Chiyoh Mi : Thanks for opening this FanFic! Enjoy. (:
The italicize words/phrases/sentences are all Ryoma's thoughts.
Disclaimer : TeniPuri isn't mine ;)
"Ne, Saku-chan!" Osakada Tomoka greeted her bestfriend.
"Hai, Tomo-chan?" Ryuzaki Sakuno replied, looking up from her book.
"How come I haven't seen you in Ryoma-sama's practices lately?" Now that caught the Prince's attention.
Yeah. He hasn't seen Sakuno for a while now. Come to think of it, his senpais kept on pestering him about the girl's sudden disappearance. Was it because of that bragging Horio? One of his senpais? Or was it because of him? Che.
He can't remember anything that he might have done that made her upset. So he waited impatiently for her reply. Am I eavesdropping? The senpais' habits are rubbing off in me.
"Oh! I w-was too b-busy with the E-english h-homework." English homework? We don't have any English homework yet. Ryuzaki is lying.
"English homework? Sakuno, we'd just finished our Exams last week! Don't tell me we have one that I didn't know about!?" Tomoka frankly waved her hands in the air. Sakuno then blushed. Gotcha.
"O-okay fine. You got me. I was too busy with the Internet this past few days." Sakuno gave in. The Internet? What's so special about it?
"The Internet? I thought you said you hated it?" Tomoka became curious. And so was the Prince.
True. Sakuno did say that she hated the Information Superhighway because of its complications. But why is she saying now, that the reason why she had been missing on his practices and matches is because of it?
"Well, I figured out that it wasn't really that complicated." Hn. I will never understand girls.
Before Tennis Practice
"Ne, Ryuzaki." Ryoma stop her from her tracks. She was about to go out of the campus.
"H-hai, R-ryoma-kun?" Sakuno said as she turned around and felt his gaze upon her.
"Wait for me after practice. I'll walk you home." He said with a shrug. He was about to go to the tennis courts when he heard her meek reply.
"G-gomen, R-ryoma-kun. But I don't think I'll be able to w-walk with you t-today." She felt his gaze upon her again.
"Is that so? Then, Ja." He was going to ask her why, but when he looked back, she wasn't there anymore. He still can't believe that Sakuno Ryuzaki, aka Wobbly Hips, rejected his offer. And just because of the freaking Internet. Che. Whatever.
After Tennis Practice
"Ne, ochibi! Why are you glaring at the ground, nyaaa?" Eiji asked while the tensai smirked. He knew exactly why Echizen had been glaring into space. When Ryoma didn't answer, Eiji knew that he should shut his mouth now.
"Echizen! Why isn't Ryuzaki-chan here again? What did you do?!" Momo said as he wiped his face with a towel.
"Why are you asking me? She's the one that suddenly got addicted to the Internet." Ryoma mumbled while drinking his Ponta. He was hoping nobody would hear him, but the exact opposite happened.
That's when Momo and Eiji laughed, Fuji kept on smiling, Inui quickly got his notebook and the rest of the team were just plain shocked. They didn't expect that he would answer.
"Note: Echizen Ryoma is not a big fan of the Internet." Inui stated as he scribbled on his notebook.
"Inui, I think Echizen's just jealous. Ne, Ryoma?" Fuji explained as Ryoma choked on his Ponta.
"Che. I'll be going now." Ryoma got his bag and headed home. Stupid senpais.
"100% Jealous." Inui, Eiji and Momo said in unison.
Echizen Residence
"Seishonen! Why the long face? Got rejected by a cute girl?" Nanjiroh earned a smack from Nanako and a glare from Ryoma.
"Ne, Ryoma-san. We just had a new wireless network set up. Why don't you go use it for a while?" What's with people today with the Internet? What's so amazing about it? Fine, I'll go take a look.
"Seriously, Karupin. I don't really know what made her interested in this thing." Ryoma muttered as he stroked Karupin's fur. Karupin just meowed. After he clicked on some search engines, he found his answer.
Chatrooms.
After he made an account for himself, He quickly searched the root of his problems: Ryuzaki Sakuno. After a few more moments, the search was complete. He found out that her username was R. Saku-chan. Hn. Her username is easy to find. Predictable girl. He smirked. He clicked on her name and a chat window popped up.
