© Original Story by BookOcean

© 2004 English Translation by Himitsu Star

Disclaimer: Slam Dunk in its full glory is created by the great mangaka Takehiko Inoue. My very grateful thanks to BookOcean for permission.

Notes: I wish to share this Chinese fanfiction with the English-speaking Slam Dunk fandom. The original story is at It is an amazing piece of RuHana fiction. I obtained special permission from the author, BookOcean, for this purpose. The original story is hers, and I have been very, very faithful to the original, with practically literal translations, and I have done my very best to capture the author's original style, although I suspect Lost In Translation is something that couldn't be helped here. Been a bit painful translating, but this story is worth it. It has, I feel, a very unique storyline, and it's very special. A RuHana AU, you just HAVE to read it. I hope that you will enjoy it! Please review!

非常感谢 BookOcean批准!

01

The dark days of the killer high school entrance exams were long past and it was now the beginning of a new school year. This year, Shohoku High School had well over two hundred new students in its freshman batch. Amongst the many new faces in Shohoku was a boy who was making his way in his customary half-asleep daze to the school basketball courts located some distance from the main school buildings. Tall and dark-haired, he had the distinction of having barely set foot on the grounds of Shohoku High before he became the sensational new school heartthrob, and the center of much attention and fluttering of hearts amongst the girls there.

There was nothing very remarkable about this boy except, perhaps, for the fact that he loved to play basketball. It was a game that he had played since he was a very small child, and he himself had never had any particular reason for playing it. It was just that he loved the game, and the familiar feel of the large, round, orange ball in his hands warmed his heart in a way he could not explain. Perhaps it was one of his seniors who had best put it: it made him happy.

This senior was a girl from his junior high days, named Ayako, and who just happened to be his senior at his new high school, Shohoku. Do you know, she had said very thoughtfully to him once, it's strange, but I get this feeling of real happiness, this joie de vivre, when I watch you play basketball? It's funny, I know… because matches aren't associated with joy. It's all about winning, and it isn't pretty to watch, because people go all out to do anything they can to win. It can get so ugly at times… yet watching you play always give me that feeling. She wasn't the first person to have told him that; he had had teammates before, who had said as much to him. You know, sempai, we always feel really happy when we're playing basketball together with you!

They're happy playing basketball with me? He didn't really understand what they meant, but it was not something that dwelt long on his mind, because the basketball courts that he had been looking for were now in plain view, with no one in sight, and he slowed down his steps. Well, whatever… let others think what they liked… he had never been terribly interested in brooding over their opinions!

Dribble, dribble…bounce, bounce, bounce…

The well-known sound of a basketball connecting rhythmically with the concrete flooring of an outdoor court brought him back to reality in a flash. There, on the courts that he had thought were empty, stooda tall, red-haired boy with his back to him, obviously a right-hander from the way he handled the basketball. The sudden appearance of a human being where there had been none just a second ago should have been startling, to say the least— how can people simply appear out of thin air? —Yet the black-haired boy found himself viewing the newcomer with no surprise whatsoever; it seemed perfectly natural for the redhead to be there.

It was very quiet there, so quiet that it seemed as if they were the only two people there, in that little world on the basketball court, and all the dark-haired boy could see was the vivid head of flame-red hair belonging to the other boy as he dribbled, drilled and shot; he could even hear every pant and wheeze as the other boy practiced. The sound of cicadas from nearby intruded into the silence, and for a moment, the dark-haired boy was startled at the sudden feeling that something was not quite right with the seasons— it was as if it was high summer, with the cicadas singing from the nearby trees… but wasn't it supposed to be early spring, when the cicadas had barely emerged from their winter hibernation?

The red-haired boy on the courts seemed to have been there for a long time; he halted briefly to tilt his neck to and fro in an effort to ease the sore muscles there, before beginning his practice again. This time, he concentrated on scoring, tossing the ball repeatedly towards the hoop: missed a shot, try again, missed another shot, try again, missed a third shot, try again, get it right, keep it going! The dark-haired boy could not help but be fascinated by that fierce concentration and persistence, and he stood very still, watching silently until the ball scooted out of bounds and towards the entrance to the courts, where he was. The dark-haired boy moved forward to pick up the ball, and in doing so, finally caught the attention of the other boy.

