Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis. Enjoy. ^^
Thank you to my Beta Readers.
"Do you know what you're going to get Sam for Christmas?" smiled Yukimura. He walked along, in the falling snow, besides Sanada.
"No. I don't know yet." Sanada answered. "I was thinking of getting her some chocolate, I guess."
"Genichirou!" Sanada flinched at Yukimura's small outburst. He turned to look at him. "You can't get her chocolate! Chocolates are only sweets that last for a small amount of time. You, Genichirou, need to get her something that will make her fall in love with you...forever."
Sanada sighed, "I don't know what to get her, Seiichi."
"You want to be with her, right?" Yukimura asked with a smile. Yukimura already knew what Sanada would say. Sanada nodded slowly.
Yukimura smiled. "You want to hold her in your arms? Kiss her?" Sanada barely nodded with a tiny hint of pink on his cheeks. Yukimura's smile grew slightly. He continued. "You want to be her knight and shining armor?"
"Seiichi." Sanada quickly said. He didn't want Yukimura to continue even though it was true. "You're getting carried away."
"But you do right?" Yukimura looked at him serious.
Sanada couldn't deny it. He really did want to be Sam's true love. "You don't need to know." Sanada said instead of answering his yes/no question. Yukimura only chuckled.
"Fine. Then all we need to do is to find something that will last forever. Something that every time Sam sees it, she will think of you. That's one way you can win her heart, and she will belong to you." Yukimura said.
"So, what should I get Sam?"
"Hmm...That's the question." Yukimura simply said.
Sanada was dumbfounded. "You tell me all this romantic mushy stuff and you don't know what I should get for Sam?!"
"Hey. I've been helping you out, Genichirou. You should be thankful." Yukimura said.
"Yeah, and all your plans failed so far. You even made Niou end up in the hospital for two days." Sanada reminded him. "Look Seiichi. It's been six months and she doesn't see me any differently."
"Fine. If it was me, I would have taken her to Paris." smiled Yukimura. Sanada glared at Yukimura when he wasn't looking.
"Keep dreaming, Seiichi." Then Sanada noticed a store and had an idea. "Hey Seiichi. Let's go check that place out."
Yukimura noticed the place Sanada was talking about and smiled brightly. "That's perfect."
.Sanada.|.Sam.|.Kirihara.
-DING!- Kirihara woke up by the sound of the oven timer. "It's about time." Kirihara walked over to the oven. He gripped his hand around the handle and pulled down the oven door. He smiled. "It looks good."
He put on the oven mittens and carefully pulled out his creation. Kirihara placed his creation on the top of the stove. 'After the eighth cake, this has to be the perfect one I baked so far.' A smiled formed on his lips.
Kirihara's mother walked into the kitchen. Her eyes widen in shock. "Akaya! What did you do in here?!"
The kitchen was a disaster. Flour spilled everywhere, egg shells scattered all over the kitchen table, and the sliver mixing bowls pilled up in the sink. Even Kirihara was a mess. Kirihara grinned nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Hi mom…I'll clean the mess up, but LOOK!" Kirihara smiled and held out the cake in front his mother.
Forgetting about the tornado disaster, she smiled. "Is that cake for Sam?" Kirihara nodded shyly with a blush appearing across his face. "It's ok, Akaya. You take you time decorating that cake for Sam. I'll clean this mess up." Kirihara's mother said as she grabbed a wash cloth.
After the mess was cleaned up, Kirihara's mother noticed Kirihara sitting quietly on the table staring at the cake. "You know, the cake won't decorate itself." she said. She walked over and sat next to Kirihara.
"Mom, I don't know how to decorate a cake...I want to make this one special." Kirihara said.
"Let me help you out Akaya. When I was young I use to decorate wedding cakes." Kirihara's mother giggled. Kirihara blushed deeply.
"Thanks mom, but it doesn't have to be a wedding cake."
"I know." she smiled sweetly. White soft icing spread carefully across the top of the cake. "By the way, Akaya sweetie. You bake this cake really good, I know she'll love it."
Kirihara's face turned redder. "T-Thanks mom."
.Sanada.|.Sam.|.Kirihara.
"I'm so tired." Sam said sleepy. He fell and let her soft bed catch her. She was ready to fall deep into her sleep when her phone rang. –RING!- 'Argh! Let me sleep!' –RING!-
"What do you want?!" Sam yelled into her phone.
