A/N: So, obviously, I PHAIL at life. DX But it's here, just like I promised! We're nearing the end, though, folks; possibly only two more chapters til we reach the conclusion. Woe!

But in the meantime, enjoy chapter five, in which Ryoma and Sakuno go on their very first date! ...Sorta.

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Recipe For Disaster
Chapter Five: One Step Forward, Two Thousand Steps Back
By Jonah

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By the time day seventh rolled around, rumor that Echizen Ryoma was ‘losing it’ spread across the school like wildfire. It didn’t help matters that the subject of the rumors himself acted a little out of the ordinary, or that the prior day’s practice consisted not only of one, but two near losses for the tennis prodigy, and anyone who’s seen Echizen Ryoma in action knew that for him ‘near losses’ just didn’t happen.

Thankfully, the rumors had been contained just within the school, thanks to a certain President of a certain fan club, who threatened certain bodily harm to anyone who dared let the information leak out.

That day’s practice was a strained one, as most boys pretended to go about their routines as if nothing was out of the ordinary... even though it was pretty damn obvious what was on everyone’s minds.

Looking more than a little agitated (though to be fair, he had good reason), the youngest member of the Seigaku regulars quietly made his way to the benches, hat tipped low over his eyes as he pointedly ignored everyone’s discreet-yet-oh-so-obvious stares. With just one simple ‘heroic’ gesture his bad day had grown to a bad week, and his bad mood was now a bad attitude. Even Fuji seemed to sense the gravity of the situation, and wisely kept his playful airs to himself. There was really only one person brave enough to approach Ryoma about it, and only because he just couldn’t find it in himself to leave the boy looking so dismayed.

“Echizen?” The tiny smile on Taka’s face could only be described as meek, and had it been any other person it would have looked out of place on such a large, somewhat intimidating-looking man, but on Taka, it was nothing out of the ordinary. “Is everything alright?”

When no answer came, Taka merely steeled himself and daringly took the seat beside the younger boy. “If there’s something wrong,” he offered gently, “you should tell us. You know we wouldn’t laugh or judge you or anything...”

Now people only ever reacted to Taka when he spoke like that in two ways— one, was to freak out because homigosh this huge guy’s acting nice he must want my lunch money quick run hide! or two, feel extremely rotten, cave, and proceed to fidget around guiltily while babbling something, usually incoherently.

Ryoma proceeded to choose door number two.

“It’s nothing, senpai,” he awkwardly murmured from beneath his cap, “really...” He briefly wondered if suddenly just up and running would save him from further questioning.

He doubted it.

“You’ve been acting sort of odd lately... Are you sure?”

“I just…have a lot of things on my mind.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie.

“You could always talk to me about it,” the larger boy offered, “or Oishi,” he added brightly. “Oishi’s a lot better with words than I am.”

“Thanks, Taka-senpai,” Ryoma was quick to say, shifting uncomfortably under the other boy’s concerned gaze. “I’ll be fine though, just a little distracted, that’s all.”

Now Taka was really worried— Echizen Ryoma never got distracted.

“Well,” the taller boy tried one last time, “that’s not so bad then, right?” He offered the boy a little smile, to which Ryoma just stared blankly at. “I mean,” Taka clarified a little uneasily, “it’s just a matter of getting rid of the distraction then.”

Ryoma shifted, sliding his gaze from the other boy’s wavering smile to the empty tennis courts before them. “Getting rid of it,” he echoed, a little wonderingly.

Taka nodded, feeling a little more sure of himself now that the shorter boy actually seemed to be responding. “Everything else should fall back into place after that.”

But Ryoma had stopped listening, his large amber eyes slowly tracing the white lines of the court.

Slowly, a plan began to form…

x

He caught her just as she was leaving the school grounds, her long ponytails whipping around as she turned abruptly, at the sound of her name.

“Ryoma-kun?” Little pink spots tinted her cheeks, bright enough that Ryoma paused, seemingly captivated, if not a little confused, by them. “Is something wrong?” she pressed. “I was just on my way home to prepare the kitchen. I was thinking we could try—”

“Actually,” Ryoma spoke up suddenly, after a rough shake of his head, “I was thinking we could skip today’s lesson.”

