And in your eyes I see ribbons of color
I see us inside of each other

Those brown eyes looked at Rukawa in cheer. A few weeks ago he had never thought that the owners of those bright eyes would ever give him a sincere smile - or that hard slap on the back followed by an arrogant grin of challenge as they got ready for the game practice with the team.
It seemed impossible but, yes, he and Sakuragi have became friends. Good friends who grudgingly trust each other on the court, although in public they would rather kill themselves than admit it.

Rukawa by nature was unsociable, cold and aloof but ever since he joined the Shohoku team, he began to have friends he thought he would never have.
Kogure, Mitsui, Akagi, Miyagi...

Sakuragi...? He's different.

I feel my unconscious merge with yours

More than once, Rukawa felt a syncronisation of feelings with the redhead. Whenever Sakuragi felt anger, frustration or relief, Rukawa felt the same. And he always knew just by looking at the redhead even before the do'aho open his big mouth. Being an extroverted person that he is, Sakuragi always says what is on his mind and with those words carries a voice full of passion that the brunette swore it was like an amplification to his own soul.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rukawa leaned against the fence waiting for the redhead to join him for a one-on-one Sakuragi pestered him into yesterday. Passing girls walking out of the school gate caught sight of the brunette. A few attempted to give him a smile and the rest just passed on by, giving him adoring looks from wide eyes.
Rukawa ignored those as he stood straight passing the ball from one hand to the next. A few minutes later, impatient at the redhead's tardiness, the brunette went to search for his team-mate but as soon as he rounded the corner of the gate he saw the redhead talking with a pretty girl by the stairs to the school. The girl was Gori's sister and she was giggling at what the blushing redhead was saying as he scratched his head shyly.

The tall dark-haired boy watched at them with irritation. At once, he walked towards them, taking long and purposeful strides with his face schooled from any expression he was feeling inside.

And I hear a voice say, "What's his is hers"

"Do'aho. Are we still on or not? Or are you having second thoughts?" asked Rukawa when he reached them.

Haruko turned to look at Rukawa with hearts in her eyes while the redhead glared at him in annoyance.

"I'm not gonna lose to a stupid fox like you! Come on then!" Sakuragi growled as he pulled Rukawa with him, leaving a love-struck Haruko behind. Then the redhead stopped and turned back to wave cheerfully at the girl, "Ja ne Haruko-chan!"

"Ja ne Sakuragi-kun! Je ne Rukawa-kun!"

With that Sakuragi continued to pull Rukawa away before the raven-haired boy shrugged his hand off and walked in front of the redhead. Not wanting to be beaten, Sakuragi quickly out-walked Rukawa but the other boy managed to gain another step ahead of him again.

Soon it turned into a race towards the court.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a thorough workout, the two boys sat down heavily on the ground, taking great gulps of air. After a while they took out their drinks and quenched their parched throats while they talked (mostly the redhead did, anyway) about their lives and dreams. The words that came from the redhead were full of vain. Rukawa rolled his eyes to them.

".... the best, to conquer the world....!"

Such arrogance, such boastfulness - so naive, so innocent ...... so pure.
But when the last word came out of Hanamichi's mouth, Rukawa's eyes widened marginally in surprise.

"...together!"

And then the baka thumped him cheerfully at the back as the redhead laughed that weird laugh of his.

"Do'aho" came his customary reply.

I'm falling into you
This dream could come true
And it feels so good falling into you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rukawa patched a band-aid carefully on his face as he tried hard not to show his pain. Beside him, the redhead was doing the same on his own face, only wincing clearly as his hand touched a cut under the plastic strip. Rukawa felt a tad guilty for being the cause for that pain but that soon disappeared when his own hand encountered another cut underneath his chin making him hiss.

Sakuragi turned to the brunette and scowled. "Why do you have to keep insulting me, ya stupid fox!"

"Because you are you," Rukawa answered cooly. Wordlessly, he took out another band-aid and tried to stick it on the newly-encountered cut but failed miserably when he could not find it.

Sakuragi humphed and sat up, snatching the band-aid from the fox.

"Keep still!" Sakuragi growled when Rukawa made a move to protest. Using his other hand the redhead tilted Rukawa's chin, evading the cut and carefully pasted the strip to cover it.

"There, done," Sakuragi mumbled before he quickly turned away.

I was afraid to let you in here
Now I have learned love can't be made in fear

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rukawa went home alone on his bicycle, not feeling the cold night air whipping his hair in a disarray about his face. He was only concious of a warm feeling in his chest as he reached a hand to touch the band-aid on his chin. A thoughtful smile played on his lips.

The walls begin to tumble down
And I can't even see the ground

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the days that followed, Rukawa felt a difference in his and Sakuragi's relationship. Sure, they still banter, quarrel and fight as they used to but something else was there. Something like an air of expectation hovering above them with the exchange of deep looks and soft smiles that often left him wondering, and no doubt the redhead as well, as what was happening to them.

Rukawa sighed as he walked towards the redhead who was waiting for him outside the gym. They had stayed back to practice alone after their routine one with the rest of the team and it was already night time when they decided to call it quits.
After locking the gym door, Rukawa walked up to join Sakuragi who was standing a few metres away, the redhead's face tilted up to gaze at the starry sky. The light from the pale moon casted it's soft glow onto the redhead making him look surreal to Rukawa.

Beautiful. Irrisistable.

Rukawa felt his heart quicken when Sakuragi turned his face around to give the brunette a sort of a wistful smile.

I'm falling into you

Without a word Rukawa leaned towards the redhead and placed a gentle kiss on the taller boy's lips. As quickly as he acted, he then pulled back to see Sakuragi's reaction, truly expecting the redhead to hit him now. Rukawa watched as Sakuragi slowly lifted his fingers to his recently-kissed lips before dropping them, the redhead's expression still in shock.
To the brunette's surprise, Sakuragi then smiled shyly, looking at Rukawa with shining eyes.

"Wakatta", the redhead murmured before he stepped forward to gently brush his lips against Rukawa's smooth cheek.

This dream could come true
And it feels so good falling into you

Rukawa has never felt anything like it before! Their second kiss was awkward but gentle and it gave him a feeling of euphoria - not unlike all the times after they have won a tough match. But that feeling was more intense that Rukawa felt that his heart was going to burst.

Falling like a leaf, falling like a star
Finding a belief, falling where you are
Catch me, don't let me drop!
Love me, don't ever stop!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as they reached the brunette's house, the two took a shower, changed into their clean clothes and cuddled together under the covers without anything more than a long kiss. They were merely content to lie in each other's arms, blanketed in the other's warmth as they taked about nonsensical things and stared deep into each other's eyes like love sick teenagers they have undoubtedly become.

Soon, the exhaustion from practice caught up with the redhead and he fell asleep in the middle of his sleepy mumbles. Rukawa watched the redhead with a smile the girls from his fanclub would die for, and combed back the sleeping redhead's locks with gentle fingers. Slowly, he then leaned down and placed a light kiss on Sakuragi's forehead and another one on his closed eyelids.

So close your eyes and let me kiss you
And while you sleep I will miss you

When the brunette's lips touched the redhead's nose, it wrinkled in annoyance making Sakuragi look adorable in his dozing state. Sighing in content, the raven-haired boy let his head fall back on the pillow to join his newly acquired love to sleep.

I'm falling into you
This dream could come true
And it feels so good falling into you

The End

Happy RH day!!