Game and Match: Sakuno?

A/N: HELLOHELLOHELLO Y'ALL! So here I am again, with a new chapter. I think this is gonna be the second last chapter. Well, I don't really have much to say except that I'm so SORRY for the ultimately late update. I'm down with a bad flu *ACHHOO!* , some bug infiltrated my outer defenses and somehow managed to lodge itself in my tummy and now it's happily tap dancing on my fundus. Enough with the babbling, let's get to the best part yeah?

WARNING: Again, there will be a scene bordering M, at the beginning of this chapter. Don't read it if you're not up to it, but if you do, you're perverts! Hehehehe... It's okay, sometimes I'm a pervert myself.

Ch13: The Pain of Betrayal

The first thing she saw when she woke up was white. The first thing she smelt as she opened her eyes was a familiar aftershave. She heard his steady breathing as he was still asleep, an arm draped around her waist to keep her close, and the other was left dangling over the edge of the bed. The thin frame which had the picture of his mother was put onto the bedside table last night before she had fallen asleep.

A serene smile stretched her face as she snuggled deeper into his chest, feeling his arm securely around her. Sakuno felt lucky, having someone as great as Ryoma to wake up next to in the morning. Nothing more happened the night before, but she couldn't remember when he had brought her to his bedroom. First they had been kissing as if something was going to happen, and the next thing she knew he was holding her in his arms while she told him of her childhood stories, occasionally telling some of his.

She looked up from his chest and ran a hand through his dark hair. From the talk with him, she learned that under his tough façade and the nonchalant attitude, he was pretty much the little boy that the wonderful woman in the thin frame had given birth to. She had never met his mother, but from what Nanjiroh and Ryoma described her, Sakuno knew she would've wanted to meet Echizen Rinko.

Her hand trailed down to his cheek, and rested there. His eyes slowly opened, showing his beautiful pair of eyes. He looked down to see her face, and pulled her up so that she could look at him levelly. Sakuno blushed when he greeted her with a sleepy grin.

"Morning."

While the blush still stained her cheeks, Sakuno answered back meekly. "M-Morning, Ryoma-kun."

He brought his dangling hand to move some strands of her hair out of her forehead. He didn't smile, he didn't smirk, his face was unreadable as Sakuno looked up. His eyes wandered away from hers for a heartbeat before he looked back into her brown orbs.

"When are you leaving?" He asked, making Sakuno's smile falter a bit.

Somehow she felt something tugging at her heart as he said those words. She felt as if he was dismissing her, which contradicted his wishes for her to stay last night. Sakuno lowered her head so he couldn't see her eyes. It was a few seconds when suddenly she let out a shaky laugh and pushed herself away from him, clumsily sliding off the bed while her hands were busily smoothing her slightly tousled hair.

"I-I'm sorry, yeah, I'll be leaving… I just… I just need to find my-"

Ryoma rose his brows and quickly sensing the situation, he instantly embraced her from behind. Sakuno heard him curse himself under his breath before he amended his mistake.

"That's not what I meant."

Her breath hitched as he said those words, very close to her ear. She couldn't help but ask, her voice soft. "Really?"

A darker shade of pink colored Sakuno's cheeks as she felt his half grin against the skin on the side of her neck.

"I need to know when to drop you off after spending some time here. Sayuri's gone to school from her friend's house so…"

He let his words hang as he felt her turn around in his arms. Feeling suddenly stupid, Sakuno smiled shyly at him, laughing a bit.

"I'm sorry… Um… Pancakes?"

Ryoma nearly chuckled at her immediate response. He could live every day like this, waking up to Sakuno's smile and her unpredictable idea of a breakfast. He settled on a brief kiss to her lips.

"Okay. But shower first."

Without a warning, he lifted her up bridal-style and marched towards his bathroom, carrying a blushing Sakuno in his arms, sputtering nonsense even as he set her on her feet. She was instantly silenced when he kissed her and switched on the shower.

Now, she would also prefer a shower first thing in the morning; but having a beautiful man with her, under the showers, the situation just screamed bloody crazy for her. Especially when his lips felt so good, made even more pleasurable with the water trickling down their bodies, soaking them to the bone. It was when some droplets of water trailed down her nose, making their way downward between their lips, did the kiss felt like Heaven on Earth.

She now knew why couples preferred kissing in the rain.

It was crazy, even as he lifted the sides of her drenched hoodie to brush his thumbs against her creamy tattooed skin, but she couldn't help but delve in the craziness that felt utterly right.

