Have you ever been in love?

She watched silently from behind the fence of the tennis courts, in her hands, she clutched tightly a couple of books. It was a cold, February morning, and it was on mornings like these she loved to stay at the tennis courts watching a young boy practice with his seniors. But that was a long time ago, she thought. That was when she thought she was in love.

But she wasn't really. It was just a stupid crush, something she made such a big deal of in her early teens. Reality had shown her what love was. It was her parents, who, on their wedding day, promised they'd love each other forever, till death do them part. Yet years down the road, they'd gotten a divorce, because her father'd been having an affair. It was her previous few boyfriends, all of whom had told her that they were in love with her. In the end, she'd found them, arms around other girls.

Love was nothing. Zero. Just like what a certain boy had told her years and years ago. Love meant zero in a match. You could never win with a zero. She'd concluded, in the short twenty years of her life, that the same concept applied everywhere. Even in the game of love. You'd still be on the losing end no matter the effort you put in it.

Ryoma had taught her that.

He was on the tennis courts, still practicing as hard as ever. She stared at him for a while and decided that he hadn't changed a bit. High school had just been his probation period. Now, in university, he was cockier than ever.

He stopped playing when he caught sight of her lurking around the courts, and he slipped an apologetic look to his opponent. A quick sprint to the door of the court and he caught up with her.

"Sakuno"

"Hello, Ryoma."

He ran his eyes over her, studying her.

"What are you doing here?"

She stared at him like he was stupid. "We have a project due in three days."

"So?"

"We haven't started on it yet."

"Okay. So?"

"My apartment. Tonight. Seven." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, and don't be late."

"Your apartment? What's wrong with mine?"

"Because my garbage can is way cleaner than your apartment..."

He rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Okay, as I was saying... Don't be late. Bring your books." She turned to go, but just had to be in hearing range of his voice.

"Sakuno... such a fierce girl..." A grim smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Whatever happened to the shy girl I knew eight years ago?"

"She grew up." She muttered. "And she doesn't like you very much."

With that, she left the courts, leaving behind a still smiling Ryoma.

"Oh, that'll certainly change..." He thought, going back to retrieve his racket and resume play.

At precisely two past seven, the doorbell to Sakuno's apartment rang. She opened it and felt rather disappointed that it wasn't Ryoma.

Instead, it was the landlord's son who kept trying to pick her up with cheesy lines from Hallmark cards. Seriously. It was freaking her out.

"Sakuno! Long time no see..."

"Kenshi? We saw each other this morning."

"Well... It seemed like forever since morning! You look really pretty tonight."

She glanced down at her oversized sweater and jeans and sighed. "Okay, Kenshi, what do you want?"

"How 'bout a date?"

"No."

"Two dates?"

"No."

"A cup of sugar?"

"No- sugar? For what?"

"Oh. My mother's baking and she ran out of sugar."

"Just like yesterday when she ran out of flour?"

"That was yesterday?" Kenshi scratched his head. "Oh. I guess so."

Sakuno sighed. "Kenshi, I'm really sorry, but you've got to stop disturbing me. It's getting annoying. I'll see you tomorrow okay? Goodnight."She slammed the door in his face.

She went to the fridge and took out some asprin. She figured she'd be prepared, since she predicted a huge migraine coming on.

And, of course, the bell chose that exact moment to ring. She stormed over to the door and opened it angrily.

"Kenshi, I thought I told you-"

"Woah. Did I come at a bad time?"

She looked up to see Ryoma in a plain shirt and loose jeans, carrying a few books in under his arm.

"Oh. It's only you. Come in."

The inside of her apartment was neat, much neater than his. He drew his attention to the huge bookshelf at the corner of the room and set down his books at the coffee table.

"Wow. You read a lot?"

"Yeah. It's a habit."

He picked up a novel which had been discarded at the end of the shelf and gazed thoughtfully at the cover.

"Hey... I didn't know you read romance novels..."

Sakuno's head jerked up. Oh shoot. She had forgotten to return that to Tomoka.

"I don't read them..." She said, slightly irritated. "Tomoka forced me to borrow it..."

