" Coach Taoka is going to skin us alive tomorrow..." Koshino muttered, his face dark as he kicked at a soda can littered on the sidewalk.  " I'm going to die.  All because I couldn't say no to my stupid, stupid boyfriend who got a stupid, stupid notion in his head that it would be fun to mess around with the lives of other people.  I'm going to die because of you, Sendo.  I hope you're finally happy with yourself."

" Don't be so melodramatic, Hiro-kun.  Coach Taoka isn't going to kill anyone!  I mean, I skip practices all the time and he hasn't killed me yet, has he?"  To make his point, Sendo grabbed Koshino's hand and pressed it against his chest, showing him that he was still alive and kicking.

Koshino jerked his hand away, a scowl on his face, before he beat his fist against Sendo.  "You!  You always just have to find a way to mess up my life, don't you?  You always just have to complicate things with you and your ridiculous ideas!  You nearly killed Hikoichi by setting him up with that rapist that one time, you remember that?"

" That was an honest mistake!  Besides, are you suggesting that Rukawa-kun is a potential rapist?"

" No."  Koshino growled, stomping down on the can and crushing it.  " Just that you and your stupid ideas always have a way of backfiring and ending up hurting somebody!"

" You're going all ballistic at me just because you think Coach Taoka is going to be angry at you for missing one, lousy practice?!?"

" No.  That's not it.  I'm going all ballistic, Sendo, because I never wanted to be involved in this stupidity in the first place.  And It's not Coach Taoka that I'm worried about.  It's that Hanamichi and Rukawa." Koshino shuddered at the thought of what those two might do to him and Sendo once they found out about all the lies that the spiky haired Ryonan player had been telling them.  " I can just about see the headlines now.  ' Two Ryonan Teens Found Dead.  Beaten to Death With Basketballs."

" Trust me, Hiro-kun.  Nothing is going to go wrong.  Besides, I'll make sure that the two of them know that you had nothing to do with it whatsoever in the case that Rukawa doesn't appreciate all my efforts, which I don't think is very likely anyways."  Sendo draped an arm casually over his lover's shoulders, ignoring Koshino's attempts at pulling away from him.  " For now, just enjoy this free afternoon that we have, okay?  I mean, it should be a lot of fun watching Shohuku practice!  We can see the way that Rukawa reacts when Hanamichi gets all nice on him!  It'll be a blast."

Despite of himself, Koshino felt a slight, upward tug on his lips.  Yes.  He had to admit that that would sort of be interesting.  Still..." It's not very nice what you're doing, you know, Akira."

Sendo tipped his head quizzically to one side.  " What do you mean, not very nice?  If bringing together two people that hate each other's guts, fixing a nice couple up and bringing a little excitement into the life of possibly the most boring person in the world isn't nice, then what is?"

" The thought is sort of nice, I guess.  I mean, Rukawa could use some loosening up, I admit.  But I really don't like the way you're going about things, feeding Hanamichi all those stupid lies about Rukawa dying and everything.  Even now, I can't believe that he actually fell for something so stupid!  Does he really think that a terminally ill person would be able to carry on doing all the things that Rukawa does on court?"  Koshino shook his head disbelievingly.

" Well, he did, okay.  And I don't see what's so bad about telling little white lies to a person as long as it benefits them."

" Saying that somebody is about to die is not a ' little white lie', Akira."  Koshino pointed out dryly.

" So it's a big lie.  Who cares?  The end justifies the means, right?"

" Not if the ending turns out badly..."

" But it wont!"  Sendo insisted stubbornly, linking his arm through Koshino's.  " I've got everything all planned out, my love.  Rukawa will become totally smitten with our sweet little Hana-kun once he realizes what a nice guy he can be when he feels like it, and Hana-kun will fall for Rukawa once he realizes that he isn't quite as cold blooded as he may seem...And since they've fallen so deeply in love, all that crap that I told them wont even matter anymore.  They'll be too busy being too grateful and fawning all over me for bringing the two of them so much happiness!"

" Has anyone ever told you that you are seriously delusional?"

" Once or twice, maybe.  My mom says she thinks it's because of all the chemicals in the gel that I use."

" Well, you're seriously delusional."

Sendo beamed brightly at this.  " Hiro-kun!  You know what, my sister told me that people who find it really hard to say I love you usually show their love for their Koi by acting all gruff and making fun of them!  You do that all the time, so since I really believe in this, I can only come to the conclusion that you are madly, madly in love with me!  Well, I love you too, Hiro-kun!  Even more than you love me, though I know that you think that that's impossible!"

Koshino sighed.  The guy was impossible.  " Whatever, Sendo."

" I love you, my Hiro-kun."

The two of them stopped in their tracks, Sendo looking down expectantly at Koshino as though he was waiting for something.  " What do you want?"

" Aren't you going to tell me that you love me too?"

" Why?"

" Because you do."

" You know that already, so what's the use of telling you again?"

