Out of Reach, a prince of tennis fanfic

Whee here goes my first challenge. n.n This is going to consist of 12 different fics and they will all be posted here in chapters.Anyway, enough chatter now since I've been inactive with myself for long enough! -bows-

Set + Theme: set #2, theme #12 - one night stand
Disclaimer/Claimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis.
Summary: Wallowing in a swamp of misery, the unexpected happens. This is going to be life changing...

Out of Reach

He lost.

"Game and match, Kawasaki middle school's Kanzaki, six games to four."

The cheers in the crowds were split into two halves the moment the result of the game was decided. One half was celebrating on the winner, Kanzaki's victory, while the other was absolutely shocked with a kind of confused devastation unlike any you'd ever seen before: he had lost.

Ryoma had lost.

Ryoma. Had. Lost.

Oh my God.

Nobody at the moment could bring themselves to believe it, and yet, the cruel face of reality was right before their eyes.

Within the audience, a pair of hazel eyes blinked at the scene put before her, startled by the ball that had failed to get to the other side of the net. Having known Ryoma for over two years now (no, she didn't really know him), she was really taken aback by the error he had made.

It wasn't like the results of Ryoma's matches mattered so much to Sakuno as it had used to matter, but yet, this was really different. The two of them were not more than mere acquaintances these days and they hardly even exchanged a conversation, but even then, this bitter sadness radiating from every other person who had been cheering for Seigaku, had reached the 15 year old girl; misery draped over her like a heavy blanket.

You're a loser.

The disappointed part of the audience were already turning away to leave, not even bothering to give one last look at both the victor and the failure. Ryoma could only stare blankly at nowhere in particular, making failing attempts to piece his sanity back together and walk up to the net for the compulsory handshake.

You're just a loser.

If one hadn't understood what letting people down and feeling like a useless piece of trash on the street that everyone stepped on, one would understand now. Ryoma didn't even feel his grip on his racket loosen; he didn't even hear it hit the ground, making the loneliest sound anyone had ever heard. He felt extremely uncomfortable but he couldn't even move. He stood there for the longest time, until everyone had left—yet, Ryoma didn't even notice that.

You're just another one of those pitiful, pitiful losers.

When he stopped staring blankly at the empty spaces in the air, it was already at least an hour after the match was over and it was only then that he decided that he really wanted to leave this tennis court. He gathered his belongings and made his way to the changing rooms included within the sports facilities.

Sakuno had always wanted to be a little less clumsy. If that want could be measured on a scale of one to ten with ten being the strongest, then her want for it right now had to be fifteen.

Why?

It had taken her three times longer than usual to get home today because of a traffic jam while she was the bus. She had stumbled along the path from the bus station to her own home only to drop her bag which had its zip opened. This caused all of her belongings to scatter all around the floor (all in the middle of the road) and she had to pick everything up carefully. A car came while she was picking something up and it almost crashed into her despite the driver having pressed the brakes like his life depended on it. When she finally picked everything up and arrived home completely disheveled, a very bad feeling hit her and she checked her bag…

…

… she had left her assignment notes that she needed for her work due in tomorrow morning at the courts! So that was what those random pieces of paper suddenly appearing next to her were… she just knew there was something fishy about her bag being opened in the first place!

So Sakuno took another extra special long trip back to the tennis courts the tournament was held in; through getting lost near the courts and then walking at least five circles around the same area, she finally obtained her notes from the place next to where she had sat.

At least she got these papers back in one piece.

A cold (almost icy) wind blew across the tennis courts. Sakuno paused from her celebration of finding her notes back and glanced at the tennis court itself for a brief moment. The memories from just over an hour ago came back to her and started becoming alive in her head. From the moment Ryoma's special tennis technique didn't get pass the net to the moment many people turned their backs to the loser. Apart from feeling the disappointment from the crowd, she also felt the strong despair that Ryoma himself emitted. Out of everybody who had been to the match and had been there until the end of it, Ryoma was definitely the saddest, the most disappointed, and the most broken of them all.

Even Sakuno herself felt a flicker of sympathy for Ryoma; quietly inside her mind, amidst all of the thoughts that were going through her at that moment, she hoped that he would be able to recover quickly from this swamp of sadness.

After nodding to herself at her own thoughts about the match and to her success of getting her notes back, Sakuno began to make her way out of the tennis courts.

