Gelly: So, the first chapter has undergone quite a lot of rewriting (took out a lot of those italicized internal monologues and god awful phrasing *flails* orz). Also, I still want to thank aena-chan12 and furubarulz1996-darkangelz for being my first reviewers. This chapter was dedicated to them, as well as reader713, sarcasticallythoughtful and 19animelover95 for adding the story to their alerts and favorites list. They really made me happy. X)

Oh and 'Chibisaku' is just a made up term. I still have no idea what it means.

oOo

Revelations

oOo

"Um, Ryoma-kun…?"

Ryoma didn't say anything, but he did turn to face her for a moment. She took that as a sign that he was listening and she continued her question.

"Uh… w-what class are you in...?"

"1-A," he answered monotonously.

"R-really?!" Sakuno almost bounced. "That's great… We're in the same class," she mostly whispered, seeing as Ryoma didn't look particularly interested.

Sakuno down-casted her eyes, every now and then taking peeks at Ryoma's figure—she still wanted to try talking to him.

"Um, R-ryoma-kun…?" Sakuno tried once more.

"What?" Ryoma gave the girl a slightly annoyed look. His reaction practically scared the wits out of her.

Hysterically, Sakuno tried to think up a remotely important topic. "Um, I was just wondering…" Wondering what? God, she was so stupid. She should have thought of something first! "Wondering about…"

"…about?"

Think Sakuno, think! Just when she thought she could finally strike a proper conversation after talking to Ryoga. It was so easy talking to him… Oh! That's it! "Ryoga-san!"

"…Ryoga?" Ryoma could only wonder (and feel annoyed—damn hormones) about how his brother got into the conversation.

"Y-yes, I was wondering about Ryoga-san…"

"What about him?"

Sakuno hesitated for a second before saying, "Is her your—"

"He's my brother," Ryoma cut her off.

So that's why they looked alike. Good question, Sakuno! You managed to find out another thing about your crush!

"He was adopted," Ryoma then added.

That made Sakuno stop. "Really? But… why do both of you look very similar?"

Ryoma only shrugged.

Sakuno was still very curious, but she did not dare to ask again. Ryoma might get angry if she did, and she could not risk that.

Behind them, Ryoga was able to hear only bits of the conversation. He only managed to see Sakuno looking very happy when Ryoma said a number and letter, which the genius that he was guessed that it must have been his classroom assignment. He was also able to catch Sakuno saying his name while blushing, and an annoyed look that Ryoma gave her. Ryoga deduced that Sakuno was asking about him (everyone wants to know about his gorgeous self, after all) and it made Ryoma jealous, because you don't want to hear the girl you like inquiring about another handsome fellow.

It was boring though, because after that, they seemed to have stopped talking. It was really too bad Ryoma did not inherit his or their father's charms when talking to ladies, he was waiting his chance! Look, they were already near their school's gates—

"Ryoma-sama! You're here!"

"I missed you Ryoma-sama!"

"Ahh! Hi, Ryoma-sama! How are you?!"

Squeals of numerous amounts of fangirls nearly caused Ryoga to be deaf.

Ryoga was surprised at the attention his brother seemed to acquire and was a bit jealous at all the girls screaming for him. He was also annoyed at his brother's reaction. The young boy just glared at some of them and tried to ignore all of them as he made his way through! Definitely didn't get anything from his or their father, the unlucky boy.

Sakuno, fully aware of the dangers she might get in standing too close to Ryoma, had already timidly walked behind the safe two feet away from him.

Fangirls were so scary.

"Ahh! Who's that guy with Ryoma-sama?! He's so cute!"

"Wow, he looks like Ryoma-sama!"

"Hi! What's your name?!"

Ryoga, whose previous pity turned to delight as the girls averted their screams to the 'guy who looked like Ryoma-sama', basked in all the attention they were giving him.

It was time to give them what they came to him for.

"Good morning ladies! My name is Ryoga, Echizen Ryoga. Nice to meet all of you," he said in perfect English. He topped his greeting off with a princely bow. More screams came from the girls. Some of them even swooned just hearing him speak English so fluently.

"Ahh! He's so cool and handsome!"

"Eeee! He can even speak English!"

"And he's related to Ryoma-sama! Kya!"

He continued to entertain all of them. They squealed even more when they knew that he also played tennis and that he had participated in various tournaments abroad. They couldn't help but be awed when he said that he lived independently in America. Ryoga loved the attention he received.

