Hye! I am back with the new chapter. I hope you like this. Domo... :)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Prince of Tennis and never will.
Chapter 5: Eights Maids are Milking
Chapter Summary: She felt relieved but she still felt incomplete now that her feelings were getting deep.
On the eighth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Eight maids-a-milking,
I woke up feeling a bit tired that morning. Honestly, I felt a bit fine after Ryoma-kun took me home last night. It was an uneventful night. He discovered about me losing the bracelet and he didn't care about it.
He told me that it was just a bracelet and that was nothing compared from what we had been through. I understood his reason but I still couldn't help but feel guilty about it.
It was the first gift I'd ever received from him. Not that I could include his racket that he gave me almost four years ago.
I got up from my bed and did my morning routine. Grandmother was already making breakfast for the both of us. I slowly made my way to the kitchen and sat in front of the table.
"Ohayou, Obaa-chan..." I said whispering and loud enough for her to hear. She looked up and stared at me for a while before going back to her cooking.
"Ohayou! Are you okay?" She asked me after that. She knew that I got chilled and I was not able to go back to the restaurant last night. Ryoma-kun also helped me about telling the night off from everyone and just for one in a millionth times, they seemed to believe him. I didn't know about the girls though. He just told me that he took care of everything before he himself went home.
"I am fine, Obaa-chan. I can go to school today." I said as she placed a plate of two pancakes in front of me.
"Speaking of school, club activities will be cancelled for a few days," She said as placed her own plate in front of her as she sat across from me, "It's already break so students can go back next year. But I have to go there today. The field is piled up with snow. We have the shove them away."
"But it is still snowing Obaa-chan," I said taking a bite of my pancake as I looked out the window from the kitchen, "it will only keep piling up."
"It's better to maintain it than to wait until we cannot walk in on it." She said insisting on her plan for the day.
"I can help." I offered as I continued eating. It would also a chance for me, hoping that I could find my bracelet. Well, I didn't want to give up on it. Not yet.
"You almost got cold last night. I don't think that is a good idea." Obaa-chan reminded me as she ate her own pancakes.
"I don't want to stay here and do nothing, Obaa-chan. I'll probably get cold if I don't do anything." I insisted hoping she'd allow me.
"Alright!" She finally said after sighing but that beamed me when she agreed, "But don't overexert yourself too much, okay?"
"Hai!" I said and continued eating in silence after that.
We just finished eating our breakfast when the doorbell rang.
"It must be them." Obaa-chan said standing from her chair, "You should prepare to leave if you want to go with us."
"Hai..." I replied also standing up. I wanted to ask who else were going to help us but I'd figure them out later. After twenty minutes, I walked out of my room and went downstairs to the living room where I thought Obaa-chan was waiting.
"You are late!"
I stopped short just below our dais when I stared at the person in front of me, "R-Ryoma-kun! You were going to help us?"
"Don't forget about us too." Momo-chan-sepai butted in. To his left there was Kaidoh-senpai. All three of them standing up as I approached them, "Ryuzaki-sensei asked us if we could help her clean the campus."
"The campus is big enough for us clean." Kaidoh-senpai whispered that was enough for us to hear.
"I didn't say that we have to clean the entire campus." Momo-chan-senpai.
"Yeah, right."
"Where's Obaa-chan?" I asked hoping I could stop them before they'd get into a fight.
"She went ahead." Ryoma said. That made me walk to the door and opened it.
"Let's get going then."
xxx
The trio was also in the campus already helping Obaa-chan shoving some snow in the field. We were just separated a few minutes ago but they had done so much already. The track and field were almost cleared of white around them. Well, the half of it, given the size of the area. Obaa-chan spotted us approaching and smiled right away.
"Finally! You are here." She said looking at us, "We can clean the areas separately. Momoshiro and Kaidoh, you clean the front the gates. Echizen and Sakuno, you do the courts. The trio here will continue cleaning this up. The other teachers are already cleaning the rooftops and nursery areas."
"Hai!" All of us responded and went to our designated areas. Ryoma-kun and I went to the court in silence. I was glad that I asked to do the task there. I was still hoping that I could find my bracelet here. We reached the court and noticed how to snow piled the whole area up. Obaa-chan was right. It would be less hassle to maintain them now than to wait until winter would be over. Ryoma gave me a shovel that he retrieved from the club's stock room. I muttered a small thanks to him and started to work.
