Pure Essence: Hiii!! It's me again! Thank you for reading my third RyoSaku story, Immoral. The plot for this story came to me when I was still writing Hard to Say Goodbye. It was just a thing that popped into my mind out of nowhere when I was doing my homework. Really. You have no idea how these plots come to me. Hehe. But I'm glad it came because now, I have something new to write about.
For those who read Hard to Say Goodbye, I have to give you guys a big thanks for your support. It's because of your support that I struggled to finish the fic no matter how busy I was. Now, my new fic, Immoral will not be abandoned either. It may take some time to update once school starts, but it will definitely be finished...I hope. Anyway, Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own POT.
Immoral
Chapter 1: Brother and Sister
Pain.
Heart-wrenching pain was what she felt as she looked up at the memorial plaque that hung high above the entrance to the office of Sumire Ryuuzaki.
Sumire Ryuuzaki. It read.
Ryuuzaki-Sensei has been a long time staff of Seigaku. For many years, she has been an active and dedicated coach for the Boy's tennis team. It is because of her hard work and unrelenting spirit that we (students and staff) dedicate…
"….this plague to her in remembrance" She finished.
Sakuno Ryuuzaki stood in front of the office that once belonged to her grandmother and cried.
--------------Flashback ----------------
It has been nearly two weeks since her grandmother's death. However, she still remembered the shock, the tears and the yells that resounded in the tennis court when her grandmother collapsed during tennis practice. The next thing she knew was that she was being pushed into the wailing ambulance and driven to the hospital while her grandmother's cold body lied beside her. In her entire life, Sakuno had never felt as terrified as she did when she saw her grandmother's unconscious state.
She was terrified of losing her grandmother – her last living relative.
Everything else was a blur. She remembered how the regulars rushed into the hospital after she arrived and the doctors and nurses rushing about as they wheeled her grandmother's body into the Emergency room. Everyone sat in silence that time. No one knew what to say…
When the doctor came out with the results, he told them that her grandmother was in a coma due to a sudden stroke and whether or not she'll ever wake up will depend on her grandmother.
That night, when she returned home after staying beside her grandmother for hours, she received a phone call from the hospital saying that her grandmother's heart had stopped. At that moment, her world froze. The phone slipped out of her trembling hands and tears spilled like rivers as she made a strangled noise in the back of her throat.
She grabbed her keys and ran out of the house barefooted. Glass and rocks cut through her skin as she ran to the hospital not too far from her house.
She didn't even realize she had bloody feet until she stepped into the hospital and the nurses scrambled to stop her bleeding. One of the nurses had tried to drag her into a room so they could take a look at her feet but she struggled and pushed them away.
She ran to her grandmother's room only to find it empty. Then, the world came crashing down. Reality sunk in and she collapsed on the floor while nurses and doctors tried to pick her up. Her bloody footprints trailed from the entrance to where she sat lifelessly.
'Honey, you can't just sit here!' The nurse had said when Sakuno refused to get up. 'You need to get treatment badly. You're bleeding!'
When she didn't respond, Sakuno was dragged onto a wheelchair and wheeled into a room where they could give her treatment. This time, she didn't struggle. She let them pull out the imbedded rocks and glass without wincing. Her broken heart was more painful than the physical pain she was experiencing.
When her legs were patched up, the nurse spoke to her sympathetically. 'There's someone here to pick you up…'
That was when Sakuno looked up. Her eyes were still dull and unresponsive.
'Who?' she had asked dryly.
'Someone by the name of Nanjirou Echizen. Do you know him?'
Sakuno nodded quietly. Ryoma-kun's father was here? Why? Was Ryoma-kun here too?
'I'll bring him in.'
A few moments later, Nanjirou Echizen stood in front of her along with his family by his side. His wife, Rinko, rushed to her and embraced her. Sakuno remained unmoving. She saw Ryoma gaze up at her. If she was not mistaken, he looked like he had also cried. He immediately broke their gaze a few second after their eyes met.
'You poor thing.' Rinko gushed in a low voice. 'What is your name?'
Sakuno swallowed and tried to find her voice again.
'S-Sak –' she began
'Sakuno Ryuuzaki' Ryoma suddenly spoke for her.
'Sakuno-chan.' Nanjirou's wife spoke again. 'Let's go home shall we?'
Sakuno stared at her fist. She opened her palm to show her house keys underneath. 'H-Home?' she stuttered. She didn't want to go back to that empty house.
Ryoma's expression softened and he walked up to her.
'My house.' He told her.'
