Guys, thanks so much for the reviews! I appreciate them so much!

Sabrina: Bonjourno! Is that right? I'm not even sure if that's right. Wow, you're like, close, just south from where I am. Switzerland by the way. Thanks for thinking this is such a beautiful story. Here's the new update. By the way, what does ragazzi mean? I learn my Italian, from a show here, merchante el fiera, or something like that! Take care, arrivaderchi! (again, is that right or is 'ciao' better?)

neko11lover: you're back! By the way, great update. I didn't think my udate took a while. Did it? Oh well, here's the next bit. Oh, and thanks for cheering me on. You're right, I still should appreciate the people who do read this.

jhydl redublado: Don't worry, I have this story all worked out. It's all written and updated every five days, so no fret!

Sarah: Thanks for the constructive criticism. I will improve my English. :)

Anyway, on to the story!

You Mean, Rukawa has a best friend?

Chapter Thirteen

It turned out that ignoring Rukawa was much more difficult that she had anticipated. First of all, there was his house. Large, imposing, inviting, and most especially, it was right beside her own house. Some nights, when she came home she thought that she saw Rukawa's outline by the window, but when she would look again, it would be gone.

Then there would be the times that they pass each other in the street. On their first meeting after their fight, they had both stopped when they saw each other. Rukawa was the first to recover, and he walked on, bumping into her a little, but didn't seem to notice that he did so.

Her bad mood had worn off the afternoon of screaming at Sendoh's face, to be replaced the by unwanted fact that she was missing her best friend. She had wished many times now that the fight never happened, and that things would go back to normal. She got angry at herself for losing her temper exponentially, and in the little bump that Rukawa gave, she had hoped that he would stop, turn around, and talk to her again.

None of this happened. At least, she thought none of these happened.

Kira, frustrated and hurt, and hoping that he would talk to her, walked on, without looking back.

If she did, she would have seen Rukawa turn back to look at her.

Sendoh had almost taken over everything that she and Rukawa did together. She knew that Sendoh would never be Rukawa, and for a fleeting moment that gradually increased in frequency, she was disappointed of that fact. She would never tell him that she missed her best friend terribly, and she had acted very well. She wondered how many more fake smiles she can pull off before Sendoh starts to ask her about Rukawa. She didn't think that Sendoh has caught on that she missed Kaede, and she was relieved for it.

The game between Ryonan and Shoyo was anticipated by the entire Ryonan student body, but none more so than Kira. She was extremely nervous for the team, after all, Shoyo is one of the best there is out there, but at the same time, it would the first time in about four days that she would see Rukawa again. She knew that he would be there, along with the entire Shohoku Basketball Team, and if she was being honest with herself, she couldn't wait to see him again.

Another effect of their fight was that she was finding it uncomfortable kissing Sendoh. She wanted to kiss him, but everytime he tried, she would stop him. When he asked why, she didn't answer, she couldn't possibly tell him that this was the reason she and Rukawa fought in the first place, but instead look around to see if they were being watched, and then would kiss him, to make up for stopping him. After that, he wouldn't ask any more questions.

Kira had hugged Sendoh tightly, and whispered good luck in his ear, before kissing him in the cheek. She went to the stands and took a seat nearest to court, facing the bench. Shoyo and Ryonan were both warming up and the stadium was slowly filling up with people.

Whispers came when the Kainan Basketball Team arrived. She turned and saw that they were seated a few rows behind her, with their coach. She knew them of course, Rukawa made it a point that she knew.

Rukawa, a stab in her heart. She looked around and saw they weren't there yet. She caught Maki's eyes for a few seconds before turning back to the courts.

More whispers came a few minutes later. The Shohoku Basketball Team had arrived. Kira felt her heart racing. She saw him behind Mitsui Hisashi, the same cold, aloof glance at the court. They were on the other side of the court. Kira was a bit disappointed. She had hoped that she was at hearing distance from them. But this way, she thought, I could look at Rukawa all the time.

She then realized her situation. It would seem utterly hard not to look at him, even if they are mad at each other, and even harder so because every time she told herself not to look at him, her eyes would immediately find him.

He was seated in the front row, arms crossed over his chest and glaring at the courts. Then, his headrose and he looked at her. It was almost like he knew exactly where she was seating. She shifted in her seat and dropped her gaze to the courts.

Despite their icy silence with each other, Kira felt a little lighter with her first eye contact with Rukawa in many days.

It was halftime, and the game was tied, 45 to 45. The players had gone to the locker room to cool off, and people around the stands were buzzing excitedly while the entire Shoyo cheerleading squad, namely the entire school, was shouting cheers for their team.

Both teams have been impressive. Sendoh showed off his best moves almost flawlessly, and kept glancing at Kira's direction, at which Kira would smile back at him as she cheered him on, although without the same enthusiasm as she had when she and Rukawa were still talking.

There was a minute when the cheering stopped and the buzzing of people eased up a little. Kira looked up, slightly surprised by the sudden drop in the volume, then droppedher back again and started fidgeting with her nails.

It was then that Sakuragi Hanamichi decided to make his presence felt by the public. He did it by the most energetic means possible.

"OY! REDHEAD!"

Kira, who had dropped her gaze again, looked up. As far as she knew, she was the only other red head in the stadium, since Sakuragi can't have been referring to himself, and judging by the looks that people near her made, she really was the only redhead here. She smiled weakly in Sakuragi's direction. She also saw Rukawa glaring at him.

