AUTHOR'S NOTES: We're now on the third task! You think this fic won't get any stupider? Think again. The OOC Syndrome has now infected our dear Rukawakins, and I think he needs time to get well. Anyway, thanks for the nice reviews.


The Third Task: Of Tutus and Cookies


"No."

"YES."

"No."

"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! YES! YES! YES!"

SCORE: Rukawa, one, Sendoh, one, Sakuragi...465

Sure, Sakuragi's not part of the challenge, but he sure felt like a winner right now. Kami-sama had been on his side and someone was going to pay for embarrassing him. The look on Rukawa's and Sendoh's faces are priceless. Sendoh's face was all green and Rukawa's complexion was an exquisite shade of blue.

"That's for getting me wet, Kitsune! NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Excuse me, readers, I have to go and laugh my head off first. Or puke, if the situation calls.

Rukawa stared listlessly at the ceiling. He was having a very bad day, alright. First, he wakes up with Sendoh's face as the first thing he saw. Then, he lost today's task because of Sakuragi's stupidity. And last...

He shuddered.

That ahou...

He knew that the ahou did it on purpose just to embarrass him. He should've known that employing Sakuragi's help would result in getting entangled in such...degrading situations. Sakuragi was trying to outdo him after all, but he knew that he wouldn't win to someone like Rukawa so he resorted to foul play.

But Rukawa was not going to back down. He started this game, and if Sakuragi chose to shove his overly huge red head into his business, then so be it.

Even if it involves selling cookies while wearing a tutu.

Shudder.


The first thing that Sendoh did when he came home is dash straight to the bathroom and vomit all his embarrassment and disgust.

Selling cookies wearing a tutu? Who came up with that? Surely not Rukawa-kun?

Vomit.

His mind was drawing very...humiliating visions right now. Rukawa wearing a pink tutu, tights, a tiara, and ballet shoes carrying a basket full of cookies. Him wearing the same.

Vomit.

Rukawa was right. Sakuragi does hate both of us.


Bored. Yes, that's what Rukawa was, idly switching the remote and seeing the same channels over and over again. He was having his dinner of dry curry, rice, takoyaki, miso soup, and banana split out of sheer boredom. Heck, he even cooked a four-course meal because he had nothing to do!

Usually, at times like these, he took a nice, long stroll in LaLaLand but he was too bored to do even that. He yawned a couple of times and closed his eyes, but sleep seems to be too busy to bother with him. He concluded that many people are stealing his portion of sleep right now and are enjoying themselves in the arms of slumber.

Curse those people.

Sighing, he turned off the TV and put his dirty dishes on the sink, putting off washing them till tomorrow. But...what to do next?

The night is still young—it was just a little after seven. There were a lot of things a normal person could do, like go out and have a drink or dash to a nearby mall or play in the arcade...the options depend on what the person is. But for Rukawa...there is always...

Basketball.

I knew you had that coming.


The time was 6:30 and Sendoh was picking vegetables around the plate. Very interesting indeed.

The air con had broken down because he had left it on that morning. He was hot, and fanning himself seems to make him hotter. Rivers of sweat streamed down his body and clung to his clothes like Velcro, sometimes pooling on the floor where he sat. He was hot, dammit.

Hot. As in atsui. Not as in...you know. Sex-y. Whichever way it is.

He needed air right now. But there was just not enough ventilation in his house.

"ARGH!"

He went upstairs and into the bathroom, tossing his clothes unceremoniously into the laundry bin. He slammed the door shut and turned the shower on to its fullest, sighing as the icy jets hit his skin. He stood under the shower more relieved than he was. The mint soap that he used was a great help too.

Sendoh almost hesitated to step out of the shower. The bedroom was as hot as the rest of the house. He didn't even want to dress, but sauntering naked around his house would cause great scandal in the neighborhood. Especially if someone sees.

There was no other choice but to go out. At least, the night air was much cooler than this oven of a house. Plus there were more things to do than fan himself and play with his food.


I can't believe it!

Rukawa's fingertips against his basketball were white. His face could've been red with fury if he were a normal person, but being himself he could only be three shades paler. His jaw was clenched and he could only stop himself from making a furious rampage. The hand on the wire fence clenched so hard, the wire practically ripped.

