Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Prince of Tennis/ Tennis no Ohjisama
April's Fools
No… Way…
This couldn't be happening.
Her luck couldn't be this bad!
Oh, but it was…
Sakuno stared blankly into her gym locker.
It was empty, she forgot her gym clothes. Someone up there really hated her.
--
'What the hell?'
That was the only thought that ran through Ryoma's head as Sakuno returned from the girl's locker room, looking the same as she was prior to entering, except for the utterly trodden look on her face.
"I thought you were changing." Translation: 'Get out of those damn clothes before someone otherthan me, sees you!'
"I can't." she said overcome by the events of the morning.
"Well, why the hell not?!" Ryoma half yelled, exasperated. His slightly possessive attitude towards her was doing nothing to help the situation.
"My gym clothes aren't there…I could have sworn that I left them at school…" She mumbled, puzzled as to the cause of her predicament.
The idea of her strolling down the halls in that wholly, revealing outfit; which fit her all to well, he might add, made Ryoma's skin crawl with jealousy.
No! He wouldn't stand for it!
He growled, aggravated, as he jerkily yanked off the strap of his tennis bag and unzipped the main compartment. Sakuno continued to watch him with confused eyes. Finally, after a bit of shuffling around, he pulled out his Seigaku jacket and zipped the tennis bag back up.
"…your old Seigaku jacket?" She asked innocently. Before Sakuno could further question his actions he handed her the jacket.
Geez… did he have to spell it out for her?
"Put it on over your clothes, you won't get in as much trouble then." He explained.
Sakuno's face immediately brightened, and before she could stop herself she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck happily in a thankful hug.
"Oh thank you so much! I don't know what I would have done without you!" She suddenly realized what she was doing though, and stepped away from him as though she was burned.
"Th-thank you Echizen-san…" She bowed her head to hide her bright red complexion, and then immediately shot off in the direction of their classroom, leaving a shell-shocked Ryoma in her wake.
It took him a second to get over his 'Sakuno's-body-was-pressed-against-mine' induced shock, but once he did, he realized that she forgot the jacket in her haste.
"Hey! Wait up! You forgot the jacket! We're going to the same room anyways! Oi!" He called down the halls chasing after her.
--
He caught up with her outside the room and handed her the jacket, which she wrapped around her self and zipped up. She muttered thanks again, not looking him in the eye.
They peeked through the door; the teacher was giving a rather boring lesson on Japanese history. They both knew that they had to go in there.
Sakuno sighed, No time like the present.
She pushed open the door and stepped through the entrance, as many confused stares greeted her. She felt that she probably looked every bit as nervous and embarrassed as she felt at the moment. Ryoma followed silently; imposing his presence, as he normally did, with an annoyed look. To complete the illusion of his aloof visage, he pulled a hand through his ruffled hair in an uninterested way.
The teacher paused in his writing to eye the pair curiously.
"Well, well, well; Miss Ryuzaki, Mr. Echizen, nice of you to join us." He remarked. All the while he was eyeing Sakuno's exposed legs. If she was red before, it was nothing compared to now. She forgot that Mr. Kimura (A/n: Work with me people…he's the teacher from Azumanga Daioh, but I couldn't think of anything better…) was the school's perv…
"Miss Ryuzaki, would you like to remove that jacket, it's a demerit to not come to school dressed properly." He said, though Sakuno could tell he just wanted to see what she was, or wasn't, wearing underneath…
--
Well Mr. Kimura's attitude was just as Ryoma predicted. He thought about chucking a tennis ball at the so-called history teacher as he eyed Sakuno. But then he decided that any possible consequences that it held would be far worse than if he just continued to stand there and shoot death glares at everyone who fantasized about Sakuno's legs and butt. They were more interested in her lady lumps then what they were learning in class.
The jacket was big enough to cover her outfit, as he expected, but it went to her mid-thigh, where as her shorts ended somewhere much higher than that. Which basically made it look like that she wasn't wearing anything underneath. There inlayed the problem.
