KONNICHIWA MINNA-SAN! I am back with a one shot. I am not pretty sure why do I have such time to make one even though I am currently making two stories at the same time. (Absolute Couple and Crystal Teardrops) You can read them after this… well if you have FREE time I will truly appreciate it. For now please enjoy this one shot.

I know that she's crying all the time no need to repeat that...I just can't get enough with bullies… by hey there's him coming to the rescue… ^_^

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Prince of Tennis. Just my plot only.

Not Just a Fan

"Stay away from Ryoma-sama!"

Her ears were in pain as she always heard that to all of HIS fans. But the tone of their voices didn't escape her tremor she felt inside. She was asked to come with them at a certain area of the school premises. Of all the things, fighting is the least thing that she would do. She tried to defend herself;

"B-but I am just his fan… j-just like you-"

"Silence!" the girl with a large ribbon at the back of her head shouted causing her to leaned back on the wall, "If you are one, then how can a fan someone like you can approach the prince like some kind of a girl in love to him?"

"B-but that's because… he's talking to me."

"You are not allowed to talk to him in a casual way. You are not his property just to remind you that."

Sakuno reacted on their words, "I-I am not claiming that I am his property. R-ryoma-kun is my friend. W-we all know that his coach is my grandmother. There's no way that I can't do that."

"Then ignore him at all cost, if you don't want us to be your enemy."

"I-I just can't ignore him like that. I just can't."

She almost screamed when both of the girl's hands were smacked across the wall between her face, glaring at her as if she was ready to kill her with those stares. She was able to stare at the girl but she could sense danger from that stare.

"You ask for it." There were warnings that could be notice in each word that she verbalized.

Sakuno couldn't speak at that time. The girl smirked devilishly as if it saying a 'you-messed-up-with-the-wrong-person' thing to them. The girl suddenly backed away as they continued to smirk so crazily at her;

"I won't forget this day. Ryuzaki-san." The girl with the large ribbon said to her emphasizing her name. The other girls were glaring at her flamingly. She left with the other girls leaving her behind in that corner.

She sighed big after that incident. Really, why were all the girls came approaching her and ordering her the same thing? She was not that noticeable alright, but she was aware that he paid a bit of attention to her. It was not in a romantic way though; they talked for almost nothing except tennis. So why were they keep nagging her about that? She felt something not good was about to happen. Sure, she was bullied before but she felt that it was going to be different this time. She never felt scared like this. She almost jumped when she heard the school bell rang, meaning lunch break was over. She hurried back to her room trying to forget what happened just a while ago.

After Class:

"Sakuno!"

She looked back at her best friend who called her, "T-tomoka-chan, w-what's up?"

"What's up?" Tomoka eyed Sakuno as she mimicked her words, "What are you talking about, silly? And where are planning to go? The tennis court is this way." She said pointing the other side of the corridor.

"Uhmmm, I-I want to go home today." She said looking away from her.

Tomoka blinked her eyes twice, "Hey, are you sick? You must be joking." She placed her hand to her forehead. Sakuno flinched as she suddenly shoved the hand away from her forehead.

"S-stop that! I-I don't have fever." She was blushing already.

Tomoka grinned after a series of shocked because of what she did, "If you still have the energy of shoving my hand like that then you are fine. So come with me to the tennis court and let's cheer our prince, shall we?" without waiting for her reply, she grabbed her hand and forcedly taken away by her best friend.

Tennis Court:

The regulars were doing their warm-ups when they arrived to the court. That caused someone from the court to stop doing their warm-ups because of the loudmouthed girl;

"Stop neglecting yourself, you will not leave until you give me a valid reason."

"B-but Tomoka-chan, really. Nothing's wrong, I just want to go." Sakuno complained trying to free herself from Tomoka's grip.

"Well, well. What's this? What is happening here?" Fuji said approaching the two girls at the fence.

"Well Sakuno here said that she wants to go home. Senpai, this girl is acting weird since lunch break."

Sakuno reacted on her words. T-tomoka noticed. This can't be any worse. She looked away hoping that no one noticed her sudden reaction.

It was too late. A certain boy with cat-like eyes was looking at her from his warm-ups. Weird looked planted on his face as he examining her actions. He didn't know that Eiji and Momo were looking at him not far from the conversation between the three persons and heard everything. Momo called the youngest kouhai after a slight observation;

"Oi, Echizen!"

Ryoma turned to him with his prickly look.

