Sakuno woke up early knowing that it's Monday. She sat on the bed and noticed the unfamiliar things in the room. First, she was on a blue bed. Her real bed was light pink in color and there was one teddy bear beside her pillow. Second, on the headrest of the bed were two tennis balls and an alarm clock. She looked at the tennis balls and lightly gasped. Those were the balls she gave Ryoma on two different events. Finally, Ryoma was asleep on the futon and beside him was his cat Karupin. After a few moments of sobering, Sakuno finally remembered that she was in Ryoma's house, in the Prince's room and on the boy's bed. She blushed and peeked at the sleeping Prince on the futon.

For the first time, she saw Ryoma without the usual stoic and arrogant expression on his face but what replaced that was a handsome boy's gentle features while oblivious to the rest of the world. His usually disheveled hair was in more mess from tossing and turning. Sakuno giggled while blushing.

'Ryoma-kun's so cute.' She thought as she tip-toed to the door and quietly opened it. She went out of the room and went to the bathroom to take a bath. After getting dressed, she went to the dining room and saw Rinko coating some shrimp for breakfast.

"Ohayou gozaimasu, Rinko-san."

"Oh, good morning, Sakuno-san. You're quite early." Rinko said as she smiled at the girl.

"Hai. Can I help?"

"Sure. You know, even though Ryoma grew up in America, he prefers Japanese food over Western food." Rinko said as she continued coating the shrimp while Sakuno was slicing the vegetables for the stir fry.

"Eh? R-Really?"

"Yes. In fact, when we were still in America when Ryoma and Ryoga were young, it was Ryoma who always asks me to cook Japanese foods while Ryoga sometimes asks me to cook Western food and this always ends up with the both of them quarelling over what to eat. As they grew up, the boys learned to adjust for each other so there are times that they eat Japanese or Western food at the same time."

"I-I see but... Ryoma-kun sometimes eats a lot of hamburgers and stuff with Momoshiro-senpai."

"That's one of the Western foods he likes aside from hotdog sandwiches and french fries. Other than that, he rarely eats any Western food. He even only eats one plate of steak in a week."

"Eh? But aren't steaks delicious?"

"They are delicious but that's just how Ryoma is. He isn't very picky when it comes to Japanese foods though. He likes Chawanmushi, fried fish and egg sandwiches. Oh, but I remember that Ryoma once asked me to make some strawberry shortcake for him." Rinko started frying the coated shrimp and Sakuno blushed she was cooking the stir fried veggies.

"Ryoma doesn't eat much sweets so I was really surprised when he asked me to make some shortcake. I think it was after a tennis practice three years ago. Say, were you the one who made the strawberry shortcake?" Rinko asked with a smile.

"H-Hai. Grandma taught me how to make some so I offered some to Ryoma-kun and he ate it."

"I see."

'No wonder Ryoma likes it.' Rinko thought as they finished cooking the breakfast. Rinko looked at Sakuno who was standing beside her.

"Ne, Sakuno-san. Is it alright if I'll give you a hair makeover?"

"E-Eh?"

"I'm sure that Ryoma told you that your hair's too long that's why it gets tangled with your racket, right?"

"H-Hai."

"Is it alright if I'll help you change your hairstyle for today? You see, I always wanted to comb a girl's hair but I was given two boys so I can't possibly put ribbons on their hairs. So, can I?"

"Of course." Sakuno smiled because it has been eleven years since a woman other than her Grandma helped her to change her hairstyle. A part of her still longs for the touch and affection a mother can give.

Sakuno followed Rinko to the tatami room and sat on the chair in front of a mirror. Rinko started to take out Sakuno's hair from the braids and combed her straight hair. For some reason, even though her hair is always tied in twin braids, it's still straight when it's down.

Ryoma went down a few minutes later after taking a bath and wearing his school uniform. He saw Nanjiroh lying down on the hallway in front of the garden while Ryoga was busy talking to someone using his phone at the garden. He looked around and saw that Rinko and Sakuno weren't there. Nanako probably already went to her school already. He sat down and started eating.

