The First Battle!

[Lee Ryong]

"This is it.."

It was still early in the morning, the sun had barely began to rise. His alarm clock read 6:23 AM, which meant there was only thirty seven minutes before the last summer practice would begin at Natsu High School's gymnasium. The reason for it being the last was because school was nearing its start. If it wasn't for the fact that they were announcing the selected captain for this years team, he would have slept in.

Ryong looked into the bathroom mirror at his reflection, examining his outfit. He was currently wearing a regular white t-shirt, and dark black jeans. Underneath would be his jersey from playing basketball last year, and his basketball shorts. Ryong nodded slightly towards the mirror, letting out a small sigh before leaving.

He crept out of the house quietly, in fear of waking up his parents. Once outside, he proceeded to get into his car before turning it on. The built-in clock read 6:41 AM, which gave him the assumption that he had more then enough time to make it and warm up before everyone arrived. It was a quiet drive, as barely anyone was awake except for one or two cars that occasionally passed by, only to turn and leave Ryong alone once again. He was glad that it came to an end in a matter of ten minutes. Ryong got out of his car, pushing the door shut.

"Subarashii.."

It was odd how the large high school seemed to look so much more wonderful in the morning, without the reckless cluttering of high school students everywhere. This was where he had been attending school for the last two years, a lot of memories which had been created in that span of time. Remembering what he had originally came here to do, Ryong slung the strap of his gym bag across his shoulder and made his way into the gymnasium.

Even now, he could still hear the cheers of the crowd roaring every time someone from the schools side scored points. It was a nice feeling, which he hoped to recreate this year by winning it all. Ryong was already a starter for the team, and was sure that everyone including the coach was aware of his skills. If he was chosen to become captain, he would accept that responsibility.

Looking around the large gymnasium, he could see that only three people had arrived out of twenty. From his observations during the summer practices, everyone was roughly around the same skill level, excluding the starters from last year. It would be amusing to see if anyone new could make the team this year. Now that he was ready to get started, he took off his shirt and jeans, placing them into his gym bag. A short stretch would be performed to warm himself up, before he picked up a basketball to go shoot around with the others.

[``fuwa kazuki]

OOC|| First of all... I know next to nothing about basketball, so please bear with me... >.< ||


It was early. Too early. But Fuwa Kazuki was used to getting up in the early hours of the morning for basketball practice. He had to be, otherwise he wouldn't be on the team anymore. Of course it didn't help that he had been given the late night shifts in his job at the cinema for the past three weeks, but that couldn't be changed without taking a different career path. Kazuki doubted that his boss would be particularly happy with him saying he couldn't work that late because he had to practice basketball; his boss wasn't at all interested in anything outside the cinema. Heck, he was always moody with anyone who took days off sick. Not that Kazuki had ever dared to do that; luckily he was generally a very healthy sort of person.

The air was fresh with the new day as Kazuki stepped out of the house and into the early morning sunshine. Checking his watch, Kazuki saw that it was quarter to seven. Great, plenty of time to get to the gym, Kazu thought as he hitched his rucksack over his shoulders and climbed onto his bicycle. He couldn't wait until he had enough money to ditch this bike and get an actual motorcycle. He had already saved up a decent sum of money and could probably buy something already, but Kazuki wasn't going to buy the first one he was able to afford. No, he was going to wait and get the cream of the crop.

The fresh air didn't make Kazuki feel the slightest bit cold, however, as he was wearing two layers already: underneath the sports jacket with school and team names emblazoned on the back and matching trousers, were a pair of long black shorts and the emerald green basketball jersey that was the team's colours. Adding to the mix Kazuki's sports trainers, and you have one player for the Natsu Tigers.

As soon as Kazuki arrived at Natsu High School and walked around behind the main builing to the gymnasium, he realised that he was the first person to get there for training. Kazuki cast a quick look at his watch. It was five to seven. There really were perks to having a house only a ten minute cycle away from the school. It certainly meant that when he wanted to be here, it wasn't that far to go. However, it also meant that some teachers constantly complained at him for being late, knowing that he was only a short distance away and that obviously meaning that he would always be early. Well, maybe that had been true for his older brother when he had been in high school, but it certainly wasn't true for Kazuki. In fact it was quite the opposite. Living close to the school usually gave Kazuki an excuse to sleep a little later.

