Happy Santa_Smex, Everyone!

[reposoir]

To: Everyone!
From: gottis_chan

Title: The day Ryoma came back and what happened next
Recipient's name: Everyone!
Rating: R
Pairing(s): Horio/Sakuno main. Ryoma/Kevin, Dan/Tomoka. Katsuo/Kachirou (hinted at).
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created by Konomi Takeshi. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Notes: I had the choice to write a yaoi pairing, but the het plot bunny bit and wouldn't let go. So, even though I'm mainly a yaoi/shounen ai writer, this is by far the longest fic I've ever written for this fandom, and it's a het story. :O;; Enjoy~?



”Can you stop worrying for a second, Sakuno?” Tomoka walked around me, her eyes traveling up and down, judging me. “You look fine, okay? That furisode is perfect!”

I bit my lower lip, throwing a shy glance in the mirror. The furisode - the long sleeved kimono - was a dark, rich pink, with lighter pink cherry blossoms embroidered onto it, and the obi was a light sky blue. My hair had been tied up in several braids that were twinned together and pinned to my head by cherry blossom shaped hairpins. The result, I thought, made my head look extremely large, threatening to break my neck at any point, but Tomoka insisted that I looked pretty. I couldn’t see it.

“Maybe I should wear my hair loose,” I suggested quietly, at which she gave me an aghast stare.

“Have you ever heard of anyone wearing their hair down when they’re in kimono, Sakuno? I mean, really!”

It was January 7th, the second Monday in January, and the day for the Seijin Shiki - the coming of age festival. Both I and Tomoka had turned 20 this year, and this festival was something we had been looking forward to for a long time. Our plans were to go to the ceremony together with our long time friends from childhood; Horio, Kachirou, Katsuo and Dan, and after the ceremony just go out and have a great time. Tomoka had said she wanted to try at least every bar in the entire town before the night was over, but I highly doubted she’d manage that.

The thought of our old friends made me somewhat nostalgic however. I couldn’t help but think of him. Echizen Ryoma. He had only been a part of our lives for a single year, but it had been quite the rollercoaster ride, and since his name was on everyone’s lips now, as one of the youngest who had won the Grand Slam two years in a row now, it was only natural that my thoughts traveled to him. He had been my first crush after all, and even though I had moved on since then, he still had a tiny, special place in my heart.

“Hey, are you still with me?” Tomoka poked me jokingly in the side. I blushed - why, oh why couldn’t I stop blushing for once in my life? I was supposed to be an adult now, right? - and glanced over at her. My best friend wasn’t wearing a furisode. In fact, she was only wearing a simple gold dress, decorated with pearls around the thin sleeves, and her now short cropped hair curled itself around her face, giving her a very cheeky, but cute air. She said she wasn’t going to wear any traditional wear, because her mom had said she didn’t want to spend money renting something Tomoka would try to get out of the very minute she and Dan laid their eyes on each other. Yes, they were dating, Tomoka and Dan Taichi. Maybe they had found each other through their common interest; Ryoma-kun. I wasn’t sure, I hadn’t exactly asked Tomoka about it, such a matter was far too private for me to even dare to pry. I did know enough about their relationship to give Tomoka’s mother right; they were quite obviously enjoying each other very much. Tomoka even dragged me to the hospital once, to act as moral support when she went to get a prescription for the Pill. Needless to say, I failed to look anyone in the eyes for ages after that.

“Are we all set and ready to go,” Tomoka asked, but in spite of her own words, she managed to sneak in a little last minute touch up with the lipstick and eye shadow, before I managed to nod.

“I… Uh, yes, I think so. Your purse…?”

“Over there.” She pointed at a white, delicate thing with gold tinted handles. And then finally we were all set to go. I don’t really know what came over me, but I actually put on some make-up myself. Just a few brushes with the mascara and a very discrete lipstick, but still. I never wore make-up; I just wasn’t comfortable with it. But I wanted to look pretty - or as pretty as someone as mousy as me ever could - and there was a very particular reason as to why I wanted to look my best. One of the boys had somehow managed to sneak his way into my heart, and I wanted to somehow muster up the courage to tell him that. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand how I would do that, but maybe the make-up could boost my sadly lacking self confidence at least a little.

As we stepped outside, the cool, high air greeted us. The weather was pretty nice for a winter day; the sun was high, cool but still welcoming, and the clouds that lazily traced patterns across the sky were light and far in between. The streets were crowded of course, and I tried my best to keep my gaze down as I didn’t want to come off as impolite on a festive day such as this. Tomoka didn’t seem to be bothered by the crowd though, and she happily dragged me after her as quickly as my kimono would allow. Our point of rendezvous with the boys were outside a department store in Shibuya, and after spending some time being cramped together in a over filled women’s car in the subway, even the busy streets of Shibuya seemed like a relief.

“There they are,” Tomoka chirped suddenly, and started to wave. The boys lounged in front of the store, Kachirou dressed causally, long black hair falling down around his face, Katsuo for once not sporting his bleached Mohawk, but instead he had his hair tied up in a pony tail - still bleached though. Dan was the only one of the boys dressed in kimono, and he looked as correct and beautiful as ever. Sometimes it was difficult to remember that he actually was a guy, but then Tomoka did something or the other to remind you that yes, he was indeed very much male. I felt a blush coming on again, and to keep from getting strange looks from my best friend, I instead tried to focus my attention on the last one of the guys.