" Just 'cos I want to hear you say it!  Come on!  Hiro-kun!  Hiro-kun!  I want to hear you say that you love me, Hiro-kun!  Come on!  Just spit it out.  Spit it out!  Spit it-"

" I love you too already, okay?  Now will you just shut up so the two of us can get going?  At this rate we're going to miss Shohuku's practice!  Are you happy now, Sendo?"

" Very happy, Hiro-kun."  So the very satisfied Sendo and a grumbling Koshino went on their way to Shohuku High once more.
 

~**~

Here we go again...Mitsui Hisashi thought to himself with a soft sigh as he made his way to where the redheaded freshman was lying sprawled over the dark haired one.  Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out Akagi also walking towards the two, intent on preventing any bloodshed between Rukawa and Hanamichi.

The latter jumped quickly to his feet.  He hadn't been that badly hurt, what with Rukawa being there to cushion his fall and all.  He opened his mouth, about to go into a tirade about stupid Kitsune's fouling the Tensai's legendary slam dunks when he caught sight of Sendo, sitting on the bleachers with Koshino beside him, shaking his head, a reproachful look on his handsome face.  The talk that the two of them had had the day before came back to him suddenly and he bit back all the insults that he had been about to let forth, instead, falling to one knee besides the still winded Kitsune, his worry evident in his face.  After all, the guy was already delicate what with that heart condition and all.  It couldn't have been a good thing for his health, having just been squashed by such a big, masculine guy as him.  " Kitsune?"

" Do'aho?"

Mitsui had been rather surprised by the fact that Hanamichi hadn't gone straight for the dark haired boy's throat, as he usually did whenever he got it into his head that the ' Kitsune' had wronged him but he was certain that this time, Hanamichi would go at him.  After all, the guy had always hated being called do'aho.  The rest of the players gathered around the two, expecting another good show, such as the one that they had all been treated to the last practice when the two had argued over who had knocked the ball out of bounds.  They were disappointed.

" Hey, Kit-Rukawa, I mean.  Are you okay?"

Rukawa looked up at him quizzically.  He had expected Hanamichi to start throwing punches at him, not kneel beside him, asking him if he was okay.  This was just...weird.  What was going on here?  Maybe the fall had done something to his senses.  He closed his eyes and gave his head a vigorous shake before opening them once more.  Still, Hanamichi was right there where he had been before.  " Yes."  He added, after a bit of thought.  " Are you?"  This was scary.  Why the hell was the do'aho acting so...nice.  He had never been like this before.  Well, Hanamichi seemed to be a really nice guy, when he thought about it.  But that only applied to his friends.  Not to him.  He was the Kitsune.  The sworn enemy.

" Did you hit your head when you fell or something, Hanamichi-kun?" Kogure asked worriedly, feeling the top of Hanamichi's head for any bumps that might be there.  This was the only explanation that he could think of for Hanamichi's sudden personality change.

Hanamichi pushed his hand away.  " Of course not, Megane-kun!  Why would you ask such a thing?"

" Because you're not acting like yourself is why." Mitsui replied, frowning.  " Aren't you going to try and bash up Rukawa now?"

" Stop putting stupid ideas in his head, Mitsui."  Akagi growled.

" He doesn't need any help in the stupid ideas department anyways." Mitsui's snickering stopped abruptly when Kogure elbowed him in the ribs.  " What I meant was, it's weird, you being so nice to Rukawa and all.  What the hell happened?  Did the two of you suddenly decide that you're madly in
love with each other or something like that?"

" Don't be stupid, Missy-kun!  I'm just worried that the Kitsune is hurt or something!"

" I'm not."

" Then that's good." Hanamichi grinned, standing and pulling Rukawa up to his feet.  " You should take things a bit easier, you know, Kitsune.  You always work so hard.  That's not good for you, you know."

Now, had Rukawa been capable of conveying human emotions, his jaw would have dropped to the floor by then.  But him being the way that he was, he just blinked, puzzling over the redhead's unusual behavior.  It was a pleasant change, he had to admit.  But it made him worry that the guy might be up to something.  " Is something wrong?"

" No."

Suddenly, Rukawa caught sight of a certain spiky haired guy sitting on the bleachers, a self satisfied smile on his lips.  His eyes narrowed, sure now that something was going on.  Something that involved a certain meddling basketball player from Ryonan.  " Have you been talking to Sendo?"

Remembering his promise to the older player that he would not reveal the source of his information, Hanamichi shook his head solemnly, his eyes widened in innocence.  " No.  Not lately."

So they went on with their practice game.  But not before a delighted Sendo noticed Rukawa pulling on Hanamichi's arm to gain his attention.

" Yeah?"  Hanamichi asked, looking at the dark haired boy that stood beside him, a small smile on his lips.

Rukawa opened his mouth, as though to speak.  But no sound came out.

" You okay, Kitsune?  I really didn't mean to fall on you, you know."

" Yeah..."

" So let's get on with the game then!"  Hanamichi suggested cheerfully, clapping his hands together.  It was so brave of Rukawa to try and go on as though nothing was the matter with him even though it must be so painful for him!

" Yeah.  Do'aho, thanks."

" What for?"  Hanamichi inquired.  But Rukawa had already gone, leaving him thinking over what the guy had said.