Tugging off his outer layers, Kazuki left them at the side of the large echoing room and did a few warm-up exercises before going to get a basketball from the store cupboard. People slowly started arriving as Kazuki shot some hoops and practiced dribbling; some joined in with him, others went off on their own. Finally their coach, a teaching assistant for second year classes, Fuchida Katsu, arrived, and called everyone to attention. Kazuki had been so focused on the practice that he hadn't taken note of who had arrived for the last practice of the summer. He knew them all, obviously, but wanted to see who was missing.

"Well, it's time to announce who the team captain for the next year will be, seeing as Satoh-san has finished his time in Natsu." The atmosphere among the students buzzed as Fuchida spoke. Nobody really had much of an idea who would be captain. There were quite a few contenders, as far as Kazuki was concerned. He thought he was one of them, but it was up to the coach in the end.

"Aaaand, after a lot of thought... Our new captain is..." You could cut the tension in here with a knife! Kazuki thought as he looked around. Everyone had gone silent, waiting. If he were honest, Kazuki was eager to know who the captain would be, but he wasn't going to stand and stare like an idiot. "Fuwa Kazuki!" Kazuki blinked as he heard his own name, then smiled as he realised what that meant. The coach came over to Kazuki and gave him a congratulatory.... hug? Kazuki wasn't even sure what it was, but it involved a lot of patting (hard) on the back.

"Arigato, sensei." Kazuki said sincerely with a big grin.

[Lee Ryong]

Another basket in. They seemed to be coming quite easily to Ryong, as he took jump shots from various positions around the hoop. He was extremely concentrated on the task at hand, being meticulous about his form. This was his specialty, shooting. His talent played vital roles for several key victories during last years season. Because of this, Ryong expected that he would be chosen to become the captain for this years team. His mind was fixated on that idea, which meant disappointment would probably hit him harder then anyone else. Today in particular, he was displaying excellent accuracy, being capable of hitting a jump shot from anywhere he decided, only missing once or twice in total.

The sweat was beginning to accumulate around his head, which caused him slight discomfort. Ryong let the ball roll away, going back towards his gym bag located on one of the nearby benches. Now that he was less focused on his game, he could feel a soreness building up in his feet. This was a difficult sport indeed, which was required to exert many different muscles. Once he sat down comfortable on the bench, he leaned his back against the wall for support.

Now that he was only sitting, it would be easier to make speculations on how everyone else present was doing. He was able to see nice shots here and there, but one person in particular seemed to be catching his attention. It only took him a few seconds to gain realization of whom he was observing, Fuwa Kazuki. Ryong was already aware of his capabilities from last year, but judging from how he was doing currently, it was obvious that large improvements had been made. From what Ryong knew from last year, Kazuki was already one of the obvious possibly choices for captain. Regardless of the fact that they were good friends outside of the court, here where basketball happened, Kazuki has his number one rival.

Ryong sighed, his breathing already returned to a regular pace. He would only sit there for a few seconds before reaching over into his gym bag, which he had unzipped beforehand. Digging around inside, he would grasp his hand around the objects desired and pull them out. The first was his towel, which he used to wipe the sweat away. The last item he had brought out was his water bottle, the coldness still remaining from the time he had taken it out of the fridge this morning. Ryong raised the bottle to his dry lips, feelings of being parched slowly disappearing after downing a few gulps. Ryong put these two things away, before standing up. Now that his coach had just arrived, he would be able to settle once in for all who was deserving of team captain.

Ryong walked over to where everyone else had gathered, feelings of suspense seeming to engulf them all as the coach seemed to be taking his time in announcing the name of the new team captain.

"Fuwa Kazuki!"

That name seemed to echo in his mind, in complete disbelief that it wasn't him that was chosen. While close friends and other accepting team mates gathered around Kazuki, the sound of the gymnasium door shutting could be heard. The only one disappeared from the crowd was Ryong. Once outside the gymnasium, he leaned his back against the nearby school wall.

