Hi! This is my first RYOSAKU fanfic, I hope you like it. I was listening to Futari Kiri No Merry Christmas (Ryoma Echizen) and I had to post this, even if it isn't Christmas ;D. Hope you like it!

Sakuno Ryuzaki returned the ball with fluent ease. She kept on her toes however, and watched her opponent's reflexes with precision. He was going to hit left. And there she went, running to where she knew that ball would land. Her opponent on the other side smirked underneath his Fila cap, hitting it to where she wanted, but only because the glow on her face when correct...it made him smile. Like hell he was going to admit though. She returned it again. He saw a quick top spin but chose to say nothing; he was having too much fun.

"Ne, Ryuzaki," He called. Sakuno didn't once lose her concentration. She answered with a quick Hai as she added a slice, "You bend your knees too much. And don't flip your wrist like that. Your shoulders are open too wide. And your hair's too long. You should cut it."

She returned with a backhand, "Mou, Ryoma-kun, my hair's fine." She studied the way Ryoma Echizen stroked the ball, smiling to herself when she found a weakness, "You should grip your racket harder. Whenever you get cocky and think you'll win the match, your grip loosens. Power can defeat that," She answered, smacking the ball with as much force she contained to his shocked face. Which really wasn't much, but Ryoma liked to pretend.

The last game was won fair and square. Sakuno was so close she was able to taste it, but she knew Ryoma wasn't playing his hardest. But it was nice to think so. Momoshiro jogged up to Sakuno with a giant grin plastered on his face. Sakuno let out a lungful of air, admiring the cloud of mist that formed. It was chilly outside, she was sure it was going to snow sooner or later. Sakuno only hoped it was sooner rather than later – it needed to rain snow today.

"Too bad, Sakuno-chan." Momo comforted. Eiji popped up before Momo could continue, "Hai! You did well, Sakuno-chan!"

She smiled. Placing her racket into her case and shuffling to find the object she'd wanted to give him since they started the match, Sakuno brought out a rectangular box wonderfully wrapped with silver ribbon – Ryoma's favourite colour. Momo and Eiji didn't need to say anything, their curious expression said it all. Sakuno tagged them with her, walking to Ryoma who was admiring the breath of mist as much as she was.

"Ryoma-kun," She called. He looked up at her with the tilt of his head. A warming smile was on her before she blinked, "Here."

Ryoma unwrapped the present carefully. The ribbon was silver – his favourite colour – he had to keep it. Maybe he could use it for another present...but then he'd have to take the ribbon back. Oh well. Settling on stealing the ribbon, Ryoma opened the box to see nine tickets to...the Wimbledon. Momo and Eiji looked over his shoulder and gasped in excitement, snatching the box out of his very hands. Ryoma didn't fuss over it, he went to Sakuno who stood there, watching his expression carefully.

"Do you not like it?" She asked, "I can get you something –"

"There's no tenth ticket." He casually interrupted. Ryoma watched the surprise on Sakuno's face. He hoped he wouldn't have to spell it out to her. Not with them two giggling in the background.

"Eh?" She answered and he sighed. He had to spell it out to her after all. Even with the massive improvement in tennis, Sakuno was still as dense as ever, and even more clumsy now.

"There's no tenth ticket. Those nine are for the team, where's yours?" A blush stained on her cheeks. He didn't reward himself for it; he really wanted to know whether she was going. Or how he was going to smuggle her in there without being spotted. The security was tight in London.
Sakuno's warming smile returned – he took it as a good sign – and out of her tennis bag were five extra tickets.

"One for Tomo-chan..." She put the tickets one by one into her bag as she said the names, "Horio-kun, Katsuo-kun, Kachiro-kun...and me." She waved the last ticket in his face. Ryoma, inside of course, gave a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to try and smuggle her into Wimbledon after all. Whew, he thought it was going to get tricky.

"How did you get all this tickets, Sakuno-chan?" Eiji asked. Sakuno explained how she won four tickets on a sale in the market, and she knew she wouldn't be able to only pick four people. So luckily, her uncle was helping with the preparation of Wimbledon and gave a special family discount to buy the rest. The three gave her worried look after she finished. She smiled and told them how cheap it was, and how she included her grandma's money too. That seemed to calm them down.

"Ah, I have to go." She squealed, looking at her watch. Before she left however, she turned to face Ryoma, "Happy birthday, Ryoma-kun."

He looked at her, awed, "Eh? Birthday?"

Sakuno pouted, "Hai! December 24th, silly!"

"This wasn't a Christmas present?"

She laughed, "No! It's your birthday, isn't it? Your Christmas present is tomorrow. Mou, Ryoma-kun, forgetting your own birthday!" And then she left. Ryoma stared at the tickets. Droplets of rain fell on his nose. No, snow. He watched the snow fall quietly, whitening the courts and then looked at the tickets again. There couldn't be anything better than this present.

Everyone decided to meet at Kawamura's Sushi restaurant for a Christmas get-together. Ryoma didn't get to see Sakuno for the first half hour. She was busy getting crowded by the Regulars after the announcement of the trip to Wimbledon. He couldn't even see her face, and he really wanted to know what the present was. Was it better than the tickets? It couldn't be. Did she wrap it in a silver ribbon again? Ryoma couldn't help but ask himself these questions as he ate. Sure, some karaoke was played which took it off his mind for a while, until he would see Sakuno again and his brain would go crazy. It was only after everything quietened down, was Sakuno able to sit next to him.

"Ryoma-kun?" She called. He turned to face her, obviously playing the role of nonchalance exceedingly well.

"What?"

He noticed Sakuno's fidgety fingers, and biting lip. She stared at him once, mumbled some bravery words to herself and then spoke, "Merry Christmas." And before Ryoma could answer, Sakuno had her lips pressed against his. This was the present. His shock quickly faded and it wasn't long before he was kissing her back. Yep, maybe this was better than the tickets.

And the silver ribbon.

I hoped you enjoyed that One-shot. Thanks!