Chapter 7: Untitled
Rukawa found his sister and the Shohoku basketball team sitting on the parapet on the road just opposite of the restaurant and jogged over to them, barely dodging a car that horned so loudly as it zoomed past, earning all the birdies from the gang.
"How was work?" Hiroshi was the first one to speak, and Rukawa gave an imperceptible nod, his eyes emanating a dull indifference. "That bad huh."
"Just a few problems, nothing much. I don't want to talk about it," he finished and the gang stayed silent while they walked towards the shopping arcade.
"Hey. I heard that there is going to be another event at The Hoop(the place where they played streetball). They're throwing a mingling session party this Saturday. I think it'll be fun if we went since that'll be our last night in Tokyo anyway. Whaddya say?" Miyagi sounded pretty excited.
Ayako seemed to agree with Miyagi. "Not like we're having any other plans are we?"
Rukawa shook his head. "I'm not sure if I'll be working that night. Ryoko-san seems to be putting me in night shifts for tomorrow and the day after. But you guys can go without me, I don't care,"
"Of course you do. You just don't show it," Sakuragi said, surprising everyone with his sudden bout of psychoanalytical skills.
"And so says Rukawa's psychologist," Mitsui rolled his eyes.
Naomi stifled a laugh. "I'm not working Saturday night. I don't mind joining you guys if you'd have me tag along," she said, looking at the others' reaction. Fortunately, no one minded. Not outwardly anyway.
They headed for the food court in the basement of the arcade, as none of them could decide which restaurant they wanted to go to. After their meal, Haruko and Ayako wanted to shop around and thus they left the guys with Naomi behind. Naomi then suggested that they go for a game of pool.
Nobody said anything, they were feeling pretty bored anyway, so they heeded Naomi's decision and went into the pool parlour(if you call it that). They sauntered in lazily, surveying the crowd as they stopped momentarily and looked up back at them. Striding in first, Sakuragi adjusted his sports jacket and ran his left hand through his hair. Stepping forward, he tripped on his untied shoelace and fell to the ground unceremoniously.
Naomi, Mitsui and Miyagi stared at him, jaws working soundlessly. Rukawa rolled his eyes, muttering a 'do'ahou' before going to the counter and paying for a table. Sakuragi hopped back onto his feet, his face in a silly smile and strode into the parlour as if nothing has happened. He picked a cue from the stands by the side and followed Rukawa to their table, and chalked his cue.
Naomi looked at Sakuragi, who seemed to know exactly what he was doing. "You know how to play pool, Sakuragi?" she asked, her right side of her mouth quirking into a slight smile.
Sakuragi hesitated a moment before bursting into his usual boisterous laughter. "Of course!" he chortled, hands on hips, "This Tensai knows everything!" he took the triangle in hand and placed it on the side of the table, placing the balls correctly, to Rukawa's and Miyagi's surprise. Taking the triangle off, he gestured to the balls. "So, who's taking the first shot?"
Naomi shrugged. "Mitsui, why don't you do us the honours?"
"As my lady wishes," Mitsui bowed exaggeratedly at Naomi, who looked highly amused. Striking a pose, he bent low with cue stick in hand, aiming with narrowed eyes. Drawing his arm back, he struck the cue ball with a cracking sound, causing the table to explode in a burst of colours as the balls dispersed across the green carpet. He sunk a solid '7' ball, and stood back, satisfied.
"Nice shot," Miyagi flicked a look at him, impressed.
Mitsui looked smug. Sakuragi just scoffed and said that he could do better. "By all means," Mitsui said, "It's all yours,"
"But shouldn't it still be your turn?" Rukawa asked. Although he didn't really know how to play pool, he knew the basic rules of it, and believed that a person could sink as many balls as he wished as long as he sinks it one after the other.
"Yeah, but since there're so many of us, we'll play teams. Sakuragi and I in one; you two in another," Mitsui leaned against the wall, the low slung lamp giving off an orangey hue to his face that made him look just a little menacing.
