Disclaimer: Slam Dunk and its characters belong to Inoue Takehiko. The new characters I created in this fic belong to me.
Chalk and Cheese
Chapter Four: The Shadows of the Past
"I am home, Okaasan," the redhead announced rather flatly the moment he entered his house. After he had removed his shoes and tossed them carelessly, Sakuragi made his way to his room upstairs, shuffling his feet grumpily.
His mother rushed out of the sitting room, gawking with sheer surprise. She hadn't except her hospitalized son to recover so soon, and the first thought that jumped into her mind was that her son had run away from hospital.
"Oh my God! Hana-kun!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing out of hospital?"
The redhead snorted with ridicule. "I was discharged, duh!" he said in a matter-of-factly way.
His mother approached him. "But you didn't say anything about being discharged any soon when I visited you yesterday!" she said with a bemused frown.
Her son scratched the back of his neck sulkily. "I guess I forgot. Never mind. I am fully cured now." Physically, only.
Mrs. Sakuragi blinked with bafflement for a moment, and then her lips curved into a mocking smile. "Forgot, huh? Why you sly, wicked boy! You wanted to surprise me, didn't you? Come here, you naughty thing!"
She threw her arms around her tall son affectionately and gave him a squeeze. Sakuragi's face flushed slightly, for he hated the way his mother treated him like a child. He knew how much his mother adored him, since he was her only son, but it was somehow embarrassing. He murmured something under his breath, apparently protesting.
Breaking the hug, his mother said joyfully, "This calls for a celebration! Actually, now we have two reasons to celebrate!"
Sakuragi looked at her quizzically. "Two? What's the other occasion?"
When she opened her mouth to reply, the phone rang at that instant. She ran to the phone in the corridor and answered it. Meanwhile, the heavyhearted boy went to his room with a gloomy face. To him, the whole world seemed suddenly meaningless and hollow. All what he wanted then was to lie down on his bed and think about nothing. He knew it wouldn't be easy, however.
"Hello! Who is it? What? Oh… but…" Her voice trailed off with sheer amazement at identifying the person talking to her on the phone. Glancing at the sitting room's direction, she smiled heartily.
"Oh Hana-kun!" she called out loud to her son upstairs in a singsong tone. "A phone call for you!"
Sakuragi was now in his room; nevertheless, he could hear his mother's high-pitched voice. He wondered who could be giving him a buzz when no one actually knew that he was discharged on that day, except for his six peers he had met earlier.
Whoever it is, blast him! My mood is too bad to talk to anyone now.
"Tell him I am dead! I don't want to talk to any bloody human being now!" he shouted irately.
After a minute or so, his mother was yelling again. "I told her that you say that you are dead, but she insists on talking to you!"
Sakuragi growled. Who the hell is that blasted… wait a minute! Did mom say 'she'? Who could it be… Haruko-chan?
As if reading his mind from her spot, his mother yelled in a sly tone, "She says she is your secret admirer! C'mon, Hana! Don't let her wait for so long!"
Sakuragi's eyes went wide as saucers at hearing that. Secret admirer? Could it be…?
There was only one person that would use this nickname when giving him a call. Realizing that, Sakuragi's eyes twinkled gleefully. His chest was rising with delight, and suddenly all his misery had gone.
The redhead scurried to the phone downstairs and snatched the receiver from his mother. The latter was trying hard to hold back a laughter that threatened to escape her throat, so she made her way to the kitchen.
"MAYA-CHAN!" the redhead exclaimed with joy, and the young lady on the other side of the line was giggling.
"Why hello there, Hana-kun! Have you missed your old aunty so bad? You nearly deafened me with that shrill voice of yours! You should have undergone a larynx surgery in hospital!" she laughed in a sneery way.
"Oh shut up! Hey, how did know I am home and not still in hospital?"
"Your bright aunty knows a lot, kiddy!" she snickered. "I knew you would make well in no time, Hanamichi-kun! You have always been as strong as an old bear!"
"Bwahaha! That back injury was nothing for the Tensai! If any other player of those bunches of weenies had been injured like me, he couldn't have tolerated it for ten minutes!" he boasted.
"You haven't changed a bit, Hanamichi" She suddenly shrieked with disgust, "Hanamichi! What's this ugly shirt you're wearing?"
Sakuragi frowned at her insult. "It's not ugly! It's a gift from Haruko-chan!" he fumed.
"Such an ill-chosen thing! A fuchsia shirt for a redheaded boy? I'm gonna puke! And I thought that vulgar had some taste!" she grunted.
