Title: Useless Senpai
Character(s): RyoSaku, Seigaku regulars
Rated: K
Genre: Humor, with some poor advice on love.
Summary: Ryoma thinks that his senpai-taichi are annoying.

They were the most bothersome, troublesome, aggravating, annoying, useless bunch of senpai that Ryoma would probably come in contact with in his lifetime.

Bothersome: Exactly what the word implied—capable of bothering their "ochibi" to the ends of the earth.

Troublesome: They seemed to drag all of theirproblems to him and let him take all the blame, thus resulting in Ryoma getting in trouble for them.

Aggravating: His senpai didn't know when to stop teasing him. Please, it was just a date!

Annoying: Refer to above three.

Useless: They didn't have any sage advice for him at all.

It was either Momo-senpai's gleeful muttering, "Let her walk beside you…Hehe, so young, so young" and,

Kikumaru-senpai's constant, "Ochibi, just don't make her cry! I can't believe our ochibi's grown so much,nya!" or,

Taka-san's flustered rambling, "T-take her to a nice restaurant. Don't f-forget to pull out the chair for her and…ano…always make sure her food's okay. Um, remember to make nice conversation and always pay the bill. Mm…don't let her pay for anything…" and,

Fuji-senpai's smiling face as he patted him on the head, "Why don't you talk about Shakespeare and recite a few poems for her? I'm sure she'll find that romantic, Echizen" or,

Inui-senpai's data advice, "There is a 98 chance that she's taken some time into choosing her clothes. Compliment her often because compliments are not overrated" or,

Oishi-senpai's overly mother-like fretting, "Do you think Ryuuzaki-sensei will be okay with this? Yes, of course she'll be okay with this. You're a nice gentleman…maybe a little less emotional than I'd like you to be, but who's to say Ryuuzaki-chan won't like that? Will it rain? Take and umbrella with you just in case, and a first-aid kit!" and,

Kaidou-senpai's glares, "Che. Buy her something cute" or,

Tezuka-buchou's indifferent, "…"

All in all, they were all useless.

Ryoma could hear them rustling in the bushes very un-discreetly as they hushed at each other to be quiet. The door opened and Sakuno greeted him with a flushed face, wearing a white skirt and a pink sweater that went with it nicely. Embarrassedly, Ryoma pulled the bill of his cap further down his eyes and muttered, "You look nice."

Sakuno felt like she was in heaven.

They walked down the street, Ryoma carefully keeping in pace with her. When they got to the restaurant, he pulled out the chair for her smoothly, allowing her to sit first. He ordered their food and Sakuno sat in silence, afraid to talk to him. Frowning, he opened his mouth to speak but a loud announcement interrupted him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to present some quiet entertainment for your evening tonight. May I presentromantic poems by Shakespeare." The customers clapped in appreciation and waited.

A man sat on a high stool and began reading from a book in Old English, his rich tenor voice floating through the restaurant peacefully. Ryoma gazed at the girl in front of him, who was listening intently to what the man was reading.

"Ne, Ryoma-kun, what is he saying?" She asked, almost breathless at the beauty of the foreign words. For the rest of dinner, Ryoma translated the words in Japanese.

Ryoma paid for the dinner, ignoring Sakuno's offer to pay for her half. He led her outside and walked down the busy streets of the night, Sakuno happily window shopping through the glass displays. Ryoma watched her as she took a longer interest than the rest on a particular stuffed animal kitten, which was rather cute even to him.

Without another word, he grabbed her and went in the store to buy the stuffed animal for her. With a grateful smile, Sakuno hugged it close as they exited, with Ryoma feeling a little warmer than usual.

They continued their slow walk back home when a hurried pedestrian rushed past the couple from behind, jostling Sakuno forward on accident. The crowded street prevented him from reaching and catching her. She landed on her knee, but kept the doll close to her body so that it wasn't harmed in the fall.

Ryoma scowled openly at the man who was speeding away, but soon turned his attention to the fallen girl. Helping her up, his keen eyes couldn't help but notice a cut knee. He sighed as he knelt down and dug into his pocket to find a band-aid. After he carefully put it on, he got up to meet her wide brown eyes.

He felt was something warm and soft on his lips. Quickly as the kiss came, it withdrew with hot embarrassment. Sakuno was blushing several shades of red at one time, with her arms firmly hugging the doll so hard, Ryoma was afraid she was going to squeeze the cotton out of it.

Echizen Ryoma felt the color on his cheeks rise so he looked away but reached for her hand. He pulled her right next to him and let a sincere smile play on his face.

Maybe his senpai were not as useless as they looked.