By the way. I have a deviantart.com account. Had it since grade school but since I don't have a scanner. Never got to scan my work... until now. MUWHAHAHA. I have a scanner now and well, I scan my sketches now. RyoSaku fans will like it cause I plan to upload some RyoSaku pictures I've done over the years. I'm not the best artist, but I'm fairly okay with the way I draw.

Just drop by for if you want some visuals and maybe some requests. I probably can do it. :)

My account over there is: Mayris http://mayris.deviantart.com/

Sakuno's Laugh

He just noticed it. And the moment he did, it dawned in ever so vividly.

Sakuno Ryuzaki, that girl. She deliberately shuts up whenever he was around.

He realized it when he saw her laughing out loud from the corner of his eye. He was walking back from the cafeteria at the time. And right there, inside the neighboring class, was Sakuno Ryuzaki laughing her heart out with a couple of familiar faces.

"Yeah, and then, he just bolts!" Horio, apparently the storyteller that time, finished with a teary-eyed laugh. The students surrounding him echoed soon afterwards.

And Sakuno, her laugh. Her laugh was something. Ryoma couldn't place it, maybe it was because of all his friends, she was the only one who never laughed in front of him, but he liked her laugh. Unable to deny it, he walked towards the crowd of his peers. He wanted to hear more of her laughter.

"Echizen! You just missed it!" Horio burst out in greeting. "I was telling them about this one time when in a grocer,"

"You're leaving, Sakuno?" Ryoma's attention shifted to the whispers behind him.

"Yes." Sakuno answered. Her hand was over her mouth. And her face was pink.

"And then this guy was standing beside me. Then, the girl, she was a brunette, super cute, turned towards us and asked me out but then--"

With Sakuno gone, Ryoma could only stare and stand in front of Horio bleakly. Truthfully, Horio's story wasn't interesting at all.

Later on that week, while tending to his tennis gear after practice, Ryoma found himself staring up at Sakuno. His mouth twitched as he looked at her face. There it was again, he thought as the sun peaking behind the brunette's build glared down at him. The polite; guarded smile. Sure, he liked her smile. But there was a limit to politeness. She once told him she wanted to be good friends with him. So, what was it with the attitude? Why couldn't she just burst out with emotion around him? She has done it once before, so why not?

"Grandma said she'd give you a ride if you want." She said, oozing with niceness.

"No."

"Oh. Okay, then." Sakuno smiled. She was about to leave when Ryoma stopped her.

"Why don't you ever laugh in front of me?"

Sakuno turned around to face him with a questioning brow.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Ryoma said, his voice demeaning. Standing from his seat, with his tennis bag slung over his shoulder, he continued to stare her down. "Why is it you never laugh in front of me?"

"I-- don't?" Sakuno answered uneasily.

"You don't."

"Well, ma--maybe because there's nothing to laugh about?" Sakuno continued, stuttering.

"Really? It wasn't funny when Horio made that slip in the hallway earlier? I saw you." Ryoma's eyes glared at her. "You were laughing. And you stopped the moment you saw me."

"I--I did... not."

Ryoma gave her a look.

"And that one time, with Momo-senpai. You shut up the moment I walked into the store." Ryoma's eye twitched. Sakuno refused to respond. "Well? Why don't you laugh in front of me? Does my presence ruin your fun?"

"I--" Sakuno started, looking down. Her face was red. "It's not that." Finally looking up to Ryoma, she continued to say. "I just, well. I just get conscious when you're around."

"Why?" Ryoma asked with a raise of his brow.

"Well! That's how girls are around their crushes." Sakuno burst out. Her cheeks puffing red. Ryoma's eyes widened at her sudden confession. "I mean, you do know, right? That I have a crush on you?"

..."Don't you?"

Ryoma, fazed, merely stared at her, dumbfounded.

"You... have a crush on me?" He knew a lot of people who fancied him. But, Sakuno? He would never have thought of it. It's just... she's the old hag's granddaughter. She was supposed to be immune to him.

