Before I Fall In Love

Title: Before I Fall In Love

Fandom: Prince of Tennis

Pairing: One-sided Sanada/Sakuno

Genre: Romance

Rating: K+

Summary: Love? Is that what I'm feeling for him right now? Am I even worthy of feeling something like this towards him? Will he return it in the end? Oneshot Sanada/Sakuno pairing.

Since I already started writing a Niou/Sakuno fic, I thought I might as well try my luck in writing a Sanada/Sakuno fic for once. I'm not sure how will this appeal to the readers but I still hope you will like it as much as I enjoy writing it. Forgive me for the subtle romance (I think). By the way, this fic was taken place in high school. That's all.

Standard disclaimer applies. As for warning, characters might not be in their usual selves (in other words, possible OOC).

-x-x-

For the umpteenth time of that day, Ryuzaki Sakuno heaved another sigh as she traversed the route going to her house from Rikkaidai. A lot of people noticed that since she had been heaving sighs whenever possible. Recess, lunch time, free periods, and sometimes even during her classes. When she was asked what could be her problem, her answer would be the same.

"Nothing. I'm fine so don't worry."

But to her friends—especially the Rikkaidai tennis regulars and Tomoka who would visit her from Tokyo to Kanagawa sometimes—who actually knew her, they were not satisfied with that kind of answer she kept of repeating. They knew that something was wrong.

Seriously, what could possibly be the reason for Sakuno to act like that the whole day?

Well, only she knew.

Sanada-senpai…

If only that stoic vice-captain knew that she couldn't actually get him out of her mind, then things would have been a little easy for her. Or maybe it would make things even more complicated. Weird as it might seem, but she had been dreaming about him these past nights. One night, she actually woke upfrom one of her dreams with Sanada in it all of a sudden that made her fall out of her bed.

She sighed again as she reached her house. Her aunt greeted her in which she returned, of course. But to her aunt's confusion, it was different from the usual. Though before the woman could comment something about it, Sakuno went to her room and slumped onto the bed.

At that moment, her cellphone rang. She took it from her bag while lying down and placed the phone to her ear without looking at the screen to know who was calling. "Hello?"

"Are you alright, Sakuno-chan?" the voice on the other line asked with concern.

"Yukimura-senpai… Why are you asking something like that? Of course, I'm alright," Sakuno said with a smile even though Yukimura wouldn't be able to see it. But even she knew that there was still something missing with her smile.

"You're still thinking about him, aren't you?"

She blinked. "Eh?"

"Genichirou…" the boy added that only made her blush and instinctively bury her face on the pillow.

Her face was buried like that for several moments before she changed her position and heaved a sigh (again).

"I'm right, am I?"

She laughed weakly as a response. "Is it weird, Yukimura-senpai? For me to feel something like this towards him… towards someone who was a little older than me…" She only heard a chuckle before deciding to continue. "Ne, senpai…" she started, almost in a whisper but she was sure Yukimura heard it. "Have you ever thought of someone almost everyday? I mean, the way I think about… him…"

Silence greeted her from the other line for several moments.

"Yes… before. I still think about her until now, but not as frequent as you do now. But that was already in the past. It's already over… a long time ago," he answered in a tone so serious that Sakuno wasn'tused to hearing from him at all.

But she chose to respect the privacy. Instead, she said, "Thank you… Yukimura-senpai…"

"For what?"

"For keeping my secret."

"Well, your secret has made us all worried because of your actions. Even Genichirou was worried, too."

Eh? Even Sanada-senpai? How was that possible? Now that was a surprise.

Right now, only Yukimura know what was happening to her. Though she still wasn't sure of her feelings towards Sanada was true or not, she and Yukimura agreed not to tell to anyone. Even to their closest friends. She wasn't worried about Yukimura being a blabbermouth or anything. He was never like that… almost. Her heart was what actually important and her senpai knew that.

After talking for a few more minutes, Sakuno stood up from her bed and eventually did her nightly routine. Soon after she was done eating dinner, she went straight to her room and faced her laptop. Since her dreams with Sanada in it had started, she began a habit of writing what she felt in her journal. It was saved in her laptop in a separate disk partition. Besides talking to Yukimura about it, she would also write it in her journal.

