A/N RyoSaku comes back again. Most of you know probablythat PoT has ended. And very unsatisfactorily... -sob sob-

But, thank goodness, fanfiction goes on. And who knows, just because Takeshi Konomi hasn't published it, doesn't mean he hasn't got stashes of RyoSaku manga pages hidden in his secret drawer –evil cackle-

Like I said before (actually I might not have O.o but whaever), I'm no pro English writer.I'm Chinese; I do not live in a English-speaking country, and so forgive me for the countless grammar and spelling mistakes (okay maybe not that 'cause I do spell-check). I'm not someone who wants reviews for the sake of showing it off to other more fantabulous writers on fanfiction, but reviews is one of the easiest, and best ways to express your concerns for my writing, for my story, for everything xD.

So if you got any opinions, don't hesitate to put them in reviews, because every opinion is valuable to my progress in English. I cringe at flames, but flames must have some sort of basis of truth in them. But, gosh, I would love it much more if you put it into constructive critism.

Anyways, I'm talking way too much. Hope you like this, RyoSaku fans ;)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Prince of Tennis

Note: Ryoma and Sakuno are in their last year of highschool. They're going to college next year. Ryoma doesn't live with his parents anymore; he has his own house and car. Why? 'Cause he's rich ;) And the only thing he doesn't have is a girlfriend (teehee). By the way, I'm not sure about the living accomodations in Japan, so don't know if this matches at all with Japan.


...((--))...

"Oii Echizen."

"…What."

"I hate to say this-"

"Say it."

"You've got bird shit all over your car."

"…"


"Ne, Sakuno, don't you think there's something wrong with Ryoma-sama lately?"The president ofa certain tennis prodigy's fan club (gosh it still exists)muttered to her best friend.

"Tomo-chan, I can't help you take notes forever. You should really pay more attention…" Sakuno said absent-mindly, her eyes glued to the whiteboard, her pencil case sprawled out, a pen in her hand and a highlighter on the table ready to attack. Tomoka grunted and slipped back into listening her psychology teacher rant on about the scientific reason to musings of the mind or whatever.

As students poured out of the school gates for home time, Sakuno took her time. Now that she wasn't in class, she took in the fact that she did, to some point, listen to what Tomoka had said, though she was not going to admit it to her. Well, she could always ask Momo... as Momo had always been really close to the tennis prince, and she knew that the spiky-haired senpai visited Ryoma very often.

She worked hard to come to this position in school; prefect and form representative, as well as disciplinary committee member. She was part of a number of different clubs too; the ETH (Environmental-Tree-Hugger) club, (A/N Gosh, do NOT get offended, environmental people! I'm an environmental person too – try to save electricity and water and everything ;) the 'Debate for Your Life' club, and of course, the girls tennis club.

Without Ryoma there to plague her thoughts and actions, she had no need to mirror his life.

-

Life without him was good.

-

-

Or so she lied to herself.


A tall spiky-haired teen jumped up and down childishly on the faded yellow couch, screaming wildly in front of the T.V.

"SCORE!" He roared out, punching the already frail leather sofa in satisfaction and triumph.

Ryoma stared at his old senpai. "You're buying me a new sofa, Momo."

Momo grabbed pillow and threw it at his face, sniggering until his face was smacked with the same pillow. Grinning, he pulled Echizen down onto the sofa and slung a casual arm around his shoulders. The sofa squeaked pathetically as Echizen sat down. It wasn't that he was super heavy or anything, but with the age and Momo jumping up and down, the sofa was reaching its retirement anyway.

"So, Echizen, how's life?"

"…You know already."

"Ahem. Well, let me phrase that again. How's your love life?" Momo shot Ryoma a sly look before taking a swig at his Coke bottle.

Ryoma did not bother answering him. The obvious being that he did not even have a love life. The college student let out a snort of laughter, which he quickly turned to exaggerating coughs after he caught sight of Ryoma's glowering face.

"You're so boring. You should really try and get yourself a girl. Or else by the time you wanna chase after this girl for marriage, and you have absolutely no experience at all about relationships," warned Momo, ignoring Ryoma's continuous glares.

Ryoma feigned a bored look. "Don't have time. And even if I did, I wouldn't. It hinders your aims and your dreams. And that's if you have any." The hazel-eyed teen drawled mockingly.

Momo flashed a comical angry look before saying, "Well, that's not what I really came here for anyway." He flicked what looked like car keys in the air and flung them at Ryoma. Ryoma caught them with ease.

He stood up too, staring at his old senpai, who was now only about a few centimeters taller than him. He had no idea why Momo was giving him his car keys, when he could get them himself out of the drawer when he needed them. What was he trying to say?

