Title: One Night Magic
Part: Chapter 1
Author: MitsuiSelphie
Pairing: MitAyaRyo
Fandom: Slam Dunk
Synopsis: One night, Miyagi Ryouta asked his good friend Mitsui Hisashi to cover up for him on a date with his girlfriend. Unbeknownst to him, unlikely sparks started to ignite. A MitAya romance…
Disclaimer: Though this story is mine, the characters belong to Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk and the song “One Night Magic” belongs to Utada Hikaru.
A/N: This is actually MitAyaRyo with focus on MitAya.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

One particularly cold and drafty early winter night, after such rigorous basketball practice none of them felt the vestiges of being frozen as they had been a few hours ago outside the school grounds, Miyagi Ryouta slammed his locker door shut rather more forceful than the usual. He was wearing an ugly scowl on his face, refusing to talk to anybody and snapping surly at anyone who tries to do so.
Shohoku co-captain, Mitsui Hisashi, raised his brows when he heard the younger boy threaten to feed one of the freshmen to a crate of starving alligators. Chuckling softly, he made his way towards the middle of the locker room, standing beside his irascible friend.
“What’s with you?”
“Nothing,” Miyagi snapped quickly, donning on a fresh white shirt.
“Of course, what have I been thinking? I forgot you make it a hobby to go around with an ugly crumpled crotchety face, threatening to murder half the basketball team,” Mitsui snorted.
Smirking slightly, the smaller boy leaned against the lockers. He heaved a great sigh and turned towards his companion.
“Fine. If you must know, I got detention today and the rest of next week.”
“What’d you do? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone being given detention for more than a week before and that’s saying something.”

Knowing that his sempai was talking about his dissolute days, Ryouta smiled grimly. “Well, have you ever punched the student council president, pinned him against the wall by his collar and threatened to shove a mop handle up his ass?”

Both amused and incredulous, the older boy started to laugh.

“No, not recently. What the hell did he do?”
“Well, I caught him walking along the corridor with a teacher, badmouthing the basketball team, saying we all have the same brain capacity as that of circus monkeys. Mind you,” he added, catching sight of a half-naked Hanamichi walking around the room, singing Ore wa tensai at the top of his lungs, “I wouldn’t have minded, what he said proves true for SOME of us. What really ticked me off was when he started talking about Aya-chan with this dreamy look in his eyes, saying something like she was a lamb let loose in cage full of gorillas.”

Mitsui threw his head back in laughter. “So what’s your punishment?”
“Clean toilets,” Ryouta grimaced, “it’s not like it’s all my fault, I was provoked. But no…no one would listen to what I say. Don’t tell Ayako, okay? She’ll kill me,” he added as an afterthought.
“Ayako’s smart, if you haven’t noticed. News will get to get to her sooner or later.”
“Better later than now, trust me, or else she won’t let me live it down. She’ll follow me around while I clean the toilets, reminding me that I deserve it,” he spat bitterly while Mitsui guffawed again.

When his laughter died down, the older boy pulled on his jacket and started towards the door.

“Which reminds me,” Ryouta went on as if he wasn’t interrupted, “I have a favor to ask you, Mitsui-san.”

Mitsui turned his head back towards him, arching his brows. When Ryouta opened his mouth and hesitated to speak, comprehension dawned upon the other boy.

“Oh no,” he shook his head, “there’s no way I’d help you scrub the loos. No way.”
“Who said anything about that?! Look,” he continued, catching up with the other as he made a quick exit thru the door, “could you just meet with Ayako for me tonight?”

