A/N: Hello to all my readers. Thank you for reading my new Ryosaku fic. It's funny that I still haven't finish One Touch and here I am publishing another one. Though this one is not as long as One Touch. This Story will probably end in CHapter 8 and I already managed to finish 3 chapters. I wrote this about two months ago and I'm just publishing it now while I'm having writer's block with my other fics and procrastinating. Hehe. To all the RyoSaku fans who are reading this, please try to read my first RyoSaku fic entitled, One Touch. You can find it in my profile here. Anyways, I like to thank my two beta readers! (The last parts of this chapter are not edited much. I'll get back to this later but I just wanna publish this now. So pardon me for the mistakes.)
Black angel in love and OkaAyamo
Enjoy the chapter everyone!
(EDITED on 05/10/21)
Chapter 3: Jealousy
The tennis practice was just over and Ryoma, as usual, was walking Sakuno home.
It was quiet between them, and Sakuno couldn't help but glance at him every now and then. Ryoma looked a bit distracted since earlier.
Momo-senpai even managed to win two games from him! And to make matters worse, he refused to drink a single can of Ponta! Now that was some serious problem.
Everyone was worried so they told Sakuno to ask him what was wrong and try her best to comfort him, though she already planned to ask him about it without being told to. Still though, no matter what Ryoma was worried about, she couldn't understand why he would develop a sudden dislike of Ponta. Just the sight of it was making him flinch.
Sakuno was really really confused and worried now.
'Could it be...that he's thinking about Yu-san? Did he finally remember her? Is Yu-san somehow related to his sudden dislike of Ponta? But that doesn't make any sense.'
She glanced at him again.
"What is it, Sakuno?"
She jolted in surprise when Ryoma suddenly spoke to her. He was gazing at her now, his eyebrow raised.
'Ah! He caught me staring!' Her face burned in embarrassment.
"N-Nothing," she answered, shifting her eyes in front of her.
"Heh, Mada mada dane, Sakuno. There's something you wanted to ask me, that's why you keep glancing at me," Ryoma said, smirking confidently. "Now tell me what's wrong."
Sakuno pouted. 'How did he even figured that out?!'
"Umm, I'm just wondering, Ryoma-kun. Do you...really not remember Yu-san?" she was finally able to blurt out, looking down at her feet.
Ryoma hummed beside her and she looked up to see his reaction. He was just looking impassively ahead before he glanced back at her.
"I did...just earlier actually," he replied nonchalantly.
'Is that why you're distracted for the rest of the day?' Sakuno wanted to ask, but somehow, her tongue refused to blurt the question out.
"What do you remember?" she whispered instead.
Ryoma frowned at her question.
"Y-You can decide not to tell me! I'm sorry for being nosy!" she immediately retracted, waving her hands in front of her.
Ryoma stopped walking, so she paused in her step too.
"Umm...I'm so–" Her second apology was cut off as Ryoma suddenly held her hand before he resumed walking. Sakuno matched his steps in confusion.
"I'm not mad at you for asking. You deserve to know…" Ryoma muttered.
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it, Ryoma-kun," she said, squeezing his hand.
Ryoma looked at her, a small smirk on his lips. "Che, that attitude of yours will make me feel guilty if I don't tell you."
Sakuno's whole face reddened. "I'm sorry! You don't really have to tell me Ryoma-kun! I-It's just–everyone is worried about you and they asked me to find out the reason why! N-Not that I'm not worried too, of course, I'm much more worried, j-just–"
Her nonsensical blabbering was cut off by his lips. His arm wrapped around her waist as he pulled her body flushed against him; and like any other time he kissed her, Sakuno was, again, lost in the overwhelming sensation that Ryoma's lips brought her. She couldn't think of anything but him. His manly fragrance, his touch, how good his soft lips felt as they moved against hers, and his taste which was surprisingly Ponta-free today.
When Ryoma finally let go of her lips, she was left in a daze, her fingers clutching his tennis shirt as she panted.
"You tasted like Ponta," he told her with a slight frown.
He mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't catch so she uttered a quiet 'what?'
He shook his head in amusement before he was pulling their joined hands again to continue walking.
"Y-You said something about Ponta," she managed to say as she tried to match his pace.
Ryoma glanced at her again before he looked away.
"Did you drink all of my Ponta?" he asked, scratching his cheek.
Sakuno looked down. She knew that the blush on her face won't be disappearing anytime soon.
"I-I'm sorry. You didn't want to drink it so I…" she trailed off.
'Is Ryoma-kun mad that I drank all of his Ponta!? Mou, but he's the one who refused them in the first place…'
"Don't worry about it," he finally said.
Sakuno gazed at him, carefully gauging whether he was telling the truth.
Ryoma chuckled when he noticed her stares and squeezed her hand. "It's fine."
Sakuno nodded slowly, and silence reigned on them. Just as she thought that he wasn't going to speak again, he suddenly did.
"Yu Reina is indeed my childhood...friend," Ryoma hesitated as if deciding whether his choice of words was correct. He clicked his tongue. "Her company was actually forced on me since her father always visited my Oyaji. They talked for hours and I was left babysitting the girl." He pulled Sakuno closer so that she was forced to wrap her arms around his and sent her a small smirk. "She annoyed me a lot actually. Always demanding me to play with her when I was busy practicing tennis. Then she cries whenever I didn't listen to her."
Sakuno snickered at this, making Ryoma raise an eyebrow.
"What's so funny?" he asked, looking a tad bit irked.
"I can just imagine you making a little girl cry for disturbing you in tennis," she answered between giggles.
Ryoma pulled her hard with his arm in retaliation, making her trip.
"Ah!" Sakuno cried out, but Ryoma caught her, embracing her body and making her face bumped into his chest.
He chuckled, "Mada mada…" he straightened her back up, "...dane."
"Mou, how mean…" she mumbled as she hit him lightly on his arm.
Ryoma only smirked at her before they resumed walking.
"So, the two of you aren't close at all? Really?" Sakuno asked skeptically.
He looked up at the sky as if he was trying his best to remember the past.
"Heh, she's tolerable at times," He answered blandly.
Sakuno gazed at him in exasperation. "She's your only childhood friend though."
"No, she's not the only one," he interjected fast.
She blinked at him in surprise. "There's more?"
Ryoma averted his eyes from her. "No, just...one more," he whispered.
Sakuno moved closer to him, rewrapping her arms in his just to hear him much clearly.
"Another one? Who? Do you remember their name?" she asked eagerly.
Ryoma sweatdropped. "I d-don't remember her name…"
She blinked twice. "Another girl?" She didn't know why, but she felt a sudden surge of jealousy for his second childhood friend.
'I wish I met Ryoma-kun sooner, so we could also have a few memories as kids…' Sakuno thought longingly as she gazed at her boyfriend.
His eyes grew wide and his shoulder visibly stiffened as if he hadn't intended for her to know that his second childhood friend was a girl too.
"Y-Yeah," he answered, fixing his collar.
Sakuno's eyebrows slowly raised up to her hairline. "For someone who acts like all the girls in the world have some serious contagious disease, you seem to know how to handle girls well, Ryoma-kun. I mean, you have two girls as childhood friends."
Ryoma's eyes darted from her to the road. "I d-don't even remember her name, and we were only able to meet twice, but she helped me overcome something…" he mumbled.
"Really? She must be so kind to help you back then, but why didn't you remember her name?" Sakuno asked in surprise. Inside though, her chest was feeling heavier and heavier.
'Mou, why am I getting so jealous?'
He scowled at her. "It was a long time ago," he said, waving his hand in dismissal.
"You remembered Yu-san though," she pointed out.
"I did because she's currently pestering me," Ryoma said through gritted teeth, glaring at the road.
"Mm," Sakuno nodded, "so, do you remember when the engagement thing started?"
She didn't really want to hear it. She could already feel her heart aching at the thought of Ryoma and Yu-san spending time together as kids, but somehow, she also wanted to know.
He frowned at her again. "Why do you want to know that?"