"Hn. Thanks."

"I was going to ask you, what you're going to do about your car?"

Ryoma blinked. "…What about it?"

"I told you on the phone this morning when I passed by here."

He still looked confused. Momo rolled his eyes. "Your car is really dirty. You should consider washing it. No one's going to be your girlfriend if you come picking them up with a bird shit covered Porsche."

Ryoma scowled. "…It's fine."

Momo snickered. "And by that, you mean you'll wipe it off with tissue and be done with it. Come on, dude, do you even know how to wash a car?"

"…"

Momo snickered."I take that as a no."


Ding Dong!

-

Ryoma got up grudgingly from his comfortable position in front of the T.V and swung open the door irritably, a pissed off look on his face.

"What do you want-"

"…A-Ano… R-Ryoma-kun…?" Sakuno unconsciously stuttered out.

Ryoma's expression turned from ticked off to slight surprise but was quickly covered with a blank look.

Meanwhile, the auburn-haired girl was cursing herself (in her head of course). She wasn't supposed to be stuttering! True, his face did look pretty scary just then, and she didn't like it when Ryoma was pissed; he was scary. But… she was supposed to be all cool and indifferent and professional in front of Ryoma! She had prepared for this since last night about what posture and personality she should take in front of Ryoma.

Apparently, it wasn't working.

Ryoma smirked. "Old habits just don't budge,do they?" Sakuno glared daggers at him. Then felt her heart thumping loudly at her confidence; she actually glared at her ex-crush?!

"…Since you're here, I suppose you better come in," Ryoma opening the door wider for her and leaving her to close the door behind her (A/N Bad example of a host xD). Sakuno stepped in his house, and refrained herself from gasping.

It was huge.

Well, bigger than her home anyway. What could she say? She lived with her grandmother.

Ryoma had disappeared somewhere, so she sat down on the couch, staring at her surroundings.

A ponta plonked down on the table in front of her.

"Thanks." She quickly said, hoping it sounded efficient and businesslike, even though to be truthful how much could you express through one word?

"Why did you come here?" Ryoma looked at her with the corner of his eye as he drank his ponta. Sakuno blinked.

"Momoshiro-senpai said you have domestic problems…" Sakuno began. "He said you needed help."

"…" Ryoma was speechless. Domestic problems?!

It sounded gay even thinking about it. Momo was so going to die. He was so going to smash him the next time he asks for a practice match. Okay, he sounded pretty childish. But seriously. Momo was not going to be alive after this. He'd make sure of that.

That bastard… his pro-tennis-I'm-good-at-everything image that Ryuzaki had of him was now instantly replaced by a 'Echizen Ryoma has domestic problems' image.

The almighty tennis prince does not have any problems!! Ryoma watched Sakuno stare at him with a questioning look, knowing that she was probably thinking 'What the hell? The guy I've been admiring for the entire decade of my life doesn't know how to mop the floor? Or something like 'don't know how to wash a car.'

Which was the truth.

He wrenched his gritting teeth open to reply, "Whatever the fuck you've heard from Momo is a load of shit."

Sakuno cringed. Ryoma sure did know how to swear properly. "Well… y-you don't need me here. I need to catch a bus anyway…" She stood up without facing Ryoma and turned to leave.

Ryoma grabbed her wrist before she could even make one step forward. He pulled her in, making her gasp and blush, the exact reaction he had expected from her. He whispered into her ear, "I didn't say anything like that."

Sakuno pulled away to catch her breath, because she felt Ryoma's breath was suffocating her. In actual terms, it was making her heart beat faster. She shook her head mentally. This was her ex-crush.

Meaning she was over him. Over him twenty centuries ago, as she liked to say to herself.

She was not supposed to be acting like this. "...What is the problem?"

Ryoma's face turned blank and indifferent; all traces of his oh-so-sweet actions gone.

"My car's covered in bird crap."

"Like, really covered?"

"No."

Sakuno was hesitant. She wasn't sure if Ryoma was still angry or not. She paused.

"Then what?" She said, slowly. "What about it?"

Ryoma jerked his head towards his car parked outside.

-

-

They stood next to the Porsche. Sakuno walked around the car, staring disbelievingly at it.

Small but not lacking in frequency; yellow, dried-up bird… excretion was all over the windows, especially on the windshield. There was a giant dried blob smack right on the middle, which would clearly hinder you from driving properly.

You'd probably end up losing your life because of bird crap. It could happen.

There were black and dark brown (dried up) splats that decorated the back and front, efficiently ruining the once was cool yellow Porsche. Now, don't ask why Ryoma chose yellow. He just did.


