Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis and I do not own Full House.
A RyoSaku™ Fan fiction.
"Please wake up! We need to clean up, sir," a flight attendant told Echizen as she tapped him.
"Oh? Ah, gomen," he said as he gathered his items and walked off.
He yawned and fell back on one of the seats outside of the waiting room.
Then he looked around as if searching for someone.
"Where's that one girl that threw up on me?" he asked himself and unfolded his not-so-pretty-looking polo to see the damage she did to his shirt.
Eh, it stinks. It's a good thing he brought an extra shirt with him in his tennis bag.
What was her name anyway? She didn't mention any introduction. Oh well… It's not like he was ever going to see her again anyway.
"Hey! There he is! Oh my god!"
Echizen turned around to see who shouted that in a confused, yet frightened face.
"Oh, great," he groaned and quickly tried to escape the gigantic crowd of screaming fans with posters and tennis rackets, even.
"Ano… isn't there supposed to be someone here to pick me up? I don't know where to go…," Sakuno frantically thought. "Ok. Don't panic, Sakuno," she assured herself, "Just find your own way to the hotel. They probably just forgot. Yeah…"
Yeah, sure.
She hurriedly walked out to grab a taxi without much success because of her heavy luggage.
Sakuno was relieved that the driver understood Japanese and asked him to drive to the Imperial Palace.
"Sugoi! It's so big," she cheerfully announced to no one in particular. She paid the driver and quickly ran into the lobby carrying her two luggage bags.
She walked up to the check-in desk.
"R-Ryuzaki Sakuno, please."
"Ok, please wait, Ryuzaki Sakuno," the woman behind the computer said, searching for her name.
After fifteen seconds of clicking and typing, the woman looked up. "We don't have any reservations under your name. Are you sure this is right?"
Sakuno was dumbfounded. "Nani?"
Where was she supposed to sleep? What was she going to do? She already spent a lot of the money Tomoka gave her…
"Do you need any help, miss?"
"Eh?" Sakuno responded as she whipped around to see who the question came from. There stood quite a tall man in a business suit, smiling cheerfully. He was beautiful, the way his auburn hair fell and the way he smiled.
"Ah, sorry. My name is Ryuzaki Sakuno. I seem to not have a hotel reservation even though I was told I won an all expense paid trip," Sakuno replied to the young man.
The man was surprised from hearing this, his smile turning into a stunned face for a short moment.
"Hmm, it seems you are in a bit of a tight situation," he said in a sweet voice, "If you'd like, you could have one of my rooms. I came here on a trip with some of my friends. I could make a couple of them share rooms if you'd like. Please trust me."
"Oh no, I don't want to bother you nor your friends," she answered.
"Very well," the man said with a bow and turned to walk away.
"Wait," she said with much doubt. "Actually, I really do need a place to stay for the moment. I don't want to cause any trouble for you. I will pay you back as soon as I can," she promised with a bow.
"Haha, no problem. You don't have to pay me back."
She straightened up to find his face only inches away from her. He handed her a hotel key.
"I own this hotel after all."
"Huh? Really? You're s-so young!" Sakuno retorted with astonishment.
He walked her to the elevator, laughing. "It's fine. I don't mind giving up a room for a pretty girl such as yourself."
She blushed excessively after hearing his compliment.
"Your room will be on the 16th floor. I'll take care of everything, ok?" he reassured her confidently.
"Arigatou! You have no idea how much this means to me," Sakuno said with a bow of appreciation. The elevator doors opened.
She smiled and waved. As she was about to press the button for the 16th floor in the elevator, she exclaimed, "Wait! I didn't catch your name."
"Saa… Fuji Syusuke," he responded smiling and waving, "Goodbye, Ryuzaki Sakuno-chan. If it is fate, we shall meet again."
Then the elevator doors closed.
She gasped. "Fuji-sempai! Nani?"
The same Fuji Syusuke from Seigaku? Could it be possible? The odds... How amazing. He did resemble the same Fuji-sempai she remembered from years ago, but he became even more handsome than before.
The elevator stopped once it reached the 16th floor and its doors opened.
She gathered her luggage and slowly walked into the hallway. Maybe she should call a bellboy to come help her or something…
But she did not pay attention to where she was going because another person also stepped out of the elevator talking on his cell phone and bumped into her, knocking both of them to the ground.
"I-Itai…," Sakuno groaned, rubbing her head. She looked up to see who had bumped into her only to be flabbergasted for the umpteenth time today.
"Itai… Watch where you're," he moaned but stopped mid-sentence when he saw Sakuno.
