A/N: Just a one shot I thought of while reading some other fanfics. I love the RyoSakuKin triangle but then I thought about making a SakuRyoKin :P Get it? Anyway, hope you like it and don't forget to RxR~

Disclaimer applies.

Just Friends

It was a normal day for Sakuno. Walking along the corridors with Tomoka at lunch and chatting away mindlessly. Yup, just a normal day for her. Until...

"Ne, ne, Sakuno-chan! Why don't you ask Ryoma-sama on a date tomorrow?" Tomoka suddenly asked.

Sakuno deadpanned. How the heck did they get into this conversation again? Wait, this is Tomoka we're talking about. Every second, every minute of everyday she's always talking about her 'Ryoma-sama'.

"What are you talking about, Tomo-chan? We're not even dating. Why would we go on a date without a reason?" Sakuno reasoned as she flailed her hands in front of her.

"Does going on a date need a reason?" Tomoka asked.

Sakuno sweat dropped, "Uhh, yeah?"

"No. It doesn't need a reason. We're in a new generation Sakuno. If you like someone, ask them for one date even if the two of you aren't dating." Tomoka lectured while raising her pointer finger and wiggling it side to side.

"You read too many shoujo mangas, Tomo-chan." Sakuno commented.

"Oh come on, Sakuno. It's just a date. You won't lose anything."

"I would lose everything if Ryoma-kun refused." Sakuno said wearing puppy eyes with tears in the corner as she continuously wished for Tomoka to stop thinking of whatever she was planning on making her do.

"You won't know until you try! No pain, no gain!" Tomoka said then laughed heartily right after.

Sakuno slumped down and sighed as she accepted defeat.

~xoxoxoxo~

Sakuno stood behind the fence of the tennis courts as she watched the regulars practice. Rather, she was only watching Ryoma. Tomoka was with the 'Ryoma-sama Fan club' who was a little far from where she was. Sakuno took a glance at Tomoka but she was ignored as Tomoka continued screaming with the other girls. Sakuno sighed. It was just practice, no need to get all worked up over it.

The practice finally ended and the members of the tennis club went in their clubroom to change. The fan girls went their separate ways except for Tomoka, who approached Sakuno saying, "Good luck!" with a thumbs up before leaving Sakuno alone. Sakuno reached out her arm to Tomoka but to no avail. Their plan to ask Ryoma on a date is never gonna change. Sakuno sighed once again.

Sakuno walked towards the clubroom to wait for Ryoma and stopped at a fair distance. The door opened and Sakuno's heart skipped a beat and she held her breath. She let out her breath upon seeing that it was just Momoshiro who came out.

"Ara, Ryuzaki-chan? You need something?" Momoshiro asked but then he added, "Wait, don't tell me. You're waiting for Echizen right?"

Not letting Sakuno speak, Momoshiro already called for Ryoma.

"Oi, Echizen! Your girlfriend is here to see you!" Momoshiro teased.

Ryoma came out with an annoyed look at Momoshiro and said, "I don't have a girlfriend."

Momo grinned and said, "Well, you two play nice okay?" then he ran off waving a hand at them.

"So, what do you want?" Ryoma asked with closed eyes as he adjusted his bag.

"Uhm, Ryoma-kun, I-" Sakuno stopped as she noticed the other members were peering at them from inside the clubroom.

Ryoma opened one eye and upon seeing Sakuno looking behind him, he looked behind and saw the others staring at them. Ryoma sighed as he said, "Let's talk over there."

He walked towards the water fountain area where they could talk peacefully without any disturbances. Sakuno looked back and sighed in relief when she saw that no one was following them.

Ryoma stopped walking and faced Sakuno. Sakuno blushed and looked down, fiddling with her skirt, not knowing what to say first.

"Ryoma-kun, th-this Sunday, a-are you free?" Sakuno stuttered.

"I guess." Ryoma shrugged. He was just planning on playing tennis with the wall like usual anyway.

"If it's okay with you, would you please go on a date with me?" Sakuno asked, her face red as a tomato.

Ryoma looked up at the sky thinking and said, "Sure."