"Hey Sam, its Niou. Listen. I want to take you out to dinner." Niou said straight out.
"No. Bye." Sam dropped her phone on the bed. She was too tired to hang up and too tired to even care.
"Don't be like that." Niou continued. Sam grabbed the phone and pulled it up to her ear.
"Why not?! I went shopping with Marui and I'm tired." Sam said. She closed her eyes, the phone still to her ear. "…Niou?" Sam said calmly this time.
"What?"
"Are you still mad at me when I threw that snowball at your face?" Sam blushed a bit. No answer. "…I'm sorry Niou."
"Why did you do it?" Niou asked.
"I didn't mean to hit you. I was showing Marui why I like winter so much." Sam said. "Then you got in the way…or should I say Marui ran and hid behind you."
"Do you want dinner or not?" Niou asked in a serious tone. Sam frowned.
"I told you I'm tired and you know how my mother is." Sam said in a sad tone. "She still doesn't want me hanging out with you guys. It's already past 7pm."
Sam's mother was furious when she found out that her daughter had been playing tennis and hanging out with boys. She had to hear the news through Sanada when he was by Sam's side, after the horrible car accident. Completely angry and her daughter's condition she made the toughest decisions and sent Sam to America. America, where the man she divorced and left lived. Sending Sam to America didn't solve the tennis and boy problem…Marui and Yanagi ended up going to America with Sam to continue to train her. Returning to Japan…nothing stopped Sam from playing tennis and the friendship with the Rikkai regulars. Sam sneaked out often and even ran away, which caused a lot of police involvement. In the end, Sam's mother took the upper hand and made a deal with her. Tennis only on Saturdays during the day, and she could only go out from 1-7pm on weekdays.
"Sounds like she still hates us." Niou said in a not caring tone. "Are you going to sneak out?"
"…I don't know. I want to but I'm tired." Sam said.
"Come on. Just lock your door and climb out the window like last time." Niou said. "I'm already waiting across the street."
"What?!" Sam quickly got up and walked over her window with phone in hand. She saw Niou staring at her from across the street. Sam frowned. "…Do I even have a choice now?"
Niou hanged up and started to walk across the street. He sneaked to her side of the house where her room was on the second floor. He looked up.
Sam sighed and hanged up. She walked over and quietly locked her door. She then grabbed her jacket and walked back to her window and opened it. "It's icy, so if I die it's your fault." Sam whispered to Niou, to only see him smirk back at her.
Sam slowly climbed out of the window. Niou got impatience. "Just jump off. I'll catch you." Sam did what she was told. She jump and Niou caught her with ease.
"Let's hurry and get out of here." Sam quickly said.
.Sanada.|.Sam.|.Kirihara.
The two walked in silence. Sam glanced up at Niou. "…Hey Niou…Why do you want to take me out to dinner?"
"My Christmas gift to you so shut up and don't ask again." Niou said without looking at her. Sam looked down at the ground and smiled a little.
"Thank you." Sam said softly. Niou smirked.
"Don't worry about it. I won't be able to celebrate Christmas with you guys tomorrow so I might as well do it today." Niou shrugged.
Sam thought for a moment. She frowned. "Heeey!" She stopped. Niou stopped walking a turned around to face her.
"What?"
"Am I going to pay?" Sam asked. "You made me sneak out just so you could get a free dinner out of me?!" She glared at him. Niou stared at her then smirked.
"That's what friends are for, right?" He continued to walk.
Sam bent down and scooped some snow and made a snowball. "JERK!" Sam almost threw it when Niou turned around and faced her.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He said. He looked at her serious like if she did it, there would be revenge. Sam threw the snowball anyways but in a different direction. The snowball hit another guy.
"HEY!" The guy yelled. He looked like he was the one who was going to get revenge. Sam gasped and pointed at Niou.
"HE DID IT!"
Niou turned to glare at her but she wasn't there. Instead he saw Sam running down the street. "BRAT! Get your ass back here!"
"NO!" Sam shouted in a childish tone and continued on running. Niou ran after her. The guy tried to run after the two but he got tired quickly and gave up.
