Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot.

Thank you JuniperScaymoore for being the beta reader. (:

Chapter two: A Wish Come True

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 was heard, was this boys' breathing.

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

Ryoma laid there on the bed, glaring at the sunlight that invaded his dark room. He blinked a few times, and rubbed his eyes. He didn't get to sleep much for the past two nights. He was too busy thinking about a certain girl and by the time he fell asleep, it was already almost morning. Ryoma sighed. He slowly sat up and got out of bed.

He wasn't living with his parents anymore. Ryoma still found his dad extremely annoying, and moved out as soon as he could. Now, instead of the temple, he lived in a penthouse. He had offered to buy his parents a new home, but they refused, saying that the house had a lot of precious memories, and they didn't feel like moving. Ryoma just shrugged, and didn't bother asking twice.

While he was walking towards his washroom, he noticed that his computer was still on. The light was blinking at him, and he walked over to shut the computer down. He started walking towards the washroom again, to brush his teeth and change into a pair of faded black jeans, and a T-shirt. As he stepped out of the door, he felt a little cold, so he took a green Adidas jacket that was lying on the sofa and put it on. He got his white Fila cap, and was about to leave when he heard his cell phone ring.

Groaning he searched for his phone, throwing things all over the room. Finally he found it, and he pressed talk.

"Who is it?" He growled. Whoever it is, it better be damn important. As he looked over his room, he frowned. I had to add even more mess to this messy room to find this stupid phone. He waited for whoever that was on the other line to talk. When he heard nothing, his frown deepened.

"Hello?" He said impatiently.

No one answered. He almost threw the phone across the room.

He muttered something under his breath and walked out the door after making sure it was locked properly. With his keys in hand, he pressed the elevator button and waited. He momentarily thought back to yesterday's phone call conversation with his senpai.

-x-

His cell phone rang, and he suppressed his yawn to answer it.

"…"

"Hello? Echizen? Are you there?" A male voice was heard from the other end.

"Hn."

"Echizen! You'll never believe this!"

"Who is this?" Was his blunt reply.

"This is Momoshiro. How could you forget my voice, how could you? But have you heard of the party that starts at five today?"

"Yes." It was obvious by Ryoma's tone that he didn't care much about it.

"Well, Atobe invited all the old Seigaku members, along with famous people! Just imagine, I'll be meeting with celebrities!"

"Hn. I don't want to spend a whole night staring at his face with the mole. I have better things to do."

"Tezuka-buchou would be there too. I could always ask Inui-senpai to give you his newest drink, or Fuji-senpai to blackmail you with hi-"

"Are you threatening me?"

Sheepish laughter entered Ryoma's ears.

"Hn. Remind me why I gave you my number in the first place?"

"Because we're the best of the best of friends. Echizen? How come you're not replying? You're there right? You're coming right? Echizen! Echizen? Echi-"

-x-

He glanced at his watch as he stepped out into the sunlight. It was almost time for the tennis match. He looked around, and cringed at the squealing girls that seemed to follow him everywhere. Where is that guy? Didn't he say that he would come drive me? A minute passed, then five. Ryoma couldn't stand the girls anymore. I swear. I'm going to go deaf very, very soon.

"Echizen-san. I'm very sorry to make you wait so long."

Ryoma glared at him.

He didn't receive any answer, but he didn't expect the famous tennis prodigy in front of him to answer. His glare had signaled the end of their conversation, and that was that. Ryoma didn't plan on talking with this familiar stranger. Even though this guy was always driving Ryoma to his matches, and telling him his schedule, Ryoma never bothered to remember his name. Ryoma had seen him a bunch of times, and Ryoma was sure that he introduced himself to him every time he met him, but his name wasn't important, so he didn't even attempt to remember it. He would forget the name as soon as he said it, and so this person was nicknamed 'Twig', since he was ever so skinny and his hair was dark brown.

Twig apologized for a full minute before he finally said, "The car is over there. Let's go to your tennis match now."

Ryoma nodded. Before he knew it, he dozed off in the car.

"Echizen-san,"

Ryoma's eyes slowly opened.

"We're here. Your match is on the West D court today. I have a map here if you need it."

Ryoma didn't bother listening after he knew which court he was in. Nodding his thanks, he got out of the car, took the map from him, and walked away without looking back.

"Good luck Echizen-san!"

