Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ lost and found ❯ chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Disclaimer: No, I don't own any characters mentioned in this fic.

Last time

"Well... you see..." Hanamichi began his life story, pausing in between to look elsewhere before continuing his tale. Fujima Kenji doesn't blame Hanamichi for doing it, it's not that the latter doesn't have long attention span, it's just that Fujima Kenji happens to know that the topic of Hanamichi's parents is a touchy one. He had been stunned by the fact that Hanamichi was merely a beginner at basketball, with less than 3 months experience and he'd already become one of the starters five in the game. He'd not watched all the games with Hanamichi involved the only match he had watched is the one with Tsukubu and the one between Shohoku and his own team, Shoyo which took place last weekend.

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Lost and Found- Chapter 6

It had been weeks since their meeting in the cafe, they still meet every now and then. However, they had to cut down on their meeting since Hanamichi had basketball practice nearly everyday as the game with Kainan neared. Fujima, of course understood the message well since he'd been the one to challenge Maki from Kainan for the past two years. This time around, it's Shohoku and Hanamichi turn to do it.

Fujima Kenji was tossing and turning in bed, he couldn't sleep. He glanced at his alarm clock and realized it's already four in the morning. With a sigh, he tossed off his cover and headed down to the kitchen for a bite. He almost jumped up in fright when the phone rang, he tried to think of someone who would risk waking everyone up at this point of time to call him before dawn. He then do a mental calculation, and realized it had to be Hanamichi. It had been weeks since he'd heard from Hanamichi since the game of Kainan, he'd heard the result from one of his team mates. He'd known Hanamichi well enough to know that, he'll probably blamed himself for Shohoku's loss. He used to do it all the time as well, but Hanagata will always assured him it's not his fault that they'd lost to Kainan.

Truth be told, he wasn't angry that Shohoku had lost to Kainan pherhaps a little disappointed since they merely lost to Kainan by two points. He was not angry, in fact he's proud that they managed to lose only by a mere two points gap. Shohoku had in fact done their very best and had exceeded his expectation. Even when his team challenged Kainan in inter-high in the previous two years, they'd never came in that close in their game points. They always lose to Kainan by at least five-ten points, hence he's rather proud of Shohoku. The ringing of the phone jerked Fujima out of his reverie yet again, he reached for the cordless and answered it as he brought it to the kitchen with him.

"Hello, Kenji?" Hanamichi asked with uncertainity in his voice.
"Yeah, this is Kenji speaking. Hana-kun, is that you?" Fujima replied as he poured himself a glass of milk as he settled himself on the dining table.
"Yeah, this is Hanamichi... I was wondering if..." Hanamichi voice faded off as he tried to recall what he wanted to say.
"Yes? I'm still waiting..." Kenji prompted as he poured some cereals into a bowl and started to eat his breakfast.
"I was wondering if you're coming for our game against Ryonan?" Hanamichi asked.
"Yeah... I think so... Is that all? Well, usually no one called me before dawn..." Fujima amended when he realised his reply is too harsh.
"Yeah... well, not exactly... I was hoping you could tutor me on some mathematics. The homework is due in two hours time, and I'm not even half-done." Hanamichi answered sheepishly.

Fujima Kenji blinked twice as he stared at the kitchen clock, as he set his empty dishes into the sink. He briefly calculated the time he needed to get to Hanamichi and realised he only have ten minutes to get ready if he wanted to make it in time. "Sure, I'll see you in ten minutes at the 24 hour cafeteria in our old neighbourhood. I believe you still remember the way?" Fujima replied as he rushes back into his room and threw his uniform on the bed while he stuffed his stationery and books into his backpack frantically.

"Yeah... that's fine. Thanks, I'll see you there." Hanamichi answered as he hanged up the phone.