"Haruko-chan isn't vulgar, jerk!" the redhead spluttered angrily.
"How dare you talk to your aunt so rudely, you boorish? What a shame!" she scolded mockingly.
"Oh get lost! Did you call me from Korea just to tease me? I'm gonna hang up!" he threatened.
Maya ignored his threatens and said, "Hmm… I see that your hair has grown so fast. You don't look like a monkey… I mean a monk anymore!"
"Why you… hey, wait a minute! How did you know that my hair has grown taller? And how did you know that my shirt is fuchsia?" he asked with a shock, blinking rapidly.
"Because," she said playfully, "I am standing right behind you, smart boy!"
With a sharp gasp, Sakuragi turned back swiftly just to see his sixteen-year old aunt standing behind him, holding a mobile phone from which she made this phone call.
"Hello, Hana-kun," she said softly, smiling. "What's the matter? You look so pale as if you have just seen a ghost, Hanamichi Sakuragi!" the unexpected visitor said with heavy sarcasm.
Sakuragi was pointing at her with a shaking finger comically. "You… you are here! You are here in Kanagawa!" he stammered ridiculously. "But… how?"
Maya cackled with mockery, "Haven't you heard of an invention called planes?"
"Huh?" Sakuragi gawked.
"P-l-a-n-e-s. Planes, you thickheaded!" she chortled and jumped on him to give him a bear hug.
It was Saturday. Rukawa used to visit the cemetery every Saturday to put flowers on his father's grave. It had been seven years since his death.
Rukawa Kaede made his way through the graveyard to his father's grave, holding a bouquet of his father's favorite flowers. Mr. Koji Rukawa had been fond of white lilies. It reminded him of his delicate and sensitive wife, he used to say. Kaede never knew his mother, since she had died immediately after giving birth to him and his twin sister, Ran. Nevertheless, their loving father had played his part and the mother's part amazingly. He was a wonderful man. Kaede missed him badly. Despite all those years since the tragedy, the same questions were still echoing itself in his mind. They had never let go of him.
Why did you leave us, father? Why did you commit suicide? Weren't you happy with us?
When he approached the grave, he froze at seeing another person in the place, putting a bunch of lilies on Mr Rukawa's grave. It was a lanky girl with waist-length, silky, ebony hair, which she wore loose. His heart started to pound faster when he recognized her.
Ran…
The girl sensed his presence. She turned around and looked at him with her sad azure eyes. Her rosy lips curved into a faint but tender smile. She moved towards him.
I need you, Kaede.
When she was close enough, her twin brother caressed her cheek gently. He saw agonized looks in her eyes, and that torn him apart. He could feel deep pain in her bleeding soul.
Ran suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to cry. She buried her face in his strong chest and sobbed, while her brother cuddled her affectionately. After a few minutes, Rukawa broke the embrace and raised his sister's chin gently with his index finger. He looked deeply into her eyes, which were shimmering with tears. Ran knew that he could see through her with those piercing eyes of his. It was a big relief to her, since it meant that she didn't have to use words to tell him about life's cruelty towards her.
"He dumped you, didn't he?" Rukawa asked suddenly.
She nodded with a sulky expression on her face. Fiddling with her ebony locks and looking away from him, she bit her lips bitterly.
"What happened?" Rukawa asked with a frown.
Chocking back more hot tears, Ran took out a red note pad and a pen from her purse. She tore a page and scrabbled something on it nervously. After she had finished, she handed it to her brother with trembling fingers. Rukawa read what was written on it at once.
"He doesn't love me… he never did. He was lying to me all the time! I saw him kissing another girl the other day. I was so angry and hurt… and when I confronted that… that lowly bastard, he admitted that he was a double-crosser without a shame! He told me that he never was in love with me. He pretended that he truly cared about me… just for the sake of my money! I was naïve enough to believe that mask of innocence he wore all the time. I spent a fortune on him and his blasted friends without realizing his hideous true self!"
Her brother grimaced. He looked at her to find out that she was writing more on another page. She was sniveling wretchedly. Before he could comment, she passed him the new paper.
"Do you know what else did he say? He said that I am a weirdo and that no sane guy will love a mute girl like me! Everyone was listening to his mean words, and they started laughing nastily at me!"
Rukawa crumpled up the paper furiously, his eyes blazing with untold anger. He could never forgive that bastard for tricking his dear sister, not to mention hurting her feelings in that appalling way. It was the first time since the tragedy that Ran had actually trusted someone and felt affection for. She had always been like him: a lonesome and unhappy person with no friends to trust or someone to love.
