Week 8
Monday
"Give me the ball."
"No. This is my ball."
"Give it to me."
"I don't want to."
"This is a passing exercise. Give me the ball."
"You can't make me."
"I'll tell Akagi."
"Here's the stupid ball." Sakuragi throws said stupid ball at him and he catches it, but the force of the overhead throw makes him take a step back.
Sakuragi grins.
He doesn't like how Sakuragi grins, so he throws an overhead pass at the idiot and it comes to a halt in Sakuragi's palms.
Sakuragi grins some more. "You throw like a girl."
"You throw like a idiot."
"Girl."
"Idiot."
They stare at each other, until Rukawa gives up and says, "Look, this isn't an exercise in who can make whose palms redder. It's a passing drill."
"You still throw like a girl."
Tuesday
"What's up with Sakuragi? I thought you said he'd stop being a dumbass if I was fake nice." Rukawa questions Kogure.
"Oh that. Well it was only a temporary solution. You see, I believe Sakuragi's default personality when it concerns you is to be a…"
"Asshole."
"I guess you could say that. But you know, if you really want him to get off your back, you could um…"
"I could what?"
"Sakuragi's a teenage boy and like all teenage boys they're controlled by their hormones."
Rukawa stared blankly at Kogure. "So? What the hell does that have to do with me?"
Kogure sighs. "You're as dumb as rocks. You deserve each other."
"What?"
"Don't worry about those locks, Mitsui. I'll get Akagi to open them when he comes back from physics." Kogure suddenly shouts out of nowhere, and Mitsui who isn't anywhere near a door, and is in fact holding a basketball, scratches his head, shrugs his shoulders, and continues to work on his three pointer.
Kogure turns back to Rukawa with a nervous looking smile. "Just…hang in there." He says and Rukawa wants to tell him he's been hanging in there since Sakuragi joined the team.
Wednesday
He finds a simple envelop on his desk. When he asks who put it there, a group of guys by the window say it was from this really pretty girl.
Another gives him an exact name. "You know? Haruko, the one who's really into basketball. Akagi's sister."
Akagi had a sister?
Dear god, he couldn't even picture him having a brother…but a sister?
"You know who I'm talking about? Sakuragi's always hanging out with her."
Sakuragi did…
Hmm. Was he talking about that girl who came to cheer for Sakuragi.
"Does she have shoulder length brown hair?" Because he knew that much.
"Yeah, yeah. That's the one. Man, you hit it big if you got such a sweetie pie leaving you love letters."
Rukawa thought about this for a minute. She was always around Sakuragi, so why would she leave him a letter. He looked at Sakuragi's desk, which was right behind his—to his chagrin—and then he looked at his desk.
Maybe she got the desks mixed up. She was always hanging out with Sakuragi, so it must be addressed to him. And with his mind made up, Rukawa put the letter on Sakuragi's desk.
Thursday
"Hey…um…you got a second?" Sakuragi was now shuffling his feet and looking down at the ground.
"Why?"
"Can we…ah talk?"
"No."
"C'mon. It'll only take a sec." Sakuragi said, already moving towards the locker room.
Rukawa followed him.
When they'd reached the locker room. Sakuragi had locked the door behind them.
Rukawa already didn't like where this was going. If Sakuragi was planning to fight him here, then he'd have no choice but to fight back. Coach Anzai's promise be damned.
"So um…" Sakuragi scratched behind his head and pulled out the plain envelop that Rukawa had dumped on his desk yesterday.
"Did you put this on my desk?"
Rukawa shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah." He didn't say it was from Haruko, as he thought that would be apparent from the letter.
"Why?" Sakuragi asked, and Rukawa thought he was acting funnier than usual.
"Because it's yours." Rukawa answered back. He felt like he was missing something.
"Oh. Okay." Sakuragi said, and he was scratching the side of his cheek. "So this is mine."
"Yeah." Rukawa didn't know how else to say it.
"Okay." Sakuragi said again.
They stared at each other.
"Yeah, okay." Rukawa rolled his eyes and was preparing to turn around when Sakuragi suddenly closed the distance between them in one long stride.
"What the hel-"
However before he could ask the dimwit what he was doing, Sakuragi had leaned over and kissed him. On the mouth. In the locker room. On the mouth. In the middle of the locker room.
Still Thursday (Five minutes later)
After Sakuragi had taken his tongue out of his mouth and stopped kissing him, he took one step away from a dazed Rukawa and said. "Okay then." Then he left.
Rukawa stayed in the locker room after that, until Kogure, curious as to why they were missing one member of their team, walked in to come get him.
He turned to his sempai when asked what was wrong, and then told Kogure that he was going home for the day.
Friday
He didn't go to school.
Saturday
He didn't go practice on the outdoor basketball court.
Sunday
He still didn't go practice on the outdoor basketball court and stayed in bed.