Thank you so much for reading this far! Special hugs to everyone who reviewed, fav'ed, followed, and C2d the story! Heheh
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Slam Dunkand Kawamura Takashi from Prince of Tennis.
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CHAPTER 5: Fishing Pole
SHOHOKU HIGH
Rukawa stared at the window. For some reason, he couldn't fall asleep—not when the teacher of the third period was already there and she had yet to arrive. He stared at Mito, and he seemed to look at her chair here and then as well. For a second their eyes met, but he quickly pulled away.
Rukawa mentally scoffed and willed himself to take a nap like he normally did. Mito stared at him. He really was acting apathetic, even when he wasn't. He knew because he saw that he could actually care.
"OI, Mito." The professor called. "Where's Sakuragi?"
"Probably sleeping in, sir."
"Grrr—and we just called her in, too." He paused and clenched his fist. "That girl would never learn!"
"With all due respect, Sir, neither would you." He stated, and the classed laughed. The professor's head was red with anger.
"Why you—" The old man gulped as much air as he could. "Mito Yohei, OUTSIDE NOW!"
And Mito did as he was told. He stood up, and coolly walked outside. He could sense his teacher wanted to throw him something hard, but couldn't. The man was afraid he'd throw something even harder.
As Mito stood by the door, he just recalled what he told them. Through the years, he had come more and more objective with it, in the hope that Hanamichi did too.
He closed his eyes.
It was years ago, a few months before they moved in Kanagawa. Ueki Hanamichi was grinning like hell. Despite her inherently hot-headed attitude, she was like most children in the sense that she really loved spending time with her parents. Her mother, an established Interior Designer, always flew abroad leaving her with her dad.
Her dad, though, was a professional basketball player—and that meant as a child she was into basketball, as if it was the only thing she could do. Her life practically revolved around it.
When he trained, she did too. She actually took her masculine name at heart even when she knew she was given such a name because her parents wanted a male for a child.
Hanamichi, fortunately, inherited her father's basketball skills. Their defining red-hair could be good, too, in case she wanted to be a professional. 'The red-headed Ueki's' they called themselves and imagined people adoring them.
"Ueki-sama is so awesome!" Her father snickered, pretending to be one of his fans. Little Hanamichi nodded and took a poetic pose to play her future fans. Mito always loved watching those two fantasize together.
"Look at their wonderful red hair!"
"Red-headed Tensais! Banzaaiii!" They yelled together, catching people at the beach's attentions. They continued laughing like idiots and continued jogging across Chiba's beautiful beach whenever they ran around.
They played together during his free time, and she always came to cheer in his games. In fact—that unfortunate day… they were headed to one of his games. Both of them slept in so they were in a hurry.
It had always happened—they always were late—and they could not have foreseen the events turned out for the worst.
Hanamichi's father died, and her arm was rendered useless for months. She couldn't do anything but brood, but eventually she went into operation and she could use it again.
But the most she could do with it was things like writing and such. By now, she was healed enough to play lightly. So she despised the people who could still play to their fullest, and despised herself for still being unable to get over her father's death. She vented it all on basketball—and she was too stubborn to admit it and change back.
Basketball was the thing that defined her—and now that it was gone, she was lost. All Mito could do was be there for his friend. So when the Sakuragis moved to Kanagawa, he begged his mother to do the same.
Swish
He looked at his side. It was Rukawa with quite a bruise and he was pushed out of the door.
"What happened?" he asked and Rukawa ignored him. He just let his back rest on the wall and slept. Mito sighed and peeked through the small window and saw the professor had a bruise on the face.
"You punched the teacher?" He asked incredulously, loud enough to wake him up.
"He woke me up." He said. "And so did you."
"Eh? Wanna fight?" Rukawa coolly stared at him, and he in consequence kept his. "I know you want to."
"Baka."
"Whatever." Mito shrugged and went back to staring at the deep blue sky.
"I wonder where she is…"
"How noisy." Rukawa said irritably. He whispered and apparently that woke him up, too.
"Eh… you're worried, too, aren't you?"
"Why would I?" He asked in such a manner that he genuinely didn't know why he would. But Rukawa was very stubborn himself, so Mito decided not to pry. They're big kids now, they could handle these issues by themselves.
He shrugged.
One day or another…
...
NISPEDANA BEACH RESORT, SOMEWHERE WITHIN KANAGAWA
She cut her classes again. She was not in the mood to go there with that damned superbakakitsune in the premises.