"Alright, let's see what this Tensai's got," Naomi said, a challenge clearly evident albeit subtle, in her voice.
Sakuragi straightened himself and crouched close to the table, aiming the cue stick at the ball. With a fuelled yell, he pulled back and stabbed with all his might. Instead of hitting the cue ball like he should, the stick ripped through the cloth of the table with a screeching sound, not unlike a fingernail scratching a blackboard. Everyone around them winced and looked at him with their faces twisted in repulsion.
Rukawa felt his face twitch. He held his finger to his ear, shaking it and hoping he hasn't lost his hearing after that little incident. "You idiot, what were you trying to do? Kill us all?"
Sakuragi was standing face-to-face with him in a shot. "Are you insulting me, darn Kitsune?"
Miyagi stood in between them, prying them apart before anything else could happen. "Cool it off, you two! Stop behaving like children!"
Naomi looked apathetically at her nails while Mitsui whistled tunelessly. Rukawa's eyes hardened as he backed off, not before shoving Sakuragi away. "I'm outta here," he said, storming away as quick as he could.
"Fine, get out of here! We don't want you around anyway!" Sakuragi called after him, but his voice was tuned out by Rukawa, who stuffed his cue stick back into the holder. Walking out of the parlour and the shopping arcade, he strolled aimlessly in the streets, neon lights from the advertisements and billboards making his head throb uncomfortably. He kept walking, and the next thing he knew, he was looking at a neighbourhood, the city lights blinking like a forgotten dying galactic star behind him.
His mobile read 10pm, and he had 5 missed calls and 2 messages. Shoving his phone back into his back pocket he walked on, coming across a playground. He sat on the swing and it creaked painfully under his weight. Swinging lightly with his feet still on the ground, he whipped out his phone and checked through his messages. The first was sent by his sister, asking if he was ok and where he was. The second was from Mia, asking where he was right now.
He took a look at his surroundings, not exactly knowing his location. He figured he was about an hour away from where Naomi's apartment, and so he typed that into his message to Mia. He sent it and she replied, asking him to come to The Hoop. He sighed audibly. Couldn't a guy be by himself without anyone bugging him for at least 10 minutes? Rukawa got off the swing was just about to head back when he heard shouting not far behind him.
"Just go away, alright? I'm not ready to deal with this all over again," it was a girl, and she sounded really distressed. His ears perked, and continued listening, rooted to the spot.
"Listen to me, you don't understand," this time it was a guy, and Rukawa wondered if it was just a random couple with a lover's spat. "He's in trouble and needs your help. Mom and Dad won't even answer my calls!" Hmm?
Rukawa turned around and saw a couple, but not much else as the streetlamps were few and spaced far apart, casting a cool white glow. He could make out a guy wearing a leather jacket and the girl with a hooded jumper; the guy holding on to the girl's arm and the girl struggling to twist herself free from his grip. Rukawa hesitated, deciding on whether to interfere or not. As the bickering couple got closer however, he felt that he couldn't look on by the sidelines any longer. It was Shizue and an unknown person bickering, and the situation was getting ugly as he looked ready to beat her.
Just before his arm flew down to her face, it was intercepted by Rukawa's firm grip and he looked up, surprised, before scowling at the raven haired boy. "Who are you?"
"I might ask the same thing," Rukawa replied emotionlessly, flinging the other boy(he looked no more than 20)'s arm away.
"Kaede," Shizue breathed, looking at him as if he just did a striptease in front of her. Her eyes were round and disbelieving, and she touched his face, causing him to flinch and back away from her.
"Back off. This is none of your business," The boy growled.
"It is now," Rukawa muttered as he brought a fist to the boy's jaw, colliding with a sickening crunch. The boy crumpled ungracefully to the floor and looked up at him, clutching at his mouth with tears of pain in his eyes. He then scrambled away without even a comeback remark.
