It was a long walk to school together, and now they finally reached it.
They made it just in time, just before the bell has rang. Quickly after
they stepped into the school yard, they then rushed to their own classes in
order not to be tardy or else they'll be punished. It's the second year of
theirs, and the school year had just freshly started. It's only about 2
months since they graduated their first year of highschool. Well, it's a
fresh new start for them, almost everything is different, the classes, the
club, the kids. There are only a few things that hadn't change since the
previous year, which are Rukawa and Sakuragi's daily quarrels, and
Sakuragi's major crush upon Haruko.
"Teme, Kitsune! Why are you following me?! Get off my back!!" Sakuragi stopped climbing the stairways as he noted that Rukawa had been tailing him all along.
"Do'aho… Who's following you? I'm just walking to my class." He snorted at Sakuragi's comments.
"But this is MY class that you're going to!" Sakuragi pointed out his finger towards the hanged sign that bears the writing of '2-3'. "Wait a minute, don't tell me that you're in the same class with me." Then he rolled his eyes as he started thinking about it. "Are you? Hmm… Wa!! You are!! Teme, Kitsune!!"
"Get off my way before the second bell rings, Do'aho…" Rukawa forced his way through Sakuragi's presence, causing to bump into him and made him fell flat-butted onto the floor.
"How dare you, Kitsune Otoko!!!!!!! Don't you think you can get away with this! Come back here and fight like a man!!!" He crumpled his fist as the other one were stretched out to grab Rukawa's uniform, hailing him from making his way to the classroom.
"Get lost, Do'aho… My time's to precious to spend arguing with you…" He yanked his shirt out of Sakuragi's grip and slipped away. Angered, the red- head sophomore quickly jumped onto his toes and run to catch him.
"Damn you, Rukawa!" Bop, and there flies Sakuragi's fist, swinging in the air, hitting Rukawa's left cheek. A stream of blood ran down from the partings of his lips, down to his chin, and even to his neck. "That serves you right…" He smiled, seems to be glad of it and rubbed his hands together.
Without warning, Rukawa flung his feet high and kicked Sakuragi on the stomach. "Don't you ever get tired of those hollow tensai crap? I'm sick enough of your shitty boasts. I even get tired of looking at your pathetic face, Do'aho…" He threw those sharp mocks straight to Sakuragi Hanamichi, who's bending his back frontwards as his hands were on top of his muscled- stomach, still aching in pain.
"Bitch… I'm sick of your one-man show everytime at the practice. I'm sick of you trying to get attention from the people everytime we have a game, even a practice game! I'm sick and tired of those stupid little fan-club of yours! They're sickingly loud, don't you know that? Let me tell you one thing, Rukawa Kaede… They didn't love you thoroughly, ya know! They only love you from the 'outside' d'ya know what I mean? They like your cutie cutie face, they like your superb basketball skill, but they don't like you on the inside. 'cause in the inside, you totally suck!! You patheticly suck!!" He scorned out those evil thoughts out to pierce Rukawa's heart. He was hurt, yeah he was hurt. But he didn't just stand there in silence as he reconsidered his own poorness. Instead he gathered bad things recorded in his mind to spit it back to Hanamichi, as a form of revenge. He then pulled out a postcard from his pocket.
"What about this," he simply said, "this postcard…?"
Sakuragi stared at him in disbelief. It's his postcard, from his mother. How come it is in Rukawa's hand? What had happened and where did he get it anyway? "Postcard from… Ka-san…"
Rukawa flipped the card over and read out the words written on it. "I've read about you…" He grimaced after he had read the whole thing, and looked at the back side to see if there is any writing rather than that short sentences. "Is that all your mom can say to you…? Later this morning you kid me about my parents… Now what about yours, Do'aho…?"
Sakuragi gave no reply. This time his lips were trembling. His eyes looked terrified as it looked around every edges of the hallway. Beads of cold sweats were starting to pile up on his forehead. "Teme Kitsune! It's none of your fault!! Give me back! Give me that god-damned postcard back!!" He reached out his hands and to snatch it out of Rukawa's fingers. Rukawa dodged his arms and held the card captive in his hands.
"What's your problem, Do'aho…? I finally coped out your secrets, didn't I?"
"TEME! Hand it back or else I'm afraid I have to use force on you!!!!" He struggeld hard to touch the edges of the postcard, but Rukawa's way more speedier than him. Sakuragi was too slow. Then unexpectedly, the second bell rang and they hadn't even enter their class yet. They were tardy. As a punishment, the homeroom teacher sent them to stand outside until the first session is over, and they weren't allowed to sit down. "This is all because of you, Kitsune!"
Rukawa only shrugged as he leaned his back against the cold, white-painted walls of the vacant hallways. "Who started it?"
"Not me for sure!!!"
