Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ When enemies become friends ❯ 01: Learning a 3 pointer shot ( Chapter 1 )

Revised by Meeksins, 290409

 

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01: Learning a 3 pointer shot

Sakuragi was up again by the time the clock hit six in the morning when everyone was still sleeping. It was perhaps already a routine for him; as he stretched himself out like a cat in his small narrow single bed, that creaked under his weight and of which did not accommodate much of his long frame, unbelievably quiet as he walked his way to where the toilet was, did his morning rituals , changed into his favourite white T-shirt that Haruko had given him not some time ago and into his blue shorts for as long as five minutes before he went out of the room quietly (still unbelievably so) as not to disturb his roommate friends namely Kiyota Nobunaga, a.k.a. wild monkey his Kainan freshman rival, Sendoh Akira one of his Ryonan rivals and Rukawa Kaede a.k.a. stupid fox as of course his destined rival as a Shohoku teammate. However, there is a break to this pattern as the latter unintentionally had witnessed this entire scene with a slight curiosity in his eyes but at the same time felt that he did not care what the idiot beginner was up to.

A minute later, he was up and out of the room himself.

***

It had been a week already since he had started his self practice on how to train himself to make a successful 3 pointer shot but all of those days of practice didn't help him with anything at all. In fact he was certain that he had never made even one single successful 3 pointer shot in all of those 7 days. He knew that he was wasting his time learning a shot that he hadn't got a clue how to do but he was too proud of himself to ask anyone to help him with it. After all, he was a genius and a genius does NOT need any help from anyone.
Although he had to admit that he had asked Jin, another one of the five Kainan players who was an excellent 3 pointer shooter, casually of course how he makes the shot so easily. Jin had at first looked surprised at the unexpected question but he did answer it.

"Oh, it's easy", Jin had answered with that smile of his. "At least once you got the hang of it. First you've got to have determination and believe in yourself that you can make the shot before you start anything else. If you don't have that, I'm afraid you'll never make even one successful shot. Unless, of course, you've got a talent like Mitsui-san.

"A 3 pointer shot is very similar to a jump shot. You know the steps to a jump shot right? The only difference between the two shots is that a 3 pointer is much further away from the net. All you have to do to make a successful 3 pointer, is to look straight at the net careful of your opponent defending you and apply as much force and energy to the ball as possible but remember to relax at all times since tension would not help you at all. Then make a high arc similar to that of how you make a jump shot. And oh yeah, another important thing about it is that you don't depend on the strength you apply to the ball. All you have to do is to use your wrist and practice all the time. That's very important".

Jin had also been kind enough to demonstrate to him how the shot was made.

The way he had done it, it had looked simple enough and Sakuragi had told him that but Jin just laughed and said, "Yes it does, doesn't it? Until you try it yourself".

At that time, Sakuragi didn't understand what he was talking about since he was talking to a genius who had made a successful 3 pointer shot, though however lucky it was, himself to save the day but now he understood. But he would never admit it to anyone much less to Jin.

However, Jin was not the only one of whom he had asked. Mitsui and, of course, Anzai sensei had been the two other people whom he had asked the same question as he had asked Jin.

Mitsui's answer had been more or less the same as Jin's except the fact that he had bragged on and on first before he did any explanation about his talent on it to Sakuragi's annoyance. His sensei on the other hand had at first looked surprised then amused then pleased, to Sakuragi's puzzlement, before he answered.

"Ne, Sakuragi-kun. I am afraid that in order for you to learn the 3 pointer shot you have to master all of the shots you have learnt first.

"After you are sure and confident that you have mastered them well enough, see how you can master a 3 pointer by using the similar techniques of all the shots that you have learnt and mastered. You shall see that every shot that you make, there is a similar technique to it".

In other words, the sensei was of less much help than the others since Sakuragi did not understand what the heck he was talking about. His sensei had also advised him, if he wanted, to practice just about 40 000 shots of them before their next match who was the toughest yet for the next two weeks.

`40 000 shots, eh?' thought Sakuragi as he stared at the ball between his hands and gritted his teeth in frustration. 'I haven't even managed to make even one successful shot in 7 days', he thought in annoyance as he let the ball fall down to the ground and dribble it.

He stared at the net which was directly in front of him from behind the 3 pointer line and thought back not for the first time how he had made that unbelievably lucky 'tensai' (as he called it) and desperate 3 pointer shot.

