Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ When enemies become friends ❯ 10: The boys with the attitude; Sakuragi and Rukawa COMBI! ( Chapter 10 )

Revised by Meeksins, 290409.

Disclaimers: Slam Dunk belongs to Takehiko Inoue sensei. I, on the other hand, own nothing except for this fanfic and the star combi's my idea.

A/N: This is NON-YAOI. Story takes place after Shohoku's match against Sannoh. Their match against Sannoh can be found in the last six volumes of SD.

Btw, I have no idea how the yen thing works so I just simply put in a number.

10: The boys with the attitude; Sakuragi and Rukawa COMBI!

A raven haired young woman, who was wearing a red cap, bit the side of her lip in anxiety and brimming excitement as she shifted restlessly in her seat at the back of the taxi that she was currently in.

The taxi driver sensing his patron's restlessness and excitement looked at her on the rear view mirror with a grin as yet again she shifted herself into another position as if uncomfortable in her seat.

"Should be about finished by now, shouldn't it?", said the driver, referring to the place of destination they were heading and the event he knew that was being held there.

The young woman turned sharply to look at the driver in the rear view mirror, startled from the worry that she was currently in.

She blinked once then twice at the kind faced man who was still grinning at her via the mirror. "Finished?", she asked as if she didn't know what he was referring to.

The taxi driver slightly raised an eyebrow at her. Seeing the blank look on her face and the apparent worry in it said gently, "The Inter-Prefecture tournament that's being held there. If I'm not mistaken from what I know from last night's news, there's a match being held there between the Kanagawa and the Akita".

She blinked but only once. Then, realising her current zonked out state, she closed her eyes and shook her head as if to shake off her blank and numbed state before she opened her eyes again and look at the driver through the mirror.

She smiled sheepishly. "Ano..., summimasen (excuse me/sorry), Ji-san (sir). I didn't mean to go off blankly like that".

The taxi driver just smiled and waved one hand off the steering wheel a sign that clearly showed he did not mind at all. "Mah, mah. That's alright, young lady. I can see that you're anxious about something. If you don't mind my asking, Miss, does it have anything to do with the match at the indoor court stadium where we're headed?".

A slight frown creased the side of her lips at that as some of her worry was seeping back into her expression at the mention of the game. "Hai".

When she wasn't quick enough to elaborate and explain, the taxi driver continued to ask, "So which team do you support? Are you an Akita fan? I'm not much of a basketball fan myself so I don't know a lot about it especially high school basketball. But I've got a son and a couple of nephews who says that Akita team has got to be one of the best teams that the nation has ever had. Of course, I think that they said that because the Sannoh team which happens to be the champion for 33 years in a row in high school basketball's in it".

The taxi driver droned on and on not realising that his patron at the back was silent and in deep thought.

It was only when the driver realised that they were going to arrive soon at their destination that he remembered the question he had put to his current patron earlier and he still hadn't got an answer.

"Well? Which team do you support? My son and nephews put about five thousand yen (~US$50) bet each to their friends that the Akita team would win an easy match with the opposing team".

The driver didn't realise it but his question and the comment about the bet put an invisible but intense pressure on her. She almost sighed her relief out loud when the taxi stopped at the foyer of the indoor stadium, clearly having arrived at her requested destination.

She quickly paid the driver and stepped out of the taxi but didn't forget to answer his earlier question.

The taxi driver was about to call her but she cut him off with a smile as she popped her head back in for a minute, letting the door to the passenger seat still open.

"I'd bet thrice the amount of the bet that your son and nephews put in", she suddenly said with a half smile, a gleam of something the driver wasn't sure that he saw went past her brown eyes in a second.

A bit surprised by her unexpected answer, he smiled then. "For the Akita team?".

The young woman gave a beautiful smile, one he knew that his mentioned son and nephews would find hard to resist.

"Iie", said the raven haired young woman, winking and smiling at him as she waved him the peace sign with her fingers. "I have no doubt that MY team will win".

With that she gently closed the passenger seat, adjusted her red cap, red jacket and backpack in place and rushed towards the entrance.

But before she rushed off, she gave him a wave of good bye and thanks as well as a thumbs up. A grin etched on her face.

It was also not the only thing that he noticed.

He also wondered right then how he didn't notice it earlier on. Because...

Right on her front red cap, a few prominent characters were etched on it in black.

The proud characters that shouted:

"KANAGAWA!".

+++++++++

A bespectacled dark brown haired young man glanced back at his wrist watch for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, clearly worried about something or at least must be late for something if his gestures meant anything.

'Less than ten minutes until the game ends', thought the man, tapping the end of his foot lightly in his worry and increasing excitement. 'They should be about at the last part of the game when I arrive there'.

He looked up at the station map above his head. He counted the number of stations that he had to stop by to get to his destination and the time for him to get there. 'About 4 more stations. Hope I get there just in time'.

Just then the subway train stopped at a station, doors sliding open to let other passengers off it and admit new passengers into it.

