Sakura Lain says,

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll say it again—I don't own The Prince of Tennis, but I sure wish I did! Ryoma and Sakuno would've had a lot more moments and definitely would have gotten together by now! Jeez!"

…and now she's done.

Chapter 4: The Results

"Your wife? How could you do this without asking me first! This is insane—"

"An-chan, please calm down and let Momo and I explain…"

"And for how long do I have to pretend to be marrying you?"

"…A week or two."

"A WEEK OR TWO? Ohhh, you guys are going to get it!"

"An-chan!"

"Tachibana!"

Sakuno sighed from the stairs, being able to hear the loud noise no matter where she was in the house. Momo had stopped by their place with An Tachibana so he and Tomo could convince her to play along with them for now. Just as Sakuno thought, An wasn't taking the news so lightly.

"And you don't think I have other, better things to do? I don't have time to be playing someone's wife—"

"Fiancée, Tachibana…"

"What the hell is the difference?"

"Well, you're not exactly married to me yet…" Mistake.

Sakuno heard a crash coming from the living room and flinched.

"An-chan!"

Sakuno got up from the stairs and left for the front door, putting on her sweater. "I'll… be going out for a while, guys," she announced, though she knew they were too engrossed with An's overreactions to even hear her. I'll come back when everything's settled, she thought.

Sakuno sighed again as she made her way down the front steps and out the front gate. She didn't know where she was going, but taking a walk outside instead of being trapped inside with all the screaming was definitely refreshing.

"Ii data…"

She stopped, recognizing that small voice. She frowned, looking at the nearby bushes and trees and quietly walked up to them, asking, "Inui-san…?"

"Nya, it's Ochibi's girlfriend!"

Sakuno flushed, but she shook her head. "It's Ryuzaki," she said.

"Sorry, Ryuzaki-san…" came Kawamura's voice. "Please, do join us. Or not…" he faltered.

Sakuno stepped into the trees, and saw Inui, Kikumaru, and Kawamura hiding behind two bushes, Inui taking notes as usual except this time he seemed a lot more focused and his hands moved very fast as he jotted down notes.

"What are you guys doing?" Sakuno asked, tilting her head slightly. Spying, obviously, she thought. She looked around in case there was anyone else she knew hanging around that they could be spying on. But she didn't know anyone.

"Hide over here, or he'll see!" cried Kikumaru, pulling her gently toward them.

"Inui and Kikumaru are spying on Echizen," Kawamura confessed quietly.

"Oi, you're here too!" Kikumaru cried.

Kawamura sighed.

"Why are you guys spying on Ryoma?" Sakuno asked.

"75 percent… 95 percent…" Inui was now murmuring percentages to himself.

"Ochibi's been acting weird with us lately," whispered Kikumaru. "He's inside the drug store so we can't see him right now. Nya, maybe he really is sick…?"

"I still don't see why we have to spy him on him," said Kawamura. "Maybe he's just sick, there's nothing wrong at all with that."

"Ryoma looked fine when I saw him at Momo's two days ago," said Sakuno.

"See?" Kikumaru's eyes lit up. "I knew there was something fishy going on around here! He's been acting all quiet lately, but he won't tell us!"

"He's just sick…" Kawamura kept insisting.

The four of them froze, watching the door to the drug store open. Ryoma came out, a small bag in hand, and stopped in his tracks, facing their hideout.

"Shh…" said Kikumaru, which in Sakuno's opinion, completely blew their hideout, because moments later, Ryoma was looming over them.

"Come out already," he sighed.

"Chance of being found out… 100 percent."

"He's already found us, nya!" cried Kikumaru.

"It's because you went all 'shh' on us!" said Kawamura.

"Nya!"

Sakuno sweatdropped, as the three of them began to push each other around and dragged her along with them. Eventually, the four of them fell out from the bushes, lying on the floor before Ryoma's feet.

"Totally busted…" Kawamura sighed.

"Hoi, hoi! It's Ochibi-sama, our prince!" cried Kikumaru, looking up at Ryoma with an innocent façade on his face.

Ryoma smirked. "You guys never learn." Sakuno groaned, helping herself up from the ground, and he noticed her then. "You're with them too?" Sakuno nodded sheepishly under his inquisitive stare.

"Gomen ne," she said. "I didn't mean to spy, too…"

"Nee, Ochibi, what's that you got there?"

"None of your business," replied Ryoma, closing his eyes coolly.

