Title: Kisses – Part 03: Most Breathtaking Kiss
Author: Viv
Genre: romance/humor
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Slam Dunk book - manga
Pairing: HanaRu (What else?)
Disclaimer: Yeah, I've got Rukawa and Hana locked up in my closet. Hehehehe…
Summary: … You want me to talk about what? Hanamichi's POV – part 03.

Author's note: Please correct me for any mistakes that I have unententionally made. Can someone tell me if I'm getting the (few) basketball terms that I've used right? I usually read mangas in French and I'm not Japanese so if you can correct me anywhere – the terms, the nicknames, etc, please do so. (Please ignore english grammatical and spelling errors, though, because I usually go back to re-read and re-edit my stories more than once after I post them up.)

And I got you with that second part, didn't I? You all fell in the trap, MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (I'll say it right now, the Slam Dunk pairing that holds the #1 spot in my heart is the do'ahou and the kitsune. –starts squealing like a teenie-bopper- )

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... My most breathtaking kiss?

…

No!

What!

NOOOOOOOOOO!

IDON'TWANNATALKABOUTIT!

…

I- uh- guh- ah- gah- alright, okay, I'll tell you!

…

It happened the same day I got… licked by Smiley's puppy.

If you remember, the previous year teams of Shoyo, Kainan, Ryonan and Shohoku had gathered at Kainan High for a friendly mini tournament as a way of introducing all of our new members to the world of high school basketball.

See, Takezato was originally invited too, but they had quickly – very quickly, maybe a bit too quickly – declined the offer. They probably feared the tensai's basketball skills! NYHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, so the rest of us decided to call up Shoyo instead.

…

Right, right.

So after a draw, our three-days school break-turned-basketball 'tournament' was determined as followed (Ayako-san, our very efficient manager, was the one who wrote out the entire schedule and kept everyone, and I mean everyone, on track):

SATURDAY

Morning, 10:30 AM – Ryonan vs. Shohoku

11:30 AM to 01:30 PM – Lunch break

Afternoon, 01:30 PM - Kainan vs. Shoyo

SUNDAY

Morning, 10:30 AM - Kainan vs. Ryonan

11:30 AM to 01:30 PM – Lunch break

Afternoon, 01:30 PM - Shohoku vs. Shoyo

MONDAY

Morning, 10:30 AM – Ryonan vs. Shoyo

11:30 AM to 01:30 PM – Lunch break

Afternoon, 01:30 PM – Kainan vs. Shohoku

Evening, 5:30 PM – Party for the participating teams, hosted by the Kainan team

Our small tournament had attracted a lot of attention and many came to attend our games. People from Aida-san, Hikoichi's sister, to the Rukawa shinetai to every Kanagawa high schools' teams (and even a few universities) to my neighbors to the owner of the sport shop I got my Nikes from to the Toyatama and Sannoh team themselves attended the matches. A third of the crowd actually came from outside of our district, our city even.

Of course, they all came to see the genius that I am!

NYHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

HEY- I AM NOT- WHAT DOES CONCEITED MEAN ANYWAY!

…

I AM NOT ARROGANT!

…

Uh. Sorry.

Anyway, it happened on the final day, while Shohoku was playing against the nozaru and the old man's team.

Takasago was, once again, my main opponent. Of course, I had greatly improved in the few weeks I had been back in Shohoku and so – nyhahahaha! – the poor guy was having a much harder time stopping me.

It was during the second half-time of the match, and the score was 90-88, for Kainan, with 4 minutes and 21 seconds left.

Talk about almost déja-vu.

So- what do you mean, you don't care about the score!

… Umpf.

Alright, so Ryocchin had just managed to steal the ball from Maki when he noticed that I had freed myself from Takasago (tensai! I am the tensai!). He threw the ball across the court and I quickly managed to grab it while running and instantly took off in a mad dash toward the basket, all the while dribbling.

Now the kitsune and Kiyota-monkey-butt (guarding Rukawa), who were close by, and Takasago took off right after me immediately.

I suddenly screeched to a stop outside the three-point line and – yup – took a shot, remembering the tips (and yells and slaps) that Micchy had given me during a last minute intensive training with the 'original' team a few days before.

