Chapter 11
"Ja yoroshiku Ryuzaki." Oishi said before closing the door to the changing room.
"Hai." Oishi had laid Echizen on a bench, and Sakuno now kneeled beside him.
She jumped up to run outside to a nearby tap and wet her clean white handkerchief embroidered with pink flowers. She came back in placed it over his burning forehead.
Was it him before?
She stared at his handsome face. When he slept he looked like an angel, but when he awoke all he ever did was sneer at people. She smiled at him.
But if it was him, that means he was awake then, and he couldn't possibly have done that…but if it felt like him. Was he the one that I felt in the infirmary?
Sakuno sat and gazed at the beautiful prince who lay unconscious on the bench. Occassionally she reached out to wipe the sweat that formed on his face from his fever. She suddenly remembered that his cap was left lying on the courts. She gave him a glance before opening the door and rushing out to retrieve his precious white cap.
After she got it, she rushed back in and closed the door behind her. The air outside had been brisk and cold, and the wind had kissed her cheeks with a cool chill. Now, standing inside the warm locker room, the warmth radiated through her body, and warming her cheeks making her cold run wild again. She brushed the dirt from the white cap and sat, leaning against the bench gazing at the cap.
"Mada mada dane."
She whipped her head around to look at Echizen. He lay unconscious as he had been.
Where had that voice come from? She scratched her head in confusion and gazed at the cap again.
It was just a cap, but she couldn't tear her gaze away from it.
"Heeh, you're unexpectedly good"
Once again her mind was playing tricks on her.
Who's voice is that?
She rested her chin on her hands which lay on the bench. In the many dreams that she had, there was always one hero in there. Or so she thought it was a hero. He never rescued her but instead he always turned his back on her. He beckoned her to come in his elegant subtle ways which annoyed her at times. He had ways of closing his eyes and shaking his head at her. He was clear in the dream but when she awoke she couldn't make out his face at all. She didn't know why she considered him a hero, because that person was far from a hero, but secretly, deep in her heart, she wished that this mysterious person in her dreams was real and could rescue her from the turmoil in her life.
She allowed her sleepy eyes to glide gently over Echizen's fine features. He was handsome when he was a sleep, even more striking when his dark eyes were open, but all was lost when he opened his mouth and let those insulting words pour out of his mouth.
She frowned remembering how he had insulted her when she was lost in finding the courts. Her eyes narrowed even more when her thoughts floated back to when they yelled at each other. But her features softened when she remembered him in the classroom. How he seemed like a totally different person then. Futhermore, what happened after school was more unbelievable than she could imagine. His embrace was unexpected, and she still didn't understand why he did it, or why he apologised.
The young prince mumbled and shifted around. His eyes opened slowly and gradually his vision became clearer, displaying to him the person that captured his thoughts everyday lately. She smiled at him and reached to wipe some sweat that broke out on his forehead. He covered her hand with his own and tried to sit up.
"Da-me Echizen-kun." She said trying to ease him back down, but Echizen, being the stubborn person he was sat up although his head was reeling. She moved to sit next to him on the bench while he clutched his head. He stayed quiet for so long, she began to avert her gaze around the room and swung her legs back and forth. Suddenly, in one swift movement he moved to stand up, only to fail.
Sakuno rushed to pull him by the waist back to the bench. They both fell back on the bench tired. She buried her forehead onto his shoulder breathing hard. It wasn't easy trying to keep a guys weight up, and besides she was sick as well, but the heat from his body gave her warmth.
"Mou…Echizen-kun. Sit still! I'm sick too you know, you're making this harder for the both of us." She pouted.
"I'm fine. Just go home." He shot at her. She flinched. "Just go home and rest." He said more gently not looking at her. He finally noticed his arm that was casually hanging over her shoulder. It set his heart going faster when he also felt his small arms around his waist.
If I had enough energy, I'd pull her into my arms and ravish those pretty lips of hers…kuso! Even if I had energy I couldn't do that. What the hell am I thinking?
"Mou…when you first talked to me at the train station, I never expected you to be such a complicated person." She said, her breath tickling and giving a pleasuring sensation to his neck.
He was so lost in his reverie and bliss he didn't register her words. Trainstation?!
"Sa-sakuno!"
"Nani" She lifted her head to look at him, her face now only inches from his.
"Do you remember? Do you remember me?" he asked with hope.
"Of course I remember you, Echizen-kun. You asked me for directions…a-re..was it you that I saw on the train? When did I go on the train…" she looked away in confusion.
He gazed at her, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Gomenasai." She impulsively buried her face into the nook of his neck. He leaned against the wall pulling her back with him. "I'm confusing myself. Echizen-kun. Ryoma-kun. I keep thinking that they're the same person."
"I'm Echizen Ryoma. Remember..?" he said referring to the other afternoon.
"Wakatteirukedo…you're not the same person I'm searching for." She said her face took on a confused look.
But I'm Ryoma. I'm the only Ryoma that you knew. What do you mean? I don't understand.
"It's complicated." She said as if she read his thoughts.
"If you can't find this Ryoma…will you let someone else replace him?" he asked, not understanding why he was asking such a strange question.
"Wakaranai…" she bit her bottom lip.
"Let me be the one to replace him."
Ja – laters ( as in cya later)
Yoroshiku – I'm relying on you (sorta thing)
Da-me – You shouldn't / that's wrong (but in this sense it's "you shouldn't")
Wakatte iru kedo – I understand but..
Wakaranai – I don't understand / I don't know (it's more I don't know in my story)