(Chapter 15: Kira's First Game)

Kira looked around for her clothes to put on for the game, but couldn't find them. After ten minutes of frantic searching with Yumi, she finally said slowly to Rukawa and Mitsui, "My clothes are gone."

"What?" Mitsui frowned. Rukawa's expression remained stony. Yumi repeated huffily as she prowled the sandy beach.

"Her clothes are gone. No doubt about it, some pervert stole it." Kira's eyes widened as she gawked.

"Why?! Why would they do something like that?" Her friend shrugged, straightening up after her unsuccessful search.

"Most likely you have a stalker or an admirer of some sort. The real problem is, what are you going to wear? You can't wear your swimsuit until you get home and you'll be frozen to death by then. You know how cold the beach gets after the sun goes down."

Before Kira had time to say anything, An extra large, enormous, black T-shirt was tossed over Kira. They turned to Rukawa, who stood in his black shirt. He looked away.

"It's an extra. Wear it." Kira looked at Yumi, who nodded, and pulled it over her head. The shirt was huge. As the shirt enveloped her body, Kira's slender body disappeared in the endless material. Yumi took one look at her and giggled. Even Mitsui cracked a smile.

"You look like a kid playing dress-up." Yumi told her between laughter. Rukawa looked over with an impatient sigh, but they noticed something flicker in his icy blue eyes, before he started walking away.

Rukawa was silent as Sakuragi asked slowly in a voice of disbelief. "Why am I not playing again?" Ayako, with her usual cap over her mass of curly hair, explained patiently once again.

"It's a basketball game for girls, Sakuragi. You boys had your chance every single day. It's our turn."

"Then why is Rukawa playing?!" The redheaded king of rebound demanded. Under his breath, Kira could hear Rukawa mutter, "Idiot."

"He's not, Sakuragi, no boys are." Ayako winked. "You're just here to referee us. After all, what are we compared to our mighty, powerful, all important king of basketball?"

Sakuragi puffed out his chest and plastered an arrogant grin on his face.

"I meant Akagi." The smile quickly disappeared as a frown took its place.

"What? That gorilla?" He grumbled under his breath. "Why him? I am better than him in every way, and don't forget how I beat him before I even know how to play basketball—" A fist on his head silenced him as he howled in pain.

"Shut up and go stand by the sidelines with the other guys." Akagi ordered darkly, pointing to where the guys had taken place along the logs placed in the sand and the lone stone wall. Sakuragi mumbled dark obscenities and curses as he stalked over with Mito and the Sakuragi Brigade.

Ayako, taking charge as usual, quickly divided ten girls up into two teams. The group of bikini flamingos refused to participate in such a "riotous" sport, but there were plenty of other girls, whom were now all dressed in T-shirt and shorts, that's willing to participate.

"I think I'll skip." Kira began to say as she backed off against the wall with Sakuragi, but Haruko grabbed her elbow and refused to let go.

"No, no!" She begged. "We have nine players, you have to play to make the teams even."

"Surely, one of the boys could take my place—" Yumi countered by grabbing her other arm before she could finish.

"No! You've got to play, girl!" She exclaimed. "How often do you think you'll get a chance like this?"

"Well—"

"You don't to disappoint Rukawa, do you? Look over there." She motioned to the solitary, straight, tall figure. "Look at him. He's the star of the basketball team, how do you think he'd feel if the girl he's with everyday doesn't even give his favorite sport a try?"

"Basketball is almost his life." Haruko pointed out. Giving up, Kira allowed herself to be placed on Haruko's team. Shuffling between them, the boys had somehow conjured up nine wristbands of white and various dark colors, making all the girls wonder how big of an impact basketball has made upon all of their lives if they're randomly carrying wristbands everywhere.

Kira slipped on a white wristband with Haruko, Mila, Nakata—who invited herself brashly into this gathering—and an athletic gal named Suki, who was Haruko's friend. The other team consisted of Ayako—who had no wristband because of the shortage and is using her red cap in its place—Yumi, Aiko, Suzu, and another one of Haruko's friends, Keiko.

"So it's the reds verses the whites." Kogure announced the obvious. "Let's go, girls!"

The game began, and the large flock of guys had scuffled around and rearranged themselves to be cheering for one of the two teams. Sakuragi and Akagi were rooting for the white, both for Haruko, while Mitsui and Miyagi cheered for the reds, for Ayako and Yumi. Rukawa alone stood apart from all of them, his face expressionless. Kogure and the others evenly splited themselves up between the two groups.

