Hello everyone, special thanks to Franzis-chan, mysweetkat, Sakuno8, and kuriko-chan for reviewing! Also thank you to all those who followed and/or favorited this story.

This is a Sakuno-Centric fic. I hope to finish this fic soon but I am not regular with my updates. This is also a RyogaXSakuno fic.

This story is also unbeta'ed so please try to ignore any minor grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.

Word count: 4,585

Enjoy!

Chapter 3: A Leap Forward ####

If Sakuno had any doubts about Ryoga not being human, they were blown away when the next morning came. The man had run the four miles with her, changing pace every ten minutes and making her follow with him or else she'd have to run an extra mile. That day she had run about eight miles instead of the promised four. She nearly had to drag herself back to her house. The weights hadn't helped her either and made the journey home even more taxing than usual.

Her whole body was sore, but she still had to go to school. She desperately wanted to cry but her tired body wouldn't let her. Silently she cursed Ryoga, something she had never done before but was quickly picking up the bad habit.

Slowly, she began undoing her messy braid. It had been nice and neat before the run, but Ryoga's jogging paths were not real paths made by the city. Instead, he had her running up and down hills that she never knew existed in Tokyo, through parks, jumping over street benches, running through crowds of people, etc.

Ryoga had somehow managed to end the run only slightly flushed and panting lightly whereas Sakuno was a harried mess and looked as if she was going to pass out. Her braids had gotten caught in bushes, clothing, bags, and had been a huge burden the entire time. Now she understood what Ryoma had meant when he had said that she should cut her hair. Ryoga had also mentioned the same thing, but she didn't know if she wanted to lose the last thing of the person she had been.

Carefully she peeled the leaves and twigs from her hair and undressed as she turned on the shower. It had been a struggle this morning, but she could already feel her body getting a little bit stronger. That was all that mattered, so if she had to continue going through this torture to become stronger, she didn't really mind it.

####

Something was off today. Sumire Ryuzaki had woken up at 7:30 as usual. She had gotten dressed quickly and walked down the stairs before calling up to Sakuno to get ready at 7:40. Only she didn't hear Sakuno scream and scrambling upstairs to get ready. Instead, when she walked into the kitchen, she found her young granddaughter putting jam on her toast calmly. Sakuno seemed to have all of her things packed and was waiting for her.

It was so…odd. Sumire had realized that Sakuno was growing up, but never had she thought their routine would be interrupted.

"So, what's the occasion Sakuno? You're never up this early."

Sumire was even more surprised when Sakuno simply smiled at her and stated that she had recently taken to jogging in the morning. This completely stunned the elder woman because Sakuno had responded calmly, without stuttering or any hint of a blush. Perhaps her granddaughter was finally growing up.

"Aa. At what time did you leave because I didn't hear you?"

"I left at 5." Sakuno calmly ate her breakfast at the dining table, the run this morning ha rid her of any nerves she might have had.

Sumire choked on her saliva, "In the morning!? Who are you and what have you done to my granddaughter?"

This time Sakuno blushed. She knew that she wasn't a morning person, but she didn't think this was too unbelievable.

Sumire, seeing that her granddaughter was embarrassed, coughed and asked one last question.

"Are you going to be safe while running?"

Sakuno nodded her head as fast as her tired body would allow. Her grandmother sighed but nodded. As long as the girl was safe then it would be alright.

"Well let's go Sakuno."

####

Sakuno had been practically interrogated the moment she stepped into her classroom. Tomoka was relentless in her questions about her 'date' last night.

"Tomoka, it wasn't a date. I really did have an errand to run." Sakuno tried to lie but the higher pitch to her voice gave her away.

"Kyaaah! It totally was a date. Sakuno, who was it with? Is he from here? Is he in our year? Is he older," She grinned when Sakuno blushed, "It was an OLDER guy! Sakuno is he hot? You've got to tell me!"

Luckily for Sakuno, the teacher walked in and she was able to escape Tomoka before she figured out about Sakuno's training.

As soon as the teacher began to lecture, her mind began to wander and her body began to feel the toll of that morning's run. Her eyelids drooped and there was nothing she could have done to have prevented the deep sleep she fell into.

####

The next time she woke up it was lunch time and the kids were milling about the room, either eating lunch or just chatting with their friends. Sakuno hastily wiped away the slight drool from her mouth before anyone could see.

The young girl placed her head into her hands and groaned. She had missed more than half of her classes due to her nap. She wasn't even sure anyone had noticed her sleeping. She thankfully did not snore in her sleep and she could have afforded to sleep through the first half of her classes. She was the top in all of them except English, where she was second, behind only Ryoma.

