Wound Up
by hye-kyo
Disclaimer: Nope POT isn't mine…
Author's Notes: I was planning to pose this as a one-shot all by itself but I thought it might be better to have a series/collection of one-shots, less hassle in doing summaries. However, the downside is I have to update…though indefinite but still there is a need to update since this is a collection. Anyway, I hope you try and read and review these fics.
BTW, its RyoSaku all throughout.
Title: Crude
Genre: Romance/Drama
Rating: K+ just to be sure but not T
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Ryuuzaki Sakuno's first kiss wasn't exactly like she dreamed it would be. It was sudden, happening amid a flurry of other movements, amid a lot of shouting and squealing and cursing from the running and scheming regulars. So it was nothing like she expected it would be.
--
"Ne," Echizen Ryoma dropped his pace, decelerating at the girl-with-stupid-braids learning pace. He happened to be in a middle of a 50-lap punishment. The punishment of the punishment would be to drink Inui-sempai's another concoction.
To put it simply, it was a matter of life and death.
So he stopped simply because he was stupid. Because first, he'd have to face Tezuka-buchou's boring glares for having dropped from the 50-lap race; second, there's the Inui-fill-in-the-blank-juice/poison; and third, well third is there is Ryuuzaki stuttering-Sakuno who was looking at him like he was doing something stupid.
Which in fact he was.
So going back to what he was saying, "Ne."
"E-eh?" she swallowed hard.
Ryoma could only gaze at her mouth now shaped in a small o. Alright, so she rather looked cute today. Nothing really special, it's just that that he saw her talking with some slip of a guy from the third year. It also just so happened that she was smiling and laughing softly at whatever that stupid slip of a guy said.
Ryoma grimaced inwardly. And don't forget how she didn't watch the intra-school ranking tournament. And not to mention forgetting it was the stupid (so what? Stupid is his word for the day) Valentine's Day yesterday.
"Why are you here?" he asked instead. Okay, just testing. He waited and watched out for the blush. The blush would tell him his standing. Well, it's not as if he cares. Honestly.
"Uh…Anou…I just passed by when I remembered I have to talk to Inui-sempai about something…"
Ryoma frowned. She was probably telling an excuse to see him, he told himself. Otherwise she wouldn't be really here.
"Let's see," he murmured and took a step towards her.
A little voice screamed inside his head.
Perhaps he cares what his standing was, well just a little.
The voice screamed louder.
Alright, maybe not that little.
Louder
Fine. So he cares. So what?
Louder.
Right. Alright. He cares a lot.
A lot.
And he made the inevitable.
--
Ryuuzaki Sakuno sure felt like in a daze. The moment he called her and stopped running she knew something was really going to happen. Something wrong.
And the moment he stepped towards her and made those funny expressions on his face, she was alarmed. Something must have happened to Ryoma-kun.
And she was that desperate to get him to the clinic that she didn't even realize he finally stopped making those funny expressions and took another step.
And everything became a daze (So there, full of "And"s).
Because it was then that he grabbed her wrist, pulled her towards him and claimed her lips against his.
And she was ready then to melt into a little puddle at his feet.
--
Echizen Ryoma knew for a fact that kissing in public was actually, more or less, prohibited in the school grounds. And that in fact if caught doing it, consequence/detention was sure to follow.
And he knew the fact that kissing in public, with none other than the coach's granddaughter would not just earn him detention but probably a lifetime's worth of nagging from Coach Ryuuzaki and Inui juice that would surely last until he's on his deathbed.
But well, screw rules. He wasn't going to pass this up. He planted a hand on her waist to increase leverage, making sure she won't get away and tried to drown out all other sounds in the background, especially the screaming sounds which most likely came from her grandmother.
--
Ryuuzaki Sakuno was the one to break the spell. She had a bit of a breathing problem as Ryoma chased after her mouth every time she tried to pull back.
The moment she pulled back she realized how Ryoma really looked like a kitten up close. And the moment she realized this she wanted to pet him and cuddle him and kiss him and do all sorts of things that a cat and a human wouldn't normally do together.
