Read my previous Disclaimers please.

Yea, glad to be updating again. Anyway, after reading AND reviewing my story, do go check out Whooch's 'The Summer's End', it's a cool SD fic with some hip-hop vibes and street basketball, and tips on good waitressing, hehe. Go give some suggestions to her. But all after reading my fic of course, which is just some plain, good fluff. Fluff is good. ;p

Sakuragi paused in the middle of writing. "I wonder how they are now?"

"Hmmm." Ayako did not even need to ask whom 'they' referred to. "I just hope that they will sort out their problems soon..." Ayako sniggered. They sure make a cute couple.

"I wonder why girls always go for the athletics types?" Sakuragi mused, remembering his countless rejections from girls who went for basketball/baseball guys.

"Yeah, Mitsui- sempai's popularity has certainly upped a notch since his new haircut, in addition to his return to the team."

Sakuragi grinned to himself as he thought of Mitsui's cheerleading squad. Hehe...what a disgrace, his fans are all guys...

Ayako suddenly realized that Sakuragi has totally digressed away from his task at hand.

Thwack, went the fan.

Crying, Sakuragi duly went back to work.

In the meantime...

Mitsui and Kimiko walked side by side along a street. Ayako had insisted the both of them leaving Sakuragi's room to talk things out. ("You two had better leave. Sakuragi will never be able to concentrate with you around!")

So, the two of them had been walking ever since. Silent and aimless. Kimiko was still feeling embarrassed that Mitsui had caught her crying. What a useless person I must seem to him.

"I didn't know you knew Sakuragi." Mitsui was the first to break the silence.

Glad not to be talking about the earlier incident, her words came out in a rush. "I didn't... I asked to follow Ayako when I heard she was visiting him the first time." She shrugged. "I guess...I guess I just felt that I wanted to do something for him."

"You care for him?"

Kimiko pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Well, it's more like he reminded me of you, in a way."

"Why do you say that?" He was careful to keep his voice sounding neutral.

Kimiko laced the fingers of her both hands together. "When I think of Sakuragi, sometimes I wonder if I had just pushed you harder, to force you to see a doctor for your injury when it first happened..." Kimiko's voice lowered until it was almost like a whisper, "...maybe, you'll be the best basketball player in Shohoku... even in Kanagawa now."

Mitsui hated this. He hated the way Kimiko seemed so weak and unsure of herself. He didn't understand why she kept blaming herself when it wasn't even her fault.

"You know that's crap. What happened had nothing to do with you! Don't you remember what happened that night, near the alley? I—"

She shook her head. "You don't understand, Mitsui. You are my friend—my best friend. Heck, you were my first ever friend! I was wrong to give up on you...I should have hung on..."

Hands gripped her shoulders. In the middle of the street, Mitsui stopped and turned her to face him. Piercing dark blue eyes looked into her black ones.

"No, you listen to me first," He took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry for everything."

There was nothing she could say. She could only look into his eyes, and there was a lump in her throat, and—and than she couldn't say anything at all because her face was pressed up against his chest. His arms had enveloped her into a hug.

Mitsui looked down at the girl he was hugging. Oh you silly, silly person...

Flashback— to a time long ago

Where can Mitsui be? He has been missing lately; even Aunt Tomoe doesn't know his whereabouts.

Kimiko had gone to all his favourite hangouts, but there was no sign of him. Unless...don't tell me he went back to Shohoku High school? Oh dear...I'm not a student there yet, how embarrassing if I had to walk in there.

She punched his cell-phone number again, but as usual, she got the machine. 'The number you have called is not available. Please –'

Kimiko disconnected the line, irritated. Switch on your cell-phone, idiot.

She recalled a conversation between them 2 weeks ago. He had been on his way to the summer IH games. There had been no news of him since...but he can't be at the stadium, there's no game on a Sunday, even if the Shohoku team had made it through.

Inspiration struck, and she almost hit her head against the pavement floor. How stupid am I, it's obvious he would be there...

Long ago, they had discovered a basketball court near their houses. Knowing how rare it was to find a public court, Mitsui had been ecstatic, and had frequent that court ever since. Furthermore, not many people had known about it as well.

Kimiko hurried along, but when she neared the court, there was silence. There was no sound of a bouncing ball, or running feet to be heard. She peered through the dense bushes growing around the small court, disappointed. Hmmm, it seems like no one's here...

Nevertheless, she walked towards the gate and looked in, just to make sure. Someone was lying spread-eagled, and motionless, on the floor. There was an orange basketball lying not far away. Worried that something –an injury-may have happened to the motionless figure, Kimiko entered the court.

"Hey mister, you ok?"

The mop of blue-black hair looked more and more familiar as she got nearer. The hair was parted in the middle, and framed, not the face of a stranger, but the tear-stained face of Mitsui.

