Sakuno watched the pitter-patter of the light rain from the living room window.
'It's been a while since it rained,' she thought as she tucked her feet under her and dug herself into the comfort of the warm couch. Glancing on the wall clock, she then got up and walked over to the kitchen to slice a couple of strawberries.
She didn't even get to finish two strawberries before she heard the doorbell.
She wiped her hands before dashing to the front door. "Coming!"
Open.
Stare.
Stare.
Stare.
"Ryoma-kun? What are you doing here?"
Ryoma stood by the front perch, umbrella in hand. Sakuno continued to stare at him quizzically.
"Get your stuff. Play a match with me."
Supposed to Be
By microblush (Chiyoh Mi)
Summary: When you find Echizen Ryoma himself standing on your doorway on a rainy day demanding for a match, what do you do?
Dialogues in single quotation marks are portrayed as 'thoughts.'
STANDARD DISCLAIMER STRICTLY APPLIES
"Umm, please make yourself at home."
Uncomfortable silence.
Ryoma sat down on the once warm couch.
Sakuno then excused herself to get her tennis equipment.
When she was in the presence of her room, she took a pillow and screamed.
'What is Ryoma-kun thinking? It's raining—well, not that hard, but still raining! And he wants to play tennis with me!'
She blushed heavily, before she reminded herself that she got over the whole "blush-stutter-blush2x-stutter3x-blushevenmore" thing a few years ago.
She was in daze for a second before she remembered that her *ahem* companion was downstairs waiting for her to fix up. Five minutes later she went downstairs to find Ryoma looking at the weather outside.
Maybe he decided to change his mind, she thought.
Ryoma then turned to her and quirked his eyebrow. "Are you all set?"
"U-un!"
If there was one thing that Sakuno wouldn't believe would happen, it's sharing an umbrella with Ryoma. She thought about it on the professional way though.
'At least he's being considerate. After all, he's the one who asked for a match. But seriously, why would he even want a match from me?' She blushed to herself.
A little later, they made it into the sports complex. They went to the tennis courts immediately.
"I g-got to warn you, Ryoma-kun, I'm not that much of an opponent."
Ryoma smirked. He grabbed a ball and tossed it to her. "This isn't a real game—we're just here to play a friendly match."
Sakuno smiled at this and bounced the ball a couple of times before she served.
'Well, since this is just play, I have to make him at least think that I'm not the same wobbly girl five years ago.'
When Ryoma returned the ball, she slightly made a twist with her racket and sent the ball flying back to the other side of the court, where Ryoma wasn't expecting it to land.
"Heh." He smirked once again.
They rallied this time, and since luck wasn't on Sakuno's side today, she slipped.
She fell on the ground and winced from the impact of her bare knee on the hard floor.
'It's only a scratch, Sakuno. It's okay.'
While she was trying to keep composed, Ryoma had already gone towards his bag to get a band-aid.
"Let me." He said suddenly. That's when Sakuno realized the situation she was in: Echizen Ryoma was crouching on the floor with her, carefully peeling off the band-aid after declaring that he'll handle the situation.
Sakuno smiled. 'It seems that he's changed—for the better.'
"There you go. Can we continue our match now?" He stretched his hand to her.
She took the hand and smiled. "Sure."
An hour later, both of the seventeen-year-olds fell down on the bench, one slightly glistening with sweat, and the other breathing heavily. Sakuno then grabbed her water bottle and began chugging down.
"Ne Sakuno," If she still wasn't used to Ryoma's surprises today, she could've chocked on her drink, "I'm hungry."
"Oh? Then should we get back now?" Although she didn't want it to surface, slight pink still dusted her cheeks.
'Oh well. It was fun while it lasted anyway. I'll just go home and eat some more strawberries. Then I'd probably rent some chick flicks-'
"Let's go eat."
Sakuno tilted her head. "W-what? Could you repeat that, please?"
Ryoma rolled his eyes before grabbing her hand. "I said, let's go eat. I'm hungry. And I'm positive that you are too."
He tugged on her hand and both walked towards the exit of the building and into the nearby food joint, where she hasn't eaten before.
"I'll take Set A, and she'll take Set B." He casually ordered, as if he did this on a normal basis.
"Uhm, Ryoma-kun, I could pay for myself."
He glared at her. "Nope. I suggested, so I'm the one paying. Go grab us a seat."
Sakuno, startled, walked over to a table on the far right of the bistro.
'Seriously. It's like it's not Ryoma-kun who's with me today. Maybe something's wrong with him.'
While they were almost done eating, Sakuno decided to ask him. "Ne, Ryoma-kun?"
Said boy looked up from his meal and gave her his full attention. "Hm?"
"Are you feeling okay today? Do you feel sick?"
Ryoma smirked at her before drinking his milkshake. "What makes you say that?"
Sakuno blushed. "N-nothing…forget I even asked."
When they were done eating, Ryoma then offered to take her home.
'Wow. There's really something wrong with him today,' she glanced at him while they walked towards her house. The rain had already stopped, but the wind was still chilly. She felt goose bumps on her arms.
Still looking ahead, she didn't notice that Ryoma had slowed down to remove his jacket. She was only aware of it when he gave it to her.
"O-oh!" she blushed.
"You might get sick." He simply stated as they trekked back to her home.
Finally, they arrived on her porch.
She took off the jacket and gave it back to him. "Well, I guess, thank you for today. I had fun."
She smiled at him warmly.
He smiled at her uncharacteristically, making her blush. He was about to walk away when she stopped him.
"Ryoma-kun?"
He looked back at her.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"Why?"
"I don't know…it's just that…I mean, I appreciate all of this but, why did you suddenly ask me to play tennis with you? Then you helped me when I bruised my knee, offered to eat and pay for the meal, gave me your jacket and now you're…laughing at me?"
Sakuno's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. 'Ryoma-kun's laughing…?'
"I guess it wasn't as obvious as I thought it would be." He smirked.
"What do you mean…?"
He leaned in close. She had not notice that he was already in front of her in close proximity. She blushed heavily when her cheek got in contact with something warm and soft.
He pulled back and started to walk down the pathway. Before he turned, he looked back at her and said,
"It was supposed to be a date. Are you free tomorrow, then?"