"Where the hell is that baka kitsune? He's never late. . ."

     Everyone in the Shohoku School gym stared, surprised, at the tall redhead boy as he spoke. The hostility between him and Rukawa Kaede (i.e.: the kitsune) was legendary throughout the school. And now. . . Why was he so unquiet by the absence of his enemy?

     "Really," Ayako said thoughtfully. "Rukawa always comes first to practice. Has anyone seen him today?"

      She looked questioningly at each member of the basketball team, but everyone answered negatively. The manager, Ayako, frowned. 'What happened to Rukawa?' she wondered, her hands fiddling with a paper fan.

       "K'so?!" The dissatisfied voice of Sakuragi Hanamichi sounded throughout the gym.  "That baka kitsune probably fell asleep again somewhere, and I have to play against that Gori... But I'm a tensai! And I'll easily beat both the kitsune and Gori. . . Ouch! Why did you do that for?!"

      Sakuragi rubbed his head gingerly, having suffered a blow from Ayako's fan. The girl rolled her eyes and snorted.

      "And here I was, thinking you were really worried about Rukawa. . ."

     "If you haven't even beaten Rukawa once, you really think you're going to beat me?" The aforementioned boy - Gori (Gorilla) - Akagi Takenori - edged himself into the conversation.

      Sakuragi blushed indignantly.

     "I'm the tensai. . .!" he cried, for which he earned himself another blow to the head.

      "Let's start practice!" Ayako shouted at all the boys.

     Defiantly, Sakuragi looked at the captain of the team, Akagi, and began his drills. Everyone else returned to their own business. Ayako sighed. Maybe Sakuragi was right - the star player of the basketball team really could sleep through practice without so much as a second thought. Rukawa's ability to fall asleep everywhere and under any circumstances was really amazing. 'He can even sleep when cycling,' Ayako chuckled to herself. But prior to today it hadn't prevented him from coming to the gym;  rather, he was usually one of the first there.

       'Well, there *is* a first time for everything,' Ayako sighed and returned her attention to the court.

 ~ * * * ~

       "Hanamichi!"

       Sakuragi, surprised, lifted his head up and looked in the direction of the shout. Everyone in the gym did the same. Sakuragi's old friend, Youhei, rushed into the sports complex of Shohoku breathing heavily. He doubled over and placed his hands on his knees. Then, sweating and panting a little, he straightened himself up.

     "Hanamichi. . . I saw. . . I saw it. . . They. . ." Youhei gasped.

      Sakuragi flung his basketball, which he had been about to dunk, off into some corner and walked over to his friend. It was only 15 minutes into practice. And it was very unlike-Youhei to interrupt practice for any reason. But now he was excited about something. And. . . fearful?

     "What's up, Youhei?" Sakuragi asked.

      The black-haired boy looked around at everyone, then blurted out. "They kidnapped Rukawa!"

     To be continued...