She nodded reluctantly and Rinko smiled. 'Let's get you out of there then.' She wheeled Sakuno out of the hospital on her new wheelchair. When they got to the parking lot, Rinko helped Sakuno up slowly as Nanjirou and Ryoma's cousin, Nanako, folded the wheelchair. Ryoma just stood by the side.
'Ryoma.' Rinko called to her son, frowning. 'Help me support Sakuno-chan on the other side.'
Ryoma came up to them slowly and he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her right arm to pull her along to the car. Ryoma kept his gaze down and didn't meet her eye. Nanjirou and Nanako stored the wheelchair in the back of the car and closed the back door.
Ryoma and Rinko easily shifted the light girl into the back seat. Rinko moved to sit in the front seat while Ryoma and Nanako shifted after Sakuno, into the back seat. Since Nanako came in last, she sat beside Ryoma and Ryoma sat beside Sakuno. During the ride, a comfortable silence floated in the air.
Suddenly, Sakuno felt someone nudge her slightly. She turned to look at the tennis prince with eyes devoid of emotion.
'I'm sorry…' She heard him mutter quietly. She detected a glint of wetness in his eyes and she nodded to accept his condolescence. She knew he didn't feel any better than she did. He was just good at masking it while she was not.
The rest of the ride was peaceful yet awkward.
When they arrived at his house, Sakuno waited until Nanjirou and Nanako unfolded the wheelchair before Rinko and Ryoma helped her back into it. Then they all went into the house.
Rinko and Nanako hurried to set up an empty room for her. Sakuno watched as everyone tried to make her as comfortable as possible and she felt guilty. She didn't want to intrude and become burdensome….
'You're bleeding again.' Ryoma pointed out and when Sakuno looked down, she saw the white cloth on the bottom of her feet beginning to soak with little blotches of blood. She winced when she felt the aching pain this time.
'Let me clean it for you' Nanjirou offered. But Ryoma scowled. He definitely wouldn't let his perverted oyaji take advantage of her, especially when she's hurt.
'Fine, you do it then seishounen.'
Ryoma went to the cabinet and took out the first aid kit. 'Here, hold this.' Sakuno held the kit obediently as he wheeled her into some hallway.
'A-ano... Ryoma-kun, where are you taking me?'
'To your room' he told her and continued to wheel her there. When they got there, she spotted Ryoma's mother and his cousin still fixing up the room to make it as comfortable as possible. When they saw her, they stopped their work and helped her onto the bed.
'Is it comfortable enough Sakuno-chan?' Nanako asked her and Sakuno teared. They were such nice people. Too nice. She felt like she was only in the way.
'Nn. Daijoubu.' She gave them a thankful yet forced smile and they returned the same smile understandably. When the room was clean and ready, Nanako and Rinko left to prepare dinner – leaving Ryoma alone with Sakuno.
'Give me the first aid kit.' Ryoma said.
Sakuno blinked and handed it to him. He sat on the floor at the edge of her bed and attempted to unravel the bloody cloth from her foot. She watched him work skillfully and smiled ruefully. There isn't anything that he's not good at is there? She wondered.
'A-Ano Ryoma-kun...'
He answered her with a grunt.
'Arigato for allowing me to stay at your house. I-I know I'm being such a burden…'
'Betsuni.' Was all he said as he continued to clean the wound and rewrap fresh bandage on it. When everything was done, he stood up and attempted to help her back into her wheelchair so that he could bring her to the dining room for dinner. But, she stopped him.
'I'm not hungry…' She had told him and he allowed her to stay on the bed.
'Then, rest early.' He said and helped her lie down. 'My room is next to yours. If you need anything, just knock on the wall next to your bed. The walls are thin enough so I'll hear the knock.'
Sakuno nodded quietly. 'Oyasumi Ryoma-kun.' She sighed tiredly.
'Hn' he muttered quietly and closed the sliding doors.
The next day, Sakuno gave Nanako and Rinko her key to her house so they could bring her clothes and accessories over. Because of her feet and of mental distress, Ryoma's mother had called the school to report her absence for the next few days. Ryoma however, continued to attend school regularly.
Within a few days however, Sakuno's feet was pretty much healed and she was able to walk around like she used to. Sakuno requested to return to school and they allowed her to, reluctantly.
'Are you sure you don't need any more rest?' Ryoma's concerned mother would ask and Sakuno would nod.
'Daijoubu. Rinko-san. Arigato for everything.'
Echizen Ryoma's mother sighed. 'Sakuno-chan, why don't you stay with us?'