I remember the first time I met Horio Satoshi. We were both awkward freshmen in Junior High. He was a scrawny, awkward boy who spoke too much, never thought twice about anything and whose self confidence never seemed to waver in the least. I was a scrawny, awkward girl who never could say two sentences in a row to any boy without growing beet red, who had hair that was ‘too long’ and feet that always seemed to trip over themselves. He watched himself as Echizen Ryoma’s greatest rival… I just watched Ryoma-kun.

To say that he had changed a lot would be an exaggeration. Horio-kun was still Horio-kun, unibrow, boasting personality and that never-say-die attitude and blockheadedness that made him so very much… Him. Still, when in third year of Junior High, he was made tennis team captain, and even though Seigaku got beaten in the semi finals, he still managed to make a great job - much with the help of vice captain Kaidou Hazue - and the boys could graduate from Junior High without regrets. The captainship matured Horio, without taking away the core of him. He grew past his awkward stage and was now fairly good looking, with a boyish charm and an energy that could make anyone who watched him faint by just doing that, watching him.

And somewhere along the line I had fallen for him.

I don’t exactly know when or where it happened; it was something that matured over time. In High School, we ended up in the same class, and before I knew it, we were doing join projects together, studying together and I learned to handle his brash aggressiveness, learned to tolerate his tendency to brag, learned to love that cute, monkey like face and I also learned how to imagine his hoarse voice whispering to me that he loved me. Of course, at the time I thought he only had eyes for Tomoka, and she for him… But when she started dating Dan, I dared to hope. Dared to hope that maybe he wasn’t in love with her either, dared to wish that he wasn’t, as I knew that if he indeed was in love with her, he’d be upset over the fact that she dated someone else. And I didn’t want to see him sad.

And maybe that was when I realized I had fallen for him, hard.

The thoughts whirled around in my head and I could feel the hated blush rising in my face again, and I looked down on my hands that clutched my small, traditional bag sewn in the same fabric as my kimono, and which held my cell phone and my wallet. I glanced up at Horio, noticing how good he looked in the denim jacket and leather pants - leather pants?! - and how his cheerful grin turned a thought uncertain as he glanced at me.

“You okay there, Ryuzaki,” he asked, walking up to me. “You look like you’re like gonna fall over all faint or something.”

The blush deepened and I couldn’t help but fidgeting a little. Oh why did he notice that I looked a little bit off? Why was it so easy for him to just talk? Why couldn’t he just ignore me and allow me to sneak a peak at him every once in a while until I’ve managed to dig up enough courage to actually greet him?

“No-no! I’m fine,” I managed to squeak out, my fingers clutching onto the small bag in my hands. “Shouldn’t we just go?”

“Yes, yes, let’s go,” Tomoka chirped, latching herself onto Dan and started to make her way through the crowd, after giving Horio one long look. I couldn’t read it, and I doubt Horio could either.

Whatever the look had meant, Horio quickly shrugged it off, waved at Kachirou and Katsuo and the two of them started walking while muttering something to each other, elbowing each other and grinning from ear to ear. I really wasn’t interested in hearing what it was they were talking about, because most certainly it would be something embarrassing and particularly boyish. And hearing something like that would render me speechless for the rest of the evening, that much I could be certain of.

I looked down on my feet, feeling the heart beat furiously in my chest, before I walked up beside Horio, cheeks flushing.

“Uhm… Would… Would you mind…?”

“Huh?” He turned around and ogled at me. “Mind what?”

“Would you mind if I walked next to you…? Just for a little while?” And how I managed to blurt that out, I’ll never know.

Horio blinked, then a smile spread across that goofy, loveable face and he put his arm around me - wait, what, he actually put his arm around me?! I froze for a moment, thinking that I would have a heart attack right on the spot - pulling me closer.

“Too many people, huh? You scared, Ryuzaki? You don’t have to be! I’ll be here and protect you!”

“I think she’d rather need protection from you,” Tomoka offered with a wry grin, looking back from where she was walking a few steps ahead, her hand securely placed in Dan’s.

“What’s that supposed to mean,” Horio huffed, and then their banter was on a roll. They kept at it all the way to the ceremony, breaking it up only to stop and stare at some show windows or stop for a little snack and small things like that. Behind me Kachirou and Katsuo were talking about this or that, their voices drowned out by the buzzing crowd and Tomoka’s and Horio’s actually quite friendly banter.

As we finally arrived at the ceremony all the chairs were occupied and we had to settle on standing, but I didn’t really mind. I got to stand next to Horio, his shoulder next to mine, and I could feel how the heat radiated from him. He smelled good; it was a very discrete after shave, the smell citric, low and masculine, without being strong enough to knock your senses out and causing you to get a headache. Tomoka had a bad habit of always putting on a little bit too much perfume, while I on the other hand never wore perfume; the only smells that were artificial on me was the shampoo and my body lotion that I couldn’t keep from using. And, I had a rather good reason to use it too; I got rashes far too easily, so I had to keep my skin moist.

I glanced over at Horio, watching his profile underneath my lowered eyelashes. His jaw line wasn’t very masculine, really, it was still almost a child’s jaw line, but I liked looking at it. I found myself imagine how he went over it with his razor every morning - did Horio even need to shave every morning? I had no idea - and how the razor blade followed the upside down arch that separated his head from his neck, how the razor blade followed the line all the way over to his chin and then up underneath his lips… And then I could only think of his lips. Thin, light brown lips, something that was undoubtedly masculine about his face. I liked those lips, liked looking at them, liked fantasizing about having them descend on mine and claim them and then…

I had to cut my thoughts short because if I continued I would stand there blushing like a stop light while the minister went on and on about the Great Future Japan was going towards with Strong Youths such as us claiming it for our own.