He was thinking that taking a break from tennis once in awhile isn't so bad. Sakuno widened her eyes and immediately looked at Ryoma's face.

"Are you sure?" Sakuno can't help but ask.

"It seems like you don't want me to go."

"No! No! I'm very happy." Sakuno exclaimed.

"Then, what time and where?" Ryoma asked.

"Uhm, 2 o'clock at the station. Like the time we went to the racket stringer." Sakuno said, looking down with a gentle smile on her face as she remembered that time.

Ryoma nodded and walked past Sakuno saying, "I'll walk you home."

Sakuno turned her head to Ryoma with a confused expression but was soon changed into a happy one. She ran to Ryoma's side and looked at his expression. It was his usual expression yet Sakuno still feels very happy. She looked straight ahead failing to notice that Ryoma looked at her and smiled seeing her smiling face.

~xoxoxoxo~

"Waaaaaahhh! That Tomo-chan! She didn't help me one bit at all!" Sakuno whined as she searched her wardrobe for something fitting to wear. Unfortunately, last night she asked Tomoka for advice on what to do on a date but Tomoka just shrugged it off wishing her a good luck and hanged up. So she stayed up all night planning and reading magazines on what to do on dates instead of choosing something to wear.

After she decided her clothing, she looked at the clock. It was thirty minutes before two. She can still make it. She ran out the door as fast as she could but not forgetting to say, "Ittekimasu!" to her grandmother.

Sakuno reached the station before two and looked around for Ryoma. She saw him leaning on the same pillar where they first met drinking ponta. Sakuno blushed as she headed towards him.

"Did you wait long, Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno stuttered and blushed as she asked.

"Not really. So, where are we going?" Ryoma asked.

"Is the aquarium fine with you?" Sakuno timidly asked. Ryoma nodded and walked past Sakuno to head to their destination. Sakuno followed but she was on a crisis thinking if it would be okay to walk beside him.

She remembered the time when Ryoma wore his jersey making her be the first to see him wearing it. They walked side by side. Then yesterday when he was walking her home. Also side to side. But then she remembered when they went to the racket stringer and the time where she followed Ryoma to a tennis practice grounds. She was walking behind him.

She sighed not knowing what to do when Ryoma stopped walking to look at her. Sakuno straightened up and Ryoma asked, "Aren't you gonna walk?"

Sakuno blushed out of embarrassment and ran towards Ryoma deciding to walk beside him since this is a date they were in. She kept a fair distance from him though.

~xoxoxoxo~

Silence.

Sakuno closed her eyes tightly as her heart sped up out of nervousness. Her mind was filled with negative stuff about how it must be so boring for Ryoma. About how Ryoma would hate her since she can't say anything to him without stuttering. About how much of a failure this first date is. Sakuno moaned in her mind.

Suddenly...

"Koshimaeeeee!"

They heard a voice shouting and the voice somehow becomes clearer and louder implying that that someone was heading towards them. Ryoma and Sakuno turned around to look who it was only for Ryoma to be met with a glomp from that 'someone'.

Sakuno blushed red and gasped. Someone was hugging her date. That's just unforgivable! She was supposed to be the one hugging Ryoma.

... What?

Sakuno wanted to bang her head on the nearest wall to remove whatever she was just thinking but she stopped herself since Ryoma would think of her as a weird person.

The someone shouting random nonsense like Koshimae then stopped hugging Ryoma, which relieved Sakuno, only to hold Ryoma's hands, which made Sakuno go back to jealous mode. Sakuno took a closer look and now that she think about it, she already met this person at the Nationals. Tooyama Kintaro, was it?

"Koshimae! I'm so happy coincidentally meeting you here! It must be fate! Let's have a match now!" Kintaro shouted.

Ryoma boredly looked at Kintaro then took a glance at Sakuno and smirked seeing her open mouth expression.

"Can't you see I'm on a date? I don't have time for you." Ryoma said, removing the smirk off his face.

"I see. A date. Have fun..." Kintaro's shoulders slumped down as he walked away from the couple. When he was in a fair distance, he suddenly ran back towards them and asked while shouting, "A DATE?"

Ryoma and Sakuno slightly backed away from the freakishly loud voice Kintaro was using. Ryoma then nodded.

