Note: Okay, I've noticed some (okay all) of these chapter names are pretty boring and bad, so I'll try to do better.

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Ryoma and Sakuno continued to walk to the grocery for about another 2 minutes, when suddenly Sakuno saw some kids playing tag. She was so focused on them that she didn't realize her shoe was untied and she tripped on it.

"Ow..." she whined as she hurried to get up. 'Oh my God, this has got to be the most embarrassing thing I've ever done...He probably thinks I'm a loser.' Ryoma looked back after he heard her whimper, and noticed she wasn't next to him anymore. His eyes widened as he saw her on the ground. Her right leg and her hands were fine, but her left knee was scraped up really bad. She wiped off her tears, got up and started to walk like nothing happened; ignoring the look he was giving her.

"...Are you okay?" Ryoma finally asked.

"H...Hai. I'm great." She flashed him a fake smile, but he could easily read through it. He was the only one she couldn't trick, and she was the only one he couldn't lie to without feeling guilty. Suddenly, he turned around and started walking the other direction. She followed without questioning him, even thought she felt pretty stupid. Eventually she asked

"Ryoma-kun, where are we going?"

"To my house. If you leave that scrape it's going to get infected."

"Ry...Ryoma-kun that's not necessary! I can just go to my house by myself, and fix it there."

"You're grandma is still at the school, and I don't trust you by yourself. Besides it's too far of a walk. Your knee will just hurt more." He pulled his cap over his head to hide his deep blush. 'Ryoma-kun...you've never been this nice to me before...' She sighed as if it was a burden, but was secretly really happy. She followed him once again.

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Ryoma opened the door to find a note on the table.

'Dear Ryoma,

Nanako and I went out to lunch with some of the neighbors. I hope you don't mind. There's some food in the fridge, and I left some fresh cookies on the table. Your father is outside as usual. Love,

Mom'

Sakuno hovered over his shoulder as he read it. She didn't even realize how close they were until he turned to face her and their noses almost touched. Her face turned pink once again.

"Hoi, do you want something to eat?"

"I...Iie, I'm fine." She couldn't ask him for anything more. That would be rude. He showed her to the bathroom and told her to wash her hands, and he gave her a towel to wash her left knee with. When she came out, her left knee was still bleeding, so he put her in the living room and got a wet cloth from the kitchen. He placed it on her knee and kept it there.

"Ow..." she yelped quickly, regretting it after. He removed the cloth and looked at her.

"Hm?"

"It's...hot..." she stuttered. The door bell rang. He sighed and put the cloth on the floor and opened the door.

"Omaesan Ochibi!" Eiji cheered. Momoshiro was right behind him, and Oishi in the back.

"What are you doing here?" Ryoma snared.

"Ah...is that any way to talk to your senpais?" Momoshiro asked in an offended tone. Suddenly he noticed a girl in the other room. 'Echizen really is so young. Hey that's...Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter...Ha! I knew it!'

"What did you do to Sakuno-chan!?" Eiji exclaimed, looking at her bandages. Momoshiro held up Ryoma by his collar and gave him a stern look.

"Hey...it's not like that! She fell and I took her here so it wouldn't get infected..." Ryoma explained. Momoshiro let go of his collar and smiled.

"So young..." Momoshiro mumbled cockily. Oishi looked through the doorway and saw Sakuno's bleeding knee.

"Oh no! It's bleeding!" he ran over to her side and started to wipe her knee as her face turned pinker then before. "Ah...senpai, my knee is fine. Really..." she said trying to get him to stop worrying. Ryoma twitched seeing Oishi near her, but thankfully it was unnoticed...to Sakuno anyway. Unfortunately, two nosy tennis regulars noticed right away.

"Hey, Eiji, Ready to start Operation G.R.T.A.H.L.S. (Get Ryoma to admit he likes Sakuno)?" Momoshiro whispered. Eiji gave him a slight nod and a wide smile. 'This is for your own good Ochibi.'