He squeezed aside a bit to let the people pass him either in or out of the train. The train rang out a warning then telling any last minute passengers that the doors were about to close when a familiar voice rang out an alarmed, "Matte! (Wait!)".

The bespectacled man who was among the passengers who stood by near the door was startled by the shout and turned to see a small built high school boy running at top speed towards the closing door.

"What the...", said a couple of startled men, among them the said bespectacled man as they gave way to the boy who lunged into the small space though the door and made it just in time to get into the train.

"Oi, oi. Be careful, boy. You'll hurt yourself if you make a habit of doing that", said an older looking man looking disapprovingly at the boy.

The boy who was trying to catch his breath huffed and puffed from his rush but he managed to put a hand behind his head and said sheepishly in apology, "Summiasen (Sorry)".

The older man just shook his head and let his attention wander elsewhere.

It was then that the young boy's gaze met the gaze of the spectacled man in front of him.

An immediate recognition flashed by their expressions before surprise mirrored the other's.

"Kogure-san!", said the boy, with his eyes wide with surprise.

The brown eyes behind the bespectacled man widened a bit then at the mention of his name. "Hikoichi-kun?".

Hikoichi immediately nodded apparently excited that Kogure, former vice-captain of Shohoku which was one of his team's, Ryonan, strongest rivals, remembered him. "What are you doing here, Kogure-san? I'd thought you'd already be there for the Kanagwa Vs Akita match in Tokyo".

As usual he went straight to the point thought Kogure who remembered Hikoichi as the unofficial reporter or information gatherer for the Ryonan team.

Kogure just smiled and said, "Yes, I know. But unfortunately, I've had some unfinished university stuff to do so I couldn't get to go and see the game earlier myself. How about you, Hikoichi-kun? Aren't you one of the Kanagawa team's managers?".

Hikoichi sighed then said, "Yeah, I am. But I had to do a report on this other game the Nagasaki team Vs the Osaka team. My sister (the main reporter for a daily sports magazine) couldn't do it since she had to make a report on another match elsewhere which also happens to be at the same time as this other match. In other words, she dragged me into it and threatened me that if I refused to do it for her she's going to make my life miserable".

A sweat drop ran down the side of Kogure's head at this. "Ah, soka ...", he said, not knowing what else to say.

"Anyway", said Hikoichi, brightening up. "The match was truly incredible the one between Nagasaki and Osaka. Even though they were evenly matched, Osaka won by two points. The excitement of the game still lingers with me. It's also what's making me excited for the game between our hometown and the Akita team".

Kogure just nodded.

"I hope the Kanagawa players are doing fine", said Hikoichi almost to himself as a flash of his team's chosen members flashed through his mind as well as a certain red head and a certain raven head players.

Kogure nodded and agreed grimly remembering that Sannoh, one of the Akita's joint teams, was not one team to be taken lightly despite the fact that the Shohoku team did win over them by a hair in the last IH games.

"From my research of the Akita team and from what I've personally observed from the recorded videos from the last match that you guys, the Shohoku, had with the Sannoh team, even I'm worried about what the outcome will be in this match", said Hikoichi worried and anxious.

Kogure who was as worried and anxious as Hikoichi said calmly as if to reassure him as well as himself, "Daijoubu, Hikoichi-kun. The Kanagawa team will not be beaten so easily by any team and that includes Akita no matter how strong everyone says there are".

The train slowed down then with an automated voice announcing their next stop.

As they stepped off the train and exited the subway station together, each of their minds thought of the same thing.

' Ganbareyou, Minna-san'.

 

++++++++

Three fast moving figures zoomed towards the main door that lead into the indoor basketball court stadium. The lone figure apparently not noticing the other two zooming figures on one side that was fast heading towards the same direction as said figure. Apparently, the other two figures did not notice the other figure as well as they smashed into each other at the door with a loud BANG.

The impact made all three fall back onto their backs and each letting out a shriek, a gasp and a yelp.

"Why, you....", said a bubbling enraged red capped female.

"Ano, summimasen...", said a dark brown haired young man, adjusting his glasses while he started to get up.

"I..Itai yo..", said a boy, cringing from the sting of his no doubt slightly bruised butt.

It was then all three looked at the other at the same time.

"AYAKO-SAN!", said both Kogure and Hikoichi simultaneously, their surprise evident on their faces.

"KOGURE-SEMPAI! HIKOICHI-KUN!", said a surprised but delighted Ayako as she was assisted to stand up on her two feet from both of senior and junior.

"O genki desu ka, Kogure-sempai? Are you done already with your uni work?", asked Ayako, grinning from side to side, glad to see her senior since it had been a long time that she, and the rest of the team, last seen him.

"Sa... ma ne...", said Kogure, a hand behind his head with a slight smile.

"How about you, Hikoichi-kun?", said Ayako, turning to face Hikoichi who turned red faced under his senior's stern scrutiny. "How was the report?".

"Just fine, Ayako-sempai... Ha ha", said Hikoichi a bit nervously at Ayako's famous stern face and sharp look. Like Kogure he also had a hand behind his head. Somehow, Ayako reminded him a bit of his elder sister.

