Disclaimer: The usual as in I do own Ru... I mean I don't own Slam Dunk LOL
Before start of chapter what to thank everyone who took their time to review, Emberlion,ChibiRulzYanLan, DigitalLavender, L, Ice-wine and Santeira. Thanks for the encourangement and advices. I am also sorry that I took a long time on this chapter. I was kind of stuck at writing it out and also I was slightly busy last month and this month too actually. I was able to update so quickly the last few chapters cuz it wasn't that stressful at work. So I took all my free time updating when I can since I have the chance right, better do it and done with it.
Clarification: And I am also sorry that I may have confused readers about Negi and Yuiiko... Tehehehee... They are really good friends, Negi treats Yuiiko like a younger sister and he will definitely be coming into the scenes in other chapters soon.
The chapter begins...enjoy!
Chapter 15
Yuiiko had a very strange feeling that she was being watched the whole day. Now she felt like being stalked. She walked swiftly through the throng of people on the busy sidewalk, looking back once in a while to check if she was really being followed. She found no one.
This day was really freaking her out.
She continued her way to Sweet. Even she was early, she was thinking of maybe having a nice drink at the restaurant and take her time to finish her homework before her performance starts. Nobody needs to know who she really was. She would be just another student or teenager spending their time at the restaurant.
"What is she doing here?" Noma asked watching Yuiiko entering Sweet.
Three of Sakuragi's Gundam had hid behind a corner of an alley watching Yuiiko entering the restaurant not far from where they were standing. Their heads poke out from around the corner of the wall.
"I have no idea." Takamiya said. "Youhei said that she goes to work after school."
"She works here?" Ookutsu added in.
"One way to find out." Noma replied.
All three of them stride after Yuiiko not long later she disappeared into the restaurant.
Basketball Practice…
Rukawa couldn't help himself, but the sides of his mouth curled upwards only a tiny little bit, when he remembered the look on Sakuragi's face after Yuiiko told him that he owns her life. It was somewhat hilarious to see Sakuragi lower lip sagging to the floor.
He didn't know how it felt to own Yuiiko's life, the sister of the person he dislike, but it was sure doing good now since Sakuragi was practically ignoring him the whole time at practice. If only every practice was like this.
He turned towards the door and saw Youhei standing there watching the practice as if he was waiting for Sakuragi. He frowned slightly at the sight. Wasn't he supposed to be looking after Yuiiko after what he had told him earlier?
Very uncharacteristic for Rukawa, he bounced the ball over to Youhei and stood close enough to him to start a conversation.
"I thought you were supposed to be watching Yuiiko." Rukawa said emphatically but managed to still keep his cold and calm posture. "Why are you here?"
"That is for me to know and you to find out." Youhei smirked slightly and was also amazed that Rukawa actually took interest in the girl who was the sister of the person he hates. "Anyways, Yuiiko is safe now. Three of my friends are watching over her for now until I talk to Sakuragi."
"Rukawa what are you doing over there!" Miyagi shouted.
Without another word Rukawa turned away and started of with his practice with his teammates, everything else oblivious to him when real practice started.
"Uwah, Rukawa-kun is as amazing as ever." Haruko gushed out softly; watching the tall dark haired player ran passed her swiftly.
She heard a chuckled and turned to see Ayako standing nearby sniggering at her. She blushed furiously.
"You can never take your eyes off that boy can you?" Ayako said still grinning mischieviously.
"Well… I…" Haruko stammered slightly, her cheeks still looking red.
"It's just so sad that you can't feel anything for the poor red head."
"Feel anything?" Haruko asked looking wide confused eyes at Ayako. "What do you mean?"
"You are sure dense." Ayako said, shaking her head slightly walking away.
"Neh, what does that mean?" Haruko asked running after Ayako.
"Never mind what I say…"
"Hey," Haruko brightened up immediately forgetting about the statement Ayako made about Sakuragi instantly. "Look, I wanted to show you this for a while."
Haruko took out a CD from under her files and held it out to Ayako. It was a music record by Symphony.
"It took me weeks to actually get a copy!" Haruko said enthusiastically. "It was always sold out!"
