Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ The Girl That Time Loved ❯ Distant Early Warning ( Chapter 12 )

Game day in the main gym. Coach Miwa stood around with the officials of the game, making small talk before the game started. Glancing at his bench, the basketball coach grinned at his players who were talking amongst themselves. Those who stood out were Akagi, Miyagi and Mitsui, who all listened intently as one of their teammates spoke. In a few minutes, all players from both sides of the team were called for the line-up. The stands were packed, and all the spectators eagerly waited for the game to begin.

Reiko followed Jackson and Miller to the balcony seats, and she was greeted by Nanami who asked her to sit with her. She obliged.

"Had Miki and Sayuri only known that Fuji-san and Miller-san would be here, they would've been the first ones here," mumbled the setter as she snickered. Reiko smiled and turned her head to see Jackson nudging a very red Miller in their seats.

"Are you here to see Mi-chan play, Reiko-chan?" Nanami asked.

"Yes, he and the others asked me to come."

"You know what? I need to make a phone call," the setter said, taking her cell phone out of her purse. After dialing some numbers, she spoke. "Hello, Miki? I want you to call Sayuri right now as well as the rest of the team. Tell them to come to the basketball game right now. Right.... Sayuri's with you? Good. Oh, don't call Reiko-chan, she's already here.... Yes, they're here, too.... Yeah. Just get your butts here, okay? All right, see you in a few. Bye."

She replaced her cell phone back into her purse and looked at Reiko. "You know, this was something we should have done from the beginning of the season. I'm sure the basketball team would appreciate it if the volleyball sweethearts of this school came to cheer them on," she said, winking at her.

"That's really thoughtful of you, Nanami-san."

The setter laughed. "Well, it's a Saturday, and if I get everybody in here, we'll have enough time to goof off as a team before Sato-sensei runs us ragged for tonight's practice."

"We have practice tonight?" Reiko asked, surprised.

"You mean Sato-sensei didn't tell you? That old man..." she grumbled before laughing. "Well, at least now you know, right?" She leaned back in her seat and sighed. "I'm sure Kei-kun and Kazuma-kun would be happy to see Kaname and Yuki here."

Reiko grinned. She glanced back at Jackson who heard what her teammate said and knowingly nodded.

They watched Akagi ready himself for the tip-off. He jumped and got to the ball first, tapping the ball to Keiichi. Immediately Miyagi sprinted to the basket, calling for the ball. The ball was passed to him, and the opponent was upon him. Looking to his sides the point guard could see Kazuma and Mitsui open for a pass. Miyagi faked a pass to Kazuma and his opponent fell for it, bounce passing the ball instead to the shooting guard who took a step behind the three-point line and aimed for the basket.

Nothing but net.

People in the stands were cheering. At this early point of the game, they were already impressing the crowd. The players threw the shooting guard high fives, and they quickly ran to the opponents' court to defend the basket. Reiko noticed Ayako sitting beside Coach Miwa with a clipboard and stopwatch in hand, and she was cheering the starry-eyed point guard on.

The rest of the volleyball team didn't arrive until the end of the first quarter. The bodyguards made room for the ladies on the bleachers, Sakai and Jackson smirking as they purposely left Miller and Fuji to sit with Miki and Sayuri. Nanami led her teammates in full cheer for the players on the court below, prompting Mitsui to look up during the opponents' time-out at the cheering section.

His face put on the biggest grin when he saw Reiko look and smile at him. He felt so happy that she came to see the game, his mind thought of nothing else but making every basket in to impress her. Akagi caught him grinning.

"Dude, what're you looking at?" he asked as he looked to where Mitsui gaze fell. He found his answer. He leered. "Man, the whole volleyball team is here! Kazuma, Keiichi, guess who's up the balcony..." the center sang.

Their teammates looked up and blushed to see the ladies wave at them. The basketball coach took notice.