"Ano.. Ayako-san. What's the score of the match right now?", said Kogure trying not to show his anxiety though the excitement was still there in his voice and expression.

Ayako's eyebrows raised at that and shrugged as an answer. "Sa. I've no idea. Like you two, I've only just arrived here so I've missed out on most of the game as well".

Seeing the surprised look on Kogure's face, she explained as the three proceeded to enter the indoor court through the door. "Family crisis back at home. So can't go with the guys here in Tokyo. In fact, it's a lucky break that I'm even here. Looks like my lucks looking up".

Kogure just nodded at her as the stadium erupted in a series deafening cheer as well as some jeer.

Ayako slapped one hand against one ear closing it as another loud cheer burst on one side of the stadium, chanting, "AKITA! AKITA! AKITA!".

Hikoichi, on the other hand, whipped his trusty notebook out and was scribbling something furiously into it.

They walked far enough towards the end of the court and almost arrived at the Kanagwa team bench area when they saw the score.

84 (Kanagawa) to 114 (Akita)

27 points difference.

With time less than 3 minutes.

However, that was not the only thing that had captured their attentions.

Hikoichi was the first to voice it out.

"W...What happened?".

Silence reigned the minds of the all the Kanagawa members especially the ones on court. The deafening noise that filled the stadium was drowned by the expanse silence of it, only broken by Sawakita's echoing words.

Words that meant war.

From the bench...

Miyagi, who was among the people who heard Sawakita's insulting words, cracked his knuckles unconsciously, the sound dangerously threatening for all who heard it. "Yarou", growled Miyagi at the ace Akita player.

Mitsui, on the other hand, clenched his teeth so hard he didn't care that he was crushing all his teeth and in danger of losing them in the process. "That bastard kid is asking for trouble", he said through his clenched teeth.

Maki and Fujima who was burning up with rage like the rest of the team members, just clenched their fists and gave a sharp look towards opposing team specifically at Sawakita. 'Gaki...', the word growled menacingly in both their thoughts.

All the centres especially Uozumi had to be restrained by the less passionately enraged players from doing chaos on court.

The coaches were also not to be left out from their own enraged states...

Taoka sensei, like Uozumi had to be physically restrained by some of the team members. Takato sensei, on the other hand, was more restrained in his rage by only splitting his favourite fan in half.

While Anzai sensei, on the other hand, didn't show any signs of outrage. In fact, he just gave off his infamous chuckle inwardly (knowing that he'll get the other senseis overboard with their own raged states if he did chuckle outwardly).

Calmly and quietly, the white haired old man then said,

"Sa.. Let the game.. begin".

+++++

On court...

"Do'aho", said Rukawa, approaching his red headed teammate from the back.

Sakuragi who was literally burning in his own spiral of red aura around him heard his kitsune of a teammate call him and said without facing him. "Ah, wakataroyou".

+++++

Akagi had just in time caught the back of Kiyota's red jersey uniform, though just barely, from letting the wild monkey run lose and beat the daylights out of the arrogant ace player.

"DAMMIT! Let me beat the crap out of that piece of shit!", said Kiyota furiously, lunging forward but Akagi's gorilla grip was too strong.

Akagi who could barely keep his temper in check at Sawakita's remark, said calmly his words flowing out slowly and carefully as if afraid that he'd lose his hold on his temper and said to Kiyota, "Beating the hell out of him is very tempting, I know. Because you're not the only one who'd like to send in a punch or two at the bastard. However, we have a game to win. And I as hell don't want anyone to get disqualified from this team that includes you, do you hear me, Kiyota? Now, calm down and set your mind onto the game".

Kiyota grinded his jaws down so hard he almost lost his tongue in the process of his effort to calm himself down.

When Akagi was sure that Kiyota was cooled down enough, he set the wild monkey free from his gorilla grip.

Messing up his hair like Maki would to him, Akagi said to Kiyota. "Sa, let's surprise the shit out of them and show them what we, the Kanagawas, got that they haven't seen yet".

Surprised at the encouraging words of the infamous gorilla like former Shohoku captain, Kiyota unknowingly cooled down at his words. Replacing his rage was the burning will and determination which was equal in intensity.

"Ah", managed a determined and fired up Kiyota, voicing his agreement.

Kiyota knew that he was not the only one who had the same feeling of an iron will of the thirst to win as the gorilla captain raised one eyebrow slightly and said, "Then, let's go".

++++++

"Nani yo...", muttered Sendoh, a dangerous gleam flashed through his eyes as his lips began to widen to a definite Sendoh style grin. Adrenaline was slowly pumping through his veins, his mind and body beginning to react to Sawakita's insulting words.

Sendoh was seriously beginning to get serious.

"Yoh, Fukatsu", said Sendoh to the point guard player who had the ball in front of him which made the other player startled but instantly causing him to be cautiously alert.

"Nanda?", said Fukatsu, looking at Sendoh suspiciously as if trying to see whether Sendoh was trying to distract him or not by his sudden mood to talk.

