Disclaimer: I don't own the TeniPuri characters, I'm only playing with them.

Notes: Thanks to Maria for looking over this when I was wibbling over my characterization. If anyone else has concrit regarding that (or anything else), it is, as always, appreciated!

Other than that, here there be fluff. And I should probably include a warning for the kindasorta Atobe/Tomoka, shouldn't I?

No Better Place To Be

As he left after practice that day, Ryoma found Ryuzaki and Osakada by the school gate. Ryuzaki smiled at him shyly when she noticed him, while Osakada, exuberant as always, waved enthusiastically at him and started talking almost before he'd reached the gate.

"Ryoma-sama, are you going to the street courts tonight?" she asked excitedly.

"No," Ryoma answered. Osakada looked expectant for a few moments, but soon gave up and went on herself instead when she realised Ryoma had no intention of elaborating.

"That's a shame," she said. "I would've liked to see you beat that jerk Atobe!"

"Eh?" Ryuzaki asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise at her friend. "Hyotei's Atobe-san? Why is that?"

"Well," Osakada said darkly, "he was there yesterday, and he was asking me about Ryoma-sama. Of course, I told him I'm not telling him anything, and that he shouldn't try using me as a spy. And then he said wasn't spying at all and was only being polite. Something about how it wouldn't matter because he's in high school now, and Ryoma's still just in his third year of middle school, but I saw through that, of course, and told him not to make excuses."

"That's all?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Well, no. He kept saying really rude things about how unimportant and insignificant Ryoma-sama really is, and really rude things about me because I realise how great Ryoma-sama is, so I kind of yelled at him a bit. And then he laughed at me and was really condescending, and I told him that it was no use trying to trick me and that I was definitely on to him and that he wasn't getting any information out of me! And then he asked me out," Osakada said, almost in a breath. Ryoma found himself thinking, not for the first time, that only just listening to her was almost as tiring as the tennis practice he'd just left had been.

"He asked you out?" Ryuzaki said, shocked. "Why didn't you tell me before? What did you do?"

"Well, I did what any sensible girl in that situation would have done." Osakada's expression suddenly turned into a wide grin. "I kicked him in the shin," she said, looking immensely self-satisfied.

"Tomo-chan!" Ryuzaki said, sounding scandalized.

Ryoma's eyebrows went up just a little in surprise as well. He had a sudden feeling he'd never fully appreciated Osakada as much as he should have before. "Oh?" he said approvingly. "Well, that's good."

Ryuzaki's scandalized look turned to him instead.

"Isn't it?" Osakada said cheerfully. "Of course, it means I need to go to see if he's there today too. Just so that he doesn't get any ideas, you know!"

"Alright..." Ryuzaki said, looking unconvinced.

"Yep! Are you sure you're not coming? You can see now why I really want to see Ryoma-sama beating him, for saying those things. Insignificant, he says." Osakada snorted.

"I'll beat him some other day," Ryoma said. Although he had to admit that the prospect of seeing Atobe making a fool of himself in front of Osakada of all people was slightly tempting.

"Well, suit yourself! I'll leave you to yourselves then!" Osakada said, heading off with a sly look in Ryoma's direction and a wink in Ryuzaki's. "See you later!"

Ryuzaki watched Osakada's back as she was leaving for a few moments, and then turned to Ryoma. "I should be going, I guess. Are you going home now too, Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma shrugged.

"Well, I'll... see you later then," she said, smiling at him, and turned to leave.

Ryoma watched as she was leaving for a few seconds, then gave a mental shrug and followed her. When he caught up to her, Ryuzaki's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and then she smiled happily.

That annoyed him just a little.

It was still the first week of the school year. They'd been third years for almost a week now. And somehow, Ryoma had ended up walking home with Ryuzaki every day except one that week. And on each and every one of those times, she seemed so surprised. Like it was a big deal or something.

"Did tennis practice go well today, Ryoma-kun?" she asked conversationally, still with an annoyingly cheerful look on her face.

"I guess," Ryoma said, and then stopped, noticing just who was stepping out from behind the corner ahead of them. Momoshiro and Kikumaru, laughing at something together before spotting Ryoma and Ryuzaki. When they did, their laughter was interrupted. And then, after a couple of seconds, practically identical evil grins spread across their faces. Ryoma sighed mentally to himself.

"Hello Momo-sempai, Kikumaru-sempai," Ryuzaki said, bowing, polite as always. Rather unnecessary and a lot more than he would bother with when their sempai were sporting those particular looks, Ryoma thought. "How is high school going?" Ryuzaki asked, looking at Momoshiro's new uniform.

"Fine, fine, of course," Momo said, waving a hand almost impatiently as if brushing such unimportant matters aside, and still grinning suggestively. "I see things are going well for you two as well."

