Hanamichi stood waiting a few metres away from the school building where the classes are held. His feet busied themselves playing with loose concrete or pebbles to be found around him as he kept looking towards the doors for the look-out of a dark-haired boy.

Yohei was walking out of the door when he spotted the redhead.
"Yo, Hanamichi!"

Hanamichi smiled and waved at his friend as Yohei walked towards him.

"Who are you waiting for?" asked the shorter boy, "I thought you have practice."

"Yeah, we do. I'm just... er... waitin' for... erm..." Hanamichi hesitated as his cheeks turned pink.

Yohei looked at his friend curiously and when he understood, the boy grinned, "I see. You're waiting for Haruko?"

"Uh... iie, it's... it's... " Hanamichi blushed.

Yohei's eyes then widened. "Ah," he exclaimed, "Rukawa."

"Hai," said another voice behind him.

Yohei nearly eeped when the tall fox-eyed boy appeared, towering over him.
"Damn, Rukawa! Ya scared me!" complained Yohei clutching at chest.

Rukawa did not apologise but looked at Hanamichi as the redhead lifted his head a scant in greeting before giving dark-haired player a one-sided smile. Then turning back towards Yohei, Hanamichi patted him on his shoulder and said, "Gotta go, Yohei. Ja ne!"

Yohei returned the wave as the two boys walked away from him towards the gym. The boy with the slicked-back hair tilted his head, amused.

It was a miracle that those two boys managed to be friends after nearly a year long of constant fighting and bickering. Everyone who knew them thought so, if you take away the everyday banter the two boys engage in that rarely turned serious nowadays.
However, Yohei knew more. Hanamichi did not hide the fact from him that he liked Rukawa more than a casual friend. Yohei was sure that he was the only one who knew how the redhead truly felt about the fox-eyed boy but he didn't know exactly how the latter felt for the former. Sure, Rukawa has gotten more tolerant towards the Hanamichi's egotistical attitude, and there were some hints that the boy felt the same way towards Hanamichi as the redhead felt about him but how much, Yohei wasn't so sure about.
Yohei shrugged and turned to walk out the school gates, wanting to find the gang for another afternoon of Pachinko fun.

"Your angle was all wrong. You should've raised your elbows higher," said Rukawa to the redhead.

"It was not! The ball went in didn't it?" said Hanamichi as a statement more than a question.

"Because you were lucky," said the other boy, "If your angle was only one degree more or less it wouldn't have gotten in."

"You're just jealous because I am the tensai!" Hanamichi told him not wanting to lose to the boy.

Rukawa sighed, provoking Hanamichi's anger because it always made him think that the raven-haired boy was merely indulging him but before the redhead could open his mouth to start on their usual squabble, Rukawa said, "I'm home.

"Eh?" Hanamichi looked up and sure enough they were standing in front of Rukawa's gate.

The redhead scratched his head, "Oh. Ok, so, see ya tomorrow."

Rukawa waited. Hanamichi began fidgeting. Rukawa waited some more.

"Thanks for walking me home," said Rukawa.

"Yeah, no problem," mumbled the redhead. Suddenly, as Rukawa expected, Hanamichi leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on his cheek before stepping back, blushing.

"So... see ya," said the redhead again before walking away.

Rukawa touched his cheek where Hanamichi kissed him and walked in, feeling high up in the clouds like everytime the redhead expressed his feelings for him. It never ceased to amaze him how he could fall for a brash person such as Hanamichi who irritated him the first time they met. Like the other times when he would ponder why he felt the way he felt for the redhead, Rukawa began to think.

Even with Hanamichi's arrogant attitude, the childish behaviour would always give a kind of a relief for Rukawa who always charged at the game with seriousness. The redhead's surprising energy and skill to be able to learn any strategy and skill in such a short time amazed everybody, including him, and with the redhead's naivette, Rukawa wondered what other feats the boy can unknowingly do.

Rukawa was about to head for the stairs when the doorbell rang. He dumped his bag on the arm chair and opened the door. His eyes widened a little in surprise when he saw a young man, as tall as he was, with light brown hair and dark violet eyes smiling charmingly at him as he stood in front of the door-step with a bag on his shoulder and a suitecase behind him on the ground.

"Kaede, hi," said the person.

"Riki," Rukawa said, "What are you doing here?"

"Aren't you gonna let me in first?" the brown-haired boy said, pulling at his brown jacket, "It's hot out here."

Rukawa remembered his manners and mumbled an apology as he stepped back to let the young man enter.

"Sit down," Rukawa invited before he walked towards the kitchen to get a glass of cold water. Giving it to Riki he asked again, "So what are you doing here?"

Riki drank the refreshing water in one swing, gave a relieved sigh and leaned back on the couch before replying, "I'm staying here for a while."

"You're what?"

"Yes, I am, cousin," grinned Riki, "My grades were bad - so dad has said - so he sent me here to get some discipline in the Japanese schools. He says I've been pampered."
He shrugged, "Whatever."

Rukawa took a seat himself, "Which school?"

"Like the one you're going to, Shohoku," answered Rukawa's cousin, "'Guess dad wants you to keep an eye on me, eh?"

"I don't have time to babysit you," stated Rukawa.

"I know that but dad doesn't," chortled Riki, "So I didn't say anything."

Rukawa arched an eyebrow and said, "Maybe I can keep an eye on you once in a while."

"Oh really?" drawled the brown-haired boy leaning forward.

"Really," Rukawa answered back.

"Won't it get in the way of your... naps?"

"I'll make an exception," said the blue-eyed boy.

Riki grinned and leaned back again. Rukawa pointedly looked at the bag and suitecase his cousin placed on the floor and asked, "That means that you're staying here?"

Riki nodded, "Yeah. 'Came here the day before but I slept over at my new friend's house."

Yeah, and I bet that the new friend of his is another slut that he met in a bar, thought Rukawa as he leaned back on his chair, Less than a week here and he's already made himself at home.

Riki was stretching his arms along the back of the couch when he eyes alighted on a framed photograph on the table beside him.

"What's this?" asked Riki picking up the picture, "You're in a basketball team?"

Rukawa nodded silently.

"Hey," Riki exclaimed his eyes going wide, "Who's this kid sitting next to you?"

"Who?"

"The one with red hair," said Riki.

Rukawa snorted, "A do'aho."

"Oh?" Riki laughed, "I wonder what he's done to get on your bad side."
Then tapping his finger on the photo frame he asked, "D'you think I can sign into the football team when I register tomorrow?"

Rukawa shrugged. His cousin sighed, "Non-vocal as usual. Never mind, I'll go and check tomorrow."

The fox-eyed boy stood up to show his cousin the spare bedroom when Riki spoke again, "And while I'm there, you can introduce me to this redhead."

Rukawa looked down at his cousin for a moment before plucking the photograph from Riki's fingers, "That monkey is not the type of friends that you're used to."

"How do you know?" asked Riki, smiling at his cousin in a secretive manner, "My friends are not always those who frequent bars, y'know."

"Really?" asked Rukawa

"Really," answered Riki still with that smile.

Rukawa placed the photograph back on the desk, when suddenly a hand snatched it away.

"Besides the point, I think he's cute," said Riki the picture in his hold again.

Rukawa frowned but kept silent. Then he took the picture away from Riki's grasp the second time and put it back down on the desk before walking towards the stairs wordlessly. Riki can find the room for himself, Rukawa decided as he climbed the steps angrily, already annoyed at his guest.

As soon as Rukawa disappeared from view, Riki picked up the picture once more and said to himself, "Very cute."