Ryoma's Way of Affection: The Great Loss
by: RoyaleDeuce

Disclaimer: TeniPuri is not mine.
Warning: C-R-A-C-K! Do not take it seriously to enjoy.

"Stupid rain," Ryoma grunted under his breath.

The boy was annoyed because Kami-sama had turned against him today, bringing the most awful of weathers. Because of this, a certain auburn-head had to be in his house at the moment. Well, it wasn't like he didn't particularly enjoy and like having the girl in his house. No, of course not. It's just that there was an imbecile running loose inside the premises. Yep. None other than Echizen Nanjiroh, Ryoma's 'idiotic' father, as the boy have labelled him.

At the moment, Sakuno was busily tended to by his mother, Rinko. Both of them were soaking wet when they entered the Echizen household. As soon as they entered, Rinko had immediately ushered him to dry himself up and got Sakuno for a change of clothes herself. On the other hand, Nanjiroh, the idiotic father of his, instantaneously jeered at him with his annoyingly cocky grin, but remained unseen by the auburn-head. Ryoma had to resist the urge to strangle his father just to remove the vexing smirk he had plastered on his face. Instead, he glared at him which clearly read, 'Stop thinking stupid things, oyaji'.

Ryoma was suddenly interrupted from his trance when the man of his thoughts did several nerve-wrecking gestures, which immediately ticked him off.

"Thinking about the cute girl, eh?" The ex-pro tennis player snickered at his son.

Ryoma narrowed his eyes.

"Tsk. You don't have to get all worked-up just because I interrupted you in your fantasies." Nanjiroh said.

Now that caused Ryoma to stand up and glare at his father even more.

"Fine, fine! I'm leaving…" Nanjiroh chuckled and headed his way out.

But before doing so, he swiftly grabbed the orange that peeped out of the paper bags on the mantelpiece. In a split second, the orange was in contact with his father's mouth. Ryoma cowered in fury. His father had eaten the orange! How dare he! He had eaten HIM!

Not so long ago before it rained heavily that day…

"Cleaning aide needed in aisle 7 please. A puddle of vomit has been causing traffic in the area. I repeat. Cleaning aide needed in aisle 7. Arigatou and have a good day!"

"Tsk. What a stupid announcement," Ryoma muttered under his breath.

The boy made his way through rows and rows of canned goods and other supermarket merchandise. At the moment, the tennis prince was struggling to bring the heavy basket in his hands almost filled to the top.

"Ano… Ryoma-kun. Where do you think the vegetable area is?" A certain braided-girl's voice snapped the tennis prince back to reality.

The voice belonged to none other than Ryuzaki Sakuno.

Yes. It was another one of those days when Sumire Ryuzaki randomly calls Ryoma for a helping hand to be offered to her beloved granddaughter. Today, it was the Ryuzaki's market day; and Ryoma was the unlucky victim that was FORCED to accompany the braided girl in her 'grocery shopping'.

"Don't you know how to read the signs?" he replied crudely, feeling highly annoyed for being push around.

Why was it always HIM that had to deal with all his coach's supposed-to-be jobs? He had been asked to teach this girl tennis, accompany her to get her racket fixed in the past, was previously asked to go with the girl in the town square wherein he had to try his best to keep his remaining sanity… and now THIS? Go with her to a GROCERY? Oh come on! In the first place, why would he let himself be pushed around anyway?! Oh right… because he secretly adored the girl.

Sakuno blushed at Ryoma's statement in embarrassment. She looked up and found a sign dangling just ahead of them. It said: AISLE 11: Vegetable and Fruits Area.

"Gomen…" Sakuno said shyly.

The two then headed their way towards the said area, and it was there that everything started to get out-of-hand again: Sakuno's habit strikes once more!

"Ano… Ryoma-kun. What was it we needed for our Art project again?" Sakuno asked the boy beside her, as she rummaged through a pile of vegetables, picking which was best to be bought.

Ryoma sighed. He thought for a moment before answering the girl, "Potatoes and carrots…" he replied, almost inaudibly.

Sakuno gave him a nod of the head, indicating her sincere thanks. Ryoma continued to watch the girl as she expertly searched for the best and freshest vegetables.

"We lack some eggplants, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, radishes, string beans, then carrots and potatoes for art printmaking." Sakuno said to herself as she mentally noted the needed veggies.

In their search, Sakuno's hand first landed on the best pick of lettuce. It was a very green and healthy-looking lettuce.

