[FanFic Post] For Services Rendered - Chapter Four [Prince of Tennis] [RyoSaku]
For Services Rendered
Author: Bunny Sailor Moon
Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend. RyoSaku, AR. Complete. Sequel posted.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Romance/Humor - E. Ryoma & R. Sakuno - Chapters: 20 - Words: 105,948 - Reviews: 463 - Favs: 263 - Follows: 118 - Updated: 02-28-12 - Published: 11-09-11 - Status: Complete - id: 7536593
Chapter Four
Very early the next morning, Fuji Syusuke knocked on Ryuzaki Sakuno's apartment door. Sakuno, Tomoka and a few of their other friends had moved to his security apartment building after he'd purchased it a couple of years ago when he'd finished his accelerated surgeon studies and taken up a fulltime practice. He'd seen it not only as a good investment, but also as a means to provide for his friends. His friends that he was currently checking up on. There was a disturbance at his building this morning like no other.
After not receiving a response after several knocks Fuji decided to go ahead and use his master lock key to open her apartment up so he could make sure she wasn't in any kind of trouble. Hopefully Sakuno-chan wouldn't hold it against him, he had her safety in mind here, nothing else. Really.
Opening the door, he called out, "Sorry to disturb. Hello?"
Making his way through the hallway which passed by her kitchen he arrived in the main living area and spotted her. Oh, did he ever spot her. She was in her pajamas sleeping on the floor under her kotatsu of all things, wrapped up in the arms of a young man wearing shorts and a t-shirt. What the?
"Ryuzaki Sakuno! What is going on?" he asked in mock scandalized horror, he just couldn't help himself from being dramatic.
Sakuno blinked in confusion as her brain woke up from Syusuke-kun's startled outcry. She furrowed her brow and began to process what was going on. She was under her kotatsu? What was she doing under her kotatsu? In the morning? She had arms wrapped around her, and oh.
Ohohohohoh...that'd be Ryoma her new fake boyfriend she'd been making out with all night that was sleeping with her...
Her stomach did a little flip of nervous anticipation at that realization. At Syusuke-kun's outburst Ryoma had started stirring, and Sakuno knew he would be awake as well in a second. What was Ryoma going to do? Was it going to be weird waking up with her? Was he going to freak out? Was he going to take it all back? She started feeling a little sick at the very thought of it. When did Ryoma gain such a hold over her emotions? Was it the kissing? Oh boy. Okay...so then, but wait a minute. What was Syusuke-kun doing in her apartment?
"Syusuke-kun, what are you doing in my apartment?" Sakuno finally asked aloud in bewilderment. She felt Ryoma stiffen his arms around her as he woke to the sound of her voice.
Fuji, remembering the real problem gestured his arms in the direction of the complex's entrance, "There are a horde of reporters outside the building, so I came to check up on you and Tomoka-chan."
"How many?" Ryoma asked, now apparently awake as well, though he'd unashamedly kept his arms around Sakuno, and was even rubbing a little circle on her arm as if he woke up with her every morning.
Wow...Ryoma was either a really good actor or...or something. He was making her feel all sorts of mushy things right now. Sakuno suppressed a sigh of pleasure and exercised the utmost self control to NOT cuddle into Ryoma's soothing ministrations.
Fuji gaped at the strange man cuddled up with Sakuno. What the hell? Why was he acting like he belonged here, in Sakuno-chan's apartment, sleeping with her? Why wasn't Sakuno-chan beating this man to death? In all honesty, he'd been biding his time with his former kouhai waiting for her to be ready to start dating. Now he was waking up one morning to a paparazzi frenzy at his building and a strange man curled up around Sakuno-chan. Not cool.
"Who are you?" Fuji asked instead of answering Ryoma's question.
Sakuno sat up, Ryoma's arms falling away from her as he followed suit and sat up as well, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Sakuno combed her hair with her fingers as she answered for Ryoma.
