WARNING: This is a fictional story, obviously yaoi. If you don't like these kinds of stories please don't attempt to read this.
SUMMARY: Rukawa is in love with Mitsui but his ego kept denying it, until one fateful night that would make a bond they thought could never happen.
DISCLAIMER: Slam Dunk is not mine. Please don't sue me for making this story.
A/N: Guess what? It's now 00:26 Hong Kong time and I am currently cursing myself for my stupidity. Why? I forgot to save my chapter 6! And now I'm trying to re-write half of the chapter that is 5 pages long in the middle of night rather morning! I want to slam my head in the keyboard right now… ahhhh! I'm so stupid! ( )
I also want to apologize truly for all the typos from the previous chapters especially to Hagane-kun… sorry for the wrong grammar and everything. Hell, I just realized today, there was a lot! I promise I'll review my future chapters more keenly to avoid it. Please REVIEW!
Chapter 6After forty minutes of tension between Shohoku and Ryonan, Shohoku finally emerged as the winners even without the help of Coach Anzai. The team immediately went to the hospital to bring the good news to their convalescing coach. Soon after, they went their separate ways. Some wanted to go home and rest while others would go celebrate with their friends.
Rukawa on the while was planning of going back to school to continue his practice, but fatigue was taking its toll on him again so decided that he should go home first and take some rest.
He was about to go home when he noticed that Mitsui was nowhere to be found in the room. He thought that Mitsui already went home. He was really worried when he saw his sempai lying unconscious in the floor. He wanted to go to him and help him, but he controlled himself from doing it, lest others might suspect of something. Soon enough, he bid farewell to the team and to Coach Anzai saying that he would already go home.
Coach Anzai smiled at him. "Congratulations again on your win, Rukawa-kun."
"Hai." Rukawa bowed courtly and went outside the room. He turned to the left corner to take the elevator when he recognized Mitsui. He was about to talk to him when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He saw Kogure with his face flushing leaning towards Mitsui as if they were about to kiss. But Rukawa was late enough to stop in his tracks due to his long strides that the two immediately recognized his presence. Rukawa could only look at them with astonishment flashing from his eyes. Neither of the three moved and inch. Rukawa wanted to rush outside and run towards his house but his body would not move.
"Rukawa…" Kogure said.
"Sempai…" Rukawa thought. There was nothing between him and Jin but THERE WAS something between him and Kogure-sempai. Why didn't he realize it? He was too lenient to think that…
That what, Kaede? That he was already falling for you?
"Stop it!" Rukawa shouted inwardly. His face was already flushing and he couldn't even look at their faces. Finally, with all his effort, Rukawa spoke.
"S… sorry." It was all Rukawa could think of as he turned around and directly ran towards the stairs.
Mitsui decided to go and have another check-up with his doctor since he was already in the same hospital. He went out of the room silently and went to the elevator and pressed the button.
"Hey, Mitsui!" Mitsui turned around and saw Kogure approaching him.
"Hey." Mitsui greeted.
"Where are you going?" Kogure asked him.
"To my doctor." Mitsui replied. "I want to have another check-up on my knee before going home"
Kogure smiled. "Yeah, you really should. You can't afford to have another accident, don't you? And besides, we were really worried when you fell unconscious in our game with Ryonan."
Mitsui just smiled, fatigue written on his face. Even their win against Ryonan didn't do any good to ease his tiredness. "Yeah, I'll be more careful next time."
Kogure laughed. "I'll just go check Coach Anzai again before leaving. Ja ne."
Mitsui waved a hand at him when a running doctor passed by them and unintentionally bumped into Kogure. Kogure didn't have time to evade the doctor since he was looking at Mitsui so he was instantly pushed towards the astonished Mitsui. Thankfully, the ex-MVP got him, but Kogure was already leaning closely towards him.
"Are you okay, Kogure?" Mitsui asked him. Kogure blushed due to his clumsiness and nodded.
"Ah, yes. Sorry…"
Kogure was about to pull back away from Mitsui when he saw Rukawa standing next to them, expressionless as usual. Mitsui quickly glanced towards the boy and saw him quickly averting his gaze from them. Mitsui didn't know how to react. Was there a need to react? He was about to call him when Rukawa said he was sorry and hastily ran away from them.
"Rukawa, matte!" Mitsui called but he was too late. "Damn it!" he cursed to himself and quickly ran, following the younger boy.
"Mitsui!" Kogure called but Mitsui already disappeared in the corridor. "What's happening?"
Rukawa never stopped running even though he was already far from the hospital. He never wanted to stop running. Away from the hospital, away from Mitsui, away from all of them. He should've stuck to his belief: never get close to anyone. But it was too late, he was again hurt.
"Rukawa!" Rukawa Kaede stooped dead in his tracks. He knew that voice. Sempai. He hurriedly hid in an alley. He didn't want to see Mitsui, not this time. He could still hear Mitsui calling his name but he didn't budge from where he was hiding. Although he was quite surprised that his sempai followed him, he knew that he ran fast enough for Mitsui to lose sight of him. "Where did he get the energy to follow me?" he thought warily.
