Hi... I am truly sorry for the late update. Waaah! Don't punish me please! I am just busy with my other on-going fics. I have four actually and this fic is one of them. I'll try to finish one fic as possible. So as compensation I present to you... the chapter four of my Cherry Valentines.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Prince of Tennis... Got. It.

Chapter 4: I Will Never Give Up!

Chapter Summary: She was panicking as her secret was revealed? What to do now? Would she be admitting it to the tensai? Chaos was about to start.

It was silent... deathly silent as they were alone in that room. She was looking at his now opened eyes but she was sweating... and panicking.

Sakuno was doomed.

W-what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? Her head was screaming and she didn't know how to reply to his question. With her panicky situation, she immediately pushed him and tried to reason out, "F-fuji-senpai, what are you doing? A-and what are you saying?"

Fuji didn't budge but he let go of her hair, "There is no use of hiding from me, Ryuzaki-chan? Or is that your real name?"

She looked at him. Why was it hard to reason out to this person? She couldn't find her words that time.

Fuji sighed as she saw her blushing really hard, "Relax, I just want to make fun of you but I won't divulge anything."

Blinking her eyes twice, she took the courage to look at him once again. His eyes were still open but he was smiling, "Y-you are not... going to... tell the teachers?"

His smile grew wider as he replied, "So you are admitting that you are a girl."

Her face became red as she pouted, "M-mou! Fuji-senpai!"

He began to laugh after that, "You are showing your feminine side to me now but lower your voice someone might hear you."

Upon hearing that, she quickly covered her mouth and nodded at him. Since she was discovered by the tensai it was no use hiding it. Besides, she thought that she could trust him with her secret, "H-how did you know... that I am a girl?"

"Simple," This time, Fuji closed his eyes and he smiled at her giving them the distance that they needed, "I am a tensai."

"W-what do you mean?" She couldn't get him.

"I was observing you during the match," He said as he looked at her, "Your expressions were from a girl's."

"E-eh!" She was shocked when he heard that, "W-was I that noticeable?"

He placed a finger to his chin before he replied at her, "Not for those ignorant I guess."

She sighed really hard relieving that she could still act like a boy.

"Why did you enroll in an All Boys School, anyway?" He suddenly asked her.

Blushing in the process, she looked down and fidgeted, "T-to properly thank the person who saved me from thugs several months ago."

"Hmmm, and who is that?"

Her blush became brighter as she closed her eyes, "M-my r-roommate."

He flinched when she said that. His smile grew even wider as he replied, "So that's why. This is so exciting." He continued. Sakuno was oblivious about his thoughts but he thought of another interesting thing in this school and he wouldn't want to miss that in life.

"P-please don't tell anyone, senpai, I beg you." She begged him.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." He said.

She was enlightened when he said that.

"...On one condition."

"E-eh?" She stared at him. She was nervous when she looked at the tensai, "W-what condition?" She hoped that the condition was pretty easy for her to deal with.

"Be sure to pass the exam and the trial," He started and then continued, "and after that..."

She waited for his next words. Her heart was beating so fast especially when he said his next words.

"At the end of this month, you will dress yourself as a girl and have a date with me."

Silence dawned upon them. Her reaction was really a tad delayed.

"D-d-date! W-wi-with you!" She placed both hands to her cheek as she was blushing really hard, "B-but I-I-"

"You never had a date before, had you?" He asked her.

"I-Iya-Well-err," Her shoulder immediately fall, closing her eyes in the process as she nodded. Her blush was still intact.

"Saa... that's settled then," He said before gently pulling her away from the door and opened it, "It's just one date so there's nothing to be fussed about it. Besides," Fuji looked to his shoulder and continued, "I prefer men rather than ladies."

"E-eh?" Her jaw dropped as she heard that from him. She also sweat dropped before having another delayed reaction, "S-seriously?"

Fuji watched her panic like that before chuckling to himself. He gave her a reassuring smile before saying his next words, "I am just kidding. You are so easy to tease."

She trembled due to overwhelming feelings. Somehow, she felt relieve when Fuji said that he was just kidding. She admitted that Fuji was good enough to like his fellow men and good thing that he was just really kidding, "M-mou! Fuji-senpai. S-stop joking like that."

"Hmmm, good night, Ryuzaki-chan." He was about to close the door when she spoke.

"Sakuno."

He looked at her and then she continued.