"Ah, Syusuke-kun, this is my boyfriend, Echizen Ryoma-" Sakuno was cut off before she could finish her introduction.
"BOYFRIEND?" exclaimed Fuji followed quickly by a flabbergasted, "Echizen Ryoma? The tennis champion Echizen Ryoma?" He gave Ryoma an assessing look before continuing, "Wait, it is Echizen Ryoma! Sakuno-chan, when did this happen? Is this why all these reporters are here?"
Ryoma poked Sakuno and said lowly, "Your friend knows who I am."
Sakuno rolled her eyes at Ryoma's taunt, and continued her introductions, "Ryoma, this is Fuji Syusuke-kun, my former senpai and current landlord. He is a genius tennis player himself, so of course he would know who you are."
Ryoma raised an eyebrow, "Really?" he asked as he turned his attention away from Sakuno and at their unannounced morning guest. He gave Fuji a blank look before blurting, "So you wanna play a match?"
Taken aback, Fuji nodded and fed on the burning fierceness that had suddenly flared up inside of him at the thought of playing a match against Echizen Ryoma, the prodigy world tennis champion, "Just tell me where and when."
Ryoma liked the look in Fuji's eyes and felt his own burning sense of rivalry he normally didn't experience with those he played against these days. Was it because he was Sakuno's friend or because he felt like this guy might actually be worth playing? Or was it both?
"If I can get away from the paparazzi, I'll play you today," Ryoma promised.
"Deal," Fuji said. He sat down at the kotatsu directly across from the side the two of them had been cuddling under earlier and were now sitting up at.
"I was hoping they'd leave during the night," Ryoma groused in annoyance under his breath.
"What are you going to do Ryoma?" Sakuno asked.
He shrugged, "Call Horio."
Sakuno nodded that she agreed while Ryoma dug his cell phone out of his pocket.
"Horio's here too?" Fuji asked Sakuno quietly as Ryoma started talking to Horio on the phone.
"He's at Tomo-chan's. You probably remember that he's Ryoma's manager. They came over last night after Ryoma's match at the coliseum while they were being chased by paparazzi," Sakuno explained.
"He's really your boyfriend?" Fuji asked quietly.
Sakuno blushed, but nodded, "Yes."
Fuji's typically shuddered eyes opened slightly, "I thought you didn't want to date."
Sakuno flushed further knowing it was true and that she'd expressed as much to Syusuke-kun just last week, and that she probably looked like a big hypocrite right about now. She let out a small huff of frustration and settled with mostly truth, "It just kind-of happened."
"I see, so after all those years talking about dating being for marriage only that's it then? Wait. How serious are you? Are you going to marry him?" he asked, sounding frustrated himself as he barraged her with questions.
Sakuno glanced to the side looking at Ryoma, wondering if he'd heard Syusuke-kun's questions, when it appeared that he was still engrossed with his phone call Sakuno answered, "I don't know, we just started dating, so I guess getting married would be a ways off...if ever."
Fuji didn't like the pout that accompanied Sakuno-chan's bummed out "if ever" addition to her comment, but kept it to himself. Unfortunately, it seemed like she was really into Echizen, though she'd have to be if he got her to break her 'no dating' policy. Oh and who was he kidding? Echizen Ryoma was the world tennis champion and even Fuji knew he was super popular with the ladies so it was no wonder Sakuno-chan would like him too. Still, why did Sakuno-chan have to meet him?
As Ryoma ended his call Fuji asked, "So how did you guys meet? Was it because of Horio?"
Ryoma smirked at the question while Sakuno shook her head, "Actually, we met at the coliseum, I was there delivering food and Ryoma was there for a match."
Sakuno looked down in surprise as Ryoma pulled her hand that was closest to him into one of his own bigger hands and held it as if couldn't bear to not touch her. Her heart rate noticeably increased with a sort of cautious excitement. What were these feelings Ryoma brought out in her? It was making her feel slightly crazy.
"It was love at first sight," Ryoma said with a mischievous smirk.