"Oh."

Sakuno's eyebrow went up a notch. What? No sarcasm? Not even a tiny joke on the suggestiveness of the novel?

Maybe he had been smoking weed... or taking drugs... or-

"Sakuno? Can we start now?" A fairly annoyed voice cut her out of her thoughts, and she found herself staring back at Ryoma.

"Okay." She grabbed her book off the couch. "Let's get started."

Two hours later, they'd finished nearly half of their project and Ryoma was flat out bored. He shot a glance at the girl who sat across from him, and she still seemed to be hard at work, flipping through pages and taking down notes at the same time.

He studied her for a while and took in everything about her; her deep brown eyes which once held affection for him, her hair, falling just slightly below her shoulders, her lips, soft, inviting...

He caught himself just in time. No. It was just wrong of him to think of her in that way. He bit his lip slightly, in his mind, a battle raged wild. However sad it may have sounded, he just wanted to grab the stupid girl and kiss her. She was so distant from him, it showed in her eyes. How they alwaysclouded when they looked into his. It got him confused. And he wasn't one for confusion. He just wanted it flat out, right in front of him.

Damn. He got it bad.

"I'm gonna get a drink..." He said. She looked up at him and shrugged, following him into the kitchen. She grabbed two cokes and placed it on the counter.

"Sorry I don't have Ponta. I ran out." She said softly. She turned back to the living room, but she was just cursed that day.

"Sakuno?"

She turned to look at him.

"What?"

"I... um... I wanted to talk to you."

"Hm. Okay. What about?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah."

"Okay..." She opened her can of coke and took a sip. "What about me?"

He paused thoughtfully. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

Well, that was certainly random.

"Yeah. I've had a boyfriend before." She stared at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Nothing. Just... curious..."

"Okay..." She sipped her coke again.

"Your turn."

"Huh?"

"Ask me a question."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Uh... okay. You have to answer truthfully though."

He nodded.

"Why did you come to an American University to study?"

He stared at her dumbly for a while. Of all the questions she could have asked, she asked him why he had come to this university. Man. She really needed to get out more often.

"Because I wanted to." He said, after some thought. "Happy?"

"Not really."

He ignored her last comment.

"Who gave you your best kiss?"

"Huh?"

"Your best kiss. As in, you know... when two-"

"I know what a kiss is..."

"So?"

"I'm not telling you. I don't want to play this stupid game anymore."

"C'mon... You HAVE been kissed before, right?"

"Of course I-"

"So... pick your best one..."

She snorted. "I didn't like any of them."

"Pity..." He said, gazing at her. "But you've never kissed me before... so, it figures..."

Sakuno couldn't believe his ego. "And what makes you think you're such a great kisser?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

She rolled her eyes at him and walked out of the kitchen.

"Oi, we're not done yet!"

"Well, I'm not playing the game anymore... it's over... we've got to finish this..."

"Of course we do..."

"I meant the project!"

"Right... or we could do something else..."

"Ryoma..."

"What?"

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"Being annoying."

"I'm not."

"Yes you are."

"No, I'm not"

"You are."

"Not."

"Shut up."

"You started it."

"URGH! I hate you!"

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No you don't."

"Trust me, I hate you."

"No, you're hopelessly in love with me."

She glared at him and threw a cusion at his head. It missed.

"You missed."

"Thank you for noticing."

"You're welcome."

A long, awkward silence passed, before he asked another question.

"Sakuno?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"Mmm... Wha? Huh?"

He chuckled. "You said you didn't like all the other kisses you've been given... I thought I'd show you what a proper kiss is like."

"You're crazy."

"So are you."

"Shut up."

"Ladies first."

She ignored him and went back to taking down notes.

A/N: Wow. Talk about random. See, I wanted to do a Valentines Day special but it turned out to be a weird start of something. I don't know. Should I continue? Is Ryoma too OOC? I know that Sakuno is, but hey, the girl's been through a lot. Give her some credit.

Oh, and RR please. Flame if you must. I don't care.

Written for Evee, Charcoal and Kao. Happy V-day.

-dwi-