AN: Sorry for the delay. I have some good reasons, but well it's not an excuse. Hope you enjoy the chapter. It's long. There's been too few yaoi fics lately.
Not proof read as usual.
Chapter Three
'Today was a weird day,' Hanamichi thought, 'Weird but good. It definitely made up for yesterday.' First Yohei had called unexpectedly, and it had been a pretty weird conversation, he recalled.
"Yohei, what's up?" Hanamichi said after he picked up the phone in his room, "Why are you calling?"
"Hey Hana, how's it going? Do I really need a reason to call you?"
"Guess not," Hanamichi said sheepishly, "The tensai is dong great today!"
"That's good to hear. So what's been happening? The evil doctors' say anything about when you'll be out?" Yohei asked.
"Nah, nothing on that yet, but I'm supposed to be having a meeting with them this Friday," Hanamichi's voice was filled with hope.
"That's wonderful news! I was planning on coming down Saturday to keep you company. Maybe I'll be coming down t move you back home instead! So anything else happen?"
There was a slight pause before Sakuragi answered. "Yeah there was and it was really weird too. You know how the All Japan team practices in this area?" Without waiting for a response Sakuragi continued, "Well I usually see the kitsune running on the beach…" Sakuragi trailed off suddenly aware that he was actually nervous talking to Yohei about this and he wasn't quite sure why.
"Yeah, you've told me about that before. He runs past, you yell at him and he ignores you. What's so new about that?" Yohei asked confused.
"I was getting to that! The tensai had to gather his thoughts was all," Sakuragi said indignantly into the phone.
"Right, right, sorry for interrupting your thinking tensai," Yohei joked, "Continue on please."
"As I was saying then, I didn't go to the beach because I was feeling down and instead I went-," Sakuragi was interrupted by Yohei.
"You've been taking your pills, right?" Yohei had abruptly snapped to attention and was about to go into a tirade before he was cut off himself.
"Yes mother, I'm taking them. I'm not completely stupid you know," Sakuragi said sarcastically.
"So sue me for worrying," Yohei said without a hint of regret in his voice.
"If you had enough money I would. Anyways, I went to the basketball court near here and before you interrupt, not I did not play," Sakuragi could practically hear Yohei snapping his mouth shut, "It was relaxing so I took a nap. I guess I napped longer than I should have coz the next I knew it was dark and the kitsune was there waking me up." Sakuragi paused yet again, trying to figure out how to word the next part.
Yohei waited for him to continue but thought to himself, 'That's weird for Rukawa. Unless…' He cut that train of thought off until he had more information.
Sakuragi continued, "When I woke up I had this horrible cramp in my back from sleeping sitting up and the kitsune massaged it out. It freaked me out coz he did it without asking! That wasn't the strangest thing though, he well... he talked to me."
"Did you start the conversation, or did he?" Yohei asked intrigued.
"He did! That's what made it so weird," Sakuragi said. He tried moving his phone to the other ear but he phone cord was tangled around his hand.
'Okay, play it cool Yohei. Hana sounds stressed as t is, let's not make a big deal out of nothing.' He cleared his throat, "Maybe he's learning to act like a human being Hana. You know better than anyone how people can change."
"Mah…I guess you could be right, except when he passes by me on the beach now he talks to me and ignore his teammates when they pass by," Sakuragi responded doubtfully.
"Okay so that's definitely weird," Yohei said. He thought for a minute. "Did you ever think that he might be trying to put this stupid rivalry you two have behind him? Would having him as a friend really be that bad?"
"But he's the kitsune!"
"Yeah he's the kitsune who never really started your fights, the one who actually started passing the ball to you. You know when he did that it was probably his way of telling you that he respected your abilities," Yohei was losing his patience with himself for having to find the right wording and also with Hanamichi for being s childish all the time. He had a feeling what about what Rukawa was really doing, but he knew that Hanamichi wasn't ready to hear that…yet.
Sakuragi thought for a moment on what Yohei said and s much s he hated to admit it, Yohei was right. Suddenly he felt like dirt. "So I guess that means it's time for me to stop and make an effort too," Sakuragi didn't sound too thrilled with the idea.
"You're smarter than you seem," Yohei teased, glad that part of the conversation was over. "Some interesting things have been happening over here if you want to hear about them," Yohei offered.