Going to Ryoma's school was definitely a good decision.

oOo

My Chibisaku, I've finally come back for you.

We'll be together again, soon.

Very, very soon.

"Ah, you must be the new teacher. Are you sure you can be able to handle a class on such short notice? You just applied today, the same time as the beginning of classes, and from what I've been informed you've just graduated, too," the worried vice-principal of Seigaku High asked.

"Yes, vice-principal Kashimoto-san, I'm pretty sure that I'm ready." The young woman smiled in an attempt to assure the principal. He, however, did not cease to worry.

"But Ry—"

"Please call me Sakura-sensei, sir, I insist," the girl, Sakura, said.

"Ah, yes, yes. I almost forgot… Very well," he breathed deeply. "Sakura-sensei, I know that you are very competent, your resume and recommendation letters speak for themselves, but are you really sure you can handle it? I'm worried that the students might be too much for you. You know teenagers are these days." The vice-principal winced at recalling all the crazy antics his students had done for the past years. Oh, the pranks they had pulled… it was a miracle he wasn't bald yet.

Sakura softly chuckled. "Ah, yes, teenagers, I was once one… But I'm sure they wouldn't be that bad. I need to give them the benefit of the doubt first. More importantly, I haven't had the chance to personally thank you yet, vice-principal Kashimoto-sensei. So, thank you very much for allowing me to teach at your wonderful institution, and I want to thank you even more for acknowledging my requests of keeping some of my identity a secret to the student populace. You don't know how much it means to me." She did a low bow of gratitude.

"You're welcome, Sakura-sensei. Our faculty is pleased to have you among us. May you find your stay here a pleasant one." His demeanor turned to a more fatherly character. "Don't worry about your secret. We understand your reasons, and we could only wish you luck with your sister," the vice principal said. "Now, shouldn't you hurry up to your classroom? You want to arrive early for your first class."

"Oh! That's right! Thank you once again, Kishimoto-sensei. I'll be leaving now." She scurried out the door after giving another bow to the vice principal. She was hoping to leave earlier so that she could search for her class because, as humiliating as it could be, she was so bad at directions. But now she had to hurry or else she would be late. Maybe she should just ask every other student to know where her class is.

She tightened her grip on the folder that she was holding on to. The moment she's been waiting for has finally come. But she decided to take things slowly. Now was not yet the right moment to reveal her identity to Sakuno. She decided to know more about Sakuno first and to do it from a safe distance before she gave her the news.

And the best way that she could think of for her to be able to do that is to become Sakuno's teacher in class.

Now… where was her room again?

oOo

"HI, RYOMA-SAMA!"

The screech was heard throughout the whole school. Birds flew. Wolfs howled. Windows broke. Ryoma wished he could have hidden under a rock, or at least silence the only girl who could make such a racket—either would be fine. But not all wishes came true, seeing as the walking loud-speaker dashed closer to her 'Ryoma-sama', pushing aside all who blocked her way.

"RYOMA-SAMA! How are you?! I missed you so much! Did you miss me? What did you do in your vacation? Did you think about me? I thought about you the whole time! Did you visit new places?! I went to the beach this summer, it was so fun! But, of course, it wasn't the same without you Ryoma-sama! I wish we were together! Did you have fun? Of course, you didn't! I wasn't with you! I'm sorry Ryoma-sama, I wasn't able to accompany you during the vacation! I really, really, really, wish we could have been together…"

On and on, Tomoka went. Ryoma could only wonder when she breathed.

"T-tomo-chan, could you please stop now, or at least lower your voice a bit?" Sakuno pleaded. Her bestfriend was already catching a few stares and glares from those around her. Some were checking if they still had their hearing.

"But Sakuno! Ryoma-sama must know how much I've missed him! I must tell him about how I fared while we were not together! I'm sure he was worried about me! Ryoma-sama, I'm sorry I worried you!" Tomoka continued.

"Tomo-chan, I think the whole world knows that already," Sakuno sighed. It was so hard to calm her friend down.

For the whole moment Ryoma was just glaring at the girl. That girl, what's-her-name, was so annoying.

"Echizen, with my now-five-years of tennis experience, I know that you spent most of your vacation playing tennis!" Horio added to the noise because he didn't like feeling left out.

It was too bad for Ryoma, and everyone else, that Horio and Tomoka were placed in the same class. The faculty must have something against them.

"So what if I did?" Ryoma replied monotonously while glaring at Horio.