Sakuno gave Ryoma a look, but obediently nodded her head in agreement realizing somehow he was putting on a show for Syusuke-kun. At that realization the fluttering heart settled...a little, after all, he was still touching her.
So was 'love at first sight' really going to be their story then?
Suddenly a huge scream was heard followed by stomping, a door slamming closed and Sakuno's door flying open and banging into the wall.
"Ryoma-sama really is heeeeeeeeere!" Squealed Osakada Tomoka. She ran into the room and flung herself down at the open side of the table that was between Fuji and Ryoma's side of the couple's shared side of the table.
At her outburst, Sakuno unconsciously squeezed Ryoma's hand that was holding hers tightly. Ryoma looked down at their clasped hands wondering what the squeeze was for. Was she nervous? Jealous? Riiight. Jealous. Sakuno didn't really like him, she was his fake girlfriend. It was all a show, he reminded himself. A show. Show. SHOW.
"T-Tomo-chan!" Sakuno exclaimed in shock from behind Ryoma.
Which was immediately followed from Sakuno's doorway by a scolding male, "Tomoka!" Horio stood there with his hands on his hips giving his girlfriend a fierce look.
Tomoka ignored him and instead smiled flirtatiously at Ryoma, "Nice to finally meet you Ryoma-sama! I'm Osakada Tomoka!"
"Ryoma-sama?" Ryoma repeated quietly to himself, but the horror in his tone of voice was not lost on Sakuno. Feeling somehow that such a horrified tone was her queue, she put her free hand about his arm and snuggled into his side. Though if she was being honest with herself, she wanted to do it. She wanted to do more than that. She wanted to make it perfectly clear to Tomo-chan that Ryoma was hers. Oh God, what was wrong with her today? Was she losing her mind?
"Good morning Tomo-chan," Sakuno greeted again over Ryoma's shoulder. She was not being possessive about Ryoma, she was just doing her job. Really. Honest. Really!
"Eh, Sakuno, what are you doing to Ryoma-sama?" Tomoka was quick to point out.
Ryoma, whom was feeling rather impressed by Sakuno's quick 'protective girlfriend' actions prompted by the new scary female answered instead, "Sakuno's my girlfriend." Hell if he wasn't feeling like the girl was perfect for him about now too.
"Whaaaat? No way!" Tomoka exclaimed in disbelief as she banged her hand onto the top of the kotatsu for emphasis. She looked back and forth between the faces of her long-time idol crush and her best friend forever in shock.
Ryoma removed his hand from Sakuno's and his arm from her other hand so he could wrap it around her shoulders and pull her closer to him with pride. Sakuno gave Tomoka a convincing smile and ignored the butterflies that were flapping around in her stomach at feeling so much of Ryoma's body so close with hers. If she was this nervous and excited touching him amongst her friends, how was she ever going to do this in front of the world without fainting?
Horio took the last available side of the kotatsu across from Tomoka. Noticing the couple cuddling, he gave Ryoma and Sakuno a look of relief before he turned to Fuji and asked, "So how bad is the situation with the paparazzi this morning?"
"Bad," Fuji answered, "I had to call the police to keep them from getting into the building, which is why I came down here to check on the girls and make sure they weren't being harassed."
"Oh no," Horio said as he placed his face into his hands and let out a moan of frustration.
"Of course, when I started getting frantic calls from the tenants downstairs at 6 o'clock this morning I had no idea I would find Sakuno-chan had Echizen Ryoma sleeping with her in her apartment," Fuji added irritably.
"Sorry for the trouble Fuji-senpai, that was my fault. I brought him here to get away from them last night when they were waiting for him at the coliseum exit. It was the safest place I could think of that we could run to," Horio explained. He somehow completely missed the implication of them sleeping together.
"Is it also your fault that Sakuno-chan's dating him?" Fuji asked conspiratorially.
