Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Side ❯ Revealed Part 1 ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer:

As usual, I don't own any of the slam-dunk characters.

A/N: before I start off this chapter, I'd like to say so sorry to those who wanted this chapter be up earlier. I've been busy with my projects and had a writer's block so I had no clue where this story should go. I'm playing by ear and making it up as I go along so bear with me okay. I'm still new with this fan fiction stuff so I'll probably have some mistakes. To all reviewers, thanks for taking the time to review the story. It feels great to get the reviews and I hope that you'll keep on reading it. Arigato minna.

Chapter 4: Revealed Part 1

//thoughts//

~^Flashbacks ^~

* Actions *

"Japanese"

'English'

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Last Chapter

Akagi was about to shout to everyone to gather when a scream from the girls can be heard. Everyone jumped and quickly turned to face the direction of the scream.

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After giving Ookusa, Noma and Takamiya the time to recover their senses after the shock of seeing the new him. They went and ate their lunch at the rooftop (after making sure no one, especially a certain kitsune, was around). The lunch was eaten in silence as the three was still trying to recover from the shock while Youhei was nursing his stomach, which was hurting due to too much laughter.

Without warning, Sakuragi started the conversation.

"My legal name is not Sakuragi Hanamichi."

Once again, Ookusa, Noma and Takmiya's mouth dropped open.

Seeing his friends' reaction and Youhei's smile of encouragement, he took a deep breath.

"My birth name is Sakuragi Ken Hanamichi. As you would probably realise, I'm half Japanese and my mom is an American. I guess I took after her." After a moment of silence, he added softly, while smiling "Especially the hair."

The three just blinked. Finally, they turned to Youhei, as if asking him if Sakuragi is alright. Youhei gave a chuckle at their faces.

"I knew him since childhood. Over there they called him Ken and …" stopping for a while, he frowned and then continued, "a certain baka gave me the nickname Pistol Pete, hence I'm known as Pete over at the States."

He was about to continue when Sakuragi interrupted him.

"Oi Youhei! Maybe we should explain this when everyone is present ne? I don't want to keep on repeating it. Trying to explain once is bad enough."

Sighing, Youhei faced upwards to watch the clear blue sky.

"So, you're going to tell them?" he said quietly questioned Sakuragi.

After a moment of hesitation, Sakuragi took a deep breath.

'He was right. I'm just hurting myself this way…even THEM.' He then glanced at Youhei and tilted his head slightly and gave Youhei a questioning look.

'So…are you with me?'

Not answering Sakuragi's question, Youhei continued his watch on the sky. Seconds pass by when finally he closed his eyes and dropped his head. He then put his hand in his pockets and smiled slightly. Without looking at Sakuragi, he answered.

'I'm still here aren't I?'

During the entire exchange, the 'others' of the Sakuragi Gundam was shocked speechless and had their eyes wide enough for their eyeballs to pop out. Seems like the shock of seeing the new Sakuragi and Youhei, was enough to keep the noisy bunch to a bunch of docile and quiet group.

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Going to the gym

As he was carrying his gym bag, which by the way was constantly moved from one shoulder to the other due to his nervousness, he suddenly saw a group, or should I say a crowd, of girls blocking the entrance of the gym. He frowned slightly and looked back at Youhei, who was busy dragging the stunned Sakuragi Gundam.

"Youhei!"

Sighing in exasperation, he finally gave up trying to bring back the other boys from their stunned state. Already short on nerves, he snapped at Sakuragi.

'What?'

Sakuragi pointed a finger to the crowd of girls, while amusedly looked at his perspiring and exasperated friend. In the meantime, the girls who heard the exasperated shout of Youhei, turned around and found their target. As one, all of them screamed and quickly rushed towards Sakuragi.

"Hana-kun, what shampoo do you use?"

"You look so good today Hana-kun!"

"Are you hungry Hana-kun, I have a bento for you."

"Hana-kun, can I take a picture with you hugging me?"

"No way! Hana-kun is hugging me first."

"Iie! He's hugging me."

"Both of you are wrong. I asked him first"

…and on…and on it goes while poor Sakuragi just stared bemusedly at the crowd of girls who were surrounding him.

//Why does this seem so familiar?//

In a daze, Youhei could only look on at the surrounded Sakuragi.

//Thank kami-sama for his height and hair, or else he's a goner.// was the first thought that went through his head. The other was…

//Why does this seem so familiar?//

…and with that, he decided to help Sakuragi out of this mess, only to be pushed and kicked away roughly. There he lay dazed and bruised, while Sakuragi is now being tugged around like a toy by many over eager and active girls.

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In the gym

Upon hearing the screams, everyone in the gym turned towards the entrance only to be greeted with the sight of screaming girls running somewhere. Eyes blinking in surprise could be seen.

