Bildungsroman

Chapter 14

I'm back! The English winter is over, and though my mental health is still precarious and assignments are still kicking my butt, I pulled myself together over love for all you wonderful folks who read, favourited, followed, and even checked in on me. Seriously, I love you all very much, even though I'm the absolute worst at actually exchanging words with people.

This chapter is long and largely filler-ish, but in case you haven't noticed, this fic isn't as focused on tennis as it is on Sakura's development relationships with others. Tennis is a huge part of that, but I'll only write a few matches. For all those who're wondering, Seigaku is doing great, they're advancing and striking fear into everyone's hearts. Sakura is part of that, although she's kinda unformed as a player now, and in general she's so chill that 'fear' isn't a word most people associate with her. Oops.

This chapter includes quality time with one of my favourite characters: Sakura's MOM! Shoutout to all the moms out there because y'all awesome.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction, with no copyright infringement intended. Prince of Tennis belongs to Takeshi Konomi.

Sakura looked anxiously at her friends. Kagome was biting her lip, looking down; Airi was clearly suppressing a laugh; it was Momoko who finally spoke up. "So… you adopted him." She said carefully.

Sakura groaned, falling back onto Kagome's pillows. "I didn't adopt him! I just… made him my friend!"

"Ordered, more like." Airi snorted. "Doesn't seem like he had much of a choice."

Kagome sighed. "Saku-chan, you can't just decide you're friends with someone." Sakura pouted. "I did with Airi." She pointed out.

Airi rolled her eyes. "Boys are different, idiot. They're like horses- they scare easily. 'Sides, I wasn't emotionally constipated."

"Sanada-san's not emotionally constipated." Sakura retorted. "He just doesn't know how to talk to anything that's not holding a racquet."

"He sounds constipated." Airi repeated flatly. "And I bet you anything you freaked him out."

Sakura deflated; Momoko hurried to fill in the silence. "Has he texted you?"

"No." Sakura shrugged. "I didn't expect him to… I mean, it was pretty… out there, you know."

Airi rolled off the bed to get some more juice. "What if he thinks you're coming on to him?" She tossed out, before shutting the door behind her. Sakura stared at the closed door, a stricken look in her eyes. Clearly, that hadn't occurred to her. Kagome and Momoko exchanged a long-suffering look; for someone who'd been around the block a few times, and had had boyfriends, Sakura could be incredibly dense.

"I am NOT coming on to him!" Her outraged squeal made Kagome wince. "I just… oh my god, it looks like I am, though, doesn't it?!" Her wide eyes looked from Momoko to Kagome and back. "Oh, HELL no." She would've dived for her phone if Kagome hadn't jerked it away.

Her attempt to set the record straight thus thwarted, Sakura collapsed onto the pillows again. As the door opened, she glared at Airi. "What do I do." It was a command, rather than a question. Airi poured out more juice for everyone, before setting the jug on the floor and settling herself comfortably. "Well, what d'you want?" She asked. "You don't want to date him, I guess; so why'd you take his number?"

Momoko and Kagome listened intently. Sakura bit her lip. "I- I guess… y'know, I wanna be friends with him. Get to know him a bit, since he made such a difference to my life and my way of thinking… I might still be a mess if it hadn't been for him."

"Doesn't mean you have to be friends." Momoko pointed out bluntly. Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I know… It's just that- look, it's gonna sound silly, but we kept meeting, and he helped me so much, and he just seems nice, y'know, under all that emotional constipation ("Ha." Airi grinned). And- I don't know. I just think we should be friends. I think we'd be good as friends."

Her friends were quiet for a few moments after she finished her rambling explanation. She looked anxiously among them. "It sounds stupid, right?" She asked, voice tiny.

"Yeah." Momoko hissed at Airi, who smirked. "Stupid, yeah, but kinda sweet. You should tell him that."

"Oh my god, no." Sakura shook her head violently. "He'd serve me into the sunset and run away to Hokkaido. He'd think I was crazy."

"You are crazy." Kagome interjected. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Maybe, but he doesn't know that."

