A/N: I'd like to apologize for the long delay. I keep writing and rewriting this last chapter because I didn't like to just send out a half-assed chapter for the sake of finishing this story. I'm embarrassed for keeping you all waiting and I know that most of you probably don't even remember what this story is about. Nevertheless, to all my readers who are still there, I finally give you the last chapter of The Chaperone. And I'm making it as long as I could to make up for the past months of writer's block.

All disclaimers apply.

The Chaperone

06.2.08

CHAPTER FOUR: THE LAST CHAPTER

--

Ryoma looked down on him with a cold look in his eyes. He tipped up his head while still looking at the pained Akito.

"Fuck off."

And he continued walking away as he heard Sakuno's worried voice behind him.

--

After an hour's worth of travel, Ryoma finally reached home. He had never felt so wasted in his entire life as he let himself fall head-first onto his soft, warm bed, with Karupin climbing up nimbly to rest on his back.

"Karupin, not now..." he mumbled. He absently took his Himalayan down to position himself better on the bed. The train ride home gave him lots of time to recall everything that happened during his 'job' and this made him even more pissed off than earlier. He realized how stupid and how desperate he sounded before he rushed off to punch Akito. He shouldn't have shouted at her and he shouldn't have shown that he cared. He should've just let them be, and he shouldn't be bothered if that Akito guy raped Sakuno and threw her dead body in the river.

But then again, for some unknown reason, he DID care.

No matter how much he tried to push everything behind, he couldn't, because he was worried. Where were they? he was asking himself on the ride home. Is he done with dumping her? Would she really jump off the ferris wheel once that Akito dumps her? What WAS it with Akito that Sakuno found so endearing? To Ryoma, he was as charming as a slimy worm. Or even worse.

And these were the exact questions that exhausted him even more than tennis did.

He groaned in frustration as he covered himself with his blanket and shut his eyes tight. Now, all he wanted was some peace and quiet. And slowly, he drifted off to sleep...

"OI!"

Ryoma took off his blanket from his face and scowled at the intruder. It was Nanjiroh and he was leaning against his door frame, scratching his side with their phone. A sly smile was on his face and Ryoma gave a sharp 'hn' before covering up himself with the blanket again.

"Phone for you," his father told him in an amused voice. He sat down comfortably on one end of Ryoma's bed.

Ryoma sat up and snatched the phone in annoyance. "Don't scratch yourself with it!" he snapped. "It's disgusting!"

"Oh, boy. Someone's a little pissy here."

"Hn, get out!"

"Henh, henh, henh. Going to sweet-talk your girlfriend, eh?" The corners of the samurai's mouth twisted into a naughty smile. He inched nearer, batting his lashes at Ryoma. "You really got yourself a loud one! Better take care unless you want to end up with someone like your mother!"

"Get out! And stop laughing like that!" Ryoma repeated, and with a frown, Nanjiroh followed his son's order, muttering 'just wanted to have a little fun' under his breath.

"What?" Ryoma barked into the receiver as soon as he was sure that his father was out of hearing range. He was definitely not in the mood.

"Ryoma-sama!"

Oh, God. Why? Ryoma thought in horror as he recognized the voice of Sakuno's best friend. His eyebrows met together as he began to think of an excuse to blow her off. He really wasn't in the right state of mind to entertain the ramblings of the loud girl. "Osakada," he began in a strained voice that was threatening to heighten up into full-blown screaming. "I--"

But he was cut off as the girl began talking quickly. "Oh, Ryoma-sama, we were wondering where you ran off to! And here we were looking all over the park for you! We didn't know what else to do, but now that you're here, we really, really need to tell you that--"

"Huh?" Ryoma blurted out in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, there was some noise on the other line and the voice of his sempai began screaming. "OI, ECHIZEN! YOU CALL YOURSELF A MAN? GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW OR--"

"Momo... sempai?"

"You got that right!" Momoshiro growled. "Now get back here and save Ryuzaki or I'll definitely make you pay!"

"Ryuzaki?"

"Sorry, Ryoma-sama. Momo-sempai's a bit... 'hot' right now... wait, Momo-sempai! I-- I-- Let me talk to Ryoma-sama first," Tomoka said in a flustered voice, coming back to the phone. "What he meant to say was that we really need Ryoma-sama here because Sakuno-chan--" Sounds of screaming came into the background.

"Were you guys spying again?" Ryoma cut her off. "Because you got it all wrong, I wasn't on a date with Ryuzaki, I was actually--"

"WE ALL KNOW THE STORY, SO DAMMIT, GO BACK NOW!" It was Momoshiro again. "YOU NEED TO SAVE HER!"

