Ryoma’s Way of Affection
by: RoyaleDeuce

Pairing: [RyoSaku]
Summary: Sakuno found a new habit of naming objects. Ryoma found a new hatred towards rabbits and insects. Chaos. Jealousy. Pebbles.
Disclaimer: TeniPuri isn’t mine.
Warning: CRACK! Do not take it seriously to enjoy! Slight OOC Sakuno. I think.

[revised version]

• • •

“… Class Insecta is the largest and most diverse class in the animal kingdom. The number of described insect species is estimated to be 750,000…”

Must open eyes… Echizen Ryoma had been struggling ever since the start of the class to stay awake. Must not flunk test… The boy emitted a long yawn which he had continually suppressed all this time. He was very bored. The video they were watching at the moment contained nothing but the gross and disgusting insects which gathered all together and made themselves look even worse. Who could possibly be interested in this topic anyway?

“Oh!” A pleasant voice suddenly sounded. Ryoma looked to where the voice came from, and found himself looking at none other than Ryuzaki Sakuno. The girl had her hands clasped together while looking all fascinated and amazed.

Could it possibly be? Yup. Sakuno was fascinated by all the insects, wriggling altogether looking completely-

“Yes?” The biology teacher spoke up, and seemed to be talking to a particular someone. It was Horio. He had his hand raised.

“M-May I –mpf- g-go to the r-restroom?” The teacher immediately dismissed him. As soon as some light was shed on his face, it was the only time Ryoma noticed his slight greenish color. It can be inferred that he was sick.

“Yech! That’s so gross!” Another familiar voice emerged. It was Osakada Tomoka speaking. “Sa-chan… how can you stand watching all these things?!” she huskily whispered to her best friend who merely smiled in response.

Ryoma sighed in audibly. He could never understand girls. Especially Ryuzaki Sakuno.

• • •

Not so long ago…

“Merry Christmas, Ryuzaki…” Fuji Syusuke, the tennis prodigy, had handed Sakuno a Christmas present wrapped in pink wrapper and tied in a red ribbon. Sakuno gratefully accepted the gift while blushing a bit.

“Arigatou, Fuji-senpai…” Sakuno smiled sweetly after which she stared at the object in her hand. “Ano… Can I open it now?” she shyly asked the boy right in front of her.

“Of course,” the boy smiled fondly.

Sakuno excitedly unwrapped the present. It was a cute pink bunny stuff toy. She gasped awed, and immediately turned to Fuji with a big bright smile. “Arigatou!” she had thanked him once more.

“Nya! My turn! My turn!” Eiji excitedly entered the scene with a pink glittered paper bag in his hands. “For cute, little Ryuzaki-chan!” He handed the gift to Sakuno which the girl immediately opened after a grateful ‘Arigatou’.

Her eyes comically twinkled when her gaze landed on the red-head’s present. It was an adorable chestnut colored teddy bear. “Arigatou, Kikumaru-senpai!” she exclaimed happily.

During the exchanging of gifts last Christmas, Ryoma was silently in a corner, having a dilemma of whether giving the girl his present or not. He sighed after moments of thinking. Probably he’ll just hand the present to the old woman, so that she could be the one to give it to the girl.

“Yo Echizen!” The tall year-two boy had called for Ryoma’s attention. Ryoma responded to his senpai’s greeting with a nod. “Why are you here all alone, eh?” Momoshiro asked curiously.

“Hn.” The tennis prince did not utter any reply at all and remained his intent gaze on the exchanging of gifts. Momoshiro just smirked at him and ignored the boy’s cold shoulder.

“Do you have a gift for Ryuzaki-san?” Momoshiro asked casually. “It’s quite rude if you don’t give her a gift in return after all the handmade presents she gave us.” He grinned cheekily at the boy who remained silent.

“Maybe,” Ryoma replied.

“Ah, if you continue to be like that, you’re going to be so out of place!” Momoshiro remarked suddenly.

“Huh?” Ryoma asked confused. Momoshiro was pointing at the girl indicating for him to see it himself.

