Notes from a Muddy Writer:

If only you would read between the lines.

This chapter's dedicated to the following people (they were kind enough to tell me who to include: Akaya or Kintarou?): Ate Christelle (who voted for Kintarou ;), to Socks-san (thank you soooooooo much! and you wanted Akaya too~), to Guest (who wanted BOTH of them) and to 2lazy2createAnAc (for wanting to include Kirihaya). Thank you for your opinions! They definitely are handy~

And of course, the chapters for my dear readers and reviewers!

Enjoy!

P.S. I want to thank everyone for making this fic the first to break the 23-reviews I had over my very first fic "The Secret Garden".


ღღღ

It Started with a…

ღღღ

"You know it's never fifty-fifty in a marriage. It's always seventy-thirty, or sixty-forty. Someone falls in love first. Someone puts someone else up on a pedestal. Someone works very hard to keep things rolling smoothly; someone else sails along for the ride."
Jodi Picoult,Mercy

ღღღ

'You may now read the tale.'

ღღღ

"What's that horrible smell?"

Ryoma thought this as he moved from side to side in his enormous bed. Yet, no matter how he hid his face from the horrible smell, it kept coming back.

"What the—?"

It smelled so awfully familiar. Almost like…

"Oi, Seishunen! Wake up!" The loud voice of his father boomed into Ryoma's half sleep, making his brain half-awake. "Hmph, what a heavy sleeper."

Then there it was again: the repulsive smell. Ryoma cracked his cat-shaped eyes half-opened. They widened soon enough as he saw the source of the foul smell… which was Nanjirou's own feet.

"Oyaji!" That made him bolt upright.

"Hmph," Nanjirou grumbled as he sat on Ryoma's bed, cross-legged, "learned from Sakuno-chan yesterday that you did not accompany her."

"Why would you care about that?" Ryoma said as he slumped back into his comfortable bed. He pulled his covers up to hide himself.

Pulling away the blanket, Nanjirou said "Well, you're darn right that I do care about it. You're going to marry her so you must take care of her!"

"Why? Why should I do that?" Ryoma sat up. He was fully awake now. "Is this one of your business deals? Or one of your pranks? Either way, I'm going to make her suffer."

"And why is that?" His father's voice was dangerously calm. "In any case, I'm still your father and you'll do what I say. Now, prepare for your proposal to her."

Nanjirou left after that. However, Ryoma knew better. That was all 'acting'. Still, he needed to follow.

"How in the universe should I propose?" He thought as he headed towards the bathroom.

ღღღ

Two hours later, Ryoma was driving hastily to the apartment that Rinko and Nanjirou had prepared for the two of them. His car smelled faintly of apples. That was what he was carrying on the passenger side: a whole bunch of fresh apples that effectively took his tiredness and sleepiness away.

"Let's just hope this works out," he said to himself.

Ryoma pulled over near the front gate of their small apartment. It wasn't really much from the outside. No one would suspect a tennis star is living there—with hiswife, to be exact. The apartment looked like a traditional Japanese house. Maybe it was a traditional Japanese house. Ryoma just could not be sure.

He got out of the car and then went around to open the door of the passenger side of the car. Ryoma then took out the bag of apples that he had brought. Only then did he realize that he hadn't brought a key for the apartment.

"Damn…" he muttered under his breath. Still, Ryoma thought of trying to open the gate. To his surprise, it was unlocked!

"Great," a smile now graced his lips. He walked to the front door while shouting Sakuno's name. He passed by a small fish pond on the right side of the house.

"Sakuno?" Ryoma called out a few feet from the apartment but no answer came. "Sakuno?" He called out once again as he reached the front door. By then, Ryoma was sure that the door would be locked. Yet to his surprise (and shock), it, too, was unlocked.

Panic coursed through his entire body. 'Why would it be unlocked? Where did that girl go?' He thought as he took off his shoes, stepped into the foyer and scanned the entryway of their tiny dwelling place. Then he was shockedagain.