He turned to look at Shizue, who was shaking slightly. She looked up at him sensing his gaze on her; and shook her head slowly. "We were just talking just now..."
"Doesn't look that way to me," Rukawa said, walking down the empty street with the shaken girl following. "He was about to punch you."
"He wouldn't punch me. He is-" A pause.
"He is what?"
"Nothing," Shizue closed off, her lips pursed tightly together in a stubborn line.
"You know, you owe me an explanation since I saved your arse back there," Rukawa was tired of getting such inadequate responses from Shizue, and he frankly didn't want to waste his breath for nothing.
"Nobody asked you to butt your nosey face in," she retorted, her anger flaring like sparks ignited by his impudence at his intrusion into her private life.
Rukawa raked his fingers through his hair, seething silently. He had no idea why he had wasted his time back there, since it was obvious that Shizue was too stubborn to open her mouth and tell him anything. He could see the girl biting her lower lip from the corner of his eye, looking a little guilty at her last statement. As she should be, he thought bitterly.
They walked in silence, and he broke it with a taut, "Where are you staying?"
"Just round the corner. But I'm not going home," he turned to look at her but could only see her blue plaits as she faced the concrete floor, refusing to look up at him.
"Where are you going at this hour?"
"A friend's place," Quiet fell upon them like a thick blanket. They walked side by side in anything but companiable silence. They walked through the city which was still as bright as ever, but the crowd had dissipated a while ago, since it was nearing 1am.
Rukawa's mobile phone rang and he picked it up with a hoarse, "Hello?"
"Kaede! Where the hell are you? And why haven't you been answering my calls?" Naomi's voice came through the equipment in a screech, obviously pissed off at him. He held the phone an arm's length away from his ear, wincing in pain.
Shizue looked up at him; her lips clamped shut, face carefully blank. He glared at her with all the anger he could muster, daring her to say anything or to even smile.
"I'm coming home late. Don't wait up for me. And I'm fine." He told Naomi, and shut her nagging by snapping the phone shut with a loud click. He let out a noisy breath. "Sisters." He added scornfully.
"Yeah. Who cares about sisters anyway? Not when they care about you enough to call you and ask you how you are, when they quit school just to work and support you so that you could go to school; when they get their asses burnt trying to get you out of trouble. Yeah. What the hell are sisters for? To get their asses whipped and trampled like a fucken loser by their younger brothers of course," Shizue said, her tone acidifying, eating away at Rukawa's conscience.
Rukawa was stunned into silence as his mind replayed her speech over again. "You're finally speaking, huh." He almost wanted to kick himself when that left his lips.
Shizue rolled her eyes and huffed impatiently. She twisted her hands in a frustrated manner and uttered, "Whatever. Just don't. Don't say anything!" she threw her hands up in the air, then gripping her braids and yanking at them violently.
"You don't want to yank that beautiful hair off your head, trust me," Rukawa unwittingly commented. Then again, when has his compliments been thoughtfully given?
Shizue looked up, her hands dropping to her sides, liquid eyes widening slightly. "Beautiful hair?" her eyebrows look like they were about to disappear in her hairline.
Rukawa coughed. "Um, yeah well." He struggled to find something smart to say, but his brain seemed to be hibernating. "Whatever," he sighed.
"Don't worry. I won't read anything into it. If I were you I'd like my hair too," she said, smiling slightly. Glancing at her surroundings, her mood changed as recognition donned in her eyes. "I'm here," she stopped walking, and clutched her hands in front of her loosely. "Thanks for walking me."
"But we're at an intersection," Rukawa said.
"It's really near here, and anyway I know you live further down, so don't bother walking me up," Shizue said nonchalantly twirling a braid in her fingers.
"I might as well, since I've walked you all this way," he looked at her suspiciously. "What have you got to hide?" dropping to a whisper, he asked, "Is he anyone I know?"
"Ugh. You're impossible!" she slapped him on the arm. "Look, let's just part ways here, alright? I'll be fine, I promise!" she turned away, but Rukawa caught her wrist before she could storm away.
