Tennis no Oujisama © Konomi Takeshi JUMP Shueisha / Axis Powers Hetalia © Himaruya Hidekaz

Okay, so I’m back with a new fic. It’s been a long time since I wrote an actual RyoSaku and I kinda missed it. :D This one is a sort-of sequel to Five Times Ryoma Called Sakuno Dense but you really don’t need to read that fic to get this one.

Aside from being a RyoSaku fic, this is also a TeniPuri crossover with Hetalia, which is my latest obsession. This fic was mostly inspired from the fandom meme that was on darkwings09’s Livejournal.

Dedicated to darkwings09, fellow Ryosaku-shipper, Arthur lover, and overall Hetalia-tard. Let’s keep on seizing vital regions. XD

Close Encounters of the Foreign Kind (a.k.a. Five Reasons Why Ryoma Doesn’t Get Along Well With Foreigners)

ONE (wherein Ryoma encounters England and America)

Echizen Ryoma tapped his foot impatiently on the ground as he checked his watch for the third time. The LCD read 7:00. Normally, Ryoma would still be off to dreamland at this hour. That’s how he loved spending his free days: sleeping. Unless he was forced awake by either his mom or the other people inside their household, Echizen Ryoma was rarely seen up before ten o’clock.

Ryoma was not a morning person. He was never that interested about seeing the break of dawn firsthand or that enthusiastic about feeling the fresh early morning breeze against his skin. He’d rather feel his pillows and his bed. Ryuuzaki Sakuno, however, loved mornings. She liked waking up while the world was still dark; liked savoring the cool and crisp morning air; liked watching the sky break into a myriad of colors as the sun slowly appeared from the horizon.

And it occurred to him that she also liked to make him suffer, taking into account how she went on and made him break his regular morning routine simply by asking him (in the nicest and sweetest way that’s very characteristic of her) if they could continue to have their tennis tutorials in the mornings, specifically during the hours he would have preferred that he’d spent sleeping.

Of course, he could always say no if he wanted to. He was the teacher, after all. He had the power and the authority to set the schedules depending on what’s convenient for him. And if she couldn’t make it on the times he had set, then that’s her problem. She was the one who needed his help; naturally, she was the one who needed to adjust to his rules, to his preferences. It’s not as if he was getting paid to teach her tennis in the first place!

But he never said no. He didn’t even attempt to. Ryuuzaki-sensei would have his head if he made her precious granddaughter go through hell like that. And it’s not just Ryuuzaki-sensei whom he was worried about.

For one, there’s his mother who was very sweet most of the time, but could be quite scary if she wanted to. His old man could attest to that.

(“Don’t make her angry, Ryoma. You don’t like her when she’s angry.”)

Then there’s his sleazy father, who never failed to annoy him with questions about ‘bases’. Did you get to first base? Did you get to second base? Was it a homerun? Ryoma thought his father was weird. He was a tennis player. Why was he asking him about baseball?

(“Cute, Chibisuke. Your naivety is very cute.”

“Ah, stop teasing your brother, Ryoga. He's young and inexperienced, you know.”

“Ch’ You two are annoying.”)

Of course, how he could forget Ryoga, who frequently joked about how he would take Sakuno away if he ever made her upset? Ryoma didn’t find any humor in it at all.

(“Can you enlighten me as to which part is the punchline?”)

Then, he had his aunts who were already planning his wedding. His wedding! And it all began when they asked him if he was seeing Ryuuzaki on a regular basis.

(“Yes, I’m dating her.”)

He thought he was only answering a question but for some reason, they took it as if he were announcing his engagement. Damn, his head hurt a lot just by thinking about how his aunts would pester him about the wedding details. Like his Aunt Mimi for instance, who recently asked him what color he wanted for the motif.

(“Do you prefer blue, Ryoma-chan? Or would you like it green instead?”

“Auntie, I just turned eighteen. We should not be having this conversation.”

“ I think you should get Sakuno-chan’s opinion as well. She’s is a part of this after all.”

“Hey you, don’t encourage her!”

“Ah, you’re right, Ryoga-chan. Do you have her number?”

“Did you hear any word I’ve said? Oi, nobody touch that phone!”)

There were also his former teammates, specifically Momo and Kikumaru who considered securing the happiness of his love life as one of their many civic duties. Ryoma wondered why they didn’t get themselves a “happy love life” first before they started meddling with his.

(“Ochibi, that’s not how you handle a relationship with a girl!”

“Senpai is right. You should listen to us.”

“You got no room to talk, Momo-senpai. Weren’t you just dumped by Tachibana’s sister a week ago? ”

“Why you little --?!”

“Oi,Momo,let’s not be violent.”

“And Kikumaru-senpai’s relationship with Ooishi-senpai hasn’t progressed a bit right?”

“Ochibi!”)

And then there’s that loud friend of hers-- Osakada who adored Ryuuzaki as much as she claimed to be his number one fan.

(“I like you a lot, Ryoma-sama, I really do. But if you ever break Sakuno-chan’s heart, I’m sorry but I will have to make you pay for it.”)

