Okay, guys. I'm really really really really really really really SORRY about this late update. Sorry! I know how it feel like, having to wait so long for a stupid fic. Well, I'm really sorry, I have too much things to do, and I'l sacrificing my sleep time so that to finish this chappie!

I'm sorry!

I hope you'll forgive me by reading, enjoying and reviewing. :D

I promise I won't update this late again.

But, don't get false hopes too soon...

This story's ending anyway! Cannot make it too long.

Jennifer felt her eyes twitched. And twitched. And twitched. First came that Sakuno girl, now a whole bunch of people were here. Ryoma was not supposed to be communicating with other outside people, hello! But will they ever listen? Jennifer watched with frustration as the seven crazy boys run wild in her training area she herself especially bought.

"Awesome, Ryoma, I didn't know such big training area even existed!" One red haired boy shouted, hugging Ryoma. Ryoma tried his best to get out of his wrath, seeming to be suffocating.

The others, well, she did not want to even look at what they were doing.

"Hey Jennifer, why is today's court so crowded? Are they newcomers?" A tennis player came and asked.

"Shut up and go back to practice!" She shouted, venting her whole day's anger on him.

Today was a horrible day.

First, she had especially entrusted her trusted licensed Ryoma's fanclub with her loyal friend Cheryl in charged as leader to get Sakuno out of her sight (and Ryoma's sight). Then Cheryl came and said that their plans were distrupted. Now that girl would still be in her sight, and right now seeing her and Ryoma sitting next to each other, with Ryoma's arm around her waist, it just made her angrier.

Second, Ryoma's competition would be three days more, and here comes all his seniors (so she was told; she was not so sure these people could be actually seniors, except for that few quiet ones) and they started playing around, and forcing Ryoma to stop training.

Third, after she shouted at them to leave Ryoma alone, one extremely cute guy came and persuaded her to let them train Ryoma. She had agreed (what was she thinking?), and thus her priviledges as a team manager were gone.

Four (oh the list just keep going), that cute guy refused her no matter what she tried. (A/N: guess who is that cute guy? :D)

Five...oh this is just so annoying! Jennifer thought angrily as she left the training area.

Ryoma had changed a lot since three years ago, gradually, slowly, she should have noticed then.

-Jennifer flashbacked-

~hint #1

"Echizen Ryoma, huh." Jennifer smiled, impressed. "Your performance was the best I've ever seen."

The green haired boy just stared at her, emitting an aura that would send shivers down any ordinary person. "Thanks." He said simply, pulling his hat down. This boy was going to be the best in the team, and he would be the one that would pull the team to its fame, if he ever joined the team.

"So, do you want to sign this contract?" Jennifer pushed the contract towards Ryoma, who picked it up and read it. "Four years of contract, with all these benefits, and an assurance of increasing your status in the tennis world, which, for you, I might be assuring you at least the top three for grand slam."

She could see the coach frowning at her assumption, which might seem impossible at first, but Jennifer knew it was possible, given Ryoma's talent as shown in his performance.

"But," Jennifer warned. "You have to cut all communications with other people other than the authorised people like me and the coach, and your family, who are not allowed to tell anybody of your information."

There was a slight expression of worry on Ryoma's eyes before it vanished completely. "Why?" he asked.

"Because, the way our team works, as you could read it on that contract, we are going to pull you to fame to the level of a superstar, so having too much communication just make everything worse."

Ryoma nodded solemnly. It was obvious he did not like that rule. Reading through the rest of the contract, and considering the pros and the cons, Ryoma shrugged, and signed it.

Jennifer smiled, cheering inside her head.

~hint #2

Jennifer watched as Ryoma practised. He was one of the most hardworking ones, no, the most hardworking one in the team, and one of the ones, no, the one that improved the most throughout. He was getting better than the rest of the people, and those that bullied him at first were all beaten by him in the end.

She saw Kevin walking next to her. Kevin and Ryoma were the youngest in the team, but Ryoma seemed better. Kevin seemed pretty normal. Well, Jennifer remembered Ryoma saying that Kevin was actually much better than she thought, but she had only enough space in her mind to focus on one person. Kevin was the only one Ryoma could talk to without getting into fights, or ending up in awkward stares, and they seemed to get along pretty fine, rooming with each other with absolutely no problem at all.

