Hey guys! So I was just writing my Hearts of Wonderland fic and I had this amazing idea! Super duper fluffiness with RyomaXSakuno with a little bit of KiriharaXSakuno oneshot! Enjoy~!
-My First Words-
He was her first word. He was her whole world.
It was a nice morning again. At the tender age of seven, she observed her surroundings silently as she let her grandmother tug on her hand. That was the only thing she could do nowadays. Stay silent and look happy. Her parents tossed her away for not speaking and the only one to take her in was her grandmother. Although Sumire Obaachan was so kind to her, she still couldn't find the will to talk.
She looked up to see her grandmother staring down at her. The look in her eyes said everything. Why wouldn't she talk? Why was she such a bad child? The way her grandmother looked at her now was just really too much for Sakuno.
She bit her lip to stop the guilt-driven tears from flowing. She honestly didn't know why she couldn't talk. It was just that every time she opened her mouth to say anything, her throat tightened and she would start gasping for air. Better to give up talking then to do that in front of a crowd of people and embarrass her grandmother like she had done with her parents.
"We're going to the playground today Sakuno. I think Kirihara – san said she was bringing her son and a few of his friends there so you can play with them today." Sakuno looked up to see her grandmother staring at her with hopeful eyes. She was still on the idea that all Sakuno needed was to be around her peers more and perhaps she would start talking.
She nodded slowly while walking through the gate that led to the huge park.
"Ah! Look, its Sakuno – chan!" A young Kirihara Akaya shouted from the sandbox that he and a red haired boy were currently sitting in. The red haired Marui Bunta looked at her curiously before motioning for her to come and join them.
"Go on Sakuno. I'll be right over there with their mothers." Her grandmother said while pointing at the group of adults behind them.
Sakuno nodded unsurely before carefully walking over to the two boys.
"Hey there Sakuno – chan!" Akaya greeted enthusiastically. "So this is my friend Marui! He's a year older than me!" He pat the seat next to her so she could sit there. "And Marui, this is my friend Sakuno – chan! She's younger than you by two years!"
They quickly began on the task of building the largest sand castle ever. Akaya would constantly talk to Marui while trying to bring Sakuno into the conversation. She only smiled slightly or nodded with everything he said. After about 10 minutes Marui spoke up.
"Ne, Sakuno – chan, why won't you talk?"
Akaya and Sakuno froze at his question. She lowered her head and made it so that her bangs covered her eyes. This was taboo to talk about in front of her and Akaya knew it.
"Marui! No, uh, Sakuno – chan is just quiet right? Right! So, um, let's go back to building the castle okay? Uh Marui start building the super awesome fort and um Sakuno – chan and I will get some water and sticks and stuff."
He anxiously spoke before grabbing the bright green bucket and pulling Sakuno away.
Hmm Sakuno – chan eh~ She's really cute!
Marui Bunta smiled while blowing a bubble with his green apple gum.
With Akaya and Sakuno, they had kept on running and running with Akaya tugging her hand. They kept running until they reached the gate where she and her grandmother had entered from minutes ago.
"I'm sorry Sakuno – chan…" Akaya mumbled softly as he finally let go of her hand.
Although his hand was not touching hers, she continued to stare at her hand. The fact that he held hands with her for so long, the lingering warmth of his fingers…she looked into Akaya's eyes as the realization dawned on her. The emotions that were stirring around in Akaya's eyes were adoration, respect and love. He liked, no maybe even loved her.
Kirihara Akaya loved her. Of all the people he knew, why would he love her? She was the girl everyone thought was weird for not talking while Akaya was so outgoing and energetic. Why her?
He noticed her staring and grew flustered. "Uh, Sakuno – chan, um, why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?" He gasped a little when she started crying. "Wait Sakuno – chan! Um, I'm sorry! Uh, stay right here and I'll get you a tissue!" He ran back to where his mother was leaving Sakuno all alone.
Why would he like me?
She ran through that one thought over and over in her mind. Why does a sweet boy like Akaya – kun harbor any feelings for her? No matter what happened he would never leave her behind. And she loved him for that but her love only went so far and from what she could tell, she loved him like a brother.
"Meow." She quickly wiped her tears and looked up to see a boy with a can of Ponta in one hand and a pretty cat in his other hand.
"Hey you're blocking the way. Could you move?" She looked around and saw that she was indeed standing in the middle of the small pathway. She nodded her head as she stepped out of the way.
"Thanks." He said before walking away.
What a pretty boy…
She mused silently. She suddenly gasped when something really cold was touching her neck. She turned around and yelped as she saw the boy again except he was holding out the can of Ponta he was carrying.
"Hey you shouldn't just look depressed in the middle of the path." He said in a cocky tone. She let out the breath she was holding. Maybe he was a nice person? "And why are you crying? That can be annoying to the people around you." (A/N: At such a young age no social skills Ryoma…)
She hastily shook her head and stared at him defiantly. She already knew she was a burden to others and she definitely didn't need a complete stranger telling him that.
"Hmm…" He stared at her intently before turning around and walking away. "I'm Echizen Ryoma. You can pay me back for the Ponta if we ever meet again." His arrogance miffed her as he casually waved back.
Sakuno watched him walk away calmly as her irritation grew. She drew in an even breath and slowed down her nerves. She could do it.
"I'm Sakuno!" She struggled to stop her voice from sounding too raspy even though she couldn't stop her throat from constricting a bit. She also couldn't help the sound of a gag that came out of her throat from never actually speaking out loud before.
When Sakuno looked up, Ryoma was standing in the same spot. He pulled down the white cap he was wearing and smiled at her. He just waved again before treading away with his cat close behind him.
She looked down at the cold grape Ponta in her hand. He changed her. He….she would never forget him.
"Oi~ Sakuno – chan! Here is a tissue! I'm sorry it took me so long! My mom just kept yelling at me for making you cr-…Where'd you get that Ponta?" A panting Akaya asked her as Marui casually walked over to them.
"Ohhh~ I want a Ponta!" Marui excitedly spoke while looking for the closest vending machine. "Where did you get that anyway? There shouldn't be any vending machines anywhere."
"Um how do you know that Marui – kun?" Akaya asked curiously.
He lightly laughed before sarcastically replying. "Don't look down on my genius skills Akaya." He did a hair-flip and wiggled his eyebrows playfully at Sakuno.
"Mou you shouldn't tease Sakuno – chan like tha-" Akaya stopped short as both boys turned to look at the girl in front of them that was laughing.
Ryuuzaki Sakuno was making sounds, she was laughing!
"Sakuno – chan! You're laughing!" Akaya gleefully spoke as he joined Sakuno in laughing and was soon followed by Marui who joined them as well.
"Sakuno – chan you should have told me you had such a nice laugh! We should all hang out again some time!" Marui said blissfully while staring at the blushing girl.
"I….I guess we should." Akaya's jaw dropped at the words that came out of Sakuno's mouth. In all of the 5 years that Akaya had known her, she had never laughed, and she had definitely never talked. Her voice, although sounding slightly cracked, was so sweet. The way she talked and the way she was overall just entranced his eight year old self. She was her angel.
"Okay so we have to all promise that we'll hang out again and again in the future when we're all in middle school and high school too!" Marui said while getting out a piece of gum to offer to Sakuno.
"Yeah great idea Marui!" Akaya said, loving the idea of seeing his Sakuno – chan in the future as well.
Sakuno nodded, smiling happily before replying. "Of course!"
-ENDDD!-
That actually took awhile to write…But yeah I actually normally don't like Sakuno but this was too cute to resist!