Title: star charts
Author: Alice the 19th
Summary: As the months go by, so do the stars; and to the stars, time was nearly endless. RyoSaku. Semi-AU. Sequel to Under Starry Nights.
A/N: Been a while hmm? Okay, for this story, I STARTED by using a star chart that made no sense. Then I remembered that there are zodiac signs… haha. fail. So it's going to be a mix of both since I got too lazy to fix two of my mini stories.
Also, please note that this is a semi-continuation from Under Starry Nights. This fic takes off almost right after Under Starry nights— it's only been a few days since they've met, meaning it's still only early September.
Disclaimer makes things disclaimed. I own the plot.
"You're in my class!"
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"Hn."
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"... Wanna meet again tonight? It's your choice."
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september— cygnus; a swan.
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"Do you like to look at constellations too?" Taking in Ryoma's blank stare, Sakuno quickly elaborated. "I mean, you seem to enjoy staring up at the stars. I was just wondering if you like to study astronomy too."
"Aa. It's interesting."
Sakuno smiled and silently agreed. It had only been a few days since they had first met, both surprised when they had discovered their respective guardians were acquainted with one another. It turned out that Ryoma's father used to be Sakuno's grandmother's best tennis player, and had recently returned to Japan with his family to further Ryoma's tennis training. Because Sakuno's grandmother was Seigaku tennis team's coach, it was inevitable that they would see each other often at school.
However, neither had said a word promising one another to meet under the stars. It was a mutual agreement that they both came out into the grass by the river every night.
"Oh, look!" Sakuno pointed at a cluster of stars out in the sky. Ryoma followed the direction of her finger and came upon a line of two stars. They looked completely normal, and for the life of him, Ryoma didn't understand their significance.
Noticing Ryoma's incomprehension, Sakuno explained. "It's part of the constellation Cygnus, representing a swan. Metaphorically, you could say its wings are folded into its body since it's still too early to see the entire constellation. The rest of the stars in the constellation most likely won't show up for weeks."
"I see," Ryoma responded, silently awed by her knowledge of the stars. Perhaps he would brush up on constellations as well.
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october— cepheus; an Ethiopian king.
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"Happy Halloween! Are you going or have you gone trick-or-treating?" Sakuno smiled playfully, bending over and lightly punching his chest as he lay on the ground, his trademark white cap on his chest as a smirk flickered on his face.
"No," he nonchalantly replied. "I don't like dressing up."
"Figures." Smirking, Sakuno gathered her dress (which was part of her Halloween costume), and lay down next to him, careful about ruining her clothes. Ryoma couldn't help but appreciate how her dress perfectly fit with her long brown hair. Curiosity piqued, he decided to ask what she dressed up as.
"Oh, me? I decided I would be Rapunzel. She had long hair, albeit blonde and much longer than mine. And, the tower she lived in..." Sakuno drifted off almost (almost) wistfully before completing the sentence. "The tower she lived in was probably the perfect place to view the stars."
At that, Ryoma couldn't help but curve his lips into a smirk, a smile almost waiting to break loose, with a look of amusement. Sakuno noticed and mock glared at him.
"What? Could you think of anything better for yourself?" Ryoma didn't answer; he never really thought about something like that. They soon lapsed into a comfortable silence.
Suddenly, Sakuno broke out into a smile. Soon, the smile became a suppressed giggle.
Ryoma was curious— not to mention irked— and was determined to find why she was giggling. He stared at her in a deadpan expression until she sobered up.
"You would make a terrific king if you dressed up for Halloween. That arrogance of yours is unbeatable." With that, Sakuno burst out into laughter, the sound resounding into the night.
If it had been anyone else Ryoma might've just walked away and maybe threw out a sarcastic comment to retaliate. However, it wasn't anyone else: this was Sakuno. Their relationship under the stars was steadily strengthening and he allowed her to make jokes about him occasionally. Ryoma decided it would be okay to let this one slide.
"Hn."
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november— andromeda; daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopeia. her constellation is close to her parent's.
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The first time they really, truly held a conversation during the day was when Ryoma went looking for his cat, Karupin, who had gotten lost… again.
Ryoma ended up spending an hour looking for his cat only to end up on a hill overlooking the town, finding Karupin nestled close to Sakuno as she rubbed his fur. Sakuno sat with her knees bent towards her chest just staring out at the town and didn't notice Ryoma approaching.
"Hey."
Startled, Sakuno looked up to see Ryoma bending down to join her on the grass. Her startled expression relaxed into a small smile.
"Hi," she replied, turning back out towards the town, her head on her knees and her hand still stroking his cat. They lapsed back into silence.