Never knew his silly old jacket would make him even more protective, than he usually was, over the girl that it currently covered.
He tried to block out his current subconscious mantra of 'My jacket; my property', while continuing to glare at every one.
--
"Uhm…if you don't mind…I'd prefer to keep it on sir…" Sakuno answered softly to his prior unanswered question.
"Oh… are you sure?" He asked; he actually looked a bit disappointed.
Sakuno absently wondered if had x-ray vision, or pervy vision, that helped him to see through her disguise.
"Yes, I'm sure Mr. Kimura" She brusquely said, her face hardening.
"Well, you can take your seats then. I'll have to mark you both down." He replied. "Next time, just finish up quickly; you still need to make it to class on time. And Ryoma don't forget your belt, that's just asking for trouble." He added with a smirk.
Sakuno looked confused as Ryoma's scowl deepened; Mr. Kimura's perverted sense of humor perfectly clear to him from years of experience with his oyaji. The rest of the class that understood snickered quietly.
They both then took their seats; Ryoma, one desk behind her.
--
Tomoka could barely contain her excitement as they both walked into the classroom; Sakuno wearing Ryoma's Seigaku jacket, and Ryoma wearing a glare that would send you six feet under, if looks could kill.
Knowing Ryoma, he had yet to apologize and instead worked to make sure she was covered when coming to class; he was as possessive and territorial as a moose in rutting season. (A/n: Did anyone else picture Ryoma-kun in antlers?)
So everything worked out as planned. Now came the harder parts, but its okay, she was up for a challenge, as were the rest of her crew. She wondered where Fuji was now, he was supposed to follow them and tape everything. This helped in two ways; one, they knew where the future couple was at all times and could figure out a way around any obstacles that came, and two; it made for great entertainment and future home videos.
--
The rest of first period history went by with out flaw; at least he supposed it did to the rest of the class. His face was sore from all the glaring he had to do.
There was a flaw to the jacket; it rode up when she sat down. So when she sat down the shorts, and consequently her well sculpted thighs, were open to the elements, luckily she was conscious of this and made sure to pull the jacket down as best she could every time it started to creep its way back up.
Sadly this didn't stop the other males in sight rage from staring, thus resulted in Ryoma's current face predicament.
'Why couldn't she just frocking change!?' he thought bitterly. (A/n: Yes, I mean frocking, that isn't a typo…)
He was just Bull-shitting himself though; as much as he tried to hate all of the guys for staring at her, he couldn't blame them. She used to be a pretty little thing, cute; like a kitten in a stuffed-animal collection. But now she was beautiful and desirable. Since he thought that even before she wore that torturous outfit; he doubted he'd be able to sleep well that night.
As the bell rang and everyone started to leave, he encountered a conundrum. He didn't have the next few periods with Sakuno. Who would protect her from all those perverted bastards?!
An idea can to him, but it required strategy.
"Oi, Ryuzaki." He caught her while she was talking to Tomoka.
"Yes, Echizen-san?" Her little name switch routine was bothering him more than he'd like to admit.
"What do you have second period again?" He asked casually.
--
"Uhm Geometry, why?"
He was acting weird again. Since when did he care about her schedule?
"Well then, come on." He said grabbing her wrist, and tugging her toward the math and science part of the school.
"Huh? I thought you had Cooking with Tomoka next. Why are you going that way?" She asked suspiciously while gesturing toward a confused and worried looking Tomoka.
Wait, worried? Normally Tomoka would be beaming/drooling at the site of Ryoma. Before she could ask her friend about her curious expression Ryoma continued.
--
"Yeah, we're in the computer lab today; some online, recipe site. So I'm going that way too." Thank god this was true; otherwise he was sure that her fan-girl friend, who was currently looking at him in a weirder-than-normal way, would call him out on it.
Now he could walk her to her next couple of classes and have a semi-valid excuse. Beside the one in his head of protecting her from any more perverted eyes, that is.
