DISCLAIMER: I WISH I own Slam Dunkand Kawamura Takashi from Prince of Tennis.
WARNING: I like reverse harem. Very fun to write. So forgive me as I'll be adding a member. haha
I apologize for the slow Rukawa x Hana development. This is because (1) I am very fond of slow burn romances and (2) I just find it hard to imagine Hana and Rukawa being lovey-dovey lol. Do you or do you not mind? TELL ME!
...
CHAPTER 15: Prince
Hanamichi opened her eyes to a sharp pain caused by sunlight, her head turning away from the window by jerk-reaction. "Eeiiishhh…" She mumbled, annoyed, and lifted her hand to touch her face in an attempt to wipe the lethargy away, but it was heavier than she expected and then she became aware of an even sharper pain on her palm. She belatedly realized that her nose was also itchy and there was something furry's against her cheek.
This blasted cat—
"Eeiiiishhhhhh—"
But her annoyed moan was stopped when her deep auburn eyes met the sight of the clock. 7:00 am. There was something significant about that time. She looked at the date. That date, too.
If only her nose wasn't so bloody itchy.
Meow
Cat. Annoying. Itchy. Bandages. Game.
Her whole body jolted up in a stern sitting position at a realization: It was the day of the third game. And she overslept.
Frowning, she looked down at the animal still sleeping comfortably on her bed. She barely got any sleep, all because of this little jerk.
Meow
"Shut up you damned cat!" She yelled, but the cat only snuggled deeper into her pillow.
Meow
She met the thing the previous night, when she's heading home, gambolling due to glee of her imminent tasting of Haruko-chan's food. She may or may not be a better cook than the brunette, but she knew Haruko-chan's food will no doubt taste fabulous.
"Oh hello there~" She had greeted the feline, then sitting adorably on a bench. She was just being her awesome friendly self and all. She even tried to pet it. But its fur rose and it scratched her instead. "GAH! Why you—"
It pretty much attached itself to her by embedding its claws on her skin, so she naturally threw it to the ground, causing its pretty collar to drop. Chaos ensued, and somehow the collar slipped into the sewage system, never to be seen again. She did feel a bit guilty about that but, looking at the cat's remorseless face, it really wasn't much.
Eventually, the cat fight ended (via a stalemate) and Hanamichi, just about to take her leave, turned around one more time at the sound of a soft meow. Her eyes twitched at the innocent look the evil feline was suddenly giving to her, and her hands formed a fist.
It acted cute after it scratched her? The little brat. "You—"
However, the brave little devil did not budge or blink and its large kitten eyes did not take away its stare. And… considering it was her fault that the cat's collar was now (literally) down the drain... and slowly her very little guilt grew as she imaged what could happen to the cat… she ended up taking it inside.
Thus giving it plenty of room to terrorize her for the rest of the night.
Ah, she thought. Why did I have to be such a saint?
But her moment of saintly glory only lasted for so long, as she turned into a devil the moment she stepped into the living room. The sofa looked like it passed a grinder. How can such a small cat shred the sofa like that? She thought, despaired. Her mother was definitely going to kill her. Or worse—destroy her then well-hidden mangas.
She then promptly recalled precisely where she hid them, at an area behind the cupboard, and she ran to the kitchen—just in case—only to find out shreds of expensive glossy colored paper.
She screamed. And then whipped her head to glare at the cat.
"I am so going to put you in my Mantou!"
.
.
Her breakfast was cereal in the end, because her mother forgot to buy flour. At one point she genuinely wanted to cook the thing, but she was pressed on time so she disregarded the notion. For now.
"Meow."
You damned little devil, she said just before turning to sprint to the door (she was late, after all), but then swiftly took a 180 degree turn to the space in front of it. For a second, sharp feline eyes met with sharper human ones.
In one night it destroyed the sofa…, what else could happen during the day?
