36 Drabbles

3: Good Morning

When Ryuzaki Sakuno had closed the front door of her house, she was surprised to see Echizen Ryoma standing on the sidewalk in front of her, looking ready for tennis practice. His golden eyes were gazing up at the blue morning sky, white Fila cap obscuring the view of his eyes somewhat. His blue tennis bag was swung over his shoulder, and when the sound of the door closed behind Sakuno, Ryoma turned to look at her.

"R-Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno exclaimed, before remembering her manners and bowing. "Good morning!" When she straightened up again, waiting for the reciprocal greeting but not getting it, Ryoma was still staring at her with those apathetic eyes. He then turned and began to walk away, and Sakuno was very confused, watching him make his way to the school. After a couple seconds of not hearing a set of footsteps beside his own, Ryoma turned back to raise a brow at Sakuno.

She blinked, before realization overcame her and she gasped, hurriedly locking the gate and jogging after him. When she caught up, Ryoma turned and kept walking, ever mindful of the girl at his heels. Sakuno tried hard to keep up with his quick pace, her school bag bumping against her legs.

As they reached Seigaku, Ryoma was about to head off to the tennis courts when he turned to address Sakuno.

"Ne, get up earlier tomorrow, else Coach is going to bite my head off for being late." Ryoma said, not giving her a chance to respond and walking off. Sakuno stood there for a little as he walked away, her mouth parted a bit in surprise. As only his back was displayed to her, Sakuno couldn't see the little smirk painted on Ryoma's face as he turned the corner.

Hair braided neatly in two pigtails, uniform pristine white and ironed to perfection, shoes polished to a bright shine, homework finished and packed away into her school bag, Sakuno could only gulp as she stared at the inside of her front door. Her grandmother, Ryuzaki Sumire, had left about ten minutes ago, unaware of the unspoken agreement that Sakuno had with the boy who most likely was standing on the other side of this door.

It had been a few days since Ryoma demanded her company in the early mornings. Their routine was very normal. When Sakuno left the house on school days, Ryoma would be waiting for her on the sidewalk, sometimes with a ponta can or carton of milk in hand. She would lock the door and close the gate as she left the front yard, and greet him with a simple, "good morning Ryoma-kun". He would just look at her as if she was part of the background, turn and walk away, expecting her to follow him.

With a deep breath as she heard her key chain watch beep to signal it was time for her to leave, Sakuno twisted the doorknob and pushed, letting a few of the sun's light shine into her house. Squinting her eyes, Sakuno stepped out of her house and closed the door behind her, locking it with a quick twist of her key. Turning around, she saw Ryoma standing there on the sidewalk, head tilted to the sky as he waited for her. Clearing her throat quietly, Sakuno inched her way out of her front yard, pushing the gate closed behind her and coming to stand beside Ryoma.

"Good morning Ryoma-kun." Sakuno said politely, watching Ryoma's head turn to look at her. His gaze was, once again, apathetic as he took in the view of her clean appearance. With a little nod to acknowledge her greeting, Ryoma turned to walk away in the direction of the school, leaving Sakuno standing there with a surprised look. In all the previous greetings, Ryoma had never reciprocated them, instead just choosing to turn a cold shoulder and walk off.

"Ryuzaki." Sakuno heard Ryoma's voice call from a few metres ahead of her. Jolting up, Sakuno shook off her shock and jogged up a little to meet Ryoma's questioning gaze. With a little smile and a wave of her hand to show she was okay, the two once again began their daily trek to school.

"Ahh!" Sakuno exclaimed, balancing her school bag on one arm while tying a loose braid with both hands and trying to shove her feet into her school shoes (which she could never do without the assistance of her hands). The taste of toothpaste was still stuck in her mouth, a taste that Sakuno dearly hated. Bending over to her breakfast (some bread that she took out of the pantry), she grabbed the top of it with her mouth just as she successfully finished braiding her hair (though a few strands still stuck out stubbornly).

'Stupid, stupid alarm clock!' Sakuno cursed in her head. The idiotic piece of technology didn't ring even when she turned the alarm on. Sakuno supposed it was broken or malfunctioned, which meant she needed to go out and buy a new one. Filing that away into her head, Sakuno's right hand reached for the doorknob, pushing the door open as her other hand tried to get her feet fully into her shoes. During this little escapade, Ryoma was watching curiously from outside of her house. When Sakuno came stumbling out, falling flat on her face from trying to get her feet in her shoes, a stifled choke came from Ryoma's mouth.

"A-ah! Good morning Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno panted, her cheeks blushing bright red as she got up and bowed in embarrassment and greeting. 'How embarrassing!' she thought, afraid to look up. But something made her head lift, mostly in surprise.

"Hn."

