Thanks guys for your waiting! I'm so sorry. It's just that I'm writing for more active fandoms and most of you know what happens then. But is it true? SLAM DUNK IS GETTING REMADE? TELL ME IT IS!
Anyway, hope you enjoy and do know that reading reviews make me very happy! :DD And I tend to write better when I'm happy. xD
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Slam Dunkand Kawamura Takashi from Prince of Tennis.
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CHAPTER 9: Fight!
Doooommm
Hanamichi stood there frozen with an apathetic-looking Rukawa right beside her, that horrible ringing in her ears serving as the only noise she could hear.
Haruko hated her now. Why? What did she do?
No… that couldn't be it—she probably just burst out her anger at her because she l-liked Rukawa too much to yell at him. Yes, that must be it. Hanamichi pulled herself back to her senses and poured the entire heart break at the kitsune who caused it in the first place.
She sent him her strongest glare, and pulled his collar. "Why you—how could you do that to her?!"
Rukawa did not flinch. "Do what?"
"Break her beautiful, pure heart!"
"It was not my fault she liked me."
She winced at the blunt answer, and it soon made her blood boil even more. "You knew? Why can't you just be a little more considerate, then?"
"And giving her hope that she can continue bugging me?"
"Even if there is no hope, she wouldn't leave you." She said, her vehemence that surprised Rukawa, even when he didn't show a hint of it. "Can't you see? The person anyone would want to be with is right in front of you."
He sighed as if she said the stupidest thing a person could say. "You don't know what you're saying, D'aho."
She gritted her teeth. "Oi." She said firmly, as he forcibly moved away turning his back on her.
"Ja." He said quietly and walked past her. She practically groaned in annoyance as she pulled his arm. They didn't realize they were by the stairs that moment, and the sheer force Hanamichi used caused them to lose balance.
THUD, THUD, BAM!
Hanamichi blinked. She didn't feel any pain at a—
"K-Kitsune!" She yelled and the twitching Rukawa, who probably took concussion by chance.
"Get off me, d'ahou." He muttered, and Hanamichi could only hear the annoyance. She frowned as she pushed herself up.
"Are you alright?"
"Duh."
Silence passed by them for a while, and it was mildly broken by the sole sound of them sitting up, readying to stand at any moment. Rukawa decided not to deal with her further and turned his back to her again, but he'd rather not think about why he hadn't stood up yet. This time though, Hanamichi didn't take offense. At the time she just wanted to clear something up. "Seriously though…" She mumbled. "What do you not see in Haruko-chan? You must be blind."
Hanamichi thought that if she was a guy, she'd totally fall for her.
Rukawa gave her a pointed look. Even if she didn't know it, he was such a nice guy that he did take concussion for her. But what did he get? Prying annoying questions about her friend.
Looking at her face, he heaved out a sigh. "Yeah, I definitely am blind." He said, with an unusual glint in his eyes that made her freeze. Seeing her ogle, Rukawa then stood up and walked away.
"Oi, Hanami—"
The door suddenly opened, revealing her gang. They were smirking, probably because the fight outside had gone an amusing turn. But they paused immediately when they saw her. Mito, who just arrived, tilted his head since he couldn't see why they stopped.
"What is it?" He asked, and the others turned to him with equal confusion.
Sakuragi Hanamichi was just sitting there in a daze—looking blankly at a certain direction.
…
GYMASIUM
after classes
It was Hanamichi's first day as a trainer, so she shook all the depression aside. But she couldn't. So Mito decided to move."Hanamichi." He said, poking her hip as soon as they were alone. "What's wrong?"
"Haruko-chan is mad at me." And that Kitsune's being particularly annoying lately.
"Are you sure?"
"She asked me to leave her alone."
"So?"
"Haruko-chan doesn't do that."
"Well, aren't you having a high expectation of her? She's human, too."
"Ah…" She muttered, but could no longer say anything else. Haruko really was human, so why couldn't she just shake off the feeling of guilt? Why was she feeling that way in the first place?
Mito sensed her confusion. "What do you think you could do to make up with her? What makes her happy?"
She mused for a while until an idea hit her. Her eyes widened. "I should help her team win."
"Good." He smiled and a few minutes later, she proved that she would always exceed his expectations.
Several minutes after practice started, Hanamichi's 'orders' came out and she called in the team. Miyagi looked into the box.