He was mad. Terribly mad. He had planned to have some time alone to practice, but when he got to the nearest basketball court he saw the last thing he wanted to see.

Sendoh Akira.

For some reason, his blood boiled at the sight. It strongly reminded him of the reason he started this challenge and he didn't really want to think about that.

Not when he was starting to get comfortable with Sendoh already.

His fists clenched tighter, as he realized that he didn't mean what he just thought. And it made the flame that was boiling his blood burn harder.

Kisama! I hate you, Sendoh, I hate you! ARGH!

Unable to control his anger, Rukawa threw the basketball at the fence and ran away as fast as his long legs could bear.

Sendoh, alarmed at the sudden clang of the wire fence, whirled around and saw a sort-of-familiar silhouette in the distance. The bouncing basketball caught his eye.

Is it...

could it be...

A bomb?


Rukawa stormed into his house and slammed his front door to show his anger.

"Meow."

The black cat that often 'visits' him greeted him with its soft meow, blinking in confusion. The cat hadn't come in two weeks, so its presence was a surprise to Rukawa. But he was very thankful that it was there because somehow, it relaxed him and at the same time reminded him that he was Rukawa Kaede and nothing could piss him off. Except, occasionally, Sakuragi.

The cat rubbed itself against Rukawa's legs, purring as if it was saying, "Tadaima" and "Hisashiburi". Rukawa bent to give it a light pat on the head and walked off to look for nibbles and milk.

And that's when he realized that he shouldn't be angry at Sendoh. It just wasn't like him at all. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Sendoh being there at the basketball court before him. He was just mad because...he thought Sendoh was just doing that to annoy him.

But there was something else that made him angry. He can't explain it fully, but it was like...Sendoh was stealing his thoughts. Yeah, that's how it felt. He hated it, because even for a split second, he felt that his mind was exposed. And thinking in the same line of thought as Sendoh was great in basketball but outside the court...

He hated it.

But it was no reason to be angry.

"Meow."

The black cat meowed expectantly, seeing the bowl of biscuits and milk on Rukawa's hand. Rukawa put down the bowl beside the sink and the cat immediately sprang and attacked its meal.

He could live with Sendoh's presence.


After making sure that the basketball was not a bomb of any sort, Sendoh scratched his head idiotically and absent-mindedly bounced the ball. Once, twice, thrice, four times it bounced until it got tired of bouncing and tried a new activity called rolling to amuse itself. But before it could try that, Sendoh caught it and inspected it some more to try to figure out who its owner was. Sure, it was next to impossible, but he had to try.

Hello, what's this?

And by a very nice stroke of luck he was rewarded. Minute characters that spelled 'Rukawa Kaede' were written on it.

So...he was that person. But why was he here? Why did he run away? Did he want to pee or something? Why did he leave his ball here? Why didn't he call out to me? Oh, scratch that. Of course he wouldn't call out to me.

He had so many questions. And he knew that if he wanted answers, he should go to Rukawa's house and return it.

And that's what he'll do right now. Yep.


Someone's knocking on Rukawa's door. Naturally, as there was no one else there besides the cat, he opened it and--look who's here.

"Konbanwa, Rukawa-kun."

Rukawa just glared coldly. And glared some more. And glared one more time just because he liked to make it three. Ha! That's for stealing my space. Sort of. He was pleased to see Sendoh almost squirming under his Supah-Cowld Rukawa Glare.

"Anou...I found your ball. You left it at the basketball court."

Rukawa glared at the ball but did nothing else.

"I didn't notice you there," Sendoh said, shrugging and smiling uneasily.

Rukawa remained silent. Sendoh followed suit. Crickets made their presence known. The black cat meowed.

Sendoh bent down and scratched the cat's neck. "I didn't know you had a cat."

Rukawa raised an eyebrow and didn't reply. He snatched the ball from Sendoh and went inside followed by the black cat.

Outside, Sendoh scratched his head. So, he didn't get any answers, but he returned the ball. That was really weird. Yesterday, Rukawa was almost out of his igloo and now he's back in. Sheesh, he's a fickle one. I don't think I'll ever understand him fully. Oh well, he's Rukawa. He shrugged and made his way back home.

Little does he know.


More slumber party fun!

