Never Forgotten

A RyoSaku romance fanfic by Bunny

Chapter Seven – Third Time's a Charm

Ryoma-kun was not fair. I'd wanted so desperately to go with him that day, but I couldn't do it. I was the new captain and couldn't leave the practice. And Syusuke-kun – how would it make Syusuke-kun look if I ran off with Ryoma-kun? The talk that would come from such an act, I couldn't even fathom it. Sure, I wasn't Syusuke-kun's girlfriend, but it wasn't like anybody else knew that. Syusuke-kun would be labeled "dumped" and I would be labeled as a lose woman, or something else dirty and derogative.

Just seeing Ryoma-kun in person made me so emotional I'd started crying. I had given up hope in him. I had given up hope in us. Then he'd just appeared out of nowhere saying he wanted me to come with him. So instead of running off with Ryoma-kun like I'd wanted so desperately to do, I just cried to him and held his hands.

He says come with me when I can't go with him. It was not fair. He says come with me and then he runs off on me. It was not fair.

So I cried.

I cried and I cried and I cried and I cried. After I was all cried out, I tried to process through what it all meant. I was so confused. I just couldn't figure him out. Ryoma-kun rejects me and then comes to see me at school? I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. There were so many mixed signals, there was so much assumption. He did say he came to see me though, whatever that meant. He also said he wanted to see me again.

After I finally came to grips with what had happened that day he showed up at school, I was dying to see him again. I didn't know if he really liked me or not, or what was going on, but I needed to see him like I needed air to breathe and water to drink.

Syusuke-kun as usual these days, didn't take the news very well. Things had changed for us. After he confessed and I kept telling him I loved Ryoma-kun, Syusuke-kun started getting kind-of depressed. In fact, he was visibly upset about Ryoma-kun's appearance at Seigaku when I told him about it. Syusuke-kun had already graduated, but after Ryoma-kun came to see me, he'd taken to coming by after school to pick me up and drive me home. I don't know why he insisted. I told him not to bother. I told him he didn't need to pick me up, it's not like we were dating. I told him so many times that I loved Ryoma-kun. Every time it got to the point I had to come out and say it again, I watched another piece of him die away before my eyes and it was constantly breaking my heart. What was I supposed to do? I was incapable of loving him the way I loved Ryoma-kun. Ryoma-kun was Ryoma-kun and Syusuke-kun was Syusuke-kun.

Syusuke-kun was a dear friend and he was special to me. He took care of me and he supported me when I thought Ryoma-kun had rejected me. Syusuke-kun taught me everything I knew about tennis and I'd improved because of him. I was team captain because of him. I really owed him a lot. I would love to give him something to show my appreciation, but I couldn't give him my love. My love had been taken by Ryoma-kun when I'd first seen him playing tennis at Wimbledon. It was impossible for me to love anybody but Ryoma-kun. I think Syusuke-kun was starting to understand. I think that's why he was so sad all the time.

He was busy too, going to school to be a doctor actually, and progressing wonderfully or so I heard. Not that he would ever brag about such a thing, but Inui-kun had giving me the percentage breakdown at our last reunion gathering. Syusuke-kun's family bragged on him often enough as well. So of course every time I was with them, they were singing his praise. They thought I was his girlfriend though, so they were probably trying to get me excited about getting married to him someday. It made me sad when I thought about it, but he wouldn't stop and I was too nice to say no. I did, but not enough I guess. I was proud of him too, but everything with us lately was always strained all the time. I wanted to be friends, he wanted to be more. Nothing worked with us anymore and we were both enveloped by his sadness.

I didn't know what to do. I kept telling him that I was going to pursue whatever I could with Ryoma-kun and that he should stop wasting his time on me. It never solved anything. He refused to let me go. Not that he really had me, but I did feel obligated. It was terrible. I felt guilty, I felt selfish, it was eating me up inside. Added to that was that I really cared a lot about Syusuke-kun. He was a dear friend, he was a really great guy, honestly I'm sure I could be really happy with him if I wasn't already in love with Ryoma-kun. But my heart belonged to Ryoma-kun; it had only ever belonged to Ryoma-kun. I felt so connected to Ryoma-kun when we were together, as briefly as it always was – it was like magic.