Horio let out a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his head giving the couple a side-ways glance, "Nooooo...they uh-"
"Met yesterday at the coliseum and it was love at first sight, we already told you," Ryoma filled in, knowing he needed to jump in before Horio could blunder around the question.
Horio gave Ryoma a look of understanding before adding, "Yup, that's right. Love at first sight. He didn't know we were friends and they were both surprised to see each other when we got here, but it all worked out." He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded emphatically as if he'd known it all along.
Sakuno grinned at how quickly Horio-kun caught on, he reallywas a professional manager. She was actually kind-of proud of her friend.
Ryoma looked somewhat bored by the whole song and dance and Fuji and Tomoka both kept looking at the three of them suspiciously as a long pause followed.
"Well," Tomoka finally said, "I'm happy for you guys."
Sakuno really wanted to hug her friend for being so supportive, but held back since she couldn't tell Tomo-chan everything and felt like a crummy friend that didn't deserve it.
"Fuji-san do you have a flat roof?" Ryoma asked.
"Yes, why?" Fuji asked.
"Do you think we could get a helicopter to come pick us up?" Ryoma asked.
"A helicopter!" Sakuno and Tomoka exclaimed in excited unison.
Ryoma looked at Sakuno to see her delighted expression at the idea of a helicopter and wondered if being exposed to his 'money is no object' lifestyle was going to shock all the things he liked about her out of her.
"It's not a big deal," he whispered to her.
She gave him a questioning look, but nodded anyways, "Okay."
"Actually," Fuji answered, "I have a landing pad on my roof I had built for emergencies."
"No kidding?" Horio asked.
"I am a surgeon," Fuji teased.
"Horio, handle it," Ryoma commanded and Horio quickly pulled out his cell phone and began searching for a helicopter company.
"Wow," Tomoka commented at Horio's quick obedience.
"Come with us," Ryoma said to Sakuno.
Sakuno frowned, she felt like her life had been swept out from under her overnight and she needed some time to process it all. Not to mention she desperately felt the need to have a bit of distance from Ryoma and collect together all those butterflies in her stomach. They were definitely not going to go away so long as she was with him and touching him and being touched, and goodness, he hadn't even kissed her yet this morning and it was making her all sorts of nervous and awkward feeling.
She shook her head, "I need to go to work, Ryoma."
"What time is work?" he asked.
"Let me check," Sakuno said as she stood up and made her way into her entry hallway where she kept her cell phone. She paused and let out a shaky breath hoping the butterflies would stop now that she'd managed to get away from him. Grabbing her cell phone off the charger on her hall table, she pulled up her calendar to check what her shift for the day was, and then promptly dropped the phone in shock as Ryoma came up behind her and startled her to death.
Ryoma bent down and picked her phone up handing it back to her without a word.
"Sorry, you startled me," Sakuno found herself explaining anyway.
Ryoma turned away from her and looked towards the living room to see if the others were watching them. What he really wanted to do was more kissing "practice," but instead he said, "If you aren't coming with us, then we should exchange phone numbers while the others aren't around."
"Good idea," Sakuno agreed, "Do you have Bump?"
"Yeah," Ryoma answered as he pulled up the contact sharing app on his phone while Sakuno did the same on hers. They tapped their phones together and accepted each other's contact information.
"It will be better if you come," Ryoma said. Really? As if he couldn't let her out of his sight? He wanted to bang his head into the wall so he would stop blurting things out to this girl. What the HELL was wrong with him?
Sakuno shook her head, "Even if I quit today, I still need to go in to see my teacher and explain. What are you going to do before we leave for Australia?"
"Call my old man about the temple, play a match with Fuji-san..." Ryoma offered.
Sakuno felt a bit put on the spot at the expectant look he was giving her, but this is what she'd signed up for, right? What was she getting all nervous about now? She'd kissed him. She'd given her first kiss to him. She was already committed, she reminded herself.
"I'll call you after work today," she finally offered.