"You! You're the one who threw up on me," he said as he pointed at her in surprise.
Why was everyone in this hotel? The odds of such a thing happening is, well, something Sakuno could not calculate but if Inui-sempai were here, she knew he would mention something of the sort.
But honestly, could her day get any worse?
"I am very sorry for throwing up on your shirt. I, well, uh, can pay for that," Sakuno said, "I think..." Then she commenced walking to her hotel room.
"Wait. What is your name?"
"Ano, uh… Ryuzaki Sakuno. Nice to meet you," she said awkwardly. She waited to see if he recognized her name.
"Ryuzaki, eh? Well, goodbye," he said and made a call on his cell phone, walking off a different direction.
"Sorry. I accidentally bumped into someone and I guess my phone turned off. I wanted to tell you that I just bought a house in Kanagawa. I'll be staying there to privately train and condition for a few months. I will send you the contact numbers later."
"But- well, fine, Ryoma. But I am your manager after all. I'll call to check on you. Don't forget all the photo shoots you have to do this month though and stay away from the media, ok?" Ryoma's manager firmly said.
"Hai."
A door opened, where Echizen slowly and painfully entered through. He threw his luggage off to the side when his cell phone started to ring.
"Moshi moshi?"
"Ne, Echizen, are you seriously in Shanghai?"
"Eh? Fuji-sempai? How did you find my number?"
"Saa… that's a secret."
"Well, it is true. I'm staying at the Imperial Palace."
"Souka… Ok bye!"
Now, what could that be all about? Just then his question was answered by the knock on the door.
Behind that door, Echizen found all of his eight sempais from when he went to Seigaku. He was very shocked. Shocked that his old friends were all in China at the same time he was.
They all barged into the room in order to send their greetings to him.
"Ochibi-chan!" Kikumaru Eiji exclaimed as he ran ahead of the crowd and jumped to hug Echizen.
"Did you miss your sempai, Echizen?" Momoshiro Takeshi said, smiling proudly and joining in the big hug.
"No."
"Nani? What did you say, Echizen?" Momo replied angrily.
"He said no, baka," responded another familiar voice.
"Nani! You still want to fight, mamushi?" Momo retorted after Kaidoh Kaoru.
"Momoshiro! Kaidoh! Run 20 laps around the hotel!" Tezuka yelled, scolding the two. He still acted like the same old stoic captain.
"Saa… that was harsh, Tezuka."
"What if they get lost? This is a pretty large hotel."
"Don't mind. Don't mind! They'll be fine."
"And you'd think they would stop fighting as they grow older."
Echizen looked at his sempais. Most of them appeared to be the same as he last remembered them almost ten years ago except they looked much more mature (if that's even possible). He did visit them occasionally, but he couldn't stay long enough because of his constant training.
The first four years since he left for the US Open when he was still a freshman in middle school, he had won the Grand Slam those times. After those four years, he did take a break from the sports business only to resume his title again up until now.
"So Echizen, did you know that Ryuzaki Sakuno is also on this floor?" Fuji asked him.
"Ah, yeah. How do you know her, Fuji-sempai?" Echizen asked curiously.
"Haha, Echizen. Your memory is the same as ever. She was Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter, remember? She used to have long braids?" asked Fuji, who was trying to jog Echizen's memory and happily smiling.
"Echizen! You only coached her a hundred times back in middle school!" Momo shouted in disbelief. He knew Echizen wasn't good with names, but he didn't know he was this bad.
"Oh. That girl. I remember. She threw up on me on the plane."
"Eh?" everyone said in confusion.
Just then, Sakuno sneezed. Sniff...
"I hope I didn't catch a cold," she thought.
Sakuno squeaked when entering her room to jump on the bed. "What a relief...," she thought.
Then she sat up. "I am so going to hurt them. They are in a lot of trouble," she angrily said.
She flicked open her cell phone and dialed her dear friends' phone number.
"HELLO! I'm not here because I'm doing something with my sweet fiancée! Ne, Horio?
"Hai. With our seven years experience together, I, Satoshi Horio, must agree. "
"Leave a message!"
She groaned. Then she dialed her house number.
"Beep, beep. The phone number you have dialed has been temporally disconnected. Please try again later."
She groaned even louder. What is going on?
"I guess I'll just call Obaachan later and ask her for money."
Then she took a shower and went to sleep. It was a long tiring day after all.
Sorry! This was kind of a boring chapter. I hope you enjoyed it though!
Chapter 4 is when she comes back home finally. There's a great surprise waiting for her.