DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS!!!!

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Chapter 14

"Not Giving Up Yet"

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Riiinggggg……..

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Riiinggggg………….

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The sound of the telephone ring echoed through the seemingly empty room, a door opened and a sleepy small figure reached for the noisy communication device.

'Hello?' a small voice said from the other line, 'Could I Tatsue-chan, please? This is Ryuzaki-'

"Ah, I can hear you." Yawned Tatsue, her hair not in her usual pigtails, but rather in a very, very messy do, "Why up so early?"

'Well… could I talk to you… I mean, let's go out today… I mean, now…' said Sakuno on the other line.

"Saku-chan, it's-" she looks on the Pikachu-designed wall clock, "-five in the morning, isn't it too early?"

'…'

"Hello? Saku-chan?"

'Tatsue-chan, it's nine in the morning.'

Tatsue raised a brow, "You're kidding, in my clock it says…" it was then that she noticed that the hands of the clock weren't moving, "… shit."

'What's that?'

"I… I mean, where are we meeting? Uh, okay, see you there. Yeah, in thirty minutes maybe… ok, see you later." Said Tatsue as she hung up, "Oh shit."

Tatsue shouted, "How am I supposed to know the time!?"

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Thankfully, Tatsue was able to go to the playground in Tsuyu Tei Park on time. What she didn't expect though, was the presence of a certain boy who she doesn't have any idea who, but seemed to know Sakuno since they were talking to each other. The boy had striking messy black hair, with streaks of light brown accentuating his hair, he stood in front of Sakuno, who was sitting on one of the seats of the swing.

She just watched as the boy waved goodbye to Sakuno, who seemed to be very flustered. Tatsue smiled wickedly and started to tease Sakuno.

"Aiiee!! Who was that boy?" Tatsue pointed at the boy, "Ah! Saku-chan!"

Sakuno blushed a bit, "T-that was a friend, Kenichi-kun. Just a friend!"

"Ah, really? Then why are you blushing?"

"…"

"Oi, Sakuno-chan."

"…"

"C'mon, I was just teasing you. It's not always that you speak to another boy, you know… well, at least, aside from those Seigaku boys." She snarled, reminding herself of the arrogant and cocky boy who insulted them.

Sakuno sighed, "You see… Kenichi-kun… was the first boy to talk to me…"

"Eh? What do you think about that cocky bas- I mean, Ryoma-kun, or your senpai, Momo-chan?" she asked, sitting on the vacant seat beside Sakuno.

"I mean, he talked to me… like I was a girl…" said Sakuno, ducking her head low, "Ryo-Echizen… I think he even doesn't even know I'm a girl… while Momochan-senpai… and the others, I'm just like a little sister who always needs their help…"

Tatsue didn't know whether she was going to say if what she thinks is true, or she'll comfort her. An idea popped in her mind, "Then you must the best little sister who is a cook in the whole world."

Sakuno frowned, "Tatsue-chan!"

"Oi, where's your friend? Osakada-chan?" asked Tatsue, since she thought that Tomoka seemed to be in very friendly terms with Sakuno.

"She can't go today; she's babysitting her little brothers." Sakuno shuffled her feet nervously.

Tatsue nodded. Sakuno watched her friend a little, noting that whenever they talk of younger siblings, she would shut up abnormally.

"What do you think of Kenichi-kun?" Sakuno fiddled with her delicate fingers.

"I dunno. Haven't spoken to him, but you seemed to be a little happier than usual… oh, I just remembered, you called your prince Echizen? That's new!" Sakuno's frown dug deeper, "Oi, what's with that frown?!"

"I…"

"You?"

"I think it's natural that I call him like that… I did give up on him, didn't I?" lied Sakuno, though of course, she did say that she was giving up on Ryoma, but it was obvious that she still liked him.

"Yare, yare. You're such a bad liar, Ryuzaki Sakuno." Tatsue quirked a brow, "It's painted all over your face. You still like him."

"I-it's not true!" stuttered Sakuno, her face flustering.

"You really surprised me when you said that you gave up on him, but as they say, actions speak louder than words."

"You're not listening to me, Tatsue-chan!" shouted Sakuno, surprising Tatsue, "I'm giving up on Echizen! Period!"