Even after taking a shower, changing out of his sweaty tennis clothes and sitting on the benches in the changing rooms for a short while feeling sorry for himself, Ryoma still didn't feel any less crap.

As he left the changing rooms, walking outside and exhaling a little harder than usual, he stopped on his tracks suddenly and leaned limply onto the metal railings that were conveniently right outside of the changing room door.

It was like what people meant when they said 'speaking of the devil', because just after the thought of Ryoma went through her mind, there he was not so far away leaning onto the railings like he couldn't support his own weight. Sakuno made her way to his slumped figure by instinct… but she didn't know that she would soon regret it.

"Ryoma-kun," she had called him by the way she had used to call him. She didn't know why 'Echizen-san' hadn't come out of her mouth instead.

He looked up, thinking that someone had called his name. The voice was soft, gentle, almost soothing. The kind that he wanted to hear telling him that he didn't actually lose and it was all just a terrible lie.

You're a loser.

But the thought just wouldn't get out of his head. The tennis courts where he had lost his battle were just in front of his eyes and it was difficult to think of something else when the memory of it was so clear in your mind—and it keeps replaying itself, it keeps showing you that same depressing scene, over and over again.

Ryoma pressed his towel onto his forehead, lifting the hair that covered his eyes up. The coolness of it contrasted with the heat of his skin. The towel traveled slowly down to his face, down his neck, and then his arm relaxed again and the towel dropped onto the ground.

He wanted someone to tell him that he was not a loser.

You're just a loser.

He wanted to know that it wasn't his fault that Seigaku wasn't able to get to the Nationals this year. He wanted to know that he hadn't let his team down. No, he hadn't. It was just a huge mistake; that Kanzaki person had won by sheerluck.

You're just another one of those pitiful, pitiful losers.

He just couldn't admit that he had lost now. He couldn't do this. He couldn't let go so easily…

You broke that promise.

"Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno said once again. He hadn't responded to her first call, and now, he's looking even worse than he had looked just one moment ago. He dropped his towel on the floor without even realising it and let alone picking it back up. Sakuno was starting to wonder why he had taken this loss so badly. A frown furrowed on her face as she walked closer to him and stopped in front of his barely standing figure.

"Ryoma… kun?" and again she said. If he didn't respond this time, she's going to leave.

To Sakuno's dismay, the proud prodigy looked up slowly, raising an eyebrow at her as he did so, trying to figure out the identity of the person in front of him.

The raised eyebrow, however, relaxed into nothing after about three seconds. Sakuno watched as a blank expression spread gradually over Ryoma's face and it just stayed like that.

She hated to admit it, but she was a little concerned, "Are you all right?"

"Are you all right?" she had asked. Ryoma didn't give much of a response but looked down and away again. He was obviously not all right; he knew that much.

However, Sakuno had used that same voice again. The voice he wanted to hear telling him…

"It's all right, you didn't really lose completely. It's the fight that counts, remember?" she started. Ryoma stared at her, amazed at what she said. Did she read his mind or what?

This time, he opened his mouth to say something, deciding that it didn't matter if he enlightened the girl with auburn hair a little, "I let my team down." It was that simple.

Sakuno began to understand what it was all about and she decided to try her best to cheer this completely wasted-looking prodigy up, "Your team understands that it's okay to lose." Her statement was blunt; it was almost as though she was saying that Ryoma himself didn't understand.

"But I lost."

"What's the big deal?" Sakuno replied a bit too fast. Now she was sounding a little impatient because Ryoma was being so overly harsh on himself. Sakuno had lost plenty of matches, and not only matches, she had lost plenty of other things too and she never had the time and energy to mope around like this spoilt captain was. What kind of captain was he if he was the one doing this?

Ryoma shook his head, "You don't understand." A bitter smile found its way to his lips and he avoided eye contact with Sakuno.

Silence ensued. Neither of the two said anything nor had anything to say. They had completely different points of view on this and what meant something to Sakuno didn't mean as much to Ryoma. There wasn't even a clash.

The leaves rustled on the ground as the same cold wind blew across the tennis courts and the area around it. Sakuno looked at the direction the leaves were heading and her eyes went soft suddenly, like there was a sudden flash of understanding had hit her again. Maybe there was more to Ryoma's story.

