Haha, sorry for the long wait! I'll try to update as frequent as I can but I'll be pretty busy this week since I'm headed to Bei Jing in two days...sumimasen

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS.

Ryoma sighed heavily in the back window seat, staring into the sky as Tomoka's words rang in his head over and over again.

Why in the world would she be considered as a Fallen Angel? He thought multiple times. He didn't even though why he was so worked up. Ryuzaki Sakuno was just another girl. He shouldn't be fussing over her. Frustrated, he narrowed his eyes and his sight slowly followed a bird that happened to pass by. The bird had beautiful wings, pure white with hints of baby blue at the tips. Under the sunlight, Ryoma thought they shimmered so brightly that they resembled those of an angel's.

Ryoma's eyes softened and decided to turn his head around to start pretending he was actually listening to what the teacher was saying but suddenly, something about the bird caught his eye: its wings were drooping and it looked like it was having a hard time flying, like it was painful to move its wings. Ryoma's eyes widened and for a moment, he had no idea what he was doing or thinking at all.

Ryoma suddenly stood up from his seat, surprising everyone.

"Echizen-kun? Is something the matter?" the English teacher asked. Before he could say anything else, Ryoma jumped out of the window, gaining gasps and squeals from his classmates. Ryoma grabbed the tree branch closest to him quickly before he fell down and hung on there a bit before doing a flip and landing on a stronger and thicker one. He steadied himself and quickly scanned his surroundings in search of the bird.

Where did it go? He thought desperately.

"Echizen-kun! Please stop whatever you're doing! You're going to get hurt!" the teacher pleaded. His cry caught the attention of other classes and soon, it seemed as though everyone was looking out the windows and staring at Ryoma in awe.

Ryoma simply ignored them all and proceeded in looking for the bird. Though he actually had no idea why he was working so hard to save the bird, he just felt that if he didn't, he'd be losing a crucial part of the puzzle he was trying to solve…not to mention, he had no idea what "puzzle" he was trying to solve. Ryoma took in a deep breath and carefully climbed higher up the tree, hoping to get a better view in hopes of finding the bird.

"Osakada-san, could you please read page 56 – 58?" the teacher asked. Tomoka slowly stood up and flipped the pages through her book. She cleared her throat when she suddenly heard a faint but anxious cry.

"Echizen-kun! Please stop whatever you're doing! You're going to get hurt!" Tomoka didn't even have the time to comprehend what had happened when she heard one of her classmates gasp.

"Sensei, outside!" she said as she pointed out the window. Tomoka and the rest of her classmates and their teacher immediately followed the direction of her finger. Soon, many gasps were heard, including Tomoka's.

The only girl who hadn't budged was none other than Ryuzaki Sakuno, but she had raised an eyebrow and side-glanced at all the commotion that had been caused. She immediately covered her ears when she heard a number of shrieks and screams from her classmates, clearly directed to one person and one person only: Echizen Ryoma. She shut her eyes in frustration, trying hard to shut out the noise as well, but it didn't help at all.

Sakuno opened her eyes and lowered her hands. She slowly stood up and walked towards a frantic Tomoka who jumped up when she felt Sakuno's finger tap her shoulder, startling them both. Tomoka calmed down when she found that it was just Sakuno and not some molester or ghost and smiled to which Sakuno returned.

"Ano…what's going on?" Sakuno asked as Tomoka scooted over to give some space for Sakuno to squeeze in and find out what was happening.

"See? There's Ryoma-sama over there, climbing up the tree," Tomoka said while looking at Sakuno the whole time, not daring to blink even once and watching her every facial expression.

At first, Sakuno tried to remain emotionless, but she couldn't stop her eyes from widening. Tomoka let out a small smile when she saw her best friend bite her lip, an act she hadn't seen her do in a long time, and her eyes cloud up with worry.

So…she does care about him…Tomoka thought and tried to think about how Sakuno would answer her when she would question her about what she felt towards Ryoma in the near future.

Maybe it'll be like last time…what did she say again? Oh right…something interesting caught my eyes and arose my curiosity, nothing else. Don't get the wrong idea, Tomo-chan!

Is it the same for Ryoma-sama, Sakuno-chan?

"Ne ne, Sakuno-chan! I wanna make a bet with you!" Tomoka said. Sakuno turned around to greet Tomoka with a face full of shock. Everyone in the classroom also stopped whatever they were doing and grew dead quiet. Tomoka let out a small laugh.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not lesbian! Anyway, here's the bet: if Ryoma-sama manages to accomplish whatever he's trying to do and comes down the tree safely, I want you to show him a real smile. A smile meaning you're glad he's safe," Tomoka said, he eyes full of mischief. But that didn't have any effect on Sakuno apparently.