Oh, and Karupin,too. His Karupin. He was surprised at how his cat could change his loyalties just because of one can of cat food. The little traitor.

Ryoma dubbed them the “Ryuuzaki Sakuno Support Group” and they could be a rather scary bunch. But Ryoma knew it was not just the fear of being slaughtered by them that brought him here. It was something else; something that could make him sacrifice the habits he had been doing for years just so he could see her warm, affectionate smile.

He, Echizen Ryoma, was in love with Ryuuzaki Sakuno, that’s the plain and simple truth.

But he needed to just to clarify one thing: just because he was so smitten with the auburn-haired girl did not automatically mean that she could get away with whatever she did. Like showng up late, for example. Ryoma refused to believe that she had that much power over him. He was Echizen Ryoma, after all. He always had top control.

Ryoma checked his watch again and sighed exasperatedly. 7:05. She was very late. Okay, that was exaggerated. She was only five minutes late. He, however, had been waiting for her for the past 25 minutes. He thought of coming to the tennis park earlier than their expected meeting time of 7:00 because he assumed she would as well. But it turned out he thought wrong. And to think he did her a favor by coming early so she didn’t need to wait for him!

Wasn’t she supposed to be all excited to see him? Because she was his girlfriend and that’s how it’s supposed to work right?

Ryoma cursed. This relationship-thing could be confusing sometimes. Somebody should write an in-depth manual about it. Like The Idiot’s Guide to Better Relationships for the Romantically-challenged or How to Act Like a Boyfriend for Dummies. He surely needed it.

When the LCD on his watch displayed the time 7:10, Ryoma decided to give her a call on his mobile phone. When she didn’t answer, he moved from his place and went to look for her. He didn’t entertain the thought that she might be lost. True, she did have a bad sense of direction most of the time but they’d been here to this park for several times he was certain it was impossible for her to get lost. He was worried about something else.

Sakuno was a magnet for trouble. He didn’t know what was it in her but trouble just kept on coming her way the same way a bee would hover over a flower. She might as well wear a shirt that said, “Hey you bullies, come and get me!”

Fortunately, he was always there in time. He would save her and she would look at him like he was Superman or something. And he liked it. Contrary to what others thought of him, he liked being a hero. He liked being her hero.

But he’d rather that she kept herself out of trouble.

However, for that morning, he discovered that his wish was left unheeded as he saw two men surrounding and leering down at her as if they wanted to devour her for breakfast. Ryoma gritted his teeth. He hated perverts, so early in the morning even.

Then he noticed what she was wearing and groaned. It was that tight white shirt that hugged her every curve and that short white skirt that showed off her shapely legs. After he had settled the issue with those two bastards, he swore he was going to have a long discussion with her about her attire.

That shirt and that skirt was nothing but bad news.

Ryoma’s golden eyes flared with unspoken anger when one of the men dared to grab her harshly by the arm. He heard her demand for her release, followed by a whimper as the man seemed to have tightened his grip on her,

And at that moment, Ryoma really lost it. No one was allowed to hurt her. Anyone who dared would have to answer to him.

“Let her go.” His voice was firm and controlled, but one could not miss the underlying fury in his every word.

The two men stared at him haughtily. They were taller and bigger than he was but Ryoma was not afraid. The look of hope and relief in Sakuno’s eyes upon seeing him was more than enough to give him the confidence he needed.

“Well, well, well, look who we got here, Tooru. A pipsqueak wanting to play the knight-in-shining-armor for the damsel-in-distress.”

“Get lost, punk! This is none of your business.”

Ryoma seethed. “Didn’t you hear what I said? I said Let. Her. Go.”

Tooru snickered and he handed Sakuno to his companion who held the girl tightly on each arm. Smirking still, he slowly approached the feline-eyed boy, who remained unfazed. “This is a good way to exercise,” he stated while cracking his knuckles.

Meanwhile, Sakuno was trying her best to escape.

“Stop squirming, girlie. It’s not gong to do you any good. Why don’t you just watch how Tooru destroys that meddling boy’s pretty face?”

Sakuno refused to listen. She had to free herself somehow and run; run away with Ryoma. While she was delighted to see him, she was also scared of what might happen. True, Ryoma had never been beaten before; he had never ended up with stitches or glaring bruises. But there was always a first time for everything. (Tooru was larger, bulkier than Ryoma.) And she didn’t want to witness that firsthand.

Silently, Sakuno prayed for a miracle.

“Prepare yourself, punk. I’m going to kick you a--!”

And a miracle came.

“Tooru!”

It took Ryoma a while to digest what had happened. One moment, Tooru was inching towards him ready to kill. Next, he saw him flying to the side, yelping in pain and in his place, a blond, bespectacled man stood. He was grinning from ear to ear.

“Don’t worry, kids. Your hero has come to save the day,” the stranger spoke in perfect English. Judging by his accent (or lack thereof), Ryoma deduced he was American. An American with a very powerful kick, he noticed, but with very poor observation skills. Ryoma believed he didn’t look a bit like a kid anymore.