Ryoma nodded as he hesitantly moved closer to her and fumbled a bit awkwardly before he brushed his lips against hers. At the contact, Sakuno's heart leapt into her throat in excitement. Why, oh why, did she feel like she'd been waiting all morning for that? As he moved back a bit she looked up into his hazel eyes with wonder. He gave her a half smirk before dipping his head back for more and just as they'd made contact again, they were interrupted by Tomoka's loud voice yelling from the living room area, "What are you guys doing? You've been gone forever!"
They almost jumped apart.
Caught. Ryoma looked at Sakuno's wide eyes gazing at him through her flushed red expression and somehow knew she felt as if she'd been caught too. Why did they feel that way? Was it because the two of them knew they weren't really dating, so they had no reason to be kissing secretly in Sakuno's hallway?
To hell with that! He'd decided that he liked kissing Sakuno very much and that was all there was to it. So there.
Taking her hand into his own, Ryoma walked the two of them back towards the kotatsu where the group of friends were strategizing Ryoma and Horio's exit from the premises.
"There you guys are...what were you doing?" Tomoka asked when they came back into her view.
"Just checking my work schedule, Tomo-chan," Sakuno answered as the two sat back at the low table. Ryoma ignored Horio's loud girlfriend and as they sat back down he made sure Sakuno was sitting next to her. He preferred to be closer to Horio anyways so they could talk without the whole table hearing them.
"When will they be here to pick us up?" Ryoma asked Horio.
He checked the time on his phone, "Probably 10 minutes from now. Fuji-senpai said he'll escort us up to the roof."
"Fuji-san should come with us," Ryoma said.
"Why?" Horio asked.
"We promised to play a match," Fuji explained, jumping into the conversation.
"Oh, I wanna come too! I want to watch!" Tomoka interjected.
"Horio, stay here with your girlfriend so you can keep an eye on Sakuno," Ryoma said.
"Good idea," Horio said.
"I don't need to be watched!" Sakuno protested as Tomoka made protests of disappointment.
"Ah, Ryuzaki, as soon as the reporters find out you're Echizen's girlfriend you'll probably have to move to a different apartment, at least for a while. Once they get your name, they'll camp out here permanently hoping to get a story on you and Echizen," Horio explained.
"Really?" Tomoka and Sakuno asked in unison.
All three of the men nodded at them as Fuji added, "It's true Sakuno-chan, I've heard of this stuff before, but don't worry, I'll keep your apartment open for you when you can come back."
"I-I'm..." Sakuno was at a loss for words. No wonder Ryoma had offered her so much money, her whole life was going to be pulled out from under her.
"Don't be sad Sakuno!" Tomoka exclaimed, "You're dating Ryoma-sama, he's only like the hottest guy on earth! You're the envy of every girl!"
Sakuno suppressed a sigh at Tomoka's silly speech. Sometimes her friend came off as really shallow and Sakuno knew she wasn't, but it still got under her skin sometimes when Tomoka just talked nonsense. Oh honestly, she berated herself, why was she picking on Tomoka for being positive?
What she really needed was some space to breathe and think. She stood up from the kotatsu and announced to the room, "I'm going to start getting ready for work then." She had a desperate desire to get back to her regular routine or she felt she just might lose it. She started heading into the hallway that lead to her bedrooms, bathrooms and office to take a shower.
Ryoma watched Sakuno get up and veiled the worry from his eyes with a blank look.
Damn.
She didn't look happy.
"What are you doing Ryoma-sama? You won't get to see Sakuno again before you leave, you better go give her a goodbye kiss or something!" Tomoka scolded as she shooed the tennis prince towards the hallway.
Grateful that Horio's loud girlfriend had come up with a good excuse, he leapt to his feet and caught Sakuno at the threshold leading into the hallway towards the bedrooms.
"Sorry about all this," he whispered as he took one of her hands into his and gave her a tender kiss over the back of her knuckles.
Why did he have to be so damned charming when they were alone? Sakuno sighed and whispered back, "I just need to get used to it."
