Disclaimer: Once again, we do not own POT. Though we totally wish we did. Don't we all? :D

Nor do we own any of the songs mentioned in this chapter or any of the songs we used as song titles. Though we wish we own those too. Most of them, at least.

If it's not clear, Ryoma and Sakuno are both in HIGH SCHOOL from the beginning of the story, not middle school. So they're both about sixteen years old.

Another thing: to any Justin Bieber lover who's reading this, we do NOT intend to hate on him. This is just what we think Ryoma would think about him. We have nothing against him, we swear.

OK, on with the story.

(Two months later)

"Lunchtime!" Tomoka sang as she danced out of the classroom, dragging Sakuno with her. "Come on, Sakuno, move it! You're slower than a snail!"

"Matte, Tomo-chan, I need to wait for…"

"Yeah, yeah, you have to wait for that boyfriend of yours," Tomoka pouted. "I still can't believe you, of all people, got a boyfriend before me, and it's Ryoma-sama you're dating!"

Sakuno couldn't help smiling even as she asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Besides, Osakada," called Horio from a distance, "who'd want to date you?"

"Try saying that again, unibrow-head…"

"Oi, Sakuno." Said girl took her eyes off of Tomoka, who was shaking her fist as threateningly as possible at the moment, to find the tennis prince waiting for her with a smile.

What's he smiling for? she wondered as she walked over to him, leaving Tomoka and Horio to begin their flirti-ahem-argument of the day.

"Ryoma? That's weird…you're smiling…" She gave him a questioning look.

"Mada mada da ne. What, you thought I wasn't capable of smiling?" he deadpanned, to which her face turned a bit pink.

"I-I didn't mean that…it's just that you never smile without a reason…"

"That's because I do have a reason."

"Eh? What's that?"

"Come with me to the rooftop, I want to show you something." he said abruptly.

"Eh?" she said again. "Right now?"

"No, let's wait until your ninetieth birthday. Yes, now," he rolled his eyes but proceeded to grab her hand and drag her over to the stairs leading to the rooftop.

What's with him and my ninetieth birthday? Sakuno giggled as she unsuccessfully tried to pull her hand out of his grasp. "Mou, Ryoma, l-let go of my hand!"

"Yadda."

He continued to drag her up the stairs, and pushed the door open. It wasn't until they had both sat down and opened their bento boxes that he let go of her hand to pull something out of his pocket.

"Here." He pulled two slips of paper out of his pocket and handed them to her. "Check out where we're going this weekend."

When Sakuno saw the slips of paper, her jaw dropped. "Ryoma…" she breathed, "this is…this is…" she waved her hands around to show her amazement.

"This is…?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Absolutely amazing!" Sakuno burst out finally. "I can't believe you got tickets to the Fujita Maiko concert! It must have been so hard to get these!" Her eyes shone with her excitement.

He hid the pride he felt at her praise, instead replying nonchalantly, "Che, it was easy. I just had to blackmail my stupid oyaji into giving me enough money."

"Hah? You blackmailed your dad? What did he do?"

"That's classified information." Ryoma smirked when he saw the expression on Sakuno's face, which couldn't seem to decide between being dumbfounded, scandalized, curious, and slightly amused.

She settled on curious. "Tell me! I won't tell anyone!"

"Yadda."

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing."

"Isn't that the whole point?"

"No, this is pretty bad, even for Oyaji. I'm still waiting for the day when I can deny that he was ever related to me." Heh, that'd be the day…stupid Oyaji with his stupid magazines and his stupid perverted thoughts, out of my life forever…

"Oh come on, you can't hate your father." Sakuno chided him, but giggled nonetheless. Her boyfriend would never cease to make her laugh. "First you're blackmailing Momo-senpai about Ann-chan, and now this. Who got you into the habit of blackmailing, anyway?"

Fuji-senpai…he thought with a grin. "So? Can you make it?" he asked her, pointedly changing the topic. That could be discussed another day.

