The pain of loving you CRYSAU

Disclaimer: I do not own this idea completely and I do not own Prince of Tennis.

Author's simple note: I accept your challenge Crystal Aurora

Chapter 1: The meeting

Many of you probably heard of walking into a room full of people just to notice that one person and everyone else suddenly became blurry and unimportant at that very moment. I have never experience something like that in my whole life, and I can tell you how absurd I think such a thought would be. I have been to so many balls and parties held by all kinds of elite socialites who were hoping that a crown prince like me would fall in love with their extremely girly and dull daughters, niece, sisters or even their granddaughters. After agreeing to a dozen of invitations every week, attending to these kinds of things becomes somewhat of a chore if it weren't for the company which accompanies me to these things.

"All these ladies almost look carnivorous!"

Commented my thoughtless distant cousin Kikumaru Eiji, I myself, on the other hand already had to listen to ladies bragging about their relatives and I tried so hard not to roll my eyes in boredom and predictability in the way they choose to introduce the girl. Words such as 'natural leader', 'wonderful piano player', 'lovely dancer' and the lists go on from there.

"I don't care about these events as long as I get to eat."

I don't know what was worse, having a distant cousin who says thoughtless things or a close cousin saying thoughtless things. My guess is, I rather have none. But they provide the entertainment I lack when I get into these kinds of parties.

A loud crash attracted my attention as I turned my head to look at what has just happened. In the middle of the whole crash was a young woman, drenched in red wine which soaked her dress, making it look blood red instead of the natural light violet that it was meant to look like. It wasn't her soaked in red wine which attracted my attention, but the way her face was tilted down the whole time it happened. Her ivory skin dripping with droplets of wine and the way stray strands of her hair fell over her face as it came out from a simple bun. She looked so plain, but something about her kept me watching her, even when everyone continued along their merry way.

She thought no one was looking as she relaxed her shoulders, and I noticed that her dress was designed so that they emphasized on her elegant neck and shoulders. Funnily enough, she never bothered with the way she looked right now when all normal ladies would have disappeared into the powder room crying about the ordeal. This young woman didn't, she simply wiped the stray strands back since her hair was wet, she easily made those auburn strands of hair stay. She knew I was looking at her I think, because she turned her head and for a moment our eyes met something wounded tightly in my chest.

She had the deepest brown eyes and when the light hits her at an angle, it brightens her eyes. She had lovely shaped almond eyes and her lips were small but it had a natural pout and lush women wanted. That was the moment where I reviewed everything I said about noticing one person and forgetting the rest, because that was exactly what happened when I saw her face. She turned away from me, and she moved into the crowd before I could give chase, and vanished.

"Eiji, who was that?"

Eiji turned to look at me, he had just gotten out of a conversation which includes a young woman and his future but he was more than happy to oblige an answer to my question.

"I think I heard of her. What was her name again? Ryuuzaki? Yeah. Ryuuzaki Sakuno. She's the daughter of the Marquis Ryuuzaki Aki. I heard, she is and would always be an Oddball."

Momoshiro who heard Eiji turned around with his mouthful of food, his eyes glowed brightly. I knew I should have asked him in the first place, since he loved to gossip.

"I think even Ochibi would like better information than that! I met her once before she left for France, and she seemed to always be this shy and tends to shy away from attention. She's very sweet when I first met her, we talked for so long people started to think I was planning to ask for her hand, even when we haven't even danced with each other."

"Nya! You wouldn't talk to a girl for that long even if she was a tree!"

Momoshiro threw an annoyed look at Eiji before saying

"She knew a lot about our passion! She loves tennis as much as we do, and so we began talking about competitions! She was intelligent and kind hearted once you get past her shy exterior. But, the problem was when she came back, she refuses to talk much and she wanders around like a person without a soul."

That night, my thoughts were filled with the girl. The way her eyes looked at me for that brief moment was imprinted in my mind, and for some reason or another, she had my attention and yet I had a funny suspicion that she didn't welcome it.

To be Continued…

Author end note:

I know this will be a bit out of character, but I hope doesn't make him to OOC because I thought I inserted a bit of his personality in there. Thanks for reading first chapter. This was a collaboration from Crystal Aurora!