He’d seen occasional cases like these. They were rare, indeed. But not impossible. He was well aware of that and he believed that he was not so biased and narrow-minded enough to start jumping to conclusions. But… He simply can’t help it…

 His eyes narrowed once again as he examined the specimen... He should’ve been glad that the subject of his thoughts was turning over a new leaf and had done so good this time.  Hell…way too good if you ask him…He even beat the class’ new resident science wizard by a good 10 points….Definitely no joke…No laughing matter…There was definitely something suspicious that got past him. If only he could find out how it happened…

 ‘Give the boy some slack, will you,’ his conscience snapped at him amidst the turmoil inside his head. ‘You’ve been forcing him to do well for the past few months. And now that he did, you’re ready to breath down his neck…’

 Leaning back and sighing in exasperation, he rubbed his temples, the glare of the overhead lamp triggering another migraine attack. As much he hated to admit it, the little voice inside his head was right. He let out another defeated sigh, finally deciding to let go of the subject after hours and hours of contemplation.

 You can’t blame him. Even ten years of teaching chemistry hadn’t prepared him for this. He smiled acidly this time as he thought of how people will react to this absolutely breaking news.

 Shohoku’s populace was in for the shock of their lives tomorrow.

 Kaede Rukawa got an A in chemistry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 “Come with me.”

 The six-and-a-half year old boy stared dumbly at the back of his playmate’s head as she proceeded on dragging him outside the room. Her long black hair billowed behind her while her violet eyes occasionally flashed him that sickeningly evil glint that never failed to make his stomach drop. She’d probably take him to one of those torture rooms he’s heard so much about. He shivered, pulling his hand away quickly as if burned.

 “What the - ?” the little girl said, annoyed. She had a real fun afternoon planned for them and she hated disobedience and petty distractions, especially if it came from him.

 “C’mon, I wanna show you something - ,” she said, in exasperation.

 “No. I’m not going out of this room,” Kaede said stubbornly, planting his feet firmly on the ground. Who knows what she’ll do once she’s had her way… He shuddered at the thought.

 Angel rolled her eyes then sighed with resignation. This boy was really testing her patience…She stomped behind him and grabbed his shoulders, giving them a jerky push.

 “Hey!”

 “Stop struggling, will ya?” she shook her head. “Sheesh! You’re such a coward…”

 There was no use struggling anyway. Though they were of the same height and age, the girl was like three times stronger. She was inhuman… And only God knows why.

 He slumped against her hands, resigned to his fate.

 I am doomed…doomed I tell you!

~*~

The afternoon sun blinded little Kaede momentarily as they stepped out into the open spacious lawn. Where were they anyway? Was she going to murder him through a firing squad? He closed his eyes tightly. Or was she going for broke and bury him straight into the ground?

“You can open your eyes now, Scardy Cat,” came the little girl’s mischievous voice.

Oh… he hadn’t realized he still had them closed. He tentatively opened his eyelids, expecting some kind of horrendous site or some kind of torture machine in front of him.

But there was none. There was only her and…well…that orange thing.

“Here. Catch.” She threw the orange thing at him. He cringed when it came in contact with his hands, expecting some prank to explode in his face. “What are you flinching for, coward?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

 Ignoring what she said, he examined the thing closer, flipping it over and over in his hands, liking its rough texture and cool black lines.

 Noticing the puzzled, and at the same time, amazed look on her companion’s face, Angel walked towards him. “It’s called a basketball, dummy.”

 So, that’s what it was…But he wasn’t going to make a bigger fool out of himself by admitting he didn’t know that. “I knew that,” he retorted, defensively.

 “Sure you did,” she gushed, rolling her eyes. She couldn’t believe how unbelievably dumb this boy could get… She snatched the ball away from him. “Here lemme show you.” She started bouncing it up and down with her hands. “What I’m doing is actually called dribbling.”

 Kaede raised an eyebrow. He was new to the sport, alright, but she didn’t have to emphasize everything like he’s some kind of uncivilized caveman. He opened his mouth, about to snap back at her again –

 “And I’m presuming you knew that too?”

 He blushed a brilliant red in embarrassment…  He raised his head cockily, determined to preserve what was left of his dignity. It always seemed to grow scarce whenever he was around her.

 But deciding to change tactics, he raised his hands in surrender instead. “Ok, so I don’t know a thing about it…Big deal,” he admitted.