"Yes, yes, yes! Even if I had something, I would cancel it!" Sakuno exclaimed happily. "I would never pass up a chance to go see Fujita Maiko live, and with you! Thank you so much, Ryoma!" She leaned over and gave her boyfriend a sudden hug, before realizing what she was doing and pulling away just as abruptly. Blushing furiously, she stammered, "O-oh! I-I'm sorry…"

"Why? I'm not." he smirked as he pulled her in for another hug, and Sakuno's blush grew tenfold. It looked like she had yet to get used to the whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing. Oh, well.

He let go about five seconds later. "Besides, the way you responded, it sounded like I'd just proposed to you."

"Ryoma!" Sakuno shrieked, her face turning crimson. Ryoma chuckled. They had been dating for about two months, but she still hadn't gotten used to him teasing her, and he still couldn't stop teasing her- it was way too fun.

"Ne, I'm starving, can we eat now?" he asked, deciding it was time to let her calm down a bit.

"S-sure."

Ryoma snapped his chopsticks and began eating after uttering a quick, "Itadakimasu," Sakuno quickly following suit. As she started eating, however, she realized something and turned her head sharply to Ryoma, who gave her a quizzical look. "What?"

"Ryoma, you never did tell me who got you into the habit of blackmailing…" she mused.

He continued to eat. "And you want to know this because…?"

"Well, you're not telling me what your dad did," Sakuno giggled, "but it couldn't possibly hurt to tell me why you like blackmailing people…"

Ryoma sighed in feigned exasperation. "So you want to know who got me into blackmailing."

"Yes!"

"OK, so remember that stupid dance which was about a month and a half ago? The combined one with Seigaku and…Fudomine, I think?"

She nodded and blushed, remembering that crazy night. "Yeah…I was actually wondering what you were doing there…"

"Right, I'm coming to that. So I didn't want to go, but Fuji-senpai had taken a video of me buying the Twilight movie for Nanako, and basically he was going to post it on Facebook or something unless I went to the dance. I was really pissed off with him at the time," Ryoma smirked a little, remembering the thousand or so laps he had made Fuji run to get revenge on him, "but I realized how useful blackmail could be."

Sakuno frowned slightly. "Ryoma, you should stop blackmailing people. It's mean."

"Hey, if it weren't for my blackmailing skills, we wouldn't have the Fujita Maiko tickets. Now stop complaining and finish up so we can get back to class."

Sakuno obliged, sticking her last rice ball into her mouth, but stopped as she realized something else. "Ryoma…did you just tell me that Nanako-san watches Twilight?"

"Are you kidding? She was obsessed with the movies for about three weeks," Ryoma rolled his eyes. Please, Kami-sama…please tell me she doesn't like Twilight too…

Sakuno giggled. "Don't worry Ryoma, I don't like the Twilight movies. I haven't read the books so I don't know how good they are, but the movies are horrible." She wiped her mouth and stood up. "Come on, class is about to start."

Huh? Wait a minute... "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"You were talking to yourself." she simply replied, giggling again. "Come on, Ryoma, we're going to be late!"


"Ohayou gozaimasu, Coach," Ryoma nodded at his coach as she welcomed him into her house. "Where's Sakuno?"

"She should be ready in about a minute, so you can go up to her room and see her. You want something to drink first?"

"Sure, thanks." He accepted the Ponta which Sakuno's grandmother gave him; popping it open, he downed about half the contents as Sakuno's grandmother asked him, "So how's the team today?"

"Mada mada da," he replied smugly, to which Sumire raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the Ponta."

"You're welcome," she replied as Ryoma tossed the empty can into the trash and climbed up the stairs to stand just outside Sakuno's room.

As he waited for his girlfriend to get ready, thinking about random tennis-relating things (A/N: Exactly what else would he be thinking about?), a voice interrupted his thoughts. Strangely, this wasn't some random voice in his head either, but rather, it came from inside Sakuno's room.

"It's a long road when you face the world alone, no one reaches out a hand for you to hold…" it sang.

Ryoma blinked. OK…she's probably listening to music.

Then the voice continued, "You can find love, if you search within yourself, and the emptiness you felt will disappear…"

A pause for breath, and strangely no background music. Wait…that's her singing.

"Mou…where did I put that hairbrush?" her soft voice now made its way to his ears.

