Disclaimer: I do not own Slam Dunk and its characters, Takehiko Inoue does. I also do not own Seattle's Best.

When I first entered the Kainan stadium, my eyes first fell on...everyone, I guessed, since none of them was as gorgeous as I was. Well, of course, Jin-sempai was cute, cute in a way that people would mistake him for a girl. Muto-sempai was, also, cute but I never took fancy in afro. I surveyed everyone until at last the floor was left for Maki-sempai. First reaction was; no way. He must have repeated his freshman year four times. Luckily, I would never take interest in beefy guys, much less oldies.

Or so I thought.

For some twist of reality, it turned out he was only eighteen years of age; a couple of years ahead of me, in fact. He was the team captain, for his being unrivalled in skills on the court. In my honest opinion only pretty-boy Fujima could almost, I meant, almost, equal his skills. Of course, I couldn't imply they were far from being rivals, considering the coach-captain had the power to intimidate the Kainan captain to an extent where one could no longer tell who the better player was.

I didn't know what evil force drove me into it, but the moment I noticed their sticky, longing eyes for each other, it crushed my heart, just like that. It wasn't the same old story, I-was-in-love-with-him-but-didn't-know-it-at-first realization, because there was no realization at all. If i were more blunt, I'd say it was something more cliché than that, something like this: I-was-in-love-with-him-but-didn't-wanna-admit-it.

As a damned result, I hated Fujima. He was the eye-candy of the league, and who in hell's name wouldn't fall for him? To start with, he was the coach, captain, and ace of the basketball club, an honor student, son of a bitch and a wealthy businessman, and the mighty possessor of godly looks.

My take? I was the, uh, cutest kid in the league, ace of Kainan team, was also a son of a bitch and a wealthy entrepreneur, and the mighty possessor of incomparable cuteness. Grades, as you might have guessed, were not important. Now who in Lucifer's name wouldn't fall for me?

Maki-sempai wouldn't.

So, what would a genius do? Seduce him by force.

One sunny day,

'Sempai, wanna go fishing with me?

'Fishing? I don't eat fish.'

'Let's fish at the mall; there are lots of chicks—'

'Kiyota, you know I'm not like that.'

'I see.'

No fucking luck.

One rainy day,

'Sempai, wanna go play with me? Perhaps you'd like to shed some sweat, what with the freezing weather—'

'Nah, I have to meet Ken—I mean—someone.'

'Oh'

Fuck Fujima.

One cloudy day,

'Sempai, wanna go jogging with me? Weather's not so bad and we won't get tanned.'

'Nah, I have to study for tomorrow's exams; you should too.'

'Uh, right. See ya, then'

Fuck school

One dry summer,

'Sempai, wanna go to the movies? Alexander's out and I heard there's a good guy-kissing scene— I mean—it's educational.'

'I've seen it'

'Oh, of course… next time, then.'

Fuck this.

One wet winter,

'Sempai, wanna snow-ball fight with me?'

'I can't. Don't wanna.'

'Not feeling well, I trust?'

'Uh-huh'

'I ma scram, then.'

What could possibly be wrong?

One boring afternoon,

'Sempai, wanna have coffee with me? There's a new Seattle's Best in town; Kinda hoping you'd wanna grab a bite.'

'Maybe next time.'

'There might be no another next time…is something wrong?'

'The place brings—painful—I mean, unpleasant memories…I just…'

'Not in the mood, I guess. I'll come by next time.'

Now something was really out of shape.

One not-so-boring afternoon,

Ding Dong. The doorbell rang to disrupt my keen observation of Lakers vs. Kings game.

'Sempai, it's you! What brings you here?'

'Nothing, just wanna hang.'

'Uh, where's that fag—I mean, let's watch. The game's getting exciting'

'Sure'

'Cool'

That's more like it.

One stormy weather,

Ding Dong. My hand froze upon touching the iron button of Maki residence doorbell.

'Kiyota, it's you'

'Yeah, it's me.'

'You're soaking wet. Get inside. What brings you here? There's a typhoon-'

'I brought you some food. Our chef cooked them, and you gotta taste these-'

'Well, that's nice.'

'Here, try some'

'…'

'Well, what do you think?'

'Well, it's sweet'

'Yeah?'

'Yeah, I mean, the food.'

'Sempai, that's mushroom soup.'

'…Yeah, right'

'…'

'Kiyota?'

'Yeah?'

'You are'

'uh, what?'

'sweet'

'…'

'Really, Kenji has never, uh, done something of this sort, and, I, uh, thanks.'

'You're welcome.'

'…'

'Aishiteru, sempai'

'I, uh, er…I know, I- uh-I love-I mean, I'll think about it.'

'Wa-What about Kenji?'

'Fuck Kenji.'

He smiled, I smiled.

And from then on, I started to love stormy weather.

END