"Kevin." She called. "How's life with Ryoma? He doesn't fight with you like he did with other people we tried to room him with?"

Kevin looked surprised that Jennifer even talked to him, and hesitated. "Erm, well." He rubbed his head. "These days Ryoma seemed more talkative at night."

"Oh?" Jennifer smiled, interested. "Ryoma is talkative? Never occured to me."

"No, well, only at night. Right in the middle of my sleep he would wake me up to talk to me, say that he couldn't keep it in his head any longer, he needs to tell someone..."

"What is it, then?"

Kevin frowned, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "Well, I'm not supposed to say, but..." Looking at Jennifer's pleading look, he relented. "Okay, well, apparently, Ryoma was in love with this person since middle school, actually, since seeing her the first time in kindergarten from the back of the class, he liked her, but they only started talking in middle school, so that's where he fall in love. And well, he missed her, and he complained that the contract is well..." Kevin trailed off, realising that he had said too much.

Jennifer raised her eyebrow. Ryoma? Complain about the contract. He always looked satisfied enough. She looked at Ryoma, who was practising, with his usual poker face on.

"Well, thanks." She said, bored, shooing Kevin away.

~hint #3

"What do you want?" Ryoma asked, gulping a little. Jennifer chuckled, it's rare to see him that scared.

"I'm bored of the other guys, since you're pretty new, and that I've always had a liking towards you, let's make out." Jennifer said bluntly, coming closer to Ryoma while he backed away.

"I have no business with you..." Ryoma said, trying to get as far away from his team manager as possible.

"If you play with me, I'll give you more breaks." Jennifer prompted. Ryoma shook his head hard.

Jennifer stuck his lips out as Ryoma leaves. Hmm, maybe the thing about this girl he liked was true. But he'll come back soon.

A few practice later, Ryoma came back, panting and sweating a lot.

"Keep it a secret." He said. Jennifer smiled.

~hint #4

"Ryoma, what are you staring at?" Jennifer asked.

Ryoma was staring outside the window, spacing out. "Nothing much..." He said, not moving his gaze.

"Tell me..." Jennifer crooned, smoothing Ryoma's hair. Ryoma hit her hand away.

"Is there anyway I can end the contract earlier?"

"Dig out billions of dollars and I may consider." Jennifer smiled. Not many people get to see Ryoma's beaten expression.

-Flashback ends-

Jennifer sighed. From the beginning it was so obvious Ryoma hated this contract no matter how commited he was. It was only natural for him to want to break the rules.

But she won't let that spoilt child run wild. He signed the contract, he received all the benefits from it, and he's going to keep to the contract.

"Kevin." She called. The shocked boy hesitated, and rushed forward.

XxXxX

"Che, why did the sempai-tachi appear so suddenly." Ryoma said irritably. They had suddenly appeared out of nowhere with Sakuno and assumed control over his training, even though it was rather useful as Inui has all the data of his opponent. So many people appearing wanting to suffocate him, he could not get any paramount amount of alone time, and he needed it.

"They came to support you for your next competition." Sakuno said. "You should be grateful."

"Yeah whatever." Ryoma said, pulling Sakuno closer. "I just find it annoying that I don't have any private time to spend with you."

Sakuno blushed. Ryoma smiled and reached forward to kiss her, not missing any precious time with the seniors not around.

"Oh! Look, look! Ochibi is going to kiss Sakuno-chan!" Eiji shouted, as some other sempai swiftly took out their cameras. Echizen jerked his head away from Sakuno. How did they get here?

"Go for it Echizen!" They were shouting.

Ryoma glared at them and walked away, grabbing Sakuno along. When was he going to be granted some alone time with Sakuno?

"Echizen, come on." Momoshiro shouted after him, disappointed.

"Why, are you embarrassed to be with Sakuno?" Fuji asked cheekily.

Ryoma stopped. He turned around, and was a loss of words. Damn, whatever Fuji said seemed to have a strong impact on Sakuno, as she was staring at him with a sad expression. He frowned. Che, alright, then. If they were not going to give him privacy, he's going to make them. He pulled Sakuno closer, and kissed her.

Sakuno's eyes widened in shock as they kissed more ferociously, with Ryoma's right hand travelling down her waist, his left hand going under her shirt. Sakuno could not take the impact and fall onto the ground, with Ryoma pinning her down on top.

"I...I think we should leave them alone..." Kawamura suggested. And everyone agreed.

