A/N: I've finally updated after such a long hiatus...hope there'll still be people wanting to read my story. Anyway, I'm trying to veer it away from the 'romantic' plot. So well, just give this a chance... )
Chapter 10
Mitsui stood outside Kimiko's house. He leaned against the wall, and scuffed his right foot against the pavement impatiently.
Where was she? He was not late this morning; if they set off for school now, they would still make it well before the second bell. Finally, Mitsui slung his bag over his shoulder and headed off for school. Kimiko had probably left for school early. Always on time, always organized, that's her.
Kimiko closed her handphone with a snap, her brows puckered with worry. She was so engrossed with her thoughts about the phone call she just ended that she failed to hear her name being called.
"Hey morning," a deep voice sounded, practically next to her ear. She started and turned to see Mitsui behind her. He had finally caught up to her near the school gate. He looked down at her distracted face and shrugged. "Hey, is everything ok? I mean…I thought we were supposed to walk to school together. We're cool, right?"
"Huh? Oh yeah…yeah, we're umm, cool. Hey look, I've got something important to well, think about. I'll talk to you later ok?" Mitsui watched as Kimiko practically ran the last stretch to the school gate. She stopped suddenly however, and turned back to him.
"Micchi? I'm sorry I left for school without you…but I was caught up with er, stuff. What with the Arts Week coming up and stuff, I'm kinda busy right now…" Just as abruptly, she broke off her garbled explanation and hurried into the school as the first bell rang. Mitsui stood still for a moment as he pondered what could be bothering her. Her problem definitely didn't seem to be him, because after last night, their friendship was back on track, if just tentatively.
"Girl trouble, Micchi? Didn't know you had it in you? Wahahaha!" a too-loud, boisterous voice almost busted Mitsui's ear-drums. This cocky comment was followed by a hard slap across his shoulders.
Too loud and too familiar. Mitsui didn't know just how much he missed this voice until now. And it was back. "Sakuragi, you baka!" he turned, and sure enough, the red head was standing behind him and grinning like he hadn't been gone for months. Mitsui wanted to hug him, to yell 'welcome back!', to say how much he and everyone else had missed him in the team, to hear more of that loud, ever-optimistic voice that had been absent for so long, to complain about the arrogant young bastards who joined the team.
But that was the way of boys, and Mitsui was a man. So he just settled with more name-calling, and slapped his hand across Sakuragi's shoulders. Sakuragi slapped him on the back in return again, and so they slapped each other on the backs for the rest of the way to school. The question of Kimiko's problem now faded into second place as the excitement of Sakuragi's return was already spurring Mitsui's mind into new possibilities for the basketball team. They definitely couldn't lose now that Sakuragi and Rukawa are back.
The whole court was in an uproar.
"Did you hear? He's back…"
"Look, over there…!"
"Is that-?"
"Do you think we have a higher chance of…?"
Sakuragi stepped into the court, grinning. "Wahahaha, that's right everyone, the tensai is back!" he turned to look at Yohei. "See, only I, the tensai, can lead the team to victory!"
Sakuragi made his way to the middle of the court where some members were already practicing shooting baskets. "C'mon, c'mon, make way for me and I'll show you how it's done properly!" he grabbed a ball that Jun was holding, and push passed him, to stand 45degrees to the right side of the hoop. His right hand curved gently under the ball, and he bent his knees. The whole court seemed to hold its breath as Sakuragi jumped.
"Tensai's famous jump-ball!" Sakuragi let off as the ball left his hands. Unfortunately, the ball hit the rim of the hoop. But Sakuragi was already running towards the basket, as if he knew that the ball wouldn't get in. "And now, the rebound-king's wonderful rebound catch. Hyaiiii!"
Some of the newcomers were already beginning to doubt Sakuragi's abilities when the ball failed to sail into the hoop; nevertheless, they felt themselves curious to see what this 'rebound-king' can do. Anyone who had even been to one of Shohoku's previous matches would have seen Sakuragi's amazing tensile abilities. One step, two step…and Sakuragi was already under the basket. He tensed, waited for the right moment…and jumped. When he landed, the orange ball was firmly in his grasp.
Captain Ryota stepped into the court in time to see this performance. His eyes met that of Mitsui's across the court. Wordlessly, they concluded that given Sakuragi's character, he definitely would not pass up the chance of showing off his full skills. There was no doubt that although he caught the rebound, he had not jumped as high or as spectacularly as before. Furthermore, it was only practice, and he was not against a physical obstacle. Against a highly skilled center, perhaps one from Kainan, Sakuragi would surely lose that rebound to the opponent. Has the injury affected his abilities beyond recovering?
Rukawa stood at the sidelines, his poker face staring at the baka on the court, who was still acting like he was the greatest thing around. Couldn't he see the smirk on Ken's face? Still speculating about the apparent loss of Sakuragi's abilities, Rukawa moved forward to snatch the ball out of Sakuragi's hands. He gave a kick to the red head. "You baka, stop embarrassing the team the moment you get back. Get out of the court now, so the rest of us, who have much superior skills, can do some serious training. At this rate, you had better go back to the basics!"
"What, you kitsune? Did you miss me too?" he leant closer to the Rukawa's face. "Or are you scared that I will beat you this time…?" the rivalry between the two hadn't dimmed one bit, but wasn't the rivalry a little one-sided now? One who trained with the best in Japan versus one whose injuries may have already spelled the end of his athletic life…
The tension that always seems to be around whenever these two were together was momentarily broken by new editions to the courts. Ansai-sensei and the pretty managers walked in. During lesson time, Sakuragi had already met Haruko, but that did not stop him from going ga-ga again. He bounded over to Haruko, greeting her first. "Hi, Haruko, are you here to cheer for me?" Sakuragi than turned towards the coach and started hitting his chin and belly. "Old man, I'm back! Did you miss me? C'mon, the tensai here is more than ready to practice. Let's have a practice match, huh! Oh, remember to put me on the opposite team as Rukawa so I'll have a catch to beat his ass, Wahahaha!"
The long-suffering Caoch Ansai patted Sakuragi on the shoulder. "Glad to see you have recovered, Sakuragi." For a moment, his hand tightened on Sakuragi's shoulders and he put his mouth closer to Sakuragi's ear. "Remember, Shohoku still needs you…our secret weapon."
As the red head straightened, the flames in his eyes seemed to burn even brighter."All right! Let's start training now!"
Ayako gathered the members. "As you can see, our most troublesome member has rejoined us," she continued amidst agreement from Sakuragi's gundam and hot protests from the character himself. "As of this moment, the peaceful days are over! Its practice, practice, practice. We cannot let other teams think Shohoku is a pushover! Coach Anzai will now brief you on today's training. Coach Ansai…" the manager stepped aside for the coach.
The portly coach revealed the plan for today's training. "I want all of you to work on your teamwork. The best way to do that is to observe each other's moves and attempt to find out the strengths and weaknesses of each other. Now, the second and third years will form a group. The first years to another group. We'll have a practice match."
Sakuragi groaned. This meant he was in the same team as Rukawa.