Notes from a Muddy Writer:
I liveeeeee! *rises from the grave*
I wanted a closure for one of the rivals. Sort of. And I'm such a diligent writer, right? Updating after such a long time. *gets shot* I almost choked after seeing that it has been almost/a year since I've last updated. *gets shot again* Anyway, I've already written the next one for this one, so LM will get regular updates. Thank you, as always, for your patience and to those who continued to put this little story of mine in their Alert Lists and Favorite Lists. And those who have reviewed! 3 You forever have my thanks! *bows*
P.S. Updating from Japan! Hahaha! XD
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Introduction
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"Love isn't supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be worth it."
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Nothing was in her mind right now. Her legs were the only thing keeping her going, and she wondered how such thing was possible when the only thing she wanted was to stop.
How dare he?
He stole her first kiss.
And he wasn't even gentle with it either!
Sakuno remembered how rough he was, how he seemed to attack her with his lips.
She hated it.
"Why are you crying, Sakuno-chan?"
The question jarred her from her thoughts. She looked up to the worried face of Kintarou.
Hurriedly, Sakuno wiped her tears away.
"Um, just… nothing. I guess?" It was barely a whisper because she was tired.
Kintarou sat down beside her. The two of them were in the park. The same one where Ryoma took her on a date.
"Hmm, we both know it's not just nothing," Kintarou said, eyeing her from the corner of his eyes.
Sakuno bowed her head, too tired and too sad to speak.
Silence permeated for moments before he spoke again.
"You know, you can tell me anything."
That was when he heard the sobs.
"I'm sorry," Sakuno said in between sobs. "I can't seem to stop these tears from falling. Why did he— why did he have to be—"
More sobs came out of her mouth, stopping her from speaking further.
Something soft touched her face. Confused, Sakuno looked up to see Kintarou wiping her face with his handkerchief. She took it from his hands, and wiped her face with it. She smiled at him.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," he replied. "So, what did Koshimae do this time?"
Sakuno was too stunned to speak. How did he even know?
"How did you know, Kintarou-kun?"
"I saw a ring on your finger the first time I visited your house. I asked my senpais about it and they said that it means a man is forever tied down to a girl."
"Ah, is that so?"
"Yes, they even said that every night, the couple retire to their bedrooms and—"
"Ah, Kintarou-kun," Sakuno cut him off. She blushed at the implication as he ranted too much information about a couple's private life.
He laughed like a kid when he saw her blush. "I'm just teasing you."
She laughed as well.
"Anyway, I'm probably not the best guy to give you advice about this stuff. But give him some time to cool down. You'll probably cool down by that time too. That's what we do anyway if we get too riled up in tennis matches." He looked at Sakuno and promptly heated up.
"Thank you, Kintarou-kun," Sakuno said in a sincere tone with a sincere smile. She really did appreciate his words. It comforted her. It made her grateful to have a friend like him. "Thank you so much for being my friend."
His face softened. "You're always welcome, Sakuno-chan."
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Ryoma was currently seated in their living room since it was closest to the door. It was already 6 pm and Sakuno was still nowhere to be found.
He called countless of times, and to his utter annoyance did he found out she was not able to take her phone with her. Now, how the hell was he supposed to contact her? What if something bad happened to her and he's not there to save her?
Screw rationality and all. If she's not back by 7, he was going to alert every single policeman in the country to find her and bring her back to him. If that's was what it takes, then he'll do it.
He was annoyed, he was pissed, and he was worried.
"Where the hell is she?" He angrily muttered.
After that incident, he replayed what he did in his mind ten times over and he wanted to punch himself.
He knew he shouldn't have done that, even in anger.
To hurt her was the last thing he wanted to do to her. Ever.
But he screwed up. Big time.
"Where is she?" He muttered again for the nth time. This time, he was pacing in the living room.
Ryoma might have messed things up, but he decided making up comes later and worrying for her comes right now.
The front door opened and Ryoma nearly jumped at the sound.
Please let it be her, please let it be her, please let it be her, he repeated in his head.
A figure stood at the foyer and said in a small voice, "I'm home."
He almost breathed out loudly a sigh of relief. It really was Sakuno.
When she came in to view, she had a look of surprise on her face, and then stared at him, unsure of what to do.
Ryoma also stilled after which the awkwardness settled.
"Where were you?" It sounded colder than what Ryoma wanted and he wanted to kick himself for that.
"Out and about," Sakuno replied in the same cold manner.
She walked across the living room towards the bedroom with the intention of staying there for the rest of the night.
"Are you okay?" Even as he said it he knew it was a stupid question. He should have rephrased it to something like "Are you alright? You're not hurt or anything, are you?" But of course, that was the first thing that came out of his mouth.
She stopped her tracks, and then eyed him with eyebrows raised as if asking him "Are you kidding me?"
"I'm fine."
He can almost detect the tiniest bit of sarcasm in her voice.
