Chapter three: Ghosts
Hello everyone, thank you for your great reviews for my first fanfic! This is a relatively weird chapter and everyone may be somewhat OOC, but it should provide some humor and establish the grounds for more in-depth character relationships.
Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Please.
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Tezuka glanced at his watch for what seemed to be the umpteenth time. Where was the girl? He knew he should be patient, but even someone with patience a mile wide would've started to wonder.
After all, she was almost an hour late.
Quickly making sure no one was present; Tezuka let out a long sigh, and proceed to wait at the entrance of the school.
Still, it was getting quite dark, and if she's not here in five minutes, he'll have to start looking for her.
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Sakuno glanced up at the giant clock and sighed. Where was whoever was supposed to take her home?
She knew she had always kept others waiting before, often with her grandmother and Ryo…She shook her head furiously, she shouldn't reminisce about old times if she was ever to move on to the future.
But where was that person? She specifically remembered that her grandmother had told her to wait by the door, and she's been standing outside the art club door for almost an hour now!
Whoever he or she is, they must not be very good with punctuality.
Sighing again, she proceeded to wait, but if whoever it was is not here in five minutes, she'll risk getting home herself.
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Ok, that's it.
Tezuka has had enough. This waiting has to stop. After all, he had homework to do and tennis to play and people to tell to keep their guards up.
He started to walk back inside the school, hoping he'll find her quickly and go home before the sun sets completely.
His long strides took him to the tennis courts, to the teacher's lounge, to the auditorium, and finally he got the idea to look for the art club.
As he was about to ascend the stairs that led to the art club room, he heard low footsteps and moaning coming from above the stairs.
He halted to a stop. Who was that? What was that?
Being raised in a traditional Japanese family and being the stoic captain he was, he did not believe in ghosts, spirits, or ghouls of any kind, but he was, after all, still human. What with the looming shadow in the dim corridor and the low moaning sound, those ghost stories his kasaan had told him in his childhood seemed a little more intimidating.
Still, he was Tezuka, and Tezuka does not believe in ghosts. Right?
Wary of those old ghost stories and what he had overheard the girls in his class gossip about the school being haunted at night, he crept up the stairs cautiously. After all, there is no such thing as keeping your guard up too much.
The shadow was gone all of a sudden, but he could still hear soft moaning sounds from above the stairs.
Hoping to discover the source of the noise, he positioned himself behind the part of the stairs where it turns sharply onto the next floor, and made some ghostlike noises of his own; hoping to scare whatever was there.
He quickly stuck his head out, hoping to find nothing but his imagination running wild.
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Maybe I should start looking if I want to go home before dark…
With that thought in mind, Sakuno stood up from her crouching position, gathered her books and equipment, and proceed towards the stairs, hoping whoever it was that was supposed to wait for her was still there.
She only got as far as two steps before she slipped on some of the water on the floor, presumably left over from the afternoon cleanup, and tripped over herself.
Oww…who forgot to mop all this water off? Such irresponsible cleaning up!
Rubbing her sore backside, she once again gathered her stuff, and walked towards the stairs, all the while groaning from the pain she felt when she had tripped and landed ungraciously on her butt.
Sakuno had only taken two steps down the stairs when suddenly she heard footsteps from the floor underneath, some soft shuffling sounds, and some distinctly ghost-like noises!
Being the petite girl she was, and possessing an overactive imagination, hundreds of old ghost stories, paintings of ghouls and demons, and just plain scary thoughts flooded her brain.
Still, she has matured over the course of the two years, and that includes building up some courage in the face of something like this.
Shivering slightly, she cautiously crept down the stairs, remindful to stoop close to the rail, and stopped where the stairs took a sharp turn down to the next floor.
She can almost feel the sounds coming from behind that turn, and definitely a presence of something, hopefully someone, nearby.
She quickly stuck her head out, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was there; maybe it really was just her hallucination from having had no food since lunch.
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The impact was more than enough to make both of them reeling back from pain.
Stairs danced around Sakuno's head while Tezuka put his hand up to sooth the now-emerging bump on his head.
Sakuno clutched the part of her forehead that had collided with Tezuka, gently massaging it and urging the burning pain to subside.
"Itai…"
Just now realizing who he had butted heads with, Tezuka stopped.
Who knew she had such a hard head?
