August 5, 2007 to August 15, 2007 (REFORMATTED May 1, 2010)
Disclaimers: I do not own any part whatsoever of Prince of Tennis.
Summary: The same old, typical hug can be so different each time it's done. Enjoy! And don't forget to review please!
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A Hug From A Boyfriend
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Ryuzaki Sakuno was in the living room piled over tons and tons of paperwork. She was in her second year of Seishun Gakuen Academy, and as the usual, was having trouble with English. It's not that she didn't get it, it was just that she couldn't read or understand the rules that well.
Ok, so fine – she doesn't get English at all.
Rubbing her temples, she breathed heavily and muttered under her breath, cursing that English would sometime die. Luckily, her grandmother wasn't home, or she would have scolded her for such foul language. But that didn't matter now; all she wanted to do was get over her stupid, freakin' English assignment and relax for the rest of the day. She wanted to have a fun Sunday off, after all, being the girl she was.
For this stupid English assignment, she had to cancel her appointment with Echizen Ryoma on tennis lessons, which didn't bother him at all. But it bothered her a lot, since she was probably annoying him a lot with the sudden changes. And to give up her time for a class she was ready to fail any day now, that irritated her like heck.
But Echizen didn't care, his look said it all, and the bored expression on his face…pained her. She sighed in agony, disappointed at the fact that Echizen didn't care at all, that he just wanted to get over the tennis classes that were wasting his time. Just thinking all of this made her head hurt, and she got up from her seat and walked towards the kitchen door to grab a drink when the doorbell rang. She hastily retraced her steps, making her way towards the front door and opening it to see…black?
"Umph!" muffled the girl as she saw a pitch-black atmosphere around her and felt something heavy against her. She fell to the floor along with the heavy object with a clutter, her arms sprawled on the wooden surface and her eyes closed tightly. She slowly opened her right eye, then her left, to see a smiling face staring directly at her with shining orbs. The smile was a cheesy and silly but comforting one, and realizing that, her mind snapped, her voice, barely audible, mumbling, "Eiji-senpai…"
"Sakuno-chan, nya!" cried the first year of Seishun Gakuen Academy High, Kikumaru Eiji, "I missed you!" He was the still same as usual; hyperactive and bubbly, smiley and cheerful, the same red colored hair with slight curls, the usual bandage stuck to his right cheek, and the repetitive smiles and hugs. He didn't change one bit, not at all.
The two were just the best of friends at first from last year, when Sakuno was a first year and Eiji, a third year. The excited acrobatic player always tried to get her and his Ochibi together, but that was barely possible, because of Echizen's cold aura. So with the help of his best friend, Fuji Syuusuke, the two devised a plan to have him become jealous and finally make a move on her.
In the core of the library, a girl with twin braids fidgeted in her seat as she pounded her head to get some idea of her English assignment. Oh, how she wished English never existed.
A certain third year had been following the girl for a while, as well as a young boy. It was now his chance to pounce, now that he was close to her. Taking his opportunity, he walked towards the first year and tapped her lightly on the shoulder, only to receive a yelp in return.
"Kya!" she screamed, and all the students glared at her with intense eyes. She shrank into her seat and muttered, "Sorry." Turning her head, she looked at the person behind her to find a redhead waving hello happily.
"Good afternoon, Kikumaru-senpai," greeted Sakuno, bowing with her head before looking directly at him, "Is there something you need?"
"Nya, Sakuno-chan!" cried Eiji, glomping her out of nowhere. She gasped at the suddenness of his actions, making a small shriek. And it was at that exact moment that Echizen came walking in with a few books in his hand, and he glared intensely at his senpai's back before walking off slowly, only to stop behind a bookshelf and eavesdrop on their conversation.
"Sakuno-chan, would you mind if you bake some cookies for me tomorrow? Inui's juice taste terrible, nya!" requested the third year with an innocent look. Sakuno looked warily and skeptically at him, and nodded her head slowly at his unexpected request.
"H-hai, Kikumaru-senpai…" said Sakuno, only to be interrupted by him again.
"Eiji! Call me Eji!" he ordered, giving her a hard look.
"H-hai, Eiji-senpai…" she said again, quite exasperated. The third year only hug her tightly against him, and she turned beet red.
The two soon became closer, which was part of the plan that Eiji and Fuji devised. Echizen was definitely and way jealous, and tried to break it up, but with his pride, he couldn't make himself do so. So he simply ignored it, although his heart ached quite a lot. Fuji, noticing this, notified his best friend, and made a large change in their plans.