"Eh?! I was right?" Horio was a bit stunned at being told that by Ryoma, but he quickly regained his composure. "Ahaha, of course, I was right! With my five years of tennis experience, how could I possibly be wrong?"

The class sweat-dropped. What did they do to have been placed in the same class as two loud-mouthed, obsessive, bragging freaks, and a tennis-obsessed freak?!

"Wow, that's so cool Ryoma-sama! I'm sure that you are way better now and can definitely defeat all your opponents! Especially with ME cheering you on for every game!"

For the past few minutes, after everyone had gotten over the fact that there was no stopping Tomoka and Horio (hopefully, they would still have their hearing by the end of the school year), the lively classroom chatter began. They talked about their vacations, how excited they were that they were now freshmen in high school, and other normal topics.

The buzzing of the students soon hushed when the door opened, and in came a short, slim woman with back-length, wavy, auburn hair, brown eyes and white skin that was probably in her twenties.

"I'm sorry I'm late, I got a bit lost on my way," she said as she entered the class slowly, clutching onto a folder.

They figured she was the teacher.

She was looking a bit flushed, making her look even younger. She also looked so shy and demure and so gentle th–

"O-oh!"

She tripped.

Papers flew all around the classroom. The teacher blushed as she hurriedly tried to stand and collect all her scattered documents.

The children could only sweat-drop at the scene. Was she really a reliable adult?

A few students were kind enough to help her. Others were either too stunned or were too busy entertaining the bugging question inside their heads.

"Hey, you know she looks a bit like someone I know, but I can't put a finger on it," one girl said.

"Really? …Hey, you're right. Now that I think of it, she does look like someone… but who?" another asked.

"Auburn hair, pale face…"

"Brown eyes…"

"Small height

"Blushes a lot and has no sense of direction."

"Clumsy, too."

It was then than light bulbs flashed.

Like clockwork, all heads turned to one single person inside the room.

oOo

Sakuno was worried and sympathetic for the teacher. She knew how embarrassing tripping in front of a lot people was. She knew that it hurt, too. But she couldn't help but think that the teacher looked quite familiar.

She then noticed that everyone in the class, with the exception of those who were helping the teacher pick up some of the files, were simultaneously turning their heads towards her direction. She blushed at the attention. Why were they looking at her? Did she have something on her face?

oOo

Ryoma was one of the 'kind' students who helped the teacher pick up the files that were scattered.

Well, actually, it just so happened that a few pieces flew in front of his face and some landed on his feet. Tezuka would be disappointed with him if he ignored it.

Tch, who knew another clumsy idiot could exist in the world. He thought Ryuzaki was a rare phenomenon.

…Speaking of which…

He looked at the teacher again.

She looked a lot like Ryuzaki, too. Had the old lady ever mentioned about having another granddaughter?

He looked at the files in his hands. There were 6 pictures and some written information. One picture was of two little girls, one was a baby and the other look like she was six years old. Sisters maybe, judging from their resemblance. Another was a whole family picture; the two little girl and their parents. The last four were pictures of Ryuzaki Sakuno.

Ryoma found this bizarre. Sure the teacher could have had the picture for reference of her students, but the pictures didn't look like those that the school would give for identification. In fact, the last pictures looked like stolen shots of Sakuno.

There was a photo of Sakuno with her grandmother while they were out shopping for groceries.

Another photo was of a younger looking Sakuno with a still old-looking Sumire (Ryoma snickered at how old the old-hag looked even before).

The last two were solos of Ryuzaki Sakuno in her school uniform going inside her house, and another younger version of her playing in the park.

He then studied the papers, which held even weirder information. The bottom had a 'CONFIRMED: RYUZAKI SAKUNO' typed on it, and scanning the contents, he realized that it had various information about Sakuno–her age, address, and notes about the girl.

The hell… Was the teacher some kind of stalker?

He skimmed through all the other files in his hands. Almost everything was about her.

There were only a couple that were about the school. Ryoma scanned the room to see that the other school-related papers were picked up by his classmates.

Real suspicious.

"Can I please have those back?" A voice spoke from behind him sounding very urgent. "Those are classified information. Very important files… Have you read any of it?"

Ryoma figured it would be safer to say no.

She quickly took it away from him as soon as he held it up to her.

Horrible, today was just horrible! And just when she thought things could not get worse, she found all her students shifting their gazes between her and Sakuno.

They were going to find out!

"Class, may I please have your attention?" she said, panicking internally.

None averted their gazes.

She tried raising her voice. "Class! Please pay attention!"