Ryoma raised his right hand and waved to signal that he heard. After a few minutes, he arrived at the tennis court. There weren't much people around. It didn't bother him; instead, it made him feel energized. Lots of people meant lots of yelling, and lots of yelling meant him sometimes losing his concentration. He almost lost once because of those stupid girl's squealing. Looking at his watch, he noticed that there were still twenty minutes before the match officially starts. He went to look for a wall to warm up. He finally found one not far from where he is, and after putting down his bag on a bench, he took out his racquet and tennis ball, and started hitting it against the wall. His mind started wandering, and when he saw a brunette walk by, he started to think about Sakuno, who he saw for the first time in three years. He angrily shook his head, forcing his thoughts to the back of his brain, and started to concentrate on warming up.

He checked his watch again. It was time. After one final hit, he caught the ball, and after retrieving his bag, Ryoma walked to the court where he would play momentarily. He looked inside the court, and smirked. It looks like my opponent is here already.

He entered the court, and a tall blonde man looked up. Ryoma had to tilt his head slightly to look at him, and the man laughed quietly, mumbling to himself. Ryoma sighed in frustration. Drinking milk all the time didn't really help him much. Hopefully, at the age of eighteen, he would still be growing.

He put his bag down, and stared at the man not far from where he is. He stared back at Ryoma. Then he suddenly narrowed his eyes at Ryoma, and Ryoma started to feel uncomfortable. Of course he won't admit it, but it bothered him nonetheless.

The gates creaked open, and both of them stared at a stranger with a bright blue t-shirt and an un-matching neon green shorts coming in. He looked around, and gasped. "Sorry. Did I come into the wrong court?"

The umpire nodded, and the flushing man left.

Ryoma and the man both walked towards the net.

"Smooth or rough." It wasn't even a question anymore. It was a statement.

"Smooth." Ryoma replied.

It landed on Smooth. "Echizen Ryoma to serve."

Ryoma smirked. He switched the racquet to his right hand, and started to serve.

"Love-15." Everyone gasped at his serve. Some started to whisper among themselves.

"Love-30."

"Love-40." A bunch of girls walked by, and started to watch the game.

"Game, Echizen."

"Sugoi! That Warren Takuto guy didn't even score a point! He won only using his serves!"

A bunch of whisperings found its way to Ryoma's ear. He smirked. Raising his racquet so that it pointed towards the man's face, his catchphrase came.

"Mada mada dane."

"Game, set, match Echizen."

By now, they had attracted a lot of attention, and a bunch of girls squealed. He groaned inwardly. Walking up to the net, he shook hands with Takuto.

"How could a short kid like him beat me? I didn't even win a single game. The best I did was winning three points. How did he get so fast anyway? Plus, he isn't even sweating that hard. I must improve my stamina next time. I should…"

Ryoma raised his eyebrow. Another Shinji has appeared. He walked away without saying anything else. The part at the gate was the most difficult part. With all those fan girls crowding everywhere, he found it very hard to get through. Somehow he managed, and he ran as soon as he's free. Ryoma took out his cell phone to check the time. It was five twenty. Even though he's late, he did somehow agree to go to that party. He sighed. Usually, he would go straight away without a care in the world, but because it was a formal party, he had to dress up. Something he hadn't done in a long, long time. Heck, he didn't even remember the last time he dressed up for something. Well maybe that time with Saku… No. Stop. He shook his head again to clear his thoughts.

Pressing a button, he realized that someone had texted him. It came from the Twig. He informed Ryoma of a change of his schedule. Ryoma was to go to a modeling agency in an hour. He replied back with a clear 'Not interested'.

Another beep, which signaled another text. Ryoma chose to ignore it, but less than five minutes later, it beeped again. Ryoma glared at his cell phone. The bad part was that he couldn't even turn it off, because if something important comes up with tennis, they contact him by his phone. And his mother had forbidden him to ever turn it on silent, because when she tried to contact Ryoma, she ended up calling thirty times before he finally picked up his phone. The phone continued beeping until Ryoma groaned in defeat.

In the middle of the busy street, he managed to get into a taxi, and it drove him back home.

Approximately one hour and forty something minutes later…

"No! No! Don't just stand there! Pose!"

Ryoma stared back at the camera. He had no idea how he got into this mess. He had agreed to come, but not actually model the minute he stepped into the room. Modeling and Ryoma do not mix together. It's like oil and water. No matter how hard you stir, they won't blend. He only came because of the annoying text messages. Another reason was because it was his mothers dream for him to be a singer and apparently this is the first step to that. It wasn't like he was interested in this at all, but sometimes he did try to make his mother happy.

A man wearing sunglasses shouted at him some more. Finally getting the hint that Ryoma can't make up a pose himself, the man directed him.