"Symphony," Ayako said taking the CD from Haruko, while Rukawa ran passed.
If not mistaken in a flash, Ayako thought she saw Rukawa stumbled slightly while he ran passed her. However, when she looked up at him again, he was playing normally like nothing was wrong. That was strange. With a small shrugged she turned back to Haruko.
"I have heard her songs in the radio before," Ayako said. "She does sing pretty well. Most of the radio stations practically playing her songs every single day."
"That is right. I heard she sounds even better in person." Haruko said enthusiastically. "That is why, after practice today my friends and I are going over to Sweet to attend her performance. It was really hard to book a place too! Matsui practically line up for a month she said and finally she got a table for us."
"Well, good for you," Ayako smiled and studied the picture of the girl on the cover of the CD. "She looked somewhat familiar."
Her brownish red hair, brown eyes… why was there a strange feeling that she had seen those brown eyes before. Ayako frowned, but where?
"Can I borrow this CD for a day?" Ayako asked, finally smiling and turning to Haruko. "I will like to download it into my computer."
"Sure," Haruko grinned. "Just make sure I get back the CD in one piece."
"You sure will."
In the corner of Rukawa's eyes, he watched the two girls talked about Symphony. He had nearly stumbled when he heard that name out of Ayako's mouth and that really made Rukawa furious. He, Rukawa Kaede does not stumble! It was going to be a long practice today, he thought. It must be lack of practice that was why he had stumbled. His conclusion came to that and he was going to stay back after practice for even longer training than usual.
On the other hand, little did he know that his plans will be side track that evening…
"All right boys, let's take a ten minutes break!" Miyagi shouted and when the team broke up, he strode over to Ayako.
Rukawa watched Miyagi going over to Ayako before he left the court to get something to drink. He walked over to the school coolers and stopped when he saw a rather strange group, which looked like a small meeting was held.
Near to the coolers, were Sakuragi, Youhei and two other guys he was very sure, weren't from Shohoku High, talking. They looked like, they were talking rather urgently.
"What are you trying to say to me?" Sakuragi said heatedly. "Are saying my sister is in trouble?"
"Hanamichi calm down!" Youhei muttered at his enraged friend before turning to the two mysterious guys but rather familiar guys. "Can you please tell us in more details?"
"Are you related to Sakuragi Yuiiko?" One of the boys said. "I am not going to waste my breath talking to someone who can't help her now."
"Who are you?" Youhei asked calmly, seeing that it was no point for Sakuragi to open his mouth because he will tend to mess it up.
"I am Aio," The boy replied, and gestured to his friend next to him. "This is Maku, we are here to tell you that we had information about what happened earlier that day."
"You were here?" Youhei frowned, getting slightly angry himself. He reached forward and grabbed Aio's collar. "Tell me, you aren't related to the guy who hurt her."
"What the hell is going on?" Sakuragi yelled.
"Calm down." Maku pushed Youhei's hand away from Aio. "No point getting heated up when we are trying to help you."
"So tell me, what I do not know." Youhei said crossing his arms in front of him. "You suddenly turned up beside me and asked if I knew about Sakuragi Yuiiko and asked if I know she had any relatives in school. So this is her older brother Sakuragi Hanamichi. Is there something you need to tell us?"
"Yes, your sister is in trouble today." Aio said in hush voices. "That is all I can tell you."
"If you want her save, it is best you go to her now and try to get her out of wherever she is now." Maku continued. "Because if not, I do not know what that guy will do to her."
"Who?" Youhei asked.
"I am sorry," Aio said turning away. "That is all I can tell you."
With that they both walked away. Sakuragi was ready to stop them when Youhei held him back and shook his head.
"They won't tell more than that Hanamichi." Youhei said. "You know how it works with gangs. They are already in deep shit for coming here to warn us about Yuiiko."
"Damn, I don't know where she works!" Sakuragi shouted exasperatedly.
"Neither do I," Youhei replied rather agitated and cursing him self for never really asking her.
"I do," Rukawa replied softly behind them.
They turned to the Ice Prince and Sakuragi immediately lashed out at him, only to be pulled back by Youhei.
"What the hell do you mean you do? You hentai! Stalker!" Sakuragi shouted at him. "This is the last straw. You followed my sister long enough!"