Shizue turned around, locking gazes with Rukawa. Sapphire blue met ink-black as they stared at each other for a long while, their faces drifting closer and closer as the couple's eyes fluttered delicately shut...
Blinking suddenly, Shizue shook her hand loose of Rukawa's grip and straightened up, as if wakening from a dream. "T-thanks again," she whispered huskily before jogging off down to the right of the intersection, directly opposite where he was heading for.
Rukawa was left at the intersection staring after her, unable to move for a long while.
Naomi wasn't pleased when he stepped through the door of the apartment, her hands crossed tightly over her chest. "So. Explain yourself why you disappeared without a goddamn word," her black eyes seemed to be set ablaze by the fury she was feeling inside.
"I don't want to talk about it," Rukawa muttered tiredly, throwing himself on the couch and kneading the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
Setting a glass of water in front of him, Naomi sat by his side, sinking into the plush material of the sofa. "Get some sleep, it's late." She squeezed his knee gently. "If you ever need to talk, you know where to find me," she told him before getting up, her footsteps fading as she walked back into her bedroom.
Sitting there looking at the crystalline clear water in front of him, inwardly cursing himself for not being able to express himself as he wished to. He felt like he was in knots, and that there was no one who could untangle them out.
Rukawa had not seen Shizue for a few days after that, since she was in morning shift and he was doing night shifts. Mia though, was on the night shift with him on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He was pleasantly surprised to find out that the restaurant hired a live band every evening, and that the band wasn't half bad at all. In fact, there were a lot of patrons that stayed behind after dinner to listen to the band play. The singer was a stylish looking woman in her early twenties, with black hair streaked with strands of silver flowing down her smooth white back. She wore a simple red halter top, contrasting nicely with her black mini skirt and knee high white boots. Her rich mellow voice sang to the lyrics of, 'If I Ain't Got You' by Alicia Keys.
It was a Friday night, and a function was going on upstairs. There were sounds of people upstairs partying, drinking and having fun. Rukawa walked around, his face vacant, eyes even more so.
Mia came up to him, seeming worried. "Kaede! What's wrong?"
Jolted out of his reverie he turned to look at her. "Oh. Mia. It's nothing. I'm just a little tired," he stepped into the expo, taking a sip of Sprite that he got from the bartender, Steve.
Yuka, the other captain on duty that day came up to the both of them, telling them not to stay in the expo for too long, that there were guests outside waiting for their orders to be taken. Mia nodded at her and whispered to Rukawa, "We'll talk about this later,"
So they did, during their supper break at 1030pm. They sat with a plate of food in front of them, Rukawa poking listlessly at his. Mia set down her fork, clearly bristled. "Are you going to tell me or what?"
Rukawa sighed, and took a sip of water. "There's nothing to tell, Mia." He looked at her doubtful brown eyes. "Did you know your eyes have specks of darker brown in them?" he said, trying to change the subject.
"Don't you try and distract me," she arched an eyebrow. "Let me guess. Girl trouble?"
You're smarter than you look, I'll give you that. He shot a wary look at her. "And what if its not?"
"Then I'll keep annoying you with my guesses," she said triumphantly, stabbing at her noodles. Twirling her fork around it, she glanced up at him again. "You know, if it is girl trouble, you can confide in me and I won't ever tell."
Rukawa nodded, much to his own surprise. "Yeah, I know."
Mia bounced excitedly in her seat. "So, are you ready to tell me?"
"Knock it off already. There's nothing to tell," Rukawa chuckled, amused by Mia's antics. He picked up his plate and walked to the bin, throwing scraps of food away before pushing the plate into the washing area. "I'm going to sit outside for a while. Later," he nodded at her, ignoring her look of displeasure.
The night wore on with Rukawa doing cutlery that night in the expo quietly. Yuka came in with the service department schedule file, sitting not far from him, flipping it open and looking through it with a frown on her face.