"We-well! Now that you know, you know. I'm sorry for the confusion." Sakuno uneasily said. "I better head back."

"Wait." Ryoma suddenly said. "That's it?"

Sakuno looked at him quizzically.

"Don't you want an answer?"

Sakuno only smiled at him. Although, it was a different smile. It was a smile of self-pity.

"Ie. It's okay. It's just a little crush anyway."

"Hn." Ryoma looked away in thought. "Well. You're right."

Sakuno's heart dropped. Battling the trembling of her lips, she turned around and left, whispering lightly.

"Ryoma-kun no baka."

"I heard that, you know." Ryoma suddenly called out. Looking back with a red face, Sakuno could only stare with wide eyes at Ryoma. "If you're going to be so bitter about it, let's go out then. I know this comedy bar downtown."

"Go--go out? Why?"

"I want to see you laugh. That's all there is to it."

A few weeks later, the two were able to go out. They went to the comedy bar Ryoma was talking about. And he, the whole time they were there, couldn't tear his gaze off the brunette laughing heartily beside him. The moment he realize he's been staring at her for over an half hour, he thought to himself.

Maybe, just maybe. He had this crush thing worse than Sakuno.

1/29/12

Hi! I'm KenRik. I wasn't hacked. I just got rid of approximately six years worth of clutter. I write as a hobby. I love reviews. I'm a perfectly adequate artist. I'm a college student. I'm Asian. And, I'm supposed to be studying right now. But aren't we all?

Pairings:

RyoSaku, SakuCentric, TomoKai, HoMoka, SoMa, 1xR, BarneyRobin, Jam, NaruSaku, SasuSaku, KibaSaku, EdWin, YamakenShizuku, HaruShizuku, SasayanNatsume, NatsumeMikan, NaruMai, ZuTara, RobinStarfire, MomoAnn, NaoAkiyama, DorothySeravi, AllenLenalee, SamDanny, RanShinichi, OnesidedHaibaraConan, LucyNatsu, LucyGrey, LucyLoki, ChiakiMakoto, HowlSophie, HakuChihiro, YohHaruna, MamiAsaoka, OtaniKoizumi, TomoyoMadoka, HiroYukari, ShishioMomoko, HirotaYukari, YanagiKoujo, ZidaneGarnet, NanacoKonatsu, KateNick, DmitriAnastasia, DarcyElizabeth, ItsukiItsuki, MiePresident, etc.

By the way, in my avatar, the real picture shows Ryoma and Sakuno as seatmates. I don't know if it's canon, but I love it either way.

Stories I'm 'currently' writing:

A Sideliner oneshot

Ryosaku. Romance. All my life, I thought Ryoma-kun would only love tennis. But I guess I just never knew him well enough to make such an assumption.

The Roadtrip to Kyushu multiple chapters

Momoryo. Non-yaoi. Humor/Friendship/Romance/Tragedy/Drama. After being dumped by his fiancée, Momoshiro Takeshi decides to set off on a road trip to temper his emotions and he takes his best friend, a world renowned professional athlete turned university student, with him. (If ever, MomoAnn. RyoSaku.) Ages 22, 21.

The Echizen Theory oneshot?

Ryosaku. Romance/Friendship. Ryoma wasn’t insensitive. He wasn’t a jerk. And he definitely wasn’t an asshole. He just didn’t give half a shit about what anybody said. "Well, no wonder he never gets the girl." - Momoshiro.

A Good Enough Story multiple chapters

TezuSaku. Romance/Humor/Friendship. When they were younger, a romantic relationship between them was impossible. One, because getting a lover never crossed his mind. And two, their age gap always bothered her. She didn't know why but it was engraved in her mind that Tezuka and her age difference could be likened to a twenty year old and a wise way older guy, say about, eighty years old tops.

But that was during their junior high school days. Now that they were in college, who's to say it wasn't different?

Sakuno’s Laugh oneshot

Ryosaku. Friendship. In which Ryoma asks Sakuno why she never laughs in front of him.