Hye! I am back with the new chapter! This is the continuation to the Valentine Fic I made last month. I hope you like it. Domo… :)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Prince of Tennis and never will.

Valentine Chocolate

Chapter Summary: Confused, she didn't know what his words meant and now it was her time to return the favor. The problem was, he wasn't the only one to be receiving it.

"You have to unlock the giver's heart."

Sakuno could still remember what the tennis prodigy said after he kissed her on the cheek. What he did was something unexpected. She wasn't really expecting him giving her a necklace at all. It was a Valentine key as he told her.

Ryoma was actually giving her a test, a mission that she had to do during or on White Day. The question was, how was she going to unlock the giver's heart? It was like a puzzle and she needed to solve it before proceeding to the other level.

She didn't know how.

Her thoughts were cut when someone suddenly glomp at her from behind. She almost shrieked due to shock if it wasn't for the voice that she heard;

"You are so lucky, Sakuno. You did get a present from him after all."

Calming down, she turned around so that she could face her 'attacker', "Mou, Tomo-chan. Well, you got yours too."

"Still, I didn't get one from Ryoma-sama."

Sakuno sighed as she fidgeted with her skirt, "He gave me an assignment though."

Tomoka stared at her, frowning, "What assignment?"

"'You must unlock the giver's heart.' That's what he said when he gave me this key." She said playing with the key which was hanging to her neck.

"That's easy," Tomoka said, "You have to answer his confession. I can't believe that you didn't know about that."

"W-what do you mean?" She looked at her frowning in the process.

"He just expressed his love to you, dummy," Tomoka said as if she was proud of declaring her logic, "All you have to do is to reply to that."

Her face blushed a hundred folds when she said that, "T-that's impossible! T-there's no way he feels that way about me. There's just no way."

"Well, duh, Why do you think he gave you that in the first place?" Her best friend almost rolled her eyes due to her denseness.

"W-we'll… I…" Looking around, she thought of words what to say. Why would he be giving her a key on Valentines day? That what was she needed to find yet.

"See you can't even think of the words," She gave her a shock when Tomoka gave her another glomp and whispered, "Give him your honmei chocolate this time."

Her blush intensified when she suggested that, "I—I don't know, Tomo-chan. I've never given him like that."

"That's why this is your chance to do it," Tomoka said pinching her cheek this time, "You have to unlock his heart so that he can give it to you."

"Tomo-chan!" Her best friend's words were too much for her to handle. If she wouldn't stop, she might have collapsed on the ground. It was true that she admired the tennis prodigy for long. She just didn't expect that he would notice her one day… let alone on Valentines day.

"There's nothing wrong about trying it," Tomoka continued letting go of her cheek which she was rubbing immediately, "On White day, give honmei chocolates to him. Let's do the Taiwanese way." She gave her a wink before walking ahead of her.

Her face was still red and her heart was still beating rapidly because of their conversation. Was she able to do that? Was it the answer he was asking her? Ryoma was complicated more than she was. She hoped that she could somehow answer his some kind of a riddle that he gave her.

Meanwhile:

The class ended swiftly right after that. She was in the middle of packing her things when Ryoma suddenly called to her.

"Have you thought of my message yet?"

That made her stop from packing her things and look at him, "T-the message?"

Without saying a word, he pointed out her necklace that was hanging to neck. She blushed when he clarified his question. She continued packing as she decided to answer him;

"I am still… figuring that out."

"Hmmm," The young tennis prodigy said. When he didn't say anything, she curiously looked at him, only to see him packing his own things as well. After he finished packing his, he walked past her but not missing his next words to her, "All you have to do is find its partner."

"E?" that really caught her attention, she faced him although his back was already facing her, "What do you mean, Ryoma-kun?"

Ryoma didn't answer her. He just waved his hands at her before he continued leaving the room. Blinking twice, she tried to understand what he meant. A partner? The key had a partner? Just where on earth she could find it? She hadn't finished analyzing the meaning when the tennis prodigy's head popped from the door.

"I'll accept giri chocolates to any girls but you."

And he disappeared just like that. He had long gone to where he was standing but she was still staring there. Then her face suddenly lit up into something red. Ryoma didn't want giri chocolates from her? He wouldn't, would he? Was Tomoka right about honmei chocolates? Thinking what Ryoma and Tomoka said, she panicky picked all of her things up and finally left the room… thankfully wished that no one heard what they discussed inside the room a while ago.

After school practice:

He felt proud of another win from Kaidoh that afternoon. True, it was hard to beat the viper but he learned a lot from him. The game was worth no wonder that he was in the good mood. He found the fountain and readied himself from it.

Washing his face, his thoughts were rewound from the time he talked to the braided-pigtailed girl. Who wouldn't have thought that his father's advice would turn out fine? He was even surprised himself to finally realized what he was feeling towards the girl. Even though he finally knew, there was no way he would admit it to his oyaji… knowing that his father did a large role for that. He was secretly thankful of him but he would never admit that.

It was all to the girl's turn this time. She would find what he was talking about… following Nanjiroh's advice. He believed that he made it clear to her. White day was approaching and he couldn't wait for the chocolates that she was going to make for him.

"Yow, Echizen!" Momoshiro suddenly grabbed him from behind cutting him from his wonderful thoughts, much to his chagrin, "Why are you smiling like a lovebird here?"

