The members of the Shohoku Basketball team gathered as they walked theirselves together to school, making a good start for the day. They were laughing and making a hell lot of noise, but it was okay, since it's the way to express their high mood for the day. "Ano, Haruko-san," Sakuragi started his sentence with a little bit of stuttering on the edges of the words. "…Aa… I bring your scarf that you gave to me yesterday."

"Oh, Sakuragi-kun, that wasn't necessary. I wouldn't mind if you keep it, though…" Haruko rolled her eyes out of Rukawa's direction and switched it towards Sakuragi who's speaking to her. "I still have a lot of 'em in my bedroom closet…"

Miyagi bursted out laughing. He clenched his hand on his shirt as he laughed his heart off. They who were listening all along blinked in confusion. "Hahahaha!!!! Just tell it, Haruko-san… You don't want it because it's still smelly of Sakuragi's dirty sweats! Hahahahaha!!! I knew it! I knew it!" And then his tease stopped as Ayako's one mighty weapon, the legendary paper fan, landed on her boyfriend's head, and not to mention, it landed hard. "Itaiii!!! Aya-chan…"

"You don't have to be so rude, Honey… Grow up a bit, will ya, and stop teasing poor Sakuragi Hanamichi…" She folded her arms across her chest as her lover were crying in pain.

"That's not true, Haruko-san!!! I knew you offered me the hanky because I didn't bring a towel yesterday. And yes, I did use it but I already washed it last night. Therefore you didn't have to worry about anything… It's… It's clean as new!!!" He moved his hands down to his bag to search for the pink scarf that belongs to Haruko and when his fingertips feel the fabric of it, he pulled it out. Accidentally, the postcard that her mother had sent him was pulled out too and it landed on the dark asphalt. "Ahahahahaha!!! Look, look! It's clean right?" Gently, Sakuragi handed the folded cloth to Haruko.

"You're right, Sakuragi-kun! It is clean!" Haruko smiled heartly as she accepted the scarf onto her hands. "Wow, Sakuragi-kun, I bet you were good in housekeeping… I'm impressed. Lately, males were too lazy to take care of their own room. If I walk into guys' rooms, most of them were probably messed up. But I think I will find Sakuragi-kun's room clean and neat! I'm so proud of you, Sakuragi-kun!" Reaching out her thin hands, her fingers run through the red strands of hair on his head. Sakuragi almost fly high when Haruko was patting him.

"Chi… Yeah if his room was clean, his mom did it for him, probably." Rukawa who was walking way back snorts softly, but loud enough for Sakuragi to hear his scorn.

"What the--! Don't even think about it… I live alone and I did take care of my own house, and it's neat as it can be." Sakuragi shoot out Rukawa's mockery back. "I bet your mom does all your laundry, don't you, Kitsune?" The fox-eyed lad didn't reply. Instead he swayed his eyes and looked at the trees that were planted on the sides of the road, giving shades from the stinging rays of the sun. "Chi… Don't ignore me!! Well, I guess he did that because he's just afraid to tell the truth that I'm right!"

"In your dreams, Do'aho…" Finally, Rukawa spoke up from a long silence. "You don't know anything. Don't be so proud that you live on your own and do things by yourself. Don't think that you're the only person who's capable of taking care of yourself, for myself are living all by myself."

"Oh, I didn't know about that, Rukawa-kun. Where are your parents?" Ayako cut the tongue fights between the two rivals, just to add more peace before anything harmful could happen. "I've heard a little about Sakuragi, though, but I didn't know you live on your own."

Rukawa at first refused to tell the story. Then he decided to just speak and say a couple of things about them. "I… don't know where they are…" After he spit out the sentence, Sakuragi, who's eyes had turned sharp in angst, now were softened and his crumpled fists hung down loose. All of them stopped walking and their eyes turned to Rukawa, who was standing behind them. Sakuragi didn't know he was getting softer to him, so he solved out things to say just to cover his feelings. "Ahahaha! Poor you, Kitsune. I guess your father and mother left you. Yare yare, no wonder, who wants a fox-faced boy like you? Hahahaha!!!"

"Sakuragi-kun…!" Haruko's voice raised up, her tone speaks of warning of not to say those kinds of nasty things to him, afraid that he would get hurt.

"Maybe… I guess they did…" Simply, Rukawa answered and began to make his way through the crowds of the Shohoku students. All were stunned of his answer, their eyes widened, and that includes Sakuragi Hanamichi himself.