Stopping dead on his tracks, Mitsui gave Ryouta an appraising look, staring straight at him as if to consider what he just said before coming to a conclusion.
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea…”
“Why not?”
“…Because I’m a guy, Miyagi.”
“So?”
“So,” he started, with an air of someone losing patience when the other fails to see that one plus one equals two, “it won’t do for a guy to go around the city at night accosting his friend’s girlfriend.”
To his surprise, Ryouta broke into a wide grin and started to chuckle.
“What are you talking about? Ayako’s your friend too, you know.”
“But still-”
“Listen, I trust you,” he waved his hand in dismissal, peering into his watch before going on, “Ayako’s skipped practice and went ahead and I’m already thirty minutes late. Just buy me some time, will ya? An hour will do – I won’t take long.”
The taller boy continued staring at the other, frowning slightly as if choosing his next words carefully.
“I know you trust me okay, it’s just that I think you should ask one of her FEMALE friends instead. How about Haruko?” He looked around as if expecting the team’s new manager to appear out of thin air.
“Are you stupid? Haruko won’t lie for me! Ayako can’t know the real reason why I got to stay behind, get it?”
“Oh…I trust you,” Mitsui piped in a mock impression of Ryouta.
“Now it all becomes clear,” he raised his brows in amusement, a smile spreading across his lips. “No one else could do the dirty work.” he snorted while Ryouta chortled heartily.
“I knew I could count on you,” patting his friend on the back, the shorter boy grinned widely.
“Don’t hate me if Ayako leaves you for me,” laughing, Mitsui made his way towards the school gates.
“Over my dead body,” Ryouta answered good-naturedly before waving and going the other way.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

It was Friday night in Kitamura.

The streets burgeoned with excitement and laughter as a motley crowd thronged along their lengths – young and old, able-bodied and infirm, lovers walking hand in hand, parents and their children, groups of friends – some waiting for their blind dates, some having peaceful night-time jaunts on foot while others preferred traversing the streets on bicycles.

Silently treading among the crowd was a tall sinewy young man with hands inside his jacket, a distant almost dreamy look glazing over his dark eyes and slackening his jaws which made him look feeble-chinned, marring his otherwise strong and handsome visage.

He was too bored to pay attention to the other people around him, too tired to notice a gaggle of girls throw him coy looks; giggling amongst themselves, too preoccupied to hear someone calling his name with a voice so distantly familiar it felt as though he knew it from another lifetime.

“Sempai! Mitsui-sempai!”

He whirled around sharply when he heard the said voice right behind his back. He blinked, mutely staring at the creature before him.

“Oh…Ayako,” he raised his brows in recognition.

Looking at her, Mitsui wondered how Ryouta could ever have trusted him or any other man to look after her in his behalf. He saw her floating – rather than walking – towards him with a radiant smile on her face, dark curly hair billowing behind her – exposing smooth sensual neck, short black silk number hugging her every curve as it got caught by the passing breeze, long shapely legs glimmering against the surrounding city lights, honey-colored skin opalescent and inviting.

‘ESPECIALLY me,’ he thought.

His mind suddenly wondered if his good friend Miyagi had even been aware of how many girlfriends, lovers, wives and mistresses he had stolen, how many women of variable age range he had so willingly bedded and how many young and innocent virgins he had so lewdly corrupted.

Of course it was all in the past, back when he was living a life full of epicurean pleasures.

But when he had met Ayako, he was already on his way to reform and so he had never seen her in a romantic light, not that he didn’t find her attractive, just that he never even considered.

Thinking about it, he realized that he was probably the only guy Miyagi ever trusted when it came to Ayako – and that means a lot to him. Knowing all that, he wondered why he still felt a strange streak of anxiety in the pit of his stomach.

“Where are you going, sempai?” She asked, catching up to him.
“Funny you should ask; I was looking for you.”
“For me? Why?”
“Well…” he paused, formulating his words carefully, “Miyagi said he’d be late but he doesn’t want you to be alone…so…”
“So he sent you,” she finished for him, hugging her bare arms against the cold. “Why, did anything happen?”
Catching a hint of fear and concern in her voice, Mitsui was suddenly stabbed by a pang of conscience for agreeing to become an accessory to crime.
“No, no,” he answered quickly, “it’s just…it’s…there’s this…he was…it’s really really important. Really important. It’s a matter of life and death.”
“Uhu…He got in trouble, didn’t he,” she arched her brows knowingly.
“No…yes,” he nodded guiltily. “He’d be an hour late.”
“That idiot…”
“Are you cold?” He unzipped his jacket and started pulling it off.
“No, it’s okay, sempai. I left my coat inside the bar.”
All the same, he took off his varsity jacket and draped it around her shoulders. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

Ayako always thought that when the cogs of fate start turning, there’s no going back. Humans are merely pawns in the game of life and fate is the cruel, sadistic player.