Dark brows knitted together in confusion, Sakuno’s lips turning downward slightly. “Skip it..? But—” you need it, were the words they both knew to be true— “why?” she asked instead.

To that he gave what he hoped looked like a casual shrug, removing a hand from his pocket to gesture vaguely around them. “It’s a nice day,” he wondered if it sounded as lame to her as it did to him, “we should spend it doing something else.”

She looked around briefly, thinking it actually looked a little like rain, but decided it was probably best not to say anything at all. She wasn’t quite sure where he was getting though, so she looked back at him curiously, tilting her head just so. “Like what?”

Ryoma, in the meantime, was wondering if that moment could possibly be any more troublesome. “I don’t know,” he nearly snapped, but managed to catch himself just in time. “Something, anything.” He searched through his memory for a popular ‘hang out spot’ for kids his age…

And realized he had absolutely nothing.

It was a slightly startling thought, though what was perhaps more startling was the fact that it was even startling to him in the first place. What did he care if he knew where all the kids were hanging out nowadays anyway? It was useless information, he’d never have need for it, ever.

...Except maybe for now. Right.

“Isn’t there some sort of carnival going on?” he vaguely remembered hearing his cousin speak about it.

“Carnival?” Sakuno was nodding slightly, remembering Horio making quite a fuss about it the other day (though, she had to think about it, what didn’t Horio make a fuss over?). “Tonight’s its last run around this district, I think.” It was hard to tell with Horio really— sometimes he spoke too fast she wound up meshing his words together.

“We should go, then,” Ryoma said, in what he hoped was a casual voice.

“We.. should?” Sakuno wondered a little suspiciously if Ryoma was just trying to get out of lessons… It wasn’t like he’d done anything embarrassing lately! …Sort of.

“Yeah,” Ryoma started nodding, that made it more convincing, right? “It sounds like fun.” Ooh, he twitched when he said that, didn’t he?

Fortunately for him, Sakuno didn’t seem to notice. “I…suppose it does...” In all honesty, she’d been thinking of going, but Tomoka was always busy babysitting and—

Hold on.

Did Echizen Ryoma just ask her out on a date?

...No! No, of course not. Echizen Ryoma didn’t date, least of all a girl like her!

And yet… it sounded like a date.

But no! It couldn’t be, no, it was just some wishful thinking on her part, silly Sakuno, really, how ridiculous.

Well no one ever said she couldn’t think it was. Yeah, that was alright...

“Um, sure!”

“Perfect.” Ryoma let her lead the way (because damned if he knew where it was, exactly), completely oblivious to the rising flush on her neck and cheeks as he was far too preoccupied with his own thoughts…

Get rid of it.

x

Miles away, Taka paused from cleaning the counter of his father’s sushi shop to glance up briefly, a thought occurring to him.

“Huh.”

“Something wrong?” his father asked, looking up from the grill.

Taka turned slowly, an odd look on his face. “Ever get the feeling that you just did something really, really wrong?”

His father pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Nope!” he answered cheerfully, then went back to his work.

Taka turned back to the counter, a troubled frown working its way to his lips.

“Huh,” he said.

x

Perhaps it would be best to explain—or at the very least, try to explain—Ryoma’s train of thought at the moment. Tennis genius though he may be, there were still some things in which he proved to have nothing more than average knowledge at.

Things like the way of women, for example. (Though some may argue no one knew a thing about them.)

To be fair, the boy was only in his first year of middle school, where young boys were only just beginning to show some interest in the opposite sex. Although, the way he was going, it wouldn’t have surprised anybody if he never showed any interest at all. Tennis was his life, his one and only true love. His parents knew that, his classmates knew that, and more importantly— he knew that.

So it was only natural that when a certain bright-eyed, pig-tailed female classmate of his began to take up more of his thoughts then tennis or even schoolwork, he would assume he was simply ill, and needed to be cured immediately.