-chat conversation-
E. R. Tennis : Ne
R. Saku-chan : Ano, do I know you?
E. R. Tennis : Ryuzaki. It's me.
R. Saku-chan : Ryoma-kun?
E. R. Tennis : Hn.
R. Saku-chan : Ryoma-kun, you aren't suppose to type "Hn".
E. R. Tennis : And why not?
R. Saku-chan : It's because we are not talking. And you only make sounds like that while talking.
E. R. Tennis : We are talking, Ryuzaki. We're just typing out dialogues.
R. Saku-chan : Really? I never thought about it. Anyway, do you need something, Ryoma-kun?
E. R. Tennis : Actually, ya, I do.
R. Saku-chan : What is it?
E. R. Tennis : I need someone to talk to.
R. Saku-chan : Oh Really? Very funny. Seriously, what do you really need?
Both of them were blushing. Sakuno was not expecting that Ryoma, of all people, would chat with her. Ryoma, on the other hand, was going to ask why she missing in his tennis matches. He was about to demand her to come to his matches, when suddenly, he noticed that Sakuno signed off.
-R. Saku-chan signed off-
"Of all the times that you had to malfunction, you choose now?! Ryoma-kun will hate me!" She said as she slumped back on her chair, and eventually, she fell asleep.
Ryoma waited for her reply. He just typed in, "Come to my tennis practices and matches. The senpai-tachi also misses you." He was having second thoughts about his request, but then she logged off.
She better have a darn good excuse for making me hang in like that.
The Next Day
Ryoma arrived in school early. He forgot that morning practice was cancelled for that day and they will just have to meet afterschool. He slept on his desk peacefully. But no matter how much he tried, an image of a girl in two long braids would appear on his mind every time he closed his eyes. He soon woke up because of someone constantly poking his head. He was about to shout at the said person, when he noticed that the guy was wearing a skirt. He looked up and saw Sakuno smiling apologetically at him.
"Ryoma-kun, g-gomen for yesterday. I lost internet connection, and didn't see your request." She said. He sighed in relief. He still has a chance!
"Meet me at the rooftop this lunch." He smirked at her while she gave him a nod. Their homeroom teacher soon started the class.
Lunch – Rooftop
CREAK!
Sakuno opened the door to find nobody up there. So she just stared at the view below her.
She was so absorbed by the view of the tiny people below that she didn't felt the nudging of her shoulder. Finally, Ryoma said,
"Ne."
"Oh! R-r-r-yoma-kun! You s-scared me!" She said as she held her chest.
"Hn."
"Ano, what was your request again?" She said as she eyed him curiously. He was hiding his eyes in his hat. Why do I feel warm on my cheeks? Am I blushing?
"Ryoma-kun! You're red! Do you have a fever?" Sakuno asked worriedly, totally forgetting the fact that she was just a few centimeters away from his face.
"B-betsuni.." Darn! Why am I stuttering? He was silenced when he felt Sakuno's palm on his forehead.
"You're not really sick.. just a little bit hot. Why don't I accompany you to the clinic?" she added.
"No! I-I'm fine. Really."
"If you say so."
"Ne, Sakuno, can I call you Sakuno?" Ryoma asked her as she stared at him.
"Sure, but why?" she blushed.
"What if a person starts to like another person…" He ignored her question. She signaled him to continue.
"The person knows that the other person likes it back, but he doesn't know what to do. What should he do?" He muttered again. When Ryoma looked at Sakuno, she was smiling warmly at him. Does she know?
"Well, it would depend on the personality. The person can tell him or her what he or she or it really feels. If that person is shy, like me, then I wouldn't be able to tell you what I really feel." Her explanation turned into a confession. When both of them realized this, they immediately turned pink.
"I-I am s-so s-sorry, R-ryoma-kun… I didn't mean to say it…" Sakuno stuttered. She was in the verge of crying when she felt Ryoma pat her head.
"Why are you sad, shouldn't you be happy?" Ryoma smiled at her.
"Be happy? For what? You'll hate me now." She sighed. When she had the guts to look at Ryoma, she saw that his face contained confusion.
"Why would I hate you?"
"Because you don't like me…"
"Where did you get that?" Ryoma asked as he smiled once again at Sakuno. This time, she got the message.
"Y-you m-mean…"
"I don't like to be sappy, okay?" He said as Sakuno suddenly hugged him. He was caught in surprise but he hugged her back.
"So, are we…?" She looked at him once again and still saw the smile on his face.
"Yes. Ryuzaki Sakuno is finally dating Echizen Ryoma." He said as Sakuno leaned on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her.
"Yeah… finally." She smiled dreamily again.
"Does that mean you'll give up the Internet and come to my matches and practices?"
"Un!" She giggled as both of them looked at the sky above.
Owari ~
Chiyoh Mi : Thanks for reading! Take care!