Afraid that the cat would do any more damage, she scooped it up and then carelessly shoved it in her duffel bag to bring. Hanamichi then ran with all her might to the meeting place with her gang (simply because she'll get lost) but she lost her balance right by the corner. "Ouch!" She yelled, not hearing the creaks of broken wheels turning until they were a few meters away. It was right at that moment that the bike—carrying quite a few full-grown teenagers—finally gave way after miles of suffering.
"My bike!" Noma yelled in despair, while the others just saw Hanamichi and nonchalantly jumped off. The girl saw them as well, and tilted her head at the bike. "Pink?"
They shrugged, while Yohei similarly tilted his head and pointed at hers. "Is that a cat?" he asked, and it took her a while to realize why he was pointing at her. The shock dulled the fact that the little devil had buried its tiny claws on her head during the impact. She paled, the pain finally setting in.
"Ittttttttteeeee!"
.
.
She patted her duffel bag rather roughly for the satisfaction of it.
The third match against a team-she-couldn't-remember would start in an hour, and she's wasn't even near the train station. Hell—with her sense of direction, she even went the wrong way. "Oi, Hanamichi!" She stopped when she was called and immediately turned to the other direction. But then, even when her friends turned, Nozomi did not. He just stared at a wall for a good second.
"I think I know a shortcut."
"Eh?"
He pointed at a really tall wall. "Over there. Over that." He said, smirking a little at t
Still, it was nothing this tensai couldn't handle.
…
"Ready?"
Nozomi tied his fingers and took a moment to ensure they're sturdy enough. He then turned his head to Hanamichi, the first one to go, who was then a couple meters away to give space for her to run with momentum. She tilted her body lower to minimize air resistance, and sprinted to her horizontally-blessed friend.
Placing the tip of her toe on his chubby and entwined hands, he pushed her up for support and she grabbed the top of the wall to pull herself up. She rode the momentum and raised her arms to get a hold of the concrete wall's coping. With a huff, she lifted her whole weight and she dropped to the other side with a little backflip.
To her surprise, however, she did not land on her feet... but on her butt and something soft. Well, relatively.
To even more of her surprise, the first thing she saw was not concrete but Mitsui's face.
She snapped out of her puzzlement and looked at the situation when the guy she was sitting on tried to move (crawl) away. She looked down. He looked familiar. She belatedly realized there were quite a few gangsters surrounding them as well, but it wasn't what got her. It was when she returned to face bloodied-Mitsui that she began to see red. There were two guys above Mitsui, holding him down, and they were obviously trying to injure him again.
Worse—they were obviously trying to destroy his hands.
Her insides felt like it exploded from within, and her body moved on its own to attack. "Don't do it Hanamichi!" Mitsui yelled, and fortunately it went through her, even if only her legs. She stopped to look at him, and his stare did not falter, despite the blood crawling through his eyes. "Especially you."
She breathed in. Heavily. She contracted her body so she was no longer in an attacking position. She straightened her back and stood taller, eyes closed, until she opened them again and looked down at the slit-eyed cat that Rukawa fought a while back. Really, she thought, if Rukawa hadn't injured his arm at the time she'd be patting this guy's shoulder just for fighting him. But then she recalled what this bastard had been planning on doing to Mitsui and her hand moved on its own to grab the guy's neck.
"HANAMICHI!"
She was ready to break the guy's neck—she could almost hear it snap—but she heard flops of leather shoes behind her and her gang suddenly surrounded her and Mitsui, like a protective wall. "No need to get your hands dirty with these ones." Yohei said and Nozomi made a fool of himself trying to make a flashy entrance.
Her peripheral then caught movement and saw that long haired curly guy from the gym fight and her senses heightened. But he went past her to another guy with pony tails and threw him on the wall. "T-Tetsuo!" Mitsui yelled, sounding a bit relieved, which meant curly was on their side.
"See?" Yohei said, patting her shoulder. "We got this." And he smiled, even when seeing that in their position surrounded by gangsters, escaping without a couple of scrapes was close to nil. Still, Yohei was determined to make sure she wouldn't have to fight back.
"Go."
...
Rukawa was helping himself to the drinking fountain when he heard her loud voice. "We're late, we're late!"