By going on this ‘date’, he will have accomplished what young males generally set out to do with young females, and therefore, would have gotten it ‘out of his system’, so to speak. Theoretically, it made perfect sense— if you had an itch, scratch it.

Unfortunately for Ryoma, he was scratching at it the wrong way.

x

The carnival was just how Ryoma thought it would be— loud, crowded, and annoying. It was barely even sundown and already the area was bustling with bodies, mostly teenagers, all bubbling over with excitement. The overall atmosphere made his lips curl distastefully, a light scowl marring his features.

Sakuno, for her part, tried her best not to look like a deer that’d been caught in the headlights of some large SUV that was barreling towards her at 100 mph. She wasn’t doing much of a great job, but she felt she could hardly be blamed, considering where she was and who she was with. Where was that reporter when she needed him? Surely this was something newsworthy!

Oh, if Tomoka could see her now…

She’d wonder why the hell Sakuno was standing a full five feet away from Ryoma.

Quickly, but in what she hoped was the in most imperceptible way possible, Sakuno sidled up closer to the boy, so that the distance between them was a mere foot, at the very most.

“So,” she thought to bring up small talk, because that’s what people do on dates, right? “Have you ever been to a carnival before?”

“Once,” Ryoma replied curtly, the scowl on his face deepening. He’d been nine, still in America, and his father had thought it’d be funny to watch him scream like a baby on one of those roller coaster rides. He didn’t like to talk about it much.

“This is my first,” Sakuno said quite honestly, looking not at all ashamed or affected by it. Indeed, by the time she finally found herself calming down, the lost and frightened look in her eyes was replaced by awe and curiosity. She looked all around them at the dancing lights, still glowing softly as the sun hadn’t fully set. She reached out to lightly touch the leg of a large teddy bear hanging down from the roof of a game booth that they were passing by.

Ryoma, in the meantime, found that bit of news a little hard to believe. “You’ve never been to one before?” Even he’d gone to one, albeit against his will.

“Weird, I know,” Sakuno blushed faintly, but shrugged despite it. “I guess it was never really a priority before.” The look on her face, though, clearly said that she was indeed beginning to realize, if she hadn’t already, that she had apparently been missing out.

It was the sort of look that made Ryoma want to remedy whatever ailment it was that was troubling her.

“It’s nothing great,” the prodigy said instead, hunching his shoulders forward as he carefully avoided her gaze. Hastily, he quickened his pace, settling on an unmarked path that planned to cut straight through the carnival, sticking to the plan— get in, get out, get rid.

If only Sakuno hadn’t spotted that ball-throwing game, and let out that annoyingly girlish squeal at the sight of one of the prizes hanging down from its makeshift ceiling.

His eyes fell on the small object she was pointing so excitedly at— a New Zealand magnet. It sat there, past the fluffy dolls, past the shiny jewelry, past everything else any other girl may have found exciting enough to squeal over. He was suddenly brought back to Sakuno’s kitchen, to a refrigerator littered with magnets of all kinds, of a number of places... except New Zealand.

“She was too busy to send me a magnet then,” Sakuno had told him once before, during one of those times when it grew so quiet between them, that all she had to do was whisper and she’d be heard.

Sakuno said nothing now, of course, but it was there, bright and clear and hopelessly obvious in her eyes.

He hesitated.

She turned to him, looking as if she’d already made some kind of peace with it, with the lack of it— with the defeat.

Wordlessly he stepped forward, and did not bother to question himself when he fished in his pocket for his wallet, and started to play.

x

Naturally, Ryoma’s prodigal hand-eye coordination was not merely reserved for the tennis courts. He proved that quite well when, at the end of his round, he’d managed to knock all three stacks of milk bottles with the first balls he’d been given.

Sakuno clapped wonderingly as the vendor congratulated him, and he tried his damnedest to look indifferent to it all. That became difficult, however, when instead of the magnet, the vendor handed Sakuno a large teddy bear instead.

Ryoma stared at it, looking eerily similar to a goldfish in a tank.

“She wanted the magnet,” he told the man simply, as if that alone should explain things.

