A/N: Everyone! I'm so so so sorry I haven't updated any of my stories for the past 6 months. My laptop has been broken since January (no joke) and I haven't gotten to getting it fixed until now. It would mysteriously shut down every five minutes, and every time I would try to turn it back on it'd just shut down right after I pressed the button (about 2 seconds after to be more accurate). But I finally got it fixed! My fan was broken and that's why it was shutting down. Anyways, I hope you like the new chapter!

Chapter Five

School Romance

Shinku's steps echoed softly as she walked through the halls of Rikkai Dai High. Small snippets of conversation could be heard as she walked past various people, mostly girls. Shinku's brow furrowed in frustration as she tried to ignore what was being said, and for once, the glare on her face was a genuine one, and it had been planted there for a few days.

The whole school was talking about how she and Sanada had skipped school to go on a "date" together. It came as even more of a surprise since Sanada apparently never EVER skipped school. No matter what. The regulars had probably told others since they were the only ones that saw the two that day, and ever since, Shinku's school life had been a living hell. Her home life with Sanada was only a bit better. She was seeing less and less of him since he stayed later than usual to practice tennis. It was probably to avoid her; she wasn't surprised.

"Shinku-chan! Shinku-chan!"

Shinku almost stopped, but she continued to walk, ignoring the voice that was annoying her.

"Shinku-chan, stop avoiding us!" Marui Bunta put his arm around her shoulders as he guided her to away from her usual lunch spot in the library. A chuckle from Niou Masaharu was heard behind him as he pushed her from behind to the regulars' lunch table that all of the tennis regulars always sat at. Shinku had stopped moving her feet as soon as the two arrived, but Niou was still able to push her, and Marui was still able to drag her to the table.

"You need to stop being so cold to us," Nious fake-scolded. "We're Sanada's best men, and we're sure to get an important role in the wedding. You don't want us spiking the drinks or pulling pranks on the guest do you?"

". . . No," Shinku muttered.

"Don't listen to him, Shinku-chan!" Marui exclaimed comfortingly as he patted her arm. "We'll be the best. Plus, you're sure to have cake at your wedding right? Right?"

"Uh . . ." For the past few days, the regulars had been really into Sanada's and Shinku's relationship. They were always trying to get them together, and through all of their hassles, Shinku had learned a bit about each of them. She didn't quite know what to say about Marui's unhealthy cake obsession, or Niou's trickster lifestyle that he couldn't seem to live without.

"Idiot," Niou scoffed at Marui, "they're not going to have a western wedding! Have you seen how traditional Sanada's family is? They're gonna have a plain old, boring Japanese wedding. They might not even have cake!"

"NO! You have to have a western wedding!" Marui shouted.

A vein popped out on Shinku's forehead as she used her book bag hit both Marui and Niou as hard as she could in the face. They both fell to the ground a bit dazed, but otherwise fine. It was more from shock than the actual hit. Shinku walked up to them with a furious fire in her eyes as she stepped on both of their feet about a dozen times.

"You better shut the fuck up about the wedding, or else I'll kill you," Shinku threatened. The upside down V that was her mouth deepened as she glared at them.

"Aw, come on," Niou whined. "Everyone already knows you and Sanada are a couple."

"They think it's just a school romance."

"Well, maybe they should know the truth." Shinku wanted to walk up to Niou and rip that smirk off his face. Instead, she turned around and walked away towards the library.

"Look what you did," Marui accused.

"I didn't do anything," Niou replied.

"What about the plan?"

Niou just gave a shrug.

The two regulars got back up on their feet and chased Shinku. They herded her back to the regulars' table. Her face was pinched, and she was clearly unhappy. Her feet dragged against the floor as they made their way into the lunchroom. All eyes were on the three of them and talking immediately ceased.

The two plopped Shinku down at the Regular's table right next to Sanada. It made her uncomfortable to be forced to sit so close to him when all she wanted to do was run away with her face hidden. She wasn't too comfortable living in the spotlight; especially such a bright spotlight that was cast upon her against her own will. She was known for her eyes and for her attitude, but it became a regular thing that ceased to be of interest in a week.

Sanada's face was pinched as Shinku was pushed up against his side. He didn't like everyone thinking that the two were in a real relationship. It was a burden to him and his team. He also didn't like public displays of affection, and it made him a bit angry that Shinku was sitting so close to him. He wished that she would move; he still didn't get a chance to ask her to ask her family to cancel the whole engagement. She didn't seem to like their situation any more than he did, so he couldn't understand why she hadn't said anything to her family yet. Could it be that she actually liked him? The possibilities were high, many girls in the school liked him and his teammates. It was practically impossible for her not to have heard or even known about the regulars. Of course she was a 1st year while he was a 3rd—a senior, but everyone knew who the regulars were with her as the only exception.

Yukimura smiled at the awkward couple sitting before him before asking, "How come you two haven't been on another date since the one we saw you on?"

"We're not really in a relationship," Sanada replied stoically. He wanted to get the point across to everyone.