"You didn't say you were going on a date today, Ochibi," Kikumaru said. "Good for you, though!"

Ryoma sighed mentally again. What did they expect, that he'd call everyone he'd ever known just because he happened to be walking home with some girl from his class? Then again, they probably would expect just that, he figured. He was just about to tell them it wasn't a date - more for principle's sake than anything else; he didn't really care what they thought after all, and besides Momo-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai would see things exactly how they wanted to see it anyway. Namely, in the way that was the most fun for the two of them. Whether if it was true or not was completely inconsequential.

But he didn't have time to open his mouth before Ryuzaki had already said it for him. "Oh, it's not a date!" she said, blushing. "Definitely not."

"Okay!" Kikumaru said, paying just as much attention to her protest as Ryoma had expected he would. "So were are you going?"

"Echizen, you are paying, aren't you?" Momo asked severely.

"You're remembering to be polite and not just ignoring her, aren't you? It's a really bad habit you have, you know. Ignoring people." Kikumaru looked at him just as severely. "People especially don't like being ignored on dates." Momo nodded in agreement.

"But we're just going home," Ryuzaki said. "It's okay."

Momo and Kikumaru exchanged glances. "Oooh, the old 'walking home together'-thing. It goes from there, you know," Kikumaru said. Then he and Momo nodded wisely at each other, like two old men looking at them through long years and wast amounts of experience. "Aaah, youth," Momo said wistfully, completing the picture perfectly.

The two of them then turned to Ryoma and Ryuzaki again, looking at them expectantly. Ryoma simply looked back, while Ryuzaki fidgeted, looking embarrassed.

After a while of silent staring all around, the expectant looks turned impatient. "What?" Ryoma finally had to ask.

"Do something date-y already!" Kikumaru said.

"Wouldn't we have to be on a date for that?" Ryoma asked flatly, and added, even though he knew it wasn't of any use, "weren't you two listening to what she was saying?"

Predictably, Momo and Kikumaru completely ignored his comment. "Maybe they're shy?" Momo said thoughtfully aside to Kikumaru. "Maybe we should go?" He gave Kikumaru a meaningful look he apparently thought was very discreet.

"Yeees, maybe," Kikumaru agreed thoughtfully, shooting Momo a similar glance that he honestly seemed to think was very furtive.

The waved cheerfully to Ryoma and Ryuzaki, loudly declaring that they were off now, they'd leave them to it, have fun now, kids! And then bustled off in the direction they'd come from.

Ryoma turned to Ryuzaki, who was still looking a bit frazzled. She looked back, almost nervously. That made him frown a little. "Should we go then?" he asked. She nodded, and they headed off.

"They're... not very good at spying, are they?" Ryuzaki asked after a while, glancing back a little hesitantly.

"They suck," Ryoma said frankly, and Ryuzaki looked as if she wasn't quite sure if she should be amused or upset at that.

Behind them, they could hear the subtle sounds of two usually very loud and exuberant teenage boys trying their best at being stealthy, and failing grandly. There were the occasional thumps and oomps and exclamations as they were probably falling over each other to stay hidden and still see as much as possible at the same time. And as if that wasn't enough, their ability to keep their voices from being heard was entirely non-existent, and somehow their comments managed to carry all over the way to Ryoma and Ryuzaki, while their own, normal conversation didn't seem to reach their stalker as all.

"They're still not doing anything!"

"I know! They're just walking!"

"Should we call Inui?"

They were, in other words, for all the world acting like complete idiots.

"They'll get tired of it if we ignore them," Ryoma told Ryuzaki.

"We... could always split up. And go home separately. Then they couldn't follow us. And they'd know it wasn't a date," Ryuzaki suggested.

Ryoma frowned, pursing his lips a little.

Ryuzaki seemed to notice that he didn't quite like the suggestion. "Or we could just go on until they give up?" she said.

"Yeah," Ryoma agreed. Her first suggestion had made sense, of course. But somehow, it didn't appeal to him. His competitive streak had reared its head, and just going home would have felt like backing off. And Echizen Ryoma didn't back off, especially if it meant letting clowns like Momo-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai win.

So they walked on.

"I wonder how Tomo-chan is doing with Atobe-san..." Ryuzaki said after a while.

Ryoma, who had been listening to Momo complaining about just how boring Echizen's dates were, blinked. And then almost smiled. "Yesterday night Momo-sempai was complaining about how especially vicious and cruel Atobe was when they played on the street courts earlier," he told her. "Like he was really upset about something."

Ryuzaki looked surprised, and a little pleased. "Do you really think he and Tomo-chan..." she began.

Ryoma shrugged.

