Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ Shohoku's Pride ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

CHAPTER NINE:

Years of power held by their master had made the guards confident in their stronghold and the belief that no one would dare attack them. They had become lax in their duties that none of the guards were prepared for the rank amateurs that dared invade their fortress.

Swift headbutts dispatched four guards in an instant. Punches flew and more men fell unconscious to the ground. One was knocked out by a kick, delivered by a shrieking boy in a judo gi.

Aouta's war cry was immediately silenced by Tetsuo's fist on top of his head. "Baka! Do you want to bring the whole security force down on us? This is not a damned judo tournament!"

"Sorry!" a sheepish Tatsuhiko Aouta scratched his head, grinning. "Force of habit!"

Emerging from the bushes, a baseball bat-wielding Ryota joined them. "Where the hell are the cops? Didn't Akagi-senpai call them?"

"He did," Mitsui put in as he leaped through the brush with Hanamichi and his infamous Gundan. "I don't understand what's taking them so long!"

Stumbling into the center of their circle, Takamiya exclaimed, "Don't you watch the movies? Have you ever seen the cops arrive on time?"

Hanamichi gritted his teeth, hands clenched into fists. "Well, I'm not waiting any longer! Lord only knows what's going on in there!"

"Don't think that, Hanamichi," said Yohei chidingly, although he himself was afraid. Patting his friend's shoulder, he said, "We must believe that they're all right."

But Mitsui interjected, his voice filled with worry, "It's been hours. Too many long damned hours." He shook his head, forlorn. "If they hurt Kogure in any way..."

"Don't worry, Mit-chan," his friend Hotta Norio reassured him. "We'll get them out of this hellish place."

Suddenly, armed men started pouring out of the mansion, alerted by the Judo Champion's shout.

Tetsuo slapped his hand to his forehead. "I knew this was going to happen!" He looked at his best friend and the redhead with firm determination. "Mitsui! Sakuragi! We'll take care of them! You two find Kogure and Rukawa!"

The two boys nodded solemnly. With fierce war cries, the "Bad Boys of Shohoku High" charged at Takeda's men, swiftly evading the shots that were fired at them. Like seasoned veterans of numerous campus fisticuffs, they engaged the guards with fists and kicks.

"Hanamichi! Mitsui!" Ryota yelled as he knocked out one man with a bat while lashing out with his foot at another. "GO NOW!"

The two boys didn't have to be told twice. They ran quickly up the stairs and into the house, determined to rescue their teammates.

---

Rukawa and Kogure heard the commotion in the garden.

"What's going on out there?" mused Kogure aloud, about to run towards the window. "Sounds like a battle."

Before the Senior could reach the window, Takeda barged into the room with two men. Pointing to the two boys, he shouted, "Grab them! We're taking them with us!"

"No!" yelled Rukawa, but he was felled by a blow to the head with a gun butt. The ace dropped into the crime lord's arms, while his men seized Kogure.

"Let us go! NO!" Kogure struggled to break free as he was hustled out of the suite.

"You're not taking them anywhere, Takeda!"

One of the men who was holding the Senior was knocked out by a fist in the face, the other by a strong kick to the gut. So sudden was his release that Kogure fell to his knees on the floor.

Somehow, he managed to gasp out, "Sakuragi! Takeda's got Rukawa!"

"I'm right on him!" the redhead answered, running for the skylight where he had seen the crime lord disappear with his captive. "Mit-chin, you take care of Megane-kun!"

Kogure felt his heart stop, hearing Mitsui's name. Before he realized he was doing so, he ran back into the suite and across the room, pressing his back against the far corner.

Mitsui was stunned by his teammate's reaction. But with Kogure's position under the glare of the room lights, he could see all too clearly the ugly bruises that marred the Senior's body. When his eyes fell upon the blood stains that caked those long legs that he had always admired, his tears began to flow.

"Mit-chin, don't!" cried Kogure in panic, as the shooting guard made a step forward. "Don't come any closer!"

But Mitsui continued his slow approach, seemingly deaf to the other boy's entreaties.

Kogure was in tears himself as the shooting guard stopped before him. "Please, Mit-chin! It's over. I...I was going to tell you 'I'm sorry', that I cared about you as well. But...but after this...." Bursting into bitter sobs, he buried his face in his hands. "You...you deserve someone better than me."

To his surprise, however, arms enfolded his waist and a face drenched with tears pressed against his belly. Kogure gazed down to find a remorseful Mitsui kneeling at his feet.

"This is all my fault!" Mitsui sobbed in guilt, his whole body shaking. "I should never have left you! If I hadn't let my hurt and my pride get in the way, none of this would've happened! Kogure, I'm so sorry! I should've protected you from that monster!"

"You're not to blame, Mit-chin!" Kogure leaned back, palms pressed to the wall, not wanting to touch the boy he loves. "Everything that has happened...I deserved it...because I hurt you, because I broke your heart."