 Angel gasped. “What? You don’t know a thing about basketball?!” she said incredulously. She didn’t know a being like him still existed. Imagine someone not knowing a thing about the most popular sport in the world…Boy, talk about naiveté.

 Kaede blinked innocently. “So what if I don’t?”

 Angel’s jaw dropped another inch lower. And he admitted it so openly too! “Oh, you poor, poor boy!”

 Hey, he wasn’t poor! His parents were one of the richest in the country. Certainly, she knew that!

 “Here I’ll teach you,” she said coming over and demonstrating some more dribbling tricks she’d learned during the past week. “You know, my cousin is the best and tallest player in his school,” she said proudly, beaming. “And he taught me all this neat stuff!”

 “He did?” Kaede asked, smiling tentatively. He couldn’t help it. Her enthusiasm was contagious… And at least, if he let her have her way, she wasn’t going to pick on him too much.

 “You try it this time. This dribbling thingy.”

 “A-alright.” He caught the ball when she threw it at him. “Am I supposed to hold it like this?” he asked, suddenly self-conscious… That is, he was always conscious whenever he was around her.

 Conscious and nervous.

 For his life.

 “Hey, you’re actually getting the hang of things pretty quick,” Angel exclaimed with glee, watching the little boy’s nice, but still a little clumsy, dribbling.

 Little Kaede blushed. “I do?” he asked with disbelief, her praise sounding really different to his ears. He was about to ask her something before he decided against it. ‘Oh, just shut up and enjoy it while it lasts,’ he advised himself. And so he did…for a short while.

 “Wait, you dufus!” she interrupted him. He froze. What did he do wrong this time?

 She pointed towards a basketball ring about six feet in height not faraway. “You don’t just go around dribbling that ball. You’re supposed to shoot it inside the basket,”  she sighed in exasperation. “That’s why it’s called basket-ball, after all!”

 Oh, well…Ok. “How do I do it?” Kaede scratched his head. “Like this?” he asked, raising the ball above his head, jumping a little before throwing it.

 The ball sailed into the air in a high arc and…

 It went in.

 Angel’s jaw dropped.

 She’d wanted to do that since her dad had bought the basketball a few weeks ago. And all her attempts were failures. And now coward here has done it so perfectly after he’d held the ball just a few minutes ago.

 No one was better than her in anything. No one. She narrowed her eyes at the beaming boy as he retrieved the ball. Why the little critter…

 Little Kaede’s new found happiness was short-lived as he felt the murderous gaze burn an imaginary hole right through his back. His face fell as he slowly turned around to find the  girl seething.

 ‘What could he have done to piss her off?’, he thought, starting to panic as the girl stomped over to him…She had been happy for him a few minutes ago…Why the sudden change in mood?

 He’d recalled her being happy before he made that successful shot…hey! That was it! He had made a successful shot! And if his guess was right, she, he thought smirking, hadn’t even done a successful one yet.

 Oh, this was just perfect…a perfect way to pay her back…a perfect way to torment her…He suddenly had this surge of pure confidence. Oh sweet revenge…

 “Give me back my ball!” she demanded heatedly. The little boy smiled cockily… He smiled?

 “Try to get it…” little Kaede taunted. “If you can,” he added, giving her his own version of an evil smile.

 “Why you…” little Angel seethed, her violet eyes flashing indignantly.

~*~

17-year old Kaede woke up with a start, rubbing his eyes as he lazily sat up in bed. Unlike the other mornings when he’d woken up after one of those dreams about a certain violet-eyed witch, he’d felt incredibly light-headed and…jubilant for a change. Turning towards his side table, he sent her his own version of a regular morning greeting – a good old nasty smirk.

“You didn’t expect I’d be better than you in basketball, huh?” he asked the photograph of the now 17-year old violet-eyed witch. “Well, you should see me now to know that you were definitely wrong…”

He never would’ve guessed in a million years that an old childish way of pissing her off would be the main moving force of his life…his passion…He knew he should be thankful to her for introducing the sport to him but…

His smirk grew nastier when she didn’t respond.

He picked up the framed photograph instead and stared at her intently. He quietly sat there for a few moments just admir—observing  her. A thin layer of dust had accumulated across the frame’s surface, obscuring her face. Kaede gently lifted a finger and ran it over the glass, wiping away the slight distraction.

