Chapter 12
October 2016- Akita
Sendoh had a man pinned under the weight of his body.
The man was big, almost as tall as Sendoh, and pressing back against him aggressively. Sendoh wedged a knee between the man's thighs, holding him firmly in place.
"Fuck off, asshole," the man growled.
Sendoh leaned on him harder.
"All right, let him go, Sendoh," the referee said. "I'll call holding if you don't back off right now."
Sendoh released the other man's jersey, raising his hands innocently.
"Fucker," the other man growled. He shoved Sendoh before he run away from where Sendoh had trapped him.
"That wasn't nice," Sendoh called after him.
Sendoh could hear the boos and taunts from the crowd as he walked to the bench.
Fuck you, Sendoh!
You're fucking pussy, Sendoh!
Go moved to Russia, you piece of shit!
Sendoh smiled to himself. He actually loved this. He loved the insults, the booing, and, most of all, the sound of a crowd so gutted by his team's performance that they couldn't even bother to boo. A winded, humiliated crowd. That was Sendoh's favorite sound.
The crowd was still loud in Akita. This was not an easy city to silence. He would have to work extra hard tonight to get that glorious, devastated quiet he craved.
He sat on the bench next to Jiei Kitano. Kitano was a veteran forward. He was also about a hundred years old.
"Making friends?" Kitano asked.
"I'm playing basketball."
Kitano snorted.
A Sannoh defenseman walked by the bench when the play had stopped. "Keep it up and see what happens, Sendoh," he threatened.
"I know what will happen. My team will win."
"Suck my dick, Sendoh."
Be the best blow job of your life, sweetheart. Sendoh winked at him.
"Faggot," the other player grumbled.
Sendoh shrugged. It was half true.
Maybe, like, thirty percent true.
At that moment, the scoreboard screens showed a highlight from the Shohoku vs. Tendouji game that was also happening that night. Tendouji is a team from Okinawa: Kaede Rukawa hometown. Rukawa had just scored a goal. Of course.
Sendoh watched the footage of Rukawa taking a quick pass and scoring with the impossible accuracy that he was known for. Sendoh watched his teammates hug him, and the way his face lit up with a wide, sweetest smile. Sendoh found himself smiling a bit too, on his bench in Akita.
Well, now he was going to have to score two goals tonight.
October 2016- Okinawa
"Haruko is pregnant."
Rukawa stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. "Again?" he said.
Sakuragi laughed. "Well, thanks."
"I mean, congratulations."
Sakuragi shot him an amused look. "Yeah, you sound super happy for me."
Rukawa gestured to the stroller Sakuragi was pushing his one-year-old son in, and then toward the twin three-year-old girls who were peering into a touch tank. "Well, I mean..."
"Yeah," Sakuragi sighed. "I know. But Haruko's happy. I mean...she's fucking bored, right?"
The nearby parent of a wobbly toddler glared at them.
"Sorry," Sakuragi said quickly to the offended party. Then, to Rukawa, he said, "I gotta watch my language. Haruko always says so."
"Hazard of our occupation," Rukawa said.
"I know I- hey! Hana, sweetie, don't splash your sister!- I need a swear jar or something at home."
"I don't think you can afford that."
As a man without children, or a wife, Rukawa is one of them who is still single among his teammates. Most of the guys were married already. Sakuragi had married Haruko at eighteen, after only dating her for a year. Rukawa is the one who gestured them together after he rejected Haruko confession. Rukawa knew, that Sakuragi had feelings for Haruko for a long time. And he deserved it.
Haruko is nice girl. Sakuragi had done well marrying her. And their kids were adorable, even if naming the twins Hana and Anya was a choice.
"Thanks for coming with us," Sakuragi said, stooping to pick up the pacifier that his son, Daichi, had dropped on the ground. Sakuragi gave it a quick wipe on his shirt and plunged it back into Daichi's mouth. Rukawa made a disgusted face that Sakuragi didn't see. "Gori wife is visiting Haruko and they wanted to go shopping and shit."
"Swear jar," Rukawa said.
"Right. Shopping and stuff. Anyway, it's hard going anywhere with these three monsters, so I appreciate the help."
"My pleasure, doaho."
Rukawa was sincerely enjoying himself. The Aquarium was a good place for him to go without getting mobbed. People were so distracted by the animals, and by trying to wrangle their own children, that they weren't bothering to look at the other adults in the room. Rukawa was also wearing a ball cap and a simple black jacket to try to blend in even better. So far it was working.