This time, Ryoma was mad. Why would he go back? Why would he even bother? "Shinai," Ryoma told them flatly. "I've got better things to do. Save her yourself. Good bye." And with that, his finger hovered over the FLASH button.

"Echizen, don't you care about what happens to Ryuzaki?" It was Horio.

Ryoma brought the phone back into his ear. His heart began thumping hard against his chest.

"That blue-haired guy-- he isn't what she thinks! And when we got near, we heard him mumbling about making Ryuzaki pay twice for what you did! He won't stop unless he beats you! And we heard something about... about a motel and and and..." Horio continued in a panicked voice. "Please come back here or Momo-sempai would beat us up! Please, Echizen! I don't want my two years of tennis experience to go to waste! Please -- No, Momo-sempai! FORGIVE US! Osakada, what do you think-- WAHHHH!"

Click. Beep. Beep. Beep.

The phone went dead.

Ryoma gripped the phone tightly until his knuckles turned white. Without thinking any more, he jumped out of the bed and rushed outside the house. He didn't have enough time - the train ride was an hour long and he would get there faster by bike. He grabbed his father's mama-chari and began pedaling, despite Nanjiroh's shouts to stop him and to buy a carton of milk on the way home.

No matter how Ryoma tried to deny it, he couldn’t. Because he cared. And he wanted to save Ryuzaki no matter what.

--

By the time Ryoma reached the amusement park, he was greeted by five teary-eyed teenagers. Right after he parked his father’s bike, they told him that Akito already had Sakuno up the Ferris Wheel where he was planning to ask her to go steady. He gritted his teeth in impatience as Tomoka explained that the Ferris Wheel would end in five more minutes.

He couldn’t listen to her properly. His mind was filled with thoughts on how he could stop Akito and how he could make Sakuno believe him after all the shouting he did earlier. He wished that he should have just busted Akito’s head in when he had the chance, whether it ended up with Sakuno hating him or not.

“… to make you jealous.”

Ryoma’s attention snapped back to Tomoka. “Eh?”

Tomoka’s face suddenly flushed with guilt and she lowered her head. “I… I told Sakuno-chan that… that maybe, she could go out on a date with another guy and show it to Ryoma-sama… and make it seem that she likes the other guy so… so you could get jealous.” She looked up at him. “I’m very sorry, Ryoma-sama, I shouldn’t have egged Sakuno-chan to do it!”

“So Ryuzaki doesn’t like him?”

Tomoka shook her head fervently. “But it seemed like Akito-kun liked Sakuno-chan a lot so I told her that she would be making him very happy if she agreed to go out with him.”

“He was the one who did the asking?”

“Yes. Sakuno-chan actually met him on the bus. He was getting scolded by the driver because he didn’t bring any money and she lent him hers. Then, he managed to get her number and he won’t stop bugging her since… but then, she was feeling pretty down because of what you said about her bento the other week…”

That little liar, Ryoma thought, frowning. But he realized that he was no worse than Akito. He clearly remembered that he called Sakuno’s bento ‘mada mada dane’ a few weeks ago, but he didn’t mean it as an insult! It was just because the egg didn’t have any salt…

“So, are you going to just leave poor Ryuzaki alone?” Momoshiro asked, holding Ryoma by the shoulders. “You’re a man! You should fight for your rights!” Ryoma glanced at Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo who had a black eye each (probably from Momoshiro’s tension a while ago).

He looked up at Momoshiro and with a smirk, he declared: “Of course. I’m going to claim what’s mine.” And he tipped up his cap. “And I never lose.”

--

Akito was grinning from ear to ear when the two of them climbed out of the ride’s cabin. Sakuno’s face was red and uncomfortable and their hands were awkwardly intertwined. Akito looked like he won the lottery.

And at that moment, all Ryoma wanted was to wipe off that expression on his face.

“You!” Akito hissed, as soon as he caught sight of Ryoma’s face. His expression turned dark as he marched towards Ryoma, gripping his collar until he raised the freshman off the ground. “So, you dare to show your cocky face to me again, eh?”

“W-Wait, Akito-kun!”

Akito glanced at Sakuno and grinned. “Don’t worry, Sakuno-chan. I’ll beat him to a bloody pulp to take revenge. He shouted at you, didn’t he? I can’t let some rude guy shout at my girlfriend like that, can I?”

Sakuno looked at Ryoma with a worried look on her face. She gripped one of Akito’s sleeves. “Don’t, Akito-kun!” she cried. “Ryoma-kun… e-eto… he didn’t do anything--“

“Who are you kidding?” He smirked at Ryoma as he threw him hard onto the ground. Ryoma’s elbow was gashed, but he just looked up at Akito with a cold look in his eyes. “Look at this bastard’s face. He doesn’t even seem like he’s sorry. ‘Fuck off’, huh?”

