Chapter 3 – A Night under Trouble

It was obvious that Ryoma couldn't stand being defeated, especially by his "older brother." He left so suddenly and leaving Ryoga with Sakuno.

Ryoga was sitting on the couch eating his orange that Sakuno first saw when the two boys made their entrance. He didn't seem like he was worried about Ryoma at all. That's to be expected if their relationship is a brother rivalry. Sakuno started a small conversation.

"Is Ryoma-kun coming back?" Sakuno said hesitantly, to the point of getting depressed.

"He's usually stubborn enough to come back to do a rematch with me in tennis."

Ryoga seemed uninterested. If he was that uninterested about Ryoma coming back for rematches, they must've done lots of them in the past.

Sakuno was happy again, but more excited than ever because she had never seen Ryoma play real tennis before and of course the fact that he was hopefully going to come back sooner or later.

She went out into the garden that the boy disappeared into and looked outside of the bushes, looking to see if he was coming back. Wasn't there yet.

Ryoga came over and put his hands on Sakuno's shoulders. He is just like Nanjirou after all, a shameless flirt. Good thing they're around the same age so it's not considered being a pedophile.

Sakuno didn't seem to mind, heck she didn't even realize he was there because of her obsession with Ryoma at the time.

"Oi! Chibisuke! Your girl wants you to come back, hurry up over here or you won't get a rematch!"

Ryoga seemed like he cared more about Sakuno than Ryoma, if that were the case he's a horrible person.

Sure enough, Ryoma turned up on the sidewalk with a Ponta in this hand and his Fila cap and turned towards the side.

Sakuno went running to Ryoma and said:

"Welcome back!" As cheerful as she could.

Ryoma nodded, being his only response. Ryoga came over and took his cap and placed it on his head, then he game the little boy a noogie.

"Haha, little man I'm so proud of you! You already got a little wife on you!"

"Stop it." Ryoma said as he loosened his brother's grip and slid out of his arms.

"Rematch." Suddenly all serious.

Sakuno was left out of the conversation now, Ryoma was being really tense towards Ryoga and Ryoga was just there with a smirk on his face.

"Let's go to the park then, Chibisuke. Is your wife coming along too?"

Ryoma looked at Sakuno with those tense eyes of his. He gave her a stare that meant that he wanted her to come watch him. Ryoma is already wanting to impress her huh.

"Yep." Ryoma said without getting any confirmation from Sakuno, not that she would say no anyway.

Ryoma tugged on her hand a bit and held it while the three of them walked to the park. Sakuno was happily smiling on the whole way there.

There wasn't anyone at the tennis courts today, which was perfect because Ryoma didn't exactly like crowds hoarding behind the fences, he wouldn't mind Sakuno being there though.

Ryoga and Ryoma were setting up their tennis rackets and deciding which one of them would serve first. It turned out that Ryoma would be the one to serve first.

Ryoma was just about to serve when Sakuno said:

"Good luck Ryoma-kun!" With a smile on her face.

Ryoma simply gave a nod of appreciation and continued his serve. Ryoma still didn't know how to do the twist serve so it was just a normal serve anybody could do. Ryoga returned it easily. They had been rallying like that for quite a while when Ryoga finally broke it, he got a point off of Ryoma.

Ryoma was on his knees due to the amount of running around he did while they were rallying. Then he slid the bill of his Fila cap to the side of his head and said:

"Mada Mada Dane!"

This match seemed more like a practice match than anything else because Ryoga seemed like he was going easy on little Ryoma.

Suddenly, Ryoga did a twist serve. It was expected that it would land right in front of Ryoma and hit him in the face, but no, instead it landed halfway across the court from him.

"See that Chibisuke? You're going to learn how to do that."

Sakuno was impressed with Ryoga, she had never played or watching tennis before but that was really something in her eyes.

They started rallying on and on until Ryoma lost another point to Ryoga. Ryoma started to serve again very quickly but Ryoga reminded him that it was already match point, the score being five games to three with forty-fifteen. Ryoma was about to lose, if they kept rallying.

Ryoma got a point, another point, and another point. Now they were at deuce. Two more points to avoid Ryoga from winning this game. Ryoga seemed like he was purposely giving Ryoma the points so that they could play longer.