"Well it's not like I'm going anywhere until my therapy session, so spill the dirt! How many times has the Gundai been kicked out of the Pachinko parlor?"
Yohei laughed, "Only three times from what I heard, but that wasn't what I wanted to tell you. Actually I shouldn't be telling you this but you're the tensai, right?"
"Anything you say the tensai can handle!" Sakuragi said with confidence. He already had a feeling it had to do with Haruko; it was something that he had come to terms with mostly at his stay I the clinic.
"Well yesterday at practice Ayako and Haruko were talking about the mushroom head. I guess the discussion got heated because Haruko yelled that and I do quote, "'My Rukawa loves me,'" loud enough for everyone to hear." Yohei waited for a response to his announcement and was surprised when it was given.
"That's all?"
"Okay that was not the response I was expecting Hana. Where's there real Hana?" Yohei felt himself start to go into a state of shock. The last time he had talked to Hana he had been gushing over Haruko's latest letter and that had only been a few weeks ago.
"You know, it's one thing to see her stare at him dreamily every once in a while, but completely different when you get lots of letters and half the letter is about Rukawa and every time his name is written there are hearts around it. Kinda drive the point home and is just as effective as a 'no' would be," Hana said softly into the receiver.
Now it was Yohei's turn to feel like dirt. His best friend had been dumped again and hadn't even trusted him enough to tell him. "Hana…"
"I'm okay with it Yohei. The tensai wasn't as blind as he, I mean, I made myself out to be and the pills are helping too." Sakuragi knew that Yohei was probably getting ready to blow a gasket at Haruko and that was something the he definitely did not want to happen. "You said there were talking about Ryo-chin?" Sakuragi asked to turn the subject away from him.
"Yeah, I did. I think it was about the crush he has on Ayako. You remember how she said shoe would go out with him once he was the number one point guard in Kangawa?"
"Yeah, I think everyone knows about that," Sakuragi said.
"Well he's number one now and I know for a fact that she is stringing him along," Yohei said angrily. He couldn't help the anger; it surfaced every time he thought about it.
"Whoa, Yohei calm down man! Why do you think she's playing him and why do you care?" It wasn't that Sakuragi didn't care about the situation he was just worried about Yohei's anger. Yohei was pretty good at hiding his anger.
"I know because I saw her and the gorilla kissing in the movie theatre a month ago. Haruko was with them and she saw me. Later she told me that the gorilla and Ayako had been dating for a year," Yohei was close to losing his temper again, Hana could hear it in his voice.
"No one has told him have they?" Sakuragi asked, his heart going out to Ryota.
"No, I tried to do it last night but I couldn't."
"Why not," Sakuragi asked, his voice filled with confusion.
"Because I like him too much to hurt him like that, I didn't want to be the one who got the backlash of his initial anger. I couldn't stand to see him hurt," Yohei said making one of his very few confessions to Sakuragi. The last one had been telling Sakuragi that he was bisexual.
'Yohei…' Sakuragi took a deep breath to calm himself. For once his friend needed his help and not the other way around, and he always came through for his friends. "That is a good reason not to tell him Yohei, don't think otherwise. I'm pretty sure he's going to find out sooner rather than later. I remember him telling Mitch at the Inter High tournament that the next time he asked her out it would be the last time, so it's bound to happen soon."
"For once Hana you're right. Since I can't bring myself to interfere with it I'll have to wait it play out and be there as a friend when it happens," Yohei wasn't sure he could put his words into practice, but he didn't want to worry Sakuragi any more than he already had.
"That's the spirit! So how long have you liked him?" Sakuragi asked curiously.
"Ah, not sure when the attraction I had for him turned in what I feel now, but I was attracted to him that time the Gundai tried to fight him and I wouldn't let them," Yohei admitted.
"That's a long time," Sakuragi glanced at the clock, "I have therapy in five minutes Yohei is it okay if I let you go now?"
Yohei looked at his clock, "I'm late for school but that's nothing new. Go on and get yourself healed. I have a test I can't miss in an hour anyways. I'll see you on Saturday!" Yohei hung up the phone and sprinted to school. He did feel better after talking to Hana.
After that Hana had done his therapy, which was still painful for him, he ate lunch and went for a swim (which was recommended by his therapist, though he hadn't meant the ocean) and then took a shower.