"I didn't follow her," Rukawa frowned at Sakuragi's accusation of him being a hentai and stalker. "I just happened to be there at the place she works."
"Hanamichi, this is no time for this!" Youhei cried slightly irritated at Sakuragi's attitude. "I know you hated to know that Rukawa knows about your sister more than you do but what choice do we have now?"
Rukawa raised an eyebrow, pondering at what Youhei said. It was true he knew more about Yuiiko than her only true and blood related brother. How strange things could work out to be sometimes.
"Tell us where she works," Youhei said after Sakuragi finally calm down. But it didn't stop him from glaring at Rukawa. "We will be heading over there at once."
"I'll show you." Rukawa replied coldly, walking towards the changing room.
"You are skipping practice?" Youhei raised his eyebrows with surprise.
"Hell you are not going near my sister again!" Sakuragi cried following Rukawa who ignored him and thought better than to answer him. "You hear me! OI!"
"Hanamichi, I think we don't have a choice…." Youhei muttered under his breath.
"What is she doing?" Ookutsu asked in quiet voice staring at Yuiiko a few tables away from them.
"Looks like she is doing homework." Takamiya answered.
"But I thought she works here?" Noma said rather confused.
They watched after the quiet girl sitting at the lonely corner writing on her book, with a cold drink on the table next to the pile of books she had stacked up. Not only that, they also thought they noticed a man wearing black reading a news paper not far from her table watching her too.
"Did you see that guy?" Noma asked. "Something is not right by the way he is staring at Yuiiko.
"Yeah," Takamiya nodded. "Actually, I saw him entering the restaurant not long after she did."
"Do you think we should watch what he is doing more than what Yuiiko is doing for now?" Ookutsu asked.
"Yeah," They all agreed.
After basketball practice…
Miyagi was cursing under his breath when both his players, Rukawa and Sakuragi never return from their break. Ayako was also looking rather bewildered at Rukawa's attitude. For him to miss basketball practice was something she never thought that Basketball King (His other nickname) to do. She wasn't very surprised with Sakuragi but Rukawa. Something was definitely not right.
"Do you think they are alright?" Haruko asked rather worriedly.
"I think those baka are fine alright!" Miyagi seethed. "Tomorrow they will get their punishment."
Soon, their conversation was cut short when Matsui and Fujii ran into the court to greet Haruko.
"Hey Haruko, are you ready yet?" Matsui called.
"Yeah, let's go early just in case we get squash by the crowd!" Fujii added in.
"Right," Haruko smiled and turned to Miyagi and Ayako. "I will see you both at practice again tomorrow."
With that she went out with her friends leaving a very irate Miyagi and thoughtful Ayako behind.
Yuiiko wrote down the math equation slowly, the corner of her eyes caught the group of three guys she was very sure were Sakuragi's damn group of friends. She pretended that she didn't know they were there. Another was, instead of irritating her like Sakuragi's friends, this person gave her the chills behind her back. That man clad in black, his face practically hidden in the shadows, reading the newspaper behind her was definitely watching her too.
Damn this day to hell… Yuiiko thought angrily.
She clutched the pen she was holding tightly in her hand. She was no longer concentrating on her homework anymore. Besides, the equation on her notes made no sense to her. It was because she hardly stayed awake in class when the sensei was teaching. She grimaced inwardly.
It was almost time for her performance to start, the last thing she needed now was distraction. She closed her book slowly and put away her pen. She could see movements from both sides. One from the Sakuragi Gundam and the other from the man behind her. She bit her lower lip and kept her books slowly into her briefcase.
When she looked up again, she saw three people that she had no intentions on seeing, rushing into the restaurant. Yuiiko fell off her chair rather ungracefully. Sakuragi, Youhei and Rukawa had arrived at the scene.
What is wrong with this day? Yuiiko thought mentally, aggravated. She placed a hand on the table and slowly shoves herself up to her chair again.
"Yuiiko!" Sakuragi rushed over to her quickly.
She turned to him briskly, her hair slightly disarray from her fall earlier. She glared at her brother quietly wondering why and how did he know she was here. When she saw Rukawa, she huffed silently. Now her anger was more on Rukawa than Sakuragi. So he told after all…
"Are you alright?"