Er, yeah. Right.

Tonight's agenda: Try and Figure Out the Reason for Rukawa's Revenge Part 2.

"You know, Miyagi-kun, it is possible."

"What?! Kogure-kun, are you really supporting Mitsui-kun's theory that Rukawa's...you know..."

"Not exactly, but it is possible. Sherlock Holmes after all said that when everything's proved false, then the remaining hypothesis, however outrageous, must be true. Or something along those lines."

"But we don't have anything yet."

"Yeah..."

"Maybe Rukawa's working for a reality TV show that's secretly filming the tasks! The title could be, 'Kanagawa Olympics' or something like that."

"Nope. Rukawa's too camera shy."

"Maybe Rukawa's dying and he wanted to do stuff he'd never done before."

"Last time I checked, he was perfectly healthy teenager. And he'd done biking and fishing before. Plus, the tasks weren't completely chosen by him alone. Remember, Sendoh and Sakuragi also have their tasks in there."

"Yeah..."

"Maybe someone possessed him so that spirit could conquer the whole world."

Raised eyebrows.

"Maybe a stupid and insane author decided to write a random fic about Rukawa doing silly stuff and putting revenge as an excuse!"

Er...hey, you guys are getting too smart for your own good!

"And maybe that author is in league with Sakuragi!"

OK, I take that back.

"Anou...where did that come from?"

"I dunno."

"Maybe he's gone crazy and he's just doing this for the heck of it."

"Rukawa may be antisocial, but he's not crazy."

"Maybe he's trying to be social now but he's too proud to admit that, so he challenges Sendoh as an excuse to make friends with him."

"But why Sendoh? He could've started with Haruko. Or with any of his horde of fangirls."

"Rukawa hates girls."

"Well, why not us?"

"Hypothesis scrapped then."

"So that leaves us to two things. Either Rukawa's telling the truth and he does want to beat Sendoh's crap out...or he's gay?"

"He's not gay."

"Yeah. Straight as Miyagi's hair."

"Hey!"

"We haven't proved that yet, Mitsui."

"That's the point, isn't it?"


Five long, uneventful days have passed and before anyone noticed, it's Friday already. Everybody who knew about the games hardly talked about it, being busy with practice and school and their own personal businesses. Except Sakuragi, of course, who was the Eternal Loudmouth of the Shohoku Basketball Team. He just couldn't resist rubbing into Rukawa's face that he was going to have a field day tomorrow. Of course, no one knew what he was talking about except Rukawa, Mitsui, Miyagi and Kogure. If anyone asked, they just shrugged and pretended they didn't know anything.

Of course, when Sakuragi hurls a nice little tutu joke, Rukawa would hurl the nice big basketball in the redhead's face which would be the start of another round of the Sakuragi-Rukawa Freestyle Fighting Tournament.

Everyone, except probably Rukawa, was excited about tomorrow. Well, hello, what kind of a male person would gladly wear a freaking pink tutu in public? Surely not Rukawa!

"Is this really necessary?" groaned Sendoh, who looked as if he wanted to rip apart the...thing he was wearing. He glanced over to Rukawa, who was trying to burn his own garments with his glare.

Sakuragi grinned cheekily and eagerly said, "Yes," making the other two cringe. Mitsui and Miyagi snickered, earning themselves a jut in the ribs from Kogure, who was barely keeping himself from laughing out loud.

It was just as Sendoh imagined: shocking pink tutu, tiara, pink tights, ballet shoes. Oh, and a basket of cookies with pink ribbons. Rukawa was wearing a pastel version of his oufit. Rukawa's lucky, thought Sendoh. At least he could pass for a girl.

Rukawa's determination outweighed his mortification, but he did mind. The ballet shoes were a bit too tight for his feet and his legs were itching because of the tights. But at least, he was not wearing makeup.

Mitsui explained the rules because Sakuragi was still in a fit of laughter. "OK, this is really easy. The person who sells the most number of cookies within an hour wins. The money is yours, by the way. Cookies sell at twenty yen per box, and it's really cheap if you ask me. There are fifty boxes of cookies there so you can earn one thousand yen max." Mitsui looked at his watch. "It's 10:30 now so you have to finish by 11:30."

