So this time I decided to torture Sendoh! Some of the twins' mischief are inspired by "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody".

Summary: With Rukawa gone for the IH competition, it's up to Sendoh to take care of the twins by himself.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slam Dunk but I do own the twins!

-Start-

Chapter 2: A Day At Home

Sendoh was sleeping peacefully when he felt someone touching or rather pinching his face. He slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by two smaller versions of Rukawa. They didn't notice their dad was awake and continued covering his entire face with clothes' clips.

"11… 12…" he heard the boys counting as they put on more clips on his face.

"Um… boys. What are you doing?" Sendoh asked, puzzled.

"Waking you up," Eiji said simply and put another clip on Sendoh's ear. Now, Kenji is clipping Sendoh's messy and un-gelled hair.

"Can you two wake me up in a normal way?" Sendoh asked again, trying to stand the pain and itchiness on his face.

The twins stared at each other then thought for a while. Abruptly, they dropped the pins in their hands, stood up, jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. Sendoh wondered what they are up to. He began taking off the clips from his face. His face is now red with clip's mark on it.

'Ouch! What a nasty wake up call!' he said, placing the pins on the bedside table.

Just then, the twins emerged from the bathroom with a cup of water in each hand. Sendoh's eyes widened.

"Whoa! Wait a minute. What are you two planning to do?" Sendoh asked, confused.

"Waking you up in a normal way!" Kenji said, smiling while readying to pour the water on Sendoh.

'Can't you see I'm awake?' Sendoh thought, alarmed.

"Who told both of you this is the normal way?" he asked, taking the cups away from their hands before they spilled it on the bed.

"Father did!" Eiji exclaimed. "He said…" Eiji stopped to let Kenji continued the sentence.

"Just splash water on papa's face to wake him up," Kenji said in a low voice, imitating Rukawa.

'How could Kaede do that to me?'

"Okay, let me teach you another way to wake me up," Sendoh said, sitting up on the bed.

The twins sat on his lap and listened intently.

"Just shake me lightly and say 'papa, wake up'," Sendoh told them.

"That's boring!" Kenji said. Eiji nodded, agreeing with his twin.

Sendoh sighed. Why are they so difficult to teach?

"Nevermind. Just wake me up in a painless way, okay?"

The twins thought for a while then nodded and smiled. Then, they hugged Sendoh tightly around the neck. Sendoh chuckled and gave both of them a morning kiss on the cheeks.

"Have you two brushed your teeth?" Sendoh asked.

"Yes!" the boys said simultaneously. "We're hungry!"

"Okay, let me brush mine first," Sendoh got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. The room was wet and covered in toothpaste. 'Why am I not surprised? Shouldn't have let them brush teeth alone. They always make a mess,' Sendoh reminded himself. Then he noticed his toothbrush was wet.

'Kenji must be using my toothbrush again. Oh, well,' Sendoh shrugged it off and brushed his teeth with Kenji's. He doesn't know why but the twins seem to have something for big toothbrushes.

"Papa, we're hungry," Eiji and Kenji tugged on Sendoh's sleeves.

'Whoa, I didn't even hear them come in. Jeez, I gotta put bells on you guys,' Sendoh was surprised. Even after living with them so long, he's still not used to the way they just 'materialise'.

"Okay, okay. I know," Sendoh said and quickly finished brushing his teeth with Kenji's small toothbrush.

In the kitchen, Sendoh looked at the calendar. It's been two days since Rukawa brought his team to the IH competition. He had to take a week's sick leave just to stay at home and take care of the twins. Rukawa did suggest bringing them over to Sakuragi's or Ayako's but Sakuragi was busy and Ayako just simply refused to baby-sit them. It's too stressful, she said. Sendoh totally agreed with her but now he's stuck at home, being a slave to these two princes.

"Boys, when is your father coming back?" he asked.

"Five days to go," Eiji and Kenji said simultaneously while showing Sendoh their 5 little fingers.

Sendoh chuckled at that. He taught them to countdown until the day Rukawa comes back. Then, Sendoh opened the cupboard and took out the "Wednesday" cereal box. The twins shook their heads.

"What's wrong?"

"No cereal!" the twins said loudly.

"Then, what do you want to eat?" Sendoh asked.

"No cereal!" Kenji and Eiji just repeated.

"Okay, how about we go out eat?"

