Sakuno sat up in bed and winced in pain as she put weight on her hand she lifted it up and looked at the blood red bandage. She stood and slowly walked to the bathroom door. She gingerly opened the door and looked at the floor, there she saw her pool of blood and the razor blade. She stood and stared for a little while then blinked and looked away, "I'll clean it up later I'm meeting Ryoma soon" she muttered she started to sound annoyed. She stepped over the pool of blood to the cupboard where she pulled out a bandage to re-wrap her healing cuts. She unwrapped her arm of the bloody red bandage and turned the tap on. She put the cuts under the cool water 'baka Sakuno baka that hurts' she winced at the pain as the water cleaned her now noticeable 3 cuts each deeper than the other. Sakuno dapped dry her wounds and re-wrapped them in a new bandage. She splashed her face, stepped over the pool and back into her room to get changed.
After 10 to 15 minutes she was finally ready she wore a purple skirt and white and purple top and a purple head band as well as a white wristband to cover her bandage. She picked up her tennis bag and sat on the couch fiddling nervously with the wristband. A knock was heard on the front door she stood, picked up her bag slung it over her shoulder and opened the door.
"Hey there, Sakuno" Ryoma greeted, doing a slight wave.
"Hi Ryoma-kun" she shyly replied 'his voice is really masculine and husky…wait! What? Why am I being all girly around him' she pondered to herself. Ryoma saw her pondering and laughed slightly but stopped himself before she got suspicious.
"Come on then you ready?" Ryoma asked to knock her out of her thinking. Sakuno just nodded as she picked up her keys and put her trainers on. She walked out of her flat and locked the door; she put the keys in the bottom of her bag then turned to be met by Ryoma's face. He gently grabbed her hand and started to walk towards his car. Sakuno pulled away and gave him a dirty look as she walked in front of him once she reached the end of the street she looked at all the cars then sighed. Then looked back at Ryoma.
"Which one is your car?" she asked sounding rather stupid he laughed a little then stopped to answer.
"The one right in front of you" he smirked. Sakuno walked to the passenger door and waited for Ryoma to open the car. As he unlocked it she climbed in and sat down, waiting for Ryoma. Ryoma got in and then he started to drive.
They sat in an uncomfortable silence, Ryoma had looked at her a couple of times all he noticed was how much more defined she is now compared to how she was back then, 'God, if I loved her body then I must adore it now' which was true he adored her body now but then sexual thoughts ran through his mind "baka oyaji" he muttered.
After another 5 minutes of awkward silence they were at the indoor tennis courts. They both climbed out of the car and walked towards the indoor tennis courts Ryoma had a pair of sunglasses on to stop the paparazzi seeing him as Sakuno lagged behind him looking at her wrist. They both walked swiftly so they didn't catch much attention Ryoma kept his eyes on where they were going and, every now and then on Sakuno. Sakuno just followed him every now and then looking up to find out where exactly they where the rest of the time she focused on her wrist. After a couple of minutes they finally reached the reserved tennis court right at the back of the indoor centre. They entered the court and put their bags down, they both pulled their rackets out and began to warm up. Ryoma was thinking about Sakuno and how he'll have to go easy on her, then progress to get harder and harder to see what she is really made of. As for Sakuno she thought about how stupid she was slitting her wrists on the hand she plays tennis with. She hit the ball too hard and she winced at the pain but forgot about the ball bouncing back off the wall. The ball bounced back hard and fast that's when it hit her on her bad wrist this was when she cried out in pain. Ryoma turned to notice her in pain slumped on the floor; he turned and ran towards her.
"Sakuno are you okay?" he asked with a frighteningly worried face.
"I'm fine I just hit the ball too hard and it bounced back too fast" she replied not looking at him in case he saw her tears. With that she got back up and picked her racket up and continued to play. 'My wrist really hurts but I can't let Ryoma find out and I better not play as well today' Sakuno thought as she continued to warm up. Ryoma stood there for a few moments he looked at her, and then at her wrist suspiciously. 'She better be fine'. He could tell something was wrong he just didn't know what and so he turned back and continued to warm up.