Ryoma smiled secretly. His plan succeeded. Not only that, he got a perfect excuse to fully taste Sakuno too...

XxXxX

"You liked Sakuno too, don't you?"

Tomoka stopped dead in her tracks. Someone liked Sakuno? Who? Other than Ryoma, which was pretty obvious. Tomoka smiled as she crept forward to where the conversation was starting. It's rare to have such good information to gossip about.

"H...how do you..."

"Of course I knew. It's very obvious, the way you looked at her."

A woman was sitting on a bench, with her legs folded. Opposite her was Kevin, sitting uncomfortably, blushing deeply.

"Well, I... yeah, I do like her." Kevin admitted.

Oh ho ho, Kevin liked Sakuno. Ryoma had competition. Tomoka rubbed her hands excitedly as she found out something interesting. She's going to have so much fun matchmaking now.

"...Well, you do realise that Sakuno liked Ryoma, don't you?"

Kevin looked down sadly. "Yeah, can't help it."

The woman leaned forward. "Want to snatch her back? I'll help you."

"W...what?" Kevin asked, slightly moving away from the woman who was now leaning very close to him.

"Ryoma is too close to her. I want them to separate. You can help me, and you get to get your Sakuno back. How's that?"

Kevin blinked, and took a while digesting what she said.

Tomoka stared. This was getting too interesting for her, she could not take it anymore. Someone was trying to pull Sakuno and Ryoma, the fated pair, the pair she had always been supporting, to pull them apart. Well, it's not going to happen! Whoever this woman was, she's going to get it! And Kevin too!

"I'm going to tell the sempai-tachi!" She said to herself, as she crept away hurriedly.

XxXxX

Finally, the day has come. The match that everyone had been waiting to see, and had been postponed and anticipated by thousands of fans. The match that will determine the champion of the grand slam. The match between Echizen Ryoma and XXXXXX.

Echizen, who was the one that initiated the postponement, seemed to be having some trouble over the week, what with the attack and his injury. In his state of health, he is slightly disadvantaged in this match. Let's hope his state of mind and will gives him power to compete fairly with XXXXXX, and gives the fans over here who has been waiting for this match the match of the lifetime!

There he goes, walking into the court. He looks fine, without the injury that he had during the attack, and in very good shape! A look of confident as always, let's hope we get a very good match.

And XXXXXX...

"Ahh, the commentor is so talkative." Eiji complained, jumping about. "And I can't see Ochibi! There are so many people here blocking my view!" Eiji jumped a few more times before giving up, sitting back down on the seat, sulking.

"Well, this is the cheapest seat available, no surprise that the view will be horrible." Inui said.

"And I wanted to get a good view on Echizen." Momoshiro said, slumping.

"Where's Sakuno-chan, and Tomoka-chan?" Oishi asked suddenly, realising that one person was missing.

"Tomoka and Sakuno's in front, in the VIP seat. I hear Sakuno's seat's the closest seat to Ryoma himself."

"Eh, so lucky."

"Ryoma and Sakuno seems to have gotten pretty close."

"Yeah. Finally, after all that work. Phew. Our work pays off, huh?"

"No, I don't think it was because of our work..."

XxXxX

Sakuno was invited to the VIP seats again. Thank goodness Ryoma got her a special VIP seat that is secluded from other people, or she will have to spend the rest of her pocket money to buy some Ryoma merchandise, or the fans would just scratch her face and strangle her, the way they were looking at her now. But this VIP seat was not really a legible seat, right?

"Ne, Ryoma..." She asked the green-haired boy who was tying his shoelaces. "I thought this seat is for bench coaches."

"It is, but well, coach won't mind if you shared his seat. He gets lonely seating there watching me. He'll be happy to have a cute girl llike you seating next to him." Sakuno blushed when Ryoma called her cute.

"But well, the people behind me...they are..." Sakuno gulped, as those fans seating on a real VIP seat behind the bench were reaching out for Ryoma, and Sakuno as well (most probably to harm her).

"Don't care about them." Ryoma pushed the matter away easily.

"But..." Sakuno bit her lips in fear. She was not used to this, now people were staring at her so fervently. She did not like having people angry at her, she did not even liked people being angry. Every time someone loses their temper, Sakuno would be the one who tried her best to calm them down. They were Ryoma's fans, and it was obvious they would be angered seeing Ryoma bringing a girl to the bench. Ryoma did not have to do this...