And that was mostly all that I got from the speech.

By the time the ceremony was over, the sun had slowly started to make its way over towards the west part of the sky and the air was getting colder. Our group slowly made our way over to the festival grounds, with Tomoka and Horio babbling about how boring the speech had been and how cool it was that we were now officially adults. I couldn’t remember the speech, and I surely as the sun would set did not see myself as an adult in any way, but I let them talk. I really couldn’t think of anything that could contribute to their conversation so I stayed quiet. At least until Kachirou slipped up beside me.

“You seem awfully absentminded tonight, Sakuno-chan,” he said worriedly. “You’re not feeling bad, are you?”

“No, no,” I assured him hurriedly. “I’m fine, I’m fine! Please, don’t worry about it, I’m just…”

“Just…?”

Agonizing over how I’ll ever be able to tell Horio that I like him like that, I finished the sentence in my head, but outwardly all I did was shake my head and hide behind my bangs.

Kachirou looked thoughtful for a moment, and then reached out to squeeze my shoulder in sympathy.

“It’ll work out, as long as you keep at it,” he said softly, and as I looked up at him, confused and blushing, he merely smiled at me, then turned to the others, speaking with his clear, high voice:

“Now it’s time for ramen, and then some shopping, okay?”

The others turned around and grinned at him, and Tomoka couldn’t help but add a little something of her own:

“And karaoke, man! Don’t forget the karaoke!”

“After the shopping, right,” Katsuo grinned, prying Kachirou away from me and leading him over towards a ramen booth. It was all but empty; one single customer sat there and then of course it was the vendor. Tomoka and Dan also made their way over to the booth, leaving me standing together with Horio, and my eyes widened as I watched the lonely customer’s back. He… Reminded me of someone…

“Horio,” I found myself whispering. “Who’s that…?”

“Not sure,” Horio replied, his voice strangely hushed as he placed his hand on my shoulder, gently pushing me forward. “But we’ll never know if we stay here, right? And I’m hungry.”

He looked down at me with a slightly sheepish grin, but I could somehow tell that he was nervous. Nervous about what, I wondered. But I couldn’t get myself to ask, mostly because my own heart fluttered in my chest like a caged butterfly. Something… Something about that young man…

And then Tomoka’s scream cut through the air, as she and Dan arrived at the ramen booth.

“Echizen?!”

The young man turned around, and I recognized him immediately. Not because you saw his picture anywhere you went if you were interested in tennis and all that, not because he had just been voted one of the hottest guys in the world - I think he ended up #8 or something - in one big American magazine… But because of that special way to hold himself, that cocky way he held his head and those golden eyes that I had never really forgotten. He was older, of course, but his hairstyle was pretty much the same. He was taller, but not by much; maybe he was standing somewhere over 160 cm now, maybe 164 or 166, I couldn’t really tell as he was sitting down, at least it was taller than 151 cm… But all in all, he hadn’t grown considerably. Height didn’t really matter where Ryoma was concerned anyway. He was gorgeous, the same way some movie stars just have that extra special something about them. Angular face, with a pointed chin that made me think of dark elves, haunting eyes and that smirk that slowly spread across his face as he recognized us.

I could feel my heart skip a beat, and I slowed my steps, clutching my purse tightly. Why? Why was he here? He didn’t live in Japan; he had vanished from our lives… Tokyo was a huge city; the chance of you running into someone you knew from the past was a million to one… And yet here he was. Tonight. The very night when I had thought I’d confess to Horio. Why did he have to show up and confuse me? I felt a sudden urge to just stomp my foot to the ground and pout. Of course I didn’t, but I couldn’t find it in me to just simply rush up to Ryoma and ask how he had been.

And I wasn’t alone.

It was the smell that told me Horio had also stayed behind, that lovely smell of his after shave. His shoulder brushed into mine, and I could tell that he was tense, extremely tense even… I wondered why, and I shyly peeked up at him. His face was strangely serious, eyes narrowed and unibrow creased, lips tightly pressed together.

“Ho… Horio-kun,” I asked, my voice low. “What’s wrong?”

“Why did he have to come back now,” he muttered between his teeth, and I realized with a start that he was echoing my thoughts from just a little while earlier.

“You’re not happy to see him,” I wanted to know, still keeping my voice low. I didn’t understand this. Hadn’t the two of them been friends? Or at least… pals ? Echizen had spent more time with the team than he had ever done with Horio, this was true… And even though they had been in the same class, Ryoma never seemed to be very interested in doing class activities, or at least that was what Tomoka had told me, as she had documented ‘Ryoma-sama’s’ after school activities diligently. But Horio had always worshipped Ryoma, viewed him as his rival, something to strive for and admire and befriend… So why was Horio acting like this? It didn’t sit well with me, and I squirmed uncomfortably as I waited for Horio to reply.

“I didn’t want him to show up again… Not like this.” Horio muttered, and he shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked a perfectly innocent stone that was on the ground in front of him. “I mean, what the hell? Not a letter, not an e-mail, not even a fucking phone call! I mean how hard can it be to just drop someone a little note in a chat or something? Just popping up like this and… I mean, look at him! Acts like he never left, you know?” Horio paused, while I gaped at him, wide eyed. Where did all this come from? And more importantly… Why?

He glanced down at me and added acidly:

“And I bet you’re thrilled to see him, right?”

