Game and Match: Sakuno?

A/N: Haha! Sorry 'bout the delay. I thought I've updated two chapters but it seemed that I missed out this one. Anyway, as usual, I hope you'll like this chapter and the chapters to come. This story's coming to an end... someday... Oh! And I just got my DL! AHAHA! XD Demo ne…. Sadly, the car's missing a steering wheel. Bummer. :(

DISCLAIMER: Obviously, dear, I don't own POT or the characters.

Ch11: Unpredictable

Echizen Ryoma never would have thought that a mere woman could make heads turn as soon as she enters a room. Especially a certain brown-haired woman named Ryuzaki Sakuno. He never thought that the woman would pique interest in his rowdy team mates, not with her smart ass mouth and her witty responses, and of course, her dark boring clothes. He never thought that he could be wrong about his first impressions towards others. Especially now, when SHE came breezing into the locker room ninety minutes before the game started, wearing a red silk blouse with the first two buttons left undone and a black pencil skirt which stopped inches before her knees that fitted her curves, making everyone realize that she actually had a really nice butt. Except Ryoma, he knew about her butt when he saw her in the cow pajamas. But the black pantyhose she was wearing did make him realize; for a short person, she did have nice legs.

Ryuzaki Sakuno surely was unpredictable.

And he never thought that a rookie could make him kinda – ahem - sort of – ahem – jealous… when the Chinese guy walked right up to Sakuno and complimented her looks. He couldn't really understand what the young tennis player said to her, but he did know Bobby said something about her blouse. She laughed, and BOY he knew he was in trouble because her laugh was so nice it made him forget about their next opponent for a short ten seconds before he snapped out.

The guys were busy getting ready with their shoes and rackets, but they had their eyes trained on Ryuzaki while their mouths busy joking to her about having a wardrobe makeover. Vlad, being the perv bastard he was –well, Vlad wasn't the only pervert there anyway- joked about having a dinner date with her after the game.

Which made Ryoma wonder for a second, had Ryuzaki ever gone to a real date? Because she was blushing as if the Russian had really meant it. Or did Vlad really mean what he said? God, he was being jealous and paranoid. He didn't even realize Momo was sniggering behind him.

"Yo, Echizen."

Not looking up from his shoes, which he was struggling to lace because he couldn't keep from trying to burn a hole through the back of Vlad's skull, he ignored Momo. And being Momo, the Power House of the team ignored the black aura emanating from the captain and plopped next to Ryoma.

"Oi, Echizen."

Without turning to answer Momo, Ryoma replied with the most neutral voice he could muster at the moment.

"What?"

The Captain could feel Momo grinning at him mischievously, as if knowing that his amber gaze was trained onto the big-mouthed Russian while his fingers were trying hard not to accidentally tangle his wrists together. He didn't know if he was considered lucky or not, because he was right. The wide grin on Momo's face was definitely there on his bruised face.

"She looks good today. Sengoku had bet that she's wearing garters. What d'ya think?"

Ryoma stopped his hands, and averted his daggers to Momo instead. If people didn't know him better, they would've thought the two teammates were talking about something tennis-related, what with Ryoma's unchanged bored expression. For people who DO know him would've known that Ryoma was thinking of ways to rip off Momo's eyes staring appreciatively towards the brown-haired female menace in the middle of the room. The menace who he knew was purposely tempting him with those clothes. Goddammit, why did it have to be red.

"There's nothing to look at anyway, you moron." His statement came out in a dangerously low voice, because he knew he was lying to himself.

There was a LOT to look at Ryuzaki Sakuno the moment she stepped into the room with those new clothes.

Momo wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You're saying that, but your eyes are on her."

The Dragons' Captain straightened up, ready to counter Momo's words when Manager Inui Sadaharu walked into the room with his infamous dark green notebook. His glasses were gleaming in the creepiest way only he could manage.

"Attention, guys."

The players, some of them still in their towels, gathered around Inui whom stood next to Sakuno. The huge height difference between the reporter and manager made her to look way up to answer something Inui was saying. The manager looked up from Sakuno's face as Eiji came bouncing about, demanding the reason Inui called them. The acrobatic player was jumping about as if he wouldn't give a damn that his towel was dangerously sliding off his hips.

