"Sakuno, how do you do this?"

Sakuno looked at the math question Ryoma was pointing to. "Oh this, it's quite tricky, but once you get it it's quite simple." Sakuno said, moving on with her explanation.

"Quite the math genius, aren't you?" Ryoma said, giving Sakuno a kiss as her reward.

Sakuno pushed Ryoma away when he was going too far, with his hands reaching inside her skirt. "Mou, Ryoma-kun, can you concentrate? We're here to study together, no more."

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma smirked, kissing Sakuno one more time. "It's just that we can never do this in public."

"Well, it's already uncivilized to kiss in public."

"We can't even hold hands damn it."

Sakuno shrugged sadly. "I think it's okay. There's no need to inform the whole school about our relationship. I like it private."

Ryoma smoothed Sakuno's hair. "If you say so."

They were in Sakuno's house, as they always had been every weekend. They had been keeping their relationship a secret, and the only person that knew about it was Ryuuzaki-sensei.

"You have more Ponta?" Ryoma asked, throwing his finished Ponta away.

"Yeah." Sakuno dug out a can of Ponta.

Ryoma drank it, checking his watch. 8:30am. Time to go.

Ryoma packed his pens and papers. "It's time, Sakuno, let's go."

"Oh, ok…" Sakuno said, getting up to change.

Competitions are coming up, and their practice schedule had been tight. On weekend it's full day practice starting from 9:00am.

"Where are you going to change?" Ryoma asked cheekily. "Just change here, isn't it more convenient?"

Sakuno blushed. "Mou, Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma gave her a last kiss before letting her go.

Ryoma always loved Sakuno in her tennis shirt and mini-skirt. Her legs are so…sexy.

"Nice."

Sakuno rolled her eyes. "Ryoma-kun, why do you always say that whenever I wear this?"

Ryoma did not answer her but pulled her closer wanting to give her a kiss, when…

"Sakuno! Sakuno! Sakuno!" An irritatingly piercing voice pierced into Ryoma's poor ears. It's that annoying girl again.

"Ah, it's Tomo-chan! Quick, get into the cupboard!" Sakuno said, pushing Ryoma into the cupboard.

Sakuno opened the door. "Hi, Tomo-chan!"

"Sakuno, it's 8:40 already! Quick, let's go!"

"Ok." Sakuno said, leaving with Tomoka.

Ryoma waited in the cupboard for a while, until he heard Ryuuzaki-sensei called out to him "they're gone, you can come out now."

Ryoma grabbed his stuff and his Ponta and got off the house through the window. He ran towards the school as fast as he could, as he knew he was going to be late.

"Where were you Ryoma? I went to your house and you weren't there!" Momoshiro asked.

"Buying Ponta. My parents stopped buying Ponta for me so I have to buy them myself." Ryoma said, showing his Ponta.

"Well, your Ponta made you late."

"Echizen, 50 laps for being late!" Tezuka barked.

"Oh man…" Echizen thought. He was only late for five minutes, what's his problem? He threw his Ponta away before running reluctantly.

"Eh, Tezuka-sempai made Ryoma-sama run!" Tomoka exclaimed. She jumped up almost immediately, and cheered. "Go Ryoma, run! Run!"

Sakuno stared at Ryoma. Ryoma was ignoring them, wearing on his usual cold look. It's weird, this secret relationship with Ryoma almost made Sakuno think that he had split personalities. When there are people around, Ryoma would be in his cool and cocky personality, ignoring her condescendingly. When in private, Ryoma would suddenly loosen up a lot, and start smiling and stuff.

This made Sakuno half expect Ryoma to turn and smile at her while he run, which he obviously would not.

But its okay, Sakuno liked Ryoma any way he was. His cocky self is so cute and funny, while his cheerful self is so…well…his smile made him look…hot… Sakuno blushed a bit.

"Okay, team, come here and meet a tennis player from Kyoto that will be practising and playing with us for the next few weeks." Ryuuzaki-sensei called out, introducing a new player.

"Hi, my name is Luca!" The boy said cheerfully. "I'm from Kyoto, and I'm here for a short exchange trip with my school, but I still need to practise tennis. Ryuuzaki-sensei is very kind to let me practise with all of you, so yoroshiku onegaii shimasu!" He bowed sincerely, as everyone else clapped to welcome him.

Ryoma walked into the assembly area where everyone was standing welcoming this newcomer. He had just run finish his 50 laps and he walked in as quietly and as unnoticeably as possible to take his place.