My knees bent, my hands held the ball loosely against my chest as I squinted my eyes at the basket and then I extended my body and jumped, my arms and hands raising and instinctively positioning in the right position to throw the orange ball.

And at the exact moment the ball left my fingertips, I felt something ramming into my side, and hard.

I lost my balance and fell over, realizing that it wasn't a something, but that it was two someones who were maybe going to squash me to death on the concrete ground.

I hit the ground and suddenly got my breath cut off, dimly aware that Takasago had failed to stop himself on time and had tripped over the nozaru which caused Kyota's elbow to hit my chest really hard.

Normally I would've just shoved off anyone lying over me but this time I just… couldn't do it.

I had realized that I couldn't breathe and was starting to panic. At the back of my mind, I could hear a whistle blowing but nothing else went through my mind. The only thing I could think was 'Get'emoffmeget'emoffmeget'emoffme!' and that I was suffocating.

Suddenly I noticed someone rushing to my side and had roughly hauled/yanked monkey-butt and Takasago off of me and was kneeling down beside me, carefully helping me up to a half-sitting, half-lying position.

By then I was still desperately trying to get some air to my lungs but somehow my body refused to cooperate and felt my senses started to turn numb. Everything slowly became fuzzy before my eyes and darkness was edging up on me when suddenly-

I felt something warm on my lips and parting them.

And that brought me back to reality and full consciousness.

My eyes snapped wide open, and it dimly registered in my mind that I was staring right into pools of deep, deep, deep blue before realizing that those pools of deep, deep, deep blue were very familiar eyes.

And that those beautiful- Imeanfamiliar! eyes were under messy but soft strands of black hair that were tickling my forehead.

I froze.

Only one name went through my mind but I quickly pushed that thought aside.

I gasped, and suddenly a tongue made its way in between my lips and damn, I pretty much forgot that I had lost my breath, that I was supposed to be in desperate need of air, because blues orbs closed and I followed suit and willingly letting my 'savior' taste me.

When that hot, hot, hot mouth left mine a moment later, I blinked repeatedly and took large gulps of oxygen, suddenly regaining my ability to breathe as sharp blue eyes reopened and silently stared at me, with a strong arm still wrapped around my shoulders – the free hand gently cupping my chin – supporting me up slightly.

Soon my erratic breathing had finally calming down under his soothing and warm breath against my cheek, I leaned into his hard chest, no longer fearing for my life – hey, don't roll your eyes, I could've died right there! – and heard him let out a soft sigh of relief.

And then we noticed that there was complete and utter silence around us.

I pulled back and – oh, shit.

I blinked at Ka- kistune.

And he stared back.

And I blinked again.

And he continued staring.

And I glared at him.

And he kept staring back.

And then someone – Jin? – cleared their throat and our attention turned to everyone watching us.

They stared at us.

We stared back.

They kept staring.

We blinked at them.

They still stared.

And I blushed hotly.

… and so did the kitsune.

…

DON'T CALL US CUTE!

Why?

Because- because- because-

Just because…

JUST BECAUSE ALRIGHT!

And then before anyone had the chance to say anything, the stupid kitsune opened his mouth and let out an expressionless: "He couldn't breathe. I was giving him mouth-to-mouth."

And then to me: "Do'ahou. Be more careful. Don't soil a basketball court by dying on it."

And while no one seemed to notice because that last part was rather mean, I could hear that underlying hint of worry and protectiveness in his voice that he was trying to disguise with his I-don't-care-face.

See, the tensai is very observant!

What?

What d'ya mean I'm a completely clueless do'ahou?

I know for a fact that Ka- kitsune can kis- uh, nothing, never mind.

So I blushed again and when he got up and extended his hand to me, I shyly took it and allowed him to help me up but looked away.

Rukawa then turned to the referee and coldly asked if the game was going to continue or if everyone would keep gaping at us like goldfishes with brains smaller than the size of a pea, to which the referee managed to stutter an affirmative response.

But everyone kept staring at us.

And then we realized that we were still holding hands and promptly let go and moved away from each other.