When he got out of the shower he found Ryota waiting in his room. He had obviously forgotten to lock the door. "Ryo-chin! What brings you to see the tensai?" Sakuragi asked in surprise.
"I felt like visiting the beach," Ryota said shrugging. He wasn't going to tell Sakuragi the real reason he was there, at least not yet.
"But there's a beach closer to Kangawa," Sakuragi said in confusion, he looked at Ryota, "You shouldn't lie to the tensai."
"Fine, I hadn't visited you yet and I wanted to see how you were doing. When I talked to Mito-san last night he seemed kind of worried about you, even though he was trying to hide it. So I decided to be nosy," Ryota tried to make light of what he had said, but failed miserably. "Besides, I'm your closest friend on the team and you know it. Who else is going to be the one to get you back up to your normal tensai level when you get back?"
"Well sorry you had to come all this way since I'm perfectly fine. Yohei's been stressed lately and probably over-reacted," Sakuragi put a hand behind his head sheepishly, "but I'm still a tensai and I don't need your help."
"Well even if it was over-reacting it was long past due for me to visit you. We're teammates, right?" Ryota said, trying not to let himself feel like a fool.
"Saa," Sakuragi shrugged, "It's cool! The tensai's always up for visitors! Nyahahaha!
"So that do you do around here for fun?" Ryota asked already fidgeting.
Hana thought for a few minutes, "Tease the kitsune."
"Rukawa is here?" Ryota asked. "I didn't know the All Japan team was practicing in this area."
"Yep, he should be running down the beach in about an hour if you want to talk wit him," Sakuragi said.
"Yeah, I think I'll do that later. I haven't seen him in a while either," Ryota said. "So how's the back doing? Any idea when you're gonna be back on the team?"
"Not sure how things are progressing with my back, but I do have a meting with the doctors on Friday and I'm hoping the tensai will be back in action!" Sakuragi was practically bouncing in excitement of the idea.
"That's great to hear, Hanamichi! It'll be great to have you back, just don't be surprised when Aya-chan makes you go through all the basics again," Ryota had an evil look on his face as he waited for Sakuragi's reaction.
"What! The tensai's too good for basic training again! Why the tensai is still going to be number one on the team!"
Ryota grinned and tuned Sakuragi out as he continued to complain loudly. 'Yep, he hasn't changed a bit. He's still insanely arrogant and loud.' Ryota looked over at Sakuragi who was still raving. 'Definitely missed this at practice, it's so routine now.' He continued thinking for a few minutes until he heard Sakuragi's rant beginning to taper off.
"So how is the team doing?" Sakuragi asked, trying to make any sort of conversation. He just wasn't used to being around only one person, unless it was Yohei or Haruko. The one thing he detested the most was uncomfortable silences, which is why he tended to always hang out in groups.
"Really ragged," Ryota scrubbed a hand over his face, "Right now we could probably beat a couple of the lower seeded teams, but nothing higher. Partially because it's still so early in the season, but also because we're working with a very young team."
"It's because the tensai is not there, Nyahahaha!"
'His laugh is still annoying as ever,' Ryota thought to himself. "It would be great if we had more members from last year back, but we'll have to make due until you and Rukawa return."
"Baka kitsune…" Sakuragi muttered.
Ryota sighed, 'Apparently that hasn't changed either.' Out loud he said, "Why don't you try to get along with Rukawa? If you two worked together on the court more you'd be unstoppable."
"Don't want to."
Ryota shrugged, "It's just something to keep in mind."
Sakuragi changed the subject; he was still thinking about the conversation that he had with Yohei that morning and he knew someone would have to tell Ryota about Ayako. "So you said that Yohei seemed worried last night…"
"Well he seemed worried and distracted I guess. I don't know him well enough to really judge that. I thought it was about you. Of course I could have been imagining things," Ryota responded.
"Actually you weren't," Sakuragi glanced at Ryota. "I know that Yohei is worried about me, but when I talked with him this morning he told me another reason he was acting weird and it has to do with you." He glanced at Ryota to see his facial expression, but only saw confusion.
"What has to do with me?" Ryota asked perplexed.
"You have to promise to let me talk Ryo-chin and to not get mad at Yohei. It's not his fault and he doesn't know I'm telling you," Hanamichi said with a very serious voice.