"Oh shit- I mean, shoot- looks like Anya is trying to steal a starfish." Sakuragi nudged the stroller handles toward Rukawa. "Here, you watch Daichi for a second."
He was darting toward the touch tank and the twins before Rukawa could reply.
Rukawa knelt in front of the stroller and smiled at the sleepy-eyed little boy. "Hey, bro," he said. "You having a good time?"
Daichi reached out and grabbed the front of Rukawa's ball cap.
"Let's go see some penguins!" Sakuragi said. He had returned carrying one twin under each arm.
"Penguins!" both girls squealed at once.
"Penguins!" Rukawa said, clapping his hands and trying to mimic the girls' excitement.
Sakuragi huffed. "All right, girls. Follow your uncle Rukawa."
He set the girls down, and they each took one of Rukawa's hands. Rukawa's heart clenched. Their hands were so tiny.
In the Antarctic room, Sakuragi and Rukawa were able to sit on a bench with the stroller parked next to them while the twins ran up to the glass to look at the penguins.
"So... Haruko has this friend..." Sakuragi said.
Oh, here we go again.
"No," Rukawa said.
"I know, but listen. She's gorgeous, and she's cool. She's yoga instructor. You like yoga, right?"
"I'm sure she's great, but I'm really not interested in dating anyone right now."
"Why the f- I mean, why on earth not? You're young, you're rich, you're famous, you...handsome."
Rukawa gave him a flirty look. "Doaho, do you find me attractive?"
"Look, Kitsune. If I was a woman, I'd be all over you."
Rukawa smirked. In truth, he could think of worse scenarios than having Hanamichi Sakuragi all over him. But he wasn't going to tell him that. Besides, Sakuragi was his best friend. He'd never had anything but platonic feelings for him, red hair, brown eyes, and doaho.
"So this friend," Sakuragi tried again. "Satomi is her name. I think you would really like her."
Rukawa buried his face in his hands, almost knocking his own ball cap off. "Stop trying to set me up on dates, aho."
"I just want to see you happy! I owe you because you rejected my wife before. Thank you very much! And most importantly, I want you to have a hundred kids so you can know my pain!"
Rukawa scrubbed his hands over his face and looked up to see Hana and Anya shoving each other in front of the glass.
"Fuck it. I gotta break this up," Sakuragi grumbled, already walking toward them.
Rukawa sighed. "Tell your dad to lay off my love life, all right, Daichi?"
But Daichi had fallen asleep.
Rukawa imagined telling Sakuragi that he was into men. He knew Sakuragi wouldn't shun him or anything. He maybe wasn't the most worldly guy, but he wasn't a bigot either. At worst it would probably make things awkward between them. Maybe it wouldn't, but Rukawa didn't want to risk finding out. There really wasn't any reason to, anyway. Rukawa probably would meet a nice girl someday and settle down and then his occasional attraction to men would be moot.
His imagination continued to wander, conjuring a scenario where he told Sakuragi that he'd been hooking up with Akira Sendoh since their rookie season. The hypothetical look on Sakuragi's face made Rukawa snort out loud. He quickly covered his mouth and turned to look at Daichi, as if to suggest that the sleeping toddler had made the weird noise.
"Excuse me, are you Kaede Rukawa?"
Rukawa looked up and saw two teen girls gawking at him.
"Erm..." he said smoothly.
"Oh my god! You are! Can I get a selfie with you?"
"It's pretty, um, dark in here," Rukawa said. He tried to catch Sakuragi's eyes. If he starting taking selfies with fans here, it would never end.
"Please?" The girls were both pouting now.
Rukawa kept himself from sighing. It wasn't like he was doing anything else at the moment. "Sure. What's your name?"
The girls lit up. "Oh my god, thank you! I love you so much! I'm Emiko."
"I'm Junko."
"Nice to meet you, Emiko and Junko."
They arranged themselves so they would all fit in the frame of Emiko's iPhone screen. As she was snapping pictures, Sakuragi returned. "Uh-oh," he said.
It only took a second for Rukawa to realize that Sakuragi was referring to the dozens of heads that were now turned in the direction of his little photo shoot.