Momoko sighed, and offered her own suggestion. "Why don't you meet him somewhere?" The others looked at her, surprised. "You know, somewhere familiar and unromantic, and just talk. Like you do with any of us. You remember how you made friends with Airi-chan."

"Oh, I remember." Airi murmured, rolling her eyes. Sakura chuckled, before looking nervously at Momoko. "He won't think it's a date?"

"Don't dress cute." Kagome stretched, cat-like. "Wear older clothes, or- no! Wear your uniform!"

"And do homework or something. You know that café you go to for alone time?"

"Diggin?" Sakura frowned. "Yeah, the owner's nice. She lets me stay hours. I do actually do homework there now."

"See? That's perfect. Wear your uniform, and sound really offhand when you invite him- give him a choice!"

"Yeah, you wanna sound like it won't bother you if he doesn't show up."

"And don't be too smiley when he arrives."

Sakura was starting to feel a little overwhelmed; the last time she'd had barrages of boy-advice thrown at her like this had been with Chozen-kun. And she'd actually been dating him.

Airi took note of her slightly swamped expression. "Just text him now; we'll help."

"I don't need help." Sakura retorted; but it was half-hearted, as she took her phone back from Kagome and swiped it open. "It's just a text…"

"Yeah, yeah."

She opened up a new text message, and after a second's hesitation, added Sanada as the recipient. That done, she looked helplessly up at her friends. "Does 'hey' sound too flirty?"

Sanada's phone buzzed. Frowning, he flipped it open; it was late, surely Renji couldn't be texting him at this time.

Message from: Kagawa Sakura

Yo, up?

Sanada's lips thinned. Without responding, he snapped his phone shut and went back to his reading.

"I'm telling you, he's not going to respond!" Sakura insisted. "He probably thinks I'm some crazy fan girl-"

"Crazy, yes, fan girl, no." Kagome replied absently. Her eyes were flickering to the phone lying in the centre of the circle. It had been ten minutes. "Maybe he hasn't seen it yet."

"Or maybe he's deleted my number!" Sakura huffed. "Seriously, can we go eat? Your mom's cooking is calling out to meee- oh my god!" All four yelped as the phone buzzed.

Downstairs, Mrs Okubo shook her head upon hearing the sound. The girls, it seemed, were going to take a bit longer for dinner.

"What does it say, what does it fucking say?!"

"Hang on, oh my god, so much for 'not going to respond'-"

"Can I please see it, it's my phone—"

"NO! And for fuck's sake Momo-chan—"

Momoko finally turned the phone over to the others. As they crowded around it, she smirked at Sakura. "Constipated, I swear."

Message from: Sanada-san Rikkai

Yes. I'm studying.

Sanada stifled a sigh as his phone buzzed again. He had known replying was unwise, but good manners had won out in the end.

Kagawa Sakura: Most people say hi back, but okay. Also, it's Friday?

His brow furrowed as he typed a response. Your point being?

Her response came rather quickly; apparently she was an old hand at this. Friday, as in end of the week, as in why are you studying. Go have fun.

And before he could respond, another text popped up. Oops. I used the f-word, didn't I? :P

"Careful..." Momoko murmured.

Sakura scowled. "I can't even make jokes now?"

Sanada scowled at his phone. Being teased wasn't high on his list of favourite things. I suppose you think you're funny.

Her reply made him roll his eyes. I think I'm absolutely hilarious. Clearly, comedy is my calling.

I happen to like studying.

Yeah? Wow. So d'you have any other hobbies besides tennis?

"Aaaaand… silence." Sakura declared after fifteen minutes of waiting. "Guess that was too personal for him."

Her friends just shook their heads ruefully. "You asked about his hobbies, not his hopes and dreams." Momoko said. "That was too personal?"

Airi shrugged. "So he's gonna take a while to open up. That you can deal with." Sakura had experience befriending reticent people, after all.

Kagome nodded. "As long as you… I don't know, tone down your natural flirting. Let's hope you succeed and introduce him to us as your… future lifelong friend." She exchanged a smirk with Airi. "You sure know how to pick 'em, Sakura-chan."

Kazumi covered her eyes and screamed long and loud in her mind; Sakura picked herself up off the ground for the 1000000000th time, wincing minutely. "This is not working."