"I can't believe it.."

[``fuwa kazuki]

In amongst the sounds of congratulations and joked complaints, Kazuki was sure he heard the gymnasium's door close with a loud bang. However, Kazuki didn't have the opportunity to go and see who had left the building yet. As soon as Fuchida-sensei finished his happy-hugging, Kazuki had his hand wrung through and through by his team mates, his back whacked and slapped in too many different ways, and his face stuck forever in a smile. Although spoke to all of the team members, he didn't really keep track of the words that were coming out of his mouth. It wasn't that Kazuki was reeling in shock.... It was that Kazuki was thinking it all through in his head. Although he had known that he would be a possible contender for the leadership, Kazuki had really expected the new captain to be someone... well, someone a little more responsible. Although Kazuki was a good player and was good at being a leader when he had to be, he had never been the sort of person chosen for these things. This was the first time that he had been given a responsibility like this. But, as he thought about it now, he was determined that he was not going to let the team down.

"Alright everyone!" Kazuki stepped back from the throng of people and held his arms up. Right, first captain-hood speech, coming right up! Kazuki took a deep breath, smiled, and continued when there was silence, "Thank you for all your support, everyone. Really, I'm glad you are all happy for me to be your captain. I hope we can work together as well as we have done in previous years, and I'll do my very best to make sure that we achieve victory this year." A cheer went up as Kazuki finished speaking, and he grinned again. I think I could get to like this, he thought in an amused tone.

"Right, everyone. I think we should get back to practice. Fuchida-sensei?" Handing the practice over to the over-zealous coach, Kazuki threw his basketball to one of the younger players, and started walking towards the door. While he had been speaking to the team, Kazuki had been looking around the group to try and figure out who was missing. He had always been generally good at taking stock of faces, even if he had never been good with names. This was why Kazuki tended to make up names on the spot, usually going by a person's appearance. Of course, this hadn't done him much good some times, especially when he had picked up on features that the other person wasn't particularly fond of....

Pushing open the door, Kazuki cast a look around, but it wasn't hard to spot Lee Ryong leaning against the nearby wall. Ryong was the person that Kazuki had full well expected to become this year's captain. They had been in the basketball team together from the beginning, and although they were good friends away from the court, if they were on opposing teams during a match, practice or otherwise, both were unforgiving to the other. It was just how they worked, and Kazuki was glad to have a friend who wouldn't go easy on him just for the sake of friendship.

"Yo, Ryong-san, sorry you didn't get captain... I really thought it would be you." Scratching the back of his neck and laughing like an idiot, Kazuki leaned against the wall alongside Ryong, looking out across the graveled area between them and the metal fence that marked the edge of the school grounds.

[Lee Ryong]

What a baby. He had ran away from his team mates simply because he hadn't received the desired role on the team. It wasn't like he was going to get kicked off, or be unable to play. So why was he sulking?

Then the reason became apparent to him once again. It was because Kazuki had received the position of captain. If it was anyone else, perhaps Ryong would have been a little more accepting as long as they were capable and deserving. For as long as he could remember, Kazuki and himself had always been competing when it came to the sport of basketball. The presumable reason for this was because they both had taken basketball equally serious. That made them the perfect rivals for each other on the court, despite the fact they were both good friends.

From what Ryong could hear through the doors, the congratulations had already come to a conclusion, along with Kazuki's speech. It would only be a few seconds before the sound of basketballs being dribbled and shot returned. No one seemed to be coming to comfort him, which was expected. Ryong told himself he would return to practice after a few more minutes of cooling down.

He had only begun rising off the wall when the gymnasium door was opened, which caused him to lean back against the wall once again. It was Ryong. Seeing him brought back memories of their childhood, where Ryong had always believed he would soon overcome Kazuki, only to have him improve even further the next day. It was a race where no winner was apparent.

Ryong didn't reply when Kazuki apologized, believing that there shouldn't be a reason for him to apologize in the first place, as the coach had probably considered them all equally. Nor did he move when Kazuki took a spot standing beside him. A few minutes of silence would be shared between the two, both having their own personal thoughts. Assuming Kazuki hadn't moved yet, Ryong got himself off the wall. Dusting off the back of his jersey, he began to walk past Kazuki towards the gymnasium entrances. Though he stopped in front of him for a moment, his side facing Kazuki.

