Finally losing his temper after Sendo missed his tenth consecutive lay up in a row, Hanamichi Sakuragi hurled the basketball out of bounds with a savage growl that would have scared off a guy who was less confident in his charms than Sendo was.  " What the hell do you think you're playing at, you stupid smiley?  Do you look down at the great Tensai?  Do you think that the skills of the Tensai are so low in standards that you aren't even bothering to play your very best?  The Tensai deserves a good challenger.  He doesn't have time to waste on people like you!"

" Not at all, Hanamichi-kun.  Not at all."  Seeing that the guy was in a dangerous mood and recalling several stories that Rukawa had told him of people that had gotten on the bad side of the fiery redhead, Sendo backed away from him slowly, hands held out appeasingly.  It seemed as though his plans of softening the younger boy up by letting him win the game was having precisely the opposite effect.  Never in his life could he remember when he had so desperately wished that he had listened to his Hiro-kun, whose advice about keeping out of Rukawa's love life was beginning to sound really good, what with Hanamichi looking as though he was ready to slam his head against Sendo's own at any moment.  He would listen to Hiro-kun the next time though.  Right now, come hell or high water, he was just determined to show his boyfriend that he could do what he had said he would.  He didn't want Koshino laughing at him.  " It's just that...Well, you really have improved a lot since we've last played against one another!  Yeah.  That's it!"  At least this wasn't a complete lie.  Sendo watched with relief as Hanamichi's face began to soften visibly.  Silently, he thanked God for endowing the younger boy with such a healthy ego.

" Well, I have been practicing a lot."  Hanamichi admitted, pleased that somebody had finally noticed all the effort that he had put into improving his game.

" Yes!  Yes!  It's really very obvious what with the amazing way that your skills have improved!"  Sendo told him, nodding eagerly in agreement.  " And even though I'm sure that you're not the least bit tired from our little workout yet, I sort of am.  Think we could take a little break now, Hana-kun?  I brought sandwiches!"

Never one to pass up on the offer of food, Hanamichi followed the older boy willingly, not minding Sendo's aimless chatter about Koshino and how his favorite sandwiches were the Nutella and Peanut Butter ones that he always brought for him.  Though he didn't say so, Hanamichi thought this was sort of funny since he could remember hearing Koshino talking about how he had to stop himself from gagging every time Sendo force fed him one of those disgusting sandwiches that he was always making.

Hanamichi sat himself cross legged beside the older basketball player and watched him with great interest as he rummaged around within his gym bag and emerged with a brown lunch bag.  "Here you go!"  He announced cheerfully, handing the redhead a carefully wrapped sandwich.

" Thanks!"  Hanamichi told him, grinning.  " Really nice of you, bringing snacks and all!"

" Well, I'm a nice guy!"

" Yeah, you certainly are."  The self proclaimed Tensai agreed, digging into his food eagerly.  As soon as he consumed a sandwich, another magically appeared in his hands.  He was thinking about what a great guy this Sendo Akira was when something that Mitsui had told him the day before suddenly came into his mind.

They had been in the middle of practice then and Hanamichi had brought up the subject of the fact that Sendo had called to invite him for a game of one on one.  Mitsui, who had been helping him fine tune his three pointers, had shaken his head and had told him to be careful.  " The guy's a bloody pervert.  He'd jump on anything he can stick his di-"

" Mitsui!"  Exclaimed a horrified Kogure who had been within earshot.

The scarred player had lowered his voice so that his rather sensitive boyfriend would be unable to hear his comments this time.  " Be careful, Hanamichi.  This was how it all started when that bastard was trying to hit on my Kiminobu..." Mitsui had then proceeded to give him a quick account of something involving Sendo, a box of chocolates, an intercepted love letter and an ass whooping that a certain spiky haired playboy would never, ever forget.

" Oi!  Sendo!  Are you hitting on me?"  Hanamichi had always been the sort to speak his mind and he wanted it out in the open that the guy had no chance, what with him being straight and all.

Sendo stopped midsentence, slightly surprised by the sudden turn of the conversation.  Why was it that he could never just do something nice for a guy without being accused of some sort of ulterior motive?  After all, he truly loved his Hiro-kun, and had changed from the playboy that he had used to be into a one man sort of guy.  " Now, why would you think that?"

Hanamichi shrugged.  " Mitsui sorta warned me."  From the way that the guy had gone on and on about  Sendo, you would have thought that Ryonan player was the devil incarnate himself.  But then Mitsui tended to get all over the top with anything concerning his precious Min-kun.