"Nonsense." Her senior's cheery optimism was back after that brief moment. "Try it again."

By this time, Sakura knew better than to argue. Kazumi-senpai might not be as strict as Nomura-buchou, but she could be a slavedriver in her own way.

Even if results were slow in coming. Iceberg-slow. Sakura tripped again, only narrowly avoiding a fall.

Kazumi sighed. "You're rushing your cross-steps." She demonstrated, but knew that Sakura understood the mechanics; she simply couldn't do it. Nevertheless, she tried again, slower.

And fell.

This time, she simply sat down fully. "It's not working, senpai." She reiterated. Kazumi nodded, disheartened. The improvement Sakura'd shown in her match with Urayama seemed to be as far as she could go where footwork was concerned. Kazumi felt a little useless.

Surprisingly, Sakura looked anything but resigned. Instead, there was a calculating look in her eyes. Kazumi was intrigued, but kept silent, allowing her to think. Finally, Sakura looked up at her. "You think I should learn dancing? Properly?"

To say she was 'astonished' would be putting it mildly. She gaped at her junior, who looked away, embarrassed. "It's not that shocking." She grumbled.

"I saw you at last year's Club Social, Sakura-chan." Kazumi said slowly.

"So?"

"You danced two dances, stepped on Chozen-kun's toes every ten seconds, and spent the rest of the evening playing cards in the corner."

Sakura flushed. "Yeah, well, maybe I'm not all that great—"

"If by 'not great' you mean 'not the worst', then yes."

"Rude. But both you and Rikkai's Takiyama have great footwork, and you both dance… it should help some, right?"

Kazumi paused, then nodded. "In theory, yes. But we've danced for years- don't give me that look, I can tell- and we did it before tennis. Not that you won't improve, but it won't be the same."

Sakura nodded, understanding. "Of course not. But it doesn't need to be the same, senpai- we don't play the same. Honestly, I just want to stop tripping over my own feet every time I go up to the net."

"Fair enough." Kazumi agreed. "But I suggest you don't enroll in a class- it'll be performance-focused, and you don't need another commitment on your schedule." Sakura nodded fervently. "If you pick a dance, I can send you some good YouTube tutorials, and I'll review your progress every week. Cool?"

"That's cool." Sakura said, relieved. "Thanks, senpai."

Kazumi laughed. "Don't thank me yet. I get more bruises dancing than playing tennis."

Over the next two weeks, Sakura was discover for herself the stark truth of those words. All those American dance movies made hip-hop look easy as breathing, but her sore sides and abs were a constant reminder that no, it most certainly was not. Frankly, she was surprised she'd escaped a sprained ankle so far.

But, damn, it was actually fun.

Kazumi snorted, looking pleased. "One more time." Was all she said, before hitting 'play' on Sakura's cell phone.

With tired ankles, bruised knees, and a sweat-soaked top, Sakura complied

"Her footwork is much better." Ryuzaki-sensei observed during their match against Fudomine. Tachibana An was no slouch on the court, but Sakura was keeping pace with her easily enough.

Nomura bumped her hip into Kazumi's. Kazumi bumped back, grinning.

Aiki regarded her daughter critically over the rim of her orange juice. "Is it just me, or are you losing weight?" She asked.

Sakura gave her a wicked smile, looking meaningfully at Aiki's thickening midsection. "One of us has to."

Her mother tossed a cushion at her. "Brat." She scoffed. "I've been pregnant before, don't try and make me insecure. But seriously, you're looking thinner. It's worrying."

"I'm healthy. No extra flab, but no more fainting either."

"You need some fat, Sakura. Your eyes look like they've been pushed in. And I saw you rubbing them while reading the other day. I'm going to get more carrots in you. And we're going to see a doctor. NOW."

"…If you wanted company to the clinic you could've just asked."

"Don't sass me, young lady. Now go put a bra on."

There was certainly something to that old saying 'Mother knows best' (or was it a Disney song?). The doctor informed Sakura, kindly but firmly, that an intensely athletic lifestyle like hers required more carbohydrates, not less, and any website that told her otherwise deserved a virus in its servers. She prescribed a month's course of supplements, and told Aiki in no uncertain terms to draw up a diet plan (similar to the one she was following) for her bright but slightly dense daughter- adjectives added by Sakura's affectionate mother.