"Oi, Seishounen. I talked with your Captain last night. I told him that I recommended Sakuno-chan to be a part of your male tennis team in Seigaku High." Nanjiroh said with his eyes closed while still lying down on the hallway.

"Ryuzaki can't join. It's an all-male's team."

"Your Captain will probably announce the news about the new mixed men and women team in the new Kantou Competition which is going to be held on December. You should go with her later during your practice because your Captain will be expecting her."

"Hmm."

"There. It's done." Rinko said after placing the comb on the table and Sakuno looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was pinned up by a flower-shaped clip on the back of her head while her bangs as well as some astray hairstrands were framing her face. She looked like a doll with that hairstyle.

"Thank you so much, Rinko-san." Sakuno said as she stood up and bowed.

"It's alright, Sakuno-san. Go on, you can have breakfast now."

"Hai."

Sakuno went out of the room and saw Ryoma eating. The boy raised his head and looked at her. Ryoma was surprised of the sudden makeover on Sakuno. He was so used to seeing her in twin braids so it was really a surprise to see the girl in a different hairstyle. She was like a living porcelain doll.

"O-Ohayou gozaimasu, Ryoma-kun." Sakuno shyly said as she sat next to the Prince.

"Mom did that, right?" Ryoma asked.

"Hai. Rinko-san s-said that she w-wanted to change my hairstyle so she did."

"Hmm."

'I have to thank Mom later.' He thought.

A few moments later, the both of them finished eating. They wore their shoes while Ryoma carried Sakuno's bag aside from his own.

"I-I can carry it, Ryoma-kun."

"I'll carry it. Mom, we'll be leaving." Ryoma said to his mother.

"Okay and Sakuno-san, be careful."

"Hai."

The two went out and Rinko was bothered by an unsettling feeling within her. She feels like something bad will happen to either Ryoma or Sakuno while they are in school.

'Please be careful.' She thought.

Ryoma and Sakuno left the house while Sakuno was looking at Ryoma who was carrying her bag in his right hand.

"R-Ryoma-kun, I can carry my bag."

"Che. You stuttered again." Ryoma frowned a bit. Sakuno blushed and bowed her head.

"S-Sorry."

Ryoma used his left hand to hold Sakuno's hand and pull her to walk beside him.

"Ryoma-kun?"

"You're always walking behind me. Why?"

"I-I... It's because... we're on different worlds. I-I mean... even though we're the same age, same school and same class... it feels like we're worlds apart. E-Even though we b-both play tennis, th-there's still a lot of difference because... it feels like... even though I'm with Tomo-chan and the Senpais cheering for you... you c-can't hear my voice or our voices. I-It's different that way so I c-can't help but always w-walk behind you. B-Besides... y-you're called the Prince of Tennis a-and I'm still not even a Regular."

Ryoma took in Sakuno's words and sighed. He can't blame her for thinking that but it's not true that he can't hear her voice when she's cheering for him and their Senpais' voices when they're cheering him on.

"Baka. In tennis, the court only revovles around the players, the balls and the rackets. Outside that, it's with the team members and cheerleaders."

"I-I don't understand." Sakuno wondered if Ryoma was saying that even though he's considered and called the Prince of Tennis, they can still share each other's world.

Ryoma shrugged and continued walking but Sakuno pulled his hand so he stopped. He turned to look at her with a slightly irritated look.

"Is there more than one Earth in the Solar System?" He asked the already confused girl.

"N-No."

"Right, so why the heck are you saying that we're on different worlds? Just what planet do you live on? On Mars?"

Sakuno blinked as she looked at Ryoma. He rarely gets angry or really pissed but right now, Ryoma seemed to be ready to snap. Sakuno thought about what Ryoma said and as his words sank in her mind, she smiled a bit.

"Thank you, Ryoma-kun."

"I already handed my cap to you and you're still thinking of those things. You're really weird." Ryoma started walking again and Sakuno started wondering about the cap once more.