So there.
And her screaming, cursing grandmother entered the scene.
"Let's run," he whispered, almost into her gaped lips. He was that close.
She only managed to nod as all other thoughts were drowned out in the beginning of the chase.
--
Echizen Ryoma took in a deep breath. Hiding somewhere in a deserted corridor in an empty classroom sure wasn't easy. It was dark and hot and humid.
"Ne," he said, trying to catch up with his breath.
"H-hai?"
"Why didn't you watch the rankings?"
She was stumped.
"So?" it was natural for him to ask. So natural for him to seek her attention and be jealous.
"Ah…I am attending piano lessons every afternoon…"
He arched a brow, "You play the piano?"
"Not really…"
He'd ask her to play something for him sometime. But for now, the next pressing question, "Yesterday was Valentine's."
"H-huh?" she peered at him.
He frowned. That was obvious. His statement was obvious. "I said yesterday was Valentine's Day."
She thought for a while and then, "I thought you won't eat them anyway."
He frowned again. Why does she assume? He had eaten every single piece of chocolate she had made ever since. Every single piece of edible something she made for him he had eaten.
"I'm sorry…" she looked down.
"I always eat them," he said, trying to sound offhand.
Her eyes widened.
He cleared his throat. Two issues solved. One more. "Who's that guy you're talking to before?"
"Who?"
Yeah. Stupid Ryoma. Tell her something specific. "Yesterday. A junior I suppose. Medium built. Black hair. The face you normally won't remember." So that was cruel. Was he really that jealous?
"Ah," she said suddenly, "You're referring to Kai-kun."
"Kai-kun?" he arched a brow. No Ryuuzaki, don't be too familiar with anyone else except me, he thought.
"He was asking me about Tomo-chan."
Tomo-chan, he thought, ah the Osakada-talkative girl. So that Kai-kun was after Tomo-chan. At least Ryoma doesn't have to include everyone of the male persuasion in his target list. Well there are a number, what with Ryuuzaki being fairly pretty and all.
The voice again.
Alright. She's not fairly pretty. She's really pretty.
He sounded so gay.
"Why did you kiss me?" he was the guest in the talk show all of a sudden.
--
Ryuuzaki Sakuno noticed Ryoma-kun had a number of questions. She only has one thing on her mind right now. And even before thinking of whether saying it or not she had blurted it out. "Why did you kiss me?"
Okay. So he was silent.
Ookay…his silence was rather long.
Ooookaaayyy…his silence was becoming to get deafening.
"Because I like you a lot." And the ensuing silence after his answer was even more deafening.
--
Echizen Ryoma couldn't think of how to answer it romantically, grandly, like they do in cheesy films. No he just couldn't. And the more he thought the more the silence stretched and became deafening. So he thought of the only thing he wanted to really say to her ever since.
"Because I like you a lot."
And he waited. And waited.
--
Ryuuzaki Sakuno wasn't a sucker for cheesy romance flicks. Well she liked them in a weird sort of way, she hadn't been imagining Ryoma-kun in movie-worth scenes out of her pure (meaning untainted and uninspired by cheesy flicks), own imagination.
But well, she liked Ryoma in all his crudeness at this kind of thing and well, never had she imagined him confessing with a bouquet of roses and with a violin playing in the background.
And she had never expected him to give her her first kiss under the setting sun with the waves crashing against the shore. No, she never expected.
But even though she was expecting him to be unsophisticated about it, still the moment he said it in all its candor she melted. No matter how crude, it was Ryoma Echizen after all. The boy she loves.
--
"I'll be dead," Ryoma murmured in her ear as he cradled her in his arms.
"You won't be," Sakuno giggled. "I'll ask Obaa-chan to go easy on you."
"Yeah…I guess I have no choice do I?"
She laughed, cupped his face in her hands and whispered, "You have to drink Inui-sempai's concocted juice because you lost the 50-lap punishment."
"Well," he said, "At least it was all worth it." And he smiled and growled as he started kissing her again.
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A/n: So there, I had time last night and finished that.