The truth suddenly dawned on him. Wait…she can sing? And…sing songs in English? OK…did not see that coming…(A/N: Neither did we…o.O)

Two minutes later, she walked out of the room, wearing a Fujita Maiko T-shirt, jeans, and with her curly hair in a high ponytail. "Obaa-chan, is he here yet…" she then turned and saw him. "Ryoma!" she blushed. "How long have you been waiting there?"

"Hmm, five minutes-ish."

Five minutes? That means…her face turned pink. He heard me…she was so absorbed in her own worried thoughts that she didn't even notice Ryoma waving his hand in front of her face.

"Sakuno? Sakuno. Oi, Ryuzaki!" he suddenly said sharply, causing her to come back to earth.

"Wh-what? Oh, sorry…" she replied, albeit a bit confused. "What time does it start?"

"Five, so we'd better get there. It's already four-thirty."

"OK." She took the hand he offered, followed him downstairs, and yelled a quick goodbye to her grandmother, who told Ryoma something about bringing her back before eleven. He rolled his eyes without her noticing. "Yes, yes, I got it."

Sakuno giggled. "Why is Ryoma so easily annoyed?"

Ryoma avoided her question and came straight to the point as usual. "Ne, you never told me you could sing." She "can sing"? What an understatement.

Sakuno reddened. "Yeah, I like singing, it's fun. I'm not that great though…"

"Right, and Kikumaru-senpai is the quietest man in Japan," Ryoma replied sarcastically. Sakuno's visage colored further as she realized that this was an indirect compliment.

"Th-thank you…"

"Your pronunciation wasn't that bad...it'll help you in English class." he remarked.

"H-hai, that's why I'm trying to learn the song." she replied. "'Hero' is the first English song I'm learning, but I listen to American music a lot."

"Really? What kind?"

"J-just classics. I-I like the songs from Disney animated movies and people like Mariah Carey and Beyoncé."

"Kami-sama, what a relief." he said, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"It means you don't have bad taste."

"Meaning…?"

"Hardly any of the new people are any good."

"Like...who's really bad?"

"Hmmm. OK, there's this one guy called Justin Bieber who sounds like a girl, I swear. For some reason, he has a zillion fans all around the globe. You heard of him?"

She shook her head no. "Why is he so popular? There must be some reason."

"I think it's his haircut. He always likes to flip his hair in this way that makes his fans scream their heads off in hyper joy." He shuddered. At least that was one thing he could empathize with Justin Bieber about—scary fangirls.

"Flip his hair? How?" Sakuno asked innocently, to which Ryoma gave her a look.

"I'm not going to flip my hair."

"Mou, show me!"

"Yadda."

"Please?"

"Yadda."

"Fine, then I'm not talking to you." Sakuno scoffed and turned her head away sharply, nose in the air; she let go of his hand and ran a few steps ahead of him. Ryoma raised an eyebrow.

"Sakuno?"

No response.

"Sakuno."

Still no response. She crossed the street, not waiting for him. He smirked.

"Baka, the concert's that way." He pointed to his left, forcing her to turn around and look at him.

She blushed but tried her best to look dignified. "I...I knew that!" She turned sprinted across the street, stopping at the other side. "Now which way do I go?"

"Like I would tell you," Ryoma replied with a grin. "I guess I'm going to have to go by myself." he smirked and ran ahead of her.

"No!" he heard her yell from behind and suddenly found her standing right by him and grabbing his hand again. "No, don't go there without me, Ryoma..." she begged.

Still so gullible. "Mada mada da ne, Wobbly Hips." he replied, still smirking.

"You're so mean to me! And I do not wobble anymore!"

"Hn." he grinned.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, when Sakuno's cell phone suddenly rang.

"Sakuno, pick up the phone! Sakuno, pick up the phone!" her phone screamed.

Ryoma blinked. What the hell?

"Oh, god," Sakuno sighed. "It's Tomo-chan. She has this weird habit of calling at the at the most awkward times. I'll call her back later."

"Ne, do you have a different ringtone for each person?" he asked her.

"Yeah, why?"

"What's mine?"

"Call my phone and find out," Sakuno said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Ryoma, pushed by curiosity, dialed her number. A few seconds later, Sakuno's phone spoke again.

"Mada mada da ne. Mada mada da ne. Mada mada da ne."