"This is confusing as hell, but you've got my attention," Ryota said still puzzled.
"Okay," Hanamichi thought for a minute and then spoke, "I guess the easiest way to say this is bluntly. Ayako has been dating Gori for almost a year. Yohei found out and was gonna tell you but since he likes you he couldn't tell you because he doesn't want to see you hurt and he thought you'd blame him or something," Hanamichi said as fast as possible and in the least confusing way he could manage. Unfortunately, it still came out confusing. He waited for Ryota's reactions, his muscles tightening in anticipation of whatever was to come.
Ryota was sure he had misheard Hanamichi. There was just no way… "I don't think I heard you right. Aya-chan is dating Akagi?"
"Yes. I'm sorry Ryo-chin."
It took another moment for it to sink in and then Ryota starting looking for answers. "There's no way that can be true, none at all. Aya-chan is not dating Akagi! How did Yohei find this out?" Ryota was quickly losing control of his temper.
"Yohei saw them together at the movie theatre and Haruko-chan told him everything," Sakuragi said, knowing that the truth was definitely going to hurt, "Yohei does not lie, Ryo-chin."
Ryota continued to look for excuses. "Friends go to the movies all the time and it doesn't mean anything. Perhaps Haruko misunderstood!" Denial had a solid grip on Ryota's mind.
Hanamichi had a feeling the conversation was not going to go anywhere, so he said the one thing that he knew would hurt the most, but would also get Ryota past his stubborn mental block. "Friends don't share a 10 minute lip lock Ryo-chin," he said sadly.
The sentence had the effect Hanamichi thought it would. He could see Ryota's eyes go wide and almost see the gears in his head turning. He waited for some other reaction, which wasn't long in coming.
Ryota jumped towards him and Hanamichi knew that his friends needed to work off a little steam, which he was more than willing to assist with. Besides, he hadn't had a good fight in a while. He let Ryota take the first punch and when his jaw exploded in pain he retaliated with a punch of his own, though not at full power since he didn't want to strain his back.
The fight raged on for a full five minutes until Ryota worked out his initial rage and slid to the floor leaning against the bed.
"Feel any better, Ryo-chin?" Hanamichi panted, trying to catch his breath.
"Damn it all!" Ryota yelled. He looked up at Hanamichi and saw the multiple bruises starting to form. "Sorry Hanamichi, I didn't mean to take it out on you. Are you all right?" Now Ryota was starting to feel bad about taking his anger out on his friend.
"I gave just as good as I got. Besides, I was expecting it. I did the same thing to a street lamp when I realized Haruko didn't like me."
Sakuragi's face brightened in a grin. "Besides, you can't hurt the tensai!"
Ryota sighed. "I should have realized it without anyone having to tell me. Damn it, I'm so stupid!" Ryota squeezed his eyes shut. He would not cry about this, at least not in front of other people. "Why did you have to be the one to tell me? Why didn't your friend?"
Hanamichi gestured to some of the bruises on his arm. "Yohei is different than I am. Yeah, he's a fighter, but he never fights with people he likes or considers friends. He would have stood there and just let you smack him around until you felt better because he really likes you. Don't be mad at him for doing the best that he could. Yohei is a great guy, he just does things differently."
"How can he like me? He doesn't even really know me," Ryota said.
"He's been watching you for a while. I think he has a bit of a crush on you," Hanamichi grinned mischievously knowing he was pushing the limit.
Ryota made a choking noise and clutched his head. "This is too much to deal with all at once. This is all just too weird."
There was nothing but silence for a few minutes until Hanamichi said, "If you want to catch the kitsune you had better leave now. He should be by in the next five minutes."
Ryota stood. "Yeah, I better go talk to him too. Thanks for telling me Hanamichi, I appreciate it." Ryota walked out of the room, "I'll come by again sometime," he said before closing the door.
'Damn he punches hard,' Hanamichi thought before going to clean up, again.