Sendoh just gave off that grin of his and said, "The fun starts here!".

With lightning quick reflexes, Sendoh smoothly stole the ball away from Fukatsu and already yelling for fast break to his other teammates.

Unperturbed by the steal, Fukatsu yelled "Defence!" to his teammates and zoomed after Sendoh who was not far ahead of him.

The minute Sendoh stole the ball out from Fukatsu's hands, Kiyota zoomed down the other half of the court leaving a startled and a taken aback Minoru from the Akita team behind.

Akagi, however, was not to be left behind as he too along with the King Kong centre of Akita ran towards the goal under the post either to defend or guard it.

While a certain red head and raven head were not to be seen anywhere on the other half side of the court.

Sendoh, who didn't pause for a minute in his run even though Fukatsu had managed to run past him and now trying to block his way, glanced around at his surroundings, saw his chance with Kiyota and without a moment's hesitation passed the ball to an awaiting Kiyota.

Kiyota made a mad dash for the board, sleekly running past the defensive walls of Minoru and Mikio.

Knowing that he had no chance to get a goal anywhere near the basket, with Kawata guarding there, Kiyota took his chance and made a mid range jump shot within the free throw area.

Kiyota's shot almost made it until a long arm appeared literally out of nowhere in front of the ball and the hand attached to it slammed the orange ball away from the net. The impact of the hit was so hard, only an orange blur could be seen flying through the air and about to crash on earth.

Then a saving hand caught the ball...

It was Rukawa's!

But Sawakita saw this move earlier on and lunged for the ball, slapping it away from Rukawa's grip incredibly without the whistle being blown.

Fukatsu, who foresaw Sawakita's intended move, caught the loose ball and made a mad dash for the other half side of the court but he was not going to get anywhere near there if Sendoh had something to say or rather do about it.

Sendoh, who by now knew Fukatsu's every move and reading them as easily as an open book, once again stole the ball right out of Fukatsu's hold. This time, however, instead of making a pass to one of his teammates, he decided to zoom in and took his chance at a shot.

Seeing through his reckless plan, Sawakita, Fukatsu and Minoru made a dash for Sendoh. But Sendoh effortlessly danced past Minoru and Fukatsu. However, Sawakita was a different story altogether.

Sawakita had made an immediate tight wall of defence the minute Sendoh faced him with the ball still in Sendoh's possession.

Seeing that he had no chance of letting in a shot after all, Sendoh looked out for an opening to pass the ball all the while pretending that he still intended to make his shot.

"There's no way am I going to let you shoot", said a determined faced Sawakita, daring him to make the shot with a straight look in his eyes.

Sendoh spotted it then.

"Works fine with me", said a grinning Sendoh. Feigning a pass by his left hand to pass to his left side, Sawakita moved slightly to the left knowing that it was a feint and made his right side tighter than it already was when suddenly the ball was rolled through Sendoh's stood apart legs and then through Sawakita's widely stood apart legs, letting the ball pass through him towards an awaiting Kanagawa member at the back!

"What the hell...", said a taken aback Sawakita apparently didn't anticipate a 'bowling ball roll' Sakuragi style technique get the better of him (of course if there was such a technique used by the red head).

"Nice pass!", said Kiyota who made an immediate scoop of the ball and pass it to an awaiting Akagi who was right under the basket.

"SHOOT IT, AKAGI!", shouted Mitsui from the bench who had sprung up from his seat the minute Akagi had the ball in his hands. Shaking his fist at the primate, he shouted again after giving a brief glance at the scoreboard and at the time. "The 30 seconds violation is almost up! You guys have about 10 seconds left! JUST SHOOT!".

"DO IT, AKAGI!", roared the boss saru from the bench, making some of the people who still had him held restrained on the bench fly on one side. "KILL THAT BASTARD!".

"OFFENSE! OFFENSE! OFFENSE!", shouted the rest of the Kanagawa members some either jumping up and down and some just waved their fists madly in support.

"HO!", roared Akagi as he jumped for the ring.

"HO!", roared Kawata, as loudly as his adversary as he too jumped to block Akagi's shot.

"SHOOT IT!", screamed the Kanagawa supporters.

And Akagi shot it.

But his shot was futile as Kawata intercepted the shot easily with his infamous 'Steamboat' block and whammed it in Sawakita's direction.

But even before the ball could get anywhere near Sawakita something flashed in between the distance where Sawakita stood and where Kawata and Akagi were still in the process of falling towards the ground.

The crowd began to chant the countdown to the 30 seconds violation..

"5!"

The blurry figure that flashed itself in between them, stole the ball away and...

"4!"

"'AHO!", said Rukawa loud enough by Rukawa's standards as he pulled his hand back to pass the ball to...

But Fukatsu and Minoru were already in front of him, their faces telling him clearly that they wouldn't let him pass the ball over them that easily....

"3!"

"KITSUNE! KOI!", shouted Sakuragi, who was blocked from the raven head's view by the bodies of the two guards that were standing in front of him.

