Summary: In the end, not even a lucky charm can help Sakuno say three special words to Ryoma?

BTW, single quotation marks for thoughts and italics for emphasis.

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LUCKY CHARM

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Sakuno Ryuzaki was walking home with Ryoma Echizen.

Five minutes ago, both of them were down at Kawamura's Sushi with the rest of the former Seigaku Tennis club seniors. The gang, as led by the gluttonous Momoshiro and the bouncy Kikumaru, had thoughtfully prepared a surprise party to celebrate their favorite ichinen pair's high school graduation.

Though how they ended up going home together was insignificant at that moment, it was still thanks to Tomoka suggesting a weird consequence game that Ryoma had to walk Sakuno home after that chaotic but memorable celebration.

Silence.

Aside from the footsteps of these two teens, only the subtle engine of cars occasionally passing by could be heard late that night. Sakuno had been down the same road with the same person for countless times and the inevitable silence accompanying those times was something she had grown accustomed to.

However, that particular instance was not exactly a moment of silence for Sakuno.

'You can do it, Sakuno-chan!'

She mentally cheered herself on.

'There's nothing wrong in trying...'

She figured that before she could confess her feelings to her prince she should at least have the right mindset.

'Anou,' it was not even close to a whisper. Sakuno did manage to open her mouth but her voice failed her. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath and started once more. This time, she was determined to speak louder. "An-," she stopped. Her heart was beating wildly.

'What if he rejects me?'

Rejection.

Sweet Sakuno's heart was too fragile to bear even just the thought of it.

If there was anything more heartbreaking than one-sided love, it had to be rejection. And as if that wasn't enough to cause her to hold back, heartbreaking faces of those other girls Ryoma had gloriously rejected over the years started to flood her mind. She almost wanted to cry.

Gently shaking her head, she got rid of the horrible thoughts and later found herself remembering her first meeting with her prince.

It happened almost six years ago. Sakuno was on board a train and on her way to meet her grandmother. She had her eyes shut and head tilted to her side as a man named Sasabe kept swinging his tennis racket in front of her. She could have been hit right in the face if only Ryoma had not interrupted.

Sakuno smiled and stopped walking for a few seconds. It was embarrassing for her to recall that Ryoma actually had no intentions of saving her at that time. In fact, he was simply annoyed by Sasabe and guys like him who couldn't properly tell the difference between a western grip and an eastern grip.

As the evening breeze brushed her face, she gazed longingly at her prince who was steadily walking ahead. She thought about the years she spent with her prince and sighed upon remembering the times she had desperately tried to say those three special words to the only person who managed to captivate her heart, Ryoma Echizen.

'Six years.'

She sighed again. That was exactly how long it took her to muster all the strength and courage she had in order to finally confess her feelings to her special one. With that thought and that night being possibly the last time she was going to be with him, she was once again convinced to confess no matter what.

Inhale. Exhale.

One.

Two.

While she took one last deep breath, her right hand unconsciously found its way to her skirt's pocket. Taking out what was in there, she saw the fancy charm Tomoka had talked her into buying last week.

/Flashback/

"Sakuno-chan!" Tomoka called out while motioning her best friend to come over the stall that was just after the shrine.

'I wonder what Tomoka is so excited about,' Sakuno sighed as she slowly went over. She was obviously tired from the trip. 'To think that she even woke me up so early in the morning for this.'

"Quickly!" Tomoka was getting impatient, "These lucky charms sell fast, Sakuno-chan. You won't be able to get one if you keep on slacking off."

Raising her left hand to her shoulder level, Sakuno took a quick glance at her watch. "It's only seven, Tomo-chan. And I believe we're the first people to--" Before she finished what she was saying, people have started coming to the place. It was fortunate that she made it inside the crowd in time.

"See this? I told you we had to hurry," Tomoka sounded like she won an argument though one didn't even exist in the first place.

"Anou. What exactly do we need a lucky charm for, Tomo-chan?" Sakuno's innocent face came with a furrowed brow. She started massaging her temples as the noise of the crowd worsened the headache she got from the two-hour travel.