It wasn't long, after the incident that they decided to start the match. Ryoma had decided not to go all out and only use certain moves he obtained over the years, as for Sakuno she just re adjusted her wrist band and looked at her hand for a couple of moments then at the fuzzy yellow ball in her other hand. "Don't fail me now wrist" Sakuno muttered as she served the ball. Ryoma easily returned it, followed by Sakuno hitting for the opposite far corner to Ryoma that's when Sakuno won the first point of the match. It continued like this for a while each winning a couple of points each, well into the game Ryoma on 4 games and Sakuno on 3, with the points at 40 love, but something happened. Sakuno had hit a lob as it was a difficult ball to retrieve and so Ryoma jumped and smashed the ball into Sakuno's side of the court. Sakuno only just reached the ball but Ryoma's shot was too powerful this made her wrist bend backwards and her racket fly out of her hand. Sakuno doubled over in pain because of her wrist, as blood started to seep through the bandage and wristband. Sakuno looked at her wrist and her eyes widened because the cuts had reopened but also because Ryoma was going to see. 'Please Kami-sama make something divert his attention so I can make a run for it please'. Ryoma noticed her buckle over; he dropped his racket, jumped over the net and ran to Sakuno. Ryoma knelt down beside her as he put a hand on her back; she turned away to hide her hand from him. His eyes deep in worry looked at the back of the person he treasured the most.
"Sakuno are you okay?" Ryoma asked as he tried to get a closer look at the damage.
"I'm fine just a scratch where the racket caught m no big deal" she replied back whimpering slightly, 'I hope he buys it' she thought as she tried to convince Ryoma with her excuse.
"Yeah right, you wouldn't be in this much pain trust me, I've done it myself numerous of times." he scoffed 'does she think I was born yesterday?' he mentally asked himself. He gently grabbed her shoulders and turned he to face him. Sakuno resisted at first but Ryoma's arms are like barriers of steel built from playing tennis all his life. Ryoma saw she was trying to cover her injured hand and so he pried the other hand off. 'Why Kami-sama why?' Sakuno asked as Ryoma carefully removed her wristband. She flinched slightly as he started to remove the bandage, Sakuno tried to pull away only causing her self more pain.
"Don't pull away," Ryoma ordered as he unwrapped the last of the bandage. He looked at the 3 cuts that have been newly opened by him self; he hated seeing Sakuno in pain especially when caused by him. Ryoma blanked out for a couple of moments remembering the past of where he put Sakuno through so much pain. He came back to reality to see Sakuno trying to soak up the blood with her wristband that is already died red. He sighed and took off his t-shirt revealing a well built and tanned set of muscles. Sakuno looked up to see why Ryoma was moving around so much only to reveal his topless body she looked him up and down then blushed immensely only to make her turn her head away.
"Ryoma what are you doing?" she exclaimed still looking away.
"Here, take it soak the blood up with it" he replied handing her the t-shirt. Sakuno took it and began to wrap it round her wrist. "Sakuno how did you do it?" Ryoma asked looking worriedly at her. Sakuno just looked at him then looked away with out a word being said. He gently placed a hand under her chin and pulled her head up, their faces centimetres away from each other. They both stared into each other's eyes, worried golden orbs stared into scared brown ones and the brown stared back. 'Does she think I'll hurt her if I find out what truly happened?' Ryoma thought as he stared into her eyes.
"How?" he whispered, seeking an answer, his breath made Sakuno's lips tingle and she blinked a couple of times then looked at the closeness and blushed immensely again.
"I…I cutmyselfaccidentallywitharazorblade" she spoke quickly as she got up grabbed her racket and her bag and tried to make a run for it. Ryoma was caught off guard but was able to process everything in a matter of moments, and as soon as he realised that she made a run for it, he grabbed his stuff and ran after her. Sakuno ran through a couple of passageways only to end up at a dead end. "Mou why didn't I pay more attention…" she complained to her self.