"LET ME SEE, BABY!" Kawamura seized the bag from Ryoma's hand and looked inside. "MEDICINE?! YOU PLANNIN' TO DRUG SOMEONE, HMM?"

"No…" said Ryoma firmly, wiping spit from his face. "And you're also not very convincing without a racket, Kawamura…"

"I-I know…"

Ryoma snatched his bag from Kawamura's hands and flung it over his shoulder.

"Ne, Inui, whatcha still writing notes for?" said Kikumaru, leaning over Inui's shoulder to peek at his notes.

As the three ex-senpais began to hassle one another again, Sakuno noticed Ryoma had already left the group and was headed another direction. "M-Matte, Ryoma-kun!" she called, catching up with his pace.

Ryoma looked at her. "What do you want, Ryuzaki?"

"Just to apologize," said Sakuno, "About the spying on you. They were just worried, you know."

"It doesn't matter," he shrugged, looking ahead.

"So who did you come to Japan with?" she asked eagerly.

"With 'Kaa-san…" he said, pausing. "Oyaji too," he added.

"Oh. How long will you be staying?"

"'Til after Momo's wedding."

"Oh…" So he wasn't staying for long after all. She half-expected to see a lot more of him now that he was back. Her features saddened. "Demo…"

He was giving her a blank look. "Oh! Gomen, I'm talking too much again, aren't I?" said Sakuno awkwardly.

"That's not it," he replied, but he didn't say anything after that.

There was silence between them again. They walked side by side, Sakuno wondering what was going on in his private mind. She didn't think there was anything strange at all about him, unlike what Kikumaru said. Ryoma was still as quiet as ever, speaking only when necessary, and since when has that ever been strange about Ryoma?

"Um, this is my stop," she spoke up. They were now in front of the house she and Tomo lived in.

Ryoma shrugged, and waited as she took her keys out to enter the gate. "Well, Ja," she said quietly.

"AND WHO MADE YOU THE PANTS OF THIS RELATIONSHIP, EH? IF THIS IS EVER GOING TO HAPPEN, IT'S ME WHO GETS TO DECIDE THINGS AROUND HERE!"

Sakuno flinched, her hand stopped in mid-air. They're still not done?

Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?" he asked.

"Uh…" Sakuno slowly turned her head to smile weakly at him, "…Momo and his fiancée?" Seriously, what else could she say? She sucked at lying…

"THAT'S RIGHT, BOW DOWN TO ME!"

"Now, look here, Tachibana, that's too far!"

Ryoma smirked. "This is interesting," he said.

"W-Would… would you like to come in?" asked Sakuno. That's right, Sakuno, just invite him in when it's clearly not safe! She mentally slapped herself.

"I'll pass," said Ryoma, when suddenly An slammed the front door open.

An's eyes landed on Ryoma and immediately her steam seemed to settle down. "Ryoma!!" she cried, running to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Ryoma, it's been so long!"

"Oi…" He struggled out of her arms.

A very weary Momo and Tomo stood by the doorway. They looked so tired, Sakuno couldn't help but giggle.

"Ne, Ryoma, why don't you come inside? Momo and I are so happy to see you've decided to come to our wedding!" cried An, pulling Ryoma inside by the arm.

"Now she complies…" Sakuno heard Momo mumble to himself.

"We'll have tea and catch up!"

"Demo…"

Sakuno placed her hand over Ryoma's, looking at his bag. "Don't worry, I'll place it somewhere safe," she said quietly.

He looked at her, and for a moment his eyes softened, looking grateful. It took Sakuno slightly off-guard. "Thank you," he muttered, before being dragged into the living room by An. Momo and Tomoka followed after them, until only Sakuno stood alone in the genkan area.

She looked at the bag in her hands. "I can place it in the closet for now," she mumbled to herself. She started walking, her mind preoccupied with the way Ryoma had looked at her. She had forgotten she was in the genkan lower floor, however, and almost tripped to the hallway. "Itai…" she said, rubbing her foot. "Huh?"

A paper had slipped out of the bag. Sakuno didn't want to intrude in private matters, so she quickly snatched the paper up from the floor, meaning to place it back inside the bag. However, two words caught her attention and she froze in place, rereading them, not believing what her eyes were seeing. "R-Ryoma-kun…"

Chemotherapy Results.

A/N: I won't be able to update this weekend, as I'm visiting some cousins. Maybe Saturday or Sunday night, depending on when I get back. Ja ne:)