A/N: Thank you JuniperScaymoore for being my beta reader!

Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis. Never did, and never will.

Dual Disclaimer (By Beta): SHE DOESN'T OWN PRINCE OF TENNIS (AKA PoT). I don't own anything-PoT (NOT POT) or this story. I just polished it :)

Chapter one: Broken Promises

Sakuno sat down and closed her eyes. The sun was shining down on her, and she felt content. This was her favorite spot. She had discovered it purely by accident. Five months ago, her grandmother, Sumire Ryuzaki, had died of a heart attack. Sakuno was shocked, but even more than that, she felt lonely. Her parents had both divorced, and remarried, and now they barely talked to her. It was as if she wasn't born at all. Due to her busy parents, Sakuno had always felt that her grandmother was her only family member, and the only person whom she could confide to. Now, that person was gone, and she would never come back. Sakuno would be alone again. She couldn't bare the pain of her grandmother's death, and so she ran away from the funeral. It didn't matter where she was going. As long as it wasn't there. She ran and ran, and even when she tripped, she just continued running after picking herself up. When she couldn't run anymore, she sat down and looked around her. Because of its peaceful silence, and it's detachment with the city, she had loved this place.

It was a cliff. If you looked down, you could see the waves splashing against the rocks. Of course, you could hear it too. The splashing of the waves made a perfect harmony with the chirping of the birds, creating the sound of nature. Behind Sakuno was a small forest, if you could call it that. There were just a lot of trees clumped together, but it was this little "forest" that was rumored to be cursed. They said that if you walked through the forest with your boyfriend, or husband, you would break up or divorce within two months. Maybe it was true, but to Sakuno, it had no meaning. It wasn't like she had a lover anyway.

She leaned on a tree trunk and tried to sleep, and suddenly the pictures of the day before her grandmother died flashed before her eyes.

-FLASHBACK-

They were looking at some sakura trees, and taking pictures, when her grandmother suddenly said something that made her remember something she had forgotten.

"Sakuno. You should move on. Dwelling on the past won't help you with your future. You've grown into a beautiful woman, and you've gained more confidence over these years as I watch over you. Every day, you're continuing to change. Comparing you right now to your past self, it seems like I don't know you anymore. You've grown. You've matured. Love isn't always painful. Sometimes love is a good thing. Remember this. You are made from the love between your mother and father. This is what my own parents told me when I was younger."

"Obaa-san..." Sakuno sighed. "You say the love between my mother and father? Have you forgotten? They are divorced. It's true that they may have loved each other once upon a time, but now..." Sakuno took a deep breath, and was about to continue when her grandmother spoke again.

"It may be true that they are divorced, but it doesn't change the face that they loved each other before."

"Yes Obaa-san. Before. I too, have been in love… before."

"Sakuno."

"Sorry. I have to go. It's almost time for my meeting." Sakuno smiled forcefully, and walked away.

"Sakuno. Don't be afraid to accept love. Just because it failed once, doesn't mean it'll happen again...!" Her grandmother had shouted after her. She paused, then continued to walk away, not knowing that this would be the last conversation ever between them.

-FLASHBACK END-

"Obaa-san…"

Sakuno sighed. She didn't want to accept the love between couples, but she would accept the love between family and friends. She knew it wasn't what her grandmother had meant, but after all these years, she was still afraid of the feeling of attachment and pain. Her fear only grew as she watched many of her friends cry to her, saying that their boyfriends had cheated on them, or that they had an argument, or that they broke up because he just wasn't interested anymore. There were many examples, but she didn't want to think about them. It was… well… depressing. And Sakuno disliked depressing things.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Sakuno opened her eyes. Recognizing the noise as her cell phone, she looked around for her bag. She took her cell phone out, and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Sakuno. This is Tomoka. Where are you?"

"Oh. I'm... You know. Around."

"That place? It gives me the creeps. It's so silent there. Anyways, come to the company right now please. There are a few roles for you to choose from. Even though none of them are huge, gigantic roles, they still give you a chance to explore your acting skills, and I think that is the most important thing. Remember, you have to be here in thirty minutes, okay? AAAND the President, Hiroki Yashiro, wants to talk to you about something. He's so mysterious! I wonder how he's like when he's with his girlfriend. Will he treat her like a princess? Or will he treat her like garbage? Ahh, I wonder how he's like in be-"

"It must've slipped my mind." Sakuno interrupted. "I'll be there soon."

She looked around, and decided that she would definitely miss this place when she had to move to another country three months later.

"Sakuno! Are you listening to me?"

"Hai."

"Ryuzaki Sakuno. If you're not here in fifteen minutes, I swear! I'll tell everyone that you used to date Echizen Ryoma! I'm not joking!"

