Never Forgotten

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

Chapter Six – Stupid Girl

She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come.

That stupid, stupid girl.

She'd gone and disappeared on me again. What. The. Hell. Next time I saw her I was going to get chains and ropes and tie her up so she couldn't run away from me again. She was so quick to just run off, it was irritating.

"Oh no – Ryoma-kun, I'm going to be here for a week this time!" So she says. But does she make another appearance all week? No. Did I get anything that would allow me to contact her? NO! That stupid girl had even used a calling card to dial out of my room, making the whole telephone record a mess of indecipherable numbers that led me nowhere except to a used calling card message that would prompt me to deposit more money in my account and then I could place another call.

GRAGH! I'd never been so frustrated in my life. Not even by my stupid old man and my stupider older brother when they were teaming up against me.

What could have possibly happened to her? She'd left the restaurant in a rush and then nothing. The last I'd seen of her was about a 10 second airtime on the T.V. in my hotel room of her telling the reporters that she didn't speak English. After confessing to me that she was mine, the stupid girl had run off on me again. I'd been so pleasantly shocked when she'd told me how she felt – I didn't even get the chance to tell her...well…whatever I would tell her. I didn't really know what to say, but I'd take it. If she wanted to be mine, then good, that's exactly what I wanted. I wasn't really expecting her to get so serious and say such a thing, but I suppose time was of the essence when you were a disappearing artist. That stupid, stupidgirl! Damnit! Why did she have to leave me again?

There was no sign of her presence at the Australian Open AT ALL. I would know. I looked all over for that silly girl all week long, just waiting for her to reappear suddenly somewhere. I disguised myself and mingled about in the crowds between matches and walked down long since forgotten pathways, looking for her relentlessly, and nothing. NOTHING. The reporters had given up too, even retracting that she was actually the same girl that had bandaged my eye at Wimbledon. Obviously, if she'd been there, she'd be spotted with me again – or so they said – heh…if they only knew.

Sakuno, you are so going to get it the next time I see you, so help me you are going to get it! Damn straight I was angry. Don't tell me that I'll always have you and then vanish on me. There was something so wrong with that whole equation. Every time I thought about it, I got pissed off. She had melted my heart, ripped it out of my chest and then squished it into nothing while it was all melted. That stupid girl!

I was just going to have to chase her down myself.

I had a few months before Wimbledon and I was going to put that time to good use. Besides practicing for the tournament that lived to smack me in the face each year by something preventing me from winning, I was going to take the time to hunt down Sakuno. And when I found that girl, she was never going to be let out of my sight again. I would tie her up to the bench during matches and handcuff her to me the rest of the time. Okay, so maybe I was going a little overboard with all my thoughts of tying her up and chaining her to me, but she'd promised me she wouldn't disappear and then she had.

Then on the other hand, there were the very scary possibilities. She'd been killed by some random murderer, her plane had crashed, her Grandmother had died and she'd been rushed home. The possibilities down that road were endless and painful, so I usually just focused on two things.

First, that she was a stupid girl.

And second that I was going to find my stupid girl and make sure she didn't leave me again.

I didn't really know how to go about tracking down a girl in Japan though. Honestly, I'd never even been to the country, let alone Tokyo, not like that was going to stop me. I just needed to think about it.

The idea of doing an exhibition match in Tokyo had actually come from my old man of all people, and why he decided on Tokyo, I didn't take the time to explore. Just the surfacing idea that he thought I would find Sakuno in Tokyo set off all kinds of warning alarms within me about his nosey ways and his obsessions with cute, young girls. Ugh, he makes me sick.

The set up though, was prefect. We made it a secret fans-only event under a fictitious name. Tickets had to be purchased by mail in advance – which meant that this way the event could stay really small and oh yeah – no reporters. Meaning, I wouldn't miss her if she was there, no matter what and that there would be no press to get in the way of us spending time together. It was actually a rather brilliant plan all around. I was kind-of impressed. The only hitch in it was that she'd have to be a fan club member. I just hoped that she was.

We arrived in Tokyo in the spring as the famous cherry trees were blooming and I fell in love with the city at first sight. It was beautiful, clean and the best part was everybody spoke Japanese. I had personally always preferred it to English, and thankfully we spoke it in our home, but being in a whole city, or rather a whole country like this? I liked it. I liked it a lot.

Our family really did own a big temple in Tokyo and after arriving at the airport we went there so I could explore the family properly. It was awesome! We had our own tennis court there. Why didn't we live here? I mean sure we had a community tennis court at our place in New York, but it wasn't a private court for just us. The temple was really big with lots of clean spacious rooms in the classic Japanese style. I took to it like I took to tennis. Oh Japan, where have you been all my life?

