DISCLAIMER: I do not own the all the characters in this story. Please don't sue me! I'm merely a highschool student…

"Rukawa Kaede! Good thing you're here!" his basketball team coach Mitsuyoshi Anzai exclaimed, as he approached a tall guy wearing faded jeans and a white shirt. "I have a very important errand to attend to but I thought I can't because I have to introduce you and your teammates to a new member of the basketball team. I am deeply in need of someone to help me."

"We have?" Rukawa asked, puzzled. He paused from unpacking his bag. Could it be? he thought. No, he couldn't be. But then he remembered the time when Akira Sendoh went to his place for the last time:

"Rukawa, I can't stand it without you," he said to me, lying unclothed on my bed and caressing my bare shoulders. "I have to do something."

"I thought so too. I can't take this hiding from everybody," I agreed, liking—no, loving!—the way he touch my naked body. His fingers gave me the chills. "I want to show them that we love each other."

"I'll think up something, Rukawa. I promise you," Sendoh told me firmly as he sat up. "We can't continue doing this in so little time. We have different schedules. I can't stand it! I have to be with you. I'll think up something, Rukawa."

With that kind of tone, I was assured that he would surely have a solution. I adored his way of thinking. "Lay off with that thinking-up for a while, Sendoh," I replied huskily. I couldn't hide the desire anymore. "Let's do something really fun with the remaining time we have…" And I started to pull him on top of me…

"Rukawa, are you still there?"

Rukawa snapped back to the present. I must admit, he thought, smiling, that that night was the most intense one. He looked back to Coach Anzai. "Ah… I'm sorry, Sensei. I was lost in thoughts. What was it again?"

"I asked if you remember Akira Sendoh, the shooting guard of Ryonan." he repeated. "You are an hour early for the training so you are the only one I could turn to."

Rukawa couldn't believe his ears. Did he say Akira Sendoh? "Akira Sendoh, sir?"

Coach Anzai nodded. "Yes. He will be the new member for the Shohoku team."

"But… but…" Is this what he said he was thinking up? Is this the solution? he wondered. I am now totally impressed with him. "When did he ask you, Sensei?"

"Just yesterday," the white-haired gentle-looking man replied. "I noticed that he was very eager. He kept begging me. I even thought that he will beg on his knees!" He laughed heartily.

Rukawa didn't laugh because he has so many things running on his mind. But our last meeting was three months ago! Why did he waited this long? He shook his head. Stop tiring yourself from wondering too much. Rejoice! Smile! Be happy! Sendoh will be with you now! You're not going to hide to anyone anymore! He licked his lips. It was dry. "Where is he, Sensei?" he finally asked, his throat parched.

"He was getting his things from his Ryonan locker," Coach Anzai answered, turning his back on him. "I said that he must be here in the boys' locker room in fifteen minutes top." He looked at his watch. He turned again to face him. "Can I trust you with this?"

Rukawa hesitated for a moment, and then he smiled. "You can trust me with anything, Sensei."

He waited and waited in front of their school. He glanced at his watch. 11:30 am. Thirty minutes had passed. Still no Akira Sendoh. Where the hell is he? he wondered angrily. He was too excited, too frustrated. When will Sendoh come? We haven't seen each other for three months now. I keep track of the calendar. It's been three long, empty months. He glanced again at his watch. He tapped his foot impatiently against the hard ground. He couldn't wait any longer. He turned to look at the way leading to his house, the same way where they walked hand in hand when the night fell and everyone was asleep. He suffered many days walking that same road alone, without a hand in his hand, without a body he could feel. He endured many days accepting the truth that he was a bisexual, loving a person the same sex as he is. Nothing is wrong with that, he kept telling himself then. When Sendoh went out the door of his house, he knew that that would be their last intimate encounter, in which they got to know every curve of each other's body. Rukawa felt betrayed then. Why am I suffering so much? Is he suffering as I do? It hurts knowing that I'm the only one clinging to a relationship that to him is long gone…

Sendoh glimpsed at the wall clock in the Ryonan boys' locker room. 11:30 am. Damn. I should have been there about fifteen minutes ago. And it's a long drive. Damn. He got his duffel bags and ran to the nearest bus stop. Waving wildly to cab drivers, he wondered, "Who will be waiting for me? Surely Coach Anzai won't wait for me if I'm fifteen minutes late. Will it be Rukawa?" He shook his head. He even thought of slapping himself. Get real. He won't hang on to relationships that are already uncertain at the start…

"Sendoh! I'll give you another five minutes!" Rukawa shouted sternly in front of the mirror in the locker room. He slumped heavily on the wooden chair. He watched the seconds hand move in the clock. "I've been waiting for you for forty minutes but where the heck are you!" He started hollering the worst obscenities you could ever imagine. Why? Maybe because he was so angry at himself for being thrilled to finally see him after a long, long time. Maybe because he was so angry at Sendoh because he made him feel this way. He made this tough guy go through these horrible days of his life, missing him. Rukawa always yearned for the evenings to come because only then he can sleep, and love Sendoh in his dreams.

He stood up and faced the mirror again. He could see the longing in his own eyes. He could see the unwept tears. He could see the lack of sleep because he couldn't feel love's warmth. It was always cold, always cold. There was no one to thaw the chill from his bones and from his heart. He thought he could never love, but he did, and he fell harder than he suspected. But he didn't know that the one he thought would catch him was never there.

He gazed at the mirror. He gazed at his lips. He wanted to feel those soft lips again. Oh! How he ache for that! He wanted to love another but no, he couldn't. His heart belonged to someone else. He gave himself wholly to him. He gave everything: his body, his soul and his heart. He gave everything, but what did he get in return? Nothing except forgotten dreams and broken promises.

He continued to fix his look on his own eyes. Then his heart jumped a little when he saw a too-familiar pair of eyes beside his. The eyes were smiling at him, showing yearning that he thought he could only feel.

Rukawa turned around and prepared himself to melt into the eyes he thought he would never see again.

A/N: Is it any good? Please give me reviews so I can improve my writing! I really need your comments, suggestions and ideas and I will appreciate it no matter what. Just be easy on the criticisms okay? Thank you very much! Wait for the next chapter please!