"I-I never thought you were this kind of guy." Kintaro stuttered. He then glanced at Sakuno, looking at her up and down before pointing at her and gasping, "It's the onigiri girl!"

Sakuno's eyes blinked, 'Onigiri girl?'

"We have to go." Ryoma said to Kintaro and walked away. Sakuno looked at Ryoma then back at Kintaro and bowed her head at him excusing herself.

"What? Wait! Let me join too!" Kintaro whined.

~xoxoxoxo~

They finally reached the aquarium.

"I want to see the angel fish." Sakuno exclaimed, her face showing excitement. She forgot about all her nervousness due to the fact that it had been a long time since she went to the aquarium.

Sakuno walked and Ryoma followed but then...

Sakuno noticed that Ryoma stopped following her and looked back only to find Ryoma being dragged by Kintaro to the opposite direction.

"The dolphins over there are cute, Koshimae!" Kintaro exclaimed while dragging a struggling Ryoma. It's not that Ryoma was weak, it was just Kintaro was too strong. He did carry a whole scooter on his own.

Sakuno's background darkened. She sighed and decided to follow them.

The whole day, Ryoma and Sakuno kept being dragged by Kintaro. Sakuno's shoulders slumped down. So much for a first date. Is this even called a date?

~xoxoxoxo~

The next day at school, Sakuno related all what happened on the date to Tomoka. Tomoka just gaped at the whole story.

"What the heck? If the date failed, let's move on to the second plan!" Tomoka shouted.

"Second plan? We have that?" Sakuno timidly asked.

"You will confess." Tomoka said with a scary expression on her face. Sakuno gulped.

"Th-That's just impossible, Tomo-chan. I can't do it. I'll never do it." Sakuno denied over and over while flailing her hands in front of her.

"It's possible, you can and you will do it." Tomoka said with a threatening voice and looming over Sakuno with a scary smiling face. Did she just hang out with Fuji or what?

Sakuno, for the second time, accepted her defeat.

~xoxoxoxo~

Once again, Sakuno was standing near the tennis courts watching the regulars practice. At the same time, she rehearsed her lines of what to say to Ryoma. But then she noticed a familiar figure in the courts that shouldn't be in the courts.

"Koshimae! Come on! Just one ball?" Kintaro pleaded Ryoma who was calmly drinking ponta. He's very good in ignoring annoying people.

"Gomen, Tooyama. Echizen just finished a match and he's still pretty tired." Oishi said, trying to make Kintaro leave Ryoma alone. Being the mother hen of the team, he can see Ryoma's irritation so he has come to relieve him of it.

Kintaro's shoulders slumped down and he looked away. He then noticed Sakuno looking straight at them. Kintaro's disappointed expression changed into a smile as he headed his way outside the courts to Sakuno.

"Onigiri-chan!" Kintaro shouted at Sakuno while running and waving towards her. Sakuno almost fell face down to the ground at her given nickname.

"H-Hello, Tooyama-kun. And my name is Ryuzaki Sakuno. Please." Sakuno said.

"Yesterday was pretty fun!" Kintaro exclaimed. The nosy regulars turned towards them after hearing the scoop.

"Ohoho, did you two go on a date yesterday?" Momoshiro teased.

Sakuno blushed and answered, "No, no, not at all!"

"Yeah! With Koshimae!" Kintaro answered at the same time.

Sakuno looked at Kintaro with a gape. The regulars turned to look at Ryoma.

"Three people on a date? A love triangle, nya!" Eiji exclaimed, "Ryuzaki-chan, you lucky girl."

"No, that's not it at all." Sakuno disagreed but she was losing hope. She already knows that the senpai-tachi never listens to anything they say.

"You two, continue practicing or it's laps for you." Tezuka suddenly appeared, scolding Momoshiro and Eiji.

The two of them flinched and continued practicing, not wanting to face Tezuka's wrath.

Sakuno sighed in relief and looked at Kintaro who was laughing in amusement at the two.

"Tooyama-kun, don't you have class? What are you doing here?" Sakuno asked him out of curiosity.

"I have. But I ditched." Kintaro answered, a wide smile on his face. A person with no worries.

