When We Come Face to Face Chapter 3: 03, a slam dunk fanfic

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk in its full glory is created by the great mangaka Takehiko Inoue. Once again, my very grateful thanks to BookOcean for her kind permission to translate her Chinese fanfic.

Personal Notes: I apologise. I have been very, very busy.However, I aim to finish translation by Christmas. It's actually easy to translate, but I'm just very tired after being at work all day.

Once more, I have placed personal thanks to each reviewer at the end of this part. And if I've inadvertently missed you out, my deepest apologies. I'll give my thanks to you in the next part!

If you are reading this, and you liked it, please just drop a line to say so. I have been very faithful to the original fiction and I hope readers will enjoy it.

谢谢BookOcean!

Title: When We Come Face to Face– A RuHana AU by BookOcean

Rukawa lowered his head, staring at the basketball Sakuragi had left behind, the connection from the past that sat large as life and twice as natural on the palm of his hand. Rukawa could even feel the warmth on part of the ball, warmth that had come from Sakuragi's hands holding it, and it was incontrovertible proof that the two of them had somehow managed to meet in some sort of pocket out of time, a kind of space pocket, perhaps!

The wheels of history begin to turn…

Rukawa was unable to hide the smile that burst on to his face—or rather, he was unable to control the joy that ran, rampant and unbidden, through every part of him! He clutched the large orange basketball tightly to him, the ball that had the characters Tensai Sakuragi Hanamichi scratched on to its surface. Ignoring the calls of the school janitor behind him, Rukawa grabbed his bag and flew out of the school, heading for home at a run.

The wheels of history begin to turn…

For the first time, he felt a burning ambition and a stunning desire to win! Yes, he hungered for victory, and to make the future that he had seen happen! Sakuragi Hanamichi's strides grew longer and more confident as he hurried out of the basketball courts. He knew what to do now—and come hell and high water, nothing and nobody could turn him from that purpose!

The wheels of history are turning, and each stroke and each moment in time is recorded as it takes place…

Shohoku High's basketball team's transformation into a top-flight team began ten years ago, when they first made it into the top eight of the finals of the winter championships. Their captain was one Sakuragi Hanamichi, and the Shohoku teachers who had taught there all those years ago still remembered him and his glory days in Shohoku. He was a red-haired, wild boy with a habit of getting into fisticuffs and trouble round every corner, but to Shohoku, he was not only the school clown of sorts, but also the fighting catalyst of their basketball team.

Rukawa flipped page after page of newspaper cuttings he had obtained from the archives of the school newspaper, quietly absorbing everything he could about the red-haired boy.

"What are you looking at that's got your eyes glued to it?"

Rukawa did not need to look up to know the name of the intruder. The classroom he was sitting in was the one belonging to Year 3, Class 6, and it had been empty, save for Rukawa sitting alone by the window, reading through the newspaper clippings. "You're close to getting into the finals of the regional tournament, aren't you?"

"The final's tomorrow." The other boy in the classroom laughed as he threw himself into a chair and leant back against the desk behind him. "Why are you a in a third-year classroom, anyway?"

"To see if you lost." Rukawa already knew, of course, that the other boy would win, and in the course create the legend of how Shohoku became the first team to beat the mighty Kainan High School, unbeaten for the last seventeen years, marking the beginning of Shohoku's transformation into one of the top-flight high school basketball teams in all of Japan.

"Heh, you really think I'd lose? Ore wa tensai!" The boy chuckled, not at all angry, and deliberately reached out a hand to block Rukawa's view of the newspaper cuttings. Sure enough, Rukawa drew his brows together, a clear hint that he wanted Sakuragi to remove his hand. But Sakuragi continued grinning and he looked right into Rukawa's face. "Will you come and watch me play?"

Was that even possible? It was not that he didn't want to promise his attendance, but there was that little question of How To Get There. Rukawa lifted his head to look at the redhead sitting directly in front of him.

"I won't lose, because I'm the tensai, so come and watch!" Sakuragi gradually disappeared as he spoke, but Rukawa quickly nodded his head, and the last the dark-haired boy saw of the other was the pleased grin on the redhead's face.

"There you are, Rukawa Kaede! I've been trying to find you forever!" Ayako leaned against the door of the classroom, trying to catch her breath. Next to her was Miyagi Ryota, who had accompanied her, and was in a similar state of exhaustion.

"You're a freshman—you shouldn't be getting your seniors to run around looking for things for you!" Miyagi protested breathlessly, only to subside as Ayako shot him a Look.