Ryoma-kun wanted me at Wimbledon that summer, so I'd set out to working and saving all my money to be able to go out there again to see him this year. The wrench that got thrown into that plan was that Syusuke-kun knew about it. He invited himself as well as the rest of the old Seigaku regulars to go as well. I honestly didn't know if that should terrify me or excite me, but it was what it was. Grandma was so thrilled at the idea of my going away with eight escorts that there was no way I could have ever contested their coming along and won.

So here I was on an airplane out to London again. I'd quadruple checked the dates this time and was fairly confident that I'd timed everything properly this year. Or at least I hoped so, or I'd have eight pretty upset sempais on my hands. Oh yes, somehow all eight of them had been able to come to Wimbledon with me. Even Tezuka-kun and Inui-kun were able to make it because they were going to wait for the US Open for Tezuka-kun's first official tournament. Inui-kun had given me the probable increased percentages of Tezuka-kun winning by observing his opponents at Wimbledon first. They never changed, did they?

It was kind-of nice to have company with me on the trip, but it also increased my stress levels considerably. Oh and most of them weren't actually my sempais anymore. Going from addressing them as sempai to kun was actually effecting my stress levels as well. Kikumaru-kun especially loved to tease me about it. He was way too excited about being called Kikumaru-kun. He'd even tell me to call him Eiji-kun, just to watch me flush in embarrassment.

Despite all these things though, it ended up being the best Wimbledon for me yet.

We arrived early in the afternoon and set about checking into the hotel we were all staying in. At least I got to have my own room. The other added bonus was that I was on a different floor from the boys because they'd all bunked up 2-2-2-2 and requested two beds per room, while I had just needed the one.

Ah…a little bit of privacy at last!

Arriving in my private room, I glanced out the window of my high-rise hotel room and then flopped onto my big fluffy bed. I was at Wimbledon again! I was going to see Ryoma-kun all week! Hopefully I would be able to talk with him again, maybe even spend some time with him. I was so happy to be here! I kicked my feet up and down on the bed for a minute trying to shake off my excited nerves.

"Ryoma-kun!" I squealed to the ceiling, "I'm here to see you!"

This year I finally had it all together and made it to all of Ryoma-kun's matches, on time. Well, having the boys with me did help a lot since I was born directionally challenged and they were easily able to guide me to our seats for all of the matches. I supposed after a week of successfully being a spectator at Wimbledon that it really had been better having them with me. They were very distracting though. It was very hard to fantasize about Ryoma-kun whisking me off into the sunset with eight rowdy boys making a bunch of racket and continually trying to drag me into it.

"Fuji should come to Tokyo University with Oishi and me, right Sakuno-chan?" Kikumaru-kun would ask.

"Ah, it's so good to be young, right Sakuno-chan?" Momo-sempai would comment.

"There is an 85 percent chance that Echizen will approach the net after this return," Inui-kun would share.

"Fsssssshhhh!" Kaidoh-sempai.

"Burning! Yeah, baby! Watching this makes me want to play! I'll beat all of you!! Then when we get home we're all having a sushi party at Kawamura Sushi! Yeah!! You'll come too Sakuno-san!" Kawamura-kun would insist.

"Are you hungry Sakuno-chan? Can I get you something?" Oishi-kun.

Tezuka-kun was thankfully usually quiet, but at times he would join Inui-kun in commentary, minus the data of course.

Sigh. Well, you get the idea.

Then there was Syusuke-kun. He just watched me watch Ryoma-kun. I could always feel his eyes on me, watching me watching him. It was so distracting.

We watched all of Ryoma-kun's matches, but we watched most of the other ones we could as well. Besides Syusuke-kun the other boys didn't know I was only there to see Ryoma-kun. Thankfully Ryoma-kun was the leading attraction being the anticipated winner, so his matches weren't to be missed. The boys would stay out at the courts even longer than I did; they were all really excited to be there, so it ended up being a good thing for all of us. I was pretty jet-lagged, so I usually headed back to my room earlier and slept more.

I still hadn't had the chance to talk to Ryoma-kun though. In fact, I didn't even know if he'd noticed if I was there or not. I suppose it was easy to lose me in the sea of boys I was with. Especially since we usually ended up in the back, far enough away that it would be hard for Ryoma-kun to spot me from that great of a distance. Still, I had to see him and talk to him. I just had to.