"The greenish color of this lettuce somehow reminds me of Kaidoh-senpai's bandanna…"

Oh dear. Ryoma sighed inaudibly. Not again.

"I will name it Kaidoh2 then!" Sakuno piped happily, after which she placed the lettuce on the basket and resumed on her search of the best-looking vegetables.

After several moments of choosy picks, the basket Ryoma was holding was filled to the top, covered by all the vegetables Sakuno had placed. While doing so, she had started naming the vegetables one by one.

"This is Kaidoh2," Sakuno pointed at a lettuce. "This is Kikumaru2," She had pointed at a tomato. "This is Oishi2," The girl pointed at a radish. "This is Kawamura2," Her finger directed towards the cabbage.

"Che."

Ryoma averted his gaze away from the girl and pretended he did not know her. Ryoma couldn't believe that this was happening all over again. Ryuzaki no baka, making a fool out of herself. After several moments… Maybe that's a bit mean… Ryoma thought in his head as he suddenly felt guilty of being embarrassed of the girl. Sakuno was truly adorable. He had secretly adored this girl from the very beginning. Every support and care she had given hadn't been unnoticed by him. Yep. He was going to accept all the faults of the girl, even if he loses his sanity before he even got to confess to the girl.

Now, the difficult thing about the present situation was that they were in public. Even the slightest snapping of his patience, causing into turbulent acts (-ahem- killing Fuji the rabbit and centipede -ahem-) may result to him into looking like a raving lunatic in the eyes of all the people in the grocery. He did not want that. Ryoma snapped back into reality when Sakuno resumed her naming of the vegetables.

"This is Momoshiro2," Sakuno pointed at an eggplant. "This is Inui2," The girl pointed at the string beans. "This is Tezuka2," Sakuno pointed at a potato. "…and this is Fuji7."

Ryoma sighed as the girl finally ended her crazy notion of naming objects. What's the use of naming food if they're going to be eaten anyway? He just couldn't quite understand girls; ESPECIALLY, Ryuzaki Sakuno. Then, it was only at that time that the last sentence of Sakuno seemed to have finally processed in his mind. Hold on. Fuji7? What's up with that? Ryoma grunted under his breath. Why was Fuji getting the spotlight again? And SEVEN? Then, another aggravating realization hit the boy. How 'bout me? Ryoma narrowed down his eyes at the girl, then at the basket filled with fresh vegetables.

"Let's go, Ryoma-kun…" Sakuno said as she shyly ushered Ryoma to go to the counter for bagging.

Just when Sakuno was about to head her way, Ryoma couldn't help himself but ask a certain question that bothered him right after the naming.

"Wouldn't you buy something else?"

Sakuno turned around found Ryoma with his cap lowered, thus covering up his face. Upon the question of the boy, Sakuno checked the basket of vegetables.

"Eh? Ano… But it seems like I'm not missing anything…" Sakuno commented.

How 'bout him? Darn it.

"Fine then…" he said annoyed.

Sakuno scrutinized the boy's odd behavior. After momentarily thinking, she thought of a possible explanation.

"Ah! I know what you want." Sakuno smiled at Ryoma sweetly, causing the boy to be utterly bewildered.

Did she really know? Ryoma started to become uncomfortable.

"Ano… Would you want an orange?" Sakuno emitted a few giggles as Ryoma looked at her surprised.

The girl thought that she had rightfully captured what the boy wanted which was actually correct. A tiny smile appeared on the tennis prince's face for a brief second.

"Yah. Wouldn't you buy that?" An orange is good enough.

"Hai!"

Sakuno happily made her way to an area in the grocery where the oranges were placed. It didn't take long for the girl to return with an orange in her hand.

"Ano… I didn't buy a lot since it wasn't really in the list of items needed…" Sakuno explained as Ryoma looked at the girl blankly, but, of course, still listened. "So I only bought one… just for you." Pink suddenly appeared on Ryoma's cheeks which the boy tried oh so hard to hide. Well, it worked anyway.

"Though," Sakuno spoke once more which immediately caught the tennis prince's attention. "It reminds me a lot like Atobe-san… So I'll name it Atobe."

If only Ryoma wasn't the type of person to go for stoicism and 'emotions-concealer', the boy would have comically landed on the floor. But he didn't. He remained put and just shook his head in utter disbelief. This truly was preposterous! He would have at least accepted Sakuno's stupid habit if it was always centered on him. I did not just say that…

When Ryoma didn't make any signs of protests and kept silent, Sakuno took it as a sign that they needed nothing else.

