-weeps- Oh my God. Finally.

All disclaimers apply.

Chapter Ten: The Gigolo Ends

Goodbye?

It's a greeting for partings.

It means let's meet again.

- Fai to Chii, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

“Wait!”

Ryoma stopped, making Sakuno stop with him. Her sudden appearance, her speech, her words… all of these made no sense to Ryoma at all. Usually, he wouldn’t even try to understand her since it was too troublesome, but this time, he wanted to know. He hadn’t been sure of anything else than then.

“What… What are you thinking?”

For a split-second, a frightened look passed by Sakuno’s face. As soon as it appeared, though, it was replaced by one of determination – similar to the expression she had before pulling him away from Tomoka.

“Ryoma-kun… come with me?”

“Where?!” Ryoma demanded, almost shouting. He was getting angrier by the minute. Did Sakuno think that all of these would work on him? And the stunts she was always pulling… couldn’t she at least think of things before she did them? “What’s wrong with you? Why did you drag me into this?”

Sakuno said nothing and just stared at him, her expression unwavering. He opened his mouth to speak again, but paused when he saw the unasked question in Sakuno’s eyes. Do you still want to come? She asked. She bit her lip, waiting for his response.

Suddenly not knowing what to say, Ryoma nodded and took her hand.

xxx

Sakuno brought him to the rooftop.

Ryoma was expecting her to take him out of the airport, to escape, like the way they did before. He said nothing, though, and just sat down at a bench and waited as Sakuno observed the planes.

“Ryoma-kun…” Sakuno began, turning around slightly to look at him. She was smiling. “I said goodbye to Fuji-sempai.”

Ryoma’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. After staring into Ryoma’s face for a while, Sakuno reddened. All of a sudden, strong Sakuno disappeared and was replaced by the old one, stuttering and nervous.

“A-Ah… because… because I was serious… when I told Ryoma-kun that…”

As Ryoma watched Sakuno dig for words to say, and thread them together, he smiled to himself. Random patches of memories from the past two months came back to him. It made him feel happy, and a little bit lonely. All of the anger he had been feeling earlier somehow evaporated. The sight of the usual Sakuno comforted him, maybe.

“I know,” he offered. “But you were wrong.”

Yes, he was making the right decisions. He knew in himself that he was. Sakuno… was just too young to understand things. Well, he was, too, in a sense. But being able to look at it from a different perspective, Ryoma managed to grasp their situation. As much as he would like to tell himself that he should trust Sakuno, he couldn’t. Things change easily, and Sakuno was just a child, compared to him. She was being spontaneous, acting on sudden bursts of emotion. If ever he agreed to what she said, and reciprocated her feelings, she would soon realize that it was just a fleeting attraction, and in the end, it would be Ryoma who’d be taking the pain.

He didn’t like that.

“B-But…”

Ryoma took a deep breath. He needed to hurt her again, to make her realize his point. “You’re just a kid,” he told her. “You’d thank me for this soon.”

Sakuno shook her head obstinately. “I won’t! I’m sure! I love Ryoma-kun and I’d do my best to grow up fast and be mature so you can see me like that, too!”

“Why did you give me this job in the first place?” Ryoma asked, wanting to make her think about other things. He didn’t like to hear her like that and no matter how harsh he was, he just couldn’t bring her down. He was still getting the thoughts that maybe, he did like her, too, but that was just impossible. And if ever he was right, he couldn’t really say yes, as well. “There were other people who could do it. Professionals. But you chose me.”

“I… I don’t know!”

“Tomoka-san asked you to?”

Sakuno shook her head and lowered it in embarrassment. “I… I made it up… but Tomo-chan really just broke up with Horio-san!” she defended herself. “Ryoma-kun… just looked so sad then… and scared, too… so I wanted to help… and I got the idea that maybe, you can be happy…”

“You wanted to help me?” Ryoma asked incredulously. “You think hiring me to be a gigolo would help me?! And then you tell me strange things and expect me to say yes to everything you say?”

Sakuno looked hurt.

“I’m sorry,” Ryoma muttered.

“I’m sorry,” Sakuno echoed, her voice filled with sincerity.