By this time, Sakuno was stretching, and about to grab her bag when she froze as she heard her friend say his name. Him. The only person whom she fell in love with. The only person who she allowed to open her heart to. As well as the only person who can trample all over her heart and act as if nothing happened. She dropped her phone, only to pick it up seconds later.

"Ne Tomoka…" She said cautiously. "Since you're shouting at me over the phone, I'm sure no one would be able to hear you?"

"Of course! I'm in the washroom. There's no one but me here, all alon-"

Sakuno sighed in relief, and picked up bag. Wondering why her manageress had stopped talking all of a sudden, she was about to ask when Tomoka shouted.

"SHIT, DOUBLE SHIT, AND TRIPLE SHIT."

Sakuno frowned. She had a feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"Sakuno. You see... There was someone in the washroom after all. Ah… hehe."

"Osakada."

"Gomen, gomen!" The manageress pleaded. She knew that when she was referred to by her last name, it means there's going to be trouble.

"Don't you remember your promise?"

"Of course I did! I promised you that I will not tell anyone this until you were ready to tell everybody." Tomoka recited.

"And did I tell you that I was ready to tell the world that I used to date… him?" Sakuno was about to continue talking when she realized that she was steadily raising her voice. She quickly looked around, and after making sure no one was around, she quietly continued in order to ensure no one will overhear her. "You promised."

"Sakuno, I'm really sorry! I'll make sure that this girl here does not ever mention your name in her life. I'll quit being a manageress if you want me to. I'll give you all my salary for this month, even though you won't really need it. I promise you that I will try to never ever say your name and his name in the same sentence, together in my life! I'll fall on my knees and beg you if you wish. I'll... I'll become your human shield if you ever needed it, or when there are guns around! I'll be-"

Sakuno unconsciously relaxed. She knew that Tomoka wasn't all talk and no action. Whenever Tomoka said something, Sakuno knew that she meant it. She amusedly noticed that Tomoka had said it all in one breath, and decided to interrupt her friend before she died due to the lack of oxygen.

"Look Tomo-chan. I'll hurry and meet you at AL&T (the company) in about twenty minutes okay? I'll still have ten minutes to spare. And please, don't do anything like that. Become my human shield? Just be careful with my name and his in the future."

She could hear Tomoka threatening the woman who overheard their conversation, and when the threatening didn't work, Tomoka had very loudly blackmailed her. With what, Sakuno didn't know, and how she even got something to blackmail that poor woman was even more of a mystery.

"Okay, sure. Sakuno, gomen! She promised she won't ever tell anyone though."

Sakuno could almost feel Tomoka's glare over the phone.

"Talk about this later. See you in twenty."

She picked up her forgotten bag, and walked back towards the noisy city. Looking over her shoulder one last time, she shook her head, and whispered softly to herself. "Another broken promise huh?"

-FLASHBACK-

She was a third year at Seigaku. Surprisingly, Ryoma Echizen was in all of her classes this year. They had gotten close in their first year, but during their second year, they had drifted apart. When Sakuno entered her classroom, or tried to, she found that the whole doorway was blocked by girls. Squealing loud girls. Crazy squealing making-her-ears-bleed loud girls. Sakuno had to wait until the sensei came to finally step inside her classroom. She was kind of surprised to actually see him there. She looked around and waited to see if Satsuki Nakuru would be in the same class as her. Five minutes later, Nakuru was nowhere in sight. She sighed. Naruku was probably not in the same class, or if she was, she was very, very late. When the sensei told them to sit, she chose to sit by the window at the back of the room. The desks were arranged into pairs, but she figured she would probably sit alone, or with a new classmate. She glanced at Ryoma. He was leaning against the back wall, looking extremely bored. Sakuno wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to him or not. It was true that she liked him, but perhaps she didn't like him as much as she thought. Sakuno blinked. For the first time, she noticed the many changes in Ryoma.

Ryoma had gotten taller, a lot taller. If she was standing up, she had to tilt her head up to look at him. She wasn't short either. She was 5'5", towering over most girls in the class. Ryoma had also gotten more handsome, if that was possible. His fan girls were increasing at an alarming rate. This morning was an example of that. His fan girls ranged from tall to short, freshmen to seniors, fat to skinny, which practically meant everyone, that is, excluding Sakuno. She had stopped watching his games, but she always knew if he won or not. Every single girl would talk about it, and Sakuno would listen.

Unwilling to be caught staring, she turned her head, and glanced out the window, wishing that lunch break would come already so she could find Naruku. Tomoka had moved away due to her father's job and her family decided that they would go together. They still phoned and sent letters sometimes. They would've e-mailed each other, but Tomoka didn't tell Sakuno her e-mail address, and Sakuno always forgot to ask. If Tomoka were here, she probably wouldn't have met Naruku either.