Sakuno blinked, realizing how nosy she sounded. "I just asked, you can decide whether to tell me or not," she carefully replied.
'Why don't you want to tell me though, Ryoma-kun?' She was tempted to clutch her chest because of the heaviness she was feeling inside.
Ryoma sighed. "Again with that reply, you know I can't help but tell you anyway," he muttered under his breath.
She chuckled nervously. "Sorry…"
He was quiet for a few seconds as if contemplating what to say before he spoke again.
"I actually remembered agreeing to it…" Ryoma whispered.
"Eh?" she uttered unintelligently.
'So, he agreed to the engagement after all…' She felt her heart breaking into million pieces but she tried to act tough. 'He doesn't need to know how affected I am with this.'
Sakuno watched as Ryoma glared at the road as if accusing it of some crime.
"She was crying nonstop and forced me to promise her that we'll always stick together. Then demanded that I promise to marry her in the future." Ryoma suddenly looked straight into her eyes and Sakuno felt herself melting. His cat-like golden eyes were always her weakness, and she was helpless under his fierce gaze.
"I was young then though, I didn't understand the gravity of that promise. Honestly, at that time, there was nothing in my mind but beating my Oyaji in tennis," he said seriously.
Sakuno gazed at Ryoma as the wind blew past them, making his bangs dance along with hers. He looked so handsome even just by standing there.
'Ryoma-kun is just...so perfect. How did he become my boyfriend again?'
"Mm…" she absentmindedly replied before she forced her eyes forward again, "You still did promise her though."
Without even looking, she felt Ryoma's incredulous look at her, "A promise from a 6-year-old? Are you for real?"
Sakuno chuckled at his indignant reply.
"That's not funny," he grumbled.
She returned her gaze to him, smiling gently. "Girls hold on tight to promises, Ryoma-kun. If someone promised something important to them, girls will remember it, even if they were so young when the promise was made. Yu-san probably held on to that promise since then," she murmured the last part of her statement, looking down the road.
Ryoma sighed. "I can't believe my own girlfriend is making me feel guilty for something I impulsively did as a kid."
Sakuno wrapped her arms around his waist making him blink in surprise at her. She was longing to embrace him since earlier, and now, she just couldn't help it.
"I'm sorry, that's not my intention, Ryoma-kun. It's just, I sort of...understand her somehow and it's quite sad you know." She rested her cheek on his arm, looking straight at the road. Their steps slowed down because of what she did, but they continued forward.
"Childhood friends are special. It isn't the kind of thing that someone should just let go of. Yu-san...probably held on to you all this time, and then...I just came out of nowhere." Sakuno couldn't help the sadness that laced her voice. Feeling sympathetic to Yu-san but at the same time, she couldn't stop the jealousy from eating her inside. "She probably sees me as a nuisance," she whispered.
Ryoma encircled his arm around her, "What will I ever do to you, Sakuno?" he grumbled.
She looked up at him in confusion. "Hm? What did I do?"
Ryoma avoided her eyes "You're just…" he frowned, "too selfless...and kind. You make me feel like a cruel bastard."
Sakuno's face heated. "T-That's just absurd, Ryoma-kun! You're a person with honor. You may not know it, but I always see how much you care for the people around you. And you have your own ways to show it," she smiled up at him, "You even saved me a lot of times."
'And I'm not kind, Ryoma-kun. I'm pathetic, for feeling so jealous right now.'
Ryoma scowled, but his ears were turning red. "Che, I thought girlfriends should be mad when other girls try to get in between them and their boyfriends, but you seem to be siding with your rival instead," he said, raising an eyebrow at her, "Aren't you jealous? Or feeling a bit...possessive?"
Stunned by his question, Sakuno didn't know how to respond. Knowing how extremely jealous she was feeling since they started this conversation. No, she was actually drowning in jealousy ever since Yu-san came into the picture. Possessiveness though…
'I don't have the right to feel possessive of Ryoma-kun. He's not mine in the first place. He's not a thing to be owned by anybody but himself.
...however, is that really the right thoughts to have?'
"T-That's…" she trailed off.
Ryoma gazed at her expectantly and she opened her mouth to try and say something again when she noticed that they were finally at her house.
"We're here…" she muttered as she slowly loosened her hold around Ryoma.
Her boyfriend looked up and noticed the same thing. "Oh…"
Just as Sakuno tried to speak again, the front door opened and her grandmother came out.
"Eh, Sakuno, you're finally here," Sumire said, gazing at the both of them. "How are you, Ryoma?" she asked as she approached them.
"Chisu," Ryoma greeted, inclining his politely. "I'm good, sensei."
"Where are you going, Oba-san?" Sakuno asked.
"Oh...I'm going to fetch your aunt Mira at the station, why don't you come with me. I'm sure she wants to see you there," her grandmother said, winking at her.
Sakuno paled. "A-Aunt Mira will be here?"
Her aunt, Mira, was kind of...eccentric and she normally went to Tomoka's house to sleep over when her aunt visits just to avoid her, but she remembered that her friends were going to do something important with her tomorrow and they needed to be at her house for that, so she didn't have a choice.
Her grandmother chuckled at her reaction. "Don't be like that, she's not that bad."
Ryoma looked at Sakuno questioningly as she sweatdropped.
"O-Okay, I'll come with you Oba-san. Just let me change my clothes," she said, resigned to her fate.
Sumire nodded. "Do that, I'll wait for you in the living room," she said before she looked at Ryoma.
"Get home safe, Ryoma." Sumire ruffled his hair, smiling fondly.
"Oww, sensei!" he protested.
Sumire laughed before she went inside the house, leaving the two of them alone.
Sakuno returned her attention back to her boyfriend. "See you tomorrow, Ryoma-kun. Thank you for walking me home."
"Mm," he hummed as if contemplating something before he pulled her gently towards him, cupping her cheek and staring directly into her eyes – he kissed her softly on the lips.
When she felt his lips against hers, she was clouded by the sudden feeling of wanting to own him for herself. Wanting Ryoma to be hers and hers alone.
Yu-san may have met Ryoma first, but he was dating Sakuno now. Ryoma chose her, Ryuzaki Sakuno, and not any other girls.
'I know I shouldn't, Ryoma-kun, but being this close to you, being able to kiss you like this. I can't help it. I want you for myself! I want to be the only one to taste these lips, to be the only one to touch you like this. I want to have all of you that I just can't–'
Overwhelmed by all her pent-up frustrations and inner desires, Sakuno wrapped her arms around Ryoma's neck, grasping on his soft locks as she returned the kiss more eagerly than she normally does that she shocked even herself.
She heard Ryoma let out a surprised noise when the soft kiss he started turned into a heated make-out session so fast that she felt him clutch onto her waist as if to ground himself to reality while Sakuno stood on her tiptoes to push her lips more onto him, tasting him on her tongue when he instinctively opened his mouth for her.
'Ryoma-kun is right here...with me.'
Their tongues met in a heated dance and she felt one of his hands snake up inside her blouse, his warm fingers running up and down her spine. He let out a groan of pleasure at her unexpected enthusiasm as he pulled her body flushed against his.
Sakuno forgot where she was as she got drunk in Ryoma's kisses. She didn't want to let go. She just wanted to stay in his arms and forget about all the problems they had. She wanted to forget about the agreement, forget about her fears, forget about her jealousy, and forget about Yu Reina.
Kissing Ryoma could make her forget anything. Just she and him: Ryoma and Sakuno.
Sadly, they had to breathe.
They broke the kiss when their lungs started protesting from the lack of oxygen, a string of saliva trailing from their tongues with their breaths mixing together as they panted for air.
"That was...unexpected," Ryoma whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers.
Sakuno hummed in reply as she savored his warmth. Cupping his cheeks in her hands, she gazed deeply into her favorite pair of golden eyes while she rubbed her thumbs against his unblemished skin.
Slowly, she planted a soft kiss on his lips one last time before she reluctantly moved her head back. "See you, Ryoma-kun," she whispered.
