Echizen's New Rival

By: Himeru-chan

I'm sorry for the very late update! We were sent to the community in Nueva Ecija and we had our duty there non-stop.

For those who can't relate, it just means that I did not have any time to do the fan-fic.

-laughs-

Alright, here's chapter 6


Chapter 6

Chance

-panting-

"Oi Echizen you're being left out again!" Momo shouted. He still had that sadistic smile on his face and he had kept that twitch in his mouth ever since they were in the bus.

The tennis prince flushed when he remembered what happened a while ago- where that silly smile from Momo is pertaining to. He tried to shake it off his head but his mind doesn't listen to him. His brain-filled-with-tennis is now continuously hunting him with a scene he wished would stop now. He can't concentrate in the training and he's getting more and more confused.

Ryoma slapped his head lightly before he rushed as fast as he can to his sempai's side to frown at him, "Stop it already," he plainly ordered. He became disappointed when Momo just smiled at him. The man even got the Polaroid pictures from his pocket and showed it to the young shounen.

"I can't, not with pictures like this," The dunk master laughed and sprinted to join Eiji and the others to flaunt their treasures. Ryoma became flustered after seeing the pictures. "It was an accident, Echizen Ryoma." He said to himself. "No big deal…"

FLASHBACK:

The soft warm light coming from the sun outside slightly warmed the cold air that circulated inside the bus. The tennis prince and the princess at the back still had their eyes closed. They both had fallen asleep a while ago after that conversation they had.

-flash-

Echizen did not budge but felt that artificial light from behind his eyes and since it was a bother to move in that position, he just ignored it.

-flash- -flash-

The flashes of soft light could not have come from outside. It was too much uncomfortable that he had to pry open his eyes to see where those flashes were coming from.

As soon as he did, he saw two smiling men, taking pictures of both he and Sakuno. Ryoma flinched and immediately reacted by reaching for the camera, totally forgetting about Sakuno who was peacefully resting on his shoulder. Good thing, Ryoma had his left hand immediately stretched out to catch the girl's head in no time. (His fast reflexes came from his training in tennis)

"What are you doing?" Ryoma angrily asked in a whisper.

"Oh, come on Ryoma… It's alright. I got good pictures of you and Sakuno. Here, look!" Momo replied, also as softly as possible. Momo handed the picture to Ryoma and the tennis prince flushed. Sakuno was beautiful and the light from outside accentuated the beauty of the picture. They were both sleeping soundly under the soft orange light of the sun.

"I didn't know you that you were a photographer, momo-sempai…" Echizen unconsciously said while he admired the picture.

"That was just a fluke…" Eiji defended with a soft laugh.

"And ochibi-suke! Go back to the princess so we can take pictures of both of you!" he added while taking the pictures out of the prince's hand and shoving him back to his seat. The force of Eiji's push was joined by a swift right swerve by the bus causing the boy to be thrown out of balance.

"-Woah!"

Echizen shouted

After that display, he was now squatting in front of Sakuno, maintaining that one strong step that prevented him to fall down, flat on the floor. He heaved a sigh of relief. He almost fell down on the girl which he rather would not have happened. But as soon as he tried to stand up, he was surprised when the bus roughly halted to a brake, causing Echizen to be thrown forward in front of Sakuno.

Ryoma's face met the girl's and their lips felt each other.

Everything happened so fast that the tennis prince couldn't even move- he was too shocked. He was kissing Sakuno, the coach's granddaughter, Seigaku's cheerleader and sometimes a companion and a student.

-Flash-

Seeing the bleak light brought him back to his senses and forced him self to move backward. He had his left hand cover his lips and the right clutched in to his chest. He just kissed Sakuno.

"But I never kissed anyone in my whole life before. th-that was just an accident…' Ryoma tried to rescue himself.

"I…"

-Yawn-

Sakuno yawned, Ryoma flinched.

The girl moved an inch or so but she kept still for a moment more before she opened her eyes. As she batted her eyes to get used to the light, Ryoma looked idly at her. 'What did I just do?' he asked himself. As the girl was started to come around, Ryoma immediately stood up and got his things from the upper compartment.

"Oi! Echizen!" Momo shouted.

"Where are you going, ochibi?" Eiji called as well.

"Down!"

He got a glimpse of Sakuno who he assumed did not understand what happened or why he was throwing tantrums. He saw her brushing her eyes with her hands, exposing only the part where his lips had touched. He blushed again. His heart is beating the tune of excitement and…

He kept still. He can't put into words the other tune his heart was beating. It was new and fresh and it felt like he won a tennis match against a strong opponent. Deep inside him, he knew he heard a small voice, echoing down his chest.

"Love? It can't be…" he forced a smile but found it ridiculously unfunny- ridiculously not.

End of flashback

'What should I do?' Ryoma wanted to know badly. If he meets Sakuno along the way, would he be able to act like the cold and cool guy that he is or would he just shrink and blush while trying to pretend that it isn't much of a big deal? (Which certainly is not the case)

Only one thing is for sure, he won't be able to hide himself for a week from her.

"This is not happening…"

---

Sakuno wondered what got Ryoma walking away like that. He looked shocked and jolty when she found him looking at her with big eyes. He surely changed after that conversation.

"Wait… maybe I did something wrong?" Sakuno asked as her hand began to work away as she bats the eggs on a bowl.

"-no…" a voice called out.

"But I don't remember doing anything…" her thoughts were loud enough for anyone a foot away from her could hear. "If I did, I should remember it…" she added.