It was really cold. I never realized how cold it was last night. I started shoving some ice for a short while when I sneezed all of the sudden.
"You'll get cold." Ryoma said when he heard me sneeze. It made me blush a little, "You also stayed late last night."
"I-I am fine," I said trying to sound convincing. We just started cleaning the area and I didn't want to stop now, "I'll just drink something hot later."
He didn't say anything as he only stared at me. I secretly panicked when he dropped his own shovel on the ground and walked to my direction. My eyes widened when I saw him removing his scarf from his neck as he stopped in front of me. My hands gripped tightly to the shovel that I was holdong while he was wrapping his scarf to my neck. His eyes never left mine. I blushed and at the same time, my heart was working extra at the moment.
"Ryuzaki-sensei would kill me if I let you experience the cold." He only said as he stepped back a little.
His scent from the scarf was drifting to my nose. It made me blush even more, "W-what about you?" I asked trying to distract myself.
He smirked at me before answering, "I don't get sick."
"Ryoma-kun! You aren't Superman who doesn't get sick!" I said shock was evident to my face.
"I didn't say I was Superman." He said walking back to where his showel was.
"Mou!" I only replied frustratingly. Well, I only pouted. It was nice to have a conversation like this with Ryoma-kun. I'd never been so close like this with him, "Anou... Ryoma-kun?"
He continued shoving some snow when I looked at him, "What?"
"I'd like to say thank you... about last night." I said fidgeting with my own shovel.
"Betsuni." He stood straight and looked at me before looking around us, "We should pour some salt to this white stuff. It'll make our work faster."
I followed his gaze and looked around as well, "We don't have that much salt you know."
"Che..."
I couldn't help but giggle. Ryoma-kun liked doing things fast. If anything, I knew he wanted to play in this very court if he had the chance. I also hoped for the same thing, I wanted to see him play in this very court as well.
We continued cleaning the area until Obaa-chan called us for a break. We decided to go to the cafeteria for some hot tea and bagel. A few seconds later, I saw the girls entering the cafeteria. Seeing them inside the campus today shocked me.
"Hey girls, are you helping us too?" Momo-chan-senpai asked them.
The girl looked at me like she didn't expect me to be here before looking back at senpai, "No, senpai. We are here for a different reason."
"Yeah, we're here to practice for our next cheer."
"Next cheer? For what occasion?" Horio-kun asked the girl.
The girl who seemed to be the leader of group rolled her eyes before answering, "For the team's next game, duh!"
"The game will be next year, duh!" Horio-kun retorted making the girls glare at him.
"What are you? A mime?" The girl said approaching Horio-kun.
"Mimes don't speak!"
"You are the first one!"
"You are crazy!"
"You are crazier!"
"You are the craziest!"
"You are the craziest of the craziest!"
"Horio found another partner." Kikumaru-senpai said facing us his thumb finger was pointing at his back where Horio-kun and the girl were standing.
"I don't!/He doesn't!" They both said.
"They are also in sync." Momo-chan-senpai agreed.
"We're not!" They said at the same time once again. Both of them looked at each other at the same time, "Stop copying me!" And leaned at the same time.
The rest started to laugh and I couldn't help but giggle as well. They both looked away after that. Something shining caught my eyes when the girl crossed her hands to her chest. My eyes widened when I recognized what it was.
It couldn't be.
"I am outta here!" She suddenly turned around and looked at the other girls, "Let's go girls. I lost my appetite."
"Good riddance!" I barely heard what Horio-kun said. My eyes were glued to the girl's wrist. I knew that it was it. They girls disappeared from the cafeteria but my eyes were still staring where they were a few seconds ago. Without another minute to pass, I stood up and followed their path.
"Ryuzaki-chan! Where are you going?" Momo-chan-senpai asked me.
I looked at him and smiled a little, "I, uh, I just want to check on something," I reasoned as everyone was looking at me with curious expressions. I continued walking on my way outside, "I-I'll be right back." My feet started to move and left the cafeteria.
I walked-ran as soon as I stepped into the larger area of the campus. I looked around hoping to find the girls around the vicinity. They hadn't left the campus and I was sure of it. The girls would still be practicing.