It was her alright, with her gang, and... Mitsui. "Kitsune!"
First thing he saw other than her stupid red hair was the injuries. His eyebrows furrowed as he eyed every and each one of her scratches, seeing that most of them rudimentary treated. He became particularly silent and his gaze was soon noticed by Hanamichi, who was looking back at him. Instead of asking what this was about however, all he says was: "D'aho."
"Why you—"
"I need to get ready, then." Mitsui said, walking past them, effectively stopping another fight. He was close enough for Rukawa to see his wounds better. He had worse injuries than this Idiot had, and Rukawa realized that the bandages the Idiot probably had (he knew she had a lot), she used on Mitsui.
Mitsui seemed to have caught his stare, too, and looked at him sternly. "I didn't fight. I didn't." He paused, turning to Hanamichi. "She didn't either. Fight back, I mean." He said, and went on his way.
"D'aho," Rukawa said, and turned to Hanamichi as if she was the one he had been talking to. He then looked at the direction of the lockers and walked there, despite already being in the game get-up, and then stopped midway, robotically turning his head and stared at her.
"I think he's asking you to come with him," a random old guy, obviously just passing by, commented beside her. He was drinking lemon soda, and now that she looked at his spiked honey-colored hair and heard of his orotund voice, he kind of reminded her of someone.
She couldn't point a finger as to who it was though, so she shrugged in the end, and looked back at Rukawa who was then walking towards the locker rooms again. And then turned to look at her once more. She crossed her arms. "He should just say it."
The old man shrugged. "Not his style, I guess."
...
"Your bag is moving." Rukawa said with a sideway glance, as he lazily took something from his own duffel bag. At the time, Mitsui had already gone outside to apologize to the coach.
"Animals aren't allowed here, apparently," she said as if it answered the question. "What am I doing here again?"
Rukawa did not answer as he took some strips of band-aid out his bag and—after dousing the wounds with very painful cleansing solutions (Hanamichi yelled 10 different swear words)—wordlessly placed them on the scratches that she hadn't given attention to. He put one on the back of her left palm, another one on her arm, and one on her cheek.
His hand stayed a second longer than necessary before he effortlessly shot the garbage to the trash can.
Hanamichi found herself touching the one on her face. "...thanks," she said, surprised, not taking her eyes off Rukawa even after he had stood up. She watched his every single movement, even how he wiped off sweat with his towel. She forced herself to look away and her eyes ended up on her bag, which seemed to be getting wilder and wilder.
She thoughtlessly zipped it open and the cat jumped out the bag (pun intended) and onto Rukawa. It ended up grabbing his towel and using it as some sort of nip.
"Ah."
Hanamichi flinched and looked at Rukawa, who had been watching the cat play with his towel with that blank look on his face. They got along well, despite the sacrificial towel, and she thought it must be because they're both cats. Still, Hanamichi scratched her head, a bit because of guilt and a bit due to embarrassment, before rummaging her bag again.
"Here, I have an extra." She said handing him the towel she randomly took out the basket that morning. "I don't owe you anymore."
"Seeing the open wounds were disgusting, D'aho." He only replied, making her eye twitch.
"Tsk." But then as she turned, a little pattern on the tower caught her eye. She paused to look at it realized it may or may not be a plain towel. She grinned. She then sneakily walked away and leaned down to force the cat into the bag again, just before telling him to get back to courts. Rukawa on the other hand narrowed her eyes at that suspicious grin, but the announcement placed the thoughts at the back of his head. He just walked out to the court, ready to play, though not quite forgetting to utter a little 'D'aho' under his breath, just for the heck of it.
And later, during the game, Rukawa was so sweaty that he did not realize that the face towel had a pink bear embroidered in it.
Until almost everyone had seen it, of course.
...
Uozomi thought the third rounds started with a bang, as Akagi's strength made the starting ball go halfway through enemy courts and to a team mate. Its was Miyagi, with his impressive agility, who caught the ball and passed it to Rukawa, who gracefully jumps for a light dunk that got the whole courts screaming.