"I promise I'll take care of you," Ryoma added even quieter than his first whisper to make sure nobody heard what he said except Sakuno.
Actually feeling somewhat comforted at his words, which brought a whole extra mess of emotions she wasn't ready to deal with to the fore, Sakuno bit her lip in determination to fight back the tears that were welling up in her throat. She gave Ryoma a nod of confidence she didn't really have.
Ryoma looked at their audience out of the corner of his eyes and said under his breath, "Time to put all our practice to good use."
Sakuno didn't even get a chance to get out the confused 'what?' that was on the tip of her tongue before he was kissing her again. Kissing her the way he had the second time last night...all tender, but passionate, wondrously exploring the new experience. Sakuno could swear she could hear her heart beating a mile a minute, but grasped onto Ryoma and kissed him back with everything she had. A couple of minutes later, they separated and with a blush, Sakuno scurried off into the hallway away from Ryoma and the gaping looks of her houseguests.
Ryoma rejoined the group in the living area not even bothering to hide his satisfied smirk and standing above them said, "Let's go."
Collecting his startled self together after having witnessed such a public display of affection, Fuji shook his head as if to clear the image he was sure had to be burned into his brain of the two of them practically melting into one being. He swiftly stood up with another shake of his head, he was definitely not going to think about that...ever.
As the two exited towards the hallway, Horio and Tomoka followed suit, deciding mutually they'd go back to Tomoka's apartment for the time being. All four of them gathered at the entrance to slide their shoes back on, and Ryoma grabbed his tennis bag and his hat he'd discarded the night before upon coming into the apartment. Slipping his hat over his head he glanced down at his cell phone that had just gone off indicating he'd received a new text message. Giving Horio and Horio's girlfriend a wave over his shoulder he followed Fuji towards the elevator and pulled up his message to read it.
HORIO: Echizen. WTH was that?
Ryoma tapped the blank area to type in his response:
What?
After tapping the send button, he stepped into the elevator behind Fuji. They went up a floor and then exited directly into the penthouse apartment.
"This is my place," Fuji explained as they stepped into the large receiving room.
Ryoma looked around for a second, "Nice."
"Thanks. I'm going to go grab my tennis gear, wait here for a minute," Fuji instructed as Ryoma's phone blipped again.
As Fuji walked away Ryoma pulled his phone out again.
HORIO: I thought you guys were going to fake date!
Ryoma smirked as he tapped the blank area and typed in his reply:
We're not fake dating.
A second later, his phone blipped again.
HORIO: WTH Echizen! You better not be messing around with Ryuzaki! I don't care that you're my boss, I'll get the whole tennis team together and beat you silly if you hurt her.
Ryoma raised an eyebrow at Horio's unexpected protectiveness of Sakuno, but found himself typing out an honest reply instead of another mischievous one:
I'm the one that's left behind when people get sick of the fame.
Horio knew it all too well too. Not only had Ryoma been passed from one manager after another that couldn't take the pressure combined with his don't-give-a-crap attitude before Horio had taken the job, but he'd also seen Ryoma ditched by many a so-called "friend," over the few years he'd been working for him. After all there was rich, and there was famous, there was rich and famous, and then there was downright super rich and famous. More often than not, people couldn't hang with it for long.
"The stairs to the roof are this way," Fuji announced as he rejoined Ryoma and started down a hallway to the left.
Ryoma slipped his phone back into his pocket and followed the slightly older man. They proceeded to the corner of the building and up a staircase that had a door that opened directly onto the roof where their helicopter was already on the landing pad waiting for them. An escort from the chopper rushed to meet them, and handing them earphones indicated for them to follow his line onto the awaiting chopper.
Back inside Tomoka's apartment Horio Satoshi stared at his cell phone and gave out a big sigh before tapping out his response to Ryoma:
Sorry Echizen. I didn't mean it like that.
Ryoma's phone blipped again, but he didn't hear it over the sounds of the helicopter.