"We'll go to the chemist shop 'round the corner and buy everything." Aiki decided. Sakura acquiesced with a sullen mumble. "And then we're going to Kanagawa."

That got a reaction; Sakura sat bolt upright and stared at her. "Whoa. Whoa, wait. Why are we going to Kanagawa?!"

"Well, Tanabata's coming up! We need to get kimono!"

"Ah, of course, they don't sell kimono in Tokyo. Where we live." She decided not to point out that Tanabata wasn't for another month; you always had to go early to get the good stuff.

Aiki shrank a little under her daughter's best 'Okay, spill' look. "I wanted to get some paints and brushes and things. I'm going mad with boredom."

Sakura softened; the enforced rest from work must be taking quite the toll on her active, energetic mother. "Okay, but why Kanagawa? You normally get yours from that place near Harajuku."

Aiki glanced into the right wing mirror as she backed further up. "Well," She began, twiddling the steering. "Hanako-san–"

"Who?"

That got her an exasperated look. "The new neighbour, Sakura. The one with the dog."

"You meant that big mutt who pees on our gate every morning?" Sakura scowled. "I don't like it."

"Him. His name is Oga." Aiki's lips twitched.

"His name is what?"

"Oga." They finally exited the clinic gate and trundled along the road. "Anyway, they moved here from Kanagawa, and Hanako-san swore up and down that there's this one particular shop that sells professional-quality art supplies. She used to buy them for some friend of her sister's from Osaka or something."

"And of course, you had to go check it out." Sakura drawled. Aiki beamed happily. "She even gave me the address and everything!"

Sakura smiled to herself. Driving all the way out to Kanagawa was a pain, but Ma was so agog with excitement, she couldn't help but feel rather good about this. It had been a long time since they'd had any time together; her tennis and schoolwork kept her too occupied. This was the first Sunday she'd had free in weeks, due to their slated mixed doubles opponents having not turned up in time.

She'd probably been born under a very lucky star indeed.

"Maaaaa." Sakura whined. "Maaaaa. Let's goooooo."

Aiki merely gave her an irritated look. Honestly, Sakura should have been more interested in this. "I thought you liked shopping." She arched an eyebrow at her slumped daughter.

"Dress shopping, ma. Dresses. Honestly, have you ever seen me in kimono– which you haven't forced me into?" The last part was hurriedly tacked on to counter the reply that had been on the tip of her mother's tongue, and Aiki pursed her lips disapprovingly.

"Well, you can't wear a dress to Tanabata, at any rate." She sniffed. Sakura sighed. "Ma, I have a few old kimono I can choose from–"

"You know what? I'll choose a kimono for you." Aiki huffed. "You can go wait for me at the nearby café; god knows I'll need something cool after all this arguing."

Sakura bit her lip, torn between guilt and the desire to get the hell out. Seeing her indecision, Aiki clucked her tongue. "Seriously, go. I can't shop with all this negativity around me. It ruins my judgment."

Well, when she put it that way… Sakura scurried out.

The café her mother had directed her to was a quaint-looking little place with a lot of wood and paper. Sakura would bet it looked stunning at night.

She smiled vaguely at the sweet-faced lady behind the counter as she browsed the offerings. Pies, sembei, dorayaki, daifuku, castella- oooh, croissants– she stumbled. "Hey!"

Sweeping her hair out of her face, she turned to glare at her assailant. Who glared back.

As one, both their faces lost the irate look. Indeed, Sakura beamed.

"Sanada-san, hey!"

He must have been born under the unluckiest star possible, Sanada decided.

It wasn't even like he disliked the girl. He barely even knew her… except that her favourite subject was history. And that she wanted to be a lawyer. And she liked watching dance, even though she had 'two left feet'. That she loved chocolate croissants. And enjoyed baking. And that she was a fan of several K-Pop bands that he normally tried to ignore the existence of— but that didn't mean he knew her!

You have her number, nitwit.

But not by choice!

Although he could have deleted it and not responded to her texts…

Why was she texting him, again? It wasn't like they were friends!

