Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Prince of Tennis. The rest are mine. :D

Title: Celebrate Celebrity

Summary: Ryosaku Sakuno had just won her best actress and model award, while Ryoma had just become number one in the tennis world. They have been called together for a photo shoot, and while the old friends reconcile, will it get any further than that? Or does it stop there?

Warnings: This story is mainly Ryoma & Sakuno, so if you do not like this pair, please don't read this. Flames on the pair will be ignored. You have been warned! Lol. :P

Random Note: This came later than expected. I'm sorry, but for the case of updating, I'm well-known for not updating regularly! So I've changed and decided that I would not make any promises. Sometimes, the words would just flow out from me, but sometimes, I have to kill my brain cells to think of things to write. But don't give up on me! Please review!

Chapter Three: All About You

"Okasan! Oyaji! Obachan!" Ryuzaki Sakuno called the moment she entered the familiar house.

The first one to appear from the living room was her grandmother, Ryuzaki Sumire. The former tennis coach's eyes widened at the sight of her granddaughter.

"Oh! Sakuno! I was just wondering when you'd come to see us when I saw you yesterday on television."

Sumire opened her arms as Sakuno ran to her for a warm embrace.

"How are you, obachan?"

"Doing fine… Just fine." Sumire smiled gently.

Sakuno's mother's face appeared around the doorway. "Darling! Back to see us? Just in time for lunch, come on!"

Sakuno smiled at her mother and followed her grandmother into the kitchen. All three of them sat down as the head of the family entered.

"Sakuno!" he exclaimed, giving Sakuno a bear hug.

With the formalities over, the Ryuzaki family started on their lunch, just like it was when Sakuno was a twelve-year-old girl. The conversations were different, though. Now they asked each other about work, how they were managing and how tiring it was to work the whole day.

Only the retired tennis coach had anything to say besides work.

"I'm just happily enjoying my retirement," she said simply, eating her lunch at an easy pace, unlike the others, who were used to rushing, now already halfway through their lunches.

The others around the table gave her grudging looks.

"You've been through life already, obachan," Sakuno said amiably. "We've-I've just gotten started."

"And we're just going through it," laughed her father.

"Still, the most important thing is that you must enjoy it. Being a tennis coach never brought in as much as a business woman would, but I had enjoyed every moment of working with the racquets and balls," Sumire said wisely. She smiled. "And of course, the students."

"Say, Sakuno, are you going to stay with us?" her mother asked, changing the topic.

"Okasan, I've got my own apartment, remember?" Sakuno smoothly. Her mother always asked that question whenever she visited. "I don't want to burden you."

"So, anymore movies?"

"So far, no. But I'm going for a photo shoot this afternoon again."

"For what?" Sumire cut in.

"It's for the Ponta Company again," Sakuno said warily, feeling a weird vibe emanating from her grandmother.

"Oh," was all she said.

After lunch, Sakuno thanked her parents and her grandmother saw her to the door.

"I've seen the poster of you and Ryoma," Sumire said, giving Sakuno a lopsided smile. "Doing the same again?"

Sakuno could only nod, as she tried to push back the blush that threatened to rise to her cheeks. Eager to get away from her grandmother, Sakuno quickly said, "I've got to go, obachan. Take care!"

Sakuno sighed in relief as her limousine door closed. Her grandmother had gone all weird and funny since her retirement. Actually, she wasn't crazy; it was just that she suddenly had the idea of matching Sakuno with someone. And that someone became Ryoma after the shoot.

--

Ryoma couldn't believe himself.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror hopelessly. No matter how much freezing, cold water he splashed onto himself, it didn't go away.

He had never, never been this nervous before. Not even before the biggest tennis game of his life. And he was going through all this because…of the thought of seeing Sakuno again.

Ryoma couldn't believe himself.

It was just a thought! Ryoma shuddered at what might happen when they really meet.

Scratching his back, he wiped his face with a towel and stepped out of the bathroom. He looked around his VIP Suite and found nothing to amaze him. There was not a single tennis magazine in the pile of magazine that lay under the coffee table; what were they thinking? They knew perfectly well that a tennis player was coming in to stay and the magazines they provided were on accessories, clothes, and gossips.

Boring.

There was nothing he could do in the hotel, yet there was nothing he could do outside either. Silly, wasn't it? Being a well-known player, he would be tailed the moment he stepped out of his room. His father had never had had this kind of treatment when he was 'Samurai Nanjiroh,' so why did he? He'd once asked Momo, and all his sempai replied was, "You've got better looks than your dad."

Ryoma smirked. "You've got better looks than your dad."

Then a smile crept to his face. Though Ryoma would rather die than admit it out loud; he had always admired his dad. Not just in tennis, but in other aspects of life too. His father had a sense of humor that he would never possess, and his father was always free and easy-going towards others. Though he was a perverted man.

That, Ryoma thought, I would never learn from him.

Ryoma crossed over to the sofa and sat down, staring blankly at the enormous television screen in front of him. Switching it on, the first person he saw was Kiyori Kake. He stared at her moodily as she continued to flirt with the bartender. It was pretty obvious that another sex scene was coming on.

Changing channels, Ryoma watched a soccer game. There was a huge banner that wrote:

"SPORTS PONTA, YOUR ONE AND ONLY SPORTS DRINK!"

Then there was the picture of him and Sakuno back to back. He remembered it so clearly…how it felt like to be so close to her… Suddenly, Ryoma felt like smiling. And he did.

A ringing sound came from his bedroom. It was his alarm. Ryoma glanced at his watch. It was nearly time to leave. Getting up and giving one last look at the advertisement, Ryoma switched off the television and left to meet Jason.

--

Sometimes, it was better if things remained simple. Then she wouldn't have to be so confused. Sakuno could hardly follow what her manager was saying. Thus, she just stared helplessly at Aiko for her to finish rambling.

