Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ When enemies become friends ❯ GAME CONCLUDED ( Epilogue )

Revised by Meeksins, 290409.

 

Disclaimer: SD does not belong to me. The team combination, however, was my idea.

NOTE: I apologise for my very late update. This is the last chapter to close for this fic. Hope you enjoy it. ^-^

Written by meEksiNs a.k.a shiyuchiyuki on 08thFeb2006

EPILOGUE: GAME CONCLUDED

A few years later

In a historical game of high school basketball that had happened a few years ago in the first ever Inter-Prefecture tournament, a certain porcupine haired teammate had once said to him, with his sunny trademark grin, "We'll win this one, kiddo. You know why?".

Sendoh then claimed that there were two reasons.

When it was obvious that said teammate had no intention of elaborating any further, Sakuragi had demanded the answer out of him but had only received the same infuriating grin as if he knew something that the tensai didn't.

It was not until a few years later that he now understood wholly what the two reasons were.

~FLASHBACK~

The whistle was blown and the referee had waved his arm in a half arc downwards.

The score was 118 to 118.

The shot was in.

It was a tie.

Needless to say, the crowd went wild. The people on the bench on the Kanagawa team, who had been frozen with shock earlier, had spontaneously jumped up and down yelling their cheer amidst their disbelief.

The cheer of the crowds and those who supported the Kanagawas grew ten times louder when the referee called for Sakuragi to step up and take a free throw for the foul that the three other players from the opponent's side had made.

Sakuragi, after the referee had announced that his shot was in, had been left stunned but now as he took the ball with the slightest of tremor of his hands from the referee he chastised himself for not believing that he, tensai Sakuragi Hanamichi, would not have made the shot.

He stared at the ball in his hands for a few seconds as he thought this. 'Who the hell am I kidding? I almost missed the shot! SHIT!'.

And he had another free shot to make. If he screw this up, hell, he knew that his team wouldn't make it to a tie breaker game. They were too drained. The only players who were up to it were only him and Rukawa.

At the thought of his arch rival, he looked up and saw the black haired kitsune, arching an eyebrow slightly at him not in question but as if he was saying, 'what the hell are you waiting for?'.

Sakuragi was taken aback when said rival suddenly, tilted his head to the opponent's side and smirked slightly. With a raise of one fist, he jerked it down with a thumb sticking towards the ground.

Sakuragi grinned.

Whatever shit he was worrying over earlier, he was calm now. With his confidence restored, he dribbled once and made the shot.

The score was 119 (Kanagawa) to 118 (Akita Shoten).

Nearly everyone in the Kanagawa team had cried of this miraculous victory excluding a maniac grinning porcupine haired teammate, two bull headed fresh young talents and of course, a white haired rather round coach who had only 'HOHOHO' -ed and sipped his herbal tea in satisfaction.

Later on in newspapers everywhere in Japan, the game was marked to be a historical game one that bore 2 storms in one nation.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

A ball suddenly found its way to the back of his head, making Sakuragi Hanamichi, who had now officially earned the name 'Tensai Sakuragi Hanamichi' the King of Rebounds, yell and turn towards his attacker.

The black haired kitsune, his attacker and esteemed arch rival and who like Sakuragi, had earned the name 'The MVP Kaede', just coolly grabbed the bouncing ball that had made its way back to him and spun the ball lazily around on his index finger unaffected by the red head's glare.

"What were you thinking, do'aho?", said Rukawa, looking at him with a slight eyebrow raised with only mild interest shown in his icy blue eyes.

A few years ago, this question and expression on a usually very stoic Rukawa would have shocked him and a lot of people but working with him as a teammate for three years now, the red head felt no such thing although it couldn't be said the same about their other previous high school teammates if they ever saw this exchange.

Sakuragi did not answer immediately as he studied his arch rival and now valued teammate. Rukawa and himself had been recruited shortly after the first Inter-Prefecture tournament by the Japan National Young Talents Basketball team. Side by side, they had worked together as a duo in the national team and had earned recognitions for their basketball talents and skills. They were known as the formidable duo aka the '2 storms'.

"A few years ago, Sendoh had once mentioned that they were two reasons why he believed the Kanagawa team will win".

Sakuragi knew that the kitsune understood what he was referring to, for he had raised his eyebrow a notch higher.

"I never knew what the two reasons were until now".

Rukawa just stared at him for a few seconds then smirked. "You've always been one to be slow in the uptake, do'aho".

"NANI!"

An orange blur zoomed towards his face but this time Sakuragi easily caught it with one hand before a sudden thought struck him.

"WAIT! You knew what the two reasons were!".

Rukawa raised an eyebrow at him but instead of answering he said, "3 years, a'ho. What have you learned from it?".

For the first time ever in Sakuragi Hanamichi's life, he had answered immediately and accurately.

With a grin and a hearty slap on the kitsune's back, he said.

"It takes two to win".

THE END

Author's Note: Hey, ppl! This is FINALLY the last chapter for my 'When enemies become friends' fic aka renamed 'It takes two to win'.

In case you were wondering, I am aware that there are a few loose ends e.g. the one where there was a sort of deal between Sakuragi and Rukawa. This deal is not significant to the fic, however, in case you were curious it was a deal so that if Sakuragi made the last winning three pointer shot (if he was going to do it) Rukawa had agreed to make Haruko (somehow) not get attached to him anymore and in return if Haruko stopped bothering Rukawa, Sakuragi himself will stop pestering Rukawa. Since Sakuragi did make the last shot, their agreements on both sides were fulfilled. However, Haruko did not go out with either of them. In the end, she just remained friends and close acquaintances with the both of them.

I didn't know how to put it into the fic of this explanation so I didn't bother doing it. Too troublesome and besides like I said it wasn't significant.

Anyway, I hoped that you've enjoyed this fic as much as I've had fun writing it.

Thank you very much for sticking till the end. If you want to review, you're always welcomed. My email: yuki_ne@hotmail.com.

Laterz~ ^-~