"Ne…" she began, her voice just as soft as her eyes, "Can you… tell me?" Her eyes looked into his intently, his golden orbs staring straight back at her. Their gazes locked for a short moment before he responded with slight hesitation, but not enough to stop him from speaking.

"I promised," he began, "I promised Tezuka-buchou, and everyone else, that I would lead the team to the Nationals once again."

Ryoma hesitated some more, as to wonder whether or not he should continue, but words started pouring out of his mouth before he knew. The things that he had wanted to say, things that he wanted people to understand, but he couldn't explain…

"That day… we all had a smile on our faces…"

The memory flashed back to Ryoma's mind: the image of the corners of Tezuka-buchou's lips slightly more upturned than usual; those of Seigaku jumping around in excitement of their win; Ryoma's senpai-tachi tackling each other in happiness…

"… We had won the Nationals as a team that day. And that was when I swore, in front of everyone, that I would lead the team to the Nationals again. Everyone believed in me." Ryoma paused, if you squinted, maybe you'd see his lip quiver for this tiny fraction of a second, but otherwise, there was no other emotion.

"They all made me promise it. So I did, and I was confident that I could do it…" He was saying more than he had intended to, but now he couldn't really stop. He looked up at Sakuno with his eyes wide opened like a child seeking forgiveness. His hair was messy and what looked like remnants of tears filled the corners of his eyes, "And yet, I couldn't win. It's my entire fault. If that ball went over the net the game could have been saved…" He couldn't even bring himself to say that he had lost. Ryoma was starting to hate himself.

"I broke my promise." He ended simply, shortly, with a sentence and his face filled with regret and disappointment. Sakuno couldn't bring herself to say anything; all she could do was give Ryoma's shoulder a reassuring pat, but even that didn't seem quite reassuring.

She was about to take her hand back from Ryoma's shoulder when she realised that her hand wasn't quite moving and Ryoma's grip had encircled itself around her wrist.

She was pulled suddenly towards Ryoma himself and before she could even gasp, Ryoma had rested his head on Sakuno's shoulder despite Sakuno's silent protests (that he either ignored or didn't notice at all.)

In spite of all her efforts to remain neutral and just not, I repeat, just not react so much to the fact that Ryoma's head was currently on her shoulder, a faint blush had crept up to her face. Oh, it had been so long since she had last blushed because of Ryoma, but this time, he had forced her to.

"Ryoma-kun—" she was about to do an open protest when she was interrupted.

"Just a moment," he said softly, "I'm just borrowing it for a moment."

The image of Ryoma's wide, innocent, broken eyes flashed back into Sakuno's mind. His near-crying state was something that she had never even thought of seeing, and yet, there it had been. He was like a lost child, and Sakuno couldn't help it, she couldn't be cruel at all.

Ryoma really did it sometimes. Sakuno just completely gave in and placed her hand gently on Ryoma's head, stroking it instinctively like she was telling a little boy that it was okay and mummy wasn't angry.

"It's okay now, Echizen-buchou…" she said softly, her words almost in a whisper, "Your team, Tezuka-buchou, and every other one of us, are all proud to have you as a captain."

From hearing that, Ryoma slowly lifted his head up; his eyes staring into Sakuno's brown ones and their faces very dangerously close. His eyes were wide and they looked up at Sakuno like it was trying to seek for reassurance of what she had said. After he was sure that Sakuno wasn't lying, a small smirk escaped his lips.

In his slumped position, his weight still placed on the railings behind him, he placed both his hands on Sakuno's shoulders and stretched up, at the same time leaning in so their noses made contact.

Sakuno, to her own surprise, didn't resist.

When Ryoma sealed the gap between them gently, it was as though time started moving backwards. Old and neglected memories and emotions began to stir. Feelings from the past aroused and especially for Sakuno, this was going to change the rest of her year's school life, possibly the next, and the next, and the next…

So yeah, why hadn't she resisted? Hadn't she moved on? Hadn't she thought that she was already way beyond these feelings and that her crush for him was just a stupid spur of the moment thing that wasn't even worth her time? Then why did she let it happen? Which part of her stopped her from slapping him and walking away?

Did this mean… that she was going to start liking this tennis prodigy again? Then what's going to happen from now on?

Questions, questions, questions, and no answers, were all punching around Sakuno's mind at the moment. She was confused, happy, sad, even more confused, and very, very indulged.