Her eyes were still glassy as they broke the kiss, his lips tugging up to a smirk. She smiled as he rested his forehead against hers, his hair matted against the sides of his neck. A slow grin started to grow on his lips as he lifted the sides of her wet attire higher, and brushed his thumbs against the underside of the dark blue lace holding her bosom. Her breath hitched and instantly she grasped his wrist, stopping his tempting ministrations.

How long was it, she pondered. How long was it when the last time she had let a man touch her like that.

"Ten years…" she unconsciously whispered against his lips.

Ryoma looked into her glazed eyes. "What?"

Sakuno sighed and tried to put distance between her body and the man in front of her.

"The last time I let a man touch me like you did just now was ten years ago. And I was drunk when that happened."

Instantly, Ryoma felt something snap in him. If he had known her back then, he was sure to give that guy a beating for touching a woman without her consent. A few days back he had done exactly that, when Sayuri came home crying. Touch his sister in the wrong way, and he was sure to make any guy live a living hell.

Sensing Ryoma's eyes unfocused, Sakuno brushed his cheek. His hands were lowered to rest against the curve of her waist.

"I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun… It's just that…"

Ryoma closed his eyes and leaned further into her touch. Why in the world hadn't he gotten to her before? He had been living a fucked up life, and it took him thirty friggin years just to find her. She was too kind to him.

"I'm sorry… for… touching you like that."

Her gasp made him open his eyes. "N-No! It's o-okay if you touched me like that… um… I mean, I really liked it because it was you who's doing it and… I…"

His brow rose. "Because I'm doing it?"

Noticing her slip up, Sakuno laughed shyly. "I mean, I don't mind youtouching me, it's just that… I don't know… It's been ten years… I'm nervous."

"Don't be, I'm not." Ryoma chuckled and kissed her with all his being, and pulled her so close to him. He wasted no time breaking the kiss just quick enough to pull away his wet white shirt from his body, then he suddenly stopped when he heard Sakuno gasp against his lips.

She gave him an apologetic smile, as if she remembered something very important.

Somehow he knew what was coming and instantly he growled curses to whatever deity up there making fun of his life. He so badly wanted this, goddamnit. He had been deprived for more than what a healthy man with a healthy libido could possibly withstand. Just when he was close to it, with the perfect woman he had ever wanted, for the first friggin time, THIS had to happen.

"Damn." He mumbled against her neck as she told him about her Single Soularticle which had yet to be submitted that morning.

He sighed as he brushed a thumb against her cheek, stepping back to look at her lovely face.

"I guess this means we're showering separately, right?"

Sakuno blushed at the evident disappointment in his voice. She punched his chest playfully, eliciting a chuckle from him. She couldn't help but giggle.

"Pervert."

Sakuno's eyes caught sight of his head as she boarded the private jet to Okinawa for the Dragons' next match. He was listening to something Momo had to say when he lifted his head to see her clumsily stuffing her briefcase under her seat next to Horio. His brow rose as he noticed her wearing a casual pink Hello Kitty T-Shirt under her Dragon's jersey. The jersey and shirt rode up slightly as she bent down to stuff the briefcase, showing the back pockets of her denims resting on the curve of her behind. He remembered how her back fit snuggly against his from yesterday's morning, and ever since, he was constantly trying to keep his mind out of the gutter, especially now when he thought about how her shirt needed to ride up her back a little bit more to reveal her white skin.

"Do you know that you're making it obvious?"

Ryoma snapped out of his observation when Momo's words struck him. He turned his eyes towards his best friend, feigning ignorance.

"What's obvious?"

Momo had that knowing grin on his face again. "I don't know. About you ogling her and not keeping yer head outta the gutter?"

If Momo had been more intent, he could've notice Ryoma's breath hitch. It seemed like a heartbeat when the Captain countered with a 'so-what?' shrug.

"I'm not like my dad."

The Doubles Player guffawed and shrugged the matter off.

"Whatever. Anyway, you know who we're going against after today's match, right?"

Nodding, Ryoma answered a message from Sayuri using his cell phone. "Inui said that we're probably going against the Rikkaidai brats."

Momo frowned. "Well, I think so, but you do know who they're going against today, right? They'll be fighting against the Kanto Gods, ya know, the one with that stuck up Captain.."

Ryoma had the corners of his mouth tug downwards, a sign that he was not pleased. "That Monkey King. I know him, of course."

Atobe Keigo, who couldn't forget him. With the way he talks about himself using his infamous 'ore-sama' this and 'ore-sama' that, it was hard to ignore the man whom Ryoma preferred calling Monkey King. It was no secret that Echizen Ryoma and Atobe Keigo were strong rivals. Both wanted the Tennis Cup, and both wanted to beat each other through a match of skills and strength. What the press didn't know was that the so-called Monkey King was the one who also caused the knee pains bothering Ryoma.