"Wrist weights?"
"Light ones, though." She nodded. "It'll get heavier."
"Ohohoho." The coach laughed and the team looked at each other in puzzlement. Kogure blinked at the sight of a container, Miyagi noticed it too and decided to voice his question out.
"What's in the jug?"
"Oh, this?" She smirked and the coach's eyeglasses glistened suspiciously. For some reason… they shivered: For their lives.
Hanamichi tapped its plastic surface. "This is a vegetable juice I made. Anyone who will have to be punished will drink a glass."
"Punishment?"
Miyagi looked closely at the jug, pressing the button and let a small amount of the liquid out. It looked like water from the sewer, minus the foul smell. They all fliched at his hideous appearance, and when Miyagi leaned down to take an even closer look, his feet stepped back by instinct. "GUYS. I think it's poison."
The others stiffened. "EH—?!"
Hanamichi pouted. "How rude. It's made up of very healthy ingredients."
"She's actually a pretty good cook, Miyagi-senpai~" Mito yelled from the sidelines. Oh, how he wished the others was here to see this! Too bad they're late, Mito mused in amusement. Unsurprisingly, he gained everyone's suspicious stares.
"Really?"
"Nyahahahah—of course!" Hanamichi yelled. She wasn't lying. Although… this particular 'cuisine' didn't quite made use of her culinary skills.
The coach, sitting somewhere opposite Hanamichi, chortled. He was still trying to fight his sadistic side off, at least for today, so he decided to warn his kids. "The healthiest ingredients taste the worst though." He said, glasses glinting. "It was made raw, otherwise it would not be punishment."
Silence
"It must taste really bad, then?" Yasuda asked anxiously making Hanamichi grin widely.
"Wanna find out?"
"N-No."
"Oh well, you will in due time." She said, and Ayako clapped her hand. Akagi wasn't there, so she decided to be the one calling the start. She inhaled.
And blew her whistle.
.
*20 Minutes Later*
Other than the regular players (minus Akagi and Kawamura, who needed to get home early), everyone was on the ground: unconscious. They were asked to finish 5 laps (with the weights) within 30 minutes. The first batch though only needed to finish a lap, but they were given 5 minutes to do so. It was the last lap the currently unconscious students would take for the day.
What they learned that day was that foul-looking liquid was a very terrifying vegetable juice.
Miyagi, whose curly hair was particularly ruffled and unattractively shiny, glared at the obviously-amused Mito. "MITO, you liar! You said she was a good cook!" And then whipped his head to the teammate beside him, Rukawa, to silently ask him to join him in his vain attempt to retaliate. He lost his footing when he saw that the guy was sleeping. His incredulous ogle was cut when he heard Mito laugh.
"She is." He said, referring to her cooking. "Hahaha. Too bad she's pretty sadistic."
"Are you sure you should be wasting your energy shouting, Miyagi-kun? Ohohoho~" The coach tweeted when he passed him. The monkey decided to add to the torture… again.
"That's right—nyahahaha." Hanamichi added behind Miyagi. She, too, was running her laps. The small man challenged her prior saying she shouldn't give impossible tasks when she probably couldn't do it herself.
But there she was, wearing even heavier weights, and not even breaking a sweat. "Where's the Gori, anyway?"
"He has advanced science class." Miyagi answered, to show her he had plently of energy to speak. Still he couldn't help but asking a question. What kind of human—monkey—are you?
"Only four of us left standing. ne—" Kogure's smile disappeared when he looked at the others. "Rukawa is asleep? While he's running?"
"What a weirdo." Hanamichi added weakly. The redhead could still remember vividly what happened in the stairs, and she couldn't help but feel anxious. She reflexively looked around for a distraction and found it when she saw the coach walking out the gymnasium. "Where's the coach going?" she asked, as soon as they passed by Ayako for another lap.
"He said he's going to the restroom." She chuckled awkwardly. "He drank quite a few glasses of Sakuragi's Vegetable Juice."
Miyagi, Hanamichi, and Kogure lost their footing. "HAAAAAAAAA?!"
…
"Wooo! Good run, Megane-san!" The Mito cheered after the second round, with Kogure being the only one to fail. He was staring at the glass in fear, and Ayako handed it to him in pity.
"Gomenasai, senpai."
