SORRY FOR THE LONG WAIT! I hope this is nice enough, and special hugs to those who reviewied, faved, followed, and/or C2d the story! I hope you enjoy~
DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Slam Dunkand Kawamura Takashi from Prince of Tennis.
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CHAPTER 10: War
Her sharp apprehensive eyes watched as the doors and windows and curtains were closed, one-by-one, making the whole place a little darker every time. But despite the darkness, the burning of her orbs has not wavered. If anything, it is emphasized even more. In any case, the atmosphere was somewhat fitting to what would be going on inside very soon anyway.
Hanamichi stared at the lot in front of her. They flinched, but stopped their feet before they moved back by themselves. "Leave us alone, assholes." She told them, voice crisp and firm, and Mitsui gingerly stepped next to the big guy (what'shisname?) to warn him of her.
"Be careful," He said, eyeing her warily. "She was the most infamous delinquent in this area."
"She is? Haha. How amusing." The big guy muttered, tilting her head up as if to appraise her face. "At least she does have a good face."
"If you follow me, I promise I won't damage this." He said, disgusting her with his thumb rubbing her chin. "What do you say?"
As if there was anything to say.
She smirked and whatshisname flinched, realizing she jumped only when her knee had already connected to his temple. He screamed and held his head as if he was losing his brain. The other winced and gasped, unanimously agreeing to her reputation as a monster.
"Look! Those guys are, too!" Another yelled, and everyone whipped their heads just in time to watch Rukawa stand up to his height, making Ryo look like an ant. Blood filled his face, getting Haruko to faint over and over again. "That guy doesn't look like he's in pain at all!"
Rukawa held the back of his head and his palm showed it was bleeding like an open faucet. He clenched his fist and was approaching Ryo who was cowering back, when he felt a hand on his leg. "Don't… fight… back…" Miyagi, who was too befuddled to speak earlier, finally pulled enough strength to speak. Rukawa, anger and pride pushing down the minutest hint of empathy, ignored his teammate and turned his head towards Sakuragi. She was standing tall, unharmed, amongst the pack of wolves.
He then avoided Ryo's attacks effortlessly, despite the intense pain he was feeling in his head, and did not realize they were moving towards Tetsuo and Hanamichi.
It was then that Tetsuo stood up and attacked the only moving female in the gymnasium. She caught the change in his eyes and she turned around for a strong round kick. He almost sighed in relief when he felt her skin on his knuckle. Thankfully, he didn't, because he was getting hit himself. And Hanamichi would like to think she did more damage.
She saw Rukawa made Ryo feel so much pain, too, much to her pleasure, barely a meter away. But then her eyes widened at the odd twitching in his arm. It was the one that got hit strongest during their fall earlier, so it bothered her greatly. She mouthed 'Your arm!' but then he frowned.
He blocked the hit on her. "Worry about your arm." He said and she turned to the attacker Rukawa just blocked. It was still Tetsuo, and kicked him in the gut. And yet he was still conscious. He was tougher than she thought. Normally that would enthral her, but there was simply too many things to lose this time.
But she ignored Tetsuo for a while and kicked Mitsui, who was being even more of an ass and was planning on attacking Rukawa from the back. "Hey." She said, tilting her body to face Tetsuo again, but eyes burning down the long-haired idiot. "Play fair."
And then a weird SFX sounded broke the momentum, revealing her gang on the railing by the mezzanine. "YEAH, Play fair!" She turned to look at the idiotic chorus and found herself smirking. Hanamichi was not sure how her gang got there but she was glad. And so after flashy Tarzan-like entrances (using the gym's ropes and all…), they finally had one-one-one matches.
When Rukawa fell, and Ohkusu took his place. She was reminded of the common brawls she saw on TV, only a lot less cool, but still pretty good. She was reminded of how amusing this would've been if she wasn't so affected by it all.
Several hits, kicks, and wrestles after, a few more of the basketball club's members began waking up, one by one. Yasuda and Kogure sat up, grabbing their heads as if it would help with the grogginess. But Yasuda… seeing all the blood on the floor and his teammate's faces, decided it was time to faint again.
Kogure fortunately had better sense and tried his best to asses the situation and remain calm. He stood up, as soon as he felt like he won't fall head first on the ground, and stared passively at Mitsui as he fought, and tried to land as many punches on Mito's face as he could—something he was doing miserably at.
Still, Kogure looked at him in nostalgia—Ignoring the physical wounds and seeing right to the emotional ones. It made his heart ache for his old friend. "Stop it, Mitsui." He said, making everyone stare at him with the authoritative tone he used. He did not sound like an imminent victim to a delinquent attack.
The vice captain seemed to be oblivious of the stares, and focused solely on Mitsui. "You're only making it worse for everybody, you know."
Mitsui flinched, but he kept his hard facade. "Do you think that I care?"
But a moment of silence ensued, as the two seniors stared at each other—hoping the other would give in. No one knew what was happening, and everyone was anxious. Many of the team members were slowly waking up—one by one. Even Rukawa. The delinquents remained frozen, though, afraid to make any moves and was puzzled as to why Mitsui was so speechless.
Then, Kogure decided to break the silence with a tired sigh. "Of course you care, Mitsui." He said, so sure of his words. "You were one of us, once."
…
Mitsui wanted to slap Kogure, who did not just reveal his former membership, but also told them of his past. He did not want to hear it, he wanted to forget—all the bitterness, the painful memory of his crushed soul. He was the person with the highest ambition. He was the person who was looking forward to the games the most.
And yet he was the one who had to go through that sort of suffering.