Five minutes later, Fujima Kenji was ready and set to go and tutor Hanamichi when he suddenly realized he'd yet to inform Hanagata of the slight change of plans. Leaving a message on a notepad by the kitchen table, he could only hoped that his parents will caught sight of it and inform Hanagata about it. After which, he ran all the way to the cafeteria where Hanamichi was waiting patiently for him. Since Hanamichi had moved away from the neighbourhood, he'd needed more time to reach the place hence Hanamichi had rang up Fujima when he's already on his way out of the door. On the other hand, Fujima Kenji was still living in that neighbourhood so he only need a ten minutes walk, five minutes if he run to the cafeteria.

Two hours later, Hanamichi stared at his assignment in awe. Shooting Fujima a grateful look, he said wistfully "How I wish I still live near you..."
"Huh?" Fujima Kenji raised his eyebrow questionally as he heard that statement.
"Well... if I still lived near you, I could always consult you if I don't know anything..." Hanamichi explained when he caught sight of Fujima's questioning eyes.
Fujima seemed to ponder about the matter for a second and said "Why not?"

Hanamichi snapped his head up at Fujima's words and blinked stupidly, Fujima caught sight of it and further explained his statement "Why not? I mean, we're old time friends and our family know each other well enough. Heck, we've known each other since we were in diapers and my parents used to babysit you when your parents aren't home. I bet my parents wouldn't mind it if you moved in with us, in fact, they adored you. We had more than enough rooms, I bet they won't say much."

"But..." Hanamichi started only to have Fujima silencing him with a stern expression, as the captain of Shoyo basketball team start brainstorming for an excuse to persuade his parents about the latest development.
"Well... I bet they wouldn't mind it much after I explained the matter to them fully. That's it, I'll inform them this evening after school." Fujima Kenji said firmly.

Hanamichi stared at Fujima for a moment before letting out a sigh and resigning himself to his fate. He knew the moment Fujima decided something, no one could change his mind about it. He briefly wondered what will happen if any of their team mates got hold of this information, he could already hear the hounding of his best friend Youhei relentless nagging in the back of his mind. Supressing a shudder, he shrugged nonchanlantly as he packed up his belongings and started to head in the direction of the subway whereby he'll need to take to school. Fujima Kenji started in the opposite direction which will take him to Shoyo high.

~Shoyo High~

Hanagata Toru frowned for the umpteen time as he stared at his best friend Fujima Kenji in bewilderment. Unable to take it any longer, he stepped in front of his friend.
"What? Toru, is anything the matter?" Fujima asked when he noticed his friend standing in front of him with unreadable eyes.
"I should be the one asking you this... you cancelled out on me this morning, then when you arrived in school you walked past me without acknowledgement. When I asked you something, you replied half-heartedly. You didn't even pay attention in class for the first time in your life, you always seemed to be in deep thoughts." Hanagata retorted with frustration.

"A-ra... I'm so sorry, I'm thinking about something that I failed to notice that I've been neglecting you. It's just that I've recently been reunited with a childhood friend of mine, and I'm just so overwhelm with all these emotions and feelings that suddenly engulfed me whenever I'm with him. He used to live in my neighbourhood, but when something happen to his parents he'd been forced to move away. Now that he'd lost his parents and living in a run-down apartment on his own without much allowance, I felt so bad for him. I wasn't there with him when he needed me, when he's suffering from poverty I'm here with all my comfort... I just felt so guilty so I was thinking of asking him to move in with me. Now, I was thinking of how to inform my parents about it. I swear I didn't mean to neglect you." Fujima said in a rush and just dumped everything on Hanagata before he knew it.

"Oh... I didn't know you had so much on your mind..." Hanagata replied numbly, he didn't know how to react to Fujima's confession. Fujima had always been so calm and collected in front of him, that he hasn't seen this side of Fujima before. He had no idea how to deal with an emotional Fujima, he admitted the fact that he'd never really seen Fujima outside of classroom and beyond basketball practice. He knew that moment, this side of Fujima was only known to those whom Fujima trusted his life with. When he'd witnessed this sudden outburst, he understood that this is the most Fujima is willing to let him know and would not reveal anything else beyond for this matter. Through this confrontation, he only know one thing and that one thing is 'Whoever that childhood friend is, he's bound to be the one whom Fujima will opened up his heart to. He'll always be the first priority in Fujima's heart, in fact, he'd already captured Fujima's heart without knowing it.'