Ryoma sweatdropped. "So let me guess…Momo-senpai's is 'Don!" and Tezuka-buchou's is 'Yu dan sezu ikou,' and Atobe's is 'ORE-SAMA is calling!'?"

Sakuno giggled. "Two out of three. Not bad. I don't actually have Atobe-san on my phone, or it probably would be that."

"How do you even have this recording of my voice?" he asked warily.

Well, you only say it about a hundred times a day. "A notebook isn't the only thing Inui-senpai uses to collect data." Sakuno replied with a smile.

"Hn." Ryoma made a mental note to think long and hard before uttering another word in practice. "We're here."

"Oh! That was fast. We aren't late, are we?"

"Nope, right on time. Let's go in." He swiftly pulled her through the huge crowd that was waiting outside the ticket booth, handed the tickets to the guy in there, and pulled her inside the concert hall.

"Ryoma, I still can't believe we're going to see Fujita Maiko, live!" Sakuno beamed at him.

He smiled slightly. "Wait till you find out where our seats are."

"Huh?" Ryoma smirked at her confusion as he pulled her over to the front row and pointed to two seats which had, "Reserved for: Ryuzaki Sakuno" and one with his name on it.

Sakuno's jaw dropped. "Reserved front row seats? Kami-sama…Ryoma, this is incredible!" She threw her arms around him in joy.

"I know." A few seconds later, he pulled away. "Wait here, I'll go get some Ponta."

"No, you've done more than enough for me," Sakuno said. "I'll go get the drinks. And I'm paying for our next three dates."

"Nah, you don't have to."

"Yes, I do! I should actually pay for every single date we have from now on, but you wouldn't let me."

"I actually wouldn't mind taking you up on that offer," he smirked.

"Mou!" she tossed her head and ran over to where the Ponta and the snacks were sold.

Ryoma chuckled and sat down as he waited for Sakuno to come back.


"One grape and one strawberry Ponta, two orders of pocky sticks, two orders of takoyaki, and two taiyakis, please." Sakuno told the guy at the snack bar.

"Sure, your total is 2000 yen." he replied and took a few minutes to get what she ordered. He handed them to her; she paid, picked up the tray with all the food on it, and walked back to the concert hall, found her seat next to Ryoma, and sat down. He eyed the tray with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I asked you to get Ponta, not Thanksgiving dinner." he smirked.

"I thought you'd want ice cream." she replied, smiling as she gave him a taiyaki. "Besides, don't I owe you?"

"Right, so from now on you agree to be my personal slave."

"I never agreed to that!"

"Uh, you owe me."

"Mou! Fine, I owe you, but I'm not going to be your slave, that's exploitation."

"Hn. Anyway, why didn't you join the choir at school? You could easily get the lead," he asked.

"Don't exaggerate!" She blushed and smacked him lightly.

"Che. But why didn't you join choir?"

"Well, that would mean that I would have to quit tennis." she said.

"Why'd you choose tennis, then?"

"Oh, th-that. Ano…" Sakuno blushed. How in the world could she tell him that he was the reason she joined tennis? She replied with the first lie that came into her head. "O-obaa-chan…w-wanted me t-to…"

Ryoma rolled his eyes. "Mada mada da ne. You are such a bad liar. What's the real reason?"

Sakuno was thankfully saved from answering by the announcer. "Ladies and gentlemen! Please put your hands together for the one and only…drumroll please…FUJITA MAIKO!"

Ryoma repeated his eye-rolling, but couldn't help smirking. "I'm not letting you go without answering this question."

"Shh, the concert's about to start." Sakuno smiled, relieved from having to answer the most embarrassing question in her life.

The opening bars of "Suki ni Naru to Doushite" began playing, and Fujita Maiko made her grand appearance onto the stage and began to work her magic.

Honki no koi nante

Shinai to omotteta

Boku no naka de nanika ga kawatta

Atsui asa

Kimi ni chikazuku kage

Reisei de itai

Kanjou to wa urahara ni

Iradachi ga yogitta

Sakuno closed her eyes, letting the music wash over her. It was amazing, Fujita Maiko's music…it's the only thing in the world that could possibly be perfect! she thought happily. Unconsciously, she began singing along.