I blinked, eyes widening in confusion, and I tugged nervously at the hem of my furisode. “I… I don’t understand what you mean,” I whispered, and my little finger automatically made its way to my mouth and my teeth found its fingernail. Chewing on my fingernails was a bad, bad habit, and I was trying, really trying to get rid of it, but old habits die hard.

“And… And I don’t know,” I continued, releasing my finger. “Of course it’s nice to see him and all, but… I don’t know… I mean I’m still standing here, right? I just don’t know what to say to him… I can’t… Can’t go over to him. I…” And I had a feeling I would start talking in circles if I continued, so I cut myself short, blushing again.

The hard expression on Horio’s face faded and was replaced by something that actually looked a thought uncertain, and again I found myself wondering what could possibly be eating him. He made a short, very awkward shrug, and started to thoughtfully scratch a partly faded scar from a pimple on his right cheek.

“We… You know, we should go and say hi…”

I nodded and started to slowly make my way over to the ramen cart. When we arrived, Tomoka gave me a quizzical look that held a myriad of questions, but thankfully she didn’t voice either one of them. Instead she let me walk up to Ryoma and I bowed self-consciously towards him.

“Ry-Ryoma-kun… Long time no see. Uh… Are you all right?”

“Still the same, aren’t you,” he grinned, his voice deeper and with an unmistakably foreign accent to it. “You look like you’re about to faint or something, you know.” He got to his feet and extended his hand towards me, the grin never leaving his face.

“It’s good to see you again, Ryuzaki. Been good?”

“I… Ye-Yes!” I took his hand and he shook it once, and I noticed how callused and dry his hand was, dry but warm. It was a very masculine hand, even though it was smaller than even my grandmother’s. It took me a couple of seconds, maybe even as many as ten, before I could kick my brain into the right gear again, and I managed to mumble:

“And… And you?”

“I’m good enough.” He shrugged, and then quite promptly dismissed me. No, he hadn’t changed all that much, had he? Instead he turned to Horio, and I could see how confusion passed over his face before he crossed his arms over his chest and quirked an eyebrow.

“Horio, huh? What, no big fanfare to celebrate my return?”

He grinned, but Horio didn’t return that grin, instead, he looked down, shoulders slumping and foot digging for treasure in the concrete.

“Got better shit to do, you know,” he muttered, and this time it wasn’t just I that stared at him; Dan, Tomoka, Kachirou and Katsuo did as well, and I could see that look of confusion return to Ryoma’s face.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Something. Anything.” Horio was silent for a moment, maybe he was gathering strength inside himself, because the next thing I knew he burst out:

“Why the hell are you here? Without even a notice or anything? I mean, man, you go on for years without even a mail or anything and then… POOF! You’re back. What, I’m supposed to be happy about that?”

Ryoma was quiet for a moment, and then his cocky grin returned in full force as he looked Horio up and down.

“You make it sound like I just took off and broke your heart, sugar. Maybe I’ve returned just to shower you with my love because I’ve seen the light?”

Horio still wasn’t smiling. “Maybe you did just that, you know. You did leave, and you damn well didn’t give much of an explanation. And after that… I can count the times you’ve kept in contact with me on one hand, Echizen! Did we really mean that little to you? Me and Kachirou and Katsuo?”

Kachirou and Katsuo looked mighty uncomfortable, but Kachirou’s hands balled into fists, as if he was actually starting to think about what Horio was saying and that the words held a bit of truth to them, at least to him.

Ryoma’s grin had faded as well, and he shrugged, returning to his seat. “Had I known you’d be so butt hurt over it, I would have kept in touch. Because, you know… I couldn’t live with myself if you of all people were angry with me.”

“What the hell was that?!” Horio exploded, and probably would have right up to Ryoma to smack him one, had Katsuo not quickly grabbed him to hold him back. Thankfully Katsuo was taller and more muscular than Horio and it didn’t look like it took him too much effort to hold onto him. It didn’t look as if Horio noticed Katsuo’s arms around him however, as he continued to shout at Ryoma, and Ryoma in turn replied with a few icy comments, and I felt horrible, so horrible about the entire situation. Everyone else was quiet, pale faced and waiting. At least until…

“Please stop it,” someone cried out, and to my horror it dawned on me that it had indeed been me. It had to be, since everyone’s heads turned in my direction and I could feel my face heat up again. There was so much more I wanted to say, but I couldn’t bring myself to it. One who could though, was Tomoka, bless her.

“Sakuno’s right, you guys.” She put her hands to her sides and frowned. “I mean, come on! It’s been… What, six years or something since we’ve met, and the first thing you guys do is chew each other out?” She sighed and let her arms fall down to her sides. “I mean… It’s a party night, right? We’re supposed to have fun! Horio, I can understand you, really, I can, but you don’t have to be so rabid about it, you know? And Echizen, what are you doing here? And why are you encouraging him? It’s just immature, you know!”

“There’s about 89% chance that I know what’s going on with Horio,” someone said quietly, the voice actually having a small tone of humour to it. I blinked, and for a moment I actually expected Inui-senpai to stand there, notebook in hand. Of course it wasn’t him, and I smiled weakly at Dan, who was the one who had spoken up.

“What,” Tomoka blurted, staring at him. “You do?”

“Of course,” Dan replied smugly. “It’s not that hard to figure out.” He winked over at Horio who, for some reason, blushed furiously. Dan’s smile widened, and he turned back to Ryoma.

“Walk with me for a bit? I’ll fill you in, okay?”

