Day Two

A/N: Sorry about the late update.

Normal POV

Sunlight filtered through the room as Ryoma's alarm clock rang. Groaning, Sakuno reached out a hand to stop it. Then she cracked open her eyes. Where am I? she thought. Then she remembered. Hmm, why did her hand- oh! She and Ryoma were holding hands! She blushed, then sat up, their hands still interlocked. Ryoma looked so cute when he was asleep. So peaceful, and childish. He looked much more like his age. With a start, she realized the time. Ack! She pulled her hand from his- to no avail. So she kept tugging.

Eventually, he was awakened by her tugging.

"Stop it, Karupin," he muttered.

Sakuno giggled. "Wake up, Ryoma-kun!"

So he did. He looked down at their entwined hands. He smirked. "Ryuzaki, what is this supposed to mean?"

"Eh? This just happened somehow," she blushed.

"Hn," he shrugged. Then he glanced over at the clock. "Kami," he muttered, vaulting out of bed. "Come on, aren't you coming to school?"

Sakuno nodded, and propelled herself out of bed. She crossed the room to her suitcase, and rummaged about for her school uniform.

She went into the bathroom to change, and came out a few minutes later.

"Anou, Ryoma-kun... why are you wearing your jacket inside out?" she laughed.

He looked over at her incredulously. Where was the old Ryuzaki? Oh, right. She had changed. Sighing, he motioned her out of the room. She only laughed and made her way downstairs.

-2-

"OCHIBIIIIII!" yelled Eiji, glomping Ryoma.

"Can't... breathe..." he choked out.

"Ah, gomen, gomen," replied the hyperactive redhead sheepishly."SAKUNOOOO-CHAN!" he yelled, glomping her.

"Eiji, I don't think she can breathe!" said Oishi worriedly. Eiji smiled and went over to glomp him instead.

"Ohaiyou!" cheered Momo as he rode into the grounds neck-to-neck with Kaidoh. "Ha! What now, Viper, I win!"

"Fsh, says the guy who lost to his girlfriend," taunted Kaidoh.

"That was on purpose!" wailed Momo. "I let Ann win! Otherwise, she couldn't have beat me! We were playing tennis for kami's sake!"

"Whatever. You can't dodge a punch, either," hissed Kaidoh.

"What did you say, MAMUSHI?"

"You wanna go!"

Those were Ryoma's senpais.

"Saa, Echizen, you and Sakuno are living together, right?" asked Fuji pleasantly.

"Eh, senpai, how did you know?" asked Sakuno.

"99.99% he found out in an underhanded way. Now, you say Echizen and Ryuzaki are living together..." Inui's glasses glinted.

"No, no, the Echizen's are just taking me in because obaa-chan has to go away for a month. Anyways, senpais, gotta go, Vocal Club's waiting!" Sakuno ran off towards the school building.

"Eh? Echizen/Ochibi's living with Sakuno-chan?" spluttered Eiji and Momo in unison. Ryoma rolled his eyes; forget about the Golden Pair, these two should really be in doubles together. They practically ran on the same wave-length.

"No, didn't you hear what she just said?" Ryoma was starting to get annoyed. That was not good.

"Why aren't you warming up? Thirty laps, all of you," demanded Tezuka.

Somewhere over there came a yell of, "BURNINNNNNG! I'LL BEAT YOU ALL!"

Yep, those were definitely Ryoma's senpais.

"So young, so young," sang Eiji and Momo as they ran alongside Ryoma. He sighed. This was going to be a looong day.

-2-

After tennis practice ended, Ryoma fiddled with his tie, cursing the third-year uniforms. For guys, it was a white button-down shirt, black slacks, and a tie. For girls, it was a white button-down shirt, black, white, and a color of your choosing plaid skirt, and a thin, girl's tie.

"Need some help, Ryoma-kun?" came the tinkling voise of- wait, tinkling? Since when did Sakuno- Sakuno? Since when did Ryuzaki's voice sound tinklish? "Ne, Ryoma-kun, shouldn't you already be used to this tie?"

He grunted.

Her eyes widened. "Don't tell me you've been wearing a clip-on for the past two months! And nobody noticed?"

"Okaa-chan found out," he admitted. She giggled- it sounded like bells. Excuse me? Echizen Ryoma does not think of girls that way.

"Here, I'll teach you." Sakuno's nimble fingers quickly did the tie.

"Come again?" he muttered under his breath. She heard it. Laughing, she undid his tie and did it again for him, slowly. "I get it," he mumbled, the very slightest tinge visible on his cheeks. Yup, that's how Echizen Ryoma blushes. Get used to it.

Speaking of, Sakuno seemed to realize how close they were, and blushed lightly. Ryoma was impressed. The Sakuno of two years ago would have been a wreck.

Suddenly, the warning bell rang.

Saved by the bell!

-2-

After school, and after all the activities, Sakuno leaned against her locker after changing. Three girls from Ryoma's fanclub advanced menacingly towards her.

"Don't protest, or your friends will get hurt," hissed the tall redhead. Now, Sakuno was a smart girl with a black belt in martial arts (A/N: That part will be explained later on in the story.), but when her friends were involved, she wouldn't risk them. So she just nodded.

The slightly chubby orange-haired girl brandished a pair of scissors. The small brunette held Sakuno down, just in case.

"Let's see how much our prince likes you with a haircut," cackled the redhead, watching on in satisfaction as the orange-haired girl snipped away at Sakuno's braids. "That's enough," the redhead commanded.

As they were leaving, the redhead threw one more threat over her shoulder at Sakuno. "Stay away from our Ryoma-sama. Or else."

-2-

Eyes watery but her head held high, Sakuno walked out of the girls' locker rooms.

When she reached Ryoma at the gates, the first thing he said was, "You're late. Way too late."

She chuckled weakly. "I suppose you're paying for all the times I waited for you."

He shrugged and looked at her, eyes widening for a fraction of a second and then hardening. "Who did this to you?" his hissed.

"What? N-no! I did it myself!" she protested.

"No. Ryuzaki isn' that bad of a hair-cutter," he pointed out. She managed a watery smile. "Now tell me. And don't lie."

Sakuno gasped. Suddenly, Ryoma's chest was only a couple of inches away from hers!"I-I... they threatened by friends!" she cried, throwing herself into his arms. He stood there, surprised at how well their bodies molded together. Slowly, he hugged her and let her wet his shirt with tears. "I'm sorry," she muttered as she pulled away. Ryoma strangely felt as though there was something missing. "Your shirt..." she trailed off. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I don't care. Are you okay?" he whispered in her ear, his hot breath sending shivers down her spine. She nodded.

"Let's go back," she mumbled, walking away. He merely caught her wrist, and dragged her backward to where he was. He began walking in the opposite direction. He dropped his hand down so that his fingers laced together with hers.

"Get a proper haircut. You don't want people to know what happened, do you?" he pointed out. She shook her head, staring at their entwined hands. She began telling him about the hair-cutting incident.

-2-

"Catfight?" asked the stylist sympathetically. "Aw, your boyfriend came to help you!" she cooed. Sakuno blushed, and Ryoma tugged down his cap.

"S/he's not my girl/boy friend."