Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or its characters, obviously.

Summary: This is a series of stories about the adventures of Ryoma and Sakuno during the days when they're NOT at school. (Holidays, festivals, weekends, etc.) Feel free to message me if you think of other outings they can go to.

Theme: Flowers and flower meanings.

Again, they're all in high school. Same deal as with my other stories. Same school names, same people, just shifted into high school.

"No. I refuse." Echizen Ryoma's steely golden eyes said that he wasn't going to change his mind, not now, not ever. No way.

"Ahhh, but Echizen... you'll look so cute." Fuji looked at his kouhai with his signature creepy smile. He held up the bright pink, star studded yukuta that he had been trying to get Ryoma to wear for the upcoming Tanabata festival.

"No." Ryoma shook his head resolutely. How did Fuji manage to corner him again? He'd been purposely avoiding the sadistic senpai for the past week, but then Fuji came to his house. His house. And of course, his unknowing cousin let the older boy in.

Now Ryoma was sitting on his bed while Fuji stood in the doorway, offering the pink mess of a yukuta for him to wear. He groaned inwardly, wondering how he would get out of this situation.

Luckily, he remembered the traditional indigo yukuta that was collecting dust in the back of his closet.

"I already have one," Ryoma stated.

The edges of Fuji's mouth twitched.

"Oh alright, Echizen. Have it your way..." Fuji lifted his hands in mock defeat, but as he retreated out of the room, he whispered loud enough for Ryoma to hear, "But little Sakuno-chan's favorite color is pink, you know?"

He smiled and left.

Ryoma wondered if he was telling the truth.

"Neh, Karupin?" His cat just meowed.

Sakuno, being the ever present helper and cheerleader to the Seigaku team, was of course invited to attend the festival with them. Actually, their invitation went more like this:

"Sa-ku-no-chan! Ochibi really wants you to come to the festival with us! You should come! And bring snacks!" Eiji shouted when he "accidentally" collided into her near the courts.

"Ei-Eiji-senpai! I-I don't kn-"

"Nyah, nyah, so we'll see you there!" He left without letting her get another word in.

She wondered how much of an accident that was. Her head still hurt from crashing into her lovable, albeit sometimes obnoxiously loud, senpai.

Now she was sort-of-kind-of-really wishing she hadn't "agreed" to go. She had absolutely nothing to wear and they were supposed to meet in front of the Kawamura booth at noon sharp.

It was 11:45.

"AAHHHH!" She wailed in despair. Somehow this situation was all too familiar. (1)

"Ehhhh, Sakuno-chan's not here yet?" Eiji pouted. It was 12:02, but the redhead wasn't known for his patience.

"Shhh, Eiji, I'm sure she'll be here soon enough," Fuji comforted his friend, who had begun to sob uncontrollably.

"I-I'm, here," Sakuno managed to say as she panted from the exhaustion of running all around the festival, looking for the booth where they were supposed to meet.

"Yaaaay! Sakuno-chan's here! Yay! Yay!" Eiji brightened up immediately.

She had finally found a cute pink and white floral yukuta with a matching pink obi (2) to wear. As an afterthought, she pinned up her bangs with a white heart pin.

"Kawaiiiiiiiiii," Momo and Eiji exclaimed together.

Ryoma glared at them.

"A-a-ano, Ryoma-kun," she stammered. A pink tinge had spread over her face when she saw her long time crush standing in front of her with a glare on his face that could melt cement.

"Come on, Echizen, you're scaring the poor girl," Fuji tsked, patting him on the shoulder in a motherly fashion.

"Mina (3)! Over here!" A shout from inside the booth they were standing in front of brought their attention to Kawamura, who was waving at them, motioning them to come closer.

"Ooooooooh, Taka-san, your food looks delicious!" Momo exclaimed as his eyes devoured the rows of aromatic sushi that were neatly placed on the counter.

Kaidoh slapped him on the head. "Baka," he hissed. "It's not for you."

"I know, stupid!"

"Who're you calling stupid, stupid?"

"Stop." Tezuka's commanding voice brought them back to attention. "We'll meet back here at 6:00 for dinner, everyone. Enjoy the festival. Don't let your guards down."

Everybody snickered a bit when he said the last part. It was a festival, after all. Not a tennis match.

Sakuno walked behind the regulars timidly, feeling lost without her more confident best friend. She sighed and stared at the ground.

"Ah! G-Gomen," she exclaimed in surprise when she felt herself collide with somebody's back.