"W-What's with your cap, Ryoma-kun?"

"I'll tell you next time."

"Mou..."

They continued walking hand-in-hand until they reached Seigaku High. Sakuno was blushing the whole time because Ryoma was gently holding her hand in his own. Ryoma seemed to have found a new hobby which was holding Sakuno's hand whenever he felt like it. Ryoma found Sakuno's hand soft and warm. For a girl who played tennis a lot, Sakuno's hand was really soft.

"Sakuno!" someone called so the 'couple' halted and saw Sakuno's best friend approaching them. Sakuno smiled and waved her free hand.

"Good morning, Tomo-chan."

"Oh, good morning, Ryoma-sama. You came to school together and... whoa! You guys are holding hands!" Tomoka exclaimed after seeing Sakuno's hand being held by Ryoma. This caught all the students' attentions. Ryoma's fangirls screamed an ear-drum shattering screech and Ryoma sighed.

"Let's go."

The three of them walked to their classroom and on all the corridors they walked through to get to their classroom, the boys, whether they be freshmen, juniors or seniors, were all looking at Sakuno in awe. This didn't go unnoticed by the Prince who tightened his hold on Sakuno's hand while there was a frown on his face. He hated those stares directed at the blushing girl he was currently pulling.

"Ne, ne. Sakuno, who helped you do that to your hair? You look really cute! It's like you're a living doll." Tomoka commented while Sakuno blushed more then looked down. Ryoma knew she was shy to answer so he did it for her.

"My mom." He said which caused Sakuno to tighly close her eyes and bow her head. Tomoka's eyes widened and she gasped.

"R-Ryoma-sama's mom!"

"T-Tomo-chan, not too loud." Sakuno mumbled as she looked at her friend.

"B-But... was that true? Ryoma-sama's mom helped you do that?"

"H-Hai."

"Cool! You really are lucky, Sakuno!"

Unknown to the three of them, four of Ryoma's fangirls were listening to their conversation and were glaring daggers at Sakuno.

"Just who does she think she is being close to Echizen-sama like that?" One girl said while her arms were crossed in front of her chest.

"She's even holding our Prince's hand! What a bitch!"

"What do you want to do, Saori-sama?"

"We'll make Ryuzaki Sakuno-san pay for getting close to Echizen-sama." Their leader said with an evil smile playing on her lips.

Ryoma opened the sliding door of their classroom and proceeded to their seats. Once seated, he let go of Sakuno's hand and gave the bag to her which she hooked on the side of the seat.

-"Good morning, Ryoma-kun and Ryuzaki-san."- Kachiro and Katsuo chorused as Sakuno smiled at them.

"Good morning."

"Are? Since when did you two started going to school together?" Horio asked as he too joined Kachiro and Katsuo.

"I'll answer for them. Just now so stop sticking your nose and your unibrow on other people's business." Tomoka said and this started another shouting match between the two. Kachiro, Katsuo and Sakuno sighed while Ryoma closed his eyes and ignored the two.

Thirty minutes passed but there was still no sign of their teacher. Some of their classmates went out of the classroom to hang-out somewhere else besides the classroom while the others stayed. Ryoma already fell asleep on the desk while Sakuno was reading a book.

"Ryuzaki-san, do you have a minute?" The women's team captain, Nakima Saori said as she looked at Sakuno from the door.

"Hai, Nakima-san." Sakuno placed the book under her desk and unknown to her, Ryoma opened one of his golden orbs as he heard Sakuno stood up. He was silently watching the girl for some reason that bothered him. It happened to him again where he felt uneasy just like the time when Sakuno and her loud-mouthed friend got into trouble with Jyousei Shounan's Wakato Hiroshi's fangirls.

"Actually, we need your help to get things for the club practice later. Would that be alright?" Nakima said as she looked at her friends Sujiya Hiru, Kasahino Nana and Umeno Harue.

"Hai."