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A little while later, Ryoma had finally given up trying to get them to leave, so he sat all of them down in his living room, and brought in some tea and the cookies his mother had left. Oishi had already left, due to some things he had to take care of for Tezuka. He sat down in the chair next to the spot on the couch where Sakuno was sitting. Momoshiro and Eiji sat down on the couch with Sakuno.

"So, Echizen, there's a rumor going around school about Ina Shijue and you...Is it true?"

Momoshiro grinned.

"Ina Shijue? Oh yeah, that girl on the tennis team." Ryoma answered. The only reason he even knew about her was because Horio and pretty much all the other freshman had a huge crush on her.

"Yep, she's a freshman too, and said to be the 2nd best tennis player on the team." Eiji added.

"I don't see why they make such a big deal about her...she's not the best." Ryoma replied, much to their disgust.

"Uh...senpai...you said there was a rumor going around about her and Ryoma-kun...might I ask what it is?" Sakuno finally put in. She really couldn't take the torture any longer. She had to know. Momoshiro and Eiji grinned once again at her eagerness.

"Ah, well the rumor is that she is going to bid on you for the fundraiser, and seeing as how she's rich, she'll definitely win." Momoshiro said with his voice as annoying as ever.

"Well, it could be worse I guess...at least this one knows something about tennis." Ryoma sighed emotionlessly.

"Worse? That's the best there is!" Momoshiro stammered.

"She's not even the best on her team." Ryoma shook his head.

"Why don't you want to go out with her? You two would be perfect for eachother!" Momoshiro exclaimed as he watched Sakuno twitch at the word perfect. "It's like that red haired kid with two years of tennis experience and Osakada going out!"

"No...No. Mada mada dane." Ryoma said, sighing once again.

"Hm?" Momoshiro asked. 'This is it! He's going to finally admit he likes Sakuno...ahh, he has no idea that he is so easy to trick.'

"They're too alike." He admitted, with a smirk. He finally realized what Momoshiro was trying to do. 'Momo-senpai has no idea how easy he is to figure out.' "and two loud-mouthed for their own good."
Sakuno had to cover her mouth to hold back the laugh and sigh of relief. Eiji sighed as he mouthed to Momoshiro, 'Operation G.R.T.A.H.L.S. is a failure.' 'Not yet! We can still save this.' Momoshiro mouthed back.

"So you like girls who aren't arrogant? girls who are shy? girls who are sweet? girls who suck at tennis?"

"Mada mada dane." Ryoma proclaimed. (this time he's saying the translation which means 'you still have a ways to go,'(meaning basically he's telling Momoshiro that he is really obvious and needs to get a lot better at trying to dig out information from people) however most of the other times he says it (at least in my stories), you can use either translation.)

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Ryoma dismissed his senpais and Sakuno after that, not wanting to deal with any more of Momoshiro and Eiji's pathetic attempts. But after the two regulars were gone, he followed Sakuno till he caught up with her.

"R...Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno said startled. She thought he was at home. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to your grandma about getting out of the fundraiser." Ryoma stated like it was obvious. 'Besides I should probably come to make sure you don't trip and fall on your way home.' He couldn't help but laugh at his own thought. She just gave him a confused stare as he stopped and pulled his hat over his face. "Ryoma, no baka." He mumbled to himself. When they finally arrived after talking a little bit about school, he sighed and said "Adiosu."

"H...Hai." she replied as she walked on her porch. Suddenly she turned around. "Wait, Ryoma-kun didn't you need to talk t-" But he was already gone. She sighed and leaned against her door. She looked up to the sky at the beautiful shining stars and closed her eyes. 'Ryoma-kun...'

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A/N:

Wow I went crazy with parentheses at that one part. Oh well, that's just me being weird...Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. It was a bit longer then the other ones and had a bit more humor to it then the last one (at least that's what I think, but you tell me). Anyway, I know you all want for the dating to start, and believe me it will start soon. Very soon!

Iie- no

Hai- yes

Omaesan- hey

No baka- 'stupid' or 'you idiot'

Adiosu- good bye

Mada made dane- Ryoma's catch phrase. Has a few different translations, but the main ones are "You still have a ways to go." and "No, not yet."