Title: You, ME and Him
Part: Chapter 02
Author: Irene 'aka' YEN (my pen name)
email: dbrrk@yahoo.com
Genre: YAOI/Threesome/Romance/Slight Lemon
Pairing: HanaRuKiyo
Rating: PG 17... to avoid confusion...
Feedback: Er.. if possible: email me... yen420@hotmail.com or dbrrk@yahoo.com. But if not then do post it here...
Notes to the Ellie: Er.. I dunno if this falls under Laree but if so... the other ellies can dissect this as well.
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{} = Places
[] = Thoughts
“ “ = Speaking
^^ = Author’s notes
<> = Words in action
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PART 02: Acts of Love
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Please bear with the flow of the story… some parts will get answered on this chapter. The cast is mostly consists of Hanamichi, Kiyota, Rukawa and a major part by Maki. All will be revealed in the later chaps… hopefully... neh.. I'll see to it that it will...
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{At Danny's}
"Why aren't you eating?" Sakuragi asked his companion.
"Not hungry."
Grinning rather stupidly again, "don't tell me you're still mad at what happened at your apartment?" Kiyota just humphed and turned his attention to the menu, seemingly trying to read what was written without actually reading it. "Come on… I thought you enjoyed it… If I remember correctly… you even begged me for it…" He couldn’t help the twinkle in his eye as he interjected the last part, and he actually giggled when he heard the brunette snapped, "Stop reminding me of that." He would have continued enjoying Kiyota’s discomfort if not for his dark blue eyes warning him of a possible fight if his line of taunting continued. Changing the topic, "ok…so are you going to eat that?" Pointing to the still untouched sandwich.
Shaking his head, "you're unbelievable…" then passed the sandwich to him.
Suddenly the door swung open and in came a rather tall, tanned and formidable looking young man. His eyes scanned the area for a red and black unruly kept hair. Catching something bright, his solemn face broke into slight smile as he strode towards the two. The red mop was bowed low, stuffing himself with a sandwich like he had not eaten for weeks. The new comer grinned, finding the sight delightful indeed. The one with the dark unruly kept hair had his back on him, a mischievous gleam started flickering in his eyes… slowly he made his way to the pair and when he reached them, quickly nipped the neck of his lover.
A startled, "eeepppp…" was wrenched out from the shorter guy as he almost jumped out from his chair.
The redhead, though surprised himself, laughed out loud upon seeing the horrified look on Kiyota's face. "Ha ha ha ha… you look really scared."
Ignoring the loud redhead, Kiyota turned towards his teaser to chastise him. "Shin-chan, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that."
Maki just grinned and took the empty seat between the two sophomores'. "So why page me to come here?"
Surprised, "you paged him to come here?"
"Why not? I knew that he'd be coming back tonight or tomorrow morning, so I paged him instead."
Getting rather impatient for his unanswered question, "again, why are we here and not at home?" Maki repeated, and then looked back and forth to the two younger players, one was looking anxious and the other was smirking.
Fidgeting in his seat, "Kiyota owed me dinner so he's treating me tonight."
"Really?"
[Payback] "Well, not entirely true… you see, carrot top here just threw a tantrum over at our apartment and so we can't order in because of the mess, that's why we decided to dine out."
Hearing the word mess was not acceptable in his vocabulary, "what MESS?" He firmly asked.
Glaring daggers at the shorter guy, "nothing… wild monkey here is making things up…"
"Am not!"
"Do to!"
"Not!"
The argument went back and forth, it was like a sick game between two of them. Sighing, Maki had thought that advancing a year would give the two some sense of maturity but boy was he wrong. Standing up, he delivered twin blows on each unruly head.
"Ouch!" Cried both players while rubbing the lump on their heads.
Dark blue eyes threw daggers at his lover, "why did you that for?"
"Why you… only Gori does that to me…" lurching over the table to grab his senior by the collar, intending to deliver a head butt.
Slapping the redhead's hands away from him, "you two are acting like bumbling idiots, it's the only way I remembered of stopping you." Patrons at Danny's were already scuffling away from the trio. "So… either one of you wanna tell me what really happened?" Seemingly undeterred by the twin vehement outburst.
