A/N: Is it just me or is there really sth wrong with the FFN servers? Gah. Sorry I missed the one week deadline that I promised some people. But the FFN servers were screwed up the past few days. Bleahs.

There's a slight confrontation and maybe even OOC-ness in this chapter. Just remember though that Sakuno has grown up now and she's even a journalist. As a journalism student myself, I know that you have no room to be shy and stutter-ish in journalism so it is not impossible that Sakuno is a bit more outspoken right now.

I'm a really happy writer right now coz all you people leave me such nice reviews!! Thanks so much!! And I usually reply to reviews (not all but I try to) so your nice reviews would usually be responded with an overwhelming amount of gratitude. So do review k? Especially if you have questions and/or suggestions on ways I can improve my writing. Or if you have points you wanna discuss with me. Of course, just simple "I like it" reviews totally make my day too =) =)

I don't usually do such guides but since there'll be a mixture of English and "Japanese" spoken in this chapter, I thought I'd specify. Words in italics are basically spoken in English. Everything else is spoken in Japanese or else just narrative.

I seem to have also forgotten the disclaimers. Here goes: PoT is in no way mine although I do love the series to pieces.

Title: Suki, Ai?

Chapter 2: It's Just Not Enough Ryoma-kun

Sakuno and Seiji entered the meeting room five minutes before 1pm, the time when the interview was supposed to start. After his initial surprise at his seeing Sakuno instead of the usual Kitamura, Roger greeted them both and offered them a seat and a glass of water each. After 15 minutes of waiting, Roger excused himself to give Ryoma a call. Looking at each other, Sakuno and Seiji broke into a small giggling fit at the slight franticness in Ryoma's tall red-haired and rather good looking manager.

Listening to Roger's end of the conversation, Sakuno couldn't help remember her own past with the famous athlete. Her waiting for him was a rather unfamiliar situation really, as she was the one who usually kept him waiting. Her bad sense of direction meant that it was not unusual for him to wait at least ½ hour for her every time. It got to the extent that he insists on picking her up at her doorstep if he did not want to wait for hours on end. He was always patient with her though so just this once, she will patiently wait for him too. Besides, she, more than anyone else knew how big an appetite he has and how much he loves to eat. Almost nothing can come between him and his food, especially after a big match.

"Thank you for your help Mr Belden," Sakuno said after he ended his call.

"Oh no problem. I cannot allow him to keep you waiting for too long either," he replied her in fluent Japanese. "And yes Ryuzaki-san, please feel free to conduct the interview in Japanese later. Ryoma will like that and that's what Kitamura-san always does,"

"Hai, arigatou Belden-san," Sakuno said with delight. Excited to discover Roger's fluency in their native language, the three of them engaged in a chat while waiting for Ryoma to arrive.

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"Sakuno," Ryoma asked disbelievingly. Outwardly, Sakuno gave a smile but inside, she was laughing. She did feel a dash of pity at her ex-boyfriend's shock. If she was in his shoes, she would probably feel the exact same way. However, that slight twinge of pity did not, in any way, stop her from feeling a petty sense of total glee at the fact that Ryoma was basically ambushed with her presence.

"Ah, good afternoon Ryoma-kun. It has been awhile hasn't it? This is Shirota Seiji-kun, my photographer," she said, gesturing at Seiji as she introduced him.

"Konnichiwa, Echizen-san. Hajimemashite," Seiji said as he bowed in greeting.

"Domo," Ryoma answered, still obviously in a bit of shock as he continues to stare at Sakuno. Sakuno stifled a laugh, amused with Ryoma's reaction. However, meeting him face to face for the first time in 5 years is screwing with her emotions quite a bit too. Pity, petty glee but also the undeniable burn of anger all simmered under the calm, jovial surface she exudes. She tells herself that she had already gotten over him but this meeting made her realise that she has yet to really forgive him. However, she works hard to control herself so that she can appear normal outside.

"Ryoma-kun? Are we ready for the interview," Sakuno asked. While waiting for his reply, she took a few moments to observe him.

How he looks did not drastically change. Except for a touch of maturity in his eyes and the way he carried himself, he looked almost exactly like 12-year-old boy she first saw on the train. The black hair with a green tint and feline-shaped golden eyes which are his trademark features remained intact. The only drastic change when compared to that boy almost 12 years ago would be his height. When he finally hit his growth spurt at age 15, his height increased by leaps and bounds. He hit the height of 180cm the few weeks before he left her 5 years ago. According to current profiles though, he had grown an additional 5cm in the past five years. The boy who was once shorter than her now towered over her own rather impressive 165cm frame.

"Oh yes, the interview. Well. Why don't we both take a seat and we can begin," he suddenly spoke up bringing her back to the present.

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Ryoma struggled to regain his composure and tried to get over the sight of Sakuno standing in front of him. Even after all this time of not seeing her, it was easy to recognise her as she had not changed much.

"Oh yes, the interview. Well. Why don't we both take a seat and we can begin," he said, gesturing to two of the seat surrounding the conference table. Her photographer began setting up his camera in a corner of the room.