"Nyaa, Inui! Are you gonna brief us on the next game? We haven't been doing this for months!"

The others nodded in agreement. Said manager cleared his throat, pushed up his glasses for the dramatized effect, and began his briefing.

"Yes, we haven't done this for a while. But I assure you that our next opponents are making a comeback with some new moves. I've even brought their new set of data, here in this book."

As he flipped through a few pages and began his briefing, Sakuno's eyes wandered to the faces around her, their figures towering over her as most of them tried to peek into the mysterious book Inui held. She spotted Ryoma, the only player standing away from the crowd, but close enough to hear Inui's ramblings. He was leaning against the door of Bobby's locker, arms crossed over his chest and his cap obscuring most of his face as he set his gaze onto the floor with the Dragons logo in the middle. As Inui answered one of Oishi's questions, Ryoma lifted his face and locked gazes with Sakuno. She smiled at him, and his face didn't move a muscle.

"…and again Momo, your backhand needs to be covered by someone with a better grip than yours. So if you haven't forgotten yet, you're gonna play doubles with Kaidoh. Don't give me that look, or I'll give you my juice."

Momo grumbled something and Kaidoh grudgingly grumbled something back. It was no secret that the two had issues with each other, but they played doubles well together. Tezuka had to give them that.

"Oh, and another thing… Kikumaru."

"Hai?" He replied while distractedly looking at the spikes on Inui's head.

"You're gonna have to save your acrobatics until you and Oishi get started on your third set into the game. Got that?"

Questions were being thrown, and Inui just remained quiet as Eiji bellowed. The manager pushed up his glasses again, and cleared his throat to silence the players when Sakuno cheerfully spoke up.

"Ano, Eiji-san. The doubles players you're going against have limited stamina, and Inui-san thought that you might as well start using your acrobatics when they get tired so as to not let them react fast enough to return your shots. Also..." She paused and let Bobby hold her cup of to-go coffee before rummaging through her bag to bring out a small notepad.

She flipped some pages when she continued, "... there's this new player that joined the Okinawa Devils today, looks like he has one good drop shot, which was why he'd kept most of his matches finished in approximately fifteen minutes and forty-five seconds."

Inui nodded, and had a proud grin on his lips. Good girl. I taught you well.

She finally stopped her ramblings and looked up from her notepad to see confused eyes staring back at her, as if she had grown horns on her head. She brought a hand up to feel the top of her head too, just to be on the safe side.

"Um... Is there anything wrong?" She asked timidly, while Bobby absent-mindedly gave back her coffee.

Ryoma already had an eyebrow raised as he also looked at her. As soon as she had talked, it was as if an alien had landed in the middle of the room, talking as if she even knew what she was babbling about. A cute as hell alien. With a red blouse and a nice-fitting black skirt, and possibly garters. Again, Sengoku had put his bet that she was wearing black silky garters. The room was so quiet they could even hear the clock ticking. It was a few seconds when suddenly Kirihara spoke up.

"Oi, onna. How are you sure about these stuff?"

Sakuno made a pair of imaginary binoculars.

"Inui-san and I went data scouting during the last two nights at their home game. It was pretty hush-hush… kind of like a mission." She ended that with a childish grin.

Surely, Ryuzaki Sakuno was so very unpredictable.

The room erupted with laughter seconds after that, finally realizing that their Tiger was becoming one of Inui's so-called subordinates.

Ryoma couldn't help the smirk on his lips as he walked to his stall to finish some stuff while the guys were patting Sakuno's small head, saying things like 'awesome' and 'atta girl'. She was laughing, her voice rang pleasantly in his ears.

Just as he zipped up his jersey, he heard her footsteps. Oh yeah, he forgot, she was still wearing her black Doc Martens. The boots really didn't fit in with the clothes, but who was he to comment. Obviously she loved those boots as much as she loved her glasses, which she'd replaced with her contact lenses for the moment.

"Ne, Ryoma-kun."

He turned around, and immediately he thought that she looked better up-close. Plus, he was one and a half foot higher than her so he could clearly see the top of her chest, courtesy of the first two undone buttons on her blouse. Damn, she was such a distraction.