Without a word, Rukawa walked away, stiff determination shadowing his aching ballet shoe-clad feet. People threw him odd glances, but they never did win against his award-winning glare. And at first glance, as Sendoh thought, he did look like a girl. Some people even went away when he passed, thinking he was some lunatic or sick pervert or something. He made his way across the park, to the children's playground.

Some of his fangirls were at the park and they thankfully didn't recognize him.

"RUKAWA-KUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!"

Or so he thought.

He cringed as the screeching mention of his name instantly alerted all the fangirls in the area.

"Kawaii!"

"Rukawa-kun looks cute in a tutu!"

"Sou desu ne!"

"I never thought he looks pretty in pink!"

"KAWAII!!!"

"Ne, Rukawa-kuuuuuuuun, what's that in your basket?"

And a very fantastic idea got into his head.

"Cookies. Twenty yen per box."

All the fangirls squealed. "Sugoii! Rukawa-kun is talking to us!" Immediately, a scramble to buy some of Rukawa's cookies ensued and Rukawa mentally smirked at his assured victory. He looked at Sendoh who was watching in the distance, on his way to try his luck at the children's playground. Sendoh smiled at him, and he had to look away, forcing himself to concentrate on selling.

Mitsui, Miyagi, and Kogure shook their heads. "Looks like Rukawa will win this," said Mitsui. The other two nodded and chuckled.

Sendoh stood outside the children's playground, his own share of spectators gathering around him.

"Ne, Oniichan, why are you wearing a dress?" asked a little girl, tugging at his skirt.

Sendoh beamed at her. "I wear this at work. You want to buy some cookies? They taste really great and they're cheap too. Just twenty yen!"

Some of the children ran to their mothers to ask for money. Others, who had brought some change with them quickly bought a box from him.

Sakuragi, watching from a distance, frowned. This was not going according to his plan. Rukawa and Sendoh were supposed to be humiliated. But, of course he was not going to let them ruin his fun. He took out a camera and began taking pictures of the two. Hehehehe.

Click.

By the time 11:30 came, the crowd around Rukawa and Sendoh dispersed, but the boxes were not empty, surprising the judges. Mitsui, Miyagi and Kogure expected Rukawa and Sendoh to sell everything, but it turns out they didn't.

Finally, after counting the remaining boxes, Mitsui, Miyagi, Sakuragi, and Kogure announced the winner. "Rukawa wins by one box!"

Rukawa snorted smugly at Sendoh and went to change into his clothes.

The remaining five blinked at him.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I dunno."

Sakuragi was cleaning his ears and waved him away. "He's just Rukawa. Leave him alone. He'll be back."

And true enough, Rukawa came back with that usual arrogant look on his face.

"See, I told you."

Kogure tapped the redhead on the shoulder. "Sakuragi-kun, can I choose the next task?"

The redhead blinked at him but nodded anyway. "Sure, why not?"

Kogure beamed at him and took the bag containing the lots. Then, opening the slip of paper, his eyes widened and he gasped. His cheeks were red. "Anou...Mitsui, I think you should do the honors."

Rukawa tensed. If this was another of Sakuragi's stupid jokes...he'd rather not dwell on it.

Sakuragi had a vague idea of what the task was. Judging by Kogure's reaction to it, it was one of his own and more or less...he knew what it was.

Mitsui, upon seeing the contents of the slip, shot a reprimanding look at Sakuragi. "I think this is your idea," he said. Sakuragi shrugged and looked as innocent as he can. "Kissing contest. Sakuragi's house. Tomorrow at, um, let's see...seven pm. That'll give us time to prepare a romantic dinner for two." Sakuragi, Miyagi and Mitsui helped themselves to a long-awaited laugh. Oh, Kogure had passed out, though I don't know when.

Rukawa and Sendoh both froze. If they thought this task was the worst and that wearing tutus challenged their masculinity, and if they hadn't turned enough nice colors earlier...look at them now. And Sakuragi was really having a field day with this. A couple more pictures should do it. Hehehe. He had taken pictures of the two without them noticing.

And as for the boys...the same single thought ran through their frozen minds.

CHIGAUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

"So, yeah, you guys can go home now. You know, to have some time to...practice."

TBC


Sorry about the ending. I know, it sucks big time. Gomen.