"Ryuzaki Sakuno. That's my real name," She smiled at him and then bowed, "Thank you for keeping my secret, senpai."

"Nice name, pretty close to Cherry-chan."

"I told them that it's Jerry." She sweat dropped, "B-but I guess it can't be helped now."

"I wouldn't mind calling you Cherry-chan from now on," He said, "It's close to your real name, anyway." With that he closed the door behind them leaving Sakuno inside.

She was registering everything that happened and she felt that her knees collapse and they did. She fell on the ground after all of her energy had dried out, "I-I am still safe. T-thank goodness."

Later on:

Walking on her way to her room, she had been thinking about the conversation she and Fuji had a while ago. I can trust Fuji-senpai, can't I? I mean he's really kind even though he likes teasing me now that he knows my secret. At least there is one person who knows my secret and I can act like a girl in front of him. I can act a girl at times when I am with him. She smiled at the thought as she reached for the door and twisted it. All I have to do is to pass the exam and then the trial. It would be a long, busy week for me. She opened the door and restlessly sighed as she entered the room.

"OSOI!"

She immediately looked up and looked at the boy who was sitting at her own chair looking at her own notebook. Blush appeared on her face once again, "R-ryoma-kun... g-gomenasai. Were you waiting for too long?"

"You only noticed that? Where have you been?" He asked her keeping the same stoic reaction.

"I was just... outside," She looked away. She couldn't bring the topic that she and Fuji met a while ago, "A-a student asked for my help so... I couldn't deny him. Sorry."

Ryoma sighed and then looked at her own notebook. She noticed that he had corrected all the mistakes that she made, "Y-you corrected them. R-ryoma-kun, I am sorry. I should've been the one to do that."

"It's okay," He said still working on her notebook, "I promised you, didn't I? All you have to do is to understand them."

"H-hai," She nodded and then remembered something, "Ah! I forgot to buy you ponta today. I'll go buy right away." She turned around and was about to walk away from him.

"You can buy me tomorrow."

Stopping from her position, she abruptly looked at him, "E-eh?! But..."

"It's okay. It's pretty night and the curfew is about to start."

She looked at her clock. But it was just past dinner? Why wouldn't he like me to buy his ponta? Her question remained unanswered as he gestured her to come closer to him. He stood up and let her sit on her chair. Ryoma grabbed his own chair and sat beside her.

"You have to remember that the adverb of frequency which is place between the subject and verb doesn't change the verb itself."

"Hai."

"This idiomatic expression is wrong, look for the right meaning in the dictionary."

She followed what he had told her and looked for the meaning, "Ah... you're right. I'll change it now."

"The adverb of manner answers the question how and the adverb of time answers to question when." He said reminding her those confusing rules.

"Make examples for that," He ordered her and she did, "Good. Now for the conditionals and collocations, I'll give you some tips about them..."

They studied until past eleven until Ryoma called it a night. Both of them stretched their bodies as they readied themselves for the bed.

"Ryoma-kun, thank you very much," She smiled at him as she fixed her books with reminders that he wrote for her, "Your teachings are easy to understand."

He looked away as he didn't have his hat on him but he still replied, "Che. English is easy for me."

She sweat dropped when he said that, "I-I can see that. Thank you again. I'll give you three-no four cans of pontas tomorrow.

Ryoma nodded and walked his way to his own bed, "Be sure to pass this exam or I'll never forgive you for wasting my time like this."

Another sweat drop appeared on her head when he said that. Ryoma was already covering his body with the blanket, "Yes, I'll do my best. I'll never give up." She went to her own bed as well with determination in her eyes. Ryoma smirked without her knowledge. He would be spending late nights with her studying for the sake of his ponta.

It's okay for he would be having four pontas tomorrow plus his own money to buy his own. He slept with the thought of ponta in his head.

One week had passed:

She was very thankful that Ryoma had been helping her to study. She hadn't any problem with other subjects as she had great scores in past histories but she couldn't let her guard down and studied the others still.

Ryoma was pretty busy during the break and afternoon practice so she spent her time reading and studying in the library. She was desperately wanted to enroll in that school so she would do her best to pass the exam.

"Nya, it's Cherry-chan!"

She looked to her side to see Eiji and Oishi walking her way.

"Eiji-senpai, Oishi-senpai. W-what are you doing here? Is the practice ended already?" she asked them.