The walls were completely covered in white paint. But the thing unique about it was that, at times, the paint glittered silver as if it had tiny silver dust in it, and it gave off a faint pinkish glow. On the floor was a soft rug. Ryoma enjoyed rubbing his feet on it. The wood parts of the apartment were gleaming so brightly that Ryoma could see his reflection.

A medium-sized drawer was on the right side of the hallway. It cradled a pale pink wireless phone with a silvery cloth covering. Beside it was a vase of fresh Baby's Breath: simple, white, delicate. Its scent hovered in the air. He was excited to see the rest of the house but the current situation returned to knock him back to reality. Sakuno was still missing.

"Sakuno?" Ryoma sort of whispered her name in the air. He walked a few steps forward. Suddenly, there was a creaking behind him.

He whipped his head around fast and dropped the bag of apples. They fell with muffled thuds on the wooden floor. Ryoma readied himself for any attack.

However, there were none. There was only an enormous pile of brown boxes and a pair of pinkish white hands carrying them. Sakuno was behind the boxes, grunting from the obvious weight.

Without any second thoughts, Ryoma rushed to help her carry the packages. As he did, their hands touched and Sakuno swore electricity ran throughout her entire body.

"Th-thank you…" Sakuno managed to breathe out a sigh of relief as the burden was taken away from her small hands. But so was the sensation of Ryoma's touch.

"What are these anyway?" Ryoma asked as he led the way to the kitchen where they all placed the cartons. Sakuno sighed once again. "W-well, they're decorations of course," she said softly as she went to open a box to show Ryoma the contents.

The decorations somehow got Ryoma excited. There were big silvery, glittery balls that he assumed were going to be hung. Where? He didn't have a clue. There were also simple, silver picture frames and a few other silvery things.

But of course, he did not really show his excitment. It would be too out of character for him. "Why… why are all of these silver?" He couldn't help but ask Sakuno. She looked up to his strong golden gaze then looked away, turning red.

"I… I heard you liked the color silver. So I thought of, you know… putting it here. I thought it might make you happy," she replied before adding in a whisper, "or something like that."

Ryoma's eyes widened. "And where did you learn that?"

"Mom," Her simple answer came as she stared back to his face again. But then she said, "A-aaaah, of course it would be okay to keep these away if… if you don't like them."

Ryoma's eyebrow was raised in question. "Why would you do that?" Deep down, he couldn't just shoot down her efforts of beautifying the place.

"Because you might not like it," Sakuno whispered as she hung her head down. She wasn't sure why she was acting this way, but for some reason the fact that Ryoma might not like her decorations was upsetting.

Ryoma closed his eyes as he decided what to say regarding this situation. "Iie, it's really okay." He spun on his heels with his hands inside his pocket. 'Che. I got worried over her for nothing.'

He went out of the kitchen with the intent of leaving the apartment.

Thud!

"R-Ryoma-kun!"

Ryoma slipped and landed on his butt. He silently cursed and looked for the thing that caused him to slip. But the anger dissipated from his face. Ryoma was staring at an apple, one of the many apples he brought to this place.

He picked it up and looked at it intently, contemplating what to do now. Then he remembered.

"Daijobou? Are you okay, Ryoma-kun?" He felt Sakuno's warm hands on his shoulders. She smelled of fruits mixed together in a really nice way. Ryoma looked up to her.

"Un." Then he stood and walked towards the front door while picking any stray apples that he found on the way. Abruptly, he stopped.

Ryoma turned towards Sakuno's direction and tossed her an apple. Sakuno clumsily caught it with her two hands. A questioning look now marred her face as she gazed at the apple.

"R-Ryoma-kun, what is this for?" Ryoma heard Sakuno asked.

In reply, he gave her one of his smirks. "You just said yes to our marriage."

"Eh?" Subsequently, Sakuno's face contorted in rage. "I certainly did not!"