The twins cheered. Sendoh understand that it is boring to eat cereals everyday, even though they have different kinds everyday. So, he dressed them up nicely.

"Hold still, Eiji," he said, while putting a shirt over him. Eiji tried to struggle out of Sendoh's grasp. Finally, after a few minutes, he was done dressed. Next is Kenji's turn.

'These two just can't stay put,' Sendoh thought as he tried to dress Kenji up. Kenji was easier to dress than his brother. But it still takes time to finally finish.

'I didn't know dressing kids up would be that difficult,' he thought, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

Sendoh grabbed his car keys, "Okay, let's go." He held Kenji on his left and Eiji on his right. The two boys were so excited; they tried to run whenever Sendoh accidentally released them.

"Stay with me!" Sendoh said, grabbing their hands.

When they reached the car, both raced to the front seat.

"Me!" Eiji shouted.

"Me!" Kenji shouted and pushed Eiji aside.

"Rule no. 24: Always sit at the back seat," Sendoh said, firmly.

The twins stared at him as if he did something stupid.

"Papa, that's not rule no. 24!" Eiji said.

"Rule no. 24 is 'Always use seatbelt in the car'. Rule no. 23 is 'Always sit at the back seat," Kenji corrected him.

Sendoh was surprised and started flipping his mini "Rukawa's house rule" book that he always kept in his pocket. He scanned the book.

"You're right," Sendoh said. The twins smiled proudly. "If you two knew earlier then why do you still fight for the front seat?" he asked.

"We thought you might forget," the boys shrugged and climbed onto the back seat.

'What? Are they underestimating me? Is all Kaede's fault. What are all these rules for anyway?' Sendoh thought as he sat on the driver's seat.

The twins sang as soon as Sendoh starts the car. Sendoh too sang with them until suddenly the twins stop.

"What?" Sendoh asked, looking at them through the front mirror.

"You sing bad, papa," Kenji said, straight forwardly.

'Can't you be more subtle, Kenji?' Sendoh felt a little offended.

"Is my singing really that bad? It saved me during my high school talent audition," Sendoh said.

The twins looked not convinced.

"It's true. I did stand-up comedy at first but no one laughed. So I panicked and started to sing," Sendoh explained.

"They started laughing?" Eiji asked, amazed.

Sendoh sweatdropped.

"Okay, here we are," he said, trying to distract the boys. Sendoh had just parked in front of Uozumi's restaurant.

The twins rushed out of the car quickly and entered. Sendoh admired their enthusiastic attitude.

"Yo, Sendoh! How're you doing?" a familiar man greeted him.

"Uozumi, haven't seen you for a long time!" Sendoh hugged him.

"The twins just came in. Where is…?" before Uozumi could ask, they heard a shout from the kitchen.

"Oh no," Sendoh walked quickly into the kitchen. There, he saw broken plates and glass everywhere on the floor.

'I just let them out of my sight for two minutes and they already make a mess!'

"Sorry, papa," Eiji said softly.

Sendoh carried the two away from the broken glasses. He examined them to make sure they didn't get cut or anything.

"Are you hurt?" he asked them, worried.

"No… Sorry, papa," they whispered, almost crying.

"It's alright. I'll talk to Uncle Uozumi," Sendoh said.

Jus then, Uozumi decided to enter the place. "What in the world happened here?" he was shocked at the mess in his kitchen.

"Um… Uozumi, actually…" Sendoh started with the twins hiding behind his legs.

"Rule no. 202: Cannot enter Uncle Uozumi's kitchen," Sendoh wrote this new rule in his book.

The twins pouted as they sat on the chairs. They refused to touch the Japanese traditional breakfast on the table.

"Now what?" Sendoh asked. He just had an hour of lecture from Uozumi on how to take care of the kids properly and now they're not eating. What possibly could get worse?

Kenji and Eiji showed him the Rukawa frown, "Don't like pickles."

"Then, I'll eat the pickles and you two eat the tamagoyaki, okay?" Sendoh picked the pickles up with his chopstick and put it in his plate.

However, the twins still refused to eat.

"What is it that you don't like to eat again?" Sendoh asked. 'They are as choosy as Kaede.'

"Feed us!" the twins said, holding up their bowls.

"No, you have to learn how to eat by yourself."

Kenji exchanged glances with Eiji then… "Waaaaaaa!"