Akagi sighed exasperatedly and scowled. An ever ready vein was already throbbing happily on his forehead with many more popping up. Looking ready to explode at the interrupted practice, he started walking…er…stomping towards the gym entrance where Haruko was looking at the scene with a confused expression.

On seeing the nearly erupting volcano, or in other words Akagi, stomping towards the disturbance, Kogure quickly rushed to catch up with him and prayed to god that no heads will be bashed by Akagi's Gori Punch, especially a certain red head. As he managed to catch up with Akagi, he saw Akagi wearing a shocked expression, where his eyes were widen to the size of golf balls and jaw dropping, nearly touching the floor. Confused at the sudden change of Shohoku's basketball captain, he turned in the direction of Akagi's line of vision.

//OH. MY. GOD!!!// was his only thought before he too turned into the exact replica of Akagi's reaction.

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5 minutes later

After recovering from his shock at the sight that greeted him, he slapped his palm on his forehead trying to get rid of the headache that has already started. Done doing so, he started scowling again and resumed his stomping. At Akagi's sudden reaction, Kogure was startled out of his shocked face and could only watch on as Akagi started stomping his way through the crowd of girls, whom by the way started cursing Akagi with curses that would have made weaker men shrink.

Upon reaching the red head, Akagi's scowled deepened (A/N: if that was possible) and let out a growl. He then grabbed the red head by the collar of his uniform and proceeded to drag the dazed red head into the gym. He then pushed Kogure, who was standing outside of the gym and near the entrance, into the gym. Finally he let out a roar that would have made King Kong proud.

"EVERYONE OUT NOW!!! NO ONE IS TO WATCH TODAY'S PRACTISE AND ONLY BASKETBALL MEMBERS IS TO STAY HERE!!!"

Lowering his voice, he turned towards a pale Haruko and her two wide-eyed friends.

"The 3 of you can stay if you want."

Hearing that, every girl who was screaming gave the evil eye towards Haruko and her friends. Akagi was about to close the gym door when Youhei popped up with the rest of the Sakuragi Gundam.

Youhei looked at Akagi seriously and spoke, "Can we come in. I need to explain a few things as well"

Deepening his frown, Akagi glared at Youhei. Not intimidated, Youhei just stared back at him and raised an eyebrow.

Biting his lower lip in order to rein in his current temper, he growled.

"Humph!"

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Once the entrance to the gym was locked shut, everyone slowly gathered around Akagi and at the same time giving glances surreptitiously towards a slowly reviving dazed red head. Upon seeing Sakuragi wincing at rubbing his left shoulder, Youhei had a panic attack and rushed to the red head's side. Forgetting the current situation, he threw away caution to the wind and started fussing over the red head in his panic.

'Ken! Are you alright? Your shoulder is not hurting again right? Did you hurt yourself anywhere and...'

Not noticing the reactions of others, he would have continued fussing over the red head if the said red head hadn't interrupted him.

Sighing and wincing slightly when he moved his left shoulder, he faced Youhei and gave him a reassuring smile. Soon, the smile turned into a slight chuckle.

'Stop being a mother hen. I'm fine.' Pausing, he then frowned slightly. Suddenly he smiled tiredly at Youhei and said,

'It's been awhile since I've experienced that don't you think?'

Amused but at the same time worried for his friend, Youhei could only shake his head and returned the smile to Sakuragi.

Throughout the entire exchange of the two boys, Akagi's vein started throbbing again while the rest of the team looked on with wide eyes, except of course the ever expressionless Rukawa Kaede. Not happy with the present day, Akagi finally exploded.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?"

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Facing the basketball team, Sakuragi fidgeted about and glanced at Youhei. Seeing the go-ahead look from Youhei, he took a deep breath and turned back to face the team.

"I guess you want to know what's going on huh?" said Sakuragi, while smiling a weak and tired smile at them.

He then glanced downwards and bit his lower lip, indicating his nervousness.

//Idiot. Just get on with it. They'll understand.//

//But what if they hate me?//

//Then you can't do a thing about that.//

After finish arguing with his mind, he nodded his head and started his long winded tale.

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Not looking anyone in the eye, he spoke,

"Yesterday I meet someone from my past and Youhei's as well." He sighed. "He kind of reminded me of my past." Before he could continue, Youhei interrupted him.

"Anou Ken. Maybe you should tell them who you are first ne?" smiled Youhei amusedly as he watched his childhood and one of his best friends fidget nervously.

Wincing at Youhei's statement, Sakuragi gave out a nervous laugh.

"ehe ehe. I guess I should eh? Okay! Sakuragi Hanamichi is not my legal name."

At that statement, everyone except for the Gundam, who has heard this before were stunned. Blinking rapidly, Kogure then shook his head and slowly said,

"Not your legal name?"

Smiling slightly at the stunned faces of his team mates, he nodded at Kogure's question.

"Have you heard of Jack Sanders?" he asked.