Naruku was her best friend. She had gotten close to Sakuno and Tomoka in the middle of their second year. After Tomoka left, she and Naruku would do everything together. Naruku knew that she missed Tomoka, and did her best to cheer her up. When Sakuno was bullied, she would come and help her out. Naruku wasn't ugly. She was, in fact, very beautiful, so at first, Sakuno didn't trust her. She didn't understand why such a pretty girl would want to be friends with her, but after a while, she knew more about Naruku, and slowly began to trust her. Naruku's family consisted of her mother and her brother. Her father had died a long time ago, and her mother worked every day. At least, that's what Naruku told everybody. Sakuno saw Naruku's mom with a strange man. She had followed them to the restaurant. There wasn't any suspicious activity happening, so she went home. The next day, she saw Naruku's mom again. This time, she was with a different man. She went over to Naruku's house, and was about to tell her when she saw Naruku running out of her house, crying.

Hiding behind a tree, she wondered what was going on. It wasn't until a week after that Naruku finally told Sakuno about her mother when Sakuno questioned her. Naruku had thought that if she told her, Sakuno might be disgusted by her family, and leave her. Sakuno promised that she would never leave her if Naruku told her the truth. Naruku nodded, and she hugged Sakuno tightly. That day, their friendship had deepened.

"Class is starting."

Most people found a spot to sit, but majority of the girls were still standing. They all looked at Ryoma hopefully, and glared at each other. Some crouched down, as if preparing to sprint. Ryoma looked around, and started walking. Sakuno was still staring out the window, and was unaware of anything until a bunch of girls let out a sound of frustration. Sakuno heard the sound of the chair beside her scrapping the floor, and suddenly felt people glaring at her. She slowly turned to look around and tilted her head to look at the person sitting beside her. Sakuno could identify that it was a male, and he had dark green hair, but she couldn't see his face. He was sleeping on the desk, and his face was turned the other way. Sakuno glanced at the girls, and shuddered when she saw all of them glaring back at her. She awkwardly turned to look out the window again. The girls angrily took their seats. It wasn't until class was almost over that she finally saw his face. She stared at him, and he turned his head to stare back. Sakuno blinked a couple of times, and looked towards the board in silence.

Now she knew why the girls were glaring and narrowing their eyes for. Echizen Ryoma was sitting beside her, and they didn't like it. She tried to focus, but a certain tennis prodigy beside her was making her uncomfortable. She was also tired, and she yawned a lot. Class dragged on, and the sensei continued talking in English. She wasn't paying attention anymore, and all she heard was "Blah, blah, blah..."

When the lunch bell rang, she rushed out of her classroom with a smile on her face, in search of her best friend. However, she couldn't find Naruku at all. She tried texting, but didn't get a reply. She finally phoned Naruku's home phone.

"Hello?" Came a timid girl's voice.

"Naruku? What are you doing at home? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Sa-Sakuno? Sorry. I…"

A pause. Then some muffled sounds.

"Sakuno? Sorry. I-I'm just feeling a bit… sick."

"Daijoubu?"

"Yes, but I have to go. Bye." And with that, the phone call had ended.

Sakuno stared blankly at her phone for a few minutes. She had already finished her lunch, and since there wasn't anything to do, she wandered around the school. She finally went to the roof, in a desperate attempt to find peace and quiet. She looked around, and no one was here. Perfect. Smiling, she pushed the heavy door closed, and tied up her hair in a ponytail. She had always liked dancing. Free style, Ballet, Hip hop, Jazz. She had tried most of the dances, but her favorite was still free style. Dancing also took away her stress, but sometimes she just wanted to dance for no particular reason at all. Other times she danced to think better, like now. She stretched, and smiled. Maybe it would even take her sleepiness away! She danced around on the roof, and pretended that it was a stage. In the middle of her spinning, she heard someone clap. She turned around in shock. She prayed. 'Someone did NOT just saw me dance on the roof. Please tell me someone did NOT see me, and that I'm growing old and hallucinating!' However, when she turned around, she was disappointed to find that her prayers were not answered. Even worse was the person standing there.

"Ryo-" Sakuno coughed. "Echizen-san. What are you doing here?"

"Sleeping."

"Then... Then when did you wake up?"

"When you came in."

"Then why didn't I see you?"

Ryoma shrugged and pointed to some crates behind him. Sakuno groaned. It seemed like she had used up all of the Prince's words for her today. Then she glared.

"Don't tell anyone." She narrowed her eyes, then thought better of it, and added, "Onegai, Echizen-san."

"Ne."

Sakuno glanced at Ryoma. "Nani?"

"What happened to 'Ryoma-kun'?"

Purposely ignoring it, and slightly surprised that he even remembered her, she continued pleading. "Just don't tell anyone okay? Promise Echizen-san?"

After a heavy silence, Ryoma opened his mouth. "If you stop calling me that."

