Slam Dunk Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Filling The Spaces Between ❯ Who's Your Daddy?! ( Chapter 3 )

Chapter 3

~Megumi~

She scanned the room, taking in all of the gym carefully. Giving a smile and a wave to a boy who blushed and tripped when he noticed her attention, she thought to herself, 'they seem like nice people for the most part but why is that red-head glaring at Kaede?' Turning her head and glancing at her son beside her, who currently had his eyes closed though she doubted he was sleeping, then back to the irate youth, 'he reminds me of someone…'

Her introspection was broken as Anzai-sensei, such a kind man, coughed softly and said, "Rukawa-kun, since your father isn't here yet, why don't you go practice?"

"Aa." And her little boy, now grown into a man almost like his father, went off and did his thing, which, quite frankly, she didn't understand. She never thought she'd have a child who wouldn't be a doctor. It could very well be due to the influence of 'Grandfather'! "Ugh!"

"Is something wrong, Takani-sensei?"

"Why no, Anzai-sensei! Merely a disturbing thought, is all." She replied hurriedly. 'If Kaede or, heaven forbid, Kaname (since she hung out with the old man more) ever manifested some of Ojii-san's (hmph!) traits, I will seclude myself in a temple and do penance for the rest of my life… Or have myself committed to a mental hospital.'

"Why don't you watch the practice, Takani-sensei," the older man said, "your son really is good. Doubtless he will be encouraged by your presence to do even better."

"Please, you don't have to be so formal. You're almost like a grandfather to Kaede (much better than the old man), you don't have to be so formal as to call me by my last name. Kaede isn't sentimental enough to do better just because his mother and only sister are watching him. Kaede─"

"Takes after Tousan. They don't want to show-off their skills when they don't need to," her daughter cut in, dragging Aya-chan and a brown-haired girl behind her. She glared at the impish smile she was given by her daughter and shook her head, paying attention to the practice.

"Well, Kaede has improved since the last time we saw him play, Kana… Ehh?! Why is he kicking the akage? Do'ahou?! Come on, Kaede, you can come up with a better insult than that! What happened to the wit you got from me and your godfather!!"

Kaname shook her head regretfully, "Kaasan, it seems my brother has forgotten how to use the Takani birthright. From what Aya-chan tells me, the only insults he seems to use are do'ahou, and ahou. What sorrow it will bring to our ancestors!"

"The only way to regain their favor is if you defeat your opponents, Kaede! And I mean totally crush them!" She and Kaname moved closer to watch the match.

~Rukawa~

Mitsui grinned, "Your family's talking sense, Rukawa. We're going to crush you and Akagi!"

"That's right! No way can that pesky kitsune beat us, Mitchi, not with this tensai!" That do'ahou spoke up.

"Will you two shut up and play?! Aya-chan's watching and I gotta make this look good! Oh, Aya-chan…oy, Rukawa, you're ruining my moment!!" as the lanky freshman stole the ball from Miyagi.

Stupid fools, he thought, they let themselves be distracted so easily. They wouldn't last training with some of my obasan and ojisan. He snickered in his head, imagining the do'ahou trying to undergo training like he had. He was weaving his way through the vice-captain, Ishii, and Sato, going for a slam dunk when─ "Be sure not to faint this time, onii-chan! Aya-chan told us about that!" Throwing a startled glance to his sister, he paused for an infinitesimal second, which was long enough for the red-haired ahou to catch up and trip him. As he tumbled to the floor, he managed to throw the ball at Akagi-captain

Mentally cursing, he got up to see his mother's surprised face across the basketball court, concern written in her eyes. Kuso! Not only does the do'ahou trip me, he does it in front of Kaasan! Now she's going to come over and ask if I'm feeling alright. That if I was, I should have been aware of how close he was to me. Then, Kaname's going to tell Tousan about this. After him, she's going to tell Jii-san. And Jii-san's going to say, "That's what comes of letting him slack off training! Sure, basketball attracts girls, but nothing beats─" And then Tousan and Kaasan glare at him and he stops…before he can explain what he means. Then Misao-basan will come─

The ball tossed his way cut his internal soliloquy short. That, and the comment his mother made. "No matter how much you look like me and your father, I'm going to start thinking you're an impostor if you miss that shot." He took a single glance at the basket, turned his head to send a death-glare in her direction and then shot. "You think shooting the ball while not looking is going to impress them and Haruko-san, Rukawa? Well it isn't, not with Tensai Sakuragi here!" The self-proclaimed 'tensai' suddenly leapt up and grabbed the ball before it could go into the ring.

"HEHEHEH─AAHH!" Distracted by the loud knock on the door to the gym, he landed on top of Miyagi.

