Chapter Four:

A/N: yes, it's about to end! Thanks for the reviews everyone! Sorry for the very late review! I'm so sorry! I was busy because of my band! Waaah! So sorry!

Enjoy!


Five days after,

"Yatta!" Kikumaru cheered with his two hands up high, "I can't wait for the hot spring!" Everyone was waiting on the park for the vans that will take them to the hot spring, Megumi said two weeks ago.

"You're right, after all the hard days work in the cafe I really need a whole day relaxation" Oishi added, "Fuji-kun, you've been very busy these days, I'm glad you've made it"

"Ah yes, after Echizen's pictorial, we've been discussing what topic will be putting in the next issue" Fuji answered.

"You really deserve some time to relax, nee Fuji-kun" Oishi said as he smiled at him.
"Is that so?" The two started to laugh.

Sakuno on the other hand was sitting on the bench which was not so far away; she got recovered from everything that happened last week. Even the sky had recovered from such hard rains, the sky had returned to its bluest hue and the clouds were pure white as ever. The rain had washed away all the dirt and also Sakuno's uncertainty at Ryoma's weird actions from before. Sakuno inhaled the fresh breeze that gently touched her skin. That day was so comforting; it really was the best day to go to a hot spring.

"Sakuno, I brought some juice!" Tomoka sat down beside her and gave the juice.

"Thank you Tomoka-chan" Sakuno smiled and opened the juice. She watched her sempais who were waiting for the van to come; there was Fuji-sempai, Oishi-sempai, and Kikumaru-sempai. Momoshiro-sempai who was making a huge ruckus with Kaidoh-sempai; Kawamura-sempai was talking to Kachirou and Katsuo and even Ryoma-kun was there which was getting sick of listening to Horio's never ending brags. They never changed even though 10 years had past, even though they were mature enough to know what they're doing. Sakuno sip from her juice and noticed that Ryoma was staring at her, which made her choke.

"Sakuno, are you alright?" Tomoka looked at her with a worried face. Sakuno took her handkerchief and wiped her mouth.

"I'm fine" she answered as she placed her handkerchief back in her pocket.
"Isn't he handsome?" Tomoka started, sakuno looked at her and noticed that she was staring at someone. Sakuno followed her gaze and understood that it was Ryoma whom she was talking about.

"Tomoka-chan, you've been a fan of Echizen-kun for the past 10 years, ever since we're freshmen, nee?" Sakuno gave a forced smile.

"Hey what's with the formality?" Tomoka gave an unbelievable look at her. Sakuno knew what she had meant, but she ignored it.

"What do you mean, what's with the formality?" Sakuno gave her a rather wondered look on her.

"Well, you're starting to call him Echizen-kun rather than Ryoma-kun"

"Well, I don't think that's a problem right? I mean the formality and all"

"I thought everything was over between you two" This made Sakuno surprised, that phrase repeated in her head, she looked back and started blank in space. She thought back what Tomoka said a while ago, but before she could react, Tomoka began to spoke.

"The vans are here!" Sakuno looked up and saw that everybody was gathering. Tomoka stood up and took her bag, "Let's go Sakuno"

"Tomoka-chan, wait!" Sakuno called out as she watched Tomoka ran to the vans.

"Hurry up!" Tomoka shouted as she rode the second van at the back.

Sakuno got in the van and saw that it was nearly full, she saw Tomoka at the back seat with Ryoma and Kachirou.

"Sakuno, over here!" Tomoka called out, which made Ryoma bend away from her. Momoshiro gave way to her so that she could sit at the back of the van; she walked in and sat between Ryoma and Tomoka. Ryoma was at the window side and Tomoka was at the middle, she had no choice but to sit there with him, beside him.

"Isn't this exciting Sakuno? A one day relaxation, hot spring!" Tomoka cheered.

"Ah, Tomoka-chan..." Sakuno murmured. "She's excited isn't she?" she got surprised and turned back to see Ryoma talking to her.

"Ah… she's always like that, ever since we're freshmen…" Sakuno tensely said. He suddenly smiled at her which made her blush. She had discovered something unbelievable, something she never thought would come, Ryoma smiled.

