A/N: I'm so sorry for the long wait. As compensation, I am posting two chapters tonight!
HEADS UP! I'm giving Sakuno actual character here because I believe that her character is not yet explored in the Prince of Tennis, so if you think that there are some non-canon information (Hint: Sakuno's past and her parents), I fitted my own idea to give her shyness justification and to give way for more character development. I hope you understand, but if you mind that, I'm so sorry, this is probably not the story for you. Anyways, to those people who still want to continue, enjoy!
Italics + Bold words are dialogues spoken in English: "RyoSaku forever and ever…"
~Three~
Ryoma's Confusing Actions
"Grandma, I'm going!" Sakuno yelled as she hurried out of the house and into the road.
Her hand tightened on the bento box she was holding and felt her heart jump in excitement at the prospect of seeing Ryoma so early in the morning. She giggled to herself.
One week and a day had passed since Sakuno had saved Ryoma's cat from the bullies, and she felt like her life would never be the same again.
It was as if she were living in a fantasy. Sometimes, she still couldn't help but question if she had just made up everything that happened. Of course, she always reminded herself that Ryoma was probably feeling indebted to her and that was why he was so nice lately. He'd assured her he wasn't helping her because of Karupin, but she was still a bit skeptical.
Nearing the intersection, she caught a glimpse of him leaning on the wall with his hands on his pants pocket. Sakuno grinned, running faster towards Ryoma. She stopped in front of him with a hand on her knee, panting a little.
"Ryoma-kun, did you wait long?" she asked as she looked up at him.
"Not really," he replied, his bored, golden eyes gazing at her. "Your stamina still sucks."
Sakuno pouted. "Mou, I didn't ask you about my stamina," she said, which he answered with a smirk.
Huffing, she handed him the bento she made this morning and he accepted it with a simple, 'thanks.'
"I told you that it's fine to give this to me at lunch," muttered Ryoma. "If only Momo-senpai would stop dragging me away during lunch."
"Mm, Tomo-chan also has her moments, so we really don't have a choice if we don't want to be mercilessly teased," Sakuno said, feeling exasperated. "Besides…" She clenched her skirt nervously. "I don't want to be the center of attention, Ryoma-kun."
Ryoma's fangirls were ruthless. Girls suspected of flirting with him were, at best, ostracized. At worst, they were guinea pigs for their own version of Inui Juice. Last time, Sakuno had barely escaped with her life. Thank goodness for Tomo-chan's protection.
"Che. Annoying fangirls." He scowled.
Sakuno chuckled at his displeasure.
"Let's go," he said, walking towards the direction of their school.
"To be fair, it's not really their fault Ryoma-kun is extremely good at tennis," she pointed out, giggling beside him. 'And devilishly handsome too,' she added internally.
Ryoma looked put out. "Are you seriously blaming this on me?"
She couldn't help it, she laughed which earned her a death glare from Ryoma.
"It's not funny," he muttered through gritted teeth.
Sakuno stifled her laugh with a hand but Ryoma continued to scowl.
The usual companionable silence reigned on them after that little conversation, but Sakuno didn't mind. Ryoma, after all, was a quiet person and she didn't have any complaints about that. 'Ryoma-kun is Ryoma-kun.'
It wasn't like she didn't want to talk to Ryoma. She loved every little second of their conversations, but each word was chosen carefully. He'd bought her a Ponta in penitence, but the memory of him telling her, "You're talking too much," still haunted her. She smiled to herself. They'd come so far since that day.
Just last week, they started going to school together, and yesterday, Ryoma started tutoring her. Or rather he spent two hours sleeping at her desk while she did his writing exercises.
He still checked her answers once he woke up though, and so thoroughly criticized her she was ready to hide in her bathroom. Fortunately, she managed to take all of his criticism without much of a fuss.
As they reached the school gate, Sakuno gradually let herself drift away from Ryoma, who didn't protest. Both knew it was easier to enter the grounds separately.
Fortunately, she was only alone until she reached the classroom.
"Good morning, Sakuno!" exclaimed Tomoka, enveloping her in a hug.
Sakuno smiled as she returned her best friend's hug gently. "Good morning, Tomo-chan."
"Ryoma-sama just arrived a few minutes before you! Haven't you seen him on your way here? You walk the same route right?" Tomoka excitedly asked.
Sakuno sweatdropped. "N-No. I didn't see him," she blatantly denied. 'I'm so sorry, Tomo-chan! I can't tell you anything!'
It was not as if she could tell her best friend that she was actually walking with Echizen Ryoma on the way here. It would be as if she had gone ahead and announced it to the whole school if she did. Her best friend had such a loud voice.
"Geez, still slow as ever, Sakuno. If I were you, I would've waited for Ryoma-sama every day and acted like it's just an accident so we could walk together on our way here," Tomoka said dreamily.