Sakuno and I must have been meant to be I concluded. All the signs pointed to her - from how we met, to how she affected my brain, to how I thought about the stupid girl more often than I had the time too, right down to where she lived. I would be more than happy living here with her in our big temple eating Japanese food everyday. I imagined her wearing an apron, cooking breakfast in the morning before sending me off to practice. Very nice, yes, indeed I think I can live with that. I hope she's a good cook. Now I just needed to track the stupid girl down and make it happen - it should be easy enough once I got her to stop disappearing on me. She had promised me that I wouldn't be lonely anymore and that I'd always have her hadn't she? We were practically engaged after a statement like that. Well…unless she meant it as just friends. No, nonononono…she'd said it while holding my hand. The stupid girl had to like me! And if she didn't? Well, so what? I'd just make her like me.

By the day of the exhibition I was filled with anxiety. I hadn't run into her yet, though I'd looked all over town…and all of my hopes were riding on her showing up today. For the past two weeks, I'd been out exploring the city. I'd found the local tennis courts nearby, the local burger joints, and briefly passed by a few of the schools. I had to be really careful not to be noticed though. Ever since Sakuno's stunt at Wimbledon I'd been much more popular in Japan as a tennis star. You know what that is? It's a real pain the ass, that's what. I just wanted to play tennis, and beat everybody of course. I really wasn't interested in all this silly fame and fortune stuff that came with being a good tennis player. I just liked the game.

After two weeks of searching around, I still hadn't run into Sakuno though. What did that girl do after school? Did she not live in this part of the city? Maybe after the match I could go to the schools each day and try to find a girl's tennis team. She'd mentioned getting private lessons, so she seemed to have enough of an interest in the sport. She probably stayed at her school until evening - that should be easy enough. I wondered if she was any good at playing. Obviously, she wasn't on my level or she'd be more than a spectator at the tournaments. She was always wearing cute little tennis outfits when I saw her though. She was kind-of wobbly though – I laughed at the image of her wobbling around after the ball. Definitely need to play with her next time I see her and see.

The match came and went, but still no Sakuno. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. She didn't come. I was pretty distracted the whole time since I kept looking for her. I just kept expecting her to appear out of nowhere, but she never did. I barely won, which was really rather silly since I should have been able to beat that guy easily. The crowd loved it, I hated it and it was all Sakuno's fault!

I had one week left before we had to get back to the US for some official exhibitions. After that I would be packed up and hauled off to Wimbledon again, for the third year in a row. I was going to win this time, no matter what! Anyways, I didn't have much time left in Japan. So the day after my match, I started on my new idea of how to track her down. I looked up a list of the schools in the area and from there I made my list of schools I would stake out the next five days: Fudomine, Gyokurin, St. Rudolph Gakuen, Hyotei and finally on a whim Seishun Academy.

The last one was better known to me as Seigaku, where my old man had gone to school. He used to tell me stories about his studies there and once we arrived, it was one of the first places he took me to see. I hadn't really been able to check it out thoroughly, but something told me to not pass up the chance to spend more time there, even if it was unlikely that Sakuno would be there, I had to go. It was as if there was this force compelling me to go. So I went.

All week, I went to each school. I wore a typical boy's Japanese school uniform so I would look like a visiting student from another school. I also wore sunglasses and a hat. Nobody would ever recognize me like this. All my fans ever saw me in were my tennis clothes and my white baseball cap with my racquet in one hand. I found plenty of tennis teams and enjoyed watching them play – wishing I could get on the courts and pound them, but none of the schools turned up any trace of Sakuno anywhere.

Finally, on Friday the last day I found myself at Seigaku. I had already sort-of written the day off as a fun day for me to learn more about how school life had been like for my old man, but Seigaku turned out to be oh, so much more.

Like I had experienced at the other schools, it wasn't long after the final bells signaling the end of school for the day that I heard the familiar thwack of tennis balls being hit on the courts. I made my way slowly into the school and stopped for a few minutes at the boy's courts to watch the guys play. There were a couple of players that really stood out to me. Once again, I'd wished I'd brought my racquet and a change of clothes with me so I could play too, but then I'd be exposed and that could only cause problems. I really wasn't in the mood for that. Well…I'd go check out the girls and if Sakuno wasn't there, maybe I'd come back here and watch the boys play for a while before giving up for now on my Sakuno hunt.

Giving up for now - the whole thought really bummed me out. I was in Tokyo. I was so close to Sakuno, I could almost smell her. Why couldn't I just stay here and continue to visit the schools until I found that silly girl? How long could it really take?