Unintimidated by the wall of bodies in front of him, Rukawa made a powerful pass to the awaiting red head right over his guards.

"YOSH!", said Sakuragi the second the ball was in his possession.

"'AHO!", warned Rukawa urgently, as he raced towards him the second he noticed Sawakita advancing on the red head at an incredible speed.

"2!"

All the Kanagawa members gasped and almost all of them jumped to their feet as the red head jumped into the air, arms made in a high arch, ball in the air attempting to...

"1!"

"No, you don't!", yelled Sawakita as he leaped in front of Sakuragi his one arm blocking his shot...

Sakuragi grinned then.

It was then Sawakita realised his mistake.

Sakuragi executed his shot but not before Sawakita 'accidentally' banged Sakuragi's arm with his own outstretched arm that was meant only to block his shot.

"0!".

"PHEWWWW!", whistled the referee immediately and at the same time the time went up and...

The ball swished through the net.

For a 3 pointer shot.

Silence reigned the whole stadium as everyone awaited the referee's final judgement...

The referee who was like the players on court what with sweat running down all over his face, held up a hand and showed up three of his fingers.

"3 points for the red team! And offense charge, hacking no#9, white team! ONE FREE THROW FOR THE RED TEAM!".

Stunned silence followed suit then....

A certain boy broke it.

"NANI?!", yelled Hikoichi in stunned disbelief and awe. "Un... UNBELIEVABLE!".

A second after that announcement, the whole stadium burst into a deafening uproar of disbelief mingled with an increase buzz excitement.

Everyone one of the members of the Kanagawa team as well as the loyal supporters of Kanagawa except for a certain raven head and snow haired man had their jaws loose on the ground beneath them.

Sakuragi seemingly unaware of all this, just gave an exultant punch in the air in front of him yelling "YOSH!" and was grinning from side to side.

When the red head looked up, he saw Rukawa giving him a look that had one eyebrow slightly arched up a bit. Whatever that look meant, it was not a look of surprise.

Sakuragi grinned at the kitsune before noticing the referee who had the ball with him coming purposefully towards him.

"I've lived up to my tensai name", said Sakuragi, referring to his shot and move just now, as he smiled smugly at the raven haired kitsune.

The arched eyebrow raised a bit higher but Rukawa didn't say anything. Although, he did give the slightest roll of his eyes and looked about to puff out an exasperated sigh but didn't.

Rukawa wiped the sweat off his forehead before saying, "Miss this shot and I'll kill you on the spot, do'aho". He had said this in an underlying dangerous tone in his voice.

But Sakuragi didn't seem to have heard it or he simply was just not threatened by Rukawa's threat.

The referee gave the ball to him then and he was given the chance for his one free throw shot.

Sakuragi's focus of the intended shot for the basket was so deep that his effort was rewarded with a clean shot through the net.

Needless to say, the shot had everyone (specifically the Kanagawa team and its supporters) reeling with another round wave of shock and total amazement.

The score was now 88 (Kanagawa) to 114 (Akita)

Sakuragi's maniacal laughter of exultance was almost drowned out by the thunderous applause and screaming cheers from both the stands and the court that he was receiving.

"ALRIGHT, HANAMICHI!", yelled Miyagi from the sidelines, who was jumping up and down, forgetting at the moment that he was supposed to be exhausted and drained of energy.

"YOSH! SAKURAGI!", yelled Mitsui who was standing beside Miyagi but unlike him he just gave the red head a thumbs up.

Sakuragi just grinned at his two Shohoku teammates and threw them both a double thumbs up.

Before the red head knew what knocked the air out of him, he found himself being dragged to the other side of the court, his head in a head lock around a gorilla like arm.

"Sakuragi! We're still in the game and time's not on our side right now so there's no time for us to celebrate this early! Mind on the game!", Akagi half roared into Sakuragi's ear.

"ITAI!", yelled Sakuragi pushing his gorilla-like captain away from him and rubbing his ringing ears.

Sakuragi glared at Akagi on full force and said, "Wakataroyou, Gori!".

Sakuragi was about to jog off to his position when Akagi called out for him.

"Sakuragi!".

Sakuragi turned around and gave him an irritated look.

Akagi made a solemn face and then held up a thumbs up. "Nice play".

With that Akagi left to his rightful place underneath the board.

Sakuragi who would have normally zoned out and get overwhelmed by a mere compliment by anyone about his basketball abilities and get his head in the clouds with big neon words that declared that he was a 'TENSAI' just nodded solemnly and went back to concentrate on the game.

Everyone who had witnessed this, scratched their heads to nothingness, wondering what the hell was wrong with the normally self-proclaimed tensai and his lack of his response to such a rare compliment especially one coming from his own previous Shohoku captain.

+++++

On the stands...

"Ano... Do you think Sakuragi's suffering a mental break down or something?", said Takamiya almost to himself then to his three other gundam friends.

"Hai. Hai. So desu yo", said Noma and Ookuma simultaneously, bobbing their heads up and down in an undeniable agreement.

"Mental break down?", asked Haruko not understanding. "Sakuragi-kun wa daijoubu desuka?".