Ryoma could hear the girl say, “This is Fuji,” Sakuno pointed at the pink rabbit Fuji had given her. “This is Eiji,” she pointed at the teddy bear. “This is Momo,” Sakuno pointed at a white stuffed-puppy. “This is Kaidoh,” she pointed at a duck stuff toy.

Momoshiro suddenly laughed at this one. But Ryoma ignored him and resumed listening to the girl. He couldn’t help himself. Even if it was a complete nonsense to name objects, he somewhat found it… adorable. And it was okay since it was Sakuno doing it… Bah! Ryoma shook his head at this point in confusion.

“This is Kawamura,” Sakuno pointed at an orange stuffed-cat. “This is Inui,” the girl pointed at a penguin. “This is Oishi,” Sakuno pointed at a rainbow-colored fish stuff-toy. Kikumaru snickered at this one, but Oishi merely blushed. “This is Tezuka,” she pointed at a yellow stuffed-owl, looking very distinguishable cause of its size.

Ryoma sweatdropped; Sakuno had actually named objects after the Seigaku regulars. Now that was completely insane… to him.

• • •

“Obaa-chan!” Sakuno came running towards Sumire after tennis practice one day. She was bringing Fuji (mind you… it was the bunny) along with her. “Will you accompany me to the town square now?” she asked expectantly.

The Seigaku tennis sensei scratched the side of her cheek rather sheepishly. “Ah Sa-chan. I still have lots of paperwork to do. Gomen,” she apologized to a disappointed looking Sakuno.

“Ah… it’s alright,” Sakuno smiled with understanding.

“Maybe I can just ask someone to accompany you then,” Sumire offered kindly. “Echizen!”

• • •

“Arigatou Ryoma-kun…” Sakuno apologized shyly to the silent boy who had accompanied her in the town square. Ryoma didn’t respond to the girl and just kept walking.

Sakuno sighed as she let the boy go ahead of her while she trailed behind. She hugged the pink rabbit near her chest to ease her tension.

There was silence between the two.

Then Ryoma broke it, “Why do you like that rabbit so much?”

Sakuno blushed. “A-Ano… It’s so kawaii…” Sakuno replied softly, slightly embarrassed with Ryoma’s sudden question.

“Hn… carrying dolls around is childish,” he remarked crudely.

Sakuno suddenly burst into tears and ran ahead of Ryoma, going nowhere in particular.

The samurai junior got surprised with Sakuno’s sudden outburst, not understanding why the girl had cried and ran off.

Suddenly, someone grabbed his shirt. “Ah! Echizen! You always make Ryuzaki-san cry!” Momoshiro commented as he glared daggers at the boy.

“Ochibi no baka!!” Kikumaru suddenly popped out of nowhere.

“Love relationship, 0 percent,” Inui remarked, and suddenly appeared.

“What are you doing here?!” Echizen snarled at his senpais, highly annoyed.

“Say sorry to her!” Kikumaru and Momoshiro cried at the same time.

Ryoma sighed in defeat and obeyed the demand of his senpais. “But where did-“

“100 percent in the park,” Inui grinned slyly.

• • •

“Here,” Ryoma was handing out a can of Ponta to the still sniffling girl. Sakuno looked up to the boy. Embarrassed for crying, she immediately wiped off her tears, gratefully accepted the Ponta and thanked the boy.

Ryoma sat himself beside the girl in one of the benches in the park. Silence enveloped the two. Sakuno hugged the pink rabbit lovingly. “Ano… Ryoma-kun. Do you really think carrying a stuff toy around is childish?”

“Yes.”

Sakuno looked disappointed.

Suddenly a pebble hit him on the head. He looked around and found Kikumaru, Momoshiro, and Inui crouched behind one of the park bushes, glaring at him. Ryoma sighed.

“I mean no.”

Sakuno smiled at him.