"What...was that?" he asked, his eyes seemed to be in a daze.
Seeing Ryoma's hazy expression, her face combusted in flame. "N-Nothing. I just...felt like it."
He gazed at her for five more seconds, his thumb brushing on her cheek before he finally released her, fixing the strap of his tennis bag on his shoulder, Ryoma cleared his throat and he turned around to walk his way back home.
"Ja." His husky voice was carried in the wind as he waved a hand in farewell.
Sakuno just stood there, watching his silhouette disappear in the distance before she let out a small smile and entered her home.
"I'm down in a minute, Oba-san!" she yelled out as she ran up the stairs and into her room.
"Mm, what took you so long to send off Ryoma?" her grandmother asked when Sakuno came down the stairs two minutes later.
She blushed. "N-Nothing! Let's go, Oba-san."
Sumire chuckled, staring at her knowingly. "Teenagers these days."
Sakuno pretended that she didn't hear her grandmother's comment, but her face surprisingly stayed red even as they reached the station.
The next morning, Ryoma woke up feeling refreshed and immediately got himself ready to pick up Sakuno. After eating his breakfast which was sadly, still western food, he yelled out his farewell and ran out of the house with his tennis bag on his shoulder.
When he reached Sakuno's home though, he bumped into Ryuzaki-sensei.
"Oh, Ryoma. The others are already inside. Just open the door, it's not locked. I'm heading off first." Sumire tapped his shoulder once before she made her way towards Seigaku Middle School.
Ryoma glanced at the retreating form of his old coach, blinking twice when he remembered the rest of her sentence.
"Others?" he muttered, his forehead creasing in confusion before he entered the Ryuzaki household only to pause at the sight of both Kaido and Momo-senpai sitting on the couch, watching tv.
"Oh, you're here Echizen!" Momoshiro waved at him.
Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here, senpais?"
"Fsshh, Tomoka told me to wait here," Kaido-senpai grumbled.
"An demanded me to come here," Momo-senpai said, rubbing the back of his head.
Ryoma looked up the stairs and sighed. "So they're torturing my girlfriend again," he said as he sat down on the couch beside Momo-senpai.
"Looks like it. I actually heard a few screams earlier, fsshh," Kaido-senpai said, shivering involuntarily.
"I wonder what they forced on Sakuno-chan this time," said Momo-senpai, snickering.
Ryoma's eyebrow twitched. "Che, I can't understand girls."
"Well, you're lucky Ryuzaki-san is a quiet girl," Kaido-senpai muttered.
Ryoma winced. Right, Kaido-senpai's girlfriend was Osakada. He couldn't help but wonder how they ended up together when Kaido-senpai barely said anything except when he was with Momo-senpai while Osakada was a loudmouth who never knows when to shut her mouth. Come to think of it, Osakada and Sakuno were best friends since forever. He didn't know how did that happen when their personalities clashed like negative and positive charges.
"Just so you know, we're all lucky enough with our girlfriends. Tomoka and An may have a tendency to doll-up Sakuno-chan, but at least they aren't like other girlfriends," Momo-senpai said, shuddering.
Ryoma and Kaido exchanged looks and blinked in confusion at Momoshiro.
"What do you mean Momo-senpai? How do other girlfriends act?" Ryoma asked. It wasn't a surprise that he was clueless regarding this topic. Sakuno was the only girl he was interested in ever since he could remember.
"I heard from one of my classmates that his girlfriend demands a lot of things from him and gets mad when he can't comply with her demands," Momo-senpai stated.
"Like what demand for example?" Ryoma questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"During dates, the girl wants him to buy a lot of things. He pays for everything. He mentioned that his girlfriend likes jewelry so he buys her that too, and it always takes her forever to put on her makeup. She did retouches every two hours and always carries a mirror," Momo-senpai narrated.
Ryoma suppressed a shudder. He didn't want that kind of girlfriend.
"Come to think of it, I heard some of my classmates complain about their girlfriends too. Something about buying them sweets during their time of the month," Kaido grumbled.
"Time of the month?" Ryoma murmured in confusion.
"That's their period, Echizen. Geez, where did you come from?" Momo-senpai said, snickering.
Ryoma glared at him. "I'm not a female dictionary, Momo-senpai."
"Fsshh, even I know what that means, Echizen," Kaido-senpai said and Ryoma huffed, crossing his arms in defiance.
"Whatever," he muttered under his breath.
"Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I admit that An can be bossy at times but she never let me pay for all our dates. We take turns," Momo-senpai said, stretching his arms on the couch.
"Tomoka paid for our first date," Kaido-senpai muttered, blushing.
Ryoma blinked. "I did pay for a lot of our dates, but that's because I don't want Sakuno to pay for our meals. Although sometimes, she still managed to beat me to it."
Momoshiro and Kaido nodded.
"The most I'm thankful for is that none of our girlfriends are obsessed with putting makeup on their faces," Momo-senpai stated.
Ryoma and Kaido nodded in agreement.
"Just so you know, it's not as if we hate makeup, we just want to save it for rare occasions," Tachibana-san suddenly spoke from behind them making the three of them jolt in surprise.
When they turned their heads to look at her though, they simultaneously blinked in surprise. Osakada and Tachibana stood at the foot of the stairs with their arms crossed.
"To be fair, I believe that putting makeup all the time dims our natural beauty, and takes too much time so…" Osakada added with a raised eyebrow before she looked up the stairs. "Get down here Sakuno! It's not as if you look like a clown."
"Her hair was just styled differently and had light makeup on, what is she embarrassed about?" Tachibana-san mumbled.
Ryoma and his senpais exchanged looks. He never saw these two with such hairstyles before, and their faces looked a bit...different.
"Tomoka, since when did you put your hair in a single ponytail? And since when did you curl them?" Kaido-senpai asked, blinking owlishly at his girlfriend.
Osakada who had her hair styled with two braids on either side of her head pinned up in a high ponytail and curled, blushed. "W-Well, we kind of umm… it was not part of the plan! It was only supposed to be Sakuno!" she exclaimed.
"That's a cute ribbon you got there, An," Momoshiro said, grinning like a love-struck puppy at his girlfriend who reddened at the comment.
Tachibana was sporting a white hairband on her head with a ribbon to the side, letting her shoulder-length hair down.
Ryoma wondered what was the occasion that they suddenly decided to change their usual hairstyles.
'Then does Sakuno have a different style too?' He couldn't help but feel a bit impatient. 'Where's Sakuno?'
"I used them as my models for a bit and put on light makeup on their beautiful faces. I hope it's not a problem." A lady suddenly came down the stairs, pulling a blushing Sakuno along with her.
Ryoma stared, and stared long and hard at his girlfriend as if seeing her for the first time. Sakuno tried her best to avoid making eye contact with him as her face turned redder and redder by the second.
He knew that Sakuno was beautiful. He knew that all along, but she never fixed her hair in another hairstyle aside from her twin braids. That was why he always unbraided her hair whenever they were alone because the first time he saw them down, he choked on his own spit. But now, Ryoma was contemplating whether it was fine to skip class again and lock Sakuno in his room and never let others see her ever again. He was sure that none of the males at school would be able to resist staring at her.
For the first time since meeting her, Sakuno finally let down her beautiful wavy hair without being prompted by Ryoma; letting them cascade freely on her back. There was a braid on top of her head like a crown pinned to the side with a cute butterfly hairpin.
The hairpin Ryoma gave her as a gift that he impulsively bought in America. Sakuno's face seemed to glow more today, looking healthier and... He felt his ears burned as he cleared his throat. He didn't know what to say.
"Fsshh…"
"Is it my birthday today?" Ryoma vaguely heard Momo-senpai murmur beside him but he paid him no mind.
"Oh, one more thing before you go girls!" the lady exclaimed enthusiastically, pulling out a small purse from her pocket.
"A-Aunty, you know we don't like putting lipstick on," Sakuno protested.
Ryoma blinked. 'Aunty?'