"You're getting married, it's completely fine to admit that you're a couple." A smile graced Yukimura's lips, but it wasn't a nice one.

"Yukimura-sempai, please don't talk about that while at school," Shinku whispered. It was so soft that everyone just barely caught it. Plus, Shinku didn't use a lot of long sentences, so for some of the regulars it was a surprise.

"Why Shinku! Two long sentences in the same ten minute time span? That's amazing!" Niou said in mock surprise. Sarcasm was written across his face. "I'm so proud of my little 1st year girl. She's growing up and getting social skills!"

He was rewarded for his comment with a glare.

"Ignore Niou, Shinku-san," Yagyuu said, ever the gentleman.

"He's just a douche," Kirihara added.

Yagyuu cleared his throat. "Anyways, he doesn't mean what he said so you shouldn't think about him too much."

"Not think about me?" Niou shouted. "That's practically impossible! No one can resist me!"

"You're so egotistical Niou!" Marui harrumphed. "I'm the genius of the team, you're just some stupid trickster. Plus, you don't get nearly as much attention as me and Jackal. He's Brazilian you know, and a lot of people love foreigners. They're exotic!"

"I wouldn't say that I'm exotic Marui," Jackal chuckled. "Though I do appreciate your efforts of making me known to Niou."

No one noticed that Shinku had ceased to talk or to pay attention to any of them. She just tuned them out and ate her lunch in silence, not looking at any of the regulars.

"Hey, Shinku-chan! Are you even paying attention?"

Shinku shook out of her daze to look up. It was Kirihara who talked to her.

"I have to leave," Shinku stated flatly. She gathered up her stuff before four pair of hands grabbed at her and forced her to sit down again.

"Sit with us Shinku! Where do you even have to go?"

"The library." Shinku yanked herself out of their grasps and ignored all of their shouts and pleadings. The only voice missing was Sanada's. She didn't mind though, she just wanted to be alone. She quickly rushed away from the lunch room into her sanctuary—the library. It was her safe haven in a school full of tennis players and fan girls. She was tempted to text or call Choutarou since he was her only friend, but she decided against it.

A sigh escaped from Shinku's lips as she settled herself at a table in the corner of the library. It was surrounded by books and hardly anyone came near the section. She was just about to read Crime and Punishment when voices drifted towards her. Shinku put down her book and continued to sit at the table, no one really knew where the table was so the closest they would get would be the science book section.

"Can you believe that he would go for a freak like her?" a girl's voice spat vehemently.

"Seriously, you're so much better and sexier Keiko, no man can resist you," a few girls said.

"I don't even want to think about how she tricked him into dating her in the first place. How can a sexy, professional tennis player like him go for that bitch? She's so rude and she has no respect for other people at all! She doesn't talk and she acts as if she's the only person in the world! Sanada-sama would never go for someone like that. He should have gone out with me! It was disgusting to see how close she was sitting to him at lunch. He didn't even like it! You could see on his face."

Ah, Shinku now understood that the girls were talking about her and Sanada. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. As much as she would've liked to do something, there was no way a girl of her stature and strength could take on five girls much taller than her. She bit her tongue so she wouldn't end up shouting something to them. The taste of blood was present in her mouth.

"You don't need to worry though Keiko," a girl stated. "You can get any man you want, you're notorious for that. You're always seducing men left and right. So I'm sure that you can seduce Sanada Genichirou and force him to dump the girl he's dating."

"I doubt he's even dating her for real," Keiko scoffed. "Like I said, there's no way a guy like that would ever go for a girl like her. He deserves a real woman, one that can satisfy his needs instead of the little girl that someone tricked him into dating her. Let's leave now, the bell's about to ring and I have all the time in the world to work on him since he's in all of my classes."

The girls filed out, their shoes making soft sounds on the wood of the floor.

Shinku scowled to herself as she thought about what she just heard. Her anger was building up inside her like wood being thrown on a bonfire, but she knew that she couldn't do anything without tarnishing her family name. As much as she would've liked to scream and kick, she would just have to hold it in her. She didn't like being submissive though, so she'd have to do something.

oOo

School was over and Shinku still couldn't help but think about what she overheard. Instead of going to her club activity though, she decided to go and watch the tennis team practice. After all, she and Sanada were a "couple" and their nonexistent school romance needed to come to life, but only to make those girls jealous of them and realize that no matter what happened, Sanada and her were together for life (not that Shinku liked it that way). If they didn't say so much bad stuff about her, Shinku would've been glad they were trying to take Sanada away. She would've been relieved, but as it goes, they spoke a ton of crap about her.

Kirihara spotted her as she made her way to the courts. "Shinku-chan! What are you doing here? I thought you had clubs. Oh well it doesn't matter, I'm glad you're here."

Shinku nodded in greeting.

"Are you still not talking to me that much? I thought we were friends! Anyways, I'm glad that I don't have to force you to come for once. You never want to watch us, and especially when there are fan girls too."