" Mitsui.  Oh, yes.  That guy has a really good memory, doesn't he?"  Sendo remarked, wincing slightly as he also remembered how good the Shohuku three pointer was with his fists.  " Anyways, how is Kimi-kun?"

" I wouldn't let Mitsui hear you calling him that..." Hanamichi remarked, before answering Sendo's question, " He's still the same old guy..."

" Still as cute as ever, huh?"

The redhead shrugged.  " If you're into the intellectual, Mr.  Wholesome type.  But you still haven't answered me.  Are you hitting on me?"

" No."

" Then what do you want with me then?"

" I just wanted to talk to you."  Sendo finally revealed, putting his plans into motion.  When he had told Koshino what he was going to do the day before, his boyfriend had told him that he was crazy.  That what he had in mind would never work, and that it was just a plain stupid way to go about things.  But if Sendo was right about his hunch, then Hanamichi would fall for everything nicely.  He was good at reading people and he knew that underneath all that tough guy act, Hanamichi was quite a deep thinker and a softie.  He just didn't like to show it.  " About something really important."

" What about then?"

" Rukawa."

Hanamichi wrinkled his nose in disgust at the mention of the name.  Geez.  Unless Sendo had a plan on how to get rid of that annoying Kitsune permanently, then he wasn't interested in anything that the guy was about to say.  " But I don't want to hear anything about the Kitsune!   I'm not interested in anything concerning that guy.  Hell, the whole damn gymnasium could cave in on him and I wouldn't care.  I'd be more concerned about where we'd play our games then.  That Kitsune can die and I wouldn't mind."

" That's a horrible thing to say!"

Hanamichi shrugged.  " I'm just telling you the truth."

" And what if I tell you that Rukawa really is dying?"

" But he's not."

" He is."

" He's not."

" He is."

Hanamichi fell silent after Sendo's insistence, trying to absorb what the older guy was trying to tell him.  The Kitsune...Dying?  So, okay.  There had been plenty of times before when Hanamichi had pictured a gruesome and terrible death for his number one rival, but he hadn't really wanted any of that stuff to happen to the guy.  It had been more of a way to vent out all of his frustrations.  " Are you serious?"

Sendo nodded, his smile now nonexistent.  It was amazing how gullible this supposed Tensai was.  " A heart condition.  No one else knows except me and his family and I think he'd appreciate it if you keep it to yourself.  In fact, I think it would be better for you not to even discuss this with Rukawa himself.  He gets all stressed whenever he has to talk about it."

" But...But...Why are you telling me all this?"  Hanamichi demanded, thinking that it would have been better if he had never been told about any of this.  This was just another burden for him.  God.  The Kitsune... Poor guy.  Having to live with this sort of secret.  For the first time since he had met Rukawa, he felt a sudden wave of pity and compassion for him.  He could only imagine how hard it must be for the guy to keep this to himself, how much dedication he had to basketball to keep on playing even through all the pain.

" Because you can make it all easier for him, you know." Sendo told him, not missing the sudden softening on Hanamichi's face.  It was working.  He had known it would.  So it was a dirty trick, convincing Hanamichi that poor Rukawa had just suddenly developed some sort of terminal illness, but the end justifies the means, right?

" How?"  Hanamichi demanded.

" Just be nicer to him.  Don't argue with him so much anymore.  Try to be his friend..."

" I suppose it wouldn't kill me to try that.  I mean, the Kitsune would need a friend to help him through this difficult time and all.  I don't think he has any friends right now, so I'll try to be one.  I mean, so yeah, I hate the guy's guts but he's dying..."

" Yes, He is."  Sendo affirmed.  " So you'll be nicer to him?"

" Yeah.  I have to be."  Hanamichi agreed readily.  " Poor, poor Kitsune."

" Not a word of this to another person?"

Hanamichi raised his right hand solemnly.  " Not a word."

" Especially not to Rukawa?  Nothing about this conversation gets back to him?"

" I swear it."

Sendo grinned and tried to give Hanamichi another sandwich but the guy refused it, saying that he had lost his appetite.  Everything was going just the way that he had planned.  How could Rukawa possibly resist an all improved, nice and attentive Hanamichi?  He chuckled to himself, ignoring the strange look that Hanamichi gave him.  It looked as though Operation RuHana was well underway...