Prince of Tennis (RyoSaku) Non-yaoi

Notes: manga based, Ryoma is probably OOC (don't care), other chapters to be posted soon, sequel will come later as well.

Chapters will be posted as I am able to type them up. I do not have a beta reader :( but I am looking!

Experimenting With Butterflies

Part 1: A long day with no Fanta…

It all started with a Fanta. Well, let's rewind a bit. Practice was over; well at least for him it was since his scheduled matches had ended, and Ryoma Echizen had only one thing on his mind as mind as he eyed the small girl with twin braids- SODA. He'd been thirsty all day but hadn't had a spare moment to get a drink for himself.

Not for himself, oh no. But he'd asked others. Inui was carrying papers in and out of the science lab the students were working in that day. Since it was a lab period Ryoma thought he could get up as long as he was quiet and leave his partner to his work for a few moments until he returned with his favorite drink. But no, as soon as Ryoma stood up and headed for the door his teacher shot him a terrifying glare from behind thick, round glasses.

"And just where are YOU going, Echizen?"

Wow… high school teachers could be scary.

"Garbage… paper towel… sir," Ryoma muttered. He'd dealt with angry teachers before but this old man looked like he meant business. That and he was getting a poor grade in Chemistry, so being on the teacher's bad side was not something he wanted to do.

That was why, for once, it had been lucky that Inui was there. On one of his trips in and out Ryoma managed to flag him down.

"Please," he whispered, not wanting to draw any more attention to himself, "bring me something to drink. Ok?"

Ryoma rarely talked to Inui about anything on or off of the courts, let alone saying please, so Inui just nodded at his underclassman. He might as well, since he was just running errands for an assistant teacher any way.

It wasn't until Inui left the room that Ryoma realized his mistake. He was so alarmed he nearly dropped his beaker.

"Shit."

"What's wrong?" his lab partner asked. "You spill something?"

"Uh, no," Ryoma said, unaware that he'd voiced his dread aloud.

"Just…" he was trying to think of how to express the fearsome concoctions that Inui terrified the team with occasionally… no words could appropriately describe them.

"Just don't want him to bring me juice."

"Do you hate it?"

"Only Inui's."

Thankfully Inui entered the room again with a bottle of milk. Ryoma stared at it. With all his data gathering Inui should have known he wanted a Fanta. Oh well, it wasn't juice at least. It wasn't Inui juice. Still, it was nasty.

During matches later Ryoma called out to Momoshiro, who didn't look to be doing anything useful at the moment.

"What?"

"Get me-" Ryoma grunted as he returned a shot from Kawamura, "drink!"

"Fine, where's your money?"

"Little busy…"

"Fine, I'll get it. But you owe me two!"

Ryoma grumbled as he returned another shot.

Momo returned a moment later with a bottle of water. He awkwardly slid it in between the links of the fence; there was no way he was going near the court with that match. Echizen could grab it when it was his serve. Kawamura was nice so he wouldn't care, and Tezuka-bucho wasn't mean enough to get mad at a short pause in the game for water. Unless he was in a REALLY bad mood.

"I wanted a Fanta!" Ryoma said, almost whining at the spiky headed boy as he approached the fence to take a drink any way. For heaven's sake he'd known Momo for about four years, he should know!

Momo just stood straight up with an unreadable expression on his face.

Ryoma raised an eyebrow and turned around. Tezuka-bucho..?

"Don't drink soda during matches. It's bad for you."

"Um…"

"Water's better for you."

Ryoma swallowed.

"Water's better for you."

Ryoma nodded.

"Now get back to the match."

Ryoma set down the now half empty bottle and ran back to face Kawamura.

So, understandably his thought process after practice was find wallet, walk to vending machine, and FINALLY buy Fanta.

Now Ryoma had no idea why this simple three step plan has a glitch in it, though if you asked him much much later he might have an inkling. But on the way to the vending machine he caught sight of Sakuno Ryuuzaki. Poor Sakuno was breathing slightly harder than normal. It could have been from the girl's tennis practice earlier or from cheering, but mostly likely it was just the heat. She looked a bit wilted.

So when Ryoma was in front of that machine and inserted two coins instead of one he was slightly annoyed. He guessed he had to. It wasn't as if she would take care of herself, and her noisy friend hadn't been around today to do it either. Old coach Ryuuzaki would be mad anyway, if she were to become ill or pass out from the heat. And that was the justification behind the two Fantas that came out of the machine.

Ryoma didn't know how many steps it was from the bench to the machine. He'd never been that desperate. But however many steps there were, it was too many. He opened his pop and started drinking it on the way. Finally! It had been a day or so since he'd had one last. Little did he know he'd be cursing it later.

He was so preoccupied with his soda that all he could do when he reached Sakuno was thrust the other soda out towards her. He had no grace about it at all. It was something like when you hold scissors out to someone it's always handles towards... Granted not all rules on handing people things were this strict, but if handing something off, one should certainly make room for the other person to take it instead of messily, sloppily thrusting it towards the other person with their hand sprawled out all over it. In all reality, a situation like this could have been more dangerous than handing off scissors.

"Is… um, is this one for me?" Sakuno said, blinking at the cat-eyed boy.

He rolled his eyes and nodded. Who else would it be for?

Sakuno reached out nervously and grasped the can… and part of Ryoma's hand. She blushed a little as she pulled her hand away, taking the soda with it.

Ryoma almost choked as he felt her fingers sliding along his. He felt odd or like he was shivering… or something like that. Of course the feeling left as quickly as it had come.

"Thank you," she said, blushing down at the can as she opened it.

Ryoma hoped no one had noticed his little… momentary lapse. Least of all her.

"No problem," he said, walking away. She looked like she might have wanted to say something else, but Ryoma felt his face becoming uncharacteristically hot and he wanted out.

-----

RyoSaku fans please review and, if you like the story, tell other:) I will try to finish posting every chapter quickly. Thank you.