Ryoma blinked at him, then shrugged and got to his feet, leaving his half eaten ramen on the small counter of the booth. “Sure, why not.”

The rest of us watched them go with confusion evident in everyone’s eyes save Horio’s. He merely looked down on the ground, cheeks still beet red, before he slowly shuffled his way over to the booth, taking a seat. Slowly the rest of us followed him and placed our orders, ignoring the amused look the vendor gave us, a look that said that teenagers never changed, did they? Never mind the fact that we weren’t teenagers anymore. But maybe there wasn’t all that much difference between nineteen and twenty for someone who looked like he had passed fifty several years ago. I decided not to mind him and instead scooted closer to Tomoka and squeezed her hand, to show her that I was happy she was there and that her support meant the world to me. She looked over at me and smiled bleakly, shaking her head.

“Don’t mind it too much, Sakuno. Boys are like that, you know? It’s gonna be okay.”

“Boys are like what,” Horio wanted to know, his tone gruff and he glared miserably at her.

“You know… You so totally blow things out of proportion and then people end up feeling bad, you know?”

“I thought girls were the ones who did that,” he shot back, making a face at her.

“Never!”

I decided to keep from butting in on this argument, as I felt that it was a way for the two of them to blow off some steam before Ryoma and Dan returned. And surely enough, by the time we had gotten our ramen and the two boys returned, Horio was calmer. Tomoka grinned and waved Dan to her, and he took a seat next to her, on the opposite side of where I was sitting. Ryoma slumped back on his old seat and lifted his glass of beer, holding it out towards Horio.

“Cheers~”

Horio blinked at him, then reluctantly raised his own glass to toast.

“Yeah man. And Echizen… Sorry, okay? I mean… Welcome home. Or, you know… Welcome to Japan. You okay? I didn’t mean to… I mean… I…”

“Hey, it’s cool.” Ryoma grinned, allowing his glass to connect with Horio’s. “Dan filled me in. And you’ve got nothing to worry about, man.”

“Really?”

Worry? Worry about what? I was curious, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask, so instead I concentrated on trying to fish out the fish cake from my ramen.

“Yeah, really,” Ryoma continued, took a sip of his beer, put the glass down and then brought up a crumpled package of cigarettes from the pocket of his pants. He pulled up one cigarette and placed it in his mouth, placing the package down on the counter before he picked up a small lighter from another pocket, lighting the cigarette and inhaled deeply on it. He blew the smoke out in several small smoke rings, before he spoke up again, the remaining smoke trailing small patters around his mouth.

“And I promise. I’m already taken, okay? So, no worries, Horio.”

“You are?!” Horio’s eyes widened, and I blinked. I expected to feel a small pang of jealousy, of pain, or of something, but all I felt was that I was genuinely happy for Ryoma. Well, if that wasn’t a proof of me coming over him, I didn’t know what was.

“I am.”

“Really?” Horio got to his feet and leaned forward, his shadow falling over Ryoma.

“That’s great, Echizen,” Tomoka chirped and she too leaned forward; she remained seated though. “Who is she? Tell us!”

“Not ‘she’,” Ryoma smirked. “He. Kevin Smith, remember him?”

Horio looked positively lightning struck. “You’re dating a guy?!” He shook his head as if trying to make the fact settle in his brain. “But that’s just so… Gay!”

“Really,” Ryoma replied dryly. “I never would have thought.”

Horio continued to ogle at him, while I tried to remember Kevin Smith. I knew I had heard that name somewhere, but where… I couldn’t quite place it. It was a guy that had something to do with America, that much was for certain. I tried to push all the people I’ve met during the past six years away and concentrate on what happened during my first year in Junior High. Slowly an image of a blond, feminine looking boy with nasty, piercing blue eyes came to mind. Right. That boy who had came from America to challenge the ‘best’ tennis players in the Japanese junior tennis circuit just to get Ryoma to play him. And later they had faced off in the good will game between the Japanese and the American Dream Team.

“But…” I stuttered, looking down on my hands. “… But isn’t he… I mean, isn’t he… Mean?”

I half expected Ryoma to get annoyed or maybe even angry with me, but all he did was laugh.

“No, not really.” He took another huff on the cigarette. “He wants to be, though. Sometimes. He’s just a big puppy, lot of bark, not much bite.”

We grinned at that, and after that, the mood lightened considerably. As everyone had finished their ramen, we were talking and chatting away, and I finally learned why Ryoma had come back to Japan. It wasn’t because he wanted to see everyone again, and somewhere in the back of my mind I had already guessed that. He hadn’t gone out of his way to contact us after all; us meeting him today was merely a coincidence. No, what he was here for was a good will game between him and Yukimura Seiichi. Undoubtedly they wanted to replay their game in front of a larger audience, as both of them now were giants in the tennis circuit. It would be broadcasted both nationally and in the States. The PR for the game hadn’t started officially yet, and that was why no one of us had any idea that he was coming here. He wasn’t working today though, and he had thought why not check the festival out? He had gone with Momoshiro-senpai, but the latter had to return home early to study. Ryoma didn’t seem to mind being left alone all that much. And then we had appeared before him.

After the dinner, Ryoma decided to stick with us for a while, and we walked over to the festival stands. Tomoka immediately pulled Dan with her so that he could win her a fish, and my eyes caught the cutest little plush animal - well, it wasn’t really small, more about one meter tall - that I felt I needed. I turned around to ask Ryoma if maybe he could try and win it for me, since I was certain his aim wouldn’t be off. He wasn’t there though, but over at a stand that sold takoyaki. One that was by my side however, was Horio. I quickly changed my plans, and looked up at him with pleading eyes.

