Thank you to all my very supportive readers! Love you all! And for any Hyotei/Atobe lovers, I have a new AtobeOC story called "What the Wind Brings!" Please do read and give feedback-I'd love to hear from you all! ^^

And...wow, it's been a while since I've done this ritual.

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or its characters; I only reserve rights to Moriyama Kimiko and Daemon.

"Being male was a sin."

"male...sin"

"a sin"

"sin..."

Genichirou stared at Kimiko, temporarily speechless. Her words ran through his head over and over, resonating in his ears.

The thing was, his brain understood the logic, but he just couldn't picture it. Kimiko, a boy-hater?

All right, true, he knew she was cold to people she didn't like (he knew that personally), but… he shook his head slowly. The Kimiko he knew held grudges, but she wouldn't hate people in categories.

She wouldn't... Just as he thought that, Sanada glanced at Kimiko and took in—her pursed lips, the firm set of her clenched jaw, the severe expression in her eyes—and knew he was wrong. No…she really could.

And for Pete's sake, no one should, would, could blame her. He, for one, was not able to conjure up a single reason why anyone would. Going through that must have been like waking up one morning and finding that you had been dumped on your butt in Hell. If not worse, since you're not actually dead.

For that, he hated Daemon and wanted to help her. But did she want help? She had said so herself: "it's in the past now," wasn't it?

He was angry, frustrated, sad. Because deep, deep down, he hated one other person even more than Daemon. Himself.

Where was he then for her? Ignorant of the situation. What could he do now for her? …Nothing. It was like he was extending a hand out to her, but she couldn't see it—and even if she was hurting inside, she would slap his hand away and feign strength. Or perhaps, it was because she really did possess that strength. And that made him wonder-if he offered her his hand, would she ever take it?

"You're making a complicated face, Genichirou." Kimiko's voice broke into his thoughts, slightly teasing, partly worried.

"…Hn," he grunted, not making a move to change his expression. That's because you were talking about a you that I didn't know. How did she expect him to react? "Oh I see"? Smile? Punch a wall just to show how pissed he was getting? Mm…no. As tempting as the last one was, it wasn't such a good idea.

…

…

…

Sanada let out a sigh, rubbing his left temple with one hand. Kimiko raised a questioning eyebrow at the uncharacteristic action.

"Are you all right, Genichirou?" her hand gently clasped over his.

That made him even more frustrated, but he did not say anything, for fear that Kimiko figured out the reason behind his irritation. It wasn't that she wouldn't understand, but what type of boyfriend would he be if she ended up being the one consoling him?

"Is that it?" he asked. "Is that the… 'story's' end?"

At his reuse of her word "story," Kimiko couldn't help but smile a bit. "Nope!" she chirped, playing along despite both of them already knowing that here she was; that yes, she did become all right again.

"Seiichi and Mitsu-kun were extremely patient with me for an entire year, taking care of me in their own way. Coming over every day, sometimes staying the night with me, always spending time with me at school or on weekends when they could. Yet, they waited for me to reach out to them before actually interacting with me.

"And slowly but surely, bit by bit, I opened back up from my protective shell. After I had recovered for the most part, things seemed to be going perfectly fine, albeit a little lonely when my parents didn't call or those two were busy during tennis season," Kimiko admitted.

But Sanada's thoughts were elsewhere. His eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch at hearing that Yukimura showed such a kind side to his girlfriend.

The Yukimura he saw at practice, at home, at school was, to be blunt about it, not one to ever be described as, even remotely, close to kind. Diligent, regal: yes; passionate, even more so; but Yukimura was sometimes cruel on purpose, and—much too often for comfort—became the symbol of brutality without even realizing it.

He coughed. Anyways… Yukimura was not the point here. For, despite his surprise, Sanada's eyes and ears were still keen enough to discern that Kimiko wasn't done quite yet.

"…But?" he prodded, urging her to continue.