Monkey bastard.He grudgingly growled in his head.

Sensing the tensing in his friend's posture, Momo punched the Captain lightly on a shoulder.

"What happened was a long time ago. What about this; win tonight's game, and train with me tomorrow. And then beat his sorry ass next Friday in our home game. How does that sound?"

Seeing the smirk from the team Captain, Momo figured it was already a deal.

Time went by so fast after the team got back from Okinawa. Home games were won over by them easily, and a few charity work were completed, leading to a chilly Friday. The guys were hanging around in a bar somewhere near Sakuno's apartment when they asked her to join for some drinks. What they didn't tell her was that her article was featured in Tokyo's as the most favored article of the month. She barely contained herself from squealing in delight as the subject of her article gave a copy to her with his all-knowing smirk.

"You could've described me better, you know. I'm not thataloof."

Sakuno smiled up shyly at him before taking a seat next to Eiji. Her eyes shone excitedly as she traced the words written on the glossy page of her article, a full, five page article of hers; describing the team's numerous victory and of course, Echizen Ryoma. A picture of him in battle mode was placed at the top-right corner of the first page of her article and it made her heart swell with pride. Unknowingly, a few tears escaped her eyes.

The guys panicked.

"Nyaa, Sakuno-chin? You okay? Is the picture too scary?"

She laughed at that, and waved off their fussing. It wasn't that she didn't like it. She loved it. The Tokyo's for once, did exactly what she wanted. They respected her, at last. They finally acknowledged her, Ryuzaki Sakuno. A bright smile was directed towards Ryoma, sitting across from her.

"Thank you, Ryoma-kun."

Again, he was transfixed by her sincerity. He had to suppress from groaning out as his senses went blank for a while with that smile. The guys would never hear the end of it if they were to know he, the Captain, was pretty much bewitched by a mere smile.

"You're welcome."

The guys didn't seem to notice the exchange between those two, and somebody, most probably Sengoku, ordered more drinks to celebrate their little Good Luck Charm, their Tiger.

Shiba Saori looked up from the papers she was given by the man whom waited patiently across from her desk. Her full lips, smeared with a deep red lipstick tugged up to a smile.

"Wow, this is… a masterpiece…"

John Doe whom had walked into her office thirty minutes prior confidently, returned her smile with one of his own.

"What can I say, it's written by the best female reporter in Tokyo's. How are the pictures?"

Shiba nodded appreciatively at the stack of glossy pictures next to her cup of coffee.

"Excellent shots. Where is she, by the way? This amazing woman… what was her name again?"

The smile on the man's face widened to a creepy grin.

"Ryuzaki. Ryuzaki Sakuno."

She was tired. Flat. Beaten. She felt ten times worse compared to that time when she shopped for shoes with Tomoka. The team had a fair share of victories, that was for sure, but they had been practically flying all over the world for the eight matches the team battled through. They had lost in some matches, mostly because half of the team had severe food poisoning on the way to their second match of their Eight-Game drill. But they managed to pull it through in the end, coming back to Japan with 5 wins and three losses.

And for some reason, she had been quite famous for the last five days. It was mainly because her face was featured in an article of one of the famous sports magazines, something about her standing up to an unprofessional tennis player. While the guys had been protecting her from all the 'evil men with privacy-molesting cameras', Nanjiroh had been throwing these men at her, much to Ryoma's annoyance.

"He's just being happy for me, Ryoma-kun." She had once said that after he dragged her away from the flashes into the team's locker room after a long and frustrating match.

"And he's doing that purposely to irk me. Stupid old man."

She had laughed at his response, and walked away from him to interview his team mates, all the while tempting him to just kiss her there in front of the others. But that would bring more 'evil men with privacy-molesting cameras' into her face.

She smiled tiredly as she stepped into her apartment, the moonlight seeped through the curtain gaps to bathe her hallway in its early night moonlight. Peeling off her clothes, she jumped into the shower for a relaxing bath while thinking about the promotion from Mr. Schneider. Apparently, he was astounded that she had stood up to a man twice her size, and the board of directors decided to promote her. Ryoma had been teasing her about that new house she would move into by the end of the month to work with the advertisement company assigned to work under Mr. Schneider himself. A few minutes under the cool shower, a flash of ripped abs home to a devious black horseshoe tattoo invaded her mind, causing her to blush madly. A shy smile stretched her lips as she thought about a particular man.

