~Seven~

Finding Sakuno

Sakuno panted as she ran away from Ryoma's house. The feel of her damp underwear was a continuous reminder of what happened a few moments ago, making it impossible for her to deny.

She felt ashamed as if she had just committed an unforgivable sin. Her mind was in chaos, and she didn't know what to do. Before she knew it, tears already gathered at the corners of her eyes. Everything was so confusing and abrupt that all she could do was cry.

'It isn't Ryoma-kun's fault. He gave me multiple warnings and tried to stop before but I… I was the one who… ' She shut her eyes tight as tears rolled down her cheeks. 'What does Ryoma-kun think of me now? Does he think that 'I'm easy?' Just the thought of Ryoma potentially hating her made her want to bury herself six feet under and disappear from the face of the earth.

It was humiliating.

'But still….'

Despite that, she couldn't help but feel a bit giddy and hopeful—yet, confused. She could feel her legs shaking, her face as hot as a furnace while her hands gripped her bag tightly to her chest. The loud beating of her heart and sound of erratic breathing echoed loudly in her ears.

'Ryoma-kun kissed me. He kissed me! He initiated it… but why? Does this mean that…h-he likes me too?' If it was possible for her face to burst in flames, she would have combusted right then and there.

She ran faster towards her home.

As soon as she made it back to her room, she slammed the door shut, dropped her bag to the floor, and buried her face on her pillow. Sakuno screamed like there was no tomorrow and rolled around her bed. It was a good thing that her grandma wasn't home.

"Stupid stupid Sakuno!" She screamed on the pillow again before she rolled onto her back, staring blankly at the ceiling. Sakuno sniffed as she caught a wisp of Ryoma's addicting scent.

"Oh...right. Ryoma-kun lent me his clothes."

She bit her lips as she closed her eyes, flashes of their earlier encounter playing in her mind. Sakuno clenched her thighs as she clutched Ryoma's shirt to her nose and inhaled his scent deeply. Her body curled in delight as she caught the familiar scent of grapefruit and floral ozone.

She felt the tickling sensation in her belly and wetness started oozing from her core again. She placed a careful hand on her abdomen as she recalled what happened to them earlier. The scenes replayed in her eyes so vividly that she could remember the way he panted and murmured her name.

Ryoma-kun's soft lips were touching hers, and in an eager response to him, her heartbeat went haywire and her insides turned into a chaotic battle of disbelief and desire. Before she could completely process everything that transpired leading to this, his lips were moving against hers.

Softly…slowly… as if testing the waters.

'More...more more more!' her mind continued to chant as she unconsciously rubbed her aching core against his knee that was already between her legs. She didn't even realize when he had placed it there but she didn't care anymore.

He was still kissing her, his tongue exploring the inside of her mouth as if memorizing every part of it. For Sakuno, it was both heaven and hell. She was starting to feel impatient, her body craving for something she did not understand.

She suddenly felt his hand slowly pushing inside her borrowed shirt. She didn't know where she found the courage to scratch her nails and trail her trembling fingers on his toned abs, but she found herself also caressing Ryoma's heated skin.

This, this was the forbidden body she thought she would never be able to touch. Ryoma let go of her lips to look amusedly at her. For a second, Sakuno nervously thought she went overboard; but then he was back to kissing her again and again.

She forgot where she was, she forgot the hows and whys. She even forgot her name. All that mattered was him.

She let him feel her as she did to him.

The intensity in his eyes was almost the same as when he was standing at the tennis court facing his formidable opponent, and she was not the kind of opponent who would deny him his victory.

His hot, moist lips started to trail down the length of her neck, biting and lapping at her feverish skin down to her collar bone. Sakuno arched her back as she shivered in delight. Her irises rolled back as her thighs clenched around Ryoma's knee, feeling the dampness of her panties.

There was a pulling sensation in her belly and a desperate need for some sort of release. It was almost too much for her. The sensations enveloping her, his lips, his tongue, his hands on her breasts.