Finally, Ryoma managed a small smile. “At least everything ends today. So you don’t have to be confused anymore.” He didn’t know if he was speaking for himself or for Sakuno, but he didn’t bother to think about it too much anymore.

“Ryoma-kun… I won’t ask you to wait anymore.”

Relief flooded Ryoma… with a strange mix of disappointment. He smiled again and nodded.

“Obaachan says that she’ll be taking me far away because of what happened. She says that it’s too dangerous. I heard that it was to America…” she told him, her head hanging slightly low. As if finding a new source of courage, she looked up and met Ryoma’s eyes. “But I’ll find you someday and try my best again.”

Once again, determined Sakuno appeared. “I’ll change, Ryoma-kun. I’ll think about things better. I’ll study harder. I’ll do my best in everything.” Her eyes sparkled in enthusiasm. “I’ll be someone Ryoma-kun can see as someone he could like, too.”

Her speech made Ryoma laugh. He stood up and patted her head. Knowing that she was leaving… he quickly pushed the thoughts out of his head. “You’ve given me too much trouble already,” he said, smirking. “Don’t think about giving me more in the future.”

Sakuno smiled.

“Well,” Ryoma said with finality. As if on cue, the door to the rooftop opened, revealing a panicked set of teenage boys, all looking worried sick. He pulled out something white from under his coat, and handed it to Sakuno. It was the cap.

Ryoma made his way toward the boys, leaving Sakuno looking at the planes taking off and clutching the cap. Maybe she was crying. Or maybe she was smiling then. Ryoma never knew. He didn’t look back.

“I guess this is goodbye.”

And it was.

xxx

It was in the middle of October and Echizen Ryoma felt scared. Not scared, he thought firmly. Just worried, that’s all. He stared into the group of students in front of him and somehow, the sight of those kids seemed to be pushing him away.

He bowed low.

“I will be your new teacher for today,” Ryoma said. He stood up straight and wrote his name on the blackboard. He felt suddenly nervous, as he heard the chatter behind him. This school was supposed to be familiar… yet why did he want to suddenly run away? No, he told himself firmly. Not anymore.

“Please take care of me.”

A few days ago, he was finally accepted as a teacher in Seigaku… to take Tezuka Kunimitsu’s advisory class – high school seniors – as the former was promoted to Vice-Principal.

After everything that had happened, he was welcomed back into the house by his parents and he announced that he wanted to move into the apartment where he and Sakuno stayed. He decided to continue his last year at Seigaku, and with tears in his father’s eyes, Nanjiroh agreed. Okay, maybe not tears, but he was certainly relieved, especially after learning that his son earned quite the amount just from two months. Soon after finishing high school, he continued to study to become a teacher, and a year after graduating, he finally got what he wanted.

Of course, Ryoma didn’t actually plan on choosing such a job. But somehow, it made him feel closer to the school and he could make up for the days when he stayed in school while not being actually there. He had spent so much days before living them as they passed by.

Sakuno… he didn’t hear from her at all. He had heard from Momoshiro that she transferred to America a few days after Christmas, but aside from that, there was nothing. Sometimes, he thought about her and wondered if he really did love her back then… but he decided that it wasn’t important anymore. It was already in the past.

He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of a scraping chair.

“S-Sensei!”

Ryoma looked at the person who called him, and his eyes widened at the sight of a girl with two abnormally long pigtails hanging behind her. She was shaking like crazy, and she had this wild look in her eyes, as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. He took a step back, just in case what he was thinking was right.

“You?” he breathed out.

The girl smiled and nodded.

Ryoma groaned in response as he let himself lean against the cold, hard blackboard behind him. He glanced at the grinning girl in front of him, and at that exact moment, he knew that he was entering some sort of personal hell.

Not again.

xxx

THE END.

xxx

A/N: I never thought this day would come. I hope the ending wasn’t too predictable? XD This wasn’t exactly the best story I ever wrote but I had fun with this. I couldn’t make this too emotional… I think all my emotions were gone when I wrote the last chapter in Flowers in February… and there was nothing left. Haha. ANYWAY. Thank you for reading this far!

Neko11lover