Title: Stalker

Author: Wowie

Status: 2/12

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Humor/Mystery

Archive: Ask permission first.

Previously: The stalker made his first move by giving a box of chocolates. Hanamichi thinks it's from Haruko, but the Sakuragi Gundan thinks it doesn't even come from a girl.

Warnings: Shounen-ai (Boy X Boy Love) and some mild swearing.

Author's Note: Okay, here's the second installment. Don't ever think you got it all figured out 'cause you might be wrong you know.

Standard Disclaimers Apply

...

Strike 2: A Bouquet of Flowers

Classes end at 4 pm, which meant he still has 20 minutes to get his butt out of there. He couldn't risk anyone seeing him there because it might ruin his plans. He checked again if there was anyone passing by and when he was sure that there was no one else there, he placed something in front of locker no. 10 then posted a note on its door. His mouth curved slightly as he read the note again.

'This will do.'

...

"Oi Hanamichi! Someone's following us," Takamiya whispered.

"Huh? What? Who?" Hanamichi tensed and walked a bit slower.

"Yeah... We think he's been following us ever since we left the classroom," Chu added. Hanamichi abruptly stopped then turned around to scan the whole place and saw Yasuda and Kakuta walking towards the same direction... to the Shohoku Basketball Club locker room. When Hanamichi turned his attention to his gundan who were stupidly grinning at him, that was when he realized the whole situation. The gundan knew that he was going to explode any minute now so they ran as fast as they could.

"Why you—!" Hanamichi chased them like a mad man in the corridor. "If I ever get my hands on— oof!" he bumped into something hard. He looked up to see the towering form of Akagi Takenori.

"Gori! Get out of my way!"

Of course a retort like that would only mean one thing, a punch on the head.

"Ouch!" Hanamichi groaned and tried to endure the pain. As if that was not enough, Akagi pulled his (Hanamichi's) ear.

"There's something I want to show you fool!" Akagi said then dragged Hanamichi to the locker room.

When they entered, Hanamichi noticed that all the members of the Shohoku Basketball Club, including Rukawa Kaede who usually does not pry into things, were crowding over his locker. Even the Sakuragi Gundan, whom he was chasing earlier and was not supposed to be in this room because their not members, were also there.

"Ouch! What's— ouch! — going on— ouch!— here? Ouch! Gori please!"

Akagi released him rather unceremoniously then replied, "Look for yourself."

Hanamichi composed himself then stood up with eyes blazing. He shot the captain of the basketball club a dark look before turning to his locker. There was a note posted on the door saying 'I like you a lot, Sakuragi Hanamichi'. This note was an unusual one because the hiragana characters were cutouts from a magazine.

"The lock was destroyed when we arrived," Kogure explained then Ayako walked to him and handed him a bouquet of red roses.

"We found it at the foot of your locker, Sakuragi Hanamichi," she said.

"Eh?" Even though confused, Hanamichi accepted it.

"Now, I don't care who sent that to you. What I want to know is how that person able to come in here. Okay, let's go to the court, we don't want to waste any more time here," Akagi passed an accusing look at the redhead then went out of the room. The members went out with their captain, except for Hanamichi and his gundan, Ayako, Kogure... and Rukawa.

"Well how should I know?!" Hanamichi complained. "Is it the genius' fault if someone likes him very much?"

"Idiot."

All of the people who were left in the room turned their attention to Rukawa.

"Why you fox!" he leaped out to grab Rukawa by the shirt but the Sakuragi Gundan stopped him before he can even reach Rukawa.

"Oi! No fighting in here!" Ayako said loudly then hit Hanamichi with her fan. "Now Sakuragi Hanamichi, we'll give you 15 minutes to change your clothes."

"By the way, have you seen Miyagi and Mitsui?" Kogure asked Ayako.

"No, Kogure-sempai. [1] I'm starting to wonder where they are. They usually come on time," Ayako replied. They were about to go out of the locker room when Miyagi burst into the room.