Sakuno nervously laughed then glanced at Ryoma. As if feeling her gaze on him, he craned his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow, and she quickly averted her eyes back to Tomoka. She could practically feel him boring holes to the side of her head while she did her best to ignore him.
'Mou, he would definitely ask about this later.'
"By the way, Sakuno…"
She returned her attention back to Tomoka and took a step back when her best friend's face was suddenly inches away from her with a suspicious look on her face.
"W-What is it, Tomo-chan?" Sakuno tried her best to smile at Tomoka, putting up her hands to prevent the girl from coming closer.
"Lately, I've noticed you disappear during lunch. Where were you? And why didn't you take me with you?" Tomo-chan asked with narrowed eyes.
Sakuno swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, "I-I told you I was sent on an errand and–"
"Oh really? You're not lying to me are you?" Tomo-chan crossed her arms, arching a brow at her.
"N-No! Of course not, Tomo-chan." She didn't sound convincing, even to herself. Sakuno wanted to disappear into thin air.
"Hm, do you perhaps have another errand later?" Tomo-chan's brow arched higher.
"U-Umm…" What was she going to say? She couldn't just tell Tomo-chan that she was supposed to eat lunch with Ryoma!
"T-Tomo-chan–"
Before she could blurt out something stupid though, she was interrupted by the bell. Sakuno couldn't have been happier to hear the school bell.
'I'm saved! But, Tomo-chan is getting suspicious, what am I going to do now?'
Lunchtime had finally arrived and most of the students hurried to the cafeteria, leaving the blackboard still filled with their teacher's scribbles and the chairs in disarray.
It was one of Sakuno's favorite parts of the day, because of a certain Tennis Prince with whom she enjoyed a quiet rooftop lunch. Sadly, that didn't seem possible today.
Sakuno scratched her head as Tomoka stood in front of her desk with an expectant look on her face.
She let out a quiet sigh. 'I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun. You're eating alone today. Mou, Tomo-chan, why do you have to be so demanding?'
Deciding to just apologize to Ryoma later, Sakuno grabbed her bento to join Tomoka in the cafeteria – only to jerk in surprise as their classroom door abruptly slammed open.
"Echizen! Let's go to the burger joint, Kikumaru-senpai's treat!" Momo-senpai thundered as he hastily wrapped an arm around Ryoma's neck, nearly choking him.
Sakuno could vaguely hear Kikumaru-senpai protesting in the background but it fell on deaf ears.
"M-Mo–mo-senpai!" exclaimed Ryoma, struggling to remove himself from his grip.
"O'chibi, you've been disappearing for a week now. Where are you eating your lunch?" Kikumaru-senpai suddenly asked, bouncing towards the two. It was funny how Kikumaru-senpai still called Ryoma 'O'chibi' when they were practically on the same height now.
"Around," Ryoma flatly replied as he was finally able to free himself.
Like spectators in a comedy bar, she and Tomo-chan quietly watched as the two senpais snicker at the Tennis Prince while he was angrily straightening his wrinkled uniform.
"Ooh, now that you mentioned it, Kikumaru-senpai. Sakuno's been gone for a week too!" Tomo-chan exclaimed beside her.
Utterly mortified, Sakuno tried to say something but was cut off by Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai.
"Ohhh, what is this, Echizen?" Momo-senpai's face looked devilish.
"Secretly eating lunch with Sakuno-chan, O-chi-bi?" Kikumaru-senpai teased, his eyes dancing with glee.
Sakuno burned to the roots of her hair. 'How can they guess that immediately?! We didn't even say anything!'
"N-No! T-that's not–"
"Oohh, why don't we join you in the burger joint, senpai?" Tomo-chan mischievously suggested and Sakuno stared at her in horror.
"T-Tomo-chan!" she yelled, looking utterly flustered. "S-She's kidding, senpai! We're actually about–"
"It's fine, it's fine...the more the merrier," Momo-senpai cut her off with a large grin.
"B-But we don't–" She was about to protest more when she caught sight of Ryoma staring at her so intensely that she was tempted to back herself into the wall.
'W-What's with that look?' He was practically demanding her to come with them.
Sakuno took a step back, the back of her legs bumping her chair.
She drifted from Tomoka's hopeful expression to Ryoma's intense eyes. With that, she knew that she lost all the fight in her. Ryoma could just make her do anything, and she was powerless to protest.
She hung her head in surrender. "O-Okay then…" she whispered.
"Yay!" Tomo-chan cheered as she hugged her.
That day, she and Tomoka went with Ryoma and the two senpais to the burger joint to eat lunch.
As Fuji, Tezuka, Inui, Kawamura, Oishi, and Kaido-senpai joined them, Sakuno knew that lunch was already a gigantic mess.
The tables were all pushed together to accommodate eleven people. They were at the far corner of the burger joint, crammed into a single table.