Ignoring the still throbbing pain, he offer her his hand and helped Sakuno stand upright again.
"Ah! Tezuka-senpai! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Sakuno muttered on and on while furiously blushing and bowing.
How clumsy of me? Why did it have to be him of all people?!
A thousand questions ran through her mind while she apologized nonstop, all the while blushing like an over-ripe tomato.
Tezuka watched as a sweat drop threatened to appear on his head. He knew she was shy, but this was starting to become uncomfortable. He was never good with the female species and tennis and school usually did not leave time for him to garner any experience. Besides, the screaming crowd of girls that approached him every time he took a step onto school grounds mostly suppressed any curiosities he might have had.
Clearing his throat, he snapped Sakuno out of her apologetic trance, and she was now staring at him with large brown eyes.
"Ryuzaki, your grandmother has instructed me to help walk you home so that you do not get lost or harmed on your way," he said in his usual impassive voice.
"Ah! She told Tezuka-senpai you?" Sakuno exclaimed, surprised her grandmother would ask something like that of him.
"Yes," Tezuka let out a small sigh, "We should go, it will be dark soon." Already tired from tennis practice, plus his still throbbing forehead, Tezuka was very eager to go home, finish his homework, and crawl into bed. He needed some sleep. Very badly.
"H-hai!" Sakuno hastily followed when Tezuka turned and walked down the stairs.
They proceeded out of the building and crossed the school courtyard before they headed out the door.
All the while, Tezuka felt a pair of eyes on him, but he shrugged it off. Once was enough. Besides, his forehead was still hurting. Maybe, he thought, just maybe, there is such a thing as keeping your guard up too much.
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Ryoma watched Tezuka and Sakuno leave the school grounds. Usually, he wouldn't have paid the slightest attention to either, but this time, they were together.
Together That thought, for some reason, did not sit well with Ryoma's mind.
Why is buchou walking Ryuzaki home? Why didn't she ask me?
Irritated by the sight, especially after he had just woken up from a nap trying to skip cleanup duty, Ryoma fumingly turned and walked back towards the classroom to gather his belongings.
He saw the bucket he had left out in the hall way still on the ground, and that the water had spilled out of it. There were some wet footprints, and some wet skid marks that looked like someone had fell.
So that's the crash that woke me up. I wonder where those footprints came from. Someone must've fallen…oh well.
Still fuming, Ryoma gathered up the mop and the bucket, and cleaned the spilled water from the floor, which he should have done hours ago if he didn't skip to take a nap.
Having done the last of his duty, Ryoma collected his school and tennis bags, and walked off the school grounds, mind still on why Sakuno was walking with his buchou.
Halfway home, a small thought dawned on him. Could he be jealous? No way. But he had always only wanted to keep perverts away from Sakuno in return for her bentos, right? Buchou wasn't a pervert, right?
I certainly hope so…
Ryoma compromised with his subconscious by saying that every man could be a pervert, even his buchou. So he wondering about Sakuno and Tezuka is nothing out of the ordinary, just him looking out for her in return for her favors.
Once again satisfied with his logic, he squashed that small voice telling him that maybe he cares for Sakuno more than that, and continued his walk wondering if his oyaji will put down those pervert magazines today and play a game with him.
Still, he was disturbed by what he had seen, but just chose to feign ignorance. After all, it wasn't his business, maybe he's just worried that once buchou gets a girlfriend, he won't play tennis as seriously anymore.
But the thought of Sakuno potentially dating Tezuka just disturbed him even more. Realizing he was only thinking himself into a headache, he clutched his head, urging those un-tennis-but-Ryuzaki-related thoughts to go away. Now he doesn't even want to play a game anymore. He just needed sleep. Badly.
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Sakuno had bid Tezuka goodbye at her door, and he had replied with his usual "don't let your guard down."
She just sweat-dropped and told him she won't, and thanked him for his troubles.
Once he was gone, she closed the door and leaned on it heavily.
What a day! Her back was still hurting, her head still throbbing, and she was still hungry.
She moaned, and hoped that it won't be like this tomorrow. For now, she just wanted to eat something and crawl into bed. She needed some sleep, quite badly.
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…around and around it goes, what's next? Nobody knows…the wheel of fate turns, delighting in its own twist sense of humor….
