a/n: I did a crappy doodle of Souji. If you'd like to see, it's on my livejournal. Just go on my profile~. I have not given his appearance or personality much thought at all on the last chapter. After giving it some thought, here's his real personality!

special thanks to Lady Light, Ruka-Yuuya, Mistress Hydrangea, and mysweetcat for reviewing!

summary: With Sakuno's grandmother hospitalized because of a critical condition, she's forced to move with in with her relatives and transfer into Rikkai Dai for a whole year. Dramatic changes haphazardly burst into her life but steadily, Sakuno becomes a stronger person. — Sakuno-centric

falling into the sky

Marui Bunta walks side by side with his pal Niou to his apartment. Niou invited him over to his place after practice. Marui was skeptical at first but got with cream puffs from a local pastry shop nearby. The gluttonous Rikkai regular cheerfully holds the container close to him.

"Ehe, my horoscope told me that I'll have a fated encounter today." Marui blows a bubble.

"You believe in that stuff?" It's idiotic to believe the date of someone's birth somehow affects his or her personality and or life, Niou thinks.

Pop.

Marui nods vigorously. "Yeah! I thought it was all bull but when I started to read about horoscopes in magazines—"

"Chick magazines?" Niou snerks. A sly grin made its way to his face.

Marui snaps his head towards Niou's direction. "H-Hey! There weren't any other magazines to read at the waiting room when I went for a check up!" The red head defends himself. The shorter boy chews his gum angrily then blows a bubble.

Bang!

The bubble gum pops and Marui stumbles backwards from a sudden collision with a smaller girl, making her tumble further into him from her lost of balance.

"A-Ahh…-"

The extra weight against Marui causes him to fall backwards—!

An arm instantly scoops around the petite girl's waist before she could fall with Marui. Niou pulls the girl towards him and just let his friend fall backwards on his butt. Marui quickly shields the container of cream puffs, prioritizing the sweet desert before himself.

"Pupina. You should watch where you're going, musume-chan." Niou slowly releases the flushed girl and stares at his teammate in a stupid position on the ground, protecting the box container.

Sakuno's face goes red, half the reason is because Niou had his arm around her and the other half is from embarrassment. "I-I'm so sorry! I-Is he alright?" Sakuno gestures towards the older boy on the ground that looks like he was spooning a pastry box container.

Niou glances at the girl. To his pleasant surprise, looks genuinely concerned. The corner of the trickster's lips curve upward into a smirk. "No, just look at him. He looks like a retarded vegetable! We're going to peruse damages towards you musume-chan."

Sakuno's expression sunk, visibly paling.

"Who are you calling a retarded vegetable, NIOU?" Marui growls, picking himself up and dusts himself off. Niou ignores his friend's tantrum and sizes up the younger girl, much to her discomfort.

Sakuno looks down, fumbling with the hem of her skirt. "I-I'm sorry…" She squeaks an apology. Marui stops and stares at the girl. Feeling sorry for her, he waves his hand dismissively. "Don't mind, don't mind. Niou's just messing with you. Unless you really do think I look like a retarded vegetable!"

Sakuno gasp and quickly shakes her head. "N-No! You look…like a genius, sir!" Marui's face brightens up by ten-folds.

Niou grimaces. "Oh shit, you just had to say that…"

Marui's hands suddenly clasp around Sakuno's smaller ones. "You must be…my fated encounter…" Lilac eyes stare deeply into honey brown ones. "E-Excuse me?" The younger girl asks, slightly taken back.

"Bunta…don't." Niou groans.

"Your name?" Marui ignores his teammate. His eyes gleam brightly.

"I'm R-Ryuzaki… Ryuzaki Sakuno desu."

Niou's ears perk at the sound of that familiar name. 'Fated encounter indeed…' Niou inwardly thought, staring at Sakuno suspiciously.

"If this is fate then, Ryuzaki Sakuno-chan we'll meet again." Bishie sparkles and shojo bubbles radiate around them as if they were in a romance manga. "U-Um…" Sakuno isn't very comfortable about how she's labeled as this boy's fated encounter but his enthusiasm is starting to brighten her up to the idea... She still doesn't like it though. "I'm looking forward to it then?" She spoke, smiling cutely.

Marui's eyes widen slightly. As he felt his heartbeat practically thumping out of his chest, all the blood in his body rushes up to his face.

Niou roll his eyes. "Yeah, whatever lover boy." The trickster grabs the back of Marui's collar and pulls him to the apartment next-door, take out his keys, and unlocks the door.

Sakuno stares. "Ah…" Realization hits Sakuno and she quickly bows. "Greetings neighbor!" Niou glances back at Sakuno. "Neighbor…? Are you moving into one of these apartments musume-chan?" The silver haired trickster shows amusement on his face as he asks in confirmation. "Un! I live next door to you, actually." Sakuno gestures towards her cousin's apartment.