Kawamura-senpai was holding his racket, shouting and swinging it around. Kikumaru and Momo-senpai were holding a grumpy looking Ryoma hostage as they made fun of him. Oishi-senpai was fussing over all of them, and the rest were having their own conversations while Sakuno sat rigidly, counting signs of disapproval from the other customers.
Just then, Ryoma was promptly dumped beside her like a sack of potatoes by Kawamura-senpai at Momo and Kikumaru-senpai's insistence.
Fuji-senpai sat beside her, putting his order on the table. On her left was Ryoma, trying to fix his uniform while Momo-senpai sat beside him.
Sakuno looked over curiously as Momo-senpai sent her a mischievous grin, and nudged Ryoma towards her, nearly pushing him into her lap. Her eyes widened as she angled herself to catch Ryoma's body, her back bumping onto Fuji-senpai's side.
"Ah!" Her hand braced for Ryoma, cushioning his fall. Without glancing at her, Ryoma kicked Momo-senpai off his chair and he crashed on the ground.
"Stupid Momo-senpai," Ryoma muttered.
"Echizen!" Momo-senpai stood up, wound his arm around Ryoma's neck and started ruffling his hair.
Sakuno turned to Fuji-senpai to apologize but he immediately waved her off.
"It was an accident, Sakuno-chan," Fuji-senpai said, before she could reply she felt Ryoma being shoved to her side again. She winced. Clearly, Momo-senpai had returned to his seat.
She and Ryoma barely had space to move. She had to be careful or she would end up in Ryoma's personal space. Sakuno's face burned as she bunched a fistful of her skirt in her hands while Tomoka sent her suggestive looks from across the table, who was surprisingly sitting beside Kaido-senpai.
Kikumaru-senpai was sitting across Ryoma, and beside him was Oishi-senpai who was trying to settle down everyone. At opposite ends of the table were Inui and Tezuka-senpai
"Looking good, Echizen," Fuji-senpai casually said.
"BURNING! Echizen's so manly!" Kawamura-senpai yelled, who was still standing and swinging his racket.
The whole table roared with laughter as Ryoma's eye rapidly twitched. He looked like he was having an aneurysm.
"Echizen is so mischievous, hogging Sakuno-chan for himself," Momo-senpai added teasingly.
"Senpai! T-that's not–"
"Hm, I knew from the start that Echizen was hiding something, and there is an 85% chance it involves Ryuzaki-chan," Inui-senpai muttered, pushing his glasses up his nose.
"We aren't–"
"E-Echizen, make sure you and Sakuno-chan aren't involved in any, shall we say, extracurricular activities," Oishi-senpai said, gazing nervously at the two of them.
Sakuno felt like she was going to faint from embarrassment. No one was letting her speak!
"Senpai! Ryoma-kun and I aren't–"
"Echizen, don't let your guard down," Tezuka-senpai said.
"Fuussh…" Kaido-senpai hissed. Who knew what he meant by that?
"Take care of Sakuno, Ryoma-sama!" Tomo-chan exclaimed.
She needed somewhere to disappear into. Like a place to hide and bury herself forever.
"Ah, I think Sakuno-chan is saying something, nya!"
'Thank you so much Kikumaru-senpai!' But then, everyone was staring at her now. Sakuno sweat nervously.
"You're making her uncomfortable, stupid senpais," Ryoma muttered beside her, which – in spite of everything – made her heart skip.
'D-Did Ryoma-kun just...stand up for me?'
"R-Ryoma-kun–"
"MANLY! ECHIZEN TAKES CARE OF HIS GIRL!"
Sakuno flinched from the volume and clutched her hands to her chest looking horrified. Everyone in the burger joint was staring at them now.
Just then, Ryoma grabbed onto his tennis bag laid forgotten under the table.
"Somebody grabs that stupid racket from Kawamura-senpai, or I'll–"
Thankfully, Fuji-senpai got the message and snatched the racket from Kawamura-senpai before a bunch of twist serves started flying into their faces.
Kawamura-senpai finally calmed down and reverted to his shy demeanor. "I-I'm sorry, everyone…" he said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.
He sat down at the extra chair beside Fuji-senpai. Sakuno and Ryoma were sandwiched with no space to move. She could practically feel the heat of his body beside her, and every time one of them moved, their skin rubbed into each other. Sakuno stared at her forgotten bento placed on top of the table right in front of her, trying to hide her blushing face from everyone.
"Are we eating yet?" said Ryoma, looking ready to murder.
For a second, Sakuno was afraid Ryoma would stop eating lunch with her so she hastily turned her head to Ryoma. "I-I'm sorry, Ryoma-kun. They–"
"Why are you apologizing?" he asked, finally facing her. Their legs and elbows bumping on each other. Ryoma's forehead was creased, and he looked pretty messed up. Sakuno actually felt sorry for him, but at the same time, she was distracted by their proximity.
