"So this is Shohoku, eh?"

Rukawa did not reply but kept on walking as his cousin stopped for a moment to take in his first view of the highschool where his father enrolled him in. A few moment's later, Riki was beside him again, matching his steps with his own, until they reached the Administration building before Rukawa stopped. Students were staring at the two boys, both of them handsome and tall, the dark-haired one expressioneless while the other had an air of coyness and arrogance on his youthful face.

"The registrar is on the first floor of this building, five doors from the stairs," Rukawa told his cousin.

"Alright," Riki nodded, "I'll be seeing you then."
And with a wink he was gone.

Rukawa rolled his eyes and walked towards his classroom, as usual ignoring the awed looks passed his way. Class was uneventful that day, for no chalks, dusters or rulers landed at him or anywhere near him. His sleep was therefore was undisturbed and that suited him just fine. Only when it was time for basketball practice did his body seem more energised.

As the fox-eyed boy walked across the school compound towards the gym he saw Hanamichi and Yohei hanging around at the edge of the football field watching the players in, what looked like, a friendly match. He turned his direction towards the pair when a whistle sounded and the players began to walk out of the field to head to a refreshment stand. When one of the players made a bee-line towards Hanamichi and Yohei, Rukawa stopped in his tracks when he recognised who that player jogging up to the boys was. The fox-eyed boy continued his way towards the group until he reached them, giving the footballer a speculative look with his blue eyes. The footballer merely grinned and nodded at him.

"Hey, Kaede," greeted Riki.

Rukawa nodded back before Hanamichi spoke up in surprise, "You two know each other?"

"We're cousins," Riki answered for both of them, "I'm staying at his house for this year."

"Ah," said Hanamichi scratching his chin.

Normally Rukawa would just nod before heading towards the gym with the redhead on tow but because the guy who has expressed interest in Hanamichi was also the guy who seemed to have become one of Hanamichi's friend on the first day of school, he felt an overwhelming need to ask.

"So, how did you two meet?" Rukawa asked in a casual tone.

"We met in a bar where my cousin worked," Yohei told him, "Sakuragi got drunk and Riki here helped him out."

Rukawa looked at Hanamichi for confirmation and received an embarassed blush in return.
"I wasn't drunk," the redhead scowled.

"Intoxicated then," the boy grinned.

"Urusai," growled Hanamichi before Riki laughed, patting the redhead heartily on the shoulder. "It's okay, Sakuragi-kun," smiled the brown-haired boy, "Tequila is pretty strong for a beginner. Hell, I had trouble downing half a shot when I started on it. You took in one shot on your first time. That's one hell of a feat."

Yohei and Hanamichi didn't seem to notice the flirtatious tone in Riki's voice but knowing the boy more than they did, Rukawa definitely could hear it. His narrowed eyes narrowed even further when he saw that his cousin has made no move in taking away his hand which was still resting comfortably on Hanamichi's broad shoulder.

"Come on, do'aho. It's time for practice," Rukawa said, keeping the annoyance out of his voice.

"Baka kistune!" the redhead protested hotly, "Don't call me that!"

Giving Riki and Yohei a quick wave, Hanamichi ran to catch up with the brunette, a scowl on his boyish face.
"Jerk."

"Baka," Rukawa replied, this time affection in his voice that the redhead's anger dissapated as easily as it came.

Turning back to look behind him, Rukawa saw Riki staring at Hanamichi's back. His blue eyes widened when he realised that his cousin's gaze was too low and too lustful to be decent, so he picked up his pace to force the redhead away from Riki's sight as soon as possible.

For Hanamichi, silence has came onto him. The fox-eyed boy gave him a full feeling everytime they were together and that completeness made him feel content that all he wanted to do was to be with Rukawa that sometimes words play no important part in their comfortable silence. It was one of those moments that he would rather push back all petty squabbles and walk silently beside the brunette, but it seemed that Rukawa wanted (surprise, surprise) to talk.

"You were far out of the route from your class to the gym," the fox-eyed boy commented.

"Huh?" Hanamichi blinked before he shrugged non-chalantly, "Oh, yeah. We forgot to tell you that Riki is in our class for this year. He told us that he was trying out for the football team and asked us to come to give him some support. I thought it was fair since he helped the tensai that night at the bar. He was good."

"Good? What do you mean?" Rukawa asked sharply.

Hanamichi arched his brows in puzzlement, "Good with the ball. What else?"

"Oh."

After another short moment of silence, Rukawa spoke again, "You met him in a bar?"

"Yeah," Hanamichi nodded, before he commented, "Hey, you didn't tell me you have a cousin staying at your house."

Rukawa shrugged, "I didn't know until yesterday after I came home."
Then, "How did he help you that night?"

Hanamichi frowned but answered anyway, "He helped me to sit at a table with him and he made me feel better before Yohei came over to take me home."

"How?"

"How what?"

"How did he make you feel better?"

"He gave me a rub. I was dizzy and his massage helped-" Hanamichi broke off when he thought he heard Rukawa give a growl.
Turning to the raven-haired boy beside him, the redhead asked, "Something wrong?"

Rukawa shook his head.
"Nothing," he replied before he added mentally. That I can't handle.



~~~~

Riki was waiting for Rukawa outside the gym when the fox-eyed boy appeared, acknowledging his cousin's presence before he began his walk home. The brown-haired boy fell into step beside him and as Rukawa expected, Riki began to tell him about his first day at Shohoku.

"The sensei were boring," began the boy shifting his bag securely on his shoulder before he stuffed his hands in his pocket.
"At least in America the teachers would let us talk and they'd crack up jokes that were slightly amusing. And the uniform... don't you find them stiffling? Though it does make me look good," grinned Riki, "And it makes Sakuragi-kun look pretty good as well. Damn, he's got a nice bod-"

"Keep away from him," growled Rukawa suddenly, pushing Riki back hard that the brown-haired boy nearly lost his balance in surprise. If not for the tree that he bumped into he would've fallen on the dirty ground on his backside.

"Wha-"

"I said keep away from him," repeated Rukawa, his gaze taking on a dangerous look.

Riki stared at Rukawa for a while before understanding dawned upon him. Leaning against the tree in a show of carelessness, the brown-haired boy crossed his arms and looked at his cousin with a twinkle in his violet eyes.

"What's it to you?" drawled Riki infuriatingly.

"He's a friend of mine and I don't want you toying him around," Rukawa replied, matching Riki's firm gaze with his own.

"You know," Riki said, turning his head away in an arrogant manner, "I may not be playing around with him. He's really cute and I can picture myself going steady with a person like him."

"You going steady?" Rukawa snorted, "Besides, you are not his type."

Riki clucked his tongue while shaking his finger playfully.
"You're always quick in figuring who anyone's type is. You thought Sakuragi wasn't my type but after I today you're wrong. And how do you know I'm not his type? You don't know him that well, do you?"

Rukawa clenched his fist but instead of replying to Riki's taunt, he warned, "Try anything on him and I'll kill you."
And then he walked away leaving Riki still leaning on the tree, staring at his cousin's retreating back in wonder.

It wasn't often that he was able to unleash any sort of emotion out of his cold, emotionless cousin, but when he could it was so enjoyable. The threat from Kaede did not distinguish his desire for the redhead, it merely strengthened it. The achievement of gaining Sakuragi's support will not only infuriate his cousin for his amusement without him getting hurt, it could also mean his chance in tasting the delicious redhead in more ways that one. Kaede's helplessness would be his prize and Sakuragi the bonus.

Riki's lips curved into a sly smile. It has been a long time since he was faced with a challange and he intended to win this one, or his name wasn't Riki Rukawa.