"SAKUNO!"

Sakuno froze when she heard Tomoka's voice. She needed to hide, but there was nowhere to hide because someone would tell Tomoka where she was hiding. She could run, but the only exit was where her friend was going to come in.

'I think I can make it. Tomoka sounded as if she was at least four doors down. I could make it if I started running…'

"NOW!" Sakuno yelled as she ran through the door and down the hall.

Tomoka spotted her as soon as she had exited the class. There was a crowd in the hall, but it wasn't quite as big as the crowds she had run through this morning. She could do it. She could run through without getting caught by Tomoka.

She had learned that to be able to run through crowds, you needed to do two things, One, always be watching everyone's movements. Ryoga had told her that her eyes were fast enough to see every little movement in a crowd. The second was to never fear bumping into someone. If you thought about anything other than focusing on running through then you'd miss something and crash.

With those positive thoughts and tips in mind, Sakuno Ryuzaki set herself and ran. She ran straight, directly at Tomoka. Those who stopped to watch the commotion looked on in surprise when shy little Sakuno Ryuzaki ran straight towards Tomoka, spinning at the last second to avoid a collision and darting through the entire crowd as if they weren't moving.

Three sets of eyes widened as they watched the scene unfold. One set of amber, another of piercing blue, and the last of the bubbly girl's light brown.

Once Sakuno turned the corner and ran down the stairs, carefully avoiding bumping into anyone they all unfroze.

"Hm."

"Saa, things are getting interesting."

"SAKUNO!"

####

The day ended with Sakuno still avoiding Tomoka like the plague. The only time the young Ryuzaki sort-of interacted with her friend was when she left a note on Tomoka's desk saying that she had something to do before rushing out of the classroom.

"Mou. Sakuno-chan ran away again," Tomoka sighed as she watched the Regulars practice. She knew that she probably shouldn't have been so pushy about getting answers, but she had never thought Sakuno might avoid her because of it. She sighed again before reflecting on the moment Sakuno ran from her, "I never even knew that she was so fast either."

"Tomoka-chan! What happened nyah? You look sad."

Tomoka blushed when she looked up at her hyperactive sempai's curious face.

"N-nothing Kikumaru-sempai," She stuttered out.

Eiji looked around the court before turning back to Tomoka and asked, "Where's Sakuno-chan nyah? I thought she'd be here today."

Tomoka's face darkened when she thought of Sakuno running from her, but still responded to the question, "She had something to do today sempai," muttering out the last part, "She's probably on a date with that hot older guy she didn't want me to know about."

"EH! SAKUNO-CHAN"S DATING AN OLDER MAN!"

Just like yesterday, silence fell upon the tennis court. Then an even greater surge of bloodlust flooded the atmosphere.

"Kikumaru-sempai, let's play a match."

Kikumaru shivered when he heard the tone Ryoma used. This was going to be even worse than Ryoma's last match with Momoshiro. He frantically shook his head and tried to run, but Ryoma gripped his arm in an iron-hold.

"Nyah Ochibi I don't think we should play right now. Buchou hasn't permitted it and—

"Buchou said that we should all find a partner to play with for the rest of practice when you went over here to practice. So let's go sempai."

"OISHI SAVE ME NYAH!"

####

"Good job Saku-chan, you ran those laps five minutes faster than last time!"

Sakuno simply panted from her stretch when Ryoga made his cheerful announcement. He hadn't run with her this time. Instead, he had timed her as he got the court ready. For what, she did not know.

"Alright Sakuno, this time we're moving on to the next part of your reflex training. This time I'm going to throw balls at you and you're going to have to catch the ones with the colors that I call out. This requires both good reflexes and speed. We'll be working on this the whole practice until you can successfully catch all of the colors I throw at you. Then when you gain enough speed, I'll hit them to you with my racquet. You ready?"

Sakuno gulped but nodded as she made her way to the other side of the court.

Ryoga grinned as he got into position.

"Then let's begin shall we?"

####

The man was a monster! She had thought that maybe his throws would be much slower than his serves, but that hope was shattered when he threw the first few balls. She had caught three out of the five he called out, it would have been four but one was the wrong color so she had to go once again.

They had been doing this exercise for at least 40 minutes when Ryoga told her to take off her weights. She had been able to move slightly faster. It was enough to catch four of the five tosses correctly, but she wasn't quick enough to catch the last one.

"Alright Sakuno-chan, that's enough for today, come get a drink of water."