"Raise your hand like this. Turn your face slightly to the right. Don't look at the camera. Look at that pink painting over there, and STAND STILL. Yes. That's it. I SAID DON'T MOVE."

Ryoma frowned. Today has got to be the worst day of his life. His poor ears were starting to hurt from all the yelling. Not to mention the fact that he was just dying to scratch his arm.

"No. Don't FROWN!"

Ryoma's face resumed the emotionless mask as he clenched his teeth. Endure Ryoma, endure.

-x-

"Good job. If you like, we can do this again some other time."

"Hn." As if I will do this again. This is absolute torture.

"Well do you have any questions?"

"Yes."

"What is it Echizen-kun?"

"Why do you wear sunglasses in this dark room?"

The man with sunglasses pretended not to hear him. "Well if there are no questions, you may go."

Location: Atobe's party

He slipped in, hoping that no one would notice him. It seemed like the party was packed with girls. Almost over half of them were crowding something. He pitied the person, or persons in the middle of the mob. He shuddered slightly, and went to look for some drinks. As he was walking, Atobe Keigo spotted him. He walked closer and closer, but Ryoma didn't feel like talking to him at the moment. He was craving for some Ponta.

"Did you like this party hm?"

"Happy birthday Monkey king. Ja." Then Ryoma ran off.

He found some juice, but there wasn't any Ponta in sight. The huge grandfather clock informed him that it was almost nine. He was not pleased. He just wasted approximately two and a half hours modeling and another hour walking around in this stupid party. He spotted a door, and he opened it. Closing the door behind him, he discovered a spacious hallway. He wandered around, and found a what seemed to be a garden. He started to walk towards it when he bumped into something. He raised his hand to see what he bumped into. His hands touched the smooth, cold glass.

"Stupid glass." He muttered as he wondered how his eyes missed it. He leaned against the glass, and was about to take his cell phone out when he felt himself fall back. Before he had a chance to regain his balance, he fell.

"Itai…"

After a few minutes of lying on the floor, he got up and rubbed his head. Apparently he leaned against a door. As Ryoma looked around him, he found that it was mostly rose bushes, but there was a big tree in the center of it all. He walked closer, and it was surprisingly a maple tree. The sweet aroma of the roses was starting to overwhelm him, but he stayed and sat down anyway. Looking up, he saw the perfectly round moon. Resting his eyes for the first time today, he finally relaxed.

He thought back to a few weeks ago when he accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation that he didn't think he should be listening to. According to that conversation, Ryuzaki Sakuno was talking about dating someone, and she is now working at some company.

Taking out his cell phone, he searched the internet on 'Ryuzaki Sakuno'. There were a bunch of articles about her. Most of them were talking about a band that somehow keeps appearing on the top ten lists, and what a great actor she was. Some others were sites that contained information about her personal life, and as Ryoma read through it, he didn't know if he should be happy that none of the reporters dug up their past, or sad to know that no one knew she belonged to him before. Ryoma searched some more, and was surprised at the fact that she had won some awards in acting. Sakuno didn't like to act when she was in school. I remembered that she liked to dance. And so, he searched harder, and found that Sakuno had been in a car accident, and because of that accident, she had suffered some injuries which caused her to stop dancing. Ryoma closed the window and sighed at his stupid curiosity which lead him to waste more than an hour of his time.

"I hope I can see you again, Sakuno." He whispered.

Crunch. Crunch.

Instantly alert, he glanced around. A girl came into view.

"Uuwahh. What a beautiful moon."

Ryoma, half-hidden by the shadows, continued to observe. The moonlight shone on her like a spotlight. She was facing the other way, so Ryoma couldn't see her face, but he did see the long auburn hair that almost reached the small of her back. The girl continued to walk backwards towards the tree, the same one which he was leaning on. Ryoma turned his gaze back to the moon, praying that she wasn't the type who will suddenly yell in his ear. Suddenly, the girl gasped, and the sound of footsteps ceased. He turned his head lazily to her.

"R-Ryoma…"

He blinked. Recognition flickered in his eyes, and the phrase "be careful what you wish for" flowed through his mind. A simple word confirmed both his and her identity.

"Sakuno."

He stiffened slightly as memories of their past came rushing back.

.TBC.

Dictionary:

Mada mada dane – Translates roughly to you still have lots more to work on, or not good enough/still no good.

Sugoi – Japanese slang, meaning favorably impressed (ex. cool, awesome, etc).

Ja – Bye.

Itai – Ouch.

A/N: I will assume that people know the honorifics, and those will not be included in the dictionary section.

And also, Happy new year!