Ryoma was beyond confused as well as pissed off at this crazy lady's attitude. "She definitely knew what was going on but there's no way I would ask the maniac." He thought as he turned over and grabbed Sakuno's arm to drag her to the other side of the court. Sakuno had now noticed a scorn on Ryoma's face and the stern and heavy steps he was taking when tugging her away from Sakura.
"A-Ano, R-Ryoma-kun? Daijoubu Desu Ka?" Sakuno questioned when they had finally stopped. She could now properly see him in the limelight of the court lights. Toned forearms slid from the sleeves of his fila shirt and well-defined calf muscles adorned his legs. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't drooling, but she could never tell a proper lie could she?
Ryoma on the other hand was rambing in his mind once more. The feelings he had been getting lately finally made sense to him. Sure it had taken a good year or so to understand them, but at least he finally understood them. He liked the short girl standing in front of him with wide doe eyes filled with worry. He hated seeing her with Tokugawa-senpai. That feeling was jealousy he admitted at last. Letting out a sigh, he turned towards the girl with concerned eyes.
"Ne, Ryuzaki. He's too old for you." He started looking at her. Sakuno's eyebrows furrowed. "Who was too old for her?" Sakuno looked back at Ryoma confused.
"A-Ah gomen ne Ryoma-kun, but who?" She asked. Ryoma looked at her in disbelief.
"Tokugawa-Senpai! Of course! I saw you talking to him. He's too old for you. You should be dating someone closer to your age." Ryoma almost yelled as he cut himself off before he could add in "like me" in his rant. Sakuno's eyes widened as Ryoma spoke one of the longest sentences she had ever heard fall out of his sly lips. "Eh? Me and Kazuya-nii-Chan?" Sakuno thought. "He saw me with nii-chan?"
Unknown to the two teens, the other two young adults had overheard the young boy in the white cap.
"Eh? So you weren't kidding when you said he thought that you were dating Sa-chan?" Sakura gasped, holding in her laughter as much as possible. Kazuya glared at his adorable girlfriend and crossed his arms. The two continued to saunter towards the teens in silence hoping to eavesdrop on their conversation. "Hey, we are no different than Sakuno-chan's senpais right now…" Kazuya explained.
"Then stay on the other side of the court. I want to make sure Sakuno-chan is okay." Sakura said her eyes focused on the mission ahead. Kazuya sighed. His curiosity and overprotectiveness did win over as he trailed behind the brown haired girl in black and pink.
Sakuno was still processing what Ryoma had just said to her. Ryoma took her silence as an answer agreeing to his conclusions.
"Ne, what happened to waiting for me?" He asked, pinning his hat down to cover his eyes. He definitely did not want the girl to see him like this. Sakuno then finally got out of her state of shock.
"I-iyo, chigau yo, Ryoma-kun. Y-you got it all wrong." Sakuno started, blushing hard. "A-Ano, actually, Ryoma-kun. I'm still waiting… I'm not with Kazuya-nii-chan…" She fumbled her fingers while looking at the white lines of the tennis court. Ryoma's heart leaped in joy, yet his face remained hidden. Sakuno took his silence as an indication to continue her explanation.
"A-a-actually, Kazuya-nii-chan is dating my Onee-chan, Sakura… the umm… "crazy lady" you saw earlier. I was only talking to him on the field because he needed help with something..." She finally managed to say without stuttering a mess. It then took all of Sakuno's courage to look up at Ryoma. When she did his face went from disbelief to a smirk. His eyes glimmered in the light. Ryoma was quite happy with her explanation. No cross that out he was ecstatic. It took all of his will power not to jump and hug her. "She was still waiting for me." He happily thought and before he could tell her that her wait was over he was cut off by a voice approaching them. A voice that managed to piss him off almost all the time before.
"About time you two finally settled this." Kazuya spoke cutting in before the brat could open his mouth. The kid still pissed him off. Sakuno-chan did not deserve such a dense kid. Sakura on the other hand was ecstatic with the semi-confession her younger sister unconsciously made. The two boys glared at one another as Sakura hugged her younger sister.
"Ne, senpai, let's play again." Ryoma demanded pointing his racquet at the older boy.
"No." Kazuya replied coldly. Sakura pouted at her boyfriend's bluntness. Then an idea came up.
"Let's do mixed doubles." She suggested.
"It's almost 10pm, Sakuno-chan has training tomorrow and same with Echizen-kun." Kazuya said informatively. Sakura pouted. This "cool" act her boyfriend was putting up was ruining the chances of her sister being with her crush. She then brought up her right arm and wacked Kazuya in the back of the head garnering shocked faces from everyone.
