Dont Stop Believing Part 1: Round up
************
Inside the Shohoku gymnasium, dusk:
"Nice shot Rukawa!" Kogure Kiminobu shouted to his teammate after he made an incredible dunk on the ring.
Rukawa Kaede gave a curt nod at the compliment, and ran after the others. Not even acknowledging the cheers of the girls that stared at him with such intensity, following his every movement.
"Hah! I'm a better player than him." A tall, red head
complained, practically shouting, as he ran for the ball.
Rukawa let it pass and simply continued to play. It was not the first nor will
it be the last sarcastic reply he received. It did not matter; the red head was
doing passably well, in Rukawas opinion. That was what was important.
"Very good Rukawa, nice assist, Kogure. Take a break, guys- it's late and we all have classes tomorrow." A petite girl said, standing up from behind a movable table.
" Yes ma'am." The team chorused, almost with military precision, as they started to spread out. As their wont to do, the team cleaned up the hall that they just used. Some loitered around, talking but picking up the scattered basketballs, while others took out some mops to clean the floor.
"Aya-chan!" A short, brown-haired guy, sporting an ear stud, called out. He jogged to the movable table that the girl was standing behind in and smiled a goofy smile. The 2nd year student blushed lightly and placed a hand behind his head.
"Yes Ryota?" The girl answered turning around to face him.
"Uhmm... may I uhhh... walk you home? If you don't mind, that is? It's... uh... late... and..." Ryota Miyagi turned a deeper shade of red as he spoke.
"Why, I don't mind." Ayako answered, smiling. "But don't we live on opposite sides of town?"
The smiling face brightened at the answer and quickly nodded.
"Err... I... Uh... don't mind..." Ryota said.
Suddenly, a large, booming sound was heard from across the room.
"What the hell do you think you're doing with my sister?" Akagi Takenori asked, hand still grinding the red head's skull.
"Ow! Hey Gori, what was that for? I was just trying to wake up Haruko-chan from her stupor." Sakuragi Hanamichi complained as he held his now ringing head. He glared at the taller upperclassman.
"How many times have I told you not to touch my sister?" Akagi shouted. "You were slapping her face. Who gave you the right to hit my sister?"
The tirade filled the multipurpose hall. Snickers from the others could be heard as the two players threw their usual barbs.
"Baka." Rukawa muttered from where he stood, dribbling a basketball.
*Just another day in Shohoku.* Rukawa thought as he gave everyone a cursory glance. *Akagi-sempai is giving Sakuragi-baka a tongue-lashing. Haruko-san is still staring at me, still don't know why. Ryota-san is still trying to get some private time with Ayako-sempai. Kogure-sempai is talking with Mitsui-sempai. Humm... Kogure-sempai is blushing, wonder why. Everyone else is cleaning up for the day. Yes, a typical end of another ordinary day.* With a slight nod, Rukawa flicked his wrist and sent the ball sailing through the ring.
It was another boring day at Shohoku.
***********
Outside the Shoyo gymnasium, dusk:
The main doors opened in a sudden burst of light. A shadow shot out of it in a blur.
"Oi! Fujima! Leaving in a rush?" A tall, bespectacled youth called from inside to the much shorter, brown haired, young man. The shadow slowed, and turned, blue eyes becoming mere slits. A cold, deadly smile played at the usually gentle face. Luckily the shadows hid the dangerous glint from his eyes making the face look mild and innocent.
"Got some important business to attend to. Sorry Hanagata, hafta go." Fujima Kenji shouted, waving. Turning back to the way he was going Fujima jogged away. As he turned in a corner he accelerated.
"Hate it when I hafta rush out for these meetings." Fujima muttered to no one in particular as he increased his pace another notch. Putting on the brakes when he passed the school gates, Fujima looked left and right as he decided on the fastest route to the meeting place. As he saw a familiar figure running, at breakneck speed, a block away, Fujima decided to just give chase.
“Well! Well! Kenji! You late too?" The tall, spiky haired, young man said as Fujima caught up with him.
"Nope. Actually we're right on time. " Fujima answered with a grin. "Remember? You set your chrono a little early. So you'd get there on time. Seemed to have worked."
"What!!!" Sendoh Akira shouted as he skidded to a stop. Fujima stopped a few meters away. Turning to the younger man he smiled one of his innocent smiles.
"You forgot, didn't you?" He said, placing a fist to his hip.
"You mean, I've been rushing for nothing!" Akira answered, eyes wide. A smile suddenly split his face. "Then this'll be a first. I'm not late!"
"Well, we will be if we don't hop to it." Fujima shot back as he started to run again. "Come on! "
"Hai! imoto-chan!"
"Don't call me that. One, I-am-older-than-you. Two, I-am-a-guy. I'm not your imoto-chan." Fujima grated as they both ran.
"Hai! Ken-CHAN!"
"Arrrggggghhhhh!!!!"
**********
Inside the Kainan gymnasium, dusk:
"Alright. Dismissed." A tall, dark, young man shouted, much to the relief of his gangly, ponytailed, teammate.