Hanagata Toru is one other person whom Fujima Kenji trusted, he knew alot of things about Fujima Kenji even without the latter telling him. Hanagata Toru is an observant person, he knew Fujima prefer boys over girls when the latter hasn't care much when girls dropped hints on him. Fujima always proved to be aloof and cold to other people around, he never allowed much emotion to be shown. In fact, Fujima had admitted once to the public that he prefer guys rather than girls and the fact that he was always seen around Fujima had just triggered the rumour of them being together. However, Hanagata knew it's not true... he'd confronted Fujima once before and the latter had assured him he was only like a brother he never had. When asked about who he'd in mind for a lover, Fujima will always had a dreamy and glazed look in his eyes but the next moment, he will look sad before replacing his usual mask of cool look in place. Hence, when he seen this side of Fujima he'd knew that person had finally appeared.

While Hanagata was musing, Fujima Kenji had long fled the school rushing back home to consult his parents on the idea of allowing Hanamichi to move in with them. Meanwhile, Hanamichi was trying to ignore all those teasing from his gundan and focused his thoughts on the idea of Fujima Kenji. That was when he noticed it, it was in the middle of the basketball practice and he was practicing his usual shooting and dunking when Haruko Akagi, his all time crushes for the year entered the gym greeting everyone. Everyone was surprised by his lack of actions, even himself was surprised by the fact. Usually, he'll rush over to Haruko and boast his skills or yet missed a shot or two. However, this time around not only did he showed no outward reaction not even did he missed a shot when Haruko called out to him. He'd only looked over to the girl and acknowledge the latter with a nod of his head.

"What's wrong with him?" Miyamoto, one of Hanamichi's best friend from the gundan asked out loud when he noticed the lack of reaction.
"No idea..." the other two from the gundan replied while youhei just appeared to be deep in thoughts.
Turning his attention to Ayako, the basketball team manager he asked "Sakuragi... is he always like this?"
Ayako stared at the redhead for a moment before turning to the gundan and answered "No, not exactly... up until the game before Shoyo he's still like always. I mean behaving like an idiot, but somehow something changes when the game against Shoyo ended. During the Kainan game, he's more mature although he's still behaving like an idiot and always looking at Haruko. But as the weeks passes by, he'd been more quiet and mature during practice although he still managed to make a fool out of himself when it comes to actual game. He still treated Rukawa like always, with insults passing between them most of the time, being disrespectful towards his seniors. However, his attitute towards Haruko had been more subdued and his concentration is better nowadays. I thought it was because he took it hard when we lost to Kainan..." Ayako stopped talking as she continue to watch Hanamichi practice.

Sakuragi Hanamichi was struggling with his inner self as he practice his shooting, he briefly wondered what had causes him to act so out of character, he'd simply dismissed Haruko entrance for the first time since he'd joined the basketball team. The fluttering feeling that's always there whenever he saw Haruko was diminished, instead he found himself no longer so obsessed with the idea of his love not been reciprocate by Haruko. Heck, he didn't even care about the idea of Rukawa getting all attention from Haruko. It's like his love for Haruko was slowly dying out, still he treated Rukawa as a rival... but no longer in the fields of love but in basketball matches itself. He wanted to score more points than the latter as he wanted to prove he wasn't weak, true the insults still occured every now and then but they're not that intense as in the past. With the fact that Anzai coach was going to be absent when the game between Ryonan arrived, he had concentrated more on his shooting practice. The idea of Fujima being present to watch him in action just managed to fuel his desire to do better than Rukawa stronger, he felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips whenever he thought of Fujima Kenji.

~ to be continue~

date completed: 10/03/05