Sakuno frowned. She may have made some progress on the exercise but it still wasn't enough for her. If she stopped now, it would be like she failed both herself and Ryoga.

"I don't need water. Could we please continue Ryoga-san?"

Ryoga was a bit surprised that she wasn't stopping yet. Who knew that shy little Sakuno could be so stubborn? He paused for a bit but complied with her request.

"Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple!"

Sakuno ran back to catch both the red and purple striped balls before shuffling sideways to grab the yellow ball and jumping to grab the green one. Rapidly scanning the air for the blue ball, she saw it on the opposite side of her. She didn't know why she did it, but she did. All she knew was that she did not want to fail Ryoga-san.

Sakuno threw herself at the last ball in a last ditch effort of catching it and reached out with her left arm. It slipped past her fingers by a few centimeters and she fell to the ground hard.

"Sakuno! Are you alright?!" Ryoga ran to the girl frantically. He didn't think she'd actually throw herself to catch the ball. He had greatly underestimated her determination.

Sakuno groaned as she slowly got up, not even looking at Ryoga. She had landed where there were some rocks so she had a few cuts and some newly forming bruises, but other than that she was ok. She had almost had it, that last ball but it slipped past her.

A cat's meow caught her attention as it walked on the ledge of the fence that separated the tennis court from the street. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She could beat this exercise like that.

Ryoga was seriously questioning if Sakuno needed medical attention when she started laughing after that nasty fall. His student slowly got up and asked him for another round.

"Sakuno I think we should sto— that look in her eyes stopped any protest he had. It was a look that he often had when he knew he was going to win a match; a belief of utter confidence that she would do this.

"Alright," he said as he walked over towards the opposite side of the court.

"Pink, green, orange, brown, blue!"

Sakuno moved towards the left to catch the pink and orange balls. Then she twisted to catch the green and brown balls. Using her momentum, she ran straight back towards the fence and used it as a spring board to launch herself into a front flip in the air and land directly in front of the blue ball.

"I…did it," Sakuno's eyes widened, "I…really did it!"

Ryoga was just as stunned as she was. He would have never thought she would overcome her lack of speed by using acrobatics. She wouldn't be an actual acrobatics tennis player though because she didn't have enough strength to pull of those flips without a springboard, but he had to admit it was pretty clever.

"Yeah you did it Saku-chan. I would however advise you to never do that again. I would have never thought you would have used the fence as a springboard."

Sakuno blushed proudly, "Well, when I saw the cat up there I thought of Kikumaru-sempai and I wondered what he would do. I knew that surely he'd use his acrobatic skills to catch all of the balls but I'm not as strong as him to flip on my own so I used something else."

Ryoga simply laughed at her explanation, wiped tears from his eyes and slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Well, I would have never expected the shy little Sakuno that I met would do something as reckless as that."

Sakuno pondered this before speaking aloud, "Well, I am a different person now Ryoga-san. I'm not the same girl I used to be, but I …think I like it this way."

Ryoga simply smiled at her and the two began to walk towards Sakuno's house. Before they reached the house however, Sakuno decided to pull Ryoga into a small shop.

"What's wrong Saku-chan? Aren't we going to your hou— he looked around, noticing that they were at a hair stylist.

"I-I want to really change myself from the person that I used to be. Also, at my level my braids only hinder me when I play tennis. Perhaps when I get better I'll grow it out again, but until that time I cannot continue to play with them."

Ryoga nodded seriously at his young student. It was true, the braids only got in her way when jogging and playing tennis. Not to mention whenever she turned around fast he had to dodge her braids.

"Alright, if this is what you really want Saku-chan."

Sakuno nodded determinedly and walked up to the counter where a hair-stylist smiled kindly at her. She had made her decision, it hurt her to let go of her braids but she wasn't the same Sakuno as before. No, she was going to change.

####

It was around 5 p.m. when the stylist finished Sakuno's hair. The young girl had decided to give donate her hair to the cancer society. It was better for them to receive it because it was necessary than to throw it away.

The stylist was absolutely ecstatic when Sakuno told her this. Not many teens donated their hair so every little bit counted. Sakuno's 22 inches of hair was like a dream donation that rarely, if ever happened.

"Ryoga-san I'm ready to go."

Ryoga quickly looked up from the magazine he was reading and stared. When Sakuno had said she wanted to change, he didn't think she would change this much.

The young girl's hair was now just a little bit past her chin, but was styled into a cute cut. She had her small flower-clip on, pinning back a small portion of her bangs and a smile on her face. Sakuno looked more like her age and, dare he think it, cuter than she used to be. She also had a new air of confidence about her. It was barely noticeable but Ryoga could still feel it.

