The teacher in front of the class stifled a moan of despair to himself as he pretended not to notice the two students in class who were blatantly, obviously, not paying any attention to his lesson. Nearly the mid-term holidays and even then they could not pay attention! He grumbled under his breath to himself His chalk squeaked along the board, and the rest of the class dutifully copied the notes, occasionally raising hands to ask questions.

@@@

Hanamichi peered down at his class partner. Soft black curls were tousled about the pale face, and long lashes curved the shadow of his eyes. A slow smile spread across the redhead's face as he watched the sleeping Rukawa.

*Flashback

"What are you doing…" Hanamichi made one last futile attempt to fight off the emotions which swelled and threatened to burst in him. The other boy simply took no notice, continuing the invasion of his nerves, his senses, and his body. …Kitsune!

When their heated coupling had finally ceased and he lay exhausted, staring up at the moon and absentmindedly noting its fullness and brightness, he realized all thoughts of Haruko had vanished from his mind. His gaze locked on the bruised lips of the other one who lay curled up in his arms, as blue eyes stared at him silently, daring him to disagree with what had just come to pass.

*End of Flashback

Even now, the endless squabbles and name-calling hadn't ceased. His lover hadn't changed, he was still the same, mostly cold and expressionless. It was only different now, that when they argued and bickered, it inadvertently ended in sessions which caused a flush to spread past his neck and burn his face just thinking about them. Thinking back, he was also secretly rather surprised at the extent of Rukawa's possessiveness.

*Flashback

It had been about two weeks since that fateful night, and Hanamichi had been avoiding Haruko every week as a cat avoids water, which wasn't difficult with her conspicuous absence at basketball training. He also realized, guiltily, that Ayako blamed him thoroughly and had been fixing him with suspicious and angry glances whenever she passed him in the corridor, and pointedly ignoring him during basketball practice, such as now.

He passed the ball to Rukawa, who passed it back as they traveled the length of the court. Then the inevitable happened. He tripped, sprawling over his own feet and landing unceremoniously and painfully on the ground, his ankle slightly wrenched beneath him.

"Sakuragi Hanamichi!" he had never heard the manageress howl, but there was a first time for everything, wasn't there? "Stop being clumsy! You'll never make it if you're like that! Get up!"

He tried, but his ankle wouldn't hold. He knew he had to put a poultice and a pack of ice on it soon, or it would hurt really badly. Sweat beaded on his brow, in pain or in frustration no one got a chance to find out, because Rukawa suddenly stepped in between the glowering Ayako and the redhead who was gritting his teeth.

"Leave him alone," the voice was soft, but the gaze was hard, unwavering and cold, disgusted and overpoweringly protective. And after a moment, the manageress wheeled around and left them alone.

"Do'aho." And in that one word, he knew that Rukawa knew, and truly, deeply cared despite everything.

*End of Flashback

end of part 1