Frowning, Mitsui answered. "Sure, he's the CEO of Omega Corporations and one of the richest men in the world besides Bill Gates."

Hearing Mitsui's answer, everyone gave him a surprised stare. Seeing the surprised looks given to him, Mitsui snapped,

"I heard about him from my dad okay? You don't need to be so surprised."

Sakuragi coughed slightly to regain the attention. Once everyone (A/N: yup, including the fox boy) was facing him again, he finally dropped the bombshell.

"He's my step father."

* chirp chirp *

Silence.

"What?!" shouted Mitsui, with his mouth wide open. He then shook his head and then started stammering,

"You…y…yo…you!!! You're Ken Sanders? THE Ken Sanders of Jack Sanders? NO WAY!"

Everyone (including Haruko, Matsui, Fujii and the Sakuragi Gundam) except for a wide awake kitsune and a disbelief and pale faced Mitsui, was confused at Mitsui's outburst. Not liking the feeling of left out, especially since it involves the team, Akagi frowned even more and spoke to Mitsui.

"What in the world do you mean by Ken Sanders?"

Mitsui gave an exasperated look at Akagi and waved his arms around.

"Are you kidding me?! KEN SANDERS, child prodigy and especially basketball prodigy. He was in practically all basketball magazines in the States and known as the little Phoenix or The Young Wizard."

Hearing that, the other members started whispering among themselves and giving confused glances towards Sakuragi.

Akagi blinked and then turned towards Sakuragi. He spoke slowly, as if talking to a child, towards Sakuragi,

"Are you saying that you're Ken Sanders?" He snorted in disbelief.

"I'll prove it."

With that, Sakuragi went towards Rukawa, who was holding a basketball. He raised his eyebrow and gestured for the ball,

"May I?"

Staring at Sakuragi, Rukawa then toss the ball towards Sakuragi. Catching the ball gracefully, Sakuragi started to dribble the ball in a steady rhythm and started to move towards the centre of the court. Once in position, he turned and faced Rukawa.

"Oi kitsune. One-on-one."

Everyone was surprised except for Youhei, who was smiling inwardly, and Mitsui, who was busy looking at Sakuragi with a penetrating gaze. Rukawa then walked slowly towards Sakuragi and as usual, gave Sakuragi his famous expressionless gaze.

"Hn."

At first Sakuragi was quite surprised that Rukawa accepted his challenge that all he could do was blink at Rukawa.

"Do'aho"

Hearing the insult, Sakuragi shook his head and stared amused at Rukawa with a slight curve of his lips. Thus begins the game.

Sakuragi started dribbling again but this time with a faster rhythm and waited for Rukawa to start guarding him. Seeing that Rukawa was ready, he then made his move. Before Rukawa had noticed it, he had slipped pass Rukawa in a smooth move and proceeded towards the basket. Recovering from the fast move, Rukawa back tracked to guard the net but Sakuragi had other ideas. Sakuragi then did another quick turn and instead of heading towards the net, he went towards the area behind the basket. He then did an outside bound lay-up without turning to look at the basket. The released ball went into a beautiful arch before falling into the basket with nothing but net. The surprised Rukawa could only stare at the already rolling ball and the net, which was swaying slightly.

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The one-on-one had continued after the beautiful outside bound lay-up from Sakuragi. Sakuragi then continued by doing a few 3-point shots and lay-ups, 2 backward dunks and 4 normal slam dunks'. By the end of the game, Sakuragi won it with 21 - 0. He actually stopped Rukawa and not allowing the boy to get even a single shot in. His pace and movement was so quick that Rukawa was not able to catch up with him. During the game, Sakuragi was able to predict Rukawa's next move with ease and his real skills were shown at last.

After shooting the last basket, Sakuragi faced his team mates, who are currently amazed at his show. With trepidation, he walked towards them followed by the slightly frowning kitsune.

"So…do you believe me now…Akagi-sempai" asked Sakuragi nervously.

Akagi felt his jaw dropping upon hearing the red head calling him Akagi-sempai. All he could do was stare open mouthed at Sakuragi. While he is in his dazed state, Ayako spoke up.

"Why?" said Ayako quietly.

Sakuragi turned his head towards Ayako and stared at her for awhile before glancing around at his other team mates, whom by now are also curious to his answer. Everyone inched closer to hear his response.

Sakuragi sighed and unconsciously rubbed his left shoulder. He glanced around again before answering. Finally, he slowly spoke

"I was scared."

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A/N: He he. Sorry for the hanging ending of this chapter. Hope you enjoy this chapter. More of Sakuragi's hidden past in the next chapter. Read and review it please. Please no flames. I know I don't involve much of the other character yet but I just don't feel the need to yet. Some of you might be wondering about my OC, Eric, and what happened to him. He'll probably make an appearance again but I'm not sure when. Still having a bit of a writer's block.