Disclaimer: I own none of the gorgeous characters mentioned.

Strawberries and Lemon

"Isn't that Sendoh-kun from Ryonan?!" a high pitched voice echoed through the stadium, followed by a few fangirl screams, interrupting the team meeting. In an instant, a ruckus had started and everyone, including the basketball team, had turned their heads to look towards the doors of the stadium, landing their gazes on the tall lanky male with spiky hair standing there casually with a hand stuck into his pocket.

"You! Have you finally mustered the courage to face my challenge, spiky head?!" Sakuragi boomed across the court, starting towards Ryonan's ace in a confident stride. Sendoh only smiled, his gaze lifting to fix only on one person despite all the attention that had gathered on him. He lifted the small box in his hand and gave it a little shake, the corners of his lips twisting into a grin when he noticed the slightest of a reaction he had drawn out of his secret lover.

Secret lover.

He loved how that sounded. It made it all the more exciting, although being in a relationship with Shohoku's Ice Prince was already exciting enough to send him into a fit anytime. Truth to be told, he was rather surprised at how well they had managed to keep it under wraps. They were both such highly talked-about players, almost celebrities in their respective schools, and yet no one had discovered the fact that they weren't just rivals on court.

"Oh. I thought you guys would have ended practice already. Too bad, another time then." He muttered with a nonchalant shrug, meeting gazes with Rukawa again, before he turned on his heels and walked off. Before Sakuragi could run off after him, Akagi had hollered at him and ordered for the doors to be closed so that they wouldn't get interrupted again.

As soon as they were dismissed, Rukawa headed straight for the showers instead of lingering around to do some extra exercises like he usually did. He took his time in the shower, not wishing to seem too conspicuous. Changing back into his school uniform, he then quietly slipped out of the changing rooms amidst the chattering of the few of his teammates who were still around. Heading out of the stadium, he then went out through the back gate.

The back gate was usually already locked at that time of the day, so it had become their meeting spot whenever Sendoh came over to Shohoku. Stepping on the wire fence, Rukawa then easily climbed over to the other side, landing with a soft thud.

"You sure took your time." Sendoh muttered, a lazy smile stretching across his lips as he came closer, Rukawa's bicycle in tow, the small box dangling from two fingers on his other hand.

"It's not like you couldn't wait." Rukawa muttered coldly, reaching a hand out to take his bicycle back.

Sendoh laughed, taking a step forward and slinging his arm around Rukawa's neck to pull him close, then dangling the box in front of the freshman's face. "I can, but these can't. They're nicer when they're fresh and cold."

Deep blue eyes widened slightly as Rukawa stared longingly at the box dangling in front of his face. He didn't want to seem desperate for it, but now that the box was so close, he could even smell the sweet fragrance seeping out through the small gaps in the box. He looked away and tried to shrug Sendoh off his shoulders. "You're heavy, get off."

Sendoh smirked, and pulled away from Rukawa, taking a quick step forward and turning to walk backwards while he stared at Rukawa with a wide grin on his lips. "We should sit down somewhere and eat these while they're still nice, don't you think? How about your place? It's near enough…"

"… fine. Nobody's home anyway." Rukawa muttered with a nonchalant shrug, moving to mount on to his bicycle with the intention of cycling home. Sendoh hurriedly moved to hitch a ride behind Rukawa.

"Aa… feels so comfortable to be lying down. I got all thirsty during the wait, can I have some water please, Kae-chan?" Sendoh asked as he flopped down gracelessly on the sofa as soon as they entered the house, stretching his limbs and let out a long sigh.

"'aho." Rukawa muttered, throwing his bag carelessly on the floor and walking into the kitchen. He opened the fridge door and took out the bottle of chilled water, together with a small plastic box containing lemon slices. Sendoh always liked his water chilled, with two slices of lemon. It had started getting tiresome to cut up a lemon every time Sendoh came over, especially since his visits started getting more frequent, so Rukawa had started to keep a small container of ready-sliced lemons in the fridge.

Placing the glass of water on the coffee table for Sendoh, Rukawa then noticed that the other was cradling the box he brought along against his chest, a cheeky glint in his eyes as he reached into the box and pulled out a piece of sweet confectionary from the box. Rukawa's eyes widened slightly as he stared at the cream puff in Sendoh's hands, trying hard not to seem too hard up for the sweet treat. Holding the cream puff in one hand, Sendoh then took a long languid drink from the cup, before setting it back on the table. Smiling victoriously, his free hand then moved to pull Rukawa down to sit next to him on the sofa.

"Two slices of lemon. You always remember, my dearest Kae-chan. For that, you deserve this strawberry cream puff… it was just freshly made when I got it, you know." He muttered softly, bringing the cream puff to Rukawa's lips. Rukawa made a sound of annoyance and took the cream puff from Sendoh's hand, turning away from Sendoh as he took a long-awaited bite out of the cream puff. He closed his eyes and licked his lips as the sweet fragrance filled his mouth and the cold cream slid down his throat, his eyes snapping open only when he heard a chuckle coming from the man sitting behind him.

"There's always this orgasmic look on your face whenever you eat that… I'm jealous." Sendoh exclaimed with a mock pout on his lips. Deep down, he was absolutely gleeful that he had discovered the soft spot Rukawa had for cream puffs. Strawberry cream puffs in particular. He had went all over Tokyo to source out the best tasting cream puffs since he discovered that little fact, but refused to tell Rukawa where he bought the puffs from whenever the other asked. It was exciting to have a grip over his rebellious, stubborn lover who was always in self-denial.

"You're disgusting." Rukawa simply retorted, throwing Sendoh a glare as he took another bite out of the sweet confectionary. He hated the fact that Sendoh always used cream puffs to get a hold over him, but at the same time he couldn't help but love the annoying porcupine-head for all the delectable cream puffs he always brings to him. He sometimes wondered if it was a good or bad thing for Sendoh to have found out this soft spot of his. Well, at least he hadn't gone around telling people about the fact that the much feared Shohoku's ace Rukawa Kaede has an unbelievably low resistance towards the seduction of cream puffs.

Sendoh leaned closer to Rukawa, almost climbing on to the younger lad as he craned his neck to lick off the small bit of cream that was at the corner of Rukawa's lips. "Do I get to savor my favorite dessert tonight then?" he asked in a small whisper, intense eyes gazing into Rukawa's deep blue ones.

"Stop being so gross, 'aho." Rukawa mumbled, trying to shun away from Sendoh as he felt the heat rising in his cheeks. But before he could offer any more resistance, Sendoh had leaned forward and trapped his lips in a passionate kiss, not hesitating at all to slide his tongue past Rukawa's lips.

"Only… if you give me your share of that." Rukawa muttered after they had parted from the kiss, pointing towards the open box sitting on the table. He was panting slightly from the intense kiss they shared, the taste of strawberries and lemon lingering in on his tongue. He brought his half-eaten cream puff to his lips, quickly finishing up before Sendoh decided to launch another surprise attack.

"Deal." Sendoh muttered with a brilliant grin, getting up in record time and dragging Rukawa into the bedroom, not forgetting to take the confectionary box along with him.

-end-

A/N: Happy belated SenRu day :D I hope I haven't lost my touch. I knowwwww I've not been writing. I'm pretty upset about that actually, but working life kinda saps away the time and energy to write. I have a few fics with a start but no ending. :(

For those of you waiting for my TezuFuji fics, I SWEAR I'm still clinging on to them. I just really, seriously, have to find some discipline and concentration to sit down and finish up those tail-less fics.
TORA: I promise I'll catch up on reading!

Anyways, I hope this has been a good read! As always, comments and reviews are much loved