Eternal.Angel
September to December 31, 2007

Disclaimers: I do not own any part whatsoever of Prince of Tennis.
Summary: Ryuzaki Sakuno now enters college, and is doing fairly well being independent. But what happens when two people she respects the most crash into her life? What will be her decision? Enjoy! And don't forget to review please!

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Step One
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Spring had long arrived, but it hadn't stopped a certain female from working harder than ever. It was the last semester of her first year in college, after all, and she truly wished to do well on her final exams. She had begun preparing for these large tests by composing study guides and reviewing her notes. She would also stay up very late at times in order to memorize the required information as she drank down some bitter liquid of black coffee. This female was none other than Ryuzaki Sakuno, and she hadn't dared to let anything get in her way.

That is, until her former senpai-tachi came to learn at her college temporarily. Particularly, two people bugged her just by hearing their names.

"Echizen! Come and help me with this heavy luggage!"

She thought she had felt her heart flutter for a moment, but pushing that thought aside, she continued carrying the things into the apartment rooms for her upperclassmen, with the exception of nineteen-year-old Echizen Ryoma and…

"Sakuno-chan, are you alright? You seem to be spacing off," said the taller one, smiling at her as he inched closer to her face. She felt her face flush and incredibly bright red and nodding her head slightly, Ryuzaki slowly walked away from him.

…Fuji Syuusuke.

She just hoped that the next day, the day of returning to her college courses, wouldn't be as half bad as how the rest of the year would turn out to be.

Hopefully.

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"Hello? Who is this?" inquired the female as she picked up on her pick cell phone, snapping it open before bringing it to her ear in order to listen to the other side of line.

"Hey, Sakuno-chan!" cried a shrilly voice over the line, "It's Maya!"

"Ah, Maya-chan!" exclaimed Sakuno as she adjusted her phone before listening to her best friend in college again. "How are you?"

"Good," she answered, and then the tone of her voice changed. "Um, Sakuno-chan, there's something I should tell you."

"Hai? What is it?"

"I know this seems abrupt, but I'm moving to my boyfriend's house."

Shock spread throughout her, leaving her mouth agape as she was silent for the moment, a pregnant pause over the phone.

"Ne, Sakuno-chan, are you ok?" inquired her best friend over the phone, and Ryuzaki shook her head and thoughts awake, returning back to the conversation.

"H-hai," she stammered before regaining her voice, "But aren't the dorms here convenient?"

"Well, yes, but my boyfriend's place is much closer to the college campus, and he offered me to stay there with him, so…I accepted…" Maya's voice had a tint of regret in it, the message sent through the phone presenting her voice in a shaky manner.

Sakuno breathed in and out calmly before responding to her friend, "It's ok, Maya-chan. I can live here by myself, so don't worry about it. I'm sure your boyfriend is very important to you, too."

"Hai," said Maya in a playful voice; Sakuno could hear the happiness flowing through her vocal chords again. "Thank you so much, Sakuno-chan! I'll be moving then, in a week's time."

"OK," said Sakuno, nodding her head to herself. "And no problem – that's what friends are for, after all, right?"

"Yup!" cheered the female on the other side of the line. "Talk to you later at the campus then." Maya ended the call, and Sakuno did as well as she disconnected the talk on her cell phone. Looking out the window from her dorm and nervously glancing at the bed opposite of hers, she closed her eyes and sighed. Thinking carefully, she rubbed her temples and murmured to herself meaningless chatter, barely audible. Just how did she wound up in such a bad situation now?

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"All set, Honey?" asked a male in a deep voice as he ruffled his mate's soft and silky black hair, smiling at her. The woman turned to face him and kissed him lightly on the cheek before nodding her head.

"She understands now, Mark. So do not worry," answered Maya as she slightly stuttered when responding in English. "Let's go now, OK?"