"Oy, Sakuragi! What do you think you're doing! You already know that's illegal! You can't claim ignorance will excuse you!"

"But, Mitchi!"

"You shut up, Hanamichi! Mitsui-san's right! You make everybody on the team look bad when you try to show off! Stop doing it!" The smaller youth emphasized his statement with repeated kicks.

"URUSAI!! You three make the team look bad!" *BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!* Akagi-captain tried to enforce discipline among the rowdier members of the team.

But his attention, and that of the others, was captured by the slowly opening door.

***

The doors to the gym opened again. A tall man sauntered in, wearing a long coat and exuding danger, especially to the former gang-member Mitsui Hisashi and to the members of the Sakuragi Guntai. The sunlight streamed in behind him, blinding the audience to the world outside the gym.

"Kaede, Kaname, Megitsune," then took a puff from his cigarette, "what's this I hear about you being in trouble?" He then raised an eyebrow.

All three people he addressed stood up taller.

"Tousan."

"Tousan!"

"Ohayou, furyou keikan."

The man merely shook his head and turned to Anzai-sensei.

Haruko stared in shock. "Ano, th-th-that's Rukawa-kun's father?!" She whispered to herself.

Sakuragi gulped. And the others continued to gape.

~Miyagi~

He couldn't believe that was Rukawa's oyaji. Glancing around him, he could see the others couldn't either. Well, Mitsui and Hanamichi and Hanamichi's friends couldn't. Governor and his imouto-chan…nope, they couldn't. Rukawa and his family… well, they already knew, although they seemed to be waiting for something. And who the heck knows what Anzai-sensei's thinking behind his glasses?! His eyes continued to look around, looking for… Aya-chan! She looks so beautiful when she stares and she's blushing, too!...NANI?! She's staring at Rukawa's dad and blushing… "NOOO!!! Aya-chan, you can't have a crush on Rukawa's old man!" He wailed and promptly burst into tears.

~Anzai~

Miyagi-kun broke the spell everyone was under. If not him, then Ayako-kun certainly did when she pounded him into the floor with her fan. Of course, the others would go and involve themselves with those two. Anything to avoid confronting the image of Rukawa-kun's father, who was currently waiting impatiently and smoking. As were Rukawa-kun himself, his mother, and his sister, well, except for the smoking part. Hmm…

"I do NOT have a crush on him! I may admire him a LOT but I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON HIM! GOT THAT, RYOTA?!"

"Neh, Ayako. Maybe you should go easy on him…," Kogure-kun was saying. Oh well, Akagi-kun can handle that. Hmm…Haruko-kun's friends up there on the balcony are still staring in Rukawa-san's direction and… blushing. He looked at them intently for a minute, then at Megumi-san and her two children, they all had their eyes trained at the man and the door behind his back, and then, "Ohohohoho." You have interesting parents, Rukawa-kun.

***

The man shook his head again, gaining an irritated look on his face. "Will you people shut up? I hope you don't turn out like this, Kaede."

"Teme! Hey, Oyaji, just because you're older than me doesn't mean I should listen to you!"

"Oy, Hanamichi! You can't handle him!" The Sakuragi Guntai tried to hold their friend back.

"Oh, let the punk go. It's not like he can hurt me. Probably can't even punch straight. He lacks the strength and his movements are clumsy." The words only served to inflame Sakuragi further.

"Why, you…!" His hands were itching to punch the smirk right off the older man's face. He really was just like his son! But…"If Anzai-sensei weren't here, you'd be eating your words!"

"If you're too chicken…" He gave a sigh then gazed at the family trio who were looking back at him with varying levels of confusion: Kaede wasn't showing his at all if one didn't look closely at his eyes, Kaname was openly perplexed, and Megumi merely had a faint smile on her face.

"Tousan, why…?" Kaname trailed off but Megumi completed the sense of her question. "Kaname and I, and Kaede too, I guess, want to know why he hasn't come in yet."

"How should I know? You'd better ask him yourselves─" was his reply as another man suddenly stepped in from behind the first man.

This one was also tall and dark-haired and wearing a long coat. He glanced around. Haruko's friends giggled nervously as his eyes swept across them. Ayako was blushing again. The boys had stopped their struggles and were once again wide-eyed. Haruko, too, was blushing furiously. Anzai-sensei was all "ohohohoh" in his corner. His eyes came to a stop on the last three, a question within them. Kaede nodded at him. Kaname slung her brother's arm around her shoulders and smiled at him. Megumi's own smile widened as she said, "We're all fine, Aoshi."

"Why were you taking so long anyway, eh, Aoshi?" asked the man who came before him.