"Are you purposely dressing up like that to impress me?"

Sakuno was caught off-guard by the seemingly nonchalant question he directed at her. It was part true, and she didn't know what to answer than to look at herself when she noticed his eyes lingered around her chest area. She gasped and quickly buttoned up her blouse. Ryoma raised a brow. Well, the free show was over.

"Wh-What… d-do you m-mean… to impress you? Of course not! D-Do you think I have the t-time to impress you? I-I don't see the reason to impress y-you, or anyone of that matter! Kami-sama, you're not just delusional, you're a narcissist! You Hentai-san!"

His eyes nearly bulged out at her outburst.

Hentai? He wasn't a pervert like his dad, he just appreciates nice-looking women. And what's with the –san?

Narcissist? He was definitely NOT a narcissist!

He was just aware that women tend to impress him in so much ways.

He was definitely, positively NOT self-loving!

And delusional?

"I am by no means delusional, woman."

Sakuno frowned and rested her hands on her hips. "Am too!"

"You're saying that as if I'm from the asylum."

The reporter shook her head. "I didn't say that. I just said you're delusional. You're overreacting."

Ryoma smirked. Now was the time to get back at her. "You were overreacting too."

Her hands dropped to her side, her face was incredulous as she stared at him. "W-What?"

Echizen Ryoma, the man every woman desired, leaned in towards her and said dangerously low to her ear.

"You said you were not here to impress me, but you overreacted. That means you are here to impress me. Isn't that right, Ace?"

It was fifteen minutes till their game started, and while the players were starting to empty the locker room, Ryoma was busy teasing Sakuno. And he gave himself credit for that, because her responses were priceless. After she opened and shut her mouth repeatedly as if she was a fish, she finally flattened her palms against his chest to push him away from her. She shoved once, but he didn't budge.

"I am not-" She shoved harder, her cheeks growing to a new hue of red, either from exhaustion or embarrassment.

"-impressing-" she said through clenched teeth as she pushed harder, so hard that her heels lifted off the ground.

When he didn't even budge a step, she huffed and looked up into his face, despite the red blotches on her cheeks were far from fading away.

"-you." She finished, by the time she said that though, she noticed the naughty smirk on his lips.

He slung his tennis bag over one shoulder, and before he left her, he managed to lightly pat her cheek with a hand.

"Good. Because there's nothing to be impressed at, honestly."

Sakuno could feel her brow twitch at that.

Nothing. To. Be. Impressed. At…?

Did that mean she was unattractive to his eyes, even when Tomoka had practically begged her to go shopping for a change of wardrobe? She even donated her old, boring clothes to the Goodwill!

Balling her hands into tight fists, Sakuno managed to grit out, "Big dumb kabocha," before she walked out of the locker room, feeling very insulted and severely ticked off.

She had even bought new sets of lingerie, not that she would want him to see anyway. It was more of feeling a sense of womanly pride, as Tomoka said it.

"Ryuzaki," Ryoma called out and halted her steps.

Without turning around, she managed a clipped, "What?"

She could practically see the annoying smirk on his face as he asked, "Are you wearing garters?"

Startled beyond belief, she turned around to give him an abashed face before her mouth spoke for herself.

"Pantyhose."

When Ryoma slightly grinned like the sinner he was, she realized life had just been so unfair to her ever since she'd decided to walk up to him to call him a big dumb kabocha. He finally shrugged and left her by herself inside the locker room. Without forgetting to tell her something; the last part had her face redden to full blast.

"Then I'm right. Sengoku was wrong."


Sakuno had the camcorder clenched in her grip as she thought of ways to get back at the menace slash tennis captain who was sitting on the waiting bench situated just a meter away from her seat. When she had gotten to the best part, a hand tapped her shoulder. Letting out the breath she didn't know she held, she turned around to greet the person with a smile. Her eyes however widened as she recognized the amber eyes peeking out from the sunglasses the person wore.

"Nee-chan!" The girl excitedly squealed and quickly plopped next to the still-surprised Sakuno. All thoughts regarding Ryoma were instantly kicked to the curb.

