Monday
He thought about what Haruko's letter had to say, if it had gotten that kind of reaction out of Sakuragi. Maybe she dumped him and he was being an idiot. Maybe this was some kind of prank. It could be a prank.
He wouldn't put it past Sakuragi to play a prank like this. Sakuragi had hit him in the ass with a basketball once. This could be the same thing.
Except less painful and more…
Gross. That's what it was. Gross.
Gross like…Sakuragi.
Bleh.
Tuesday
When he went to the boy's bathroom, Sakuragi followed him right inside.
"What do you want?"
"To take a piss." Sakuragi said and started unzipping his pants.
Rukawa walked right out.
Sakuragi followed after him a second later. "Hey what's your problem?"
Rukawa made a disgruntled sound and his face went somewhat red when he realized that Sakuragi hadn't zipped up his pants all the way.
"Fix your pants." Rukawa commented and walked past him again.
"What-oh-opps!"
Wednesday
"Did I not do it right?" Sakuragi asked, cornering him in the empty classroom that had been filled to capacity moments ago.
"Yes, your three-pointer needs work." Rukawa told him, as he put the books that he barely used in his duffle back. Better than carrying them.
"My…is that some kind of slang or somethin'?" Sakuragi asked and he was much closer to him than usual.
Rukawa hefted his duffle on his shoulder and tried to step around Sakuragi, but the idiot stepped right in front of him. Rukawa stepped to Sakuragi's left in an attempt to get around him, but the other boy stepped in front of him again. Rukawa stepped to his right and Sakuragi blocked him again.
"Get out of my way."
"Man, what's up with you?" Sakuragi said, looking perplexed.
"You're in my way." Rukawa replied, but was surprised when Sakuragi's hands closed on his shoulders.
"I thought you said…the letter--what the hell do you want me to do?"
"First I want you to get out of my way, then I want you to go to hel-"
Sakuragi hadn't let him finish his sentence as the redhead leaned forward and kissed him. Rukawa felt hands tighten around his shoulders. He walked backwards, his own hands pushing at Sakuragi's chest, as the bastard wouldn't stop sucking on his face.
He managed to push Sakuragi's face away from him, but then his legs connected with something. He heard the screech of a desk, the legs scrapping against the floor as his body was pushed onto the flat surface of the table. He elbowed Sakuragi in the ribs and the asshole elbowed him right back. Sakuragi reconnected their mouths and Rukawa feeling the metal of the desk press up into his back squirmed and pulled Sakuragi's hair.
Sakuragi put his hands on his hips to try and steady him, but Rukawa kicked his long legs out and hit Sakuragi in the shin. Sakuragi accidentally bit him on the bottom lip because of that bit of maneuvering, the redhead pressing steadily into him until he could feel Sakuragi's erection nudging him in the thigh.
He opened his lips to get more air in, but with Sakuragi's mouth latched onto his, all Rukawa ended up doing was sharing the same breath with him.
"Uhhhnggg…"
Sakuragi seemed to take the noises he was making as encouragement and without further ado Sakuragi slipped his big palms under the hem of his T-shirt. He squeezed him around the sides, and then pressed down on top of him as hard as he could, his lower body now rubbing against him in tandem with his hands.
Rukawa felt his knees shaking and one of them out of reflex jumped and swiftly connected with Sakuragi's stomach.
Thursday
After he had successfully--involuntarily if he was being truthful--kneed Sakuragi in the stomach yesterday, he'd grabbed his duffle bag and left the moron doubled over in the classroom.
When practice had started, Sakuragi had fouled Rukawa so many times that Akagi kicked the redhead out of the gym. Not off the basketball court, out of the gym. Outside, where the birds were chirping and the sky was blue. Everybody thought that it had to be bad if Sakuragi wasn't even allowed to stay inside.
Friday
"You kneed me in the stomach."
"I'll knee you in something else if you come near me."
"Die Rukawa!" Sakuragi started throwing paper balls at him and Rukawa felt like instead of progressing they were regressing.