Pouting, "Hmph… I won't tell."
When the redhead saw that Maki was not going to let the matter drop, he just settled back to his seat and said, "What he said was true… I did went to your place and sort of mess things up but it was not that bad."
"NOT THAT BAD!? You almost wrecked the whole place and would have punched holes through the walls too if I hadn't stopped you."
Bobbing his crimson head up and down, "that too…” and then threw a glaring glance at his shorter companion.
"Why?"
Brown eyes shifted his gaze to another pair of brown ones only to stammer, "Huh?"
Maki sighed. Placing his elbows on the table, he leveled his gaze with the brown-eyed Shohoku player and mouthed the words, "Why did you feel the need to thrash the place?"
A look of sadness crossed the boyish face before he said, "I… I saw Rukawa yesterday and I finally admitted what I feel for him, but…”
Taking the forlorn expression from the usually boisterous Shohoku forward, Maki could only imagine what had happened. "Let me guess… he didn’t accept it, right?”
Sakuragi shook his head and said, "no.”
Before Maki could say anything, the door swung open again, bringing in another tall young man wearing a red and black jacket with the word Shohoku written on it. This time, the newcomer scanned the place for an empty seat, but when his gaze stopped at their table, Maki noticed the sudden surprise registering in the familiar face. [Interesting…] he thought. Turning his attention back to the redhead, "so Hanamichi… what will you do?"
Taken aback, "I have not decided on that one… yet."
Actually, he hadn't put much thought on the subject ever since that morning, [it hurts way too much. Maybe I should just forget him and move on…] he considered, but… [It'll hurt you much more… right? Hanamichi?] His mind countered. Groaning out loud, "can we not talk about it now?" And then proceeded to bang his head on the table.
"Oi, red monkey… stop that. We can't pay for anymore damages." Kiyota cried, trying to hold Sakuragi by the shoulder.
Quite surprised at his junior's action, he just stared and waited for the other to calm down a little. Suddenly, he felt goose bumps rising at the back of his neck. Curious, he scanned the area and then met a pair of eyes who by the feel of the goose bumps on his neck were glaring its icy daggers at him. Not heeding Sakuragi's earlier cry, "Did he tell you why?"
Nothing… the boy was still in lala land, banging his head lightly on the surface of the table as if the pain would just drop on top of it. Impatient, he whacked the side of that crimson head and was awarded with a deathly glare and a raised fist. Unperturbed, "Stop acting like an 'aho and answer my question. Did… he… tell… you… why?" Slapping away the raised fist and emphasizing each word to get his question over.
Slumping back on his seat, "Let us get something straight shall we? First, only the kitsune calls me an ‘aho or Do’aho, for that matter; Second, I am not an idiot; and Third, what's it to you anyway? It's kind of personal you know?"
Exasperated, "just answer the question Hanamichi, or are you just scared to tell us why your so called rival dumped you?" He asked, suppressing a grin when he saw the sudden flare of fire burning in his honey brown eyes. [It always works.]
Straightening in his seat, Hanamichi menacingly leaned closer to the former Kainan captain and said, "The 'tensai' is not afraid of anything, especially that proud kitsune."
“Then why not tell us?” asked the now curios Kiyota.
Throwing his arms in the air in despair, “because I don’t know his reason. That’s why?”
“Why not tell us what happened then? Or is that also a secret?” Taunted Maki.
Switching his glance back and forth his two companions, "aargghh… the two of you are both nosy, no wonder you're stuck to one another." He tried stalling but their stance remained the same, giving up… "ok, you win. This has been the worst day of my life so why ruin the trend right?” Taking a deep breath, “last night, I left a note at his house asking him to meet me this morning at the court near Shohoku High…"
*** Flashback ***
It was a beautiful Sunday morning and Sakuragi Hanamichi was happily jogging his way to the court, where he had asked the kitsune to meet him that morning. He was not able to sleep a wink last night since he had been rehearsing his confession till the wee hours of the morning.