"I–They thought–"
"Don't worry about it, the senpais are just crazy," he dismissively said before he glared at the overly attentive senpais.
Except for Kaido, Tezuka, and Oishi-senpai, who looked more worried than anything, the rest gazed at them as if they were watching a soap opera. Tomoka was even winking at her!
Blushing madly, Sakuno smiled gently at Ryoma and nudged him with her foot. He gave her a smirk and nudged her back before he returned his attention to their audience.
"and Momo-senpai...prepare for the next practice."
Momo-senpai's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Echizen! They were jokes! Don't be a spoilt sport. You guys looked so cute–"
"50 laps around the court, Momoshiro."
Sakuno quickly looked up to stare at Tezuka-senpai in surprise.
"B-But, Buchou–" Momo-senpai tried to protest.
"100 laps," Tezuka-senpai deadpanned.
Momo-senpai melted in his seat, and the whole table quieted down.
"Stop torturing those two and eat your lunch. Time is running out," Tezuka-senpai commanded.
Everyone murmured in agreement, afraid to run laps like Momo-senpai. However, not even a few minutes later, a new argument broke out.
Momo, Kaido, Kikumaru, and Fuji-senpai were now competing who could eat more food, and Ryoma was even coaxed to join the challenge by Momo-senpai. Tomoka even went to cheer for them.
Sakuno quietly giggled as the chaos rolled in the background.
The next day, Sakuno handed Ryoma his bento box and they walked together to school.
She prayed for Kami-sama to grant her alone time with Ryoma today. Unfortunately, Tomoka decided to hog Sakuno for herself again, immediately latching onto her arm before she could even stand from her desk.
"T-Tomo-chan!" Sakuno yelped in surprise as Tomoka dragged her out of the class, her bento bag already in Tomo-chan's hand.
"You're not running around to wherever again. C'mon, Katsuo-kun and Kachiro-kun are already waiting!" Tomoka said, directing her to the school garden under a big Sakura tree. All Sakuno could do was sigh and let her best friend manhandle her.
Tomoka gently pushed her down beside a root and put her bento on her lap.
Tomo-chan then showed her a V for victory. "Now, let's eat!" she happily exclaimed as Katsuo and Kachiro laughed sheepishly. The two were seated across Sakuno while Tomoka sat between them.
Sakuno sighed again, "Alright. It's not as if I'm running away." She pouted as Tomoka laughed, and the two boys scratched the back of their heads.
"We were dragged here too," Katsuo murmured.
"You think Horio will look for us?" Kachiro asked worriedly.
The two silently stared at each other as Sakuno laughed nervously. "Maybe he'll get here," she said, uncertain herself.
Tomoka scoffed, "I hope not, I intended not to invite him after all," she said while crossing her arms.
"Hah! You wish!"
They all jumped in surprise as Horio suddenly appeared out of nowhere with…
"R-Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno exclaimed in bewilderment.
"Chisu," the Tennis Prince greeted blandly and sat beside her.
'What's he doing here? I thought he'd be with the senpais!'
Her heart started going crazy, and her fingers nervously shook, making her hyper-aware of Ryoma's presence beside her. They weren't alone, and Tomo-chan's here.
Tomoka and Horio continued to scream at each other while Ryoma and the rest of the freshmen trio decided to focus on their lunch.
Sakuno glanced at her best friend and sweatdropped. "Tomo-chan, mou…" She sighed in exasperation and decided to fish for her new earphones in her pocket.
Tomoka accidentally destroyed her previous ones after borrowing them for a day. She was already planning on saving money to buy new earphones, but her grandmother beat her to it. It had been a while since she was able to enjoy lunchtime with music in her ears, and right now, she really needed it.
As the upbeat sound of Girigiri by Sonarpocket blasted in her ears, Sakuno exhaled in contentment. With her heart finally calming down, she was able to unwrap her bento without spilling anything.
Tomoka and Horio continued to bicker loudly as they bit into their own food, but their voices were thankfully muffled by the music. Sakuno smiled as she quietly ate while watching Horio and her best friend, Kachiro and Katsuo discreetly scooting away from the two, sweatdropping.
Sakuno giggled as she bit into her onigiri while the chorus of the song devoured her senses, and she started nodding her head a little in time with the music.
~Girigiri ni STAY shite sakebe tsugi no mirai kitai shitai
Girigiri ni FLY AGAIN iku zo tsukame SMILE~
She was startled out of her music-induced daydream when her left earphone suddenly disappeared. She turned her head to the side only to be bombarded by Ryoma's addicting scent, making her face explode in heat.
"R-Ryoma-kun…" she stuttered. The other pair of her earphones was currently plugged in Ryoma's right ear with his index and middle finger securing it.
"Hm, I didn't know you listen to this kind of music," he commented as he glanced at her.