Uozomi was currently standing with Shoyo's Hanagata, ignoring the backwards awed stares they get from the people seated below. The two of them watched the pacing, as well as the performances of the players. He was impressed by how quickly these people improved. He hated to admit it, but a lot of it was probably due to that redheaded idiot. In any case, he needed to push his own team a lot harder. "At this rate they'll probably have a 60 or 70 point lead by the end."
Hanagata nodded. "The opponent is lousy. If it's Shoyo, we'll have at least 200 points."
Uozumi did not disagree and instead turned his head to his companion. "How is your side going?"
"Not bad." Hanagata said with that occasional monotone of his. "But these past few days Fujima's a bit distracted. He's particularly worried earlier today, on the way here."
"Fujima is here, as well?"
"Not to watch Shohoku." The bespectacled man cleared. "It seems his cat has gone missing since three days ago, when we went to watch Ryounan."
"Why would he even bring—"
"Don't ask."
Uozumi shrugged, and just watched the game with blunt interest all the way until it was over.
...
KAWAMURA SUSHI
Three Hours Later
"CHEERS!"
Shohoku was currently in Kawamura's Sushi shop, enjoying a precious lunch with eat-all-you-can sushi, drinks courtesy of the younger Kawamura, while his father was readying the fish he'd use. The younger wondered why he hadn't already when everything was usually settled early morning, but he was in much too good a mood to question his dad's work ethics.
In any case, the team's celebrating their third win (regardless of how relatively unchallenging it had been), and it was a happy happy day indeed!
"Ora, Ora!" His father yelled as he approached the textile curtain to the dining area. "Here're the fish. Is everyone ready to eat some award-winning sushi?!" Also, he was not really award-winning.
Still, the team yelled in excitement. "YEEAAAHHH!"
"AH!" Came soon afterwards. To his surprise, it was Hanamichi, pointing a finger at his dad. "It's you!"
"Oh, you're from Shohoku, too?" His dad laughed and looked at her, and for some reason Rukawa as well. "Well, I guess I should've known..."
The younger Kawamura looked at his father and the trainer alternatively. "You two have met?"
It was Hanamichi who answered. "Uh-huh. I saw him in the game earlier."
Kawamura blushed. So that was why the ingredients haven't been readied? He turned to gape at his father. "Y-You watched the game?"
His father blushed as well, in embarrassment. "I-I had the time!" "I-It's not like I wanted to see you play or anything."
His team mates whistled and howlered at this, some shouting for his dad to stop being such a tsundere. His father yelled for them to shut up or else he will only cook wasabi sushi and everyone zipped their mouth in response.
The younger Kawamura only laughed. A happy day, indeed.
...
"This is sooo delicious!"
"Wonderful!" "I can eat this forever!"
For some odd reason, the Sakuragi gang (along with Sakuragi and Miyagi) were eating the most—to the point of getting knuckled by Akagi. The Kawamuras did not mind though; they're just happy that the restaurant's so lively.
But the noise immediately quieted down when they hear a very out-of-place sound.
Meow
"Is that what I hear it is?"
Silence echoed in the room, until those aware of its source looked at a certain internally-destroyed duffel bag, and Miyagi tentatively opened the zipper. A Himalayan jumped out and onto the table, straight to one of the sushi plates.
"A cat?!"
"What's a cat doing in your bag?"
"Animal abuse!"
Miyagi examined its fur. "It obviously used to have a collar."
"...I accidentally hit it to the gutter."
"You hit a kitten?"
"You brute!"
"SHUT UP!
And yet..., a minute later, even the cat was in heaven.
"I...I'm sorry that even a cat is getting fed expensive fish." Akagi said apologetically to the sushi owners (after generously placing another bump on Sakuragi's head who yelled 'sexual abuse') but the two did not mind at all. The cat had short fur, and it unexpectedly looked clean. So long as it stays far enough from the conveyor, its presence was fine.
