Chapter 3: His Arms, The Rain, and Cat Eyes

Disclaimer: I own Tennis no Oujisama…not. How sad. My world would have been a lot, lot happier if they would give me a share of this.

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A/N: Sorry for the late update. I wasn't satisfied with the way I wrote the last chapters, so I planned on making this one satisfactory. And, believe it or not, only now did I found out that there were unforgivable mistakes on the last chapters. Chapter three is here, please review! Bash if you must. Or at least point out something that smells fishy and smells nice. Heehee. R&R please!

~oOo~

His Eyes on Hers

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Third Chapter: His Arms, The Rain, and Cat Eyes

She followed the gaze of the rest of her classmates only to find the guy who sat at the back most part of the room.

Maybe almost everyone in their batch knew him. He had dark brown locks and deep brown eyes that almost looked like chocolate orbs. Once his lips started to smile, one girl couldn't help but fix her eyes on him. His body, as every girl would describe in their gossips, was well-built even though he was only fifteen years of age (no wonder why many gals found him attractive and hot). To top it all of, he could sing, dance and act well (as far as rumors were concerned, to be specific; these things about him has yet to be proven). His name? Nakayama Hiroshi.

Come to think of it, Sakuno thought,why did they insist on me as the singer for the party when in fact we have Hiroshi on our class? Now I want to think that they are just playing pranks again. This time, it's me who's the victim…

She looked at Hiroshi and he turned to her and smiled.

What exactly is going on?

Seeing that everyone seemed to agree, Tomoka cleared her throat again and started to speak.

"So classmates, do you want Hiroshi-kun as Sakuno's partner for the duet?"

"Yes!" everyone answered. Sakuno looked at Hiroshi again and wished he would protest or make a comment at least, but he just looked at her with a content version of his trademark killer smile. She then averted her attention to the persons standing in front and watched as the secretary wrote the name "Nakayama Hiroshi" beside her name Ryuzaki Sakuno.

By that time, she could not do a thing but sigh. But that was what she wished for in the first place, to have someone sing with her at the party, right? She shook her head. At a single day, the probability that Sakuno would be the most wanted person –dead or alive- by the admirers of Suzuhara-sensei and Hiroshi-kun had increased from nothing to an overwhelming seventy-five percent…

Finally, the meeting was over. The braided-hair girl got her bag as she was ready to go home.

"Hey, Sakuno," Tomoka called out to her. She was waiting for her at the door. Quickly, Sakuno went to her friend's side and apologized for being too slow.

"You have been always like that, and I'm used to it," Tomoka assured.

"Well then, let's go home now. Your brothers might be frantically crying now," Sakuno answered as they walked along the corridor.

"They are not that young, remember?" Tomoka looked surprised and looked at her friend. "Maybe now they are just happily playing. I hope Kaa-san's already home so we can slow down a bit… Hmmm… Maybe we can pass by the ice cream stand and grab a sundae cone, what do you think?"

Sakuno nodded her head and smiled. "Sounds nice!"

"You mean you don't mind if your grandmother scolds you for being late?"

"Obaa-chan already mentioned earlier that she'll be a little late than usual, so I think a little bite wouldn't be a bother."

"Great! Off to the ice cream parlor we go, then!"

The two had already reached the school's gates. It was past half an hour since five, and the near setting of the sun was not that obvious because of the huge, dark clouds that flooded the sky. It was then that Tomoka brought up the topic about Ryoma.

"Ryoma-sama's really back for high school, right? Just in time for your special number for him."

Sakuno nodded her head and didn't respond to what Tomoka last mentioned. "Yes, Obaa-chan mentioned that he's back."

The pony-tailed Tomoka looked up at the sky then candidly said, "I hope Ryoma-sama didn't feel bad for those past two years when we were not around to cheer for him. It's been two years since the Nationals, remember?"

"That was the last time we cheered for him, I remember…" Sakuno answered, "But I'm not sure if the idea of him missing us exists…"

"Don't be silly, Sakuno! I'm sure he'll miss us even a bit," Tomoka went in front of Sakuno and gave a big grin, "he's just a hypocrite when we are visible from his sight!"

The usual face of a bored Ryoma appeared in their minds and the two of them started laughing. Sakuno laughed so hard that she closed her eyes to keep tears from falling down. She opened her eyes and what she saw was a Tomo-chan surprised because of something she was not aware of – at first.

"Tomo-chan?"

"Oh, I almost forgot! I've got some shopping to do, after all! I'm in a hurry. Sorry, Sakuno! Just go ahead, okay? I'll see you tomorrow! Bye!"

"Wait, Tomo-chan! You-"

In a second, she was gone.

"-left your notebook with me…"

Sakuno sighed for the nth time for the day. Tomo-chan is really unpredictable…

"Uhm, excuse me… Ryuzaki-san, is that you?"

A familiar face greeted her when she looked back. Not a moment later, she remembered who the person was. It was the guy back in the room who smiled at her when she looked at him.

"Hiroshi-kun!"

The tall figure towered over her, but as usual the figure's smiling at her. She blushed because of the suddenness of their meeting, but didn't fail to give a pleasant nod and smile.

"You're headed this way to home, right?" came the question from him when he finally reached her side.

"Uh, yes, that's right…" answered her, quite confused as to how he knew which way it was to her home.

"Such a coincidence! My home is this way too… We're headed the same way, right?"