"You look so cute Saku-chan. I'm going to have to be beating the boys off with a stick now because with the way you look, boys will be after you in droves." Ryoga chuckled and Sakuno blushed a deep red.

"A-a-arigato Ryoga-san."

The pair then walked to Sakuno's home in a comfortable silence. They reached the house in ten minutes and said goodbye, with the promise to meet again the next morning.

####

Sumire Ryuzaki loved her granddaughter very much. The small girl that she had first met had tugged at her heartstrings and made her want to constantly protect her. She noticed everything about the girl, so it wasn't a huge surprise that she had noticed the changes in her granddaughter over the past two months.

The changes had begun the day Sakuno had ran the wrong way to school, but they were so small then that she hadn't noticed more until days later. It had been a huge surprise when her granddaughter had gone running at five in the morning. She no longer spent her time watching the boys' tennis practices, instead running off to go run 'errands'. Sumire almost had a heart-attack when Sakuno came home without her customary braids. Her hair was now styled in a cute short cut that she had seen on a model once in a fashion magazine.

The young girl would also come home at around 5 every day, eat dinner, shower, do homework, and go straight to bed. She didn't hand out with her friend Tomoka as much anymore either. It worried her a bit and when she asked Sakuno about it the girl divulged that she was doing some intense tennis training. Sumire would have disbelieved this claim, if not for the steady gain of lithe muscle that Sakuno had achieved.

The only reason Sumire had decided not to tell her granddaughter to stop was because of the slow but sure gain of confidence the girl was getting. It was subtle, but Sumire saw it. It was there, in the way she held herself a little straighter than before and how she would look people in the eyes. Sumire was proud of her granddaughter and she trusted her judgment, so she allowed Sakuno to continue.

####

"Good job today Sakuno, I think you might be ready to play a real match with someone besides me."

Aforementioned girl simply grimaced from her place on the ground. The past two months had been absolute torture. She would have been positive that Ryoga's methods were only meant for pain if she had not seen the results after it. He constantly pushed her to her limits, and just as she thought she was about to break, he'd continue to encourage her.

The two had become good friends; their bond was almost one of brother and sister. Ryoga was able to tease her without her fainting on him like she had the first few times. In turn Sakuno was allowed to mother him whenever she felt it necessary.

Ryoga had fixed all her problems with serving and she was well on her way to creating one of her own special serves, it was based off of the twist serve. The only difference was that hers spun so fast that it creates a small dust storm, making it virtually impossible to see the ball. Her Kamikakushi shot and Mirage serve were also part of her arsenal. Both she and Ryoga found that she had a certain knack for controlling the spin on the ball. It was at such a high level that she could virtually make any ball seem like it disappeared. That was her tennis style, Illusionary tennis.

Her Illusionary tennis focused mainly on speed and ball control. It wasn't quite hard for Sakuno to perform these techniques, but when she tried to teach Ryoga she found that she was a prodigy in control. Power didn't matter for the techniques as long as she had speed. Although she would have a tough match against any power tennis players.

"Ah, I don't know Ryo-kun. I can barely win a set against you on a good day. I don't think I'm ready yet."

Ryoga rolled his eyes and sat down next to Sakuno. The girl didn't even know that she was an absolute monster when it came to tennis. He had been expecting it to be well over five months before she could play others. He had once again greatly underestimated Sakuno's ability to absorb everything he showed her. That was another thing that they overcame.

Sakuno had explained to him that when her grandmother had given her instructions on how to fix her serves she hadn't understood. She had also tried to show Sakuno but the girl always had questions and was too shy to voice them which was a huge part as to why her form had been so atrocious. Luckily by that time he had gotten much better at reading her face so he could tell just what she had questions on.

Her ability to see all the weaknesses of a player on the court had also grown. Now, on all of their matches he had to pull out all of the stops to keep her from winning a set. It was difficult but slowly his weaknesses on the court were becoming smaller and smaller. The two grew together in their skills, with Ryoga trying desperately to keep her from winning a set.

"Sakuno, I'm absolutely positive you're ready. In fact, I think this is a little late to have you play others."

Sakuno looked up at the boy and worried her lip, "I-I don't know. I can't beat you yet."

Ryoga sighed and pulled her up, "Sakuno your being unfair to yourself. I am not a normal tennis player and neither are you. You push me to my limits to keep you from winning a set. Not many people can say that. Also, you have brand new techniques that no one in the tennis world has seen yet. You'll be fine."