At last they had reached the hot spring; they saw Tezuka and Megumi waiting for them at the front gate of the inn. Kikumaru was the first one who stepped out of the van, which then followed by the others. Sakuno stood out of the van and saw the inn. They were escorted inside the inn and into their own rooms. Sakuno and Tomoka took the same room which was beside Ryoma, Momoshiro's room. Truthfully, Sakuno was against the idea but Tomoka insisted which leaved her no choice. The room was simple yet so clean; Sakuno was amazed on how the room was well kept, there were fresh lavenders on the table at the living room which was accompanied by a fresh lavender scent. There were purple pillows on the floor next to the table, which was hazel.

"Wow, how lovely! Sakuno look!" Sakuno went to the balcony and saw the Fuji Mountain, it was beautiful and it was the nicest spot to view such a mountain from a far.

"Isn't it beautiful!" Tomoka cheered, Sakuno looked at it with contentment "Yes it is beautiful".

"Sugee it's the Fuji Mountain!" Sakuno turned to her left and saw Momo-sempai and Ryoma at their room's balcony. Ryoma looked at her which made her uneasy and turned back to Tomoka.

"Tomoka-chan, why don't we go to the hot spring?" Sakuno suggested.

"Great idea, Momo-sempai, Ryoma-sama see you later!" Tomoka went inside their room. Sakuno turned back and glanced at her left to see Ryoma looking at her with a bothered face. She avoided his stare and continued to go inside their room. Ryoma kept on showing odd actions which made her feel more troubled and unease. That day was starting to get too uncomfortable for her and wished she never joined that trip, the relaxation she longed for that morning was gone, and she wanted to go home.

"Sakuno are you feeling well?"

Sakuno got startled at this; she caught herself staring blankly into space… again. Sakuno looked at her friend who was looking at her worriedly. She shook her head and smiled at her, "It's nothing Tomoka-chan, don't worry" Tomoka stared her in doubt but she just accepted it and turned to the sky. It was already night, there are few stars shining since the brightness of the lights in the hot spring had covered it. Sakuno took a deep sigh and felt weaker. Suddenly the men from the other side were making a huge noise, especially Momo and Kaidoh who were fighting, Kachirou and Katsuo were there trying to make the two calm and quiet.

"Mattaku, they never grow up nee Sakuno?"

Sakuno didn't respond, "Nee, Sakuno?" Tomoka turned to her and saw that Sakuno fainted and she was drowning, "Ah Sakuno!"

Sakuno woke up slowly; her head was still aching and found herself lying in their room. What happened….? Sakuno sat up, her right hand holding her head. She finally remembered,"I went in the hot spring for too long…." She looked at her left and saw Tomoka fast asleep. She must've passed out for too long; she took her cell phone and noticed that it was 11:30 in the evening. After knowing that, she stood up and decided to leave the room to intake some fresh air. She walked out of the inn and saw its garden, she was amazed. It was full moon, there were no clouds and the stars were shining like diamonds. The garden was entirely lawn, and the huge pond was distant. There were bushes at every side with orchids that hanged in their places. She stepped at the lawn and started to stroll at the garden, she was fascinated by what she was seeing and she wanted to stay longer. She turned to her right and saw someone sitting by the low balcony of the inn. By the help of the moon's illumination, she had managed to tell that it was a guy, a guy who was drinking something and watching the moon too. She decided to approach the guy to talk with.

"Anou… Are you all by yourself?"

The guy turned to her and to her amazement it was someone she totally knew. Ryoma watched her as she stood there.

"Ah gomen nee, I must've disturbed you, saa I better go now" she turned back but then,

"Yes alone, why don't you accompany me for a while?" Sakuno's eyes widened, but she had no choice but to join him. She turned to him and sat beside him; curled up and placed her hand on her knees. He offered her beer and she accepted it. It was quiet and very tense, they were waiting themselves to voluntarily speak up and do the talking, but neither of them spoke. But then it was decided, "Anou!" they both spoke and they stared into their eyes but then sakuno avoided once more.