"Thank you for staying and waiting for my grandma, Eiji-senpai," thanked Sakuno as she bowed timidly.
"Nya, it's nothing!" he said, "But I have to thank you for all those delicious foods you made, hoi! They're really good and delicious, I think I gained some weight." He laughed at himself, and the girl followed suit, chuckling.
"I'm not that good at cooking, grandma teaches me a lot," she said, blushing slightly. But he only pouted and continued rapping on how delicious her food was.
"Sakuno-chan's food are really good, sweet and perfect! But now I forget how it tastes like after drinking Inui's juice, bleh! I think it tasted something like…" he wandered off, leaving his sentence unfinished.
"Like what, Eiji-senpai?" asked earnestly Sakuno, reaching closer towards her senpai intriguingly.
"Like…" he said, and immediately he swooped her in and gave her a small, chaste kiss on the lips. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise, but she did not resist. She simply tipped backwards and gaped at him, not realizing that he had finish his business already. Looking up, he saw shining orbs and a large grin.
"That's how it tasted like, just like Sakuno-chan!" She blushed heavily and looked at her feet, when her eyes averted to the sides to see…Echizen Ryoma.
He only stood there motionless, and when he saw her eyes making contact with his, he briskly walked out of the school grounds and back home, tipping his hat. She looked worry and after bidding her senpai good-bye, made up her mind to apologize to Ryoma tomorrow.
And she remembered exactly how it went when she spoke with her acquaintance during the lunch period – rough.
Sakuno walked up the stairs towards the roof, the exact place where she knew where Echizen would be. Swallowing her breath, she placed her hand on the knob and slowly swung it open, making a quiet creaking sound. Her eyes averted towards the boy who was lying against the fence, his eyes closed while he breathed steadily. She smiled as she noticed the sleeping form of the freshman, and she walked closer to him, her heart beating faster each step that she took.
Settling herself next to the rookie, she placed a bento and a pair of chopsticks in front of her feet and hugged her knees. She could talk freely whenever he was asleep or not listening,, which was a good thing. Because she would stutter and stammer all the time when talking with him, face to face. Taking a deep breath, the words flowed perfectly and smoothly out of her mouth.
"I'm sorry about yesterday, Ryoma-kun. Eiji-senpai just did that all of a sudden…" her voice trailed off as she placed two of her fingers onto her cherry lips and slightly turned red.
Of course, while lost in her own world, she did not notice an opened eye peeking at her actions. The boy feinting sleep noticed the blush on her face and sighed, giving up. It was hopeless for pretty much the both of them if they ever wanted to be together, so he stood up from his position while the girl was still wandering in her thoughts.
"It's over, Ryuzaki," bluntly said Echizen.
Snapping back into reality, she abruptly jerked her head to face the prince, blushing heavily. She gaped at him at the words she just said, and once she received the message, tears silently flowed down her cheeks, although the tennis prince did not notice this, for he simply walked away at this point on. Burying her head in her arms, she hiccupped slightly as the tears continued trickling down her face.
Of course, Eiji came to her rescue and immediately comforted her. He even imposed to threaten Echizen to a tennis match if he were to hurt her feelings again, and he gave her the tightest hug yet. Sakuno was indeed happy and smiled once again, joyful to have such a wonderful senpai. Their relationship as friends soon bloomed into something beautiful, the life of a couple. No one seemed to care at first, but the rumors had suddenly come on. However, that did not stop from the two getting together and staying that way forever.
He glomped her even more, hugging her tighter than ever. She felt as if her life was about to be sucked right out of her since she couldn't breathe that well. But another part of her felt relieved that such a hug given to her with all his soul could feel so…weird, unable to describe into words. The relaxing aura that she felt zap through her body calmed her mind of peace and tranquility. Or it could make her feel nervous whenever he gave her a hug, because she would worry that she would do badly from the start, even if she received encouragement from him.
To just have him hug her, the hyperactive, life-threatening ones, always made her day, no matter the feeling. It comforted her and made her feel content. She couldn't be any happier.
"Arigatou…Eiji…"
And equally she returned his hug.
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Owari
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A/N: This one hovered for a long time around…and I finished it quite lazily…forgive me… Dedicated to Perfectly-Xx-Imperfect. Please review and give me any feedback! I am very happy to be criticized because there is always room for improvement. Arigatou!
Ja ne, and I do not own any part of Prince of Tennis!
