sThe Boy is Mine

Disclaimer: I don't own SD boys, Inoue does. The events that follow are not included in the original plot but enjoy anyway.

A/N: This is for ivybluesummers. Really, nowadays, I only upload my crap at your bidding. Haha! When are you writing SD fics again? As for me, this may as well be my final exit. All my muses have gone along with my ability to write anything halfway presentable. I could only wish the opposite is true of you. Write more, okay?

Chapter IV

When Sendoh Akira opened his e-mail account that morning, there was only one unread message. It was a beautiful morning, the kind on which nothing portended to ever go wrong. The sky was sunny, the temperature bearable, the birds were chirping somewhat to a cheery melody et cetera, et cetera. His mom even did him the kindness of delivering a hearty breakfast to his room. Its aromatic flavor filled the air until Sendoh decided to eat it before it got cold. His favorite socks were safe in his drawer. His windbreaker had just been washed yesterday and smelled of the lovely scent of fabric softener. In short, everything was quite perfect. That is, until he opened his e-mail account and found the ridiculously succinct message.

'He's going to ditch you and I'll be there when it happens.'

Now that's some kind of warning he hadn't received in all his seventeen years. He couldn't as of yet figure out to which category it fell in; was it on the vengeful side or on the jealous side? Or both? As far as he could make out, the sender seemed hostile. With his eyes still a bit groggy from sleep, he guided the cursor to the back button, making sure that he read the address of the sender right. The name apparently read KR and the address was ravenhairedrookieoftheyear at hotmail dot com. Now Sendoh only knew one person with those initials; what's more, he could only think of one person who had such pressing business with him and that was none other than Rukawa, his archrival. As for the raven-haired rookie of the year thing, it only proved what type of dimwit Rukawa really was: Severe.

Hastily, he clicked on the reply button. In a few minutes, he came up with this kind of reply: And he's going to take me back, which is soon enough. And guess what? He'd never even think twice about ignoring you so long as I exist. Hahahaha!

Honestly, who's going to fancy Rukawa when I'm around?

Sendoh then sent his reply quickly, as if afraid he was going to change his mind. He was a bit rattled by the message; part of his annoyance being, he just hated to take cheek from someone younger, someone who had severe insecurity issues and evidently less than he was. It was unthinkable.

After that, he took a shower, brushed his teeth, put on his best Saturday clothes and phoned in Koshino to say that he was going to be late for practice. He didn't offer excuses and neither was he earnest to let his best friend in on the topic of Rukawa. Somehow, he knew that his small circle of confidence didn't deserve so delicate a gossip.

At nine o'clock on the dot, he went out of his bedroom, promising himself a happy day.

--

Rukawa, a regular late-comer, roused at around eight-thirty in the morning on the same day. Seeing that it wasn't yet near nine a.m., he decided to pursue his narcoleptic urges further. Thirty minutes later he dragged himself out of bed like a zombie, doing his hygiene in the most robotic and sluggish manner. After shower, breakfast and toothbrush he made his way to his computer table and checked his e-mail account. He had just sent Sendoh a missive which in essence told him to stay the hell away from Mitsui. Now Rukawa had been too long accustomed to hoarding thoughts he'd never planned of releasing but lately, the situation he'd been in had quite called for certain measures that should include strong opinions.

That is mainly why he had to defect that kind of message to Sendoh.

He had received a message—a reply in particular--from a Spike Dude, whose e-mail address went like this: spikey007 at hotmail dot com. The message read: 'And he's going to take me back, which is soon enough. And guess what? He'd never even think twice about ignoring you so long as I exist. Hahahaha!' It noticeably dripped of immaturity and insecurity. Insofar as both were concerned, Sendoh was the only person who sat well with them.

Of course he figured it out right away that it had to be from Sendoh and that is, despite his limited intellectual capacity. Rukawa then scuffled through the keys with greedy apprehension, thinking distractedly of what to fire back. It wasn't because he had no idea what to say; it was because he had too many things to say to this jerk. After a reasonable period of time he came up with this:

'Shall we see then?'

That was the long and short of it. In his heart of hearts, he didn't see any need to see further; he knew exactly well that, in the long run, Mitsui's heart belonged to him. Alone.

