Disclaimer: Tennis no Oujisama does not belong to me!

Chapter Four: Shame

After Sakuno's fall, there was a silence. Everyone was shocked at the impressive display of klutziness. Then Bunta came to his senses and ran to his precious source of cakes' side. "Sakuno-chan, are you alright?" He turned her over gently, wincing when he saw the scratches on her face and knees. Sakuno moaned softly and looked up. "Ittai…" Bunta shot a look at Niou before asking Sakuno, "Where do you hurt most?" He may be the cake-crazy boy but he was still a good lad and he was really worried because of the nasty sound when Sakuno fell. He thought that perhaps she had twisted her ankle. Sakuno tried to stand up and nearly fell down again when she put her weight on her right ankle. Luckily, Niou was there to catch hold of her. He had an uncharacteristic expression on his face, a mixture of concern (he did cause her injuries, indirectly) and a bit of shame (not too much because he rarely felt ashamed of his jokes and pranks). This was such an innocent-looking girl though, that his conscious was actually pricking him; in fact, he did not even know he had one.

Sakuno looked up and up at the person who caught her when she was about to fall again. Niou was taller than Bunta after all and of course much taller than Sakuno. She smiled shyly at him through her tearing eyes. This was because her body was hurting quite a bit; the ground was rough with little stones littered on the granite which were what scraped her knees and face raw, not to mention her right ankle. "Thank you, senpai. I am alright." Bunta knelt in front of her and said, "Ignore him, Sakuno-chan, he's the one who caused you to fall. Hop on; I'll take you to the san." Sakuno blushed and protested, "I'm fine, really, Marui-senpai! I can walk by myself." Jackal spoke up in his steady and calm voice, "Let Bunta carry you, you are in no condition to walk." Niou suddenly picked Sakuno up and carried her bridal-style. He said, "This is quicker. Get her stuff." He went off quickly but carefully as not to jostle Sakuno in his arms. Bunta and Jackal's jaws dropped. They had been together playing tennis since junior high and they had never seen him to actually care for someone who was hurt because of the Trickster. Jackal recovered first and started to pick up Sakuno's stuff. "Come along; let's go to the san. Anyway, how did you know the girl?" Bunta closed his jaw and stood up, "She's called Ryuzaki Sakuno and she's Miyu's friend. She makes the best cakes, I swear!" Jackal raised his eyebrows and said, "Really?" They started along to the san.

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Meanwhile, Niou and Sakuno had already reached the san but there was no sign of the doctor who was supposed to be on duty during club afternoons because so many people doing sports in such a large school means a lot of people with injuries one way or the other. It may be that it was already late and the doctor had gone. That was Niou's initial thought but he saw a note paper on the teacher's desk, saying she would be gone for thirty minutes to take a break. He put Sakuno down on one of the beds in the san.

Sakuno had been so surprised by Niou's action that she was speechless, her face blushing even more than usual for she had never been carried by a boy before and in the bridal-style too! Now she was calmer as she sat on the bed, looking at Niou as he got a first aid kit out. She thought about what Bunta had said about this person causing her fall. She remembered a scream of something but she was so concentrated on her practice that she did not catch what the words were; it was the sheer volume of the voice that had surprised her. She was about to thank Niou for bringing her to the san when he spoke up, almost roughly because he hated to apologize but he knew he had to this time because he was actually, honestly sorry that he hurt her, albeit indirectly, "I'm sorry… back then when I startled you. I-I didn't mean to make you fall. I just wanted to surprise you because you were concentrating so much."

Sakuno was touched by the rough apology. She might be a klutz; she might not be the brightest student but she had a kind heart and she could always feel when someone felt bad or sad. She did not know this person and yet she could sense that he was someone who was not used to bowing down to people but he was doing it to her, not literally but bowing down with his apology. She said, "Ano… You didn't startle me, I-I was just a bit surprised. You didn't cause my fall, senpai. I fall all the time, my family always say that I am very accident prone. You don't have to apologize because I probably would have slipped anyway. Besides you carried me to the san. Thank you for that because I would've gotten lost on my own. I'm new at Rikkai Dai." She was so intent on trying to make Niou feel better that she forgot her shyness and spoke to him naturally. Later she would recall the marvel of Rikkai's regulars because she actually spoke to these tennis idols with very little stuttering and stammering.

Niou stared at Sakuno with a stunned expression, another rarity for him. He was more used to people yelling at him after the Trickster had done his dirty deeds. This slip of a girl, a cute slip but still a slip, thanked him instead and said that it was her own fault. He now felt doubly ashamed, and for the first time in his life, found someone he did not want to trick ever again. He took the first aid kit and sat down in front of her. He said, "I'm Niou Masaharu, san-nen-sei, just call me Niou." (San-nen-sei means third year student; second year student would be ni-nen-sei and first year student is ichi-nen-sei.) Sakuno said in reply, "Ah… My name is Ryuzaki Sakuno, Niou-senpai. Yoroshiku-onegaishimasu." Niou nodded and silently started to treat her face wounds tenderly, his hands so careful as if he was afraid that he might break her.