He decided to walk slightly behind her. Not to look at her ass as some would accuse, but to simply block it from view, so others could not do so. That was all. Though he supposed no one would notice if he took a peek or two…
--
Tomoka inwardly jumped for joy; this wasn't part of the plan and the ad-libbing had worried her, but it turned out all the better.
Did he really think he was fooling anyone (besides Sakuno)? They may be in the computer lab for cooking, but this was still an excuse to 'protect his property'.
She then walked next to Sakuno eagerly, fully aware of the fact that Ryoma was walking behind them and herding wandering eyes away from Sakuno like a rabid sheep dog.
--
They got to her Geometry room and she thanked the two and bid them goodbye. She turned and dropped her books at her desk. She was about to sit down when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She quickly spun around to be greeted by the none other than the prince, himself.
"R—Echizen-san? What is it?" She caught herself before she could call him by his first name and reveal her still existing feelings for him.
Ryoma apparently didn't fail to notice this however and smirked. He leaned closer to her; so close that their noses were almost touching. But before they made contact, the smirking tennis prince leaned to the right. Sakuno felt his hot breath on her ear.
"Osakada and I will meet you after class." He whispered.
He then pulled away like nothing even happened and walked to the door and started through the exit, leaving Sakuno as red as Clifford. Just when Sakuno thought he would leave with out another word, he turned around and vociferously (A/n: My personal vocab word of the day-means loudly/pointedly) proclaimed -
"See you after class, Sakuno-chan." Then he slipped out the door, the same devilish smirk he had on his face after he just beat a particularly overconfident player at tennis.
Sakuno stared after him in a slight state of shock; she broke out of it when out of the corner of her eye she saw someone looking at her. She next glanced around the room self-consciously to see that everyone was looking at her with mixed expressions. Most girls looked jealous or shocked. She couldn't tell how any of the boys were feeling at the moment, because all of them refused to look at her. The minute she made eye contact with them, they would look away.
'Wait a second, what did he call me!?'
--
Ryoma smirked as he trotted to the computer lab carelessly.
'That ought to take care of anyone trying to hit on her.'
Like he said, his idea required strategy. Later, he'd probably have to deal with some annoying repercussions. But at least he took care of anyone bugging her for the moment.
Ryoma slowed as he reached the lab and sauntered in just before the bell rang.
--
Sakuno sat in her desk, an inner war raging in her head.
Why was Ryoma being weird!?
The teacher was just finishing up a caffeine-filled geometry sermon, when the wall phone in the classroom rang. She picked it up and excused herself, leaving the adolescents to work quietly on their homework. This was mostly ignored as the pupils immediately started talking amongst themselves. Sakuno though being the obedient student she was attempted to so the assigned work quietly.
Sakuno only got to the third problem before she became confused. How did you do this problem again? Which variable? Why the heck was this important anyway!?
After about five unproductive minutes of getting angry at the creator of geometry, she gave up attempting to figure it out on her own. She quietly tapped the shoulder of the boy in front of her.
"Hey, Sorry to bother you but I don't get this…" She half whispered; paying mind to the teacher instructions even when no one else was.
The boy half turned and started to say something, but the minute he made eye contact with her he seemed to freeze. He paled slightly and started to stutter an incomprehensible phrase.
Sakuno looked on in confusion as he continued to babble unintelligently. Being the kind and caring soul she was she began to worry for him.
"Tohru-kun, are you feeling okay; you look a little pale… Oh dear, are you feeling sick?!" Her hand instantly shot out to feel his forehead. Thought the moment she made contact, he shot away like he was burned; knocking over his chair in the process.
"I'm sorry, I don't know; just please stay away from me!" He yelped and shot to the opposite end of the room. The rest of the class watched with bamboozled expressions.
Sakuno was shocked; she stared at the place he sat just seconds before, in a daze. First Ryoma, now Tohru-kun.