"Of course, of course. You girls are still too young for those, but this is not lipstick," the lady stated, chuckling, "this is lip gloss, it'll just enhance your lips and make it look healthier."
The lady had five little sticks that looked to be a lipstick case in her hand, humming as she chose from one of them.
"Aha! Come here An-chan."
The lady beckoned Tachibana-san towards her and applied the thing on her lips. She did the same to Sakuno and Tomoka, with different sticks though.
Ryoma still didn't get it, but he had to admit, Sakuno's lips looked shinier and much more attractive. Now he was more tempted to skip school.
"Do you think our girlfriends will agree if we asked them to just skip today?" Momo-senpai whispered to them.
"Fsshh…you surprisingly have a good idea this time, Momoshiro."
Ryoma glanced at his senpais for a second before he returned his sight back to his girlfriend. 'Did I look like that earlier?'
"Momo-senpai, wipe your drool," he muttered under his breath and Momoshiro immediately wiped his chin and composed himself, glaring at Ryoma.
"There was no drool!" Momo-senpai hissed.
"I agree with the skipping part though," Ryoma said, completely ignoring his senpai's protest. Kaido-senpai just nodded his agreement.
"Now girls, listen to me..." The lady wagged a finger as Sakuno, Tachibana-san, and Osakada groaned.
"Aunty–"
"Girls' lips are precious so you have to take care of them. Y'know what I mean," the lady winked at the girls, "you have such cute boyfriends to entertain with them." The lady puckered up her lips.
Ryoma exchanged looks with his senpais, all of them sporting their own blushes.
"AUNTY MIRA!" Sakuno exclaimed, looking utterly scandalized. She then started pushing her best friends out of the door.
"Ryoma-kun, senpais, hurry!" she hurriedly said and although confused, Ryoma and the other two immediately followed.
"Now now, Saku-chan. I still have a lot of things to say. Y'know how–"
"We're going now aunty," Sakuno cut her aunty off, suddenly pulling Ryoma behind her and out of the door before he could even put on his shoes properly.
"Oi! Sakuno wha–"
"Later, hurry, hurry!"
Ryoma noticed that Momo and Kaido-senpai were being pulled away by their own girlfriends in haste so he decided to run along with Sakuno.
They stopped at the intersection to properly wear their shoes.
"Now, what was that?" Momo-senpai asked.
"Fsshh…"
"Sakuno's aunty is...eccentric," Tomoka said hesitantly.
"Eccentric? That's one way to describe her. I'd say she's a pervert. I've never been scarred for life!" Tachibana-san exclaimed.
"A pervert?" Momoshiro echoed.
Osakada and Tachibana shuddered.
"That was the longest two hours of my life," Tachibana muttered.
"I'm so sorry, An-chan. I tried stopping her," Sakuno mumbled.
"What happened?" Kaido-senpai asked, looking as lost as Ryoma and Momoshiro.
Ryoma squeezed Sakuno's hand as he observed her.
"Well, let's just say that we got thoroughly educated at the different uses of 'toys'," Tachibana grumbled.
"Toys?" Momo-senpai repeated, frowning in confusion.
"I...can never look at handcuffs the same way ever again," Osakada said.
"I don't think I can even eat bananas anymore," Sakuno commented.
"I won't be looking at bandages the same way ever again," Tachibana-san muttered, shuddering.
Ryoma's eyes widened in realization and he exchanged looks of incredulity with his senpais.
"A-Are you guys…" Momo-senpai trailed off, face combusting into flame.
Robotically, the girls looked at them, their eyes looked haunted.
"Sakuno's aunty is an absolute pervert!" Osakada and Tachibana yelled.
"S-She's worse than Ryoma-kun's father," Sakuno said, looking scarred for life.
'There's someone worse than Oyaji?' Ryoma couldn't believe his ears.
Kaido-senpai cleared his throat as the atmosphere became awkward. "L-let's just go to school."
Reluctantly, the girls nodded and they all started walking towards their school.
"Please don't let us meet your aunty again, Sakuno," Tachibana-san uttered.
"I don't even know when she's going to visit again," Sakuno murmured.
"How can you even survive her Sakuno!" Osakada burst out.
"I don't. I always went to your house for a sleepover every time she visits, Tomo-chan."
Ryoma looked at Sakuno's traumatized eyes. He could definitely sympathize with her. After all, he lived with a perverted father.
"Che, been living with a pervert all my life," Ryoma said, scowling.
"I don't think I could ever live with aunty Mira," Sakuno said, looking at him with an exasperated smile.
"Hey, Tomoka, let me see the difference between the lip gloss that aunt Mira gave us," Tachibana-san said and the girls immediately huddled among each other and started conversing.
Ryoma could see their school up ahead and he frowned at his girlfriend's back. 'Will she be okay?'
"I still think we should be skipping instead," Momo-senpai grumbled beside him.
"Fsshh, we're almost there, idiot," Kaido-senpai retorted.
"I just don't like it when other boys ogle my girlfriend." Momo-senpai pouted.
"Che, Mada mada dane, senpai."
Momo-senpai raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you worried?"
Ryoma smirked. "They can stare, but if they try to approach her..." His eyes turned sinister as he imagined a thousand ways to inflict pain with the use of his tennis ball and racket.
"I agree with Echizen," Kaido-senpai said as they finally entered the school gate.
Heads turned in their direction and the chattering ceased.
The girls who were walking ahead of them remained oblivious to the looks they were receiving as they were still engrossed in their conversation.
"Are they transfer students?"
"I think so, I never saw them here before."
Ryoma rolled his eyes. 'Are they for real? How bad are their eyesights?'
"How can't they recognize them? They just changed their hairstyle and made their face a little prettier," Momo-senpai grumbled.
"Idiots," Kaido-senpai retorted, scowling distastefully at the people around them.
They were nearing the entrance of the building when a group of males blocked the girls and they stopped in their tracks.
Ryoma's eyebrow twitched.
"Hi girls, you guys are new here, right? We can tour you around," one of the idiots said.
"Yes, yes, we'll definitely take care of you," the second idiot piped out.
"In exchange for a date… what do you say, quite a reasonable bargain?" the third idiot retorted, grinning suggestively. The other idiots tried to put their own bargains.
"We're not interested, we know the school perfectly well," Tachibana-san said, frowning.
"Get out of the way." Osakada glared.
"Umm, w-we're..." Sakuno stuttered, looking apprehensive, "actually–"
When someone dared to touch Sakuno's shoulder, Ryoma exploded. Hands quickly reaching for his tennis ball and racket, he launched his newly enhanced twist serve towards the group of hormone-induced males, followed by a second, third, and fourth twist serve.
The tennis balls flew through the air along with the other balls that his senpais launched in time with him.
The group of idiots didn't see the attacks coming. Before they knew it, they were hit by a couple of Ryoma's twist serve, Momoshiro's extra powerful dunk smash, and Kaido's newly improved boomerang snake.
Cries of pain echoed around the school ground as the group of idiots twitched and curled on the ground. Ryoma and the senpais approached the girls with their tennis racket in hand.
"Heh, you idiots have the nerve to touch my girlfriend, should I hit you with my cyclone ball too?" Ryoma said, his red racket placed on his shoulder as he stepped in front of Sakuno.
The idiots paled as they realized who they just touched. Still shaking from the pain, they simultaneously slumped to the ground.
"Ryoma-kun?" He glanced at Sakuno to check if she was alright. Seeing nothing amidst, he returned his attention towards the twitching boys as he held on to Sakuno's hand.
"Fsshh, stick with me Tomoka," Kaido-senpai muttered as Tomoka held on his arm.
"I told you guys, skipping was a much better choice," Momo-senpai grumbled as he grabbed Tachibana's hand.
"What's going on?" Sakuno asked, confused.
Ryoma looked at his girlfriend exasperatedly. Leave it to Sakuno to be unaware of what was happening.
"Nothing, just some idiots, let's go," he answered as he started walking inside their school building with Sakuno beside him. The others followed.