"Hey Kaede," the woman in her mid twenties spoke up, "Do you have any requests for next week's schedule? I'm planning it."
Rukawa shrugged. "Anything's fine by me,"
"I'll put you off on Wednesday?"
"Sure. Who else is off on Wednesday?" he asked.
Yuka smiled cheekily. "Is there someone you'd like to ask out?" she looked at him and tutted. "It's been only a week and you've got a girl already,"
"No. Just curious."
"I bet," she glanced down at her file. "Hmm. Shizue's off, so is Keiko and Yoshi. Yoshi's a junior, by the way. I don't think you've met him yet though. Your schedule and his seem to be the exact opposite of each other. But don't worry; there'll be plenty of chances next week. You'll be working with him nearly everyday."
"Don't worry Yuko. I'm not interested in guys," he deadpanned.
"Was that a joke, Rukawa?" Mia came in the expo through the curtain, which was drawn after the kitchen was closed for dinner hours. "I never knew the cold as ice Kaede could crack a joke!" she covered her mouth in mock wonderment.
"Shut up Mia. No one asked for you imput," Rukawa glowered.
"Hmm. Ryoko told me you were an inert human when it comes to showing emotions. I see that is not so. Or maybe it's because Mia's been a good influence on you," Yuka commented approvingly.
Rukawa looked aghast. "Mia? Influence me?"
Mia nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think so too. I should hang around him more often, don't you think, Yuka?" she grinned evilly at Rukawa, who gave her a repulsive glare.
"That's the best idea you've come up with since... oh I don't know, since forever!" Yuka cried and clapped her hands in glee. "Ok then. I'll make a change in your schedules. You'll have every shift the same as Mia." She rubbed the paper with an eraser, the pencil clamped between her lips. "Ok then. I'll type this out and post it up in the expo later." She left.
"Are there still a lot of people outside?" Rukawa asked, the forks shooting out of his hand one by one as he wiped them dry.
"No. Just a few of the regular guests sitting by the bar chatting with the manager," Mia looked around for something to munch on. She took a container of bacon bits by the side of the dressing counter and popped them into her mouth. "Sano's outside, don't worry."
"I'm not. Worrying, that is." Rukawa shrugged. "You're the senior, not me, so if there's no one on the floor, it's gonna be your fault, not mine," he pointed out ungraciously. Putting the rest of the cutlery in place, he hefted the tray and shoved it into the top rack.
"So," Mia munched, a finger on her lips, giving her a thoughtful air about her. "Shizue called me," she paused, gauging the reaction coming from Rukawa, which was non existent, though she could tell he was paying full attention now. "Told me that she was sick, and couldn't come to work for a few days. Lucky for her, we've got enough part timers to take her place. She does the work of two people."
Rukawa sat silently, ignoring Mia as she continued to talk. He wondered if the guy he saw yesterday was going to continue harassing her; and the identity of the person she was staying with that night. It had to be someone that he knew, she said so herself. What caught his attention though, was Mia's next sentence.
"...maybe we should go out sometime together?" she looked at him, her eyes shining in what seemed like anticipation.
"...What?"
"I said, if we happen to have the same off day next week, or shift or whatever, maybe we could go out sometime?" Mia looked a little put out.
Rukawa shrugged. "Sure," he said, thinking that it was the best answer to give her.
"Ok!" Mia stood, and walked out of the expo, her footsteps light and cheery. She popped her head in again, and said, "Hey Kaede, we can set the floor now. The guests are gone, and the restaurant's closed for the night. C'mon!" she waved him over, before he reluctantly got off his chair and followed her outside.
a/n: ooo, seems like Rukawa's got all the girls drooling all over him(surprise surprise). Well, if the pool scene was a little rough around the edges, that's cos I don't know much about it. By the way, I just watched The Notebook, starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. Good stuff. Cried some too, and I'm not those that cry in theatres. It's so bloody romantic, it's lovely.