Notes: Hiya! Well, this is a continuation to Watching Him. (I can't say it's a sequel. Sequel is such an…official word, don't you think? This is merely a fan fic...and possibly a poor one at that…) It took awhile to come up with anything decent enough to put in a story. But finally I thought I would write about the difficulties these two lovebirds face and how they overcome them. That is, if I can. We'll have to see about that. Anyway, I really hope you can enjoy this and I apologize if there are any mistakes in it. Feel free to point the mistakes I make, perhaps I can learn from them. Uh…enough of this talk. Enjoy! - At least try to…

Dating Problems

Chapter 1 - Nosebleed (otherwise known as: Jealousy Part 1)

Strong muscles moved smoothly under sweaty skin. Hips swayed. Rukawa stared intently as Sakuragi prepared to shoot. He knew the best part was coming soon. And there! Here it comes!

Sakuragi jumped. His shirt rose to reveal the tanned skin of his stomach and back, his shorts did the same to expose more of his skin to Rukawa's hungry stare. A stream of drool made its way down Rukawa's chin. My god! He's gorgeous. The memory of Sakuragi's skin under his hands made him feel a little uncomfortable but he did his best to ignored it.

"Haha! See that, Gori!? That's how I, the tensai, shoot. Watch and learn!" Sakuragi put his hands on his hips and laughed his infamous laugh.

Akagi's eye twitched but he chose to remain silent, knowing it wouldn't do any good to start arguing with the team's biggest moron.

"Nyahahaha!! Did you see that? Did you see that?" Sakuragi went from one person to another, grabbing their shirts and demanding to know if they had by any chance missed his miraculous performance.

Kogure adjusted his glasses and smiled his warm smile to Sakuragi when the loud red head reached him and pulled their faces only inches apart. "Yes, I saw. Very good, Sakuragi. You've improved surprisingly fast."

Sakuragi put his hand behind his neck, laughed and smacked Kogure on the shoulder so forcefully that the shorter boy almost lost his balance. "You're very wise, Megane-kun!"

Not that wise, Rukawa thought with gritted teeth. Get any closer to Hanamichi and I'll…Rukawa's brows knotted to a feep frown as he watched how Sakuragi and Kogure continued chatting. Damn it! Don't stand so close! No, put that hand away! His suspicious eyes followed Kogure's movements as the bespectacled senior patted Sakuragi on the back and smiled up at the beaming boy. He shot Kogure a death glare through his bangs but the other failed to notice it. The gentle boy did, however, feel a funny feeling in the back of his head and shruddered for no obvious reason.

Finally, to Rukawa's immense relief, Sakuragi moved on to his next victim. Rukawa continued to discreetly observe his actions while absent-mindedly dribbling a ball to appear busy and not to be disturbed.

He had been suffering from burning jealousy ever since Sakuragi had accepted his feelings. He tried not to feel the constant stabs that went through his heart every time someone was close to Sakuragi but he couldn't help it. It wasn't that he didn't trust Sakuragi's feelings. But world was full of dangerous bastards that tried to get close to the adorably innocent loudmouth. Like that stupid old man in the restaurant yesterday. And that disgusting business man. And that creep from Ryonan! Rukawa gritted his teeth and emitted a deep growl through his throat. Damn him and his sly manners! One day I'm going to show him what nosy, flirting fools get from trespassing someone else's territory.

And then there were the kind, nice people, like Kogure, who acted way too friendly with his boyfriend. It made him cringe, even though he knew they didn't mean anything by it.

The third group consisted of people who got to touch Sakuragi through teasing and such, mainly the Sakuragi guntai, Mitsui and Miyagi. And Akagi Haruko…well, let's just say that the girl had managed to get a whole group to herself and that that particular group held the first place on his 'jealousy list'.

Out of these four groups, the one that caused Rukawa the most trouble was the first one. He had been a little surprised to realise how innocent and naive the red head was. But, after some thinking, he had thought that he should've known. The mad blushing that covered Sakuragi's face every time someone mentioned something that was related to the subject of love, was clue enough. In any case, I like it. I like to see a flustered look on his face, I like the blush, like the stammering. I like it all. Not to mention it made teasing Sakuragi very easy. But alas! Others had noticed how cute the do'aho was and had started to take advantage of his slow uptake on such things. And it annoyed and worried Rukawa to no end.

