Tennis no Oujisama © Konomi Takeshi, Jump, Shueisha

Summery: On his way to Ryuzaki-sensei's house Ryoma caught a bad cold and to make it worse, Ryuzaki-sensei wasn't home only Sakuno was. Now, to top it off a blizzard has started leaving the two alone for the rest of the night.

Newlyweds

One-Shot

"Achoo!" He sneezed while stuffing his hands into his pockets before sneezing again.

As he walked on the cold sidewalk in nothing but a thing sweater and jeans he began to curse his father for what seemed to be the thousandth time in that hour. He was about to go home from helping his okaa-san with shopping when the stupid old man called him on his cell phone and told him he had to head to Ryuzaki-sensei's house to pick up something from Tezuka, who had graduated two years ago. Of course the old man knew he was at least an hour away from the house and that the buses would take another half-an-hour to get there. Okaa-san had offered to walk with him to the bus stop and wait but he didn't want to be a bother and told her to go home before she caught a cold, if she did his oyaji would probably bother him to death about it.

Rubbing his arms, he tugged on his cap before running to the end of the street, he was nearly there. Passing a few homes, he came to a small cozy looking home. Shivering slightly he barely noticed it was snowing as he walked up the walkway before knocking on the door, soon hearing, "coming!" Rubbing his hands together, he heard the door start to open, "sorry for making you--"

"Achoo!" Ryoma sneezed again.

"Ryoma-kun," Ryuzaki Sakuno said, opening the door and pulling him inside, "you're freezing!"

"Thanks I didn't notice," he said dryly, watching as her cheeks flushed a light pink, "Is Ryuzaki-sensei here?"

"No, she left a while ago," Ryuzaki said, touching his forehead, "you're warm, Ryoma-kun."

"Figures," Ryoma said somewhat sarcastic as he removed his shoes, "I've been out there for about an hour after all."

"About an hour?"

Ryoma had to tug on the bill of his hat to hide a smirk that had formed on his lips, ever since their second year Sakuno had become more of a worry-wart friend then a blushing fan-girl. Despite the over-bearing scolding he'd get once a while, he enjoyed the food she'd make him and he (secretly) liked when she'd have to feed him from her own obento when he would forget to ask if she could make him one for the next day--of course, he never did that on purpose. Really. He just had a bad memory.

Sniffling slightly, he watched as Sakuno disappear into the another room and reluctantly followed. "Did Ryuzaki-sensei leave anything for me?" Ryoma asked, entering the room, only to be covered in a blanket and forced into something he couldn't see, the blanket covering his head for a the moment. "Ryuzaki, what the--"

"You're sick," she said simply, motioning him to open his mouth, a first-aid kit by her lap.

Ryoma kept his mouth firmly closed and crossed his arms while shaking his head. She rolled her eyes, the thermometer swaying in her hand as she tried to force it in. After a while, she seemed to give up as she pulled away. Satisfied, Ryoma lowered his guard before hearing Sakuno mutter an apology while pinching his cheek causing him to open his mouth as he gave shout a pain. With his mouth now open, Sakuno stuffed the thermometer in. She stood after that, happy now while Ryoma as glared at his classmate.

Sakuno smiled, patting him mockingly on the head. "I'll be back, I'm going to get you some tea," she said, leaving the room.

Ryoma couldn't help but wonder how she ever got so forceful as he glared at the white thing sticking out of his mouth.

A moment after his thermometer beeped, Sakuno came in with perfect timing, a tray of crackers and tea. "Drink up," she said, setting it on his lap while taking the thermometer and shaking her head, "you have a fever."

"Did your obaa--" he tried but then Sakuno left. He scowled, starting to get annoyed before picking up the tea and drinking from it. The warmth flowed down his chest and he sighed, feeling a bit better but still annoyed.

"Ryoma-kun," he heard Sakuno call her from another room, "come here for a second."

"Why do I have too?" Ryoma muttered, putting the tray onto the floor but keeping the blanket wrapped firmly around him. Walking slowly to through the door he saw her enter, he eyed the twin bed with purple and white flowers on them with a teddy bear sitting firmly in the middle before seeing Sakuno by the window. "It's snowing," he said flatly.

She nodded. "They said it was going to hail too," she turned to him, "obaa-chan is staying over a friends house--"

He eyed her, is she thinking about--

"--so, she can't give you a ride home," Sakuno continued, still looking out the window, missing the look on Ryoma's face as his cheeks flushed a light pink. "Do you think you can get someone to drive here?"

I'm as bad as oyaji, he thought before noticing that she had turned to look at him. Hastily, he answered with a, "Could I use your phone?"

"Un," she answered, "by my bed. Tell me if you have to stay or not, I'll make the futon in the living room."

"Ah...sure," Ryoma said, wondering why she was so easy going about this. Walking over to the side of the bed, he sat on the edge, tugging on the blanket so it wrapped tighter around him before picking the phone and dialing home.

"Yo," his father drawled into the phone, "Echizen here."

"Oyaji," Ryoma said flatly, sniffling.

"Eh? Ryoma, why aren't you home?"

Ryoma let a silence drag on, wondering when his father had gotten so stupid.