Ryoma broke the silence five minutes later.
"Is everything okay?" Surprised, Sakuno wondered how he could tell. It wasn't every day someone actually noticed she was troubled, especially with Tomoko as her best friend.
"Why do you ask?" Ryoma just hn'd. Sakuno was certainly acting weird; normally she would be the one to launch into some sort of light conversation.
"If you really want to know, it's my parent's death anniversary. I just came out here to think about them for a while. I still miss them sometimes you know? It's not like I'm going to cry myself to sleep, but I can't help thinking about them at least a little on their death anniversary."
Ryoma was taken back. Sakuno hadn't told her this before. He knew her parents were dead— he saw the graves the first time he met her— but now knowing the date of their deaths was another matter entirely. He could understand why she missed them; he would be sad if his parents died— even with his perverted and lazy father.
He didn't know if he could make her feel better but it was worth a shot; he liked her as a friend more than he would admit, and seeing her down (if only just a little) brought him down as well.
"They're in the stars." It was a simple statement, but Sakuno turned and glanced at him, incomprehension clearly planted on her face. She was prompting him to enlighten her.
"Hn. We don't know where the dead go, so maybe they just travel up into the sky among the stars."
And with that, the conversation ended and Karupin was taken back to Ryoma's house.
They spent that night staring up at the stars as the constellations of mother and daughter, Andromeda and Cassiopeia, lit up the sky.
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december— capricorn; proud and independent, but also quiet and aim to achieve great things. this is ryoma's zodiac sign.
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She was nervous. He could tell by the way she developed the habit of fidgeting and playing with the ends of her braids, running her fingers through it repetitively.
Ryoma was dying to know what she was hiding.
Sakuno, on the other hand, was just plain nervous, unsure about how to present it.
Finally, she moved her right hand behind her back— he had seen her hide something as soon as he had arrived tonight— revealing a small box with a bow.
"Happy birthday," she said, smiling shyly and handing the box over to Ryoma. "You can open it here if you want, but I'll just say it's probably not as good as the presents you got at school today from those admirers of yours."
"Aa." Which, as far as Sakuno could tell, meant thank you.
"You're welcome."
He opened it to reveal a single brand new tennis ball with his name labeled on it.
He smirked.
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january— capricorn continued; it is sakuno's zodiac sign as well after all.
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The first time they conversed with one another during the day in front of their friends just so happened to be Sakuno's birthday: January 14.
It was unbearably cold and Ryoma's mother fussed over her son, making him wear a scarf. He didn't think much about it, only grumbled and reluctantly donned the article of clothing.
It was almost like any other day after school during tennis practice. Sakuno with her friend Tomoka along with Ryoma's friends cheered as he had a practice match. He was playing his senpai and friend, Momoshiro, today.
It was only after practice that the day became memorable. Ryoma had no idea it was Sakuno's birthday, and still didn't have a clue until Tomoka decided to say— more like loudly exclaim— one last "Happy Birthday!" before departing home.
Ryoma wondered why she had never told him that it was her birthday. After all, wasn't it the right thing to do when she had given him a present? Ryoma was troubled as he went into the locker room to change and shower.
Coming out of the locker room, Ryoma saw Sakuno waiting for her grandmother outside on a bench with her grandmother's bag. She seemed to be shivering, although she was trying her best to hide it.
In the spur of the moment, Ryoma decided he could give her an unexpected present.
Walking over to Sakuno, Ryoma took his scarf off and wrapped it around Sakuno's neck loosely. Surprised, Sakuno looked up to find Ryoma standing there, hands in his pockets as if giving her his scarf was the most normal thing in the world.
"Wha…?" She voiced out her confusion. The corners of his mouth lifted into a smirk, and Ryoma motioned her to follow him.
That day, Ryoma escorted Sakuno home for the first time. (And she got to keep the scarf.)
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february— aquarius; unusual and unique.
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Like usual, there were lying down on their backs, Sakuno pointing out constellations and stars while Ryoma listened, occasionally giving a soft "Hn" or "Aa" to show that he was listening.
Ryoma was patiently waiting, however. He wondered if she was going to give her something. All of his admirers at school had.
After all, it was Valentine's day.
But looking at how Sakuno had projects and deadlines all due today, and seeing how she didn't even bother unpacking her bag before arriving at the field, Ryoma believed that this wasn't the case. Sakuno wasn't like most people anyway.
The slight disappointment he felt surprised him, but he simply brushed it off.
"Ryoma-kun? You okay?" Sakuno said, waving her hands in front of his face, attempting to get his attention. "Are you tired or something? You seem to be drifting off."