Admittedly, Ryoma felt quite relieved when he saw Sakuno brighten up. There was silence between the two once more. Then, another pebble had hit him. He swiveled around and found Momoshiro showing a piece of paper saying ‘Start a conversation! You can ask more about her! Like for instance, the name of her rabbit!’ Ryoma narrowed his eyes at his senpai and decided to ignore them. Just as soon as he did that, three more pebbles had hit him, causing Ryoma to finally comply.

He sighed. “What’s the name of your rabbit?” he asked in a mumble, embarrassed that he was asking something stupid.

Sakuno smiled at him for a starting a conversation with pink on her cheeks. Ryoma couldn’t resist not looking away. “His name is Fuji.”

Now that suddenly made Ryoma scowl.

“F-Fuji?”

“Yah. ‘Cause Fuji-senpai gave it to me,” Sakuno replied happily. Ryoma could feel his blood pressure go up as he remembered the time when they exchanged gifts. But why was Sakuno so fond of this one?

“Why do you always bring it along with you?”

“It’s so kawaii.”

“But why that one?”

“Because-“

“Why not the duck?”

“Ano…”

“Or the cat?”

“Er…”

“The bear?”

“…”

“The dog?”

“Why that?” Ryoma wasn’t able to suppress himself from asking these questions. Why the rabbit? Why FUJI’S gift?

Sakuno seemed taken aback with all Ryoma’s inquiry. He was unexpectedly talkative today. “Ano…” She was a bit frightened to answer Ryoma now because of the boy’s surprising outburst. “Ano… because it’s pink.”

Suddenly, another pebble hit the boy. He turned around annoyed and found himself looking at Momoshiro mouthing something to him. ‘Stop doing that! You’re scaring her!’

Ryoma heaved a long sigh. They had wanted him to talk. Now when he was just asking simple questions, they reprimand him! He decided to ignore any pebbles that hit him from now on. He diverted his attention to the girl beside him who was fidgeting with her skirt tensed. It seemed like he did scare her. He admittedly felt relieved when Sakuno said that she liked the rabbit a lot because it was pink.

“Gomen,” he muttered.

Sakuno suddenly faced him and plastered on a smile. “Ah… w-why are you saying sorry Ryoma-kun?” She smiled at him warmly.

Ryoma lowered the brim of his cap to hide the blush that was involuntarily appearing on his face. He could feel it. His face was going warm.

“N-Nothing,” he replied.

After several minutes…

“And one time, Fuji and I went to the beach to watch the sunset,” Sakuno stated.

Ryoma had to repeatedly tell himself that Sakuno was talking about the rabbit. Not Fuji. The rabbit. I’m going insane, he thought to himself.

Suddenly, Sakuno suggested something. “Would you like some ice cream Ryoma-kun?”

Ryoma was quite hungry at the moment, and so he nodded his head. “I’ll buy…” The boy offered. But Sakuno shook her head.

“No… I’ll do it.” She smiled while she hugged the pink rabbit closer to her. “How ‘bout you Fuji? Would you like some ice cream?”

Ryoma had a large sweatdrop dangling on his head at the moment. Tsk. That rabbit is starting to get on my nerves. He grunted. Sakuno was about to head to the ice cream parlor when, “Are you going to bring that with you?” Ryoma asked, pointing at the pink rabbit in Sakuno’s arms.

She nodded.

“It might get lost. Just leave it here…” he suggested kindly causing Sakuno to be surprised, and the boys behind the bushes to be bewildered.

“Okay,” Sakuno smiled sweetly and handed Ryoma the rabbit, after which, she headed off to the ice cream store.

“Psst… Momo. Why did ochibi suddenly turn so kind?” Eiji asked his fellow spy seriously. But Momoshiro shrugged; for he did not know the answer too.

“We’ll just have to wait and see…” he replied.

Just at that moment, Ryoma made his first few signs of movement with the stuffed-rabbit. There was a bulldog roaming around the area with his owner. Having a devious intention in his mind, Ryoma had surprisingly thrown the fluffy toy towards the bulldog, thus indicating the end of Fuji the rabbit.

Momoshiro and Eiji’s mouths were agape. Then they started laughing. “Note: Echizen hates rabbits,” Inui told himself as he wrote the data down on his notebook.