"P-people are staring…" his girlfriend murmured.
Ryoma smirked at her. "That's your fault," he teasingly said, squeezing her hand.
Sakuno blinked at him in surprise. "Eh? What did I do?" she cluelessly asked.
Ryoma sighed, sometimes he couldn't help but wonder why Sakuno was such a dense idiot. Though her innocence was what drawn him to her at the start. She was quite –dare he say it– adorable.
"Forget it, let's just head to class," he muttered as Sakuno continued to look at him innocently as the murmurings around them increased.
'Damn it, stop looking at me like that, Sakuno, or I won't be able to control myself.' He bit the inside of his cheek to stop his selfish desire to hog her for himself for the rest of the day. Sometimes, Ryoma didn't know whether his girlfriend's cluelessness was a blessing or not since he tends to forget about logic when she gave him those looks of her. He had to do everything in his power to ignore the urge to kiss her. He smiled wryly at Sakuno. She really had no idea what kind of effect she had on him.
Ryoma thought everything would be fine when they entered the class, but no, there was that girl who seemed to have a mission of making their lives difficult. All of his classmates' eyes swiveled in their direction along with her. There was a sudden silence as everyone ceased what they were doing to gawk at them before the murmurings started again.
"We'll be off Echizen, Sakuno-chan, and Tomoka-chan," Momo-senpai said, waving his hand at them as he guided his girlfriend to her class.
"Later," Ryoma answered as Sakuno and Tomoka waved at the two.
"I'll be going too, Tomoka," Kaido-senpai said, tapping Osakada on the shoulder.
"See you later, Kaoru-kun." Osakada waved before the three of them entered the class.
Ryoma tried his best to ignore all their classmates' unnerving gazes and guided Sakuno to their desk with Tomoka following along behind them but the stares were irritating and distracting, especially when they weren't really staring at him but at Sakuno.
Miyu-san approached them. "You look so beautiful Saku-chan, Tomoka-chan! I almost didn't recognize you!" she enthusiastically greeted the two girls.
"Thank you, Nami-chan," Sakuno answered while Ryoma sat heavily on his chair, propping his elbow on his desk, and placing his cheek on his palm. He felt drained all of a sudden.
A lot of their other classmates approached Sakuno and Osakada, asking them about their sudden change in style, but Ryoma tuned them out. As long as no male touched his girlfriend, he was fine.
Then the girl just had to approach them. He watched Sakuno's reaction but she just turned her eyes away and sat down on her chair, looking down at her lap.
Ryoma frowned. 'She's not going to do anything again?'
"So it's true, you have a girlfriend, Ryo-kun," she said monotonously.
Ryoma gaze at her with a boring look. "So?"
"I told you we're engaged! Break up with her already!" the girl demanded.
Ryoma's temper skyrocketed and he slowly stood up to face the girl. 'Who does she think she is to demand that from him!?' His expression was impassive even as his eyes turned cold.
"And who the hell do you think you are to demand such nonsense as to me?"
The girl took a step back, taken aback by his piercing glare and indifferent tone.
'Good, be scared and leave me alone.'
All of their classmates were staring at them again. The corner of Ryoma's left eye twitched.
"W-Why do you need to ask!? It's just how it's supposed to happen! Our engagement will be officially held once we turn 18," she stubbornly insisted.
Ryoma was about to retort back when the bell rang and everyone hurried to get back to their seats.
The girl stayed still and narrowed her eyes stubbornly at him.
"That engagement is invalid. Stop being delusional," he said blandly before he sat down, looking at the window as a sign of dismissal.
"Let's talk later after school," the girl demanded.
"Che, I have tennis practice. Leave me alone," Ryoma replied, still not looking at the girl.
He glanced at his girlfriend who was once again, quiet while Osakada kept on glaring at her. Ryoma couldn't help but wonder why Sakuno never tried to intervene every time that girl approached him.
Speaking of that girl, she finally left him alone once their homeroom teacher arrived. Ignoring everything around him, Ryoma reached out to run his fingers on Sakuno's soft curly hair while his thoughts ran wild. He didn't know why he was suddenly feeling like this. Why was Sakuno not fighting...for him?
He felt annoyed with himself. It was not as if he needed his girlfriend to fight his battles for him, he could handle the girl just fine and he didn't need some saving, but...if another guy would claim that Sakuno was their fiancee...Ryoma clenched his fist. He wouldn't be able to stop himself from intervening. Sakuno was his. No one could snatch her away from him, but...did Sakuno feel the same way?
Did she still...like him?
The lectures go on and on and Ryoma's frustration with Sakuno increases. When their English teacher came in, he didn't know that his irritation could raise a notch higher.
"Your activity today is 'Getting to know each other,' so I'm going to group you into two and you have to interview your partner and answer all the questions written in here. I'll be calling out your name by pairs," their teacher instructed, slapping a bundle of papers on her table.
Like always, Ryoma tuned out his teacher's voice as she called out the names of his classmates and waited for his name to be called.
'Anyone's fine except for that girl. Having Sakuno as my partner is much better though.' As soon as he thought these, his name was called along with his partner.
"Echizen and Yu."
Ryoma jerked awake and blinked twice to confirm what he just heard.
"Pardon?" he blurted out.
It was then that the girl enthusiastically approached him.
"We're partners, Ryo-kun! It's destiny!" the girl happily said.
Ryoma abruptly stood up from his chair.
"I don't need to do this stupid activity," he monotonously said before he sat down again.
The whole class was quiet, all of them were gaping at him in disbelief, even their teacher.
"Echizen-kun, this activity is 30% of your grade in performance. You won't be able to pass my subject if you skip this," their English teacher said nervously.
"Then I demand you to switch my partner," Ryoma said, propping his elbow on his desk with his cheek back on his palm.
"T-That–"
"Don't be like that, Ryo-kun, let's do the activity now. We don't want to disturb our classmates," the girl said, smiling at him.
Ryoma glared at her. "No."
"E-Echizen-kun, the partners are already written in my record. If I let you change partners, the others will demand the same thing," their teacher tried to reason out with him.
Ryoma glanced at Sakuno and saw her standing beside Osakada who kept on nudging her with her elbow but Sakuno just looked down on her feet.
Irritated, Ryoma crossed his arms and looked at the window, even as his 'partner' sat down in Sakuno's chair and handed him a paper. He ignored the flimsy material so the girl placed it on his desk.
She smiled at him again, "Come now, Ryo-kun. Stop sulking and let's just answer the questions so we can quickly finish this activity."
Ryoma chose to pretend that he hadn't heard her.
"Ryo-kun, we need this grade you know. It's not just you, it's me too," the girl grumbled.
Ryoma eyed her briefly before he glanced at Sakuno again, catching her stealing glances in his direction; however, when she noticed that he was staring back, she immediately shifted her gaze back to Osakada who was apparently her partner.
He scowled, his mood sour. Just then, he felt a sharp flick on his forehead making him jerk from the pain just as his hand shot up to rub the stinging skin. Ryoma glared at the perpetrator and was surprised to see the girl's eyebrow raised. Her face didn't look pleased.
"You can ogle her all you want, but I don't wanna flank this subject. Now let's start this activity before I flick you again, Ryo-kun," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
Ryoma blinked at her when a memory of them as kids flashed through his mind.
A scowling little girl with her arms crossed as she tapped her foot impatiently at him.
Blinking rapidly to shake the image away, his lower lip jotted down.
"Fine," he forced out. Ryoma saw the girl smirk at him.
"Good, let's start. First, you have to put my name on your paper while I put yours on mine," she instructed.
Boredly, Ryoma pulled out a pen from his pocket, and without removing his elbow on top of his desk and keeping his cheek on his palm, he started writing the girl's name.
"Ooh, Ryo-kun, now you remember my name," she said, smiling lazily at him as she copied his pose.
Ryoma snorted, not bothering to reply.
She just continued smiling and read the next question.
"Hm, your birthday is on December 24," she muttered without asking him. She looked up and pointed at his paper.