In fact, both of them weren't like this before their father's death. The twins were jolly and full of life children then. They were antisocial by nature, but having each other as close friends besides being siblings was enough to them. When Mr. Rukawa had out of the blue committed suicide for unknown reasons, Kaede and Ran's world smashed to smithereens. Both of them took the tragedy to heart, and since then, things were never the same again. The pain was too much to put up with. And to crown it all, the twins had to be separated; Kaede was taken by his uncle in Kanagwa while Ran stayed in Nagasaki with their aunt. Taking them from each other was the worst thing that ever happened to the twins after their father's death. They could never imagine living with hundreds of miles separating them. Thus the Rukawa siblings grew up more aloof and unapproachable than ever.
The azure-eyed boy could still remember the day when his uncle had come to take him away. His sister was standing at the front door, crying her heart out loudly while watching her cherished brother heading to the uncle's car. Kaede was hardly blinking back his tears. His sister's weeping was tearing him apart.
Flashback
"Shut up, Ran!" he yelled irately without looking at her. He couldn't bear hearing her crying.
He carried on walking toward the car. His sister's wailing was getting worse. He turned around with and yelled again, "I said shut up! Crying won't change anything! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"
Ran stopped crying, but she couldn't help but to snivel silently. She cut a forlorn figure that broke his heart. They suddenly started running toward each other and hugged.
"It'll be alright," he cooed soothingly, barely holding back his sobs. He knew that what he said was just a big fat lie. Nothing would be alright again. He broke the embrace and looked at her, wiping her eyes gently with his fingers. "I want you to be strong and get over it, ok? You have to undergo the therapy, Ran-chan. Do you hear me? You have to! It is the only way to help you recover your ability to speak again."
The cold uncle was getting impatient. He sounded his car's horn with irritation.
"C'mon, you brat! We don't have all day!" he howled hoarsely.
Kaede put his hands on his sister's shoulders. "Even if we are not going to be under one roof anymore, our hearts shall always be together. One day when I am old enough, I am going to buy us a place of our own in which we can live together again. I promise." He kissed his sister's forehead. "I love you, Ran-chan."
Ran mouthed the word 'kae-chan', but without a sound, of course. Her brother headed to the car hastily without looking back. He knew that if he did, his courage would betray him and he would back off at the last minute. He didn't want to infuriate his uncle anymore. It was bad enough that the latter didn't really want to take him in. He did it just because he felt that he was obliged to take care of his dead brother's son. Although he was a wealthy man who could take both twins in, he refused to do it. His lame excuse was that he didn't like children, and so to say about the twins' aunt. Neither of them was bothered about the siblings' suffering if they were separated like that.
After the car had gone off, Kaede heard his sister's cries echoing in the distance. He covered his ears, biting his lips and sniveling painfully.
End of flashback
He snapped back from his reverie suddenly and looked at his unfortunate sister. The latter passed him another paper.
"I am not going back to that school, or even to whole Nagasaki! I want to stay here with you, kae-chan. I can't take it anymore. I just want to be with you."
Rukawa's eyed widened with surprise.
"Don't worry. I didn't run away. Aunt Jun knows about this. In fact, we discussed this at long. She seemed happy to know that I don't want to live there with her anymore, if you ask me. She doesn't love me. No one does. Only you. She has arranged my transfer to Shohoku High. She knows that uncle won't welcome me with open arms thus arranged that I live in a boarding house that is known among Shohoku students. She said that I am now old enough to take care of myself."
Rukawa was dumbfounded. Although he was happy to have his sister near him again, he had his own worries and fears. Being in the same school with his sensitive, mute sister was a tough responsibility. It meant that he had to keep a close eye on her all the time to make sure that no mean students would harass her for her handicap. Further more, it meant he had to accompany her constantly so that she won't feel lonely, since she wasn't the sociable kind of person. In another words, this heavy responsibility would force him to sacrifice much of his precious practice time.
Ran noticed her brother's sullen expression while he was dwelling on those thoughts. Considering his surprisingly frosty reaction towards her decision, Ran felt awful disappointment. She tugged his sleeve quizzically. Her brother understood her query hence answered with unintentionally coldness, "It's nothing. I am just not sure if it is the best for the both of us."
Ran's face went dark with frustration. Her sapphire eyes were glinting with tears that revealed her deep pain. She bit her lips, feeling intolerable misery ripping her chest.
I can't believe it… even you think of me as an annoying responsibility? Even you don't want me, Kaede? What happened? Don't you love anymore? Is your stupid obsession with basketball is suddenly more important than me? And I thought I have finally found someone to rely on and feel security with again. How stupid I am!
