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Pay Attention Please
by Annie D

Author's Note: As I continued this fic, I realised that the clichés were piling on one after another. Like I said in the beginning, it just another RuHana story. Originality is at an all time low here, word! Oo err… Harsh language? (But it’s so tiny and almost insignificant!) Sorry, swearing is my way of expressing extreme emotion, and I don’t think this story deserves its rating to be changed just because of one tiny bit.

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to every single person who’s ever written a RuHana fic. Chances are quite a few of you/them have used the following ploy before, considering how obvious it would be to use it, and seeing that my idea spring has gone dry I’ve decided to use it too. Ha ha ha. I just want them to get together, who needs an original storyline?

Chapter 5: Sometimes a Helpful Nudge

After practice. Shohoku gym. Sakuragi's alone, doing the last of his clean-up duties.

“Eleven… twelve… thir-thirteen… fourteen… err…” Sakuragi looked at his fingers. “Fourteen… Um…” He checked the list. There were supposed to be twenty-two balls in the rack. “K’so.” Sigh. Might as well start from the beginning. “One… Two… Three… Four…”

The door slid open behind him.

“I’m almost finished!” Sakuragi yelled, still peering at the clipboard. “There’s still fifteen minutes until closing!”

He felt somebody move past him, and he half-turned, fully expecting to see the janitor, but instead saw Rukawa standing there, peering closely at the rack.

“There’s twenty-one,” Rukawa said.

“Nobody asked for your help,” Sakuragi snapped. “One… Two… Three…”

“Twenty-one.”

Sakuragi scowled as he focused on the orange balls. “One… Two…”

“Twenty-one.”

Sakuragi threw the clipboard, and it bounced off Rukawa’s head. There was a clatter as it hit the floor.

Rukawa slowly bent down, picked up the clipboard and threw it back. Sakuragi scrambled with it for a moment before getting a proper grip on it. When he did, he looked up to see Rukawa walking round the gym.

“Oi, what are you doing?” Sakuragi demanded. “You’re not supposed to be here, kitsune! This isn’t your place anymore!”

Rukawa ignored him, instead going behind the bench to pick up the last ball. Then the dark-haired boy walked back to Sakuragi and tossed the ball at him. “Twenty-two.”

Although his body was starting to shake from anger, Sakuragi showed remarkable restraint by slowly putting the ball into the rack and checking the final item on the list. Then he carefully put the checklist on top of the arrangement of balls, and finally raised his fists up into the classic fighting pose.

“Give me your best shot,” Sakuragi said. “Come on! What, you think the tensai is scared of you just because you think you’re hot stuff? Hmm?”

Rukawa looked at him, then shrugged. “No difference. You’re still a do’aho.”

Sakuragi screeched as he launched himself at the other boy.

Even physiological body gremlins have a sense of romanticism. Although Sakuragi's back had been giving him absolutely no problem whatsoever since he had been released from the hospital, they decided that right now would be the perfect time to act up - like, hey, when the timing’s good, why waste it, eh?

And so he fell.

No, not right into Rukawa's arms because even those body gremlins had only so much control on the falling trajectory of the body. But they weren't about to give up like that, so they sent out an immediate telegram to Rukawa's subconscious: "Oi, catch him you idiot!" and so even before the other boy was able to compute the fact that Sakuragi was falling, he found himself stepping forward quickly.

Rukawa hooked his arms under Sakuragi’s, and carefully dropped onto his knees as the read-head’s body became an almost dead-weight in his arms.

Sakuragi scowled fiercely. He didn't seem to realise (being more focused on the pain in his back) that he was half-resting against Rukawa's chest as the kitsune's arms wrapped themselves around his back.

"I thought your back was better," Rukawa said.

Sakuragi started at the sound of Rukawa's voice, just noticing how he was practically sprawled all on top of the kitsune. He struggled to move away, but the back pain shot up again. (Back gremlins: "Haha, you think we're gonna let you go that easy? Nu-uh!") Sakuragi cursed. "Itai."

"What do I do?" Rukawa asked. "Should I get help?"

Sakuragi's scowl intensified. "Itai."