"Gomen!" sakuno bowed down in embarrassment, and then Ryoma started to laugh. She slowly looked up to see him wiping his tears.

"Sorry about that, I got carried away" he opened a can of beer and stared at the moon.

"Nope it's fine…" sakuno said, and then again there was silence.

"You know what? It's good to be back…"

"Really, that's great" she looked rested her head on her knees, "you miss Japan nee?"

"Of course… especially you" Ryoma turned to her "Sakuno"

Her eyes widened and she felt red, "What are you saying? You're—"

"You look beautiful tonight"

Sakuno could not believe what he had said; she was disbelieving it, she wanted to leave. She knew how their conversation will turn out, to their past that she believed that she had forgotten. She wanted to leave the place, to avoid the conversation to avoid Ryoma as soon as she can.

"It's getting late, I better go back. Tomoka-chan might have found out that I'm not in the room" she said as she prepared to leave, but when she turned back he grasped her hand and pulled her close to him, giving her an embrace, "I'm so sorry… Sakuno…"

Sakuno was paused but she suddenly tried to push herself free from his embrace, "Let go!" she kept on pulling away until they've got unbalance, making them fell onto the balcony floor, Ryoma on top of her. She looked at his eyes shaking, and then tried to leave again but Ryoma didn't let her, and held her again.

"Let go of me!" Sakuno hammered her fist at ryoma's chest, "Let go of me!"

"Listen to me sakuno I'm sorry for what I did!"

"No! I don't want to, let go of me!" as she kept on hammering her fist.

"No you don't understand, it's not what you think it was"

"No! Let go of me" tears started to fell from Sakuno's hazel eyes, "I had enough! I had enough!"

"sakuno please"
"NO!" sakuno kept on beating him until it turned out to be weak, "no… I had enough already"

"Sakuno…"

Her tears kept on falling and she had calmed, "I don't want to go back… I had enough… I don't want to feel that kind of feeling… I don't want to… please…"
"sakuno… I'm sorry… for what I've did… I had no choice but to do what father wants… I'm so sorry…"

Sakuno was stopped by what she had heard, and looked at him in confusion, "Do… what your father wants?" Ryoma clamped her shoulders and he looked at her in the eye, "It's not me who wanted to leave you… it's FATHER!". Sakuno couldn't believe her ears, she was over hearing things. "Father wanted me to become strong and if I don't leave you he'll put you in danger" Ryoma said with his eyes tightly closed.

"You…", Ryoma looked at her slowly, "You… lied to me…" sakuno murmured.

"Sakuno…"

"You lied to me! Through all these years you lied to me!"

"No listen to me, it's for your own good"

"No…" sakuno was mad, her heart was hurting because of anger and she was frustrated at him. Through all those years she had thought that his real reason was his dream and he really doesn't care, but she was wrong. He was afraid that she would be in danger, but why didn't he trust her? She will understand if he just said it, she knew she will and she can bear to take it if that's the only choice. But it was too late, "You lied to me because of that? You lied to me because I'm in danger?"

"You don't understand, I care for you and I don't want you to get harm I don't want you to get hurt!"

"The pain that you gave me was unbearable compare to what I'm going to feel if I was in danger, don't you know how pain it is to accept the fact that you don't care and you just left me with unreasonable reasons?"

"Sakuno… it was painful to me too! Do you think I took it easily? It was painful for me to do it—"

"Don't talk about pain with me Ryoma! You don't know how I bear those times! You don't know!" sakuno pulled off from his grip and stood up. Ryoma stared at her in agony, "Sakuno… that's why I'm here… I want to say sorry… I want to say sorry before I go back!"

"It's too late Ryoma… you have wounded me… and I had enough…" sakuno turned around and ran but she was stopped when Ryoma called her, "Sakuno, you know I love you and that will never change, I'm here to bring you back to America and live with me but I guess I was wrong in knowing that you forgave me from everything…"

Sakuno left the place after she heard it and left Ryoma depressed.


Waaah chapter four finished and I think its crap because I don't get the dramatic scene right! I'm worst in describing stories in detail but I'll try my best to finish it and make the other two chapters better! Yey it's about to be finished!