"Let's go then." Hiru said as they went down. They went to the ground, to the side of the school building where the storage room was.

"Ryuzaki-san, we need help in getting the cones for practice. Would it be alright if you'll get them for us?" Saori said.

"Hai."

When Sakuno entered the room, the four girls took something from the side of the storage room and entered the place. They locked the door which made Sakuno look at them. Her eyes widened as she saw what her Senpais were holding, a tennis racket and steel pipes. They were also wearing rain coats and gloves.

"S-Senpai-tachi..." Sakuno took steps backwards when her Senpais approached her.

"Don't you know that we don't want any other girl to get close to Echizen-sama?" Nana said while patting her hand with a steel pipe.

"R-Ryoma-kun? W-Why?"

"Don't call Echizen-sama by his name! He is our Prince! He is ours and not yours!" Hiru shouted.

"B-But... I never said he's mine..."

"Sorry, Ryuzaki-san but we don't want any interruptions from anyone." Harue said with a smile.

"To sum it all up, we don't want you to have any role in Echizen-sama's life. Girls, do it." Saori commanded and they started beating Sakuno up with their stuffs.

'Ryoma-kun...' Sakuno thought before the beating began.

Ryoma looked around when he felt someone call him. This made Momoshiro and Eiji look at their Kouhai. A few minutes after Sakuno left the classroom, Momoshiro and Eiji went to their classroom to call Ryoma for their morning practice. They were currently doing some warm-up exercises before the actual practice matches.

'Ryuzaki...?'

"What's wrong, Ochibi?" Eiji asked.

"Nothing." Ryoma hesistantly answered.

"Were you looking for Ryuzaki-chan?" Momoshiro teased with a grin but Ryoma didn't pay any attention to that. He was looking around which made Eiji and Momoshiro exchange glances as they looked at their troubled Kouhai.

"Everyone gather up." Oishi said and everyone lined up with the first row consisting of the Regulars. A black-haired brown-eyed woman entered the courts and stood next to Tezuka.

"Good morning, guys. I'm your new coach for this school year and the following years. I'm Shirota Yukina. Let's be comfortable with each other, okay?"

-"Hai, Sensei."- Everyone answered except Ryoma who was looking at the side of the school building where the storage room was located.

"Ano, Sensei, can I ask a question?" Momoshiro said.

"Ask away, Momoshiro-kun."

"Your last name is the same as the famous actor Shirota Yuu. Do you know each other?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Yukina said with a teasing smile.

"Eh? Sensei, tell us."

"Next time, Momoshiro-kun. I promise. Alright, to start off, I have something to announce. Tezuka-kun and I talked about joining in a new Kantou Competition which is going to be held on December. It's a mixed competition where girls will be joining a boys' team to form a mixed one."

-"Girls?"- Most of the guys said.

"Sensei, isn't that going to be a handicap for girls because guys have more physical strength?" Inui asked which made Yukina look at him.

"It's true that boys have more physical strength than girls but there are times that girls shouldn't be underestimated. I'm sure that some of you have been able to play against girls before, right? So, may I ask who had some matches against girls? Please raise your hands."

Ryoma, Momoshiro, Fuji and Eiji raised their hands which made everyone look at them.

"See? It's not everytime that girls win against boys but we can play on par if we want to. Regarding the competition and how to recruit female tennis players, I preferred to go with recommendations and the Regulars will be the ones to put the newcomers to test whether or not they can join our team. You guys don't need to hold back your strength and just go head-on with your opponent."

"I see, nya but Sensei, we still don't have any recommendations." Eiji said with his arms crossed at the back of his head.

"We have one. Echizen was supposed to arrive here with someone." Tezuka said and Ryoma shifted his gaze to his Captain.

"She's still running an errand." Ryoma answered nonchalantly. This earned him a very loud 'what' from everyone in the court except for Fuji and Tezuka while their coach was giggling.

"Ochibi, who's the girl!"