"Ah… So you're Souji-senpai's cousin he spoke about..."

Marui squirms, flailing his arms wildly. "That's unfair! Why is my sweet little fated encounter living next to the spawn of hell?!"

"Maybe she's my fated encounter Bunta. …Piyo."

Marui becomes astonished and his expression widens, totally taking Niou seriously. Sakuno took that as a joke unlike the hyperactive redhead.

"P-Preposterous! I know my horoscope was meant for me, because I'm a tensai like Sakuno-chan said."

Niou cocks his head. "You mad?" The trickster knew exactly how to push the self-proclaimed tensai's buttons. Marui growls through his gritted teeth.

"Eto… Marui-san and Niou-san, right?" Sakuno hesitantly spoke up. She hopes she's not intruding. That snapped Marui's attention back to her. "This has got to be fate! You already know my name! Marui, Marui Bunta! You can call me Bunta…" Marui looks at her as if she were one of his cakes. He's almost drooling…

"Hm…" Niou doesn't seem surprise, as if he expected as much for her to know their names.

"Oh um, I'm sorry to keep you two up, Niou-san and B-Bunta…-san" She bows respectfully at them then turns away to do as she was going to before, get used to her new surroundings. "Ah, Bye Sakuno-chan! My sweet little fated encounter and future wife…" Marui says the last part quietly and goes into a blissful cloud nine.

"That girl's going to our school it seems, Bunta." Niou walks into his apartment and takes off his shoes. "Eh? She is?!" The big ball of fat exclaims excitedly, bouncing up and down while following behind the trickster. Marui sets the pastry container on a table somewhere in the apartment.

"Yeah, her cousin told me about it but that's not all." Niou goes into the living room, plops down on a couch in the living room, and continues. "She's Ryuzaki-sensei's granddaughter. That hag from Seigaku's tennis team."

Marui blinks. "Y-Yeah so, what about it? I'm sure she has a good reason to transfer out of Seigaku." Niou shrugs. "Probably…" He has suspicions over Ryuzaki Sakuno's true reason to why she transferred. "Or maybe she came to our school to scout out our club."

"You're looking too deeply into this, Niou…" Marui sighs and plops next to his friend. "Didn't you see her? She actually…looks genuine. Like an angel…" Niou shakes his head, sighing exasperatedly. "You're just letting your little 'horoscope' bullshit cloud your judgment."

Marui quickly hooks his arm around Niou's neck, holding him in a headlock! "And you have trusting issues! Sakuno-chan is a nice girl! If Seigaku want is scouting, they wouldn't bring an innocent little girl!"

Niou isn't the slightest bit bothered by the headlock.

"Pupina."

Sakuno returns to Souji-niisan's apartment around evening. She would've been back sooner but she got a bit lost… (More like a lot.)

"I didn't take you for a girl to stay out late Sakuno." Souji saw Sakuno enter the apartment from the living room. He crosses his arms. A frown settles on his face. The younger Ryuzaki doesn't dare look at her cousin in the face. She doesn't want to see the disappointment spread across his face. "I-I'm sorry—"

"Gotcha~." The frown quickly turns into a silly grin. "You can come home anytime you like no pressure." Souji shrugs and plops over on the couch like a lazy bum as he switches the channel on the TV with the remote. Sakuno couldn't believe her ears. She can…come home anytime she likes? Isn't Souji-niisan going to set a curfew for her? "Ano…Where's my room?" Sakuno shifts uncomfortably. She's still not use to her new home and she hasn't looked around either.

"Saa, we're sharing. Miss snuggling with your nii-san?" Souji teases and successfully earns a blush from his cousin. Sakuno's now madly embarrassed. She doesn't think that's funny! Her cheeks puff out in annoyance. "Nii-san!"

"Haha…she's mad… Just look around until you find an empty room with boxes of your stuff." Souji waffles his hand, focusing solely on the television screen now.

Sakuno nods slowly and went to do so. Her horrible sense of direction has lead her into two bathrooms, got her stuck inside a closet for a good 10 minutes (without calling Souji for help cuz she didn't want to be a burden on him), and she even unintentionally gone back to the living room as if she were going around in a circle… Finally, she found her destination! After five or so attempts that felt as though, they were wild adventures around an apartment.

Sakuno's room is a decent size. Not as big as her room at home but it'd work. She thanks the heavens that she doesn't have to share a room with Souji-niisan! That would be so embarrassing for a girl her age.

