A/N: Niou was such a nice guy and took her out to get her mind off things, and then he delivered her to the lions' den, and now he thinks Tezuka is the one that hurt her. How are things going to develop from here? What will happen next? We'll just have to wait to find out. Sugartensai, i had to mention the date. Lol. Also, I will be going to visit my older sister in Virginia for a few weeks. I'll still be writing, but it might get haphazard for a bit. Just wanted to let you know. Enjoy!

PS... My novel is done and back from the proofreaders. After doing some minor corrections, I will be self-publishing this week! I'm beyond excited. As soon as I get it published, I will give you all of the information for those who would like to read it.

Chapter 3 – Thoughts

Niou couldn't say for sure why he did what he did, but a part of him – a very small miniscule part – felt like he had had one of the best days of his middle school career, and that was saying something considering he was a firm believer of making his own fun. Granted usually others paid for his antics, and occasionally, like today, the school had to be shut down, and that was all right because he didn't care too much what others thought. However, today, hanging out with a girl from an enemy school and then escorting her back, even he had to wonder what had gotten into him. Sure he had fun, but why had he waltzed right into enemy territory to stare down the buchou of the Seigaku tennis team? Was he sick?

Hearing his phone dinging with a new message, he checked to see who had sent him. A number of his fellow classmates and teammates had been sending him messages all day, and Sanada had even tried to call him. Of course, while he was with Sakuno he had ignored everything except the message from Bunta informing him school had been dismissed for the day – a message he had been expecting. However, now that he was home, he knew he couldn't ignore them forever. His teammates might not know where he lived, but between Bunta and Yagyuu, they could be an annoying duo.

His finger flew over the screen as he typed in his password and found two new messages from Bunta and one from his doubles partner, Yagyuu. Mumbling to himself, he recounted the totals, "That's three voicemails and one text from Sanada, one voice mail and two texts from Yanagi, ten texts from Bunta, three texts from Jackal, and eleven from Yagyuu. Huh, none from the brat. Oh, wait, I blocked him last week for texting me at three in the morning and trying to ruin my 'event' for today. Maybe I should unblock him. Nah, it's better this way and I'll get to see more of a reaction. Puri."

Another ding, "That makes eleven for Bunta. He caught up to Yagyuu." He briefly scrolled through the messages and then turned off his phone. He would deal with them tomorrow when and if he went to school. Maybe he should have given Sakuno his phone number. It would have been nice to maybe hang out with her again or to talk, but then again, she was dealing with something and that meant a mess. He didn't like messy. He liked free and no strings and doing whatever the hell he wanted when he wanted. This was a no mess zone.

If that was the case though, he again questioned why he took her all the way back to school. He could have left her at the corner or at the gate, but no, he had to take her all the way to the tennis courts and confront Tezuka. And that's the other thing. Sakuno never actually said who she was running away from. It's just that when Tezuka walked up to them and started giving her attitude and barking orders, Niou got his feathers ruffled and he assumed the buchou was the culprit. Now he wondered if it really was the bespectacled teen. Tezuka had said he didn't know what Niou was talking about. Had it been an act or real?

Shaking his head, Niou told himself not to think about her or the situation any longer. It was a mess and he did not want to deal with a mess…unless it was of his own creation. Like the school. It had taken breaking into the school on three different nights to complete, but when he was done, the school would not have to worry about spring cleaning for a while. Anywhere and everywhere, Niou left his mark in the school. Not even the air vents were safe, and when the clock struck eleven, little explosions went off like be activated, which caused a reaction to other chemicals and the suds started seeping from the chalkboards, tables, lights, desks, and the sprinkler system itself. No one could stop it, and the school soon filled with suds yellow and red soap bubbles. By Niou's calculations, the suds should have reached waist high on the students, and Rikkai Dai would have no choice but to cancel school for the day…maybe longer. Hey, they should commend him because he used science and chemistry to complete the prank, but for some reason, he doubted they would applaud his actions, which made it all the more satisfying.