"A little lost are we?" he asked smirking.
"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno gasped, as she turned round to come face to face with Ryoma.
"Mada, Mada Dane Sakuno, you were never good with directions were you?" he laughed slightly as he dropped his tennis bag on the floor. Ryoma took a step forward as Sakuno took a step back; this continued a couple of times until Sakuno's back hit the wall. Ryoma finished of the distance between them, so their faces were centimetres away once more. Ryoma put one hand above Sakuno's head on the wall and the other was just above her waist on the wall.
"How Sakuno, how did you do it?" Ryoma asked once again sternly.
"Why would you want to know, why would you care, you never cared back then, so why would you care now, why would you put me through so much pain then to suddenly care now?" Sakuno shouted at him, tears threatening to fall from her big brown eyes.
"I was stupid back then, I wouldn't let myself have you, I wouldn't let you into my world, because it would destroy you, but not having you there, destroyed me more, at first when we met I thought you were a annoyance but a pleasant one. Then that pleasant annoyance grew into friendship, a friendship that I would never try and destroy yet I did because I broke your hart because it grew into love but I couldn't back then love you back then, I didn't know what love was. I had never experienced it and I was scared and so I hurt the person who was closest to me, and that was you" Ryoma whispered in her ear, Sakuno on the other hand was amazed that the prince of tennis like her back then too.
"Me.?" she asked sounding astonished.
"Yes you, you are my one and only Sakuno the light that guided me through the dark. I love you Sakuno I love you so much!" he replied looking her straight in the eyes. Sakuno was shocked she just heard the three words that she wanted to hear most from that person, she didn't say anything she couldn't. Ryoma couldn't just walk away and leave it at that no… he had to the finish the job off properly, and so he closed the space between them and sealed it with a kiss. Sakuno couldn't believe it Ryoma had kissed her, her! Her mind processed what was happening and she stood there motionless. When Ryoma broke away he took her hand and picked up his bags and started to walk towards the exit. Sakuno just followed keeping her head down low to try and hide her deep red blush. When they reached the reception Ryoma had already placed his sunglasses over his eyes, h turned to Sakuno.
"wait here" he told her, as he turned and walked toward the receptionist. Ryoma handed her a couple hundred yen to go pay for any damages caused for example blood, which may or may not of stained the court. He walked back over to Sakuno and took her hand again, only to be lead outside to his car. Ryoma unlocked it and opened the door for Sakuno; he then got in the other side and drove off towards Sakuno's house. When they finally reached her row of flats she picked up her stuff and got out the car she closed the door and tapped on the window. Ryoma opened it to se what she wanted.
"Arigato, Ryoma-kun for everything today" she smiled and left to go to her house. Ryoma wound back up the window and smiled a genuine smile and set off back home.
Sakuno decided to rewrap her wrist, then spring clean because there was nothing on TV and she wasn't exactly tired just confuse and she was trying to forget what Ryoma had said to her when she was pinned up against the wall although she didn't mind being told it, she just found it weird. After cleaning the whole flat, even the bathroom she sat down with a cup of coco and started to watch TV. Then there was a knock at the door, Sakuno put he coco down on the coffee table and got up to answer the door. There stood a man holding a bunch of flowers asking if she was Sakuno Ryuzaki. She took the flowers inside and closed the door. She noticed a note and she took it out, Sakuno placed this note in her pocket then took the flowers into the kitchen to be placed in a vase later. She then sat down and took the note out of her pocket.
Sakuno then read the note out loud.
"I really want to spend more time with you Sakuno especially after today, and I'm guessing those cuts show the pain I've put you through so I want to make it up to you. Give me a call to arrange a date, arigato Sakuno for everything. Ryoma." She sighed and saved Ryoma's number into her phone smiling as she did so 'Ryoma never gives up does he?'. Sakuno then started to do a lot of thinking; she soon went to bed but with one thing on her mind, 'Ryoma'. The next day she woke up and went to change her bandage only to find that the shallowest of the 3 cuts had disappeared.