She doesn't even text you that much. It's like two texts every other day. Get a grip.

Anyway. He didn't dislike her, he just didn't know her. And he should probably respond to her greeting.

"…Kagawa-san."

Was that too stilted? It sounded too stilted. Damn it.

But she didn't seem put-off; if anything, her smile got bigger. "It's good to see you. How have you been?"

"Fine, thank you." He replied. "How are you? I heard Seigaku beat Fudomine last weekend. Congratulations."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine. And thank you… Rikkai Dai's doing well too."

"Naturally." He got the feeling she wanted to say something to that, but was holding back.

"We had a mixed doubles today, but our opponents were late, so we got a walkover." She chuckled. "My mother wanted to buy some stuff, so she dragged me out here… she's at the kimono place now."

"Ah, for Tanabata?" The Tanabata festival at Kanagawa was something special, and Sanada relished the chance to go every year. It was a blend of traditional aesthetic beauty and commercialism, although in his opinion, it could be a little less of the latter.

Sakura nodded, still perusing the food options. "Yep. Although she won't be able to go this year… but I will. Hopefully they'll have a puppetry show again. They had one a few years ago in Tokyo; that was my favourite year." She smiled at him before approaching the lady at the till.

"One chocolate croissant and a green tea please. Honey on the side." She requested. The lady nodded, before looking at Sanada. "Are you ordering together?"

Sanada spluttered, but Sakura shook her head serenely. "No, thank you, obaa-san. Separately." She replied. Sanada merely crossed his arms and attempted not to redden when she grinned wickedly up at him. "Not a word." He growled.

"I didn't say anything." She hummed, drifting over to where she'd receive her order. She didn't stop grinning, though; it made him glower.

It felt rude not to follow her to a table, but he sat down very ill at ease. Quite a few members of his team came to this café; if they were to come in now and see him with this… girl… well, suffice it to say he could kiss his relatively orderly life goodbye.

Sakura felt somewhat at a loss. Yes, she'd said she wanted to befriend him, but she hadn't expected him to trail after her to a table, considering her mother would show up at any minute. Still, manners were manners. She smiled faintly at him. "Um…" She cast around for a viable subject. "You, uh… d'you come here often?"

Smooth, idiot. Very smooth. She stirred honey into her tea to avoid looking at him, but her cheeks flushed.

"…Sometimes." Was that giving away too much? What if she made a habit of this accidental ambush? She lives in Tokyo, you dolt. Still, the less she knew about his habits, the better.

"Why can't your mother go to Tanabata this year?" He asked hurriedly, forestalling any further questions about himself. Better to keep the conversation focused on her.

Sakura almost swallowed her own tongue. A personal question? From this boy? Progress! She beamed. "She's pregnant, actually. It's kind of a delicate situation, so she's on full-time rest. By the time the festival rolls 'round she probably won't be allowed to go to crowded places."

Sanada had paused upon hearing the word 'pregnant'. Kagawa was sixteen; for her mother to be pregnant now… "She must have had you very young, then."

Sakura blinked. "What? Oh, yeah, she did. She was what, nineteen, maybe? Twenty? She and dad eloped, actually, and had me after a year. It was all pretty damn romantic." She chuckled, shaking her head. "She wanted a big family, y'know; three kids and a dog and everything. But she was really delicate: had a couple of miscarriages after me. So they kinda… stopped trying." She stopped, blushed. What was wrong with her? She wasn't shy when it came to talking about sex and kids. It was probably that air of Traditional Manly Man that clung to Sanada like a robe.

…Although this particular Manly Man apparently preferred hazelnut hot chocolate with a mountain of whipped cream, so maybe that wasn't accurate.

As though sensing the angle of her thoughts, he glared at her (oh, right, there had been a few moments without the glare. She needed to make a note of those). "Sugar's good after a workout." He snapped.

She raised her hands in surrender. "I like my ice cream with a brownie and chocolate sauce, man." She replied. "You don't have to convince me.''

He 'hmphed' and went back to his confection. She took another bite of croissant and discreetly checked her watch. How long did her mom plan to take for the kimono? They had a bit of a drive home, and that wasn't a journey Sakura wanted to make in rush hour traffic.