"Did you and Momo-sempai play tennis last night?" she then asked, changing the subject.

"He was too tired after playing Atobe," Ryoma said.

"But you do play together even though he's in high school now? That's nice, isn't it?"

Ryoma was quiet for a few moments. "Momo-sempai sometimes reminds me of my dad," he then, to his own surprise, admitted. "If he comes over and sees the old man sometimes, maybe it'll discourage him from becoming too much like that. So there won't be two of them."

Ryuzaki, he knew, knew about his father and his eccentricities better than most people who called Ryoma a friend, their families having been invited for dinner to each others houses a few times over the last couple of years. So at this revelation from him, Ryuzaki first stared at him for a few moments, but was soon shaking with silent laughter, her hand covering her mouth.

Behind them, Ryoma could hear Kikumaru's voice. "Hey! Is she laughing? Did Echizen actually tell a joke?"

"Can't have," he heard Momo answer. "He must have done something embarrassing."

Ryoma sighed, and turned around. "She's laughing at what idiots you two are being," he declared loudly in their direction.

"Ryoma-kun!" Ryuzaki said, laughter interrupted. She looked rather scandalized at the thought of her sempai thinking she was laughing at them.

Momo-sempai's and Kikumaru-sempai's heads popped out behind a corner. "Hey!" Kikumaru said. "That's mean, Ochibi!"

"It's true," Ryoma said.

"No!" Ryuzaki insisted, a blush spreading over her cheeks. "It wasn't that at all, Ryoma-kun just said something funny!"

Momo and Kikumaru stared. "Who did now?" Kikumaru asked suspiciously.

"We were just talking about Atobe and Osakada," Ryoma said, keeping his tone neutral.

"Atobe and Osakada," Kikumaru repeated.

Ryoma shrugged. Not getting any more of an explanation from this source, Kikumaru turned to Ryuzaki instead. "What about them?"

Ryuzaki blinked. "Oh. Well. It seems Atobe-san asked Tomo-chan out, but she was upset so she kicked him, and then he was really upset, and maybe they were going to meet again at the street courts today," was her rather jumbled explanation.

Kikumaru and Momo stared at her, then turned to look at each other; the grins that they'd spotted when first noticing Ryoma and Ryuzaki spreading across their faces. "I feel like playing tennis, don't you, Eiji-sempai?" Momo asked.

Kikumaru's grin grew even wider, and they headed off without even saying goodbye.

"Still a lot to learn there," Ryoma said to himself, quite satisfied with his victory.

"Sorry?" Ryuzaki asked.

"Nothing."

"It's getting late isn't it. Maybe we really should head home now?"

Ryoma shrugged, looking around. They hadn't been heading towards Ryuzaki's house for a while since the chase began, he suddenly realised. It also occurred to him that this was the first time she'd said they should head home, not that she should be heading home.

He didn't answer. "Hey," he said instead. "Do you like taiyaki?"

"Eh?" she said, looking confused. "Err. Yes, I do. Why do you ask, Ryoma-kun?"

Instead of answering, he went up to the stand he'd just noticed nearby and bought two taiyaki, then handed one to her. "Here," he said.

She looked not so much surprised as startled now, and then yet another blush spread across her face. "Oh," she said. "Oh, t-thank you, Ryoma-kun. Thank you. But..." She paused, almost twitching as she was looking for the words. Ryoma waited.

"You shouldn't have to... Just because Kikumaru-sempai and Momo-sempai were saying all those things."

"I don't care about what they say," he said flatly. He really couldn't care less whether Momo-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai thought he was on a date, and what they thought about dates that weren't dates anyway.

"I mean... It's not a date. And... a-and I didn't think so either. You shouldn't feel... obligated. Or. Anything. You don't have to..." Her voice trailed off, and she looked a bit sheepish.

Ryoma felt that twinge of annoyance again, at how she was always acting like he was doing him a favour or something when he was around her. "Stop that. It's annoying," he said.

Ryuzaki looked confused. "Ryoma-kun?"

"What's obligations or whatever got to do with anything? I don't have to do anything."

"But..."

"I just felt like taiyaki."

"But..."

"Do you want that or not?"

She stared at him for a while, still looking a bit confused. But in a moment her face seemed to grow more resolute, and she gave him a nod so serious and determined it looked almost comical. Ryoma didn't really feel like laughing, though, so he took a bite of his taiyaki instead. Only a few moments later, she took one of hers as well.

He thought she kind of got it now. Or if she wasn't, that she was at least beginning to get it. He wasn't doing her favours and it wasn't dating or something she should think of as surprising or a big deal or anything like that.

He just felt like taiyaki sometimes.

And all things considered, when he did it wasn't like he minded having the taiyaki with her.