Title: On Forgiveness.
Author: Anduril
Rating: G
Dedication: Inoue-sensei for providing some very interesting characters to work with. *g* That Fujima picture with his scar... *drool* And of course, never forget everyone here! ^_^
Notes: I wrote this 2002, and just revisited it and feel like upload it onto ff.net after premiered it in UKML. FujiRu, just cos… mmmmm…..
In one hot August summer...
The IH competition almost reached its climax. This year's championship is wide-open, as the defending champion was ousted by an unknown team in the first round, in a memorable match that would left every single basketball fan in Japan talking about it to no end. But the tiring and fast-paced match took its toll on the Shohoku basketball members, the victorious side in the Sannoh game, when they lost the next game against Aiwa.
A member of the said basketball team was back in Kanagawa, although he was quite far from his home. And now, he, far from the bustling crowd of the IH, was totally ignorance of the outcome of other teams, since he had an errand to do. Something to give.
A letter.
Hence, here he was, in the deserted corridor of Shoyo High School, walking steadily towards the gym. The usual sounds associated with the gym can be heard in the lonely pathway. It seems when the crowd had been busy enjoying the summer outside, the member of Shoyo Basketball Team had been busy training in the gym with the upcoming winter IH.
And the tall figure was also interested in that one sport- basketball.
Voices were heard, as some of the students recognised the tall boy as the member of Shohoku High School Basketball Team. The team that beat Shoyo in the prefectural game, thus, earning them the place in the final league, and ended Shoyo's dream to present Kanagawa in the Inter-High. The team had also earned the name for themselves as other great teams such as Toyotama from Osaka and Sannoh from Akita Shoten crumbled against them.
"Remember our aim. To present Kanagawa in the Winter Championship. And we cannot, even for one second, forget about it and lessen our effort. I expect each and everyone of you to give your one hundred and ten percent. Are we all cleared?"
A resounding yes filled the basketball gym. They were certainly full of spirit. Much like Shohoku...
"Dismissed." The voice said with authority, one to be respected.
Practice had ended.
Hanagata Toru, the tall Shoyo centre, stopped on his track when he recognised the lone figure next to the gym's entrance.
"Rukawa Kaede."
Rukawa gave the centre player a small nod, acknowledging his call. True to his nature, he remained silence, because he wasn't here in Shoyo for Hanagata. In fact, it was concerning someone else. One player/coach/manager/captain of the Shoyo team.
"Hey Rukawa! Just gonna tell you, good job you did in the IH." Hanagata praised the young rookie.
"We lost anyway." There was a hint of bitterness in Rukawa's voice. Such a pride this boy had, expected the best, and wanted to be the best. Beating Sannoh was an amazing achievement, he knew it, but it didn't matter anymore since they lost the next round to Aiwa.
"Erm...well..." Hanagata couldn't find the appropriate words to say. But then, he didn't need to say anything else since the pale boy's attention was not on him. Instead, it was on a certain Shoyo's multi-talented player. "I just leave you and Fujima here. We're leaving anyway."
Rukawa nodded, as that was the way to show his appreciation. He then walked towards the Shoyo captain, while the older boy was oblivious to another stranger in the empty gym.
"Fujima-san..." The boy said silently, but with enough volume for the brunette to notice him back.
"Oh! It's you, Rukawa, right? Why are you here?" Fujima sure didn't waste any time in asking the question directly.
"To give you this." He retrieved a white envelope from his bag and gave it to Fujima.
"Thank you." Fujima was confused with the unusual reason. It was not everyday one get a visitor from Shohoku, and Rukawa Kaede was definitely the last person he expected to be here, bringing this letter with him, for Fujima. Nevertheless, he took the letter, tore the envelope in a tidy cut and began to read it.
Fujima-san,
Forgive me if I was the last person you expect to write you this letter. Even I was contemplating if I should write to you or not. In the end, I realised I need to do this, it's better than to keep it in my heart, trying to forget this guilt I had.
Last year's incident… it was an accident. Believe me, for it was the truth. It was a costly accident nevertheless, to your team, and to my reputation. But that accident, in a weird way, had led to me thinking of an easy way of winning. That, was wrong. I know. Having taken out a team's ace, thus, making the team fall into a fixed, hence, easily gain victory, had been my trademark for a while.
I really enjoyed playing basketball. And I realised that in our game against Shohoku. Like everyone expected, I 'killed' their 'ace'. But there was this guilt feeling intact in me, when he came back and fought his way to victory. I lost concentration, and I couldn't play my usual game. That's when I knew my conflict came from watching him play, watching him so determined to win. But unlike me, he wants to play it fair.
I decided it was about time to take him out permanently. With all the stress to win, the bundle of the whole team in my shoulder, and my main motivation for the game, I forced myself into the basket. I hurt him as well as hurt myself. After I faced my old coach, I realised the real reason I played basketball. As long as I'm happy, I will continue to play.