"Ano… let's go then!" Sakuno smiled, then headed her was to the counter for bagging.

Ryoma followed suit, but had his face covered by his cap. He couldn't believe himself. He was sulking over the fact that he wasn't named after an orange. Ryoma sighed. He definitely was losing his remaining sanity. And to think that, just recently, he had totally loathed that Sakuno had named an ANT after him. He remembered vividly that as soon as the girl said that and heard howls of laughter were heard behind the bush, he immediately flicked the ant away in pure frustration.

After that incident, Sakuno had cried so much that she ran away, thus, having the after effect of feeling the wrath of all the pebbles hit to him by his senpai-tachi. He had hated that day merely because, one, his senpai-tachi had tortured him. Well, I got my revenge when I played them anyway. Two, because he had made Sakuno cry. It was good that the girl had forgiven him for what he had done EVEN if it was a pretty stupid thing to cry over with. He liked the girl. And so he swore from the bottom of his hypothalamus that no matter how ridiculous the girl may be at times, he was still going to like her.

And now when he had finally KIND OF accepted the girl's intriguing habit, she would disappoint him by naming the orange Atobe instead. Darn it. Just as they were waiting in line for the packing, Ryoma couldn't help himself but glare at the vegetables in the basket. He was totally going to make Sakuno name the orange Ryoma. What he wants, the tennis prince always gets. And the carrot! Of course he wouldn't forget about the carrot. Stupid carrot… why is it named Fuji7? Does that mean Sakuno has several other Fujis?

"Ano… Ryoma-kun…"

"…"

"Ryoma-kun…"

"…"

"Damn it boy! Get moving! There's a freaking long line behind ya!!" The baggage guy snapped at the finally 'back-to–reality' Ryoma.

"Hey, was the guy just glaring at the vegetables?"

"Yeah, I think so. Maybe he has a phobia on them or something…"

Ryoma lowered the brim of his cap to hide the blush that was currently appearing on his face. He knew it! He was totally losing his sanity. And now, people thought he was a psycho. As soon as the vegetables were bagged, he immediately beckoned that they should leave. But just before the two exited the grocery, Sakuno's attention was caught by a machine filled with animal stuff-toys. Now what really caught the girl's attention was a certain insect stuff-toy which brought back memories of the day they were both in the park. Oh no.

"Ryoma-kun the ant!!" Sakuno cried happily.

Right after that scene, the two headed their way back to Sakuno's house. Just when Ryoma was steadily carrying the paper bags and Sakuno insisted that Ryoma gets the ant, there was a sudden heavy downpour. Thinking quickly, Ryoma had led the girl to the nearest cover they could stay in. Which was HIS house.

"Who gave you permission to eat that orange?!" Ryoma growled at his father angrily, as all of his plans of making Sakuno rename the orange was shattered.

But Nanjiroh Echizen merely smirked at his son.

"Why you—"

"Ryoma-kun…"

Sakuno suddenly entered the living room. The girl was wearing a new set of warm clothes, which were really Nanako's. The blue-haired teen allowed her auntie to put her clothes on Sakuno. The sweater and pants she was wearing were quite big and baggy, but it didn't really fall off her petite frame, showing any excess flesh.

Nanjiroh waved at the girl as Sakuno approached Ryoma. The tennis prince stiffened as his father did that. I do not know him.

"Ano… good evening sir." Sakuno made a polite bow to the still waving Nanjiroh.

"Hi! Hi! You're so kawaii Ryoma's little girlfriend!"

Sakuno had to blush intensely at this, and Ryoma glared at his father saying 'You-better-leave-NOW!' Sakuno sat down beside Ryoma.

"Who's he?" Sakuno whispered, but Nanjiroh heard it and decided to answer for his son.

"Why I'm—"

"He's our housecleaner."

"NANI?!"

"Well then 'housecleaner', please leave and clean my room now…" Ryoma stated blankly.

Then he threw his father a menacing glare which he made sure that only his father can see. Nanjiroh gave up and decided to leave. But before doing gave his son a final smirk and sang,

"Ryoma has a girl friend! Ryoma has a girl friend!"