"I-I listen to all genres of music," she mumbled, looking down at her bento.
"Heh, this is nice. At least Osakada and Horio's irritating voices are harder to hear," he said, smirking. And then, he was eating his bento again, unaware of the effect he had on her.
Flustered beyond belief, she quietly shifted her other pair to her left to make it more comfortable for the both of them to share the earphone.
She willed her fingers to stop shaking as she went back to eating. However, she caught sight of her best friend's twinkling eyes when she looked up and the trio freshmen's gaze as they all stared at her and Ryoma in various kinds of disbelief. Sakuno felt like burying herself six feet under as she ducked her head down and stared at her bento.
'Ho-e! This is so embarrassing! Ryoma-kun, what do you think you're doing to me?!'
"He stopped as if suddenly hit by a spear. In pain, he turned to her. Her face was in agony. It pained him to leave. She had been wonderful to him. What was it that made a man wish for a child? What was it in life, in the work in the field, in the planting and harvest, in the silence of the night, in the communing with husband and wife, in the whole life of the tribe itself that made man wish for the laughter and speech of a child?"
Ryoma's voice flitted through her ears as he read a passage from The Wedding Dance. She couldn't get enough of his husky, melodious voice even though it sounded as flat as a board. She could probably listen to him read a cookbook and still enjoy it.
"Do you understand everything up to that part?"
Sakuno blinked. 'What?'
His eyebrow arched expectantly as she continued to gaze at him in confusion. Just then, Ryoma suddenly leaned forward from across the small table and flicked her forehead.
"Ouch!" she yelped and promptly rubbed the stinging skin.
"Stop daydreaming," Ryoma scolded. "Here…" He slid the book to her and scowled. "Read that out loud and translate it into Japanese after three sentences."
Sakuno blushed as she grabbed the book from the table. "S-Sorry…" she whispered.
'Ohmygosh! He caught me!' Afraid to look back at him, she scanned the book and furrowed her forehead in concentration. There were a lot of words that were too deep for her to understand.
"I told you to read it out loud," he flatly pointed out.
Sakuno squeaked. "R-Right…" She cleared her throat, praying for all the gods out there for her voice not to shake. "S-Suddenly she found courage. She would go to the dance. She would go to the chief of the village, to the elders, to tell them it was not right. Awiyao was hers; nobody could take him away from her. Let her be the first woman to complain, to denounce the unwritten rule that a man may take another woman. She would tell Awiyao to come back to her. He surely would relent. Was not their love as strong as the river?" She stopped.
'Ryoma-kun told me to translate it to Japanese after three sentences. What's a denounce in Japanese? Mou!' She was panicking now.
Ryoma sighed and flicked a pencil at her.
"Underline the words that you can't understand," he commanded, answering her silent question.
"Okay…"
She didn't know how long it took her to finish the task, but when she looked up, Ryoma was sipping on a can of Ponta, reading another English book.
"Ryoma-kun, I'm done," she called out as she slid the book back at him.
Ryoma removed his attention from the book he was reading and scanned what she had underlined.
"Hm, there's a lot," he observed, he gazed at her. "You have an English-Japanese dictionary, right?"
Sakuno nodded and stood up to grab her English and English-Japanese dictionaries from her study table and returned to her previous seat.
"Look for these words and translate everything little by little," Ryoma said.
Sakuno did what he instructed without complaints and worked in silence. Once she was finished and she was finally able to understand the whole story, she frowned.
"What?" Ryoma suddenly asked which startled her.
"Umm, it's just–the story is kind of tragic..." she muttered.
"Hm…" Ryoma curiously looked at her. "Do you mean, Awiyao choosing Madulimay over Lumnay?"
She nodded, crossing her arms as she reanalyzed the story in her head. "It's just, Awiyao said he loves Lumnay, and they were married for seven years. But why did he agree to leave Lumnay because she can't bear him a child?" she said, her frown deepening.
Ryoma arched a brow at her. "It's not really Awiyao's fault. This story is about a certain tribe, and Awiyao was already expected to have a son to continue their clan's lineage. It's his duty to the tribe, he can't just turn his back from his destiny."
Sakuno couldn't help it, she snorted. "Destiny? It's his decision, even though it's the law to them. They could've just run away and adopted a child if he really loved Lumnay."
Ryoma looked at her with amusement in his eyes. "You're being hard on Awiyao. Think of their circumstances. During this time, adoption isn't probably a thing yet, and running away with Lumnay is like turning his back from his duty. He's the future leader of their clan. There are more people involved, not just him and Lumnay."
Sakuno clenched her skirt, she felt her heart aching for some reason. "So, you're telling me that it's right to choose his duty over the woman he loved? His wife for seven years?" she carefully asked, silently wishing for her voice not to shake.