Arriving at the chain link fence surrounding the other courts, I was really surprised to see two long brown braids bouncing around on the court. Was it really Sakuno? I couldn't believe it could be so easy. All this time…was she right under my nose? The girl was playing a friendly match against another girl on the team, and Sakuno- well, if it was indeed Sakuno, was doing quite well. Wow…I never would have thought she would be so good! I'd imagined her as a wobbly awkward player on the courts, but she was sure footed, and her returns seemed to be going exactly where she wanted them to be going. I felt a satisfied sense of pride welling up within me as I walked around the court so I would be standing across from her. From this angle, I would be able to see her face better. It only took one good look her face and I quickly confirmed that this girl was indeed my Sakuno.

I found her! My heart raced in anticipation. Unable to control myself, I called to her, "Sakuno!" as she did a jump smash to end the point.

Landing back on the ground she looked around to see who had called to her. Her eyes finally landed on me and she made a completely blank face. Then pointing at herself she called back, "Me?"

Why the blank face? Didn't she recognize me? Wait…I'm wearing all this stuff. I quickly took off my sunglasses and the hat I was wearing and called out again, "Come over here and say hello to me you stupid girl!"

By now, the whole team was watching the two of us yelling to each other and they all watched Sakuno's racquet flip out of her grip and bonk on the ground. "R-ryoma-kun?"

The disbelief in her voice was apparent. Oh well, I guess she wasn't in the fan club and didn't get my invitation after all. I guess that's a good thing because I think I would have to be angry with her for not coming after all that trouble of trying to get her there.

She sprinted over to me and put her fingers on the fence grasping it, "Ryoma-kun!" she exclaimed again. Her whole face had lit up in a bright smile. She was breathtaking. Well, at least she seemed happy to see me, after she got over the surprise. I noticed the other girls get back to their games, losing interest quickly.

"Hey," I said.

"Hi…"

"I…came to see Tokyo."

"I know! I got the invitation to your match," she said.

She couldn't have said anything more hurtful to me. I was probably giving her quite the glare, but I was really put out that she didn't come. She didn't look all that sorry either. What's the deal? "I didn't see you there," I stated.

Sakuno looked down, her cheeks flushing pink.

"I…well you see, I was going to go, but I forgot to mail in for the tickets on time-"

"You stupid girl," I said, I allowed a small smirk.

She smiled at me, that smile she would give me like her whole world revolved around me. Her eyes were sparkling at me and I just wanted to wrap her up and take her home with me.

"Sakuno-chan, we need to practice!" her teammate called to her as she started making her way over to the two of us.

"A-ano…" Sakuno started doing that nervous twitching thing she would do. She was frantically looking between me and her teammate. I forced myself not to roll my eyes, stupid girl.

As her teammate got closer though, everything blew up in my face. Upon getting close enough, her teammate had started screaming to the rest of the girls, "Oh my GOD!! It's Echizen Ryoma-sama!" She was pointing me out to the other girls and trying to call them all over.

I gave Sakuno a frightened look as the girls started running towards us. Sure there was a fence separating us, but I'd been mobbed by fangirls one too many times to not have a healthy fear of them. Especially tennis player fangirls that would accidentally beat you up while trying to steal your tennis gear from you. I was a tough guy, but when you have a mob of girls all attacking you at once, you're helpless, doesn't matter who you are. I especially had trouble with it, since I generally avoided girls to begin with. Sakuno was my only exception besides my family, though if I was being honest I usually avoided them too.

I quickly grabbed Sakuno's fingers through the fence, "Come with me."

Sakuno looked torn, "I can't just leave right now Ryoma-kun."

I watched as the girls changed their path mid-way from the fence Sakuno was at to the gate leaving the courts. Oh no…this was going to get really ugly.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"It's complicated," she said softly.

"Sakuno, come with me," I told her again squeezing her fingers for emphasis. Don't make me beg you silly girl, just come with me.

She started crying, and squeezed my fingers back tightly, "Ryoma-kun, what are you doing here?"

What does that have to do with you coming with me right now? Why the hell are you crying?

"I came to see you, you stupid, disappearing girl!" I yelled. I moved my arms, pushing in on our hands, and shook the fence a bit in frustration. It made a satisfying clanging sound above our heads. Why couldn't she ditch practice today and hang out with me?

She cried harder, "Ryoma-kun!"

The fangirls were making their way out of the far gate to the courts. They would be on me any second. I needed to get out of there, damnit; I couldn't leave Sakuno this way again! Why was she crying? I didn't have enough time to get into it either – GRAGH this was seriously pissing me off.

"Sakuno, come see me at Wimbledon," I commanded. I'd barely got it out before I snapped my hands away from Sakuno's fingers and made a mad dash out of the school. The girls chased after me for about a block outside the school before I finally lost them.