The boy turned around, and when he saw her, his eyes lit up with excitement. "Sakuno-chan! Sakunooooo-chan! I missed you!" Suddenly Akutagawa Jirou was lifting her in the air with a giant hug.

"A-ano, Ji-Jirou-kun, I ca-can't br-reathe."

"Let go of her, sleepy." A displeased voice admonished Jirou for his lack of tact.

The narcoleptic ignored him and continued to crush Sakuno in his embrace.

"OI! Jirou!" He was raptly hit on the head by his companion, Shishido, who looked like he might drop dead anytime from boredom.

"Owie, owieeee. I was just excited to see Sakuno-chan after the last time!"

"Last time? You've met Echizen's girlfriend before?"

At that comment, Sakuno's face turned red, and she denied his assumption vehemently. "N-no, no! I'm not Ryoma-kun's g-girlfriend." She shook her head and tried to explain that she and the prince were merely friends, nothing more.

Jirou ignored her stammering and shouted, "Sakuno-chan made me strawberry cake with lots and lots of frosting! She's the best!" And it was true. He had just happened to stumble into the bakery where she worked, and she had asked him to taste-test a couple of her cakes.

"Say, do you have anything with you now?" He asked slyly. Sakuno smiled and held up the bag she was carrying, which was filled with some boxes of homemade desserts: cakes, cookies, mochi, adzuki buns, and other mouthwatering sweet things. She handed a chocolate filled cream puff to the boy and then gave an adzuki bun to Shishido, since he looked so resigned about the whole situation.

"Yay! Thanks, Saku-chan!" Jirou gave her another giant hug.

"Stop that."

The small group turned around to see a glowering Ryoma clutching an assortment of goodies. A couple of sweet smelling taiyaki, two small blue lanterns, four multicolored fans, a bag with a couple of goldfish, and finally, on his head was a pair of cat ears.

Shishido started howling. "Hah, whatchu got there, neh, kitty cat?"

Ryoma merely glared at him. "You, let go of her." He pointed an accusatory finger at Jirou, whose arms were still wrapped around the flushed Sakuno.

"It's o-okay, Ryoma-kun, I'm fi-fine." He shook his head in exasperation, muttering, "Ryuzaki, always making trouble for me," and grabbed her hand, forcibly pulling her away from the hoots and wolf whistles that were coming from the Hyotei players.

"B-bye, Jirou-kun!" She attempted a somewhat polite goodbye, and considering the circumstances, it was the best possible.

"Ryuzaki, you made everyone worried, wandering off by yourself like that. So stupid." Ryoma still hadn't let go of her hand. She wondered if he noticed...

"Go-gomensai..." Sakuno felt like she was on the verge of tears, suddenly feeling immensely frustrated. He never did anything but insult her. Her hair, her tennis, her friends, her everything.

Ryoma abruptly turned around when he heard the soft sniffles coming from the girl. "Ryuzaki? Come on now, Ryuzaki, I didn't mean it like that... Oh geez." He rolled his eyes but took out a handkerchief for her.

"Here."

"Thanks," she whispered. They were still holding hands, and Ryoma seemed not to have noticed. Instead, he just motioned towards a small stand, "Wanna do that?"

Sakuno followed his pointing finger and saw the booth that contained a game for catching goldfish.

"S-sure."

Sakuno laughed softly as Ryoma's hoop came up empty again. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath. He could do it so well before, but why did he have to get so nervous around her? She was just coach's wobbly hips granddaughter, after all.

He turned to look at her. The afternoon sun was just starting to dim, and her petite face, lit up with a sweet smile and the sun's rays, made his breath catch in his throat. Damn.

Still smiling, she asked him if she could try.

"Sure." He turned the other way, grappling with his feelings while she entertained herself by trying to scoop up the darting goldfish. Somehow they all seemed to like her, and she ended up with a bag full of fish.

"Wow, little girl, you're good! I bet your boyfriend's proud of you. He couldn't even get one!" The bearded booth manager gave her a toothy grin and a thumbs up sign.

Ryoma pouted and commented, "I got some last time, old man."

He didn't deny it, Sakuno noticed. She smiled again, and there was a bit more bounce in her step as she followed Ryoma to the next stand.

Weaving through the crowds of people, Sakuno's eyes caught sight of a rickety looking stand, where an assortment of hairpins and necklaces were arranged, and she exclaimed softly, "Oh! Beautiful..." All the jewelry incorporated some kind of flower, and all of them sparkled beautifully.

She touched a couple of the pieces longingly, as she knew that she had forgotten to bring any money.