"Did you do something to Ryuzaki-chan?"

"What?" he retorted. He stopped doing his warm-ups.

Sakuno and the other two whose with her reacted as well.

"Yeah, Ochibi! It is odd that she is not planning to cheer on you today." Eiji agreed to his kouhai's words.

"I did not." He said as he went back doing his warm-ups.

"Really? That's not what we are seeing?"

Everyone looked at him accusingly. Sakuno panicked as she tried to speak to defend the tennis prodigy;

"U-uhmm.. H-he's not the reason why I am going home. I-I am sorry for the trouble. I-I need to go now." She walked backwards as she said her next words, "I-I'll be cheering on you tomorrow, R-ryoma-kun. Ja." She started to run after saying that.

"Sakuno! Mou… " Tomoka put her hands to her waist as she watched her best friend running away from them, "Really, something happened to her. I can sense it."

Ryoma stared as if thinking something hard. He stood up and went out of the court. But before he could get away, Momo stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

"To buy a ponta." He quickly said as he started to run. Unknown to his knowledge, everyone was wearing a meaningful smile on their faces. Fuji smirked as he said;

"I hope the ponta that he's going to buy is flavored-grape."

Tezuka arrived and saw everything, "Everyone 50 laps, now!"

xxx

She was not yet getting far from the school when she stopped running. Why did she run away from them? It wasn't their fault that she was receiving threats anyway. She couldn't blame Ryoma on what was happening to her. The boy was so popular that they want him for themselves.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," She hit her head for a couple of times, "You are so stupid, Sakuno."

She almost jumped when someone placed a cold thing on her head. She turned around only to be surprised to see who it was;

"R-ryoma-kun!" she moved a few steps backwards.

"What's with that reaction?" Ryoma retorted, "You really ARE stupid."

Sakuno looked down, not looking at the tennis prodigy, "S-sorry."

Ryoma didn't say anything but he jerked something in front of her. She flinched when she saw a ponta placed upfront. It was the cold thing that she felt on her head just a while ago.

"Take it." He said in an annoying voice when she didn't move to get the can. She looked at him. The boy was drinking his while staring at her. She slowly took the can from his hand with both of her hands and said;

"T-thank you."

"What's bothering you?"

"Eh?" she looked up at him.

"Tell me." the boy said in a prickly tone.

Ryoma did his observation. How could he have such sharp eyes? She couldn't hide anything from him, can she? She was about to say something when she saw the girl with the large ribbon that she confronted earlier. The girl was sternly looking at her. She didn't know but the stare gave an impact to her. Then she caught her tongue.

"Hey."

Ryoma caught her attention when she didn't say anything. She looked at him once again and said;

"N-nothing, really Ryoma-kun. D-don't worry about me," She said as she took more steps backwards, "Y-you should go back to the court now o-or you'll miss your practice. S-see you tomorrow, then."

She run away before Ryoma could speak. He looked behind him and he saw a girl not far from him. The girl flinched and started to walk away from that area. He stared at the girl as she walked away. Thoughts suddenly build in his mind as he started to get irritated when the pieces of the puzzle were slowly putting together.

" Mada Mada Da Ne, Ryuzaki."

One Week Had Passed:

It hasn't been easy for Sakuno who was been avoiding unnecessary encounters between the girls and Ryoma himself for the past week. She didn't know how the girls managed to threat her by doing something scary things that no one could notice. She was being threatened by her torn out indoor shoes one morning, receiving letters of warnings with red ink which letters were all in capital, making her hurt in times of crowded events, being punished by sensei without defending herself, being locked up for four hours the previous days that only the school janitor took notice of her, and so on. It was all those girls doing… for keeping her friendship with Ryoma amidst being his fan. It was amazing that she managed to endure all of them although she felt scared all the same. She couldn't tell Tomoka or the senpais or even her grandmother about this. It was not such a big deal… really? Well in other's opinions it would probably was, that's why she hid it to herself. But the problem was… until when?

She didn't care what kind of threats that she was having from the fans of the person she admired. She was indeed lucky because Ryoma never laid his eyes to girls out there except her. At least he talked to her although in a stoic way but it was something that she could be proud of. He'd been asking her from her odd actions these past weeks but he kept telling him 'nothing, really' to him and to all the person whoever asked her the same question. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to believe her. They couldn't do anything since there was nothing to be proven yet.