Damn!! That didn't go well at all. Why was she crying? Why wouldn't she come with me? Well, at least now I know where to find her.

Sakuno…wait for me. I'm coming back for you, no matter what you say.

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A little quicker with the update this time…I've been working on this chapter along with chapter five in my edits because I could never re-read five without jumping right into this one. XD

Thanks to everybody that reviewed the last chapter, I really appreciate your comments and encouragements! My comments to Izaquix078 and anonymous jane have important information about the fanfic this time, so I would recommend that everybody read through them.

Izaquix078 – I don't like FujiSaku, I'm a RyoSaku only kind-of girl. That's why I said at the end of the last chapter that Fuji and Sakuno are positively NOT together. (I had a feeling that a lot of people would miss it – because it was kind-of subtle how Sakuno expressed that they actually were not.) Sakuno only has eyes for Ryoma, but Fuji does like her. She has zero romantic interest in anybody but Ryoma though. She does think that Fuji is a good looking guy (because she would be BLIND not to notice) and she's friends with him, but like I said – zero interest romantically. Like when she was horrified that he thought she was asking him out, and that she was horrified when he said he really liked her and he wasn't just playing around. She's definitely not happy that he likes her. She definitely has no romantic interest in him. When she said he was her boyfriend, she didn't mean it that she considered him as such, but that in the eyes of everybody around her, that he was her boyfriend. That's why she started that whole retelling as, "The whole thing turned into a big mess."

anonymous jane – It's not really a ryofujisaku fic anyways, so I'm happy you'll keep reading anyways, but yeah – this story is definitely ryosaku only. Fuji is just trying to force his affections on Sakuno, but she's not interested. (I explained it pretty good to Izaquix078 if you want to read through that, it should help keep it in perspective.) So you thought the lines were cheesy and cliché in chapter 4? Well, a lot of the dialogue in chapter 4 was basically Ryoma and Sakuno's first date…so if you think about first dates – especially with people you're really crazy about, especially when you've never dated anybody before and especially when you're 16 – you do say a lot of cheesy and cliché stuff. I was honestly just trying to keep it real…like what kind of stuff would they say to each other? Most 16 year olds aren't very clever when they're nervous. Ryoma and Sakuno aren't exactly the cleverest of characters to begin with, so the stuff they would probably say on a first date would probably be a little cheesy. Sakuno does get serious when she confesses to him at the end, and she got the courage to do that by his interest he was showing in her – she'd been holding that in for 2 years too, so she just kind-of spit it out. Unfortunately, that chapter had Ryoma's perspective, not Sakuno's so it was hard to understand why she would do that without thinking a lot about how I've developed her character in this AR. She is pretty assertive with showing Ryoma that she likes him in the series though, so I thought it was fitting. I'm not trying to cheese out on the dialogue; I really am putting a lot of thought into it. I hope this at least helps you understand that I'm not losing my witty banter (LOL!!!) you've seen in my other stories - I'm just trying to keep the story in as much of a reality type of setting for the situations I'm throwing the characters into – taking into consideration their ages and non-previous experiences. Now your questions: "Sakuno did leave the Australian open early right?" Sakuno didn't leave the Australian Open early, like she said at the beginning she was there all week crying the whole time. Basically, she just holed up in her hotel room and moped all week instead of going to the matches and leaving her room to go out. So Ryoma couldn't find her, and she didn't even watch the Australian Open on the T.V., she just cried herself out. "This chapter is how much later than the previous one? Like a few months?" Chapter five basically picks up with Sakuno leaving for home at the end of the Australian Open (January) and ends in the spring just before Ryoma comes to Tokyo for his exhibition match, so few months are covered in chapter five. I hope this all helps, just let me know if you have more questions, since I do leave a lot of the story to the reader's interpretation, though I suppose you get more out of it if you can get into my head. LOL! Mada mada dane Bunny-chan, right? Hehehehe…

fuga - hahaha…should I say you're forgiven? LOL…you were talking about my fanfic with your friend whenever you meet? Wow…that's probably one of the biggest compliments I've ever received, so thank you. I'd love to know what you two had to say…

Soniagirl – wow…I was so overwhelmed with your review. That was an amazing number of ideas; I can see you are really excited! That was great. So…I've already finished writing the story. I've been making final edits to the chapters before posting them up…all I can say is parts of some of your ideas you had were what I did use when I wrote the fanfic, so you should enjoy the rest of the story a lot regardless. Yay!

Lady-Von-Bielefeld,animeandmangaaddict,Kountry101,cutepuff, and BlackDove of Blessings thank you all for your reviews and support as well. I appreciated all of your comments and hope that you will all continue to read and tell me what you think!