"Are you playing seriously brother?" Ryoma immediately sensed that Ryoga wasn't playing at his full potential since the beginning.

"Play seriously!"

"Mhm, if you say so Chibisuke."

Ryoga did play seriously for the rest of the game, to the point that Ryoma couldn't get any more points. After the game ended, Sakuno went running up to Ryoma like she had when she was looking for him to come back to her house for a rematch.

"Ryoma-kun, that looked like so much fun! I want to play too!" Sakuno said with some giggles added at the end.

Ryoma grabbed her hand again and walked towards the vending machine to get themselves refreshed from all that playing and watching. Ryoma indefinitely got Ponta, sharing some with Sakuno. At their young age, they probably didn't know much about indirect kissing so they shared sips of the Ponta.

Ryoga was done packing their tennis equipment and headed towards the vending machine too. He grabbed the Ponta can that the two of them had been drinking and tried to take a sip.

Drip. Drip.

It was already empty.

Maybe Ryoma had known a thing or two about indirect kissing, they finished up the can quickly before Ryoga came to bother them.

Ryoga sighed and bought himself some orange juice instead.

"Chibisuke, I'm going home now. Make sure to walk your wife home."

Ryoma gave him a little growl.

"She's not my wife."

"Ha-ha if you say so."

Ryoga walked off the opposite direction of the tennis court, leaving the two of them alone together. At this point, they were laying on the grass underneath a big tree, rather than sitting on a bench. Ryoma had his arms behind his head, making it look as if he were sleeping. Sakuno was still sitting up on the grass and looked at Ryoma. He looked really peaceful, sleeping or not. Sakuno cuddled up to his side a little bit without really touching him, and fell asleep. It was such perfect weather for sleeping under a tree.

It turned out that Ryoma wasn't really sleeping, just shutting off his eyes and laying on the grass. He didn't noticed until now that Sakuno was laying right next to him sleeping. He didn't try to wake her up though, regardless of it being dinner time which was around six o'clock. Sakuno's stomach was growling, growling hard enough that it did wake her up about five minutes later. Ryoma was still there waiting for her to wake up, laying on the grass with his eyes open.

"Nnnh, Ryoma-kun is it dinner time?" Sleepily talking to him.

"It has been, I'm hungry." He seemed a bit annoyed and impatient about it.

Sakuno tried getting up but she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, a stomach ache.

"Owwie. Ryoma-kun, my tummy hurts."

It was to be expected, she didn't go to the bathroom after eating her snack or anytime during the time they were out. While Ryoma did take a bathroom break while Sakuno was dozing off.

"Can you walk?" Ryoma asked.

Sakuno shook her head.

Ryoma had very little choice, he couldn't get someone to help her get home at this point in time. They was only one option after all, piggyback ride. Hopefully Ryoma was strong enough for the job.

Ryoma bent down one of his knees on the ground and motioned his hands to get on his back. Sakuno didn't really know what that meant.

"Eh?"

"Get on my back." No emotion about it at all.

"A piggyback ride? Yay!" Sakuno seemed happy enough about it.

Sakuno got on Ryoma's back hastily, making it hard for him to adjust to the weight that was now on this back. At first, Ryoma had a hard time standing up, but he got the hang of it once he walked a yard or so. Of course Sakuno's house wasn't all that far away from the park, so Sakuno had to enjoy it while it lasted. She was dozing off again while he was walking due to the nice cool breeze that was in the air. Ryoma was starting to doze off a bit too, he could doze off and sleep once they got to Sakuno's house.

They finally got to Sakuno's house and they entered through the patio door, like Ryoma would always do. He set her down on the couch and sat next to her. They dozed off together, Sakuno's head on Ryoma's shoulder. He put his head on her head and they slept for a bit until a shadow was over their heads.

Uh-oh.

There's another chapter put out in the open. :) This one was a bit longer than the other two right?

*Checks # of words in the other chapters*

Okay, about 400 words difference haha. I'm sorry there wasn't anything too exciting about this chapter. The next couple chapters might be interesting though. ^^" Keep up the reviews, if you'd please. :)

-Shihnia