Ryoma glanced at his girlfriend out of the corner of his eyes. Hearing her voice, he turned and noticed the effect the music had on her, and how it seemed to calm her. Her face had a serene look on it, except for the genuine smile playing on her lips, almost as if she was in a trance, but not quite. It looked…rather angelic.

At the roar of applause at the song's end, Sakuno opened her eye, feeling someone's gaze on her. She turned to Ryoma, who was still staring at her. "Ryoma? Is something wrong?"

He turned away and let go of her hand to pull his cap down and hide the splash of pink across his cheekbones. "Betsuni. You were singing too."

"Oh…was I? I didn't realize…sorry, I'll stop…"

"No. Keep singing." he smiled slightly at her (only very slightly), and Sakuno knew that this was his way of saying that he liked it.

"Okay." she smiled shyly.


Fujita Maiko went on to sing, "Unmei no Hito", "Koi ni Ochite", "Kimi ga Yobu no Nara", "Wasurenaide", "Hotaru", "Tadaima", "Hanabi", and several other songs, to which Sakuno knew all the lyrics. Yup, Fujita Maiko really was her favorite artist.

A few hours and several songs later, it would be an understatement to say that she and Ryoma were in the best of spirits. Fujita Maiko's music is, after all, that amazing.

When she finally ended her last song, Sakuno sighed. "I wish I could relive this evening over and over and over again…" she said dreamily.

Ryoma smirked. "No, you'd get bored listening to the same songs over and over and over again."

"I would never get bored of Fujita Maiko!"

"Hn. Anyway, want to go see her?"

"...you're kidding."

"Nope." He held out two backstage passes.

"I...I can't believe it..." Sakuno stuttered. Backstage passes? Wow...(mentally falls to the ground, anime-style)... "Kami-sama, please don't let this be a dream…"

Ryoma smirked. She was so funny with her cute overreactions. "Slap yourself in the face to wake up. Or if you'd rather I do the honors…"

"Mou! No, I'm fine. Let's go see her!"

They both joined the very long line behind the stage. Sakuno gasped when she saw how long it was, but her excitement took over her dread of having to wait. I'm going to see Fujita Maiko and...talk to her! Oh my god!

When they finally walked in after a group of crazed fanboys (much to Ryoma's amusement), they saw the Fujita Maiko, face to face.

"Hello, you two! What are your names?" Fujita Maiko asked them with a smile.

"R-Ryuzaki Sakuno desu." Sakuno replied, bowing, trying to hide her growing excitement and awe. Fujita Maiko smiled at her and turned to Ryoma.

"Echizen Ryoma." he also bowed, but being Ryoma, he kept his stoic face.

"I hope you guys liked the concert!" she grinned, to which Sakuno returned a radiant smile.

"I loved it! And you have an amazing vocal range!" Sakuno said excitedly, and then blushed at the smirk Ryoma gave her. Amazing vocal range? Really, you're telling that to a professional?

"Oh, thank you. You sing too?" Fujita Maiko asked, not minding at all.

"Yeah, a bit—"

"Yes, she does." Ryoma cut her off, and smirked again at the frown Sakuno gave him.

"May I have an autograph, please?" she asked shyly.

"Sure! Where do you want me to sign?"

"Ano…" Sakuno rummaged in her purse to look for any pieces of paper, but couldn't find anything. Pulling out a Sharpie, she turned her shoulder to the famous singer. "On my shirt?"

"Sure!" Fujita Maiko took the Sharpie and wrote something on Sakuno's sleeve. Ryoma noted Sakuno's beaming face and tugged his cap down to hide his slight smile.

"You want one too?" she asked Ryoma.

"Sure." He pulled a tennis ball out of his pocket, and Fujita Maiko signed it.

"Thank you both for coming! And thanks for not jumping on me like the previous group." she shuddered. Ryoma smirked, but couldn't help agreeing with her fear of fans (girls in his case).

"Domo arigato for the autographs! Bai bai!" Sakuno waved enthusiastically, and Ryoma pulled her out of the backstage area.

"She's so amazing…" Sakuno sighed, and Ryoma grinned.

"I guessed you'd have this reaction. We should go, it's past dinnertime." he remarked, which meant that he was hungry too.