Sakuno giggled as Sayuri adjusted the glasses comfortably against her nose bridge, the bun tying her black hair at the back of her head had some strands of hair sticking out. It wasn't as if others wouldn't recognize Ryoma's sister already, for the youngest Echizen had the VIP pass that was clipped to her blue Care Bear T-shirt.

"Did I miss nii-chan's game? I promised him I would come. Oh, and you look good, nee-chan!"

Sakuno nodded towards the players. "Thanks. No, they just started on the doubles…"

The reporter tilted her head while her hands still held the camcorder as she studied the sixteen-year old.

"Don't you have school?"

Sayuri looked at her wide-eyed –not that Sakuno could see anyway- and giggled before turning her attention back towards the Momo-Kaidoh pair on the court.

"No, silly. It's Saturday."

Sakuno mouthed an 'oh' before she too focused her attention towards the last few sets of the first doubles match.

There was something odd about the match though, because the Dragons weren't competing with one of the big names in Japan. Their opponents – the Okinawa Devils - were what people would prefer calling country bumpkins because of their accent. They also played with such brute force that even Momo found troublesome, by the look of things as he furrowed his brows more often than usual. The other team members sitting by the side benches were also focused on the game, and instead of throwing spits around and provoking the opponents like they used to when they played in Europe, their faces were serious as hell. Sakuno knew the Okinawan players were quite good, but were they too good that even one of the best teams in Japan had its players sit up straight as they watched the game intently?

And Coach Tezuka was replaced with an older coach –much, much older than Nanjiroh- whom the players introduced to her as Ojii. The man was really old, but she was surprised that his sights were so clear that he even murmured to Ryoma something about the troublesome technique the Okinawan players used, also known as the Okinawan Martial Arts…. Or something like that. She'd seen them use the technique when she went data scouting with Inui, and she knew that it was a nasty skill.

"OJIII!"

The simultaneous yelling of the old coach's name rang through the indoor stadium and Sakuno's eyes quickly snapped away from her thoughts. Ojii was apparently knocked down by a tennis ball that had somehow flown across the opponent's side of the net and landed on the old man's cheek. Both Kaidoh and Momo stared in disbelief at the grinning Okinawan doubles pair.

"Oi! KUSOTTARE!" Sayuri cried out as the old man groaned in pain when Ryoma crouched to check on the coach.

"Ojii, you okay?" His deep voice had a ring of concern towards the old man.

When he was replied with another heart-wrenching groan, Ryoma clenched his fists. The crowd was silent as the paramedics came and heaved the unconscious coach onto the stretcher to be taken to the infirmary. As Ryoma watched the disappearing figure of the paramedics, it was still eerily silent. Too silent. Even the umpire was unable to voice out anything, too shocked for the unexpected turn of events. Then the silence was broken when one of the doubles player chuckled.

He shrugged his shoulders as eyes turned to him. "Gomenchai. My hand just slipped, you know."

Sakuno's hands clenched. "Sayuri-chan," she said, her voice was an octave lower as she handed her camcorder to the young girl, her brown eyes never leaving the court as she stood up. "take care of my camcorder," She finished, and with Sayuri's questioning gaze lingering on her back, she jumped off the separator and landed clumsily onto the tennis court.

Sayuri gasped as Sakuno smoothed the wrinkles off her blouse and skirt, without taking her brown gaze off the Okinawan.

"Nee-chan… No way. No freakin' way…"

The others however, didn't notice as the reporter walked steadily towards the tan-skinned opponent.

When the seemingly young player met with Ryoma's burning gaze, he smirked. "Sheesh. Tokyo people are so- Ow!"

Eyes blinked confusingly as they witnessed the lean figure of the Okinawan player bent down when his ear was brought down forcefully by a small hand. Her fingers were pressed so hard into the flesh of his ear as she twisted the flimsy piece of cartilage. Her face was red with anger as she looked at the guy squarely in the eyes.

"How DARE you do that to an old man?"

Collective gasps and whispers filled the stadium as the Okinawan cried out in pain when Sakuno dragged the obviously taller man towards the net to meet with the Dragons' Captain.

"O-Oi! Onna! Lemme go!"

Sakuno tugged again at his ear, eliciting another cry of agony, and some of the Dragons' players also held instinctively to their ears as if they were feeling the pain too.