Her tall boyfriend nodded his head and kissed her on the forehead and ruffled her hair again before taking her hand, the two of them leaving the man's apartment building. However, he had not come to notice the different state of the woman, her eyes widening in seriousness.

"OK."

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"Ano…I don't need to be walked to the campus…" she muttered under her breath, but loud enough just for her companions or rather, bodyguards, to hear her.

"Of course you need to be, Ryuzaki-chan!" pumped Momo as he brought a hand to his heart and patted it with pride, "We are always and always going to be your brothers!"

"That's right, Sakuno-chan, nya!" agreed Eiji as he nodded his head and smiled at her. "Besides, I love being near Sakuno-chan!" He glomped her from the back and she nearly fell backwards along with him, but his former doubles partner, Oishi, had caught the two of them just in time. Eiji looked up at him to only see a worried look on his face.

"Eiji, be careful! Ryuzaki, are you alright?" fretted the former mother hen of Seigaku, a tint of anxiety in his eyes.

"I'm fine, Oishi-senpai," answered Sakuno coolly as she carefully and slowly released the grip around her from the hyperactive redhead. "Kikumaru-senpai saved me from the fall, and so did you."

"It was nothing, really."

And after that, for some odd reason, no one wanted to say anything after that. None of the former regulars didn't even bother to ask the timid but independent female anything about the college they were about to enter.

And run as far as they could for the sake of their lives.

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"KYA!!!"

The great and loud screams of the many females in the main corridor of the first floor rampaged and rushed over madly to the eye of the crowd, attracting every single female that was enrolled in the college. Even some of the boys were arching their brows before strolling along calmly to see what was going on. Several teachers wandered around the crowd, hoping to break everyone up and have the students return to their classes.

"Return to your classes now!" demanded the teachers as they broke up some of the students from sabotaging and running over the main spotlight. However, most of the women remained, screaming their heads off and having nosebleeds by just taking one peek at them.

"…this…is…annoying…" muttered Echizen under his breath as he sighed a very long sigh.

"Saa, but you can't help it. We are the strongest tennis players in all of Japan, and we're going to have some new visitors coming by," explained Fuji with a smile.

"Nya, but why do we still have to go to college?" questioned Eiji as he cocked his head to the side, clinging on to Oishi and never letting go as if his life depended on it.

"We are still college kids, after all," Oishi spoke up as the nine boys finally got away from the crazy fangirls. It tired them quite a bit. "It may be tiring, but I'm sure that we'll be okay with it."

"I think Ryuzaki-chan is having a hard time though," wondered aloud Momo, "Because she knows us personally, I think all the girls in her class will ask her to do stuff for them."

"Then we will have to help her, right?" voiced a female voice, and immediately all the boys sprang away from it, cautious of their surroundings and hoping that they wouldn't get run over. However, it was a calm female, and her eyes were shining rather seriously when approaching them.

"The name is Maya – I'm Sakuno-chan's friend," she introduced herself, bowing. "I'm sure Sakuno-chan will have a hard time, so why don't we all help her out? She'll need the help, for sure." Then the girl walked away, waving a hand to the males before heading off to class. The bell had just rung, after all.

"…that was short, fsshhh…"

"Eighty percent that she isn't lying," hypothesized Inui as he scribbled in his notebook, "And one hundred percent that we have to help Ryuzaki-san."

After hearing Inui's prediction, all of them headed off to their separate classes. Echizen, particularly, was supposed to be in all of Sakuno's classes, so that was easy to follow. She was used to the place, after all. One hundred percent, huh? Ryuzaki-sensei did ask to protect her since she couldn't, after all…

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Owari
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A/N: I am the most unfaithful author here on Earth, and I wrote yet another short chapter…BUT I PROMISE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE LONGER! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! T-T (And Happy New Year…) Please review and give me any feedback! I am very happy to be criticized because there is always room for improvement. Arigatou!

Ja ne, and I do not own any part of Prince of Tennis!

Eternal.Angel