"We'll take this one, please." A finger pointed at a silver and red hairpin in the shape of a flower. Sakuno looked up, and saw Ryoma smirking at her. "Neh, Ryuzaki? This one's fine?"

The woman took his money and winked at Sakuno, saying, "You're a lucky girl, you know. The heart is a hard thing to catch." Sakuno looked at the old lady with confusion. Heart...?

Ryoma held out the pin. "A-ano, Ryoma-kun! I c-couldn't ta-take this," She protested.

"Just take it." He took the faded pink hairpin that was already in her luscious brown hair, and gently replaced it with the new, sparkling flower. She blushed a new shade of red, one so dark that it could make a beet jealous, when she noticed how close their bodies were. She could kiss him if she moved a couple centimeters.

"Ari-arigatou..." She looked at the ground, her heart beating so loudly she wondered if the whole country could hear it.

Ryoma walked off again, smirking.

The two freshmen met the other regulars in front of the Kawamura stand at 6:00 sharp, one of the only instances where Sakuno could say she was actually on time.

"Nyah, nyah, Sakuno-chan! You spent the entire day without us, nyah!" Eiji was nyah-ing his head off, complaining that he never got to eat her desserts. Oishi looked slightly bemused, and Inui was, true to form, scribbling in his notebook.

Momo's hands were full of food, Kaidoh was going "pshuu" in the background, and Fuji was trying some of Kawamura's wasabi sushi.

Tezuka wondered how he'd lasted three years with these teammates.

"Dinner! Dinner's ready! Enjoy the Kawamura special deluxe, baby! BURNING!" Kawamura was swinging his tennis racket wildly, scaring other people in the vicinity.

"Wait, Taka-san. Let's take a picture first," Fuji suggested.

"Yah, yah, a picture, a picture!" The redhead bounced around, jumping on his friends and finally attaching himself to Fuji's back.

Fuji chuckled. Photography was his favorite, especially of unsuspecting kouhais. But a group photo wasn't bad either. He set the camera on the Kawamura booth counter, which happened to be just the right height, and pushed the buttons to set it to a 10 second timer.

"Ready?" Everybody nodded as they moved into position. Kaidoh and Inui standing solemly on the side, Tezuka next to them with his signature "don't-let-you-guards-down" look, Taka smiling cheerfully in the back, Eiji with his arm slung over Oishi and his fingers in a peace sign, and Oishi smiling calmly, perhaps the most normal of the group. Ryoma and Sakuno were standing in the middle awkwardly.

Fuji pressed the button and ran towards the group.

Suddenly, however, Eiji shot out his other arm to embrace his incoming teammate, accidentally hitting Kaidoh in the head, who of course blamed Momo. They got into a fight right then and there, and Tezuka and Kawamura immediately turned around to break up the squabble.

Oishi started lecturing Eiji on good manners, and Fuji was hit in the head by one of Momo's flailing limbs, just as the camera flashed and the picture was taken.

It turned out just being Ryoma looking surprised and Sakuno blushing madly, as she had been pushed around by the commotion and ended up in his arms. When Fuji showed it to the group later, they all (besides Ryoma and Sakuno, of course) agreed that it was a great picture, despite the hectic background.

The group walked home together slowly, tired out from the day of festivities. Fuji walked calmly besides Sakuno when he noticed the red flower pin in her hair.

"Neh, Sakuno-chan?"

"Y-yes, Fuji-senpai?" She looked up curiously.

"Did Echizen give you that?" He had a sneaking suspicion he did. Sakuno nodded, wondering why Fuji was asking. "Heh. That Echizen," Fuji chuckled to himself.

"I-is something wr-wrong?"

"No, no, Sakuno-chan. It's a red carnation though... They have a special meaning, neh, Echizen?" Fuji teased the boy, who merely responded with, "Nn."

Fuji leaned down and whispered in Sakuno's ear, just loud enough for Echizen to hear as well, "A red carnation means... 'My heart aches for you.'"

"Eh?" Sakuno blinked a few times in confusion. Then the words registered.

"EHHHHHH?"

Sakuno fainted. Ryoma smirked.

It was a good day.

(1) Reference to the episode "Ryoma's Day Off"

(2) Yukuta: casual summer kimono; Obi: sash around the waist tied in a bow in the back

(3) Mina: "everyone"

Toshiko: Thanks everybody for supporting me throughout the couple of stories I've published! This one was particularly hard to churn out. Tedious work, tedious I tell you. I was stuck in writer's block for ages.

Next chapter will be at the aquarium. Subscribe to find out the innovative ways Ryoma comes up with in order to express his feelings to Sakuno! (He's really quite a smart kid.)