Sakuno smiled softly. Ryoga's words had given her confidence. "Alright, I'll play against others."

Ryoga's smile became sweeter, "I'm glad you agreed because I already signed you up for the tennis tournament at the tennis gardens on Saturday."

Sakuno chocked on her saliva and looked at Ryoga with wide eyes.

"YOU DID WHAT!?"

####

Sakuno sighed tiredly as she remembered what Ryoga had done. It was Friday already and she was extremely nervous about tomorrow. It didn't help that Ryoga had canceled their practice for today. He had said something about her needing to calm herself before the tournament.

So far she had spent the school day in relative peace, speaking with her friend Tomoka. It had been ages since they had actually sat down and just talked. Sakuno sorely missed it. She had of course fixed Tomoka's misunderstanding about her supposed 'date' and told her that she was doing some tennis training. The bubbly girl had still been a bit suspicious but accepted her friend's answer. He had then fussed over her friend's cute new haircut.

The two decided to stay after school and watch the tennis practice like old-times and stood by the fence. They were instantly surrounded by their sempai when they all saw that Sakuno was there.

"Sakuno-chan!"

"Ryuzaki-chan!"

"Sakuno-san!"

"Fshuuu."

"Sakuno!"

"Sa-chan!"

"Hn, Ryuzaki."

The girl simply smiled at all of the tennis players. They were all stunned and pleased that she was there. For the past two months whenever her absence was mentioned, Ryoma would claim another victim. All of the Regulars' eyes flashed in hope. Maybe she and her older boyfriend finally broke up.

"Sakuno, what's this I hear about you playing in the Kanigawa (made this up) Tennis Garden's tournament tomorrow?" Her grandmother asked as she walked over towards them.

Sakuno blushed lightly as everyone's attention landed on her.

"EH!" The collective group yelled out in complete surprise.

"Ne, ne Sa-chan, is it true?" Kikumaru asked with wide eyes, everyone else waiting with baited breath.

"Aa. It's true. I'm playing tomorrow in the eighteen and under age group."

Again everyone yelled.

"WHAT? YOU'RE ONLY 15 SA-CHAN! WHO KNOWS WHAT THOSE OLD MEN WILL TRY—

"Eiji, you're seventeen," Oishi interrupted softly.

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER! WHAT MATTERS IS THAT SAKUNO MIGHT GET HURT!"

Sakuno didn't know whether she should be flattered at her sempai's worry or offended that they thought she couldn't handle herself in a tennis match with an eighteen-year-old.

Sakuno quickly entered the conversation before anyone else could also object, "Please calm down! I'll be fine sempai! I've been playing against Ryo-kun for the past two months and he's eighteen. I can handle it."

Surprise showed on everyone's face that their little Sakuno would yell at them except Tomoka's. Instead, her friend had a sly smile on her face as she teased Sakuno, "AHA! I knew it! You were going out with an older guy! Ryo-kun huh? Sure sounds like the two of you are pretty close."

Ryoma's aura suddenly became extremely dark as his killer intent quickly flooded the atmosphere. The Regulars all slowly began edging away from him.

Sakuno blushed and flusteredly tried to correct her friend, "No Tomo-chan you've got it all wro—

Sumire Ryuzaki finally decided that she'd had enough of hearing her granddaughter's private life aired out in front of her, "Sakuno, are you sure you can do this?"

Sakuno turned towards her grandmother and nodded determinedly. She could do this, Ryoga believed in her.

Sumire's serious face broke into a smile as she said, "Well then if Sakuno says she can do it, you all should believe in her as well."

The regulars pouted but then smiled at Sakuno. The girl had changed from the shy little girl she had been in middle school.

"Alright Sakuno-chan! Tomorrow we'll go and support you at the tournament then."

Sakuno smile became slightly strained but before she could protest, the tennis players had already run off to go practice.

"This is going to be great right Sakuno? All of the Regulars going to cheer you on tomorrow!" Tomoka squealed as she turned to look worriedly over at her quiet friend.

"Eh? Sakuno. Oi Sakuno-chan!"

Tomoka poked her frozen friend and she fell over.

"KYAH! Sakuno-chan what's wrong?"

'ALL of the Regulars will be going to watch me tomorrow,' with that thought repeating, Sakuno Ryuzaki fainted.

####

End of chapter three: A Leap Forward

Yay chapter three is finished. I know that this chapter isn't as exciting as the last two but these types of chapters are necessary. The next one will be all about the tournament so I hope that it makes it up to you all. Please leave a review, I love hearing from you all.

-SJB