Shinku glared at Kirihara for reminding her of all of the fan girls. Kirihara thought it was just her regular look though so he didn't comment or think anything about it.

The regulars were mildly surprised to see Shinku watching them for their afternoon practice. She only came in the mornings, and only because she was forced to. She never came of her own free will before.

"Sanada-san," Shinku said standing close to him.

"Shinku-san," Sanada said in reply.

Shinku could feel the waves of hate coming from Keiko and her group of friends as she scooted closer to Sanada. As uncomfortable as Shinku was, she wasn't going to back out when Keiko was watching and getting unnerved by it.

"Shinku!" Marui shouted as he put his arm around her shoulder and directed her towards the bench she always sat at. "Getting serious with Sanada eh?" He gave her a wink to show that he was just kidding.

As Marui talked and Shinku ignored him, Sanada glanced from her to Keiko on the sidelines. He would obviously tell that the 3rd year girl was angry because of 1st year Shinku, but he couldn't fathom why. He felt slightly unnerved at the bloodlust he felt coming from Keiko. During all of practice, Sanada kept a close eye on Shinku to make sure that Keiko and her friends wouldn't do anything to her. He had made an oath to Grandfather Hikiaru that he would always protect Shinku, and he would never break a promise, no matter how much it chagrined him. However, his plan of watching over Shinku at practice started to affect his playing skills since he was too focused on her.

Yukimura noticed the change and came up to Sanada. "You shouldn't have your mind wandering so much during practice."

Sanada tore his eyes away from Shinku for a moment to look at Yukimura. "I'm very sorry buchou, it's just that..."

Yukimura's gaze followed Sanada's until they landed on the small girl. His smile widened as an devilish glint appeared in his eyes. "Oh I see, you're finally becoming infatuated with the girl."

Sanada gave a glare to his captain. "Of course not! I would never fall for a person like her, it's just that I gave her grandfather an oath that I would protect her, and those girls over there look like they want to rip into her!"

"So you care about her." Yukimura had a sly look on his face as he inclined his head to look at Sanada.

"You know that's not the case. I just don't break oaths or promises of any kind." Sanada was getting annoyed at the questions Yukimura was posing.

"You do know who those girls are don't you?"

"No, do you?"

"You know Keiko-san at least don't you?"

"I do, she's in every one of my classes." Sanada didn't understand where this conversation was going.

"You also know that she likes you right?"

Sanada had a serious expression on his face as he heard this piece of news. He was so oblivious to the feelings of girls towards him.

"That's why she looks like she's about to kill Shinku-san," Yukimura pointed out. Keiko had her whole group with her watching Sanada. "You better do something."

Sanada couldn't think of a single thing to do though, but to his luck, Niou had headed over to Shinku. He could at least protect her if something went wrong.

"Shinku! Glad you could join us. Puri~," Niou said as he sat down next to Shinku.

Shinku looked at him for a brief moment before turning her attention back to the sky.

"Are you just going to sit there? You're not even watching us!"

No comment.

"Shinku, if you don't talk to me...I'll find a way to break your cello or force you to talk to all of the angry fan girls that hate you." Niou had a smirk on his face as he threatened her.

"You wouldn't," Shinku hissed.

"I would, my dear Shinku, and no one—let me repeat, NO ONE—can stop me."

"What do you want?"

"Well, it's just a small favor really..."

oOo

Practice was over early that day, ending at five o'clock instead of the usual seven or eight at night. Shinku and Sanada walked home together in silence. They both preferred it that way. Occasionally one of them would look at the other, but that was the only form of communication that was passed.

Sanada decided that he couldn't stand the silence anymore. He gave a sigh before saying, "I don't want you to come to our practices anymore. At least not the afternoon ones."

"And why can't I?" Shinku defiantly asked. She hated being commanded. "I have every right ot be there, just like your slutty fan girls."

"That's why I don't want you to come. One of them was about to kill you today."

"I don't care." Shinku raised her chin high and gave out a "Hmph!"

"Well I promised your grandfather I would protect you."

Shinku looked at Sanada. He was a man of his word then. She could see that even though he would rather not have anything to do with her, he would keep his promise. Since he seemed so sincere, Shinku recounted all that she heard in the library.

"They want to seduce me?" Sanada asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's right."

"That's impossible. I can't be seduced."

"Well apparently she gets every guy she wants. I heard she was a huge slut though."

Sanada's mouth curved up a tiny bit as he asked, "Are you jealous?"

Shinku's ears turned red at the question. "Of course not! I wouldn't get jealous over you or over anyone at all. She is a slut."

"And how do you know?"

"Just shut up." Shinku attempted to push him to no avail before stomping ahead of him to their penthouse. Sanada followed silently behind her. Neither of them liked their new school romance.

Everyone! Please please please review! I've been out for a while and I would love love love it to hear what you think about the story. :)

Also, check out my fanfiction website (on my profile) to get more info about the characters and stories, and don't forget to vote on my profile for you favorite OC of mine! :D