Rukawa, though, wasn't cheering for anyone, was watching the game intently. As he had predicted, Kira's clumsiness was soon know throughout the whole court.

"Kira, catch!" Haruko passed the basketball to her. Kira fumbled with the ball and gave a cry as the ball jammed against her finger. Yumi quickly caught the ball and went for the hoop. A large groan was heard from the white cheering squad as the reds scored.

"It's okay, Kira," Mila patted her on the back. "How's your finger?"

It was painful and had swollen just a bit, but Kira, unwilling to spoil the playful atmosphere around her, forced a smile on her lips and assured the girl that she was all right.

The game continued and this time, Kira was positioned in front of the basket for defense. Ayako came charging up with the ball and the boys supporting the whites roared for her to cut Ayako off.

"Stop her, stop her!" Even Mito was deeply engrossed into the game as he jumped up and hollered.

"Go, Ayako!" Miyagi shouted, his hands balled into fists. "Make a basket, you can do it!"

"Slap the ball away from her, Kira! Focus on the ball, not her hands!" Sakuragi bellowed.

Kira focused on the ball, but as she reached out for it, she tripped over her own foot and landed in a heap by Ayako, who tripped and fell on top of her. The whistle was blown by Kogure, who was acting as referee in this game since Akagi was siding with his sister, as the game was called to a halt.

Rukawa pushed away from the wall, a concerned frown on his brows, but didn't move forward, for he was a wise youth, and knew when to intervene.

"Are you alright, Kira?" Yumi gasped as she pushed forward. "Oh! You're bleeding!"

Ayako, who had fallen over Kira, was all right besides being bruised, but Kira, who had been twisted in the large shirt landed without the protection of her hands. Blood began to seep and trickle from the large scrape on her knees.

"We'll have to treat that right away." Miyagi looked concerned as he felt around the raw skin for any broken bones of any sort. Kira gritted her teeth from the pain. But while she was clumsy and awkward on the court, Kira was not a quitter, to Rukawa's pride. She'll never quiet while she can still go on. Kira gently pushed the helping hands away and firmly called for a first-aid kit.

"This will only take several minutes." She explained as the kit was brought by Mitsui. "I'll simply disinfect it and wrap a Band-Aid on it." Her voice was cheerful, but the boys were not so easily convinced.

"You really should get it properly treated." Kogure advised, pushing his glass upward. The rest of the team nodded their agreement.

"I'll be fine. Don't spoil me." She tried to sound light as she slapped a bandage over her knee and visibly flinched at the pain that shot up. Nobody missed that look.

"Perhaps Kogure is right." Haruko said doubtfully. "It looks nasty."

"Yeah!" Yumi nodded, looking slightly less nauseated now that the blood was gone.

"Don't coddle me, let's continue the game!" Kira tried to stand up with vigor, but her knee gave away underneath her and various hands had to catch her before she hurts herself again. Akagi sighed, but Kira insisted. Soon she was back into the game.

"Pass, Aiko! Pass!" Suzu yelled. "Pass it to Keiko, she's free!"

Within a moment, Kira was in front of Keiko, blocking the girl with her body.

"Great job, Kira!" Suki called. "Now make sure she doesn't get the ball!"

"I knew she'd get the hang of it sometimes." Sakuragi whispered smugly to nobody in particular. "It must be because she watched the ingenious me play during practices." Akagi rolled his eyes.

"Don't be bragging too soon, Sakuragi!" They looked over to see Miyagi's eyes gleaming, a smirk on his lips. "We both know that the red team is much stronger. There is no way your team is going to win."

"Yeah." Mitsui also snickered. "Prepare to face defeat."

"We're not going to lose!" Mito shot back. "We have good players on our team!"

"Yeah!" The Sakuragi Brigade turned onto the reds with menacing expressions.

"You wanna bet?" Mitsui pushed forward, his eyes beginning to burn.

"Only if you want to lose!" A guy from the white team replied cuttingly.

"Only a fool can think that they're winning." A red called.

"Then I guess you're talking about yourself." Sakuragi's face was threatening. The two teams were almost nose to nose now, and Kogure was trying to chill both groups down as well as referee the basketball game.

"Hey guys, come on." He pleaded. "This is only a fun game, nothing serious." Dozens of pairs of eyes turned onto him, detonating with flames.

"You think we're going to lose, don't you!?" Miyagi growled.

