed, rubbing my sore eyes. Thinking that the scene would happen again, I got to my elder brother's room first, as I did so every night.
I opened the door and cried.
Next, I proceeded to my elder sister's room quickly. I opened the door and cried more hysterically.
They were gone! The two rooms were empty of all things! It was then I felt something bad was going to happen. Terrible things happened.
"Onichan! Onechan! Where are both of you? Kaede is scared!" I cried out aloud as I sped down the stairs to the living room.
My tears stopped as my two siblings were walking to a Mercedes car waiting outside our mansion, helped by two other women. Three burly men were carrying many luggages with them as they put them into the spacious boot of the big car. Another car pulled itself to the curb and the three men and two women sat into it to disappear from view.
"Onichan! Onechan! Father! Are you all going to a holiday? Where are you all going? Why can't I come?" I calmed down a bit and naively asked, thinking they were so.
However, my heart sank as my siblings never turned around to call me. They just sat quietly in the car. Father stood on the other side of the car, his expressionless face looking at me without any warmth. Suddenly, I felt a cold shiver running down mine spine.
Too cold that I trembled as father dropped the bombshell on me, "We are not leaving with you. We are going to America and start a new life there. You will not be part of it."
"What…what are you saying? Father?" My heart broke. Is this really happening? I am left behind? "Onichan! Onechan! Is Father saying true?"
"They will not answer you." The cold voice of Father shattered my frail belief of them lying.
And I broke down crying. What had I hoped? Hoped that they would go down to him and tell him that this was just a Christmas joke? Hoped that they would change their mind?
A warm hand put itself onto my shoulders. I looked back to my grandmother who had a sorrowful look in her eyes, and biting her lips with her golden teeth. She looked at me for a moment then looked up again. I followed her gaze to the car that was 'warming' up for its journey.
Suddenly, my tears stopped flowing. Numbness took over my senses as I finally swallowed the bitter pill that I was abandoned and left in Japan while my whole family excluding my mother and grandmother went to America to have a new life…
As my thoughts grew in angst, I felt someone putting on some thick clothing onto me while I stared down the road… at the Mercedes car driving off to my oblivation. Just then, the December snow fell from the sky. Other people would have celebrated Christmas but not me. Not ever again.
I did not know that my stare had been cold. In fact, I felt nothing.
However, as slow as it took, the immense impact of me being abandoned finally made my brain shut down.
Blackness mocked me. And I am alone now.
The sound of a basketball snapped me out of my thoughts. Unconsciously, I had brought my legs to a public basketball court in Tokyo, which I frequented after my intense All Japan training. My uncle followed closely behind. He did not dare to approach me, as my eyes were as cold as the Antarctic ice and also looking distant.
"Kaede." He softly spoke and I looked at him. Finally.
"Sister-in-law knew that Arashi would be coming back..."
"BUT HOW IS SHE GOING TO TELL ME WHEN SHE IS IN THE MENTAL HOSPITAL!" I snapped out loudly at my uncle. This scene between Uncle Oya and me had brought everybody who was on the court attention on us. But I don't care.
I merely glared at them and they scampered away. I grinned but it could send chills down ones spine.
"You and Father never truly cared about us mother and son, ain't it? You all just want your part of the wealth that me, my mother and my grandmother have now, isn't it?" I spoke softly and slowly, voice getting colder by the minute. I had never spoke like this to anyone, not even that baka of a Sakuragi Hanamichi even though we were 'rivals' and 'enemies'.
I did not hate that do'ahou but I do really hate the people from Father's side.
Uncle Oya looked at me coolly, his resemblance to father could be the same if he wanted to.
"I really don't know if you would believe me but things are not what you presume." Uncle stared slowly and softly too. But then fire flared up in his eyes.
"I still believe that Brother did not leave you just because he wanted to. He was forced to. Do you know why I still called your mum 'sister- in-law'? The truth is... your parents never divorced.
Your mum lost her mind, as she believed the rumours that that prostitute had a child with Brother. These are all lies. That prostitute was just eyeing your father's wealth so she schemed the 'adultery'. Then, your insane mother forged your father's signature to do the divorce."
"Lies..." I muttered. Then, I just lost my mind, like my mother did. "ALL LIES! YOU MEAN I HAVE BEEN LIVING IN A LIE ALL THESE YEARS? THAT COLD BASTARD OF ME WAS JUST NOT NEEDED? THAT ALL MY LIFE IN SOLITUDE HAD JUST BEEN THE CAUSE OF A LIE? A LIE FROM MY MOTHER? OR A LIE FROM, YOU? FING S! AND MY MUM IS NOT INSANE! IF WHAT YOU TOLD ME IS TRUE, THEN WHY WAS I LEFT ALONE IN JAPAN WHILE THEY WENT TO AMERICA?"
I screamed like a mad man while tears flowed down my cheeks. Deep down, maybe I had believed what my uncle had just said. But it was just too much to take. My emotions disallowed me to accept that. It wanted me to continue the disillusion that my mother had drawn to me.
/"Kaede-chan. It is me. Your mummy." A feminine voice startled me from my sleep as realization dawned on me that I was left alone. Tears stung my eyes. I looked up to the owner of the voice, my mother.
Her long curly raven-coloured hair cascaded down her small frame. For a woman in her thirties, she only seemed to be in her twenties. Her skin was fairer than snow and her eyes as big and beautiful as a ruby. She looked at me with her eyes. Somehow I felt madness in it.