You can not endure that whatever you are hiding forever. She could still remember Ryoma's words to her days ago. Tomoka also said the almost exact words as Ryoma said to her. They were right actually. She was beginning to worry. When everyone left the school, she meant everyone that she decided to think on how to solve her problems. She sat on the bench which was near the entrance gate. The school was awfully quiet now for it was almost closing time.

If staying away to Ryoma-kun will really help me? But that will upset me as well? It's not that we're actually friends but he talks to me alright. I just can't get the point of wanting them for me to avoid him. I am only his fan. Her eyes widened on the realization and she slowly looked down to look at her feet. That's right… only his… fan.

"You do have the habit of looking stupid, aren't you?"

She quickly looked up to see the person in front of her. Of all the people that she was expecting to see last was actually standing in front of her;

"R-ryoma… kun," she called his name unknowingly. She had to avoid this guy in front of her. She stood up when she realized that she was putting herself in danger again, "I-I am sorry… y-you are right. I am really stupid."

Ryoma didn't say anything. The girl bowed in front of him as she said her next words, "I should be going now, s-school's long over today."

She turned around as she attempted to walk away but a strong hand holding her wrist stopped her from walking, "R-ryoma-kun."

"Tell me everything." He said stoically, glaring accusingly at her.

"I-I have no-"

"Now!"

She flinched when he suddenly said that to her in an offensive tone, "I don't want you to get involved." She closed her eyes tightly looking away from him.

"Too late."

She looked at him automatically. She didn't say a word. Ryoma continued talking;

"You already got me involved, Ryuzaki."

She was worried now that he was provoking her to confess. The boy continued staring at her without letting go of her wrist. She felt his grip was tightening, no indication of releasing her unless she would tell him. She gave in finally, looking down. When he noticed that she wouldn't run anymore, he let go of her wrist. She sat up again and the boy sat beside her afterwards.

"It was… you fans." She started. She couldn't look at him instead she looked on the ground which she was found interesting to look at.

Ryoma sighed, "I already knew that."

"Eh!" The boy knew. If he did then why did he ask her to tell him? She looked at him this time. The boy was slouching beside her; both of his hands were in his pockets while looking at the sky.

"I know what was running into their minds, it's not new anyway."

"T-they threatened me. T-they will keep bullying me i-if-" she looked away as she couldn't say her next words.

"…If?" Ryoma waited for her.

She fidgeted with her fingers as if gathering some courage from them, "If I won't… stay away from… you."

Silence occurred between them. She could sense that Ryoma was staring at her for a long time. She began to blush when she noticed his stare.

"And you're acting weird because of that lame reason?"

She flinched as he said that, "Y-you're popular, I-it's normal for them to do that. They just want your attention."

"Well I don't want their attention."

Still looking down on the ground she said, "B-but not getting their attention will telling me more to-"

"Don't follow them."

"But Ryoma-kun I-"

"If they bully you, better tell me then." He made her look at him. He succeeded after all. Her eyes became widened as he was looking at her… seriously.

He's willing to help me? He thought. He was actually the reason why she was having a hard time dealing at school. But it was not such a bad idea. They boy was offering his help after all. She was worried and she could sense that a lot of threats would welcome her but it didn't matter anymore. He was on her side after all.

Next Morning:

She could sense the stare from the girls around her. It was accusingly pointed straight at her. She felt nervous but she tried to ignore those stares. Later a certain girl approached her and said;

"Ryuzaki-san, sensei asks you to go to the gym now." The girl said before running away from her.

"W-wait!" she tried to stopped her. She didn't know whose sensei she was talking about and why would her teacher asked her to go there? She decided to go there for her to find out.

She reached the gym but it was closed and she didn't know if it was locked or not. Her heart pounded hard as she approached the door of the gym. It was not locked as she noticed so she decided to open it;

"Sense-" she couldn't continue her words as an amount of cold liquid fell on her making her soaking wet. She couldn't react nor scream as she smelled something stinky from the water. She heard mocking laughs from the outside.

"How stink! Don't you know how to take a proper bath?" she heard a girl said from her back and a series of laughs once again.

"Serves you right, stinky dreamer." The other girl said.

She was stunned from her position not even planning to move. She decided that she would if they leave her alone. The smell was awfully bad that even her needed to cover her nose. She thought that she couldn't escape that situation if she wouldn't stay away from the prince. Maybe it was the wrong thing to rely on him.

What shocked her was the next action. Someone grabbed her wrist and spun her from a direction. Everyone was stunned on that person's actions. It was really fast that they couldn't react. They started to walk fast leaving those people behind.