"It would've been easier if you pay no attention to me at first and not start hitting me on the face, Do'aho…"
"I couldn't stand it! You were so annoying!!"
"You are MORE annoying than me, Do'aho!"
"Urusai, Kitsune!"
"Do'aho…"
"Kitsune!"
"Do'aho!"
The teacher then slid the door open and stared at them with deadly stares. "Could you two be quiet? I'm trying to teach here…"
"Sumimasen…" They both bowed down and apologized. Then the teachers comes back into the class again, leaving them staring at each other without blinking.
"Stop staring at me," Sakuragi finally broke the silence between them, but his eyes were still nailed onto Rukawa's. "I know I'm handsome but stop staring at me!"
"Handsome? Take a good look at yourself in the mirror, Do'aho… I bet everytime you see your own reflection, you bawl like a baby…" Rukawa shot back.
Pissed, Sakuragi growled and narrowed his eyes. "Well excuse me… I think you better recognise what you're saying! I think you're the one who'll cry, looking at yourself, knowing that you don't have parents anymore. And what's more bitter is that they're not there for you because they're dead or whatever… They left you!! Poor you, Kitsune…!" That wasn't necessary for Sakuragi to taunt him about his family.
"Well, Do'aho… What about you? I don't think your mother cared much about you," pulls out the postcard from his trouser's pocket, "and this shows it all!"
"At least I still can hear from my mom! At least I still have one even though I don't know where she is right now! Now I know why you're never smiling, Kitsune! You never were happy, right?! And I'll tell you one thing, you'll never will!" Sakuragi snarled at him without thinking about what he is talking about. Rukawa stood still there quiet as his eyes were fixed onto the couple of sparrows which were standing outside, beyond the glass window. They were feeding each other and they were cuddling onto each other, as if they had found the perfect happiness. Sakuragi looked at the pale face and he noted something, tears. It was in his eyes, welled up, ready to fall. Perhaps what he had said is too much. "…suman."
He finally decided to talk as he pulled the tears back from his foxy eyes. "You're right about one thing… Once when I was young, the kids from my school used to sit in groups in a huge circle, telling each other about what their parents did and gave to them during the weekend. Most, even all of them except me shared a great and cheerful story. And when my turn comes, all I can do is sit there and freeze. They asked me why, and I mentioned it all… My parents left me." He took a deep breath before he continued his long tale of his bitter past. On the other hand, Hanamichi, he listened carefully to Rukawa's story. He is interested in a few way. One is it is because it's Rukawa's past which not even anybody had known, and the other is because he felt that they both had a similar fact about their family life. "They began to take distance away from me, they all thought that because I don't have a family, I am different for them…"
Sakuragi knew there were more to that, but Rukawa kept silent for a while. He didn't carry on talking. Sakuragi gave him time, though, for he know it's kinda hard to speak about his life especially to his rival or his minor enemy, his opponent, etc. "Well… Nowadays, people whom I met used to ask how my parents were, and how I acted when I was a kid. Most of them said that they had a teriffic childhood time. It made me think that I don't belong in the community that's made up of normal people…"
"Even if you don't have parents it doesn't mean you aren't normal!!!" Rukawa's dim pair of eyes turned to Sakuragi shockingly. The last things that he heard coming out from his mouth is things that is unpleasant and mockery towards him. Now it is those words that gives support and motivation. Sakuragi cupped his mouth, knowing that he had hollered it out because he run out of control. His emotions for Rukawa were overwhelming him. "Well… Everybody is different in different ways…"
"Oh…" That is the word that Rukawa can ever think about in his mind that time. He then shook his head and tried to change the flow of the talk. "Well then, what about your mom?"
Sakuragi lowered his head as he drowned deep in thought, gathering up the remaining pieces of memories that he had about his mother whom had left him from a long time. "I… I have limited knowing about her… It was a long time ago when she left me and my dad… I can't remember when… Perhaps when I was 7 or 8 years old, she left me in a snap, just like that. And after that I don't remember anything more about her…"
"After my dad died, she then kept sending me postcards. But it often came too. She only sends one every year. I don't know why… Even the message written were only 2 or 3 sentences. The last time that I got, it's a Shaq card, and on the back, she wrote this : color your head red. I don't know what that means… So I obeyed her, and now that's why my head is red."
"Sou ka…? Well you're lucky you still got to heard things from your mom. Now I don't even know where they are and even if I knew, they wouldn't let me see them no more…"
"But still…! I missed her and I wanna see her… She didn't let me see her too, she didn't write her address on the cards. Even the telephone numbers. There's no way that I could reach her."
"Hmm…" Rukawa nodded in agreement. Then the classroom door slid open as the teacher stepped out into their presence. His hands were on his hips. He looked at them from the corner of his eyes of his tilted head.