“Ho-Horio-kun? Do you see that bunny over there?” I pointed and he nodded, grinning from ear to ear.

“You want that, don’t you? Well, allow Horio-sama to show the little lady how it’s done, eh?” He made a western bow in front of me, the one the knights did in front of their princesses in all those medieval dramas I loved. I half expected him to conjure up a rose or something of the sort, but that he didn’t. What he did conjure up though - even if that wasn’t such a great feat, it was still heart warming - was his wallet.

“Just leave it to me!”

I did. And ten minutes and about 4000 yen later, I was the proud owner of a plush bunny I immediately named Caro-chan. After the English word for carrot of course. Horio was blushing from ear to ear, but I didn’t think he had anything to be embarrassed about. He had tried his best, had he not? And it was the thought that mattered, not the amounts of tries he had to force his way through. I wanted to show him how grateful I was, but as usual, I couldn’t quite think up something to say. So instead I reached out with my free hand - the other was pretty much occupied with trying to hold Caro-chan up - and nipped at the sleeve of Horio’s jacket. He looked up and blinked.

“Oh man, sorry, Ryuzaki! I mean, I thought I’d get it on the first shot, you know? And now people are staring and I’m broke and I don’t think I’ll be able to go to the karaoke, because yeah, you know? Broke.”

“It’s…” I lost my voice, as realization hit. Horio had actually spent all of his money on me? That was… Incredible. Unbelievable. And no one had never ever done something like that for me before. I could feel the tears well up behind my eyes and I looked down, sniffling. Horio must have misunderstood me, because he immediately started flailing about and as I looked up he looked very distraught.

“You’re crying? Oh man, Ryuzaki! I didn’t mean to make you cry! I know I suck and all, but please!”

“No… No… I…” But I failed to find my voice, only sniffled a bit more, and at that time Tomoka came back with Dan in her wake.

“Horio,” she screeched, “what have you done?! Sakuno’s crying, you shithead! What did you do to her?!”

“To-Tomo-chan…” I tried to steady my voice and I quickly wiped my face, and I could feel how hot my cheeks were against my rather cool hand. “It’s not… He didn’t do anything, I promise. I’m just so…” Another small pause, and I managed to smile, a wavering smile, but a sincere one, and I hoped that the others noticed that. “I’m just so happy.”

“Happy,” Tomoka echoed, looking doubtful. “What, you finally told him you like him, or what?”

And at that, the whole world came to a stop.

At least it seemed like that for me. I stared at her, mouth wide agape, and her face paled slowly as she obviously realized what she had said and that no, I hadn’t told him yet. The buzz from the crowd died out around me, I couldn’t hear it, couldn’t think… All I could do was to look at each and every one in my group; Tomoka’s guilty face, Dan’s sympathetic, Katsuo’s amused, Kachirou’s half amused, half sympathetic, Ryoma’s incredulous as he stared at Tomoka, and Horio’s… Horio’s awestruck face that made me utter a small squeak, before taking off as fast as my sandals would carry me.

Get away, I had to get away, I couldn’t ever show my face in front of them, not ever again! I actually made it quite far before someone caught my arm and twirled me around, and I found myself face to face with Horio. His eyes were huge, but the smile he gave me was warm, shy and it sent goosebumps up my arms.

“Ho-Horio-kun… I…”

“Is it true?”

“I…”

“Ryuza… No. Sakuno-chan. Is it true? Do you like me?”

“O-of course I like you,” I stuttered, my tongue twisting itself in my hurry to reassure him.

“Like that?”

Oh, why did he have to ask that? And why did Tomoka have to blurt out my secret out in public so everyone could hear? It felt as if I had the entire crowd’s eyes on me, and I blushed even more; I could feel the tips of my ears burn, and that meant I was blushing badly.

I couldn’t reply, couldn’t find my voice, so all I could do was to silently bow my head in a quiet ‘yes’. And then I waited. Waited for him to laugh, waited for him to walk away, waited for him to ask why such a boring, plain and timid girl thought she had any chance what so ever with him. I waited and waited… But he said nothing. I took a deep breath, gathered all the courage I could muster - and really, that wasn’t much - and looked up at him. And my breath caught in my chest.

Horio was crying.

He looked at me with an intense sort of gaze while tears slowly created rivulets down his cheeks.

“Horio-kun…?”

“You know… I didn’t understand you.” He shrugged, wiped his face and then offered me a wide grin. “I didn’t understand why you cried when you said that you were happy. But I think I kind of understand you now. I’m happy. Hell, I’m fucking ecstatic! Here’s what, Sakuno-chan. I’ve liked you like that for like… Oh, I don’t know. Three years maybe. But I always thought you thought I was ugly and overbearing and loud and stupid and… Well, I could go on, but I won’t because then maybe you’ll realize that you don’t like me, and that wouldn’t be good, you know? But if you like me and I like you and that’s not going to change or anything, then I’m like super happy!”

Was I hearing this? Was I really, really hearing this? I stared at him, mouth opened in an unbelieving ‘o’, and I felt something strange and wonderful stir inside of me and I reached out with one shaking hand and shyly put it on top of his, and his grin became wide, so wide and so beautiful.

“You know something?” He made an almost apologetic face before he continued. “I was pissed off at Echizen because he never kept in touch, but somewhere I knew that it was partly my fault as well… I hadn’t tried to keep in touch with him either. But the one thing I was really, really mad at him for. You know what that was?”