“I’m sorry,” Ryoma said flatly.

“Huh?”

Ignoring Akito’s perplexed look, Ryoma stood up and brushed away the dust in his shirt. He looked straight into Sakuno’s eyes and dug his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry I punched you.” Though he was saying that to Akito, he kept his eyes on Sakuno.

“Is this guy joking?” Akito asked incredulously. He glanced from Sakuno and Ryoma before he growled violently and charged Ryoma. He pushed him on the ground and pinned him down forcefully. Ryoma’s expression didn’t change at all and he kept staring at Sakuno.

“Are you insulting me, Ryoma-chan?” he snarled. “You think you can make a fool out of me?” With that statement, he gave Ryoma a hard hit on the stomach. Sakuno gasped in terror but she couldn’t move.

Ryoma flinched in pain and he choked a little, but he soon regained his earlier expression. This time, he fixed his attention towards Akito. “I won’t hit you. I made a stupid promise that I won’t.”

Akito smirked. “Is that so? Then please don’t mind me.” He stood up and grabbed Sakuno by the arm. “Let’s go, babe.” He pulled Sakuno with him and Sakuno couldn’t do anything but follow. She kept looking over her shoulder.

Ryoma stood up again and dusted himself, like what he did the first time. Swiftly, he ran to catch up with them and grabbed Sakuno’s free wrist. He pulled her towards him, thus breaking Akito’s hold onto her. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Akito-chan.”

Akito scowled. “Give her back!”

“You’re forgetting that I’m her chaperone. I can’t let her go with you. Over my dead body.” Ryoma smirked. “Mada, mada dane.”

“Well, then. If that’s what you want.”

Akito charged Ryoma and let his fist strike the tennis prodigy’s face. His lip bled from the sudden pressure and Ryoma reached up to wipe it with the end of his sleeve. Despite the intensity of Akito’s punch, he didn’t budge an inch and kept Sakuno behind him protectively.

Akito grinned and cracked his knuckles. “You shouldn’t play hard to get, Mr. Chaperone.” He began sending out continuous punches on Ryoma’s face, until one side of it turned purple from the swelling. Blood slid down his mouth and he felt his swelling cheek go numb.

To his surprise, Sakuno gripped his shoulder. “T-That promise… please, forget it!” she cried out.

Ryoma smirked. “That’s what I’ve been waiting for.”

And when Ryoma gave him another solid hit on his stomach – exactly what he did before, but this time without restraint – Akito fell down cold.

“Listen,” Ryoma whispered to Akito’s unconscious body, framing one of his hands around his mouth. “She says that she takes back what she said. You two are not going out anymore, got it?” And he grinned at him playfully before he looked back at Sakuno.

“A-Ah…” Sakuno stammered, blushing. “I… a-ano… I’m… I’m sorry for shouting at Ryoma-kun earlier today,” she cleared her throat, “because he was… just doing what obaa-chan told him to do.” She raised her flushed face towards Ryoma. “I hope that Ryoma-k-kun doesn’t misunderstand! I was trying to stop Akito-kun but he kept saying ‘Ryoma-kun this’ and ‘Ryoma-kun that’ so I had to agree--”

Ryoma looked away. “It’s okay. Let’s get you home.” He walked over to the mama-chari that was only a few meters away from them. He glanced at Sakuno and gestured towards the back ride of his bike.

“Hurry up.”

She brightened up and smiled warmly.

“Yes!”

--

“You are a genius, Osakada!”

Tomoka giggled as she raised her cup of juice to meet with Momoshiro’s. Laughter from the other three freshmen rang out and echoed at the empty ramen restaurant.

“Thank you, Momo-sempai!” she beamed. “But I wouldn’t have done with without your convincing charms!” She patted Momoshiro’s arm playfully.

“Who would’ve thought that you could form something so devious? And I pity that poor Akito-guy! He really had it! But then again, Ryuzaki IS pretty cute, so it’s not hard to bait that guy into hitting on her,” Momoshiro laughed. “Everything went according to your plan, and I’m pretty impressed that you could come up with something so accurate! You even stole the poor kid’s money back on the bus! Have you been taking lessons from Inui-sempai? You really got Echizen’s reactions DOWN PAT! Seriously, I never thought that those two would get together THIS easy!”

Tomoka brushed off the compliment. “Ah, Momo-sempai! You flatter me too much! Thank Death Note for everything! Ehehehe!”

“I was the one who convinced Echizen!” Horio suddenly piped up. “With two years of my acting experience, I managed to pull Echizen into saving Ryuzaki from--“

“But of course, Kachiro-kun’s make-up talents are great!” Tomoka said, cutting an annoyed Horio off. “Your black eyes were really believable!” Horio began screaming protests from behind and Tomoka stuck a plastic cup into his mouth to shut him up.