"Don't say that! If there's anyone who deserves to be punished here, it's me! ME!" With an anguished cry, Mitsui proceeded to pound his fists on his body, determined to hurt himself.

Falling to his knees, Kogure seized the shooting guard's wrists. "Stop it! Please!" Lest his teammate inflict more damage upon himself, the Senior wrapped his arms around Mitsui.

"I love you, Megane-kun!" Mitsui breathed in his ear. "Nothing's ever going to change the way I feel for you!"

Kogure felt his fears fly away at that heartfelt utterance. Pressing his cheek to Mitsui's face, he whispered, "I love you too, Mit-chin!"

The sound of a single gunshot caused the two boys to part.

Sudden dread seized Kogure's heart. "Oh my God! Rukawa!"

"Hanamichi!" Mitsui mumbled in worry as he hugged his teammate.

---

"STOP RIGHT THERE, TAKEDA!"

Hanamichi had cornered the crime lord on the roof, heading for the helicopter. Undaunted, however, Takeda whirled around, wrapping a beefy arm around his dazed captive's neck, and pointed his gun at Rukawa's head.

"It's over for you!" the redhead shouted, hearing the sound of approaching sirens. "The police are on their way! Give Rukawa to me and surrender now!"

"NEVER!" Takeda yelled back, moving backwards towards the edge of the roof. "Ru-chan is mine! He belongs to me! I...I love him!"

"Hanamichi...." Rukawa murmured the redhead's name pleadingly.

"You twisted son of a bitch! You call this 'love'?" asked Hanamichi in shock. "It's not love if you force yourself upon someone who doesn't feel the same way about you! It's not love if you rape him when he's just a child and sell his body to other bastards like you! If you love Rukawa as you say, for heaven's sake, do something right for a change! Let him go!"

"I'll never let him go!" Takeda roared, his body teetering precariously over the edge. "If I'm going to die, I'm taking him with me!"

"NO!" cried Hanamichi in horror as the crime lord lifted his right foot. Fearing for the ace's life, he started to run towards them.

Things seemed to move in a grotesque slow motion for Rukawa. Turning his head to gaze at his captor, his eyes widened in shock as Takeda pointed his gun at the approaching redhead. There was a bright flash from the gun's muzzle. A strangled cry issued from Hanamichi's lips, and the ace saw a dark red stain begin to flower on the boy's white T-shirt, just below his left shoulder.

"HANAMICHI!" Rukawa screamed, the tears pouring from his eyes, and he acted instinctively.

Twisting his body as though escaping a tight zone press, Rukawa broke free from Takeda's grasp, desperate to reach the other boy who was sagging down on the roof. As the crime lord toppled over the edge, however, his hand reached out and tightened around the Super Rookie's wrist. Before Rukawa could brace himself, Takeda had pulled him over the edge as well. He was about to plummet to the ground when a hand gripped his other wrist, stopping his descent. That sudden halt caused the crime lord's hold to loosen and he fell screaming to the ground, ceasing as his body impacted with a deafening crash on the marble bird bath below, killing him in an instant.

Rukawa wanted to gaze down, to make certain that the man who had abused him for eight long, hard years was truly dead.

"Don't look, Kitsune!" Hanamichi's weary voice spoke above him.

"Hanamichi..." the ace gasped, especially when he saw the blood that was trickling down the arm that was holding him.

"Rukawa, try to boost yourself up. I don't think I could hold on much longer."

"I'll try. Just please don't let go."

Hanamichi's hand tightened around his wrist, the redhead mumbling over and over between gritted teeth, "I won't let go! I won't let go!"

As if having made a powerful slam dunk, Rukawa swung his body upward, trying to get a foothold on the roof. After two attempts, he managed to hook his leg onto the rooftop, with Hanamichi pulling him to safety. The strain, however, was too much for the redhead that he collapsed onto his back, his vision wavering from too much blood loss. It cleared for a moment, allowing him to see a weeping Rukawa peering down on him.

"Sakuragi-kun, please hang on!" the ace begged him. "Help is coming! Oh, please hang on!"

"I feel so cold," he admitted to the boy. In truth, he could barely feel his left arm, so numb and so heavy.

"Don't talk! Just conserve your strength."

Hanamichi cupped his teammate's face with his right hand. Laughing weakly, he murmured, "I kept my promise to you, Kitsune. I told you I'd take care of you."

Rukawa held the hand that was touching his cheek. "Yes, Doahou, you did. Now I want you to swear to me that you'll hang on. Hanamichi, please! Don't leave me!"

Hanamichi sighed as he slowly succumbed to the darkness. "Forgive me, Rukawa. But I don't think I could keep that promise."

The last thing he heard before he closed his eyes was Rukawa screaming his name.