"Have you eaten yet?" He asked again. Anything to make her stay.
However, Sakuno continued her journey towards the bedroom. "I'm not hungry," she replied drily.
She heard the chair move, and she knew he came closer to her.
"My senpais…" he began. Which confused her. What about his senpais? What does it got to do with anything?
"My senpais are meeting up tomorrow."
Sakuno turned to fully regard Ryoma, waiting.
"I want to introduce you to them," he said. Simply.
Sakuno's heart almost skipped a bit at this. Then she remembered what happened earlier. And the way he said it, so simple as if just saying that would be enough.
However, Sakuno did not reply after that.
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"Huwaaah! Ochibi's so late!" An energetic redhead exclaimed.
"As expected of Echizen, Eiji-senpai," a tall dark-haired guy named Momoshiro supplied. "And to think, I informed him about this weeks ago."
The former Seigaku Tennis Team of Seishun Gakuen gathered annually at the sushi restaurant of the former regular Kawamura Takashi. It had become some sort of tradition to them. They meet up to discuss their current lives and just to generally catch up with one another.
Most of them had pursued their individual careers in tennis like the legendary Tezuka.
As they were waiting for their youngest former member of the team, the Seigaku Tennis team huddled around in circles, talking amongst themselves in modulated voices.
"Knowing Echizen, he'll probably say he helped a pregnant lady along the way," Fuji, with his ever present smile, said.
His comment earned a round of laughter from the regulars.
"Yo," someone suddenly said.
Eight heads turned at the sound of the familiar voice.
"Ochibi!"
"Echizen!"
They called out to him. There were claps (on the back), ruffles (of hair), hugs (mostly from Eiji), and headlocks (mostly from Momoshiro).
However, Sakuno stood off to the sides and observed at this 'safe' distance how everyone was so happy to see him.
It was Kikumaru who noticed her first.
"Huh? Sakuno-chan? Why are you here?" He was still choking Ryoma as he asked her his questions.
"Ah, s-senpai," Ryoma said in difficulty as he tried to pry off Kikumaru's hands off him. When he successfully did, he straightened out his clothes and stood straighter.
"This is Sakuno Echizen. My wife."
Sakuno bowed to all of them. "Nice to see you all again, senpais."
"WHAT?!"
Replies:
asuna11- Hello Asuna-chaaaaaaaaan! My gosh! It's been soooo sooooo loooooong! Hahahahaha oh yeah… I won't allow anyone to separate them since they're my OTP. XD
Yuki Fheuzel- Hahahaha! We've talked on Facebook a few days ago! XD Gah, don't slap me! :( Hahahaha! Ikr? He's being so so mean. Bad Ryoma!
Sandra- Hello there, Sandra! I know it was a short chapter and here was the update a year after. XD Someone should kick me in the butt for being so lazy. -_- T_T Sorry!
Shizurei- Hello, shizurei! Thank you so much for the review! I know it was short T_T but here's the update. Although I doubt you still read this story. T_T
ryosakuaddictioneternal- Hello, Yana! Here's the next chapter a year and a few months later. T_T
SaKuRiMo0n- Helloooo thereee! :D Thank you so much for the review! Here's the update (my gosh why am I so lame? T_T)
J Luc Pitard- Helloooo! "…his clumsy attempt to dominate her…" I dunno why but that had me grinning stupidly. Anyway! Yup! Everything's alright now. And on to uploading the chapters! Hahahaha!
MitsukiJunko- Helloooo there! Hahahaha! Is the plot really unpredictable? XD hahaha! Oh my gosh! I read that one and *squeaaaaaals into nothingness* Yup, sorry I wasn't able to reply to your message T_T but clap clap clap to you and you have all my thumbs up (I only have two tho)
Lyfa- Lyfa-chaaaan! Hahahaha! Darn it! Jealous Ryoma FTW! XD
almelynNekochan- Hello thereeee! Hahaha! Here's the update. And my gosh! So sorry if it toooook forever and a lifetime. T_T And to answer your question, yes, I am. Hahaha! :D
ExoKris18- Whoaaaaaa! Thank you so so so much for reviewing every single chapter of this story! *bows* And yup, sorry if it wasn't the typical Sakuno. XD Hope you liked the story tho… :D
Guest- Guest! Thank you so much for reminding me! I felt really guilty when you reviewed and told myself, yup, I should really update. So I guess this update was because of you. Thank you!
Notes from a Muddy Writer:
And after months of inactivity (what months? Try a year and a few months), I finally uploaded this one. I actually had the first part of this written out so long ago. But then I got stuck, and lost my drive plus school works are a pain in the butt which was why I never got to finished this. I also wouldn't be surprised if this story was forgotten. T_T I also delayed the release of this chapter because I thought of finishing the till the end. (AND I DID!) So now I'm just uploading the chapters.
Also, I'm going to be soooooo super rusty. And my gosh, seeing the dates on the reviews made me cringe. It's been so long since I last updated. Gah!