It had been a month since Rukawa’s return from the states and the redhead had spent a week preparing his courtship of his blue-eyed kitsune, buying stuffs and just observing what he liked and disliked. Then after that week, he had spent the next two weeks seeing his plan through… and that it was to woo and prove to the pale but handsome stoic brunette that he could finally admit that he loves him.
Act # 1: Love notes… For the past two weeks, his teachers have been having a migraine thinking why the redhead was suddenly coming to class early and awake. The reason? Simple, he had to come to school earlier, where no student was still about, to place a note addressed to Rukawa on his classroom table. Secretly, he would wait just outside the kitsune’s classroom to watch him glance and pocket the letter with his name and sniff the petal that went along with it. Then, he would cheerily walk towards his own classroom, singing not his national anthem but a love song he had heard from the radio.
Act # 2: Sweets for my sweet… He had found out that the raven head likes to eat sweets every after practice… so… he would make it a point to leave a Hershey bar or M and M’s on top of his duffel bag, discreetly, before joining their practice. Then to wash the sweets, he had brought him his favorite drink… cherry flavored Gatorade.
Act # 3: Red rose to symbolize his fiery love… Life was good for everybody surrounding the now cheerful redhead, and Youhei and the others knew the reason for it. Wanting to keep the jolly disposition their friend was in; they helped by placing a single stem of red rose everyday inside the blue-eyed boy’s locker. Of course Sakuragi gave them the combination, which he in turn got from Ayako… unknowingly.
Act # 4: Food for the heart… During lunchtime, Sakuragi coerced the server at the cafeteria to give Rukawa a baked muffin, which Youhei’s mom baked, in combination with whatever the boy ordered. At first, the server was scared stiff… imagine fire breathing down your neck, pressuring you to serve and then ice freezing you on the spot, denying to be served. Despite her dilemma, she was able to tell a feasible lie to the stoic boy about him being the lucky pick of the week to have a baked muffin, thus saving her from two week’s blasting of fire and ice.
Yes, everything turned out as planned. Now the last act, Act # 5: His confession. Smelling the dozen of roses in his hands, he couldn’t help feeling the first onslaught of first date jitters as he entered the court. Checking his watch, he smiled seeing that he had arrived just in time. Glancing around, he noted that Rukawa was late, [oh well better wait for him here.] Waiting was never his strongest virtue but seeing that he had a month preparing for that day, he thought that a few more minutes or hours won’t kill him. Thus, he just brushed away his growing impatience and focused on remembering a pair of blue eyes, the color of the bluest sky. Suddenly, another set of blue eyes intruded his reverie; this set was darker and sometimes they twinkle either because he was irritated, excited or just plain happy.
A voice inside his head suddenly whispered, “Kiyota…”
“Aargghh, why is that monkey in my head today of all days?” Whacking himself.
[Why not?] His mind asked.
“Because I need to focus on kitsune now and not that monkey.”
[Admit it, you’ve grown to care for that so-called monkey…].
“I am not denying that but still, it can not interfere with my plans for the kitsune.”
[You’re playing with fire Hanamichi; sooner or later you have to deal with this.] His mind warned.
“I chose sooner… well that’s that… now… SHUT UP!” He shouted at no one.
“Who are you talking to ‘aho?” A familiar deep somber voice spoke from behind him. Turning around, he saw the raven head standing a few feet away from him.
Cursing his stupid mind, “er… no one. Just talking to myself. I’m glad that you came.”
“I got curious.” Noticing the bouquet of flowers, “going to a funeral?”
Blushing stark red, “he he he.. no. Here, they’re for you.” Thrusting the bunch to the so-called ice prince.
Rukawa’s face showed no surprise at being offered such a gift, but an unmistakable expression of pain flickered in his eyes, which the redhead was keen enough to notice. Before he could even ponder on the said expression, he saw Rukawa threw the flowers to the ground and icily said, “I am not a girl ‘aho. Stop giving me this stuff.”
Dropping his still outstretched arm to his side, “but you seemed to like the stems of roses I gave you before?” He asked.
Rukawa said nothing but turned his head away, masking his expression as well as the expression in his eyes.
Ignoring the deep sense of foreboding that was slowly creeping inside his heart, “didn’t you know that I gave you those roses?”
