Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my characters.

Title: The Choices We Make

Genre: Drama/ Romance

Pairings: RyoSaku

Summary: Sakuno has a secret that she has kept from everyone, especially Ryoma. But when her secret is brought into the light, Sakuno is torn in all directions from her mixed emotions and is forced to make choices to keep her life moving. What will Ryoma do when he is faced with letting go of something he thought he would never lose?

Author's Notes: This is my first ever attempt at a PoT fic. I do not love any particular pairing and I don't have a great record of ever finishing a fic but I will finish this one if it kills me! I will try to make it fairly short considering my habit of going off track when I write so please review and yell at me or nag at me if I am straying.

Scene 1:

She walked to school quietly, dodging people and objects in her path. Or rather she seemed to be in their path. That was how the world revolved around her. She was invisible, just another blurry face in the metropolis she called home. However, today Sakuno was slightly different from her usual melancholy self. She was not dispirited by her plainness and invisibility. She was more nervous than anything else.

Her mind was screaming thoughts in all directions, echoing off her skull and colliding with one another. Her head was searing with a maelstrom of thoughts and lack of sleep. Today was going to be the longest day of her life. How could she not feel this way? Her secret was haunting her and would return today full force.

In her blind walk to school, she collided with the person she least wished to see. She fell back only to be caught by the hand. She looked up apologizing hastily but if it hadn't been for years of practice, it would have died half way up her throat. She gulped quickly as golden eyes caught hold of her gaze.

"Ryuzaki-san?" Ryoma voice was cool. "Why are you still on the floor?"

Sakuno quickly jumped up dusting herself off. Apologizing quickly, she turned to leave only to run into another body.

"Be careful. You might fall again." came Momo's cheerful voice. Sakuno blushed furiously and apologized for what seemed like the millionth time today. "It's fine but you should be careful." He said getting off his bike.

She quickly muttered an "I will," before running to the school without looking back. Today would definitely be the longest day of her life.

Scene 2:

"Sakuno, what's wrong with you today? You seem so sad! Did someone pick on you? Cause if they..." Tomo-chan was very concerned. Sakuno had almost been hit by the ball in gym class four times; almost fallen down a flight of stairs and practically jumped out of her skin whenever someone called her name. She was so edgy. She seemed more like she was paranoid. Tomo-chan had heard girls snickering behind their hands and had promptly yelled at them to defend her best friend.

"No, I'm just tired. I barely slept." Tomo-chan could see through the lie at once but Sakuno looked at her with her large chocolate brown eyes. Her eyes asked/ pleaded for Tomo-chan to stop and not to worry.

"Get some sleep today, ok? You've got practice right? Come to my house after and we can have a sleep over."

"I have somewhere to be today." Sakuno said quickly. Tomo-chan was about to say something when she was cut off. "I will be fine. Don't worry." Sakuno smiled suddenly and it reminded Tomo-chan of Fuji's smile. But Sakuno was not a good liar and it soon slipped back into a frown as she walked to her next class.

Tomo-chan looked at her friends retreating back and felt a painful clench in her chest. Her best friend had shut her out of a secret in her life. Best friends shared secrets and Tomo-chan supposed that Sakuno would keep some from her but for her to keep something that bothered her so much a secret really hurt. She just couldn't watch her friend like this. She wanted to do something.

Scene 3:

Tomo-chan waited anxiously for the final bell to ring. When it finally sounded she raced up to Sakuno's grandmother's office. She knocked and was permitted inside. Ryuzaki was more than a little surprised to see Tomo-chan in her doorway.

"Is there something I can do for you, Tomo-chan?"

"Ryuzaki-sensei (1), is there something wrong with Sakuno? She's been edgy all day and won't tell me."

The old woman sighed in understanding. "No, Tomo-chan, Sakuno is fine. She's just been a little nervous since she found out a friend of hers was in town."

"But she was so distracted. She almost fell down the stairs!" Tomo-chan practically shouted.

The woman frowned. "I'll speak to her and make sure she gets some sleep today. Don't worry Tomo-chan. Sakuno will be fine by tomorrow. I promise."

Scene 4:

Tomo-chan walked back to collect her things before walking out of the building. Who could Sakuno have possibly been so nervous about? Tomo-chan mentally gasped. Maybe it was a secret boyfriend that she didn't want anyone to know about! Especially Ryoma-sama! She immediately decided to swing by the tennis courts before leaving.

"Um, excuse me? Can you help me?" asked a sudden voice. A girl was standing a few feet away. Tomo-chan could tell this girl was not from her school by the black, white and gold uniform she wore. Tomo-chan assumed this girl was a rocker from the accessories she wore and the black guitar case slung over her shoulder. (2) Tomo-chan took in the older girl's appearance. Her shoulder length hair was raven black and had two streaks of blue. Her eyes were dark green but had hints of a friendly sparkle. Her skin was pale and it stood out greatly against her black eyeliner and eye shadow.

The girl smiled after she had Tomo-chan's attention. "I'm looking for the tennis courts. Would you please point me in the right direction?"

"Why would you want to go there?" she asked suspiciously.