"OK, where do you want to go?"

"I'm in the mood for sushi."

"Aren't you always?" Sakuno smiled.

"Hn."

"Kawamura-senpai's shop it is, then."

"Hn."

Again with the monosyllabic replies…Sakuno mentally rolled her eyes. "OK. Anyway, what did Fujita Maiko write on my shirt?"

Ryoma looked at the writing on her shoulder. "It says, 'Dear Sakuno, Keep singing! From Fujita Maiko.' Lucky. She just signed mine."

"But at least yours will be permanent. I'm already scared as to what will happen when I wash this shirt." Sakuno grimaced.

"I guess."

As they walked, Ryoma remembered something. He turned to his girlfriend with a smirk. "So, now do you want to tell me why you chose tennis over music?"

"N-no, not really."

"As my personal slave, you have to answer my question."

Sakuno pursed her lips at first, but then grinned as she thought of a witty reply. "Ask no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

Oh, man...Ryoma groaned. "When did you get so smart?"

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Mada mada da ne. Come on, we're here."

"Wow, that was fast!" Sakuno followed him into the restaurant. Kawamura politely greeted them both and showed them to a quiet table in the corner. Giving them each a menu, he bowed and left them alone.

"Anyway, I took you to the concert, so you have to tell me why you chose tennis over music." Ryoma smirked.

"I'm not telling you!"

"You're my slave, remember?"

"I'm not your slave! And put your wallet away, I'm paying."

"Fine, fine. So how about we make a deal?"

"Deal?"

"Yup. You tell me why you joined tennis, and I'll give you something you want in return."

"Anything I want?" Sakuno smiled a little sneakily.

"Exactly what do you have in mind?" Ryoma asked suspiciously.

"I want you to flip your hair like that Just a Beaver guy."

Just a Beaver? Ryoma sweatdropped and turned red. "You've gotten too smart. Fine, it's a deal. But not here in front of everyone."

"Ryoma, no one's even looking at us."

"Che." Taking a deep breath, he took off his cap and flipped his hair, to which Sakuno laughed. "Happy now?"

"Kawaii!" she clapped her hands. Ryoma scowled, but Sakuno just laughed. "But now let's compare it to the real thing."

What? Ryoma stared as Sakuno pulled out her iPhone and went to YouTube, looking up his hair flip. "What's his name again?"

"Justin Bieber, not Just a Beaver."

"Right." She typed in his name and watched the video. "Ryoma's hair flip is better!" she grinned.

"Che." he put his cap back on. "Now, tell me why you joined tennis."

"…"

"We had a deal."

"Mou, fine." Now it was her turn to take a deep breath. "I started playing tennis to…get a guy to notice me."

"Really?" Ryoma stared, a little jealous. "Who was it? Do I know him?"

Sakuno sweatdropped. And people say I'm dense... "Yeah...I think you do..."

"Who was it?"

"Ano...he's pretty a-arrogant and usually ignores everyone, but he can be very s-sweet, too."

"Does that guy like you now?" Must find out so I can go pummel him…

"I…I guess so…"

"You guess so? How do you know he does? Has he been stalking you?"

"N-no..."

"Then how do you know?"

Sakuno looked away, her face turning crimson. "Ano...I'm his girlfriend."

Hold on...what? Ryoma stared. Wait a minute, the idiot is me?

"So wait…you're saying…you started playing tennis to get my attention?"

Sakuno hid her face in her hands and nodded. If he weren't my boyfriend, this conversation would be even more embarrassing…

He suddenly smirked. "Sakuno."

She looked at him through her fingers. "H-hai?"

"Did you just say that you think I'm arrogant?"

Sakuno realized her mistake. "M-maybe."

He decided that it was time to relieve the awkwardness. "If you want to know, I think your hair is still too long."

"Mou!" she sounded exasperated, but couldn't help smiling a little.

"But…you actually do like tennis now, right?" he asked, feeling a little guilty.

"Absolutely!" she smiled. "Thank you so much for introducing me to tennis, Ryoma. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me. I get now why you love it so much!"

He managed to let out a small smile. "That's good."

Kawamura finally arrived with their orders. When he saw both of their red faces, he asked hesitantly, "Am I interrupting something?"

