You're the rule.
"I can't believe he actually took out a restraining order against me."
"Well you were calling him an awful lot," An said to Tomoka as she retrieved her soda from the vending machine.
"But a restraining order is just so extreme. Isn't it, Sakuno?"
"Huh?" Sakuno abruptly broke from her stupor, receiving some odd looks from An and Tomoka.
"Are you okay?" An asked with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Tomoka and An looked at each other, knowing full well that Sakuno was lying, but they dismissed it with a shrug and merely went back to enjoying the park. However, Sakuno didn't seem to be able to do the same. It wasn't until later, as they were on their way home, when Sakuno brought the topic up again.
"Maybe he's just been really busy lately."
Tomoka rolled her eyes. "Are you still going on about that?"
"Well think about it. He's so busy with tennis and everything. It must have slipped his mind, but I'm sure he'll call eventually."
At this point, An grabbed Sakuno's shoulder as if she could shake the insanity out of her.
"Listen, Sakuno. I think you should just get over him. It's summer vacation. Don't waste your entire break obsessing over one guy."
I know. You're right, but I just want to make sure."
Shrugging An's hand off, Sakuno now started heading back in the opposite direction.
"Wait, where are you going?" Tomoka cried after her.
"To the tennis courts to find Ryoma-kun." With that, she waved the two good-bye and went off on her way.
"She's lost it, hasn't she?"
"Yep."
Niou caught the tennis ball in his hand and wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket. As he adjusted his grip on the racket, his ears perked up at the sound of conversation among the street courts, glazing over each of them before they unconsciously settled on one.
"So I saw Sakuno-chan the other day," Momoshiro said as Ryoma bent down to tie his shoes.
"Why were with you with Ryuzaki-san?
"We stopped by her house because An had to get something from her. Anyway, she seemed kind of stressed out when I saw her."
"About what?" Ryoma asked absent-mindedly.
"Apparently she was expecting you to call her."
"And why would I do that?"
"Because you said you would," Momoshiro exclaimed, surprised that Ryoma didn't even remember.
"Oh, did I?"
Niou watched as the two walked away, a small smirk twisting at his lips. Sometimes the things he overheard were actually rather amusing.
As Niou started to get back to his training, repeatedly hitting the ball against the backboard, another sound caught his ear, that of loud footsteps approaching. Turning around to see who it was, his mind slipped about the advancing tennis ball heading in his direction. It shot past him and beamed the poor girl, who seemed to be running for dear life, directly on the side of her head. She fell backwards.
"You okay?"
Sakuno stopped rubbing her head to look up at the tall figure standing before her. "Yeah, I think so."
Getting up, she brushed the dirt off her skirt and proceeded to fix her hair, not noticing the intrigued look she was receiving from Niou.
"You seem familiar. Do I know you?"
Taken aback by this sudden inquiry, Sakuno timidly bowed.
"Ryuzaki Sakuno desu."
"Oh yeah, I see you at all the Seigaku games."
Sakuno simply nodded. "And you're Niou-san, right? What are you doing in Tokyo?
"I was just visiting a friend," Niou said, taking off his jacket as he did so. "Figured I might as well make use of the courts while I'm here."
Sakuno filled the conversation with a small "Oh."
Picking up the ball, Niou told Sakuno that he should get back to training and was making his way back to the backboard when Sakuno spoke up yet again.
"Wait, I was just kind of wondering. Have you seen Ryoma-kun? I know he comes here often."
"You mean that Echizen brat? Yeah, I saw him. He left already just a couple of minutes ago."
Sakuno's shoulders fell, feeling rather dejected. It was at that moment that Niou began to recall some of the conversation he had just overheard.
"But if you want, I could call him," Niou continued. "I know someone who probably has his phone number."
As much as Sakuno wanted to see Ryoma again, calling him was not part of the plan, and she showed this objection by quickly protesting.
"No! I mean, it's really not that important."
Niou arched an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Because the way you were looking for him made it seem pretty important."
"Don't worry," Sakuno said, letting out a nervous chuckle. "It isn't."
The blush on her face spoke for itself.
"Let me guess," Niou finally said in an all too knowing tone. "He didn't call, did he?"
Sakuno was shocked. "How would you know that?"
Setting that question aside, Niou led Sakuno to one of the benches, offering her a seat.
"Look, you seem like a cool girl so I'll give it to you straight. This guy isn't interested."
"I don't get it," Sakuno stammered, as if Niou was just playing some cruel joke on her.
"What I'm saying is, if this guy isn't calling you, then he obviously doesn't want to call you."
"Okay, so he didn't call me," Sakuno admitted, "but that doesn't really mean anything. He could just be shy or busy with tennis, or he could have lost my phone number…"
"…or maybe," Niou interrupted, "he's just not that into you."
Sakuno contemplated this for a moment. "But what if—"
"No, there is no what if's. If a guy likes you, he'll make it happen. That's the rule."
"So it's always like that."
Niou nodded. "Always."
"Well then what about my cousin?" Sakuno said. "She knew this guy who was supposed to call her also, but he didn't so she completely wrote him off. Then one day she finally got the nerve to call him. So they started dating, and now they're happily married."
"Well then your cousin's weird," Niou replied, "and she's also the exception."
"Then why can't I be the exception?"
"No, it doesn't work like that. You can't just always assume you're going to be the exception. You're the rule, got it?"
"Okay fine, I got it."
Okay, this chapter has definitely been changed. The first draft was really crappy, and even though I promised I would wait until after exams to revise it, the crappiness was just annoying me so much that I couldn't. Now I know the pairing is a little weird, but Sakuno was just the perfect Gigi, and as for Niou, he just fit the description of what I needed the main character to be. Kind of cool, not afraid to be brutally honest, and has room for occasional niceness. At first I was going to do Kirihara, but I wanted to use him for An's story line. Anyway, review please!
Oh yeah, before I forget, let's just say that for the sake of the story, distance is not a big factor. I'm not just going to disregard it completely, but I'm kind of pulling in characters from different schools, and it doesn't work if they're all so far away from each other.