Rukawa clutched at Sakuragi, starting to worry. It was one thing if Sakuragi went all 0flying into curses and meaningless angry shouts, but another if he just said a single word at a low volume. "What should I do?"

Sakuragi cringed. "Itai."

Rukawa started to pull his arm away from Sakuragi's back to reach for his phone, but Sakuragi winced again.

"Itai."

So Rukawa slid his free hand back around Sakuragi's and touched his spine gently. "Where?" He ran his fingers up and down slowly. "Where?"

When Rukawa's fingers touched one particular spot, Sakuragi let out a painful shriek. "Itai." He blinked rapidly. "Itai." What do I do? Rukawa thought frantically as he felt Sakuragi’s fingers clutch at his arms. He looked around, but there was still not a single person in sight, even through the open doors. What do I do?!

"Itai." The word was much softer now, and his face was twitching into what was obviously pain. Tears tinged his eyes.

Rukawa swallowed, the feeling of total helplessness making him want to scream. The sight of Sakuragi - mister invincible - in pain had to be the most wrong thing in the universe. How can I help you? How can I make the pain go away? How can I help you?!

Slowly, Sakuragi's head tilted forward, and his forehead rested gently against Rukawa's chest. For a moment Rukawa thought he had passed out, but then he heard soft sob, almost inaudible. It was a sound, Rukawa thought, that should never ever be associated with Sakuragi Hanamichi.

Instinctively, Rukawa stroked his right hand up and down Sakuragi's back in a comforting gesture, taking care to avoid the spot that was causing him pain.

Footsteps finally made Rukawa look up. In the double doorways of the gym stood Haruko. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight. She gasped, and ran toward them. "Rukawa-kun? What happened?"

"His back," Rukawa said. He felt strangely proud that his voice didn’t crack.

Haruko looked at Sakuragi, who had mercifully gone silent, then back at Rukawa. Something flickered in her eyes - something he couldn’t quite recognise but it definitely didn’t involve frantic blushing - before she stood up again. "I'll get help." And she ran off.

The gym was silent for another long while before another soft sob escaped from Sakuragi.

Feeling surprisingly protective, Rukawa leaned forward to rest his cheek against Sakuragi's bright red hair - it’s grown a bit since we last saw each other, he thought in a daze. The wrap of his arms around Sakuragi’s back quickly dissolved into what was unmistakably a hug, and Rukawa shut his eyes, cursing the whole fucking world for letting the do’aho suffer like this.

The pain was receding. Sakuragi managed to force his eyelids to open ever so slightly, and for a moment thought that he had gone blind. But then his brain cleared up a bit and he finally registered that the dark he was looking into wasn’t the black of blindness, but the colour of black cotton cloth.

He felt incredibly comfortable, and moving didn’t seem necessary at the moment. The sensation was akin to hiding under a warm comforter on a cold rainy day - he just felt like snuggling down and never getting up. He sighed.

It was just then that he noticed the soft rhythmic sound. In duos, spaced out regularly. Sounded familiar… like a… heartbeat. Was it his? Wait, his black cotton pillow was moving, too. Inward and outward, like the heaving of a chest.

Slowly, Sakuragi lifted his head, and found himself looking into Rukawa’s face.

Oh.

Sakuragi shut his eyes, then snuggled back into his cotton pillow. That’s nice. His pillow was Rukawa.

Wait a minute.

Frowning, and forcing his eyes to open a little more, he tilted his head back up to scrutinise the vision of Rukawa. He was looking down at him. Those thin blue eyes dipped in concern. The other senses - mostly touch - finally picked up: Rukawa’s arms were around him. A hand was stroking his back.

Had to be a nightmare. And a very nasty one, too.

“Are you okay?” Rukawa asked.

The senses said: sounds real, innit? Looks real… Smells real… Feels real…

Sakuragi finally woke up with an earth-shattering scream. “What are you doing, kitsune?!” He started to pull away, just to have his back shriek in protest, and causing him to fall back into the circle of Rukawa’s arms.

“Don’t move. Your back,” said Rukawa.