"Damn it!" Mitsui cursed loudly. He was panting heavily and he was already starting to get dizzy. He knew that Rukawa ran to this street but he lost sight of him instantly. He slowly leaned against the nearest wall, exhaustion creeping to his entire body. His muscles were aching, his hands were already trembling from weariness but he still followed Rukawa. That, he didn't know why.
"Why?" Mitsui asked himself.
Because you want to explain something?
"Explain what?"
Explain why you were with Kogure that time in the hospital. To explain to him that it was accident that he saw the two of you together in a rather, awkward position?
"I don't need to explain anything." Mitsui grumbled.
Oh yes, sempai. You don't need to explain anything…nothing at all! It's just that you had an impulse to follow Rukawa whom you saw running away like a cat being chased and now you are calling his name as if your life depends in him. No, nothing at all, sempai, nothing at all to worry about.
"Damn it!" Mitsui cursed for the third time. He wanted to see Rukawa. But something went wrong which he didn't understand at all. Regaining some puny energy, he walked away, still in doubt of what was happening. Not knowing that a certain raven-haired boy was watching him from afar.
That night, Rukawa could not find any sleep at all. He kept tossing and turning, thinking why he was acting like this. Was he hurt when he saw the two of them together? Yes, he was so damn hurt that he quickly ran away from them like a criminal fleeing away from the police.
But Mitsui followed him and he saw it with his two eyes. Why?
Let's see, Kaede… hmmm… maybe he wanted to explain something to you…or he wanted to ask you why the hell did you just ran off like a scared cat…
"I don't know." Rukawa said flatly. He was tired. He was tired of loving Mitsui secretly. He was tired of having the slightest hope that Mitsui can be his. He was so dead tired of loving his sempai that he wanted to cry in vain from thinking of him with another person.
He needed to stop. He needed to renew his thoughts and focus more on basketball. Have you forgotten your sole dream of becoming the greatest basketball player in Japan, then in the whole world? Huh, Rukawa Kaede?
Rukawa sat up in bed. Yes, he thought, he will forget everything that happened. He will stop thinking and stop dreaming about Mitsui. He is just Mitsui Hisashi. There are still other persons whom he will meet and fall in love with.
But you will never love anybody else the way you love him right now, isn't it Rukawa Kaede?
"I can change." Rukawa declared firmly to himself, ignoring his so-called conscience. "Tomorrow, everything will be back to normal."
And tomorrow came. Rukawa's day came normal for him, which includes crashing his bike for the umpteenth time, being greeted by howling girls in the school and being scolded again and again by his teacher in Math class for sleeping.
But the day quickly passed by and it was already three o'clock. Which means he already has to go to the gym and start the practice. He moderately slowed his walking pace towards the gym, reassessing his mind and trying to repeat his mantra for the day: No Mitsui. No love. Just basketball.
As he went inside the gym, he already saw the redhead practicing some shots and Miyagi flirting with Ayako. He then went to the locker room and saw Akagi and Kogure having a little chat.
Kogure who sensed Rukawa's presence greeted him, "Hey, Rukawa."
And Rukawa gave him a shallow nod in response.
As he was changing his clothes, he heard Akagi pronounce very clearly the name of the man he loved and broke his heart.
"Mitsui, you're almost late." Akagi half-heartedly reprimanded the ex-MVP.
"Almost late, Akagi. Only ALMOST." Mitsui said with a grin.
"Hurry up so we can start practicing already." Akagi said as he left.
Seeing Mitsui, Kogure went to him and asked, "Are you okay now, Mitsui?"
"Yeah, I am." Mitsui replied.
Hearing his sempai's reply, Rukawa couldn't help but feel relieved, somewhere deep inside of him but anger/jealousy crept to him that made him quicken his action and bang his locker door shut.
Mitsui and Kogure were in the middle of a conversation when they were both startled by the loud noise behind them. Mitsui quickly turned around and surprisingly saw Rukawa; his back turned against them.
He was about to greet the younger boy when Rukawa turned to look at them and suddenly Mitsui was taken aback from what he saw in Rukawa's eyes.
Kogure may not see it but Mitsui saw that look on the younger boy's eyes. It flickered only for a moment but he sure damn saw it. If looks could kill, then Mitsui was pretty sure he would already be lying in his own pool of blood with his limbs torn apart. Mitsui could only stare while Rukawa passed by them in a single stride.
"Rukawa is in a foul mood today isn't it, Mitsui?" Kogure said.
"I don't know." Mitsui said nonchalantly, deep in thoughts why Rukawa looked at him like that.
An hour and half later, all of them were already exhausted, trying to catch their breaths.
"Ne, Gori", Sakuragi said, "I think you're trying to kill us! Can't you give us a break?"
"Yeah, captain", Miyagi said, siding with Sakuragi, "I think you're too harsh on us. We've just beaten Ryonan and your training us to our deaths as if we are the losers!"
