Disclaimer: No, I don't own PoT, sob

Chapter 17

Sakuno was waiting patiently for Ryoma at the school gates when a tall boy with orange hair entered the school. He was carrying a tennis bag and dressed in school uniform, but not in Seigaku colors. The boy spotted her and a huge grin split his handsome face; he had came up to her, saying how lucky he was that day to see a pretty face like hers and proceeded to cajole her for a date.

Sakuno had already told the boy she was waiting for someone else, but he simply stayed put and kept talking to her. Sakuno was leaning against the wall, and the boy had leaned one hand on the wall near her shoulder.

The boy didn't feel malicious but he was much more insistent than her new classmates in pressing her to exchange phone numbers and going out on dates. She was having problems finding more ways to say "No", and even considered briefly if she could hypnotize him into leaving her alone. However, there were other students hanging around near them, so Sakuno had to rein in her exasperation and keep repeating her negative answers.

Ryoma was cursing Sengoku from 100 meters away, and hoping he would drop dead on the spot. Too bad the lucky tennis player, and avid womanizer, kept standing very near, too near, Sakuno and refused to cooperate with Ryoma's silent petition.

Once he was within earshot, he doubled his efforts to call down lightning to strike Sengoku where he stood. Lucky Sengoku was prattling on about how "lucky" he was to see such a pretty girl as Sakuno, and how he would be more "lucky" if she would go on a date with him. Ryoma's only consolation was that Sakuno was repeatedly refusing the guy.

He drawled as he approached the pair, " Ne, Sengoku-san, have you lost your way?" He purposely stopped at Sakuno's side and spoke to her, "Omatase."

"Iie, Ryoma-kun," Sakuno was glad to see Ryoma. Perhaps he could get the stranger to stop asking her out. Ryoma apparently knew that guy.

Ryoma was staring at Sengoku, his catlike eyes bright with challenge. His stance was relaxed but he had stepped in front of Sakuno.

Sengoku shifted his attention to the Seigaku boy wonder, and then stepped back from Sakuno. He could take a (heavy-handed) hint when he saw one. "Warui, warui. I mean no harm. Saa, I'll just go visit Omoshiro-kun and the others now." Sengoku exaggeratedly spread both hands before himself, backing away as he made his excuses, and winking cheekily at Sakuno at the same time. "Your friend? He's really lucky."

"Che. Go ahead, they are still at the courts," Ryoma muttered dismissively before addressing Sakuno again, "Ikou."

Sakuno followed Ryoma out the gates, happy to be rid of the orange-haired Sengoku.

Ryoma didn't say anything else once they left the school gates, and Sakuno could tell he was bothered by something. Wanting to take his mind of whatever it was, she started asking his opinion about their new school and his new tennis team.

Ryoma answered her questions in short sentences, not because he was impatient with those trivialities, but because he couldn't figure out what else to say besides the basic facts.

He was bothered by how he felt and how he reacted when he saw Sengoku standing so near Sakuno. He couldn't figure out how Sakuno could still talk cheerfully after that incident. Was she already like that before? Was she this carefree and this cheerful? Ryoma would have thought Sakuno was a very quiet girl, who would be embarrassed into further silence by Sengoku's attentions.

In the face of evidence, Ryoma decided that Ryuuzaki Sakuno had changed. She was not the same girl whom he remembered wearing his jersey on a cold evening, and looking absolutely cute in it. He had held on to that image for too long not to feel something for that Sakuno in his mind. But this Sakuno walking beside him was, well, different. He was going to have to reevaluate his feelings for this real person who was so different from 2 years ago.

And that reminded him. "What happened to you at the end of the first year in junior high? You suddenly stopped coming to school." Ryoma interrupted Sakuno as she was commenting on how nearly all the old senpais were here at the senior high too.

"Ah, ano … I had to go stay with my aunt in Osaka. Gomen, it was an emergency, I didn't have time to tell anyone about it." Sakuno was glad she had prepared an answer to just such a question.

"Souka. Iiyo, betsuni. I was just wondering," Ryoma was thinking she didn't have to go for two long years, but couldn't bring himself to voice the grouse.

"Thanks for asking though." Sakuno was glad he steered the conversation to her two years' absence, since she still haven't found out what happened to him in between then and now. "Did our team win that year?"

"Aa."

Sakuno was not discouraged by his short answer, she was also observing his facial expressions as he answered, hence she could glean that he didn't think much of winning that tournament. Further enquires revealed that they won for the following two years as well.

She kept on asking the questions she wanted answers to, asking them in different ways, and breaking up long questions to wheedle more words from Ryoma.

By the time they reached her house, she had a fairly good idea of the events during her absence from Ryoma's perspective. And that was most important to her. For example, she was not surprised that he made Buchou in his third year, and that he seemed to think it was more trouble than it was worth. She wondered if he knew there was a hint of pride in his voice when he told her that.