Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk or moomoo-chan... bleah!
I went up to my room with my presents, careful not to squash Moomoo-chan. I lay on my bed, thinking about how wonderful my brother was. All basketball- playing exams-failing 1.84 m of him. Just then, I heard a strange sound coming in the direction of Moomoo-chan. Turning in curiosity, I saw Moomoo- chan pawing a neatly wrapped package. It was Youhei's present.
Silently reprimanding myself for being so forgetful to have forgotten his present, my mind strayed to one previous thought of having inherited a memory from a goldfish. Shaking my head away from that digression, I tore open the wrapping paper of the present. In it lay a small white box. Opening it, I saw a silver charm bracelet lying neatly upon the sponge surface in the box. The tiny silver little figures of an assortment of things took to my heart instantly. There was a shoe, a little dolphin, a crescent, a star, a bell, a shirt and even a little basketball. The charm bracelet may not have been worth much, but I fell for it the instant I saw it, with its charms glinting in the dull light of my room. I had to thank Youhei first thing tomorrow, that was for sure.
I placed the jersey and bracelet on my dresser and lay Moomoo-chan and its namesake into my bed. Yawning in exhaustion, I hurriedly took a bath and plopped onto the bed, snuggling with the two Moomoo-chans...
The next day, I awoke to the soft purring of Moomoo-chan, minutes before my alarm clock rang. Moomoo-chan was turning out to be one cute little alarm clock. Stroking it as I forced my eyelids open, I smiled softly at the memory of the previous night. Glancing at the dresser, I reminded myself to say my thanks to Youhei. A slight movement under my hand brought my gaze back to the grey fur ball. Moomoo-chan. I turned my head towards the doll lying limply next to the cat. At that point, a flicker of an idea came to me. Perhaps, just perhaps, Kaede would like to see where Moomoo-chan got its name. Then, it was decided.
Pushing down the button on my alarm clock, I climbed out of bed and got ready for school. I stuffed the small doll into my school bag and carried Moomoo-chan down for breakfast. I put it down beside it litter box and freshened up its water as well as food. Then, I grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it into my mouth so as to have both hands free to put on my shoes. I needed to get to school early to find Kaede before his unreasonable fans did. No way was I going to risk my reputation showing Kaede the doll in front of all those girls. Rumours would be sure to fly and I would get no end of it. Yet, I wanted Kaede to see that there was a base to Moomoo-chan's name.
I took out the bread from my mouth and grabbed my bag as my brother left his room. Giving him a wide smile, I said gaily, "Bye, brother! I'm off!"
"Someone sure is in a good mood today!" He commented, with a similar smile on his face. "Well, bye! Be careful okay?"
"Sure!" I replied cheerfully, and left the house chuckling. I was no longer a little girl. I was 17 now! Yet, I knew that even if I were 35, Hisashi would still have added his last sentence. It was not as if I was a scatterbrain or anything, (like I needed that on top of everything else) but he was just so... worried about me. That was one of the reasons why I didn't usually go to him when I was down. I just didn't want to upset him.
My home was not far from school. In fact, it was a walking distance from school. Walking briskly towards my destination, it was not long before I reached the school gym. Just as expected, the sound of a basketball bouncing on the floor could be heard coming from the gym. It had to be Kaede. I knew no one else who got up so early just to play basketball. Not even my brother. Many people assumed that Kaede was all talent, yet, judging from the amount of time he puts in for basketball, it would be safe to conclude that his skills are a result of plain hard work as well. In fact, I believe he really sacrificed a lot, from the way he even forgone his precious sleep to practise.
Entering the gym discreetly, I watched in awe as he placed the ball neatly through the hoop from the 3-pointer line. The graceful arc of the ball may be commonplace in my brother's shooting, but hardly anyone else is able to achieve such a feat. I guessed I might have made too much of a noise when closing the door because Kaede suddenly turned to look at me. That was not a problem though, as I was there to speak to him and not watch him play. He picked up the basketball and walked over to me.
"Hey... nice shot!" I said as he wiped off his sweat with his shirt. Raising my eyebrow at that "gesture of acknowledgement", I continued with a smile, "Anyway, do you wanna see Moomoo-chan? The doll? My brother gave it to be as a birthday present after you left. He gave me his jersey as well, but you are probably not interested. I am not sure why you would be interested in my old doll, but I just thought since I named your present after it, why not?"