I shook my head.

“I was jealous,” he explained, giving an uncertain laugh. “I thought you’d be really, really happy to see him and that he came back only to try and take you away to America with him or some stupid shit like that. So I was furious at him. And jealous. And you know… Furiously jealous!” He chuckled, then moved closer, and before I knew it, I had his arms around me and he rested his chin against my head.

“Still wanna go to the karaoke?”

I thought for a moment, then shook my head, resting my hands on both sides of his chest and placed my head between them, and I could hear how his heart beat and I realized I’ve never been this close to another human being save my parents when they were alive. Grandmother really wasn’t one to shower you with physical affection. And I barely even remembered my parents, so this was quite the strange and wondrous feeling.

“You can’t afford it, right? And I’d rather not… I just want to… I want to be with you…” I couldn’t believe that I was the one saying these things, but there you had it. Horio didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Let’s go over to my place! My parents aren’t home right now, so it’ll just gonna be you and me there! Okay?”

I blushed, but it was actually a good blush, not one that tied my impossible tongue, and I nodded.

“I’d love to… We just have to tell the others, and get Caro-chan.”

“Let’s do it!”

And we did.

* * * *

The only sounds I could hear were the soft humming of Horio’s laptop, his nervous breathing and my own heart that fluttered uncertainly in my chest. Now we were here. In Horio’s room. He had turned on some music, I didn’t know the group - then again, I’m pretty horrible when it comes to things like keeping track of new music groups all the time - but I liked it. The music was soothing and quite a stone throw from what I had expected Horio to listen to. I told him, and he replied that you had to be ready for all occasions. And I didn’t understand one thing of what he was saying. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that we were on his bed, in his room, in his empty apartment; there was romantic music on and his arm was around my shoulder and I leaned my head against his, and that was all that mattered.

“Sakuno-chan…”

I looked up.

“Yes?”

“I want to kiss you!” He blurted it out in a way that told me that he had been trying to say this for quite some time now. I blushed heavily and looked down, worrying my hands, stayed silent for maybe half a minute or more. And then I managed to look up and nod.

“I’d… I’d love that.”

He couldn’t have looked happier. “Really?! Great, okay…” And he leaned in closer and I could feel how a shiver ran through me. I closed my eyes, turned my face upwards, and waited. And then my eyes opened with a start as I could feel his nose bump into mine.

“Ow!”

“Oh, oh man, I’m sorry, Sakuno-chan! I… Uh…” He fidgeted and looked absolutely crushed. “Wanna try that again? I’ll be more careful, promise!”

I rubbed my nose, and a thought dawned on me. If Horio was this awkward about it, then he couldn’t have much experience in kissing. Maybe he had never even done it before, even though he was a guy and twenty years old already. Maybe he was the same as me. And that very thought made me relax somewhat and I smiled, placing my hand reassuringly on top of his.

“I think I’d really like that.”

And he tried again. And this time our noses didn’t bump into each other. And this time it actually was for real.

Our lips met and his lips felt exactly as I had fantasized that they would; hard, warm, a little bit chapped and very, very masculine. I could feel how my body responded to the kiss, could feel my nipples harden and how shivers raced down my spine and I found myself leaning deeper into the kiss. He must have noticed my response, as he pulled me closer with one hand, while the other traced patterns over my cheek, down on my neck and then…

And then his hand was on top of one of my breasts, and even though my first reaction was to pull back, my body refused to make me do it and he started to gently rub over it, and I could feel more than I heard that his breathing was getting laboured.

After a moment I did pull back, and I looked shyly at him.

“Ho-Horio-kun…”

“Satoshi.”

Oh. Oh…

“Sa-Satoshi-kun… I don’t think I’m ready to go all the way yet, you know? I haven’t done it…” I blushed. “I mean, I’ve never done it with a boy before… I mean, this was my first kiss, you know? I don’t think I…”

“I don’t want to push you,” he said softly, and I realized he had started to fuss with my hair, trying to get it undone. “I just want to touch. Please, Sakuno-chan? I’ve never been this close to a girl before and I want to make us feel good, but I don’t want to hurt you or anything, I just want to…”

He made a vague gesture with his hand, while he searched for the right word. I looked at him, my face warm, and then I looked down on him, and I saw the tell tale signs of how his body had reacted to the kiss, to the touch. And for some reason it made me extremely happy. I’ve made him that aroused. Mousy, plain, boring little me actually managed to arouse a guy. And not just any guy; the guy that made me feel the exact same way.

I thought for a moment, and then got to my feet, nodding towards his door. “It’s okay. I just want to make you happy, Satoshi-kun. I want us to be happy, I want us to feel… I want us to feel good. But… Could I please borrow your shower first? I won’t take long.”

He blinked at me, then his grin widened and he nodded. “Sure thing. Don’t take too long though, because I’ve gotta shower as well.”

“Mm, okay.”

I started towards the door, then stopped midway and blushed. “I… Satoshi-kun, I don’t think I’ll get out of the kimono on my own. Do you think you can help me?”

He nodded, blushing as well, and after quite a bit of fumbling on both of our parts, it finally went undone and opened up. I was happy that I had picked my favourite underwear today, and why I’ve even done that, I had no idea. I mumbled an awkward ‘thank you’ to him, before I made my way over to their bathroom.