"And if he doesn't, you'll stop trying to make me open up to him?" Sakuno asked. Tomoka nodded, completely determined, as if she knew she was going to win for sure. But Tomoka had made a dangerous bet and she knew so herself: what if Ryoma didn't succeed? Tomoka grit her teeth and threw those negative thoughts away.

Sakuno's eyes softened and she resumed to looking out the window smiling.

"It's a deal."

Ryoma slowly stood up on the highest branch he could get to, holding onto the trunk just to make sure he wouldn't fall. He looked around himself several times before he once again spotted the angelic bird. Ryoma walked towards and went as far as the branch let him, he was almost falling off the tip and he admit he was pretty scared himself despite holding onto one of the smaller branches above him.

Ryoma stretched out his hand and made a gesture that welcomed the bird. The bird looked at him and for a moment, their eyes interlocked. It seemed to understand that Ryoma wanted to help it and meant no harm. Slowly and unsteadily, the bird tried its best to flap its wings and fly towards Ryoma's welcoming hand. As it came closer, Ryoma noticed that one of the wings was bleeding and a little crooked – it was broken.

Ryoma finally understood why the bird couldn't fly properly: it had a broken wing, and if Ryoma wouldn't be able to get a hold of the bird in time, it would fall.

Osakada said that Ryuzaki was a Fallen Angel…then…could it be that …Ryuzaki has a broken wing, something from the past?

Suddenly, the bird let out a small but sharp chirp. Ryoma's eyes widened as he saw the bird beat its wings harder, trying to keep itself up in the air long enough to reach Ryoma.

C'mon…just a little more… Ryoma pleaded the bird. Then, everything just happened to fast.

The bird lost control and started to fall down, despite the fact that it was still moving its wings desperately. It braced itself for its fall…but it never felt it.

Screams and shouts could be heard. Anxiousness filled the school.

Ryoma had jumped off the branch and caught the bird gently with one hand and while falling from a huge height, he looked up, reached out his other hand and caught a branch just before he was going to fall flat onto the ground.

He was safe.

Inside Sakuno's classroom, everyone breathed out a sigh of relief, even Sakuno, when she saw that Ryoma was safe. They all watched attentively as he let go of the branch and landed gently on the ground with a soft "thud". Applauses and hoorays could be heard…not excluding shrieks and screams from his fans.

Ryoma's success also meant something else: Sakuno's loss.

For the first time in her life, Ryuzaki Sakuno had lost in a bet.

"Sakuno-chan…I won," Tomoka said quietly. Sakuno looked back at Tomoka and smiled.

"I know," she said. She turned to look out the window again and really smile at Ryoma but her classmate beat her to it.

"Oi! Echizen! Lucky you! Sakuno was looking at you the whole time and because of a bet, she has to smile at you!" He yelled, obviously jealous. Ryoma, who had been carefully stroking the bird rolled his eyes. Still, he looked up and was surprised to see Sakuno looking at him from her class window. But what surprised him most was Sakuno was actually smiling – as in REALLY smiling…and for once, Ryoma knew it wasn't a fake one. Her eyes showed that she was relieved nothing had happened to him and Ryoma couldn't help but smirk.

Well this is unexpected…who knew she could be so genuine.

"Way to go, Echizen-kun," she congratulated.

"Hn." He replied and he lowered his head to hide a genuine smile. Then he turned around and walked towards the school's main door, raising his hand to say good-bye without looking back, leaving Sakuno to stare and smile after him.

Seems like we have an interesting one here…she thought as she gave him one last look and then turned around to go back to her seat.

"Ryoma-sama that was awesome!" said a fan girl from Ryoma's class as he stepped back into his classroom. Ryoma hn-ed as a reply. Then he laid his head down on his desk to take a nap, not even bothering to listening to the teacher's pleads.

After what seemed to be ages, the bell finally rang.

"Alright, class dismissed!" the teacher said. Ryoma automatically stood up, said good-bye and bowed with the rest of the students. Then he grabbed some change from his bag before heading out the classroom. When he slid open the classroom door, he was surprised to see Tomoka already waiting for him. Tomoka smiled at him.

"Let's go! Sakuno-chan's waiting for us on the roof!" she said as she headed towards the stairs that led to the roof. Ryoma looked after her and silently followed.