Niou ran and caught up to Sam without any problems. Next thing that happened…Sam was being carried over Niou's shoulder. "Put me down! I got legs you know!" Sam pouted but no success.
Niou carried Sam to decent restaurant. "Niou. I want to go back home."
"Why?"
Sam blushed. "I-I don't have any money on me. I can't afford this kind of place." she said after Niou put her down.
Niou rolled his eyes and pushed Sam through the door. "I told you earlier, don't worry about it. I'll be paying for the food."
"Wha?" Sam was surprised. Niou then dragged Sam to an empty table.
"Order what you want." Niou straight out said after they were seated. He didn't look from his menu. Sam nodded.
.Sanada.|.Sam.|.Kirihara.
"Thanks." Sam smiled and thanked Niou for dinner. Niou only nodded. Niou paid for dinner and now the two were walking. Sam pulled out her phone and looked at the time.
"Niou. I should be going back home…it's almost 10pm." Sam said sadly. Niou ignored her.
"Sam. Here." Niou pulled out a small red velvet box. "Yanagi, Jackal, Yagyuu and I all bought you a Christmas gift. Merry Christmas." Niou tossed the gift to Sam. Sam caught it.
"Thanks." Sam said. "I'll open it on Christmas." Sam smiled and put it in her coat pocket.
"So. What are you going to be doing tomorrow?" Niou asked.
"Nothing much. Just going to hang out and have Christmas at Yukimura's house." Sam said.
"Have you decided on the luckily guy yet? You know I'm still available." Niou smirked.
Sam shook her head. "No I haven't thought about it and I don't want to think about it." Both of them stopped walking and stood under a covered area where the snow wouldn't fall on top of them. Niou leaned against the wall.
"It's been six months and they're waiting for an answer from you." Sam leaned against the wall too, next to him.
"To tell you the truth…I don't really know what to think." Sam admitted which Niou raised a brow. "I love both Sanada and Kirihara…I love all of you guys, but as a brother. I think of you as my older brothers."
Niou patted on top of Sam's head. "Aww, that's sweet…'tiny sister'." Sam pushed his hand away.
"Hey! I'm not tiny!" Sam looked away. Niou laughed lightly and pulled Sam into a 'brotherly' hug.
"I'm kidding, 'kay?" Niou smirked. Sam tried to pull herself out of the hug but she was too tired to even try. Niou held her close. "Think about it 'kay? You know you should stop thinking about yourself and think about them. Sanada and Kirihara both love you and confessed to you. You know that's a lot of guts for a guy to say that kind of stuff. Especially if it's coming from Sanada and the other brat."
Sam fell silent. Niou knew she was thinking about it. "Everyday Sanada waits for an answer. I know he wants to hear a 'yes' from you, but if you don't feel the same. At least tell him no, so that way he doesn't have wait anymore. Same thing goes for Kirihara. How would you like it if you told a guy your confession and he never gave you an answer?" Niou raised a brow and looked down at Sam.
"…" Sam looked at the snow instead of him. Niou continued.
"You wouldn't like it would you? Sanada and Kirihara have waited patiently for six months…and you know that's a long time. If it was me I would forget all about the girl and pull something on her instead, but that's who I am."
Sam didn't say anything. Niou didn't really care and continue to hug Sam closely.
"…I think its weird hearing this stuff coming from you." Sam said in quiet voice. Niou shrugged. "But thank you for telling me this, Niou. I guess I didn't really think about Sanada or Kirihara's feelings…"
"I think you're just afraid of getting out of your comfort zone. Are you scared of taking that kind of step?" Sam slowly nodded to Niou's question.
"It's best for you make a decision and tell them an answer." Niou said in a brotherly tone. "Do you want to go home now?"
Sam shook her head. "I rather sleep out in the cold instead of going back home." Sam then yawned. "Can I…stay at your…hou-" Sam started to doze off. Niou smirked at scooped her up in his arms. Sam was too tired to keep herself wake and ended up falling asleep. She didn't really worry about herself, because for some reason she'd trusted Niou.
Niou decided it was better to take her back to her house. After the walk in the middle of the night, he took her back home. Niou was able to sneak Sam back to her room without getting caught. First he pick locked the front door and carried her quietly upstairs and then sneaked out the window and headed home.
Review please. Thank you. ^^
I'm sorry if Niou was out of character.MyPrinceOishi08.