He stopped dribbling and caught the ball in his hands. He then closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and replayed back the scene in his mind.

~FLASHBACK~

He glanced at the scoreboard and to his great shock and growing panic saw that they did not have enough time.

Their score was 88 (Aichi) to 86 (Kanagawa).

And the time was 5 seconds to the end of the second half.

And they were going to lose.

It was written all over his teammates' faces.

He did not like it.

Sure the time was pretty short he had yelled at them in an unbelievably calm tone and he had added that they also still had time and it was their turn to attack.

However, that time no one answered him. There was only silence bouncing back at him. Even the other players who were on the bench including the wild monkey were pretty quiet.

Their unusual silence only made him more frantic and something else bubbling inside of him; a sense of growing anger and helplessness mixed together. He had NOT liked the feeling. NOT. AT. ALL. But unexpectedly enough though despite all that he felt the strong stubborn determination in him, the feeling that often rose in him in situations similar to this. It was a rebellious feeling, one of the reasons why he had survived physically and emotionally all of these years leaving alone with an unknown drunk distant relative since he had lost both of his parents and survived through gang fights which always seemed to worm its way to him.

They were going to lose and that was a clear fact.

The fact that they were going to lose made him smile.

In fact he wanted to laugh.

In situations like this, a tensai was called for.

The only tensai around was him and that was more than enough.

They were going to win or his name was not tensai Sakuragi Hanamichi a.k.a. future MVP and the overall king of rebounds.

Without even him knowing it, a plan had already formed in his mind and his body was tensed and ready for action.

'5 seconds be damned', he had thought with a small smile.

Maki was guarded by Moroboshi, the Star of Aichi, on his right, sweating and tensing like hell. Sendoh who was on his left was guarded by Gono, a damn excellent player who might as well have been a clone of Sendoh himself in terms of his playing skills and techniques, and was having a hard time matching up with him. Fujima was not far away from him to his right. He had the ball, playing as a point guard this time, but he was guarded by the tall jerk, Hiroshi, who should have been born as a tree trunk than a bulldozer of a player and there was no way he could pass the ball anywhere much less make a 3 pointer shot over head. The tall guy was like a tower next to Fujima's short frame. Rukawa was somewhere slightly to his left and he was being guarded by a senior, Shien, a tough guy who was made like an American football player rather than a basketball player but he was a head taller than Rukawa and played the game as if he had been the one who had invented it. Sakuragi, on the other hand, was guarded by the shortest player of the team which is to say about the same height as his other teammate Miyagi Ryota. His guard, Hibiki, might be short but he was one hell of a player especially when it comes to playing defence. In other words looking at the situation and things as it were around him, there was ZERO chance for them to even make a move much less make a shot to win the game.

5 seconds was about to run out...

And then...

Rukawa was the first one to notice it.

His eyes widened in surprise much to his guard's confusion.

Sakuragi had somehow eluded Hibiki in a blink of an eye while the guard was slightly distracted with reading Fujima's move. What was more surprising was the fact that Hibiki did not seem to notice Sakuragi's disappearance. At least not until he was beside Fujima and was stealing the ball right from his hands.

"What the...", said Hibiki momentarily surprised but rushed to Sakuragi in a matter of seconds.

From those 3 seconds that was left on the clock, chaos erupted from both teams.

"Oi, Sakuragi. What are you doing?!", said Fujima while he tried to get away from Hiroshi who was blocking his way.

"Sakuragi!", Maki had yelled and waving at him like what and tried to rush to him but Moroboshi was holding him back.

"Sakuragi! Give the ball to Rukawa!", said Sendoh waving his arm towards Rukawa over Gono who was holding him back like a vicious bull dog.

But Rukawa, on the other hand, did not make any move for Sakuragi. In fact, he did not do much of anything except stare at him.

Sakuragi had remembered vaguely that he wondered what the heck he was staring at but he ignored it and automatically ignored Sendoh's order.

Sakuragi was barely aware of his surroundings, of the shouts and yells of his team mates, as he stepped behind a line which he was not aware of but at the same time unconsciously was. He raised his eyes to look at his target, the net, which seemed so far away and raised his arms in a high arc. Almost in a blur, with deadening calm, he let the ball fly away from his hands.

2 seconds...