“Yes I do. I am not stupid that I can’t figure out your calling card.” He snapped, remembering the sakura petals. “I threw them all away.” [Liar!]
Sakuragi tried not to flinch but he failed. The sharpness of the tone as well as the look of anger in Rukawa’s blue eyes pricked his heart. At a loss for words for a moment, he thought of running away and to forget what he intended to do, but he didn’t.
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he tried another tactic, “er… ok. So what would you like? Chocolates?” Brown eyes lit up at the thought, “Oh yeah, I remembered that you used to like the ones I left for you during practice. I still have a Hershey bar.” He quickly said and then made a beeline for his duffel bag on the ground, only to be stopped by a cold voice saying, “no. I don’t want it.”
Hands frozen in the process of taking something from his bag, Sakuragi could only stare at Rukawa and tried to keep his growing temper in check. Standing up, “well, what do you want?”
Waiting for an answer, Sakurai watched as Rukawa bowed his head low, his fringes hid whatever expression there was in his eyes. Then, when he looked up, his expression was already masked with the same facade he always wore and said, “I don’t want anything from you…” with icy blue eyes unwaveringly holding questioning honey brown ones, "…ever again."
Sakuragi flinched yet again, not believing the words that came from the kitsune’s mouth. [What’s the matter with him?] “Why? I know for a fact that you enjoyed the gifts that I gave you, the roses, the notes, everything! Why the hell are you saying all this?” He exploded, inching closer to the impassive fox-eyed boy. “Is this your sick joke of getting back at me? Answer me!” He screamed. Brown eyes already fired with an emotion akin to pain and anger as he grabbed Rukawa by the collar of his jacket.
Blue eyes just stared nonchalantly at the fiery redhead. Undaunted, Rukawa firmly removed Sakuragi’s hold on his collar, and when freed, walked past him to retrieve a ball lying on the ground. Dribbling the ball casually, he said over his shoulder, “I never liked them.”
Sakuragi was surprised to feel himself shaking, whether from anger or the hurt he was feeling, he didn't know. His head was full of questions, and he wheeled around intending to get an answer. Watching him twirling the ball on his finger while looking at him with that same mask he wears pained him further, but the need to understand Rukawa's actions made him ignore that. "You can't lie to me kitsune. I know that you liked them. Now my question is why? Why are you doing this? I thought I was making my feelings clear to you through all those gifts that I gave you.
"…"
Sighing, Sakuragi combed his fingers through his red tresses and said, "look, you might find my ways corny or your male ego just can't take it that another male was courting you but that's my way of showing that I cared." He tried explaining, kneading the throbbing pulse at the back of his neck. "I have never courted anyone in my life, not those 50 girls who rejected me, not even Haruko. I am sorry if it embarrasses you but there's no need to hurt me like this." He continued, ignoring the pleading tone in his voice. He just didn't care anymore if he looked stupid or pathetic to his archrival, all he cared about was for the guy before him to accept him, accept his love… that's all.
Deep aquamarine eyes took in the look of pain and hurt clearly evident in Sakuragi’s face and for a moment, a flicker of the same emotion marred the impassive boy’s features. But the redhead was not able to catch it since Rukawa immediately lowered his head, astute enough to know that his feelings were clearly showing on his face. When Rukawa lifted his head, his expression was determined and his eyes turned icy cold, no more was the momentary weakness evident. Dropping the ball, he walked to where the redhead was waiting breathlessly for his move, stopping only when he was within but an arms length away. "You are a fool if you thought I cared for whatever you do. I never asked anything from you, never liked anything from you, let alone being courted by you. Stop this nonsense and leave me alone."
Ignoring the fact that his former nemesis had spoken far more than a week's worth of his vocabulary, Sakuragi just remained where he was, stoned by the words and the expression of cold hatred burning from the kitsune's blue eyes. Then, as if woken from his nightmare, he suddenly shook his head and his eyes brimmed with unshed tears. "No!" He cried. "You can't mean that Rukawa. I don't believe you. Why all these lies? Why? Why?”
Turning away from the redhead’s pained brown eyes, “I don’t lie ‘aho.”