Sakuno had just started daydreaming about Ryoma when Aiko said in a fierce tone, "Rin! Seriously, were you listening?"

"I-I was! It's just that…I didn't understand what you were saying. You were going too fast!" Sakuno said, adopting an innocent tone.

Aiko grunted impatiently. "To sum it all up, they're just saying that you do a few more poses and they'd pay you double."

"Eh? Why?"

Aiko looked at her incredulously. "You're asking me to repeat what I had been saying!"

"Sorry!" Sakuno replied immediately. "Sorry…"

Aiko heaved a sigh. "Oh, seriously, I'm just so nervous. You're one of my best clients and if I don't make you a success, then it's really a pity. Let's just say I beg you to do the shoot as well?"

Sakuno smiled kindly. "You know I would take everything up. Any invitation is my opportunity."

"Well, said!" Aiko said, giving her a pleased look. "You know, you're the only client that is a real friend."

Sakuno kept quiet and they stayed that way in companionable silence.

Then a knock on the door interrupted their peace together. In came the usual people, the makeup artist, hairstylist, costume designer, excreta, excreta.

"I'd better get ready," Sakuno whispered to Aiko, who nodded and left.

Sakuno sat completely still as she let the others decorate her. But she couldn't keep the smile off her face.

--

Ryoma gave his manager a dark look. Once again, Jason had decided without asking him about it. No talk, no discussions, just a straightforward: "You have to do this."

"Fine," Ryoma said in a modulated tone. He would let Jason off this time.

Just a photo shoot and a small act… Just a photo shoot and a small act… Just…

Ryoma stopped. This was disgusting. He was acting like a total fool. It wasn't like him to be like this. Scratch that, he was never like this before. For the thousandth time, Ryoma couldn't believe himself.

Ryoma hardly noticed the ticklish hair that was moving all over his face nor did he smell the weird smell of the powder. He was too engrossed in his thoughts.

He was still unaware of his surroundings until he entered a room where he saw…Ryuzaki Sakuno.

She was as enchanting as the previous time he saw her, if not, better.

"Hi, Ryoma-kun," she said softly.

He nodded back.

Ryoma snapped himself out of his own thoughts. He was working, not spending his time on useless thoughts of Sakuno. No, they weren't useless, but… Oh God, he was contradicting himself.

He pushed all emotions, all thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on the matter on hand. He was supposed to say a few lines, most of them describing about Sports Ponta and moved around to places that the director directed.

When Ryoma was just about to say something, the director shouted, "CUT!"

Irritated, Ryoma turned to face the director.

"Hanashi-san, you're good, don't worry. However, Echizen-san, can you please show more emotions?"

Ryoma shook his head stubbornly. He wasn't an actor, he was a tennis player. When you play tennis, there never was a rule that said you had to smile while hitting the ball.

The director looked at him with an unreadable look.

Jason hurried forward. "But…you see, if Ryoma smiled, it would be so unlike him…He's famous for his still expressions…please…"

Still expressions?

The director seemed to find Jason's list of reasons reasonable, and the shoot went on without major interruptions.

Next, was the photo shoot. Ryoma couldn't really grasp what was going on; he was too busy dismissing his thoughts about Sakuno that popped up every time he looked at her.

Luckily, he was always quick enough to react when Sakuno might have felt his gaze. He'd managed to look away every time when she looked up.

--

Sakuno's heart felt heavy. She could hardly raise her head up. She was now back in her own dressing room, they had left her to change into her normal clothes. She couldn't bring herself to look up into the mirror. Ryoma had not spoken one word to her besides his lines, and he seemed to be ignoring her.

Every time she glanced at him, he wasn't looking her way. Not once.

Knock! Knock!

"Come in!" Sakuno called, finally raising her head. It wasn't so heavy after all.

"Haven't you changed yet?"

Sakuno stiffened. She could recognize that voice anywhere. Ryoma was finally talking to her again.

"I…I was just about to," she said shyly.

"Oh. Are you free this evening?"

"Y-yes."

God, why did she stutter so much? If not, she had to pause and drag her sentence. Sakuno silently reprimanded herself.

Pause.

An even longer pause.

Neither of them knew where to begin or what to say.

"Do you still play tennis?"

Sakuno nearly fainted. "I'm…still as bad in it as…ever."

"Thought I could help brush your skills up a bit," Ryoma shrugged, but there was something in his eyes that told her something else.

"Could you? Thank you!" Sakuno exclaimed.

Ryoma approached her table and took a piece of paper from the right corner.

"Can I write on this?"

"Sure," Sakuno said, wondering what he was going to do.

He scribbled down an address and handed it to her. "Come at five. I have racquets and balls. Or do you prefer your own racquet?"

Sakuno stared, fascinated by Ryoma's cursive handwriting. "Thank you, Ryoma-kun. I'll come."

"Sure. See you then."

He walked languidly to the door. With a last smile, or rather, smirk, at her, he left.

Sakuno could hardly wait as she rushed back to her apartment without saying goodbye to Aiko.

Random Note: Thank you for reading! Personally, I think this chapter has a lot of suspension and awkward situations. That was what I found difficult to write. The words may not go as smoothly as I would've liked them to, but I'll re-read and revise them soon!

Newsflash(?): I'm replying to reviews! (Just for the fun of it.) And, of course, I would like to thank everybody for making it possible. Actually, I had thought that if the reviews reached 30 on chapter five, I would start it. But you guys beat me! Haha! So, visit my profile for the website where your reviews' replies are waiting!

A BIG thank you to all my readers and reviewers, I can't believe I've gotten so many reviews and feedbacks. Keep them coming:P I always enjoy reading them. If you have any questions, I would be glad to answer! Thanks again!

A.Renika