Sure enough, as soon as the girls thanked him and walked away, a man and his son approached Rukawa. He ended up being stuck in the Antarctic room for twenty minutes taking photos with fans and signing whatever objects they happened to have on them. When Rukawa made his apologetic excuse to leave, he found Sakuragi by the exit.
"Those assholes," Sakuragi grumbled.
"They're fans, doaho."
"They didn't even recognize me!"
Rukawa snorted and shook his head. "I'll take a selfie with you, if you want."
"I never should have become friends with you, Kitsune."
Rukawa smiled and held the door for him so he could push the stroller through.
"Seriously!" Sakuragi continued. "My ego can't take it, Kitsune! It's like being friends with the damn sun or something. Wait- do I have all of the kids? How many kids are here?"
"Three. Hana is hiding behind you."
"Okay." Sakuragi exhaled. "I can't believe we're having another one."
"You sure it's just one?"
Sakuragi's eyes were pure terror. "Don't even joke, Rukawa."
October 2016- Wakayama
Sendoh stretched out on his hotel bed and amused himself by tapping on the various customization options for the 2017 Audi Spyder. He had a 2015 Spyder already, so it wasn't like he needed a new one.
The television was turned to ESPN, but he wasn't paying much attention to it. At least, not until he heard the name Kaede Rukawa.
It was just one of these dumb fluff pieces that the twenty-four-hour sports networks relied on to fill air time, a little glimpse at Rukawa's life away from the court for the fans.
On the television, Rukawa was standing on some sort of dock surrounded by the calm blue waters of an enormous lake. Thick green forest lined the banks.
"When the demands of the season are over, this is where Kaede Rukawa comes to relax and recuperate: his five-thousand-square-foot lakefront cottage."
Sendoh sat up. He had never seen any place that Rukawa called home.
"This is my favorite place on earth," the Rukawa on the television said. "I just finished building this one a couple of years ago. My family's cottage, the one I spent summers at growing up, is just over there." He pointed off-camera to his right. "I was still spending my summers there until this one was finished."
"Awww, so fucking sweet, Rukawa," Sendoh said, rolling his eyes.
There was some footage of Rukawa kayaking alone on the lake, looking serene and stupid as he gazed around at nature. His voice played over the footage, talking about the place healing his soul or some dumb shit.
There were sweeping shots of some of the rooms of the cottage. A spacious, high-ceilinged living area with a leather sectional sofa and some very Japanese-looking plaid throw pillows and blankets; a modern, high-end kitchen with a large island in the middle; a pool table and a bar; a gym that had a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the lake.
Then, without warning, they cut to a shot of Rukawa doing fucking yoga on the dock.
"I got into yoga last year from my mom and I think it's really helped me focus, and it's definitely increased my flexibility." Rukawa's voice played over a lingering shot of him holding some ridiculous pose.
"Jesus, you are so fucking boring," Sendoh muttered.
Rukawa did look flexible, though.
The segment went on a little longer. Rukawa talked about how important it was for him to have a place close to his parents. How he had offered to build them a new cottage too, but they'd refused. He laughed when he said that. When he laughed his nose crinkled, his cheeks flushed and Sendoh's stomach flipped.
Sendoh wondered if Rukawa had ever fucked anyone in that cottage. Probably. Probably some nice, wholesome girl that he had met while...canoeing. Or whatever.
Sendoh had filmed one of these dumb things too. He had taken the camera crew to the garage where he stored his collection of European sports cars. The segment had had a decidedly different vibe from this Rukawa one.
But that's the way it had been for over six seasons: Kaede Rukawa was the wholesome, heroic sweetheart, and Akira Sendoh was the obnoxious rock star. They were polar opposites, according to any JBL analyst, and therefore destined to clash forever- neatly dividing basketball fans in the process.
It's the way it should have been. Rukawa and Sendoh were opposites in almost every way imaginable, but it was getting harder for Sendoh to deny that there was something in his core that was drawn to Rukawa. Instead off getting him out of his system with their hookups, each one just made him want more.
It was dangerous fucking stuff.
TBC
Girl: Aw, don't hate Sendoh, Sweety. He had his own reason, hehe. And Rukawa didn't understand himself too, why he needed this... Such a complicated for them. Ouch...
Periwinkle: Did you know what kind of Sendoh tattoo? Rukawa reference it as idiot.. Hahahaha!! Aw, TQ so much, Dear.