Now that the dust had lifted, his old playmate’s smile had looked more radiant and…alive. The slight traces of a sarcastic smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “Why’d you run away?” he asked her image. The question had always bugged him.

She just smiled up at him.

“Was it the mere thought of seeing me again that drove you away?” he asked her quietly, a peculiar feeling forming inside his chest. “Were you that disgusted of me?”

Still she did not answer.

Kaede turned away in annoyance. He definitely had to quit slipping away from sanity like that. He set down the framed photograph gently beside his clock. 8 o’clock. Time for school.

His heart sank at the thought of boring lectures, grumpy teachers, howling fan girls, raucous redheads, bossy basketball captains, meddling classmates—hey! Wait a minute…

His eyes narrowed.

…brown-eyed, wavy-haired, smart-alecky, clumsy, meddling classmates who wouldn’t mind their own business…and just had to switch exams with him…

That type was definitely the worst, he thought as the evil smirk spread across his face. He turned once again towards the photo and sneered. “I’ll settle the score with you soon enough but before that…”

Kaede stood up and looked out the window to where Shohoku High’s buildings loomed in the horizon.

“…I have a score to settle with a certain someone who wouldn’t let me flunk chemistry in peace.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Oh, Rukawa-kun, I knew you could do it!”

“Rukawa-kun, we knew all along you were such a genius!”

“Correction. Hunky-wunky genius!”

“Oh, Rukawa-kun, this calls for a celebration after school! My treat!”

“Oh, Rukawa-kun, marry me now!”

Kaede ignored them, of course, as he stared grimly at the controversial exam results that had kept these lunatics all revved up.

Why wasn’t he surprised?

The gloriously big letter A next to his name danced in front of his eyes. Common sense told him that he should be way over the moon in happiness. But his conscience and his hurt pride refused to submit to it… It should’ve been her name that was written there…But she just had to do that drastically stupider than the stupidest thing to…

 He fidgeted in his seat.

 …save his sorry ass.

 He stared intensely at the back of her head, trying to drill an imaginary hole through that thick, gray-matter-filled skull of hers. She had expertly avoided his gaze throughout class and it pissed him off. Big time. In addition to that, he had almost blown his frozen act when he discovered that she had merely – intentionally – gotten a B in that very same exam. Oh the scheming witch…

 He definitely wasn’t going to let her get away with this that easily…

 The last period bell rang, signaling the end of classes. They both jumped to their feet at the same time. Somehow the girl had detected his intended plan and was now threading her way through the door, trying to get away as fast and as far away from him as she can.

 ‘Oh no you don’t…’ Kaede felt like calling after her. But he had merely taken half a step when almost two dozen fan girls crowded around him, pinning him in place, making him momentarily lose sight of the… meddlesome girl.

 “This isn’t over yet,” he whispered to no one in particular as he stood there, glaring at the door, trapped in the midst of the sea of freakin’ fan girls.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 “Serves you right, you ingrate,” Marina mumbled through that silly smile on her face, remembering how Mr. Blockhead got ambushed by his Hair-Brained Brigade (HBB). She had felt great all day, knowing that she had helped a fellow student who was in trouble with his studies. And not just any other student, mind you… Placing Mr. Blockhead under the Ordinary Student category would definitely be the understatement of the century.

 She smiled wistfully.

 She definitely liked him…but not the way his fan girls did. And she won’t even dare show it like the way they do. Shamelessly drooling over a guy was way below Marina Akagi’s league.

 Besides, she didn’t even like him that way. She wasn’t physically attracted to him. Though she had to admit he was quite a looker…No, definitely not physically...

 It was more like a deep respect for someone who has done the greatest deed for you…

 And had not asked anything in return.

 She liked him for that more mysterious than mysterious personality… for that utterly cool and unruffled appearance… and, most specially, for that kind heart underneath the heavy icy surface. Well, if it weren’t for him, she’d definitely be nowhere near the realm of the living right now…

 She shivered at the idea. Then brushed the thought away and continued on smiling.

 ‘Stop getting all sentimental and start thinking of how Mr. Blockhead will maintain that recent genius standing of his or teachers will start getting suspicious…’ she admonished herself.

 ‘Besides…’ she thought, her heart sinking. ‘You still have this compromise with your older cousin, haven’t you?’

 She groaned out loud.

 In exchange for Akagi not overreacting and meddling too much with her life while she was here in Kanagawa, she wasn’t supposed to go within a 20-meter radius of the school’s swimming pool. And…she’d have to…join the female basketball team.

