A normal school day. He glanced out of the classroom window, bored. As he slowly felt his eyelids drooping, a flash of red caught his eye. His eyes snapped open. The girls who were staring admirably at him from a distance were startled by his sudden action. Azure eyes scanned the school yard for that familiar flash of red again. The target was spotted walking briskly towards the school gate. As the pair of eyes followed the red-headed figure earnestly, the owner had the urge to leave his seat immediately and give chase. He had longed to tell his best partner at court about how he really felt about him. But somehow, he could not find the courage to do so, for fear of rejection, added on by the fact that his crush was more popular than the boy expected. As the other students dispersed, he saw something that made him narrow his slanted eyes.

Unhappy with what he saw, he made his way down towards the redhead who was pinned against the wall by someone else. Someone tall.

==============================

Hanamichi was in a hurry to meet Youhei and the rest at Danny's after his detention class. There was no basketball practice that particular day, and it was quite some time since he had the chance to hang out with his guntai. He hastily made his way to the school gate. He was supposed to meet them half an hour ago! Kuso...he cursed the teacher for keeping him in class longer. Walking briskly towards the school gate, he was too occupied to notice someone tall leaning against the school gate. As soon as he stepped out of the boundaries of school, he was tugged roughly and slammed against the wall non-too-gently. Fortunately, the school grounds were empty, or Hanamichi would have died, having someone in school see him being pinned down by someone else. A guy, nonetheless. He glared up at the smiling face of his 'attacker', who had him firmly pinned to the wall, with both hands on either side of Hanamichi's head.

"Koniichiwa, Hana-chan."

He flashed a smile that could have sent anyone, guy or girl, melting right there and then.

"What do you want Sendoh? I'm in a hurry!!"

Hanamichi struggled even harder against the cheerful Ryonan player, but the taller boy had an advantage.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing, Hana-chan"

Hanamichi winced at the name Sendoh called him by. Sendoh had told him that he liked him a few weeks ago, but he did not gave a definite answer. Which was the most possible reason why Sendoh was making his moves on him so fast. But how could he answer something like that when he himself was confused about his sudden change in feelings for a certain fox-eyed boy? He was really confused, especially when his heart still felt like it had run a hundred miles when he saw Haruko. Rukawa and him had become better partners after his back injury, but nothing more than that. He still did not know why he seemed to like the fox a whole lot better than before. So how could he give an answer to the smiling boy in front of him when he did not even know who he liked? So far, he had not resisted any of Sendoh's advances, all because he wanted to know if he could escape from his winding feelings and like someone else.

He struggled somemore and finally caught hold of Sendoh's arms by his side and asked distractedly.

"What do you want!?"

Sendoh was so surprised at Hanamichi's sudden outburst, he lifted his arms slightly, loosening the space he had Hanamichi trapped in. Seeing a chance to escape, Hanamichi ducked under Sendoh's arms, and made a run for it. Unfortunately, Sendoh grabbed his arm and pulled on firmly, a sweet smile still plastered over his face.

"Before you go, Hana-chan, mind telling me if you like mint-chocolate?"

Hanamichi looked at Sendoh disbelievingly. A dumb question to ask, but how did he guess correctly?

He quickly nodded.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Valentine's Day is close and I was just thinking of announcing my love for you to this school with my cooking skills, Hana-chan. ^^"

" *gulp* errr....whatever." Hanamichi tried flinging Sendoh's arms away and succeeded barely this time. He ran away quickly, already much later than he should be. Sendoh watched the retreating back of the redhead in amusement. 'Kawaii...' He grinned to himself and walked away, whistling a cheerful tune. At this point, another tall figure stepped out from the shadows. His hands were shaking in anger, furious that he was always one step too late when it came to Sendoh Akira from Ryonan.

"Valentine's Day chocolate eh? Well...we'll see about that." Rukawa walked away with a deep resolve to get a crash course on making chocolates within five days time.

tbc