A/N: (trumpets sounding) YAY!!! I finally got a chance to update and write another chapter!! I'm very excited because it's been a while since I've been able to even type things out. Everything was on different pieces of paper and trying to type it all together was enough to tear my hair out!! Anyway, I hope you like it! I have a whole bunch of other ideas coming…..but first I have to find the page I wrote it down on :P tee hee! I'm such a scatterbrain! Enjoy! niku niku!!

Another note: In the story I changed my mind and decided that I wanted it to be summer vacation instead of them going school.

Italics denotes thought


The Guest
Chapter 3

Sakuno opened one eye before she poked her head out from under the covers. Nanako had just left the room. She could hear the soft footsteps heading downstairs towards what she assumed was the kitchen. Seeing that the coast was clear, Sakuno sat up and stretched. There wasn't a real reason she didn't want Nanako to know that she was awake, but Sakuno felt better that there was no one else in the room. She didn't want anyone to talk about what happened last night. She suddenly shuddered and blushed at the thought of what had happened after her bath.

The birds chirped gaily outside the window as the warm rays of the sun filtered into the room. It looked as if it was going to be a beautiful day today. Sakuno wondered if she could possibly spend the entire day somewhere else besides this house. But where would I go all day? She thought. She could spend the day window shopping down in Roppoingi, but even she knew she could only take that place and the crowds for a short period of time. A movie sounded nice, but there wasn't anything that she would have wanted to watch, at least not by herself. Sakuno stared vacantly out the window as she thought. There wasn't anything that she could think of and she knew she couldn't stay in this room all day….or could she?

It was summer break, and her teachers did assign more homework for them to do. She could use that as an excuse since she hadn't started on it yet, but…Sakuno had promised Tomoka that they would meet and work on it together. It was better to work with someone than do all the homework alone. As she continued to ponder, a noise from outside the door made her freeze. She wanted to dive back under the covers, but her body wouldn't move.

A door opened, then quickly shut and the sound of water could be heard. He was awake. There was certainly no way now that Sakuno was going to leave the room today. Any plans of venturing out the house were shattered at that moment. The water turned off and the sound of a door opening could be heard again. There was a small meow of a cat and then the familiar sound of footsteps going down the stairs. Sakuno slowly let out a breath. She wasn't aware that she had also stopped breathing. In the back of her head she knew that Ryoma wouldn't have done anything like that on purpose, yet, that didn't help ease the embarrassment she still felt. Her body had soon regained motion and as fast as she could, she crawled back under the covers.


"Can't we at least have a traditional Japanese breakfast just once in this house?" Ryoma sighed as he held up a piece of sausage and looked at it with disdain.

"I have so much fun making western style food." Nanako answered as she placed a sunny-side up egg on Ryoma's plate. "Besides, I promised your mother that I would make sure you and Sakuno were eating properly."

"Hmmph, you just broke your promise." Ryoma said as he pushed his chair away from the table and stood up.

"Sit down and eat, Shounen. You're gonna need that energy today."

Ryoma and Nanako turned around to see Nanjiro sitting on the open porch reading a newspaper. Or so it seemed. He looked up and motioned to the table with his chin.

"Nanako didn't just cook for the hell of it. Sit and eat."

Ryoma muttered something under his breath as he sat down and picked up his fork. Every morning it was the same thing for breakfast. Just once all he wanted was some miso soup and maybe some fish and rice. Was that too much to ask for?

"Where is our cute little guest?"

"I left her to sleep in my room. She must have been really tired."

"Mmmmmm. She sleeps more than our little lazy Shounen over there."

Ryoma shot his father an evil look. Nanjiro didn't have to take his eyes away from his paper to know that he had successfully gotten on his son's nerves. It was fun picking on him this early in the morning. Actually, it didn't matter what time of the day it was, picking on Ryoma was just fun period. To hide his ear-to-ear grin, Nanjiro brought the paper closer to his face.

"Maybe someone should wake her up to let her know that breakfast is ready." Nanako suggested as she placed another egg on a plate and handed it to her uncle.

"Ryoma can go wake her up."

"You told me to sit down and eat."

"It's rude to eat without inviting your guest to come down and join you."

"She's not my guest."

"Ahh, is that so. Well then, I guess its okay for you to invite yourself into the bathroom with her, but you can't invite her to come join you for breakfast?" Nanjiro finally put down the paper and looked at his son, only to be met by Ryoma's glare.

Without anymore words, Ryoma pushed his chair back and headed up the stairs. Nanjiro smiled victoriously and returned back to his paper just in time to see Nanako snatch the magazine from him.

"NANIII!!!!"

"Really, Uncle. And with a guest here."


KNOCK KNOCK

Sakuno froze.

KNOCK KNOCK

Was she supposed to answer? Maybe I should pretend to be asleep again? She wondered as she heard the knocking again. Why were they bothering her? Couldn't they just leave her alone for one day? Sakuno pulled the covers back over her head.

"Ryuzaki? Oi, Ryuzaki? Are you hungry?" the voice called from the other side of the door.