Finally, the last day came – the day of the finals. Of course, Ryoma-kun was in the finals that year again, I was really rooting for him to finally make it to his goal of winning Wimbledon and completing the grand slam title. I was desperately trying to figure out how I would be able to talk to him. Of all the lucky things that could happen, we somehow found ourselves in the front row on Ryoma-kun's starting side. We'd been up in the back again, as usual, but about ten minutes before the match was scheduled to begin this funny looking monk had offered us seats in the front. Accepting with much enthusiasm, the nine of us had scrambled down the stairs to the front and resettled. The match would be starting soon! I was so excited!

Then he came out and he was there, right in front of me! I hadn't seen him up close like this since Tokyo! He was shining so brightly in all his tennis glory. This had to be it. This was the year for Ryoma-kun, I could feel the excitement zinging through my body as if I was going to play.

Unable to control myself, I yelled out, "Do your best Ryoma-kun!"

He'd suddenly stopped going through his tennis bag and immediately looked in my direction. I waved, hoping he would see me. He did not disappoint.

Spotting me almost immediately, he gave me a knowing smirk and a wink. I just about melted into a puddle of goo. Ryoma-kun! My heart was beating so fast! He knew I was here! Finally, maybe after this I would get to talk to him again! I was so excited.

Ryoma-kun kept looking at me, our eyes locking for periods at a time as he prepared. He had this little smug half-smile on his face – if you weren't at ground level like I was, you'd never be able to see it under his hat, but it was there. Was it for me? The thought made my heart beat out of my chest, my face flush and my stomach do flips.

In my ecstasy, I heard a few sighs behind me and the excited babble of girls speaking in English. Normally, I would pay no mind, but I kept hearing Ryoma, Ryoma, and Ryoma. I sighed. They were talking about him. I knew it already, but it just drove it home to me - that's how it is with popular guys. Syusuke-kun got a lot of attention from the girls at school too, but that hadn't bothered me – probably because I didn't like him like that. Ryoma-kun though…I tried really hard not to get upset and jealous, it would be petty of me, it's not like they were trying to attack him the way the tennis team had. It's not like we were together either. I hadn't known I could be so possessive. I tried to ignore it.

The match started and Ryoma-kun was doing really well. I continued to cheer for him and he continued to look at me between points. I felt like I was really supporting him directly during his important match and it made me so happy to be there for him.

The girls behind us got worse though as the match progressed, I still didn't understand their fast English, but their tones in their voices and the intimate way they said "Ryoma" was really starting to bother me. Did they know him too? Was Ryoma-kun seeing some English girls? I was allowing myself to get upset and I knew it, but I couldn't help it. They were so loud, and they were right behind me and they wouldn't stop!

Syusuke-kun must have noticed, because after the first set, he'd changed seats with Momo-sempai to sit next to me. "Sakuno-chan, these girls behind us want to eat up your man," he taunted.

"You can understand them?" I asked. Wow, I didn't know Syusuke-kun was so good with English! I shouldn't be surprised; he excelled at everything he did. It was really admirable, one of the many things I liked about him.

"Yes, and let me tell you – they think he's winking at them, not you. Sakuno-chan, what shall we do about them?" he asked.

I gave him a dubious look. Syusuke-kun - he sure was the type to go looking for trouble, wasn't he? Mou. What was I going to do with this guy? He was really a glutton for punishment, wasn't he? He tells me he likes me, I tell him I love Ryoma-kun, he pursues me anyways, I continue to turn him down. Then when I chase after Ryoma-kun he decides he wants to get involved with my competition? I just didn't know what to think of it. Syusuke-kun, why are you so confusing all the time? He had his eyes opened to watch my face closely. He was so good at reading my thoughts it honestly frightened me sometimes. As usual, he hit the nail on the head.

Before I could answer, he'd twisted behind us and spoke in rapid English to the girls. I don't know what he said, but it definitely upset them, their tone changed immediately as they responded to whatever he'd said. I continued staring forward, watching Ryoma-kun distractedly. I started feeling very uncomfortable, like a lot of eyes were on my back. I tried hard not to fidget and show my discomfort.

A minute later Syusuke-kun turned back around and threw an arm casually over my shoulders, knocking the side of his forehead into the side of mine, "I think I-"

-smack!-

"Syusuke-kun!" I exclaimed standing up to brace us as he grabbed at me so he wouldn't fall off the bench. Did I see that correctly? Had he just been knocked in the side of the head by a tennis ball? I looked at the green ball bouncing on the ground by us in shock. Following the path of the ball, I glanced towards the court only to see Ryoma-kun glaring our direction and pointing his racquet at Syusuke-kun.