They went to the nursery garden. Sakuno was the first to talk when the person released her wrist, "Y-you don't have to do this…"

"I told you that you should inform me if they bully you. Why are you standing there all stunned?" the person who grabbed her from the crowd, Ryoma, was holding a hose in his hand preparing to let the pressure on.

"But I just can't—Ah—Ryoma-kun—S-stop!" she said as she was being pressured from the water that was coming from the hose that he was holding. The pressure was not that heavy but it lessened the stinky smell in her body. The water was a bit warm that helped to take away the smell from her.

"Turn around." Ryoma ordered her.

She covered her face with her hands but she followed his order. She was soaking wet alright but it didn't matter anymore, "S-top it… please. I-I'm okay."

Ryoma didn't seem to stop instead he played with the water instead; he covered the opening of the water and made sprinklers out of it. He aimed it to Sakuno.

"R-ryoma-kun!" She was able to smile after that.

"WHAT A NICE SCENE YOU GOT THERE! OCHIBI!"

The two looked above at the same time. Eiji was waving at them from the third floor. Beside him were Momoshiro and Oishi. They could see a bit of Kaidoh's figure as well.

From the fourth floor, they could see Fuji and Inui looking at them as well, probably they heard Eiji's shout. They were both grinning as they saw the scene.

"So young, so young." Momoshiro grinned.

"Che" the show was over. He stopped doing his thing as he guided Sakuno inside the building.

"Ochibi, you're finished? Not fair."

"That makes a good show, Echizen." Fuji caught with his words. They could hear them saying their teases but they ignored it. Sakuno was blushing all the time.

"II Data." Inui said and as usual, recording what had happened in his notebook.

Later on:

Sakuno was taken care in the nurse's office the whole day. She asked Ryoma not to do anything to lessen the hassle. They made a different alibi much to Ryoma's disapproving look which the nurse bought. It was pretty amazing that Ryoma checked on her every time he was free. She was very thankful to him. She never regretted of being his fan.

Few days later:

Situations never been worst that this. Fear was haunting her sometimes that she couldn't tell Ryoma about it. It was her weakness that she couldn't fight back. Her friends kept telling her to fight back in the lead of Tomoka, of course. Her best friend even fought for her. That was her biggest weakness; she didn't want someone to get hurt or to fight just for her sake. That was the reason she always kept everything for herself. She didn't care if Ryoma would get mad at her. Her cowardness had drawn her to her downright. She had to make sacrifices that she didn't expect. And then her greatest fear came to her that day.

She was being dragged by the group of girls in to the corner in some part of the school. The area was pretty isolated that no one could notice even a certain young tennis prodigy.

"You are so brave because Ryoma-sama is always helping you." the girl in a large ribbon said.

"I-I didn't-"

"You are stupid. Didn't we tell you that you should stay away from him? Or do you want another show?" the other girl with short hair said.

"I-I'm trying to-"

"Shut up and listen to us!"

Sakuno flinched. She could sense that this was not good. She would easily break down. They almost made her to give up before, what more now?

"Just because he was acting nice and he always help you doesn't mean that he has a thing for you?"

She was about to say something but the girl slapped her hard causing her to irked from the pain.

"I told you to listen you idiot!" the girl was furiously mad, "don't think highly of yourself. Once he was done to you, he will get tired of you as well. Don't misunderstand his actions just because we were doing something bad to you."

"He was helping you out of pity. Maybe he felt guilty because he was talking to you… specifically."

Sakuno was shocked on their words. They were probably right. He was definitely involved in this situation. He was the main reason to all of this after all. So it was normal for him to feel pity for her.

"Distance yourself from him, just like a REAL fan of his. If you don't want him to cause any trouble, you do as we say."

Still holding her cheek which was the girl slapped, she noticed her tears fell down from her fingers. That hit her straight from the heart. She was a bother… to him. She was totally clueless that she was only giving him pain thinking about her sake. She looked down timidly and said;

"O-okay… I-I'll stay away from him."

"Repeat your words, hey make sure that you will record her voice by saying that" the other girl went closer to her and grabbed one of her pigtails and said, "Make it clearer, say Ryoma-sama's name."

She was forcedly looked up from the girl who was holding her braided hair. And it was totally breaking her heart to say her next words;

"I-I'll stay away from… R-ryoma-kun."

"Good." The girl released her. We will have this as evidence. If you broke this, you are dead."