"Write February 18 on mine," she said before she scanned the rest of the questions.
"We're both 17," she mumbled while Ryoma wrote the information on his paper with a dull expression.
After so much personal information written down, here come the irritating questions.
"First love?"
Ryoma scowled at the girl as she waited for his answer. 'Does she even need to ask?'
"Ryuzaki Sakuno," he answered nonchalantly.
The girl just stared at him, not writing the name down, making him raise an eyebrow.
"Really?" she asked incredulously.
Ryoma felt somewhat insulted. 'What did she take me for? A playboy?'
He glared at her.
She raised her hands. "Okay okay, I'll write it down. You can put your name on mine."
Ryoma deadpanned. When she noticed his look, she giggled at the back of her hand.
"All my life I have known you as my fiancé, although I wasn't able to come here much sooner," she muttered before she looked back down on her paper, writing down something.
'So Sakuno's right after all. She held onto that promise…'
Reluctantly, he wrote his name on the paper, feeling a bit guilty for the girl.
"You shouldn't hold on to a child's promise. We haven't had any communication for ten years, things have changed between us. We're no longer kids," Ryoma flatly stated, staring her down unwaveringly.
The girl shrugged her shoulders. "There's a written agreement so, you shouldn't fight it Ryo-kun. A promise is a promise."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "Promises are meant to be broken."
Of course, he didn't believe that. He was the kind of person who held true to his words, but in this case, he wasn't even able to remember the promise. Plus, the promise was forced on him! He wasn't even thinking of following through with his words at that age. Ryoma was six for crying out loud! And the agreement was made when they were four!
The girl crossed her arms again and leaned forward to him, then she smirked. "Is that really what you believe?"
They stare each other down for a moment when their teacher's voice cuts through them.
"Yes, Ryuzaki-chan?"
Ryoma immediately jerked his head towards Sakuno and saw her slowly standing from her seat.
"C-Can I go to the restroom?" her timid voice echoed in the surprisingly quiet room.
"Go ahead."
Ryoma followed Sakuno with his eyes even as she walked past him without a single glance, and out of the classroom.
'What's wrong with her? Why is she ignoring me again?'
For some reason, he glared at the door before he returned his attention back to the girl.
"Enough chit chat, let's finish this already," Ryoma said through gritted teeth.
The girl nodded and miraculously followed through his demand. Not even 15 minutes later, they managed to finish their paper and Ryoma immediately stood up and was about to follow his irritatingly, confusing girlfriend to the restroom when their teacher called out to him.
"Echizen-kun."
Feeling annoyed, he sighed and walked towards the teacher's desk.
"Yes, Mrs. Ochida," he answered, disinterested.
"Can you take these papers to the library?" she asked, tapping the bundle of papers on the desk without looking up from what she was writing.
Suppressing the urge to sigh again, Ryoma picked up the papers and headed out of the classroom. At least he didn't need to come up with a lame excuse to get out of the class, although the library was located at the other side of the building on the ground floor.
Sakuno stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her eyes were puffy and still a bit red, her nose too. She sighed. Ryoma would definitely notice that she had cried if she returned to class now.
Three hours had passed since the class started and Sakuno couldn't handle the way Yu-san gazed at Ryoma anymore. To make matters worse, they were chosen as partners in their English activity. She couldn't take the sight of them talking with each other, although Ryoma looked like he could be anywhere but there, still, he was speaking to Yu-san. At some point, she even saw him having a contemplative look as he stared at Yu-san. She didn't want to intervene. She didn't think she even had the courage to step in between their arguments. And She hated herself for being so weak.
Why couldn't she speak her mind? Why couldn't she stand up for Ryoma? Why couldn't she fight for him?
She should've volunteered to be Ryoma's partner earlier, but her tongue couldn't get the words out. Tomo-chan kept on glaring at her, signaling her to do something about Yu-san, but every time she tried to do something, her legs would shake, her hands would become clammy, and her throat would close up. Sakuno couldn't blurt out what she really wanted to say. All she could do was stare down her lap.
She had never fought for herself before. She didn't even know how to.
'But Tomo-chan said that I have the right to intervene and speak my mind for Ryoma-kun.'
She shook her head and washed her face again.
'I'm so pathetic…'
While she was washing her face in the sink, someone entered the restroom and Sakuno ignored the person until she stood beside her and washed their hands. Sakuno looked up from the water and gaped. Of all the people to be alone with, it has to be Yu Reina, Ryoma's fiancee.
Sakuno felt her hands turn cold as her inside shook. She hurriedly turned off the faucet and was about to leave when–
"You think you won, didn't you?"
She stopped cold in her tracks and slowly, she turned around to face Yu-san. "Umm…"
The girl approached her and Sakuno immediately took a step back.
'Oh no, this is not good! Tomo-chan help!' She should've asked Tomo-chan to accompany her here!
"Ryoma and I had been together since we were kids. I met him first." Yu-san glared at her and took another step forward towards Sakuno.
"He promised me that he'll marry me when we get older. He may not be able to remember it now, but he will, and then he'll leave you behind," her forest green eyes turn sharp, "Someone who can't fight for him and see his value will never be good enough for Echizen Ryoma," Yu Reina said, glaring daggers at Sakuno before she left her standing there, utterly crushed.
Sakuno opened the faucet again and cried until the bell rang, signaling that lunch had started.
'I'm so pathetic, even though I say I love Ryoma-kun.'
She quickly entered one of the cubicles to hide as other girls entered the restroom. She tried to compose herself but the tears kept on coming.
'I know I don't deserve Ryoma-kun. I know that from the start! I did want to fight for him, but...I got scared. Can I compare to Yu-san? She's much prettier than me, much more confident…'
She wanted to bang her head on the wall. If courage could be bought, she wanted a dozen of it. Why was she like this? She was always afraid to speak her mind, always afraid to express herself, always afraid to face the conflict head-on. Could she handle it if Ryoma was taken from her?
'I don't even own Ryoma-kun…'
After a few minutes of trying to compose herself, she finally gave up and decided to just avoid Ryoma for the rest of the day. He would immediately notice her puffy, red eyes and nose once he saw her. However, just as she stepped out of the restroom, she found her boyfriend leaning on the wall with his arms crossed.
Sakuno started. "R-Ryoma-kun?"
Ryoma gazed at her, his golden eyes were emotionless as he observed her that she was tempted to hide from him.
"You took so long," he said.
She looked down on her feet. "I'm sorry, I was just...just-"
"Save it."
Sakuno looked up at him, surprised at his cold voice.
"If you're going to lie to me, just keep your mouth shut," he said before he started walking ahead of her.
She just stood there, flabbergasted.
'Ryoma-kun is mad at me. Why? What did I do?' Her inside turned cold, and she felt her fingers tremble as she looked down at her feet.
'I-Is this it? Is he going to...leave me now?'
She tried her best to stop it, but the tears gathered in her eyes and she bit her lower lip hard to stop them from falling.
Then she suddenly saw Ryoma's shoes in her line of vision.
'He...returned?'
She heard him sigh, then he was dragging her with him and she followed along without a fuss.
Ryoma left her at the classroom door while he went inside, and she just stood there; still looking down, trying her best to contain her tears.
"Someone who can't fight for him and see his value will never be good enough for Echizen Ryoma." Yu-san's voice echoed through her ears even as Ryoma came back with their lunch boxes and dragged her again to the rooftop.
When the door shut behind them, Ryoma finally let go of her hand and she held them tight to her chest.
"What happened to you?" he asked, standing in front of her.
She refused to look up. What was she going to say?
'Your fiancée told me that she will have you for herself and that I don't deserve you.'
What would Ryoma say to her if she answered that? That she was such a coward to cry over something like that? Why didn't she fight back?
So she shook her head instead, not knowing what else to do.
"Stop lying. Your eyes and nose are red. Why did you cry?" Ryoma demanded as he gripped her chin and forced her to look up at him, straight into his fierce cat-like eyes. Ryoma's golden irises were hard. She could tell he was frustrated over something.