Eh? Never seen that uniform before—what school is that? Wait—is he another one of those bloody outsiders trying to make trouble for the basketball club? They've already done enough! The redhead immediately scowled and raised his voice in an angry bellow. "Who are you?! No one from outside is allowed here!"

Instead of going away, the black-haired boy paused and stood there, very still, just looking at the redhead.

The redhead's temper boiled. "OI! ARE YOU DEAF, KITSUNE?!?!?!"

"Do'aho." His own rude reply shocked even the dark-haired boy himself.

"HUH!" If looks could have killed, the dark-haired boy might have been dead several times over. "Well, there isn't any basketball club here any longer—happy about that, aren't you!" The raging redhead would have preferred to teach that insolent dark-haired outsider a lesson with his fists, but he did not dare lay a finger on the dark-haired boy; he had already learnt his lesson. There had been a fight not too long ago, with the result that the entire basketball club, of which he had been captain, had been disbanded by the school. He had gone to the school court that day simply to play a little of the game he loved… and look what that kitsune had done, interrupting his precious basketball time!

No basketball club? What's he talking about? Shohoku's basketball team had made it to the final four of the All-Japan Nationals Schools Championships just last year! "Do'aho, what the hell are you talking about? Shohoku made it to the last four at the Nationals last year, and I just saw the team busily recruiting new members." It was the first time in his life that he had actually spoken more than a few short words to anyone, or felt the need to string more than a couple of monosyllables together in a conversation.

"You're the one talking nonsense! The school ordered us to close down because of the fight last week… and we didn't even make it to the district finals last year, let alone Nationals!" The redhead stared at the dark-haired boy, feeling puzzled. "You're in the wrong school, aren't you? Look, your uniform's different from mine." He picked up the basketball, still looking somewhat perplexedly at the dark-haired boy.

"Do'aho." It was unreasonable, but the dark-haired boy found himself irritated by the redhead's manner.

The red-haired boy exploded with fury and he lunged forward to grab the other boy's collar. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN IDIOT?!?!"

The dark-haired boy shot out a long arm to block the redhead's incoming blow, but just as he was about to touch the other, the redhead vanished into thin air.

What the…? Did the red-haired boy just… disappear? Into thin air? Had he just seen the boy simply fade away like colour ebbing from clothing after a few good scrubs? The dark-haired boy reached out a hand, and slowly flapped it in front of him. Had it just been his imagination…? Yet he felt deeply convinced of the fact that the redhead whom he had been talking to actually existed. So how could he have vanished just like that?

"Rukawa Kaede!" The dark-haired boy was recalled violently back to the present reality by an outsized ruler descending forcefully on his head, which immediately snapped to one side. "Don't block the path! The basketball club is going to start activities in a moment. Have you handed in your application form?"

The wielder of the ruler was his senior, Ayako, and with her were a group of the basketball club members.

"Handed up already." He had never been much of a conversationalist, even with people he knew fairly well.

"Then what are you standing here for? Playing the doorman? Go in!" Ayako had always been a terribly… energetic… sort of person.

"Sempai… this is the basketball club, right?" After that strange encounter, he definitely needed that to be clarified.

"Rukawa, have you been sleeping and dreaming again?" If there was one thing Ayako knew about this junior of hers, it was that habit he had of falling asleep anywhere, everywhere, and at whatever time.

"Sempai." Rukawa's irritation at Ayako's comment was clear.

Ayako eyed him with undisguised amusement. "Well, of course this is the basketball club. What did you think it was? Don't waste time; go and get changed!" She emphasized her message with a few more blows of her trusty ruler, before leaving him alone to head for the courts together with the posse of basketball club members in tow.

… who was that boy, then? Rukawa slowly walked to the basketball board where he had last seen the boy play and lifted his head to stare at the hoop above him. "Ayako-sempai, please pass me a ball."

Ayako threw him a confused glance; Rukawa was behaving rather peculiarly today. Nevertheless, she scooped a ball from the large metal basket of orange basketballs nearby, and threw it to him.

Rukawa easily caught it, and with one smooth motion, he aimed for the hoop. The ball sailed in through the net, and Rukawa caught it again, then aimed for the net one more time, in imitation of the redheaded boy he had seen practicing shots. Who was that boy? But there was no answer to his silent question, and he did not bother to ask it aloud of anyone.