The water jets from the shower handle were warm and soothing, and after I was done with the tedious work of washing my hair, I lathered up a sponge and slowly worked my way over my body. I couldn’t believe this was happening, I couldn’t believe my luck. A while ago, when Ho-no, Satoshi and Ryoma had had their fight, I feared that this night would be the worst of my life. Now something magical had happened and I was sure it was on its way to becoming the best night of my life instead.

I even dared to dream.

I imagined Satoshi’s hands, instead of the sponge, travelling over my body. The hands came to my breasts, fingertips rubbed gently over my nipples, feathery light at first, then with a bit more pressure, and then he kissed them, first the left one, then the right. His mouth was warm, like the water, but demanding, wanting… He slowly traced kisses down my stomach, and then his hand found that special place. I jumped and a small gasp escaped me as the sponge, no his hands, traced a path over my swollen folds, I felt how he touched the labia lips, teasing over the clitoris without really touching it, and then he did, the pressure from his hand increased and I had to use the wall of the shower as support as his fingers teased, toyed, played. Somewhere along the line I had dropped the sponge and now it was my own fingers that did everything I imagined that his fingers did. They circled around the clitoris, slid over it, rubbed it, and then slid further back and the finger easily entered because I was already warm and wet and wanting, wanting so badly. My legs were unable to support myself and I found myself on the floor, my finger - his finger - alternating between the clitoris and the vagina, and my head buzzed, my lower part throbbed and I could hear someone moan from the distance and I had a vague feeling that someone was me. I could feel how my muscles down there contracted again and again and then I tensed up and let out a moan, louder this time and I felt myself going over the top and beyond.

“Satoshi…!”

A little while later I felt confident enough that my legs would carry me that I dared to stand up. I dried myself of and draped myself in my kimono, cheeks flushing as I quietly stepped out of the bathroom.

“I’m done…”

“Took you long enough,” he grinned, sitting on his bed. I noticed that his hair was wet, and I blinked in confusion. “Oh, this? Well, you took so long I went over to the neighbour and borrowed their shower. So, I’m all set! Sakuno-chan… Are you all right?”

“What? Oh! Uh… Yes! Never better.” I shyly took a seat next to him and allowed my kimono to slide off my shoulders. As he realized I wasn’t wearing anything underneath, his eyes widened, but he didn’t say a word. Instead he pushed me down on the bed, kissed me again, and then slowly touched my left breast, fingers kneading it. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but it felt a bit strange, all though I wasn’t entirely sure it was strange in a bad way, so I didn’t say anything, just allowed him to continue.

“Can I…” He paused. “Can I touch you… There?”

I wanted to object, wanted to tell him that no, it was too embarrassing and it was sticky and wet and uncomfortable, but somehow my tongue was tied and my head obviously didn’t want to follow what my poor tongue wanted to say, since it nodded.

“Be careful,” I begged, and then, face blushing like never before, I slowly spread my legs.

He blushed at least as much as I did, but still his hand found its way down there and I couldn’t hold back a small, high pitch gasp, and as he fondled me, his fingers finding every little fold and spot down there, he buried his face against my chest and mumbled over and over again:

“Sakuno-chan, oh Sakuno-chan, you’re so beautiful, you’re so gorgeous, oh Sakuno-chan…”

And then his finger slipped inside me and then he cried out, his hand clamping down harder onto me and his body stiffened for a moment, and then he sighed, and relaxed. His hand remained in place, but he didn’t move. I glanced down at him, and asked shyly:

“Did… Did you come?”

He was quiet for a moment. “I… Yeah, yeah, I did. Sakuno-chan, I’m so sorry! I didn’t think it would go that fast! I really didn’t! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

He looked up, looking miserable and ashamed and just so endearing that I had to reach up and embrace him, and I gently pulled him back down against me.

“It’s okay, Satoshi-kun. Really, it’s okay. I feel great and I hope you did too, and there will be other times, right?”

“I suck in bed,” he declared grumpily.

“You do not,” I tried to assure him. “I liked it, I promise. I like you. Please, don’t feel bad. There will be other times, I promise. We’ll just take it easy.”

“Sakuno-chan,” he whined, presenting me one quite adorable pout.

“I promise.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

And there would be other times and we would get to know each other better and we would even get to the point where we did it all the way. I knew it. I just knew it.

Satoshi hurried away to get himself another shower, and I remained in the bed, weary, spent and happy. I don’t know where it happened, but I must have fallen asleep before Satoshi even came back, because the next thing I knew was that an angry signal woke me up and then the sun was already starting its trek across the sky.

I glanced over at the clock on the nightstand - 7.30 in the morning - and rolled over on my side, looking with sleep hazed eyes over at the phone. I slowly picked it up and saw Tomoka’s name on the display. I figured she either phoned to see if everything was okay, if Satoshi had tried anything funny, to apologize yet again, or complain over the hangover she most certainly had today. For once I didn’t dive to the phone in my eager to reply as fast as possible to keep the person on the other end of the line from waiting. Instead I turned the cell phone off completely, rolling over on my other side, ploughing my head deeper into the pillow. It had been a dream, of course it had been a dream, since a day like yesterday just didn’t happen. It happened in shoujo manga, in television drama and in romance novels. It didn’t happen in real life. The bed was empty, my demanding cell phone woke me up, not a kiss from my beloved, and I felt like I had to go to the bathroom soon. Nothing dreamy or romantic about that.

“Sakuno-chan, I made you breakfast! You’re awake, right?” Satoshi’s voice echoed from their kitchen.

And then I knew that yes, it had been a dream. A dream come true.

END