After hours of getting lost and getting on the wrong trains—Sakuragi Hanamichi had finally arrived at the glorious divine invention people call the beach. She always went to the beach as a child, Chiba had nice beaches as well and they were much closer to her home as well.
She walked around the beach and sighed. When her father was home, they used to train in the beach together. She shook the thoughts away. Freaking pink flashbacks were surrounding her again, and she would just look even more idiotic since she was in such a wonderful place.
She walked and walked until she found an isolated spot at a very rocky spot on the beach. She looked at her clothes, and obviously she couldn't jump in with them on. So she took it off and placed them at a relatively safe spot, revealing her undergarments, namely: black cycling shorts and a sleeveless white undershirt.
She jumped in to catch swim around and catch fishes. She swam and swam, diving in here and there soon finding a school several meters away. In retrospect, why did she even say that? Probably because of the sushi. Her dilemma with free sushi.
Free sushi…
Free sushi. Free sushi. Free sushi.
Shit
She wanted free sush—
Gobble Gobble Gobble
She blinked. 'What is that?' She asked herself as she was about a meter away from the surface. There was a worm. A very attractive-looking worm. Hanamichi did not eat worms—but somehow its movements were really adorable.
Maybe she had been underwater for too long.
But she ignored the thought and unconsciously grabbed the worm and the string it was attached to. And then it was abruptly pulled out, and bubbles of air escaped her as she felt the hook impale her palm.
She went to the surface by instinct and she saw a rather good-looking young man staring at her in befuddlement. He quickly regained himself when he saw the blood. For some reason, his expressions made her heart flutter in very different ways.
"AH! Did I injure you? Oh no." He said, panicking, and then reluctantly held out his hand. She blankly took it with her uninjured one and she was pulled to the cement dock.
They just sat there and he cleared his throat taking off his jacket. It made her flinch, especially when he put the jacket on her. She gaped at him.
"You'll get cold." He smiled making her blush furiously, she tried to calm down. 'He's such a gentleman!'
"Is it deep?" He asked and she held out her hand to take a look herself. It was deep, but it should be treatable with her first aid-kit. She just placed her hand in the water to wash out the remaining blood. Salt water was said to heal injuries, after all, it was one of the additional bonus of being a delinquent near the beach.
Her attention was caught by the regretful atmosphere the mysterious man wore. "Gomen."
"I grabbed it!" She corrected him rather vehemently making him wince. "I was curious, and you were fishing so it was all my fault."
And after a moment of silence… he laughed.
"HHAHAHA. You're adorable."
Doki
After wiping tears of laughter, he grinned at her. "You know for a second there, I thought you were a mermaid."
"Ha…" was the only thing she could utter at the moment, and somehow the man misinterpreted it.
"I meant that in a good way though!" He added and then shifted his gaze to her hair. "Your red hair made that even more plausible." He grinned widely with an odd thumbs-up, and her blush simply didn't get anywhere near controlled. She was in complete chibi-mode at the moment, not knowing what was happening to her.
"Is there anything wrong?" He asked worriedly, then just a few inches away from her. And then she moved back, and he looked even more anxious. It somewhat made her feel guilty since it was obvious he wasn't the type to worry too much.
But then, before he could utter a word, his eyes suddenly widened at something behind her. She followed his line of sight and her mouth opened in awe.
The sunset. And it was breathtaking. She soon heard a whistle from behind her.
"Wow."
"Yeah…" She nodded and looked back at him. This time, he gaped at her.
"You look very beautiful—especially with the sun in the background." He shook his head, as if to correct himself. "No… that's not right." He said, pausing. "You make the sun look prettier than it already was." And then he laughed as if it was a natural thing to say.
Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki Doki
D-D-DOOOOOOOOKI
She turned around and returned to staring at the sky. Darn he's blunt, assuming he really was thinking that way. And what if he really was? Was she really pretty? No one but her father and Mito said that before…
"Shall we go treat your wound?" He offered when it turned dark, but since her chest was all flittery fluttery when she's with him she could not accept his offer. So instead she handed him his jacket and jumped to the water.
"Eh?" He blinked. "Oi. Miss!"
"It's cold there." She stated shyly. It wasn't exactly a lie, anyway. Though she was actually really warm and she needed the coldness of the sea to calm her down. She apologized for troubling him and went deeper but then—
SPLASH!
