This fic is dedicated to Fufu-chan whose birthday was on the fifth ^__^.  Since you don’t have any particular favorite pairing, I though a little SenKo and SenKosh might be fine with you.  Anyways, Happy Birthday, Fufu, even if it is already a little late…Heehee…I hope you like it ^__^
 

~**~

“ Get your jaw off of the ground and try to act like a civilized person will you, Sendoh?” Koshino Hiroaki growled, glaring daggers at his spiky haired companion.  Sendoh had been so engrossed in following the progress of a particularly cute freshman guy across the cafeteria that he hadn’t noticed when the heap of rice on his raised chopsticks had fallen onto the front of his school blazer.

Ignoring Koshino, the Ryonan ace half rose from his seat, his gaze still following the boy.  
“ Koshino-kun…” He placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder for some much needed support.  His knees had grown strangely weak at the sight of the freshman.  “ Koshino-kun…I swear to you that this time, I really, truly am-”

“ In love?” Koshino finished for him, rolling his eyes.  This made this…what?  The fifth time he heard that claim from Sendoh in the past three days?  Yesterday it was the Third year guy that had been campaigning for a spot in the Student Representative body and the day before that, it had been the guy that Sendoh had been paired with for biology lab.  Koshino knew enough never to take the guy’s declarations of love seriously.  He tugged on the taller boy’s sleeve until he finally plopped back down on his chair.

“ Must find out that guys name…Hikoichi…where is Hikoichi when you need him?” Feverishly bright blue eyes darted around the spacious Ryonan High cafeteria in search for the much needed, loudmouthed freshman.  If you ever wanted any dirt about anything or anybody, then Hikoichi was the guy to call on.  Sendoh had employed his junior’s services quite a few times before while he had been in hot pursuit of other romantic prospects.

“ You sent him off to get some info on that Baseball club guy, remember?  The one that you ran into yesterday?”

“ Oh yeah!  The Baseball club guy!” Sendoh pursed his lips thoughtfully, mentally comparing the freshman, who had had decided to dub as ‘Jell-o boy’ (he had noticed that the only thing on the guy’s tray had been a container of green Jell-o), and the Baseball club guy that had thrown a ball right into his behind as he had been passing by the field the day before on his leisurely way to basketball practice.  “ Hmm…I can’t decide which one is cuter.”

Koshino rolled his eyes at this.  “ Does it even really matter to you?  With the track record that you have, you’ll probably get both of them out on a date with you with no problems whatsoever…”

“ Ooh…Koshino-kun!  Kinky!  Are you suggesting a threesome?”

“ Hentai!” 

“ Me?  A hentai?” Sendoh gave his companion the full benefit of his innocent, wide-eyed blue gaze.  “Hey, I wasn’t the dirty minded one that suggested a threesome.  I’m looking for a real commitment here.”

Koshino had by now lost all interest in the conversation and was staring down at his cell phone, reading the SMS that he had just received from a much admired senior of his from his Junior High School.  His sempai, who was also a member of the basketball club in his own school, had come to Ryonan to arrange a friendly practice match with the Ryonan Basketball Club.  Since he was passing by anyways, his sempai wanted to meet him so that he could give him a late birthday gift.  “ Is that so, Sendoh?” He muttered absentmindedly, busy typing out a reply.

“ But I’m serious this time!”

“ Oh yeah.  Like I’ve never heard that before…”

“ Your lack of faith in my fidelity hurts me, my little friend.”

“ Who the hell are you calling little?” Koshino snapped, banging his cell phone down onto the table and fixing his icy glare on a suddenly very uncomfortable Sendoh.  The spiky haired boy had forgotten that any reference to Koshino Hiroaki’s vertically challenged state was taboo.

“ No one, Koshino-kun…” The tall basketball player’s eyes darted around the room nervously, seeking out the best escape path available to him in the case that Koshino turned violent, which was quite likely, seeing how bad tempered the guy was.

“ And Sendoh, by the way.  How do you expect me to react when you tell me that you’ve fallen in love again?  Do you want me to dance around you throwing confetti up in the air, singing out my praises to Sendoh Akira and the joy of love?  Is that what you want me to do?  Because I would get very tired doing that every time you see a nice little piece of ass and decide that you want him.” Another less than pleasant aspect about Koshino Hiroaki that Sendoh had always tried to steer clear of as much as he possibly could was his cutting sarcasm.  “ You’ve never truly fallen in love, Sendoh.  You’ve fallen in lust, a lot more times than I can count, incidentally, but you’ve never truly fallen in love.”

“ And why the hell do you say that?”

“ Because Sendoh, you’ve never bothered to stay long enough with one person to find out what he’s really like.  I mean…your longest relationship lasted for what?  A month?”