"Ah! Ryoma-kun!" before she realized it, she was already touching her breast, her thighs rubbing and squeezing against each other to alleviate the ache between her legs.

"Sakuno!"

It was as if a bucket of cold water was dumped on her head as she heard her grandmother's voice outside her room followed by a knock on the door. Her eyes widened, and she started panicking.

"Y-yes! I'm here, grandma!" she shakily stood up, feeling her still pulsating core. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself as she squeezed her eyes shut. She carefully opened the door and poke her head a little to stare nervously at her grandmother. Looking at her grandmother's concerned face, she felt as if she was the dirtiest girl alive.

"Sakuno, your face is red. Are you sick?" She lifted a hand to feel Sakuno's forehead but Sakuno only stepped back and opened her door wider.

"N-No! I-I just got home from practicing tennis w-with…" she felt a lump in her throat. Just the thought of him made her feel hot all over again. "R-Ryoma-kun."

"Oh…" Sumire looked at her curiously, eyes moving up and down. Sakuno swallowed hard.

"I'll be down after I bathe." She tried her best to give a normal smile to her grandma but she still gave her a skeptical look. "I'm sweaty, I have to clean up first," she tried to add.

Her grandma's eyebrow shot up before she smirked and turned her back. Not waiting for her grandma to completely disappear from her view, Sakuno grabbed a new set of clothes from her closet and ran towards the bathroom to douse herself with cold water.

'Stupid stupid Sakuno! What do you think you're doing!?'

When she finished her bath and sat heavily at the dining table. Her grandma dropped a bomb on her.

"So...why are you wearing Ryoma's clothes?"

Sakuno spat out her water.

"I-I was w-wet!" Her grandma raised an eyebrow at her and Sakuno's whole face flamed. "I-I mean it was r-raining earlier, a-and Ryoma-kun and I were caught in it. S-So he lent me his clothes while w-we waited for the rain to subside! T-that's all! We didn't do anything, grandma!" Sakuno's tongue seemed to regain its stuttering ability while she tried her best to explain what happened to her grandma.

Her hands and head were shaking in extreme denial.

Sumire smirked. "I didn't say that you did anything. It's just a harmless question, Sakuno."

Sakuno pouted her lips. "Mou...let's just eat, grandma."

"Hmm." Sumire nodded, smiling as she continued eating her food.

Sakuno bit the inside of her cheek as she tried her best to focus on her food and not on anything related to Ryoma.

'Mou...how am I going to face him tomorrow!'

The rest of the day, Sakuno was in a daze. She didn't know what to do with herself, and somehow….she felt…different. Like something in her had changed. Every single minute reminded her of what happened between her and Ryoma. Every touch of their skin, his voice, his heavy breathing, his lips and t—

She slapped her hands on her face as she rolled over her bed. Screaming in her pillow as she felt her whole face burn.

"I don't think I can handle looking at Ryoma-kun tomorrow," she bit her nail as she imagined how she was going to face him tomorrow. They even walked to school together.

"HOOOEEE, I can't!"

Suddenly, her cell phone rang, and she jumped like a startled kitten. She was about to grab her phone at her study table but stopped midway.

"What if it's Ryoma-kun?" Sakuno bit her lower lip and hesitated before she cautiously peeked at the screen of her phone.

Tomo-chan calling…..

She let out a sigh of relief upon seeing her best friend's name on the screen, but at the same time felt a twinge of disappointment.

'Mou…why am I disappointed? What am I even going to say if it's really Ryoma-kun who's calling.' She lightly hit her head before she answered the call.

"Tomo-chan?"

"Sakuno! Can you go to my house tomorrow? I umm…n-need your help."

Sakuno blinked in bewilderment and looked at the caller ID on her screen. 'Tomo-chan stuttered?'

"Ah…sure, but…is there something wrong, Tomo-chan?"

The other line was silent for a few moments before an ear piercing scream emitted from the phone's speaker and Sakuno automatically moved her phone away. Wincing, she put her phone closer to understand her best friend's blubbering but not as near as before.