"Good afternoon, everyone," he greeted then blushed when he realized that Ayako was also there. "Good afternoon, Aya-chan," he said shyly. [2]

Kogure turned to the door when Mitsui also entered.

"You two are late!" Ayako said sternly.

"Ehehehe... I'm sorry, Aya-chan," Miyagi scratched his head.

"Sorry, there's just something I did before going here," Mitsui explained then went to his own locker. That was when he noticed Hanamichi looking intently on the bouquet of flowers he was holding.

"Oi, Sakuragi, where did you get that?" Mitsui frowned.

"Now I get it!" Takamiya exclaimed and caught the attention of the others, except for Rukawa who was now walking towards the door.

"What's going on?" Miyagi asked a bit confused with what was happening because he was so occupied looking at Ayako.

"Hanamichi! I think it's from the same person who gave you the box of chocolates!"

"What?!" Hanamichi asked disbelievingly. Rukawa abruptly stopped from his tracks and looked back at the redhead then at the fat guy.

"Hey, hey! What's the meaning of this? You mean someone's sending this fool gifts? I can't believe it!" Mitsui laughed.

"Shut up, Missy!" Hanamichi said in between his teeth.

"What's the fuss about it? I mean you should be flattered!" Ayako said a bit excited with the chain of events. "This girl probably likes you a lot to even resort in breaking in the basketball club's locker room."

"Um, that's the problem. We think the admirer is male," Youhei stated.

A moment of silence ensued.

"Excuse me, but could you please repeat what you've said?" Miyagi said dumbfounded.

"We think the admirer is—"

"That's enough," a soft voice interrupted.

"Rukawa?" Kogure questioned.

"We're wasting time here," Rukawa said impatiently.

"Nobody's stopping you from leaving," Hanamichi snapped. Rukawa looked at him sharply and for a moment, they fought gazes. It was Rukawa who first withdrew then walked out of the room without another word.

"What's his problem?" Ookusu asked while frowning.

"Yeah, I think Rukawa has been acting strange..." Kogure said a bit absently then quickly looked at his watch. "We have to go to the court now or Akagi will kill us!" he immediately left the room.

"Wait for me, Kogure-sempai. You three, hurry up!" then she was also gone.

"What should we do?! I mean... I mean... WHAT SHOULD I DO?"

"Take it easy, Sakuragi. It's not that bad. I mean what's wrong if a guy likes you?" Mitsui conceded.

"Missy?!" Sakuragi and his gundan exclaimed. Even Miyagi's jaw dropped in shock, scandalized with the fact that Mitsui could even think of it as a normal situation.

"Hey! You have to accept the fact that it's indeed happening to our society today. I mean this boy-to-boy liking stuff," Mitsui said carefully for it was very obvious that his companions were a bit homophobic.

"We know that. But still, he's stalking Hanamichi, and it's not a good thing," Youhei said as he shook his head.

"Okay, I've had enough," Hanamichi stood up and changed his shirt in front of them. "I'm going to forget about it for now because it's giving me migraine. Chu, why don't you bring this for yourself and give it to your mother?"

"Thanks, Hanamichi! She'll love it!" Noma gratefully picked up the flowers.

"Yeah, yeah. But don't go home just yet. I need you all to wait for me after the practice and we'll all go to my place."

"Yeah," the Sakuragi gundan all replied then went out of the locker room.

"Hanamichi, don't worry about it okay?" Miyagi gave him a pat on his shoulder.

"If you want, we'll help you find out who it is," Mitsui offered.

Hanamichi considered Mitsui's offer for a while then shook his head, "Nah! You don't have to. I think this will be the last time he, if ever it's indeed a he, would send me gifts."

Well, that was what he thought. He didn't know that there would be more things to come.

-Tsuzuku-

...

[1] Sempai means upper classman. It would just sound unnatural if we remove it or translate it.

[2] I just realized that how come Ayako's inside the men's locker room? Hee Oh well... Let's just say she happened to pass by when the whole predicament happened and well she went in since she's the basketball team manager after all.