Ryoma frowned at her, "I'm saying that it's right to choose his future and his people over his own desires."
'Ryoma-kun's future. His family, and everyone's expectations of him. He has a bright future ahead of him, and being romantically involved with someone will only distract him from his main goal. Ryoma-kun is destined to be number one, and he will definitely choose his future over someone like me.'
Sakuno smiled a little at Ryoma. "I understand now, Ryoma-kun. I'm sorry for being an idiot."
Ryoma looked at her weirdly. "Are we still talking about the same thing, here?"
She faked a cheerful chuckle. "Mou, what else am I talking about, Ryoma-kun?"
"Che. If you're done with that, we still have another story to review." He flipped through the pages of the book before he slid it over to her.
Sakuno smiled ruefully, and absentmindedly returned to her work.
'I should stop assuming things just because Ryoma-kun treats me a bit differently. We're friends. Just friends. And I will forever support him until he finally reaches his dreams. It's not about me, it's about Ryoma-kun's future.'
The hours ticked by while she silently analyzed the new story and Ryoma was once again, fast asleep when she looked up from her notes and books.
"Mm, Karupin...don't eat my...sushi," he mumbled in his sleep.
Sakuno chuckled as she propped her elbows on top of the table, and rested her face on her hands, smiling softly at Ryoma's cute sleeping face.
"G-Gimme my Ponta–Nn, Momo-senpai."
She chuckled again as Ryoma grimaced.
"Karupin and Ponta eh, Ryoma-kun…" she whispered in amusement.
"Nn...stupid...Ryuzaki."
She jumped in surprise and dropped her arms on the table, blinking in astonishment at the sleeping Tennis Prince.
"Ryoma-kun…" she whispered in bewilderment. Her heart was pounding erratically inside her ribcage. 'Wait! I shouldn't think too deeply about this. I already steeled my resolve!'
She didn't know why she felt so happy when Ryoma was just sleep-talking and insulting her even in his sleep, but somehow, being in his dream meant a lot to her. No matter how much he insulted her there, she probably wouldn't mind. She was just so ecstatic hearing her name while he was asleep.
'I guess...I'm fine with this.'
Sakuno smiled to herself as she watched Ryoma. She didn't know how long she was staring in a daze-like manner, but she jerked her head up at the sudden knock. Her grandmother was poking her head through the doorway.
"Sakuno, I reheated the food. Wake up Ryoma and come down to the kitchen," her grandma said, arching an eyebrow at the still sleeping Ryoma.
Sakuno felt her cheeks heat up as she hastily nodded. "W-We'll be right there, Grandma."
Her grandmother just stared at her for an agonizing moment before she smiled.
"Grandma?" Sakuno asked, confused.
"Be patient dear, you can only pick the sweetest fruit when you wait for it to ripen," she said. Sakuno frowned, not understanding what her grandmother meant.
Sumire chuckled amusedly, shifting her gaze from Sakuno to Ryoma before she started closing the door, but opened it once again, peeking back her head to look at Sakuno in amusement.
"One more thing, Sakuno."
"Yes?" Sakuno blinked at her grandma as the old woman started to chuckle.
"Take a picture, it'll last longer," Ryuzaki Sumire said before she completely closed the door.
Sakuno stared blankly at the closed door as her whole body blazed in embarrassment.
That night, the three of them ate dinner together.
Sakuno secretly smiled to herself as she watched Ryoma talking, with Sumire laughing from time to time and Ryoma smirking or scowling in annoyance.
'Maybe, I can still have these little moments, as long as my feelings stay a secret. I can still be with Ryoma-kun, as a good friend.'
The tennis ball smashed against the brick as Sakuno rallied against the wall. Sweat was rolling down the side of her face, and she tried to control her heavy breathing the way Ryoma taught her in the past. She'd been going at it for an hour or so, and the fatigue was slowly getting to her. Still, she'd been remarkably agile even though her legs felt as heavy as an anchor.
As if Kami-sama wanted to remind her never to speak too soon, she twisted too quickly and lost her balance. The ball flew back somewhere behind her and she closed her eyes and braced for impact.
Instead, a strong arm caught her around the waist just before her face got acquainted with the clay. Sakuno snapped her eyes open and was greeted with a familiar cat-like, golden eye staring straight at her with his face so close to her own.
"R-Ryoma-kun!" she exclaimed in surprise, her cheeks rapidly heating up and her heart drumming like crazy.
Ryoma gave her a smirk as an answer. "Mada mada dane, Ryuzaki," he said as he helped steady her in her feet.
Sakuno clutched her racket in her hands and hugged it to her chest to ground herself to reality.
"T-Thank you for saving me, Ryoma-kun!" she bowed her head once before she looked back at him, but his attention was no longer on her.
Sakuno traced Ryoma's gaze and found out that he was looking at the red racket in her hands. 'His former red racket that he gave me when he went back to America in our first year of middle school.'