The shrill of her phone startled her from her daydream. Clumsily wrapping herself with a white bathrobe, she nearly stumbled while reaching for the phone.

"Sakuno!"

Tomoka's loud voice greeted her as soon as she picked up the receiver. A nervous laugh escaped her lips as she sat on her heels on the floor.

"Uh… Hi, Tomo-chan."

"What in the world were you doing? I've been calling you for the last five minutes!"

Frustration rang in her friend's voice, and Sakuno had to spend the next ten seconds apologizing.

"Okay, okay, apology accepted. Anyway, are you okay?"

"What do you mean, Tomo-chan? Of course I'm okay!"

A few seconds of silence from the other side of the receiver had Sakuno anticipate something horrible coming from Tomoka's mouth.

"Sakuno, dear, I want you here at my place, this instant. Got that?"

Without waiting for a confused Sakuno's reply, the call ended.

Half the way to Tomoka's place, Sakuno had wondered if the red head got into trouble again with the wrong man. But she knew Tomoka was dating someone and that man was far from being a trouble. Well, that was what Tomoka had said about her last two lovers. And the one before them, and the other before the others.

And like always, Ryuzaki Sakuno was utterly wrong when it came to guessing games.

The moment she stepped through Tomoka's door, with her shoes still on, her best friend had practically sucked her into a big bear hug while saying words of comfort.

"Sakuno, I love you, I do, but what have done now? I know, I know, you lost your mother and you want others to respect you for who you are but-"

Sakuno finally broke free of the hug and instantly shut Tomoka's ramblings with a hand to her mouth.

"Tomo-chan? Wh-What's wrong?"

Eyes wide, Tomoka threw her hands up. "You don't know?"

Laughing nervously, Sakuno shook her head. "Of course…"

Tomoka's eyes softened instantly as she looked at her best friend. Sakuno really didn't know. How typical of the auburn-haired girl she once knew as Miss Wobbly Hips from kindergarten. She turned around, not letting Sakuno see her wipe off her tears as she reached for the DIVA magazine she had been reading for the last hour. Flipping through some pages, she turned around to face a confused Sakuno and stopped at a particular page.

"This came out this morning, but you were still somewhere out of Japan and I don't have the money to call you."

Saying those words, she handed Sakuno the magazine.

Sakuno remembered asking her daddy once about heart attacks. She had been wondering the best way to die, and she had heard one of her friends talking about heart attacks. Her daddy had laughed when she asked her about the pain; if heart attacks were scary, if they were painful… She remembered her daddy saying something about feeling as if though you're drowning. It feels as if your chest was pressed heavily with something as big as the bell at the temple where he worked. She decided then that she didn't want to die a painful death like that, and kept her promise. She had never felt that sort of pain, never experienced it.

But at that moment, what she felt might probably be close to what her daddy meant twenty three years ago. Close, because if it had been the exact degree of pain, she wouldn't be alive that moment when Tomoka showed her the article. She wouldn't be letting the tears fall freely from her brown eyes, and she wouldn't have bolted out of Tomoka's door to find Ryoma.

He must be at his house.

She wanted to get there as fast as possible to explain. Everything.

The guys were lounging at the local bar nearest to the Arena when Horio walked in to join them. The guys greeted him half-heartedly as they munched on roasted ribs and chips, and the youngest manager went straight to Ryoma whom was sitting next to Momo, downing a glass of beer.

"Echizen," he called out.

Ryoma had put the glass down and answered the red head with a nod. He raised his brows as he noticed something wrong with Horio. He wasn't wearing his usual purple skull silk shirt, but that was the least of his concern. It was about the way Horio was fidgeting when the usually loud manager plopped onto the empty seat facing the Dragons' Captain. His eyes lowered towards the red, pink and white magazine Horio slid across the table for him to look at, and instantly his appetite dropped.

He held the magazine in his hands, with some of the guys hovering around him to look at the page Horio had left open.

There, in the center of one glossy page, were pictures of him and Sakuno talking to each other, and some of the pictures showed how he'd pat her head, and that time when he nearly kissed her in the locker room, his torso bare of any clothing. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the snapshots insinuated.

"Nyaa, Echizen? You and Sakuno-chin? I didn't know that you guys were an item."

Ryoma could feel Momo's gaze on him as he read the whole article on the next page, barely containing his hands from ripping the magazine into pieces.

"…I have never thought that a guy like him would ever fall for the likes of me. But as others say, we can't choose who we fall for. In this case, I just needed to play innocent, and gradually, his interest towards me built up… and voila! It was just a matter of time when I finally saw how he was no different from any other men…"

When his mother died, he had promised himself to never jump into situations requiring him to feel weak and hurt. He thought had never felt the pain of betrayal, but as he read on the article describing how he had so willingly fall prey to a woman's tactics to bring down a man, he wondered why did betrayal have to be so painful.

