My first Tennis no Ohjisama fic. I hope I got everything alright... Please go easy on me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tennis no Ohjisama or Prince of Tennis.
Worst Punishment
Echizen Ryoma was in a big trouble.
Yes, believe it or not, he's in a big trouble. He has to do something that was way too humiliating to be said out loud.
He, himself, couldn't believe how his senpais manage to rope him in into this.
It might be a bit unbelievable, but this time, his source of distress was in the form of a girl. Not a talented and strong tennis opponent.
No, it's Ryuuzaki Sakuno, the grand daughter of the most protective grandmother on Earth, Ryuuzaki-sensei.
The girl who always manages to get herself lost. The same one with the two long braids. Ryuuzaki Sakuno, best friend with Tomoka, Seigaku's (Ryoma's) loud cheerleader.
Ryuuzaki-sensei would kill Ryoma for what he was about to do. But if he didn't do it, his senpais would hunt him down.
If he was given the chance to choose between handling both Momo-senpai and Eiji-senpai or doing what he was about to do to Sakuno, he would gladly choose his troublesome sempais.
This was all Fuji-senpai's fault, of course. His and all of the Seigaku regulars fault, especially the noisy Momo-senpai for mentioning Ryuuzaki's name.
He would kill them.
It was a normal Tuesday. As usual, he went to tennis practice after school, accompanied by the rather loud Horio and his friends. Momo-senpai met them on the way to the tennis court and boast about how he's going to defeat Ryoma today. Then, they met with the rest of the regulars, and Horio and his friends went to do their duty. It was just a normal practice.
Until a former Seigaku's regular showed up.
After that, Ryoma wished he'd skip the practice.
Inui-sempai arrived and announced a 'special training' for the regulars. Ryoma, Kaidoh-senpai and Oishi-senpai groaned, thinking about the previous 'special training' and the 'delicious drinks'.
When Fuji-senpai happily mentioned the concoctions, Inui-senpai shook his head regretfully. Apparently, his mother had mistaken the 'special drinks' for expired milk. All other them were relived and thanked Inui-senpai's mother silently, until they saw the wicked glint in Inui-senpai's eyes (glasses).
He announced a new type of punishment: the losers must follow the winner's order. Knowing how severe Fuji-senpai can be, they all resolved to win their match. Unfortunately, there will always be a loser when a winner is present.
Ryoma was confident that he could win against anyone. He was contemplating the punishments that he would give out until he realized his opponent: Fuji Syuusuke, the resident tennis genius.
Ryoma really couldn't afford losing.
"Good luck, Ochibi." Momo-senpai (lost to Tezuka-senpai; had to sing the Japanese national anthem out loud in the females' rest room) murmured as Ryoma went past him.
"Ganbatte, Ochibi! Do your best!" His ever so encouraging Eiji-senpai (lost to 'burning' Kawamura-senpai; had to treat all eight of the regulars to burgers) shouted as Fuji-senpai took the serve.
Kaidoh-senpai (lost to Oishi-senpai; had to act like a rabbit for a full 20 minutes in front of laughing audience) hissed as Ryoma returned Fuji-senpai shot.
When Ryoma first became a regular, Momo-senpai, Eiji-senpai and Oishi-senpai warned him if he ever played Fuji-senpai, he must not lose his focus. If he does this, he would be ruthlessly defeated. At first, Ryoma thought that they were joking. After seeing Fuji-senpai played, Ryoma decided to take them seriously.
Somehow, someway, he still managed to lose focus.
Someone, who is a girl, managed to distract him from an important match. That girl was the same person Ryoma was punished with.
Ryuuzaki Sakuno.
It wasn't that she called out his name or anything. No, the one who's really to blame was Ryoma himself, for having such sharp eyesight. If he didn't need them to see, Ryoma would have stabbed his cat-like eyes.
Ryoma was paying his full attention at returning Fuji-senpai's shot (Swallow Return) when, at the corner of his eyes, he saw a bewildered-looking Ryuuzaki two feet away from him. He raised his eyebrows; he knew that look. It was the kind of look she wore when she's lost.
There will always be trouble whenever Ryuuzaki was lost, regardless of where she is. Ryoma was a living proof of it. Ryoma didn't know how on earth she managed to get herself lost in the tennis courts, but the next thing he knew; he turned around to face her. It was his biggest mistake. Thus, he got hit by a very powerful return from Fuji-senpai.
The hit qualified him for the punishment round, alongside Momo-senpai, Eiji-senpai and Kaidoh-senpai. Momo-senpai shook his head in a pitying way, while Oishi-senpai brought him a bag of ice to cool down the swollen head. Eiji-senpai was grinning wickedly behind Ryoma, while Kaidoh-senpai hissed mockingly. Tezuka-senpai's face showed no expression. For Tezuka-senpai, it was the most sympathetic look that he could muster. Even Inui-senpai was looking sympathetically at Ryoma. Kawamura-senpai stood helplessly by Ryoma's side.