"No! No, no, no…"

"So you're actually on their side!" Mito gave Kogure an icy glare. "How do we know you're being fair?!"

"Hey, now wait just a minute—"

"This is just an unfair game to began with. Kogure was probably siding with the other team."

"Not fair! Somebody else be referee!"

"I knew people with glasses should never be trusted."

"Enough!" Akagi bellowed. Silence immediately prevailed over the cheering squads. Poor, honest Kogure looked like he was about to explode with innocence. Rukawa gave them a bored look. Then turned back to the game, just in time to see Kira making one of her famous dives against the stone wall, oblivious to everything but the ball within her grasp.

"Kira, watch out!" A cry rose up.

Before Kira realized what she danger she was up against, she slammed against the wall headfirst. Gasps were heard as she collapsed and curled into a tight ball. Footsteps ran toward her, their hearts thudding, fearing the worst.

Miyagi reached her first, all the blood had drained from his face. Stooping down to his knees, he reached out for the girl, pushing her long hair away from her face.

"…Kira?"

She stirred a little, a groan raising from deep inside her chest. By this time, Rukawa had arrived and was allowed to push through the large crowd. Miyagi turned back and ordered.

"Stand back, all of you!" He barked. Rukawa dropped down by her side and shook her shoulders gently.

"Kira. Kira!"

"Don't be so rough, Rukawa!" Yumi cried, couldn't help herself. "You're going to hurt her!" Rukawa paid no attention as he watched Kira slowly open her eyes. With a beginning of a black eye and a bruise rising up onto her cheek, she said with a weak smile that stunned everyone as she held out the ball from her embrace.

"Look, Rukawa. I caught the ball." The whole beach was silent, only the sound of breathing was heard.

"Forget the ball!" Mitsui said roughly, taking the ball away and tossing it behind him. "Why are you so careless?! If you had ran faster, you could have had a serious head injury."

But Rukawa only said quietly as he picked her up and coddled her against his chest, "Yes, you did catch the ball. And I am very proud of you." His statement was eloquent and simple and it touched her.

"And I held onto it." She sounded pleased as he carried her away from the bewildered crowd.

"Yes, you did."

"I am getting better, aren't I?" She winced and gingerly touched her eye. "Though I am paying the consequences."

"Are you alright?" He set her down and peeked down at her with a worried frown. She ruffled her hair and looked down at her body.

"I'll live, if that's what you mean." She answered cheerfully. Rukawa wasn't so sure, in the dim twilight, she seemed tiny and pale in his shirt. He sighed and shook his head. It was only a basketball game, but for Kira, it seems like the battlefield, and her injuries were from the war in fighting in with the basketball.

"Well, you better stay still till we go home. Tomorrow, you should probably have a check-up anyway."

"Will do." They sat silently side by side, watching as the colorful paper lanterns were beginning to be hung up on the lines connected between trees. Soon, twinkling little lights were scattered all over the beach, creating a serene, relaxing atmosphere. Soft music was put up, and couples were soon seen in each others' embrace, savoring each others' warmness and love.

"Oh, look!" Kira said suddenly, lifting her head from the arms that wrapped around her knee. "There's Ayako and Miyagi."

"Hmm…"

"Ayako's so pretty." Her voice was dreamy as she watched with a soft light in her eyes. "And there's Yumi." Yumi and Mitsui moved past Rukawa and Kira in a slow, romantic fashion. Yumi winked at Kira from Mitsui's shoulder as she moved past her. Kira gave her a thumb-up sign and continued to sit, surrounded in the heartfelt feeling, savoring the romance.

"Do you want to dance?" Rukawa's abrupt voice was unenthusiastic, but felt as though it was his responsibility to make sure Kira was happy.

"No." Kira only looked up with a small smile. "I'm happy here, sitting right next to you." Staring up with the merry blue eyes that thanked him silently for many of the small kindness that girls never can forget.

Rukawa nodded, understanding exactly what she meant.

"I feel very comfortable." She gave a dreamy little sigh as she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Sitting with you. Ever since I met you, I feel as if the last part of my life was completed."

Rukawa had the exact same feeling. The dreams about the nameless infant had disappeared as soon as Kira appeared into his life. And as soon as Kira entered into his mind, he felt as if he's known her forever. There could never be anyone so understanding and so acceptant of him.

He slowly leaned his cheek again her soft hair, and like the other couples, they stayed that way until they were the last two people on the beach, basking in each others' warmth and affection.