"At last! I never thought Maki would ever call it a day." Kiyota Nobunaga said to his taller teammate.
"Actually we're earlier than usual." Jin Souichiro answered in reflection, as he passed the swinging doors.
"Feh! You wouldn't notice with him." Kiyota muttered under his breath as he stepped through the door.
Suddenly all that Kiyota could see was the flaking white paint of the gymnasium as several of their teammates burst through the door.
"I-ittai! " Was all that he could say as he tried to peel himself off the wall. Maki Senichi calmly walked through the door and watched as Kiyota rubbed his nose.
"Kiyota, do you have a cold? Your nose is getting red." Maki said, raising an eyebrow.
Kiyota was unable to reply, except for a muffled "Nyo, ahy dhon hafe ah cohl." Maki continued on his way.
"Clumsy!" Maki heard Jin say as he left the two in the hallway.
*Clumsy!* he mentally added himself.
* Hummm... I've got half an hour to spare. I could still change and pack properly. No use being early. Akira never gets there on time. Kenji, he's patient enough to let a few minutes tardiness pass. Hisashi and Kaede, both asked permission to come late anyway. Hisashi wanted to walk Kogure home. Guilt trip, wonder when he'll get over it. Kaede needs to pick-up some things from his apartment. The disks, most probably. So there shouldn't be any problem if I'm running a bit late. But then if I'm early I can have a teasing spree with Kenji. He's always early. Now that is something worth hurrying for. * Maki thought with a mental grin.
The day was getting better and better.
**********
Inside a derelict building:
"What in the world is taking them so long?" Sendoh asked the now half-asleep Fujima.
Fujima blinked sleepily at Sendoh from where he lay then made limp, shooing motions with his hand. That done he curled up to a ball and made a vague sound like "they're coming" but sounded more like "murf muhummm".
"They're coming, just because you're early doesn't mean you can go ahead and mouth off. Remember this is the very first time you actually were early." Maki answered as he moved from the shadow of nearby crates.
"Shinichi! Don't do that!" Fujima said, suddenly wide-awake and glaring at Maki. He clutched a hand against his chest, breathing hard.
"Don't what?" Maki asked smiling. "Good evening imoto-chan."
"I-am-not-your-imoto-chan." Fujima bit out.
"Hai Ken-chan." Sendoh quipped, grinning.
"One, two, three, four...." Fujima muttered under his breath as he started to count.
Behind him a widely grinning Sendoh and Maki stared after their irritated friend. As Fujima reached thirty in his counting and while Maki and Sendoh were having a light conversation with them always making "mistakes" starting to call him "imo-err-Kenji", a polite knock on the door was heard.
"Pizza delivery!" Called the voice behind the door.
"Alright!" Fujima said as he rushed to the door. "Hisashi's here."
"Wait! How do you know it's Hisashi?" Sendoh asked as he tried to block Fujima from the door.
"Trust me. I KNOW it's him." Fujima answered putting on some footwork to slip past Sendoh.
Before Fujima could reach the door an impatient Mitsui kicked it open. This move not only opened the door but also broke it from its hinges, sending it crashing noisily on to the dusty floor. Mitsui grinned sheepishly as he stared after.
"Err... Gomen... Uhh... Want some pizza?" Mitsui asked lamely. Several sweatdrops fell from all three men.
"Good evening to you too." A voice suddenly sounded from behind them all. As a unit, the group turned to face the window from where the voice came. All four dropped onto defensive stances. A dark shape leaned against the windowsill, hidden by the shadows that permeated the room.
For a few seconds no one moved. Then a sudden burst of breath came, like an exasperated sigh.
"Hi Kaede! Having fun scaring everyone out of their minds?" Fujima asked, holding his head with a slightly shaking hand.
Fujima shook his head * Kaede and his flair for the dramatics. Ughhh...* he thought, while behind him Mitsui, Sendoh, and Maki proceeded to try to gang up on Kaede. Unfortunately their prey was not what they were beating up, but each other. Kaede watched with an eyebrow raised at the racket the three were making.
"Do'aho..." Rukawa muttered.
The three were near collapse with exhaustion when they finally figured that they weren't beating up the intended, but each other. Fujima merely shook his head once more and felt he was coming down with a headache. Rukawa just watched.
" So what's happening? Why the meeting? And why in the world have I been hearing howling in the middle of the night, in the middle of a city?" Fujima asked, not missing a beat.
"Just the "End of the World." Beyond that everything is fine." Rukawa answered dispassionately. "Pizza Ken-chan?"
-Tsuzuku-
December 25, 1998
re March 22, 1999
Note: All Slam Dunk characters are property of Mr. Inou. I just borrowed them
for a few hours and made them do despicable and non-Slam Dunkish things.
Note: I have only read the comic up to the 18th book so I am not all that
knowledgeable about what happened after. I know only the summarized version of
the story after that book. I also watched the TV series so the story is a
mixture of both the anime and the manga.
Acknowledgement: Thanks to all the UAWC members who tore [or will tear] this fic
apart. Thank you from your ever-faithful scratch-post provider.