Ryoma sighed. "Can't be helped. You worry too much." He bent down. "If we do this, then they won't complain right?" He pulled Sakuno closer, and pecked her forehead softly. Sakuno could hear a commotion break out behind her.

"Ryoma..." Sakuno blushed. Ryoma seemed to kiss her a lot ever since...

"I needed that to survive this opponent. Anyway the more worked up the crowd are, the more excited I am." Ryoma smiled as he petted Sakuno.

"Ryoma!"

Ryoma stood up. "Coach." He greeted.

A muscular man walked towards them. Sakuno stared at his scarily serious face until a smile that did not seem to fit in appeared across that scarily serious face. "Oh hi, you must be Sakuno, Ryoma's girlfriend, huh?"

"Y...yeah..." Sakuno nodded, shaking hands awkwardly with the man. "You're Ryoma's coach?"

"Yup. I'm this brat's coach." The man returned to his scarily serious expression, with a more angry glint in his eyes and turned to Ryoma. "You, after me going all out training you these limited days, I expect you to win this no matter what, or I won't forgive you. Put your practice into good use! Remember what we did that time!"

"Yes sir."

"Go all out immediately. Do not lose your stamina in between. I'm sure our training is way tougher than this match. Win this match."

"Yes sir."

"That is all. Do your best. I repeat, win this match!"

"I heard you." Ryoma said irritably as he turned around to go to the courts.

Sakuno stared at Ryoma's leaving figure. She felt like she needed to say something.

"Um..."

Ryoma stopped, and turned his head.

Sakuno blushed. "Gambatte!" She clenched her fist and pumped it to the air.

Ryoma smiled. "Ahh."

XxXxX

"Ooh, I see Ochibi! He's going into the court!"

"Where, where?"

"Oh I see him! Go, Echizen!"

"Gambatte!"

"Yudan sezu ni ikō!"

"Er, Tezuka, I don't think he heard that."

~ lalalala the match begins!

(I'm sorry I don't want to describe a match. Go watch a random episode of PoT)

Ryoma pointed his tennis racket at XXXXXX. His whole body was drenched with sweat as if he had just gotten out of a bath. He tried his best not to pant to hard, even though he was damn tired. This opponent was better than he had thought. Well ofcourse, this is the Grand Slam. But...

"Mada mada dane." He said, smiling his usual cocky smile. Gosh he sure missed saying this, but well, he's a grand slam champion now.

"What?" XXXXXX stared back at him, uncomprehensive. "I'm sorry, I don't understand Japanese."

Ryoma shrugged. Damn, he's too tired to be a translator now. He walked slowly back to the bench as the crowd cheered for him. He won.

Of course he won. Ryoma had never really lost to someone before. He smiled as he collected he trophy. He won. Finally. Now he's one of the youngest Grand Slam winners ever. He remembered Jennifer saying that the team will pull him up to at least a third in grand slam. Well, he's happy with being champion.

"Ryoma, you won!" Sakuno ran up to him and hugged him.

"Sakuno..." How long had he always wanted Sakuno to hug him like this? Ever since that day, when Sakuno hugged a boy, thanking him for picking up a stupid wood block for her. That was when? During kindergarten? He had liked Sakuno for so long, huh. In normal circumstances, a boy liking a girl this long... By this time they should be in bed.

"Let's sleep together."

"Huh?" Sakuno frowned.

"I've been waiting too long." Ryoma said, kissing Sakuno fiercely. Sakuno's mouth was so sweet, it tasted even better than mom's cooking, absolutely delicious.

Ryoma suddenly felt his fatigue that he had been holding on for so long going into his head, and he could not see Sakuno as everything went black. Oh my gosh, where is Sakuno's mouth, I can't see it. Heck it, Sakuno taste good everywhere.

"Ryoma! Ryoma!"

XxXxX

"What happened? What happened? Inui do you see anything?"

"Hmm, wait don't push the binoculars will drop... Hmm, apparently Ryoma fainted."

"..."

"..."

"What?"

Inui smiled. "But I got some good photos taken."

XxXxX

End of chapter. :D

Hope it's not too fast. If it's a great drop in quality, tell me please, and I'll try to make it better. If not, I'll just concentrate on next chapter (prob the last one).