20"Speak Now"
Anime: Prince of Tennis
Genre: Romance
Pairing: RyoxSaku
Rating: K+
A/N: I've noticed that songs inspire me to write. LOL, this was inspired by Taylor Swift's latest new single "Speak Now" if you haven't listened to it. I suggest you do, it's a really nice song :D Summary was taken from the lyrics of the song. OC, is once again, unimportant.
Warning: Possible OOC-ness.
Many thanks to my beta Kris~! (AKA neko11lover) *love,love,love*
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis nor the lyrics of Speak Now. The plot is mine though :D
Just plain Italics: Song lyrics
"italics with quotations: Flashback"
Sakuno's POV. (An achievement~ I've written oneshots with Ryoma's POV and Fuji's. Now it's Sakuno's XD)
I am not the kind of girl
Who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion
But you are not the kind of boy
Who should be marrying the wrong girl
"What are you wearing? That's the wrong color, the wrong dress! How could you…"
I could hear her shouting from inside her room. I sighed. That loud shrilly voice of hers always made me uncomfortable. I didn't know how Ryoma-kun could tolerate her though, and I never expected that she would be the type of girl that he would be interested in. But then again, who was I to speak? I wasn't him. Ryoma-kun had always been unpredictable. That was one of the qualities he was famous for.
However, I never did like his unpredictability.
Tomo-chan rolled her eyes. She didn't want to go there, nor did An-chan, who was by her side. Both didn't even try to hide their annoyance. I told them not to come if they didn't want to, but they refused to listen to me, saying that they wouldn't let me go alone on his wedding day (they didn't even say Ryoma-kun's name anymore). I told them countless times that I would be fine, but they didn't take no for an answer.
So now we were here, the three of us dressed in cocktail dresses: Tomo-chan in a strapless, mint-colored one, An-chan in a strapped number in a pale shade of blue, and me in pink. Nothing eye-catching, though both Tomo-chan and An-chan suggested I wore something extravagant to make people notice.
I wanted to laugh at the suggestion. It was like they didn't know me. Even now, at age twenty-five, I remained timid, and it was something I wasn't proud of. I've always wanted to change - badly. Maybe, now would be the perfect time for it, and I just hope that I could be capable enough to do so.
With all those years that I've been by Ryoma-kun's side, one would think that I would have finally gathered up the courage to admit my very-much-evident feelings to him. However, I was too afraid of the rejection that I expected. Instead I kept quiet, and kept it to myself, accepting the fact that I was only a friend to him and that I should be more than happy with that relationship because only a few were as close to him as I was, along with the fact that I was a woman.
I continued to keep myself silent, happy and contented. Although, that resolve of mine came crashing down three weeks ago.
"I'm getting married…"
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"W-well…co-congratulations!"
Who would have thought that Ryoma Echizen, the renowned Prince of Tennis, would be getting married in three weeks' time? I obviously didn't, nor did any of the past Seigaku regulars. Not even Momo-senpai. Much to my dismay, I felt crushed. I thought I had moved on, that this so-called "friendship" was getting to me, that I only liked – no, loved – him now just as a friend and nothing more.
I was obviously wrong.
My thoughts were cut off as I saw him appear from the corner; I paid no heed to the words Tomo-chan was uttering, because my full attention was on him. He looked amazing—although, he always had. However, now as he wore something other than his usual red shirt and white shorts…he looked breath-taking. I felt my heart pound against my chest and my face heat up. My eyes met his golden ones; they looked beautiful. As I focused on his face though, I saw that he didn't look happy nor contented.
...sad?
No, that wasn't possible. He couldn't be sad on his wedding day, could he?
Wasn't that supposed to be me?
"Hey, we're just going out for some fresh air, okay?" An-chan told me, smiling in understanding. Tomo-chan, on the other hand, looked horror-struck. She was about to protest when An-chan grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the hallway. Then, we were alone.
I clenched my fists. This was my chance, and most probably my last one, too. I opened my mouth, but no words came out: opening, then closing, opening again, and then closing. My throat felt dry and I suddenly had hard time breathing. I had to do this, or else it would really be hopeless for me. I was determined, but I was slowly wavering. I felt tears in my eyes.
No, don't cry, Sakuno. Stay strong. You can do this!
This was it. The moment of truth, my last opportunity…
"Ryoma-kun, I—"
"The wedding's about to start in about ten minutes, Ryoma! What are you still doing there? Come on!"
Good Lord!
Curse my luck. I knew that fate hated me, but still. Why now of all times? Why?
"I'm…coming," I heard him mutter.
I felt my determination slowly dissipate. I took a sharp intake of breath, bit my lower lip, and looked at ceiling to stop the tears. I silently prayed that they would stop, even for a moment, even if it's just now that we're together—where he can still see me.
Once I knew that the tears wouldn't betray me (for once,) I looked back at him. He just turned his attention back to me, his expression unreadable. Or maybe it's just me not wanting to face the horrible truth that Ryoma-kun was happy on his wedding day…marrying another woman.
I smiled.
