LORDS OF THE ROSE

Chapter One - Operation Echizen: The Boyfriend Plan

There is a story about eight tennis players who attended a school called Seigaku. In this story, a little girl named Ryuzaki Sakuno had a not-so-secret crush on Seigaku's youngest tennis prodigy, Echizen Ryoma. Sadly, all Ryoma was interested in was winning the National Tennis Championship, and never gave Sakuno the attention she longed for.

That story was three years ago. Three years ago, the Seigaku Boys' Tennis Team won the Nationals. Three years after that, they were all united once more in Seigaku High School.

And then Sakuno ran away, crying. Again.

"ECHIZEN!" With a deafening bellow, Momoshiro Takeshi lunged at the freshman, grabbing a fistful of the boy's shirt. "Look what you've done!"

The hapless kouhai blinked his large, golden eyes. "Look what I've…what did I do?"

"Oh, for the love of…" Releasing Ryoma in disgust, Momo waved his arms expressively at Sakuno's rapidly retreating back. "You made her cry, that's what you did, idiot! You can't make girls cry. You can't!"

Echizen Ryoma looked as though he had just been told that it was wrong to make his upperclassman Kikumaru Eiji pay for his afternoon burgers. It just didn't make sense to him. "I can't?" he repeated guilelessly.

His senpai stressed once more that, no, he couldn't. "Will you guys just look at him?" The powerhouse flung out a hand and gestured at Ryoma, complaining to anyone who was close enough to hear him. "The brat has absolutely no idea how to be nice to girls. He made poor Sakuno-chan cry and isn't even running after her to apologize!"

"I just said I don't like rice cakes," the freshman grumbled to himself. "I didn't—"

"When a lady offers you her cooking, you eat it." Momo glared menacingly, leaning in until his nose was a hair's breath away from Ryoma's. "I don't care whether you want to or not—though you should want to—you can't refuse a girl's cooking when she made it especially for you. You eat it, and you appreciate it—"

"…But I don't like it…"

Momo roared with frustration. "Do something about him," he ordered the other tennis regulars who were cooling down after that day's practice. "Otherwise the brat will lose the heart of a nice girl and he'll waste his youth and never get a girlfriend and never find anyone to marry and live out the rest of his life as a lonely bachelor and die wrinkly and without love! Is that what you want, Echizen? To die alone and loveless?"

There was no reply.

Swinging around, Momo was just in time to see the subject of his dire threat walking away from the tennis courts and out the school gates.

"ARRG!"

"Relax, Momo," Oishi Syuichiro advised, wiping his face tiredly with a towel. "Maybe Echizen isn't really interested in girls right now. Maybe he just needs time."

"Time?" The Second Year paused in the act of yanking at his hair agitatedly. "He doesn't have time. You remember that Kintaro kid the brat almost had to play at the Nationals a couple years ago? Every time he comes to Tokyo, he goes to visit Sakuno-chan. He eats everything she makes him, and says 'Sugoi! This is the best, yummiest food!' every single time."

"I think that just means he likes Ryuzaki-san's cooking," Kawamura Takashi suggested timidly.

"Exactly," Momo cried, making the elder power player jump. "Soon he'll want to keep Sakuno-chan to himself, and Echizen will lose the heart of a nice girl and he'll waste his youth and—"

"All right, all right, we get the point." Oishi held up both hands in surrender. "I suppose it wouldn't be going too far to say that Echizen doesn't have the best manners."

"That's why we've got to do something."

Oishi shook his head exasperatedly. "Momo, I don't think—"

"Momo-chan's right." Eiji came to stand resolutely beside his kouhai, who was delighted at receiving some support at last. "Eiji-senpai, do you really think so?"

"Of course, nya! Echizen can't lose Sakuno-chan to this Kintaro. We can't let Shitenhouji win over Seigaku." Folding his arms firmly across his chest, the acrobatic player stared at the rest of his team with intense determination.

"I really don't think that's what this should be about…" Protesting weakly, Oishi turned to the person closest him. "Inui? Don't you think we should focus on making Echizen happy first?"

The dataman scribbled down a last few notations in his ever-present notebook. Then, helooked up and faced his vice-captain with an unreadable expression. "There is an eighty percent chance that if Echizen doesn't begin to reciprocate her feelings soon, Ryuzaki Sakuno will lose hope in him."

"INUI!"

"That does it." Momo pounded a fist into his palm. "We can't let Echizen stay a depressing single the rest of his life. We have to make sure that Sakuno-chan stays interested in the brat. He's going to learn how be a good boyfriend before she decides she likes that Kintaro better."

"I agree," Eiji cheered, punching his own fist into the air.

"Saa, what are we so excited about?" Fuji, who had just come back from the water fountain, looked between Momo and Eiji inquiringly.