His eyes were opened, but there were no life in them; they were just staring blankly at the sky. He did not even show any sign that he heard her. Kimiko waved her hand in front of his face; he did not blink. "Michi-- Michi, are you alright? What happened... did you fall?"

There was no sign of any injuries, although the left leg of his sweat pants was rolled up above his knee. Anxious about his lack of response now, Kimiko knelt down by his side and shook his shoulders. "Hey, answer me! I have been looking all over for you, what on earth is happening? Why were you crying?" Two watery streaks, where the tears made their way down his face, were still visible.

His right arm slapped her hands away forcefully. "Go away."

She refused, and tried to pull him up. "Stop lying on the floor, get up!"

He pushed her away this time. "What's wrong with you, girl? Do you understand? I said 'Go Away'...just leave me alone!" His eyes were no longer staring emotionlessly at the skies; they were flashing angrily, targeted at her.

Kimiko stumbled backwards. She looked at his legs, and she thought she understood the problem. "It's your leg isn't it...look, your left leg pants is rolled up. Is it hurting you? The doctor said not to take things so fast! Why are you playing again, so soon after the other time? It will get worse if you are not careful—"

The other time Mitsui had sneaked out of the hospital to attend basketball practice; he had to be sent back in an ambulance because his knee couldn't take it.

"What do you know about my leg? I'll go crazy if I don't play. How can I improve and be the best player if I don't play?" He sat up now, his head bowed, so that his fringe fell forward, hiding his expression.

She knelt down next to him again, and places a hand on his shoulder. "I know you went to watch them play. It must be terrible for you to not be able to join them, but still, you can't rush your knee. Furthermore, it's an old injury, and you didn't get it properly treated the other time."

"Are you blaming me now? For not listening to you the other time. I refused to see the doctor despite you telling me to...it's my entire fault, Miss Know-it-All. Aren't you glad to see me in this state now?"

Kimiko couldn't believe what she was hearing. "N-no! Michi, of course that's not true! I just meant, well, maybe you should give yourself a break until you recover!"

Mitsui gripped his left knee with his left arm. His right fist started pounding on his left knee.

"Whywhywhy! Why won't it work?! I know all of you think that the gori-giant Akagi is better than me. If only my knee was better, I would be the one scoring points and bringing the team to victory. Tell me, how can I play again when I feel such pain?"

He looked up and stared at Kimiko, or rather, through her. His eyes were filled with such anguish that they turned almost black, but they didn't seemed to be focused on her. He was fighting his own inner turmoil.

Kimiko tried to pin his arms by his side, and they struggled for a moment. Mitsui seemed to be bent on destroying his knee. "Stop-stop it! Who is Akagi? Please Michi, listen to me...you will get well soon, than you'll be playing again—oomph—"

Mitsui easily flung her arms away, one of them hitting the side of her face. She fell back on her butt.

"It's too late, they no longer remember me...I'm just any normal player now. After this injury, I'm no longer 'that MVP player'...I'm just an ordinary player who can't even play past 10 minutes without my knee giving out. Akagi's their hope now, and I'm just the fallen star."

Kimiko felt her own temper rising. Unable to control herself, she reached out and slapped him. "If you can hear yourself speak, have you any idea what you are talking about? Stop your self-pity! Healing takes time! How can you be so impat—"

His hand came up to cover the cheek she had slapped, but otherwise, he showed no reaction.

"Self-pity? Time? What do you think I have been doing these two weeks? Everyday, I had come to this court to practise, and every time, I can't get past even half of the whole game time before my knee hurts. Don't you get it? I can never play anymore! I saw that game...I saw how much he has improved. I saw how much Anzai-sensai approved of him. How much time do I need to wait...one year, or two? By the time, I would have already fallen so far behind!"

Kimiko tried to calm herself down before talking to him. "What you are doing now is making things worse. You should –"

He grabbed her right wrist. "I should? Don't tell me what to do again. You can never understand what I am going through. Tell me, if I cut off your hands now, and you can never paint, or do crafts again, what will you feel? You can never imagine...so don't tell me what to do!"

He released her hand, and left her. Stunned, Kimiko simply sat on the floor as he got up. He left the court without taking his basketball, and she watched him silently as he walked out of the gate. And for almost two years after this incident, he never came back to this basketball court again.

She couldn't remember how long she sat there that day. After he left her there, all she could do was to absently rub her right wrist, and the only thought in her mind was that she never got the chance to tell him her news: the reason she was looking for him in the first place was simply to tell him that she had been accepted into Shohoku High School.

A/N : Well, that's not exactly the 'night near the alley' flashback (which is coming up LATER), but just some angsty stuff...or at least I tried to give my story some more added dimensions. Anyway, just leave loads of reviews and suggestions, ok?