"Sakuragi Hanamichi! You shouldn't have said things like that," Ayako tapped him on the back as he spoke to him lightly. "I guess he's hurt now because of you, fool!"

"It's alright, Sempai… I'm used to be beaten up and it hurts more than that Do'aho's sappy critics…"

"Rukawa-kun…"

(flashback)

'Kaede! I know you had a bad grade on the test today!!'

'Gomen, Kaasan… I didn't have the time to study last night… I got to help to finish assignments…'

'What a good liar you are! Don't you think I don't know what you have been doing! You always play and play and play! You've abandoned too many homeworks! How could a lazy twit like you make an assignment? All you can do is play and get horrible grades! What will become of you in the future?!'

And soon after that, Rukawa layed down on the tiles of his living room. A stream of blood run down from his torn lips. His face were covered in beating bruises. There were no more strength left in him, he wasn't able to stand up or move anymore. Every single inch in his muscles, in his skin, hurts so bad. Both of his parents, his father and mother, had beaten him up. He cried, he cried both in pain in his body and for his wounds in his soul. Well it has become normal for him, since almost everyday, this happened to him.

It happens often, it has become Rukawa's daily life, the things that he must go through in his life. It's hard, he know, but he tried to bear all the pain. But there was too much, he must face too many sufferings each day, until he can't stand up anymore. So then he decided to run away from everything, he stole a few money from his parent's wallet and ran away, far from their reach. But unfortunately his money then runs dry, he got only an amount enough for him to go back to his house. Questions ran in his head as he walked back on his bare feet to his small house. He hoped that when he arrived to his home, his parents would already misses him and will greet him back with open arms. But it was not like what he thought and wished for. When his knuckles knocked on the wooden varnished door, his mom opened the door and stood there in front of his with his hands on her hips. Rukawa tilted his head to see the expression on her face fearfully. It doesn't paste the feelings of missing him or wanting him to return back home, but it was more to angry because Rukawa had done such stupid thing.

'Imbecile child! Where have you been? What has make you so foolish to run away like that? Don't you know that you have a house here?! Or is it you want to get away from us, you don't want to obey us anymore?'

'Gomen, Kaasan… I did this without much of thinking…'

'Of course you did, you son of a bitch! Where's your brain? Not only you run away from home but you take Tousan's money too! Little bastard!!'

Without thinking any further, both his father and mother began hitting him until they gave a cut on his right forehead.

'How do you guys feel when you are hitting me? Aren't you ever satisfied after you see your son bleed like this? Will you ever stop…? Don't you know how much it hurts?'

'What?! How dare you talk to us like that? A child who has no respect! Think about it yourself. Who wants a son who has no respect to his parents? A son who keeps on repeating the same mistakes. A son who's not giving any benefit to his parents. Do you know who that is? It's you, you slut! You! You! You! You! You!'

'Tousan's right about that! We don't want a child like you! Someone who will bring shame to the name of the family!'

'I will not bring shame to the name of our family if you only give me chances.'

'How dare you!! That's it! I have enough of you! We're sick enough of you! From now on you will no longer be our family! You will no longer sleep with us under the same roof! You shall leave! Leave and never come back! Let the bad guys come and get you, and sell you as a slave, or a prostitute! Let you be a rotten person like whom you are deep inside! We'll see what you'll be in the future if you survive, Kaede!'

'Where are you going?'

'We're going nowhere! You're the one who's leaving! And remember, Kaede, there will be no more 'Rukawa' in your name! You're no longer a part of us!!'

And with that they kicked him out of his house onto the streets. Days and night he kept walking with bare feet on the streets of Kanagawa. Fortunately, not long after that, his uncle, who married the sister of his father, found him. Because his wife himself had received the bad information about Rukawa, he decided that he will raise him up as the child himself without her knowing about it. Since the couple were a very rich family, Rukawa's uncle bought a posh apartment for him and each month he will sent him an amount of money so that he can survive.

(end of flashback)

Rukawa rubbed his lips with his palm. Why should he remember those bitter memories that he had buried deep within his mind a long time ago? He had put a note about what his mother had said regarding about his future. "What will I be in the future if I survive? I will be big, Kaasan… I'll be big, Tousan…"

a.n : end of chapter two. Hehehe yeah yeah in my fic Rukawa got a dark and sad past. Don't blame me… T_T Anyways, continue, please… don't forget to read n review about my fic.