"DO NOT Oi at me! Now, apologize! Don't you ever think that being from the countryside means that you CAN act like one here! Be professional when you're dealing in your matches! Why can't you just play fair and square?"

Ryoma was already not paying attention to the rude Okinawan player on the other side of the green net, but his eyes were solely focusing on the incredible woman turning down a bigger male with just the twist of his ear. He did NOT want his ears turn as red as the guy's ear at that moment. She wasn't even aware when the crowd started to cheer for her when the cameras focused on her cute face, brows furrowing over big brown eyes and her cheeks red of fury. He couldn't help the grin forming on his face.

The brown-haired reporter finally let go of the bigger male when he suddenly said something that caught Sakuno off-guard.

"You Tokyo bitch! Who do you think you are? Go home and cry in your mom's lap for all I care!"

That really wiped off the grin on Ryoma's face.

But when Sakuno's knuckles made a rather brutal contact with the player's cheek, his grin came back as quickly as it had come off.

"How dare you use crude language on me? I'm a reporter!"

Ryoma raised a brow at this, as if her statement of being a reporter had anything to do with this.

The umpire finally came down from his bench and blew on his whistle, making the crowd turn quiet again.

"Okay," he sighed into the small microphone clipped to his collar before continuing, "This doubles match is officially stopped so that further arguments would not take place. An extra singles match will be played to compensate for this faulty match, so both teams must come up with their extra players in for the last game… IF this whole match ends up in a tie."

It took a few moments of silence and then suddenly the umpire pointed to Sakuno.

"Ma'am, would you please be seated in your position before you came down here?"

Sakuno nodded and took a few moments to narrow her eyes towards the Okinawan man who she'd twisted an ear, as if her eyes were the most intimidating glare one could face. Ryoma smirked at this, and refrained from patting her head as she passed by him to climb back, albeit clumsily, over the separator towards her seat just a few meters behind their waiting bench, sitting obediently between Sayuri and a dumbstruck Horio.

His smirk lifted a notch as she made a thumbs-up to him, mouthing an 'Ganbare!' to the whole team.

His smirk didn't go unnoticed though.

Horio grinned as Sakuno retrieved her camcorder from Sayuri and poked the reporter in the ribs.

"That was cool. You could've gotten the players disqualified though."

Sakuno smiled apologetically, the flush on her face hadn't diminished one bit from all the euphoria. She didn't know getting so worked up over something would cost her a red face. She smoothed down her hair with a hand let out a breath.

"Sorry, I was so mad."

The young manager chuckled. "S'okay."

They were busy taking about who would replace the Dragons' coach when Tomoka tapped her shoulder from behind.

"Tomo-chan! You came!" Her eyes widened along with her smile as her best friend looked around for a seat. There was an empty one next to Horio.

"Of course! I promised you, didn't I? You even gave me a ticket!"

Sakuno leaned back a fraction to give way to Horio. "Tomo-chan, this is Horio Satoshi-kun. Horio-kun, this is my best friend, Osakada Tomoka."

The two exchanged hellos and Tomoka squeezed herself to sit next to the manager with the odd-colored hair. Sakuno passed a soda to Tomoka and saw that the two were making short conversation. She raised a brow, because it wasn't likely that Horio was her best friend's type of man. But then, Tomoka seems to enjoy talking to the guy. And she nearly laughed when Horio looked like a dazed schoolboy when Tomoka flashed him one of her charming smiles. Again, it wasn't likely Tomoka would charm a man as weird as Horio.

Sayuri hurriedly tapped Sakuno's knee.

"Nee-chan! It's Onii-chan's turn! KYAA! NII-CHAN GANBARE!"

Sakuno laughed as Ryoma turned around looking blankly at his sister, then he blinked, as if not remembering how his sister came to be there, just next to Sakuno.

Sayuri waved to him again, shouting out encouragements, earning a nod from Ryoma. He turned around, his back to the crowd as he lowered the brim of his cap. Sakuno barely contained her giggle as she noticed that Ryoma was actually grinning like a little boy.


