Hey guys!

crazy-chick14: New reviewer! Glomp! Erm, sorry, hehe, thanks for reviewing! And yes I will continue to update. I don't think I've left number 1 spot in the page for a month now...yay...

keia mizuki: EYES REALLY WIDE Are you crazy? By all means (of transportation), review! You are not annoying me seriously, I live for people like you! Thanks for reviewing, and I hope this update is soon enough! Review this chapter too!

Neko11lover: Yay manga't bagoong! sorry, my one weakness hehe...Anyway, since we don't know much about Rukawa's personal life I thought that I might liven him up a little with him knowing how to play the guitar. If it's in any way too much out of character for anyone, let me know and I'll personally apologize to you and tweak the story a little.

Anyway, guess what? Go on, guess.

No...

Erm, no...

Hell no!

Okay, give up? No...

No...

Okay, I'll tell you! I finished this story! That is, I mean, I've finished writing this story! I'm also in the process of writing a SendohOC fic, because people he is so not gay!I'm still thinking if I should post it after this one, or post it right now, you'll know soon enough. I might just post it right after I update this story! Anyway, this story is 25 chapters long, I hope that's long enough for you people. Most of it's uploaded, and I upload one every five or so days, just so you people know

ANyway, on to the story!

You Mean, Rukawa has a Best Friend?

Chapter Nine

By the time the next weekend came around, all talk from both Shohoku and Ryonan High was basketball. Who they think gonna win, who has the better players, and of course, which player is hotter.

By this time, Kira's black eye has faded quite significantly, although she still has to use a concealer to cover it up completely. Sendoh has practically swooped down on her Monday morning when she sported the fresh bruise.

"Who did that to you?" he demanded fiercely.

Kira just smiled and said, "Relax," she said, "no harm done."

"Whaddya mean, no harm done?" he said, "You've got a large bruise in your eye!"

"It's okay, it doesn't hurt ... as much."

"Who did that to you?" he demanded again.

"A basketball," she said smoothly.

Sendoh blinked at her. "Okay," he said, "who threw the basketball at you."

"Sakuragi Hanamichi."

"Oh," said Sendoh, then after a moment's hesitation, "did Rukawa beat him up?"

Kira looked at him, he looked like he wanted to beat Sakuragi up too. "He wanted to," she said, "but I stopped him."

"But," he stuttered, "why?"

Kira frowned. "Now why would you want to beat the man up?"

"Because he threw a basketball at you!"

"Aw, you care." she said, fluttering her eyelids exaggeratedly. Sendoh threw her an amused look.

A few moments later, Kira had him convince to not beat up Sakuragi the next time that they meet. Rather, he made him promise that his team would be the one winning on Saturday.

Whether it's coincidence or not, Rukawa had made the same promise.

"Sendoh made the same promise," said Kira, "Monday afternoon."

Rukawa shot her a very sharp annoyed look. "How do you know that?"

Kira looked at him incredulously. "Well we do go at the same school, and he does talk to me every now and then, I'm bound to catch a few things."

Rukawa didn't answer. They were headed for the basketball court, right in between the two schools, and they were accompanied by the Shohoku Team. They were, however, a good few metres away from them, so they are able to talk freely without the uncomfortableness of being heard and therefore, no interruption from any of the other players.

Kira had promised Rukawa that she would be cheering him on. "As always," she said, grinning, "C'mon, when have I not cheered you on?"

This was true. Kira had made it a point to not do anything on the days that Rukawa had basketball games. It was her one strict rule, and so far, she has never broken it. Nor she plans to.

"Bet," muttered Rukawa.

Kira looked at him, a slight smile in her face. They always did this. They made a bet, usually with ludicrous consequences, on whether or not Shohoku would win the game. Rukawa would, of course, bet that they would win, and would think up ridiculous, and to him and others, highly entertaining consequences for Kira. She would do the same. So far, Rukawa had made her run around the entire Shohoku High in her Ryonan Uniform with a banner saying "shohoku is the best - Sendoh's a loser" and he had made her go up on the rooftop of her own high school, sing the national anthem, while dancing the macarena.

It was one of those times that Rukawa actually showed imagination.

When Shohoku lost to Kainan, however, Kira thought that the best way to get back at Rukawa was to make him do the one thing that he dreaded most: acknowledge his fans' presence. To do this, she made him go up to each and every girl that watched him practice, and kiss each of them lightly on the cheek. Rukawa had hoped that there won't be too many girls coming, but someone, and he had a very good idea who, spread the word around that every girl who would watch Rukawa practice will get a kiss from the said boy.

