Disclaimer: I do not PoT nor its characters..
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Chapter 5
"White Handkerchief"
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The sun was already burning hot at the autumn noon and Ryuzaki Sakuno has been practicing her tennis at school. She asked permission from her grandmother to join the boys' practice shift, and was gleefully given by her grandmother. But it was kind of sad that she was practicing alone.
She then remembered how Ryoma looked whenever he plays tennis.
"Ryoma-kun…" she thought loudly.
"What?" Ryoma asked, coming out from nowhere.
"Eh?! Ryo-Ryoma-kun! How long have you been there?!"
"I just passed." He said nonchalantly, giving peace to the stirred heart of the girl, but then he noticed that there was nobody else with her.
"Ano… I just… wanted to practice here. That's all." She looked down at her racket.
Ryoma watched her from the corner of his eye. He sighed.
"Would you want to play with me?" he asked.
"Huh?!" the girl dropped what she was holding, and hit her feet, she bent over and touched the part hit by the racket, "Ow…"
The boy looked away, and continued to say, "Do you want to?"
Sakuno reached for her racket and grasped it tight.
"Yes, Ryoma-kun."
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As expected, Ryoma won, with a game of 6-0. Sakuno almost collapsed, but was able to stand her own for a bit, though she could feel that she was almost dizzy. It was her first time playing with Ryoma, and she didn't know if she was going to take it gladly or not, he didn't use his "twist serve".
"Mada mada dane, Sakuno." He said.
Sakuno felt of how far away Ryoma was from her, may it be in tennis skills, experience… and even how distant he was from her. But she understood, Ryoma… was more interested in tennis than anything else.
"Can you walk?" Ryoma asked, from the other side of the court.
Before Sakuno could speak, she felt her voice fail her and…
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Sakuno felt the stinging rays of the sun as her brown eyes tried to open, she then felt the soft covers elevating her head a bit. She then realized she was in the school clinic. Remembering of their game earlier, she sat right up and called the name of the person she played with.
"Ryoma-kun?" she squeaked.
"Sakuno, you're awake!" exclaimed Sumire, who was inside the clinic, "I heard from Ryoma that you've collapsed."
"Ano, I'm sorry, grandmother…" her eyes dropped to the white tiles of the clinic. She then recalled that she lost against Ryoma.
Momoshiro was also in the clinic, "Thank goodness, what happened to you, Sakuno-chan, collapsing like that?"
"Eh? Well… I…" her voice seemed to fade away.
"We played tennis." Ryoma answered for her.
"WHAT?!" Momoshiro and Kikumaru exclaimed together. Sumire raised a brow, they left the practice… without permission.
"So it's sort of your fault why Sakuno-chan fainted, isn't it?" said Momoshiro, in a tone half-teasing, half-provoking.
"It's not that!" Sakuno defended, clutching the blanket of the bed, "It's just that… I didn't have anyone to practice with... so I asked Ryoma-kun a favor… it's not his fault…"
Ryoma looked at her and thought, "What the heck is she talking about?"
"Is that so?" asked Sumire, though somehow, she believed that Sakuno was covering for Ryoma, then again, Sumire didn't understand why she would, when there was nothing wrong with that.
Unless, Sakuno thought that her senpai-tachi might think bad of Ryoma if they knew that he asked her to play with him, even though he knew she wasn't as good as he was, and she didn't have enough stamina unlike Ryoma who had been undergoing the regular's training under Inui's training menu.
"It was… just a favor." She muttered, "Please continue practicing, don't mind me, grandmother, Ryoma-kun, Momo-chan-senpai, Kikumaru-senpai!"
"Are you sure, Sakuno-chan? Nya?" asked Kikumaru. Sakuno nodded, reassuringly.
Reluctantly, Momoshiro waved at Sakuno, followed by Kikumaru and her grandmother (who hauled the former's ear for leaving the practice). Ryoma on the other hand, stayed.
"Why did you do that?" he asked, in his usual cool voice.
Sakuno looked away, "It's the same anyway, Ryoma-kun."
Ryoma stared at her and thought, "The same?"
Sighing, not understanding what Sakuno said, he told her that he would going back to the tennis practice with the regulars. He left the room.
"I'm still… mada mada dane… whatever I do…" with a sad voice, she muttered under her breath.
She didn't understand why, but tears fell from her eyes. She blinked and thought that when she was going to open her eyes again, they would just go away.
But her tears didn't stop, instead, they rolled down her cheeks rapidly, and in less than a minute, Sakuno was already sobbing quietly. She buried her face with her hands, tears still streaming down from her eyes.
Just outside the room, Ryoma stood. He was leaning on the slightly opened door, listening to the girl's muffled sobs. He pulled down his cap.
"Baka."
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It was late afternoon when Sakuno left for Tsuyu Tei Park, and it was strange to see the place rather empty because usually, during Sundays the park was filled with families gathering together and having a good time.
Her feet walked aimlessly around the park, from the usually beautiful fountain that seemed to be broken that time, to the bridge inside the park, and then finally took her into a deserted playground.
Sakuno walked towards the vacant seat of a swing, touching the cold steel, reminding herself of the tennis prince and his usual coolness. She then sat on the swing, moving it a bit with both her feet firm on the ground.
Usually, when she doesn't feel okay, it was up to Tomoka to cheer her up, taking her to their favorite fast food chain. And sometimes, Tatsue would go and buy her ice cream when she feels sad, and would tell her something that would make things a little more positive.
But today was different. She held tight on the steel chains as she recalled their game.
However, in that game, Sakuno realized the great distance between her and Ryoma's abilities, and somehow thought that maybe she really has no reason to tell him how she felt. She wasn't an ounce worthy of telling Ryoma about her feelings…
Sakuno unclenched the chains of the swing and buried her face on her hands, unable to fight back the tears that welled up in her eyes.
She began to sob uncontrollably.
"I'm so stupid… why am I thinking like this?" she thought, wanting to kick her self mentally. She didn't notice a young man walk up to her, taking something from his pocket.
"Here." He said. Sakuno looked up to the unfamiliar person who spoke, leaving her hands open.
He was holding out a white handkerchief, apparently offering it for her to use.
She just looked at it at first, and then was surprised when he held her open right hand, placed the hanky on her hand and closed it, "You can use that."
"But!" she tried to protest, standing up, only to find that the boy had already started walking away.
"I can't bear seeing cute girls like you cry," Sakuno blushed a bit, he then waved his hand (as if saying, "I don't mind"), "You can keep that!"
Sakuno watched as the mysterious boy left, wondering who he was.
And thanked him silently.
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A/N: Hmm... this must be the shortest chapter yet… It's really not good to have an author's block right in the middle of writing a fanfiction