Since I was rather sure Kaede would not actually reply, I pulled out the doll from my bag with a flourish. I could just hear the "ta-dah!" in the background of my imagination. Smoothing out the frumpled black hair of Moomoo-chan, I handed the small doll with the straight hair and small eyes to Kaede. He took it from me tentatively and looked at it. I could practically see a chibi-fied version of him with a sweatdrop at his forehead, just like in mangas, as he looked at the doll.
"This is Moomoo-chan the first!" I piped up cheerfully. "Isn't she wonderful? I had her since I was five and I loved her to pits! I can't believe Hisashi actually dug it out just for me! Isn't he the sweetest brother one could ever have? And that jersey! I am sure millions of girls would die to have it and I have it now! Besides, this all just proves that my brother thinks about me!"
Kaede was still staring at the doll as if he had never seen one in his life. He held it with its one hand, between his index finger and thumb, away from his body, so it was dangling dangerously, tilted to a side. "Don't you dare ruin it. I will kill you." I threatened, and then grabbed the doll back. Suddenly, I heard the door click shut. Someone had been there! I looked at Kaede with astonishment in my eyes. He too, looked subtly confused. Of course, no one can be sure about his expressions as they look the same at all times.
Just then, the first bell rang. It was time to make our way to class. I squashed the doll back into my bag and hurried out with a bye. As I rushed to class, all I could think of was the click of the door as it closed shut. That mysterious person and his or her complications raced through my mind. Will he or she start rumours? Kaede would probably not mind but what about me? I had come dangerously close to fainting the last time. Would my life be in danger this time? My mind flashed a picture of Moomoo-chan in my mouth, my eyes crossed. I shuddered.
The lessons for the day raced by without me absorbing anything. All I could do was worry about the mystery person. Soon, the school day was over. I walked out of the school, still pondering about the weird eavesdropper. Suddenly, a shadow fell upon me. I looked up from my stupor and saw three girls, disreputably known as Ru, Ka and Wa. Great. Just what I needed. An encounter with the brainless three.
"I heard that Riko dear couldn't leave house without her dolly!" Ru said snidely in a singsong voice that made me want to puke.
"I heard that Riko dear has a dolly named Moomoo-chan!" Ka continued in the same irritating demeanour.
"And I heard that Riko dear brought her darling little Moomoo-chan to school!" Wa finished off. I seriously do not doubt that they go to the same speech training school for they speak in the exact same manner. The manner that made me feel like head butting each and every one of them just like Sakuragi would.
"Hand it over!" Ru ordered. I rolled my eyes and started to walk away. Remember how everyone used to teach us that walking away from a fight was the smart way to go? Well, don't believe it. Just as I walked pass Wa, she grabbed my bag with such force unexpected from the tiny frame of hers. Before I could react, my bag was emptied onto the floor and Moomoo-chan was in Ka's hands. A snip of the scissors and a tuft of straight black hair fell upon the ground. And with a flick of her wrist, she slashed the body of Moomoo-chan with a small knife in her hands. Ru was furiously digging through her bag and pulled out her legendary pink pompoms. She grabbed the slashed doll from Ka's hands and started stuffing the pompoms into the slash of the doll's body.
I was stunned. Ru dropped the doll onto the floor with the rest of the contents of my bag. The 3 of them walked away into the distance but their maniacal laugh rang out loud and clear in my ears. I stared at Moomoo- chan's state. Its hair was severed unevenly and a thick tuft of hair lay near it. Half of a pompom stuck out of the doll's body, mocking me. Moomoo- chan looked up to me with her small eyes amidst the papers and books strewn over the area. The eyes reflected the grief eating into my heart. At that point, her eyes were mine and mine hers.
I sank onto the ground, a large of tear rolling down my cheek. It was my Moomoo-chan. My birthday present. Hisashi's present. They destroyed it. They wrecked it. Just because of Kaede. I hate them! I hate Kaede! I hate myself! Why didn't I grab Moomoo-chan back? Now she was ruined and it was all my fault. Why must Kaede have such lunatics as fans? Why did I bring Moomoo-chan to school? I should have seen this coming! Why were the girls so cruel? Didn't they know how much Moomoo-chan meant to me? I could not stop the tears from streaming down my face incessantly. Hugging Moomoo-chan tightly, I allowed my tears to flow ceaselessly. It was not fair! I did nothing to them! Moomoo-chan did nothing to them either! For god's sake, she was just a doll! A doll that meant nothing to them but the world to me!
