*

Chapter 5

Sakuno

*

'He returned with the first aid kit, and he began bandaging me.  It was really strange to have someone besides grandmother or a nurse to be tending to my injuries.  Being so close to him makes my heart beat faster.  He doesn't look so stern, he actually looks gentle.  He was so careful and gentle in what he did, and his eyes trailed over every movement he made to make sure it was done with perfection.  I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but he's so perfect.  So unaware of the beauty he possesses.  His wet brown hair fell over his face as he worked but he made no effort to shift them out of the way.  And finally after what seemed like an eternity he finished.'

He looked at her feet, then took off his house slippers and motioned for her to put it on.

"You'll get cold feet." He said as his explanation.

He managed to fix some dinner for the two of them but she didn't eat much.  Not much later they ended back in his bedroom and he suggested she go to sleep.  She nodded and walked past him to head out.  He grabbed her wrist.

"Where are you going?" he questioned.

"To sleep…" she answered innocently.

"Wh-where." He couldn't think where she was going.

"The couch."

"You sleep here, I'll sleep on the couch."  She opened her mouth to protest but he put both hands on her shoulders.  "just sleep ok?"  She nodded again.  He turned on his desk lamp, turned off the light and was about to close the door when she spoke up. 

"Please don't close the door…." He nodded and left it open.

Tezuka

Hours later he was still wide awake lying on the couch. 

'How could a normal day turn out like this out of nowhere?' he thought over and over.  Finally he just got up, stretched then headed upstairs to check on her.  He expected to see her in a deep sleep from exhaustion but there she was sitting on his bed, with her chin rested on her drawn up knees.

His eyes must have shown some kind of questioning because she answered him without him speaking.

"I couldn't sleep." She said softly.

"Me neither." He said after awhile.  He didn't have anything to say but he stepped in the room anyway.  It would be weird to just walk back downstairs when both of them were still wide awake.  She shuffled over on the bed and made room for him.  He sat next to her, strangely enough, like it was the most natural thing, like he did it everyday.  She returned to the sitting position she was at before, and he sat with his left leg outstretched on the bed while his other was rested over the side of the bed.

"Ano…Tezuka-senpai…I never thanked you for what you've done… Thank you so…very much for saving me today.  I don't know what would have happened if you didn't…" her voice choked up a little at the thought of what COULD have happened.

"It was nothing…Ryuzaki.  I'm just…glad that you're safe." He said.  Being side by side with nothing but the dim light of the desk lamp made it easier to talk.  For one thing they weren't facing eachother and because the room was dark everything was easier to say.

"Sakuno…" she said.  He looked at her.  "You can call me Sakuno…I remember vaguely that you did before."

"I was…angered and concerned…so I called you by your name."

"Sakuno is fine…" she said with the first sign of gentle laughter in her voice all night.

"Then just Tezuka is fine too."

"I shouldn't.  You're older and…well known and very talented.  It would be rude to not call you sama or san.  Besides…you saved me.  Senpai is…just normal." 

"Tezuka is fine.  I don't like titles." He answered truthfully.  He never did like it when those annoying girls cooed at him with all the samas, sans, and kuns. Senpai was ok, but he prefer not.  She bit her lip and thought about it.

"Wakarimashita …Tezuka.  Arigato gozaimasu." She said finally.  They both relaxed when some of the formality between them was gone.

"Do you still play tennis?" he asked at length (almost desperate to say something)

She shook her head. 

"I quitted half way through 2nd year.  I realized that tennis really wasn't me.  I found it in art.  So I belong to the art club now.  Since junior high to now." 

'She probably joined it in the first place because of Echizen' he thought.

"What do you plan to be when you finish high school?" she asked him suddenly.  She felt extremely safe sitting beside him and all warm inside.  It gave such a resonance that she almost forgot what happened only hours ago.

"I know it might seem a little stupid but…I was just wondering." She said embarrassed.

She was the very first to ask him such a question.  Just because he was good, a pro at tennis, people always assumed that he wanted to be a pro tennis player.  No doubt that he could become one, and no doubt that tennis was his life at the moment, but he always wanted something different in life.  Up until now, he just nodded when people stated that he would become a pro.  She was the first to ask him what he really wanted.'

"It's not stupid." He said softly at last.  "I have an interest in music." He admitted.

"Music?" she turned to him and her eyes brightened a little in the darkness.  "What instrument?" she asked.

"The electric guitair."

"Do you have one? An electric guitar I mean."  He nodded.

"Can I see sometime?—" she stopped herself and looked down. 

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have assumed that I have become more than an  acquaintance." She trailed off.  She looked so guilty but blossomed with such beauty he couldn't stop himself from saying:

"Sure.  I'll show you sometime."

"Hontou?"  He nodded and she settled back.  They chatted on quietly to eachother until she began to nod off.  Becoming so tired and unaware of herself, she had let her head drop to his shoulder.  No sooner was she fast asleep.  He eased her down to the bed but her head was still rested on his shoulder and he didn't want to wake her so he just lay with her sleeping contently in his arms, and he too fell asleep, with a deep warm feeling inside him.