"We are going to train Ochibi to be nicer to Sakuno-chan," the redhead informed him authoritatively. "He's going to be the world's best boyfriend."

"Fuji," Oishi implored helplessly. "Can't you say something to them? They've got all the wrong priorities and I'm really not sure Echizen is ready for this kind of thing."

Seigaku's tensai appeared to take his fellow Third Year's pleads into consideration. Humming, he tapped a finger lightly on his chin as he thought. "Maa…I suppose Echizen really isn't quite ready to be anyone's boyfriend yet…"

"Thank you," Oishi said in relief.

"….so I think it's a good idea for us to help him get ready."

"FUJI!" Smaking himself on the forehead, Oishi screwed up his eyes and groaned. Really, where was Tezuka when you needed him? Their strict, no-nonsense captain would surely put an end to this foolery.

"Okay." Thoroughly convinced that he was in the right now that he had gained another supporter, Momo beckoned for his two senpais to come closer. "Now that we've agreed to help the brat, we need to decide what things he needs to improve on. Inui senpai, would you mind taking notes for us?"

Oishi opened his mouth, but before he could say a word—

"Not at all. This will be a rather intriguing experiment. It will generate a lot of good data."

"Thank you," Momo called over Oishi's despairing sigh. "First, I suggest that Echizen needs to learn how to appreciate Sakuno-chan's cooking."

Eiji nodded vigorously. "That's right. Ochibi needs to learn how to say 'please' and 'thank you' and 'that was yummy' just like that Kintaro."

"It would also be nice if he could do things for her in return," Fuji said thoughtfully. "Help her with her English work, perhaps? Or her tennis? Or maybe even cook a little something up for her; that's always a welcome personal touch."

"Awesome, Fuji senpai." Grinning, Momo rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Inui senpai, did you get all of that down? Great. We'll have to start training him right away… Tomorrow's a Saturday, how about it?"

Eiji, Fuji and Inui voiced their affirmatives, ignoring a certain vice-captain's "You're not serious about this, are you? Echizen won't like you meddling in his life this way…"

"Wonderful. Since it's getting late, why don't we set up a four-way call tonight and talk about our plans after dinner?"

With that, the four schemers scattered, leaving Oishi's bleating protests, an 'Ah…well, I'm sure they're doing it for his own good' Taka and Kaidoh, who was warming up for his evening jog and hadn't heard a word of the conversation, behind.

And so, Operation Echizen: The Boyfriend Plan officially commenced.

"Seriously, Sakuno, you've got to stop acting like it's the end of the world every time something like this happens." Not even looking up from the pair of sneakers she was scrutinizing, Tachibana Ann once again voiced her firm opinion on what her friend should do about the 'Ryoma-kun thing'.

"B—but he wouldn't even taste one…" the pig-tailed girl sniffed piteously as Osakada Tomoka patted her soothingly on the back. "I wasn't even trying to get him to eat the whole b—box…"

"My point exactly." Shaking her head at the shoes, Ann put them down and turned to give Ryuzaki Sakuno her full attention. "If the guy doesn't even have the basic common sense to accept your gift graciously, then you should just forget about him and find someone else."

"B—but…"

"Tomo." The Second Year girl snapped her fingers at her other kouhai. "What do you think? Isn't it just so obvious that Sakuno here should get a life and a real boyfriend instead of pining over the same jerk she's been hung up on since junior high but still doesn't treat her with basic respect and politeness?" She raised her eyebrows meaningfully.

"Mou…" Tomo tugged lightly at a lock of her hair. "I don't know…Ryoma's gotten a lot better since these three years. He walks her home sometimes now—"

"When it's raining and he doesn't have an umbrella."

"Hey! At least he's doing something right."

"But he's not doing enough right. I don't know how Sakuno stands him. It's like she doesn't even know how a guy should treat a girl...Hey, when you think about it that way… You know what? There's something we should totally do. Let's set Sakuno up for a blind date!"

"Ann-chan!" Sakuno squealed, already panicking.

"That's probably not such a great idea," Tomo agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Ann blinked, perplexed. "Why not? It's a perfectly valid way to get her to branch out a little. Once you find out what real dates are like—you know, dinner, movies; not when you go to tennis games together so that you watch on the sidelines while he plays—you'll forget all about Echizen, Sakuno."

"Ano…b—but, Ann-chan…"

Tomo sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Truth be told, she thought Ann was on the right track; if their friend would just go out with other people for a few times and have some fun, she was sure to find a guy she could actually be happy with. The problem was, "She's Ryuzaki Sakuno. I mean, come on. Can you imagine her, I don't know, not passing out if you make her go out with some random guy she's never met?"