Sakuragi clenched his teeth as he reluctantly let Rukawa adjust his hold around him. The motion inevitably brought Sakuragi’s face back against Rukawa’s chest - a position he most certainly did not want to be in. He made his anger known by cursing, although the effect was spoiled as his voice was slightly muffled.

“Shut up,” Rukawa said. “Help is coming.”

“Better be,” Sakuragi snapped. Ugh… I don’t *believe* this… He tried to pull into himself so that there would be as little contact between their two bodies as possible, but his back seemed to decide that it would only not give him any trouble if he remained in Rukawa’s arms. (Nyahaha…)

“Don’t move!” Rukawa said, this time his voice unmistakably stern.

“What do you care, kitsune?!” Sakuragi said.

And Rukawa fell silent. The response made Sakuragi start in surprise, and for a moment he thought that he had hurt the kitsune’s feelings, but that couldn’t be right because the kitsune had no feelings. Right? Right.

Sakuragi scowled, and he focused all his brain power into one thought: Stupid kitsune.

Then Rukawa spoke. “Does your back still hurt?”

Sakuragi was about to say that it was none of his business, but then his ears registered actually worry in Rukawa’s voice. “No. Only when I move.”

They fell silent.

Why does the kitsune care, anyway? Then Sakuragi’s treacherous mind started to go down that path despite his own protests. The way Rukawa had spoken (“Don’t move!”), the concern in it was rather obvious. Even the way his hand had stroked his back. And Rukawa could have just let him fall on the ground, or let him go, but - but…

Sakuragi shivered.

“What’s wrong?” Rukawa asked quickly. “Cold?”

“No!” Sakuragi said quickly. K’so… He would not think about the kitsune being able to worry about anyone else, he would not think about the kitsune having the sense of mind to catch him when the fall could have seriously injured his back, he would not think about the kitsune not raising a single complaint about the current situation, and he would most definitely not think about the kitsune being a nice pillow.

K’so. K’so. K’so.

“There! Hurry!” It was Haruko’s voice.

“Haruko-chan!” Sakuragi called, and cursed how awkward things must look to her. He tried to lift his head but couldn’t quite manage it.

He felt a small hand touch his shoulder. “I’m here, Hanamichi-kun. Don’t worry, help’s here.” She was silent for a moment. “Thank you, Rukawa-kun.”

Sakuragi felt other hands touch his back, and an unfamiliar voice asked about the back injury and where it was hurting. He answered as well as he could, then felt himself slowly being lifted off from Rukawa in order to rest on a stretcher.

He would not think about how much nicer it had been in Rukawa’s arms.

Sakuragi let out a groan of pain, eyes clamped shut. He felt Haruko’s hand squeeze his own. “I’m here, Hanamichi-kun.”

He felt the stretcher being lifted, and carefully opened his eyes.

Rukawa was standing in the middle of the court, watching him leave. And his face, it was… definitely not the usual emotionless mask. Sakuragi gasped, but before he could properly identify the look on Rukawa’s face, he was shuffled out of the gym.

Rukawa watched silently as Sakuragi was lifted away. Then he looked his shirt, which was still extra warm from the shared body heat.

Where Sakuragi's nose has nuzzled his chest, the skin was still tingling. Now that he thought about it, every single part of his body that had been in contact with Sakuragi was tingling - his arms, his chest, his cheek...

He recalled the way the pounding of his heart had increased in tempo dramatically when Sakuragi had snuggled into his arms, along with the uncharacteristic hitching of breath. With the redhead in his arms, nothing seemed to matter but making sure he was all right. In that instant, when Sakuragi had looked at him like a little lost puppy, Rukawa would have gladly died a happy man.

It had been wonderful. Rukawa hugged himself, forcing his senses to relive every single precise detail of that moment. Along with it came recollections of concern, protectiveness and how he damn well wanted to hold Sakuragi in his arms and fight off every single bad thing in the world that could hurt him.

All of it added up to... All of the emotions... Didn't it mean he...

Rukawa blinked. "Oh."

-TBC-

This chapter is also known as: Sputter Sputter Giggle, That Was Fun To Write!

PS: The back gremlins are mine! They’re the only original thing in this whole ficcy, so I shall protect them… Warrharrharr…

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