A/N: OMG! I'm really sorry for updating so late... You see I was playing Clannad and Kanon visual novel (and still am) and just finished a game (I'm such a gamer). Playing visual novels train my writing skills though :P Anyway, here's the next chapter and don't worry. Even if I don't update for a year (which I won't do I think), I don't leave my readers hanging. RxR~

Special thanks to Kiyonora and E. Ryoko~ Your reviews are the most inspiring. Thanks to everyone as well since every review give me inspiration and a smile to my face.

Warning: Ryoma in his most OOC moment. He's just so hard to write T.T

Chapter Ten: Voice

A soft, gentle voice. A voice that you could possibly compare with an angel's voice. Or at least it was in Ryoma's point of hearing.

"Ryoma-kun, why are you being so nice to me?"

Ryoma stared at Sakuno dumbfounded. He doesn't get anything. He thought she wasn't capable of speaking but how can she speak now? Just what the heck happened in her past. He needs to know.

"Maybe that's just how I really am." Ryoma answered with hesitation in his tone. 'Or maybe because I learned to love you that I can't leave you alone.' He added in his thoughts.

Sakuno turned her gaze downwards. Deciding whether or not to tell him her story. Should she trust him? What a stupid question. Of course she would trust him. What kind of love would bloom if you don't even trust the person you like?

"Well..." Sakuno started.

Flashback

"Obaa-chan, I'm going to go out and buy your medicine." Sakuno said with a hint of desperation in her voice. She as about to go but was stopped with a hand holding her wrist.

"It's alright, Sakuno. If my time comes then it'll come. It's no use prolonging my life if it's time. It would only be a waste of money." Her grandmother said slowly, showing how weak she has become.

Sakuno flinched upon hearing those words come out of her grandmother's own mouth. She was going to give up just like that? She felt anger rising up her body and she exploded shouting at her grandmother with hurtful words.

"Why are you giving up so easily? It's not like you at all! D-Don't you know how sad it would make me feel if you leave me alone just like that? How lonely I would feel? I-I don't like you anymore!" Sakuno shouted as she ran out of the house leaving her grandmother with a sad look.

After a while, Sakuno came back into the house. In her hands, she was carrying medicines she bought for her grandmother despite her grandmother saying she doesn't have to. She slowly opened the door to her grandmother's room and upon seeing her asleep, she crept up to her carefully to not wake her up.

Sakuno stared at her grandmother's face, observing the face of the person who took and accepted all her well-being despite being adopted. Her hand came up to her beloved grandmother's face to tuck a lock of hair behind her ears but flinched as she felt coldness.

'It can't be...!' Sakuno thought as she dropped the medicines she just bought without caring if they break or not. She took off the blanket and positioned her ears in front of her grandmother's chest to check if there's a heartbeat or even soft breathing. But there was none. She straightened up and lightly shook her grandmother's shoulders.

"O-Obaa-chan? You're still awake right? You're just pretending so that you could teach me a lesson for shouting at you right? Ne, I don't hate you at all. I'm really sorry. Hey, stop pretending already and wake up. Please..." Sakuno continued talking as tears fell down her eyes. Her hands stopped shaking her grandmother's shoulders as her knees gave in and she fell to the floor holding her grandmother's cold hands.

End of Flashback

"I-I regretted it. I shouldn't have said those hateful words before she died. I haven't even apologized before she passed away. That's when I thought that if I don't speak anymore, I can't say any more hurtful words. After my grandmother's burial, I didn't go back home and just walked around aimlessly. It was one of those days that I decided that living isn't an option anymore and that I should just die." Sakuno said while tears fell out of her eyes.

"But your mother, the queen, found me and took care of me. That meeting gave me life once more. Everyday was so much fun. Especially my meeting with you." She added but her frown was now replace with a gentle smile.

Ryoma searched his pockets in case a handkerchief was hiding there but to no avail. He sighed and wiped her tears away with his thumb. After doing so, he held both sides of her face to look up at him.

"I'm sure your grandmother also felt sad with the thought of leaving you alone." Ryoma started.

"Before you came to her house, she was alone wasn't she? She must've been lonely all the time but when you came to her life, everyday was so much fun for you right?" Ryoma asked with a gentle voice.

Sakuno nodded. Ryoma kept that position, his hands not leaving her cheeks.

"She probably felt the same way and everyday was so much fun for her. And it's not like she gave up that easily. I'm sure she did everything she could to be able to stay with you."

"How would you know that? You haven't even met my grandmother." Sakuno said, looking away from Ryoma but he turned her head to look back at him.

"No grandparent would leave their grandchild like that. Be it adopted or not. She was thinking of you all the time. If you keep buying medicines for her and even bringing her to the hospital, your expense money would decrease and it would only be harder to live. Avoiding buying the medicines and just thinking of your basic needs, she decided it would be the best way."

"But I don't want to live alone like that. I would rather die starving with her than her dying alone."

Ryoma lightly smacked her head. Sakuno flinched and rubbed her head.

"No grandparent wants to die with their grandchild. She's old and you're young. She already lived her life but you still have a long way to go in life."

Sakuno looked down understanding what Ryoma, and maybe her grandmother, is telling her. Ryoma patted her head.

"How do you feel now?" He asked.

"Fine."

"Didn't I tell you that relating your problems to someone would make you feel better?"

Sakuno shook her head disagreeing with him. Ryoma looked at her questioningly.

"I only feel better because it was you I told my story to. And because of your... theories of what my grandmother would've felt." Sakuno smiled.

Ryoma didn't quite get it and looked confused. Nevertheless, he reached behind Sakuno and removed something from her neck. It was her board.

"You don't need this anymore right?" Ryoma asked showing Sakuno the board.

Sakuno thought for awhile and nodded, "Can I keep it? Kintarou-kun bought it for me after all."

Ryoma twitched in annoyance upon hearing her muttering someone else's name. Ryoma almost didn't give the board to her because of it. Almost. He gave it to her in the end. Rather, Sakuno quickly took it from him by force.

"Well, since you're feeling better now, I should leave and let you recollect your thoughts." Ryoma said while walking towards the door. With the door almost closing, Ryoma heard Sakuno say something through the small gap in the door.

"I'm glad you're the one I fell in love with, Ryoma-kun."

End of Chapter