'Does everybody think badly of me?' Ryoma's words still rang in her head tauntingly, making her heart feel heavy.
Sakuno was close to tears when she felt a light tap on her own shoulder. She looked around and was greeted by the gaze of Sakura, her geometry classmate and vice-president of the Ryoma fan club.
She smiled kindly at her and then pointed to her home work.
"Would you like some help with that Sakuno-chan?"
Sakuno gave a shy smile before nodding thankfully.
--
Tomoka was sitting bored in the computer lab, staring blankly at the recipe site that her teacher recommended. Didn't she know that people had more important things to do than looking up recipes online!? She had a relationship to save damn it!
There was suddenly a knock at the computer lab door. The teacher got up from her desk at the back of the room and opened it curiously. There stood Momo grinning boyishly.
Once again Tomoka got a bit nervous; this wasn't part of the plan, why was he here?
"Oh, Momoshiro." The teacher said curiously. "What brings you to this room? Care to retake cooking?"
Momo visibly flinched.
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm here simply to run errands. The tennis team coach wants you, something about a bake sale." Tomoka relaxed a bit; just a coincidence- nothing the worry about.
The teacher clapped her hands together in excitement.
"Wonderful, simply wonderful! I'll go right now, oh wait…" She glanced around nervously at her students. "Momo, would you watch them for me? Make sure they don't run amok and do their assigned-… uh well assignment?"
--
Momo's grin returned tenfold.
"It would be my pleasure, Mrs. Mihama. I'll make sure they do their work and don't cause any trouble." For emphasis, he leaned over and pinched Ryoma's cheek, who unfortunately sat in the front row.
"Well okay. I'll be off then!" With that she was off skipping down the hall in a mood that only baking could bring. Ryoma took the opportunity to smack Momo's hand away viciously. Said tormenter chuckled and surveyed the class authoritatively.
"Well, you heard the woman," he boomed "So get back to work or I'll sick Ryoma on you!" he then pointed to Ryoma, who gave him and the entire room a chilling glower. The stress and pressure of the day was finally getting to him. Hell, it wasn't even lunch yet. He shouldn't have to think this much for a girl.
A very cute girl…
Whom he happened to like…
Who was waltzing around in short-shorts and a belly dancing shirt…
Ah, the headache returns.
--
Tomoka giggled as Ryoma sighed laboriously. Then Momo slipped in to the chair next to her. He was smirking for all he's worth.
"So he's pretty much driving himself mad huh? At this point we don't even have to do anything." Tomoka could picture little devil horns poking out of Momo's head at the moment.
Before she could answer, her cell phone rang.
"I know this pretty rave girl
Always think about her
And when she says 'Hi' to me
Butterflies go right through me
And when I see her dancin'
I wanna take a chance in
Getting a little closer
And maybe get to know her"
She recognized the techno tune as hers immediately and went searching in her bag for it. She was thankful that the teacher was absent the moment when she saw the number on her caller id. It was her vice president of the Ryoma fan club; she only ever called with news of Ryoma. This had to be interesting considering Ryoma was here with her; it couldn't even wait till after class.
"Hello? Sakura?"
"President? Are you able to talk now?"
"Uh…yeah?" Tomoka thought about saying 'duh' for a second, but didn't want to tick off the possible owner of a juicy piece of Ryoma info.
"Sorry, I was too excited; I called without thinking."
"It's fine; the teacher is gone, but can we make this quick?"
"Of course…"
"…"
"…"
"…Well??" She was getting impatient; what was wrong with this girl?!
"Sorry. It's just difficult…"
"Just tell me real fast like ripping off a band-aid." Geez this girl was weird.
"Alright." She took a deep breath here and Tomoka sighed at her drama queen antics.
"Ready?" Tomoka said, in what she hoped was an encouraging manner.
"Yeah."
"Then spit it out already." She was getting a headache from all of this.