Ayako and Rukawa were not exactly new acquaintances, and Ayako knew enough of her junior to be aware that it was not in his nature to make requests for assistance. So it had been a rather unusual occurrence for Rukawa to have sought her out a few days ago, and then asked her to help him find a tape of the regional high school basketball championship finals from a good nine years back, specifically the match between Shohoku and Kainan. To be honest, the task had been a near-impossible one from the beginning, for Shohoku's own basketball team had tapes going back just seven years, and the school newspaper archives had only the cuttings and some interviews regarding the match. Ayako had considered giving up the search, but it was difficult to resist Rukawa's pleas, and so she had exerted all her capabilities and connections as the basketball team manager, even going so far as to rope her boyfriend, Miyagi Ryota, also on the Shohoku team, into the quest.

It was in Ryonan High School's basketball club that they finally located what they had been looking for, and now Ayako triumphantly, if breathlessly, held out the tape to Rukawa: "Now you really owe me for this!"

Rukawa picked up the newspaper cuttings and headed for the door. He plucked the tape from Ayako's fingers as he passed, and said by way of thanks: "I'll take us to the Nationals!"

"Huh, we don't need you to get there—owwieAya-chan, that really hurt!" Miyagi was down on the floor before he knew what hit him, clutching the top of his head and nursing a sizeable bump, his face piteous as he looked up at his girlfriend.

"You keep quiet," ordered Ayako, looking thoughtfully at Rukawa's back as he walked away. "Ryota—when is our coach coming back?"

Still squatting on the floor in pain, Miyagi mumbled, "… Aya-chan doesn't love me anymore…"

His girlfriend just rolled her eyes at his antics and bodily dragged him away.

It was Sunday. The time was nine twenty-five in the morning, and the match would begin in five minutes. Rukawa, seated comfortably on the sofa in the living room of his home, hit the Play button. Chaotic sounds immediately filled the living room. It was the Shohoku-Kainan match, and Rukawa was now watching it through the eyes of the cameraman who had videotaped this match.

The person who had videotaped the match had chosen an excellent seat; Rukawa could see the locker-rooms of both teams. Before long, it was time for the teams to make their entrance, and Kainan High emerged on to the courts first. There were roars from the crowd, cheers and stamps so loud that it startled even Rukawa, who dove for the remote control to turn down the sound.

As every member of the Kainan team emerged from the locker-room, Rukawa hurriedly matched each face to the statistics of the team profile Ayako had given him earlier. He had barely begun when the angle of the camera turned, and Rukawa froze, face to face with the Shohoku team, led by Sakuragi Hanamichi.

He appeared to be brimming with confidence. Rukawa plopped himself on the floor, moving nearer to the television screen for a better view and wishing that he had been there at that time to cheer Shohoku on. Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps not, but at that moment, Sakuragi turned his head and looked right into the camera, as if looking straight through it at Rukawa.

You came.

Yeah, I did.

And Rukawa knew that Sakuragi had seen him, somehow. Unable to help himself, Rukawa drew nearer still, and watched as the redheaded boy grinned at him: Then I'll win for sure today.

--Of course we all know Sakuragi won... otherwise what's Rukawa doing there in Shohoku, part of a proud tradition of Shohoku basketballers?

And now for my thanks to:

Reality-I'm very, very happy to know you enjoyed it. I will probably toss out the remaining four chapters at one shot on ChristmasDay.

Tensai11- XD Well, it's not my story technically. It's a translation of a really good writer's story. Yep, four more chapters to go... although I plan to translate the rest either little by little, snatching five minutes from my lunch break now and then... or do the rest on X'mas Eve so it can be ready on X'mas Day.

Chibi Reikou-I was planning to begin translations of the second fic with the author's permission on New Year's Eve. However, I need to finish this first so she can see I am doing a good job!I hope you liked this part as well!

ILLK- Oh, you liked it! I'm so pleased! --The update is kinda late, but I had much work elsewhere in my ordinary life. XD

Vero-I am definitely going to complete this! I sincerely hope this part met with your expectations! XD

Mimi-Yes, itis a RuHana...I liked it because it was just so light and delicate and has a different plot and style from the usual AU RuHana story.

k- Hm, I think the ending is ... well, I can't tell you! But as I've said in my responses to the other reviewers, I'm gonna FINISH this fic! I like it very much... and in any case, I've sworn to myself to try to translate more RuHana fic for the English-speaking fandom. XD