And, after much melo-drama, he raised the glass (apologized to Kami-sama for all his sins) and drunk. "GYAAAAAA!" It was as if satan pulled him into hell.
Then, as if on cue, Haruko arrived by the gym's double door. She squeaked when she saw the unconscious bodies on the floor, as well as Kogure's still twitching body. "W-What is this?"
"Haruko-chan…" Hanamichi mumbled and beamed when she smiled at her. She decided to talk to her as casually as she could. "We're training." Answering his question. Miyagi looked at her in incredulity—what the hell. He was sweating buckets and she looked like she had a 10 minute jog in the park.
"What the hell are you, Sakuragi?"
With that, Miyagi regretted saying it out loud. "Gyahahah! Do you understand my genius, now?"
"Urusai."
"D'Aho."
She then ran to Haruko, unconsciously wanting to avoid Rukawa, and the two girls stared at each other. Haruko smiled awkwardly, especially feeling guilty at Sakuragi's tensing expression. "I'm sorry. It wasn't your fault."
"Really?" She practically squeaked. Then again… didn't she blame kitsune from the start…?
"I was very childish." But then they heard surprised gasps by the door. Heavy footsteps were heard, and Hanamichi frowned at the sudden change in aura. She narrowed her eyes. It was the group of delinquents they encountered plus other very tough-looking ruffians.
"Ora, ora." A familiar long-haired (amusingly toothless) bastard stated pompously as he was backed-up by a seriously tall long-haired man.
Ayako was the first one to utter anything. "W-Who are you guys?" And then it hit Hanamichi, and she pointed rudely at the long-haired bastard. "It's toothless!"
Twitch
"I am n—"
"Mitsui." Miyagi called placing himself in-between. "Please don't cause any trouble."
"Ah… now that we're in the courts, you shrivel in fear…?" He smirked. "Basketball players are weak."
Hanamichi gritted her teeth. "Teme—" But Miyagi and Ayako extended their hand to stop her.
"Stop it."
"Why are y—" Why are they not fighting back?
"Ara? Didn't you know? If we cause a scene, and you fight back—the team will be disqualified. Even better? Disbanded." He laughed and looked around. His eyes twitched immediately—show could he not notice this sooner?
"W-What the hell is this?" He uttered, shocked by all the bodies on the floor. His cronies, who noticed sooner, were already thinking of reasons.
'Basketball is… fearful?' They all mused inside their heads, but they were too afraid to say out loud.
But of course, that thought was immediately put aside and they put their delinquent auras back on. The curly long-haired man took a basketball and Mitsui grinned as the man passed the ball to him. "Tetsuo." He called, and the man grinded the cigar on the ball making every one of them flinch in anger.
Once again, Hanamichi was pushed back but then a ball was thrown into the intruder's direction. Mitsui avoided it though, causing one of his comrades to fall in his stead.
It was, unsurprisingly, Rukawa.
"You're awake now?" "Wakes up when there's trouble, eh?"
"Such a delinquent…" Hanamichi mumbled, shrugging.
"Speak for yourself. You would have attacked them when you get the chance, D'aho."
Mitsui, in his annoyance of getting ignored yet again, kicked the ball to Miyagi's gut. Miyagi let out a painful 'oof' and clenched his stomach in pain.
"MIYAGI!" They yelled, but then as if throwing a basketball into a small man's gut wasn't enough—a mop, with its sharp end terrifyingly exposed, was handed over to Mitsui. It happened so quickly; the next thing they knew, the razor was already heading to Miyagi's face.
As they listened to the sharp swoop of the mop, everyone flinched, as they were expecting a gruesome sight. But when they slowly opened their eyes in fear, they saw that the mop was nowhere near Miyagi. The stick was blocked by long, feminine, legs.
"Sakuragi!" They yelled in a mix of both surprise and awe, seeing her balance despite having a single leg fight off Mitsui's whole force. She let out a deep breath to shift weight and kicked the mop along with Mitsui all the way to the ground.
Rukawa stared. She was as graceful as ever—even when she was using her brute strength in fighting. But, the sight just made his blood boil even more. His anger at what they did to their precious basketball and court was too much. The intense aura she wore only made his fighting aura worse.
"Clean it." He said, handing the ball that hit Miyagi, and handed it to the barely-standing Mitsui. He stood firm, un-intimidated, trying to ignore the fact that Sakuragi was watching. But it was no use—especially when that Tetsuo suddenly took notice of her.