Rukawa refused to talk to Kira for two whole days after that.

"Okay," nodded Kira, "on what?"

"Dinner."

Kira looked crestfallen. "Dinner?" she said. "Why the heck are we betting on dinner?"

Rukawa looked at her. "I'm going to be hungry."

"Well, so will I, but I don't want to bet on dinner." she said. "That's...lame."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"Dinner is delicious."

"It makes for a lame bet."

"I want to bet on dinner."

"I don't."

"You're being stupid."

"You're being lame."

Rukawa glared at her. "Dinner," he muttered. "End. of. Discussion."

Kira glared back, but words didn't find her mouth. After all, when Rukawa starts glaring like that, it's best that you shut up. She nodded after a while, then said, "Fine, you guys win, I'll buy you dinner. If you lose, you buy me dinner."

"Done." Rukawa looked at her. "Now, was that so hard?"

"Lame."

Rukawa glared.

Having established the bet, which now included the buying of dessert, Kira seated herself in one of the closest seats possible. She saw that she would be facing the Shohoku Bench and she grinned and waved enthusiastically when she saw Rukawa looking at her. His fans were there of course, and at one point she caught them glaring at her, probably hoping that they could send her to hell and never come back. She forced herself not to glare back and instead get more comfortable in her seat.

"How's the black eye?" a voice rang out below.

Kira leaned in, and saw that Sendoh was looking at her, a smile in his face. Kira grinned. "Almost gone," she said.

"Good." he answered, and didn't say anything else anymore, because the referee whistled that the game was about to start.

Akagi and Uozmi were going to jump from the ball. Rukawa glared particularly hard at Sendoh, a glare that he returned with a casual look. Before the referee threw the ball, he turned to give one last look to Kira before he let himself go completely lost in the game. He relaxed when she saw him grin in his direction.

As usual, the game was packed with many exciting moments, moments that made the jaw drop of even the most experienced and best players in the district. Rukawa had a vague glimpse of Shoyo and Kainan basketball team watching the game, and knew that they were assessing it, but he didn't care. All he cared about was winning this game and rubbing it in annoying Sendoh's face.

There were moments that made the audience jump up, Kira most especially, because she was cheering for both the Shohoku and the Ryonan team. Rukawa didn't mind, she does that all the time. He made a particularly difficult shot, involving a fake to dodge one player, running a circle around another and then passing through a small gap between two other players before shooting the ball. He heard Kira shout her delight and even saw her stand up, unaware that some thought that she was making a complete fool of herself.

Sendoh saw the reaction Kira had when Rukawa made that almost impossible shot, and a small frown formed in his face. I can do that too. he thought. To prove it, he dodged Mitsui, Ryota, faked Sakuragi, before dodging Akagi and shooting the ball without the effort of it all showing.

The crowd roared its approval, and Sendoh turned for a brief moment to where Kira was, watching a bit awe struck, and afterwards cheering just as loud as she did when Rukawa hit his shot.

Sendoh couldn't hide a smile.

Rukawa fought the urge not to punch Sendoh senseless right then and there.

He accepted that the shot was amazing, almost impossible in fact, but he also knew that he could have made that shot in his sleep. He wasn't going to be outdone by one Sendoh Akira, oh no, he's too good for that.

With this thought in mind, he went, with the ball, to the other side of the court, without passing it to anyone, dodging almost the entire team of Ryonan, and slam dunked the ball.

He turned to Sakuragi, who was shouting obscenities at him, something about stealing his shot, before turning to Kira, whose delight was written all over her face.

Beat that, Sendoh.

"Um, Maki-sempai," said Nobunaga Kiyota, who was sitting next to the captain, but with eyes still glued to the game, and occasionally to the jumping girl a few rows below them, "is it just me or is Sendoh and Rukawa a little more, fired up, than usual?"

"I noticed that too," murmured Jin.

"See that girl in front?" asked Maki, "the red head?"

"How can you not?" asked Kiyota incredulously. The girl was loud, very loud, and was cheering on every shot that was made down at the courts, which was a little weird to him. "What's so special about her?"

"I'm not sure yet," began Maki, "but I'm pretty sure that she's the reason that those two are pretty fired up today."

Below, Kira was cheering on another shot made by Sendoh, only to be followed up by a three pointer by Rukawa.