"It's a dare! Ami dared me! And before I knew it, I already agreed. Argh! How dare she tell me that I can never date any of Seigaku's tennis stars. Grr, just you wait. I'll show her!"

Sakuno sweatdropped and scratched her head. "Tomo-chan, I don't understand what you're saying."

She heard her best friend take a deep breath before she explained everything to her in a calmer manner. "Ami dared me to ask any of Seigaku's Tennis Star on a date. She told me no one from the tennis club will date me so I got mad and agreed on impulse."

Sakuno's eyes widened upon hearing Tomo-chan's explanation. "Oh my, Tomo-chan! What are you going to do now? Why did you even agree to that kind of dare?" She bit her nails and paced back and forth inside her room. She was feeling anxious for her friend.

"What else am I going to do? Of course I'll do the dare! That's why you're coming with me to help me out with a present. I'll leave a letter and a present in his locker to get his curiosity. Then I'll ask him out once I'm sure that he's interested in me!"

Sakuno felt her heart beat faster as she hesitantly asked Tomo-chan. "W-Who a-are you going t-to ask out?"

She didn't want to admit it but…she was afraid Tomo-chan would target Ryoma-kun. She knew that her friend was also interested in him. Who wouldn't?

She heard Tomo-chan laugh at the other line. "Don't worry Sakuno, I'm not targeting Ryoma-sama. I know that he's all yours," her friend said while laughing.

Sakuno felt the heat creeped up her face. "Tomo-chan!"

"Alright alright. Let's not go down that topic." Sakuno pouted, she could practically imagine her friend's teasing grin. "Anyways…my target is Kaido-senpai."

If Sakuno was drinking something, she would probably spit it out. "K-KAIDO-SENPAI!?"

"Who else should I ask? I heard that Momo-senpai has a crush on An. She's our friend, so I'm not going to steal him from her. Tezuka-buchou is a no no. Fuji-senpai is really really impossible for me. Who else? Inui-senpai? Taka-senpai? I'll just go with Kaido-senpai. I think he's cute, although he's very quiet aside from when he's arguing with Momo-senpai. I like his mysterious attitude." Tomo-chan giggled and Sakuno sweatdropped.

"W-Whatever you say…I'll go with you tomorrow then." Besides, at least now she had an excuse to not meet Ryoma early in the morning.

"Okay. Let's see each other tomorrow at the usual place!"

"Alright," Sakuno nodded to herself, "good night Tomo-chan."

"Good night, Sakuno! BYYYYEEE!"

She giggled at her friend's enthusiasm. "Mm..bye Tomo-chan."

After ending the call, Sakuno decided to just text him tonight. This was not the first time that Tomo-chan demanded to go to school with her, so she hoped that Ryoma wouldn't think that she was avoiding him.

'I hope he won't get mad…'

She looked at her phone before she started typing her message. She took an hour before she was satisfied with what she had composed. However, before she hit the send button, she remembered something.

"Ah, Ryoma-kun's bento!" Sakuno scratched her head. "How am I going to give his bento without facing him?"

Ryoma stared at his phone as if he was digging holes on his screen with his eyes. He reread Sakuno's message a hundred times already that he could recite it from memory, but it seemed his brain refused to properly comprehend the text.

It wasn't a long message. Just one simple sentence stating that Sakuno wouldn't be going to school with him since she had to accompany her friend

It wasn't as if this was the first time that Osakada asked for Sakuno's company, but the timing was just…

He sighed.

Ryoma gazed at his ceiling, pulling his bangs to cover his eyes. He and Sakuno really needed to talk, and he had to apologize because of…what happened…

'I have to talk to her tomorrow…' he thought as he tried to get himself to sleep, which failed. He was usually able to sleep anytime and anywhere he wanted, but right now, he seems to have forgotten how.

"Stupid Sakuno, are you going to give me another sleepless night?" He furrowed his brow in annoyance. "And the culprit herself is as oblivious as a cat."