Taking the raven head by his shoulders, “yes you do, Kitsune. I know that you still love me, still care for me. Why are you hurting me this way? Are you this heartless?”
Rukawa remained unmoving; he did not even made a move to remove Sakuragi’s firm hold on his shoulders. “Believe what you want.”
Shaking Rukawa lightly, “If you are still thinking about what happened the last time, well don’t. I know I was wrong when I didn’t return your feelings back then, but things are different now. I now know what I feel for you, I love you and I’ll prove it to you. Just give me a chance.” He begged, holding Rukawa's cold hands in his. But the face before him did not change one bit, and if ever, his eyes glinted with cold anger even more.
Suddenly, the hands in his were wrenched away and a fist went flying to his face. Dazed by the impact, he could only stare dumbly and then in the coldest voice he had ever heard him use, "I don't love you Sakuragi… not anymore." With that Rukawa hurriedly left the court, leaving a devastated redhead banging his fist on the ground and finally letting his tears flow freely down his face, “Rukawa…why?”
After a few minutes, Sakuragi stood up, wiped his tears and focused on the ball dropped by the kitsune. Slowly, he went to pick it up and then with all his might, rammed the ball into the hoop. Landing on his feet, he watched as the ball rolled behind the bushes thinking that a few minutes ago he was planning on playing one-on-one with 'his' kitsune, after their shy confessions and revelations of course. He had to laugh sarcastically at that, thinking how stupid it was of him to ever assume that Rukawa felt the same.
Still holding that sarcastic smile on his face, he turned and went to pick up his duffel bag only to trample on the bouquet of flowers he had bought for his confession. Deftly, he bent to pick them up. The stems were still encased in its wrapping but the roses lost its freshness, and its color lost its luster. All that was left of it was a sorry excuse for a lifeless bouquet of flowers, thrown and trampled upon by its cold and unfeeling recipient. [Just like my heart] He painfully admitted to himself. Not able to stare at something that reminded him of his broken heart, he blindly threw the bouquet away and cried, "damn you Rukawa!"
*** End Flashback ***
"… and then I left the court." He said, ending his story. "Up till now, I don't know his reasons. I would have looked for him and wrung the answer from his neck, but decided against it, so I went to cool off, then went to your place." Facing Maki but with his head bent low, "I am sorry oldy, really I am. It's just that, I felt so frustrated and so damn angry and hurt at the same time." He cried, his voice shaking from repressed emotions.
Both Maki and Kiyota grew silent and let their companion recover from the pain of recalling the events that led to his heart getting broken. Eyes brimming with renewed tears, "now that you know it, you can start laughing at me now. Kiyota did. He said that I was stupid in thinking that I could woo a cold-hearted person like Rukawa." He softly said, and then added, "Maybe I am stupid. Stupid enough to think that I could right the wrong I did when I shirked his feelings for me before."
Kiyota felt like kicking himself when he remembered the careless way he had said those words to him earlier, inching his chair closer, "Oi, red monkey… You know I didn't mean what I said earlier. You are not stupid and it was not your fault." He said, wrapping his arms around the Shohoku forward, "now, how about cheering up and order anything you like. It's on me." Turning the brown-eyed boy towards him, he playfully rubbed their noses together and chuckled when he saw the redhead’s obvious surprise at his public show of affection.
[Still shy in public I see. Maybe I could use this to my advantage, he he….] Kiyota happily mused.
He had never before initiated anything like that; normally they would either bash each other’s heads or fight… whatever, but not like that. Not letting the abnormality of his actions deter him. Kiyota leaned his forehead on the other and proceeded to give Sakuragi a soft and sweet open-mouthed kiss, not minding the curious glances and audible gasps from the nearby patrons… and a pair of burning blue eyes watching the whole scene with pain in his heart.
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End of Chapter 2... well... C & C ... deeply appreciated.. anyway.. ja.. and will post chapter 3 soon.. oh and FYI.. this fic had been posted at the babble till chapter 3 but these fics I posted were just self-edited recently.. yeah.. shameface... I know.. thus before I even post chapter 4 at the babble, I want to have it beta-ed and commented here.. ok now..