Of course his antics would have repercussions with his tennis team, and mainly Sanada. Niou had a feeling his fukubuchou would be reserving a special torundorou for him in the morning. Maybe he should skip morning practice…. It was a possibility.

His thoughts drifted back to Sakuno. Today was supposed to be a normal skip day, and yet, he found himself having fun with the girl with twin braids. They played tennis – she sucked. They snacked – she seemed nervous the whole time. He walked her home, or to be more accurate, school – and she looked like she wanted to kill him. Why had he done that again? He didn't know. He only knew that a girl like that should never have to run away embarrassed or because some stupid idiot hurt her; and he didn't care if it was Tezuka, Fuji, Atobe, Sanada, or Yukimura. She was one of those girls that deserved nothing but good things, and someone had hurt her deeply.

Rolling over in his bed to look out the window, he wondered what she was doing right then. Had he helped her to heal a little? Did he need to come and pull a prank on Seigaku they would never forget? She may be clumsy, self-conscious, and desperately needed some tennis lessons, but she was still sweet and maybe a little on the cute side.

He kind of sort of remembered her from some of the tennis matches in the past, but they were vague memories of her practically clinging to her obaa-san. Did he remember her from this year? Not really. Last year a little, however, the images were vague. He would be sure to look for her going forward though – just to make sure she was all right and no one was bullying her anymore.

Elsewhere…

Sakuno walked into her room after taking her bath and took a seat by the window. Staring up at the sky, she wondered how her life had gotten so messed up. Tomoka had called her twice, but she didn't feel like talking to her so called best friend. How could she not see this coming? Tomoka had been crushing on Ryoma just as much as she was, and although Tomoka encouraged the Sakuno/Ryoma pairing, Sakuno always had a feeling that if given the opportunity Tomoka might try to win favor with the tennis ace. When it finally happened, it had been devastating; although, according to Ryoma, there was nothing between them. Then again, according to him, there was nothing between him and Sakuno.

In her world, they had been dating for over a month. They went to dinner together, went to the movies, and played tennis. She thought those were dates, and he thought they were just friends. What was going through that mind of his? She wished she knew and understood because maybe then, it wouldn't hurt so much.

For a small period of time today, she had been able to forget. Niou had stayed with her throughout the day and made sure she enjoyed herself at least a little. Of course if she applied the same logic to today as she had her time with Ryoma, then today was a date. Shaking her head, she declared, "No! Not a date. He was just being nice because I didn't know where I was. I'm sure Niou-kun is just a nice guy and likes to help people who are in trouble. He probably thought he didn't have any choice in the matter."

Her thoughts wandered back to Ryoma. How was it that she thought they were dating when they weren't? She had been so sure, and had fooled herself. Oh how Ryoma and Tomoka were probably laughing at her now. Her face turned red and her eyes stung with tears. Burying her face in her hands, she allowed herself to cry. This would be the last time and then no more. Her heart was broken, but it would heal, and eventually she would find someone who would care about her as she did him…and there would be no question as to their relationship. Ryoma was one in a million and she had other things she needed to focus on right now – like her tennis game.

Tears cried, heartbroken, it was time to forget and let go. Easier said than done, but with time she would be able to do just that. Now she had to figure out how to deal with the embarrassment she would have to deal with tomorrow at school. By now they all knew she had made a mistake in her relationship with Ryoma, and that she had run away. How she wished she could transfer schools to start over and pretend the whole debacle never happened.

Wiping away her the last vestiges of her crying, she gazed up at the moon and wondered what Niou was doing at that moment. He had made her forget and feel better, and for that, she was grateful to him.

Elsewhere…

Ryoma lost yet another match to his father after school. He had all but forgotten what happened earlier with Sakuno and Tomoka. Tennis and Karupin were what was important; although, he did wonder why Sakuno thought they had been dating, and he decided that girls were just weird like that. The only reason he was hanging around her so much was as a favor to his father.