Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ This Way ❯ Part 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Part 3

"Can't depend on anything really, there's no promises, there's no point.

There's no good, there's no bad in this dirty little joint…" -Lucinda Williams

*~*~*

*Subject A: Kiyota Nobunaga, age 21*

I figured it so that I could have an hour with each of them individually, and then everyone together perhaps. It's noon and Kiyota just arrived a few minutes ago…he's first.

"Oi, Sakuragi, are you gonna feed me for my trouble?" he demands. I hide a grin and counter, "I don't have any more bananas, monkey-boy." Why *has* it been so long since I've hung out with him? When we first started college we had fun, until other things started bringing me down again.

"Yeah that's fuckin' funny that you're the one calling *me* a monkey, dude," he snipes before turning suddenly and pouncing.

"Oi, watch the camera!" I shout as I land on my back (fortunately on the soft bed) with Kiyota on top of me. I snap a picture of him with his shoulder-length hair falling around his face, his Matrix-style sunglasses still shading his eyes, and a huge grin on his face. Suddenly the grin disappears and he pushes his glasses up on top of his head.

"Oh, shit, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" I blink owlishly at Kiyota…I don't think I've ever given myself enough time to get to know him again since high school. We've both changed quite a lot. All of a sudden he looks so…mature.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, no, I mean…I'm okay!" I smile. He gives me a questioning look and then slowly sits up.

"So…what exactly are we doing?"

I shrug. "I don't know, I don't really have a specific game plan. I just thought I wanted to try to get into photography again, and try to be serious about it. I thought you guys would be good…models, subjects, whatever."

Kiyota chuckles. "Um…thanks?"

I grin, "Oh, you know it's because you're *such a cutie*!" I tease, trying to pinch his cheek and sounding like I'm talking to someone's puppy. He swats my hand away and blushes a little bit.

"So um…well…what should I do?"

I just stare at him for a few moments. He looks away and starts looking a little anxious. I'm about to tell him, `I'm not gonna make you take your clothes off' but I'm not sure if that would make him feel any better.

He's looking pensively out the window as he speaks again. "I think you'll have the most luck with Rukawa, he's got those real exotic, model-type looks," he muses. I am somehow entranced by the mid-day sun shining through his hair and compulsively take another picture.

From then on, I simply take pictures of Kiyota as he's talking or laughing, trying to keep the pictures natural. That seems to be what he's most comfortable with. At first he gives me a weird look after every flash of the camera, but eventually he gets over it. At one point I click a picture while he's standing in the middle of the room, waving his arms around and laughing as he tells a story about one of the guys on the basketball team. I am laughing simply because he's laughing.

I glance at my watch finally and see it's ten after one. Mitsui should already be here. I lean back on my bed and Kiyota sits down next to me, still grinning about his last story. "You know, I'll bet it's been awhile since *anyone's* seen you laugh," he smiles. I smile in return and then shrug.

"I dunno, it seems like sometimes you have certain friends for certain traits. Mitsui always comforts me and makes me want to talk about what's bothering me. With you, it's like…I feel more cheerful. You make me laugh. So…um…thanks for making me laugh along with helping with this project!"

Kiyota stands up and places his hands on my shoulders. "You know, people do miss seeing you around, you retard."

I stick my tongue out at him (quite mature) and he raises an eyebrow before trying to push me backward. I get a grip on his wrists and we're sort of wrestling around when the door swings open.

"Hey ladies, am I interrupting something?" Mitsui snorts as he barges into my room.

"What's up, Mit-chan?" Kiyota taunts as he plops down in front of me, both of us facing the doorway. There's not exactly a lot of room for him to sit there so he's practically in my lap. "Where's your boyfriend?"

Mitsui stalks over and sticks his middle finger up right in Kiyota's face. Then he snickers, "I think you're sitting on him."

I flush a little bit…ok, this is a weird conversation. Kiyota turns around halfway and accuses, "You cheater!" I snicker and smack his head. He growls playfully and starts attacking me again.

"Oww, my back!" I yell as Kiyota clambers on top of me. He freezes for a second before getting suspicious.

"Does your back really hurt?"

I just stare at him for a few more seconds before pouncing and managing to land myself on top.

"Jesus Christ, you're like little kids," Mitsui grumbles. "Or puppy dogs."

*Subject B: Mitsui Hisashi, age 23*

After Kiyota and I finally settle down a bit, I make some lunch for the three of us. Then it's Mitsui's turn in front of the lens.

Kiyota seems to try to stay out of the way by parking himself in front of my computer, but every now and then he turns around out of curiosity. I figure Mitsui warrants a different approach, so most of his pictures are directly looking at the camera. I notice Kiyota cock his head out of curiosity, seeing the different manner I'm using with Mitsui. I haven't been thinking too much about all this, I'm in a strange sort of zone where words escape me and all I know is what I see.