He just came out of the shower wearing a towel around his waist when Sayuri busted into the locker room with Sakuno's hand being pulled along. After telling the reporter about something, the sixteen-year old left Sakuno blinking at the door of the locker room, still disoriented. She shook her head, and turned round as she heard Nanjiroh call out to her. Her eyes met him for a moment as she turned her head, and if he hadn't been keen enough, he wouldn't even notice the way her eyes dropped to the tattoo on his abdomen.

Ryoma smirked as he noticed the blush on her cheeks when she quickly looked away to answer Nanjiroh.

"Yes, Coach Nanoji?"

The old Coach had a Dragons' jersey in his hands, and it made Sakuno wonder about that new player Kevin Schneider was planning to hire for the next season. But the jersey was quite small for a man to wear. Maybe the new guy was small-framed? Curious, she pointed a finger at the red, black and white jersey.

"Is Mr. Schneider taking the new player? Because I think it's a little small for a man."

Nanjiroh blinked and eyed the jersey in his hands. A grin formed on his face, making Sakuno blink confusedly in turn. He made a short whistle and immediately caught the attention of the talking players. Several degrees of undress greeted her as they gathered around her and Coach Nanjiroh. Ryoma leaned against a doorframe nearest to Nanjiroh, already in his navy shorts.

When Nanjiroh held up Sakuno's hand as if she'd just beaten the world's greatest wrestler, she blinked more rapidly. Her eyes went wide as Nanjiroh made his announcement.

"As you all know, Miss Ryuzaki here came here as a stranger. However, after what happened today, I'm sure everyone agrees with me that we can now proudly say that Miss Ryuzaki Sakuno is one of us Dragons."

He let go of her hand and presented to her the jersey he held. "And hereby we give you this jersey. Welcome to the pack, Sakuno-chan!"

Acceptance.

That was one word she never would have dreamed of ever since she lost her beloved mother and grandmother. But there she was, Coach Nanjiroh holding up her hand above her head, proudly declaring her, the ugly-duckling in the whole class since elementary, the oddest color in a stack of identical Lego blocks... as one of them.

It took a while for her to process the information as Nanjiroh let down her hand to help her put on the slightly loose jersey over her small shoulders. When she felt the warmth the jersey brought over her small frame, she couldn't hold back.

Her head hung, everyone became deadly silent.

Why were her shoulders sagging? Was she sad? Was she upset? Didn't the jersey fit her?

But then she lifted her head, and she had the widest smile she could muster at that time, her lips wobbling and clear tears streamed down her cheeks. She managed a choked 'thank you' for them when her small hands tried to dry off the stubborn tears. She hiccuped and thanked them again.

"Th-Thank you... guys... Really... thank you..."

The guys laughed and most of them patted her head, and then Momo trapped her head in a headlock while he messed her hair. She laughed, her eyes were leaking and her hair was so messy. Some strands of brown hair was stuck to her cheeks as she tried to wipe the broken dam hidden behind her eye lids. Her face was a real mess. But Ryome couldn't help but admire her all the more. Because she was laughing wholeheartedly. He began to wonder if she was ever this happy before.

If others asked him what would make him happy besides tennis years ago, he would answer without a doubt that he had nothing else to be happy at. But when he looked at her again, trying to squirm away from Momo's grasp, he began to question himself. Would it be worth it if he made Sakuno smile every day, if he made her laugh every single day.

Eiji gave her a bear hug, squeezing her small frame as tightly as he could. She would have been suffocated if Oishi hadn't pulled him away from the still crying-while-laughing Sakuno. He saw Inui gently squeeze her shoulder and said something to her. The next thing Ryoma knew, she turned to him and gave a beaming smile.

It gave him no choice to smile back.

It was a lift of the corners of his mouth, but it was definitely one of his hardly-earned genuine smile.


Ryoma was still just wearing his navy shorts when the others have emptied the locker room. He sat on a bench near his locker and stared off into space. He needed time to think alone, and he thought that it was best if he stayed in the locker room. From the clock on the wall, he knew it was past eleven. How long was he there, he wondered. The game finished hours ago and it went normally, if they didn't take into account of what happened in the first doubles match. The Dragons won, but he Okinawan players were good. He himself had nearly stretched his own limit. He'd nearly played for more than an hour, and if he'd gone for another half an hour, he couldn't be sure his knees would hold up.