He loved to keep his title as a man of few words. And kept by it, he did exceptionally well. At ten o'clock, Rukawa headed straight to Shohoku basketball gym. The sky outside was very much like the sky on the day he first saw Mitsui. It was nostalgic and dreamy.

--

It was a scene of usual disarray. Ryota Miyagi, still a struggling spanking new captain, found it hard to keep the players in one straight line. If he hadn't been hiring the team manager's help, he'd be school history before long. The center of the commotion always came from one person only: Sakuragi Hanamichi, who, as Rukawa liked to put it, was the coach's biggest, most reckless mistake. In fact right at that moment, when the team should be busy with a hustling practice match, they were still midway through the stretching and warm up routine. That was because Sakuragi was stealing the captain's attention once in a while and delaying orders.

When Sakuragi was there, you could count on peace and order to vanish on the spot. And all the team had to rely on was luck because with any luck, Sakuragi might have disturbed bowel movement and be sent straight to the infirmary.

Rukawa entered the gym in this state. He need not explain why he was late; Miyagi knew exactly why and strangely tolerated it. Ayako was like-minded and so was the assistant manager, the Akagi girl. By then, it was almost time to commence the fated rehearsal match. For lack of anything good to wear, Rukawa put on his loyal short shorts and navy blue tank top. This often merited Sakuragi's merciless taunts, which he had to endure all throughout the day. If someone like Mitsui didn't interfere, Rukawa would have very good reasons to teach the saru a lesson. As it was, Mitsui always interfered, however arbitrary the circumstances were, and always managed to apologize on his friend's behalf.

Sometimes Rukawa thought that that's precisely why he loved Mitsui. Sometimes, he thought that no other emotion equaled the love he had for the senior.

"Okay, team up! Five minutes, go!"

They teamed up. In about forty minutes, the game ended, with Rukawa's team on the winning end. Rukawa almost immediately combed the crowd to earn Mitsui's congratulatory greeting. Lately, it had been the senior's tradition to pitch a nice word or two to Rukawa each time the latter stuck it out. Upon closing in on the senior, who smiled good-naturedly at him, Rukawa fixed his face in what must've been an earnest display of flippancy. Holding back was a very important part of the challenge. He shouldn't give himself away at any rate.

"Oh, Rukawa," Mitsui smiled at him in a very disarming way. His white teeth flashed, taking the attention away from his sweat-pelted cheeks. "It was a good game you had there."

Rukawa nodded. Just then he felt his heart exploding, or else beating in and out of his rib cage.

"Next time, why don't we team up together? It would be nice to have you on my boat once in a while."

"Sure, sempai." Rukawa said in an effort to quell a smile. But being in the same team with Mitsui clearly meant less reason to come in physical contact with him. Naturally, that would be a minus for Rukawa.

Rukawa, thinking that Mitsui would trail him to the shower room, made his way there leisurely. Upon reaching the entrance door, however, he noticed that he was quite alone. He consequently scanned his surrounding and, after careful examination, his eyes tumbled upon Mitsui who was now standing before the gym's door, seeming to have an animated chatter with someone. Yes, he wasn't by himself. In fact he was with some tall guy whose conspicuous height was furthered by spiky strands of hair, which alone made the stranger simply stand out.

It was Sendoh Akira, paying the senior a visit. Until Sendoh's arrival, Rukawa felt pretty much complacent, out of harm's way. But now all feelings that lead to relaxation disappeared within him and feeling nothing but honest consternation, he decided to watch the scene, even if it meant pain. So he halted completely on his tracks, thinking that if there was a time to put his best foot forward, that was it. He watched the two gibe away in open delight for some time, at least enough time to scorch Rukawa's inside with fury. Sendoh was wearing a smile and Rukawa was instantly made jealous by the thoughts Sendoh might've had to make him smile like this. That was it.

Then something almost comforting happened: Miyagi joined the duo. That was good because knowing Miyagi and all the things he had to do and think of as a bona fide captain, there was no playing with him. No way he'd let those two flirt in front of him. The three seemed to be engaged in some kind of semi-serious conversation. Every so often Miyagi would nod and laugh a bit. Mitsui played little part in the talk while Sendoh did most of it. What they were spraffing about, Rukawa could only imagine. Surely Miyagi wouldn't conspire against him? Surely he didn't know anything about the heated spell of love Mitsui had clouded over both Sendoh and Rukawa? Whatever scandal Sendoh had been dreaming of lately?