Oishi nodded as he looked at her, "Our coach decided to end the practice a little early. They will be having a meeting for the exams of transferees. Seigaku has lots of transferees this year."

"Maji?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing right now, "I need to study harder then."

"What are you studying then?" Eiji bent over to look at her books, "History, Science and Math, Nya, they are pretty hard to learn. I guess."

"W-well, they are my favorite subjects," She looked down and blushed, "My weakness is English of all subjects."

"I see," Oishi nodded, "My grades in English are fine. We can help you study if you like."

Sakuno was delighted when she heard that from the Vice captain of the tennis club, "A-are you sure? Am I not troubling you?"

"Rest well, Cherry-chan," Eiji said, "We don't have anything to do anyway. Let us teach you."

She smiled at them, "Hai. Thank you very much."

Both of them blushed when they saw her smile like that. Oishi feigned a cough and said, "Well, let's get started."

Meanwhile:

He had got nothing to do and he couldn't find Ryuzaki at that moment. He thought of going to the quietest place in the school where he volunteered as an assistant librarian. The moment he entered the library, he saw the person that he was looking for with his two senpais. He saw how pretty serious they were. It seemed that they were teaching his roommate at that time.

"Heh," He closed his eyes and decided not to bug them.

"You don't have to break your leg like that!"

He suddenly looked up at where the three were sitting. His eyes twitched when he heard what Eiji said.

"It's not the meaning of that idiom," Oishi said, "It's simple because it doesn't have a literal meaning."

"It is, break your leg."

"Eiji, you are confusing her."

"Ummm... I guess," She tried to look at them who started bickering, "the meaning for this one is-"

"And what about 'When pigs fly!'. How can you explain that?" Oishi asked his doubles partner.

"Well... Pigs can't fly, they run and scream!"

"Baka! It's only an expression. It doesn't have a literal meaning!"

"Quiet!" The librarian suddenly said. They looked at the librarian and apologized later.

They continued quarreling with the meaning of the idioms. Sakuno couldn't interrupt. If this kept up, she didn't know if she couldn't understand everything she had so far.

"What are you guys doing?"

The three of them looked at the last person who spoke;

"Echizen!/Ryoma-kun!"

"Ochibi!" He glomped at the younger boy and said, "We just can't understand the meaning of these idioms."

"Senpai, let go," He said, "We are in the library."

Eiji thought hard before letting him go. Ryoma then looked at the idioms that they were studying. Sakuno was waiting for his answer.

"Break a leg means 'good luck' and When Pigs Fly! means 'Never'."

Both of them looked at him and praised him. Sakuno looked down and thought. I knew it... Ryoma was looking at her and thought the same thing. He sighed as he sat beside the girl and retorted;

"Mataku senpai-tachi, you are making Ryuzaki confuse here," He said finally grabbing a notebook and then started looking at it, "Let me teach him English while you teach him with the other subjects."

Both of them looked at their junior and smiled.

"You know... if Cherry-chan is a girl, I would think that you two are a couple." Oishi said teasing them a little.

Both of them blushed a different shade of red.

"Stop joking like that senpai, it's not funny." Ryoma retorted raising his voice a little.

Sakuno immediately agreed as she blushed a lot, "H-he's right. That's not going to happen."

Oishi and Eiji just smirked at each other as they dropped the teasing subject and continued teaching her with her studies. She was really thankful that they were kind senpais who were trying to teach her. She did her best to study hard.

And soon the fated day came.

Entrance exam day:

There were lots of transferee students who were taking the exam that day. She felt nervous right now.W-will I able to make it? What if I don't? I don't want to disappoint senpai-tachi and Ryoma-kun for this. I don't even want to disappoint Tomoka-chan either. I am nervous. She was in the debt of her thoughts when a hand tapped her head and said something;

"You can do it."

She looked at the person and saw amber eyes looking back at her, "Ryoma-kun." He gave her a tiny smile before walking away from her, "Hai... I'll do my very best!" She bowed and silently thanked him. She would never give up after the two weeks of studying. With a new countenance on her face, she entered the room and was ready to take the exam.

Later on:

She sighed really hard as she breathed freely. Finally, she could rest. She believed that she could pass the exam as she knew most questions in the items. She had no problems with the other subjects except English. Even though it was like that, she knew that she did well in the English exam. And all she had to do was to wait for the result. Another panicky beating of her heart welcomed her as she waited for the result which was going to be released next week.

