Title: Outsider

Author: Kuroi Tenshi [[email protected]]

Pairings: RuHana

Warnings: Shounen Ai, cursing and some stuff but they're relatively harmless... ^_^

OOC as well, but you'll see why

Notes: This is actually important and not just minor rambling. If you've seen the episode with the "camp-shot-training" where Hanamichi learns to do jump shots [oops! You have seen it, right? ^^;; Sorry for the spoilers], you'll have to totally erase that from your memory as you read this little ficcie. Hanamichi's learning it himself, meaning he's his own sensei. That's all. Thanks. Back to your regularly scheduled fanfiction. ^_^

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Hanamichi concentrated on relaxing. His chocolate brown eyes briefly slid shut as he willed himself to calm his rapidly beating heart. It was funny, how one had to concentrate on relaxing. But it was really hard to relax when you're adrenaline was pumping and your heart was beating more than eighty times in a minute.

Nightfall had long come and the team had gone home. His usual after-practice basics training with Ayako had ended two hours ago and his most hated rival had left him in his secret haven alone after the dirty looks and not-so-friendly remarks from the so-called Tensai. He knew most of the team members didn't know about him staying longer than an hour or two after practice. But after discovering one night that the gym actually gave some sort of sanctuary for him that no other place offered, his stays after practice become longer; hours speeding past him as he practiced and perfected the skills and moves he knew.

Rukawa would leave long before thoughts of going home and resting his tired muscles entered Hanamichi's mind. Explaining why no one knew how well he improved. The lay-up shots, dunks and rebounding he had been taught were no longer his only weapon. He was secretly training himself to embed the way he'd shoot from a distance, like the jump shots everybody so wonderfully did.

As he relaxed and his body picked up the natural rhythm, he made the ball go sailing right into the basket, not even touching a bit of net. He smiled to himself, satisfied. He still had to practice to make his body adapt to the moves he makes; to make his movements more fluid and graceful. Picking up the basketball that now rolled on the floor quietly, he made his way toward the locker room.

He still had a long way to go. All the other members of the team had been playing long before him and somehow, he couldn't get that certain feeling out of his head.

The feeling that after all the work he'd been through, he was still an outsider.

~*~*~*~

"I don't know what he does at night when he practices here," Ayako shook her head, the dark brown curls of her hair bouncing lightly as she did. She and Ryota had been discussing Hanamichi and his "late night" practices. They've been noticing that the redhead had been spending a lot of time staying way after practices.

Even Rukawa goes home before he does. They couldn't help but feel like there was something Hanamichi was doing that he wouldn't let the others know about. The two were standing at the sides, waiting for the rest of the team to change and for the coach to arrive. Some members were already warming up on the court at the middle.

Kogure smiled at them as he passed by, giving Mitsui a soft smile as he helped the other senior with his stretching exercise. The two watched in silence before Ayako spoke again. "Do you think there's something else that goes on during those 'practices'?"

"What do you mean?" The shortest of the starting members asked.

Ayako shrugged. "I don't know… like maybe there's something else he's doing during practice?"

"Something else like…?"

"Ryota!"

"What?" the boy said, smiling impishly, giving her his most innocent look. "It's not my fault that your line of thinking is something different from mine."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right." Then hushed down when said first year came and greeted them before he joined the others in warming up. Ryota and Ayako watched him in silence before the boy straightened up.

"I guess I should go warm up too," he said, giving "his" Aya-chan a shy smile, blushing as she smiled back. He jogged toward the other freshmen who were doing some warm up exercises. Not long after, Akagi and the coach arrived and practice began.

Ayako couldn't help but notice how Sakuragi's moves seemed to have improved. She was again amazed by the progress the young man was making. Barely three months had passed since he uttered the words "I hate basketball" and now he was training hard with the team to go to the national championships.

The gym door (which they kept closed to fend off Rukawa's rabid fan club) burst open and a girl with long blond hair ran past them and hid behind the coach. Some people who noticed stared at her, surprised and bewildered that one would use the coach as some sort of fort and hiding place.

After a throng of weird groupies ran past the gym door, the girl cautiously looked around to make sure none of the groupies—obviously the ones she was hiding from—had found her. After being sure, she stood up from her crouched position on the floor and dusted off her uniform. As she did, she glanced at the practicing team and raised an eyebrow in interest.

Ayako didn't mind people watching the team as long as they didn't scream and shriek like Rukawa's cheering squad but the girl was causing a bit of distraction. People were looking at her curiously, not only because of her sudden appearance moments ago but also for her hair and ethnicity. She was a foreigner. Obviously, if they want distraction out of the way, she'd have to leave. Some of the members were throwing glances at her now.

She cleared her throat and smiled at her. "I'm sorry but you'll have to leave," she said, trying to sound polite. She didn't want to seem like the evil witch of a manageress now, did she? She kept the smile on her face as the girl stared at her for a few seconds longer before replying.

"But why?"

"We don't allow outsiders inside," she said.

The girl shrugged and pointed at the other spectators, now torn between watching the team practice and watching Ayako speak to the pretty foreigner. "They're allowed inside too?" When silence met her answer, she smiled. "Don't worry about it. I don't need to hide from those idiots anymore anyway. I can probably outrun them now that I've caught my breath," she winked before walking toward the gym doors. As she stepped out, she smiled at Ayako again. "No outsiders, huh?"

Ayako nodded. "Yes, we don't allow outsiders in."