"Itte!" Kazuya hissed glaring at his girlfriend.
"Your "cool" act is pissing me off." Sakura pouted. "Ignore him! Let's play Sakuno-chan, Echizen-kun!" She said as she dragged Kazuya to the other side of the court.
"A-ano, Nee-chan? I think Kazuya-nii-chan is right. We can play later on." Sakuno protested, earning a grunt from Ryoma who most definitely wanted to play. "I mean when would I ever get to play with my future wife." He admitted. Ryoma was not happy that Sakuno took Kazuya's side however.
"Tch. Mada mada dane. Sakuno." Sakuno heard Ryoma say. She was utterly shocked when he said her first name and just ended up standing there, grounded to her spot while Ryoma walked away.
"E-eh?!" Sakuno thought. "Ryoma-kun just said my name…" She felt her face hit boiling point as she covered her face, trying to hide it in between her thin fingers. Sakura giggled at her sister's reaction as she noticed that Ryoma's face was adorned with a cocky smirk and eyes that glimmered like polished gold.
"Ne, Sakuno, you coming?" Ryoma had turned to face the red girl who looked up and somehow got redder.
"A-Ah, H-hai." She said as she ran towards the bench and began to pack up her gear.
"Tch, your hair is still too long for tennis." He taunted the girl who was zipping up her bag.
"R-Ryoma-kun! Mori-senpai and Kazuya-nii-chan said my hair was fine!" She complained. He just nodded as she began listing out her reasons, blushing and fumbling the whole time.
"Ah Sayonara, onee-chan, Kazuya-nii-chan!" Sakuno bowed saying her goodbyes. Ryoma just grunted "ja" and turned to leave.
Sakuno had no idea where they were going since she was just following the boy in front of her. And then she remembered the jacket.
"A-ano Ryoma-kun." She said quietly, making the boy in front of her stop and turn. She then brought her arms up and presented the boy with a brown paper bag with his jacket inside. "Your jacket…" she mumbled loud enough for the feline eyed boy to hear.
"Sankyuu." Ryoma said, smirking at the shy girl in front of him. "I'll trade you." Ryoma replied as he took off his Seigaku jacket and tossed it at her. Sakuno stood there frozen once more as the light jacket landed on her head.
"E-eh? D-demo Ryoma-kun-" She was cut off by his eyes shifting their gaze towards her. Ryoma didn't want to glare at her but she really needed to stop being dense. Sakuno flinched and nodded, accepting the fact that she could not win an argument against the prince of tennis.
"Oi, let's play a match one day." Ryoma demanded the girl. She looked up at him with a hint of confusion in her eyes. "After this camp is over. Let's play a match." Ryoma repeated once more. Sakuno knew she could not refuse him and plus, she wanted him to see how much she had improved.
"Hai!" She said confidently and cheering inside that she had managed not to stutter. At this point, the two of them were just wandering mindlessly around the camp, since the auburn haired girl was just following the raven haired boy around. Ryoma smirked under the thought that Sakuno did not once ask where they were going. He didn't want to go back to his room yet, it wasn't like he was going to be able to sleep anyways. Momo-senpai was most likely snoring like a ferry horn. "I feel bad for whoever sleeps with him in the future." He thought as he turned towards another path leading to a vending machine.
"Ano, Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno started as she noted the raven haired boy raise a sharp eyebrow up acknowledging her question.
"Y-you're not going to sleep?" She finished. Sakuno had noted that Ryoma did end up buying an extra Ponta as he handed it to her. She gladly accepted and noted that it was cherry flavored. Her favorite. Ryoma smirked at her shocked eyes upon receiving the cherry Ponta. He wasn't that dense to not notice the empty cans of cherry Ponta in the gym when she was practicing. Rather he was pretty overjoyed that someone else shared his strange interest in the drink, although grape would always be superior.
"Tch. Momo-Senpai snores too loud." He replied, taking a sip. Sakuno giggled at his remark. Eyes closing ever so slightly and hand delicately covering her mouth. Ryoma noted how the moonlight lit up her hair creating silver streaks and highlights in her auburn hair. And then an idea came up from Sakuno. Since she was assigned to cleaning rooms a while ago she noted that there were a few that were empty.
"Ah! R-Ryoma-kun, I know a place!" She beamed proudly at her idea. She prayed that one she could get there and two, that Ryoma would like it. She built up all of her courage, made a mental map to the place, and grabbed his free hand. Ryoma was initially shocked at her new found courage but ended up smirking. "This is new." He thought and it was noted by him that he did not mind that this girl was touching him. He let her drag him to God knows where.