"Stay away from Sakuno," Ryoma-kun declared his glare full-force on Syusuke-kun.

Syusuke-kun caught himself and stood up.

The entire stadium was silent in shocked disbelief. Even the overhead announcers were silent. Did I really just see what I think I just saw? Ryoma-kun had just aimed the ball at Syusuke-kun and hit him in the head? And now he was glaring at him? Did he really tell him to stay away from me? What in the world was going on here?

"No," Syusuke-kun replied back darkly. Goodness, he had his eyes open again and he was giving Ryoma-kun his scariest look. I would have run away crying by now if he looked at me like that.

"Stay away from her!" Ryoma-kun commanded.

My gaze flew back towards Ryoma-kun, he hadn't budged a bit. I turned my head back to look at Syusuke-kun. He had that evil gleam in his eye like he was about to do something. I panicked.

Then Syusuke-kun started laughing this low, dry, broken laugh, "You really do like Sakuno-chan, don't you?"

At that Ryoma-kun took his eyes away to look at the referee, and said, "Time out."

"Time-out!" the referee called out.

"Time-out called by Ryoma Echizen," I heard called through the loud speakers.

Time-out? I scanned my limited English to reference the phrase. I heard it often enough watching Ryoma-kun's matches. I think it meant he was taking a break…

Ryoma-kun briskly jogged over to us and taking my hand started pulling me away from the seating area.

"Ryoma-kun," I said, startled that he'd come over here.

"Come on Sakuno," he said calmly as he continued pulling me towards the court.

The boys all started yelling at Ryoma-kun.

"Hey, what are you doing? You can't take away Sakuno-chan!"

"Fshhhh!!"

"Burning! I don't care who you are, you can't have her!"

"Fuji! Do something!"

"Hoi, hoi! I never thought I'd see this!"

"There was less than 1 percent chance of this happening."

I looked back at them, as I allowed Ryoma-kun to tug me along behind him. Syusuke-kun didn't say anything; he just gave me a sad defeated look as he sat back down. The other boys were giving disbelieving looks between the three of us.

That's when I snapped out of my shocked daze and realized what was happening. Ryoma-kun was taking me away from the boys and pulling me towards the court. Wait! I wasn't allowed on the court, right? Oh no! Not again! And at Wimbledon, too! Why me?

"Ryoma-kun, I'm not allowed," I tried to remind him as I slowed my step, forcing him to slow as well.

He tugged on my hand, pulling me back to our original speed. "What are you talking about you silly girl? You can sit on the bench. I don't want you near that guy," he added.

"Syusuke-kun?" I asked.

"Syusuke-kun, huh?" he repeated. He had an irritated frown on his face.

I wasn't really sure what to say, so I didn't say anything as I followed along helplessly. Syusuke-kun and I had pretty much been super complicated ever since the Australian Open. If you asked me, we weren't dating, if you asked him, we were. If you asked me, I loved Ryoma-kun if you asked him, he loved me. I'd told him very clearly and emphatically before coming here how much it meant to me to have another chance with Ryoma-kun. He'd argued with me, but conceded. I wasn't expecting Ryoma-kun to hit a ball at his head like that though. And I certainly wasn't expecting Ryoma-kun to make anything to do with me public. Wasn't he trying to avoid that? I mean, he didn't want us seen together a few months ago in Australia, so what could have possibly changed his mind? What a scene. I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in all my life.

Ryoma-kun was sitting me on the bench and lecturing me. He was going on and on about how I had to stay there and that if I disappeared on him again he would hunt me down and tie me up or chain me to him.

I started giggling at the picture his threats painted in my head. I imagined the two of us wobbling around chained to each other. Then I pictured Ryoma-kun trying to explain why he had a girl tied up on the bench at the tennis court. I never knew he was such a funny guy!

He stopped mid-rant at my laughter, "What?"

"Ryoma-kun has really thought about this," I got out between giggles.

He gave me a mock glare and huffed, "Only because you're such a stupid girl! If you'd quit disappearing on me, it wouldn't be a problem."

"I've been here all week, but Ryoma-kun didn't find me until today," I teased.

"We're going to talk about that later too, don't you dare move!" he said as he stepped back onto the court.

I shook my head back and forth, indicating that I wouldn't move. Ryoma-kun was so cute!