"Congrats, Kazuki."

With that, he walked away from Kazuki to reenter the gym. From there, he would resume his shooting around and perform any drills his coach may have prepared.

[``fuwa kazuki]

Out of the two of them, Ryong had always been the more silent one. Whilst Kazuki had a penchant for moody moments when he would snap at anyone who approached him, Ryong had always seemed to Kazuki to be much more the silent type of guy. Which wasn't saying that the guy never spoke; the two of them had plenty of banter and random conversations. It was more of a general aura that hung on him. At least, that was what Kazuki had always thought. But they were friends, and Kazuki wanted to make sure that this sudden change in their on-court relationship wasn't going to upset Ryong in any way. Kazuki was still a little confused over why he had been chosen of Ryong, however, and decided that he would speak to the coach later on after practice. Although the two of them had always had a kind of competitive relationship, Kazuki had always deep down believed that Ryong would do better than him. Which didn't stop him from trying, of course, but he couldn't help the stabs of envy when Ryong did better than him.

As all of these thoughts went through Kazuki's head, the silence remained between the two. It wasn't a particularly uncomfortable silence, with each of them deep in their thoughts. At least, Kazu didn't feel uncomfortable. He wondered what Ryong was thinking. However, no sooner had this thought struck him than Ryong was pushing himself away from the wall, apparently heading towards the gymnasium again. Kazuki stayed where he was for a moment, intending to let Ryong leave first.

"Congrats, Kazuki." He gave his friend a thankful smile, but didn't say anything as the other boy walked away.

Now with a brief moment to himself, Kazuki took a few seconds to have some time to think. Although he thought he was capable of leading the team, Kazuki had never really had this kind of responsibility before. Not on his own, anyway. It would be a nice change, and something to wave in front of his father to show that he wasn't a complete loss to the family. Kazuki let a low chuckle escape his lips at that thought. Although he wasn't outright hostile towards his father, he had never been exactly close to him either. Ever since he could remember, Kazuki had felt somewhat on the outside of his family, as though he were only a visitor in the house. He wasn't particularly close to his older brother either, and although his mother was warm and affectionate towards him, Kazuki would never confide anything meaningful with her. They were all people with a goal, a strange drive that let them head towards what they wanted. And that was what set them apart from Kazuki, who had always been a child who had short fads before getting bored and finding something else. He had no particular goal in life, nothing of purpose to do. When he was small, he had always loved the idea of following his father into the police force, but now, although he had a love of solving small mysteries and problems, Kazuki doubted he would do such a thing. He had yet to find that one thing in his life that would give him some purpose.

Hearing the blow of a whistle from inside the gym, Kazuki realised his mind had drifted, and pushed himself quickly away from the wall, shaking his head of the reminiscent thoughts, and proceeded to jog back to the gym. He was greeted with the sounds of the team members practicing, the sounds of basketballs beating the polished floor and occasionally flying through the net. Not looking for Ryong, as he thought maybe the other might want some space, Kazuki went to join his team mates in practicing.


OOC|| Am going to skip to the end of the session if that's ok!!! ||


His forehead beaded with sweat, jersey stuck to his back, Kazuki dribbled the ball towards the hoop. In front of him stood an opposing team member, crouched ready to take the ball from Kazu, but he dodged around him, bouncing the ball once before raising the ball up by his shoulder and throwing it with a small jump towards the hoop. As Kazuki's feet hit the ground, his knees bending slightly for the impact, Kazu's eyes travelled with the ball as it sailed through the hoop. His face split with a grin, and the coach blew his whistle, calling the practice to an end.

Amongst the boisterous chatting between the team members, Kazuki walked with the others to go and get changed. Kazu grabbed a towel from his bag and, once in the back room with the others, flipped his head upside down, quickly rubbing the sweat away. One bad thing about having slightly longer hair, Kazu had noticed, was that it could get pretty disgusting and annoying when he got sweaty. He'd have to start tying it back or get it cut.