Ryoma seemed a bit more relieved when he had killed Fuji the rabbit. But he dreaded to see Sakuno’s face when she comes back without Fuji in sight. Right at that moment, Sakuno had actually come back with two cones of strawberry ice cream. Not noticing the bulldog killing the bunny, she passed by the murder scene and handed Ryoma his cone. The boy tried his best to look as innocent as possible.

“Ryuzaki… Gomen,” he said softly. “I couldn’t do anything to save him,” Ryoma was pointing at the still raging bulldog that was mercilessly killing Fuji the rabbit.

Sakuno suddenly dropped her ice cream cone and intended to save her rabbit when Ryoma stopped her by grabbing her arm. “No.”

“Fuji!” Sakuno was sobbing.

“Ryuzaki.”

“FUJI!”

• • •

“Achoo,” a certain boy suddenly sneezed.

“Aniki, are you alright?” Yuuta asked his brother concerned.

Fuji nodded his head. “Maybe someone is just saying my name at the moment.”

• • •

Ryoma had received several hits from dozens of pebbles thrown to him by the people behind the bush. He wasn’t actually intending to make Sakuno cry. Her reaction was far more exaggerated than he had imagined. He sighed.

“Gomen…” he apologized.

“Ah… It’s okay Ryoma-kun. It wasn’t your fault Fuji died…” Sakuno said as she finally composed herself from all the severe crying she had emitted a while ago. She wiped the stray tears falling from her eyes. “Besides… that bulldog was so scary so it’s not a surprise we couldn’t get Fuji back.”

“Hn.” He looked away from the girl, embarrassed and guilty for what he did. He couldn’t help it! The rabbit was annoying him so much.

“I’m sorry. I’m such a crybaby.”

“Yeah.” Several pebbles were thrown at him again.

He looked at Sakuno, afraid that she would cry again, but luckily, she had not heard his comment. She was busily staring at something under the bench. It was a centipede.

Gross. Ryoma scrutinized Sakuno’s reaction, expecting any signs of movement to kill the insect. But nope, nothing like that happened. Something far worse happened.

“Since I lost Fuji the rabbit, I would name you Fuji the centipede.”

Sounds of thud were heard from behind the bushes while Ryoma tried his best to keep his remaining sanity. How ridiculous! Fuji was now a centipede!

• • •

“Achoo,” Fuji sneezed once more.

“Ah aniki… you might be having a cold,” Yuuta stated to his brother.

“Nah… someone must really love me to think of me this much,” he said with a smile.

• • •

“Ah! What are you doing?” Ryoma asked annoyed. He was getting enough of this, naming objects! Sakuno was petting the centipede! Could it possibly be that he was losing to an insect?

Sakuno grinned with a slight blush on her face. “Ano… I’m making friends with Fuji the centipede,” Ryoma looked at Sakuno as if she was a complete psycho. “N-Nani… why are you looking at me like that Ryoma-kun?”

Ryoma heaved a long heavy sigh. “Give me that!” He opened the palm of his hands, waiting for Sakuno to give him the centipede. But the girl refused. His patience was wearing thin. He deceived Sakuno with a plain ‘look at that’, after which he grabbed the centipede and squished it with his tennis shoes.

“Note: Ryoma hates insects,” Inui mumbled behind the bushes, taking note of all the present happenings.

“Ah… where did it go?” she asked rhetorically, searching under the bench.

“Why do you always name everything Fuji?” Ryoma asked softly, with slight taints of curiosity and annoyance.

“I had to find a new Fuji because Fuji the rabbit was murdered,” Sakuno answered as a matter-of-factly. Then Sakuno smiled at the tennis prince’s question. “Ano… would you like me to name something after you too Ryoma-kun?”

Ryoma had to blush at this one. But before he could reply, Sakuno had already grabbed another insect from under the bench. “Say hello to Ryoma-kun the ant.”

Howls of laughter were heard from behind the bush.

The End

• • •

A/N: So what do you think? Haha. Please drop by a review!