Everyone in the restaurant looked over at their table. 'Oh no,' Sendoh thought.

"Sendoh! Keep them quiet!" Uozumi's roar was heard.

"Now, boys, if you keep quiet, I'll buy pocky for you," Sendoh said calmly to the crying boys. 'God, Kaede spoilt them too much.'

Immediately, the two shut up and smiled. Then only they started eating their breakfast quietly. Sendoh sighed in relief. After breakfast, Eiji and Kenji keep bugging Sendoh to buy them pocky in case he forgot. So, they went into a convenient store. As usual, Kenji and Eiji will run around the store, looking for snacks and toys. Sendoh only need to wait at the counter. To his horror, the boys carried ten boxes of pocky to the counter.

"Do you boys really need that much?" Sendoh asked his sweet-tooth sons.

The twins nodded, smiling.

'You have to be more strict, Sendoh Akira,' he told himself. But Sendoh loved them so much, he bought all of it for them.

The twins were delighted, "You're the best, papa!"

"We're going to hide this so that your father doesn't see it, okay?" Sendoh whispered to them.

"Yay!" the twins cheered.

Finally, they reached home. Sendoh was exhausted while the twins can still run around. He wondered where they get the energeticness from. The twins immediately opened one box of pocky. In haste, they dropped the box and its contents scattered all over the floor.

"Kenji," Sendoh glared at him.

"I'm not Kenji, he is!" he pointed at his twin.

Sendoh was surprised. This is the 1st time he mistaken them. How did he usually differentiate them? 'Must be father's instinct,' he thought. Now he understands why Sakuragi and the others couldn't differentiate them. As he looked closer at them, the twins began laughing.

"Just kidding! I am Kenji!" Kenji said, laughing.

Eiji laughed with him. Together, they cleaned up the mess. Actually it was more like Eiji and Kenji ate the pocky off the floor. They were so fast; the floor was clean in a matter of seconds. The three looked for a hiding place for the rest of the pocky. They finally hid it in the office, inside Sendoh's drawer where Rukawa wouldn't open it. Sendoh then glanced at the clock. It's one p.m. now. The team's match should be starting soon.

"Boys, aren't you hungry?" Sendoh asked.

"No," they answered.

Sendoh guessed the pocky made them full. He saw the boys jumping on the couch while channel surfing. Sendoh had bought two remote controls since the twins are always fighting for it.

"Turn to channel 23. The basketball match is starting," Sendoh said. Ever since Rukawa left, they were up to date about the match schedule. Eiji and Kenji both enjoyed basketball as their parents did.

Soon, the match began and the three watched intently. Kenji would always scream, "Father!" whenever he saw his father on TV. Sendoh would explain the rules and game play once in a while. The game ended with Rukawa's team as the victor.

"Yay! Go, father!" the boys cheered.

After that, Sendoh decided to catch a small nap while the twins looked for their own entertainment. When Sendoh almost fall asleep, he felt someone tugging on him.

"Papa, play with us!" Eiji said, pulling his sleeve.

"I'm tired," Sendoh said, not bothering to open his eyes. "Go play with your toys."

"No! Papa play with us!" Kenji pulled his other sleeve.

"Okay, okay. What do you wanna play?" Sendoh asked while being pulled by them.

"Basketball!" they said simultaneously.

"It's so hot," Sendoh looked outside the window. It's summer now. "And I'm really tired. Let's play something at home," Sendoh said.

"No. Basketball!" they screamed.

"Okay, let me teach you a new game," Sendoh said, after calming them down.

The twins looked at him excitedly. Sendoh was surprised at how fast they can switch from crying babies to playful kids.

"Go get your father's file in the office."

After playing for a while, the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Kenji said, running towards it. Unfortunately, his brother is faster than him and grabbed the cordless phone first.

"Father!" Eiji exclaimed into the phone.

On the other side, Rukawa had to pull the phone away from his ear.

"I want to talk to father!" Kenji screamed. Rukawa doesn't call back that often when he's away. So, the twins were excited to receive a phone call from him.

"Eiji? Kenji?" Rukawa called. It's difficult for him to differentiate them through the phone since they have the exact same voice.

"I'm Eiji, father!" "I'm Kenji!"

"How are you doing?" Rukawa asked.

"We miss playing with you, father! Papa is no fun!" they said together.