Ryoma took a deep breath as he slowly fell into a dreamless sleep. When the next day came, he waited for her to arrive in class. However, stupid Sakuno just had to arrive as the bell rang and the teacher walked in. He wasn't given a chance to even tell her to eat with him on the rooftop during lunch. And what was worse was that she even refused to look at him the whole time!

'Is she really ignoring me now?' Ryoma thought in disbelief. Sakuno had never ignored him before. All her attention was always on him. He didn't understand why she wasn't even giving him a single glance.

'Oh she's really going to get it!' he thought as he gritted his teeth, fist clenching his ballpen hard enough to snap it in half.

A few more minutes before lunch arrived, Ryoma was ready to dig a hole on the classroom's floor with his foot that he was impatiently tapping as the time passed by. He was also aware of the nervous looks his teachers and classmates were sending him.

Just when he thought he could finally drag her out of the class and to the rooftop, Osakada just had to grab her instead to go to who knows where!

"Yo! Echizen, why are you in such a foul mood?" Momo-senpai put an arm around his shoulder and Ryoma blankly stared at him.

"Nothing," he replied flatly.

Momo-senpai raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? It doesn't look like it's nothing to me."

"Fsshh…"

"See, even mamushi agrees," Momo-senpai said with his thumb pointing at Kaido-senpai's direction.

"Hn." Ryoma grabbed his tennis bag and headed to the tennis court to practice for a bit.

He tried to ignore his senpais' arguments behind him until he opened his tennis locker and found a bento box there.

Ryoma stared at it in disbelief.

"Ooohhh...what's this, Echizen? Someone made you a bento box! Can you share some with your awesome senpai?~" He ignored Momoshiro and slammed his locker shut.

It was silent inside the locker room.

He could feel everyone's eyes on him but he didn't give them a single glance. This was the last straw. How could she avoid her and leave him a bento box in his locker? Did she think he would be grateful to her for this?

"Oi, Echizen, what's wrong with you? Aren't you going to eat it? If you don't want it, I can–"

"Momo-senpai, let's have a match," Ryoma said as he glanced back at his senpais. Momoshiro's face suddenly turned pale, his senpai swallowed hard before he forced a smile.

"N-Now?"

Ryoma answered that question with a raised eyebrow before he turned his back on his senpais and calmly walked towards the tennis court.

He could hear Kikumaru and Kaido-senpai saying their condolences to Momoshiro and Ryoma acted like he didn't hear them as he walked out of the locker room.

"Hurry up."

"E-Echizen, maybe we could talk about this. If you need advice, your senpais are here to help you…" before Momoshiro could finish what he was trying to say, the door closed on his face.

It took a couple of rallies and two more games before Ryoma decided to stop torturing his senpai and decided to look for Sakuno once practice was over. A frown was already itched on his face making people scurried out of his way as he walked around the hallway.

"Where the hell is she?" Ryoma muttered as he glared at anyone he came across.

The day was coming to an end and Ryoma still hadn't had a chance to speak to Sakuno. For some reason, whenever he tried to approach her, she magically disappeared or seemed to be conveniently sent to an errand by some random teacher.

Classes and their tennis practice had ended but Sakuno was still nowhere to be found. For the first time in a while, Ryoma was walking home alone, and his mood had never been this sour. He couldn't understand why for some reason Sakuno was refusing to talk to him.

Was she mad at him? Did he do something to warrant this kind of treatment? He wanted to ask her so many questions. He wanted this…this annoying feeling to stop.

They kissed, but…but he thought she was alright with it. She didn't complain when they were….

Ryoma felt his face burn and he couldn't help but grit his teeth because he was so confused. All he knew was that he had to speak to Sakuno.

He was so deep in thought he hadn't realized that he was already home until he was in front of their gate.

Ryoma clicked his tongue in annoyance and went inside their house mumbling "I'm home," under his breath.

He paused in the middle of removing his shoes when he finally noticed the two big suitcases conveniently placed just inside their sliding door. He stared in confusion until his mother appeared to greet him.