A lot of people began noticing my actions towards… everything. It keeps getting weirder and weirder, I know. But I kept on sighing whenever I had the time and the chance to do so. They were sighs that made me feel as if a sort of heavy burden—no, more like worries—was on me, trying to put me down to the ground for good. I'm trying to lift it as hard as I could and somehow I managed to do it. However, it doesn't really last. The strength I have—no matter how little it would be—is starting to diminish as I kept my feelings. I kept wondering about a lot of things, most especially towards Sanada-senpai. I wasn't even sure if this feeling I have for him is concrete and true. But given those dreams wherein he was in it, I'd say that I'm about to feel something… different. And probably beyond words. I'm not just sure what could it be or when will I feel that different feeling that I'm talking about.

All I know is that it's going to be weird and yet wonderful, too. I don't know. To be honest, I'm not sure. I'm not good at knowing something like this since this is the first time I've felt it. Everything that I'm feeling towards that stone emperor Sanada Genichirou-san is something deeper than I will ever know or feel. But I can't tell him about it now.

At least not yet… So when?

And what will happen when I tell him the truth?

Soon after she was done typing those words, she stared at it for a while. But a few moments later, she heaved another heavy sigh and saved the journal she was typing. Oh well… It was better doing this for now. She just needed to have the guts to tell him the truth. But what could she say to him? Every time she would say something "weird" or "different" or "words that were spoken out of impulse", he would always have this stern and scary look on Sanada's face that she wasn't used to see. Wait… Maybe it wasn't actually that scary—just… different. Amusement, maybe. Gah! Who knows? And there was no way in hell she would know. Even so, he might have been stoic (more like eternally stoic) and rarely said anything that could start a sensible conversation (in other words, letting him initiate a conversation) but she could tolerate that. At least she knew he could talk once she initiated a conversation between them.

Just looking at him—his handsomely serious and aristocratic face—was enough to make her day. Ever since she transferred to Kanagawa and made friends with him, she knew doing so would be enough. After all, just like Ryoma, Sanada saved her from bullies (or to be precise, lecherous high schoolers) on her first day. He even tended her wounds that she got from struggling to escape. His gentle side that she never got to know before while she was still in middle school made her realize that… something could happen. Her stay in Kanagawa—especially in Rikkaidai—could do something like that. And being with Sanada was doing something more. He brightened up her day in more ways than one.

It was like… being with him was slowly becoming a part of her life, regardless with what he was saying to her, as if scolding her. But those words, along with those from the other Rikkaidai regulars, were helping her grown little by little, after all. He was, in a way, guiding her as she went on though in some parts in didn't actually look that way to most of the people. Only those who knew Sanada—particularly the regulars—could see that.

Those things—those simple things—that he was doing for her was doing a lot of changes about her. To put a deeper meaning to it, it was changing something in her heart. Those attentions—no matter how bad or small they might be for him which could lead him to say that he didn't actually mean them—was starting to let her feel an emotion that, in time, would become overwhelming. When that happens, she might not be able to stop it from conquering her heart. She knew that and she couldn't help but to feel scared.

No force in this world could stop love from conquering someone's heart. She froze at the thought. Love? Is that what I'm feeling for him right now? Am I even worthy of feeling something like this towards Sanada-senpai? Will he return it in the end?

But she came to realize that every person deserved to love and feel loved. No matter what type of person, they deserved to feel an incredible and overwhelming emotion such as love. A true and overwhelming—probably fate-defying—love, to be exact.

But before she completely fell in love with Sanada, she has to do her best to become a person that her family and her friends would be proud of. It didn't have something to do with tennis all the way but she has to become someone, right? She has her family, her friends and the other Rikkaidai regulars to help her do that. That way, maybe—just maybe—she could be able to catch up with Sanada and tell him how she really felt. One way or another, she might be able to do so.

She just hoped that it wouldn't be too late for her to do that.

One day… One day, I'll be able to tell him. I'm sure of it…

-THE END-

-x-x-

I hope you liked it. I have already written a Kajimoto/Sakuno fic which will be posted… when? Sorry, I can't be sure about the posting date. I might try writing a Yukimura/Sakuno fic, too. Maybe even a Kirihara/Sakuno fic, as well. I don't know. I just felt like writing something about these pairs.

Reviews are very much appreciated. :)