He could feel the gentle squeeze on his shoulder, and silently thanked Momo for doing that, or else he would've really ripped the magazine into pieces.

"… Just remember my dear sisters, it's never impossible to bring down a man. As tough as he may seem on the outside, he might just be the easiest to tempt, if you have what it takes to make them fall for you.

By: Ryuzaki Sakuno."

He felt like puking.

"Oi, Echizen…" Momo called out as his best friend calmly put the magazine down and stood up.

Ryoma kept his mouth shut as he weaved his way through the crowd, out into the streets. He felt his fists clench, and his nails dug into his palms so hard he couldn't bring himself to care if his hands were bleeding.

He could hear somebody tailing after him as he walked down the road to his motorbike.

"You shouldn't act rash, you know." He recognized that voice. It was his damn old man.

"What do you mean, oyaji?"

Nanjiroh managed to stop his son, his hand resting onto Ryoma's shoulder.

"I know, you're angry, you're hurt, you feel betrayed…"

"Don't bring those up." He spoke back to his dad, not even turning around to look at Nanjiroh.

He heard his dad sigh and felt the hand on his shoulder disappear. "She's not like that, this must be a misunderstanding."

Nanjiroh heard his son scoff at his words. And without a words, Ryoma left his father and walked towards his motorbike.

He needed to get home. He needed to calm down.

She was wheezing by the time she got to his door. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door twice before it swung open revealing none other than Echizen Ryoma.

Sakuno felt her heart crumble to pieces when she saw his face, the way his eyes seem cold and distant, the way his lips tugged down at the tiniest fraction. She could feel her breath being caught in her throat as he said to her, his voice as cold as ice.

"What do you want?"

Stepping back a bit to give him space as he walked a step towards her, Sakuno bit her lower lip, not even daring to look up into his face.

"I-I… I came here to explain…"

"Explain what?" He managed to keep his voice as neutral as he could.

"That article, it wasn't me…"

She could hear him chuckle darkly as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his black slacks.

"Then what about my knees? Don't tell me that was your doppelganger whom I talked to at the training complex."

Sakuno could hear every venom in his voice, and she knew she deserved it. If she hadn't been more careful on her whereabouts, they wouldn't have been in this mess.

"I swear, Ryoma-"

"Don't call me that. I don't know you." He had cut in, causing her to gasp and look up at him.

She could feel the evil claws clawing at the back of her eyes, ready to let the tears cloud her vision. But she couldn't let them fall again. Not now.

"Why?" She whispered out, her voice shaky.

Ryoma had to look down to refrain himself from staring into her brown eyes. Her wide, brown eyes which he had once loved to drown into. He could already see the tears brimming in those eyes, and he berated himself mentally for still have feeling for the woman in front of him.

"I don't know you anymore, Ryuzaki. I thought I could trust you." He stopped there.

He didn't want to voice out how he had loved her, how he thought she was the one woman in his life he had ever wanted to be with. Somehow, deep inside, he knew maybe this wasn't her fault. Maybe the article wasn't written by her. That maybe someone was spying on her.

That idea to him was absurd. Why would someone spy on a woman reporter? It was him all along. They wanted him, not her.

He was a man of logic, and right now, his logic told him to stay away from her.

"Ryoma-kun, look at me."

He didn't do as told.

"Ryoma-kun, trust me, I swear."

Once again, he was a man of logic.

"Ryoma-kun, I love you."

That had him look up. A ghostly smirk was plastered onto his face, when all he wanted to do was wipe off her tears and kiss her silly. Because he loved her too. But how was he to trust someone whom had already broken that trust.

With his logic winning over his heart, he decided to step back from her. Before he closed the door in her face, he managed to say some words to her. And he didn't even wait for her to respond, because he knew her response at his words will break him further more.

"Then I'm sorry for what you did to those who you don't love."

A/N: OHMIGODPLEASEDON'TSHOOTMEFORENDINGTHISCHAPTER! I promise, this will be the only heartbreaking scene in this story, because I always end my stories with a happy ending. I don't really have much to say, just that I've noticed that I've been getting less reviews. Why? Why? Do tell me my mistakes so that I can amend them? Is it the story line? I'm sorry Sweety but this is how I write my stories. I like 'em fluffy and well… fluffy!

Don't forget to review when you have the time. Even a 'Oh my god, this is nice!' would be okay. Am I asking too much?

Hugs and kisses!