"Welcome home, Ryoma." His mother stared expectantly behind him, "Hmm, you're not with Sakuno-chan today?"

He ignored his mother's question and pointed instead at the suitcases in front of him. "What's this, mom?"

"Oh!" His mom placed a hand on her cheek as she smiled at him. "That's Sakuno-chan's. Ryuzaki-sensei arrived earlier asking if we could accommodate Sakuno-chan for a month or so, because she has an urgent appointment in the USA. Apparently it's a family related issue and—"

His ears tune out the rest of his mother's explanation. All his brain could register was the fact that Sakuno was going to stay in his house for two weeks.

'Sakuno is staying here for a month…a month…'

"Ryoma? What's wrong, why are you just standing there in silence?"

Ryoma snapped out of his trance and pulled the bill of his cap to hide his eyes. "Where should I move these suitcases mom?"

His mother was silent for a few moments, probably staring at him in confusion. "Mmm, the room beside you is empty. Nanako and I just finished cleaning it so you can take it there."

Ryoma nodded his head. "Alright. I'll take care of it." He proceeded to grab the two suitcases as he headed up the stairs with a smirk on his lips.

Sakuno sighed as she confirmed that Ryoma had already gone home. She had avoided him the whole day and she could practically feel the piercing gaze he was sending her. She was almost afraid to face him, he was probably really mad.

"I'll do my best to make it up to you, Ryoma-kun," she murmured as she walked towards the exit of their school.

Just then, she heard a loud beep and she saw her grandmother in her small car.

"Sakuno, get in!"

Sakuno flinched at her grandma's urgency but she hurriedly entered the passenger's side.

"Why are you in a hurry, grandma?" She asked as she buckled her seatbelt.

"I have a flight to catch," her grandmother managed to answer before she was speeding up her car.

"Hoeeeee! I didn't bring my passport, grandma!" Sakuno screeched as she held on tight for dear life.

"I'm going to America to settle something very important and you're not coming with me."

It took her a few moments before she could process her grandmother's reply.

"E-Eh? Then, w-where are you taking meeeee?"

Instead of answering her, she laughed at her.

"Grandma!" Sakuno's protests fell on deaf ears, and before she knew it, the car was stopping and her Grandma dumped her out of the car.

"I'll probably be gone for a month, your things are already arranged in there and I'll call once things settle down. Take care, Sakuno!" her grandma shoved a small pouch on her arms before she sped away, leaving smoke and dust in her wake.

Sakuno stood there in a trance. Unable to process everything that happened.

"Grandma…left…" she mumbled, staring at the place where her grandma's car previously located.

Slowly, she looked inside the pouch that her grandmother gave her and found money inside. Probably her allowance for a month.

"Where did she even leave me?" she mumbled as she scanned her surroundings, and realized that she was in a very familiar neighborhood.

'No…way…'

"How long are you going to stand there?"

Sakuno yelped and immediately spun around to look at the person who spoke, and behold… the person she was trying to avoid the whole day was standing behind her with a crossed arm and a bored look on his face.

The moment their eyes met, she knew she was doomed.

"R-Ryoma…kun?"

To be continued…..

A/N: I would like to thank my two awesome beta readers for this chapter, W. Athor023. and waterfairy12345. Thank you so much for helping me with this chapter, without your help, this chapter wouldn't be published. Again, thank you soooo much for helping me with this! I owe you guys big time!

A/N: Hi everyone. It's been so long, I miss all of my readers here I hope you're all doing fine. I know it took me like a hundred years to update, it's just so hard to find the time to write something these days. I am so busy with university I barely have time to sleep. I am currently having my midterm exam this week so I won't be able to start writing anything yet, and for that I am so sorry. I won't make any promises, I'll just update whenever I can. I read all of your reviews so many times I probably memorized some of them. I just want you to know that I am really grateful to you all, for appreciating what I write. Please continue to leave reviews because that's where I get my inspiration to write more. If you want to connect with me, you can easily reach out to me to my discord account, syrinxsilenus. I hope you all enjoy that chapter at least. Have a great day!