Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ When enemies become friends ❯ 03: Friends and Rivals ( Chapter 3 )

Revised by Meeksins, 290409.

Disclaimer: Formalities ~I did not create Slam Dunk. Thank you. However, the `combined team' was my idea.

Author's Note: Thanks for all your reviews! ^_^.

03: Friends and Rivals

That night...

Outside, the rain was pouring down heavily making the rafters bang around loudly but the people inside the apartment that they stayed in were not disturbed by it. Anyway, by then they were already sleeping peacefully and soundly rather exhausted from the day's tough workout.

That is except for two certain individuals.

###

It was already becoming a habit for Sakuragi to have a work out by himself late in the night. Usually he'd prefer practicing at the outdoor basketball court since that's the place where the others would not get to catch the genius practicing if they happened to pass by the indoor court or practice by themselves in there if he were to take all his practices in the indoor court. But tonight it did not seem like he had any other choice but to take his practices inside. But then again with all the others already sound asleep and the rain pouring like a typhoon was in the process of blowing them all the away, he did not think that anybody would hear him anyway so he was safe and he had the night all to himself.

He did not want the others to know that he was practicing and training himself in secret. In other words, he wanted to surprise every one of them and just show them what a real genius can do. Besides, he wanted to beat the hell out of Rukawa. The guy just pissed him off. It seemed like he got all the glory and fame and the luck. Not just that, but he also had Haruko-san's attention.

"Kuso", he cursed viciously at that reminder making him even more determined than ever to get through all the 40 000 shots that his sensei had advised him to do.

But he had a long way to go.

1 out of 40 000 shots is certainly nowhere near enough.

###

As usual, Rukawa was training himself to the extreme with his mind full of all the strongest rivals he had ever faced in his basketball life.

First, there was Maki. Even though, he was a teammate at least for now and they were on good terms with each other like he was with almost the rest of the team, he still considered him as his arch rival though lately he had beaten him in a one on one match three or four times already.

Then there were Fujima and Sendoh. Another two of his current teammates. He had to admit, Fujima was as strong as Maki but understood why he could never beat Maki. It was simply because, even though his skills and techniques were fantastic and impressive, Fujima was predictable. At least, in the eyes of another ace. In some one on one match he had with him, he also had won about the same number times as he did with Maki. Sendoh, on the other hand, was a whole different topic altogether. It was true what people said about him being on the same level with Maki but the guy was as tough as nails compared to him (Maki) despite his carefree and sunny attitude. At least that's his opinion. Out of four one on one match with him, they were equal. Sendoh was either improving or he was catching up with him.

Then there's that game that was coming up in the next two weeks. The game between their team and the Akita Shoten prefecture team. The game that, in his and everyone's opinion, will be the toughest of the lot. This was because among the four teams that represented the prefecture, Sannoh, the 33 years running champion until about three months ago when they were beaten for the first time by Shohoku, was one of them.

Besides that fact, he was finally going to have another match with one of the players who was still marked as the best player in the nation. A match that will finally declare who was the best player in the nation. He did not give a damn if it was a personal or public match. He just wanted to settle the score once and for all.

He knew that without a doubt Sawakita, the best player, would want to settle the match as much as he did.

After all, Sawakita was almost a carbon copy of himself.

At least in terms of skills, techniques and calculated calmness and determination.

***

Sakuragi was getting nowhere with his shots. Sure, his jump shots, lay-up shots, under the basket shots and his dunk shots went perfectly well but how the hell can one describe 3 pointer shots that either bounced off the ring or bounced off the board or did not even touch the ring of the net at all?

He still had 39 000 shots to go.

And it had already been three hours since he had started.

"Kuso!", cursed Sakuragi, slamming the ball, which he had been crushing in his hands, to the ground.

The ball bounced off to a tall height from its forceful impact and proceeded to bounce off on its own and well away from Sakuragi.

The echoes of the ball bouncing away filled the quiet hall with the background noise of the rain still pouring outside.

Sakuragi slumped towards the court's floor. No, he was not defeated. No. He was far from it.

He stared at the receding ball which had rolled away to the far end of the hall. The ball had now stopped rolling and was quietly sitting in a corner, almost covered by the shadow it provided.

He still stared at the ball but he did not see it. What he saw was the terrible shots that he had executed not hours ago and thought what the hell was the matter with all of his attempted shots.

Holding his head in his hands, he thought it all over again, trying to spot the mistakes he could have done in all of his shots but... he couldn't spot any. He did not think a genius like himself could make any mistakes anyway. But then, why can't he make the 3 pointer shots?