Yuiiko raised an eyebrow at that strange question.
"Hanamichi, now let's not scare her!" Youhei said quickly.
Yuiiko rolled her eyes at that statement.
Scare her? Rukawa wondered. I wonder what really could scare her.
Rukawa still remembered that night when she was covered in blood.
"Now boys, why are you all here?" Yuiiko asked in a clip and cold voice. She stood up slowly. "And I know you guys are here too. Ookutsu-kun, Noma-kun and Takamiya-kun…."
Youhei wanted to laugh; it was some what difficult to track Yuiiko without her knowing you were there. That was just her. Maybe spending her whole life being as observant and cautious as she was had really put all her senses to alertness. He turned to his group of friends who were waving at her rather sheepishly.
"I don't have time for this you know!" Yuiiko cried furiously. "Could you leave please, I have work to do!"
"Gosh Yuiiko don't you have anything better to say than, you don't have time? Ever since I saw you in school again. That was the only thing you say to me! We have a message about you…" Sakuragi's voice trailed off when he saw Haruko, Matsui and Fujii strolled into the restaurant.
"Ah, well your girlfriend is here…" Yuiiko smiled rather spitefully when she followed Sakuragi's gaze and saw who he was staring at. "Why don't you go talk to her instead of bugging me?"
"Yuiiko…" Sakuragi turned his attention back to her.
"Don't want to talk to you…" Haruko frowned and turned to Rukawa, her glare did not waver but it didn't affect Rukawa one bit. He knew that she would be angry at him for bringing Sakuragi here. "But, I want to talk to him!"
She pointed at Rukawa irately. Youhei knew that he was going to get a hell out of his life, quickly stood in front of Rukawa stopping Yuiiko from stepping any closer to him.
"Look Yuiiko," Youhei said calmly. "Rukawa only did this because we made him to…"
"We did?" Sakuragi frowned at his friend.
Yuiiko crossed her arms around her front still waiting for a better explanation, but she suddenly went stiff when she saw the man clad in black and stood up from his table a newspaper wrapped around his right arm. That was something not right, no one holds on to a pile of newspaper like that! Moreover, he looked like he was aiming the newspaper at them.
Her eyes widened with surprised, and something dawn to her…. That man looked like…. Oh Shit….
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Yuiiko shouted and swiftly shoved Sakuragi and Youhei away.
Since that Youhei was standing in front of Rukawa, he stumbled backwards towards Rukawa who back away swiftly when he saw Youhei would collide on him if he didn't.
A loud crash echoed through the restaurant as three of the boys stared wide eyes at Yuiiko dodging away the very last minute when the bullet grazed her right arm by inches drawing blood, the sleeve of her uniform torn and turning crimson very swiftly.
Instinctively, Yuiiko's left arm flew up to her bleeding arm to stop the blood from gushing out. Wincing inwardly, she was glaring furiously at the man before her.
"YOU!" She shouted furiously over the panic and screams in the restaurant. "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"You were the caused of me spending five years in jail!" Sukaza said. "I told you that you will pay!"
"You asked for it!" Yuiiko gritted her teeth caused of the pain on her arm. Blood was dripping on the floor creating a small puddle next to her feet.
"I remember you…." Youhei said finally, his frowning and something dawning to him. No wonder those boys looked familiar to him. Maku and Aio. "You were one of the boys who…."
"Shut up Youhei!" Yuiiko yelled.
"Until now, you still want to hide from Hanamichi?" Youhei shouted back at her, finally a nerve snapped. He was loosing patience with that damn stubborn girl. "They attacked you again didn't they? Rukawa told me…."
"I SAY SHUT UP!" Yuiiko screamed this time, she turned to Youhei, her eyes wild with unshed tears. "I don't want to remember it!" The last sentence came out almost in a hush voice but Youhei heard her.
Suddenly only then did it dawn to Youhei, why Yuiiko never talked about the time she was nearly violated. She wanted to forget about it and she didn't want anyone to know about the humiliating day. She also didn't want Sakuragi to know because she didn't want her own brother blaming himself for what happened to her. Even how much she said she hated him, she didn't want her brother to feel guilt.