"We're here to get a love charm, silly!" Tomoka was filled with enthusiasm. As she snatched a red charm that had tiny heart-shaped stones as ornaments, a childish grin formed on her face, "You need all the help you can get for your ultimate confession, ne?"

"Eh?!" Sakuno face was tomato-red. "Tomo-chan..." she mumbled. She always found it embarrassing when her best friend talked about private matters so casually in front of others.

After paying for the charm, they took a few pictures at the shrine and stopped by a nearby shop for a snack. As they were walking to the train station for a ride home, Tomoka jogged a few steps ahead and started walking backwards so she could face Sakuno. Her cheery face suddenly became serious before she spoke, "I won't forgive you if you don't confess to him."

"Eh?" was Sakuno's startled reply.

"Don't give me that 'eh?' again," she placed her hands on her waist. "It's been what? Five years." Tomoka held her friends shoulder as they paused for a moment, "It's been five years since you've told me you actually liked him. Promise me you won't graduate from high school without telling him, 'kay?"

/End of Flashback/

Her best friend had always been there for her—even going as far as taking her to a shrine which took two hours to travel one way just so they could buy a lucky charm.

With this, Sakuno completed her faltering resolve. She wasn't going to disappoint her best friend who has always cheered her on. She wasn't going to put all those years of waiting for a perfect chance to confess into waste. Besides, she wasn't the same timid pigtailed girl she was six years ago. Anyone could tell that as the years had passed, she had slowly matured into a lady. Her body developed curves in the right places, her hair was never childishly braided again, and her way of talking had changed—she stopped stammering even in front of Ryoma. She started carrying herself like any lady would.

Trapping the charm between her hands, Sakuno felt the heart-shaped stones press against her palms. She brought her hands up to her face and bowed her head. 'Kami-sama!' she closed her eyes. "Onegai!"

Sakuno's heart started to pound. Fearing that she might have said the last word a little loud, she peered at Ryoma to check if he had heard and then sighed in relief as she saw him continue walking without even slowing down or looking back.

"Anou," Sakuno said loud and clear when she had calmed down, "Ryoma-kun?"

No response. He carried on walking—a natural reaction from someone like Ryoma.

Hand-combing her auburn hair which she had left unbraided since she started high school, she continued, "I just want you to know that I-I," A quick pause. Her heart raced as she realized she had stammered—a thing she hasn't done ever since second year junior high when she finally got used to Ryoma and his smugness.

"I-I've liked you for a long time now! And I don't care about what you say but I always will..."

Adrenaline.

Sakuno was so nervous. Her mouth unconsciously kept on moving.

Indeed, a lot of changes had beset Sakuno over the past six years but if there was one thing that she wasn't able to change, it was how she mumbled incomprehensibly whenever she got really, really nervous.

"Ryuzaki," Ryoma suddenly said as he came to a halt.

Sakuno froze. The beating of her heart rose to a faster rhythm as she realized she had done nothing but murmur.

"You know," Ryoma started in his usual tone, "You could always walk beside me, Ryuzaki."

"Eh?" Sakuno did not quite get what he meant.

Ryoma turned around to face her. He narrowed his eyes at her. She blinked in return.

'Great,' he frowned. 'Just when I thought of a good way to respond to her confession—if that was what all the mumbling was about—she gets dense.'

"I mean it, Sakuno," he said in one go before looking sideways to ease the blush he was sporting.

Sakuno nearly dropped her lucky charm.

As she walked towards her waiting prince, she cried not because she was disappointed she wasn't able to get her feeling across even though she got herself a lucky, love charm but because she knew very well what he meant when he called her by her first name.


END

Ichinen: first year/ freshman

Onegai: please

Mocha-lover: Voi! I hope you enjoyed reading my one-shot. I've edited it so many times but I still feel there's something wrong with it. Grr. Maybe I made them a bit OOC? ü Please review and tell me what you think. Grammar corrections, spell checks and even flames are welcome. I do hope you forgive me for posting a story without having it beta read. ü Ja!

042208: original post.