"Well, I'm looking for someone. I heard they were on the tennis team?" she replied.

"Who are you looking for?"

"I don't think that's any of your business."

Tomo-chan felt a protective urge explode inside her. "Look, if you're here to see Ryoma-sama, you will have to leave because, as the president of his fan club I absolutely refuse to let anyone near him!"

The girl looked stunned for a moment before she chuckled somewhat amused. "Actually I'm looking for someone else."

"Oh..." Tomo-chan's faced flushed a bit. "Um...well, I'm heading to the tennis courts so I can walk you there."

The girl smiled and thanked her. Tomo-chan walked with her head slightly bent. She felt very embarrassed. The girl next to her seemed so much bigger and more confident. It was as if she was laughing at her.

"Are you alright?" Tomo-chan jumped at the sudden voice. The girl was looking at her amused. "You shouldn't be embarrassed. This Ryoma must be pretty great to have such an enthusiastic girl running his fan club."

Tomo-chan blushed a bit but was rescued from saying anything when they arrived at the courts. The girl thanked her before walking around the courts, searching out the person they'd come to find. Tomo-chan ran to the courts where the girls were practicing. She found Sakuno and told her of the girl.

"Ohhhh! Sakuno, I was so embarrassed. A girl came and she asked me where the courts were and I told her off about coming to see Ryoma-sama and then she told me she wasn't looking for Ryoma!"

Sakuno smiled and patted her friend on the back the way she usually did. She seemed to have gotten back to normal. Maybe the talk with her grandmother really did help! "It's ok Tomo-chan. I'm sure she won't even remember seeing you after."

Tomo-chan looked at her friend and cheered happily before hugging the girl ferociously. "I'm so glad you're back to normal!"

Sakuno eased herself away. "My grandma told me you were worried and I thought about how my nervousness was silly because I was upsetting you too. I shouldn't do that. And now that you're acting normal with me, it's easier for me to act normal too." Tomo-chan quickly said goodbye and gave her another hug before leaving.

"No one knows yet. I can keep it a secret if I get out of here first and then everything will be fine."

Scene 5:

Sakuno changed rapidly after practice and rushed out almost running into Ryoma for the second time today.

"Ryoma-kun, gomen!" He looked at her recovering from his start.

"You should stop looking at your shoes and watch where you're going." He said coolly. Sakuno felt her face flush horribly red.

"Neh! Ochibi is so mean! Don't be so cold!" Eiji bounded up to the pair with Oishi and Momo close behind.

"Oi Echizen, apologize to Ryuzaki!"

"Damn right you better apologize." Cut in an acid-like voice. Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice. A girl with blue streaks in her black hair glared ferociously at the group.

"Who are you?" asked Momo stepping between the group and the intruder.

"That's not for you to know because I'm not here to see you." She said in an icy tone. Her gaze shifted to Ryoma. "Now you better apologize to Sakuno- chan punk."

Ryoma returned her glare. What right did she have calling Sakuno, Sakuno- chan? And what right did she think she had to order him around. He turned to go into the change room. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"I said apologize. An apology must come from the heart not just the mouth. (3)" Her voice was curt and dripping with distaste.

He turned around and gave her a glare that could rival that of Tezuka. "You can't order me around!"

"I can and I will if you don't apologize to Sakuno-chan!"

"Hey! We want Echizen to apologize too but you can't bully him into it." Momo said stepping between the two.

"Butt out!" she said letting her guitar slid from her shoulder, preparing to fight back if it became necessary.

"Stop it!" shouted Sakuno attracting the surprised attentions of everyone. The girl's expression softened. Sakuno breathed out a sigh. "It's ok. Ryoma- kun doesn't have to apologize. I should have watched where I was going." She quickly walked over to the girl and tugged on her arm. "Let's go Narumi- san."

The girl hitched her guitar case up on her shoulder before giving them one final glare and following Sakuno away. The boys stood there for a moment before going into the change room where Eiji exploded into questions about that girl, Narumi.

"Who are you all talking about?" asked Fuji. Taka, Inui, Fuji and Tezuka had come in during Eiji's rant and looked at them curiously.

Eiji jumped into a full recount of the story. He exaggerated almost every part of the story, especially the description of the girl. "She looked like a scary rocker girl! I bet she's a bully! Maybe she's bullying Ryuzaki!"

"I highly doubt that Ryuzaki would go with her if she was bullying her."

"But what if she is? Ryuzaki could be getting beat up!"

There was a pause. Although the logic and probability of that being true was beyond low, the Seigaku regulars looked at each other in doubt.

"Let's follow them!"

To be continued!

Author's Note: hope that was ok. Please review and tell me what you think (even if that means flaming me.) I hope you enjoyed it. I will post my next entry as soon as I can.

1- I don't know what exactly to call Sakuno's grandmother so I just put it as what the Tennis club calls her. (besides obaa-san)

2- I am not insulting rockers. I am using the stereotype and I apologize if I have offended anyone.

3- I read this on my music teacher's poster thingy so it also doesn't belong to me but I have no idea who said this 'cause I read this a year ago.