"It seems all of Sato's angels are in the audience, gentlemen. Well, time-out's almost over. Let's give them a show, shall we?"

Coach Miwa's team burst with vigor onto the court, running their opponents ragged with their quick passes and plays. After the half-time break, the game went downhill for the home team and they won the game 87 to 65, the last basket being Mitsui's net-swooshing three-pointer. After all the players shook hands for a game well-played, Coach Miwa and his players flocked to the locker room.

"Job well done, gentlemen. Fluid game out there. I expect to see more of that in practice on Monday."

"You mean you're giving us Sunday off?" stammered Keiichi as he shrugged out of his jersey.

The coach laughed. "Winning has its rewards."

Akagi squinted at their grinning coach. "Miwa-sensei, there's something you're not telling us," he hinted.

"What? It's just that I've got a little date with my wife on Sunday, okay? You men can be such old ladies," the coach griped.

Peals of laughter echoed throughout the locker room.

Mr. Mitsui aimed the video camera at his unsuspecting son emerging from the locker room with Akagi and Miyagi.

"Job well done!" sang the Mitsui family, Mrs. Mitsui and Ami smiling at the three men.

"Thank you," greeted Miyagi and Akagi, the center carrying Ami into his arms and whirling her in the air.

"How's the knee, Hisashi?" his mother asked.

"It feels fine, Mom," he answered sheepishly.

"Oh, Miyagi-kun, Ayako-chan told us to tell you she's waiting at the steps," said Mr. Mitsui, placing the lens cap back on the video camera.

"Thanks. I gotta go, guys. See you on Monday!" the point guard said, waving to them as he ran through the doors.

"Ah, young love... say, Hisashi, is your Reiko-san here?" Mr. Mitsui said as he looked at the thinning crowd.

"Pops..." he whined. The shooting guard scanned the crowd as well, and he couldn't find any men in black suits in sight. "Well, I saw her in the balcony seats earlier... maybe she had to go home."

"That's too bad," Mrs. Mitsui pouted. "We had hoped to meet her," she said, watching her daughter chase Akagi.

"I guess there will be another time. Will you be coming home with us, son?"

"You guys go on ahead. There are a few things I have to take care of."

"All right. See you at home, then."

Ami gave the tall center a hug before saying goodbye, and the shooting guard watched his family leave the gym.

"Man, your little sister's growing so fast, Mitsui. Pretty soon I won't be able to lift her off the floor," Akagi joked.

"You'd make a really good father someday, Gori."

Akagi gave him a playful punch. "I'd need to find a wife first. Well, I'd better head home. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to talk to Miwa-sensei for a bit."

"Serious stuff?"

"No, not at all."

"Good. Are you gonna shoot some hoops with me at the high school later?"

"I don't know yet. If I do, I'll just show up."

"Fine with me. See you later, Mitsui."

The shooting guard walked to Coach Miwa's office and found him looking at the game stats. The coach offered Mitsui a seat and he took it.

"Hey, Mitsui-kun, what brings you in here today?"

"Oh, nothing in particular... I just wanted to ask a question."

"Shoot."

The shooting guard ran his fingers through his thick black hair, still wet from his shower. "How did you know about my little pact with Reiko-san?"

"Who said anything about me knowing that?" Coach Miwa grinned.

"Well, I figured you knew since you made me go to the annex gym to stretch out with her last practice."

The coach laughed. "Sato just let me know who to thank for getting you on my team, that's all. I guess Sato and I owe her a lot."

Mitsui's brows raised. "That's all?"

"That's all."

"Oh." The shooting guard silently sat in his seat.

"By the way, Mitsui-kun, you and Reiko-chan look good together. You two are dating, right?"

He reddened. "N-no... we're just friends..."

"I guess being friends for now is good," the coach egged. "My wife thinks she's so pretty, and man, she can really sing!"

"Oh, congratulations on your wedding anniversary, Miwa-sensei."

"Thanks. Wait a minute, how did you know about that?"