Then, another shadow fell upon me. I looked up cautiously, afraid of yet another catastrophe just like the one before. A tall figure stood in front of me. He squatted down and I could see his face clearly. It was Kaede.
At his familiar face, I threw my hands around him and sobbed into his shirt.
Hahahahahhahahaha! Moomoo-chan is dead... I can practically hear yanling cackling evilly... hehe! Ernie.. so sorry.. u just got a new hair cut and some pompoms in ur stomach.. hehe! Hows this new chappie? Not too good right? I seriously think my writing skills are sucking even more than usual. That is very very sad.. anyway, thanks for reading my fic and thanks for reviewing it if you have!
Yanling: haha! Like the death? My description is not as good as I would like it to be but it will do... hehe! We very sadistic yeah? Btw u aren't tensai. Ore wa tensai! Not u...
ernie: I still bet u are en yi. I so smart rite? Ur meano sis will nv be so nice as to review.. hehe! ernie (en hui), I hope u r reading this.. btw the moomoo-chan dat died hor.. I dunno is ernie or ernie.... hehe! which is translated to en hui or en yi.. how was chasing gao tian qi? He cute not?
Tiran: haha! Hope u like this chappie too! Anyway, nvm bout not reviewing.. at least u read it! ;) thanks lots..
Lambie: sorry.. I think my writing sucks.. haha! Stop lying to me.. u r juz inflating my already rather inflated ego! But thx anyway.. mitsui is sooooo nice eh? Haha!! Duh! I like him so obviously I make him so nice!
Amanda: haha! Cool writer does not necessarily mean good writer eh? So I guess u ain't lying.. hehe! I m cool! (fends off tomatoes) nvm.. ORE WA TENSAI!
Summer: how can any1 HATE rukawa? Haha! He is not top on my list.. but I like him too! Beware hate mail for that statement k? hehe! u r brave to post it on ffn..
Yup! Everyone... thanks again and hope u enjoy this chappie.. I know I update really slowly.. but sometimes I dun feel like writing? And I m a busy girl.. tensais haf their commitments ya noe? But after thousands of naggings from ur dearest yanling, I've updated! Hope u ain't too disappointed wif the quality though.. I must QC soon.. haha! Quality control.. like the show snap? Kim Ng n Brian Wong kept QC-ing each other..
I went up to my room with my presents, careful not to squash Moomoo-chan. I lay on my bed, thinking about how wonderful my brother was. All basketball- playing exams-failing 1.84 m of him. Just then, I heard a strange sound coming in the direction of Moomoo-chan. Turning in curiosity, I saw Moomoo- chan pawing a neatly wrapped package. It was Youhei's present.
Silently reprimanding myself for being so forgetful to have forgotten his present, my mind strayed to one previous thought of having inherited a memory from a goldfish. Shaking my head away from that digression, I tore open the wrapping paper of the present. In it lay a small white box. Opening it, I saw a silver charm bracelet lying neatly upon the sponge surface in the box. The tiny silver little figures of an assortment of things took to my heart instantly. There was a shoe, a little dolphin, a crescent, a star, a bell, a shirt and even a little basketball. The charm bracelet may not have been worth much, but I fell for it the instant I saw it, with its charms glinting in the dull light of my room. I had to thank Youhei first thing tomorrow, that was for sure.
I placed the jersey and bracelet on my dresser and lay Moomoo-chan and its namesake into my bed. Yawning in exhaustion, I hurriedly took a bath and plopped onto the bed, snuggling with the two Moomoo-chans...
The next day, I awoke to the soft purring of Moomoo-chan, minutes before my alarm clock rang. Moomoo-chan was turning out to be one cute little alarm clock. Stroking it as I forced my eyelids open, I smiled softly at the memory of the previous night. Glancing at the dresser, I reminded myself to say my thanks to Youhei. A slight movement under my hand brought my gaze back to the grey fur ball. Moomoo-chan. I turned my head towards the doll lying limply next to the cat. At that point, a flicker of an idea came to me. Perhaps, just perhaps, Kaede would like to see where Moomoo-chan got its name. Then, it was decided.
Pushing down the button on my alarm clock, I climbed out of bed and got ready for school. I stuffed the small doll into my school bag and carried Moomoo-chan down for breakfast. I put it down beside it litter box and freshened up its water as well as food. Then, I grabbed a piece of bread and stuffed it into my mouth so as to have both hands free to put on my shoes. I needed to get to school early to find Kaede before his unreasonable fans did. No way was I going to risk my reputation showing Kaede the doll in front of all those girls. Rumours would be sure to fly and I would get no end of it. Yet, I wanted Kaede to see that there was a base to Moomoo-chan's name.