Ryota detoured on his way out of the building to quickly wash his face. He was surprised by the lack of damage as he knew how hard Hanamichi could punch. Still he was starting to get a few bruises but nothing that he thought was major. They were visible, but not too bad. Once he was finished he left the building and squinted as the sunlight hit his eyes. He didn't realize it inside, but Hanamichi kept his room very dark. He waited a bit for his eyes to adjust and sprinted the few block to the beach. Sure enough, just like Hanamichi had said, Rukawa was running slowly down the beach. Ryota could tell he was looking for something or someone from the way his head was turning. 'Probably trying to avoid Hanamichi' Ryota thought mentally snickering.
"Oi, Rukawa!" he yelled, jogging over the soft sand to where Rukawa had stopped when he had called his name.
Rukawa inclined his head, "Sempai," he said in acknowledgement, letting his eyes continue to scan the beach.
"Who are you looking for?" Ryota asked in curiosity.
"Do'aho," Rukawa responded, his voice clipped, short and precise.
"Ah. You probably won't run into him today. I just got done visiting him. He's probably nursing the bruises I gave him," Ryota pointed to his own face as well.
Rukawa looked at Ryota. "What did the do'aho do this time?" "Ah, actually..." Ryota grinned sheepishly, "All he did was tell me something I didn't want to hear and I kinda lost it. He barely fought back, just enough to knock some sense into me. It was like he knew I'd flip and was happy to take a beating if it made me feel better. That baka..." Ryota trailed off when he saw a definite flash of anger in Rukawa's eyes.
"Is he hurt badly?" Rukawa asked, his ice king features back in place.
"Nah, you know how tough he is. Before I left he was still acting like his normal lunatic self. But if you wanna check on him, he's in room 308." Ryota had no idea why he was telling Rukawa this, perhaps because the anger seemed to be seeping back into his eyes.
"Hn," was the only response Rukawa gave Ryota.
"Well you seem to be busy..." Ryota started to edge away from Rukawa, "And if I don't go now I'll miss my train. Nice seeing ya! Bye!" Ryota took off running still feeling an icy glare on his back.
"Do'aho," Rukawa changed direction and starting jogging towards Sakuragi's building.
Rukawa approached Sakuragi's door which was slightly open, but stepped back when he heard Sakuragi arguing loudly with someone. He wouldn't admit to being nosy, but seeing as he didn't want to interrupt, he stayed where he was and waited for the end of the conversation.
"Damn it Yohei! Yes, I had to tell him. He deserved to know," Hanamichi was silent for a moment, "Oh please, what's a few bruises between friends? I knew how he'd react before I told him." There was another pause. "No you would have just let him beat the crap outta ya. I knew I could take what he dished out, I'm a tensai after all."
There was a long pause this time and Rukawa actually peeked through the small opening of the door and caught a glimpse of Sakuragi's shirtless back before moving back beside the door where he couldn't be seen.
"No Yohei, I was not being a masochist, I was just trying to help a friend out. You're trying to drive me insane aren't you?" There was another pause as Sakuragi listened intently on the phone. "Go to hell Yohei," There was definite anger in Sakuragi's voice this time, "Yes; I'm taking my damn pills. You asked me that this morning! Do you honestly believe I could deal with this whole mess without them?"
Rukawa raised an eyebrow at what he heard and filed it away for later use. He wanted to pay attention to the conversation as it might give him more insight on his obsession.
Sakuragi sighed in defeat. "You Yohei, I know you nag me because you care, but it's getting really annoying. Now will you be a man and go comfort poor Ryo-chin in his time of need? I'm hungry and I can't talk on the phone and eat at the same time." Sakuragi listened for a few minutes. "Yeah I'll call and tell you what the doctor says on Friday. Don't forget your promise to come down Saturday. See you then." Sakuragi hung up the phone and laid face down on his bed.
"Insane nit picker," he mumbled into his pillow before rolling back out of the bed. He looked in the mirror in his room and touched a couple of the forming bruises on his face. "The doctors are gonna chew me out for this..."
Rukawa decided that he had done enough lurking and knocked on the door.
"Just a minute," Sakuragi called. He quickly pulled on a shirt and walked over to the door and pushed it open completely. "Kitsune! What are you doing here?" He took a step back in surprise.
Rukawa took that as an invitation to go inside and closed the door behind him. "Miyagi-san asked me to check up on you to make sure you really weren't hurt." A little white lie never hurt.
"The tensai is perfectly fine so you can go now," Hanamichi had unconsciously taken another step back when Rukawa had come into his room. His brain was so frazzled that he hadn't even thought to yell at Rukawa for entering without permission.