'He's frustrated at me. I'm making him worry,' she suddenly realized. She had been with Ryoma for so long that she could read his moods like an open book. Ryoma may act tough but when it comes to her, she noticed that he tend to worry more than he could ever say.
She couldn't take it any longer, her tears burst out and cascaded down her cheeks, startling Ryoma.
"Sakuno, what's wrong?!" he exclaimed as he held her right cheek. "Is it because of that stupid group activity?"
His anger was momentarily forgotten as he tended to her. Sakuno felt ashamed of herself.
'Ryoma-kun still thinks of me even though he has his own problems to think of. I-I'm being a stupid burden to him instead of helping him. Instead of comforting him and assuring him that everything will be fine. He has to take care of me. He's always there to save me. Always...always thinking of me.'
"Ryoma-kun!"
Sakuno launched herself to Ryoma with that sudden realization, wrapping her arms around his back and clutching him tight against her. He let out a surprised noise as she cried her eyes out in his chest. Even though confused, he still returned her embrace as tightly as he could without crushing her.
"Sakuno...tell me what's wrong," he muttered, she could hear the strain in his voice. He sounded really really worried now.
"Ryoma-kun, I'm sorry I'm such a coward!" she exclaimed in his chest.
Ryoma stiffened in her embrace.
"I tried...but I still e-ended up saying nothing." She rubbed her face on his uniform as she shook her head.
She knew that she was staining his shirt with her tears but she just couldn't help it. Her jealousy, insecurity, fears, and frustrations with herself were eating her up.
She looked up and stared at Ryoma's wide golden eyes. "I-I knew that I don't deserve you at all, I knew that all along but I-I still can't help but get jealous. I still...I still don't want you to be with anyone else. I still can't stand the idea of you leaving me. I still...want you… for myself," she furiously wiped the tears in her eyes with one hand, "I'm so pathetic, such a useless useless girlfriend. I'm so jealous that I can't even sleep at night, and I kept thinking and worrying about you leaving me but when I'm in front of Yu-san…" She looked up at him, her tears overflowing.
She didn't even know what she was saying anymore, everything was just coming out of her mouth. Her conflicts with herself, her inner desire.
"I can't even...I can't even properly defend my feelings for you! I'm so frustrated that I hated myself over and over again, but I… I do love you Ryoma-kun, more than I can ever say," she momentarily closed her eyes before opening them again to continue looking at Ryoma who was still staring at her in a stun silence, "I keep on telling myself that I don't own you. You're your own person, and yet I...I can't help but want you for myself, Ryoma!" she screamed out, her throat felt hoarse from all the yelling she was doing as her grip tightened around him. Her heart felt on the verge of exploding. "I-I'm s-so selfish, I'm sorry...I-"
She wasn't able to finish her another bout of rambling when Ryoma's clutched her tighter against him, his face on her hair.
"Idiot, why do you have to say sorry," he whispered. "You made me worry for nothing, stupid stupid Sakuno."
She shut her eyes tight as she clutched his back, bunching his uniform in her trembling hands. "I-I'm so sorry." She hiccupped.
Sakuno felt his hand on the back of her neck.
"Stop saying stupid things about yourself. You're not pathetic, and especially not," he moved his face away from her hair to lightly bump their forehead against each other, "a useless girlfriend," Ryoma wiped her still flowing tears with his thumb. "And I'm never leaving you for that girl. I also don't mind if you want me for yourself," he smirked at her, "In fact, I very much like that." Slowly, he lessened the distance between their lips. "I don't mind...even if you say you own me."
There was a sudden spark of hunger in his eyes that made her breath hitched. "Because from the moment you said yes to me, you. were. mine." Ryoma practically growled before he proceeded to claim her lips in an aggressive kiss.
He grabbed a fistful of her hair and angled her head to the side, pushing her body against him without leaving any space. She could practically feel all of him as her body ignited with passion. Ryoma moved his lips more urgently as he licked, nipped, and sucked her lower lip making her gasp which immediately followed by an involuntary moan as he slid his tongue inside her mouth.
Sakuno grabbed the back of his head, pulling a few strands of dark hair in her fingers as her other hand snake up inside his uniform in a surprisingly bold move. She ran her hand on his abs and up to his muscled chest that he developed by being an athlete, scraping her nails in his heated skin while their tongues played with each other. He groaned in her mouth which caused a bolt of electricity to crawl up her toes and to her fingertips while one of his hands began to roam her body, running his palm on her flat belly.
As he caressed and explored the inside of her mouth, Ryoma did something that he had never done before: he started sucking her tongue as he glided his fingers up her side.
"Ah!" Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she grasped on his shirt for dear life.
Ryoma let go of her lips in a gasp, a string of saliva trailing after him as he pulled out his tongue from her mouth and started planting kisses on her cheek to her jaw, down to her neck. His teeth scraped her skin, and his tongue caused shivers to roll down her spine as he licked and sucked her skin.
"Ah, Ryoma!" She threw her head back, thousands of electricity shocks shot through her body, and her mind went blank as pleasure overcame her senses.
"Damn it, Sakuno," Ryoma groaned, biting a patch of skin in the junction between her neck and shoulder, and started sucking vigorously. She felt the first button of her blouse become undone.
"Ohh...A-Ah!" Her eyes snapped open and she slapped a hand on her mouth as she realized the sensual noises coming out of her throat.
"R-Ryoma, I-I...Ohh!" He lapped his tongue on the skin that he just sucked and slowly nipped at the length of her neck. Her legs buckled as her eyes dilated from pleasure. "A-Ah, Ryoma!" she managed to scream before they both slumped to the ground, his face was now buried on her collarbone.
Her knees completely turned Jell-O while her trembling hands clenched his uniform so tight she was actually afraid that she would accidentally tear it off. She was panting so hard and her whole face felt as hot as a furnace.
He bit, sucked, and lapped near her collarbone too and a whine came out of her throat. And then, she felt his kisses dangerously going down her cleavage. Just then, she felt him fingering the hook of her bra while his other hand slowly traced the side of her ribs.
"W-Wait, I-" she tried to push him off of her with her shaking hands, "R-Ryoma, p-people might come up here," she managed to get out as she felt the second and third buttons of her blouse snapped open and his hand paused from ministration.
Ryoma jerked his head and hands away from her with a sharp curse. He then, hurriedly moved away as if doused with a pail of cold water.
Dazed, her eyes shifted to look at him and gape at the rare sight that greeted her.
Echizen Ryoma was utterly flushed. His whole face was so red, his hair was a huge mess, making him look much hotter. His uniform was wrinkled and one of the buttons on his polo was destroyed. He was panting more than he ever did when he practiced tennis with their senpais, and his eyes were filled with...lust.
Sakuno's whole face burned more as he bit the back of his fist while looking at her.
'This...didn't happen to us before. Aside from a few heated kisses in his room, his hands would roam inside my blouse, but he'd never touched me in my most intimate places. He never...did that to me before…'
She bit her lower lip as she felt the parts of her skin that he bit and sucked turned cold as if coaxing her to notice them. She could still remember the sensation of what he did with his tongue and she felt close to fainting as she clenched her hands. It was really...a new experience for the both of them.
Ryoma suddenly groaned, snapping her out of her trance. He slapped a hand on his face and he moved towards her again.
"Let's fix your blouse before I lose control again," he said through gritted teeth as he yanked each side of her apparently half-opened blouse and rebuttoned them. Sakuno looked away in embarrassment.
"I'm s-sorry, I forgot…" she muttered.
"It's fine," Ryoma grumbled as he rearranged the wrinkles in her uniform and stopped dead at the sight of her neck.
He blushed a dark shade of red as his eye twitched. "I-I'm sorry, ah…"
Sakuno blinked in surprise as he trailed off. His eyes darted from her neck and back up to her face.
"Ryoma-kun?" she asked in confusion.
"Damn it," he muttered under his breath. "I, ah, left two hickeys on you," he whispered, looking away from her.