"You told me to go to Ryuzaki-sensei's house," Ryoma said, his voice low.

"The old bag?" his father asked. There was a slight muttering, his mother was probably reminding his father of what happened. "Oh yeah," his father said, returning to the phone, "What ya need?"

Ryoma sighed, resting his hand in his head, a headache starting. "Can you drive me home?" he asked, now sounding tired.

"Sure, just let me ask your mother for the keys," his father said, tapping on the phone, probably just to bother him even more. He closed his eyes, feeling more tired then agitated, before sneezing. His father stopped tapping and Ryoma listened, hoping he could just go home and sleep...

"Sorry boy," his father said but Ryoma could practically see the smirk on his face, "at least you get to stay around the old bag's grand--"

Ryoma hung up on him.

"Stupid, oyaji," he muttered, rubbing at his forehead before sneezing again. Weary, he got up and walked back into the living room, his eyes wandered, looking for Sakuno. "Ryuzaki," he said, loud enough for his voice to carry.

"Ryoma-kun?" she answered, running into the room. He was shocked to find her so worried, did she think he was going to die from having a cold? "What happened?"

"I don't have a ride," he said, pausing to sneeze, "Can I--"

"You're not helping with anything," Sakuno said, shaking her head with a small smile, "thank you but I'll handle it." She moved to a closet nearby and began to pull out the spare sheets and pillows while Ryoma watched, not wanting to see what happened if he even tried to help. A few moments later, he was lying in the blankets, warm and sleepy.

"Achoo!"

She smiled at him while sitting by his side, he was glad that he was probably already flushed from the cold because his cheeks felt warmer then before. Pulling the blanket up to his noes, he closed his eyes when she placed a cool cloth on his head. "Do you just want to sleep?" she asked softly, as if scared he already had. Without another word, Ryoma nodded, a smile on his lips which remained hidden from her as he pulled the blanket higher, drifting off.

- -

"Sakuno, I'm home!" was what woke him up in the morning. Still groggy, he looked around, wondering where he was for a second before hearing, "Ryoma? What are you doing here?"

He looked up at his coach before sitting up with a yawn. "Oyaji told me you called," he said, rubbing his eyes, "so, I came and then the weather got bad and I couldn't go home."

"Welcome back," Sakuno said, walking in with a tray as she went over to kiss her grandmother's cheek. "There's breakfast in the kitchen if you're hungry and-" she walked over to Ryoma "-you can eat this and take some medicine."

"Thank you," he muttered, still half-a-sleep.

"Ryoma," Ryuzaki-sensei said, catching his attention as he swallowed the pill Sakuno had given him. "I called to tell you that Tezuka was coming to visit my house next week."

He blinked, lowering his eyes to stare at the food before him. "Oh," he said, with a slight shrug, "I'll leave soon. Sorry."

Ryuzaki-sensei laughed. "Don't worry about it," she sat, bending over to ruffle the boys hair. He frowned up at her as she looked over to Sakuno, "Are you going to eat with him?"

"Eh?" Sakuno looked a bit puzzled and Ryoma lip twitched upwards, "no, I already ate. I'll just stay and keep Ryoma-kun company, you should eat obaa-chan."

"All right," her obaa-chan said, getting up and walking towards the kitchen, "play nice."

Ryoma chocked on his drink, Sakuno blushed, Ryuzaki-sensei merely smiled over her shoulder. Sakuno laughed lightly, her cheeks still carrying a light pink. "Is it good?" she asked, as Ryoma lifted the bowl of rice.

He turned to her, smiling. "Yeah, okaa-san has a infatuation with western breakfast. It's good to have Japanese style once in a while."

"Good," Sakuno said, for some reason her cheeks flushing darker.

Putting the bowl back down, Ryoma leaned forward, his hand brushing away her bangs before putting his hand on her forehead. "Are you all right?" he muttered, putting his own hand on his forehead. "You're red," he said, her cheeks flushing even darker.

She pushed his hand away and turned her head, "I- I'm fine. Um, I'll just go check on obaa-chan, you finish up."

"OK," Ryoma answered, shrugging as he continued to eat.

Sakuno noted that Ryoma was much more open when he woke in the morning.

- -

About an hour later, Ryoma opened the door to his gate, his father and mother standing there to greet him for some reason. "I'm home," he told them before turning to Sakuno and Ryuzaki-sensei, "thank you."

"No problem, I'll just have a chat with your dad for a second," the elder women said before walking past Ryoma.

"You still have a bit of a temperature so make sure you get rest," Sakuno said, smiling before handing him a lunch box, "since it's vacation I won't be able to feed you for week."

"Ah," Ryoma said, taking the lunch box as Ryuzaki-sensei came back, "thank you."

"Be a good boy," she said, she said waving at him. He rolled his eyes at her as he waved back watching the two of them enter the car and drive off.

A few feet over, his mother giggled. "It's like their newlyweds," she said, grasping her husband hand lightly.

His father smirked, grinning when his son glared at him. "Lucky lil' brat," he muttered watching as Ryoma walked over to him.

End

Author's Note: It's hot out and I only wanted to feel nice in cool. So, I wrote this. Then it slowly (in my opinion) died on me. Well...I hope you enjoyed it. It's pretty fluffy.