Title: Stalker

Author: Wowie

Status: 6/12

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Humor/Mystery

Archive: Ask permission first.

Previously: Hanamichi's day didn't start out right but it with the coming match (both professional and personal), things look more interesting.

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

Author's Note: Yosh minna-san! Here's the sixth installment! Ohohoho! I love it when they fight over Hana-kun! huggles Hana-kun plushie

Standard Disclaimers Apply

.....

Strike 6: Shohoku Jersey No. 10

'Damn! I have to find a way to show them the genius' secret weapon. The genius doesn't need this stupid passing exercise,' the redhead thought as he passed the ball to some random teammate.

'... I like you... Hana-kun...'

Hanamichi froze as the phrase suddenly rang through his mind. He momentarily forgot about it because of the course of events a while ago but for some unknown reason, it came back to trouble him again.

"Sakuragi! Head's up!" Yasuda shouted.

But, as usual, the warning was too late, and the ball banged itself not too gently on his face for the nth time that afternoon. Luckily, the impact was not that strong so he still stayed on his feet and just swayed a little.

"Focus Sakuragi!" Akagi's voice rang throughout the gym.

"Ch." Sakuragi tried to focus his attention back on their exercise. He was lucky that Akagi was at the other end of the court or else he would have received another gorilla punch.

From the sidelines, Sendoh noticed that Hanamichi was really acting strange. Well, he didn't know enough about the redhead to judge exactly, but he felt sure that something was bothering him. He looked at the Sakuragi Gundan members who were standing just beside him and they too wore a frown on their foreheads.

"Is something wrong with Hanamichi?" Sendoh asked them.

Youhei sighed. "So you noticed too huh? He's been acting a bit more strangely today than yesterday..."

Sendoh turned his attention back to Hanamichi and saw that the redhead was now focused on what they were practicing.

"Sendoh-sempai! What are you doing here?"

Sendoh and the gundan looked to where the voice came from and saw Hikoichi, along with Fujima, Hanagata, and Hasegawa, walking towards them.

"Sendoh, I didn't know you'd be here," the captain of Shoyo greeted.

Sendoh shrugged, "Well, it wasn't really planned. Anyway, what are you three doing here?"

Fujima smiled then answered, "We're here to cheer Shohoku up for the coming Inter High."

The Shohoku team members stopped doing their exercises and looked at the four newly arrived people.

"Oi Hikoichi! What are you doing here?" Hanamichi jogged towards them. "Sour-graping over your loss to us? Nyahahahahaha!"

"How dare you Sakuragi-san?! And we're here just to cheer for your team!" Hikoichi said teary-eyed.

"Oh? Did you bring me any fans?" Hanamichi looked around their backs but was immediately given a gorilla punch by the gorilla captain himself.

"Shut up!" Akagi snapped then gave an apologetic look to Fujima and company. "Sorry for this fool's manners."

Fujima shook his head then smiled again, "Nah, it's okay Akagi. Anyway, we're just here to tell you to do your best. Next time, Shoyo will beat you."

This surprised Kogure, who also walked towards them, "You two are going to play in the Winter Inter-High?"

Hanagata nodded, "Yes. And we'll make sure that we're going to represent Kanagawa next time."

"Yeah! Ryonan will certainly go to the Nationals also with Sendoh-sempai as our new captain. We'll certainly be the number 1 in Kanagawa!" Hikoichi added. Akagi frowned at this piece of information and looked at Sendoh questioningly who just shrugged in return.

"Captain Uozumi quitted the team yesterday because he said he had to train to become a chef," Sendoh explained.

"What? Boss monkey? A chef? No one would eat a gorilla's cooking!" Hanamichi shivered as a mental image of Uozumi looking like a gorilla in a chef's outfit cooking ramen passed through his mind. The obvious disgust showed on his face and in return he received another gorilla punch.

"Stupid," Akagi muttered, though he was partly deep in his thoughts. 'So he's not going to play for the Winter IH too...'

"Anyway, we just went here to wish you luck. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to leave now," Fujima said and offered his hand to Shohoku's Team Captain whom the later accepted.

"Thank you, we'll do our best to get to the top," Akagi said in determination.

Fujima smiled, nodded at his companions then started to walk away.

"Hey, Sendoh-sempai, aren't you going with us?" Hikoichi asked. Sendoh just shook his head.

"Nah, you go ahead."

"Ah... okay... if you say so..." Hikoichi hesitated, but then turned around anyway and followed Fujima and the others.