Suddenly, it was like nothing mattered anymore. Sakuno was kissing Ryoma and it felt good—that was all she knew. She placed everything that was swishing around in her head at the very back corner of her personal filing cabinet and just decided to give in to the present.

A while after this, Sakuno was going to realise: The truth had always been at the very back of her mind, placed somewhere isolated, even farther back than the most deserted filing cabinet in her head.

She was not way beyond this boy, she was too far behind.

A week after the incident, Sakuno found herself staring into space during class. She wasn't particularly great at academics, but she was one of those students that would work very hard, and was definitely not the type to stop concentrating (or at least cease to try.)

Yet, a particular tennis prince's (like his fan club would call him) words echoed through her mind. Somehow, he had gained a little more significance in Sakuno's head over the past week and Sakuno had actually begun to respect him a bit more (she had been polite to him before, but to be honest, it was nothing more than that.)

He had worked hard for his team, and he even took all the responsibility and disappointment of the loss in the Kanto Tournament (not being able to reach the Nationals.) Sakuno really hoped that those of the tennis club would look up to him not as a loser, but as some kind of hero. Well, maybe not that great, but they should at least look up to him, in some way.

Sakuno had been trying her hardest to take the memory of what happened after Ryoma had spoken to her out of her mind for the longest time. She really didn't expect him to do that, but she didn't expect herself to not resist, either.

She didn't know what to think, really. Ever since the day she had talked herself out of her own crush and vowed to be more independent, she hadn't really thought about Ryoma anymore. Now that everything she had carefully 'forgotten' had returned, it was difficult to sort everything out all at once.

Sakuno hadn't actually conversed with Ryoma a single time after that incident. They hardly even see each other. They weren't in the same class and Ryoma spent most of his time with the tennis club (sorting out the groups and everything that made him busy like that). He never ate lunch with the old first year (now third year) trio anymore. Since it had never been convenient, Sakuno just never had the chance.

He was so far away.

It suddenly occurred to Sakuno that the kiss might as well have meant nothing. He could have just been being the cocky bastard he always was and just took advantage of her.

Up to that point, Sakuno actually twitched a little at the absurdity of it, because then, that would make her an easy person and she didn't like that.

She wouldn't admit to herself though, that some tiny part of her at the very deep part of her mind had actually felt sad; not that she took any notice of it.

Then, Sakuno's mind finally came up with a comparison that was sounded very correct to her, no matter how much she didn't want it to be true.

That kiss, the incident, and all the emotions that had been wrapped up with it, reminded Sakuno of a one-night-stand.

It was short, sweet, sudden, and it meant nothing.

Shuddering at the harshness of reality, Sakuno was woken up from her thoughts by the bell that marked the end of the day. Sighing as she packed up, she wondered how long her homework load today was going to take her.

Shoving the thoughts of a certain tennis prodigy to the very back of her mind, she left the classroom swiftly after a few polite good-bye greetings.

Walking along that path that supposedly lead you out of the school, Sakuno was fighting hard against her own will so that her head wouldn't be clamped up with thoughts she didn't want there on her way home. She's never going to have a peaceful day again. Without even looking at where she was going, she found herself walking straight into something hard and metallic a moment later.

When she opened her eyes to say sorry to whatever she had accidentally bumped into, she realised that she had actually landed herself at the place that she didn't want to be at the most.

She just couldn't believe it. Someone up there seriously didn't want things to go her way today. (That Someone didn't let things go her way normally, either.)

Mou… it was hard enough fighting herself already, and now she had to put herself though this!

Sakuno stared in dismay at the tennis courts. The tennis club just started and the members were lined up neatly in rows and columns. Facing them at the very front was Sakuno's grandmother and that familiar, stubborn person with that very familiar cocky expression on his face (and the even more familiar white cap on his head that he wore practically all the time when he wasn't forced to take it off.)

Ryoma stepped up and began speaking to the members. Sakuno subconsciously went closer so that she could get a better look at Ryoma and also listen to what he was saying.

"… and although we hadn't gotten into the Nationals Tournament this year, surely, if you all work harder after this, we will eventually get there again. Although next time, I wouldn't be leading you all… but you can do it, I'm sure."

Ryoma paused from his speech and his eyes scanned around the area a little, even though he didn't know what he was looking for. This was when Ryoma had caught a girl with auburn braids staring from outside of the courts, her hand clasping onto the metal fence of the courts and her expression almost surprised.