"The owner of the restaurant told us."

"Was he the old man she sang to last night?"

Mitsui nodded.

"Wow, she must know some really rich people."

// If you only knew... //

"Well, I just wanted to know about that, that's all."

"Oh, Mitsui-kun, before you go, I need you to sign these," the coach said as he pushed a few sheets of paper on the desk towards the shooting guard. "You're on athletic scholarship now."

Mitsui took the pen beside the papers and signed, grinning as he handed them back to his coach. "Thanks, Miwa-sensei."

The coach let out an exasperated sigh. "You know, if you would've joined the team earlier, you could've been on a free ride sooner. Now go have fun for the rest of the day. You did a really great job today."

Taking his leave, he left the coach's office. Outside the gym, Mitsui spotted a black-suited Jackson standing at the bottom of the steps and talking into a two-way radio, eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. Upon seeing Mitsui, the guard motioned for him to follow.

The two walked in comfortable silence, and not until they reached the black Suburban did Jackson congratulate the shooting guard on his team's victory. The tall strapping bodyguard got in the driver's seat and told Mitsui to sit up front.

Mitsui noticed that they were the only ones in the vehicle. "Where's Reiko-san?"

"She had to take care of some business at the house. She said to tell you sorry for not greeting you after the game." After a pause, "Do you want to see her?"

His answer rolled automatically from his tongue. "Always."

The bodyguard let out a hearty laugh and drove out of the parking lot.

Pulling into the driveway of her colossal house, they got out of the car and Mitsui followed Jackson into the house, though the way they took was through the back door. As Jackson placed a key card onto an electronic reader, Mitsui noticed a rather large house behind them. The door opened, and the shooting guard trailed behind Jackson as they walked through the kitchen and finally into the living room.

"I'll let her know you're here. Oh, and Mitsui-san?"

"Yeah?"

"I need to have a talk with you later."

Mitsui could only nod; his words were more of a command than a request. He watched Jackson climb the stairs and disappear into one of the immense rooms. He sat down on the sofa, taking the same pillow he had used to cushion Reiko's head on his lap. Last night, the memory of her stolen kiss played over and over in his head, and he could hear her honeyed voice in his dreams. He smiled at the recollection.

"You were really remarkable on the court this afternoon, Mitsui-san," Reiko said as she walked into the living room. Mitsui stood as she approached him, placing his hands in his pockets and mumbling his thanks. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to congratulate you earlier, I had an urgent task to do."

"That's okay. Thanks for coming to the game, though I didn't know the whole volleyball team would come as well. You should've seen how ecstatic Keiichi and Kazuma got when they saw Kaname-chan and Yuki-chan."

She smiled. "Were you happy as well?"

"Of course," he flashed a grin.

"Mr. Jackson said you wanted to see me?"

// Huh? HE was the one who suggested to come here... not that I'm against it... // Mitsui had to think of something quick.

"Another interview again, perhaps?" she proffered. The shooting guard caught her looking at the grandfather clock once again.

"That can wait," he replied softly. Feeling like taking a gamble, his face suddenly lit. "Hey, would you like to meet a bunch of funny people?"

She smiled brightly. "And who would those people be?"

He knew he would regret this later, but... "My family."

Reiko's smile widened. "Really?"

"Well, Ami told them how stunned she was to find me with such a dazzling woman, and ever since then I've not had one morning go by without my parents asking about you."

He delighted in her soft laughter and gazed at her vivid eyes of blue.

"I remember your little sister, she's an adorable child," she said, looking at the clock again. It was half past two. "I would like to meet your parents, Mitsui-san. However, I was just informed by Nanami-san that we have practice this evening. If we leave now, it will give me a little over three hours to get acquainted with your family. Would that be all right?"

"You don't have to stay the whole time if you don't want to. I don't want you to be late for practice," he mumbled softly.

"Why do you say your family is funny?" she asked.