Not too long before I heard the girls laughing from the backyard of the school. I saw them laughing as they circled around. I knew that I wouldn't be facing these girls alone but one of them had something that I believed that belonged to me. I just didn't know how to get it back. My thoughts were still jumbled when I heard them talking this time.
"Would you believe that?" I peeked from the place where I was and saw the second girl speaking, "She never had the slightest idea what we were talking about."
"After all the hints we gave her yesterday while she was stupidly digging in the dirt," My eyes widened when I heard those words. There was no mistake about it, "That was utterly funny."
I couldn't take it anymore and made myself visible from where I was hiding, "Y-you have it all along." My words got their attention and turned to my direction. They were shocked at first but recovered fast. I saw the girl hid her wrist and I pinpointed that out, "That bracelet you are wearing. It is mine, isn't it?"
The girl wearing my bracelet seemed to be surprised of my suspiscious words and glared at me afterwards, "What makes you think that this is yours?"
"I-I just heard you. The hints. The digging. You knew I was looking for my bracelet yesterday."
The girl walked in front of me and lifted her wrist with the bracelet, "Do you think that I was actually talking about this bracelet? You have no idea what we were talking about my dear."
"But I just heard you," I insisted as I stared at the bracelet from her wrist, "I knew that was mine. Please, give it back. It's important to me."
"Are you accusing me?" She glared at me once again. If glares could kill, I would have died right now. It sounded cliche but it was what I was feeling right now. The girl was ready to cause trouble but I was not.
"N-no, I am not-"
"You should have taken care of your precious bracelet if it was that important to you." She said mockingly, holding the bracelet to her other hand. The other girls started to snicker behind her.
I looked down as I clenched my fists to my sides. Why wouldn't they just give me my bracelet? Why would they want to keep it? Was it because Ryoma-kun gave it to me? That wasn't right. They loved making fun of me and I hated being like this. Stupidly as it sounded, I was in a verge of crying but I wouldn't let them see it. Not that I was in front of them.
"I'd give it to her if I were you?"
We all looked behind me and saw Ryoma-kun standing not far from me. His hands were inserted in his pocket and was actually staring at us.
"Ryoma-sama!" The girl walked past me, bumping me on my shoulder, causing me to almost tumble and went closer to him, "She accused me of being a thief. How dare she?"
"I didn't-"
"But you just told me that this bracelet is yours and you wanted it back!" She said mocking me in the process, "Isn't that accusing me? This is mine to begin with."
"That's not yours." Ryoma-kun calmly said. Eyeing the bracelet to her wrist.
"What? This is mine! Why are you accusing me too?" The girl stumped her foot this time.
"I am not. It's just that's really Ryuzaki's." He insisted. I only stared at them with a curious look. Ryoma-kun was certain of his own words. It made the girl feel frusrated.
"Where's your proof that this is hers?"
To my surprise, Ryoma-kun smirked and pointed at the bracelet, "Look underneath the infinity sign."
The girl did what he said. She gasped when she noticed something. Her eyes became fierced as she trembled. I didn't know what she saw underneath the sign. I'd never looked there yet but it made her speechless.
"Clearly, that wasn't your initials." He said matter-of-factly.
She did the unexpected thing after that. She tore the bracelet away from her wrist and threw it on the ground, "You can keep the stupid bracelet for all I care!" With that she turned around and left without saying another word. The girls soon followed her.
The two of us were the only ones left. Ryoma-kun picked the bracelet on the ground and walked towards me, "It's broken but I think it can still be fixed." He grabbed my hand facepalmed and placed the bracelet on top of it. A tear fell from my eye when I stared what was really underneath the sign.
R.S
"T-this is my initials, isn't it?" I was looking at the engraved letters from the sign so I didn't see his reaction. When I looked up at him, I gave him my genuine smile, "Arigatou, Ryoma-kun. I'll take care of it this time. For sure..." I wrapped the bracelet in my small hand and moved it closer to my chest, "I promise."
He blinked his eyes twice as if he'd forgotten what he was about to say. A smile was formed on his own lips and nodded at the same time. "You'd better be."
Done! How was it? I hope you like this chapter. Domo... :)
I only edited chapter two and this chapter today. I felt embarrassed when I saw lots of mistakes from chapter two. Sorry about that. I have been sick for a couple of days so I can't concentrate much. My headache is also killing me. Please endure with me... Thank you
Reviews please! Help me... Domo
See you tomorrow... :)