It was amazing how much streamers and a strobe light could change the appearance of Seigaku's gym. She could hear the music even though she was outside, leaning on the wall. Ryuzaki Sakuno was impatient to get inside and dance, which had always been one of her favorite secret-hobbies.

But she had to wait for her date to arrive. Getting picked up at her house would have been so much easier, but then she would have had to endure her grandmother's catcalls and teases about her going to her first school dance.

And how embarrassing would that have been? It would have been especially humiliating if it had been in front of Ryoma-kun, who she was hoping would ask her.

Oh, but he didn't. Of course he didn't! Why would he, Echizen Ryoma, most sought-after freshman in the entire school, ask her, Ryuzaki Sakuno, a quiet little nobody, to the dance? That would be absurd and tacos would start growing out of my nose.

Ah, but how she had daydreamed about him asking her, in various scenarios (most involving a cherry blossom tree and a tennis lesson). She couldn't help but imagine him like that! He was just so nice… and very handsome and talented, how could she forget. She found it very endearing when he did a good act and brushed it off as nothing. Ryoma-kun was just a very sweet person.

But, as she had come to learn, he was just about the densest egghead when it came to romance. When the day before the dance came and he still did not have a partner, she had already grown very anxious of waiting. She had made up her mind to ask him herself, seeing as she had no other option.

She had waited around the corner near his math room, knowing he would turn her way. But before he did, some other girl got to him first. She was extremely pretty and she walked to him confidently while he was drinking at the water fountain. Sakuno peaked around the corner and spied on them.

"Ryoma-san?"

"Hn?"

"Would you go to the dance with me?"

His reply had been instantaneous: "I'm not going to the dance."

The girl blinked. "Oh. Ok, that's fine. I'll see you around, ok?" She had run away with a quick wave.

At the same time, Sakuno had slumped down against the wall. I'm not going to the dance. His words split her fantasies in half, fourths, eighths. She had quickly left, lest he saw her there, close to tears. She had run back to her classroom and almost collided with Kachiro-kun. Seeing her, Kachiro had asked if she wanted to go to the dance with him. By then, Sakuno was so dazed and hurt, that she had said yes.

So here she was, waiting for Kachiro-kun outside the dance in a gauzy, floral-print dress.

"Ryuzaki-san!"

She looked up and saw Kachiro, running towards her in a light dress shirt.

"Hello, Kachiro-kun," she smiled.

He blushed slightly and reached for her hand. He pulled his back suddenly and whispered, "Sorry, I'm being rude."

She shook her head and gently linked her arm in his, leading them into the gymnasium.

Loud, upbeat music pounded against her and the sheer volume of it was awesome. A long-forgotten feeling stirred in Sakuno and she yearned to move her body with the beat and touch every inch of the floor. She turned to Kachiro and asked, "Do you want to dance?"

He was slightly surprised. "Ryuzaki-san?"

She laughed softly when suddenly, they heard a loud boom and Tomo-chan landed beside them.

"Heeey Sakuno-chann! And Kachiro-chan!" Her voice dropped down low and she whispered to Sakuno, "Where's Ryoma-sama?"

"I didn't ask him," Sakuno said. When she saw Tomo open her mouth, she added, "Come on, let's dance." She really wanted to be on the dance floor and not thinking of anything negative.

"Now you're talkinnnn'!" Tomo screamed. She turned to her date. "Come on, buttface!"

"Hey, you can't call me that! With my two years of biology experience, I know enough to know that my face does not resemble a butt!"

Kachiro coughed.

"What are you-"

Horio was pulled onto the dance floor (rather brutally) by a crazy Tomo and Sakuno shyly took Kachiro's hand and followed them.

It was exciting. Sakuno mostly danced with Tomo, whose aggressiveness eventually stripped her of all her timidity and precautions. The pure rhythm of the music became the only thing she knew.

"Wow, Ryuzaki can dance!"

"Shut up, Horio!"

Eventually, an announcement was made. "All right, ladies and gentlemen, I know you've been waiting for it all night long, so here it is: slow dancing. Slip your hand into your partner's and let's chillax…"

"Does that DJ realize how young we are?" Kachiro whispered. Sakuno, panting from dancing so much, merely shrugged. Then she turned to him and asked again, "Do you want to dance?"

He smiled hesitantly and muttered, "Ok." He took her hand and nervously held her waist. A slow, soulful tune rang out and heart-wrenching lyrics poured forth. It would have been the ideal song for a romantic situation. With a certain someone.

Sakuno blew out a sigh and reminisced. Kachiro had not been a bad date. He was nice, polite, and very thoughtful. He was a good friend and she had had a lot of fun. She leaned into his shoulder and let the melody wash over her.

The mood was shattered by the front door slamming open. Sakuno whipped her head in that direction and her heart almost stopped. Because three familiar figures stood in the doorway.

"Nobody starts a party without us," the tallest one said.

"Because we are the party nya!" The second finished, raising his hands to the roof.

The third remained silent.

Nearly everyone in the room froze for a second. It was all so dramatic until:

"Saa, but you were two hours late."

Silence.

"Nyaa Fujiiii!! You killed our atmosphere!!"

Everyone laughed. The music was remembered and the dancing recommenced. Eiji, Momo, and Ryoma walked to Fuji, who was standing close to Sakuno, surprisingly. Had he always been standing there? She would have seen him while she was dancing… unless she was so absorbed in it that she missed him.