"Because," he grumbled mockingly, "they like having fun at my expense." She giggled at the response.

"Shall we go, then, Mitsui-san?" she said as she tugged innocuously at the shooting guard's arm, his skin heating at the touch.

"Promise you won't laugh too much?" he burbled, reveling at the soft press of her palm against him.

She beamed. "I promise."

Packing her gym bag with clean practice clothes, she walked with Mitsui to the multi-car garage where the men waited. On the way to the Mitsui residence, Reiko asked Fuji if they could stop by a chocolatier for a few moments. Fuji stopped the Suburban in front of a Godiva chocolate shop, and Reiko politely asked Mitsui to wait inside the vehicle. With Jackson and Sakai, she went inside the store.

"Great game, Mitsui-san. You're as good as everyone says you are," Fuji as he looked back at the shooting guard.

"Thanks, Fuji-san."

"Do you think you can score 24 points on three-pointers alone?" asked Miller, sitting in the front seat.

"Why?"

"I've got a friendly wager with Fuji here. He says you can't do it, but I bet ten thousand yen you can," smirked Miller, tapping on the arm rest.

"I didn't say he couldn't do it, stupid. I just thought that he couldn't do it in one game," corrected Fuji as he looked out the window.

"Well then, I guess the next game will decide who'll be ten thousand yen richer," Mitsui replied as he grinned at Miller.

The doors opened and Reiko took his seat beside the shooting guard.

"Wow, that was quick," Mitsui said, looking at the two little golden boxes she held in her hand. "What's that?"

"A little surprise for your family." She stowed the little boxes away in the middle console of the vehicle.

Mitsui laughed. "That might be a mistake, my sister will bounce off the walls."

Ami opened the door and widened her eyes at the sight of her brother's companion. She excitedly announced her brother's arrival along with Reiko's presence in the house, and immediately the shooting guard's parents emerged from the den and kitchen.

"Mom, Pops, this is Nakamichi Reiko-san," the shooting guard introduced. Reiko greeted them with a respectful bow, startling Mitsui's parents a bit with such courteous manners. In their eyes, kids these days did not have notable manners. She was an exception.

"I am very pleased to meet you," she said.

"Please come in, Reiko-san," ushered Mrs. Mitsui. She asked them to sit in the living room and went to the kitchen afterwards, coming back with a tray of tea and cookies.

"Hisashi told us a lot about you, Reiko-san. I heard you won your volleyball game last night. Congratulations," cheered Mr. Mitsui.

"Thank you, sir. Oh, these are for you," she said, taking the two little golden boxes and placing them on the coffee table.

Friendly little Ami tugged on her shirt. "What's in it, Reiko-neechan?" she whispered.

"Why don't you go ahead and open one of the boxes, Ami-chan," Reiko encouraged.

The little girl's eyes shone brightly as she took a box and opened the lid. Four kiss-shaped chocolates sat in the box, begging to be eaten. She quickly turned to her father. "Daddy, can I eat one?"

Mr. Mitsui laughed. "I guess it's okay."

She eagerly took one and took a bite of it, the child's eyes twinkling in happiness as her taste buds drowned in the richness of the sweet treat. Reiko smiled. Just the reaction she predicted.

Half an hour later Reiko was sitting huddled over a photo album with the rest of the Mitsui family, leaving the shooting guard to suffer in humiliation as Mrs. Mitsui showed her pictures of her little Hisashi growing up. He had forgotten what a picture maniac his mother was, taking a picture of her son every chance she got. Reiko smiled and laughed at the stories Mr. Mitsui narrated along as they flipped through the album's pages, the funniest being their Hisashi mimicking his father while he shaved. In the picture, the shooting guard was five, and he was looking at his father shaving as he stood on a chair with shaving cream all over his face. Mrs. Mitsui sighed.

"Oh, Hisashi was so cute back then..." Mrs. Mitsui trailed off as she recalled the memory. "I wonder what happened," she sneered as she looked at her son.

