disclaimer: no one in here belongs to me.

Gomen

by: Schu-chan

Gomen-nasai if they are OOC.

thank you all for your reviews! Keax-XV-san, bluefalls-san, Black Rainbow- san, kimi-chan-san... (????), chescaOtaku-san, Kanon*Altrui-san, thank you all for your comments!

and i think i'll leave it short...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I'm sorry, Rukawa... but we have to break up."

Rukawa stared at Hanamichi in shock. "Nani?"

"We have to separate."

Rukawa covered up his shock by putting up his cold mask. He didn't ask why and only nodded. Hanamichi felt a stab in his heart. He knew that this was the right thing to do.

"I'll... see you around, Rukawa."

"Hn."

Hanamichi turned and walked away from the park and Rukawa. He had hoped that Rukawa would have tried to stop him at least. Hanamichi sighed. It was better to break off with Rukawa now... After all, Rukawa didn't love him, right? All Rukawa did was call him do 'aho or baka, or hit him for doing something stupid - even though it was lightly. Rukawa never said anything to him unless it was basketball oriented.

Dooshite? Why was Hanamichi breaking up with him? Had he done something wrong? Iie... he was sure he hadn't. Had Hanamichi been playing with him? Iie... Hanamichi couldn't have been playing with him. The 'aho was too good- hearted for that. Then what was wrong?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hanamichi went home and collapsed into Youhei's arms. "You-chan... I broke up with Kae-chan..."

"Dooshite, Hana?"

"He doesn't love me... he never did..."

"Are you sure about that?"

"He's never shown that he loves me... ever..."

Youhei sighed and held the sobbing Hanamichi in his arms until Hanamichi fell asleep. He picked him up and took him up to his room and tucked him into bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Rukawa Kaede! Open up! Hey, I told you to open up!"

Youhei banged on the door, yelling at the top of his lungs. The door was opened hesitantly and Rukawa looked out. Youhei was surprised to see that Rukawa had red eyes.

"Oh, Youhei... what is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Sit down."

"I know that you love Hanamichi. You told me so."

"He broke up with me."

"It's coz he thought that you didn't love him, baka! With Hanamichi, you can't just expect him to know that you're in love with him! He's been deprived of love for so long... you have to show him. You have to make an effort."

"Datte..."

"Go apologize right now for being so stupid and say that you'll try harder. NOW."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Rukawa sat in a chair, mumbling to himself. "But... but what if he decides that I can't love him at all? What if he rejects me?"

KNOCK! KNOCK! Rukawa sighed and answered the door.

"What do you want, Send-"

Rukawa was silenced with a fist to the face. Sendoh breathed heavily, glaring down at Rukawa. Rukawa stared up at him in shock. Smiley was glaring.

"I gave up on Hana because he LOVED you! You... I can't believe you broke his heart like that!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hanamichi rubbed his eyes as he woke up. He glanced around the room. So he'd ended up at Youhei's house. He hurried to the door when he heard the bell ring.

"Hai?"

Sendoh hugged him tightly, murmuring, "I missed you..."

Hanamichi pushed Sendoh off him gently, muttering, "What're you doing here, Sendoh?"

Sendoh hid the hurt from his face, saying, "I came here to take you out. Come on."

"Oi, baka smiley! Where do you think you're taking the Tensai? Oi!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hanamichi collapsed on the grass, breathing heavily. "What did you bring me to the court for, Smiley. I'm in no mood to kick your ass today."

Sendoh hid his smile, saying, "That's not why we're here, Hana-kun."

"Then why?"

"To see me."

Hanamichi whirled around and found Rukawa glaring at him. "Ru-rukawa! What are you doing here?"

"I need to know why you broke up with me."

Rukawa kicked himself mentally when he saw a torrent of emotions wash across Hanamichi's face. Love, betrayal, sadness, rejection...

"Do I need a reason?"

"Yes, you do. If you don't give me a reason, I will not accept the end of our relationship."

Rukawa willed Hanamichi to forget about his pride and admit that he still loved him, that he still needed him, that it was his insecurity that made him think that Rukawa didn't love him.

Was he serious? Maybe, just maybe, Rukawa _did_ love him. Maybe. Did he? He looked into Rukawa's hard eyes and found that Rukawa was no longer glaring at him but looking at him in hope.

"I, I..."

Hanamichi fell silent, contemplating. _Was_ Rukawa in love with him? Or was his pride refusing rejection? He took a deep breath. He would never know until he tried.

"I, I thought that you didn't love me!"

He took in another deep breath, looking into Rukawa's eyes. They stared hard into each other's eyes and Sendoh giggled in a corner before leaving. They'd be fine.

Hanamichi yelped as Rukawa suddenly threw himself at Hanamichi, covering his lips with his own.

"Gomen... I thought you knew that I loved you, gomen..."

Hanamichi stared into Rukawa's eyes and knew then for sure that Rukawa loved him.

"Ai shiteru, Hana..."

"I know, I know..."

Hanamichi smiled and hugged Rukawa tightly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Youhei grinned at Sendoh, saying, "So, you feel like shit now, huh?"

Sendoh scowled, saying, "It's all your fault that I let me love go to the fox - TWICE! I can't believe that I _delivered_ Hana to Rukawa again."

Youhei grinned once more, saying, "Hey, you did the right thing. I'll make it up to you with ice cream."

"ICE CREAM?! I LOST THE LOVE OF MY LIFE AND YOUR CONSOLATION IS _ICE CREAM_?!"

"Come on~, Sendoh."

Sendoh sighed, giving into Youhei's puppy dog look. "All right, all right."

Youhei grinned and headed towards the ice cream shop. Sendoh didn't know it yet, but Sendoh was slowly being trained into doing as Youhei wanted. Youhei sighed blissfully. Hanamichi and Rukawa were happy, Sendoh was falling into his trap. Everything was going as planned.

Owari~

Please review! I revised... hope it's better!