Walking up to the roof surprisingly took a pretty long time. During the entire walk, silence was almost their companion the whole time, until Tomoka broke the silence with a question Ryoma hadn't thought about at all.

"Ryoma-sama..." Tomoka said as she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Ryoma stopped as well and glanced over at her.

"Nani?" He asked, jingling the change in his pocket. Tomoka sucked in her breath and then turned around to look at Ryoma with a hard face.

"Why did you agree to help Sakuno-chan? I mean…do you know her or something? Like…is she someone important to you?" she asked.

"And so even if I don't know her, I'm not allowed to help her?" he asked, finding Tomoka's question amusing and something good to laugh about, though he didn't when he saw that Tomoka was serious. He ran a finger through his hair and then looked out the single window he could find in the stairway to the roof.

"I love tennis…more like I worship it. It just doesn't feel right when someone near me hates tennis as much as I love it and so that's why I wanna show Ryuzaki there's nothing she can really hate about tennis. It's an amazing sport and I'm gonna find out what's the fault Ryuzaki finds in it, help her correct her way of thinking and make her love tennis, as much as I do," Ryoma said. Then, something thousands and millions of girls would've wanted to see happened: Echizen Ryoma let out a smile – a one in a million Kodak moment.

Tomoka was shocked. Although all the tennis regulars had the same type of love for tennis like Ryoma did, Tomoka had never felt any determination radiate from them. Slowly, Tomoka's face softened as she let out a gentle smile.

Ryoma-sama, I was right when I asked you to help Sakuno-chan. I have a feeling; you'll succeed…she thought.

Ryoma turned around to face and was confused to find Tomoka smiling gently towards him. He ignored the thought that she might be getting the wrong idea.

"But…" Ryoma said and Tomoka immediately tensed. He wouldn't be changing his mind now would he?

"When I was in the airport, going back to America about 8 years ago…there was this girl...I just can't forget about her. And for some reason, Ryuzaki keeps on reminding me of her," Ryoma said. Tomoka raised an eyebrow.

So, he does know her?

"I was headed to the airport with my parents and I would be going alone to my relatives first before my old man and mom came to join me. My mom prepared a name tag for me but at the last minute, I bumped into this girl who was smiling and laughing with her parents. When we collided, my name tag fell off and she stepped on it, breaking it as well. She was really sorry and she sorta made another name tag for me – she took the paper that had my name on it out of my original name tag and used one of her clips to clip it onto my jacket," Ryoma explained.

"But…what was so special about her that made you keep remembering her all these years?" Tomoka asked.

"It was her smile. After she clipped my name tag on, she noticed that I was carrying a tennis racket. Then she asked me if I liked to play tennis a lot. I didn't say anything and she simply smiled brightly at me. Then she told me to become a great player so that one day, she would see me on TV and be proud that she had helped me," Ryoma said. Then he snorted.

"But, I never got to ask for her name. Besides, it could never be Ryuzaki. That girl 8 years ago had smiled from her heart, not like Ryuzaki who only smiles to deal with others. Moreover, I could tell that that girl had a passion for tennis, like it held an important place in her heart as it did for me. For Ryuzaki, well, you know her better than me – she HATES tennis so the possibility of the two of them being the same person is 0.1% or even less," Ryoma said. Tomoka eyes widened.

Should I tell him that…8 years ago, Sakuno-chan didn't hate tennis and had a great passion for it as well? She thought to herself. Silence passed through and Ryoma broke it a while later by jingling the change in his pocket again.

"Oi. Osakada. Where can I get some Ponta?" he asked. Tomoka blinked. Then she chuckled.

"Oh! Up on the roof! C'mon, let's go before Sakuno-chan starts worrying!" she said. Then she continued up the stairs.

"Finally! I was beginning to think you guys had been kidnapped or something!" Sakuno exclaimed when she saw Tomoka and Ryoma finally come through the door leading to the roof. Ryoma stopped in his tracks when he saw that Sakuno had already bought a can of Ponta and beside it, there was a hamburger and fries.

"Ah! Gomen, Echizen-kun! I wasn't sure about what you liked to eat so I just got you a Ponta and a burger combo…I hope you're ok with that!" she said. Ryoma grunted as he sat down. He took a bite of the burger Sakuno had bought for him and decided that he liked it. He looked up to see Sakuno smiling at him.

"Do you like it?" She asked.

"Hn."

"I'm glad."