That night:

"Want to go grab some ponta?"

"Eh?" She looked at him that night. Ryoma was just playing with his tennis ball tossing it upward, "B-but the curfew is pretty close?"

"We won't take long." He sat up and looked at her. Then, a light blush appeared on his cheek. Sakuno noticed this.

"What's wrong?" She tilted her head to his side.

"With you hair down like that, you really look like a girl."

Sakuno suddenly blushed. Right, her hair was down as she was combing it. He had seen her hair down for several times and thought that it was okay for her to do that every night. But she was having doubts about it now, "I-I get that a lot." She laughed recklessly as she quickly pulled her hair up only to be stopped when something was being dropped to her head.

"Wear that, we don't have time," He said turning around. The boy had reached to her that fast and placed his own hat to her head, "Let's go." He walked ahead of her.

Sakuno stood up fixing his hat to her head and followed him. Their simple walk to the vending machine until on their way back to their room was awfully quiet.

"Ryoma-kun," She started trying to break the tense, "Thank you for helping me study."

"Aa," he nodded, "You did your best."

"Un."

"You'll have the trial, the day after tomorrow so be ready." He said another thing.

"E-eh?" She abruptly stopped, "T-the trial is that soon?"

He looked at her. After a series of staring he looked away. He was blushing the slightest hint once again, "You don't need to past the trial just show them your talent."

"I-it's been five years since the last time I handled a tennis racket," She looked down. How could she forget that? She had to practice tennis once again, "I-"

"I'll teach you."

"Eh?"

"Tennis."

"Really?" She couldn't believe it.

"You owe me another set of ponta tomorrow." He walked ahead of her.

Looking at his back, she couldn't believe what was happening right now. Realizing everything, she immediately bowed, "Thank you once again, I really owe you a lot. I hope that I could give you more other than pontas."

Ryoma looked at his shoulder and stared at her. Somehow, if she knew what he was thinking, the 'something' that she was talking about was actually 'that'. But being naïve and all, he only smirked and turned back ahead of him, "Just pass everything I taught you. That's enough payment for me."

"Hai!"

Two days later:

She was holding a racket at that moment and her opponent was Horio. Getting nervous at all, she tried remembering all the skills that Ryoma had taught her. Even though, she wanted him to teach her his twist serve, he told her that his serve was only for him.

He was selfish alright but she wouldn't mind that.

All things were paid off. She competed with Horio and the score was pretty close. Tezuka had been observing her as well as Fuji. Horio wasn't a regular but he was suitable for trials. Sakuno was able to hit some of his shots, remembering what her grandmother taught and Ryoma's yesterday.

The last ball was pretty tough as Horio hit the ball pretty far away from her side. She ran to it and reached for the ball pretty close. She hit and calculated the distance in just the nick of time. She hit it and made a score.

"Wow! That was a tough point." Eiji said who were watching them play.

"Well, he has the potential," Fuji looked at her and then looked back at Tezuka, "What do you think of him, Tezuka?"

Tezuka silently looked at her, still observing her moves. His eyes dilated a bit as she made another hit from Horio's shot, "Not bad for a starter."

Fuj smiled at his answer and looked back at her, "I knew you would say that."

Soon the match ended, in favor of Horio with the score of 6-3. Sakuno was breathing really hard as she put the racket to her side. Horio wasn't that good that she was able to hit his shot. It really leveled her talent at playing tennis.

But still, she lost the game. She felt happy yet sad about the result.

"You did great."

She looked behind her to see Ryoma walking towards her, "But I didn't win."

He twitched an eyebrow and said, "What did I tell you two nights ago?"

She remembered what he had told her. Upon remembering that, she gave him a smile, "Hai... arigatou." Ryoma smirked at her without saying another word. All they had to do was to wait for the results of both trials.

The day of the result:

She passed.

Her eyes widened.

She passed the entrance exam. The bulletin board had the announcement for the students who passed the exam and saw her name there. She still couldn't believe it, her feet was stuck on the ground.

"You passed." Ryoma suddenly appeared behind her who was followed by Momo and Eiji.

"I... did it," She couldn't believe that she passed, "I passed the exam."

"You are right," Eiji said and stared at the board, "Wait, why is your name Jerry-chan? I thought it's Cherry-chan?"