Peals of laughter split from Sakuno as she rinsed the towel under the tap.

Ryoma glowered at her. Sakuno subsided, before saying rather incredulously, all shyness forgotten, "You mean all those eighteen years of your life and you'd never washed a car?! Ever??"

"…Hn."

Sakuno threw him a rinsed wet towel over to the other side of the car where Ryoma was standing and waiting. He looked bored, but Sakuno knew it was just a cover-up face for embarrassing situations like these.

"Ano, Ryoma-kun, I'm going to pour soapy water over the car again okay? You wipe with that towel…" Sakuno said without looking up. She wasn't stuttering, and she was glad that she wasn't, because inside, her heart was beating fast. So fast.

-

-

It was an odd situation to be in. The first time, since four years of avoiding and confusion of feelings on both sides (though neither was admitting anything yet) that they were alone together... was washing a car.

The irony of it all.

Sakuno smiled inwardly. Despite that she laughed about it, where Ryoma was shamefully humiliated, she found it extremely cute and endearing.

She lifted her bucket of soapy water and threw it across the car, watching the water droplets fall with a great splatter across the yellow car. The girl was about to reach down to fill another bucketful when she heard a distinct colourful word that presumably came from Ryoma's mouth.

She looked up in puzzlement and slight concern. "Are you okay, Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma shot his head up, his hazel eyes narrowed. "Thanks for the shower, Ryuzaki."

Sakuno let out a gasp and slapped her hand over her mouth. His whole body was drenched, from head to toe.

His green tendrils were dripping wet, his shirt clung to his well-built abs and his shorts also seemed to… further sketch out his lower re-

Sakuno slapped herself. Literally.

Ryoma stared at her, a speech bubble practically forming over his head, 'This girl's a nut case.'

The chocolate-orbed girl was furiously berating herself for letting such thoughts invade her mind. What was she thinking?! She was going crazy. Yeah, that was it. A full-grown blush spread across her cheeks.

Ryoma continued to stare in amazement until he realized what was going on. He licked his lips, making sure he made the sound nice and loud so Sakuno could hear it. Oho, he sure knew what she was thinking.

Ryuzaki had clearly reached a point where she could no longer hold onto her raging teenage hormones. Though he had to say, (not aloud) that she had grown a lot more sensual, in terms of clothing (he just happened to notice, that was all) and movement (the way her ass was mov- What was he thinking?!)

In a flash he was next to her, standing so close to her that he could feel her skin against his.

Sakuno was very uncomfortable with this position, but she had to stay calm. She had to act like she didn't care wherever he stood. It was hard when the loud thumping of her heart was practically giving her away.

"…You look… deliciously… hot…" He breathed out into her ear, making her shiver and tingles to go up and down her spine. Sakuno held her breath in. If her heart was beating fast just now, it was nothing compared to this. Her head was spinning from all the heat.

Correction. Body Heat. Ryoma.

In the next split second Sakuno felt a wave of immensely cold water had just slapped her in the face.

Precisely, the green-haired imp had filled a bucketful of water (not soapy though) threw it at her, successfully turning her into the same 'cold' situation as her car-washing partner.

Oh he was so going to pay for this. (And so the mega water fight began)

-

-

Splash.

"Ryoma-kun...!!"

Smirk.

"Mada mada dane."


"…I'm going home, Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma gave aslight nod, and opened the door for her. Sakuno turned to look at him.

Sakuno smiled. She turned and walked away.

"Ryuzaki."

Sakuno turned around slightly.

Ryoma was running. Jogging.

Echizen Ryoma, her ex-crush, mega hottie-prodigy was running towards her.

And before she could react to anything or say anything, warm lips met her forehead. The heat of those lips spread like fire, warming up her whole body.

Especially her cheeks.

She stood, motionless, letting the texture of those lips sink in and make a mark in her memory.

Ex-crush? No.

She still loved him. And she knew it.

"Thank you."

She broke into a smile.

-

-

-

The faint beginnings of a love-filled future, and plenty more car washing to come…

...((--))...


A/NIf you're wondering why Ryoma's car is parked outside and not inside, is because he likes to show off his car, and this is actually a secret but… Ryoma's bad at parking xD. So he never bothers to put it in his garage. Haha. See, prodigies do not excel at everything ;)

So how was it? Was the ending too corny? Please review!! I really want to know you guys feel about it… my writing skills are rusting, and I would really appreciate you for reviewing! I'd love it even if it's one sentence, because I know you're expressing your opinions of my story to me – so please review!

Thank you for reading ;)