Her eyes widened and there he was, smiling under the water with her. She couldn't control the bursting in her chest, and found it harder to keep her breath so she surfaced once again and gulped as much air as she could get. He followed her. She winced. What was up with this guy?!
"I'm Sendoh, by the way."
"A-Ah."
"What's your name?"
"I… I…"
He just grinned and patted her head. "No need to force yourself to tell me."
"S-Sakuragi Hanamichi."
"I see." He chuckled. "Isn't that a boy's name?"
"It is." She blushed. Normally she wouldn't care… but now—
"It's the name of a stage in Kabuki theatres, right? For me, it's the bridge to the main stage—so the audience could feel more connected to it."
'Ah~' She mused with matching hearts. 'How poetic.'
"I think it suits you nicely, Sakuragi-san." He smiled. Not knowing what he meant, she just returned it.
"You're very pretty."
"S-Stop it." She said. Again… did he even mean it?
And to her surprise, his eyes went wide and she could swear he was blushing as well. "Ah!" He exclaimed. "Gomen. I was told I was… too honest. Gomen."
"…" She scratched her cheeks. This was too embarrassing. "I… It's getting dark now. Ja ne."
And with that, she swam away. So quickly, that Sendoh did not have the chance to retort.
And thus she managed to maintain the little dignity she had left.
SAKURAGI RESIDENCE
Hanamichi arrived at her home before she even realized it. She was in too much of a daze. Why were there so many cartoony flowers floating around her? What are those? So much cringing in her stomach—and yet she did not dislike it.
What the hell…
"Where have you been?" Her mother asked. Not really interrogating, just her usual pompous tone of voice. "A date?"
And for some reason—much to her mother's amusement—she blushed.
"OH MY GOD! Not that I'm not happy or anything." She cackled, then willed herself to wear a serious face. "It's just that you're so young and irresponsible!"
"Urusai."
"Don't tell me it's an impertinent kid." She said, recalling a certain raven-haired boy.
"Ha?"
"Well, just don't get into a relationship when you're such a klutz! You cut your classes again, didn't you?"
"Che. I wasn't in the mood."
"You can't act like this forever, y'know."
"Nosy old hag."
"Grrrrrr—I dare you say that again!"
"Nosy old hag."
And so a throwing contest begun.
*An hour Later*
After basically a few dozen things in the house was broken, the mother-daughter pair finally sat on the couch and opened the television screen.
"I'm tired."
"Yeah."
Her mother turned to look at her as they sat on the sofa. "So…" She began, resting an arm at the backrest. "Tell me about this guy."
The image of Sendoh sent Hanamichi into a mood—a bubble one. She just couldn't help it—every time she thought of him she just felt like she was in heaven. "He's nice, honest, handsome…"
"Eh… you're sure about that? How long have you talked?"
"About 5 minutes."
"Love could blind anyone, though."
"Love." She stiffened. "I'm in love?" And her mother grinned smugly.
"Yes. Yes, you are."
So that was it. Hanamichi Sakuragi was in love with this… Sendoh.
At the thought, she found that she needed to get herself a cold shower.
…
Awchoo!
"Ara? Akira?" his mother called passing him a tissue. "You caught a cold?"
"Aniki arrived home all wet. I had to clean up his mess." A little boy with honey-brown hair stated proudly. And their mother giggled patting his head.
"Good boy you are, Aiki."
He grinned. "I know." But then he turned to his brother and muttered something.
"And to think he still had the time to buy a rod…"
"Rod?" the woman blinked and looked around. "Oh! But… red? Red doesn't suit you."
Akira gaped at her. "Really?"
"Yeah. Why the sudden change in preference?"
"I dunno." He shrugged. "The color suddenly got interesting."
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 5
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 6: Development
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Hiken08- Thank you for the review! I'm so happy you liked it and I hope this update didn't disappoint. xD
MisSs005- Hahahha. I'm glad you enjoyed it and that I somehow managed to keep the general flow. heheh. Thanks for the review!
mrsklemzak- I think it will be more than 10 chaps. xD And Banzai for the army! They're one of my faves in the canon and I'll try to give them more screen time. xD Thanks for the review~
Guest [2/5/13]- Thank you for the review! And gosh *blush* I'm glad you think I'm a good writer~! xD
hitomi65- Glad you liked it and thank you for the review!
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