Youhei who was looking all amused and exasperated by what they're saying and what was happening right in front of his eyes replied, "Daijoubu desu yo, Haruko-san. Don't listen to what the guys are saying. They're just kidding".

Haruko just frowned a little not sure she was buying what Youhei was saying to her.

Youhei saw this and gave her a reassuring smile. "Sakuragi's concentration is in full force right now, Haruko-san. That's all there is to it".

Haruko didn't say anything at his reassurance but she did give a slow small smile and a nod saying that she understood.

All of them went back to watch the game which was getting interesting by the minute.

In Youhei's mind, he thought as he watched two certain figures on the court.

'I wonder what those two troublemakers are up to?'.

++++++++

"Holy shit", cursed a sweating black haired monkey, his hair sticking flat on his face and his purple head band determined to hold off the rest of his black mane away from his distortedly upset face.

'How in hell are we going to pull off a win out of this match?', thought Kiyota, his mind not thinking straight as the less than three minutes ticked by rather fast.

Mentally he cursed the fast moving clock for going too fast and not giving them time to counter the damn Akitas.

Kiyota caught the knowing grin on his guard's face as if he knew what he was thinking which only made Kiyota madder than ever.

Kiyota almost gave him a what for verbally but then happened to catch sight of an unusual scene not far to his right.

Rukawa was facing Sawakita and as usual Sawakita seemed to drop off a thing or two about something or other which could've inspired a saint to pull out the other person's hair but Rukawa was Rukawa, all made up of cool stuff and the works, revealing nothing in his slightly reddish and sweaty face as a result of the exertion from the ongoing game. No, this was not the scene that he found unusual. The thing that was, was what Rukawa was doing.

Kiyota could have missed it if he hadn't glanced his way.

One of Rukawa's outstretched hands (in defence mode), was gesturing in a way that he was pointing to something on his other side with a thumbs down. He was also making brief eye contact with someone.

Frowning and his curiosity piqued, Kiyota wondered at whom Rukawa was giving the signal to.

Kiyota looked at Sendoh, but Sendoh was too busy stirring up something with the Akita's main point guard, grinning all the way. The point guard, Fukatsu, however, didn't look amused. In fact, his expression told anyone who cared to see that he was anything but amused.

Kiyota glanced at the Gori, the former formidable captain of Shohoku looking as intimidating as ever under the basket. At least as intimidating as he can get what with the other primate looking as if Akagi was no match against the King Kong of Kongs of the Akita team. He also didn't seem to look like he noticed anything from any of the other players much less Rukawa's subtle signalling gesture.

Finally, Kiyota's eyes rested on the flaming red head's figure, who was standing tall and proud albeit overshadowed by at least a foot by the giant beast who he had the duty of covering. It also didn't seem like Sakuragi was the one that Rukawa had been given the signalling gesture ... although Kiyota noticed a few seconds later that Sakuragi suddenly grinned from side to side and was slapping the back of his thigh with one of his tennis racket sized hands yelling 'YOSH!' and was looking at the big fat of modified blubber in front of him with a typical up to something Sakuragi grin.

++++++++

 

 

On the bench...

"Uh, oh. Hanamichi's up to something", said Miyagi who noticed the red head's reaction.

"Eh? Nanda?", said Mitsui, frowning and looked at Sakuragi. "He looks his usual maniacal self to me".

"That and the fact that he's making that face", said Miyagi, a concerned frown creasing his forehead. "He only makes that face when he's going to do something stupid".

"Oh, yeah?", said Mitsui not believing a word Miyagi said. To him, no matter what face Sakuragi made, he more often than not do stupid things anyway.

"I don't mean the usual Sakuragi stupidity", said Miyagi, seeing that Mitsui didn't follow what he was trying to say. "Remember the study camp we had last time when the boss's still in the third year?".

Mitsui nodded. "What about it?".

"You remembered how his face looked like right before we saw the captain's face?".

"Akagi's face?", said Mitsui more to himself than to anyone as he scrunched up his face trying to remember that day. Then, Mitsui burst out laughing, startling and puzzling a few other players near them on the bench.

"You mean, the scribbled face of Akagi's", said Mitsui with a grin.

Under the goal post on their side of the court, Akagi suddenly gave out a loud sudden sneeze that seemed to have echoed the court around them.

Both Mitsui and Miyagi slightly flinched at that. Both of them automatically lower down their faces, as Akagi suspected that someone must be talking something about him behind his back searched for the culprits with a glower that could melt even the sun.

"Uh oh", said Mitsui in response.

Miyagi just grinned. "Anyway, point is Sakuragi is definitely up to something. If he's doing something as stupid as scribbling...".

Mitsui stopped him then with a look that warned him not to say anything about their captain behind his back or else he'll get a sneeze out of himself and would suspect them very much behind the cause of it later on, assuming that he'll even remember it.

He caught himself before he said anything else at that and Miyagi said with a grin and a shrug. "You get the idea".

"Oh, yeah", said Mitsui.