The chef then prepared for a special-looking sushi. "Ah, it's thunder!" Miyagi and Hanamichi yelled simultaneously, and tried to get it with their chopsticks.
"I sawit first."
"Curly, as you can see I got it first."
"Are you blind you baka?" "I'm called a speedstar for a reason."
"Saa... I'll make another one." Kawamura-toosan calmly said and did make one. The two calmed down at this, and ate their specialty sushi at the same time. They moaned in the deliciousness and they looked at each other at their similar reactions and grinned. They become sushi buddies after that.
The feeding, the chats, and overall rowdiness continued for a while after that, until someone knocked on the door. Kawamura quickly ran to see who it was. "Sumimasen," they hear a familiar voice. "Here's the cake from my family bakery I promised, to pay for the sushi the last time."
"Did someone say cake?" Sakuragi exclaimed, and the nosy ones in the team peeked to see who the newcomer was. They were met with a familiar shiny head.
"Ora! It's Naito!"
"Naito?" "What's he doing here?"
"Didn't you hear? HE BRINGS CAKE!"
Kawamura noded. "Naito-san and I are friends now!"
"OH." Hanamichi said, then shrugged, eyes on the cake. "Well then, join us baldy!"
And it was not like he had a choice.
...
"Your dad is awesome!" Sakuragi yelled as he patted the younger Kawamura on the back (pretty strongly, too) and did a bro-hug with the older one, as if they were both old men who had known each other for decades.
The mature members namely: Akagi, Kogure, and Ayako bowed their heads in gratitude, which embarrassed the two and causing them to turn to tomatoes.
Soon, the members left and sent a few more thanks to the family who treated them wonderful sushi. One by one, they disappeared, with the Sakuragi gang dragging Naito and forcing him to show them their family pastry shop.
The Kawamuras watched everyone as they left with smiles on their faces. "I'm glad you're finally doing what you've always wanted to try, even if it's just for a year." The older said, giving his son a fatherly pat on the back. It was his last year of high school after all. "Do your best, ne?"
...
"Haruko, wait up!" Matsui yelled and Fuji (panting) agreed.
"But I might miss them!" Haruko yelled, holding tightly a face towel with a pink pig. She found it on the floor by the locker room after the game, no doubt being dropped by Rukawa.
Her brother had only replied to her message half-an-hour earlier (the former saying it had just been too rowdy he forgot the existence of phones for a while). They were apparently in the Kawamura Sushi shop. When they reached the sushi shop, however, it was already too late.
"Ahhh..." Matsui groans as she sat on a bench.
"I'm sorry..." Haruko whispered. "It's just that—"
"We know, we know. You're shy, and it's Rukawa." "You should really start acting like his friend now."
Haruko blushed furiously at this. "Mou...!"
"Are you sure that's Rukawa's, though?" Fuji asked for the third time since she got dragged into looking for the team. Matsui shrugged her shoulders. "Well, he does have a pink bike."
Haruko opened her mouth to react to that, but it was then that a familiar figure emerged from the shop. "Ayako-senpai!"
"Ara..." She said, wiping her hands on her clothes, indicating she was in the washroom. She smiled amicably and then pointed at a direction. "You just missed them."
Haruko turned her head to see the street, before turning back to Ayako. "Is Rukuwa-kun with them?"
The older girl shook her head. "Actually, Rukawa didn't go with us." And Haruko's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Uhm... can you please give this to Rukawa tomorrow, then?" She asked, giving the odd cloth one more look before she parted with it. "He seems to have dropped it in the gym."
Ayako blinked and looked at the towel, momentarily recalled everyone's reaction from seeing it, and chuckled. But then she recalled Rukawa had excused himself even before they reached the shop. He was probably at home by now…
"You should take it to his house." Ayako just said with a smile, writing down at a piece of paper she seemed to always carry around. "Here's the address." She said, and Haruko raised her hand to say oh no need please no but the paper was already in her hand before she could utter a word, and Ayako ran home.
"Good luck~" She said, turning her body to face them somewhere along her way. Ayako winked. The girls winced. "Thank me later."