"Congratulations, Cherry-chan." Momo said wrapping his arm around her shoulder, completely ignoring Eiji's question, "Let's call for a celebration."

"Yeah! Celebration is good." Eiji said dropping his question to himself.

"W-wait b-but my trials for tennis-"

"No need to worry about that," Fuji said suddenly appearing in front of them, "You also made it, Cherry-chan."

Her eyes widened. She couldn't take it anymore, "R-really?"

The tensai nodded, "So shall we celebrate at the court?"

At the tennis court:

"Kampai!" Eiji shouted.

"Kampai!" The others followed.

Sakuno was blushing really hard as they welcomed the new members of tennis club; she was among the new members being welcomed. Tezuka congratulated everyone who made it both in the entrance exam and the trial. The coach wished them good luck and hoping to do better in the future.

Ryoma looked at them as he drank his own ponta.What's the big deal? It was only a welcome party.

"Well, for those new members of the team. I have one last trial for all of you." Inui said making the new members wondered. The regulars looked away as they knew what he was talking about.

Sakuno wondered as well. But not for long until Inui presented the trial in front of them. It was a glass of juice... a boiling juice?

"Umm, senpai? What is this?" A freshman asked him.

Inui answered, "That's my new invention. Whoever drinks this tonight will be exempted for the morning duties."

The new members were delighted at his announcement. Without thinking, they drank the juice including Sakuno. Ryoma was shocked when he saw her did that and he turned pale when he saw her turned violet and suddenly collapse spilling the rest of her juice on the table. The rest followed while the others ran to the toilet.

"Well, I did warn Cherry-chan before?" Horio said when he saw her collapse on the table.

"I guess no one wins the dare." Inui said pushing his glass to his nose.

Who would? Ryoma, Momo and Eiji thought as they narrowed their own eyes. Even the people that they welcomed that night collapsed, they still continued the party.

Later on:

Momo volunteered to carry Sakuno on their way to their room. She collapsed and wasn't able to endure the rest of the night. The second powerhouse player gently placed her on her bed and looked at Ryoma;

"Good thing that he's light," He said as he wiped some sweat that dropped from his forehead, "I am beginning to doubt that he is a boy though. I bet he would be shouting at me if he heard that."

"Indeed." Ryoma nodded as he walked to his bed.

"Well, Echizen I'm going now," Momo said as he walked to the door, "Be sure to change his clothes. He's soaking wet."

"What? Why me?" Ryoma looked at him with unbelievably expression on his face.

Momo looked at him and grinned, "For you information Echizen, He's not my roommate and definitely not my responsibility. So take good care of him. Chao~"

When the door was completely closed, he grunted audibly, "Stupid senpai," But leaving him no choice, He timidly walked to her bed and started unbuttoning her shirt. Sakuno wasn't aware of what he was doing for she was completely unconscious. As he unbuttoned the third one, he noticed something, "What's this?" He stared at the white cloth that was covering her chest. When he exposed it, something registered in his mind. Unconsciously, he closed the shirt and deeply thought of something... then opened it again.

C-could it be? He started to get suspicious as he looked at her. No wonder that he doubted about the unconscious person's gender. Not thinking about it, he comically placed a hand on her right chest and his suspicion was correct. He felt something that could prove his suspicion even though she had tried to hide it. Suddenly standing, he looked back at her and an instant, he quickly dashed backward and was leaning on the wall... on his own bed. If anyone could see his reaction at that moment, they would know how red he was.

He was blushing really hard as he looked at the unconscious Sakuno in front of him as he amazingly voiced his thought.

"R-ryuzaki... is a... girl?"

Done! How was this chapter? Sorry not enough comical scenes but she made it, right? I hope I didn't rush up the scenes. Well, this chapter was filled with overflowing scenes, from one revelation to another. Ryoma found out her secret... what now? Remember guys... Hana Kimi slight version, what will Ryoma do next? Find that out.

Vocab:

Osoi! - You're Late!

Maji? - Really?

Kampai! - Cheers!

Oh... and if you have time... you can read my other one-shots as well... I kind give you some like Predestined Partners and Miesjes Plagen, Kusjes Vragen.You can check the others too... Guys... I am only asking for your FREE time... thank you very much... ^_^

Reviews please. Tell me your thoughts. I want to hear your thoughts. Domo... ^_^

Next Chapter: Secretly Busted