She heard Fuji ask, "So why were you three so late?"

"Che, Eiji-sempai and Momo-sempai had to practice their entrance." Ryoma replied.

"Ochibi! You make it sound like it was a bad thing or something…"

"Ryuzaki, do you want to continue dancing, or not…? I'm fine if you don't want to…" Kachiro whispered, drawing Sakuno's attention back to him.

"Oh, I'm fine." She said quickly and tried to get back into the music, but the presence of a certain freshman was extremely distracting. He had said he wasn't going to come, right?

Kachiro's comment also caught Eiji's attention. He looked over and nearly shrieked in a very falsetto voice. He quickly whispered into Momo's ear and both of them grew identical evil grins. They directed these grins at Ryoma.

"What?" Ryoma asked, somewhat unnerved.

"O-chi-bi-iii Did you know that Sakuno-chan was here too?"

"Ah so young so young…"

"And that she's here with some other boiiii?"

"So young so young…"

"And that she's standing behind you nyaa?"

"So young so yo-" Momo was promptly slapped across the face by Ryoma.

Ryoma turned back to Eiji-sempai, and avoiding Fuji's smile, he answered, "So?"

"Echizen," Fuji whispered. Ryoma shivered, but still did not look at him. "Don't you think they look cute together? Sakuno and Kachiro-"

"Kachiro?" Ryoma's eyes widened. Why was Ryuzaki with Kachiro? Fuji and Eiji grinned.

"Look at them nya. They're so perfect for each other, ne Ochibi?" Eiji whispered.

Ryoma looked at them. They most certainly did not look perfect. She was taller than he was! And … something about them just didn't look right. Che, what did Fuji and Eiji-sempai know? That was their idea of a perfect couple? He frowned.

"Ooh? You don't think so, Ochibi?"

"Hn."

"Saa, Echizen, don't you think she would look better with someone a bit taller with longer hair?" What?

"And tanner skin?" Wait…

"And amber eyes?"

"What-?"

"Just go dance with her nyaaa!"

Ryoma was given a rather ruthless shove and he found himself walking towards Ryuzaki and Kachiro. He had to admit, he did look better with Ryuzaki than Kachiro, not that he had ever thought about the coach's clumsy granddaughter in that way. But in the strange lights of the dance floor, she looked … different. Not pretty, or elegant or anything. He couldn't place his finger on it. She was just… different.

"Ryuzaki-san. Uh, I just want to tell you that I had a lot of fun tonight." Kachiro was saying to Sakuno.

"I had a lot of fun too, Kachiro-kun."

"And that-"

Sakuno felt something grab her hand and then she was being pulled away from a very surprised Kachiro. She looked at her kidnapper and immediately blushed. "Ry-Ryoma-kun?"

"Dance with me," he answered.

Ryoma-kun was asking her to dance? And a slow dance, no less. Sakuno never thought it would happen, and she very much wanted to happily shout out, "Ok!" But when she looked up, she noticed Kachiro-kun gazing at them sadly.

"… But I was dancing with Kachiro-kun."

"You have to stay with the same person all night?" He raised his eyebrows in a confused face. He looked incredibly cute and Sakuno would have thought him sweet if he had not just roughly stolen her from another boy.

She remembered that now and she grew a little frustrated. That was rude of him! "No, I-I meant… I was in the middle of dancing with him-"

He groaned very quickly. All he wanted was to dance with her. Why was she making such a big deal out of it?

"Why did you do that, Ryoma-kun?"

"Do what?"

"Grab me away from Kachiro-kun?"

He gave no answer. Why did he do it? Because Fuji and Eiji-sempai told him to and that he thought he looked better with her than Kachiro. Because his competitiveness blinded him.

Suddenly, he felt stupid. What was he thinking, grabbing Ryuzaki-san away from someone who was (somewhat) his friend? He didn't even like dancing, so why was he practically begging her to dance with him? Had his sempai-tachi slipped something into his drink, or somehow brainwashed him? He had to have been drunk or something.

Sakuno shifted her arms and waited for his answer. "Ryoma-kun," she glared up at him. "Th-that was really rude of you." She paused. When he remained silent, she turned around and started to walk away. "I'm going back to Kachiro-kun. I'll dance with you for the next song." Her voice plainly said that she had not forgiven him.

His hand grabbed her wrist and he walked up to her. As he passed her, he dropped his hold and whispered, "Ryuzaki, sorry," without breaking his stride.

She stopped and watched as he strode up to Fuji, Eiji, and Momo. He whispered something and Eiji swung an arm around Ryoma's shoulder and Momo patted his back good-naturedly. Fuji turned around and the rest followed; the four of them walked away and their silhouettes slowly dissolved into the darkness of the night.

Sakuno gazed at them until there was absolutely no trace of them left. Ryoma-kun is just a very sweet person… Suddenly, her stomach sank and she felt as if she had missed a step; that she had forgotten something. She turned back to Kachiro and waved good-bye. The music seemed to evaporate completely and then she knew she had to be outside, sprinting after her fantasy, no matter how impossible it would be to catch it.

She ran out of the front door.

A/N: hey guys, sorry about not updating in a while. I'm working on the second chapter in Modern Art, but I'm kind of stuck. Anyway, please tell me what you thought of this.

(and I do not own Prince of Tennis at all)