Reading those anguished words in her eyes, Rukawa felt terrible guilt. He hated himself for being selfish.
"look, Ran, it's not what you think…" He reached out to his sister, but she shrugged him off angrily. She darted away from him despite his calling out to her and pleading. He tried to run after her, but she was too fast even for him.
"Ran, please! You've misunderstood! Ran!" he called out for the last time before she disappeared completely from his sight. He kicked the air crossly, cursing himself under his breath. The last thing he wanted in this life was to hurt his dearest sister.
But that was his problem; hurting people he cared for.
They went to the same swings the two redheads used to ride on since they were children. The pleasure playing on those swings brought to them had always been irreplaceable. That place had its happy memories. However, the last time they went there was a gloomy memory to recollect.
Flashback
Three years ago, Sakuragi was sitting there alone, staring blankly at the nothingness with a grief-stricken expression on his face. He heard light footsteps approaching him. He knew it was Maya. He didn't look at her.
She stood beside him, feeling ill at ease to say goodbye. They had grown up together as a sister and a brother, and they were best friends too. For the both of them, making their last farewells all of a sudden was unbearable. Maya gritted her teeth for a moment to prevent a sob from escaping her throat. Her eyes were burning with hot tears that threatened to flood down her cheeks any moment, but she wouldn't set them free. The auburn-haired girl blinked them back with great effort. She didn't want to worsen his pain.
"Hana, I…" she broke the awkward silence with a trembling voice then paused. She almost choked with the lump in her throat.
Hanamichi lifted his head up and looked into her eyes which were the color of the deepest and most wonderful violet. His heart ached at the idea of not being able to see those pretty eyes again. Her hair was caught in the sunbeams giving it fiery lights which looked like tiny tongues of flame.
Maya was facing hard time in keeping a grip on her emotions. She breathed in sharply as if finding it difficult to breath. Finally, the redheaded girl collected herself and spoke up with a somber tone. "Hana-kun, I am sorry things ended up in this terrible way. I have tried with all my might to make my sister reconsider the idea of immigrating to Korea, but she won't listen. She couldn't even care less when I shut myself in my room for days without eating. She insists on her decision, and her husband supports her. If I had the choice, I wouldn't leave you at all. You know how much I love you. I can't go against her wish… she had taken me in and looked after me since I was just a newborn. I wish I could live in your house, but your mother can't afford it in this new condition..."
"It's my entire fault," Hanamichi said despondently. "If I hadn't picked a fight with those bastards, I could have saved father's life before it was too late. He died because of me. And now you're leaving because of me too. I am such a pest! I wish I've never existed!" he cried, feeling disgusted of himself.
Maya patted him on the head gently. "Don't be silly. None of this is your fault, Hanamichi. No one blames you for his death. Brother's death was inescapable, considering his heart's bad condition. Please stop torturing yourself already. It won't bring him back to life, you know."
They gazed at each other for a split second before bursting into tears and embracing. They couldn't contain the misery that was eating up their hearts anymore.
"God I will miss you so much, Maya-chan," Sakuragi managed to say through his sobs.
Maya wanted to say the same, but she was weeping too hard. She promised him inwardly that she would come back to Japan someday. She would be back for him.
End of flashback
I have kept my promise, Hanamichi. I am not leaving you again.
"Cheer up, Hanamichi-kun. That moron doesn't deserve you anyway. One day, you will find the girl of your dreams," Maya said while giving him a push on the swing.
"I am too tired of falling in one-sided love. I am too tired of being heartbroken. I am not falling in love again… ever," he replied somberly.
"Hana-kun... I hate to see you hurt. What can I do to make you feel better?" she asked softly.
"You're here for me now," Sakuragi said with a tired smile.
"And shall always be," Maya smiled, giving him a loving hug. Her nephew hugged her back.
Just like old days… they both thought at the same time.
Make this ride as fast as I can
Tonight this road home feels a little longer
I hope you know that you were my best friend
Tonight I said goodbye, but I should have said more
Thanks for the best time of my home, now that you're gone I've finally realized
That you were the best
Come home, I won't forget the times that we had
I'm wishing that you weren't a part of my past
Emptiness swallows this town
From now on I will be alone for good
Will you remember my name?I'm hoping that I will hear from you soon
Thank you for everything
Come home, now that you're gone I've finally realized
That you were the bestCome home, I won't forget the times that we had
So please don't be a part of my past
('The Past Is Another Land' by 'Heather Headley')