“ Three weeks, actually.” He corrected him.

“ Yes.  Three weeks.  The moment that you get what you want from a guy, you dump him.  That’s you.  That’s the way that Sendoh Akira the playboy works and it’s not very nice.  It’s not something that a guy who was truly in love with someone would do.”

“ How would you know, Koshino-kun?  You’ve never had a relationship with anybody before…” Sendoh pointed out, not able to resist bringing up Koshino’s other sore spot.  He wondered why this was so.  All right, so sometimes, Koshino could be a bit of a shrew, but he had a lot of redeeming qualities in him.  The guy was handsome, smart, and once you got to know him a lot better, you would realize that he was really quite sweet in spite of the gruff exterior.

“ It’s just common sense, you idiot.  And so dumping someone after three weeks of dating is the way to show them that you love them, is it?” Koshino snorted.  “ Just admit it, Sendoh.  You have never been in love before and have no hope of ever finding love if you go right on acting the way that you are now.”

The little shrimp (Sendoh’s secret nickname for Koshino, though he would never let the guy know about this.  Sure, Koshino was a lot smaller than him and everything, but fury gave you a lot of strength and Sendoh had no wish to die yet.), had his point.  “ Is it my fault that I’ve never met anyone who’s been able to hold my interest any longer than that?”

“ Maybe that’s because you always base your judgment on looks and always end up dating the really shallow idiots around Kanagawa?”

Sendoh pondered over this.  “ Maybe.” Then, grinning, he clapped a hand over the one that Koshino had resting on the table.  “ So, do you want to go out with me, Koshi-kun?  I’m not basing my judgment on just looks anymore so-”

“ Are you implying that I’m ugly?”

The spiky haired player sighed.  Nothing that he ever said around Koshino, the oh-so-sensitive vertically challenged one, was ever right.  “ No, Koshino-kun.  That wasn’t what I meant.  I meant that you would be the most perfect guy in the world for me since you have looks and brains and talent when it comes to basketball…” That succeeded nicely in softening him up.  As intellectual and snappish as Koshino was, he had a weakness for compliments.  This was the way to his good side and Sendoh was perfectly aware of that.  “ You’re right, I guess, Koshino-kun.  I guess I am getting pretty sick of going out with guys who can’t talk of anything but how impressed they are with my ball playing skills…”

Koshino rolled his eyes at this.  “ Really?  I always thought that you got a kick out of hearing people gush over you…”

“ It gets old after a while…you wouldn’t know though…I guess no one gushes over you…”
“ Sendoh!” But before he could use his empty lunch tray to bash his companion over the head, Koshino heard gentle laughter from behind him.  Familiar laughter.  He whirled around, a huge smile on his face, the extermination of the nuisance that was Sendoh Akira momentarily forgotten.

“ Hiroaki-kun, I see that you still have a bit of a problem controlling your temper…”

“ Kimi-sempai!  Nori-sempai!”  Koshino could see the much larger boy with the bespectacled one rolling his eyes at the sound of the nick name that he had never liked, but which he had permitted him, a favorite team mate of his back in Junior High, to call him by.  “ Wow!  It’s been such a long time since I’ve last seen the two of you!”

Sendoh was rather surprised to see Koshino so animated and in such a good humor.  He was rarely very friendly with anyone, so he looked up, curious to see the people that his friend was greeting so warmly.  He watched with faint interest as Koshino got up to his feet and gave the shorter of the two a warm hug that was gladly reciprocated.  The taller stepped back as Koshino came towards him and offered him a hand instead.

“ I told you that you should have gone to Shohoku with us.” Came the gruff reply from the one that was even taller than Sendoh himself.  At the mention of Shohoku, Sendoh immediately deducted that this was the famed Shohoku Basketball Club Captain, Akagi Takenori.  He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out who it was that was with him though. He couldn’t see the guy’s face properly because of the big, blue stuffed bear that he had in his arms.

“ And what, deprive Ryonan of one damn good player?”

“ Ahh…Kimi-sempai!  You shouldn’t say such things.  My ego might become inflated.” Koshino laughed in good humor, thoroughly flattered.

Sendoh’s eyes darted back and forth from the Shohoku players to Koshino, unable to believe how pleasant his friend was being towards the two.

Akagi jerked his thumb back towards his companion.  “ Before we go any further, I just want you to know that I had nothing to do with the bear.”

