"That was interesting," remarked Kogure as they followed the flow of people out of the Audio Visual room.

"Hm," agreed Akagi, "Though they should've also shown us the people living in the rural as well. The society in the city does not contribute the overall population of India..."

"That's right," said Kogure, scratching his chin, "They should also emphasise on the country's economy..."

An exasperated voice came from behind, "Guys, please. This is geography. Not economics. Leave that discussion for sensei-Imamura."

Instead of looking sheepish, the two looked minamally scandalised. "Sensei!" protested Akagi, "It all connects into the scheme of things - geography, sociology and economics. To understand one you must also understand the other."

"Yes," Kogure nodded enthusiastically.

The sensei rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Oh boy. Here we go again."

A few minutes later the two seniors were walking together along the corridor to go back to their class during that break period. Their geography teacher has finally made them agree to keep their non-geographical hyphothesis out of the subject on the basis of out-of-topic argument and that the examiners would not be pleased with it. Akagi was a bit difficult between the two to persuade but after the sensei succeeded, the teacher cheered silently to himself in relief. Although he knew Akagi to be respectful to elders and senseis, the man couldn't help but feel intimidated by the basketball captain's dominating build.

As Akagi and Kogure walked, they chatted about other things when they came upon Kaede and Sakuragi. The four stopped to talk about basketball - well, actually only Akagi talked with his usual speech of victory and Kaede merely listened and nodded, the fox-eyed boy's face showing a hint of fierce determination. Kogure and Sakuragi stayed silent, half listening to the captain's talk as they were busy stealing glances of each other.

"Well," finished Akagi, "So we understand each other. Kaede, you keep working on teamwork. You're doing good. And Sakuragi! Next time try pass the ball to Kaede will you!"

"Uh, yeah, sure," answered Sakuragi distractedly.

Kaede slanted the redhead a look. Then the fox-eyed boy turned his attention to his brother who was silent and is that a hint of blush on his cheeks?

Akagi nodded as a signal that the discussion has finished and he started to walk away when he realised that Kogure was not following him.
"Kogure?"

Kaede who also intended to go back to his classroom was surprised that the redhead has not made to follow him. Turning around he saw his brother and his friend in the middle of the corridor continue to look and smile at each other silently.

The spectacled-boy seemed to look guilty and said, "Uh, I'm staying to talk to Sakuragi, ok? I'll come later."

"Yeah, Kaede," said Sakuragi looking at his friend in embarassment, "I'll meet you later."

Akagi looked at the pair in puzzlement but he shrugged and turned away.
The fox-eyed junior shook his head in a mixture of disgust and amusement and walked away as well. Great, my brother's gone all lovey-dovey with that redheaded fool.

Sakuragi and Kogure leaned against the wall as they talked about some important things and some are just miniscule but still they felt happy to be in each other's company.

"The exam is just a few weeks away. Are you ready yet?" asked Kogure to the junior.

Sakuragi sighed, "A bit. I can't undersand them sometimes."

"Maybe I can tutor you..."

"Nah," said the redhead smiling as he leaned out of the window, watching the leaves of the trees outside flutter by the wind with a rustling sound, "That's ok. Akagi already sent Ayako to drill me the topics after school. They said it's important for me to pass."

"Yes, it is," affirmed the senior, "If you fail 5 of your papers, you'll be held back from playing."

"Great," groaned Sakuragi.

"So that's why you have to..."
Kogure stopped when he saw that most of the students walking along the corridor were staring at them in curiosity. He realised with a start that they were attracting attention just by standing there and talking with tones everyone wouldn't expect to hear from two male teenagers in a discussion garnered puzzled glances their way. If they knew about him and Sakuragi they'd be disgusted.

When Sakuragi realised that Kogure has gotten silent, he turned to see the senior stare at the floor, the shorter boy's body tense.

"I've got to go now," said Kogure moving away.

Sakuragi made a grab at Kogure's arm, "Hey, wait. What's the matter?"

Kogure desperately wanted to shake the arm away, "It's nothing..."

"What...." then the redhead's eyes went wide as he realised what has bothered his boyfriend when he heard someone in the passing crowd whisper, "What are they doing?"

Sakuragi instantly let the senior go but not before he gave a reassuring squeeze on Kogure's arm and said lowly that only the senior could hear, "Ok, I understand. I'll meet you at the same place later after practice, ok?"

Kogure gave him a grateful smile and nodded, "Aa. I'll meet you there."

And then Kogure walked away with a feeling of comfort which washed away his panicked feelings with that simple caring gesture from the redhead.

Sakuragi turned away from watching the senior's retreating back to the curious faces still openly staring at him.
"What d'ya want?!" growled the redhead intimidatingly. They all hastily looked away much to the redhead's satisfaction.

****

As the boys were busy starting their warm-ups for the start of basketball practice, Akagi took a position in front of the group and called out, "Rukawa and Sakuragi. From now on you two will be in the official player's line-up with Anta, Miyagi, Kogure and myself."
There was a moment of silence before claps of congratulations started for the pleased duo.

"Ahahah!! Never fear Gori! I'll bring the team to the championships!" boasted the redhead happily.

Rukawa sighed his insult, "Do'aho."

Sakuragi growled but he then laughed it away, "Nothing you can say now will bring me down, fox! Let's play ball!"

"Idiot, that's baseball."

"Shut up, Kitsune!"

Kogure grinned when he heard Akagi groan, "I hope we're not making a mistake here."
The spectacled-boy stiffled his chuckle, choosing to look back at the redhead and his brother. The redhaired junior was looking at him, a happy grin on his face. Kogure smiled back and gave him the thumb's up sign.

"What's up with you and Sakuragi?"

Kogure turned to look at his friend in surprise as he tried to control his blushing, "The usual thing. You know."

"No I don't,"said the captain crossing his arms in patience, "I know what's usual. Usual is not looking at that kid like he's something wonderful..."

"Well, he is wonderful, I mean as a rookie he's the best player to come around.." tried Kogure.

"Kogure," warned Akagi, "Don't insult my intelligence and yours. You know what I mean. I've known you since we were in year one. The way you act around Sakuragi makes me think."

"....Think what?" Kogure dared himself to ask.

"That you like him very, very much," answered Akagi. Even if the captain's voice was too low for anyone else to hear Kogure was glad, neverthless, that the rest of the team has already begun practicing on the court a metres away from them.

"What if I do?" said the spectacled-boy as he watched the redhead with the others on court doing some ball-passing practice.

"How about Sakuragi?" asked Akagi tonelessly, but Kogure could hear a hint of curiosity in his voice. Kogure knew Akagi had an idea of his preferences when the captain saw how broken-up he was when their ex-star player left them a few months ago.

"He's ok with it," answered Kogure lightly, "We... have an understanding."

"What? He's your boyfriend now?" mocked Akagi with a straight face.

"Hai."

Kogure chuckled when he heard Akagi give a choked sound. After gathering his composure, the captain gave an amused grunt, "Ah."


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