"What are you talking about? I'm still cute, thank you very much," the shooting guard griped, his eyes closed as he crossed his arms and slightly stuck his tongue out at his laughing mother.

"Not as cute as me!" piped Ami. Mr. Mitsui pulled Ami from Reiko's side and spun her around, bursts of laughter bubbling from her.

What a warm family, Reiko thought. Looking at Mr. Mitsui whirl his daughter round once more, she remembered all the times she laughed like Ami when she was a child, when she tumbled about and played without a care in the world, her parents, sister and brother looking on. She remembered being loved.

"And this picture was taken when Hisashi was awarded MVP on his last year of middle school," Mrs. Mitsui said, a tinge of pride in her voice.

Reiko retreated from her reverie and looked at the picture. There, she saw the boyish look that often showed on her stretch partner's face. She smiled as she leafed through the last page of the photo album, seeing a photograph of Mitsui in his high school uniform with his teammates. She identified them as Akagi, Miyagi, Hanamichi with the red hair and Rukawa with the distant gaze. She closed the album.

"Such wonderful memories, Mitsui-san," she said to her stretch partner as she handed the photo album back to Mrs. Mitsui, a silent look of melancholy in her eyes as she averted them to the box of chocolates on the coffee table.

The shooting guard's eyes did not fail to notice.

"That's better, Sayuri-chan, but make it look like you're going to set the ball to Rika-chan."

After Friday's game, Coach Sato saw how much his team's game improved now with Reiko on the team. It's true what they say about playing with better athletes: they just raise one's level of play. The ladies were breathing raggedly as they worked on hitting drills, and the setters Nanami and Sayuri were being strained the most.

Mitsui and the guards watched from the sidelines as Reiko pounded on the ball from all positions on the court. Coach Sato knew her skill and he knew how to hone it, making the setters practice quick sets to her outside hitter position.

Jackson called to Mitsui quietly and he followed the guard to a spot upstairs by the balcony railing, both watching the ladies practice from above. The shooting guard knew this was about the talk he wanted to have with him.

"She's something else, isn't she, Mitsui-san?" Jackson said, placing one hand in the pocket of his trousers and leaning on the railing with his elbow. It was more of a statement than a question, and Mitsui waited for the burly guard to continue.

"You're a good kid, Mitsui-san. I speak for the others when I say this. We know all about you, and you may have had a couple of slip-ups, but you're not bad. You've been surprisingly nice to Nakamichi-dono since day one. We like you, and for that reason we believe that it is necessary to tell you this."

He hesitated as he eyed Reiko's sprinted approach to the ball.

"Four guards to one person... you probably wondered from the beginning why there are so many of us protecting her."

Jackson stood upright now, placing his other hand in his pocket.

""Two years ago, Nakamichi-dono received threats in the mail that if she revealed the truth behind the effects of a breakthrough cancer drug, she would lose her life. So worried was her uncle that he trained and employed Fuji and Miller to help guard her. A year later, we were able to trace the letters back to a disgruntled research doctor and he was caught and sent to jail. It's been quiet since then."

Mitsui held his silence, shocked at the guard's disclosure.

"She really doesn't need all of us anymore, but her uncle wasn't willing to live with the possibility that she could get hurt for what she knows. We could've quit, but we chose to stay and protect her."

They observed the relief on the ladies' faces as the coach yelled out for a five-minute break.

"Fuji and Miller's fathers, Sakai and myself have been with the Nakamichi family since she was eight. We've seen a happy but brief period of her childhood before she was hurled into a cold and hellish existence... it'll be ten years this November. It only got rougher for her."

Laughter rang out from the team who now sat on the bench, Reiko sitting on the outer edge, smiling.

Mitsui knew that Reiko had an inopportune childhood, she told him herself. But coming from someone else who had seen it, he came to grasp the fact that he didn't know the magnitude of her circumstances. Something in his chest weighed his insides down and trembled at the realization: there was so much more he didn't know. He heard Jackson inhale deeply as he continued.