"Heh heh," he took a few steps towards her in a menacing way that made Sakuno back down.

Ryoma's face now held a mischievous look, what with the smirk. Finally, they reached a wall. He trapped her under his arms. Afterwards, he brought down his face dangerously close to hers.

Sakuno was sure he was going to kiss her, but no. That 'fantasy' of hers would have to be put away for later. She was almost disappointed, with that but the situation she was in she could not afford to be disappointed.

Ryoma brought his lips to her ear. His warm breath made the skin around her neck tingle. "You can't take it back now."

However, Sakuno got over of the situation and pushed him away with her cheeks flushing a wonderful shade of red. "Don't ever do that!"

"Che." Ryoma removed his hands and walked back to the front door.

"Just where are you going?" Sakuno asked from his behind.

"Somewhere." He nonchalantly replied. Ryoma heard nothing afterwards except when he was about to open the door.

"You… you will come tomorrow, right?"

That made him stop. He frowned; he still wasn't sure if he was okay with this whole thing. It was clear to Ryoma that it was just a prank made by his parents. If it did turn out to be like that, Sakuno will sure get hurt and, somebody stop him, because he just might kill somebody if she did get hurt.

He rewound his thoughts. 'Whoa. What?'

"Of course," His typical answer, not the entire truth but not a lie either. Ryoma could almost imagine her sweet smile but he chose to leave the apartment before his own thoughts suffocated him.

When he finally stepped out of the gate and into the sun, a lithe body slammed into him.

"R-Ryoma-kun!"

Ryoma rubbed the sore spot where the jerk of a man slammed into. Oh boy. The jerk's would get a special serving of beating delivered by none other than Ryoma, himself, the Prince of Beatings— err.. Tennis.

As he sat up, Ryoma's extremely sharp eyes got hold of bright red hair on a level much lower than an average person. Later did he realize that the said person or jerk (as Ryoma would insist) was bowing before him and making uplame excuses.

"… so sorry for running you over…"

'Blah, blah, blah.' Ryoma thought. He stood up and brushed the dirt off him as though he did it every day.

"Anyway," he heard the other man say, "I'm here to visit Ryusaki-san. Do you know where she lives?"

The golden eyes of Ryoma shifted dangerously as he heard his fiancée's name. And as the other man stood up as well, the tennis prince saw his full form. Shining blackish-brown eyes that seemed to be happy always, a wide grin, bright red hair, and a tennis bag strapped on his back. He definitely was a tennis player.

"Yo! I'm—"

"Kintaro—kun!" Ryoma heard Sakuno call out as she came running towards them. She paused as she reached them before continuing on, "I'm glad you could stop by—"

"You're… you're…" Kintarou was wide-eyed now, looking at Ryoma.

"Kintarou—kun," Sakuno said, her voice full of concern that Ryoma could not help but feel annoyed at the person causing her to be upset like that.

'Great. Just great. What is he supposed to be now?'

"Koshimae! You're the great Koshimae right?"

"Ko-koshimae?" Both Ryoma and Sakuno exclaimed.

"Wow! I never believed to meet you here! At Sa—chan's place of all places! Are you here to visit her? Are ya? Are ya?" Kintarou spoke all in one breath. Ryoma felt like he was being bombed with so many questions all at once. Well, he was.

"Sa—chan?" Ryoma asked. An aura of coldness suddenly emitted from the prince's still form that caused Sakuno to be worried. However, the so-called death aura went unnoticed due to Kintarou's bright and childish exterior.

"Un! That's the nickname I had for her. Pretty cute huh?" Kintarou was still gleaming with excitement. "Ne, Koshimae, play tennis with me! "

"Not interested." By then, Ryoma had his back turned away from them.

"If I'll lose, I'll treat you with takoyaki."

That caught his attention. The prince of tennis took Kintarou by his shoulder.

"You're on."


Replies:

On to the replies for my dear reviewers!