"Un."

"I'll accompany you then," he was still smiling, "It's kind of humid today, isn't it?"

Sakuno looked at the sky. "Now that you mentioned it, I think it will rain today, Hiroshi-kun."

"Oh, that's too bad. The sky is getting dark too. Maybe we should hurry up so we could save ourselves from the drench. Right, Ryuzaki-san?"

"Uhm, if that's the case I think I brought with me my umbrella…" she searched her bag, half-desperate that she'll find the object she was pertaining to. Unfortunately, it wasn't there. How about my jacket? She searched again her bag and found nothing she wanted by the moment.

"Oh no…" was all she could say, followed by the same sigh. Big raindrops started to fall slowly.

"Wrong timing, isn't it? Or maybe not; we have something important to discuss..." Hiroshi said while the grin in his face was left unchanged. More raindrops made their uniforms a little damp. Sakuno wanted to urge him to start running for the two of them were already at the middle of the street, and the nearest place they could seek refuge was the hamburger shop at the next street.

"Here Ryuzaki-san," the brown-haired guy gave her his jacket, "cover your head with this and start running okay? I'll follow you behind."

Pity for the kind guy struck her. Both of them were starting to get drenched by rain water, but he was offering her his jacket when in fact he could use it for himself.

"Uhm, Hiroshi-kun… Let's share your jacket until we reach the hamburger shop. Will that be fine with you?" she sheepishly asked.

Reluctantly, he agreed and nodded his head. Sakuno then held the other end of the jacket above her head and Hiroshi did the same thing.

"Run!"

Although she already expected that as a boy, Hiroshi would out pace her in their little running streak under the rain, she never thought that he would be that fast she'd have a hard time coping up with him. Besides, the road was slippery; it was raining so hard after all. But each time he noticed that she was trailing behind him, Hiroshi would slow down and waited for her. This repeated for twice or thrice, and the supposed to-be short distance from their location a while ago turned into a somewhat endless track.

"I'm…tired…" Sakuno whispered to herself. Her body seemed to agree. She took another quick step when all of a sudden her foot landed on something slippery. She lost her balance - she knew it- and already thought of how the wet, slippery road would feel when it scratches her skin.

"Careful, Ryuzaki-san!"

Just in time, two strong arms caught her body that was about to have contact with the cement. The rain fell heavier each minute, and the gray clouds completely hid the light left of the setting sun or any coming from the moon or the distant stars, but just the very faint light coming from the light posts was enough for Sakuno to perceive the look of those brown eyes. Those chocolate orbs had something she couldn't name, but she was sure it wasn't something awful or any sort of it. Maybe it was something nice, for she felt warm under their look.

"You alright now, Ryuzaki-san?"

She nodded hesitantly, her face still warm. Gently, he put both of her feet on the ground. A light pain registered in her face when she felt a sharp pain ran up on her left foot.

"It's…painful," she uttered. Without doubt, Hiroshi carried Sakuno in his arms. She was too surprised to even mutter a word of complaint.

"How far is your house from here, Ryuzaki-san?"

"A-…T-two streets more to cross, Hiroshi-kun…" she looked away from him for she really felt embarrassed. "Anou, Hiroshi-kun you can put me down now, I think I can walk…"

"I think not. Look, it's starting to swell…" he pertained to her foot. "Just tell me how to get there, I think your house is more convenient to go to at this instance."

He gave her the jacket that fell on the ground and asked her to hold it for him.

"Right, I understand," she said, "Hiroshi-kun, just cross the next two streets and…"

The rain continuously poured down heavily outside. Ryoma stared out of the clear glass window of the fast-food joint he was in. In front of him was his senior Momoshiro Takeshi, who was busy munching burgers, burgers, and more burgers just to fill his monstrous appetite.

"Oi, Echizen! Both of us now are high school students yet you still haven't changed!" Momo spoke between munches. Ryoma did not pay him any attention. He still stared blankly at the rain outside, while his mind drifted out to think.

"Yeah, I'm in high school now but nothing really changed. I'm still in Seigaku, a member of the tennis club, and still have the annoying Satoshi with me as my classmate-"

His mind went blank when he saw a familiar face outside the joint where he was. That person soaked under the heavy rain, and as if meant to remind him of the person's clumsiness, that certain individual tripped a foot. Fortunately, another person in the midst of the falling raindrops caught the figure Ryoma first observed. Ryoma's eyebrows met unintentionally when he saw the scene before him. Not long after then that two figures ran off, with the latter figure carrying the former.

"Are you listening to me, Echizen?"

He looked at Momo with some kind of irritation on his face.

"Sorry, senpai, I wasn't listening."

Momo shook his head then took a sip from his drink. "DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE DAYDREAMING?" asked him in a loud voice.

"I don't daydream, Momo-senpai. I'm just sleepy."

"I'm changing my mind then. You have changed into a sleepy, absent-minded person."

"And you ate more burgers now."

Momo laughed. "You can say that!" and he continued munching on the burgers left on his tray. Ryoma turned his attention back to the rain outside, and the scene he saw earlier already vanished. What remained were the drops of rain that fell more frequently.

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A/N: Chapter three done! What do you think of Nakayama Hiroshi here? I don't know if it became obvious or what, but I wanted Hiroshi here to be Sakuno's male version in appearance. I'll try writing and finishing chapter four next week.Ü