Now Youhei understood Yuiiko's intentions. She had long forgiven her brother. It was Sakuragi who didn't managed to take the chances she had given him. Until she was sick and tired of waiting. She just gave up and resolve to never wanting to talk or see him again.
"Get out of here…." Yuiiko said between clenched teeth.
At that time, fire was burning inside of Sakuragi. When he heard Yuiiko told them to go. He finally snapped. Without waiting for anyone to do and say anything, he was charging over to the man with a gun.
Yuiiko watched with horror and Youhei didn't have time to pull him back.
Rukawa unconsciously pulled Yuiiko back; the only thing he could think of was not letting her run towards danger like that do'aho. He managed to do all this without even showing any expression.
Yuiiko had quick reactions though, after getting away from Rukawa's clutches she grabbed a chair and tossed it over to Sukaza. It hit his hand and he misfire much to Yuiiko's relieve the bullet did not hit Sakuragi or anyone else and was glad that Sakuragi was smart enough to stop whatever he was planning when he heard the gunshot.
More screams was heard in the restaurant and more people dash blindly for the door.
Sukaza shot his gun in the air and everyone froze.
"No one leaves!" He shouted. "Lock that door!"
There were three girls by the door were hugging each other whimpering softly and shivering with fright. Yuiiko turned towards them and groaned. It was Haruko and her friends.
"That is the last thing I need right now…." Yuiiko muttered under her breath.
Rukawa heard her somehow. He looked down at her still bleeding arm and grabbed a napkin from a nearby table. It was big enough to bind that wound to stop the bleeding. Without even saying anything, Rukawa took her wounded arm gently and began biding her arm.
Yuiiko turned to him slightly surprised. He stared down at her arm expressionlessly, while he tied the napkin together with a knot. He looked up at her after he finished the task his face still void from expression.
"Arigatou…" Yuiiko mumbled, staring back at him with rather wide astonish eyes.
"Well, the last thing I need is you bleeding to death." Rukawa replied impassively.
"Right…." Yuiiko smirked.
In a distance, they could hear sirens and Sukaza was beginning to panic. He turned to the Haruko and her friends fiercely and pointed his gun at them.
"Stay away from the door and come here!"
"You don't need them!" Yuiiko cried, also panicking. She didn't need more people in this bloodbath. "Let them go! You want me, so here I am!"
She was about to step closer when Rukawa put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, he was now practically blocking Yuiiko's view away from Sukaza. Yuiiko frowned but didn't turn to look at him. She was still determined to finish this trouble herself, tried to push Rukawa away but he didn't budge.
Sakuragi also begin stepping in front of his sister, but somehow he was rather torn between Haruko and Yuiiko. Youhei saw Sakuragi's almost anguished and furious face, knew what he was thinking.
"I'll take care of Haruko," Youhei whispered to Sakuragi. "Take this time to make amends with your sister."
Sakuragi gave a small curt nod.
Youhei was making signals towards Noma, Ookutsu and Takamiya who was very silently creeping up towards Sukaza without him noticing. It would only take a few more minutes for them to finally tackle him from the back.
Haruko, Matsui and Fujii couldn't move from the spot faster than Sukaza wanted and he shouted at them again.
"HURRY UP!"
They squealed again with fright and stopped, which was a bad move.
"Damn it woman!" Sukaza aimed his gun right at Haruko.
"Stop it!" Sakuragi shouted dashing for Haruko.
Youhei would have curse out loud if everything didn't happen so fast. First, he saw Sakuragi running towards Haruko and then another smaller figure blurred passed him. In the corner, he heard Rukawa cursed instead and then, gunshot rang through the restaurant again.
Before his eyes he watched Sakuragi blocking Haruko from the gun and what shocked him most was the smaller figure that blurred pass him earlier was Yuiiko. She was standing in front of Sakuragi her back on Sukaza.
Youhei was shocked rooted on the spot as he watched Rukawa running passed him swiftly over to Yuiiko who was crumpling towards the floor. He also caught sight of a small crimson patch on the back of her uniform growing larger by seconds.