OROgoldenpair1- Thank you for the wonderful review! And I know right? Ryoma-kun's being mean! *thwacks his head* Anyway, I seem to always portray Sakuno as a strong woman. Why is that? Hahaha. I, maybe, don't like to see her always cry. T.T But being a damsel in distress isn't that bad (once in a while). And boy, do I wish that I get to always portray her as she is now. Buuuuuuuuuuuut! apparently... that isn't the case. *hints* We'll just see how it turns out though. Please continue reading and reviewing! :D

yukina-chan15- Waaaaaaaa! I truly, truly love you for your consistency in reviewing Legally Married! *hugsssssssssssssssss* Yay! It's a good thing that you like how I characterized Sa-chan here~ :D Please continue reading and reviewing! -bows-

ulquihime7980- Oh no! That was the plot twist! The readers now know! HAHAHA! Just joking. *peace* Thank you also for being a consistent reviewer! From the bottom of my heart, thank you! I just hope you'll stay till the end! :D

Jaz-147- Thank you for the effing awesome review! I updated, didn't I? ;D Uwaaaaaaaaaaaa! What'll happen to Ryoma-kun's handsome face now? Ryoma-kun, ask for forgiveness to Sa-chan before someone punches you!

*Ryoma from the background* Yadda! (stubborn brat :P)

And thanks for being a consistent reviewer! :D

guestof9302012- Hahaha! LOOOOOOOOL! Thanks for the claps! I do hope that Ryoma will no further get on your nerves. :D "...but that's okay since he's gonna fall in love with her anyway..." Shhhhhhh, that's our secret for now. Hehehe.

0202- *teary-eyed* R-really? -glomps- I'm really happy that your like how I characterized theeeeeeeeem! Hehehehe... thank you for the review and please stick till the end~

DanDeil- Dandeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeil! Thanks for the review! And I'm happy that this fic reached all of your expectations! Bwahaha... read the rest of the chapters okay?

Notes from a Muddy Writer:

Ta da! The title's that for a reason because there were a lot of things that begun on this chapter! If only you would really really read between the lines. Not literally.

And I just made Sakuno as if she had MAJOR mood swings. T.T Total character inconsistency. But that was what I was aiming for. Ya know? That she is indecipherable even though actually she isn't. Nah! What to do?

I also chose Baby's Breath as the flower in their house for it represents innocence and pure of the heart. ;)

Now, about the proposal thingy, I saw this post on a "Did you know?" blog and I just had to include it. It said:

In Ancient Greece, throwing an apple to a woman was considered a marriage proposal.

The original ending wasn't like that. Just added Kintarou to have a variation. Will Kintarou—kun be in the chapters here on forward? We'll have to wait and see! And what about the people who wants to punch Ryoma?

Ryoma: Oi! What was that?

Muddy Writer: Oooooh, I don't know. Just some people who wants to punch you for getting on their nerves and well, about what you said to Sa-chan. Pretty awesome huh?

Ryoma: What so awe-

Kintarou: Ne, ne! Have some more of me! *totally ignored Ryoma* *the Prince of Tennis was giving us his death glare*

Muddy Writer: You just had your screen time~ *more death glare from Ryoma*

*Akaya butts in*

Akaya: How 'bout some of me?"

Muddy Writer: Almost forgot you!

Akaya: *devil mode* What?

Muddy Writer: *sweats* Uh— *sheepish grin* D-don't worry Akaya-kun. You'll get your time soon.

Akaya: *still in Devil mode* I'd better.

Muddy Writer: *gulps* Anyway, for the mean time, let them see the preview for the next chapter!

Akaya and Kintarou chibi edition!: Minna, here's the preview of chapter 5! *Ryoma in the background*:What about me?!

Preview for Chapter 5:

ღღღ

I Do

ღღღ

Marriage does not unite two people; it entangles them.

-Abraham Miller, Unmoral Maxims

ღღღ