Despite being rather uncomfortable about being in the spotlight, I did have the best seat in the whole place. Well, with the exception of the referee. He had a height advantage over me allowing him to see the court better. I had the best seat to watch Ryoma-kun though, so I treasured it. I did have to keep changing from one side of the court to the other with all of Ryoma-kun's stuff though. Every time we changed courts, I could feel the pressure of all the people watching me. Was this how Ryoma-kun felt during a match? Did he feel all this pressure? I wondered.

Ryoma-kun was pretty quiet. I could tell he was really focused on his match, so we didn't say anything to each other during the small breaks of changing courts and between the sets. I was okay with that though, just being with him and being able to support him in whatever way I could was more than enough for me. I was really happy actually. A couple of times, he smiled at me when we were close together and nobody could really see his face except for me. It made me feel so special and my heart would jump out of my chest beating wildly in delight. He seemed to like it that I was there with him. He'd warned off Syusuke-kun, taken me with him and told me not to leave him again. Maybe I had misunderstood Ryoma-kun all this time? This definitely felt like we, well we were something. It was about as public and public got too.

Did that mean that I misunderstood him in Australia? If I had misunderstood…I frowned. That would mean that I missed out on a lot. We could have spent more time together in Australia and I could have seen him when he was in Tokyo for more than five minutes. I wouldn't have been crying over him all the time and I wouldn't have had the problems I'd been having with Syusuke-kun. I thought I understood Ryoma-kun, but maybe I really didn't. Maybe it was my fault for being so insecure. I knew I felt a strong connection to him; maybe he acted the way he did with me because he felt it too?

I didn't really get to think about it all too much though, because it was as I was mulling this over in my head that I heard, "Game and match, Ryoma Echizen!" announced.

Ryoma-kun had won the final set, and had finally won Wimbledon! The crowd had exploded with noise and clapping. I jumped off of the bench in excitement, bouncing up and down and screaming in happiness. I couldn't help it; it was such a BIG DEAL. Ryoma-kun had just won his third title in a row, completing the grand slam! The whole stadium was going crazy!

Ryoma-kun ran over to me and picked me up mid bounce swinging me around with him in circles while smiling in obvious delight. I'd never seen him look so excited about anything before. I'd never seen him smile like that before either. Even after winning other tournaments he was usually so nonchalant about it.

And then, he set me back down on my feet and tilting his head down slightly, he kissed me.

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Whoooo!!! Chapter 7 is done. Happy dance time! So there is one chapter left after this! W00t!

Lady-Von-Bielefeld – thank you, you're comments were so sweet and heartfelt. I really appreciate it. I don't mind blabbering at all, in fact I love it! Please blabber away, nothing makes me happier than seeing others happy from reading my stories and enjoying them the way I do. I think you are, so thank you so much for sharing that with me. It makes taking the time to post it up online worth it.

animeandmangaaddict – I know what you mean! Ryoma is…yup. LOL! I hope this chapter answered your question about why Sakuno was crying, but let me know if you have more questions.

fuga – Yay!! Kilig! That's very awesome. I wish I could join you, I'd love to fangirl with you girls! Awww, I just really loved your whole review, it made me smile like a goof!

Izaquix078 – sorry for making you nervous. I'm an OTP type of girl, so you won't see me fluxing on a pairing. I pick one and stick with it. Did this chapter answer for you why Sakuno was crying sufficiently?

reader713 – Yeah really. LOL…well…hmm…don't think he's made the connection since he doesn't know Sakuno. He just knows a cute girl when he sees one. And he knows his kid – meaning…he knows Ryoma likes Sakuno.

anonymous jane – I don't think grammar is over-rated. Sorry if I missed a few mistakes. I'm happy you liked the last chapter.

Kountry101 – thanks for catching that line! I thought it was great too – Ryoma being all cocky! I loves it too. XD

Car2nfreak – yup. Too bad neither of them are much of a talker! How will they ever work it out? ROFL!

BlackDove of Blessings – it varies. Like I said, the story is done, so it's just when I have the chance to sit and do the final edits before I update each chapter. This week was really busy, so it took longer. (Tax season.)

Yula089 – I really enjoyed your review, you seemed to really capture the essence of the whole fanfic.

Soniagirl – Ryoma goes to school in the United States when he isn't off playing matches, but he is usually off playing. Thanks so much for another great review. I just love how you tell me all the ideas in your head from what you've read. It makes me excited. XD

cutepuff and hopeless-romatic121 – thank you for your reviews as well. It's so nice to see you excited about the story too! Whooo!