Heads snapped at her direction. Everyone was quiet.

Relieved, she sat in her own desk and began scanning her files. Finally, they were all safely back in her folder.

"Sorry for the trouble, class. And thank you to the ones who've helped me pick up the pieces of paper that flew." The teacher gave a small, embarrassed laugh. "I can be a bit clumsy sometimes. But hopefully, you'll put it behind yourselves so we can all start over, all right?"

The students nodded and laughed when she left the room only to enter again, this time without tripping.

"Good morning to all of you. As you have probably figured out, I am your teacher. You can call me Sakura-sensei."

"Good Morning Sakura-sensei!" All of the students chorused.

Sakura nodded and smiled. Being able to start over felt good. "I will be your homeroom adviser for the whole school year. I will also be teaching you English and Mathematics. That means we'll be seeing each other frequently. Isn't that nice? By the end of the year, I'm sure all of you would be tired of my face."

A light laugh echoed inside the room.

"Which also means that it's only fair that we be acquainted formally."

The students groaned. They knew what was coming next…

She looked excited. "I'll need all of you to introduce yourself in front of the class."

They knew it.

"And since our first subject today is English…"

The students stared at the teacher with wide eyes. No! Not that! Please, please don't say they had to—

Sakura cleared her throat and spoke in English, "You have to introduce yourself in English."

The children slumped in their seats.

"Now, now, don't look like that. You have to be used to speaking in English," Sakura said to encourage them (not that it really helped). "All you have to say, aside from your name, are your age, family, hobbies or interest, favorite subjects, and maybe a cute nickname that you had."

They groaned.

"I'll start." Sakura once again, spoke in English. "Good morning, everyone. Like I said, you may call me Sakura. I am twenty one years old and a recent graduate. This is my first teaching job. My favorite subjects are English and Math. My parents died when I was eight and that was when I was taken in by my aunt till I was seventeen. I've started living on my own when I studied in S University, though my aunt helped me pay for my tuition. My father used to call me Sakura-hime when I was younger because I loved dressing up as one."

Then she returned to speaking in the vernacular. "Now, that didn't sound so hard, right?"

The class did not respond. They were too busy trying to think up what to say.

"Okay, now who should I call?" She skimmed through the class and noticed the same boy who managed to collect the papers that contained information on Sakuno. She decided to call him next.

"You," she gestured towards a sleepy Ryoma. "You are Echizen-kun, right?"

Ryoma nodded.

"Good, please proceed to the front and introduce yourself."

Fans of Ryoma squealed with delight as he approached the front of the class.

"Echizen-kun, please start now." Sakura gave Ryoma an encouraging smile. She was expecting the students to have a bit of trouble regarding the English language, and he must be nervous about beginning. She was wrong, however, in underestimating Echizen Ryoma.

"I'm Echizen Ryoma, fifteen years old," he dully began. "I live with my parents, my cousin, and my cat. I play tennis and was a regular for three years in Seishun Gakuen Middle School's tennis team. My favorite subject would be Science. Kikumaru-sempai calls me 'Ochibi', my brother calls me 'Chibisuke', and I also have a few other nicknames related to tennis like The Prince of Tennis and Samurai Junior, though I would prefer that none of you use those nicknames."

Sakura clapped and the others followed suit. "That's great, Echizen-kun. Such fluent English!"

Ryoma shrugged.

"That's because Ryoma-sama grew up in America, sensei!" Tomoka bragged.

"Ooh," Sakura nodded. "Well, thank you Echizen. Who wants to go next?"

No one raised their hands.

Sakura sighed. She would have to randomly call them again, then. "Ryuzaki Sakuno-chan? Will you please go next?"

Well, that wasn't exactly random, but she couldn't wait to hear what the small girl would say. Her heart beat frantically. Would Sakuno remember Sakura, her sister?

The girl in question timidly stood up. "Um, m-my name is Ryuzaki Sakuno," she stuttered. "It is fine to call me Ryuzaki or Sakuno. I am fifteen years old and my favorite subject is Math. I live with grandmother. She told me my parents died when I was two. I like to cook and play tennis," she continued in a series of pauses and hesitant starts. "I… I do not know about my nicknames. I do not think I have one…"

Sakura tightly closed her fist as she felt her heart drop. Not only had Sakuno not mentioned anything about her, she also did not remember about the cute nickname she gave her when they were young. Why had Sumire not told her anything?

"Oh!" Sakuno seemed remember something. "I-I think someone used to call me…C-chibisaku…?"