"What was that!" Sendoh's voice was heard in the background.

"I miss both of you too. What are you doing now?" Rukawa asked.

"We're playing 'rate the basketball player'!" they answered.

"Huh? What game is that?" Rukawa was puzzled.

"By looking at the character's profile, we rate how good they are," Kenji explained, remembering what Sendoh said earlier.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I give a 10/10 to Brother Tatsuha! He's cute!" Eiji exclaimed.

Suddenly, Sendoh grabbed the phone from the boys. The twins protested loudly. However because of Sendoh's height, they couldn't snatch the phone back.

"Hey, Kaede. I miss you," Sendoh said.

"Did you let them play with my player's files?" Rukawa asked.

"Um… well, you see. They're bored."

"So, you decided to find them a potential husband?"

"It's just a game. They actually wanted to play basketball but it's so hot now," Sendoh explained.

"We want father!" the twins screamed in the background.

"You can try putting them to sleep."

"You know they don't take naps. I'm getting a headache here… aaaaah!"

Kenji had climbed onto the couch and jumped at Sendoh. Sendoh accidentally let go of the phone when he lost his balance as he tried to catch Kenji. Eiji meanwhile grabbed the phone before it fell on the floor.

"What's happening?" Rukawa asked, worried.

"Nothing, father!" Eiji smiled.

"Kenji, get off me," Sendoh said trying to push the younger boy aside but trying not to hurt him as well. Finally, Kenji let go of him. He ran to Eiji and they shared the phone. Sendoh decided to let them talk to Rukawa first.

The twins talked a lot. They told Rukawa about how they woke Sendoh up this morning. Rukawa chuckled at the part where Kenji described the clips' mark on Sendoh's face. Then, Eiji told him they had a new rule again. They weren't too happy about it. Kenji accidentally told Rukawa about the pocky and immediately regretted it because Rukawa started his 'brush teeth before sleep' talk. In short, they told him about everything, not missing any small detail. Finally, it was Sendoh's turn to talk.

"Kaede."

"I hear you're doing fine."

"Yeah, I've been doing it for two days. Five more should not be a problem."

"Okay, just wanna let you know. We won today, 48-51," Rukawa said.

"I know. Saw it on TV. I knew your team could do it. Kenji and Eiji were so happy when you guys won."

"Yeah, I wish I could be with them now."

"We're waiting for you to come home," Sendoh replied.

"Okay, I have to go now."

"Bye, I love you."

"Same to you. Tell the twins that for me."

And Sendoh hung up. He sighed. Now, his new job is to look for the twins. It seemed they had gone into hiding while he was talking to his husband. First, he checked the toilet. He remembered once when they were playing hide-and-seek, Eiji hid in the toilet. Sendoh pulled open the shower curtain.

'He's not here.'

Sendoh started searching the whole house. After several minutes, he gave up.

"Eiji! Kenji! You win! You can come out now!" Sendoh said.

Silence.

"Eiji! Kenji!" Sendoh called out.

Still no response.

'Oh my god, please don't let anything happen to them!' Sendoh searched the whole house again. He looked at the shoe rack.

"Their shoes are still here," he sighed in relief. This means they didn't go out. When he walked into the bedroom again, this time he could hear distinct snoring. Sendoh followed the sound and looked under the bed. There they were, sleeping soundly. Sendoh sighed in relief, 'If Kaede knew I lost them, he'll kill me!'.

"Boys, wake up," Sendoh said, while trying to reach Eiji who was closer to him.

"Hmm?" Eiji opened one eye.

"Come out. Call your brother too."

Eiji turned and hit Kenji on the head. Kenji yelped and kicked Eiji in return.

"Okay, no fighting. Come out now," Sendoh said.

The twins slowly crawled out into Sendoh's arms.

"Both of you frightened me. I don't know what I'd do if I lose you," Sendoh whispered, hugging them tightly. The twins only yawned. "Oh, your father says he love you."

"I love you too, father," Eiji said softly, still closing his eyes.

"Me too," Kenji said, sleepily.

Sendoh carried both of them and placed them on the bed. He pulled the blanket over them.

"Night," Sendoh kissed their foreheads.

"Papa," Eiji said.

"Yes?"

"I love you," the twins said together then fell asleep.

Sendoh smiled at the two sleeping boys. "I love you both too," and he too drifted into slumber land with them.

-End-