...
Meanwhile, the Sakuragi gang was on their way to Naito pastry shop, much to the bald man's chagrin. They were boisterous as always, with the cat resting comfortably on Hanamichi's fluffy red Maine. The cat stayed in her nest until the gang neared the shop, where started to shift. It jumped to her arms, tail quivering. Her eyebrows furrowed, unsure, since she wasn't a cat person and had no idea what it meant. She looked at her gang, who all shrugged. They were all dog people, you see.
Meow
"Prince?" A voice from beyond the corner called. She felt the kitten's ears perk and its tail quiver even more. It was followed by a baritone voice. "You can't call every cat you see or hear Prince, Fujima."
"Prince!" A pause, and Hanamichi could feel the cat stiffen. "Where are you?" The cat became agitated and it quickly struggled from her grasp. Hanamichi's brows rose and she lifted the cat so their eyes met. "Is it your owner?"
MEOW!
"Is that it?"
"Hanamichi? What's wrong?"
She looked at her friends. "You guys go ahead." She said, looking at the shop a few meters away. "Cat's owner seems nearby." And as she said it, the cat jumped off her, but her reflexes were enough to stop it. "Can't have you running off." She said, knowing there were cars around. "You'll have to settle for a ride." The cat seemed to have understood and calmed down.
A little.
"Oi, Fujima—" a deeper voice called out, and she lifted her head at the voices. They were getting closer.
"Prince!" the voice continued calling, it was rather desperate that Hanamichi couldn't help but follow the voice, especially since the cat looked so very excited. She took a few more steps, and something unexpected stopped her feet—a pothole from hell—and she felt her whole body helplessly pulled by gravity. What's worse was that she had her hands full with the cat.
Damn it, she thought, maybe I really should've let the cat go on its own.
Still, she wasn't about to squish it with her body weight, so she maneuvered her body so she would hit the ground back first. She tightly closed her eyes and braced herself for impact.
An impact that never quite came.
Her eyebrows loosened as she felt arms on her back, supporting her entire weight, and she tentatively opened her eyes.
She saw a boy. A sparkling boy.
He was very handsome albeit was small (but he has a huge bodyguard), but—she just realized—he was carrying her weight effortlessly despite being smaller than she was. She watched as his startled face turned to a reassuring smile. "Are you alright, miss?" He asked, sparkling, even with the devil-of-a-cat on his shoulder.
Hanamichi thought that there was no doubt about it.
This boy… he's—he's—
An actual prince!
.
.
END OF CHAPTER 15
Coming Soon:
CHAPTER 16: Expansion
Someone's world will expand even more, even by just a little.
REPLIES TO ANGELS
Guest [May 12 2018] – Heehhe oh we will see that soon! I'm excited also, but it wont happen in this chap tho! Sorry! Thx for reviewing btw
ThunderSkull – Oh yes, I actually updated! Ahaha. Hope today you are reminded of this story's existence! Thank you for commenting~!
Sairakanzaki – hahahah. I want to see Rukawa jelly too! We will see lots of that later on. Hheheheh. Sendoh will show up soon, tho not in this chapter, and I hope you will like it! Thx for reviewing!
Little Ms. Pumpkin – I won't abandon it! So sorry I take forever to update. I pray the chaps are worth the wait. Thx for reviewing!
Hikaru Itsuko – No worries! You can take your time with the translation. I'm just happy I still feel your presence in here! Thank you!
Silverhastears – Thank you for reviewing! I am so happy to know it made your day!
Lazyfox21 – Rather than on hiatus, it is more like I take forever to update. xD Sorry! I hope this was worth the wait.
SaVaGeSwAn25 – Thank you for reviewing! Thx for telling me you love the story! Heheheh. She won't end up with Sendoh (we can have him instead), but I am sure to put loads of him in the future. xD
whmsS, IgFc8, VmPVM, and zs4Un – I assume you are the same person, or group? Heheheh. First off, thanks for the reviews! Much appreciated. Hope you liked this chapter! :D
…
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