As they both settled into their seats, Ryoma continued to observe her, noticing all the subtle changes. While her hair was still long, closer inspection told him that it was slightly shorter than how she had throughout junior and senior high school. Instead of falling all the way down her back, the hair now only reached three-quarters of the way down her back. Also it was no longer in its customary braid, but pulled to the left side in a low ponytail which somehow gave her a slightly more mature look. She also had light make-up on; a bit of eyeliner to further emphasise her large brown eyes and lip gloss that gave her lips a pink, shiny tint. Even the way she carried herself had changed. From the shy, quiet, young girl she was at 12 to a confident and bubby yet still rather quiet girl at 19; she now exudes understated elegance and self-assuredness at 24. Her tinkling laughter, which he first heard when he entered the room, had not disappeared thus reminding him of her cheerful bubbly personality. However, that elegance about her cannot be ignored, further adding to the air of maturity about her. It is the air of a successful woman and he was, in a way, glad to see that she didn't seem to be too adversely affected by what he did.

"Hai, Ryoma-kun. I'll be recording the interview along with taking down notes. You are fine with the tape recorder being on right? It seems like we have about an hour. Let's have a good session today," Sakuno interrupted his thoughts, eager to begin.

He was happy to see her doing well. However, in a part of his heart, it irked him a bit that she can be so normal around him, despite their past history. "Ah well, if she can do it, I suppose I can do it too," he thought to himself as he cleared his throat, preparing to answer the barrage of questions.

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Sakuno reached out to press the stop button on the voice recorder. "Thank you Ryoma-kun. You were really cooperative."

"Not a problem Sakuno. It was nice talking to you again," Ryoma answered.

Seiji gave Roger a questioning look when their eyes accidentally met. They could hardly ignore the rather tense atmosphere between the two. While the content of the conversation and the method of addressing each other were friendly, informal and even indicated a degree of closeness, the tone they used was everything that was unfriendly. Seiji was surprised at Sakuno's cold, impersonal tone as it clashes with her usual style of trying to engage the interviewee as much as possible and creating a connection between them. On the other hand, Roger was just surprised at how much emotion his charge was exhibiting throughout the interview. While he did look more or less like his usual bored, nonchalant self on the surface, Roger could see the tell-tale clues which showed his different emotions. He started out slightly worried and agitated, nervous about something. But as the interview went on, Ryoma eventually became more and more annoyed instead.

"Haha. Ryuzaki-san. Ryoma here was probably just happy that you didn't bother him with personal questions, like with his family or his love life," Roger said in his most jovial tone, eager to dissipate the tense atmosphere between the two, even if just for a little bit.

"Thank you for your time too Mr Belden. I appreciate you arranging the interview with Kitamura-sempai."

"No, no. It's a long-standing agreement with Kitamura-san. We always schedule an interview with him at the end of each tournament. Too bad he couldn't be here today. I hope he'll get well soon. And really Ryuzaki-san, thank you for staying away from the personal questions. Ryoma really hates those. Kitamura-san must have briefed you well," he replied, relieved to see Sakuno in a seemingly better mood. However, his relief was short-lived.

"Well, he did. But it wouldn't have been necessary. Why would I ask questions about his family when I personally know them quite well? Especially his cousin, I'm rather close to her. And what's the point of asking about his love life? I haven't heard any hint of him having any. Unless of course… those rumours about him being gay is true," Sakuno responded in a lethally cold voice, all signs of friendliness gone, just like that.

"Sakuno-san," Seiji exclaimed in surprise at the bitterness in his friend's voice.

"Sakuno. I'm sorry. Sorry," Ryoma suddenly said.

"Oh Ryoma-kun," answered Sakuno with a sigh her tone turned unbearably tired. "Is sorry enough for almost 2 years of heartache? Of unbelievable pain each time somebody, especially one of your ridiculous fangirls mention your name? That one word sorry, hardly seems enough to make-up for almost 5 years of your closest friends tip-toeing around you; hiding stuff from you so that they can avoid mentioning a certain name around you. And that one apology is definitely not enough to make-up for you leaving in the middle of the night with only a short note explaining that it's over and you are moving to America. It's just not enough Ryoma-kun. Looking as if she was extremely weary after her rather unexpected outburst, she sank into a nearby chair.

"I mean, what does it say about me that I don't even notice when my boyfriend, whom I was living with, was so obviously packing his stuff. I searched the house after reading your note Ryoma-kun. There was nothing left. Nothing. Which means that you have been packing for quite a while. Or did I just not notice the fact that you hadn't meant to stay together permanently and so you didn't have a lot of stuff at home. Which is it Ryoma-kun? Ah mou… Forget about it. Why are we even talking about this? Once again, thank you for everything Mr Belden. Sei-kun, I'll meet you outside." With that, Sakuno grabbed all her things and left the room, clearly distraught. The quiet click of the door as it closed behind her became kind of a full stop to their encounter.