A bright smile spread over Sakuno's face, realizing Ryoma had made a sound to her daily morning greeting! It was sort of to hide his amusement at her fall, but it was an improvement! With a little smile of triumph, Sakuno closed the gate and jogged up to Ryoma, falling in step behind him as they walked together to school for the umpteenth time.

'Next time, I'll make him say "good morning"!'

Sakuno groaned frustratingly, slamming her forehead onto the wooden desk in front of her. There were scribbles and scratches all over the page, most of them ideas on how to get Ryoma to go from "hn" to "good morning". She had already tried several of them, not a single one working. A little make-up just got her a weird look, wearing her skirt up a little higher just caused her embarrassment for the rest of the school day, and showing a little cleavage made her self-conscious and unable to function properly. Sakuno mildly contemplated chopping off her hair to make it short (he was always saying her hair is too long).

With a groan, Sakuno stared grudgingly at the paper, trying to come up with new ideas. She never noticed the clock flash "1:00", and her head lolling off onto the desk as she succumbed to the darkness.

"Kyaaa!" Sakuno screamed, throwing on her school uniform as a toothbrush stuck out of her mouth and she was balancing on a foot trying to get her socks on. Since she stayed up late the night before, Sakuno forgot to turn the alarm on and Ryoma was going to be here in ten minutes! It was a good thing she'd taken to making her lunches the night before and refrigerating them for fast pick-up. It saved her tons of time, and loads of sleep.

Sakuno successfully tied the buttons of her uniform shirt, leaving her sock half-on and dashing to the washroom to spit the toothpaste out of her mouth. Once her mouth tasted minty-fresh and toothpaste-like (yuck), Sakuno shoved the rest of her sock on her foot and clambered down the stairs like an uncoordinated elephant. She grabbed the bento's from the fridge and stuffed all her homework into her school bag. Quickly grabbing her keys, Sakuno shoved her feet into her shoes (with the help of her free hand) and bolted out the door. Ryoma's head turned to look at her, panting and dishevelled before him. Sakuno jogged closer, the gate closing with a clang.

"G-good morning Ryoma-kun." Sakuno panted ruffling her hair in embarrassment. Ryoma gave her an unidentifiable look, saying what he needed to and then turning around to begin walking to Seigaku.

"Morning."

The bento's and her bag dropped to the ground with a 'thump'.

"Ryuzaki?"

Ryoma turned, wondering why the girl was making so much noise in the morning. He saw her standing behind him, mouth parted in shock and eyes glazed in a weird trance. She started to mutter things under her breath, completely unintelligible to him. He waved a hand in front of her face, eyebrow rising.

"Ryuzaki!" He exclaimed, snapping her out of her strange daze.

"Oh! Sorry, Ryoma-kun. L-let's go!" Sakuno said, smiling reassuringly at him. Ryoma shrugged, turning back to walk towards the school. He didn't see Sakuno doing a silent victory dance behind him, her loose hair flying all over the place as she twirled in one spot. She stopped abruptly when Ryoma turned back to look at her.

"Oh, Ryuzaki? I like you better with your braids." Ryoma muttered, so soft Sakuno almost didn't hear. He turned and walked away before she could react, but when she did it was all blushes and mouth opening like a fish. Shaking out of her dumbfounded state, Sakuno picked up her things and jogged to catch up to him, trailing behind him as always. Her mind kept replaying his words, a big smile lighting up on her face despite her not wanting it to be there.

Sakuno would never know, though, that Ryoma had lied to her that day. He was attracted to girls with braids, and he thought Sakuno looked… looked cute (he can't believe he just thought that word) with them. But when she had walked out of her house that day, hair long and loose and flowing, Ryoma decided right then and there no man would ever lay eyes on her beautiful unbound chocolate strands. Because Ryoma thought Sakuno was the most beautiful when her hair was free from constraint, free for him to run his fingers through in the morning when she was still slumbering peacefully. Free for him to smell after one of her lengthy baths, free for him to bury his face in when he faded to sleep after a night of making love.

Free just for him.

A/N And the third one is out! Technically, since its 1:47 as I write this, I didn't submit anything for Halloween, but oh well! Please look forward to the next drabble later on in the day (if I can finish it in time, lol)

My inspiration for this chapter was, at first, a future fic of Ryoma waking up to Sakuno's voice. But then I remembered I wanted to do this in some sort of order, instead of random drabbles. So I thought, well maybe it could be a sort of "development" drabble, where Sakuno greets Ryoma consistently until he replies back. I started writing it in 4th period, but then I looked it over in 5th period and scrapped it XD. So when I came home, I wrote it in a different way, and I have to admit I like this way better.

Well, I hope you like this. Please review!

Snowflake Flower