"Hey, aren't you Echizen Ryoma?" Luca exclaimed, noticing the boy walking in.

Ryoma heard him, and stopped for a while, startled. Then he continued his stride, faster than usual.

It is always not good to have weird strangers recognising you, as Ryoma learnt from experience.

"I've heard about you! I've read you in magazines! I've watched your videos! You were invited to the US open as a wildcard too right? So cool!" Luca said, running up to Ryoma.

Great, another fan of his. One thing he did not like about going pro is to have so many weird people that know so much about you when you have no idea who the hell are they. It's really creepy, you know.

"Hey, wanna play a match?" Luca ran up to him.

Ryoma looked at him, exasperated, but, of course, he did not show it. 'He's a really stubborn guy, isn't he? Can't he tell that I'm ignoring him?' He thought. He turned to look at his captain.

Tezuka nodded, giving him permission to go ahead with the match.

"Let's play." Ryoma answered.

"Yahoo!" Luca jumped up happily.

Go watch an episode of prince of tennis for the match experience, because I'm going to skip writing all that. Anyway Luca was real good and Ryoma was freaked out at how good he was, but he still managed to keep his composure and won.

"Game and match, Echizen Ryoma! 7 games to 5!"

Echizen Ryoma walked towards the bench slowly, dropping his racket rashly. He grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off his face. Luca was better than he expected. He had to use so much power just to win him.

"Wow, Ryoma you're really good!" Luca said, running up to him. Again.

He hated having to keep his composure even though he's tired. He wished everyone would just leave now so that he could slump on the floor with Sakuno by his side.

Sakuno… Ryoma glanced at the spot where she was sitting. She was sitting there, everything about her was so beautiful: her sitting posture, her hair, her face, her eyes, her worried stares… She must have realised that Luca was a tough opponent for Ryoma and he was half dying. Sakuno knows everything. The only thing horrible about her was the irritating girl sitting next to her.

Ryoma averted her eyes, not wanting to cause any suspicion.

But looking at Luca made him have a sudden dread rising in him.

Ryoma only looked at Sakuno for a split second, he was sure of it! But why is Luca staring at Sakuno's direction, with an expression Ryoma did not like.

"Wow, who's that pretty girl sitting under the tree?" Luca asked, eyes not leaving the direction.

Ryoma glanced at them nonchalantly, trying to keep his stomach from churning too hard. "Which one are you referring to?" Please let it be…what's her name? That annoying girl! Please don't look at Sakuno!

"The one on the right. The one with plaits." Luca said.

Damn it. Ryoma cursed. "Ryuuzaki…Sakuno." Ryoma said coolly.

"Ryuuzaki? Eh, Ryuuzaki-sensei's granddaughter?" Luca said, eyes sparkling.

Ryoma glared at him. "Yeah."

"Wow, she's beautiful…"

Ryoma couldn't help but agree. But this sentence coming out from his mouth signified an ominous sign.

Indeed, Ryoma glared in shock as Luca started walking towards Sakuno.

He had better not make any move…or else… Ryoma clenched his fists, ready to punch.

Or else what? He can't do anything. His relationship with Sakuno was a deep secret no one knew. Not even the sempais, not even that annoying girl. If he did anything, their relationship would be revealed, and all these times his effort in protecting Sakuno against those crazy fan girls of his and protecting her privacy from sempai-tachi (especially Inui and Fuji) would be in vain.

He walked out of the courts, carefully not trying to look towards Luca.

"Hey, Ryoma, Luca seemed interested in your girlfriend." Momoshiro said cheekily.

Ryoma turned around, glancing at Sakuno. Luca was talking to her, trying to get real close, and Sakuno was obviously trying to reject him. He turned back, looking disinterested. "She's not my girlfriend." He said. Standard answer.

He sat down at the bench, drinking his Ponta. Hopefully Sakuno managed to reject Luca successfully. After all, Sakuno is pretty, she had pretty a lot of harassment, most of the time Ryoma had to come and stop it in private. So, Sakuno was quite skilled at doing this.

I hope…

"Oh my god, are they kissing?" Ryoma's head jerked up almost immediately.

Upon seeing the scene, his can of Ponta got crushed unknowingly.

The seniors turned around to see a fuming Ryoma, with his unfinished can of Ponta on the floor, crushed. "Ryoma?"

"He's dead…" Ryoma growled maliciously, walking towards Sakuno and Luca.

Ok end of chapter! I wanted to make it a one-shot, but I'm going off longer than expected… Promise won't take longer than 3 chaps!