 Damn.

 Besides being the ideal basketball captain and endorsing his sport, it was obviously another one of his manipulative schemes… to keep an eye on her after all the trouble she had gotten herself into within the past week.

 Scheming really ran in their family… Her mother and father had been good at it…Her eyes twinkled…But she had been better…She had been the master of the art since she was six. She smirked, remembering how she had thwarted each and every one of her parents’ match-making schemes. With flying colors.

 If there were a Nobel Prize for the scheming category… she’d definitely win it by a landslide.

 Then she frowned. She never knew though that Takenori was good at it also…after having cornered her like this… But unbeknown to him, Marina Akagi absolutely planned to ditch that last day of basketball try-outs tomorrow – at all cost – and instead pursue her undying passion for swimming.

 ‘Basketball!’ she mentally scoffed, shuddering in disgust at the thought of those smelly, sweaty bodies actually…rubbing onto her.

 She felt like throwing up.

 She absolutely hated basketball. And she could still exactly remember why…It had been 10 years ago since she last played the damn sport. And she could still vividly remember with whom…

 She would never forget that cocky smile on his face when he refused and taunted her for the first time. She should’ve congratulated her little raven-haired playmate that day for having grown some spine…But circumstances were against her and it had dictated that she should teach him a lesson or two for making fun of her…

 It was something – the one thing – she had failed to do. If she had been a whiz in the sciences, it turned out that the little nitwit had been a genius in basketball… That ingrate.

 She bristled, thinking of the growing number of ingrates in the world.

 With that thought in mind, along with other brilliant schemes, she started stuffing books in her locker, totally oblivious to the incoming trouble that was…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mizuki Yanagi set her sights on her prey. Several days in detention and doing community service had definitely rattled her senses. How was she to know that the bitch would have the cramps at that certain instant she pushed her into that damn shallow 20-feet pool?…Well, ok, 20-feet wasn’t exactly…that shallow…

 But still…her reputation was ruined and her dad, the principal, had refused to wheedle her out of the embarrassing situation…

 Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits after seeing the bitch look all too happy with that silly grin on her face. She must’ve been fantasizing about her Rukawa-kun…How dare she…

 Oh, she wasn’t just angry…she was seething…stark raving mad.

 She walked swiftly towards the brown-eyed girl, her once short hair now flowed gracefully behind her back. She hated to burst little Ms. Perfect’s bubble of happiness but…they had a score to settle. Now.

 Mizuki slammed Marina’s locker shut with a loud bang. “What the-?!”

 “So, had fun while I was gone?” she sneered at the girl, wincing in disgust at her pathetic opponent…what with the boring wavy hair, those dorky glasses and that…short, short skirt that never failed to catch all the guys’ atten—

 ‘Hey, what am I thinking?’ Mizuki mentally scolded herself. ‘This was boring old Ms. Priss, for heaven’s sake!…And her charisma was no where near hers!’ She focused all her powers on the unruffled enemy, remembering her life’s mission: tormenting her till the ends of the earth.

 Marina stared grimly at Mizuki’s overly painted face, her lips thinning into a tight line. What does this lunatic want? “What is it this time?” she asked in an exasperated tone. Then raised her eyebrows, “And where are the other members of the HBB?”

 Mizuki looked around her, bewildered. “What HBB?”

 Marina waved her hand. “Never mind. You’re too dumb to figure it out anyway.”

 Mizuki bristled. She pushed the girl roughly against the lockers. The people around them tensed, sensing the brewing fight. “I told you we’re not finished yet…” she said in a dangerous tone.

 “Finished with what?” Marina said evenly, as she stared unwaveringly into Mizuki’s eyes. “Have you actually finished cleaning the men’s toilet bowls?  Or are you taking an illegal break from community service?”

 Mizuki’s hand fisted tightly against the front of her uniform. “This isn’t all about Rukawa-kun, anymore, you worthless trash….”she said through gritted teeth. “You’ve ruined my reputation and you’re going to pay for it.”

 “Reputation?” Marina asked in bewilderment. “Was there one to ruin in the first place?”