"WHY THE HECK ARE YOU SITTING ALL THE WAY OVER THERE?"

Kira didn't feel the need to answer him.

"WHY AREN'T YOU SITTING OVER HERE? WITH BAKA KITSUNE?"

Rukawa looked like he wanted to throttle him.

Kira just shrugged in his direction, squirming down in her seat, hoping to just dissolve from the situation.

"DID YOU GUYS HAVE A FIGHT?"

She wanted the world to swallow her right now.

"YOU DID HUH?"

Please, now.

"I DON'T REALLY BLAME YOU!" shouted Sakuragi, who had a very captivated audience, "WHO CAN REALLY STAND TO BE FRIENDS WITH THE BAKA KITSUNE WHEN THEY CAN BE FRIENDS WITH TENSAI –"

It was at this precise moment that Rukawa decided to stand up and stamp on Sakuragi as hard as he could. Kira stopped sinking to the floor and was watching the stamping, a small smile forming in her face, that grew a little wider with every stamp.

Her smile faltered when he turned to her with a glare in his eyes.

She sighed. Sadly.

Well, Ryonan won, she thought, cheer up, your school won.

The thought did absolutely nothing to cheer her up, but it did pass the time, and she was grateful for that. She was waiting for Sendoh outside the stadium, she didn't want to go back to the locker rooms.

While waiting, the Kainan Basketball Team passed her by the door. Their captain, Maki, looked at her and nodded in her direction, though his eyes searched her curiously. He was probably wondering whether or not what Sakuragi said was true.

He didn't ask anything though, and he continued to walk on, without a word, while Kiyota, who looked like he was bursting with things to say was dragged away by a smiling Jin before he could utter a single syllable.

She was playing with her foot when a small cough made her raise her head. She stood stock still.

Rukawa was standing in front of her, looking at her directly in the eyes. She wanted to say hi, but his visit didn't seem like the friendly kind. When he didn't say anything, she guessed that he wasn't thinking of reconciliation either.

"I still think you're making a mistake." He suddenly said.

Anger was slowly starting to bubble. "You think so, do you?" she asked coolly.

"I know so."

"Well you're not exactly the best person to decide what's right or wrong are you?"

Rukawa's eyes flashed. "What the hell is that suppose to mean?" he snapped.

"If you didn't understand what I just said, I'm not about to make you understand!" she snapped back.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"I don't intend to say anything to you!" she answered. "You were the one who came up to me!"

Rukawa was about to say something, but stopped and looked over her shoulder. Kira turned and saw Sendoh by the door, his eyebrows meeting in the middle, and he was glaring at Rukawa.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked in his hardest voice.

Rukawa glared at him. Behind him the Shohoku and Kainan basketball team looked curiously on. Behind Sendoh was the Ryonan and Shoyo Basketball Team, also looking curiously on. Rukawa and Sendoh continued on their staring contest, while Kira turned from one player to the other.

Unable to handle it, and her rage full to bursting, she turned away from Sendoh and stalked off past Rukawa, hitting him in the shoulder, accidentally on purpose and snapped, "If all you two are going to do is stare at each other until someone dies, I'll go and leave you two it. Kaede, I never wanted to fight with you, this is entirely your fault and Akira, stay away from me for a while, I'm just not in the mood!"

Rukawa turned to see the stamping back of Kira walk farther and farther away from him. He dearly wanted to apologize, to tell her this was all his fault and would they please, please, be friends again. Unfortunately, his pride just was not about to let that happen. Before he knew what he was saying, words that only encouraged both their anger were spilling from his mouth.

Rukawa then turned back to Sendoh, who all of a sudden grabbed a fistfull of his shirt and had a menacing look in his face.

"What the hell did you do to her?"

He had never seen Sendoh Akira mad before, and it was rather a surprise to him. The surprise didn't register in his face at all however, as he glared defiantly back at him. "What I said to her is none of your business." he answered.

"Yes it is my business." he snarled back, "when you start hurting people I care about it becomes my business."

"Care about?" snapped Rukawa, taking back his shirt and glaring at him. "Is that all you feel about her? Care?"

"And what the hell am I suppose to feel?"

Rukawa smirked, still pure raw coldness in his eyes. "If you don't know I'm not about to tell you." he answered. Kira's words, baka.

Sendoh's eyes turned to cold fury as he made a move to punch Rukawa in the face. Rukawa, born with the reflexes that were enhanced by bullies in his own school, ducked and grabbed Sendoh's arm, twisting it so that the arm was in Sendoh's back. Sendoh grunted a little. His teammates wanted to step forward, thinking that Rukawa was about to break his arm, but his cold hard glare kept them rooted to their own spot.

"If you only care for Kira," whispered Rukawa coldly, "then she doesn't deserve you."

"And you think you do?" he muttered back, wincing slightly.

Rukawa didn't answer right away. When he did, there was a note of tiredness in his voice. "Do you really think I'm enjoying this?" he asked.

Sendoh didn't answer. Rukawa let go of the arm and Sendoh massaged it and stood in front of him.

Rukawa wasn't glaring anymore. "I've just lost someone I love to an idiot like you and I just made it worse for the her and I. Do you really think I'm enjoying this?"

Without another word, he walked off, leaving four shocked basketball teams and Sendoh to ponder at his words.