Kachiro blushed and nodded his thanks for the praise. He raised his own cup and happily said, “To the success of Osakada-san’s plans!”

“I’m all for that!” Momoshiro announced, and they all shouted, ‘KAMPAI!’ contentedly.

--

EPILOGUE

Nobody would've guessed that innocent, kind, old Ryuzaki-sensei would think of such a thing. Especially not to Echizen Ryoma, who was practically her grandson (considering that she, at least, thought of Nanjiroh as a son) and who was the most quiet and unbothersome person in her tennis team. But noooo. She had to place a huge problem on his small, late-developing shoulders. And this made him scared.

“I heard that the date went well?” Ryuzaki Sumire’s voice was casual as she talked to Ryoma. She was arranging papers meticulously and Ryoma gulped in nervousness.

“Haii,” he replied, wondering when will the old lady dismiss him and get everything over with.

“Oh. And I heard that my granddaughter enjoyed it a lot.” She glanced at Ryoma offhandedly. “Did you?”

Ryoma shrugged as he felt cold sweat drip down his temples. Somehow, this all felt wrong. VERY wrong.

Sumire suddenly slammed down the set of papers on her desk and it startled Ryoma, as he almost fell from his chair in surprise. She slanted her eyes towards the young man, who was starting to cower in his seat.

“Echizen Ryoma, I WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY UNDISCIPLINED ACTION, DO YOU HEAR ME?” She stood up from her seat and pushed herself closer to him, until she reached a distance so intimidating that it would almost be considered as a kiss. And Ryoma involuntarily shuddered at the thought. “YOU SHALL NOT DO ANYTHING THAT I WON’T APPROVE OF, OR ELSE YOU WON’T LIKE WHAT I’VE PREPARED FOR YOU!”

Ryoma nodded meekly, praying to God that Sakuno didn’t tell her grandmother any unnecessary information about what happened during the last week. So far, he’s beginning to think that God wasn’t listening and Sakuno did just what he feared.

“Y-Yes,” Ryoma replied, and he felt like he was going to wet himself if the coach didn’t stop looking at him murderously.

Sumire sighed as she went back to her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. “Really, you kids these days! After I went into a fit when Sakuno asked me permission to go on a date with a guy named Akito, she goes on telling me that her chaperone asked her out the week after!” she said, emphasizing the word ‘chaperone’ and throwing Ryoma a look of disbelief.

Ryoma felt himself blushing as he looked away.

“Well then, Ryoma,” Sumire said menacingly. “I WILL allow you to go on a date with my granddaughter. Seeing as you did quite a good job as her chaperone, that is.”

Ryoma finally sighed in relief. “Sankyuu, sen--“

“But.” Sumire grinned evilly, a grin that Ryoma knew all too well…

As if on cue, the office door opened, and in slow motion, another face that carried the same grin appeared. With the light that was shining through from the outside, it illuminated him with an angelic, almost magical, halo.

Ryoma’s face was filled with horror as he knew that ‘angelic’ would be FAR from what that grin meant. He looked at Sumire, his eyes wide as if pleading her to tell him that everything was all a joke. But to his dismay, she looked serious.

“He will be your chaperone for next week. I hope you behave.”

“F-Fuji-sempai…”

Fuji smiled widely. “It would be my pleasure.”

--

THE END.

--

Footnotes:

(1)Mama-chari: A popular type of bike in Japan, usually for females, with a basket in front of it. If I remember correctly, Nanjiroh owns one. He rode it when he was asked to bring Ryoma his food. ; I’m not 100 percent sure about that, but still, Nanjiroh looks like the type of person who wouldn’t care if he was seen in public riding one.

(2)Motel: Just an exaggeration on Horio’s part. Akito really didn’t say that.

(3)Death Note: A popular manga/anime series created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. In this case, Tomoka was referring to the part of the story where Light Yagami predicted everything that would follow his dispossession of the Death Note and got everything right in the end. It was pretty cool in a creepy sort of way.

A/N: FINALLY! –sobsob- Actually, the first draft was bloodier than this. Originally, I didn’t have Tomoka and the others into the story and I decided to rewrite it because I felt that I made Sakuno annoying. Much love to astraldrop11 for the continuous egging and support. Advance happy monthsary, honey! :3

I’d like to know how you felt about the ending, so please review and make this girl happy. It would mean much if you could log-in or if you could use your penname (if you’re too lazy to log-in) and tell me so. I’d like to reply to your reviews, too.

Thank you for reading! –bows-

Neko11lover, June 2, 2008

P.S. I invite everyone to vote in my polls :D Self-pimpage, yeah!