 “Why you…” Mizuki leered then smiled sarcastically. “Well, I should’ve known you knew nothing about keeping a good reputation…I bet your poor parents had a bad one too, just like yours…”

 Marina’s eyes flashed dangerously. “You keep my parents out of this…” she said, her voice taking on a perilous tone. “You should know first whom you’re messing with, you whore… My parents are decent people and are probably nowhere near yours… Way too decent than yours.” Marina said, remembering the principal’s notorious reputation.

 What was left of Mizuki’s patience snapped. She lifted her right hand and gave Marina a resounding slap across the face. Her head snapped to one side and she slowly held her hand against the stinging blow.

 Mizuki smiled triumphantly. “Serves you right, you — .”

But before she could even finish her sentence, Marina’s right hook caught her straight in the face, the blow landing dead center on her nose. Marina smirked as the girl cried out in outrage, mentally thanking Takenori for the brief boxing lessons.

Mizuki shook her head to clear it of the momentary dizzy spell. Her eyes focused on the brown-eyed girl confidently smirking down at her. Her sapphire eyes blazed as the primal animalistic rage swirled around her. She could definitely murder the bitch right then and there…

She lifted her right hand and concentrated all her energy into that one powerful blow she was about to land on Ms. Priss’ damn pretty face but then…

A strong firm hand caught her wrist in mid-air.

Mizuki’s gasp was caught in her throat as cold, deep, threatening blue eyes bore down on her.

“Don’t even think about it,” said the equally frozen voice that came with the eyes.

The firm hold on her wrist had immobilized her whole body, like a whole drum’s doze of tranquilizer. She should’ve been rejoicing by now… This was the chance of a lifetime she had been waiting for! He had finally held her…But his tightening grip reminded her that this was a totally different situation…the complete opposite of what she’d dreamt of.

Mizuki gulped down the sob and ran down the opposite side of the corridor.

The pair of deep brown and blue eyes stared at her retreating back. “Good riddance,” they mumbled in unison underneath their breaths.

The tense silence hung in the air. At the tall basketball player’s threatening gaze, the small crowd that had gathered around them frantically dispersed.

Marina gulped.

The incoming confrontation was going to be worse than the previous one with the bitch…She quickly turned towards her locker to get the last stuff she needed. She grabbed the handle and yanked…it won’t budge. She gulped once again, knowing that she couldn’t execute the quick escape she had intended.

After seeing from the corner of her eyes, that Mr. Blockhead had also refused to budge from where he stood behind her, the bottom of her stomach dropped. She had tried to avoid this confrontation all day—

“Why?”

Marina blinked, deciding to face him to get this done and over with. “Why I punched her or why you interrupted—?”

“Why’d you cheat for my sake?”

Oh, that….Marina shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Hmm, well…Anou…”

“You could’ve gotten into trouble.”

Marina frowned at him then looked away.

“You could’ve minded you own business.”

Marina’s eyebrows met. “Well, I wouldn’t have been there to take that exam if you decided to…mind your own business,” she reasoned out quietly.

Amusement flashed in his eyes as he continued to stare down at her. The girl had a point…

“I guess it was my way of saying…” she gulped, “…thanks.”

He smirked mentally. So the girl wasn’t just brains and clumsiness after all—

“But don’t get yourself all worked up,” she said interrupting his thoughts, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “I won’t be doing something that dangerous for you again anytime in the near future…”

Kaede raised an eyebrow. And who said he was hoping she would—

Her voice faltered slightly. “But don’t get me wrong… I didn’t regret anything.”

Kaede tried to hide the amused smile as he watched her fidget and wring her hands like a child caught stealing candy before dinner.

“There’s only one thing I regret though,” she said sadly with that sarcastic smile on her face. “My cousin’s banned me from the swimming team—.”

“The basketball team.”

Marina’s eyes wrinkled in confusion. “What—?”

“Join the basketball team,” he said flatly, turning his back to her.

“But I hate—I mean, I’m not fond of basketball,” she called after him.

Kaede didn’t respond as he confidently rounded the corner, the voice of a certain brown-eyed girl dying away in the background. Maybe this new activity with the girls’ basketball team wasn’t such a bad idea after all…

His eyes lit up with amusement as the smirk spread slowly across his face.

Well, good or bad…He’d better  prepare his eardrums for long rounds of intellectual outbursts of a certain science whiz…and he also had to prepare himself for the sneaky and shrewd scheming ways of the opposite sex…

His eyes flashed with determination.

…because he absolutely refused to be the victim of their notorious wrath and…

Not to mention, of their deadly right hooks…

To be continued….