YOU
BROKE MY ARM, please…
Written by
de-loverly ginny kins
"Ara?"
One single thought flickered in the air: (Hey… this step wasn't here before…)
Within the next second, Sakuno desperately tried to regain her balance and made a few unintelligible noises that would probably have sounded quite funny out of context. She let go of her book bag and flailed her arms about: up and down, down and up, up and down, down and up—like a penguin trying to fly. The stairs were a long way down and she definitely did not want to fall. That, she was assured, would most likely be excruciatingly painful and perhaps result in a premature death that she was not at all in want of.
Plus: (Yada! I don't want to die! I didn't give Ryoma-kun his obentou today!)
But alas, as anyone with half a brain knows, penguins can't fly.
Ryuzaki Sakuno let out a small shriek and clamped her eyes shut as her balance lost a hopeless match to gravity. A part of her wondered why she even bothered trying. In her whole entire life, Sakuno could not recall a moment when her balance was well equipped in such battles; there was never even an instance of winning. Sakuno never won; she was the loser her whole entire life.
"Un-nya? Watch out!"
Kikumaru Eiji ran as fast as he could manage and fell forward, somehow catching the tumbling girl with his voodoo magic before she could get a chance to meet Heaven.
"I'm… alive?" Sakuno whispered aloud when she did not feel any extraordinary pain. (Or maybe, I'm already dead?) Sakuno thought, for exactly the same reason. Most of her was surrounded in warmth, and she could feel a strong grip around her waist. If an angel was holding onto her and carrying her up to heaven, she hoped he wouldn't notice the three pounds she recently gained. Except: (A part of me is cold.); the bare skin that her skirt did not cover was in contact with chilly cement.
"Itte-te…..te….te…te….te…."
"Ah?" Sakuno uttered dumbly. Sakuno shook her head and sat up, ignoring the tingling in her legs. Scanning her surroundings and recognizing the dismal gray walls of her school, she was now assured she was still alive. She turned to her rescuer…
and screamed.
"Kyaaa!" Sakuno untangled herself out of Eiji's grasp and stood over him with hands frantically waving in the air, up and down and down and up—like a penguin, this time just waving her wings for no real reason but to panic. Eiji was currently lying in what looked to be a rather uncomfortable position. Moreover, his left arm was not right.
"Gomen! Gomen! Gomen! Gomen!" Sakuno bowed over and over again. "(Gomen! Gomen! Gomen! Gomen! Gomen!)x5!"
"Could…you…please…help…me?" Eiji asked hoarsely to the frantic girl. There was a great pain overloading his senses and he was sure that something was not right with his left arm.
Sakuno stopped bowing and she looked at Eiji, flabbergasted.
"GOMEN NASAI! I'll get help right away!" Sakuno ran to the closest classroom and buzzed the emergency to the teacher hysterically.
The sound of footsteps echoed in Eiji's ears before he closed his eyes and let himself drift away. As he fell asleep, he could feel the waves of pain emanate from his left arm slowly ebb away…
When he came to, "gomen gomen gomen gomen! –Kikumaru-senpai!"
Eiji turned to the direction of the frantic apologies and was met with the guilt-stricken face of Ryuzaki Sakuno. Her doe eyes were wide and doleful, full of total repentance. The ever-frantic mouth was slightly agape, her pink lips chapped. Sakuno blinked at Eiji's quick study of her face.
"Ano…" Sakuno cleared her throat, lifting her eyes away from Eiji's. After hesitating, words fumbled out of her mouth remorsefully. "Kikumaru-senpai, your left arm is broken." Sakuno paused again, her eyes tearing up. "G-Gomen ne! Obaa-chan says you won't be able to play tennis for a month. It's all my fault!" Sakuno bowed her head low, shutting her eyes tight. She had never felt so guilty in her life. Not only did Senpai rescue her from a cruel and unusual punishm—death with only good intention in mind, he broke his arm. Sakuno was sure it was because she gained those three pounds. (sob I shouldn't have eaten so many of Obaa-chan's steamed red bean buns! sob And I should have practiced my tennis more! sob I knew I was getting fat! sob)
Eiji smiled at her gently and called out her name playfully, "Sakuno-chan, nya?"
Sakuno opened her eyes. She lifted her head, her eyes staring up at Eiji's, wide and confused. "You… you're not angry?" Sakuno asked carefully. Normally when she broke things, Sakuno was used to people being angry with her. Particular her kaa-san whenever she broke a dish. Or two. (Okay, maybe three.)
To answer her question, Eiji ruffled up her hair with his free hand and laughed at her daunted reaction.
"Iya! Kikumaru-senpai!" Sakuno shrieked, holding onto her head with her hands in a weak attempt to block Eiji. Even with a handicap, Eiji was more than a match for her.
After failing to block his hands from ruining her hair, Sakuno paused and asked, "Kikumaru-senpai… is there anything I can possibly do for you?"
Eiji, who didn't really have any use for the young (somewhat useless) girl, was about to decline when he remembered something important and an embarrassed blush rose to his cheeks. "Well… if you don't mind…"
And Sakuno never did.