"What? They're fighting over that girl?"

"They're not fighting," said Jin calmly, "but they are seeking for her attention. Haven't you noticed that everytime they make a shot, they both look at her?"

Kiyota's arms were crossed in his chest. "Well yeah," he said, "but isn't that a bit distracting?"

"If she's distracting," said Maki, "then I don't know how they play without her."

Shohoku: 85 Ryonan: 81

Kira waited for the teams to shake hands before making her way down to the courts. Rukawa's fan club were still shouting themselves hoarse, and some even had tears in their eyes. She ignored them as she passed. When she made her way down at the courts, Rukawa was waiting for her, a slightly haughty look that he knew she knew that she only recognized.

Kira grinned at him, before flunging herself in his arms and whispered "congratulations" in his ear. They almost fell, but thankfully, Rukawa managed to take a step back and balance him and Kira's entire weight that he was now carrying.

"You're heavy," he breathed as he put her back down.

Kira stuck out her tongue, and hit him lightly in the head, a hit that was returned as good naturedly as she gave it.

"Did you see that?"

"She hit him!"

"He hit her!"

"And he's not glaring!"

"He is so hot."

"Er," said Kira, looking up at her bestfriend, "do you ever feel like you're being talked about?"

Rukawa looked at her, quite dully. "All the time."

Kira hit him again.

"Hey."

Kira and Rukawa both looked to the direction of the voice and saw Sendoh looking at the two of them, looking sheepish. Kira's face broke into a small smile before Rukawa pushed her behind him.

"What?" spat Rukawa.

"Erm," said Sendoh, "I just wanna say good game. And congratulations." He took out his hand and waited for Rukawa to shake it.

Kira poked him at the back, many times and increasing in intensity,a sign that she wanted him to take Sendoh's hand. After about fifteen seconds of glaring at said hand, he took it, didn't shake it, and immediately let go. He then turned to Kira. "I'll go change," he murmured, as if he didn't want Sendoh to hear, "Don't go anywhere. I'll be back."

"Sure thing dad," she murmured back, though with a slight singsong in her voice. Rukawa glared at her, before hitting her on the head again and going to the locker rooms.

Kira shot his back a frown, rubbing her head slightly,and then turned to Sendoh, who was still there.

"Not the friendliest, is he?" he asked.

"No, afraid not," she sighed, then grinned, "I don't mind though, more for me!"

Sendoh nodded, took a deep breath and said, "Wanna go to dinner? You know, drown the pain of loss?"

Kira would have dearly loved to say yes, unfortunately, "Sorry, Sendoh I can't. I already promised Kaede I'll go eat dinner with him."

Sendoh did look disappointed. "Oh," he said, then looked up hopefully again, "How about Saturday? Will you go out with me Saturday? I'm sure you have nothing planned on Saturday. It'll be fun on Saturday, I'll -"

"I heard you the first time, Sendoh," laughed Kira, holding up a hand to stop him.

"Well?" he asked hopefully, "will you?"

Kira hesistated. She didn't mind, she didn't mind at all, but what would Kaede say? He would care of course, he is the best friend after all, but she dearly wanted to go, Kaede wouldn't mind, -

"Sure, Sendoh, why not," she said brightly, "I'm sure it'll be fun."

Sendoh's eyes brightened and he grinned. "Great," he said, and started walking backwards, "Saturday then, date, everything's my treat, I'll see you around school!"

And he ran all the way back to the locker room.

Kira was left, slightly weirded by Sendoh's backward walking. Only one though rang through her mind: I have a date with Sendoh.

Kira's grin was still not wiped off her face when Rukawa came back. He noticed it.

"What's with the grin?" he asked, as he picked up his bag and hoisted it over her shoulder.

"Nothing."

"Sendoh, isn't it?"

How does he do that?

"Hmm..." she couldn't help but nod enthusiastically, then looked up at him.

"He asked you out didn't he?" he muttered.

"Hmm..."

"And you say yes, didn't you?" he said dully.

"You don't mind do you?" she asked hopefully.

Rukawa looked down at her. She had the whole puppy dog look down to a tee, she was even whimpering. How can you say no to that?

"Fine."

Kira squealed and hugged him tight around the waist, while they were still walking."Thank you, thank you, thank you," she cried, "see, this is why I love you..."

Kira was still rumbling on, but Rukawa wasn't listening.A thought was ringing through his mind.

She loves me.