"Aa. I'm fine. Just thinking."
Sakuno gave Ryoma a skeptical look. He was always so good at multitasking— he would daydream yet pay attention every other time.
Deciding that whatever he was thinking wasn't important (otherwise he would've told her by now), Sakuno began shuffling through her bag. Upon coming in contact with something cold, her eyes lit up.
Ryoma lay nearby watching curiously.
Sakuno pulled out two cans of Ponta, handing one to Ryoma.
"Happy Valentine's day!"
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march— pisces; symbolized by two fish. to them, the number two is the most powerful.
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"So, did you end up getting a partner for the project?"
Ryoma looked over at Sakuno. They were lying down as usual, although not much earlier Sakuno had brought flowers for her parents' graves. The question came up out of nowhere, but Ryoma didn't mind answering.
"No."
Sakuno smiled.
"Yeah, I thought so." Their class was assigned a partnered project, although before he could explain the details relating to the project, four girls rushed up to Ryoma asking if they could be partners. It was an English project, and who better to partner up with than a popular boy born in America? The teacher spent the rest of class in an effort to get everyone back into their seats.
"So… do you want to be my partner? It's not like you have to, but Tomoka ended up partnering with another girl." Sakuno didn't mention the fact that Tomoka had hinted something embarrassing as well.
Ryoma, on the other hand, just closed his eyes. He had planned to talk to the teacher about working alone since it might not be fair for the rest of the class— he was fairly proficient in English. Working with Sakuno, though, might be quite an interesting experience.
"Sure. We can be partners. Having two people is always better than one."
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april— aries; adventurous, active, and outgoing.
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"Woah, you mean to tell me you meet Ryoma-kun every day here in the dark?"
Sakuno fought a flush coming over her face. She knew it was a bad idea brining Tomoka over to their spot.
Casting a glance over at Ryoma, who had shown no indication of ever hearing Tomoka, she said, "Sorry. Her parents are out of town for the night so she's sleeping over."
"It's not a problem." And really, it wasn't. Tomoka could be annoying, but at least she wasn't going after him. She just seemed interested for… other reasons. He thought she was just looking out for Sakuno.
"So Ryoma-kun, are you excited about tomorrow? You're going to be playing Fuji-senpai," Tomoka exclaimed, eyes shining in excitement. Ryoma replied with his trademark "hn."
"What does that even mean? I've heard it so many times that it's probably up in the word records along with your 'mada mada dane'! You really need to expand your conversational vocabulary— it's really not healthy. Have you even said more than three sentences at a time? You're like an anti-social boy who just acts cool and popu—"
Sakuno cut her off.
"I think he was agreeing with you," Sakuno said in her usual quiet voice. Tomoka was shocked speechless for a second before she regained her voice.
"…you can tell?" Before Sakuno could explain how Ryoma had told her on their way home how interested he was in playing Fuji-senpai, Tomoka turned around and began walking away.
"You know what? I'm just going to go and leave you two to yourselves. You guys seem like you understand each other better without me."
Sakuno almost thought she had gotten her friend mad when Tomoka winked at her and headed back towards Sakuno's house. Sakuno would get along well with Ryoma-kun, she thought.
Back by the river, Sakuno sighed.
"Sorry about that."
"Aa." Shrugging, Ryoma just stared back up at the constellations.
Minutes later he said, "Is that Pisces up there in the sky?"
Sakuno just stared; had Ryoma just initiated a conversation with her?
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may— taurus; cool, calm, and collected, letting others get close but only as close as they want them.
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"Has Ryoma-kun ever let you touch him?" It certainly wasn't an innocent question and coming out of Tomoka's mouth made it worse. Sakuno blushed.
"No! Why—" Sakuno stopped. Had he ever let her touch him? Did the times she playfully touched him count? She was initiating the contact after all. "I mean, I've never actually touched him while getting his approval or anything. It was nothing like holding hands. Why?"
"Well, you can tell Ryoma gets along fine with guys, especially the senpai from the tennis team; however, he doesn't really like to let girls talk to him or get close to him. But you on the other hand, understand him a great deal better than most of the girls. I was just wondering if he lets you get close or anything."
"Really, he's not that close to me. We're just friends," Sakuno replied, wondering where the conversation was going.
Tomoka grinned. "You know, it's easy to see if he doesn't mind your presence or not…"
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Sakuno had fallen asleep. That much was a given considering how she wasn't talking and her eyes were closed. But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was she decided to curl up next to him. He was still tense about the close contact.
Eventually he let himself relax. The weather was nice tonight and even with her so close he didn't feel like she was intruding upon his personal bubble.
