Chapter One

I craned my neck, scanning the rows of seats for an empty space is could plunk my posterior on.

Walking higher up the stands, I was waiting for the non-existent seat to beckon to me when I heard a cheer that went-

"RUKAWA! RUKAWA! L-O-V-E RUKAWA!"

Ah. I hadn't really met them in person, but I had heard about them. The Rukawa Brigade.

Without turning around to look, I was convinced that that boy had appeared on court. Smiling and running my fingers through my knotted hair, I continued to trudge up the stairs to find that stupid seat.

x

"Maybe you should eat some breakfast," I had suggested to him earlier that day. In his taciturn demeanor as always, he shook his head and lifted up his duffel easily to his shoulder.

I glanced at the clock. It was still early.

"Oi, it's a big game. You will get tired without sustenance," I enforced, shoving three bananas to him. Grunting his thanks, he took the bananas and proceeded to open the door.

"I might go, you know," I murmured, gathering up my dirty breakfast cutlery.

I knew it would surprise him.

He turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Just to show you support and all," I informed him airily. He squinted at me in suspicion.

"You don't believe me?" I questioned, striding towards him. Squeezing his arm, I locked his nose between my index and third and said, "Play well. Don't let Shohoku down."

"Usu," he murmured, swatting my hand away from his nose.

Swinging the door open, he stepped out, gave me a last look, and went off.

x

"Hey!" Sendoh called out, motioning me over to a rather nice seat near the middle. Koshino was with him, waving like crazy.

I always knew that guy had a thing for me.

"Hi," I nodded at them, smiling carefully at only Sendoh. (Koshino looked mildly crushed.) Plopping myself down on the seat, I folded my arms and leant forward to catch a good look at the court.

"What are you doing here?" grinned the spiky-haired guy.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I stared straight ahead with my palm upturned propping my chin, as the big guys of Shohoku streamed out from the changing room or wherever it was into the court. On the other end, the giants from Kainan stomped their way into the floor. Sendoh laughed and shrugged, knowing I was never one for much superfluous talk.

"Damn, they're all tall," I muttered, tweaking my earring. (A habit I was fond of when I wanted to force myself to concentrate.)

At least, they looked as if they were huge. Probably it's because I'm just dwarfed by them.

"How tall are you, Tokita-san?" Koshino suddenly asked.

That guy must be collecting my vital stats from anyone in school who knew.

I debated on whether to lie, or to tell the truth. Yes, I didn't like Koshino in that way, just… It wasn't kind to lie to him just because I wasn't interested in him the same way he was interested in me.

"166 cm," I replied, telling the truth. Koshino grinned, "That's rather tall for a girl."

"It is?" I mumbled, my eyes on the Shohoku team, scrutinizing each and every one of their players.

"Mm hmm!" Koshino answered enthusiastically. But before he could say anything else, an announcement came for the game to start.

x

I was almost crying in anxiety. There was only 2 seconds left in the game – Shohoku was trailing two points behind.

Sendoh was murmuring some basketball jargon under his breath (as if the teams could hear him), and Koshino's features were etched with deep concentration.

Kami-sama, help them.

And suddenly, there was a switch in the flow of the game. The redhead caught a pass, jumped and shot.

It was breathtaking. Beautiful, even.

There was a comfortable swoosh and time seemed to slow down with the movement of the ball. The referee's hand swiped downwards and the board clicked to 84, Shohoku's favor. The score had upped three points.

Must be some basketball rule thing.

I made a point to ask about it. Sendoh and Koshino were engaged in ceaseless chatter about the game and unnoticed, I slipped out of the stadium, satisfied.

x

SENDOH AKIRA 8:29 PM
I didn't notice you'd left. Koshino would've sent you home otherwise. Was really surprised to see you at the game. Something fishy is going on.

It was already rather late by the time I got home and took my shower. I hadn't even had dinner yet. After I filled my cup noodle container with hot water and put on the lid, I flicked open the phone and saw Sendoh's message.

Nothing fishy going on, 'sides the fact Koshino seems to be collecting lotsa useless data in class lately. Think chemicals from your gel are seeping into your brain. You guys should go for a lobotomy, dude. I'll see you in school. Night.

I hit 'Send' and clicked my phone shut.

And then it decided to deprive me of my cup noodles by buzzing again.

What is it, Sendoh…? I thought rather bemusedly, but this time it wasn't Sendoh.

R.K. 8:38 PM
We won. 84 – 83. Coming home. Dinner

Dinner. Dinner what? Sometimes I really couldn't stand him.

Dinner… what?

I peeled back the lid of my cup noodle container and murmured, "Itadakimasu!" before the accursed electronic disturbed me again.

R.K. 8:44 PM
Is there dinner

I sighed and clicked 'Reply'.