She walked out on Tatsue.

"Oh… really. All I see is a semi-colon." Tatsue muttered, seeing the look on her friend's face. She walked to the direction where Sakuno went, thinking of what would've made Sakuno be that edgy.

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She managed to catch up to Sakuno, who was almost crying. It was then that Sakuno told her that she prove that she gave up on Ryoma when she slapped him on the face. Tatsue looked at her friend in utter disbelief and told Sakuno that she shouldn't have done that, but was retorted back by Sakuno, saying that she did that because she saw Tatsue really upset by what happened.

"Sakuno-chan, I was upset, yes. I do not deny that, but you shouldn't have done that." Said Tatsue, as she and Sakuno walked in the streets aimlessly.

Sakuno frowned, "But I did it… because I was worried about you."

"I know, but still, your friendship with Ryoma-kun, it is much more important that anything else." Tatsue said putting her hands inside her jacket, "He was your source of inspiration in tennis, right?"

Sakuno frowned, haven't they talked about this days ago? Wasn't this a closed case already?

"I just want to have my own… well… playing style…" said Sakuno.

"You do have your own playing style, Sakuno-chan. An inspiration is different from an original copy of your style; if you wish to become stronger, maybe, have yourself a certain person to defeat."

"A person to defeat?" asked Sakuno.

"Yeah, I mean, everyone has their own rivals, or someone who a person would think would be their ultimate adversary. Maybe you should try finding a person who you want to defeat!" exclaimed Tatsue, making Sakuno stop.

"Uhm… maybe… does that mean that you have your own rival too?" asked Sakuno.

"Of course! Though I haven't actually defeated that person, but I will do everything until I defeat that person!" Tatsue balled her fists and punched in the air.

With some degree of lack of luck, Tatsue and Sakuno accidentally bumped into a group of seemingly older middle school students. They glared at the two girls, as the two girls took s step backwards.

"Sorry." Tatsue bowed and frowned, "We weren't looking."

Sakuno frowned too; she didn't like it, "Ano… sorry."

The middle schoolers advanced, "What? Just sorry? Look, kiddies, our stuff are all spilled."

One of them "accidentally" kicked a bag, scattering its contents on the ground.

Tatsue glared at the boys, "We didn't do that. We just bumped on you. We said sorry, we're leaving. C'mon." she seized Sakuno's hand and was about to leave when a boy's hand shot out and grabbed Sakuno's shoulder and forcing her to stumble and fall backwards.

"Sakuno-chan!" shouted Tatsue, she scrambled to the other girl's help, but they were cornered by the towering boys.

One of them sneered, "Do you think what you've done will just be forgiven?!"

"Little bastards!" one of them commented spitefully.

Tatsue helped Sakuno get up, and put her arms before Sakuno, "You stay there." She turned at the bullies, "You jerks, just because we're smaller than you!"

"Heh?! You still have the guts to talk back like that!" a hulky guy snarled and hit Tatsue's face.

"Tatsue-chan!" Sakuno exclaimed as she saw a trickle of blood come out from Tatsue's nose.

Tatsue shot a glare at the boys, "Son of a bitch." She snatched a small rock and threw it at the boys.

"What was that?! Eh? A rock!" the boys laughed mockingly, "You can't even throw properly!"

The hulky guy walked towards the girls, his face maniacal, he cupped Sakuno's face, "Heh, if only you girls didn't look cute, you would've been beaten up already!"

Sakuno was about to cry when Tatsue hit the guy on his left eye with a huge rock (yes, a very violent girl… no wrath hath like a woman (or girl) I say!), "SON OF A BITCH! HOW DARE YOU TOUCH SAKUNO-CHAN LIKE THAT!"

"BITCH!" the hulky guy spat out. The boys were about to attack the girls, Tatsue gritted her teeth. They were in a very sticky situation. Sakuno looked away as Tatsue felt an unusual hiccup escape her.

"Hic." She blurt out right after a tall, black haired dude caught one of the bullies' hand as it had almost come close to the girls. The attackers shivered in fear as they saw the guy; the "tall, black haired dude" threw the hulking guy's hand back. He looked back at the girls. It was Seigaku's Mamushi.

"K-Kaidoh-senpai?!" the two girls chorused. That was rather… unexpected.