Sakuno finds futon in the closet along with a Rikkai Dai girl's uniform consisting of a navy blue three-pleated skirt, a light blue sweater vest, blue and white stripe tie and a white collared undershirt. She has always liked the Rikkai school uniforms. They look more mature than her green and pink sailor uniform that's for sure.

"Ah…am I going to school tomorrow?" Sakuno ponders. She'll have to ask her cousin in the morning since he seems busy now.

"Sakuno! You're going to school tomorrow!" She hears a shout from the living room. Well…that answered her question. "H-Hai!"

She went to sleep early that night.

Sakuno made sure to wake up extra early to make bentos. Souji doesn't seem to be awake yet so she brought it upon herself to prepare breakfast too. "Had onii-san always slept in…?" Sakuno doesn't recall her past with Souji much at all. The same with her parents…her memory is always unclear.

"'Morning…" The man emerges from his bedroom and rubs his groggy eyes. "…Something smells good." Souji takes a whiff of the air and follows the scent to the kitchen. "Sakuno~ my sweet, sweet cousin, are you making breakfast? French toast~?" Souji bat his eyelashes. He doesn't care how much ass he has to kiss, he just wants breakfast.

Sakuno whirls around. She's wearing a cute apple green apron. "Ah, Souji-niisan you're awake!" Sakuno wipes her hands with a rag. "I made you a bento, too. I hope you won't mind that I used the things in your refrigerator." She looks a little guilty.

"Of course I don't mind! Use whatever you like Sakuno. This is your home too now."

"A-Ah…Hai!"

The doorbell rings. "I'll get it!" Sakuno paces towards the door, her braids bouncing behind her shoulders. "Coming!" She answers the door, revealing Niou Masaharu. "Niou-san…?" Sakuno looks at him quizzically. What is he doing here in front of her cousin's porch? They are neighbors but he was the last person she expected to see at the door.

Niou looks down at Sakuno from head to toe. "You're going to school wearing that, musume-chan?"

Sakuno's still in her girly apron.

"A-Ah…" She looks away. "Um, what are you doing here Niou-san…?" Should she call him Niou-senpai? They're going to the same school and Niou's her upperclassman.

"Souji-senpai asked me to walk you to school." Niou shrugs. "O-Oh…" With that answered and out of the way, Sakuno takes off her apron and quickly springs to get her school bag.

They walked together with a heavy awkward air.

Niou walked ahead of her. Sakuno tries to catch up as fast as her much smaller leg can so she wouldn't lose Niou. If someone were to pass, they wouldn't know if he and Sakuno are together or not.

"Ano…" Sakuno tries to break the ice. "Niou…-senpai called Souji-niisan '-senpai' earlier. S-So I…"

"Souji-senpai was a third year at Rikkai Dai when I was a first year." Niou explains as if it were the simplest thing in the world.

"Oh…I did not know that." Sakuno stares at her feet.

She's been staring at her feet often lately… She has a feeling she will continue doing so for a while.

"Oi! Niou-senpai! …SAKUNO-CHAN?" Kirihara waves his arm in the air like a crazy idiot behind them, quickly catching up. The raven-haired boy smiles widely at Sakuno, which makes her, smile in return. "O-Ohaiyo, Akaya-senpai," She stutters. "Man oh man! If you take this path every morning to school, we'll be seeing a lot of each other Sakuno-chan!" That's a nice thought.

Niou walks ahead. "'Sup brat." Kirihara gives Niou a mean look then looks back at Sakuno. "Why were you walking with him Sakuno-chan? Did he blackmail you?"

"Ah, Akaya I'm hurt that you'd think such a horrible thing from your senpai."

"I wouldn't put it pass you Niou-senpai!"

Sakuno smiles weakly. "No, no Akaya-senpai. Niou-senpai and I live next door to each other."

"…No, unacceptable. You can't walk to school with Niou-senpai everyday Sakuno-chan! You might lose something important…"

"Pupina." That's Niou's only response to his kouhai's accusations.

"So you don't deny it!" Kirihara began to hide Sakuno behind him.

"Pupina."

"Senpai!"

"Pupina."

Sakuno totally sees the few Rikkai regulars that she has met in a new light. They're different from how they are out in the courts. They sort of remind her of her senpai-tachi at Seigaku... "Um…What do you mean by lose something important? I don't think Niou-senpai steals."

Kirihara suddenly feels as though he should protect Sakuno's innocence. "H-He does! Watch out for him Sakuno-chan!"

"Pfft…" Niou turns around and walks straight towards them. The trickster casually takes Sakuno's hand then began to walk again. Kirihara didn't take to that well, saying how he doesn't like feeling left out so of course he takes Sakuno's other hand because he didn't want to held hands with Niou! Sakuno protests from this treatment the whole way.

The new student her way to her new school with clammy and sweaty hands.