-"Echizen, tell us who she is!"-

"Ii, data. The word 'she' in referrance to a girl around his age really did escape his mouth. This is a really really good data." Inui mumbled while scribbling on his notebook. Fuji chuckled and opened his eyes.

"Heh... so Echizen can even say the word 'she'. Saa, Echizen. Tell us who that special girl is?"

Based on the look on his Senpai's face, Ryoma knew that Fuji's sadistic side woke up already. He also knew that the one who's going to get cornered is him.

"Che. If you don't want her to be a she then she's a he." Ryoma scowled.

"Irritation?" He heard Momoshiro say with his Inui-look including the eyeglasses, notebook and pen. His Senpai was with Eiji.

"Check." The red-head answered.

"Scowling?"

"Check!"

"Death-glare?" Both Regulars looked at their Kouhai and nodded. There was a glare indeed on Ryoma's face.

"Double check, Momo-chi. So, what have you concluded?"

"It's... let's see... 97.65% that the girl is special to Echizen."

"Eh! Who's the girl, Ochibi-chan! You just have to tell us!"

"Not gonna happen." Ryoma said.

"Eiji-senpai, remember yesterday when..." Momoshiro trailed off with a knowing grin and one of those grins appeared on Eiji's lips as he found out what Momoshiro was planning to tell him.

"Oh, I remember. Ne, ne. Oishi, we know who Ochibi-chan was supposed to have arrived with." Eiji said as he draped an arm on his partner's shoulders.

"Really? Who is she, Eiji?" Oishi asked.

"A certain Kouhai of ours who's kind, caring, a great cook and soft-spoken." Eiji described. Ryoma's irritation meter was reaching its peak already but that stomach-turning feeling from when he thought that Sakuno called him earlier was still there. It hasn't subsided but instead, it kept on growing.

'What's this feeling? What's wrong with me?' Ryoma thought with a frown as he looked at the side of the building again. By looking at that place, it seemed like someone was calling him to go there.


After quite some time of beating Sakuno, the four girls stopped and looked at the bleeding girl. Harue noticed the flower clip on Sakuno's hair and roughly pulled it off.

"Something fancy as this really doesn't suit a girl like you." She then dropped the clip on the ground as she and her friends went out of the storage room. They took off their coats and threw them in the black garbage bag along with the bloodied steel pipes and racket as well as the gloves. They tied the bag and threw it in the trash bin.

"Lock it up." Saori ordered and Nana closed the door then locked it by a padlock. After that, they casually left the place as if nothing happened.


"Echizen-kun and Momoshiro-kun, is it alright if you'll get some boxes from the storage room? The blue ones please. We need them for practice." Yukina said and Momoshiro nodded.

"Sure thing Coach. Echizen, let's go."

The two of them left the courts and Momoshiro noticed that Ryoma was still deep in thought. The boy hadn't even thrown a ball at him or Eiji even after their teasing.

"Echizen, why are you quieter than the usual? What's bothering you?"

"Ne, Momo-senpai. Have you ever felt being called by someone but when you look around, no one's there?" Ryoma asked as he kept his gaze to the path ahead.

"Hmm... twice. Those times were when I was with Ann. It gave me unending nagging feelings inside. So, to know what's wrong, I went to the place that bothered me the most." Momoshiro explained.

"So, if you feel like that... what does that mean?"

"It means that a girl who's important to you is in danger."

'Danger? Ryuzaki...' Ryoma thought and at the exact moment, he saw something shiny on the ground in front of the storage room. He ran to it and picked the thing up. His eyes widened as he recognized what it was. Momoshiro went to his side and looked at the item in Ryoma's hand.

"A flower clip?Why would there be one here? And why does it have blood on it?"

"Ryuzaki..."


Chapter 7 is finally over! Was it good or bad?

Anyways, I'm curious about something. Fuji always says 'Saa...' on different occasions, right? Based from what I studied, 'Saa...' can either mean 'Come on' or 'I don't know' which differs on how it is used. So, is saying 'Saa...' Fuji's habit?