"Nakamichi-dono doesn't ever need to worry about money, you probably know that by now. She's an heiress to billions. She's frighteningly intelligent; she grew to understand how anything and everything functions at an early age. She was taught by some of the most brilliant minds on this earth, and her genius matched theirs after only a few years. She was constantly surrounded by adults, and her very formal and polite way of speaking comes from that. She doesn't know much about relationships outside her family. Having no permanent friends of her age, she relied solely on her family and mentors for love and companionship.... But then.... "

Break time was over and the volleyball coach instructed the team to be in defense formation, Coach Sato hitting balls at them from the opposite side of the court. Mitsui and Jackson looked on as Sakai talked to the younger guards and motioned his head towards the coach. Fuji and Miller took their suit jackets off, unbuttoned their dress shirts and loosened their ties before walking towards the coach. Nanami and Kaname snickered as they watched Sayuri and Miki blush red to the roots of their hair. The younger guards helped Coach Sato hit balls at the team.

"Nakamichi-dono's uncle is a busy but thoughtful man, he goes out of his way from his hospital rounds to check on her. He didn't want to repress her and let her do as she pleased. When she decided to come to Kanagawa to stay at her family's summer house, her uncle was happy and worried at the same time, but he was relieved when we decided to stay on and go with her."

Taking his hands out of his pockets, Jackson leaned back on the balcony railing with his elbows.

"I know you love her, Mitsui-san."

Jackson's words made the shooting guard's head whip toward him, eyes wide as saucers. The bodyguard nearly chuckled.

"We all know you do. It's pretty obvious," he said, glancing behind him at the ladies playing below. "I really don't know what it is about you, but she's happy, and I don't care about the details." Turning his gaze now to the top seats on the balcony, he continued.

"But I give you fair warning now. To the love you can offer her, she is unfamiliar. Of the many things she's been taught, this is one lesson she hasn't learned or even experienced. No one ever taught her this. So if you think your affections are transparent to us, it might not be transparent to her. For her, you spending time with her, making her smile and holding her hand are simply things her family used to do with her, a familial act she has long since experienced. To any love extending beyond what she's felt before from her family, she is an innocent."

Mitsui could feel his heart beat forcibly in his chest, a dull sensation of pain rippling inside him that gripped his very being. After Reiko told him of her childhood yesterday, he was dumbfounded. And now after what Jackson had revealed, the shooting guard was utterly stunned. Someone had been after her. So many people had brushed her off. But her uncle was kind to her... Where was her family? The people in the picture on her brother's dresser, the brother whose suit he wore to dinner, where were they?

Straightening up, Jackson's hands retreated back into his pockets, still observing the people on the court.

"I don't know how you did it, Mitsui-san, but you've succeeded in making the blue in her eyes come back from its sleeping depths. And I wish you luck in winning her love. However," the guard said in a low, almost guttural bass voice, "it took a long time for us to see her smile, and as much as you understand that, we would like that smile to stay. We've let you get this close to her because you seem to make her happy. We just hope you're as consistent with her as you are with your ballgame."

"But," Jackson said as he took a step back from the railing, his eyes fixed on the court, his stare harsh and indomitable, "if you ever mess up and break her heart, we will be very, very disappointed."

His last words veiled an intimidating threat behind them, and with that the broad-shouldered bodyguard left and descended down the stairs. His gaze went back to his beautiful stretch partner on the court, gracefully landing after rendering another one of her jaw-dropping spikes. // The brilliant gleam in her cerulean eyes... the unwary way she holds my hand... the unflinching reaction she had when I touched her lips... // They all stemmed from her innocence. Mitsui placed his hands on the guardrail and leaned forward. Jackson's words only strengthened his resolve.

He would do everything to make her happy. He would love her with all his heart and more.