Then the threesome broke apart in the most amiable manner and not, to Rukawa's dismay, in a conversational blackout. Sendoh went away and Miyagi and Mitsui made their way to the shower room. As they drew near Rukawa, the latter pretended to look for his water bottle among the steel chairs.

"Rukawa." he heard Mitsui's voice call him.

"Sempai?" Rukawa turned around, slowly retreating from his sociopath corner. Miyagi zoomed straight to the showers, leaving the two the privacy they needed.

"Sendoh just proposed a practice match. Shohoku versus Ryonan, maybe on Tuesday. The captain already agreed, heartily if I may say so. What do you think?"

"Good." No, it was this bloody far from being good. In fact, it was very badly timed.

"Yeah, that's the spirit." Mitsui grinned at him. By the way he said it, it seemed as though he was the one who accepted the offer heartily. "Let's go inside."

"I need to go outside, sempai." Rukawa said.

Mitsui frowned at him slightly as if wondering what odd business Rukawa could possibly have outside the gym on a Saturday morning. He reluctantly nodded at the freshman and followed Miyagi's suit.

Rukawa set out almost at once and waded his way to the streets as fast as he could. He turned over his head what Mitsui just broke to him. Nothing in the form of a brainwave ever transpired to him that Sendoh would go as far as petitioning for a stupid practice match. Huh. If the hedgehog thought that he'd kidnap Mitsui's heart by offering a practice match, he was very gravely mistaken. It would take a lot more than that to gain his intimacy. Or so Rukawa wanted to think.

He continued hurrying to the pavement, his legs sweating profusely and his muscles flexed by the sheer effort of sprinting. Outside, the wind vibrated along and the sunlight fell to the ground with a kind of irresistible gentleness. At the curve near around the west end of Shohoku, he saw Sendoh, who apparently was in no urgency to get back to Ryonan High. He was humming nonchalantly to a popular tune until Rukawa said "hey."

"Uhm, Kaede." Sendoh rounded on him. Rukawa didn't back away; instead he stood even more erectly. To Sendoh, it was like seeing a snake uncoil to draw out its full length.

Rukawa administered an accusing glare which Sendoh didn't miss. Far from being able to reveal his motives, Rukawa simply went on glaring without saying anything.

"I know. It's about why I was at your gym a while ago." Sendoh hazarded a smile; nothing in that smile suggested that he had something blowing to say to Rukawa. "Really, I thought Hisashi cared enough about you to say something about it. Clearly, I was wrong."

"He told me. I want to know why you did it."

"Simple. I want a harmonious relationship with Shohoku High; you know, to be on perfect terms with you all (yes, even with you), unlike last season. As captain, I'm advised to accomplish just that. You don't think I went all the way there just to stare at Hisashi for ten minutes, do you?" He seemed to say that that's the kind of thing Rukawa would do.

"Bullshit."

"Yeah, I'm afraid you'd have to swallow that, Kaede."

"For the last time, stay away from him."

Something in Sendoh's eyes flickered before he muttered, "Never." And he said it with a stubbornness no hammer could crush.

Rukawa, clearly on the verge of stress, didn't say anything for a spell. Sendoh was being bitchier than he ever gave him credit for. Really, he was getting more than annoying! Rukawa felt the tension run high; he felt the need to prevent this encounter from becoming an overheated argument magnify. Rukawa's anger lunged deeper as he took note of every movement Sendoh made. It was Sendoh who recommenced the talk.

"Look, I'm sorry that we have to fight for the same guy. And I'm even more sorry that I've gone further up the race. Now, now, don't give me that look. Hisashi isn't something to be shared; he needs to be kept by one person only. And that lucky person is me, of course." Sendoh proclaimed as though reciting a lyric of a very familiar song.

Not a second sooner than he said this when Rukawa started to walk away. It wasn't because he felt anything in the likeness of a loss, but because he was beginning to see the pointlessness of it all. On the other hand, Sendoh felt obliged to extend his courtesy, namely by running after the younger boy.