"Question is.."

"What is it?".

++++++++

On the stands...

"OHHH...", said all the four gundams suddenly, out of the blue.

Surprised, Haruko said with concern.

"Nani ka? Is something wrong?", she asked.

All 4 pair of gundam eyes lay fixed on the game before them and without turning their heads at her, they said simultaneously not really answering her question.

"Nande monai (it's nothing)".

But all four of had wide grins on their faces and Haruko thought that there was more than met the eye...

Apparently something was going to happen on court and Haruko hadn't got any idea what it was.

++++++

"Something smell's fishy", murmured Kiyota as the game progressed into action, with all the players on court including himself trying his best to either guard, snatch or pass the ball around.

Sendoh who looked like he was having a fun time running around in circles around the fuming and irritated Fukatsu finally made a beautiful back handed pass to Kiyota, who at that second forget his earlier thoughts about two certain people and made a run for it with the orange ball bouncing wildly and skilfully under his monkey hand.

"You're not going to run away from me that easily, my good friend", said Kiyota's guard who out of nowhere easily appeared in front of him, making Kiyota screech to a breaking halt.

"DAMN IT!", said Kiyota more irritated than ever of feeling the constant feeling of being trapped in a corner more so than not in the game. Feeling he had enough of his own irritated and stressed emotions, he plunged into instinct mode thoroughly letting his body do the work and make its own solution of how to get out of this current wall of a problem.

Zoning on his instincts, he opt for his right blasting a powerful pass to the heavy weight Gorilla who was ready and open for any passes to him.

With fists the size terrodector wing, the Gorilla turned dino bird caught the zooming flash of orange in his hands and without wasting time yelled for a fast break. But the big grey and hairy King Kong of Akita was too fast for him and managed to snatch away the ball from Gori's grip like taking candy from a baby.

Of course, this didn't make Akagi very happy making the renowned Gori of Shohoku/Kanagawa super mad and tried to snatch the ball away from his fierce primate rival. But neither gave in to let the other take the ball away from the other.

The referee saw this and was about to blow the whistle when a blinding flash of orange and black light zoomed passed them, and both Gori and King Kong found themselves instead of gripping like their lives depended on it on the ball they were gripping the other's hands and arms instead as if they were ready to dance the tango with each other.

Sendoh who was one of the only people in the hall to have seen and knew who the black and red flashes were just chuckled at the dubious expressions on most of the players on court had on. Knowing that this was the part where he was supposed to play in without them telling, Sendoh yelled for Kiyota who were similarly a bit dazed but still on battle mode.

"Kiyota, let's buy them sometime! Cover number 15! I'll cover yours and my friend over here", said Sendoh referring the last one as being Fukatsu.

Kiyota who wasn't sure who 'them' were, but knew that it was 'them' he was referring to immediately without further adieu ran to cover the tall tree trunk of player, King Kong's little brother.

But the 'little' brother of King Kong didn't see Kiyota as an obstacle compared to Sakuragi and just bulldozed him over in seconds.

Running on a rampage and on the loose, the younger king kong bounded his way towards the blurry figures of black, grey and red in front of him.

Meanwhile, the black, grey and red blurry figures, being Rukawa, Sawakita and Sakuragi were besting each other in who was going to reach the other side of the court and onto the goal post first like a 100m race, with Sakuragi in the lead, Rukawa second with the ball bouncing crazily fast in one hand and Sawakita bringing up the rear.

However, Sawakita was no lackey and in no time, he was neck to neck with Rukawa, his intention obvious and tried his best to snatch the fast bouncing ball away from Rukawa's masterful hand but Rukawa was too smart for him and in fact managed to keep the ball all the way.

Sakuragi who didn't seem to give a damn about the two players who were hot on his tail suddenly turned to glance around his back, seeing pass kitsune and baldie and spotted a bulky figure rolling its way towards them.

" GIANT BULLDOZER ON THE LOOSE!", yelled Kiyota in warning as he tried to catch up with the mighty 'little' baby king kong no doubt trying to wrestle the big chunk of blubber to the ground, but being only a small monkey he knew he could only find himself sitting on the big guy's shoulder like a new breed type of hairy primate look alike parrot.

Despite knowing that the big guy was after them, all three of them didn't seem to have taken notice.

Then as if he had teleported out of nowhere or something, Sakuragi who had been on the lead and in front of them earlier seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Sawakita who was surprised and taken aback at this, forget momentarily to snatch the ball still in Rukawa's possession and tried to figure out where Sakuragi was.

Sakuragi was at the other end of the court, near the basketball goal post without as much as a hard breath and grinning and waving a mock salute at him.

Not wanting to wonder too much how the hell the kid got there like the distance was nothing to him, Sawakita turned his attention back to his arch rival.

And he almost tripped over his own feet when he realised that he was staring at his back!

Cursing himself for his carelessness, Sawakita made up his mistake by increasing his speed and matched up with Rukawa easily.

Sawakita saw the opening then.. right ...

'There!'.

Quick as lightening, Sawakita reached over and...