He then abruptly sat upright.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

He cranked his neck to his right and looked hard at the closed opaque sliding door which lead to the other indoor court with a frown.

THUMP THUMP THUMP

There it was again. The sound of a ball being dribbled away. Apparently, someone was next door and using the other court.

It seems that he was not the only one who was practicing that night.

Curious, he stood up and went to the door.

`Now, who could that be at this hour?', Sakuragi thought as he glanced at the clock wall that showed that it was already one o'clock in the morning.

Slowly, he slide the door open.

And just in time saw Rukawa making a dunk shot.

The dunk shot he had made was so powerful that it shook the post. The post was still shaking even after Rukawa had jumped down from the ring after hanging there for a minute to catch hold of his breath.

At first, Sakuragi was slightly taken aback at the sight of Rukawa being there, also practicing alone by himself but then again he was not really surprised since everyone knew that Rukawa had a habit of having night time practices on his own.

But that did not mean that he was happy to see him there.

Feeling the familiar irritation and sense of rivalry whenever Rukawa was around, he almost automatically yelled a bloody curse at him and give him a punch or two but then he stopped when he saw that Rukawa was running for the 3 pointer shot line.

Almost immediately, without himself knowing it, Sakuragi observed every move Rukawa made to make the shot.

He saw that before he had executed the shot, Rukawa had at first made a jump similar to that of a jump shot. He also saw that his eyes were high and aimed straight for the net, no hesitation, with his arms high in the air in a high arc. When he let the ball fly through the air, Sakuragi saw that he did not so much as use his strength but he did make a forceful push with his right hand, his wrist doing all the work, with his other left hand just steadying the ball and did nothing else just like how a jump shot was done. In all of that though, what he noticed the most was that his posture was relaxed and not tensed. Like his sensei always told him that to make any shot, he would have to be relaxed and not in the least bit tensed.

Rukawa's shot went right through the hoop.

Unconsciously, Sakuragi fisted his fist at that.

`Kuso', thought Sakuragi menacingly. `That baka kitsune'.

He stormed back into the other indoor court where he had been practicing earlier sliding the door shut with a bang though he did not realise it.

Grabbing a nearby ball and dribbling it to the nearest post, he said under his breath determination lining in it, "I'll beat you, Rukawa. You, wait and see".

***

`The idiot never learns how to be quiet', thought Rukawa dryly as he made a middle range jump shot.

The ball went right in.

He knew that the red haired idiot had been in the other court practicing what seems to be more of the 3 pointer shots that he had caught him doing the other day at the outdoor basketball court. By the sound of it though, he wasn't getting much luck with it.

His loud foul curses had confirmed him that much.

He did not realise the idiot had been watching him play, for how long a length of time; he did not know and didn't care to know, until he had banged the sliding the door closed surprising the hell out of him.

"Kuso!", came another curse from Sakuragi in the next court.

Rukawa just sighed and shook his head.

He certainly was not one of his strongest rivals.

At that thought he frowned.

But then again, he had almost matched up with the Sannoh player, Sawakita, in their last winning game of the Inter-High games. Also there was the fact that Anzai sensei had sensed that Sakuragi was more than what he seemed to be.

Besides, there was the fact that when the idiot had challenged him on a one on one game about four months ago, Rukawa had instinctively used all his energy and skills just to beat the idiot beginner. Till now, he didn't know why he had done that except that that time he had felt a little bit threatened by Sakuragi's bottomless stamina and unpredictable moves.

Just in case what the sensei had said might come true, Rukawa decided not to cross Sakuragi completely out from his list of his possible rivals.

***

An hour later..

"Kuso!", cursed Sakuragi yet again as the ball fell off the ring after it circled around it for the third time. "I almost had it!".

He glowered at the bouncing ball as if it was its fault.

"Why didn't you fall in, you... stupid..?!"

"Che. You talking to a ball, do'aho?", interrupted a familiar cool bored voice suddenly to his right.

Sakuragi immediately stiffened at the sound of the voice. Immediately, he whirled around to face him yelling, "Temme, Rukawa!".

"Urusee, do'aho. People are still sleeping".

But he ignored him. "You bad luck baka! Look what you made that ball do! I almost had it go in!".

A ball suddenly zoomed its way to him hitting him squarely on his face. It was followed by a harsh cool voice.

"I said 'Urusee', do'aho".

"Temme, Rukawa!!!".

Rukawa just sighed and shook his head as he entered the other court lazily with another ball spinning around on one forefinger.

Sakuragi was rubbing his red injured face muttering some curses and looked like he wanted to pound Rukawa to the ground but managed to say without actually starting any form of physical violence, "What the heck are you doing here?".