Everyone stared at the ball which was flying high overhead them. It was so high that they wondered how the hell that was possible.

1 second...

The ball was falling... falling so fast that it was a blur and looked like a meteorite about to crash on earth.

It also looked like it had no chance of getting through the net.

And everyone knew it.

There was also the fact that the shooter was Sakuragi and everyone knew that he had never attempted a 3 pointer shot before much less learn it. It would take a miracle for the shot to go through.

Even before anything happened, Rukawa was the first one to be shocked because...

Zero second later...

A miracle did happen.

The ball had swished through the net.

Right before the whistle that marked the end of the game was blown.

He had done it.

The official score was 88 (Aichi) to 89 (Kanagawa).

The idiot had actually done it.

Silence of shock and disbelief had waved through the Aichi indoor basketball stadium like an incoming tsunami.

Then...

Kiyota Nobunaga broke it.

"WHAT THE HELL!", he had shouted as he ran towards Sakuragi looking as if he wanted so badly to murder him but at the same time worship him like a god. However, he settled on punching an equally shocked Sakuragi like a punching bag instead and yelling, "You jack ass! You piece of idiot! You red-haired monkey! You DID it! I just can NOT believe it!".

After that he did not remember much of anything that had happened. All he had remembered was that he was momentarily numbed with shock of what he had done and a too familiar pale face that had slightly smiled back at him.

Now who could that person be?

~END OF FLASHBACK~

Without him knowing it while he was replaying back the play in his mind, he had unconsciously followed the feeling and steps of when he had made the shot. Only when had opened his eyes did he realise that the ball which had been in his hands a few minutes ago was now high up in the air and a second later had swished smoothly through the net like a dream.

It was only when the ball hit the ground did he snap back from his momentary state of shock at his second success of shooting a 3 pointer.

A second later he was bouncing up and down, yelling in exultance.

***

It was not unusual for Rukawa to be up and about so early in the morning as he too was one of the players, aside from Maki, Fujima and Akagi, who routinely did early self practice before the actual team practice itself.

But what was unusual, at least in Rukawa's mind or that he simply had just noticed it, was the fact that when he had come downstairs from his shared quarters with a basketball spinning around on his forefinger, he saw Anzai sensei drinking a nice steamy coffee in the TV hall. He also had a towel wrapped around his neck, wore a morning exercise sports shirt and was reading the daily newspaper while the TV in front of him was on.

For a minute there, Rukawa blinked at the sight of his sensei sitting there and stopped in his tracks while the ball on his finger was still spinning.

"Anzai sensei?", said Rukawa as if to make sure that it was his sensei that he was seeing.

At the sound of his voice, Anzai sensei looked up from his newspaper, saw Rukawa at the bottom of the stairs and smiled.

"Oh, it's you, Rukawa-kun. Ohayo gozaimasu", greeted Anzai sensei pleasantly. He motioned him over. "Come have some coffee".

"Ohayo gozaimasu", murmured Rukawa in return as he went over to his sensei, his ball tucked under one arm.

As Rukawa sat down adjacent to his sensei, Anzai sensei poured him a cup of coffee.

"Help yourself, Rukawa-kun", his sensei said gesturing to the fresh rolls and pancakes which was spread on the table before them.

"Hai. Arigato gozaimasu", murmured Rukawa, as he sipped his hot coffee and helped himself with a piece of pancake.

His sensei then resumed back to reading the newspaper while Rukawa ate and watched a little bit of the morning news from the TV.

Just as Rukawa was about to leave the table for his early morning practice, his sensei suddenly put down his paper, folded it in half and put it aside. He leaned forward, picked up a tea spoon and slowly stirred his coffee.

Sensing that his sensei wanted to say something, Rukawa decided to remain seated and patiently waited for his sensei to speak up.

"Rukawa-kun", said his sensei, looking up at Rukawa with his always pleasant grandfatherly like smile. "What do you think of Sakuragi's shot in the last match that we've had?".

The question, which was so unexpected, had caught him by surprise and had left him looking blank and taken aback although his face remained coolly expressionless.

"Sakuragi?", he murmured. "What about him?".

He chuckled. "I am thinking of the rapid progress that boy is making. The last shot that he had made, which had taken me by complete surprise, had yet proven my theory about him".

`Theory? What is the sensei talking about?', thought Rukawa, frowning slightly.