Ryuzaki Sakuno was in trouble. She was tottering all around campus, every once in a while bumping and falling into things, all in a futile attempt to find him. Despite being at Seigaku High for half a year already, she was getting lost and finding herself more and more in need to venture into familiar territory before beginning her conquest to find him. It was absolutely necessary that she found him.
"Ee…to…." Sakuno chewed on her lip pensively and her big eyes darted from side to side, hoping to recognize something—anything. "Where is he?" Sakuno asked herself aloud worriedly. Her hands clutched at the handkerchief-wrapped lunch she held close to her chest.
"Who?"
"Kya!" Sakuno jumped up and shrieked, spinning around while doing so. (If there were anything Sakuno was especially good at, it would be that.) Her wide eyes grew even wider and a blush rose to her cheeks. Shaking nervously, Sakuno laughed weakly and greeted the intruder of her solitude, "A-ha…ha… R-Ryoma-kun."
Ryoma stood several feet away from her. At fifteen, he was now much taller than Sakuno than he'd been at twelve. He still wore a hat, although now it was different cap that had more of a splash of red to its blue. His face was starving for expression as much as ever.
He blinked. He was used to this behavior by Sakuno and assumed she was probably looking for him with a glance at the lunch she held dearly to her heart. Normally, Sakuno packed him lunches even though they weren't dating and Ryoma never encouraged her to—he never quite cared to. Although, a part of him sorely admitted that if ever she stopped feeding him, her lunches would be missed.
A light bulb went off and Sakuno received a brilliant idea that she had not thought of before.
"Ano… Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno's timid voice trailed off shyly.
"Yes?" Ryoma waited for her to take ten minutes to hand him his lunch.
Sakuno shifted her weight from one foot to another, her petite frame slightly swaying back and forth while a soft, nervous blush diffused over her cheeks. Ryoma kept silent, only tipping his hat just so in a way that expressed his tacit approval for her to continue on with her girlish ways. This, Sakuno read perfectly and lead her to feel comfortable enough to importune the tennis prodigy with a simple question.
"Ano… do you know where Kikumaru-senpai is?" Sakuno asked hesitantly.
For a second, Ryoma's jaw dropped before he quickly regained his composure and stood up straight with apathetic eyes. Quickly giving her directions to where Eiji normally ate, Ryoma wondered to himself why in the world Sakuno wanted to know where his hyperactive senpai was.
As Sakuno thanked Ryoma and eagerly ran away from him, she wondered why she hadn't thought of asking someone for directions earlier.
Ryoma stared towards her direction longingly, towards the lovingly wrapped lunch she still held within her grasp. He really hoped that she hadn't gotten over her crush; he had just bought a new tennis racket with all the lunch money that he hadn't been spending on lunch.
"Kikumaru-senpai!" Sakuno waved to the red-haired boy cheerfully from the end of the corridor when she spotted him chatting with friends and letting people sign his cast. Eiji turned to Sakuno's sweet voice and waved back just as cheerfully. He excused himself from his friends and ran up towards Sakuno.
"Sakuno-chan!" Eiji squealed when he got close to her. "Arigatou!"
Sakuno smiled and handed him the carefully wrapped lunch she held shyly, looking away with a blush as she warned him quietly, "It might taste weird…and I'm so sorry about your arm!"
Eiji grinned and untied the handkerchief. "Sakuno-chan, if you keep apologizing, I'll make you do more things for the rest of your life."
Sakuno nodded her head, "Alright, Kikumaru-senpai. Gomen." Immediately, Sakuno gasped and her hands flew to her lips ashamedly.
Eiji gave her a stern look as he stuffed his mouth with a rice ball.
"I didn't mean to!" Sakuno squeaked, her cheeks flaming red. Her whole life, Sakuno was used to giving apologies—not because they were insincere by any means. Rather, she just always ended up doing things that warranted an apology. Not apologizing at least once every five minutes was weird.
"Mm…?" Eiji glanced at her suspiciously. "Is that so? Somehow I feel like you want to make me lunch for the rest of your life."
"Eiji-senpai!"
Horio looked up when he heard a low, growling noise from beside him. Ryoma was slouching, his torso bent forward. Ryoma's stomach growled again and Horio continued to appraise his friend with wide eyes.
"Where's your lunch?" Horio asked slowly, a hopeful smirk daring to perk up the corner of his lip.
"…" Ryoma did not grant him a reply, instead, his stomach growled yet again. "I'm hungry…" he said finally.
"Didn't Ryuzaki make you lunch?" Horio questioned. It was very odd that Ryoma had not yet eaten. Normally, Ryoma would eat Sakuno's love-filled obentous during lunch and refuse to give anyone even a morsel of the food she made.
"…" Ryoma continued to stare down. Ryoma was hungry, very, very hungry. He wished that he hadn't stopped bringing money to school.
"Mou! Eiji-senpai! I really didn't mean to! I swear!"
"For my kids too, Sakuno-chaaan! And maybe also your next lifetime, nya?"