Ryoma reached for the nearest object he could throw at his father, then his eyes averted to the paper bags with vegetables. He quickly grabbed hold of the lettuce and threw it at his father. But Nanjiroh avoided it.

"Ryoma has a girl friend! Ryoma has a girl friend!"

Ryoma tried again. But missed. He tried and tried, almost finishing all the things he bought when Sakuno stopped him.

"Ryoma-kun, you're hurting Kaidoh2, Inui2, Kikumaru2, Oishi2, Kawamura2, Momoshiro2! Now they can't be eaten anymore…" Sakuno stated sorrowfully, looking at all the wasted food on the floor.

She was near to tears. Ryoma was panicking. But instead of comforting the girl, the tennis prince reasoned crudely at the girl.

"Why are you about to cry over something stupid? It's just vegetables…"

"I-It's not just (sniff) v-vegetables. T-They're f-food! A-And (sniff) I named t-them…" Sakuno was starting once of her hysterias once more.

Suddenly, 6 objects had hit him one at a time. Ryoma rubbed the back of his head then saw his father peeping by the doorway, looking at him piercingly. 'Why'd you make her cry?!' Nanjiroh mouthed to his son. When Ryoma just stared back at him blankly, Nanjiroh's swift hand caught hold of a potato and smacked it full on Ryoma's face.

"BAKA NO OYAJI!!" Ryoma shouted at his father angrily.

"Hey, hey, what's going on in here?"

Rinko entered the living room with a curious face on, followed by a worried-looking Nanako. As soon as they caught sight of everything, both new-comers immediately went to the crying Sakuno. Rinko glared at both Ryoma and Nanjiroh. As the two pointed and blamed each other, Rinko pulled both boys with their ears, and out of the living room.

"You're both disgraceful! Did you know that?"

"It was Ryoma's fault, that's why his girl friend cried."

"Shut up. She's not my girl friend."

"Oho! So you admit that you made her cry!"

"Stupid oyaji! I didn't even say anything!"

"Stop it!" Rinko exclaimed annoyed. "You!" She pointed at Nanjiroh. "You stop meddling in other people's businesses!" Then she shifted her attention to Ryoma. "And you! You and Ryuzaki-san do something productive while Nanako finishes dinner. And DO NOT make her cry! Understood?!"

"Ano… Ryoma-kun. May you pass the paper?"

Ryoma grabbed the bond paper lying just a few inches from him, and handed it to Sakuno's outstretched hand.

"Arigatou."

After the 'incident' Sakuno and Ryoma settled on doing their art project. Yes. Now the carrot and potato enter the scene.

"Ano… You have to draw your basis first before you carve the vegetable right?" Sakuno asked the boy beside her who just nodded in response.

Ryoma decided to keep his mouth shut all-through out as to avoid saying something that might make Sakuno cry again. He should not have brought Sakuno here in the first place. Everything was chaotic! After several moments of working in silence, Sakuno spoke up once more.

"Ano… Ryoma-kun. May you pass a carrot and the cutter here please?"

Ryoma complied once more, passing the cutter first, then the carrot when Sakuno shook her head.

"No, not Fuji7. The unnamed one please."

Ryoma had to resist snapping some crude remark at the girl once more. So now there was a difference between carrots?!

"What's the difference?" he asked bluntly.

Then, Ryoma wished that he DID NOT ask.

"Why, it's because Fuji7 has the healthier and softer leaves than the unnamed one. Just like Fuji-senpai's hair. And Fuji7 has carvings that look like a bear, whale, and a bird which of course reminds me of Fuji-senpai's triple counters." Sakuno smiled sweetly at the completely bothered Ryoma. "Plus, I don't want to lose another of my vegetable friends since he's the only one left…"

Forcing himself not to reply anything mean, he just shrugged his shoulders, handed the 'unnamed' carrot to Sakuno, and resumed working on his project. Gosh. Sakuno was driving him insane!! Though, there was still something that constantly lingered in the boy's mind, leaving him restless.

"Why is it Fuji7?" he asked softly, but did not direct his eyes towards the girl.

"Oh. Ano… it's because all the objects I name Fuji seemed to be prone to accidents."

Then, memories came flooding back to him. For the past days, he had been accidentally breaking random objects in school. And whenever that happens, the girl seems so upset. He never actually knew that it was Sakuno's… Well, if he did know it was the girl's and it was named 'Fuji', he would have broken it anyway. Ryoma plastered on a smug face.