I took out the bread from my mouth and grabbed my bag as my brother left his room. Giving him a wide smile, I said gaily, "Bye, brother! I'm off!"
"Someone sure is in a good mood today!" He commented, with a similar smile on his face. "Well, bye! Be careful okay?"
"Sure!" I replied cheerfully, and left the house chuckling. I was no longer a little girl. I was 17 now! Yet, I knew that even if I were 35, Hisashi would still have added his last sentence. It was not as if I was a scatterbrain or anything, (like I needed that on top of everything else) but he was just so... worried about me. That was one of the reasons why I didn't usually go to him when I was down. I just didn't want to upset him.
My home was not far from school. In fact, it was a walking distance from school. Walking briskly towards my destination, it was not long before I reached the school gym. Just as expected, the sound of a basketball bouncing on the floor could be heard coming from the gym. It had to be Kaede. I knew no one else who got up so early just to play basketball. Not even my brother. Many people assumed that Kaede was all talent, yet, judging from the amount of time he puts in for basketball, it would be safe to conclude that his skills are a result of plain hard work as well. In fact, I believe he really sacrificed a lot, from the way he even forgone his precious sleep to practise.
Entering the gym discreetly, I watched in awe as he placed the ball neatly through the hoop from the 3-pointer line. The graceful arc of the ball may be commonplace in my brother's shooting, but hardly anyone else is able to achieve such a feat. I guessed I might have made too much of a noise when closing the door because Kaede suddenly turned to look at me. That was not a problem though, as I was there to speak to him and not watch him play. He picked up the basketball and walked over to me.
"Hey... nice shot!" I said as he wiped off his sweat with his shirt. Raising my eyebrow at that "gesture of acknowledgement", I continued with a smile, "Anyway, do you wanna see Moomoo-chan? The doll? My brother gave it to be as a birthday present after you left. He gave me his jersey as well, but you are probably not interested. I am not sure why you would be interested in my old doll, but I just thought since I named your present after it, why not?"
Since I was rather sure Kaede would not actually reply, I pulled out the doll from my bag with a flourish. I could just hear the "ta-dah!" in the background of my imagination. Smoothing out the frumpled black hair of Moomoo-chan, I handed the small doll with the straight hair and small eyes to Kaede. He took it from me tentatively and looked at it. I could practically see a chibi-fied version of him with a sweatdrop at his forehead, just like in mangas, as he looked at the doll.
"This is Moomoo-chan the first!" I piped up cheerfully. "Isn't she wonderful? I had her since I was five and I loved her to pits! I can't believe Hisashi actually dug it out just for me! Isn't he the sweetest brother one could ever have? And that jersey! I am sure millions of girls would die to have it and I have it now! Besides, this all just proves that my brother thinks about me!"
Kaede was still staring at the doll as if he had never seen one in his life. He held it with its one hand, between his index finger and thumb, away from his body, so it was dangling dangerously, tilted to a side. "Don't you dare ruin it. I will kill you." I threatened, and then grabbed the doll back. Suddenly, I heard the door click shut. Someone had been there! I looked at Kaede with astonishment in my eyes. He too, looked subtly confused. Of course, no one can be sure about his expressions as they look the same at all times.
Just then, the first bell rang. It was time to make our way to class. I squashed the doll back into my bag and hurried out with a bye. As I rushed to class, all I could think of was the click of the door as it closed shut. That mysterious person and his or her complications raced through my mind. Will he or she start rumours? Kaede would probably not mind but what about me? I had come dangerously close to fainting the last time. Would my life be in danger this time? My mind flashed a picture of Moomoo-chan in my mouth, my eyes crossed. I shuddered.
The lessons for the day raced by without me absorbing anything. All I could do was worry about the mystery person. Soon, the school day was over. I walked out of the school, still pondering about the weird eavesdropper. Suddenly, a shadow fell upon me. I looked up from my stupor and saw three girls, disreputably known as Ru, Ka and Wa. Great. Just what I needed. An encounter with the brainless three.
"I heard that Riko dear couldn't leave house without her dolly!" Ru said snidely in a singsong voice that made me want to puke.
"I heard that Riko dear has a dolly named Moomoo-chan!" Ka continued in the same irritating demeanour.