If I take a moment to think, I realize that in almost all my pictures of Kiyota, he was smiling. To me, that's his personality. We may have clashed for being too much alike five years ago, but I've realized that he really is a rather cheerful, optimistic person. The funny thing is, if he's truly like me, then we *both* have acted obnoxious as a way to get attention. But at the same time, it's like he's so un-used to the attention he seeks, that when he *does* get some he's not sure what to do with it.

On the other hand, all of Mitsui's pictures are rather intense. He stares into the camera as though daring the viewer to get inside his head and take a look around. I don't think I really asked for this, but it's exactly what I wanted from him. After awhile I notice Kiyota shifting around uncomfortably in the corner of my eye. I realize that Mitsui and I have gotten awfully close to one another and once I put the camera down, I am suddenly hit by a thick tension in the room. With the camera out of the way, all of a sudden Mitsui and I are staring right into each other's eyes. It's like there's some secret message passing between us, but I don't know how to crack the code.

Suddenly there's a knock at the door and I jump a little. Mitsui looks up slowly. Kiyota jumps up wordlessly and goes to answer the door. A moment later he returns with an apprehensive-looking Rukawa.

Rukawa smiles slightly and nods at Mitsui before turning to me. He gives me an anxious look and then glances at the floor. "Okay, well, I'm here. So…what am I doing?"

"Damn, why does everyone keep asking me that?" I laugh. Mitsui looks surprised to see me laughing. Maybe Kiyota had a point. "I'm not gonna hurt any of you! I just…does this really seem so weird? Look, come here."

I take a few minutes to hook the camera up to my computer and transfer the pictures. The three guys crowd around me to see all the photos I've taken so far of Kiyota and Mitsui. Kiyota seems to move restlessly as we scroll through his pictures, but every now and then Mitsui makes an approving sound. Rukawa is silent as usual. Weird how he was talking so much to Mitsui just last night.

When we get to Mitsui's pictures, I pause on one and turn to face him "I really like this one. What do you think, this might be a good one for the exhibit?" He nods thoughtfully and I glance at the other two guys. Kiyota has his arms crossed across his chest and his eyebrows raised, and he nods when I glance at him. I look at Rukawa to find him just staring at the picture. He looks almost entranced.

"That's really…wow," he murmurs. After a few more moments of silence, he says softly, "They're really different. The two sets of pictures. There are a couple of Kiyota's pictures that I would pick out for an exhibit. I'll show you a little later." I nod and glance at Kiyota again. He's just staring at Rukawa blankly. I wonder if he's shocked at a complete sentence from the pro, or at said pro's assessment of his photos.

*Subject C: Rukawa Kaede, age 21*

Mitsui suggests to Kiyota that they go play some one-on-one outside, seeming to sense that Rukawa is feeling a bit shy. Once alone, I tell Rukawa to just get comfortable. He sits on the bed with his legs crossed and just looks at me. *Snap*.

"Do you think this is weird?" I ask him. "I mean, I don't know, I'm trying to do this for artistic purposes…but do you suppose it's weird that I figure the most photogenic people I know are three guys I know from high school?"

He shrugs. "I don't see what's weird. I don't think that beauty can only be found in women."

I pause, startled. I guess I hadn't really thought of this in terms of beauty. My hands sink into my lap as I just look at him for a while. Maybe I've been trying to show different versions of beauty? Mitsui's depth and intensity, the light of Kiyota's personality…but I don't know Rukawa the same way. I'm not sure how to find his true nature.

After long moments, Rukawa murmurs, "W-what's wrong?"

I shake my head slowly. "I was just…thinking about what you said. I hadn't really thought about it, about what I was trying to find in these pictures. See, I think out of all of us, you are definitely the most outwardly beautiful. But…that's not necessarily what I'm looking for. I guess I'm trying to find what's inside."

Rukawa looks startled that I essentially called him beautiful. For some reason, I'm not all that shocked myself. I've been in somewhat of a meditative state all afternoon. Finally he speaks again. "I can see that. In the other pictures, I can really see that you got inside them. Because you know them. Kiyota…he's the happiness and sunshine of life. And Mitsui's the dark part but somehow…at the same time…strong and comforting. Not bad, just dark. But…"

I stand up and walk toward him, till I'm almost standing over him, the sinking sun highlighting his hair and face with a cool glow. "You're the…elegance of life?" I murmur. "Ne, close your eyes."

He was already looking up at me with his head tilted back a bit, and he closes his eyes with his head still back. I snap a shot. "Now open them, slowly."

As he slowly opens his eyes, I manage to snap two shots. One with his eyes half-open, sleepy and dazed looking, and one with the sun glinting in his eyes, right before he would squint at the bright light.

When I finally look toward the sound I'd heard behind me, I see Mitsui staring, even more entranced than Rukawa had been while staring at Mitsui's picture.

Mitsui comes over and flips back through Rukawa's pictures on the camera's preview window. "These are perfect," he murmurs. Kiyota comes up behind him and stands on his toes to see the camera.

"Okay guys," I say, eventually breaking the quiet trance over the room. "Would it be okay if I took some more of everyone together, or in twos or something?"

They all give affirmation, but then Kiyota smiles and tells me, "You've got to be in some too."

*