The growl from her stomach reminded her that she had not eaten anything since dinner and it wasn't much what she had eaten. Breakfast wasn't that important if it meant eating downstairs with Ryoma-kun and facing everyone else. She closed her eyes and tried to fight the rumblings in her tummy.

"Ryuzaki? Are you awake?"

Sakuno shut her eyes even tighter, as if that would make her disappear completely. Hopefully he'll leave if she made no noise, didn't move, and couldn't see anything. But to her surprise and horror, she could hear the doorknob turn and a tiny creak of the door. Without thinking her body shot straight up to try to slam the door back, but it was too late. The door swung open and she stood there, in her nightgown, facing Ryoma.

"There's food downstairs." Ryoma said hurriedly and closed the door just as quickly as he opened it.

All she could do was stand there with her eyes and mouth wide open. Hazukashii na!!! She thought as her hands immediately flew up to the top of her head. Her hair was mussed and flattened with strands sticking out here and there. He had seen her again, but this time she was clothed and she looked completely horrible. She let out a little sniffle as she gathered her things and went into the bathroom. It was too late to make excuses and stay in the room all day. And she had just lost the battle with her stomach as it let out one last loud rumble to let her know that it wasn't going to be ignored.


"Are you hungry Sakuno-chan? Do you like eggs?"

Nanako smiled as she handed Sakuno her plate. Sakuno politely bowed her head and sat down at the table as far away from Ryoma as she could. She lifted her eyes from her plate and quickly glanced at Ryoma then Nanako. They're acting pretty normal. Maybe there isn't anything to worry about. She was snapped back to reality when she felt a soft, furry body brushing up against her legs and soft meowing. Sakuno smiled as she saw Karupin sit on his hind legs and put his paws on her chair.

"Ohayo gozaimasu Neko-chan."

"Don't feed him anything." Ryoma's voice came from across the table.

"Ahh…um, hai." Sakuno was taken aback, but soon nodded, then looked down at Karupin. "Gomen nasai, Neko-chan."

Karupin sniffed the air one last time before turning around and sauntering towards the door. He looked back to let out one more pitiful meow and walked out the kitchen. Sakuno turned her focus back to her food. She really wanted to give him something.

"Ryoma, did you remember to put food in his bowl?" Nanako asked.

"Mmm."

"Is the kitty yours, Nanako Onee-san?"

Nanako let out a small chuckle. She shook her head and pointed at Ryoma. Only Sakuno's eyes moved to follow where Nanako's fingers were pointing. That couldn't be true. It was Ryoma's cat that was trying to get into the bathroom? As if on cue, Sakuno's cheeks flushed bright red. Is that the sort of thing that Ryoma trains his cat to do?

Ryoma looked up from his plate at Sakuno. This was the second time she blushed at the table. She did the same thing last night as well. He shrugged his shoulders and finished his glass of milk.

"Ah, there is our esteemed guest. Good morning young lady. Did you sleep well?"

Nanjiro stood in the doorway looking at the three standing in the kitchen. He had been watching from the shadows and was a bit disappointed. Nothing was going on between her and his slow son. No talk about what had happened last night. He smirked as he thought about what did happen the night before. It's a wonder what a little bit of tuna juice could do.

Sakuno silently nodded her head, which was still focused on the plate in front of her. She hadn't had a chance to touch her food. She was hungry, but she wasn't really too sure about the food on the plate. And besides, it was hard to eat when feeling a little embarrassed.

"Good, good. We wouldn't want your guest to be uncomfortable in any way, ne, shounen?"

Ryoma turned his head and murmured, "she's not my guest."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Nanjiro wanted to hit his son in the head. Baka, you don't say things like that in front of a girl to make her feel bad. At that moment, a thought quickly flashed in his mind and disappeared, if he is really this clueless about girls, could he really be my son? Nanjiro shook his head and an evil smirk spread across his face.

"Nee, shonen, there are some things I need for you to do for me today."

"I'm busy."

"Yeah, well, see that's the problem too, I'm busy as well and need these things done today; so, since the father cannot do it (that's me) then the dutiful son (that's you) will have to fill in for me. You wouldn't want the family name tarnished now would you?"

Nonchalantly, Ryoma shrugged his shoulders. He knew that whatever needed to be done today should have been done a few days ago, knowing his father. He was not going to waste a good practice day running around for his dad.

"Weeeelllll, since you don't care, I was going to be in the mood to play tennis later on today, but since I'll be too busy doing everything else, I guess I'll just be too worn out to be in the mood to play. Too bad. Ja ne." Nanjiro let out a fake yawn as he stretched his arms up above his head. He closed his eyes, but then opened one so he could see his son's reaction.

Ryoma's eyes opened a little wider. He knew what his dad was trying to do, but he just couldn't miss any opportunity to shut that old man down on the court. His clenched fist shook as he gave his father the nod.

The smile on Nanjiro's face widened. This was going to be so easy.


Trasnlations:

Hazukashii na!: how embarrassing
Ohayou Gozaimasu Neko-chan: good morning kitty
Gomen nasai Neko-chan: I'm sorry, kitty
Nanako Onee-san: Big sister Nanako (loose translation)
Ja ne: later