'E-Eh? I-I can't possibly… I shouldn't bother you or your family.'
'Of course you don't bother us. Nanjirou and I have talked it over and we thought of adopting you. Will you agree to that?'
Tears welled up in Sakuno's eyes and she nodded not really thinking of the consequences. All that ran through her mind was the fact that they wanted her to stay with them and be apart of their family… that was more than what she could ask for.
Rinko's eyes glittered warmly as she hugged the sobbing girl. 'Welcome into our family, Sakuno…'
----------------------End Flashback -----------------------
It was just three days ago when the paperwork was complete and she was officially apart of their family. However, Rinko allowed her to keep her last name. That was the only thing that was left to remind her of the identity of who she used to be.
At that time, when she agreed to be adopted, she hadn't thought much about it. She just thought of her grandmother and how much she would've wanted her granddaughter to have a home and not end up in some orphanage full of lonely children who had no where to go.
Sakuno knew that once she entered into their family, she can no longer see Ryoma the way she used to because they were now brother and sister. They were family. It's wrong to think that there could possibly be anymore than family love between them.
A hand was suddenly on her shoulders and she looked up to see her best friend giving her a few comforting pats on the back.
"Sakuno, Daijoubu?" Tomoka asked Sakuno worriedly.
Sakuno quickly wiped away her tears and nodded. "Hn."
Tomoka only frowned at the lie. Her best friend was obviously not okay but she wasn't going to force it. "Souka…"
"Neh, Sakuno. Let's go have lunch together." Tomoka offered, hoping it would distract Sakuno from thinking about her grandmother for a moment.
"E-Eh?"
"C'mon, I made you lunch today!" she begged. "I even made your favorite rice ball and some of your favorite sushi!"
"D-Demo I hav—"
"No buts!" Her best friend demanded and dragged a disheveled looking Sakuno down the hall.
At the tennis courts, all eight Seigaku Regulars stood side by side as they watched the other gloomy club members practice.
"Fate is so evil." Kawamura said quietly as he leaned against the green tennis gate.
"Ah." Fuji agreed and the other regulars only nodded in silence.
"Nya! Poor Sakuno-chan." Kikumaru added. "She just lost two of her most beloved people."
Echizen Ryoma raised a curious eyebrow. "Two?"
"First is her grandmother, and the second one is you Ochibi."
"I'm not dead yet Kikumaru-senpai." Ryoma replied densely. "How did she lose me?"
The Regulars looked at him incredulously almost forgetting that Ryoma was the densest person they've ever met when it comes to relationships.
"Becau—" Kikumaru began but was interrupted by Momoshiro.
"Because Echizen, she is now your sister."
Ryoma paused for a moment. "And?"
Kikumaru and Momoshiro huffed an annoyed breath.
"And, you just lost your opportunity to be with her." Kikumaru finished.
"They were so young, so young." Momoshiro added sadly.
Ryoma raised an eyebrow. "Why would I want to be with her?" he asked.
The other regulars just stared defeatedly at him.
'He still doesn't know he's attracted to her…'
"Forget it." Fuji waved off the topic knowing it will not go anywhere with Ryoma's cluelessness.
Ryoma sighed thankfully as they finally dropped the topic.
However, his thoughts refused to stop thinking about Sakuno. The fact that he and Sakuno were now brother and sister was alien to him. It felt wrong – as if it wasn't suppose to be this way.
"And, you just lost your opportunity to be with her…"
Kikumaru's words floated into his mind again.
Ryoma grunted silently. What did he mean by that?
Who said he wanted to be with her anyway? They were just family, nothing more…
He sounded unconvincing though, even to himself.
Well, even if he did feel attracted to her somewhat, it was nothing like a crush or anything along the lines of that. It was perhaps more rightfully said that he found her interesting and different from the other girls.
He shrugged off the possibility of liking her in ways more than friendship.
'We're family' he reminded himself. A love relationship was impossible. It was taboo. It was an immoral act in society.
"Let's go back to tennis practice." Kaidoh said after the long silence, pulling Ryoma from his reverie. The regulars nodded and all went their separate ways.
Ryoma walked silently to one of the courts, with racket and ball in hand.
Why was he thinking about their relationship to such a level anyways?
It's not like I'll ever fall in love with her, my own sister…
To be Continued….
Pure Essence: So? What'd you think? I'm so happy that I finished this chapter. I already have some parts of the plot to chapter 2 in mind. Hehe. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
Press the button! Smiles.