Suddenly, she crushed me into her tight embrace. Rocking slightly and pushing my face into her chest, she started to murmur incoherently.
I could not breathe and struggled to get free. When I did, she was looking at me with a horror-stricken face. "Kaede. Are you going to leave me just like your father, Arashi and Tuoya did? No! You are the only one I will ever have now! No! You will not leave me. NEVER!"
My mother screamed shrilly and grandmother bolted into my room as quick as lightning.
"Mizaki! Mizaki! Don't scream anymore! Your husband will not come back to you anymore!" Grandmother screamed at my mother.
Then, my mother did the unbelievable. She stood up and glared at her own mother angrily. "Slut. It is you, isn't it? You kidnapped my husband! You wanted to elope with him to America with my Arashi and Tuoya, isn't it?" She dashed towards her mother and grabbed her by her throat.
My mother was trying to strangle her mother, my grandmother! The unfolding of the events made me numb and senseless to the outside world.
"Slut! Prostitute! Die before you can elope!" She screamed maniacally.
"Mi... Mi... I can't... Can't breathe. Kaede! Kaede! Save... me... save... me..." My grandmother held her daughter's hand, trying to pry her hands off. But this made my mother angrier and she tightened her grip.
I snapped out of my numbness and started to help my grandmother get free from my mother.
"Mum! There is no slut here! Only grandmother! STOP STRANGLING HER OR SHE'LL DIE! GRANDMOTHER WILL DIE!" I screeched.
My scream instilled some sense into my mother and my mother released her hold. The three of us slumped down to the floor, exhausted. Grandmother breathed heavily.
"Mother!" My mother cried out as she hugged the old lady. "I am sorry. I am so so sorry."
"What is happening? Mum?" My uncertain voice called out to no one in particular. My mother looked at me but her madness in the eyes disappeared. She hugged me too, but lighter than just now.
She bit her lip and began to speak, "Kaede. You do know that your father and two siblings had left yesterday, right? Your father and me have decided to divorce and he did not want you. So you are left to me now. Remember I love you, okay?"
Grandmother widened her eyes, "Mizaki!"
"Mother! Please?" My mother looked at her mother pleadingly.
The old lady had more tears from her eyes as she nodded her head. I did not see the exchange because I was once more shattered by my Mother's words. "Why?" I cried.
"WHY? AM I NOT GOOD TO HIM?"
I did not notice a look of madness on my mother's face as her next words drawn me into the world of basketball. "You are a good boy, Kaede. But you did not have enough basketball skills to please him while your siblings did."/
It was true. When I was small, I did not have any real talent in basketball but yet my elder sister would train me and be by my side when I threw the ball. She was the one who taught me how to dribble the ball around the court. However, my elder brother was also a loner.
Out of the three siblings, my sister and I were the only ones not inheriting our father' coldness. Both of us were always hyper and cheerful. My cold and aloof nature was a result of lies? I could have an interesting life like that do'ahou, but my life changed to being a cold one just because of lies?
Nonetheless, it was because of my mother's words, which pushed me to want to learn basketball and be a skillful master of it. I want my father to look at me proudly. Maybe now do I understand the underlying reason for my crazy passion for the sport?
When sane returned to my mind, I calmed down and became cold again. There was no more hysterical from me. But I waited for my answer to my question.
Uncle Oya clenched his fist tightly. "Your mother secured custody of you, Kaede, under your grandmother's name. Your father was devastated when he could not get you. He cried, Kaede. He cried for you. He wanted so much to bring you with him... but your mother destroyed all. Now, do you still hate us?"
My mind numbly registered the information by my uncle again. I thought that maybe it was he who is making a lie now. The 'truth' had come up so suddenly. Can he be trusted? Can I trust him so easily? After all, I had become cold just to avoid people from using my trust against me. Would it not be ironic if I accepted his 'truth? However, I could see no deceit in his eyes, only in earnest.
Why had today been so weird? In one day, I understood everything of my parent's divorce. But my life had been shaped already, could it be changed? Could I look at my sister, Arashi, without the feeling of betrayal? Will I be able to?
Slowly, I shook my head. I looked into my uncle's eyes.
"I don't want to hate anybody now. Do you know how hard it was for me to treat people so indifferently? To be so alone every time? To not have any friend just because of my own reasons? To push love away just because of a divorce? Things are not supposed to be like this. Not at all..."
I walked up to my uncle and smiled slightly. He stared at me as if he had just seen a ghost. Then he smiled back. He grinned, in fact.
I could feel the ice in my heart slowly fade away. But can I ever change my character now? In my teens? Could I become the 'me' when I was six years old?
So many questions unanswered. So little time. But at least I know I can trust people now. Because even though a lie is so harmful, I know that there would many reasons behind it.
Just like I knew the lie that my mother made, was out of her love for my father and for me. She could not leave me. Can I blame her? My father did not have the chance to bring me along. Can I blame him?
Or maybe I should blame fate?
"Uncle. Do you know where Arashi-chan would be staying and when she would touch down to Japan?" I asked as we walked back to the Tokyo gym.
"Why don't you give her a surprise?" Uncle Oya suggested.
Maybe I should try to change a little at a time. I do not want people to think that I am turning nuts by becoming friendly overnight, can I? Starting right now.
Owari
Was Rukawa Kaede OCC? Had you enjoyed this?
This was kinda angsty in front, isn't it? But hope came at the end.
If you don't read this one-shot and you read my "Battle of the Sexes 0-0 RELOADED", I am afraid that you would be thrown off-guard by my this new fic of mine...