There was a jolt of pain in his leg, albeit imaginary, that reminded him of the injury that caused him the most humiliating sort of excuse from a game. The disappointment, the hurt, the desperation he felt when he couldn't play was something etched into his chest, a wound that kept getting hit every time he saw little boys having fun with the game.
Once he remembered sneaking into practice and saw how Akagi—that gorilla of a rival of his—had been growing, and how he, a former MVP, was being left behind. He couldn't forget the team's faces when he did his dunks: those eyes filled with hope that used to be reserved for him.
It was the moment he realized he was not needed after all, Akagi was there anyway. He wanted to play so much—but then it seemed now that he couldn't. Everyone forgot about him. He lost his will.
His pride shifted towards believing that basketball was nothing to him.
Nothing
But then the door opened, and then closed again—locked—and realized it was Akagi, and a whole range of nostalgia hit him and Mitsui had the urge to punch that stern, authoritative, look on his face. Akagi slapped him then, but he couldn't find the strength to fight back—regardless of whether or not he wanted to punch his huge face.
Akagi slapped him again, this time with his back hand (how could he notice?). Mitsui thought it was revenge for the damage that he had caused. He was slapped again. And again.
Until he realized why he was truly being slapped.
"Wake up."
As if reading his mind, Akagi stopped his attacks. Mitsui didn't even remember there were people watching—his minions—and then all composure was thrown out the window when a voice from the other side of the door woke him up for good.
"Let me in."
Coach Anzai
And with his beloved coach's entrance. Tears began to flow. For the first time in three years.
At the time, it felt like the tears was washing away the dark putrid screen that was blocking his sight.
…
It was after the commotion, with Anzai speaking with Mitsui and the others surrounded them. Behind the crowd, stood the bloodied strong-acting Rukawa. Only those with sharp eyes would notice how much he was forcing himself. He was in so much pain that he didn't even notice Hanamichi there until she was beside him.
"He's just like you." He said stoically, not having the energy to move his neck to look at her. "I'm surprised you hadn't punched him yet."
"I don't have the right to. I gave up on basketball, too."
Rukawa blinked a little and decided to scoff, to annoy her like he usually did. "That doesn't sound like you, d'aho."
He was expecting a nag, but his eyes widened when he felt a hand on his. He pushed down his blush (with annoyingly much effort) and tried to get out of her grip. But she was strong…, wasn't she? He refused to acknowledge the fact that her grip wasn't tight at all.
He didn't turn his head, but he did let his eyes move sideways to get a glimpse of her. She wasn't facing him either, she was staring far up front, and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Trouble standing up, d'aho?" He asked, partly hoping she'd leave his hand alone.
He heard a 'tsk' which made him involuntarily turn his head toward her, and his eyes widened at the conflicted expression she wore on her face. "I don't like doing this, you know." She mumbled, but he could see that faint tint of red on her cheeks and he absent-mindedly wondered what he'd have to do to keep them in there.
But then, like a light-bulb moment, he realized that this was Hanamichi dropping her pride to express her gratitude to him. Holding his hand—both for support, as well as to tell him just how strong her arm was feeling—apparently thanks to him.
"My arm would've been damaged earlier." She mumbled. "So thanks—I owe you one." And she let go of his hand. He could still feel its weight on his, but he pushed the thought away. Rukawa looked away again, then, maintaining his stoic face.
"Do you think I'll ever be asking you for a favour?"
Her eyes twitched. "Considering your knack for fights." She said. "Yeah."
"War freak." He mumbled under his breath, but loud enough for her to hear. They didn't argue at all afterwards, though. After all…,
It wasn't a bad deal.
.
END OF CHAPTER 10
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 11: Preamble
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Hikaru Itsuko – First off, thank you for reviewing! xD I do hope this chapter is at least as fun as you expected, but don't be afraid to tell me if it isn't! Thx again~
Chiasmus - I am very happy to know you liked the chapter! Bazaii! Ahahha. I hope this is also a fun read, and thank you for reviewing the story! :DD
Sticy17 – Glad you liked the chapter! xD And thank you for telling me, it means a lot. :D
BloodyFangKing95 – (ch9) Yay for slam dunk! I hope they do remake it. That'll totally revamp the fandom. *Hugs (ch1) Yep! Totally going for the reverse harem thing. REVERSE HAREM BAZAI! Mito and Haruko will date, but I didn't think of forcing him to join (which would be hilarious). Great ideas, I'll probably do them all when the time comes. Anyway, thank you for reviewing the story! Twice! hahah
Satomika – Ehhh really? Whoa. I'm very happy to know you got them goosebumps! xD I'm sorry she didn't beat everyone tho, but I hope this is a similarly entertaining chappy kabayan! xDD Thank you for reviewing! *brofist
Kawaiishiella – Thank you for reviewing! xDD I am so happy to know this is your fave SakuRukawa fic and I'll do my best to stay there. Haha. Thx again~
Hitomi65 – Thank you for reviewing! I am very happy to know you like the chapter. Thx again for telling me!
Lady Storykeeper – Here it is! The next chap, I mean. xD I hope it was worth the wait, and thank you for reviewing the story! :D
MarinaR – I am very happy to know you love the story very much. I do hope I can keep it up xD And Sendoh being too cute is a good thing, right?! Hahah. Again, thank you for the review! Hugs xD
Dragonlily22 – Here it is, updated! xD so sorry I took so long, and I hope this is worth the wait. Thank you for reviewing btw! And do eenjoy this chap. xD
Hopelessromantic – Here it is, kabayan! Eto naaaa. Haha. I hope this is fine enough, considering the wait, and thx for the review!
Lightdesired – Thank you for the review! (I'm blushing that the story's right in your profile lol) I hope this is good enough! I'll do my best to keep updating a bit faster. xD
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