From the corner of his eyes, he spotted Tooru recovering from his blow. Despite the occasional winces, Ryoma could see that he was determined to get some payback.

“Fuck you, you stupid foreigner!”

And with that, he lunged forward, aiming to hit the American on his face. But the man deftly sidestepped and tripped him in the process. Tooru stumbled forward. And then he felt a powerful fist connect underneath his chin. And then another on his cheek.

Tooru’s world immediately turned to black.

“Wonderful entrance, Alfred. The lack of modesty and refinement is so you.”

Another blond man came. The guy who punched Tooru was a bit shorter than the other and had strikingly thick eyebrows. His accent gave away that he was British.

“And the jealous tone after being upstaged is so you as well, Arthur.”

The man called Arthur rolled his eyes. “Please, being jealous of you is the last thing I’ll ever feel.” he said before turning to the guy that was still holding Sakuno captive and ordered, “Hey you, I suggest you bloody let go of the girl now you don’t want to have your arse kicked like your friend over here..” He gave Tooru a gentle kick on the head.

The guy looked at him in both in fear and in confusion.

“He probably doesn’t understand English. Talk to him in Japanese.” Alfred suggested.

Arthur mentally groaned. Truthfully, his Japanese was rather inferior. But there’s no way, no bloody way in hell that he would let Alfred have the satisfaction of knowing that. He hoped that the guy would be smart enough to understand his unspoken commands.

“Hey you…” he called for the other man’s attention. He pointed finger at him, while keeping an intimidating expression. And then he brought his finger near his neck and pretended to draw an imaginary line across it: the universal symbol for the statement ‘you are so dead.’ Arthur was relieved that the Japanese understood and quickly he released the girl and went to pick up his fallen friend, before scurrying out of the area.

Alfred laughed even before the scared Japanese was out of earshot. ”I said talk to the man in Japanese, not do the sign language.”

“Lesson number one, my hamburger-brained friend. Sometimes, you don’t need to recite an entire paragraph just to get your point across.” Arthur replied haughtily.

“Or maybe your Japanese is bad.”

“Shut up.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve never really heard you talk in Japanese except when you wanted to ask where the toilet was. And you've always made me communicate with the people here.”

“No, I don’t. You do that by yourself because you like hogging the attention.”

“Admit it, it you can’t speak Japanese well, can you?”

“Well, you have a funny way of speaking it!”

Ignoring the conversation happening between the two men, Ryoma took this chance to run to Sakuno’s side.

“Ryoma-kun…”

“Did that bastard hurt you badly?”

“I’m fine,” Sakuno replied meekly. “I’m sorry I got in trouble again. I don’t know why these things always happen to me. I must be cursed with bad luck, and you always get dragged into it.”

“Never mind that.”

“But…”

“Do you hear me complaining?”

She shook her head.

“Did you ever hear me complain?”

She shook her head again.

“Good. That ends the discussion.”

Sakuno gave him a small warm smile, one that made his every effort to save her all worth it. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For always saving me.”

He smirked at her as if telling her that it was expected of him. Then he glanced at the two blonds still bickering stupidly over each other’s Japanese fluency. His smirk faded. “Not today, though,” he said a bit bitterly.

Sakuno followed his line vision. “I guess we should go and ahead thank them now.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

“But my English is terrible…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do it.” Ryoma sighed. Though he was grateful that they helped saving Sakuno, he didn’t really like how they stole the moment from him. “Hey, misters!” he yelled in English, catching both of their attentions. “Excuse me for interrupting your conversation but thanks for saving my friend. I really appreciate it,” he said in a perfectly monotonous tone. He wanted to be sincere, really. But it’s hard when he’s slightly upset.

The guy with the glasses waved his hand dismissively. “Oh don’t mention it. It’s all in a day's work for a hero like me and---”

“Quit it with the hero complex. It’s bloody annoying,” the Englishman cut in. Ryoma silently seconded.

Alfred completely ignored this. “As I was saying, it’s just normal for me to save people who needed to be saved, especially kids.”

Ryoma raised a brow at this. “Let me just clarify some things. One, I’m not a kid; I don’t like being called one. Two, I did not need saving. I could handle those two guys by myself."

He heard the man named Arthur snicker. "Surely..."

Ryoma gave him a sharp glare. He was beginning to really dislike these guys. "Yes, surely. But thanks for the help even if it was not really necessary. Let’s go, Ryuuzaki.”

And with that he pulled a confused Sakuno away from the two foreigners. But as she was being led away, she didn’t forget to give them a grateful smile and a few English phrases she had learned. “uh… thank you. Nice punch!”

Ryoma looked back at her with a furrowed brow. “Nice punch?" That was random.

Sakuno only shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

“Some of these Japanese kids are really rude.”

“Give the boy some slack. You can’t really blame him for wanting to be the hero in the eyes of his pretty, little girlfriend.”

“Geez..if you knew that then why did you have to steal his thunder?”

“Because if I didn’t, then I wouldn’t be the hero.”

“Your way of thinking will forever boggle me.”

End One.

Thank you for reading.