Mata POT Ryosaku!! Yoroshiku ne!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own no nothing, really!

Chapter 5

The next day was a Friday, Sakuno went to school as usual, but her Obaa-chan had specially requested that she come home immediately after school to meet her Mayu ba-chan who was suddenly coming in from Osaka that day to stay for a while with them. To that end, Sakuno had left home earlier so she could catch Ryoma after his morning practice.

Hugging a neatly folded jersey to her chest, she hurried to the tennis courts. Practice was still in progress, so she had to wait to return the jersey to Ryoma and to thank him again.

She stood in her customary place outside the tennis courts as she watched and waited.

Ryoma was involved in a practice game with Momo-senpai, and already held the upper hand. He kept all his service games by using the Twister Serve mercilessly. Momo-senpai was not about to give up and kept trying to return the powerful serves.

Trouble started when Momo-senpai accidentally knocked the ball into the next court, coincidentally hitting Kaidoh-senpai in the head.

"Teme! Hsss….What do you think you are doing, kono Baka!"

"Ah, gomen, gomen! But couldn't you have noticed the ball coming at you? You should have been able to avoid it in time, baka mamushi … …"

"Kono yaro! You were in the wrong and you should apologize properly! Hsss…."

And so the story went.

Ryoma retreated to the sidelines; intent on a water break while his two hardheaded senpais sort out their issues.

Sakuno was looking worriedly at the fight between the two second year regulars, and wondering who would come and stop them from going at each other's throats. She looked around at Ryoma, hoping that he could do something about it.

Ryoma, however, was more interested in his drink and merely watched as the argument got louder and louder, attracting the attention of other regulars and, worst of all, Tezuka Buchou.

From that point onwards, the problem was solved in as much time as it took for the stern Buchou to say," Momo, Kaidoh, 50 laps around the courts for disrupting practice! The rest of you, continue what you were doing!"

Sasuga Tezuka Buchou, scary!

The rest of the morning went smoothly, and Sakuno managed to catch up with Ryoma as he was leaving for class.

"Ryoma-kun, matte!" Sakuno, her long braids flying, ran towards her prince.

Ryoma stood and watched as she approached, remembering how pale and cold she had been the night before. Well, she certainly didn't look dead this morning, he thought.

"Ryuuzaki," He acknowledged her in his no-nonsense way.

Blushing prettily from her short sprint, Sakuno nodded and replied, " Ohayo, Ryoma-kun. Ano, here, this is your jersey. Thank you very much for lending it to me yesterday."

Ryoma acknowledged her reply and accepted the neat package. His selective memory did not deign it important to recall his strange reaction at her smile last night, nor did the vision of Sakuno in his jersey come to his mind. Thinking the issue was settled, he started walking towards the classrooms again.

Sakuno followed a little way behind, thrilled that she was walking almost beside her prince. They crossed the campus in silence, Sakuno had to walk rather quickly to catch up with Ryoma's longer stride. They parted ways at the corridors outside the classrooms.

"Ja, mata ne, Ryoma-kun," Sakuno breathlessly said her goodbyes and ran into her classroom.

She didn't see him again at lunch, and sadly couldn't watch his practice after school that day.

Ryoma didn't notice that the petite girl with the long braids was not standing beside the loud cheerleader that afternoon.

Sakuno was walking home slowly, enjoying the birds flying in the sky and the trees waving in breeze. The route was familiar to her, so she was quite confident that she wouldn't suddenly find herself lost because she was not paying attention.

She heard a rustling in the bushes before a black cat jumped into her path, its green eyes studying her with a pompous air. She squatted down to say hi to it," Here, neko-chan, are you lost?"

The black cat sniffed condescendingly, and turned around, sashaying down the road, its long black tail waving in the air. It stopped a little distance away, and looked back at her, the atmosphere around it was charged with impatience and annoyance. Sakuno got the distinct impression that the cat wanted her to follow it quickly. Unsure of the cat's destination, Sakuno started after it feeling thoroughly confused.

The cat gradually increased its speed, first walking quickly then breaking into a run. Sakuno had a hard time keeping up on her uncoordinated legs, and just as she came to the last turning to her house, she completely lost track of the black waving tail that was leading her.

She stopped to catch her breath, and decided to just return home since she had lost the trail of the black cat. Turning the corner, she was rather surprised to see a woman waiting outside her home.

"Aa! Mayu ba-chan! You got here early! Sorry to keep you waiting," Sakuno broke into apologies when she recognized the woman in her late twenties, dressed in a long purple dress with silver prints and a red straw hat. Her Mayu ba-chan was a strange one in her dressing, and she remembered very well that straw hats were her aunt's favorite accessories.

"Ah, there you are Sakuno-chan. Don't worry, I haven't been waiting very long," Mayu gave a welcoming smile and went to hug Sakuno. Mayu had rather special eye color, her eyes were basically brown, but had specks of gold surrounding her pupils. Those eyes carefully studied Sakuno for the short time she held her close.

When her aunt moved back from her, Sakuno spotted what was sitting calmly on the top step to her home, and slowly cleanly itself with a haughty air.

"Ah! Saki no neko-chan," Sakuno pointed to the cat in surprise.

"You have met Kurokuro-sama? Hahaha, guess this won't turn out to be a wasted trip then, if KuroKuro-sama has deemed you worthy of his notice," Mayu was chuckling at some personal joke that had completely escaped Sakuno.

A-re! Neko-chan was actually Neko-sama

"Ano, Kurokuro-sama desu ne? Yoroshiku onegai shimasu," Sakuno felt strange at paying such respect to a cat, but the feline seemed hardly new to the preferential treatment. In fact, Kurokuro paused in licking his paws and gave a slight nod in Sakuno's direction.

To say that Sakuno was taken aback at being acknowledged by a cat was putting it lightly, she actually felt strangely honored that the black feline took notice of her humble self.