Tomoka gulped as she looked from Sakuno to Ryoma and back. Then she took a small bite of her own sushi.

"Well, anyway, Echizen-kun, you know where your classroom and the roof is now. So, our classroom is right next to yours and the cafeteria…" Sakuno started to tell Ryoma where he could find everything. The whole time, Ryoma either grunted or "hn-ed" as an answer. Other than that, he just ate his lunch and after he finished his burger, he lay down to look up at the sky. Around twenty minutes later, Sakuno was finally finished.

"Well, I've already finished telling you everything about the facilities in our school. Shall we go on a tour now?" she asked as she got up. Ryoma complied by getting up and throwing his finished bottle of Ponta into the trashcan. Then he followed the two girls to the library.

Sakuno took Ryoma to the library and then showed him the cafeteria and the gym. She then told him where he could find the principle, the teachers and even where her classroom would be.

"There. We're finished!" she said. Ryoma stopped in his tracks and Tomoka nearly bumped into him. Sakuno turned around to look at Ryoma, confused.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

"What about the tennis courts? You showed me the pool, the basketball court and the rest of the other facilities that other clubs or teams would use but not tennis?" he asked. Sakuno laughed.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. It's just that I hardly talk about tennis I nearly forgot it even existed. But now that you mention it…I really have forgotten where the tennis courts for practice in our school are. Tomo-chan? Would you find showing Echizen-kun? You always go there," Sakuno said.

"H-huh? Ah, sure…Ryoma-sama, this way please. But Sakuno-chan, why don't you come with us? Fuji-senpai and the others might be practicing. You do know that if you go, it'll boost their confidence a lot!" Tomoka said hopefully. Ryoma raised an eyebrow: what did Fuji-senpai and the tennis regulars all have to do with his? Sakuno just sighed.

"So is that what you were talking about to Fuji-senpai today, Tomo-chan?" Sakuno asked.

"N-no! He was just asking…asking if…"

"Asking if I would stop by? And then you answered saying you would try to persuade me to go? Tomo-chan, please! Stop it! You know me better than anyone here so you're the one who knows that stopping is the best choice!" Sakuno said.

"Best choice of what? Ryuzaki, just why do you hate tennis?" Ryoma asked. Sakuno glared at him. Tomoka looked around nervously as she found that people had started to crowd around them.

"Ano…Ryoma-sama…it's alright…I can just show you where it is…" she said quietly.

"I'm not going until I can knock some sense into Ryuzaki. There's nothing you can hate about tennis and I won't stop until she gives me a reasonable answer why such hatred exists in this world," Ryoma said determinedly. Sakuno snorted.

"Like I said the first time you asked me: why I hate tennis is for me to know and for you to find out," Sakuno said and then she turned on her heels to head back to her classroom.

"What if I tell you I want to help you mend your broken wing?" Ryoma said. Sakuno stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around.

"Excuse me?"

"I don't like to repeat myself." Sakuno laughed.

"And why would I have a broken wing?"

"Because you're just like the bird I saved this morning – you have a broken wing which stops you from flying and because you can't fly properly, you're an angel who's falling. And I'm going to stop you from falling any further but tell me: how am I supposed to when you don't even try yourself?" Ryoma asked. Sakuno narrowed her eyes. Tomoka had the feeling that Sakuno was breaking down inside. The way Ryoma talked about tennis and the way he described the situation Sakuno was in must've reminded her about her parents.

Tomoka blinked when she saw Sakuno blink back a tear right before it was about to roll down her cheek. Was Sakuno restraining herself from crying? Tomoka looked at Ryoma. What kind of an influence did Echizen Ryoma have on Sakuno? The last time Tomoka had seen Sakuno cry was 8 years ago and yet, right here right now, Ryoma had made Sakuno want to cry only on the second day they had met each other?

Sakuno shook her shoulders and blinked a few times before smiling at Ryoma.

Well, she sure can do a good job a recovering…Tomoka thought.

"And what if I don't want to be helped? I'm perfectly fine right now," Sakuno said like Ryoma's words had no effect at all. Ryoma remained emotionless. He closed his eyes and stuffed one of his hands into his pocket. Then he opened his eyes to look at Sakuno straight in the eye.

"Guess I'll just have to play my trump." He simply said and then he smirked as walked towards Sakuno. Sakuno stiffened as she backed away from Ryoma who just kept walking towards her until he had her pinned against the wall and their faces were only inches apart.

"Ryuzaki Sakuno, I challenge you to a bet."