"-kuno…" the voice called out again.

WAH!

Sakuno shouted

The other person who has been calling her out was taken aback and the shout made him take a step backwards.

"Maybe he heard me snoring or, or, maybe he saw me drooling or…" The girl tried her best to think of anything that might make the tennis prince look at her like some new found specie.

"Sakuno, I think I should tell you… It's really burning…" a hand reached out to turn the stove off when a thin black smoke started to puff out of the fish she was supposedly cooking. Another shout came out from the girl but this time it was shorter than the first.

Rei as usual, is smiling despite the big burnt fish that was now prepared in the plate. He had been calling her for a while but she was not responding.

"I'm really sorry, I'm really sorry…" she apologized but the other just laughed.

"You're quite funny when you're lost in thought. I don't really mind but you might burn our dinner if you keep it up…" he explained, trying to prepare another fish from beside her.

"Rei-kun… gomene," sakuno said, her spirits down from what happened.

"Don't mind, don't mind. Let's start again. I'll help you since I've done my share of cooking…" he said, pointing at the now clean pieces of plates that held raw food just a while back. They were already stacked up and gleaming with glory.

"Oh, you're quite fast…"

Sakuno couldn't help but admire the young man. He's a good tennis player, a major gentleman, a counselor and a friend of all friends. Sakuno almost can't believe that a man as flexible as he is in everything that he does, exist.

"Oh, my mother loves cooking. She was really disappointed when she had a son but I tried to learn everything and soon I came to love cooking as well…" he explained with a smile, he tried to cook the fish Sakuno was assigned to despite the small protests the girl was making.

"So you can really cook?" she confirmed once more. 'the champion knows how to cook?' she asked herself, almost laughing at that idea.

"Well, yeah, I'm deeply involved with tennis but I do have other hobbies like cooking." He smiled. He turned the fish upside down, revealing a golden brown color on the other side. The smell was fantastic though it was just a normal fish and the meat looks appetizing under that golden robe of his.

"Oh, the girl you're going to be ending up with is going to be really lucky…" Rei looked at Sakuno with raised brows. He smiled at the clueless girl beside him and looked back at the fish. He was spreading the oil that was already in the pan on top of the cooked part and he sprinkled some sort of sauce on top of it.

"I hope so…" he muttered under his breath.

---

Ryoma is walking down the hallways of the staff house. It was big and spacious that he could swing his racquet without hitting the pillars of the house, but he wasn't into tennis right now. He was upset.

The dinner could have been great only to find out that the ones who made it were Rei and Sakuno, alone in that kitchen together. Where are the 3 first years or that noisy Tomoka? They could have been around to supervise, but no, they're not here in this very training. They had to finish their summer assignments which Sakuno had long finished before this Summer Camp.

"Yoh," Rei called out. He was leaning on one of the pillars while he waited for the young man. Echizen totally ignored him but then he walked in front of him, completely blocking his way.

"That's harsh of you… I didn't even do anything…" Rei replied. He had a smirk on his face which deeply annoyed Ryoma. He brought down his can of Ponta to the side and gazed at the young man in front of him, scornfully.

"What do you want?" Ryoma started to speak. Rei was silent for a moment as he turned around, looking up at the sky. The moon was round and bright as it always had been even if he was in Europe.

"I'm proposing to Sakuno tomorrow." Ryoma flinched and even that slight jolt in his body could not hide very well from Rei's eyes. "You seemed shocked," Rei silently stated. Ryoma recovered immediately with a very promising frown in his face.

"Did you really wait for me just to tell me some nonsense?" It wasn't garbage at all, Ryoma thought. It was good that he knew his future actions but at the same time, he didn't like that info well. Rei just smiled and spoke again.

"I just thought I should tell you that I'm about to take all chances available." He replied almost challenging him into a duel.

"Chance?" Ryoma repeated as if he can't believe what he just heard.

"I'm not as bad as you think, Ryoma. I want you to know that if you win against me in tennis, I'll be going back to Europe without any complaints." Echizen flashed a grin instantly, confident that he could win against a WTC champion.

"Let's play right now so you'll be out of my sight…" he muttered under his breath but Rei heard that little comment and grinned.

"You're a little feisty aren't you?"

"Not really, I just don't like you."

Rei raised his hands up, admitting defeat to the prince's eminent coldness. Ryoma was surprised himself. He never acted like that before. 'Maybe I really don't like him' he thought.

"All I mean is that when that time comes that you lose to me in a match consider this," Rei stopped, closing his eyes. Ryoma swallowed hard as he saw the change in Rei's gentle stare when he opened them again. The seriousness in it made him wonder who he really is.

"Leave Sakuno alone."

The man said in English

Ryoma was taken aback but came back afterwards with a smile.

"Not gonna happen. I'll never lose…"

He replied in the same tongue.

Rei almost laughed when he saw the prince's determination to win although right there and then, he felt that he would need a lot of preparation to see to it that he'll win their match.

"We'll see about that…"

With that, Rei walked away with a wave of goodbye, leaving Echizen sipping into his can of Ponta again. The tennis prince pranced around for awhile, looking at the brightness of the moon.

"There is no way I'm going to lose." He repeated to himself as he went back to his room. He felt that this training is not only for the nationals anymore. He wants to know whether or not he's better than anyone else, both in tennis and… other things.


I'm sorry for the late update but I'm trying to catch up for the lost time. Anyways, I'm seeing that there'll be only 3-4 chapters left so hold on.

Please Review. I hope the length is compensation enough. 