Another pair of sneakers was already in Ann's hands. The sports shop's salesperson made to assist her, but she waved him off with a smile and a shake of her head. "Point," she conceded. "But that one's easy. Just set her up with a guy she does know. And not a random one. Somebody who really might be right for her."

"Like?" Tomo prompted, still unsure.

"Say…Ohtori Choutarou? He's sweet."

"Too sweet," Tomo countered before Sakuno could stutter out her own objection. "You'd be putting two ridiculously shy and innocent people together. Can't you already see the endless blushing? It would just be really awkward for them both."

Sakuno exhaled a long breath of relief. At least she could trust Tomo-chan to be on her side. This 'blind dating' idea sounded pretty frightening to her!

But Ann wasn't giving up. "Okay, someone with more self-confidence, then. To help bring her out of her shell." Giving up on sneakers, the three moved along to the tennis-racket section. "Atobe Keigo?"

Tomo burst out laughing while Sakuno gave a positively frantic squeak. "A—Ann," the former gasped through chortles that shook her whole body, "do you honestly think she could stand even a full minute in the presence of the Monkey King's 'prowess'? Get real, girl."

Ann pursed her lips stared at the others defensively. "What? I was just tossing out some suggestions. If you think you know better, then who do suppose she might like?"

Tomo calmed down enough to give the question some serious though. With baited breath, Sakuno awaited her classmate's answer. Surely Tomo-chan wouldn't think of anyone too outrageous, would she? They had known each other for so long and knew each other so well.

"Kaidoh?"

Or maybe not so well.

"All right, this time I'm putting my foot down," Ann groaned, rolling her eyes. "And there you were worrying that Atobe would make her feel uncomfortable. I bet one look from Kaidoh would send her running for the hills."

Both freshmen were mortified. "I happen to think he would be very gentle and caring with any girlfriend he had," Tomo muttered moodily while Sakuno laughed in embarrassment.

"Somebody less intimidating," insisted Ann impatiently.

"Let's see…Oishi? It's impossible to get intimidated by him. He's considerate and sensitive and everything. Plus, he's not stuck up or self-centered so he might actually make an effort to please her."

Finally, Sakuno found it impossible to stay silent any longer. "He's like an older brother to me. Going out with him would just be wrong," she asserted with a hint of finality.

"Then you choose," the two other girls declared in unison, spinning on their heels to face her squarely, arms crossed and waiting expectantly.

Sakuno froze up like she'd just found herself on the stage of an international rock concert with a microphone in her hands an a dozen stage lights glaring in her face. "A—ano…I…um…" Under her friends' pressing gaze, she flushed red.

Oh, why were they trying so hard to make her do something so terrifying? What was wrong with Ryoma-kun, anyway? All she had to do was start to get things right once in a while. Like not making any more rice cakes.

"Um…I need to go…? Uh, sorry, but I really need to go to the supermarket now to get some ingredients for making tiramisu. I'm certain Ryoma-kun likes that." Before Ann or Tomo could stop her, she rushed out of the store with a hurried parting wave, pig-tails flying out behind her.

Both remaining girls looked at each other.

"That Echizen has no idea what he's missing out on, does he?"

Late at night, four tennis players huddled close to their respective desk lamps, pens in their hands and phone receivers to their ears, plotting.

"Okay, I think that's everything we need," Momo confirmed in a loud whisper as not to wake the rest of his family who were all sleeping in nearby rooms. "Fuji senpai? Are you sure your sister has all the things you said? She won't mind us using them, will she?"

"I went downstairs to check while you were discussing varieties, and yes, Nee-san has all we need, she's thrilled about what we're doing and doesn't mind at all. In fact, she said to call her if we want any more."

"Perfect. Inui senpai, didn't you say you had some of those huge plastic garbage bags?"

"That is correct. They are special toxin-resistant ones designed to contain extreme acids and alkalis."

"That's great! But…Inui senpai, why do you have bags like that?"

"Ah, you see, my experiments on new Inui juices—"

"Right. You know what? I don't I want to know. Just—all right, we have garbage bags. Right. Well, since this is Echizen we're dealing with, there will probably be a few mishaps, so we should at least have…let's say, three bags ready?"

The others concurred.

"That's all, isn't it? Good. Meet outside the brat's house at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

Author's Note: So. Another new idea that popped uninvited into my head and just wouldn't leave. Just so that we understand each other, this story is going to take on a similar tone to Ask For The Sky, another romantic comedy I wrote, for those who don't know. Meaning, it's another 'blowing off steam' fic and I'll probably not make too much of an effort to update regularly (though it'll be so much fun that I doubt it'll be a problem!), sorry. As this is also another one of my foolishly daring experiments with writing style, whether the story continues and in what direction will depend on feedback (this is a shameless demand for reviews, obviously).

In any case, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!