“ Come on, Akagi-kun.  It’s cute.” Kogure defended himself, holding the bear out towards Koshino.  For the first time, Sendoh was able to see the guy’s face and he liked what he saw; floppy dark-brown hair, soulful brown eyes behind a pair of round glasses and the sweetest little rosebud mouth that Sendoh just knew would be velvety soft to the touch.  This guy was definitely just as gorgeous as Jell-o boy but he had to keep to his decision about not going for somebody just because they were cute.  He didn’t want any more shallow relationships.  He wanted to have a serious, long lasting one for once.  “ Don’t you think so, Hiro-kun?  I thought you would like it.  It has its own little basketball and it’s blue.  Blue for Ryonan!” The guy laughed happily at this as though it was the most amusing thing in the world.  Sendoh sighed in disappointment.   The Shohoku player was an obvious airhead, based from the way he was acting over the bear.

Koshino laughed along with him weakly, taking the bear.  God.  It was gigantic.  He was going to have to carry this huge, basketball toting blue bear around school for the whole day.  Couldn’t Kogure have taken the time to wrap it up so that he wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment having people see him walking around school lugging a big, stuffed toy along with him?  Sendoh snickered at the look on his face.  “ Thank you, Kimi-sempai.  It’s very…”

“ Blue?” Sendoh supplied helpfully.

“ Ignore him.” Koshino advised his seniors as he gave Sendoh a dirty look.  “ He’s an idiot.”

Akagi looked him over with some interest, knowing perfectly well who he was.  “ Sendoh Akira.  It’s very nice to formally meet you.  I’m Akagi Takenori, Captain of the Shohoku Basketball Club.”

“ No introductions are necessary, Akagi-san.  I know who you are.” Sendoh replied cheerfully, pumping Akagi’s hand energetically.

“ And this is Kogure Kiminobu, Vice-captain of the club.” A small smile made its appearance on Akagi’s face as he gently dug his elbow into the said vice-captain’s ribs.  “ Who, incidentally, Koshino, is now the Student Representative Council President of Shohoku…”

Koshino raised an eyebrow at this.  “ Aren’t you sort of taking on a lot, Kimi-sempai?  I mean the Council and the Basketball Club…You’re going to be awfully busy, aren’t you?”

“ Oh, don’t worry about him.  This is Kogure we’re talking about. Mr. Always-on-top-of-the-class-since-preschool Kogure.  Sakuragi Hanamichi thinks he’s not human.  It’s abnormal for someone to be so smart.  ‘ Megane-kun is a freak of nature’ to quote that idiot.”

All right, so maybe he had been wrong about the whole ‘airhead’ thing.  Just because a guy went into ecstasy over some cute blue teddy bear with a basketball, didn’t necessarily mean that he was an airhead, judging from what Akagi was saying about this Kogure.   Maybe Kogure just had a thing for cute, soft, furry things.  Sendoh tipped his head to one side, thoughtfully perusing the brown haired boy.  Cute and he had brains…Hmm…This Kogure Kiminobu was looking better and better with each passing second.  He was just the kind of guy that might be able to hold his interest, just the kind of guy that he had vowed, only a few minutes before, to be looking for.  Well, he guessed that he could now stop his searching.  He had found the perfect prospect.  Things should be easy, what with Koshino being so close to the guy and all.  Maybe it was time for him to call in some favors…He cleared his throat, wanting to join into the conversation.  “ Sakuragi Hanamichi?” He asked.

“ A freshman.  You’ll meet him soon enough.  When we have that practice match this coming Friday.”

“ Oh?  Really?  And will the two of you be there also?”

Koshino snorted.  “ The answer should be pretty obvious, given the fact that Nori-sempai is the captain of the team and Kimi-sempai the vice-captain.”  He pointed out.

“ Oh, yeah!” Sendoh hid his embarrassment behind a huge smile.  God.  How stupid of him to forget something like that.  

“ We’ll see you at the practice match then, Koshino-kun?  Maybe we can go out afterwards so that we can catch up on things?  It’ll be fun!  We have to get back to Shohoku now to tell Anzai-sensei about the arrangements, though.  I’m really sorry that we couldn’t have stayed a little longer to chat.  We just came by to drop off your gifts.”

Akagi handed Koshino a gift wrapped package.  “ As I said, I had nothing to do with the bear.  He chose it on his own.”

“ But it’s cute, Akagi!  By the way, Hiro-kun, I got sort of attached to the bear so I took the liberty of giving it a name.  It’s called, ‘Fufu’.”

“ Fufu…What a…nice name for the bear.”

Kogure grinned at Koshino’s approval.  “ I thought so too, Hiro-kun.  Anyways, it was very nice to meet you, Sendoh-san.  I guess that I’ll see the two of you again at the practice match then!  See you!”