"But," she picked up from where she had paused, "he's back. Daemon's here, in Japan." Panic colored her voice and tainted her expression; her eyes were wide with distress and she was back to wringing her hands.

Sanada processed this piece of information. Daemon had seen him and Kimiko eating together and (at the memory his eyebrows furrowed once more) had completely interrupted them, angered Kimiko, made her cry, and then just left off in that stupid black Lamborghini.

Cursed, pompous, ostentatious, moronic, atrociously expensive Lamborghini, he said to himself. Oh, and add goat-droppings-colored to the description, too. Directing his mind back to the question he had, he asked Kimiko, "So?" But he had already known about that, so why was she so worried?

She looked at him for a few moments in horror; he looked back in pure confusion. Did he say something out of line?

Oh. Kimiko eventually realized that Sanada didn't even have a clue as to what had happened the day Daemon had appeared in front of them, and immediately rearranged her facial expression. "My bad," she twisted a lock of hair thoughtfully, "it slipped my mind that you don't know."

"Don't know what?" came the bewildered reply laced with pout-worthy resent of being left out.

Despite her gloom, Kimiko couldn't help but crack a grin at the pout threatening to surface on Sanada's face. Sanada, pouting? Yeah, it happened, but only she got to see it. As that thought crossed her mind, Kimiko felt a slightly selfish pride. Inside, she danced a gleeful jig and jeered at the fan girls that used to irritate her so much before. He's mine, she cheered silently. Only mine.

"You don't know what went on between me and Daemon that day next to the cafe, is what I meant."

She was met by a silent, but clearly expectant look from her boyfriend. Go on, his eyes said to her.

At this, Kimiko bit her lip. Go figure that he'd expect her to explain what on earth had happened that day. It was written all over his face that he was waiting to hear a full-length detailed report, practically. But how could she tell him? Him, of all people.

Sanada Genichirou was the Emperor—part of Rikkaidai's renowned tennis team, vice captain and a regular, the silent force in the Three Demons. He was a pillar. He was born to be a leader. He was known for being impeccably strong in more than just the physical sense.

But despite all that… Kimiko squeezed her hands together. Despite what people said, what they thought, or how they put him on a pedestal…Sanada was human. If having him as her companion and boyfriend had taught her anything, it was that he felt emotions just as much as the next person, if not even more so. Affection for his loved ones, responsibility for the team, camaraderie for friendly rivals, and oftentimes, frustration with himself. It was just that, unlike most people, he didn't let other people in on how he was feeling.

And to that human being, at this moment probably the one closest to her heart—to tell him that she, the girl he chose, the one with the other part of the necklace, his girlfriend, was engaged to someone else…what would happen to him?

She didn't want to know. But did she have a choice?

People had told her tens of thousands of times: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Well, this had to be one of the damned largest lemons she's ever going to get, now, isn't it.

She would tell him. Because he was hers only…and she was his only. He deserved to know.

Ready or not, here life comes, Kimiko thought drily. And who was she to stop it?

AND CLIFFY! XP sorry! I just wanted to let you guys have something, considering the fact that I haven't updated in ages again..I'll start writing the next chappie now, I promise! But it'll probably suck more than this one since she'll actually be revealing what the heck is going on to Sanada, and for now, even I'm having trouble imagining how he'd respond.

I hope that in this chapter, despite like 0 action, I was able to communicate across both of their mindsets and how they feel about each other. I'm starting to move towards a more reflective type of writing style, instead of just bam-bam-bam type of movement, it has inner development, too. But it's hard for me, so I'll need a lot of feedback from everyone (read: review and tell me if it works or if it's crap XD)

So stay tuned and stay hydrated for all my summer readers! For my readers in the southern hemisphere, stay warm-I hear that the cold is pretty harsh right now. I love all of you guys! Really, keep reviewing please—it makes me very happy XD Who knows, I might update faster when I'm happy...

Don't forget to check out my profile for new stories! ^^

~Hime-chan