But little did she know how true that was.

“Ayako?” her companion called her attention softly, snapping her back from a deep reverie.
“Sorry sempai, got a little dizzy.”
“It’s fine.”

For the nth time that night, Mitsui wondered what he was doing.

It was Ayako’s old friend’s birthday party. The bar was rented out; full of the celebrant’s guests and Mitsui was already feeling out of place in the midst of all the rambunctious dancing and gyrating of hips – the air smelling heavily of cigarettes and pure unadulterated teenage musk. What disturbs him most though was that he was being mistaken as Ayako’s boyfriend once every passing minute.

“Ayako! Long time no see! You look lovely. Oh, is that your boyfriend?”

Mitsui smirked as the girl gave him a predatory once-over.

“Yes,” Ayako smiled politely.
“Oh my…quite a catch, isn’t he? He’s really-”
“Gorgeous? Hot? Sexy? Cute? Handsome?” she interjected dully.

Ayako spent the night parrying off such questions with various adroit answers and she was slowly getting bored. Mitsui on the other hand was growing more and more anxious and was peering at his wristwatch constantly, wondering where Miyagi had run off to – he was already two hours late.

Ayako had to laugh at the look on Mitsui’s face as the girl stalked off to bother the other guests.

“What?” she asked.
“Miyagi’s gonna have my head, you know?”
She laughed. “Relax, he’s not gonna find out we’ve suddenly become romantic.”

He sighed and gulped a mouthful of orange juice.

If this was months ago, he’d probably be having fun with everyone else, inhaling packs of cigarettes and numerous bottles of beer, flirting with every piece of ass he could find and most likely carrying a number condoms in his pocket for anticipated bathroom quickies with a wide variety of women.

Now he only finds it irksome and vapid.

“Damn Ryouta,” she suddenly banged her palm on their table, “it’s already past two hours!”
“Yeah, lavatories must be extra dirty.”
She frowned, “he deserves it.”
Hearing that, Mitsui couldn’t help but laugh. It’s just as Miyagi said it would be.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” he quickly denied while she looked over the slow-dancing couples.
“You know what I think is the most romantic thing on earth?”
“What?”
“Dancing with the one you love,” she replied with a slight smile playing upon her lips. “Just you and your lover, arms around one another, staring at each other’s eyes, bodies moving together, swaying to music only the two of you can hear.”

“I see,” he said, not really seeing.

She threw her head back in a laughter resembling the clarion ringing of bells and Mitsui felt an odd tugging of a heartstring he never even knew existed.

“Hmm…” she suddenly gave a lopsided grin.
“What?”
“Come on, sempai. Let’s dance.” She grabbed his hand and yanked him towards the dance floor.
“I don’t dance!” He stumbled a bit on his feet in mingled panic and surprise.
“Don’t be silly, think of it as refined basketball footwork,” laughing, Ayako planted her feet in the middle of the ballroom, holding one of his hands aloft before grabbing the other and placing it on the small of her back.

He tried telling her it was no good but he felt his feet moving at her direction despite himself. It really was no good – he was getting caught up in her pace and he couldn’t do anything about it. Who would have thought one woman could have such control over him? And that was merely at dancing. He suddenly wondered how Ayako would be able to control the other aspects of his life if she wanted to.

“Now, twirl me,” he heard her say. And the next thing he knew, he was twirling Ayako around the dance floor, dark curly hair whipping behind her. Laughing at his own newfound subservience, he brought his hand back at Ayako’s hip and grinned down at her.

“Fun, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” he replied, as the music kept on playing.