Sakuno couldn't take it any longer. She managed to stare at them for a while before running away while she covered her face with her hands.

"This is pretty interesting. We managed to get her with this. Now she's over. Our main obstacle has wiped out." The girl with the large ribbon smiled devilishly. She was followed by the other girls and ended up laughing altogether.

"What did you say that was interesting?"

Everyone almost jumped when they heard the last person who spoke. The color of their faces turned pale as they recognized the person standing in front of them.

At the Theme Park:

She ran to the park as her feet brought her there. She sat on the swing as her tears won't seem to stop. She dashed her feet back and forth so that the swing would move with her body. She didn't know how long she had stayed there or how long she had cried in that swing. Her mind was elsewhere but she could still hear that someone sat beside her. She wiped her tears as she was not looking at the person concerning that the person would think how crazy she was.

"You look pathetic."

She was shocked when she recognized the person beside her, "R-ryoma-kun!" the boy was swinging the moving chair looking from a distance. She looked away as she said her next words, "W-why are you cutting your class?"

"You are cutting yours too."

"They won't notice me there anyway."

"You are not my classmate but why am I noticing you missing right now?" Ryoma said bluntly.

Sakuno reacted a little. Why was he doing this anyway? Wasn't he the reason of all this? Why didn't he just leave her alone? Why? There were lots of why's that she couldn't answer. She lowered her head as her tears were about to fall again.

"Don't keep it. It tires me to keep reminding you."

"It's okay… please stop it."

"I told you its too late for that."

"Ryoma-kun-" she looked at him only to be surprised that he was looking at her.

"I took all the evidences away. They won't bully you anymore."

"W-why are you doing this?"

"Because they are bullying you."

"They are just doing that because they admire you. They're your fans."

"I don't care about them."

"D-don't say that."

"I don't want any fan."

Sakuno was shocked. So he didn't like his fans roaming around him. Of course she could notice that as he was trying to avoid them at all cost.

"But I am your fan as well."

" … "

Sakuno continued when she sensed that he was not going to say anything, "And being a fan is hard for you are always talking to me but you didn't do to others."

" … "

"Please… don't do this to me. I-If you are going to be like that to others then… then please do the same to me," She looked down as her tears couldn't keep up, "s-stop doing things that they might misunderstand."

"Yadda!"

She suddenly looked up, "R-ryoma-kun-"

"Think whatever they like to think."

"But I-"

"It wasn't a misunderstanding after all."

"W-what do you-"

"I'd rather lose tons of fans than the risk of losing you."

Sakuno gasped. What was he talking about? She couldn't get it. The boy stood up and walked upfront, stopping in front of her swing where she was sitting.

"Why do you think that I am only talking to you and not to any other girl out there?"

"I-I don't know?"

"Why do I keep telling you not to bother with their words?"

"Ryoma-kun-"

"Why do you think that I keep forcing you to tell me everything?"

"Ah-"

"And why do you think that I keep protecting you from those bullies?" Ryoma raised his voice a little.

Sakuno was blushing between her tears. But she just couldn't get his point. The boy was staring at her all the time making the situation more awkward.

"I talked to them after you left and erased all those blackmails they did to you. I told them to stay away from you or else I'll make them pay."

"B-but why?"

"I told them to back off. Sure they asked me why. Do you know what my answer was?"

Still looking at him cluelessly, gripping the chains from the both of her hands, she asked, "W-what is it?"

He stared at her for along time. Instead of answering her question, he bent over and gave her a soft, long kiss on her lips. His hands were both on his pockets making his move so casual. He stayed there for a while before leaning back again.

It took for her to realize what had happened. Her eyes were slowly widened as she was left agape. She blushed a lot when she came to her senses to finally recognize on what he did.

"I told them,"

He stared at the blushing girl. The girl stopped crying and it was a good thing for him. The boy pinned his hat down and smirked as he said his next words;

"To me… you are not just a fan."

I just took a break from my stories. Wow I can't believe that I have time to write another one shot. Well I hope you liked this. I know it's long but included everything didn't I?

For my RYoSaku fics… you can visit my site. Most of them were finished and the other two are still on going… (Absolute couple and Crystal Teardrops) Free time guys and please read… Thank you very much… ^_^

Reviews Please! I am so please to reply to you as long as you have your account that I can pm. Be it a minute, a day, a week, a month or a year. I am so waiting for your reviews. Thank you… ^_^

~Mitsukijunko ^_^