So I have a perfectly good reason to feel jealousy, Rukawa thought as he watched how Sakuragi tried desperately to steal a ball from Miyagi. It's not because of him but because of others. I trust him but I don't trust others, that's how it is. I'm only trying to protect him from perverts. He stopped dribbling and just stood there, eyes fixed on his struggling boyfriend. The do'aho was doing a poor job stealing the ball. It made him smile -inwardly, of course.

Suddenly Sakuragi's foot slipped and he fell down. Cursing, he started to get up. Rukawa dropped the ball he had been holding and drool began its long journey from his mouth to his chin and all the way to his jersey. Sakuragi was giving Rukawa a clear view of his pretty behind and Rukawa's mind was overflowing with improper images. He looked away when he felt blood starting to ooze from his nose. Shit! He tried to wipe it away without anyone noticing but unfortunately Ayako chose this moment to glance at him.

"Rukawa! What happened?" she asked worriedly, hurrying towards him with a handkerchief in an outstreched hand.

Shit, oh shit! He waved his hand as if to shoo her away and in the same time wiped the rest of the blood with the collar of his jersey. "Nothing. I'm fine." He wished that no one else had noticed anything, but no such luck. Instead, everyone turned to look at him, some worried, some just plain curious. For a moment Rukawa enjoyed the warmth Sakuragi's concern made him feel but started to sweat when it became obvious they wanted some kind of an answer from him.

"Uh…" What the hell should I say?

Ayako still held the handkerchief and looked up at him. Behind her Rukawa saw Akagi coming closer. His fan club was screaming.

What should I say? Should I tell the truth? 'Oh, nothing, I was just admiring Hanamichi's ass'. If Rukawa had been the type to sweatdrop, he would've done so now. What the hell should I say? If it had been entirely up to him, he probably would've told the truth. However, Sakuragi being the adorable, shy creature that he was (when it came to things like this, otherwise the words 'shy' and 'Sakuragi' could not even be used in the same sentence), had asked Rukawa not to tell anyone of them going out. He had wanted time to get used to the idea and curses! Rukawa had agreed because he could not deny anything from those brown, begging, soft, deep, seductive, alluring…ahem, well, to cut it short… eyes. So here he was now, unable to explain why he had suddenly produced a nosebleed out of the blue. What should I say?

The tension was getting thicker. Rukawa shifted uneasily under about a dozen intense stares and did his best to avoid eye contact. Then suddenly, the tension was broken. Broken by an obnoxious laughter. Rukawa looked up and saw Sakuragi pointing at him while laughing his head off.

"Haha! Kitsune, you're getting clumsy! Were you so awed by my talents that you forgot everything else?"

Huh?

Miyagi stared at Sakuragi. "What the hell are you talking about, Hanamichi?"

Sakuragi was unfazed by the bewildered looks he was getting. "Well, it's obvious. Let the tensai explain it to you, Ryo-chin. The kitsune here", he pointed at Rukawa to clarify his meaning, although everyone already knew who he had meant, "was so occupied with admiring my talents that he forgot he was handling a ball and was thus hit in the face. By the ball. When it was bouncing back. Do you understand now?"

Rukawa blinked. Then he had to suppress a laugh. Leave it to Sakuragi to find the simplest, the most absurd reason. Like I would ever be so clumsy. Well, whatever, it's as good a reason as any I can think of. But I'll leave the 'admiring your talents' thing. I was admiring you alright, but my admiration was directed at your other assets. "Do'aho."

"Right." Mitsui grimaced at Sakuragi. "As if that would happen."

"No." Everyone turned once again to face Rukawa when he spoke. "It was the ball." He sighed his 'do'aho sigh'. "But not him." Rukawa could've snickered at the irony of his words. Actually it's: it was Hanamichi, but not the ball. Well, whatever.

The basketball team stared at Rukawa for awhile in a stunned silence. Then Akagi turned away muttering something like: 'Something must've gotten into his eyes…' Slowly the crowd around Rukawa dispersed and he went back to his training. When his back was turned to them, a faint smile lightened his face. Do'aho. I'm glad I'm in love with you, my wonderful, wonderful do'aho. A silent laughter shook his shoulders, but it went unnoticed by everyone. Except perhaps a certain red headed delinquent who glanced at him with shining, bright eyes and then turned back. Content, although not understanding what had happened. The kitsune seemed to be alright.