Horio stared, jaw open, when he saw the sight of Sakuno and Eiji walking down the hall. Sakuno looked flustered, while Eiji had a nonchalant grin smacked on his face. In Eiji's hand, he held a vaguely familiar handkerchief. Horio could not believe it—Sakuno had made lunch for someone else, not Ryoma?
He glimpsed to his side, and sure enough, Ryoma was staring with slight annoyance at his senpai who was eating what should have been his lunch. A full-formed, imperious smirk claimed Horio's lips. He always managed to find joy when things didn't go in accordance with the prodigy's plan. Horio was an evil sort of somewhat-friend like that.
Ryoma stood up suddenly and walked towards Sakuno and Eiji. When the two saw him heading their way, they followed him with surprised eyes.
"Ah? Ochibi? What's up?" Eiji greeted as the cat-eyed boy seemed to give him the cold shoulder.
Ryoma continued to walk, walking past his senpai to the girl, whose eyes were now big and staring at him in confusion. Ryoma, if he could help it, never gave Sakuno any attention whatsoever. For him to uncharacteristically get up from his seat and walk across the hall to talk to her was unheard of.
"Ryuzaki, I want to ask you a question," Ryoma said very seriously. One of his hands was clamped firmly on his aching stomach.
"Ara?" Sakuno blinked.
"I know I shouldn't ask a question like this, but…" Ryoma's voice trailed off and his eyes averted from Sakuno's confused-looking saucers. The slightest tinge of pink colored his cheeks and in turn, Sakuno's own face grew crimson and Eiji's eyebrows raised high above his forehead.
"Does Osakada still have any feelings for me?"
Ryoma didn't want to have to resort to this, but hunger does things to people and Ryoma was damn hungry. Plus, the cheerleader girl made him lunch before and it wasn't half-bad.
"I wasn't expecting that from ochibi," Eiji commented offhandedly as he and Sakuno walked around the schoolyards together. Eiji didn't say it, but deep down, he was ashamed to be relieved that Ryoma hadn't shown any feelings in return for the pigtailed-girl beside him. Eiji had never told anyone before, save a discreet hint to Oishi once, but he had always found the old hag's granddaughter to be quite the lovely girl. Sakuno was kind, pretty, and just so incredibly adorable—Eiji found her clumsiness endearing.
"Mm, he was probably hungry because I didn't make him an obentou today," Sakuno responded lightly. "Perhaps I should have told him…?" Sakuno's voice trailed off; she was now pondering aloud more to herself than responding to Eiji.
Eiji stopped walking and looked at Sakuno with surprise.
"You…" Eiji paused, not at all sure how to go on with his words. For him to ask her about her feelings was improper, and Eiji was well aware of that. He didn't want to scare her off just yet—he was just getting to spend time with her now.
Sakuno turned to her senpai and smiled sweetly. There was no sense of anger or annoyance in her eyes, neither for Eiji nor Ryoma.
"I got over my crush along time ago, to tell the truth. I just didn't know how to go about stopping making him lunch," Sakuno admitted with a goofy grin.
After she spoke, Eiji realized several things. One, he discovered that Sakuno was incredibly clumsy and sometimes a bit slow in the head—but she was definitely not dumb.
Two, he now knew that she no longer harbored the crush for the tennis prodigy that he had assumed she still kept.
And three, he realized he was madly in love with her.
"Oh, what brings you here, senpai?" Sakuno greeted as Eiji stepped into her classroom the next day during morning break. Instead of responding to her question, Eiji continued to walk straight towards her with determination etched in his face.
Sakuno gasped when the acrobatic tennis player lifted a bouquet of roses to her and knelt down on one knee. Sakuno's wide eyes gazed at him in disbelief.
"Ryuzaki Sakuno, you broke my arm—please don't break my heart," Eiji announced with beaming, blue eyes.
Sakuno flushed red and giggled at his word choice; his words were just so cheesy, just so corny with a very large Eiji-like flare. All the same, Sakuno's chocolate eyes shined anyway. An enormous smile broke out on Sakuno's lips and she took the roses from Eiji, albeit slowly. When Eiji took a hold of her hand, Sakuno did not pull away and classmates later whispered that her face turned even redder after contact.
Confidence flared in Sakuno and she leaned over Eiji, her lips right next to his ear. Whispering quietly, causing the other students to strain their ears to hear, Sakuno gave her response to Eiji.
After she finished speaking, her face slightly flushed pale pink; Eiji broke out into a grin and eagerly stood, kissing her on the lips despite her cries of protest. (Yada! Not here in front of all these people!) A week later, anyone in Seigaku High could catch the love-dove couple walking through the campus together. Eiji would speak animatedly and hold her hand firmly in his grasp while Sakuno would listen with girlish giggles and shyly squeeze his hand now and then. Though none of the students managed to catch what Sakuno had said, they were sure that it couldn't have been bad.
A/N: phew! I'm so glad this is over. I started this last summer, but I never got around to finishing it. I started it just because I wanted to write an EijiSaku cause I like to do odd pairings now and then, but the more I wrote this the more I realized that Eiji and Sakuno have about the worst chemistry ever. They have NO chemistry whatsoever. Hence, the quickness of their relationship.
Anyways, enjoy! Thanks for reading.