It took her five seconds to process what he said.
"E-Eh!" she exclaimed just as she slapped a hand on her neck. "Where!?"
Ryoma bit the back of his fist again before he pried her hand off her neck and pointed at the skin just between her neck and shoulder, and another one near her collarbone.
"Oh no, the others will see this, and Oba-san!" she said, chewing on her bottom lip.
"I'm sorry…" Ryoma said once again as he looked at her newly acquired hickeys. "I got...carried away."
Sakuno blushed again as she remembered what kind of state she left him after their heated kiss. "Umm, Ryoma-kun, come here for a sec."
He blinked at her in confusion but still complied. She straightened his uniform and brushed his hair with her fingers.
"I also...made a mess of you," she whispered timidly and the redness of their faces intensified. Sakuno touched the broken button of his uniform and frowned. "Rinko-san surely won't be happy if she saw this."
"Mm, but I left hickeys on you, and that's much worse," Ryoma pointed out.
For that, Sakuno didn't have a retort. "Err, I can sew this for you Ryoma-kun, do you have an extra uniform?" she asked instead, avoiding Ryoma's blunt statement as she finished fixing his appearance.
"I have another one," he replied. "But the hickeys…"
'Why does he need to keep mentioning it! Mou...' Sakuno thought before she proceeded to fix her blouse and closed off the final button of her school uniform, pulling her collars to hide the hickeys.
"There, I can also hide them with my hair," she said as she placed a few strands of hair in front.
Ryoma observed her for a moment before he nodded in approval. "That's better. Maybe you can put a bandaid on them tomorrow."
"I'll do that," Sakuno mumbled.
They avoided looking at each other for a moment before she sighed. "We still haven't eaten anything."
"Except for ourselves," Ryoma cheekily replied.
Sakuno hit him on his arm. "Ryoma-kun!"
He just smirked as he grabbed the bag that he unconsciously dropped earlier and brought their lunch boxes out.
"Let's eat then," Ryoma said as he opened the lunch that she cooked for him.
"Mou…" she murmured before she followed his example and they ate in peace with Ryoma teasing her from time to time.
When they finished eating and Sakuno was tidying their mess, Ryoma suddenly moved from his comfortable position on the wall and spoke to her.
"What happened to you at the restroom, Sakuno?" Her fingers stopped from zipping their lunch bag. "You were crying, and you took so long," he said as he held her hand. "Tell me."
Sakuno sighed, she thought he forgot about that. She was silent for a moment, contemplating what to do. She didn't think she could talk about this without being close to him. She ran all the courses of actions she could do in her mind until she finally settled for the unexpected.
Ryoma was always the one who was making the bold move. She was just letting him do whatever he pleases with her as long as he didn't cross the invisible line. Sakuno always thought that she didn't have the right to be overly touchy with Ryoma, but this...if she started being more open to him, telling him her worries and fears, and becoming much bolder with him, maybe she could finally overcome her anxieties when it comes to their relationship. She had to start somewhere, and it was only the two of them here. Steeling herself before her shyness overcame her again, she finally faced him.
"Ryoma," she called out, forgetting to add the usual suffix in his name.
He blinked at her in surprise and opened his mouth to reply but she didn't let him.
"I…" she moved closer, "want to sit on your lap," she managed to get out, fighting her own reflex to bolt out of the door.
Ryoma let out a startled noise as his cheeks reddened. She knew that she had never made a request of some sort. He was always the one who pulled her to sit in his lap, he was always the one initiating the hugs and kisses, but now...
"O-Okay," he replied, clearing his throat.
Sakuno immediately moved before she changed her mind, he rearranged his sitting position as she cautiously sat sideways.
As soon as she situated herself, she wrapped her arms around his waist, placing her ear on his chest to listen to his rapidly beating heart.
"Sakuno?" Ryoma softly called out as he returned her embrace.
"Yu-san confronted me earlier in the restroom," she said softly, feeling his body stiffened against her.
Ryoma stayed quiet though, letting her say what she wanted first. Sakuno smiled softly. He was always considerate when it came to her which was honestly surprising for someone like Echizen Ryoma.
"She told me that she's going to steal you from me and that I don't deserve you at all...because I don't fight for you…" she whispered as her arms tightened around him. "I actually got...really scared when she said that, and then, I felt like I was slapped in the face when she told me that I don't fight for you," she buried her face on his chest and she felt his embrace tightened. "To be frank, I always thought that I don't deserve you at all. In the three years since we started dating, I always question how I ended up with you. How did you notice someone like me? My tennis is awful, my academic grades are average, my sense of direction is worse than Karupin's–" Ryoma snorted at this, "–and I'm such a klutz with too many insecurities," she bit her lower lip, "Why did Echizen Ryoma choose me over the countless of girls who pinned for him? Me, who's plain, and average at best. Those were my thoughts when we were just starting. From time to time, I still thought of them. That's why I always felt like I shouldn't stake my claims on you, and silently worry over the thought of you leaving me for someone better." She removed her face away to stare at his unwavering eyes.
"Stupid," he muttered under his breath and she giggled at his comment.
She licked her lower lips as she felt them becoming dry. "When Yu-san suddenly appeared and claimed herself as your fiancée, I was so terrified – terrified of the thought of you leaving me for her," she briefly shut her eyes and opened them back again, "When she talked to me, it was then that I realized how helpless I am, and I don't even think I can face you again. So I decided to avoid you for the rest of the day."
Ryoma stared at her incredulously and she nervously chuckled. "And then you just had to be there when I went out of the restroom and threw my plans out of the window. I noticed that you were mad at me somehow, and I immediately thought that you were...going to break up with me," she said the last part barely above a whisper but she knew that Ryoma heard her.
He pulled her hard against him making her yelp as their chests bumped into each other.
"Stupid stupid Sakuno. I was irritated because you were not talking to me and had been avoiding me all day long," he said through gritted teeth. "Why are you such an idiot all the damn time." He tapped her forehead with his as he shut his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry...I realized it now. I just couldn't look at you at class because I was…jealous and feeling conflicted with myself," she blushed and chuckled nervously. "I promise from here on, though, that I'll try my best to speak my mind and I won't doubt you or our relationship ever again."
He opened his eyes to glare at her. "Che, you better keep your promise or there will be consequences."
"Mm." She nodded, chuckling a little. "I will." She gazed into his eyes as a soft smile graced her lips. "Then that settles it, Ryoma," she said, opting out the suffix on purpose this time, although she couldn't contain the blush on her cheeks. She lightly bumped their foreheads together without breaking eye contact.
"You're mine, no takebacks."
Ryoma smirked at her. "Took you long enough," he replied, which caused her to laugh and he followed along, their laughter echoed on the rooftop as the heaviness and doubts in their hearts disappeared.
"Like always, Mada mada dane, Sakuno."
"Mou...Ryoma-kun! You just have to say that, don't you?"
To be Continued...
Review Response:
xorku. bork: Hi again! It's a delight to know that you're also following my new RyoSaku fic. Rest assured that there are more to come. I already saved a couple of Ryosaku plots and drafts but I won't be publishing them till I finish this or One Touch, and I'm happy you're liking this so far. This one is quite hard to write because no one really knows how Ryoma is in a relationship, but considering he was overprotective and territorial to the things he considered his, I theorize his character here with a few clues canon. Still makes me a bit uncertain tho.
Dita5000: Hi! I'm glad you're liking it so far. I have a plan regarding their childhood memories don't worry about that. I'll try my best to make it satisfying for my readers. ^_^ I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too.
eccentryssa1: I'm happy you like it. And here's more for you!
Guest: Hi! I know what you mean. It's also one of the reasons why I decided to write for this pairing. There are not many authors who write them and they're the main canon pairing! I'm craving more RyoSaku fics but almost all of the good ones are discontinued. How unfortunate. Anyways, if you're interested I have another RyoSaku fic which is the first one I've written. The title is One Touch. You can see it on my profile.
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