The vendor, for his part, looked slightly sheepish. “That’s one of our consolation prizes,” he tried to explain, and scratched at his head. “You won all three rounds.”

The young Echizen wondered at that. He’d never once had a win in which the outcome was not something he planned for or desired. The thought that playing to his fullest, that being the best, was the wrong solution... It baffled him.

“Ryoma-kun..,” Sakuno began slowly, looking a little worried, “it’s fine, you don’t have to—”

Ryoma slammed another bill on the counter.

x

Deliberately losing was apparently a lot harder than it seemed. At least it was for Ryoma, where that concept was not only foreign, but downright alien. Not once in his life did he ever imagine he’d have to lose to win something. It didn’t even make sense grammatically!

It was over four rounds later and Sakuno was barely able to hang on to the oversized bears he just couldn’t seem to stop winning. He was really starting to get a little irritated. He tried not looking, not throwing hard enough— he even let Sakuno throw one! No matter what those damned bottles just seemed to keep falling! Weren’t these things supposed to be rigged? Where was society coming to nowadays, really!

Gritting his teeth, Ryoma pulled out yet another bill. The vendor actually looked a little frightened— but then again, who wouldn’t? Ryoma had on a look that would have put both Fuji and Kirihara to shame.

Sakuno, however, simply looked torn. A part of her wanted to tell Ryoma to stop, it’s not that important, she didn’t want it that badly anyway; but the other part of her wanted him to continue, because all of that would have been a lie anyway, and how terribly romantic was it that Echizen Ryoma was doing this for her?

Still... it probably wouldn’t be so romantic if he blew all his money on a silly throwing game. And it’d be even less romantic if he wound up even grouchier for it.

“Ryoma-kun,” Sakuno tried once more. “Really— you don’t have to do this. It’s.. just a magnet.”

Large amber eyes came to stare at her then, peeking out through dark strands and the white bill of a cap. “You want it, Ryuzaki,” he stated plainly. “If you want something, you shouldn’t hold back.”

Now it was Sakuno’s turn to stare, her own eyes wide and unblinking. “O-oh…” she said then, face colored from a fresh blush, and said nothing else after that.

It wound up being two more tries before Ryoma finally threw lousy enough to get what he wanted, and all three participants parted ways looking more than a little relieved.

“Thank you, Ryoma-kun,” Sakuno blushed horribly, pointedly avoiding his eye, “for winning that magnet for me...”

That’s when it hit him— what he’d done, and all for her.

Something inside Ryoma seemed to surge then, like something that had been slumbering inside him had suddenly awoke, ready and rearing to get out there and live. It wasn’t necessarily unpleasant... but horribly frightening, and in more ways than one.

It was the type of feeling that prompted someone to do something really, really stupid.

“I didn’t do it for you,” came his hasty words, so quick and harsh that it surprised even himself. “It was training... to sharpen my control and accuracy.”

That the lie itself made more sense than the truth... Ryoma had to wince at that.

“O-oh,” Sakuno’s blush seemed to get only worse— but the light in her eyes was quickly fading. “I.. see...”

Silence befell the two teens then, just as the sun was going down, leaving a chill in the air. The silence itself wasn’t anything outstanding, no calm before the storm, no pregnant pause that would lead into some big, pivotal revelation. It was painfully regular, with only the sounds of their feet shuffling and the wind rustling to break it.

There was nothing to keep Ryoma’s mind from wandering, from playing back and rewinding all that had happened that day; he remembered Taka’s advice, how very odd and out of place they seemed now, after he’d executed it; he remembered the look on Sakuno’s face when he asked her, the way everything about her seemed to just brighten up; and now that low, sinking feeling that didn’t seem to promise anything but imminent doom.

They got to her house, just as the last of the streetlights were lit, and the silence between them grew unbearable. She smiled, but it was an odd one, and didn’t look him in the eye as she murmured a soft, “Good night.” No ‘thank you’, no ‘Ryoma-kun’, just that. A good-bye.

Then she was turning away, heading towards her door. For the first time in a long time, Ryoma found himself staring at someone else’s back...

And feeling like he lost more than just a game.

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Um. Better late than never? 8D;;