"Fsshhhh…" hissed Kaidoh, turning his gaze once more at the bullies who paled as Kaidoh took a step forward.

Whoosh

A tennis ball averted their attention as it squarely hit the hulking guy at the other uninjured eye, making him look like he wore some odd glasses. It seemed like it wasn't only Kaidoh who went to help them.

"Fsshhhh…"

"Sorry. My ball slipped." An extremely familiar cocky voice said from behind the two girls, making them jump a bit. Sakuno's eyes widened.

"R-Ryoma-kun…" her lips parted as she whispered his name silently into the air.

Tatsue arched a brow, "Surprise, surprise. Hic. Seems like her prince is back. Hic. Damn, what's with all this-hic-hiccupping?"

The guy who was hit with the ball, somehow pulled his self together and told his "goons" to attack; unfortunately for him, the presence of Mamushi and the extremely scary tennis show off by Ryoma was enough to scare off his friends. With this, he scurried off to, well, somewhere.

The two girls bowed at the two Seigaku regulars as they thanked them for helping them against the bullies. Tatsue even apologized (though it was sort of half-heartedly) of saying those "rude things" to Ryoma, which was sort of disregarded a bit as Ryoma pointed out how weird it was that she was hiccupping a lot. Sakuno smiled a bit when she heard Ryoma say that he shouldn't have told that about the kendo club's captain. This surprised Tatsue as she didn't exactly see Ryoma as Sakuno does.

But what she did next wasn't exactly a common practice.

"Hey, hic-Kaidoh-senpai." She called at the scary viper, "Thank you. You're a lot kinder than I expected."

She smiled at him, making him blush.

"S-shut up." He blushed even more, gaining an arch of brow from the pigtailed girl.

"How naïve." She said, as she watched the older boy walk away from the scene, still blushing hard.

"Tatsue-chan, you're not hiccupping anymore." Sakuno pointed out. Tatsue pursed her lips a bit.

"Uh… yeah."

Ryoma just stared at the two girls as he opened his newly bought can of Ponta.

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It was almost noon when the two girls parted ways, as Tatsue told Sakuno that she still had to grocer for the coming week's supplies. Tatsue jokingly told Ryoma that he shouldn't get Sakuno out of his sight because he might lose her; this however was taken a bit seriously by Ryoma as when right after Tatsue told him that, he took Sakuno's hand and showed it to Tatsue.

"I'm not going to let go, see?" he told the other girl, surprising both girls in the process. Sakuno blushed even harder than Kaidoh.

"Hmm… maybe he's not as dense as I think he is." Tatsue thought, smirking. She then remembered, "HA! I knew it! Sakuno-chan's not over Ryoma-kun yet! HA!"

A wicked smile played on Tatsue's lips as she bade goodbye to the "couple". She then remembered.

"Holy crap. Now she's got two crushes!" she then remembered her senpai, Hide Emiko, "Nah… compared to her (Emiko), having two crushes at once is pretty much normal."

Tatsue gave another look back at the two people she left behind.

"Hehehe, I hope you have tons of luck in your love life to compensate your tennis life, Saku-chan." She whistled off into somewhere.

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Ryoma and Sakuno just stood there; the blush still evident in the latter's face because the former still hadn't let go.

"A-Ano… Ryoma-kun… you can let… go now…" said Sakuno, looking away from the boy.

Ryoma stared at the girl, "I told that brat I won't, c'mon, let's go find food."

Sakuno heard his stomach grumble, agreeing with his statement earlier. She smiled a bit, despite the fact that she had just turned red because of his earlier answer. Maybe… she'd want to know more about Ryoma, about what he likes… aside from tennis of course. She felt herself being tugged with him, as he walked off.

Sakuno and Ryoma found themselves staring at a shop that didn't seem to be familiar to both of them; the two looked at each other.

"C'mon." Ryoma said, pulling her with him as he entered the shop.

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A/N: Chapter 14 done! Hehehe, I don't like pulling off an HBP!H/G, so I made Sakuno break her promise a little earlier… besides I like her all blushing and loving and sweet to Ryoma-kun! 3 Aieeeee!!!! (was my take on Kaidoh right? I mean, that he easily blushes?)