All disclaimers apply.

Apples

by neko11lover

Ryuzaki Sakuno broke out into a wide smile as her brown-haired sempai came into view. Excitedly, she plopped down beside him and took out an apple from her paper bag. After handing it to him, she leaned in closer. "Guess what, sempai?"

Fuji slowly took a bite out of his apple. "Shall I dare to guess?"

Sakuno couldn't help but laugh animatedly. "I'll tell you!" she gushed enthusiastically. "Ryoma-kun helped me carry my groceries yesterday!"

"You don't say..." Fuji mused as he took another bite. "Tell me more about it."

"Okay, okay. I was walking down the street carrying three bags of groceries," she held out three fingers for emphasis, "and suddenly, Ryoma-kun came out of the bookstore across the street!" Sakuno continued to tell everything that happened and Fuji sat smiling at her, taking occasional bites from the apple.

For three weeks now, the two have been spending their second break together, talking. Everyday, Sakuno would bring two apples - her favorite fruit in the whole world - and they would eat as they talked. Sakuno liked how apples matched with her sempai. Fuji apples.

"I didn't expect Echizen to have such a nice side to him," Fuji said after Sakuno was done talking. He was finished with his apple and rolled the core in a piece of paper.

Sakuno gave a small pout. "Ryoma-kun IS nice. That's why I admire him a lot. He also gets good grades and he's doing well in tennis! He's really amazing!"

"Saa, you really like him, don't you, Sakuno-chan?"

The girl blushed before nodding shyly. "I... like Ryoma-kun as much as I like apples." She gave a goofy grin.

"So much that you'd like to eat him everyday?"

Sakuno laughed. "Not like that, Fuji-sempai! I wouldn't want to eat Ryoma-kun!"

To Sakuno's surprise, a serious look came across Fuji's face. "You know," he said, looking up at the sky, "it's not bad to have oranges now and then." But the serious moment ended quick as it was replaced with another smile. "Well, it seems that today will be the last day that I'll be sharing your apples, Sakuno-chan. With your plan and all, I wish you the best of luck."

"It's not yet decided, sempai," Sakuno murmured, blushing. "We're not sure what Ryoma-kun would say yet."

Fuji placed an encouraging hand on Sakuno's and smiled brightly. "It's Echizen. I'm fairly sure that he likes you. Besides, who can reject someone like Sakuno-chan? I surely wouldn't." His smile lifted up her spirits. "Tomorrow, Echizen will sit with you. And don't forget his apple."

Sakuno beamed at his words. "Thank you, Fuji-sempai! I'll do my best!"

'I don't feel the same way,' Ryoma said in response to her confession.

With trembling lips, Sakuno asked, 'What... do you mean by that, Ryoma-kun?'

Flatly, Ryoma replied, 'I don't like you like that, Ryuzaki.'

In the end, Ryuzaki Sakuno was rejected. For some reason, she couldn't cry. She just felt emptly.

The following day, in an attempt to find comfort, she ran towards their meeting place, hoping to find someone to cry to. But there was nobody waiting. Thumbing the empty spot next to her that was usually filled by her smiling sempai, she felt more lonely than ever.

Feeling hurt, Sakuno gripped her apple, wondering why he had lied to her, telling her that no one would reject her. Why didn't he tell her the truth? Why didn't he tell her that Sakuno was no good after all? He would've saved her from all the hurt and embarrassment!

She felt her face burning with anger. Fuji... Fuji made a fool of her And now when she needed him most, he was nowhere to be found.

There were times that the tensai tried to talk to her. But every time he did, she would purposely go the other way. Her face burned at the sight of Fuji and she couldn't bear to even look at Ryoma anymore. After a few more weeks of attempting to talk to her, Fuji finally gave up. Ryoma, on the other hand, didn't seem to care at all. Sakuno was relieved to have escaped the two.

One afternoon after class, Sakuno found Ryoma waiting outside her room. Feelings from that day came back to her and she began to walk away quickly. Ryoma grabbed her by the wrist before she got away. She tried to wriggle free, but the grip was too strong.

Ryoma frowned. "You're different now."

Sakuno frowned back. "So what?" she snapped. Quickly, she placed her free hand on her mouth, surprised at her own words.

Ryoma's eyebrows met in irritation. "What's your problem?" he asked angrily.

Sakuno pulled back her arm and took a deep breath. She was different now, wasn't she? She might as well live up to it. "What's your problem?" She began to walk away again, but Ryoma began to laugh. Irritated, she turned around. "How rude! If Ryoma-kun doesn't have anything to say, then he might as well ignore me as always!"

"You're really stupid."