Ryoma stretched out a hand and Sakuno hastily handed him his former racket as she stared at him in puzzlement. He twirled the racket in his hand before he let out a small smile.
"It's been three years," he muttered.
"Do you want your racket back?" she asked. Although she would miss it, she wouldn't mind giving it back to Ryoma. He won many challenging battles with it, and after all this time, Sakuno couldn't figure out why he decided to give it to her.
Ryoma lifted his eyes and smirked at her. "No, you took care of it just fine," he said as he handed the racket back to her.
Sakuno blinked in bewilderment. "Are you sure you don't want your racket back, Ryoma-kun? It's fine–" An identical racket landed on her head, quelling her worries.
"I gave it to you so it's yours now," he said, removing his racket on her head and placing it on his shoulder.
Sakuno slowly nodded, hypnotized by his fierce eyes. 'Ryoma-kun is so handsome, standing like a model in front of me!' She could have melted into a puddle of goo.
He smirked again, "Let's rally."
Sakuno's daydream shattered as his words registered through her. "W-What!? No! I'm no match for you, Ryoma-kun!"
He arched a brow at her firm rejection. "We're not going to have a match. I just need a rallying partner."
"H-How 'bout the senpais?" she frantically suggested.
The racket landed back on her head. "You're being stupid again. Let's go," Ryoma said as he started walking further back to the wall.
He casually stood there with a raised brow, demanding her with his eyes to 'get on with it.'
Resigned, Sakuno sighed and got into position. She perked up in curiosity as Ryoma fished a ball from his pocket only to pull out her earlier ball.
"Eh, when did you–"
"Before I went to catch you. Brace yourself," he answered without letting her continue her question.
Sakuno hastily tried to focus as Ryoma threw the ball in the air and hit it using his right arm. 'At least he's holding back.'
Praying to all the gods that she wouldn't trip or miss the ball, Sakuno ran towards the tennis ball and miraculously managed to hit it back to Ryoma's side. She would have jumped in glee then and there.
"Hm, not bad…" he commented as he returned it back to her. Ecstatic at his compliment–Yes, that was considered a compliment–she determinedly ran for the ball again and almost tripped, but still managed to hit it back.
"Don't be too tense. You'll lose your balance."
She jolted at the sudden advice, but nodded and rearranged her stance. She hit the ball back, but it went a bit low.
"Bend your knees more," said Ryoma as he still managed to catch the ball and return it back to her. "Hit it a bit harder."
"Yes!" she answered as she scrambled to catch the ball. She sighed in relief as she managed to return it.
"Don't be satisfied with that kind of shallow return. You can't always be satisfied by barely making it over if you don't have somebody to back you up."
She squeaked in embarrassment. "I'm sorry!"
'He noticed!'
"Pay attention to the ball! If you get distracted, your opponent will easily see your blind spots." Her eyes widened and she hurriedly ran for the ball. She bent low and managed to catch it before it landed on the ground. She grunted as she hit the ball much harder this time.
"Heh, nice…"
Sakuno blushed at his second compliment.
"Still, though. Mada mada dane, Ryuzaki," Ryoma said, smirking as he rocketed the ball past her forehand swing.
She stared in disbelief at the dent that the ball caused in the ground and puffed her cheeks in irritation. "Mou, no fair Ryoma-kun. You hit it much harder this time."
Ryoma chuckled, his red racket placed on his shoulder as he approached her. "You should be able to return that," he chortled.
Sakuno felt her ears burning. 'He's teasing me again.'
"You know I can't yet." She pouted.
"Heh...you said 'yet'," he smirked. "Let's practice until you manage it."
Sakuno's eyes widened. "P-Practice? With you, Ryoma-kun?" she asked in bewilderment.
Ryoma gave him a deadpanned look as if telling her that her question was stupid.
"I-I mean, don't you have a team practice right now? Why do you want to practice with...me?" she confusedly explained. 'I don't think I can even win a point against you!' She wanted to add.
Ryoma sighed. "I'm done. It's individual practice now - and that's a stupid question. Why can't I practice with you? You've improved your tennis, right?"
Her mouth formed an 'o' as she slowly nodded in understanding before the rest of his words dawned on her. 'Is Ryoma-kun trying to tell me that I'm good enough to be his rallying partner? Or I'm good enough to be his practice dummy?'
"Are you going to stand there all day?"
She jolted in surprise, then she frantically grabbed the ball from the ground and dusted it off. She returned her attention back to Ryoma and nodded at him, "I-I'm good."
"Hn. About time," he said with a smirk.
Sakuno took a deep breath, trying to internalize with herself and forget that Ryoma was her opponent. She exhaled and threw the ball in the air and hit it as hard as she could.
"Hm, I didn't know you can serve a ball that hard, do it more frequently," he nonchalantly said as he ran for the ball and hit it with a loud grunt.