"You really are troublesome, aren't you…" he mumbled to himself as a hand covered a knee.

He really needed something cold on his knees right now.

"Here, Ryoma-kun."

He looked up and met gazes with Sakuno. She had her hair let down, and it was still moist from a late-night shower.

Wait, she was in her grey pullover hoodie and sweatpants.

"Did you come from home?" he asked as he took the can of Ponta from her and put the chilled can to his knee.

Sakuno shrugged, and held out her cell phone. "Sayuri-chan said you're not home. I saw you staying here after the game, so I figured you might be here."

He nodded, his eyes kept preoccupied to the Ponta pressed onto his knee. "Thanks." He mumbled.

A hand pushed the strands covering his forehead, and he looked up again to see her smile. "I should thank you, for recommending the jersey. Inui-san told me the team forced you to convince Mr. Schneider for an extra jersey."

He wasn't really forced, Eiji and Bobby kept pestering him and he'd done that to keep them from hovering over him. But that wasn't his sole reason anyway. He'd really thought that she deserved something from the team, for keeping up with the team's ridiculous banters.

She withdrew her hand when he kept his eyes on hers. She laughed sheepishly.

"S-sorry, I just thought that your hair was bothering you so uh… I um… Oh, I forgot my glasses… silly me… "

"You deserved it."

She stopped her babbling and blushed when a grin was starting to form on his lips. When he stood up, his body was so near to hers, that if she leaned a fraction she could just touch his tattoo. Her eyes trailed down his lean chest, following the contours of his torso down to the black horseshoe tattoo peeking out from the waistband of his navy shorts. The strands of her brown hair tickled his chest as she kept her eyes on his tattoo, wondering if his tattoo had hurt when he got it done.

"Like what you see?" His voice was venomously deep that it made her breath hitch.

His hand removed the strands of hair tickling his chest and brought up her chin so that she would look at him in the face. He wasn't smirking like he often did, his eyes didn't have the mischievous glint like they used to. He seemed serious?

Was he going to kiss her? Her? The Ryuzaki Sakuno in a hoodie and sweatpants?

His eyes dropped to her lips, and he wondered for a flash of moment if her lips would taste as sweet as they had been when he first kissed her. He didn't know since when he'd been itching to hold her, to kiss her. She was driving him crazy with all this lovey dovey stuff, because he had never felt the same way towards a woman before.

Would she kiss back if he kissed her?

His hand moved to caress her cheeks, bringing a pretty blush to her cheeks. If he wasn't so serious he would have smirked at the blush. He wanted to kiss her, but he couldn't stop his inner cynical thoughts.

Do you deserve her?

His hand froze.

"Ryoma-kun?" Her voice was soft. Soothing, even.

Said name clenched his other hand, and forced his legs to step back. The hand that caressed her cheek dropped to his side. He muttered the first thing that came into mind.

"Interview."

"What, Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma ran a hand through his dark hair and nearly groaned out of frustration.

"Tomorrow's Sunday. Sayuri said she's going to hang out with you."

Sakuno blinked, her face didn't conceal how confused she was. "...And?"

A weird sound from the hallway made both heads turn to the closed door of the locker room. Ryoma was the one to speak up first, turning around to put his things into his tennis bag.

"That's the guards. I told them to lock up the other parts except this room. And since you're coming to my apartment to drop Sayuri off, stay for a while. Bring your questions."

She didn't know whether to be surprised that he offered an interview, or happy that he actually agreed to have her interview him. It was overwhelming that all she could do at that time was to say something very intelligent.

"Oh. Okay."

A few minutes passed before Sakuno decided she should leave him to himself. She bowed politely, though she knew he couldn't see anyway, and reluctantly walked out of the room.

Stop her.

His hands stopped as he placed a racket into his bag. Should he? Didn't his inner voice questioned him if he deserved her?

He sighed and pulled out a towel.

He needed another shower.


A/N: This is it for my eleventh chapter. Sorry for the delay. (bows deeply) Hope you like it and keep reviewing! Hugs and kisses! XD

KUSOTTARE ; Literally translated as 'you shitty man'. Obviously, this is an insult.

GOMENCHAI ; Okinawan dialect which means 'sorry'.