Hanamichi was listening to the two intently, straining his ears to hear the words passed between both girls. Ryochin had the ball; he could let his guard down a bit as he listened to Ayako's words. "We don't allow outsiders in."

Would that apply to him as well?

He was thinking too much about Ayako's words that he failed to hear the call from Mitsui who passed the ball to him. The ball smacking him right on the face, Hanamichi felt his face heat up with embarrassment. That was definitely embarrassing. How he wanted to floor to open up and swallow him! He tried to cover the embarrassment with a laugh. "Nyahaahaha! I bet none of you can do that!"

Rukawa jogged past him as the seniors got the ball and muttered something that made Hanamichi's already deflated ego shrink smaller. "Do'aho," the other boy had said. He froze from his spot on the floor and looked down on the ground. Was he really that? Do'aho? Outsider?

As Akagi called the team members closer, Hanamichi mechanically walked toward the cluster of sweaty bodies, mind still numb from the possible realizations he was having. Outsider. The word kept echoing in his mind, repeating itself louder each time, filling his head with the word that it was almost impossible for him to understand what the captain was saying.

When he finally looked up, the group was already slowly dispersing; Akagi and the coach were walking out of the gym. What happened? Ishii filled him in.

"The coach and Akagi-sempai are going to cut the practice short today. They said they needed to check out some game that could help us with the future games," the boy explained. "We're allowed to leave early. But we can stay and practice too."

Hanamichi nodded, noticing that the others were already starting to clean. The other starting members were still practicing. He jogged toward Mitsui, Ryota and Rukawa. Ryota gave Hanamichi pointers in the feints while Mitsui and Rukawa played a game of one-on-one. As Hanamichi imitated what the shorter boy did, he heard some of the murmurs from the watching crowd.

"Look at that baka Sakuragi," he heard someone snicker. "He needs someone to teach him basketball all the time." Whoever the boy was with, he laughed.

He felt his face flush and concentrated on the feint, forcing himself to stop hearing the words repeated in his head. But to no avail, they kept playing over and over in his ears like a recorder insistently replaying the hated words. It was a good thing Ryota was too engrossed in staring at Ayako that he didn't seem to have heard.

Mitsui stopped from playing with the other first year and smirked. He had. "Hear that, Sakuragi?"

"They're jealous of the Tensai, that's all!" he replied, grinning like the foolish idiot he knew he was. At times like this, all he could do to try and preserve what little dignity he had left was to act nonchalantly about it; pretend as if the words weren't like knives slashing and severing his already damaged ego.

The boys had heard him. And still whispering, they continued. "Jealous?" the boy sneered to his friend, tilting his head in Hanamichi's direction. "Who's he kidding?"

"He's the outsider of the team! An amateur who knows nothing about the sport," the boy's companion scoffed. "And to think he was delusional enough to think he's better than Rukawa. He's not even one-sixteenth of him!"

Hanamichi opted to pretend that he heard nothing, grinning still as he passed the ball to Mitsui and watch the senior make a perfect three-point shot. "Watch the knees, Micchi. You might break them again since you're getting too old! Nyaahahaha!"

"I didn't break them before," Mitsui frowned. "Who're you to tell me something like that? You're just a beginner."

"An amateur," Ryota added, laughing as Hanamichi's eyes widened and he growled at them. Obviously, he heard what the spectators were saying.

"Look who's talking, you need to grow a few more inches, Ryochin!"

"And you need to learn more basic training!"

"Teme, Kitsune!"

"Do'aho."

"Why, you—!" He grabbed the ball from Rukawa and was about to show them the result of his "late nice practice" training when he heard words that made him freeze on the spot.

"But you have to admit, you're still a beginner," Mitsui commented. "You still have a lot to learn before you can play like us."

"He doesn't belong here," the boy hissed, loud enough for the others to hear. "He's an outsider!"

Mitsui took a step back, anticipating a head butt as Hanamichi turned to him. "Hehe, I was just kidding…"

The redhead briefly glanced around him and saw that most of the people were looking at them. They were expecting the idiot red monkey to head butt Mitsui or start another brawl. They were expecting him to raise hell or something. But no one expected that reaction from him.

Hanamichi stared at Mitsui, saw him step back. Felt his hands on the orange rubber ball, gripping tightly. The words were echoing in his mind, refusing to stop and now, they were ten times louder.

"We don't allow outsiders in."

"He's the outsider of the team! An amateur who knows nothing about the sport."

"An amateur."

"Do'aho."

"He doesn't belong here. He's an outsider!"

Outsider. Outsider. Outsider. Outsider. Outsider. Outsider. OUTSIDER.

"We don't allow outsiders in."

The ball dropped unto the ground without so much as a word and Hanamichi slowly nodded. "You're right," he whispered, almost inaudibly that you'd think he was whispering to himself. Everybody watched him walk toward the locker room, eyes still glazed and trance-like. Ayako rushed to him and frowned.

"We still need to practice your basics, Sakuragi," she reminded.

He paused at the door and looked at her, standing next to him. "You're right, Ayako. No outsiders in."

~*~*~*~*~

Tbc

Liked it? Hated it? Lost your lunch? Gifts? Threats? Praises? Mail me and tell me!

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Notes:

This is just the prologue of the story so... yeah, it's short. Okay, I now Hanamichi's out of character. But well, you'll see why in the plot. ^_^ I've always been interested to know what'll happen if he leave the team. So there, I wrote a fic for it. Hehe. More soon [I hope]. Ja.

Kuroi Tenshi [[email protected]]

May 2002