He in turn threw rocks at Sakuragi's head. Sharp ones.
Saturday
Instead of playing a practice game of basketball Sakuragi had pushed him up against the chain fence and latched onto his neck.
Rukawa had stomped on his foot, but when he realized that for some reason violence seemed to get Sakuragi off--he'd have to be a masochist if he'd put down on his extra-curricular activities next to basketball, street fighting--he stopped all forms of combat.
But then he didn't know exactly what to do if he couldn't deck the moron, so what he did end up doing was letting Sakuragi drive him further into the wire fence, which he was sure was going to leave fence patterns on his back. From this distance, Sakuragi smelled like deodorant and that new sneakers smell. It wasn't something that he was estranged with and so it didn't freak him out as much—as it should have—when his nose snatched the smell. From this distance, he could also feel Sakuragi's hair. It was coarse and scratched against his cheek, as he wore his hair in that half pompadour thing that gang members were notorious for. It could be gel that made his hair so stiff, but Rukawa was more of the opinion that Sakuragi—since he was so impatient—didn't seem like the type that would spend about two hours on his hair. And his roots which should have been different-colored if his hair was indeed a dye job like everybody suspected—was actually the same color up close like this. This was that freak's natural hair color. Well it only made sense that he had freaky hair, on account of his very weird, very freaky personality. Made complete sense.
Sakuragi moved up his throat and Rukawa bit back the curse and the…something else that he was about to voice. It wasn't a moan god dammit. He just wanted to let everyone know that.
After Sakuragi had spit on his neck enough, Rukawa had demanded a practice game. Sakuragi had demanded a reward system in which, if the great Sakuragi, fighter of justice and prevailer over evil beat the not-so-great Rukawa, dumbass pretty boy of evil and henchmen of Gori then dumbass-Rukawa would have to give him…something.
"Like a fist." Rukawa had answered on reflex.
"Then I'll give you a knuckle sandwich, complements of great chef Hanamichi," Sakuragi also blurted out on reflex.
"So you want me to punch you?" Rukawa asked again, and he thought he would have no problem with that, so long as he could punch him a second time and maybe a third.
"You hit me I hit back. I don't want a punch to the face."
"Then you want me to kick you." Because if Sakuragi didn't want a punch to the face, then the obvious answer would be that he wanted a kick…to the face.
Sakuragi looked at him like he was stupid, and there was something terribly wrong and hypocritical if Hanamichi Sakuragi was giving another human being this look.
Why hadn't the ground frozen over yet?
"Look," Sakuragi began and then his face turned beet red. It was probably that his stupidity had finally began to cut off the air supply to his brain and that in about two seconds, Rukawa had to look forward to Sakuragi passing out and also getting to kick him in the face when he did.
Two in one.
"Just…" Sakuragi looked around and then stepped up to him. He looked around again and Rukawa wanted to ask him 'Paranoid much?'
Sakuragi then leaned forward and whispered something in his ear, something that should never, ever be whispered to another human being with a smidgen of dignity.
He made sure to beat Sakuragi by a wider margin than usual, but it had been tough, because for some reason Sakuragi had been especially motivated, so on top of his already freakish stamina abilities, Rukawa had to put up with his sudden unnatural drive. Rukawa didn't need ESP to know that he was going to be sore tomorrow.
Sunday
In today's practice match, Sakuragi had given him the same premise as before, and he thought something was really wrong with Sakuragi if he could say what he'd just said to him with a straight face and just expected him to do that…
Sakuragi seemed to really want it.
And Rukawa was sure he wasn't going to get it…from him.
When he told Sakuragi what he thought, the other boy got indignant and started shouting something about him being cowardly, and you're a big scardy cat, and you suck a lot…but that last part sounded suspiciously like the premise, so Sakuragi had turned red and told him to go to hell, but at the same time, play the damn basketball game.
He'd won, but oddly, he hadn't won by a large margin.
It was frighteningly enough decided by one point.
Rukawa thanked his family's ancestral gods for that one point.