Sakuno gasped at the insult. How could he? she thought. First, he dumped her. Now, this. She walked away farther.

"You know," Ryoma called out. "I beat Fuji-sempai again today."

She stopped.

Ryoma continued. "I also beat him the other day... and the day before that... and... well... he punched me."

Sakuno looked him in shock. "Fuji-sempai? Why would..."

The boy stared blankly at Sakuno. "It's not like he had the right to, so I punched him back."

She was speechless. When she found her voice, she managed to choke out a feeble "Why?"

Ryoma scratched his chin and looked at Sakuno as if he was stating the obvious. "Because he made you confess to the wrong guy."

Sakuno ran through the streets, clutching the paper bag full of apples to her chest. Panting, she recalled Ryoma's words that afternoon. Sempai was acting weird because of you, Ryuzaki, he had said with that smirk on his face. It was pretty obvious. I guess you aren't the bright type after all.

Though insulting, Sakuno felt her cheeks warm up. Why was she running to Fuji now, she wondered? Wasn't she mad at him before? Wasn't she blaming him for everything? Suddenly, she felt very embarrassed. Fuji didn't actually do anything and she didn't have the right to face him now, after all that had happened. But her body was moving on its own.

Reaching the familiar yellow house she once went to, her heart began thumping dangerously on the chest. Nervously, she reached to ring the doorbell.

It was Fuji Yuuta who answered the door. He eyed her bag warily and gave her an uncaring look. "We're not buying any apples. Sorry," he told her before he began to close the door.

Sakuno blushed and shook her head hard. "I'm here to see Fuji... sempai."

Yuuta took a look at her uniform. "What for?"

"Um... I'd like to give him these apples."

The younger Fuji paused. "Apples. You're giving aniki apples." He looked at her as if she just told him that she was from Mars.

"Yes. Sempai told me that he likes them a lot."

Yuuta crossed his arms over his chest. "You must be joking. Aniki's allergic to apples." He frowned at her. "His face swells like a big bug bite a few hours after eating and he needs shots right after. He hates apples and we never even buy them. Is this some kind of sick joke?" He looked ready to slam the door if he needed to.

Sakuno's jaw dropped. Fuji... was allergic to apples all this time? And here she was, feeding him those apples and even bringing him a bagful. Her knees felt like they were melting.

"Sakuno-chan?"

She turned around to see her sempai behind her. He was still wearing his uniform and his racket was slung over his shoulders. He smiled at her the way he used to before. "How are you doing? What brings you here?"

Sakuno blushed again. "I... came to bring sempai apples."

"But aniki--!" Yuuta began. Fuji ran up to his younger brother and pulled him inside. Looking at Sakuno, he invited her in. "Sorry, Sakuno-chan. Have you been standing out there for long?"

"Not really..." Sakuno mumbled.

"Aniki, aren't you..."

"Yuuta, please get our guest some tea."

"It's okay!" Sakuno blurted out. The Fuji brothers stared at her. She continued to speak. "I... brought apples for Fuji-sempai! For all those weeks I didn't come during second break! And I wanted sempai to eat apples because they're healthy and they taste great! And I brought ten more to thank him for everything he's done up until now!"

Fuji smiled. "The apples are lovely, Sakuno-chan. Thank you."

Sakuno finally smiled for the first time in weeks. "Please... would you spend second break with me again, sempai?" Sakuno asked hopefully, bowing low.

This time, Fuji's face brightened up. He touched Sakuno's head. "Of course." He moved his hand to get the apples from Sakuno. "Shall I wait for Monday's apples, then?"

To his surprise, Sakuno pulled back. "No!" she said firmly. Yuuta tried not to laugh at his brother's shocked face. Fuji composed himself quickly. "Oh, I... I might have misunderstood..."

Sakuno shook her head again. "I'm bringing oranges next time."

Fin.

A/N: ... Okay, that was cheesy. It really feels good to write from the gut. I mean... you write from what you think and you don't have to over scrutinize things. I know the way the story is written is very messy, and the style isn't as 'clean-cut' as before. But you know, I missed writing like this. It's fun. :-) (BTW, I love FF dot net's new document editor)

I'd like to thank astraldrop11 for teaching me that. Thank you, astral-chan. You gave me strength to believe in the power of writing from the gut. That's the feeling I get whenever I read your stories. Recently, I've been writing so meticulously (though still flawed XD), prioritizing on grammar and all that. That's why I've grown tired of writing. But I'm happy again. I'll keep doing my best to be good at both, just like you. :D Thank you very much. (Oh yes, this is what too much cheese does to you.)

And yay, I didn't make Sakuno cry this time.

neko11lover