"It's a nice place, isn't it?" She remarked, looking appreciatively at the 'updated-traditional' décor. "Asana-senpai would like it here."

"Your debate team vice-President?" Sanada remembered the beautiful older girl on that team. She had quite the reputation in debating circles, apparently.

Sakura made a face. "Not my debate team anymore, but yeah. Her. This is kind of her aesthetic."

He must have looked confused, because she added, "She likes places with this sort of of look and feel."

"Ah."

Exactly then, her phone buzzed. It was her mother. 'Change of plan. It's getting late, so can you order me a peach lemonade to go? I'll pick you up.'

"Oh, thank god." Sakura exhaled noisily. "Excuse me, Sanada-kun."

She pushed herself out of the chair and made a beeline for the counter. Cloying mortification rose within her; her manners had always been on the informal side, but she'd never been presumptuous. Ugh, maybe she should've stayed her tongue (and her hands) that day by the taps. Sanada-kun? Really?

She set the to-go lemonade on the table, and picked up her tea again. It was lukewarm now, so she drained it in one go. Cold tea was the worst. "My mom's picking me up in a bit." She told her companion. He nodded silently, and Sakura really wanted to groan. This entire encounter would probably figure in some story as a case study in second-hand embarrassment. And maybe in a social skills seminar too, as an example of how not to make friends.

She focused on enjoying what remained of her croissant, flaky, chocolatey piece of edible happiness that it was. That was a thing she could do. Sanada-san wasn't likely to take up the threads of conversation again, anyway.

"Ikeda said your match with Urayama was interesting." Sakura really needed to stop making assumptions about people. Sanada was looking at her over the rim of his cup. "She's not often intrigued."

It was really quite a sight, Sanada observed, as Kagawa's cheeks flamed. He wasn't familiar with what made girls blush (aside from his teammates' faces, which hardly counted, at this point), but he certainly wouldn't have put 'praise from Ikeda' on the list for this girl. She looked like a traffic signal.

"Um…" Wow, she was blushing. She was blushing and he could see that and could somebody please just kill her now?! She'd even die happy, knowing that the Ikeda Rin was 'intrigued' by her match. "Um… was she?"

Sanada's lips twitched. This burst of embarrassment (and obvious admiration) was such a far cry from Kagawa's usual easy confidence that it was almost endearing. It lessened the sheer… friction of her personality, balanced the brashness out. If he were honest, it made her confidence spark a little brighter. "Yes. She was particularly impressed by the way your footwork had improved, although honestly, it probably couldn't have gotten worse."

That prompted a glare. "Well, sorry I'm not Mr Perfect Emperor Tennis Machine." She sniped. "I'll have you know my footwork is much better now."

He raised an eyebrow. "Should you be telling me that?"

Sakura shrugged. "Don't see why not. It's not like your girls will plan around my 'bad footwork' anymore." She gave him a wink. "Don't think I'll tell you how it got better, though. Our training menus are top-secret."

Sanada rolled his eyes. "May I remind you that we have Yanagi Renji on our team. He could probably guess your menu from the way you move."

That made her laugh. "I guess it's a good thing we're not one-trick ponies, then." Her phone buzzed again, but instead of checking, she peered out the window. "Ah, that's my mom. Sorry, Sanada-kun, I gotta run. Long drive back."

"Of course." He rose respectfully as she began collecting her things. "Have a safe trip, Kagawa. Good luck with your upcoming matches."

Sakura wondered at his tone; he actually sounded like talking to her wasn't a chore. "Thanks. You too." She paused at the door and smiled brightly at him. "See ya, Sanada-kun!"

He nodded; the door swung shut behind her. The old proprietress behind the counter chuckled.

That, he considered, was singularly appropriate.

Received 19.20. From: Kagawa Sakura.

'Why can't a bike stand up on its own? Because it's TOO TIRED hahahahahaha'

Received 19.25. From: Sanada-san.

'I suggest you reconsider that career in comedy.'

Phew, this one took months. It's the longest one I've written so far, and I'm quite happy with it. Let me know what you think! As always, reviews are love!

Cheers,

Chilli.