"Ah yes. Thanks a lot of everyone. I'm sorry Belden-san, Echizen-san. Sakuno-san isn't usually like this. Anyway, it was nice meeting and working with you two today," Seiji said hurriedly before rushing after his friend. Before leaving though, he casted one last glance at Ryoma who had, by then, slumped in the chair he was sitting in looking unbelievably dejected.

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"Sakuno-san," Seiji called out tentatively. She had not gone far but was instead leaning against a wall beside the conference room door, just staring into space.

"Ah? You are out. Let's go," Sakuno answered as she walked away.

"Sakuno-san? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No Sei-kun. It's nothing more than a case of meeting up with an ex-boyfriend and a rather bad breakup. That's all."

"Ok, if you really don't want to talk about it, we won't. Just, don't keep it all inside you ok? Is he the reason you stay away from men's tennis?"

"I hate to admit it, but yes. It is still just so painful sometimes."

"Well, you were very brave just now in the conference room. You acted like as if there's no such history between the two of you. What happened at the end couldn't be helped, but… you very brave and very strong just now," he said encouragingly as he wrapped her in a bear hug.

"Thank you Sei-kun."

"You two had good times together though right?"

"Good times? We certainly did," Sakuno said a little wistfully. "He was the one who introduced me to tennis you know? If he hadn't saved me on that train that day when we were 12 and if we had not met again in school, I might have never picked up a tennis racket. I doubt I'd be a tennis journalist either."

"Love is never easy is it?"

Sakuno sighed. "Ahhh, love. I did love him. And I'm sure he loved me too. Daisuki, he told me in that letter of his. But in the end, I suppose, he just loves tennis more."

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"Are you ok Ryoma," Roger asked his charge.

"Yes, I'm fine. Slightly emotionally drained and battered, but fine otherwise," Ryoma replied still in a rather dejected tone.

"What's up with that anyway?"

"Ex-girlfriend, bad breakup. You know how it is."

"Hmmm. I do. But I didn't think you would," Roger said teasingly, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

"haha. Funny Roger. Seriously though, I loved her. Do I still love her? I don't know. Not unlikely though. But she was the only thing tying me to Japan. My family is as mobile as I am. They can move wherever I want to. Mother's law firm has an office in most major cities while father has not worked since he retired from tennis. As for my friends, we don't always need to be together for them to see me as a friend. She was the only one that prevents me from leaving Japan earlier, the way you and coach wanted."

"But sneaking away in the middle of the night like she was a bad one-night stand? Really Ryoma," said Roger chiding him.

"If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here right now. I don't think I would even have left Japan," Ryoma explained with a sigh. "That's it. I'm going to my room to take a nap. I need one before the family dinner tonight." In a tone that encouraged no reply, Ryoma walked out of the room.

An extremely surprised Roger put his head on the conference table. "Who would have guessed that the anti-social tennis prince would have a history like this," Roger thought to himself.

A/N: oops. Sakuno tried to hold it in and be professional but in the end she couldn't help exploding at Ryoma. Poor Ryoma, he is badly affected by it too. I know in the prologue I painted him as this jerk who couldn't even properly break up with his girlfriend but in the subsequent chapters, I am hoping that all of us began to gain at least a bit of sympathy for him too, coz really, he didn't want to leave her and he didn't know how else he could leave her. Doesn't change the fact it was still jerk-ish of him to leave her that way, but oh wells… Review and tell me what you think!

I haven't really started on chapter 3 although I have a lot of ideas whirling around in my head. I do know that it will be a semi-transitional chapter. Part of it will be the final chapter for this "reunion" arc and part of it will be the transition to the next arc.

And yay! It's the mid-sem break this week. I have a lot of assignments to work on but that also means I have a bit more time to write the next chapter. I just need to pick the direction I want it to head and it should be easy. No promises but I shall try to get the next chapter up by early next week =) I do have a 3000 word paper to write by next thurs so if I'm stumped with that paper I might put writing this story aside.

However, I kinda have the itch to work on at least one other of my planned projects. Like the AU PoT fic for example. But I don't want to post that fic up until I'm sure I can write a proper 2nd chapter for it. Bleahs. Check out my profile and let me know your opinions. I love getting e-mails/PMs/reviews. Hahaha.

Thanks for reading! Love ya'll!!

Cheers!

Additional author's ramblings: Shirota Yuu is total love!! He's the guy who plays Tezuka in the live-action movie and also the 2nd generation Seigaku regulars in tenimyu. I hearts him super a lot. Haha. He is just sooo cute and hot at the same time. And as much as I love the actual musicals, the backstage, behind the scene shows are just as much fun!! You get to see all the actors act all goofy and do the stupidest stuff backstage. And and and Hiroki Aiba (who is just soooo super the pretty), the actor who plays Fuji in the movie and the 2nd and 3rd gen Seigaku regulars tenimyu cast has the same birthday as me. Although he's one year older. Haha.

Kyaa! Shirota Yuu!!! And he sings pretty well too =) =) (sorry. I did say that this section is the additional author's ramblings which really is totally optional reading. Haha.)