"Ryomaisgoingoutwithagirlfrommygeometryclassandsheiswearinghisjacketandhecalledherapetnameandcamerealclosetoherandeverything!!!" She said all in a rushed breath.
"…What?" -the hell? She took another deep dramatic breath and then repeated her previous statement at a more manageable pace.
"Ryoma is going out with a girl from my geometry class."
"WHAT??!!" Tomoka yelled completely forgetting about the class all around her. She then whipped around to stare at Ryoma in shock.
--
Sakuno sat happily after finishing her homework with the help of Sakura and her group of friends. After they all finished they just sat and girl talked. Sakuno was confused by the way they talked as if they knew something she was supposed to but didn't.
"So Sakuno, How are you and Ryoma-sama?" She was immediately confused by this.
"Um…not so good I guess…I think we're still kinda fighting." They were weren't they?
"How come he gave you his jacket then?"
"He was just being a gentleman. He didn't want me to compromise my modesty." She nodded to emphasize her point.
"What are you wearing underneath there anyways?" One of the girls ventured.
"Can't be the school uniform, we would be able to see the skirt."
Sakuno turned a vibrant pink before whispering quietly that it wasn't appropriate for school.
"Oh come on pleeeease??" They all whined. Sakuno sighed, never one to disappoint her friends, and started to unzip her jacket. When they all saw what she was wearing they all had different reactions.
"I would look SO much BETTER than her in that outfit!"
"Ha! Your fat ass? I think Sakuno fills it out perfectly."
"So he's jealous? That's so romantic!"
"Where did you get that outfit? If that's what he likes I'll buy it!"
"Wahhh! I wish I had a body like that!!"
"And here I thought you were a prude…"
"Well any guy would chase your tail if they saw you in that!"
"I thought we couldn't do that! That's cheating, isn't it?"
Sakuno was so overwhelmed she didn't even notice Sakura take out her phone and sneak away.
--
Fuji almost felt bad for poor Sakuno. But then he thought about the many things Ryoma would pay to get this tape back from him and he was no longer sorry.
He whipped out his walkie-talkie and tuned the dial to the correct frequency.
"Hey Inui. How's your stuff coming?"
There was nothing but evil laughter on the other end and Fuji couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Well I'm going to check up on the rest of the team okay?"
"Affirmative. Out."
Fuji then switched frequencies and tuned to Oishi.
"Oishi how are things over on your end." He said without hesitation.
"Fine. Eiji and I are keeping both teachers pretty distracted. They won't be back for awhile. But Fuji do you really think we should have done this without telling Tomoka? After all the whole scheme was her idea."
"True but she needed to think out of the box more. And besides we're going to a lot of trouble for this; I think we should get some sort of compensation for it."
"Fuji you're evil."
"Evil is in the eyes of the beholder, don't you think Oishi?" He heard Oishi mumble incoherently a bit more before replying.
"Okay. But at this point the situation is like a land mine; the slightest misstep is going to mess everything up."
"That makes it all the more exciting." Fuji said mischievously.
"You're crazy Fuji. But I can't think of any way things could get much worse, so we might as well go all out."
"Carry on then."
"Golden Pair, out."
--
A/n: Sorry it took so long. I was in summer school-not because I failed, but because I was in the hospital in the beginning of the school year and had to drop some classes. I was just making it up. But I'm done now, so I'll have way more time to write. I also was in a rush to post this chapter, so if you see any obvious mistakes-tell me.
In case you were wondering about the ring tone song. That song was pretty much my blood while writing this. Something about it makes me write…
I would once again like to apologize and thank everyone who reviewed. The ones who tell me what I've done wrong are good- they make me better. But the people who just say I like your story are great too. They keep me writing.
This in no way shape or form was gonna fit into one or two chapters. I should have realized that in the planning stage but I didn't. So now I'm guessing 3-4chapters but I promised to update faster and I shall follow through (hopefully). If there is any major wait coming I shall tell you guys. Thanks to all and happy reading.