“ Please, call me Aki…” But it was already too late.  Kogure had already walked off with Akagi and Sendoh hadn’t even been able to bid him a proper goodbye.  He sighed.  He watched as Koshino carefully set down the bear on the seat beside him, hoping that his friend would notice the morose expression on his face and ask him what the matter was.  It didn’t seem as though the guy meant to pay him any attention soon, though.  Koshino was too absorbed in carefully opening the package that Akagi had given him.  Sendoh let out a theatrical little sigh.

Koshino looked at him warily, knowing, from past experience, that Sendoh was up to something.  “ What is it?”

“ Koshino-kun…Remember that talk that we were having before those two came about me trying to find a guy who wasn’t so shallow…”

“ I’m not an idiot, Sendoh.  How could I forget a conversation that we had only a few minutes before?”

“ I think I’ve found the guy, Koshino-kun.  And I want you to help fix me up with your sempai…”

Koshino’s brow furrowed as he considered this.  Hmm…His sempai didn’t really strike him as the type that Sendoh usually went for, but stranger things have happened.  Usually, he would flat out refuse such a proposal from the resident hentai of Ryonan, what kind of friend would he be if he subjected someone to the weirdo that was Sendoh Akira after all, but his sempai should be able to handle him.  “ Fine.”

Sendoh’s jaw dropped open upon hearing this.  He had expected a bit more a struggled than this!  He had thought that he would have plague Koshino for a day or two before the shorter boy would finally relent.  “Really?”

“ Yeah, really.  It’ll be fun watching you try to get close to Nori-sempai…”

“ Nori-sempai?” Sendoh squawked, reeling back in shock. “ No!  No way…I don’t go out with guys who are Uozumi-sempai look-alikes…”
 
“ So you were talking about Kimi-sempai?”

“ Well…yeah.  He’s awfully cute.”

“ Well then, you can forget about it.”  Kogure was an altogether different matter.  He was fine with the idea of Sendoh with Akagi but not with sweet, mild mannered Kimi-sempai.  Akagi could defend himself.  He could knock Sendoh senseless if he tried to get too fresh, but Kimi-sempai wouldn’t be able to.  Koshino would rot in hell before he would let that hentai lay his dirty hands on Kimi-sempai.

“ But Koshino-kun!”  Sendoh wailed, attracting the attention of the people in the nearby tables.  Koshino could swear that the Ryonan ace just loved making big scenes.  “ He’s just my type!”

“ Since when have the sweet, smart and studious types been your type?”

“ Since we had our little talk.”

“ Well then, forget about our talk.  I was only kidding.  The shallow types are better suited to you.” Koshino told him.  “ I won’t let you corrupt Kimi-sempai.”

“ You make it sound as though Kogure-kun’s soul would be banished to hell the moment he comes into contact with me…”

“ Oh?  Really?” Koshino offered no apologies.

Sendoh took a deep breath, tired of Koshino and his surliness.  “ Look, Koshino-kun.  I’m asking you really nicely here.  I really, really want this.  By the way, have I mentioned that fixing me up with Kogure-kun will benefit you greatly?”

“ Oh, yes?  And in what way?” Koshino asked, feigning interest.

“ I don’t usually like calling in favors Koshino-kun, but since I’m desperate…do you remember a certain incident just the week before when you declared your eternal debt to me after I helped you out with something?”

“ I don’t recall ever doing that!  That would just be stupid!  That would be like selling your soul to the spiky haired devil incarnate!”

Sendoh shook his head, adamantly sticking to his story.  “ Koshino-kun, I swear you did.  Remember a certain date with a certain hyperactive Kainan player that a certain Fukuda helped set up for you with his friend?”

“ Would a certain idiot please get back to the damn point?”

“ Well, do you remember making a phone-call after a ‘dancing cooked lobster incident’ when you called me up to bail you out, interrupting my date with the devastatingly lovely Fujima Kenji of Shoyo, which, incidentally, was going really well at that point?”

“ Oh god…Memories of the night that he had tried vainly to block out came back to mind…from this moment on, he would never be able to look at a lobster again without thinking of Kiyota Nobunaga. 

“ Yeah.  Oh God…” Sendoh agreed, grinning.  “ I guess you remember now, huh?  You remember how you came crying to me on the phone, begging me to get you out of that date?  How you swore that you would do anything, anything for me as long as I got you out of there?  You’re not one to go back on your word, Koshino-kun.  Are you?”

“ No…” A sense of inevitable doom blanketed Koshino.

“ Remember how I abandoned my date with Fujima, a very hard thing for me to do, by the way.  How I got you out of there because of my deep sense of loyalty to you and everything?”

“ Yes, Sendoh.”

“ Well, I’m calling in that favor now, Koshino-kun.” Sendoh declared, grinning cheerfully.  “ I want you to arrange something for Kogure-kun and me.  You owe me.”