"Why?"

"I wanted to have a match with Koshimae, but he won't let me." Kintaro whined.

"Just because you want a match you skipped class?" Sakuno muttered then she added, "Do you like Ryoma-kun that much?"

Kintaro looked at her and blinked. Sakuno widened her eyes. What the heck did she just asked?

Then, Kintaro let out another wide smile and said, "Yup! I like him!"

Thunder boomed behind Sakuno in response to Kintaro's revelation. She opened her mouth but no words would come out. She was that shocked.

"The moment Kenya told me about him, I just can't wait to see him. I couldn't even sleep! Then when the Nationals came, I ran all the way there to meet him." Kintaro said wholeheartedly.

Sakuno fell on the ground with her knees and hands supporting herself. She was completely defeated by Kintaro. His love for Ryoma is much, much greater than her love for him.

Kintaro noticed Sakuno kneeling on all fours and lowered himself, poking Sakuno's head, "Are you okay?"

Sakuno just nodded in response but she still kept her position. She was thinking that maybe she should just give up since it's more fun to be with Kintaro anyway than her. Kintaro's talkative while she's too shy. Ryoma won't get bored if he's with Kintaro.

"What are you doing?"

Sakuno flinched at the familiar voice and looked up. It was Ryoma. Like she had thought.

Sakuno blushed and immediately stood up from her position. She rubbed off some dirt on her skirt and composed herself in front of Ryoma.

"Ryoma-kun, I-I have something to tell you." Sakuno said. Ryoma blinked at her and looked around. The regulars and Kintaro were looking straight at them.

"Let's go to the water fountain area again then." Ryoma said while walking to the destination.

Sakuno followed behind and the regulars, mostly Momoshiro and Eiji, grinned. They were about to follow him but Oishi blocked the way lecturing them about privacy.

Kintaro tilted his head a bit, wondering what was going on. In the end, he followed Ryoma and Sakuno.

~xoxoxoxo~

"So?" Ryoma asked, wearing a stoic face.

"I like you, Ryoma-kun." Sakuno stuttered with a blush on her face. Ryoma maintained his cool but then Sakuno added, "But I decided to give you up to Tooyama-kun."

Ryoma's cool disappeared and his expression turned into a dumbfounded one. He muttered a small, "Huh?"

"Ryoma-kun would be happier with Tooyama-kun and nothing would make me happier than seeing the one I like happy." Sakuno continued.

"Wait, stop. I don't understand." Ryoma said, putting his hand up indicating a stop sign.

"Tooyama-kun told me that he liked you and that's when I decided this. So, I hope you and Tooyama-kun be happy for the rest of your lives." Sakuno continued her drama ignoring Ryoma's statement.

"What are you talking about, onigiri-chan?" Kintaro appeared. Sakuno faced Kintarou.

"Tooyama-kun, I'm giving up. You can have Ryoma-kun all to yourself. Please take care of him." Sakuno said, sniffing. She pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her eye dramatically.

"Wait, Ryuzaki." Ryoma said, "Even if jungle boy likes me, I don't reciprocate his feelings."

Sakuno turned to Ryoma wide eyed.

"I just don't swing that way." Ryoma added, his expression back to his usual stoic one.

Kintaro tilted his head to the side. He has no idea what the heck's going on.

"Besides, I reciprocate your feelings than jungle boy's." Ryoma added while looking away and scratching his cheek.

Sakuno covered her mouth in shock.

"But, I'm a boring person to be with. Tooyama-kun's talkativeness is better than the silence I bring." Sakuno said, looking down.

"I'd rather like the silence than noise." Ryoma said.

"T-Tooyama-kun would be hurt." Sakuno added, taking a glance at Kintaro.

"Eh? Why would I be hurt?" Kintarou asked innocently.

Sakuno blinked, "Because you said you like Ryoma-kun. Being rejected by the one you love would hurt."

"Love?" Kintaro blinked, his face wearing that of a child's. After a moment, Kintaro gasped, "No! You misunderstood! I only like Koshimae as a friend!"

Sakuno jaw dropped, "A friend?"

Kintaro nodded. Ryoma face palmed.

"Just friends."

End