He held her head, but she did not wince. "Interesting. I like strong women."
"Heh. Too bad, I'm too good for you." She said, and her eyes twitched when he suddenly tightened his grip.
"Sakuragi!"
"Sakuragi-chan!"
She reflexively held his hand and gripped it as well—making him lose his hold. He glowered and grabbed her arm. The arm that was injured.
Rukawa's eyes widened. Didn't they know she practiced everyday as rehabilitation?
Of course they didn't. He wasn't supposed to know, either. Since that day they met before dawn, he had always gone there earlier. But he found her there first: making consecutively complex shots. He never approached her, but it wasn't clear to him why.
Maybe it was he disliked the idea that she would probably move venues, that he wanted to watch her improvement. But then he thought it was too noble for him. It was not like him to think of noble reasons for his actions… so he dismissed it as mere curiosity of a cat.
And yet… before he could do anything—
BAM!
And intense jolt of pain suddenly hit his head. And the last thing he saw was her auburn eyes wide with terror.
…
Hanamichi couldn't believe her eyes. That guy they called the sharp-eyed goon, Ryo, hit Rukawa's head with a mop. She felt her heart stop, and then she saw Haruko faint.
Anger fuelled inside her, and she could feel her body tensing up even more—something it did when it was a hundred percent ready to make someone pay. But then her eyes met his—unexpectedly bright in determination—and she found herself gaping at him. How could he still have so much life when he was hit like that?!
Remain calm you idiot
She sucked up the irrational thoughts and forced herself to start thinking.
That's right. She needed to remain calm. The captain and the coach wasn't there, the usually-cool Ayako was too dumbstruck with all the blood. So it was her duty to take make this all better.
If this goes public, your team will be suspended. Or maybe even disbanded.
She would handle this on their own. And a stroke of pain hit her as she saw Rukawa and Miyagi's injured states. Their passion for basketball was admirable, what if this event will make them lose their chances as well?
So Hanamichi thought that if these men wouldn't leave them alone—they'd have to make them. She just have to make sure people didn't have to know. No one needed to see this. They would handle this on their own.
Nobody deserved to lose the right to play because of an injury. No one.
Hanamichi whipped her head towards Fuji and Matsui, the only other people awake, and looked at them with eyes filled with burning determination that made them flinch. "Close all doors and curtains." She ordered, before turning her head back to the intruders, cracking her knuckles by habit.
"Let's handle this on our own, then?"
They entered the gym predators; but the moment they met her eyes, they swore they suddenly became the prey.
If they die they were so going to haunt that bastard Matsui.
.
.
END OF CHAPTER IX
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 10: War
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Darkcrystausagi- Thank you for reviewing! So sorry I take so long *sobs* hope this was somewhat worth the wait. :D
AngelN- Sorry for the long update! Hope this was fine, even with that little cliffhanger, and thank you for reviewing
Sairakanzaki- haha. Okay then! I shall write SendohHana moments soon. (not yet tho). Hope you enjoy the chap and thx for reviewing!
Hitomi65- Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you found the previous chap nice, I hope this one makes the cut as well~! xD
Kawaiishiella- hahhaha. This is us, loving the obliviously jelous bishounen in our mists. xDD Oh, thanks for reviewing btw~!
Silverhastears- Super happy to know you loved what I did with Sendoh! I'll try my best to keep it up, and thank you for reviewing! :D
Rii. Young- Thank you for reviewing~! I'm super sorry I take so long, and right now I can only hope this was worth the wait. But whatever you thought I wanna hear it!
Hikaru Itsuko- Hi there~! I'm soo happy to know you love the story so far. xD And yay for Love Triangles. Such fun to write those. xD Oh, and thanks for reviewing! :D
Yukiji Imai- Here's the next chapter! Hope it was worth the wait and thank you for reviewing! Glad you liked it, kabayan! xD
Phan Villegas- I'm so sorry for causing you agony *sobs*. Here's the chap! I can only pray it's worth the wait, and thank you for reviewing. :D
Satomika- Thank you for revewiing kabayan! xD And YAY! I managed to make the guntai seem funny. And oh my—what a harem you're proposing there! Haha. I'll see what I can do. ;D
…
Thank you for reading guys!
Now I can only ask you to at least let
me know your thoughts!
All of them adds to my happiness, y'know. xD