A tall shadow of doom loomed over Ryoma. H looked up to the smiling Fuji-senpai and instantly knew that he wasn't going to get out of this alive.
"Now, what shall I punish you with?" Fuji-senpai asked cheerfully, rubbing his chin. Ryoma shrugged, hoping that it won't be too gruesome.
"Hey, what's Sakuno-chan doing here?" Momo-senpai spoke up, noticing the braided haired girl for the first time. Fuji-senpai looked at Ryuuzaki's direction, and his smile widen.
"I'm glad that she's here." Fuji-senpai smiled in a meaningful way. Ryoma paled.
That's how Echizen Ryoma found himself staring at the back of Ryuuzaki Sakuno's head, figuring out a way to run from his bloody senpais.
"Couldn't he just punish me with something else?" Ryoma muttered grudgingly.
"Be glad that you don't have to go the females' rest room and sing the national anthem." Momo-senpai grunted and pushed Ryoma towards Ryuuzaki.
"Yessss! You're the luckiest among us, Ochibi nya!" Eiji-senpai budged in and joined Momo-senpai on his quest to decrease the distance between Ryoma and Ryuuzaki.
"But…She's Ryuuzaki-sensei's grand daughter…" Ryoma tried to reason. He knew that the rest of the regulars were standing a few feet away from him, trying to act casual. He also knew that his chance of escaping was thinner than a piece of cloth.
"I don't think she will kill you." Even Momo-senpai didn't sound convinced by his own statement. "Besides, she's not around." He used all of his strength to push the reluctant Ryoma, but the small prodigy won't budge from his position.
Fed up, Kaidoh-senpai came out of his hiding and kicked Ryoma towards Ryuuzaki. The three senpais went to the rest of the regulars whom were hiding behind a store. Eiji-senpai was holding a digital camera which happened to be in his bag.
"This should be interesting…" he grinned, making sure that the camera had enough film.
Ryoma went stumbling towards Ryuuzaki, resulted by Kaidoh-senpai's kick. Quickly, he regained his composure and began to walk calmly, his palms sweating. He's never done this before.
She was standing alone, leaning into a tree. Her forehead was sweating heavily, and in her left hand she held a stack of papers. Ryuuzaki was sipping the can of Ponta in her right hand. Ryoma wished that he could have one to calm his nerve. Thankfully, the area around them was empty, so there was no one around to watch Ryoma (forced) doing something embarrassing except for seven of the best tennis players in Tokyo.
Echizen Ryoma has never been this nervous before. He wiped a trickle of sweat from his eyebrows. He has never been nervous with anyone before, so how did Ryuuzaki manage to make him this nervous?
"Ryuuzaki." He called out. She turned around and blushed when she saw Ryoma. Her red face only makes the matters worse, Ryoma sighed. Just do this and get over with it, he groaned inwardly.
"Yes, Ryoma-kun?" her sweet voice rang in his ears.
Without a warning, Ryoma hugged the innocent girl. Ryuuzaki was surprised as Ryoma grasped her lithe figure. Her body was quite warm, he noted. He loosened his grip on Ryuuzaki. I could smell the scent of her hair, Ryoma thought as he placed his head on her shoulder. She smelled of lemon. Ryoma doesn't know why, but he could stay like this forever.
Ryoma stepped away from her and studied her expression. It was satisfying to see the usually bright girl being rendered speechlesshe smirked. Realizing that he hasn't finished, Ryoma inhaled deeply and prepared himself for the last gruesome task.
Slowly, he pulled her closer to him. They were only inches apart when Ryoma placed his lips on hers. It was his first, and he was surprised by the warmness and softness of Ryuuzaki lips. He felt Ryuuzaki flinched at his move, and smirked again. Both of them weren't aware of the gaping Seigaku regulars. Ryoma snapped back to reality when he heard the clicking of a camera.
When the thought of his senpais entered his mind, Ryoma quickly stepped away from Ryuuzaki and tugged at his cap. He was blushing like mad; his face was in a deep scarlet all over. "I'm sorry." He muttered, and left her feeling even more confused. As Ryoma walked back to the tennis courts, his senpais caught up with him.
"Well done, Ryoma." Fuji-senpai smirked. Kaidoh-senpai hissed mischievously. Eiji-senpai looped while Momo-senpai high-five with Oishi-senpai. Even Tezuka-senpai was chuckling softly. Kawamura-senpai patted him rather hard on the back.
"Yeah, I got a photo of Ochibi kissing Sakuno-chan nya!" Eiji-senpai shouted cheerfully. Ryoma flinched as his senpais gathered around Eiji-senpai to look at the photo.
"I want a copy!" Momo-senpai ordered.
"Ochibi's blushing!" Oishi-senpai laughed.
As his senpais' laughter increased, Ryoma noticed that his hands smelt distinctly of lemon. He smirked as he recalled what he did earlier.
That was easy, he thought. Almost as enjoyable as tennis...
Was it bad? Was it good? Leave me a comment, will you?