Her eyes widened with even more surprise when she saw that he had found her and she started mumbling incoherently to herself, wondering when she had actually moved closer to the gathered members of the club. An evident blush of embarrassment crept onto her face and she forced herself to look away when the captain smirked infamously and adjusted his white cap so it covered his head a bit more.

Then he continued his speech before the club members in front of him began wondering why the captain had suddenly stopped (and before they turned around to look at what he was looking at.)

"And there is another person that I would like to thank," the captain continued, his smirk not leaving his face, "I know that most of you were very sad over our loss in the Kanto tournament, but I would like to say that, like all of you, I was also very disappointed at myself at my own loss."

Ryoma paused to think about how he should continue. The students standing in neat rows in front of him started to wonder what their captain was about to say. They were already surprised enough that their captain had actually admitted that he was flawed.

"… However, when a pillar crumbles, everything that it had been supporting would fall as a consequence as well… before that could happen though, a person had arrived and stopped everything from falling just in time," Ryoma glanced over at Sakuno for a quick second, "I would like to thank Ryuzaki Sakuno for her support when we hit rock bottom."

A couple of third years at the back of the group grinned, they were surprised, but they had grinned knowingly. Sumire raised an eyebrow at the mention of her granddaughter but soon nodded in slight understanding.

So this is when those two will finally admit it. Well, it took long enough.

Ryoma flashed a glare at the grinning trio at the back row warning them that if their grins didn't disappear right at the moment, they were in for some seriously deep shit.

However, that was not it. From behind Ryoma, unexpected whistles and cheers were being made. Ryoma spun around wondering who could possibly be making these noises at the school, only to find that the older Seigaku regulars had actually returned.

Placing a miffed look on his face with his eyebrows twitching expertly, Ryoma successfully hid the surprise that could have been written on his face. He spun around back to face the members in slight embarrassment, pulling his cap down record low to cover up whatever ridiculous out-of-character expression that was on his face. Seriously, why were they here at this time?

But he still found himself feeling slightly guilty, even now, for not keeping his promise.

"Ochibi!!" someone Ryoma immediately recognised from the nickname suddenly yelled, "We're proud that you're our Ochibi!!!"

Oishi smiled apologetically at Ryuzaki-sensei and Ryoma. Everyone else nodded in agreement to what had Eiji said and Momo had his hands on his hips, grinning with approval.

Ryoma's gaze at his senpai-tachi slowly shifted to Tezuka-buchou and this was when he noticed that, if he really squinted and if he was not imagining things, the corners of Tezuka's lips were actually slightly upturned.

Ryoma turned back to his club members and smiled not-so-obviously but it was still obvious. Out of the corner of his eye, Sakuno was blushing even more than she had been blushing before, staring at her shoes and not knowing where to look.

The moment that she had decided to glance up for a bit though, Ryoma had caught it and he had mouthed a quick 'thank you' to her. Any other person probably would have thought that Ryoma was just muttering to himself, but Sakuno smiled sincerely and a little shyly at him, a smile that she hadn't really smiled for quite some time.

So maybe it wasn't so much of a one-night-stand after all, and the thing that Sakuno had really come to realise after all this, was not that Ryoma was too far ahead of her, but the fact that she never had a legitimate reason to stop liking this tennis prodigy.

Also, talking herself out of a crush that she really liked so much just didn't work.

This time, she nodded in true agreement to herself and her own insight and found herself smiling at that said tennis prodigy that was currently walking beside her on the way home.

She's finally on her way home.

--End--

Thank you for reading!! I can't begin to say how relieved I am to be able to post up the first fic for this challenge. Aaah, indeed, this is going to take a long time.

For those that might be confused, this fic takes place 2 years after when Ryoma and Sakuno are 15 and are both third years in Seigaku. Sakuno's crush for Ryoma has died down due to many reasons, but the main one being the fact that she couldn't keep up with him. However, she gives herself excuses to make herself think that she is in fact beyond Ryoma, which is why she gave up. She finds out that it isn't true, but in the end, it's all good. ;)

Anyway, that's one down eleven to go. I don't know how long 11 fics is going to take me... in fact, I don't know how long updating the next fic is going to take me... maa, see you again soon ne!