"Wait, this should be a fair game Kaede. I don't want anybody to get hurt, even you. Now don't do something crazy like-"

"Kill myself? You're the one who's going to do that." Rukawa said a matter-of-factly, his expression almost blank. Sendoh flinched a little at these words, which were too deceiving they almost convinced Sendoh himself.

"No, nothing of the kind will happen. I assure you. I wonder why you said that?" Sendoh added.

"Because he already chose for himself. You're just too dumb to see it." Rukawa said. If he was lying, he turned out to be very good at it.

"Preposterous. It's not like Hisashi's going to play with anyone's feelings, is it?"

Rukawa paused. That wasn't entirely true; in fact, Mitsui seemed to be the perfect type to trample, knot and play with other people's feelings. Sendoh hardly knew him, yet.

"You don't know him. I do."

"Wait," Sendoh hastened to say, not too eager to be ignored. The tables seemed to have turned; at this point, retaining a straight face seemed an uneasy feat. "His feelings are not his to throw away or not. And even if he didn't choose me, there's still the fact that he seems to like me better than anyone else, whoever the candidates are. We have this chemistry, understanding, so to speak. I'm saying, maybe he'd choose you but his heart stays with me. That isn't a bold assumption if you consider the situation. And as far as I'm concerned he does find me fascinating."

"You wish." Rukawa spat, doing his utmost to look unpleasant. And what would that make me? His idolatrous object of worship?

"I don't think I need to wish any more."

"I would if I were you. Sempai is really fickle-minded." Rukawa uttered, now starting to feel at a loss for excuses. He had quite reached the point where he was willing to do anything just to take Sendoh out of the picture. Make no mistake about that.

"I'm pretty sure I'm missing your meaning. It seems that you're the one who knows nothing about him. With you, I could only wish to be a bit more understanding."

Rukawa harrumphed. Indeed, he left so much to be said. But the difficulty of explaining the situation to this moron in front of him far exceeded anything else and hence, he chose not to bother anymore. He twisted his head toward where he came from, ready to depart the snaffle. He couldn't stand Sendoh's presence either on court or off court. And the animosity hadn't felt stronger before.

"I'm going." he said, too sure of himself, and not half caring if he possessed the righteous way of loving the senior, whatever the fuck that is. He cleared off.

In half a moment Sendoh was left alone to deal with the beautiful weather and some words to remember. He looked upward, into the sky, into the swarm of migrating birds, not knowing what else to say to himself. Then he felt that the impressions Rukawa left were as lasting as the shapes of the clouds.

--

When Rukawa returned to Shohoku, everyone else had left. Even Miyagi who always made it a point to leave after everyone had gone was nowhere in sight. The janitor wouldn't be back until Monday which left Rukawa really, really alone. He rummaged through his bag, fishing out the necessities one by one. He then looked around him: The place's silence unnerved him as if something would come out of it and grab him away. Yet, he might as well be one of the moons of Jupiter, perpetually detached. He dashed to the shower, not really liking the idea of a bath which was as good as any other. But he went nonetheless. Leaving the building, with his body bag slung on his shoulder, he heard a soft rustle behind him. He turned to see who it was as he received the shock of the day.

"I was looking for you a while ago. Care for a walk?" It was Mitsui, all dried up and good to go. His offer was almost apathetic, perfunctory that Rukawa could hardly suspect anything.

"Alright." Rukawa replied. The prospect of a walk thrilled him inside such that he could hardly look at Mitsui.

That's when it happened, as surreal as a predestined encounter. If agreeing was any invitation to be that close to Mitsui, or to be snogged off guard, Rukawa didn't see it. For all he knew, the "walk" turned out to be something else altogether, for even before they left Shohoku on that wonderful morning, Mitsui pulled Rukawa to him, close enough to hear his breathing and to see his nearly microscopic skin pores, and kissed him with all the hungriness of a half-starved predator. Rukawa closed his eyes. If this wasn't a dream, it must be something that happened a long, long time ago.

This time, there was no holding back.

TBC

A/N: No, wait! Don't go just yet. I have an idea about what's going to happen next. One that will shake Rukawa off his wits. You just wait. Okay? I know this is sloppily written but let me make up for the next upload. Thanks for reading.