Disclaimer: Slam Dunk, and its original characters do not belong to me. It belongs to Inoue Takehiko. All the unoriginal characters in this fic are mine, though. What If, A Fling and A Love Within Three Hearts is a trilogy. If you haven't read the other two stories, read those first.
A/N: Thanks for the review, Raei Dagger!
Chapter 13
"Hmm... come to think of it, only till now that I realise this," Hana answered. "Even though I thought about it when I was with Len."
"I used to say to myself, being in love with Len is like having a security belt all around you. There's this sense of comfort telling me that he won't hurt me," continued Hana.
"Whenever I'm with Kaede, that sense of comfort somehow never really extends so much like with Len. But when you see it in terms of chemistry, I have more chemistry with Kaede than Len," finished Hana.
"What do you really mean, the sense of comfort?" asked Hanagata.
"Kaede is a man of few words, sometimes I don't know what he's thinking, and sometimes I think he doesn't know how to treat girls. With Len, he's a true gentleman, he knows how to treat girls not just with respect, but also, with some sort of another sense," answered Hana.
At the same time at the Rukawa household...
Kaede and Len, along with Taka played pool at the pool table in the billiards room. At first Kaede and Len wanted to practice some more, but Taka forbid them from doing so.
"If Hana's having a rest by eating at a cafe, the both of you can take a rest as well," Taka reasoned.
"Ah... Len, can you tell us how Hana behave at the States?" asked Taka. Right now, Len's playing with Kaede with Taka observing.
"Hmm... she's quiet, never sleep in class, very attentive," answered Len. "First time I saw her, I don't believe that she's Japanese."
"Why?" asked Taka.
"The red hair, the eye colour, the height," answered Len.
"How do you first meet?" asked Taka.
"On her first day in school, at Kennedy. She entered my English class and introduced herself to everybody, and I shouted, 'you don't look Japanese'," answered Len.
"She has to sit next to this Japanese-American, who look more Japanese than her, I never really remember her name, and I swore a shock came over her first time she saw me," continued Len.
"I know now the reason for the shock," added Len.
At this moment, Kaede's ball went in, signalling that Len has more time to talk.
"It's because you look very much like Kaede, minus the hair," Taka reasoned.
Len nodded, and took his turn, as Kaede missed a shot.
Kaede listened to what Len's saying. He didn't have any mood to put his two cents in.
"As you can see, we didn't have a good beginning. We had almost the same classes, which I noticed on the first day," continued Len.
"But at the end of the day, I met her when she was walking back home. I noticed she's going towards the Upper East Side, but I joined her nonetheless and we re-introduced ourselves to each other,"
Kaede hnn...
"It's a bit funny, but she never really noticed it, I think. I lived in Central Park West, and actually going to Hana's place makes me take my time to go home, but I offered to walk her home nonetheless,"
"Did you walk her home because she's new to New York City or what?" asked Taka teasingly.
"I never really realise why I wanted to walk her home, to tell you the truth, aniki," answered Len.
Taka was surprised, not because of the answer, but because Len calls him using the appropriate way. It took Kaede almost four years to call him 'aniki'. Well, it also took Kaede four years to talk to him anyway.
"In fact, I offered to walk her home everyday. Not just after practice but also after school, when we don't have practice," continued Len.
From this moment on, the pool game was forgotten and they had moved to the bar room, with Len talking, Taka firing question and Kaede listening.
"Eventually, one day, I gathered the courage to ask her out," Len continued.
"I don't know whyI had to gather a courage to do so, I've never really been nervous around girls," said Len again.
"My friends all tell me that I have the advantage of not having a father, and so, I have to be not just a son to my mom, but her companion," Len explained. "And so, I had to take care of her, not just her health, but also her emotions. I learnt a lot about females from just being with mom."
"What was mother like?" asked Kaede out of the blue. "I never met her."
Taka was surprised at this change of subject.
'This is either because Kaede do not want to hear what happened or he wanted to know their mother,' Taka thought.
"Mother was a really kind and sweet person. She has a soft spot for everybody, but she's always extremely busy, so the both of us couldn't see each other all the time, but sometimes, whenever she she misses me, she'll bring her work home, and whenever I misses her, I'll go to her office to do my homeworks," answered Len. "I really missed her now."
"How does she look like?" asked Kaede.
"I have a photo of her in my wallet, let me take it," Len answered and walked towards his room on the far side of the mansion.
"Let me join you," replied Kaede, and the twins set off to go to Len's room.
At the same time when the twins left Taka, their father, Ren, entered the bar room.
"Taka, are you downing my sake?" asked Mr. Rukawa, narrowing his eyes at his oldest son.
"You want some?" asked Taka instead, and poured a glass of sake for his father.
Mr. Rukawa noticed the two half-empty glasses left on the bar.
"Kaede and Len left for some heart-to-heart talk about their mother," explained Taka. "After I asked Len questions about Hana."
"Taka, what do you think of Len?" asked Mr. Rukawa instead.
"A good boy," answered Taka.
"Why?" asked Mr. Rukawa, surprised.
"Kaede and I drank sake, he didn't touch it. What he drank was just Evian," answered Taka. "He doesn't smoke, but oh well, neither Kaede and I smoke as well, and he's a gentleman towards the ladies," answered Taka.
"Maybe because of the time he spent with his mother, I know she never remarried after both of us divorced. He can't just be her son. He had to be her companion too, accompanying her to dinner parties, and all that," assumed Mr. Rukawa. "He must have missed her very much at this moment."
"I missed my okaasan very much too, otoosan. I know how Len feels. And toosan, just now Len calls me 'aniki'!" replied Taka.
"Really?" asked Mr. Rukawa, surprised once more.
Taka nodded and smiled. "It took him less than a year to call me that. It took Kaede almost four years to call me that." he stated.
"Len is more open than Kaede. It's quite easy for him to accept people. That's Mei Li Ann's trademark," said Mr. Rukawa.
In Len's room...
"I don't know why I never framed mom's pictures. But now, all her framed pictures are in her vault at the bank," said Len. "But I did keep two separate photo album of hers, you can have one."
"Thanks," answered Kaede.
Back to Hana...
"Kenji-nii-chan, if you were asked to choose between hot and cold, which one would you choose?" asked Hana.
"Hot as in sizzling hot and cold as in icy cold?" asked Kenji.
Hana nodded.
"Definitely the sizzling hot," answered Kenji.
"Toru-nii-chan, if you were asked to choose between safety and risk, which one would you choose?" asked Hana.
"I'd choose safety," answered Toru.
"And if you were to combine hot and risk and combine cold and safety, which one would you choose?" asked Fujima instead.
"I'd take hot and risk," answered Hana. "But I will still long for that sense of security."
"Who wouldn't want the sense of security?" pondered Fujima. "Ne, imouto?"
end of chapter 13 - R & R people!