Her eyes widened in surprise and her jaw slackened. It was the first time that Ryoma ran for a ball that she hit. 'Did I...manage to improve that much since the last time he taught me?'
"Heads up, Ryuzaki," Ryoma called out. Sakuno immediately relaxed her stance, and with determination coursing through her, she hit the ball back to Ryoma harder than she did before.
He smirked at her, "Nice. Brace yourself, I'll hit it harder this time."
The ball echoed against their rackets as she and Ryoma rallied without pause. Sakuno was drenched in sweat, but the smile on her lips was that of satisfaction. 'It felt great to play tennis with Ryoma-kun. I never imagined that I could ever rally with him this long...I guess, all my hard work paid off.'
As she and Ryoma continued playing, memories of her begging their senpais to help her with tennis floated through her mind, staying late at night to watch all of her grandma and mom's old games. All the scrapes and sweats, the twisted ankle and shaking fingers had resulted in...this. She was finally able to rally with Ryoma. She felt like she was flying.
"Ryoma-kun!" she called out as she hit the ball back to him.
"Hm?" he hummed as he bent and caught the ball.
"I want to try playing singles," she said as her amber eyes stared straight at Ryoma's surprised, golden eyes. The ball flew back in her direction and she hit it back. Ryoma stayed silent.
"I've barely managed to make it to regular in middle school because of your help, but I always play doubles. I'm always a support."
Ryoma grunted as he hit the ball back to her. "So you wanted to try playing alone?" he finally replied.
Her eyes hardened, "I want to play in the court without depending on anyone but myself." The ball flew back to Ryoma.
Finally, he smirked. "You need to work on your self-confidence, then. The District tournament is a month from now. Your goal is to win a regular spot for the next ranking game, and you have to play spectacularly for them to put you in singles."
Sakuno smiled, "Un!" she nodded before she caught the ball.
"Heh, considering you improved enough, I don't see why not," he said with a smirk.
Her smile turned into a big grin. "Then, would you help me, Ryoma-kun?"
Ryoma blinked in astonishment as he hit the ball back to her, then his lips crept into a teasing smile. "Hm...come to think of it, Ryuzaki-sensei will probably end up dumping your clumsy self on me later. So I don't really have a choice."
Sakuno's whole face burned. "Ryoma-kun!" she yelled and unconsciously hit the ball back to him much harder than she intended to with all the embarrassment and irritation she was feeling.
The ball rocketed back to Ryoma's direction and hit the wall behind him before it bounced and rolled on his feet.
A deafening silence reigned on them as Sakuno stared in disbelief at the innocent tennis ball at the Tennis Prince's feet.
Ryoma blinked in bewilderment at the event that had transpired.
Finally able to register what happened, Sakuno clutched his former racket to her chest like a lifeline. "E-EEEEHH!"
As if she wasn't shocked enough, Sakuno felt like having a heart attack as Ryoma suddenly burst out laughing. He was laughing so hard he was clutching his side with his racket still in his hand.
Sakuno gaped at him.
"I–" He wheezed, "I guess y-you can win i-if you get angry enough!" Ryoma continued to laugh, barely able to finish his sentence.
Sakuno's face felt like a furnace. "Ryoma-kun, you meanie!"
The sun set as Sakuno stood in front of Ryoma, fuming in embarrassment and irritation while he continued to tease and taunt her even on their way back to her house for their English lesson.
'I didn't know Ryoma-kun could be so mischievous. Mou, so confusing!'
To Be Continued...
A/N: Girigiri by Sonar Pocket is the opening song of World Trigger, one of my favorite anime. I want to inform you guys that I'll be using different anime songs for Sakuno's playlists. Of course, there will be POT songs too. The Wedding Dance is a short story written by Amador T. Daguio. We actually did I stage play of that when I was still in senior high school so I used it. Chapter 4 will be published right after this.
Thank you to all my beta readers!
to2llyuntraceable, o0CrimsonsDragon0o, Stacy Donnely, Black angel in love
neko-alme: I'm happy you like Chapter 2 and that you found my story, I hope to hear more of your thoughts for the future chapters. And I'll be posting more RyoSaku fic in the future. I'll be leaving a teaser at the end of Chapter 4 I hope you read that too and let me know your thoughts.
Hanshiz: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like how I portrait Ryoma and Sakuno, I'm actually anxious with their character since it's the first time I'm writing a full-on romance fic. Ryoma is pretty hard to write too but I hope I gave his character justice.
new38220: Hi! I'm happy reading your reviews, don't worry about your English since I too am not a native English speaker. Just enjoy the story and I'll understand your English just fine! I hope you enjoy these chapters.
braidy: Helloooo! Thank you for following my story and liking it so far. I hope to hear from you in the future chapters too.
SyrinxSilenus