"You two… I think it's enough… Come on, step into the class… I'm explaining an important material right now."
Before entering the class, both of them took a long glance at each other. They then walked inside into their own seats and pulled out the books and materials needed for the lesson. "That Do'aho… I never thought we had so much in common…"
"Teme, Kitsune! Why are you following me?! Get off my back!!" Sakuragi stopped climbing the stairways as he noted that Rukawa had been tailing him all along.
"Do'aho… Who's following you? I'm just walking to my class." He snorted at Sakuragi's comments.
"But this is MY class that you're going to!" Sakuragi pointed out his finger towards the hanged sign that bears the writing of '2-3'. "Wait a minute, don't tell me that you're in the same class with me." Then he rolled his eyes as he started thinking about it. "Are you? Hmm… Wa!! You are!! Teme, Kitsune!!"
"Get off my way before the second bell rings, Do'aho…" Rukawa forced his way through Sakuragi's presence, causing to bump into him and made him fell flat-butted onto the floor.
"How dare you, Kitsune Otoko!!!!!!! Don't you think you can get away with this! Come back here and fight like a man!!!" He crumpled his fist as the other one were stretched out to grab Rukawa's uniform, hailing him from making his way to the classroom.
"Get lost, Do'aho… My time's to precious to spend arguing with you…" He yanked his shirt out of Sakuragi's grip and slipped away. Angered, the red- head sophomore quickly jumped onto his toes and run to catch him.
"Damn you, Rukawa!" Bop, and there flies Sakuragi's fist, swinging in the air, hitting Rukawa's left cheek. A stream of blood ran down from the partings of his lips, down to his chin, and even to his neck. "That serves you right…" He smiled, seems to be glad of it and rubbed his hands together.
Without warning, Rukawa flung his feet high and kicked Sakuragi on the stomach. "Don't you ever get tired of those hollow tensai crap? I'm sick enough of your shitty boasts. I even get tired of looking at your pathetic face, Do'aho…" He threw those sharp mocks straight to Sakuragi Hanamichi, who's bending his back frontwards as his hands were on top of his muscled- stomach, still aching in pain.
"Bitch… I'm sick of your one-man show everytime at the practice. I'm sick of you trying to get attention from the people everytime we have a game, even a practice game! I'm sick and tired of those stupid little fan-club of yours! They're sickingly loud, don't you know that? Let me tell you one thing, Rukawa Kaede… They didn't love you thoroughly, ya know! They only love you from the 'outside' d'ya know what I mean? They like your cutie cutie face, they like your superb basketball skill, but they don't like you on the inside. 'cause in the inside, you totally suck!! You patheticly suck!!" He scorned out those evil thoughts out to pierce Rukawa's heart. He was hurt, yeah he was hurt. But he didn't just stand there in silence as he reconsidered his own poorness. Instead he gathered bad things recorded in his mind to spit it back to Hanamichi, as a form of revenge. He then pulled out a postcard from his pocket.
"What about this," he simply said, "this postcard…?"
Sakuragi stared at him in disbelief. It's his postcard, from his mother. How come it is in Rukawa's hand? What had happened and where did he get it anyway? "Postcard from… Ka-san…"
Rukawa flipped the card over and read out the words written on it. "I've read about you…" He grimaced after he had read the whole thing, and looked at the back side to see if there is any writing rather than that short sentences. "Is that all your mom can say to you…? Later this morning you kid me about my parents… Now what about yours, Do'aho…?"
Sakuragi gave no reply. This time his lips were trembling. His eyes looked terrified as it looked around every edges of the hallway. Beads of cold sweats were starting to pile up on his forehead. "Teme Kitsune! It's none of your fault!! Give me back! Give me that god-damned postcard back!!" He reached out his hands and to snatch it out of Rukawa's fingers. Rukawa dodged his arms and held the card captive in his hands.
"What's your problem, Do'aho…? I finally coped out your secrets, didn't I?"
"TEME! Hand it back or else I'm afraid I have to use force on you!!!!" He struggeld hard to touch the edges of the postcard, but Rukawa's way more speedier than him. Sakuragi was too slow. Then unexpectedly, the second bell rang and they hadn't even enter their class yet. They were tardy. As a punishment, the homeroom teacher sent them to stand outside until the first session is over, and they weren't allowed to sit down. "This is all because of you, Kitsune!"
Rukawa only shrugged as he leaned his back against the cold, white-painted walls of the vacant hallways. "Who started it?"
"Not me for sure!!!"
"It would've been easier if you pay no attention to me at first and not start hitting me on the face, Do'aho…"
"I couldn't stand it! You were so annoying!!"
"You are MORE annoying than me, Do'aho!"
"Urusai, Kitsune!"
"Do'aho…"
"Kitsune!"