"Go…" I told him. He sneered then ruffled his already messy green locks. I wet my lips, not caring if the gloss smudges. I was crestfallen anyway, and with the perfect opening lost, I may never get to do it. And nothing would matter anymore.
He sighed as he put his arm down. "See you," he mumbled before turning his back to me and walking slowly towards the church's entrance.
Fun gestures are exchanged
And the organ starts to play a song that sounds like a death march
And I am hiding in the curtains
It seems that I was uninvited by your lovely bride-to-be
After crying my eyes out, I returned (with all my might) to the church. The wedding march was already playing. I silently tried to find my way to where An-chan and Tomo-chan sat; but instead, I found Fuji-senpai. Since both of my friends were nowhere to be seen, I made my way to where he was. I tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if I could sit beside him. He quickly agreed and moved to his right to make space for me.
Upon sitting down, I sighed yet again. I should have just left. What was the point of staying anyway? I inwardly sulked as I lowered my head, not wanting to see Ryoma-kun, nor his bride-to-be. I shook my head and brought my hands to my face, not caring if people surrounding me would think of me as weird. I was so hopelessly pathetic.
"He looks sad, doesn't he?"
I brought my hands away from my face and stared at Fuji-senpai, confused and quite surprised by his sudden question. We weren't that close, so it was startling that he initiated a conversation. The music then stopped, and I heard the priest address the…couple.
"W-what do you mean?" I asked. He just continued to smile and then turned to look at me, revealing his cerulean orbs. I paid no mind to the priest at the moment; I didn't plan to in the first place.
"Echizen, he looks dead—grave. Not fit for his wedding day, don't you think?" He said as-a-matter-of-factly. Still confused, I turned my head to where Ryoma-kun was, and realized that he was saying the truth. I wasn't imagining things earlier – he did look unhappy, and I wasn't the only one to notice this.
"Echizen may be unpredictable, but it doesn't always mean good in either his or our account." He paused for a moment, shifting his gaze to the altar. "There's still time. Maybe you could bring him back to his senses?" Fuji-senpai reverted back to his regular expression, and gave me an expectant smile.
I gaped. Was I that obvious? That aside, how did Fuji-senpai expect me to change Ryoma-kun's mind? And why would he think that I would be able to do it?
"…Are there any objections?"
I quickly tore my gaze away from Fuji-senpai; the question, my real final opportunity, the last chance of all chances. My emotions conflicted with common sense: my emotions told me that I loved him too much to just let him go like this, my mind said otherwise. What I was about to do, was in all sense, idiotic and irrational! Mind over heart, rationality over desire—
Then my eyes found his.
My emotions won.
There's the silence, there's my last chance
I stand up with shaking hands, all eyes on me
Horrified looks from everyone in the room
But I'm only looking at you
I heard gasps echo inside the chuch, with everyone displaying various reactions but it didn't matter – all I saw was him.
In all my years of living, never had I expected or visualized that I would have the nerve to actually do something like this. It was hard to envision myself confessing to him, but to stop a wedding just for the sake of telling him my true feelings? If someone told me this years ago, I would've thought they were crazy. This was just like a scene from those very clichéd romantic novels, only it was the other way around now.
Maybe Ryoma-kun wasn't the only unpredictable one.
He too looked surprised, but there was a spark in his eyes that urged me to continue, and so I did.
Don't say yes, run away now
I'll meet you when you're out of the church at the backdoor
Don't wait or say a single vow
Your time is running out and they said speak now
The next thing I knew, we were running hand in hand away from the church. Distant screams and protests could be heard, but not all were against what we were doing. I felt myself smile sincerely for the first time these last three weeks, and I finally let the tears fall down from my eyes freely.
I felt like a princess from some fairy tale book, or maybe a character from some romantic novel, because this was just too good to be true. I felt the adrenaline rush through my veins, and I laughed despite the tears. Ryoma-kun looked back at me, smirked then stopped in his tracks. I mimicked his actions, except the smile momentarily left my face and was replaced with wonder. We weren't that far from the church, and a few people were still chasing after us…was he already giving up?
My questions were soon answered when he scooped me up and carried me, bridal-style. He started to run again after a few seconds. I started to protest, but he just kept running, with that smirk still on his face.
"So slow," He commented, and I pouted momentarily before smiling yet again. I was far too happy to mask any other expression. I felt his breath against my face, and my face heated up. I hadn't taken notice of our close proximity; his lips were inches from mine…it then formed a smile.
I averted my gaze from his lips to his eyes. One of his eye brows was raised. I brought my hands up to my mouth, realizing that he must have noticed that I was looking at his lips, my face heated up more.
He stopped running for a moment as his face slowly descended to mine, I was far too surprised to do anything at first, but slowly, I felt my eyes drop and my face slowly incline to his. Our lips touched, only for a short while, but it was (this may sound so clichéd) magical.
We continued to escape and the smile remained until we were both out of sight.
Who would have thought that Sakuno Ryuzaki could become so unpredictable?
Surely not them.
And you say let's run away now
I'll meet when I'm out of my tux at the backdoor
Baby I didn't say my vows, so glad you were around
When they said 'Speak now'
~end~
A/N: Hope you like it :D Reviews and Constructive Criticisms would be appreciated~!