36 Drabbles

23: Lost

Ryoma really hated his father sometimes. Sure, he was an excellent tennis player, but Echizen Nanjiroh had many, many faults. His lechery, laziness, easy-going nature unfit for a father, and the one Ryoma was most annoyed at now, his complete lack of talent to draw a simple map.

"Baka oyaji." Ryoma muttered under his breath, glancing at the scribbles on the paper that were just unintelligible. He was very sure that if he handed the paper back to his father, the old man wouldn't know how to read it too! Ryoma should've let his cousin Nanako draw the stupid map. It was because of her that his father drew a map for him in the first place. Nanako had just graduated university, and they needed to go to the ceremony where she was handed her diploma, and all that other formal stuff. Frankly, Ryoma was going to be very bored there, but he figured owed it to his cousin to come.

Now if only he could find the damn place…

"Ryoma?"

The tennis prince's eyebrows shot up, and he turned to see his girlfriend, Ryuzaki Sakuno, standing there with a bag clutched in front of her. She was flushing a little, probably surprised at seeing him there… wherever there was. He was curious as to what she was doing there, alone, bad direction sense and all, but Ryoma wasn't a nosy person, so he didn't ask.

"Sakuno." Ryoma greeted simply, walking forward to get closer to her. The scent of her flowery shampoo filled his nose, lulling him into a state of calm. He reached out, cupping her cheek in his palm and angling her face up to kiss her briefly on the lips. As he pulled back, Ryoma could see her blush grow brighter and he smirked in masculine pride. Sakuno cleared her throat, trying to regain some semblance of her lost composure.

"R-Ryoma, what are you doing here?" Sakuno asked, the plastic bag in her hand crinkling as her fingers twitched. Ryoma shrugged, shifting his weight on his other foot and digging out his father's crudely drawn map.

"Trying to find some university." Ryoma said, and Sakuno took a look at the map. Her face twisted in confusion about five different times before she pulled back and gave him an apologetic frown. Ryoma was on the verge of chuckling when he saw her face flash several different ways, but shielded it because he knew she was very self-conscious (and also extremely easy to tease).

"Sorry Ryoma, but that map is very… misleading." Sakuno said, hoping that didn't sound mean to whoever drew it. Ryoma scoffed, crumpling the map up and tossing it in a trashcan nearby. Sakuno's lips pursed, feeling bad she couldn't help. But then she perked up, remembering something. "Ryoma, you said a university right?" At Ryoma's affirmative, Sakuno grabbed his hand and dragged him in the opposite direction he headed in. "Come on, I know the place you're talking about." Ryoma was a little sceptical, having experience first hand what his girlfriends directional sense was like.

"How did I know this would happen?" Ryoma murmured to himself, watching his girlfriend run around to ask people if there was a university nearby. He sighed, tipping his Fila cap down slightly as she ran back with a dejected face. "Nothing?" he asked, having known the answer a long time ago. Sakuno looked on the verge of crying.

"No. I'm so sorry Ryoma!" Sakuno said, sniffling. Ryoma's eyes narrowed, his male protective instincts kicking in at the sight of his girlfriends growing tears. Reaching out, Ryoma hugged her gently, placing kisses on her hair to try to calm her down, because he sucked at dealing with crying women (although most of us would agree he's doing an excellent job right now).

"Ne, don't cry. S'not like its your fault." Ryoma said, awkwardly trying to phrase that so it wouldn't sound mean but at the same time wouldn't sound like he was just saying it to make her stop crying. Sakuno's sniffles died down, but she remained quivering in his arms. Ryoma patted her back uncomfortably until she pulled away and cleared the remainder of the tears with the back of her hand. Sighing, Ryoma put his hands behind his head and started to think. "Now what?" he asked. Sakuno looked up.

"M-maybe if we start from where the map was supposed to start?" she suggested, and Ryoma shrugged. There was really nothing they could do now, so maybe it would be of some use to go all the way back to the station. Goal set, Ryoma grasped Sakuno's hand and pulled her along to make his way to the train station.

"I hate that old man." Ryoma growled, as he and Sakuno stood in front of the station. When they first arrived, the two of them were at a complete loss as to where to start… until Ryoma turned around to face away from the station. "The university is right in front of the friggin' station!" Sakuno sweatdropped, trying to calm her boyfriend down as he spouted curses under his breath. Ryoma sighed, getting out all of his frustrations before turning to Sakuno.

"Ne, thanks for your help." Ryoma said, and Sakuno just flushed and smiled kindly.

"I'm just glad I was able to help." Sakuno said, and with a surprising burst of boldness, reached onto her tiptoes to peck him on the lips. Ryoma stood there, shocked, for a couple seconds before leaning down and capturing her lips for a longer kiss. He wound an arm around her waist, his other hand reaching up to cradle her head. Sakuno's hands were tied, carrying a bag, but she kissed back hard enough to make up for it.

"Oi, Ryoma! What took ya?"

'Uh oh.' Sakuno thought, pulling back as Ryoma whirled around to glare at his father. Meekly, Sakuno took a step back as the father and son got into an argument about crudely drawn maps and pointless scribbles. In her head, Sakuno bid Ryoma goodbye before she turned to enter the train station. Behind her, she could hear Ryoma's heated voice and smiled, giggling.

"So Ryoma can get lost too."

A/N Twenty-third drabble out!

My inspiration for this drabble was making Ryoma get lost, cause Sakuno always gets lost and I feel like he's being left out. Of course, who better than Ryoma's own father to get him lost? Ah Nanjiroh, you lovable samurai you. XD (As a sidenote, I'd like to thank my friend who helped me with drabble 14 and 21, because she sparked this particular drabble.)

Review for a nanaimo bar!

Snowflake Flower