"Do'aho!"
The teacher then slid the door open and stared at them with deadly stares. "Could you two be quiet? I'm trying to teach here…"
"Sumimasen…" They both bowed down and apologized. Then the teachers comes back into the class again, leaving them staring at each other without blinking.
"Stop staring at me," Sakuragi finally broke the silence between them, but his eyes were still nailed onto Rukawa's. "I know I'm handsome but stop staring at me!"
"Handsome? Take a good look at yourself in the mirror, Do'aho… I bet everytime you see your own reflection, you bawl like a baby…" Rukawa shot back.
Pissed, Sakuragi growled and narrowed his eyes. "Well excuse me… I think you better recognise what you're saying! I think you're the one who'll cry, looking at yourself, knowing that you don't have parents anymore. And what's more bitter is that they're not there for you because they're dead or whatever… They left you!! Poor you, Kitsune…!" That wasn't necessary for Sakuragi to taunt him about his family.
"Well, Do'aho… What about you? I don't think your mother cared much about you," pulls out the postcard from his trouser's pocket, "and this shows it all!"
"At least I still can hear from my mom! At least I still have one even though I don't know where she is right now! Now I know why you're never smiling, Kitsune! You never were happy, right?! And I'll tell you one thing, you'll never will!" Sakuragi snarled at him without thinking about what he is talking about. Rukawa stood still there quiet as his eyes were fixed onto the couple of sparrows which were standing outside, beyond the glass window. They were feeding each other and they were cuddling onto each other, as if they had found the perfect happiness. Sakuragi looked at the pale face and he noted something, tears. It was in his eyes, welled up, ready to fall. Perhaps what he had said is too much. "…suman."
He finally decided to talk as he pulled the tears back from his foxy eyes. "You're right about one thing… Once when I was young, the kids from my school used to sit in groups in a huge circle, telling each other about what their parents did and gave to them during the weekend. Most, even all of them except me shared a great and cheerful story. And when my turn comes, all I can do is sit there and freeze. They asked me why, and I mentioned it all… My parents left me." He took a deep breath before he continued his long tale of his bitter past. On the other hand, Hanamichi, he listened carefully to Rukawa's story. He is interested in a few way. One is it is because it's Rukawa's past which not even anybody had known, and the other is because he felt that they both had a similar fact about their family life. "They began to take distance away from me, they all thought that because I don't have a family, I am different for them…"
Sakuragi knew there were more to that, but Rukawa kept silent for a while. He didn't carry on talking. Sakuragi gave him time, though, for he know it's kinda hard to speak about his life especially to his rival or his minor enemy, his opponent, etc. "Well… Nowadays, people whom I met used to ask how my parents were, and how I acted when I was a kid. Most of them said that they had a teriffic childhood time. It made me think that I don't belong in the community that's made up of normal people…"
"Even if you don't have parents it doesn't mean you aren't normal!!!" Rukawa's dim pair of eyes turned to Sakuragi shockingly. The last things that he heard coming out from his mouth is things that is unpleasant and mockery towards him. Now it is those words that gives support and motivation. Sakuragi cupped his mouth, knowing that he had hollered it out because he run out of control. His emotions for Rukawa were overwhelming him. "Well… Everybody is different in different ways…"
"Oh…" That is the word that Rukawa can ever think about in his mind that time. He then shook his head and tried to change the flow of the talk. "Well then, what about your mom?"
Sakuragi lowered his head as he drowned deep in thought, gathering up the remaining pieces of memories that he had about his mother whom had left him from a long time. "I… I have limited knowing about her… It was a long time ago when she left me and my dad… I can't remember when… Perhaps when I was 7 or 8 years old, she left me in a snap, just like that. And after that I don't remember anything more about her…"
"After my dad died, she then kept sending me postcards. But it often came too. She only sends one every year. I don't know why… Even the message written were only 2 or 3 sentences. The last time that I got, it's a Shaq card, and on the back, she wrote this : color your head red. I don't know what that means… So I obeyed her, and now that's why my head is red."
"Sou ka…? Well you're lucky you still got to heard things from your mom. Now I don't even know where they are and even if I knew, they wouldn't let me see them no more…"
"But still…! I missed her and I wanna see her… She didn't let me see her too, she didn't write her address on the cards. Even the telephone numbers. There's no way that I could reach her."
"Hmm…" Rukawa nodded in agreement. Then the classroom door slid open as the teacher stepped out into their presence. His hands were on his hips. He looked at them from the corner of his eyes of his tilted head.
"You two… I think it's enough… Come on, step into the class… I'm explaining an important material right now."
Before entering the class, both of them took a long glance at each other. They then walked inside into their own seats and pulled out the books and materials needed for the lesson. "That Do'aho… I never thought we had so much in common…"