"Oi wait Hikoichi! Benchwarmer!" Hanamichi called out when an idea suddenly crossed his mind. 'Ooh, the genius is just brilliant.'

"What is it Sakuragi-san?" Hikoichi asked then frowned slightly when he saw Hanamichi counting them one by one.

"Nyahahahaha! I got it! Why don't you have a practice match with us? You can call your other teammates so you could also have back-ups!"

"Eh?!" Hikoichi eyes widened while Fujima and the others looked surprised.

"Sakuragi! What nonsense are you talking about?" Akagi bellowed.

"I don't mind at all," Sendoh's azure eyes twinkled as he said this. "After all, I do want to see how much your team improved since the last time we had our match."

"Ohohohoho. I think it's a good idea, Sakuragi-kun. This will prepare you all for a more difficult challenge in the Nationals," Anzai said.

"Anzai-sensei?" Akagi looked at Anzai with questioning eyes. Anzai smiled and nodded in return.

"Nyahahahaha! Of course it's a good idea. The genius always gives good ideas!" Sakuragi declared in his tensai pose.

Fujima looked at Hanagata and Hasegawa to get their approval. They both nodded which made Fujima smile and turn to Sakuragi, "Okay, we accept your challenge."

"Oh!" Hikoichi exclaimed then clapped his hands. "This will be exciting! Okay, I'll call the others. Sendoh-sempai, you don't have to go back and fetch for your jersey, I'll just ask Koshino-sempai to get it for you."

Sendoh nodded and with this, Hikoichi left.

"Well, everyone, let's assemble," Kogure called out to the others. "Akagi?"

Akagi was still standing there and only moved when Kogure called him.

Kogure smiled at him, "You're thinking if he's gonna come or not, right?"

Akagi nodded then sighed. "I really wanted to have a match against him even for the last time."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll come," Kogure said then patted Akagi's back and walked towards the others. Akagi looked out to the gym's entrance one more time then followed Kogure.

"Okay, I know we've all been training hard these past days so let's show them that Shohoku is strong," Kogure said enthusiastically.

"Of course, we're strong! And we're going to beat them," Mitsui countered.

"Nyahahahaha! You're all very lucky today because the genius will finally use his secret weapon!"

"Idiot."

Hanamichi glared at Rukawa for a long while, earning the discomfort of the other members, but that discomfort dissolved into relief when he calmed down. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, stupid fox. After the genius shows his secret weapon, you'll all realize how great he is," he said, an evil grin showing on his face.

"Whatever," Rukawa shrugged, looking bored.

"What?!" Hanamichi started to pounce on him but was immediately stopped by Ayako's fan slap.

"You behave, Sakuragi Hanamichi, or you won't play today."

"Yeah, follow what Aya-chan said or you'll be sorry," Miyagi added tauntingly.

"Lady gori," Hanamichi muttered while stroking his aching head.

"What did you say stupid?" Miyagi asked furiously. But of course, Hanamichi was not the only who receives gorilla punches in the team. The end result, Miyagi was now also cringing down in pain.

"I don't know why I have such idiot teammates. Good thing this is my last season," Akagi said while shaking his head.

"Okay I guess we'll just have our briefing after you changed your clothes. This time we'll wear the white jersey," Kogure said.

"White?" Mitsui right brow rose, "Why not use red, it's our main jersey after all."

"I don't mind wearing the white one," Miyagi said, still a bit aching from Akagi's blow.

"The genius doesn't mind whatever color he's going to wear."

"Yeah, I guess the white one is okay," Akagi agreed.

"Rukawa?"

Rukawa just shrugged.

"Well any other suggestions?" Kogure looked around and the other members shook their heads. His eyes darted towards Mitsui, "Mitsui, what do you think?"

Mitsui nodded, "Then, white it is."

Kogure smiled wryly, "Okay, you all go change now."

Hanamichi jogged towards his bag. "Nyahahahaha! I'll show them all what the genius is capable of doing!" he said then sang the "genius song" while searching his bag, but realized that the thing he was looking for was not there.

"YAAA!!!!!!!" The outburst rang throughout the gym. All the people inside stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the source of the shout. Miyagi and Mitsui ran towards the panicking redhead.

"What is it, Hanamichi?" Miyagi asked.

"It's not here!" Hanamichi exclaimed.

"What's not here?" Mitsui frowned.

"My white jersey!" he answered panicking more. "Someone stole my white jersey!"

-Tsuzuku-