"Yeah!" Others replied, siding with what Miyagi said.
"Shut up!" Akagi said. "Just because we've won doesn't mean were going too complacent!"
"We know that, Gori but—"
WHACK!
"Shut up!" Akagi yelled.
"Itai…" Sakuragi said while massaging his head.
Mitsui on the other hand was sitting in a corner and laughing his hearts out seeing Sakuragi being beaten by Akagi. It never failed to amuse him of Sakuragi's antics.
"Akagi, why not call it a day." Mitsui said from the corner. "I think everybody is still not in the mood for any practice. Come on, its just for a day."
Akagi looked at him and considered for a moment.
"Hmph! Fine then. But just for this day." Akagi said.
Everybody went leaping and shouting as if they've won the lottery then Sakuragi ran towards Mitsui and hugged him tightly like a child given with candy.
"Thank you Mitcchy!" Sakuragi said happily. "You know, I honestly think that you'll be a better captain than—"
WHACK!
"Itai!" Sakuragi yelled.
"Better captain than who, Sakuragi Hanamichi?" Akagi growled behind them.
"Ehehehehe… just kidding Gori—"
WHACK!
"Shut up and stop calling me 'Gori'!" Akagi yelled.
With that, Mitsui couldn't help but laugh again.
Nearly an hour passed and Mitsui was still sitting in the corner, thankful that his teammates were already gone, thinking that he could enjoy the shower and the locker room all by himself at last. Noticing Rukawa who was still practicing for almost two hours nonstop, he called out the younger boy.
"Hey Rukawa, why don't you rest for a while?"
Rukawa was oblivious to what was happening around him for the past two hours until just now. He was in the about to release a shot when he heard his name being called. And he perfectly knew who it was. Mitsui Hisashi. He couldn't help but blush like a girl hearing his name being called.
He stopped dead in his tracks but he continued to dribble, not even thinking of turning around to face Mitsui. Remember: No Mitsui. No love. Just basketball.
"Did you hear me?" Mitsui asked.
Rukawa stopped dribbling and quickly turned around and saw Mitsui. His cheeks went redder seeing how sexy his sempai looked sitting at the far corner with his left knee crooked, supporting his left arm and his other leg on the floor with his locks wet from sweat. Thank goodness he was quite far enough from Mitsui as to not notice him blushing.
Mitsui smiled at him and spoke. "I said that you should rest and go home, not just stand there."
Seeing him smile like that made him even blush more that his feet automatically stepped backward as if defending himself.
"Rukawa." Mitsui repeated as he stood.
Rukawa, quickly regaining his composure managed to acknowledge Mitsui at last.
"Hn."
Mitsui spoke. "Go home and rest."
Hearing that, Rukawa freed his hand from the ball and walked towards the inside corridor when Mitsui who caught up with him, abruptly cut him short.
"I want to talk to you." Mitsui said, dead serious.
"No." Came Rukawa's brief answer. Rukawa started walking again when Mitsui grabbed him by the arm to face him. Rukawa was so startled that he looked at Mitsui dangerously.
"Let go of me." Saying that, Mitsui tightened his grip more.
"Why are you avoiding me?" Mitsui said, ignoring the look Rukawa was giving him.
Mitsui was already pissed with Rukawa for the past hour that they've been practicing, Rukawa didn't even looked at him if ever he passed the ball to him which happened only once: when Akagi ordered him to do so.
Their faces were so close to each other that Rukawa could already feel the anger emanating from Mitsui whom was looking at him straight in the eye. How he love the feeling of Mitsui's skin against him that he wished this wouldn't end, but anger enclosed him more.
"Is there a reason to?" Rukawa replied bitterly.
Mitsui was so fed up that he suddenly grabbed Rukawa's other arm and pushed him against the wall that the younger boy seemed to cringe from the impact.
"I don't know, Rukawa", Mitsui spat back, "is there?"
Is there? Mitsui's question kept replaying in Rukawa's mind. He didn't know what to do already. He was fighting so hard as to not express his feelings through his eyes because they were so close.
"No." Rukawa said, bowing his head as if defeated.
Mitsui was taken aback from the younger boy's submissiveness that his grip loosened on Rukawa's arms. Mitsui's expression went from utter rage to confusion.
"No", Rukawa repeated as he release himself from the loosened grip, "none at all, sempai."
Rukawa slowly walked past Mitsui and went straight to the locker room with his head still bowed. While Mitsui stared blankly at the space where Rukawa was a second ago.
TBC
A/N: Alas! I've finished it! Although there are some alterations from the original one that I failed to save I think this one is much better though I like the other more. Please REVIEW! You can rebuke me for my stupidity hehehe… and what do you think of their mini-dispute? I think misunderstandings are normal for a soon-to-be-relationship… heehehehehe
By the way, my summary is quite not related in my featured story… you know what I've type where they would make a bond blah blah blah its quite different because Mitsui and Rukawa had more than a night of confrontation so please ignore the stupid summary. But I won't change it. Please REVIEW!