Forgive me, from the deep of my humble heart. And maybe, there will be a next time for us to meet up and play it fair. I promised you this.
Minami Tsuyoshi.
Fujima had felt his colour was drained out of his body. He squeezed the life out of the letter. He was about to feel something that wasn't really consistent in his behaviour.
Anger.
Fujima was furious. No, he was beyond furious. He needed something to channel out his anger. And Rukawa had been very unlucky to stand in the vicinity of the angry young man. He grabbed the freshman, the innocent messenger, and slammed him against the wall.
"What the hell...is this?" Fujima said threateningly. He then shoved him the crumpled letter.
Rukawa was startled at first by the display of anger. This was the least thing he expected when he agreed to deliver the letter. All he could do at the moment was to stay immobile, letting the other boy hurled his anger towards him.
"What does that bastard want?" Fujima poked Rukawa's chess, making the younger boy stumbled against the wall.
Rukawa remained silence.
"Is it not enough for him?!! Is it??!!!" Fujima practically screamed at Rukawa.
"Fujima-san…"
"What does he want next? That I'm dead??!!!" His usual bright blue eyes were filled with rage. Resentment. Hate. Loathe.
"I don't need this."
With that, he stomped off with bag and slammed the door. Even after a couple of seconds, the only thing that left was the vibration from the strong force. Such a strong force of animosity towards something that had happened in his past.
After a while, the only person left in the gym started to move. He picked up the crumbled letter and put it back in his bag. He thought, with Fujima's reaction, he wasn't very happy with the content of the letter. But at the moment, he didn't want to pry into whatever happened between them in the part. It wasn't his business anyway.
Rubbing his sore back, he carried his bag and walked towards the door. Rukawa sighed.
Fujima had locked the door to the gym.
***
"What was it?" Hanagata asked as he put his towel into his sport bag.
"That bastard Minami asked for forgiveness. Would you believe that or not??" Fujima angrily answered the question, slamming his locker door in the process.
"He did?"
Another slam provided the answer to Hanagata's question.
"Maybe he was feeling really guilty about it?"
"No way... Toru, you weren't there in front of him. But I was. His words lingered, and there was a malice in his eyes. There was no such thing as accident in his action" The captain explained.
"And Rukawa came to give you his letter?"
"They met in the IH."
"You know…I got the tape of Shohoku's game against Toyotama. He hit Rukawa too." Hanagata voluntarily provided the information.
"What??!!" Fujima was surprised with the revelation. He didn't expect the same thing happened to Shohoku, and of all people, to their ace, Rukawa. But Minami seemed to keep up with his name and reputation as The Ace Killer, as Fujima was very aware of it.
Hanagata nodded. "I saw a glimpse of it, when I checked if I received the correct tape, since we need to study Shohoku for the elimination. It happened, again."
Again…
It happened.
"Oh!" Fujima exclaimed, as he suddenly remembered the content of the letter. "I forgot all about it! He had wrote it in the letter… he took the Shohoku's ace out in that game, but I was so angry, that information had been lost from my mind."
"He confessed it to you, it seems." Hanagata observed.
"I am so embarrass. Rukawa brought the letter, and I shouted vile words at him. I lost my cool. I didn't know he was as much victim as I was." Realisation hit Fujima, as he buried his head in his hand. "Oh God! I am such an asshole!"
"Hey...relax, it happened. I'm sure Rukawa understands you don't mean it that way." Hanagata tried to assure his captain with regard to Rukawa.
"Are we talking about the same Rukawa here? It's hard to read that boy." The image of the arrogant Super Rookie of Shohoku flashed into Fujima's mind. There was no way Rukawa would have understood his outburst a moment ago.
"Well...erm..." Hanagata couldn't find anything to defence against him, so he quickly changed the subject. "By the way, where is he?"
A moment of momentarily lapse could provide a bad decision in Fujima's side. That was why the Shoyo coach he had to keep his head clear and his attention in focused in the game. But he had submitted to anger while dealing with the letter. Simply because he couldn't...forgive.
And Hanagata's question had thrown him away. The last time he had seen Rukawa was when he was in the gym, where the boy looked confused mixed with a little bit of shock of his unexpected behaviour. "I was so mad, that I bang the door and left him in the gym."
"You…" The Shoyo centre was surprised with the answer. "You do know the door to the gym locked automatically when you close it that way, right?"
"Oh God! What could possibly be worse? I got to go back to the gym." Fujima pondered about the fact while he's making his moves back to the gym. "I got to apologize and explain to him"
Fujima was hoping Rukawa will not say anything and just left his embarrassment within the walls of the gym. He had hoped so.
While Hanagata could only prayed that things would turn better for his friend.
-tbc-