We still have 14 packets of cup noodles. It's a free-for-all, woohoo. I'm trying to eat, could you please just come home and not keep texting me while disturbing my consumption of artificially flavored waxed flour made into thin curly strips?

This time the reply came almost instantly. I had no idea his fingers could move so fast. Normally they were just as sleepy as he was. Oh, there were two separate replies.

R.K. 8:47 PM
Cup noodles.

R.K. 8:47 PM
Call pizza. My treat.

I looked at the steaming container in front of me. Sighing deeply, I covered it and placed it beside the sink.

Sorry buddy. You sure did look yummy.

x

"Yes, you beat the pizza-man," I smiled at him, turning away from the TV, as he unlocked the door and came in.

"Whatever," he muttered, flinging the duffel bag on the floor and taking off his shoes.

I shrugged and switched channels, munching on a pretzel in case I died before the pizza arrived.

"Oh yeah. I switched on the heater for you," I remembered, turning around and kneeling on the couch, elbows propped on the backing. He had apparently walked back to his room.

"Un. Thanks," came the muffled reply. He had spoken a little louder.

Wow, he really was in a good mood.

I got off the couch and padded across the living room to our quarters. Leaning against the doorjamb, I asked, "What did you think of the opponent?"

He looked up at me from rummaging through his underwear drawer.

"They were okay, truthfully. Some of the freshmen slipped up and we didn't have Akagi-senpai, Kogure-senpai and Mitsui-senpai, so it was a hard game," he recalled, still rummaging through the drawer unable to locate the missing underwear.

He always had a lot to say after a game. It wasn't a surprise.

I tapped my chin thoughtfully with my index finger and remarked, "I thought your defense could have been stronger. I liked the short, fast guy, though. He was extremely alert, and he seemed to be able to let the game play to his likes. But his hair, oh my. Does he have a hairdresser at all, or does he put a bowl on his head and shave around the sides?"

I got a stare. A rather incredulous, disbelieving one.

"You were there."

I grinned, "You thought I wasn't serious this morning?"

"Where were you sitting?"

"Near the middle. With Sendoh and Koshino."

"Why didn't you come to me right after?"

"I was afraid of your fangirls. They would probably murder me on the spot if they caught me fraternizing with you."

"You could have sent me a text, you know."

I let a smile play on my lips. "You're particularly loquacious tonight."

If I had known him for a shorter time, I would have expected him to blush. Of course, he didn't.

The doorbell saved him from embarrassment and I shooed him to the bathroom – only after reassuring him I would magic his underwear out of somewhere, probably.

These things do happen when you share an apartment, you know.

x

"Oi, I want to watch basketball," complained Rukawa Kaede, King of Snottiness.

I shot him a death glare and pointed to the TV. "This is Kindaichi. I will die if I don't watch it. You have your re-runs."

He tried to snatch the remote away from me, but the takoyaki-flipping girl in me quickly passed it to my right hand.

"Sit still and watch Kindaichi. I want to see how she died."

"Toki…" he growled, his mouth set in an extremely straight line. There was a ketchup stain at the side of it.

I almost screamed at him.

Of course, the swan-which-only-paddles-furiously-underwater in me forbade me to do that.

"My dear, you know how I have talked of paying 70percent of the bills instead of 50-50ing it out, do you? If you want me to do that, you'd better let me watch my drama," the Chinese-dealer-who-drove-a-hard-bargain in me threatened.

I knew that would shut him up. And I pre-empted his next move, which didn't make me very excited, but at least I got to watch Kindaichi…

He went up to the tiny whiteboard hanging outside the kitchen, erased our previous contract drawn up a year ago (Tokita Kaede and Rukawa Kaede hereby promise to even out all costs incurred by this apartment) and scratched the following –

Tokita has agreed to pay 70 percent of the bills incurred by this household by exchanging said bargain with watching Kindaichi.

"I am starting to hate you, Rukawa Kaede…" I sang, my eyes still fixed onto the TV screen.

"Vice-versa," was the cold reply. He was always so petty.

But I could live with it.

x

It was almost one before I heard him entering the room.

"Ru?" I murmured from the top bunk, not even opening my eyes.

A grunt confirmed his existence.

I was about to apologize for making him miss the first 2 minutes of his game (yes, two bloody minutes) but before I could make any move to speak, I vaguely heard him speaking.

"Thanks for coming to the game today."

I chuckled groggily, sleep attacking my eyes. "What are friends for?"

There was a pause, and I think I heard "Thanks for being a friend" from him before I was out cold.

You're welcome.

xxxxx

Characters revived! Anyone here has been reading this category of ffnet since 2002? I wonder if you guys remember my fic… I can't even remember what the title was, I've lost it forever in my database. The girl's name hasn't changed but the plot is a totally different one. If you guys have seen lambie around here three years ago, that was ME! ((smiles maniacally))

Hope you guys liked this chapter. Story is obviously not finished here. Lookout for more.