Rukawa tilted his head slightly to the side, "Are you afraid of me?" He had noticed Hanamichi's steps back and they had puzzled him slightly.
Hanamichi's response was automatic, "The tensai is afraid of nothing!"
Rukawa took another step forward and Hanamichi took one back. "Then why do you keep backing away from me?" Rukawa asked.
Hanamichi's eyes widened as he realized that was exactly what he was doing. "It's not fear kitsune, it's...I don't know. You've been acting weird ever since the night when my back cramped and it freak me out, all right?" Hanamichi couldn't believe he had actually said that out loud. He had planned on just making up some lame excuse but the truth had come out instead. Hanamichi's face went bright red with embarrassment.
Rukawa shook his head. "I haven't been acting that different at all. The only change is that you're just now noticing the way I am. It's probably because the team isn't here to distract you."
Sakuragi looked at Rukawa skeptically.
Rukawa sighed, "Let me look at the cuts and bruises, do'aho so I can tell Miyagi-san that you're fine." In his mind he knew that he just wanted to make sure Hanamichi was all right so he could stop worrying and also because it meant he would get to touch the other boy again.
"And if I don't let you?" Hanamichi challenged.
"I'll tell Miyagi-san and he'll probably come down here himself. Or he might tell that Mito guy." Rukawa knew his way around blackmail.
Hanamichi's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare kitsune."
Rukawa just stared at Hanamichi silently.
"Shit," Hanamichi gave in, taking off his shirt since Ryota hadn't only hit his face. "You've got to promise that you'll tell him I'm fine though."
Rukawa nodded and stepped forward so that he was practically chest to chest with Sakuragi.
Hanamichi's natural reaction to seeing Rukawa's face so close to his was to close his eyes so his embarrassment wouldn't show.
Rukawa sighed mentally when Hanamichi had closed his eyes; he had wanted to keep looking at them. Instead of continuing to think about it he started his inspection of Hanamichi's face. To keep Hanamichi from getting any more nervous he made an added effort to talk to him. "Your face doesn't look too bad," he said as his finger brushed against the left side of Hanamichi's lower lip, "You need ice for this or it's going to swell," he took his finger away and continued with the inspection.
Sakuragi had almost forgotten to breathe the moment Rukawa had touched his lips. He could still feel a tingle where he had been douched and he was trying to bring his heat beat down to a normal pace. He wasn't sure why his body was reacting like this, but there was nothing he could do yet to control it.
Rukawa made sure not to touch Hanamichi's chest at all during his inspection. He was very sure that if he touched him, there would be no way that he would be able to stop. His will power was almost zero when it came to the red head.
"You've got quite a few nasty bruises on your chest, but I'm sure you've figured that out all ready."
"Smart ass," Hanamichi muttered, with his eyes still closed.
"Just your back now and I can tell Miyagi-san that you're perfect, ah perfectly fine," Rukawa said. He had a slight blush on his cheeks from the almost slip of his tongue.
"Just hurry it up kitsune, the tensai is getting hungry," Hanamichi lied. He just wanted this whole thing over with so he could do some serious thinking.
Rukawa's eyes skimmed over Hanamichi's back. "You have a cut here," Rukawa touched the spot, "It's not too bad but it should still be taken care of." His finger roamed over Hanamichi's back until it came to an area with a long pink scar. "Is this where they did the surgery?" It was a bigger incision than he had thought it would be. Unconsciously his finger continued to trace over it.
"Huh? What? Hanamichi had to quickly gather his thoughts, his mind was all jumbled and his body was tingling again from Rukawa touching him. "Yeah that's where it was." He quickly rushed on, "Clean bill of health now, right?" He tried to keep any embarrassment out of his voice and for once he actually managed it.
Rukawa pulled his hand away. "Now I'll tell Miyagi-san that he shouldn't be worried."
Sakuragi pulled on his shirt. "Between Ryo-chin and Yohei I feel like I have two mothers," he said jokingly. "Well now that you've done that I need to go eat."
Rukawa was trying to think of a reason, any reason, to stay but he couldn't think of one. "Do'aho," he said as he walked out the door and closed it behind him.
Hanamichi sat down on his bed with a look of complete confusion on his face. It was going to be a long night.