Ryoma was unaware of Sakuno's smile in her sleep.
Faking sleep really is easy, she thought.
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june— gemini; talkative, and sometimes under-appreciated
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It was the end of the school year and their teacher had just finished explaining the purpose of classroom awards. He had talked for five minutes about how these awards weren't important, nor would it affect their future, etc. etc.
Most people stopped listening after the first sentence, understanding what the teacher had to say: It was for fun.
And fun it was. From the softest speaker award (given to Sakuno) to the most outgoing (obviously given to Tomoka), there were a variety of awards that their teacher had creatively come up with.
The last one was priceless though. One would have thought that Tomoka would have gotten the "gift of the gab" award. After all, she was one of the loudest of the class. The teacher thought otherwise; Tomoka may be loud, but her outgoing personality led her to make many friends.
Horio, on the other hand, was just plain loud. When the teacher called him for the "gift of the gab" award, Horio was momentarily stunned and confused, attempting to figure out if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
He ended up happily taking it from the teacher's hands.
The class laughed, and for a moment, Sakuno thought she saw Ryoma smile.
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july— cancer; conflicted, contradictive
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It was the day of the star festival and Sakuno was excited. The festival only happened once a year and she always, always looked forward to it.
As she walked through the stands under the night sky, she looked up and saw the two stars that the festival celebrated.
"Ryoma-kun, do you believe in true love? I mean, the two lovers who were destined to be together are only allowed to meet every seventh day of the seventh month. They're so close in the sky, yet they can only meet once a yaer!"
Ryoma almost wanted to snort and say that there wasn't anything such as true love or destiny. Things happened for a reason, although he wouldn't say it.
"Hn, I don't believe in true love or destiny," he replied instead, walking next to her along the road.
"Yeah, me neither." Ryoma just looked at Sakuno. Ignore him, Sakuno continued, "Whenever we think of something like true love, we think of undying dedication and maybe even a happily ever after, but really, how many people actually have that? Those two lovers didn't get their 'true love' in my honest opinion— they're being separated for most of their life."
"Your logic's a little skewed," Ryoma pointed out. It wasn't like he didn't understand, but that didn't make her logic any less vague.
"It's not like I don't want a happily ever after ending. It's just… I know I won't get it. There's no point in wishing for it, but can't a girl dream sometimes?"
"Hn. You're contradicting yourself."
Sakuno couldn't say much to retort to that. That didn't mean she wouldn't try though.
"What do you say then? I've only heard one sentence from you on your opinion!"
"Things happen because they do. That's all there is to it. If you believe in it, it doesn't mean it'll happen, but it could. Nothing's impossible."
As Ryoma continued walking, Sakuno just stopped and stared.
"That has got to be the most you've ever said at one time." Ryoma fought the urge to roll his eyes. They headed off towards the tree where they would place their wishes for the year.
As Sakuno wrote hers down, she made sure Ryoma didn't see it.
I hope for true love.
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august— leo; devoted and optimistic
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"Ugh, school starts in only a few weeks," Sakuno said unhappily. They were at Ryoma's house since Sakuno's grandmother was out of town for the week. Sakuno's grandmother had asked Ryoma's mother to take care of Sakuno during that time. If Sakuno was nervous about living in with him at the beginning, by the fifth day she was already comfortable with her surroundings (as long as she remembered to avoid Ryoma's father who always happened to have a mature book in his hands.)
"It's not that bad."
"And why's that?"
"I can play tennis with everyone," Ryoma simply said.
"That's you. You can be optimistic since you just love tennis. Tomoka didn't go on vacation so I've seen her all summer. So many people went on vacation though."
"Mada mada dane."
"What?" Sakuno wondered why he would use his trademark tennis saying now.
"Summer isn't over yet. There's still two weeks left."
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september— cygnus; a swan.
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"So. It's been a year since we first met."
"Hn."
"Do you want to watch the Cygnus constellation show up in the night sky again?"
"Hn. Sure."
"I find it funny how we met when we could see Cygnus in the sky."
"… Why?"
"In the past swans meant an enduring love is entering your life. Anyway, we're going to my house to eat dinner. Let's go."
Turning around, Sakuno completely missed the small smile on Ryoma's face.
Enduring love eh?
Omake: … and they went into the woods and ravished each other behind a tree. For serious.
(not.)
/end.
I hope you liked it. (: It was a new style to try and it took me quite some time. (I kept getting distracted. Figures.)
I'd appreciate it if you reviewed me for my hard work / lame attempt at trying. I'm really excited to write more, and your feedback fuels me. :D