"KITSUNE! NOW!", roared Sakuragi, waving at his teammate the kitsune like a headless chicken.

Without warning, Rukawa screeched to a halt, letting Sawakita grasp thin air in front of him, tripped over on his own feet and landed on his butt.

Rukawa was now readying himself for a jump shot, arms high up in the air, ball ready to be catapulted... but Sawakita was having none of that.

Scrambling to his two feet, Sawakita was about to jump up when a big shadow fell on him.

Then realising too late, the shadow became bigger and bigger and was heading straight towards them!

Sakuragi cringed as a loud earth shaking BOOM! echoed around the indoor stadium as three bodies slammed onto the ground but not before the ball made its grand entrance through the net with a satisfying 'swish'.

The score board clicked changing the score to 90 (Kanagawa) and 114 (Akita).

But nobody except for a certain red head, raven haired and white haired noticed this. Everyone else was too shocked by the bodies that were sprawled out on court.

Snapping out from his own shock, the referee whistled for a time out and called for the paramedics who were on standby.

Sakuragi snickered as he jogged over to the sprawled bodies. One of them being a pissed off and half flattened kitsune.

However, flattened he was, Rukawa didn't show so much as a cringe of pain or even some sort of injury on his lean mean machine of a body. What did display itself was the murderous intention in his eyes, at a certain red head idiot who had a fun time seeing his kitsune friend trampled to death.

After assuring some of the players and referees that he was alright and didn't need anyone to check if he was okay and if he did really survive and not a mere illusion of the ghost of Rukawa, Rukawa calmly went to Sakuragi who was having a hard time not to laugh at Sawakita's bloody damaged nose and bruised shoulder as well as a dazed but physically fine baby king kong.

Grabbing by the scruff of his uniform, Rukawa dragged a protesting Sakuragi to one side.

"Do'aho! Exactly what the hell are you LAUGHING at? I almost got trampled over like a pancake, yarou!", said Rukawa in a dangerous Rukawa growl that could came close to a yell.

Sakuragi who was unfazed just chuckled more and more then turned into guffaws until he went down landing on his knees, tears of mirth pouring out of his eyes.

Knowing that he wouldn't get anything from him in his current helpless laughing state, Rukawa kicked him hard on the butt just to get rid of his rising anger and extreme annoyance.

Rukawa's kick only made Sakuragi laugh even harder.

While the referees and paramedics fussed over a bloody nosed Sawakita, who looked like he wanted to shout bloody murder at Sakuragi and a still dazed but otherwise physically fine Mikio, Rukawa assessed the situation and noted the current time left and the current score.

"Damn", cursed Rukawa under his breath at the scoreboard on the other side of the court. They needed the time that they simply didn't have if they wanted to win this game. 21 difference in score was too much for only 2 minutes. Shit!

At least for the moment he earned a couple of free throws.

When the fuss was finally over between the paramedics, referees and the other 2 Akita players, the referee blew the whistle signalling for Rukawa to have his two free shots under the intentional foul made by Mikio.

Meanwhile what was our the other red haired hero thinking?....

Despite his earlier maniacal and free leash of laughter, Sakuragi had sobered quickly enough and in fact there was no trace of that same laughter in his eyes or his face for that matter. All that was left was a serious expression on his face, so serious that anyone and everyone who was a fan of Sakuragi in that stadium wondered if this was Sakuragi at all. Even the gundam, his other teammates and coaches on the bench noted this slight but noticeable expression. They were left wondering what the red head was thinking if he was thinking at all.

In fact, Sakuragi was thinking deeply about the messed up situation that their team was currently in. While everyone was focused on the throws that Rukawa was making, Sakuragi was fast making a decision as a plan began to formulate in his mind.

Sakuragi remembered something that his sensei had said and will say time and time again to him. However, he never thought anything of it. In fact, every time his sensei said that to him he'd immediately bristle and point out that there's nowhere in hell that THAT was going to happen.

This time, however, as usual, his respected Anzai sensei was right. If he wanted the team to win gloriously over the arrogant Akitas he'd have to swallow his pride.

And acknowledge another player's skills that matched his own.

Well, almost like the master tensai basket-man Sakuragi anyway, allowed Sakuragi grudgingly.

"Ah, shit", growled Rukawa and Sakuragi simultaneously under their breaths, just as the raven head scored another 2 points from the free throws for the Kanagawas and just as both players reached to the same conclusion.

Which was the ULTIMATE solution.

The referee blew the whistle then signalling for the players to go to their positions.

As if on cue, liquid lava eyes met cool sapphire eyes.

One black eyebrow slightly raised.

The tensai slightly grinned in reply.

It's time to get serious.

And it was also time to get in sync.

Somewhere on the Kanagawa bench, someone continued to slurp his tea peacefully amid the tense atmosphere.

But a slight smile was etched on his face.

“It took them long enough”, he commented under his breath. The comment gone unnoticed by the people that surrounded him.

Except for us, no?

Reviews are always appreciated. My email's yuki_ne@hotmail.com. Thanks for reading!