"But for some reason, every time I name an object, the name 'Fuji' always crosses my mind first."

Ryoma's face turned into a scowl. SNAP. The pencil he was using to draw snapped in two.

"Ryoma-kun… your pencil broke, I'll get you a new one…"

Sakuno immediately stood up, and headed to where she last saw a pencil, intending to give it Ryoma, before the boy could even stop her. As Sakuno left, Ryoma was left with the annoying 'Fuji' carrot. He stared at it.

"Stupid carrot."

"…"

"You annoy me so much, did you know that?"

"…"

"I hate carrots—"

"Ryoma."

The boy was suddenly cut from his 'so-called conversation' with the carrot when his cousin, Nanako, entered the room.

"Would you do me a favor please?" She asked kindly. Ryoma looked at his cousin expectantly, waiting for her to say more. "Would you buy a carrot from the store across us? We seemed to have run out…"

Ryoma's gaze shifted on a certain vegetable, lying inches across him. "Here." He handed the vegetable to his cousin, thus, indicating the end of Fuji the carrot.

"Ryuzaki-san, dear, you haven't touched your food yet," Rinko said worried to the pale-looking Ryuzaki.

Nanako and Nanjiroh looked at the girl with worried faces too. Ryoma, on the other hand, tried to look as inconspicuous and innocent as possible as he placed some curry in his mouth. Sakuno immediately put on a fake smile, trying to convince the others that everything was alright.

"Ano… I'm fine."

"Don't you like the food?" Nanako asked curiously, as she grew frantic that her cooking was the one that might have made the girl upset.

Sakuno shook her head.

"Ano… The food looks great, and I'm sure it tastes good too… I'm just not hungry…" The girl explained, as she secretly eyed the carrot in the curry sadly.

"Well, okay then dear. I can just call your grandmother later that you haven't eaten yet," Rinko said kindly which caused Sakuno to brighten up a bit.

"Thanks for understanding!" Sakuno said sweetly.

Ryoma pushed back his chair and intended to go someplace else.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rinko asked her son.

"I'm done…" Ryoma said simply.

"Well then, would you kindly accompany Ryuzaki-san while she waits for her grandmother to pick her up?"

"…"

Ryoma didn't reply, but he didn't protest too. So Rinko gave Sakuno a smile and nudge of the head, telling her to come with Ryoma. But before leaving with the boy, Sakuno turned to the three who were still in the dining table.

"Arigatou, Oba-chan, Nanako-chan, and housecleaner!"

Nanjiroh comically fell on the floor.

"Why are you so quiet?" Ryoma asked, feeling a tad bit guilty for actually giving off the carrot to Nanako.

"I lost another Fuji…" Sakuno tried her best to suppress any tears that may fall any minute now. "And I lost all the named things I bought!"

Ryoma stiffened in guilt. He sighed.

"Here." In his outstretched hand, was the stuff toy ant Sakuno had given him a while ago. "You can have it back."

Sakuno looked at Ryoma, scrutinizing the boy's expression. Ryoma had to blush with the staring Sakuno was giving him.

"You didn't lose everything… You still have me, Ryoma-kun the ant."

Sakuno started to blush at Ryoma's words. Then she slowly set her fingers upon the toy and then she hugged it near her chest.

"Arigatou." She smiled at Ryoma sweetly.

HONK HONK

"Oh! That must be obaa-chan!" Sakuno stood up suddenly, looking out the window.

Ryoma followed suit and checked if the car was really stopping by their house. Nope, the car didn't stop.

"Seems like it's not…"

Sakuno suddenly opened the window, thus letting cold air enter Ryoma's room. "It stopped raining…" Sakuno stated as she gazed up at the sky.

"Yeah."

HONK HONK

Then, from a distance, another car came into view.

"That's obaa-chan!" Sakuno cried happily.

The girl decided to wave to her grandmother when Ryoma noticed that the object Sakuno was holding near her chest was starting to slip.

"Ryuzaki!"

But it was too late. The ant stuff toy fell down, down, down, and it hit the ground when Ryuzaki Sumire's car halted at the exact spot the ant dropped, causing the stuff toy to be squished…and alas, the end of Ryoma-kun the ant's life.

"NO!!" Both Sakuno and Ryoma's cries were heard through-out the night.

Ryoma-kun the ant was gone.

The Great Loss.

The End

A/N: So, what do you think? Hahaha! Thanks for reading. (:))

[Edited]