Rukawa cursed when Yuiiko got away from his grasped. She was running into danger and there was nothing he could do while he watched the bullet hit her back. If he was quick, he would have been able to push her away from harms way but he wasn't. He dashed towards her, landing on his knees, skidded towards her, his arms stretched out to break her fall. She landed in his arms and Rukawa placed her on his lap gently. Blood was beginning to seep through her uniform and pour out towards the floor, creating a puddle around them, but Rukawa didn't care as he stared at Yuiiko's wounded state. He moved one of his hands to her back and pressed on her wound to help ease the bleeding.
Yuiiko felt a sharp pain piercing through her body when she heard the gunshot, before she knew what happened. She was stunned on the spot as she felt her feet weakening, then she was falling to the floor backwards. Her eyes closed. She waited for her body to hit the hard floor, but it never came. Instead she landed on something like a pair of arms, gently holding her and placing her on something warm, which was definitely not the floor.
Slowly she opened her eyes to see blue eyes. She blinked familiar blue eyes, like Rukawa… and blinked again. Oh, it is Rukawa. She choked and taste blood in her mouth. Those blue eyes some how didn't not belong to Rukawa, they looked almost warm not cold. Then, she finally registered in her mind that Rukawa was showing emotions. It took her some time though.
Rukawa Kaede the Ice Prince of the school who never in a million years showed any emotions before was looking at her worriedly. What Yuiiko wanted to do was laugh at the absurdity, if only she wasn't in this excruciating state.
Rukawa was actually looking down at her with what looked like anxiousness with the mixture of fear in his eyes. This was too good to be true. If anyone in school would have heard about this, they would simply squeal, especially his fan girls. The Ice Prince had finally fallen.
However, Yuiiko was laughing inwardly. She managed to smile softly at him before she closed her eyes and everything went dark…
Rukawa watched Yuiiko stared at him as if she didn't recognize him at all. She choked on her own blood in her mouth and he watched in horror the blood started to trickle out of the corner of her mouth towards her chin. For the first time in his life, he had never felt this helpless before, while he watched Yuiiko suffered pain. Even she was in severe pain; she still managed to smile at him as if reassuring him everything was alright before she closed her eyes slowly...
"Yuiiko, no…" Rukawa managed to choke out softly, using his other free hand, brushing her hair away from her face gently as if that movement will wake her up.
He didn't even noticed what was happening around him. Sakuragi's friends had managed to tackle Sukaza and brought him down to the floor. All three of them pinned him down and one of them nearest to the hand holding the gun confiscated it quickly.
Youhei fell to his knees, his head bowed with defeat. Sakuragi was supposed to protect Yuiiko not Haruko. He thought angrily and almost wearily. He looked up at his friend to see his reaction and he knew that Sakuragi was almost as shocked and angry at his rashness, but somehow everything was already done. He blew it, and he mess up bad this time.
Youhei shook his head slowly and looked down the floor again. He didn't know if Yuiiko would ever forgive her brother for this. Only did his head snapped up with realization. Yuiiko DID forgive her brother. If not, she wouldn't have taken that bullet for him.
"Oh no…" Youhei massaged his temple rather stressfully. "This time, it will be Hanamichi who will never forgive himself for this…."
TBC
I hope nobody is going to throw rotten fruits at me! The cliche had it turned around so dramatically LOL... I had never intended for Sakuragi to take the bullet for Yuiiko. It was never in my twisted, demented mind! MUAHAHAHAHA! Laughed cruelly. Anyways, if anyone would have remember some previous chapters, I did write about Yuiiko getting pretty tired hating her brother, which means that the only person who can get tired of hating someone is only trying or acting. That is why it is so difficult for her all the time. I hope I didn't mess up and I hope I didn't confused anyone.
Anyways, review and tell me what you think! This I really need to force ppl to write a review or a constructive flame about this story! REMEMBER CONSTRUCTIVE FLAME! Don't simply flame talking about shocking babies out of mother's womb because the story is so bad or saying that this story is supposed to be title Marie Sue! And I wonder if Yuiiko was really that Marie Sue? IS she? I had those flames from BetYouLoveThat. Don't you just love her/him or whoever that person is?