"I gave him mouth-to-mouth. No close your mouths because I won't give it to any of you." (At that point the – retarded – Rukawa shinetai and – not retarded - Haruko-san fainted on the spot. Fuji and Matsui tried to keep Haruko from rolling down the stands.)

And to our teammates: "Let's play."

And we finally noticed that Megane-kun was on the court holding up a hyperventilating Micchy, Ayako-san had whacked Ryocchin back to order with her infamous and deadly fan, and Kuwata, Sasaoka and Shiozaki were trying to bring Gori back to earth (Kakuta, Yasuda and Ishii were huddled behind the bench, away from Ryota and Akagi). The Shoyo, Ryonan and Kainan teams and their coaches were sweating like the Niagara Falls, trying to digest what had just happened, while Minami from Toyatama and a handful of other players (from Sannoh, Josei, Takezato, etc.) had fallen off their seats from the stands. All the first years watched on in bewilderment as my gundam and Micchy's gang were spluttering out their drinks while only two remained completely unaffected.

Ojayi- I mean Coach Anzai, remained silent for a while and then 'hohoho'-ed gently (seems nothing can disturb him anymore) while Sendoh chuckled and smiled his usual smile (and I instantly shuddered as images of a perky black puppy and a rough and wet, wet, wet tongue licked me because inside, I was sobbing hysterically at that memory).

The crowd then sweatdropped at them.

Eventually everyone calmed down and we picked up where we had left.

Turns out that even thought I had been practically run over by two assholes, the ball had still made it in (BECAUSE I'M THE GENIUS NYHAHAHAHA!), earning Shohoku an extra three points… and Takasago was also given a foul, giving me three shots to the basket. (Personally, I think that nozaru should've been given a foul too. Tche!)

And so I got another three points in for the team, thus tying the score.

NYHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'M A TENSAI!

…

HEY! SAY THAT AGAIN WHY DON'T YOU!

Anyway, we won the final game, with a score of 98 to 93.

NYHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The tensai that I am lead us to our victory!

NYHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M LOUD!

Tche!

So the final scores came out to this (carefully written down by that Hikoichi kid and Ayako-san):

SATURDAY

Ryonan vs. Shohoku: 87 to 88 (Shohoku)

Kainan vs. Shoyo: 86 to 85 (Kainan)

SUNDAY

Kainan vs. Ryonan: 91 to 90 (Kainan)

Shohoku vs. Shoyo: 92 to 89 (Shohoku)

MONDAY

Ryonan vs. Shoyo: 84 to 85 (Shoyo)

Kainan vs. Shohoku: 93 to 98 (Shohoku)

FINAL TALLY:

Kainan: 2 wins, 1 loss

Ryonan: 1 win, 2 losses

Shohoku: 3 wins, 0 loss

Shoyo: 1 win, 2 losses

FINAL POSITIONS:

1rst: Shohoku

2nd: Kainan

3rd: Ryonan and Shoyo

…

NYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IF THE TENSAI HADN'T BEEN THERE, SHOHOKU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SO GREAT! NYHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Sorry, sorry.

Hey I apologized to you already!

Yeah, so that was that.

Oh, and would you believe that the next day in school Haruko-san came up to me, giggling, and greeted me with a copy of the local journal?

Yes? Well try believing the next part.

Right there, in the sports section, was a complete two pages article by Aida-san on the friendly tournament.

With a huge up close picture of the kitsune- uh, giving me mouth-to-mouth.

Underneath it, the caption:

"Kanagawa's, and maybe even Japan's, high school basketball Golden Pair, both in their second year, Shohoku's numbers 10 (Sakuragi Hanamichi) and 11 (Kaede Rukawa) – AREN'T THEY JUST THE CUTEST THING EVER?"

…

WHAT!

YOU SHOULD BE SYMPATHIZING WITH THE POOR TENSAI HERE!

…

WE'RE NOT CUTE!

…

Now leave me alone.

…

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!

I don't wanna talk about my sweetest kiss!

NONONONONONONONONONONO!

THE TENSAI WON'T SPEAK! THE TENSAI WON'T TELL YOU!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG!

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October 01, 2005