"And I heard that Riko dear brought her darling little Moomoo-chan to school!" Wa finished off. I seriously do not doubt that they go to the same speech training school for they speak in the exact same manner. The manner that made me feel like head butting each and every one of them just like Sakuragi would.
"Hand it over!" Ru ordered. I rolled my eyes and started to walk away. Remember how everyone used to teach us that walking away from a fight was the smart way to go? Well, don't believe it. Just as I walked pass Wa, she grabbed my bag with such force unexpected from the tiny frame of hers. Before I could react, my bag was emptied onto the floor and Moomoo-chan was in Ka's hands. A snip of the scissors and a tuft of straight black hair fell upon the ground. And with a flick of her wrist, she slashed the body of Moomoo-chan with a small knife in her hands. Ru was furiously digging through her bag and pulled out her legendary pink pompoms. She grabbed the slashed doll from Ka's hands and started stuffing the pompoms into the slash of the doll's body.
I was stunned. Ru dropped the doll onto the floor with the rest of the contents of my bag. The 3 of them walked away into the distance but their maniacal laugh rang out loud and clear in my ears. I stared at Moomoo- chan's state. Its hair was severed unevenly and a thick tuft of hair lay near it. Half of a pompom stuck out of the doll's body, mocking me. Moomoo- chan looked up to me with her small eyes amidst the papers and books strewn over the area. The eyes reflected the grief eating into my heart. At that point, her eyes were mine and mine hers.
I sank onto the ground, a large of tear rolling down my cheek. It was my Moomoo-chan. My birthday present. Hisashi's present. They destroyed it. They wrecked it. Just because of Kaede. I hate them! I hate Kaede! I hate myself! Why didn't I grab Moomoo-chan back? Now she was ruined and it was all my fault. Why must Kaede have such lunatics as fans? Why did I bring Moomoo-chan to school? I should have seen this coming! Why were the girls so cruel? Didn't they know how much Moomoo-chan meant to me? I could not stop the tears from streaming down my face incessantly. Hugging Moomoo-chan tightly, I allowed my tears to flow ceaselessly. It was not fair! I did nothing to them! Moomoo-chan did nothing to them either! For god's sake, she was just a doll! A doll that meant nothing to them but the world to me!
Then, another shadow fell upon me. I looked up cautiously, afraid of yet another catastrophe just like the one before. A tall figure stood in front of me. He squatted down and I could see his face clearly. It was Kaede.
At his familiar face, I threw my hands around him and sobbed into his shirt.
Hahahahahhahahaha! Moomoo-chan is dead... I can practically hear yanling cackling evilly... hehe! Ernie.. so sorry.. u just got a new hair cut and some pompoms in ur stomach.. hehe! Hows this new chappie? Not too good right? I seriously think my writing skills are sucking even more than usual. That is very very sad.. anyway, thanks for reading my fic and thanks for reviewing it if you have!
Yanling: haha! Like the death? My description is not as good as I would like it to be but it will do... hehe! We very sadistic yeah? Btw u aren't tensai. Ore wa tensai! Not u...
ernie: I still bet u are en yi. I so smart rite? Ur meano sis will nv be so nice as to review.. hehe! ernie (en hui), I hope u r reading this.. btw the moomoo-chan dat died hor.. I dunno is ernie or ernie.... hehe! which is translated to en hui or en yi.. how was chasing gao tian qi? He cute not?
Tiran: haha! Hope u like this chappie too! Anyway, nvm bout not reviewing.. at least u read it! ;) thanks lots..
Lambie: sorry.. I think my writing sucks.. haha! Stop lying to me.. u r juz inflating my already rather inflated ego! But thx anyway.. mitsui is sooooo nice eh? Haha!! Duh! I like him so obviously I make him so nice!
Amanda: haha! Cool writer does not necessarily mean good writer eh? So I guess u ain't lying.. hehe! I m cool! (fends off tomatoes) nvm.. ORE WA TENSAI!
Summer: how can any1 HATE rukawa? Haha! He is not top on my list.. but I like him too! Beware hate mail for that statement k? hehe! u r brave to post it on ffn..
Yup! Everyone... thanks again and hope u enjoy this chappie.. I know I update really slowly.. but sometimes I dun feel like writing? And I m a busy girl.. tensais haf their commitments ya noe? But after thousands of naggings from ur dearest yanling, I've updated! Hope u ain't too disappointed wif the quality though.. I must QC soon.. haha! Quality control.. like the show snap? Kim Ng n Brian Wong kept QC-ing each other..