Sakuno mentally groaned. 'Let see... My choices are, let the school know that I dance, and let my parent's eventually hear and punish me for doing such an 'useless activity', or call someone by their first name. Well, that wasn't so hard.'

She sighed in defeat.

Two weeks later…

"What do you mean they moved?"

Sakuno was at Naruku's house and the landlady told her that they moved out a week ago.

"Why did they leave?"

"Oh. I think it was because her father had wanted Naruku to live with him. Her mother, well actually, I just recently learned that it was her aunt, had moved in with a man. The brother is going to live with their father too. That's what I heard."

"Oh. Th-thank you." Sakuno whispered.

Naruku lied. She said that she was sick, and that's why she wasn't coming to class. She said that her father died a long time ago. She said that was her mother. She said that she would never lie. She promised. And now, she had broken her promise.

In the end, Sakuno didn't leave Naruku. Naruku left her. The promise Sakuno made to Naruku meant nothing anymore. Sakuno had tasted her first betrayal. The next few days, she was in a daze.

Four days later…

Sakuno's class was having a play for English class. The main characters were of course, the prince and the princess. The whole class had chosen Ryoma as the leading role. It didn't matter whether he liked it or not. Majority ruled, and with that many fan girls cluttering up the class, it was obvious who the prince would be.

"Now, who will be the princess? Raise your hands and stand up please."

Every girl raised her hand (except Sakuno), and stood up. The teacher looked around the classroom.

"Well. Let me just tell you what the princess is expected to do. First of all, she must have long hair, because there is a part in the play where the prince kisses the princess's hair."

The girls with short hair groaned, "How about a wig though?"

"Well. A wig would work, but I really want this play to work out, and even if there's a 0.000001 percent chance of the wig falling off…" The teacher's glasses glinted.

They groaned again, but they sat down.

The teacher continued, "Next, this girl cannot wear glasses. Part six of the play requires the princess to wear a mask, and the mask is very tight, so glasses would not work."

A third of them winced. Some tried to take off their glasses and try out for the princess, but they walked around and tripped.

"Contacts?" Someone asked hopefully.

However, the teacher chose to ignore her. The girls sat down, obviously disappointed.

"Lastly, this girl must know how to dance, because for this part here," He pointed to a page, "It states that the princess will have to dance with the prince, and we do not have enough time for you to learn how to dance."

The remaining girls stared at each other, looking around.

"Sensei." A deep male voice.

"Yes Echizen?"

"I know someone who has long hair, doesn't wear glasses, and can dance... pretty well."

"Really? Then you will choose the princess. After all, you are the prince."

"Ryuzaki."

The whole class turned to look at Sakuno, who was busy thinking about Naruku, and turned back to Ryoma. Sakuno wasn't paying any attention to the teacher. She figured she would probably get the role of a servant or something.

"Then it's decided." Sakuno finally looked up, and listened to what the teacher was saying.

"The princess will be Ryuzaki."

Sakuno yawned, and in the middle of her yawn, she froze.

"Huh? Me? Sensei, did you make a mistake?"

Sakuno reached out to take her water bottle, and took a sip.

"No. You fit the requirements of the princess."

Sakuno immediately choked on the water she was drinking. "What requirements?"

"Long hair, no glasses or contacts, and can also dance. I'm sure you can't deny the fact that you are suitable."

"I… I wear contacts…!"

"You're wearing contacts?" She looked at the teacher as his head dropped in disappointment.

"I am… not." She confessed.

"Then be our princess!"

"But I... who said I could dance? I can't dance..."

"You can't? But Echizen…"

"What...?"

She glared at Ryoma. He looked at her apologetically, and shrugged. She growled mentally.

It was decided. Ryoma was the prince and she was the princess. The stupid damsel-in-distress. The stupid girl that was so much like her weak self. The stupid princess that was spoiled rotten. She stormed out of the classroom after saying that she felt sick, feeling slightly bitter.

Another promise, broken again.

-FLASHBACK END-

"Why can't people just make promises that they can actually keep?" Sakuno mumbled. Although she had every right to be angry at Naruku, she did not hear both sides of the story. It wasn't until later did she realize how unfortunate her friend really was.

Back at the cliff, a certain dark-green haired person with golden-brown feline eyes heard everything, and saw everything. The beautiful eyes widened, and the only sound that could be heard was this boys' breathing.

His mouth opened, and five words came out of his mouth. "Why aren't you smiling Sakuno?"

.TBC.

Dictionary:

Obaa-san – Grandmother.

Hai – Something along the lines of I am paying attention, and I understand what you are saying, or used as yes.

Ne – Translates roughly to hey (In some other cases, translates to right/isn't it?).

Gomen – Informal way of saying sorry.

Sensei – Teacher.

Daijoubu – Are you all right?

Onegai – Please.

Nani – What?