"I was wondering why all these people were outside. And then these girls in cheerleading uniforms started fainting for some strange reason," answered Aoshi, "and you were blocking the door." The other man merely took another drag from his cigarette.

"You shouldn't smoke so much, Jisan, or else your lungs'll turn black, black as the hearts of the criminals you hate so much." Kaname said solemnly though her eyes sparkled.

"And you shouldn't listen to your mother too much, little girl. They're my lungs not hers or yours. Got that, megitsune?" Was the reply, with a sharp glance at Megumi, who merely smiled and said, "Haaii, Saitou. Whatever you say. I'm sure Tokio-san feels the same way."

At her retort, Saitou took another quick puff, pinched the cigarette at its end and threw it in the nearby wastebasket. He dusted his hands, took out a packet of breath mints from his pocket, popped one into his mouth and then glared at the woman, who appeared to have twitching fox ears on top of her head. "Which reminds me, she wanted me to invite you all to eat at our house sometime. Especially since it's been a long time since she's seen you children though I don't know why she'd want to. Look at you two! One's an imp, the other's a sullen teenager! Both with their mother's tongue and their father's attitude!" Turning around, he started to walk away, saying, "No need to thank me for driving you over, Aoshi. I'll just be moving along now."

At his family's questioning glances, Aoshi merely said, "He promised Tokio-san on the way over he would be on time to help prepare supper."

***

"Let me get this straight: this guy's Rukawa's real father, the other guy was just his godfather, Rukawa acts just like his oyaji and his godfather, and said godfather's a henpecked husband, right?" Mitsui tried to fit all the new ideas into his head. The basketball team, with the exception of Rukawa, and Haruko, her friends, and the Guntai, were all huddled at one end of the court.

Rukawa's family and Anzai-sensei were at the other end.

"Mm-hmm. Knew that old man wasn't as tough as he talked. He lets his wife walk all over him!"

"Kind of the way you would let Haruko walk all over you, eh Hanamichi?" came the voices of his tormentors/friends.

"Haruko-san wouldn't do that! She's kind and sweet and gentle and─ ITE!"

"What's that I hear about my sister, Sakuragi?!"

"Iie! Gori!"

"Hmph. Serves you right." Akagi flexed his hand warningly as Sakuragi Hanamichi tried to plead his case. "Now, Rukawa's family is none of your concern. If he wanted to talk to you about them then he would. If he doesn't want to then it's his decision. We have no right to speculate nor should we gossip about anything to anyone else."

The others all nodded, except for…

"Why are you defending him, Gori?! You know something don't you? Come on share it with us!!!"

"Urusai, Sakuragi!"

"They're a little noisy aren't they?"

"Just a little?"

"…"

"…"

"Ohohohoho."

***

Araiey (decides to come out of the shadows to reveal her true colors): Now you all know! I'm a secret (well, not so secret after this) fan of Aoshi/Megumi! Now, can someone point me in the way of other A/M(egumi) fics? (Sees her pro-Aoshi/Misao friends heading towards her and flees back into shadows.) Yikes!

AN: Well, it's time for an extended note here. I'm so very sorry for the confusion in chapter two! First for making Saitou sound like Sano. Then, for Kaname's hair color. You see, I was confused about Aoshi's hair color at first, because in our TV, his hair comes out green-gray-brown, then black, so I decided to compromise and make it dark brown. But then I thought, all the Aoshi fans are going come after me for this. So, I've come up with a way to explain that little detail. Nope, it's not hair dye. You have to stick around and find out. (Please say you will. Please?) :)

The part after Saitou came in might be confusing so, here goes: Ayako, Haruko's friends, Rukawa and family are all looking beyond Saitou. Except for Megumi, who greets saitou with the 'policeman' comment she supposedly calls Saitou. On a side-note, Saitou also calls Megumi megitsune, not just Sano.

Thanks to all those who've read this story. Really big thanks to those who're sticking with this story and are enjoying it.

To my pre-reader: Next time you see an error like that girl's hair color, please point it out and don't stop trying to get it through my thick skull! ;)

I'm finding it a bit hard, trying to integrate the past (how Megumi and Aoshi got together) with the present. I'm thinking I should put this fic (Filling in the Spaces Between) in the Slam Dunk section and separate the 'past' story arc and put it in RK. It would make a lot more sense as I'm coming to think since it's going to be a lot darker than this one. Please let me know what you think! Either place a review(I've fixed the anonymous reviews, stupid me forgot to un-check that no-anonymous-reviews box), or send me an e-mail at ria_noda@yahoo.com.

PS. I was originally going to post this author's note separately but…:) I make such long chapters, don't I? I do this because I want to cut down on the number of chapters there will be but since I'm writing this as I go along, it probably doesn't help, neh?