"N-no! Thank you, Kawamura-senpai." Sakuno smiled at him sweetly as he bowed and went back to his work.


"Ryoma, I feel a bit cheated." Sakuno remarked as they were walking to her house.

"Cheated? Why?"

"I told you one of the biggest secrets of my life, and all you did was flip your hair."

"..."

"...On a complete side note, it was almost as bad as Atobe-san's..." Sakuno added cheekily.

"Che. It was stupid and awkward. I'm never doing it again." Ryoma replied, grimacing. I still cannot believe I did that just to get compared to the Monkey King…

"Fine, but tell me what you blackmailed your father about!"

"Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of blackmailing?" Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Besides, you never told me about your singing. I even never knew you could sing until I heard you."

"Well, how exactly do I put that in a conversation? Do I say, 'Ohayou, Ryoma-kun. Yes, your regulars' jacket looks really nice on you...by the way, I can sing'?"

Ryoma scowled, "I've never asked you how my jacket looks on me." to which she smiled.

"But I won't tell anyone about what your dad did. Please?" Sakuno looked at him with puppy-dog eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you have to sing for me later."

She got nervous again (big surprise). "S-sing? Why?"

"Baka, because I want to hear you sing. Mada mada da ne."

"F-fine. What do you want to hear?"

"Anything. You pick." he shrugged.

"All…all right," Sakuno agreed, albeit a bit hesitantly. "Now tell me what your otousan did."

"I got a video of him watching reruns of perverted TV shows, and he promised to give me anything if I wouldn't tell Kaa-san. So I asked for money for the concert tickets."

Sakuno sweatdropped. "Wait…your dad watches perverted TV shows?"

"Stupid oyaji always reads and watches perverted stuff. Nanako keeps threatening to tell Okaa-san, but she never does."

"Isn't your otousan the person you want to beat in tennis?"

"Hn."

"He must be really good if he can beat Ryoma…" Sakuno said thoughtfully. "But you'll beat him someday, I know you will." She smiled shyly again.

Ryoma tugged down his cap to hide his blush. "Thanks."

Wow. It was one of the few times Ryoma thanked her, even rarer than when he smiled or laughed, which he seemed to do more often nowadays, for some reason. But an expression of gratitude? Rarer than diamonds. Deciding to treasure the moment, she flushed prettily. "Y-you're welcome."

When they finally reached her house, she turned and gave Ryoma a radiant smile. "Thank you so much, Ryoma. This day could not have been any better."

"Betsuni." For some reason, however, he took a step closer to her.

"R-ryoma…are you okay?" She tried to move back, but the look in his eyes froze her to the spot.

"Don't move." he whispered.

What's he doing? Sakuno's heartbeat quickened exponentially at his close proximity, and she felt like it was about to explode when he slowly lifted his hand, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and gently tilted her head to her right. She closed her eyes as he slowly leaned down.

And when his lips finally met hers, all rational thought was expelled from her mind. Responding instinctively, she unconsciously slid her arms around his neck and felt his arms wrap around her and pull her into his chest.

Neither of them could have asked for a more perfect first kiss.

When he finally broke away and looked into her eyes with an uncommon tenderness, she realized that her day had just gotten even better. Way better.

"Good night." He kissed her once more on the forehead.

"Ryoma-kun…" she whispered dreamily, a dazed smile on her face. He smirked and let go, prompting her to open the door to her house and run up to her room, much to the surprise of her grandmother.

"Sakuno, are you okay?"

"Never better…" she breathed as she changed and sunk into her bed. The smile on her face didn't disappear even after she fell into a dreamy slumber.

What happened to Ryoma, you ask? He fought a smile all the way home, and was in such a good mood that he even said good night to his father, much to the astonishment of the latter. (But when Nanjiroh asked him if "anything nice happened," Ryoma yelled back something along the lines of, "Shut the hell up, you perverted old man!")

But when he finally got into his room and remembered what he was so happy about, he gave in to the smile he was fighting all that time, and that smile stayed on his face as he fell asleep.

They both had very sweet dreams that night.

And now, let's draw the curtain of privacy over the rest of their love life.

~~~THE END~~~