"Theory, sensei?", asked Rukawa looking slightly puzzled.

"Ah", the sensei said, nodding. He bit into a sliced roll before continuing, "A small one but nothing significant, I'm afraid".

His sensei then drank down his coffee while Rukawa waited patiently for him to continue.

But he did not really continue. All he said was before Rukawa left.

"Ah, Rukawa-kun. Before you go can you do me a favour and check the outdoor basketball court up front? Make sure that there is no one occupying it since the coaches and I had decided just yesterday that we'll have our practice outdoors rather than indoors today for a change. A little bit of fresh air never hurts anyone".

***

On his way to the outdoor basketball court which was not far away from the apartment where they were living, he wondered again over the conversation he had had with his sensei not five minutes ago.

"What do you think about Sakuragi, Rukawa-kun?", Anzai sensei had asked him. Well, it was something similar to that.

"What about him?", Rukawa muttered as he spun the basketball that he had brought with him on his forefinger.

Actually, Anzai sensei had also asked him that similar question not long ago when he had for the first time went to his sensei's house to tell him of his plans of going to the U.S. to further his experience in playing basketball.

The answer to that question had also been the same answer as he had answered his sensei a few minutes ago.

 

"What about him?".

Right then like it had been five minutes ago, his answer only brought a chuckle out of his sensei.

Rukawa thought back again of what his sensei's real question was five minutes ago.

`The idiot's 3 pointer shot?', he thought with a frown. `I don't think anything much of it. Anyone could do it. I can do it even better than him'.

But then he really thought about his sensei's question and wondered what the real question was behind it.

Come to think of it, he replayed back the scene of Sakuragi's shot in his mind. He remembered staring at the idiot thinking that he was finally going nuts what with him taking the desperate situation into his own hands and risking a shot that he had never attempted much less learnt before but at the same time seeing the complete calm and control of himself and the execution of the shot that he had made there had been absolutely no doubt in his mind that he'd make one clean beautiful shot. And it did too. He had to admit. That had shocked him for a good full minute that time but then again he should not have been surprised since the idiot seemed to have all the luck in the world. To be exact, all the beginners' luck in the world.

When he was near the outdoor basketball court, Rukawa slowed down his walk but then frowned when he caught the sound of a familiar 'thumping' of something hitting against the ground.

It seemed like a ball was being dribbled and apparently someone was occupying the court.

Since he had done the favour that his sensei had asked him, Rukawa turned around and was about to leave the area when he heard a familiar voice cursing a loud foul curse under his breath.

Finding himself a little bit puzzled and curious, Rukawa decided to investigate the owner of the voice.

When he did, he was not surprised to find the owner of the voice being the idiot Sakuragi but what did make him surprised and slightly amused was the fact that it seemed to him that Sakuragi was trying to make some kind of shot.

Boink! went off the first shot against the board.

Boink! came another shot that went right off the board.

It went on and on like that for 10 times with all of them executed in a series of lousy and clumsy shots.

The scene was also making Rukawa bored out of his wits. Apparently, the idiot needed to learn the basics of how to make whatever shot he was making before he actually did the intended shot. Of course, Rukawa had no intention of helping him with that though. Rukawa had bigger fish to fry and become the best player the country had yet ever seen. But first he had to beat that Sannoh player, Sawakita, first since he was still the number one high school player in the country even though Shohoku had beaten them by a hair not three months ago in the Inter-High games.

Rukawa was about to turn and head back for the indoor basketball court that they usually use for practice when something caught his attention.

Sakuragi had now closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating on something. When he raised his arms high in an arc, Rukawa realized with a sudden burst of flashback that the red head was doing the same thing again as he did before he had made the last shot that had saved their team in their last game.

He knew like before even before the ball flew up in the air towards the net that the 3 pointer shot was perfectly executed and there no way he was going to miss. And it did not. The shot was indeed perfect.

Rukawa did not believe it. For the second time he did not believe it.

The idiot had actually made the shot.

He did not even have his eyes opened at that time.

It was when Rukawa had left leaving Sakuragi yelling, not so strangely, like a madman at the success of his shot did he remember another thing that Anzai sensei had once said.

"Ho, ho, ho. The two might never learn to co-operate with each other but they are the best young players I have ever seen in quite a while. There is no doubt in my mind that they will take the country by storm".

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