At first Rukawa did not say anything. He just stood there looking as bored and as cool as he always looked with the ball still spinning around on one forefinger to the next. Then he said in that low voice of his, "I got tired of hearing your curses and lousy shots from next door so I decided to see for myself what the hell you were doing".

"NANI?!", said an angry Sakuragi. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?!".

"If I am, you'll be the loser", said Rukawa coolly in return.

"Why you...".

But before Sakuragi could murder him on the spot, Rukawa vanished right in front of him in the blink of an eye.

"Nanda?!..", said a baffled Sakuragi, but then turned around and just in time saw Rukawa making a 3 pointer shot.

A second later, the ball went right through.

Picking up the same ball from beneath the post, Rukawa said, "Were you trying make that shot?".

`How the hell did he know that?', thought Sakuragi taken aback.

"What if I was?", Sakuragi challenged.

Rukawa just shrugged, resuming with spinning the ball back on one finger. "Nothing. Thing is you'll never master that shot".

"What did you say, Rukawa?!".

".. unless you have someone to help you".

Sakuragi stopped and stared opened mouth at him.

He blinked then slowly said, "Are you suggesting that you want to help the tensai?..".

Rukawa rolled his eyes slightly and puffed out an exasperated sigh. "What the hell are you talking about, do'aho? I'll never help you in anything".

"Then why are you even talking about this 'helping' stuff that I need? What would you know?", demanded Sakuragi, his eyes narrowing.

Rukawa slightly raised an eyebrow. "I'm one of the best players around, do'aho. Of course I'd know", he said coolly as he went off to the other court.

"Hey, where're you going?", said Sakuragi.

"Sleep", muttered Rukawa under his breath without so much as looking back at him.

"No stamina left, I see", Sakuragi snickered.

"Whatever, do'aho", said Rukawa coolly as he slide the door closed behind him.

Sakuragi snickered all the way and continued making the shots. This time, even though his shots still did not go in, his aiming was getting better and each and every shot he had made almost went right in.

***

After he had washed his sweat off in the locker shower room and changed into his fresh clothes, he was about to call it a night and go upstairs to sleep when for some reason he decided to go back to the indoor court and see how the red head idiot was doing.

When he was back in the indoor court, with Sakuragi oblivious to his presence, he saw that he wasn't doing badly. At least his shots weren't as bad as before. It was still bad but not as messy and clumsy as before.

`The idiot's learning pretty fast', Rukawa thought with a slight frown on his face as he watched Sakuragi making another 3 pointer shot.

It almost went right in except for the fact that the ball didn't seem to want to go into net. In fact, it went around the ring twice before it decided to fall off on its side.

Rukawa had spotted the mistake that he had made.

"KUSO!", cursed Sakuragi yet again.

"You were too tense, do'aho", said Rukawa from the doorway and who were partially covered by the shadows of the corner hall.

Sakuragi jumped almost a meter high at the unexpected voice.

Again, he whirled around. "What the hell are you doing here this time? No wonder the ball didn't go in. You are here. Well?", he demanded angrily.

As if Sakuragi hadn't just said anything, Rukawa said, "You were too tense, do'aho".

"I was what?!".

"You heard me, do'aho", Rukawa said, as he strolled over.

"I was not! A tensai does not tense".

"Whatever", said Rukawa as he picked up a stray ball and dribbled it.

He went behind the 3 pointer line and said, "See this line?". He tapped one of his feet onto the white line on the floor. "That's a 3 pointer line".

"Wakatarayou!".

Rukawa ignored his glare.

He jerked his thumb behind him toward the net and said, "And that's a net".

"I know that!".

Rukawa then positioned himself behind the line in a stance to shoot a 3 pointer.

"Watch and learn, do'aho", he said before he executed the shot.

It goes without saying that it went right through the net.

"Piece of cake", said Rukawa the second the ball bounced back to the ground.

Sakuragi's hand unconsciously fisted in irritation.

"If you want to make a successful 3 pointer shot, figure out how I did that".

With that Rukawa went off.

An hour later, at 3 in the morning, he turned in for the night.

He glanced at the black haired kitsune who had his head buried under a pillow with his head phones of his disc man over his ear and drooling in his sleep adjacent to where he slept.

Sakuragi just shook his head.

He didn't understand the baka kitsune. He had just said that there was no way he'd ever help him out in anything.

That night, after Rukawa left, Sakuragi had managed to score ten 3 pointers.

Only 38 990 shots to go.

He dozed off with a satisfied and triumphant smile on his face.

###END OF CHAPTER###

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