He tried to get away from him as he replied to his words, "What are you talking about? Let—go—of me."

"Could it be that…" Momoshiro thought first before he smirked as he realized what, "You were thinking of Ryuzaki-chan!"

Ryoma finally removed himself from him and wiped his face with a towel. He gave him a glare but he never said his words.

"Ah, so young, so young."

"You are only a year younger than me, senpai."

"But you are way popular compared to us," Momoshiro said but then he started to think twice, "Well, aside from Tezuka-buchou, Fuji-senpai and Oishi-senpai."

He ignored his senpai as he started to walk away, planning to go back to the court.

"I can't wait to receive chocolates from Ryuzaki-chan as well."

Momoshiro's words made him stop from walking and turned to him, "Chocolates?"

His senpai looked at him and shrugged, "We gave her presents last month so it's only natural that we will receive one from her."

Ryoma didn't reply to him. He had almost forgotten about that. The girl would be giving chocolates to his team and senpais because they gave her one on Valentines day. Seeing he was thinking about it, his senpai glomped at him once again.

"Don't worry Echizen, We will not taking your beloved girlfriend away from you. We are just asking for her giri chocolates."

"She's not my girlfriend," He said at least for now… he thought, "Let go of me."

"Hai, hai," Momoshiro nodded but his voice was contrasting to what he was saying which he confirmed it, "Y~et."

He was able to remove himself from him ignoring his tease.

"Where are you going?" His senpai asked him.

"Home." He answered without looking at him. All that he wanted to do was to get away from his senpai. Momoshiro was getting annoying in his opinion. Moreover, he was annoyed to himself when he knew his senpai had been right… though he would never really admit to him… just like his other musings, he would never voice out his thoughts to anyone. Just when he was about to leave the court, Momoshiro locked him up to his head and dragged him out instead.

"Oh no, you don't," The dunk smasher said ignoring his protests, "You're going to have a burger with Eiji-senpai and me today."

And that how he had his busy day without sparing them any mercy just to get burgers to satisfy himself.

Few days later:

"Is it done?"

Tomoka peeked over her shoulder so that she could look at her masterpiece. They were making chocolates for the upcoming White day. Last month, they had some sort of reversed role based from Taiwanese tradition. The boys would give something to the girls they liked and the girls would return it the next month double or triple the times the worth of Valentine's gifts… or feelings they had. She received tons of gifts from the boys much to her shock. The first person who gave her was someone she didn't know but she would recognize him if she would meet him on the corridor. The boy gave her a book that entitled The Infernal Devices series. The boy knew her somehow and the series he gave her was really interesting. She also received gifts from her senpais; Canvass from Kawamura, Tennis for beginners' lesson from Inui as she expected something like that from him, Painting Materials from Oishi and Eiji, Updated cook book from Momoshiro, Two pairs of rabbit clips from Kaidoh, A collage of photos of her and the team that bounded in a book much to her embarrassment. Her photos together with Ryoma with several shots were the most outnumbered from the rest and General Atlas and guide book from Tezuka. She sweat dropped at the Captain's gift for her, though it was understandable. He wanted her to focus on her studies and that was a good intention for her. She couldn't help but chuckle at those gifts she received from them.

Tomoka received chocolates from Horio and to her surprise, to her as well, Kaidoh gave one to her. The former asked her to teach her how to make one for them. She received Mufflers from Horio while a pair of barrettes was given by Kaidoh. Hers was really personalized nothing compared to her rabbit clips but cute ones… not that she complained about it. She was into cute things after all. She wanted to give thanks to them and making chocolates would be the solution to that.

"I am almost done," Sakuno said as she got the formed chocolates from the oven. They smelled nice and even her wanted to eat them herself but she knew they had to wait, "Ne, Tomo-chan, who are you giving honmei chocolates to? Horio-kun or Kaidoh-senpai?"

Tomoka blushed after that, "W-we'll I am not sure. I never expected Kaidoh-senpai would give me one."

Sakuno chuckled at her reaction.

"What's so funny?" Tomoka retorted placing her hands to her waist.

"G-gomen," She only answered staring at the chocolates in front of her. Tomoka stuttered a while ago which rarely happened to her. That was why she chuckled aside from her expression, "I hope that you can find the right person."

Tomoka took one piece and ate it, "Well, it isn't like my heart can choose one of them," She chewed the chocolates and praised her, "Hmm, this tastes good."

Her first set of words made her speechless. Why would she feel that something was related to the missing piece of her own riddle Ryoma gave her? It had something to do with the tennis prodigy's message. She was staring at her best friend who was picking another piece of the sweet. And that was the time she realized something;

"Ah! Tomo-chan, don't eat everything yet!" She pried her best friend's hands from the chocolates as she was not really done decorating them. True, the white day will be three days from now but they had to practice especially for Tomoka's sake. Her best friend wanted to make some of her own.

She wished that everything would be fine… and so for the gift she would give to the young tennis prodigy.

March 13:

It was the day before the said event. The girls were all ready to give their chocolates to their loved ones. The others were disappointed that the boys that they were expecting for them to give something weren't the ones they were expecting at all. Some girls were actually glaring at her.

Who wouldn't when all the boys from tennis team gave her presents and the other girls didn't receive any? She wouldn't be surprised that they also received the news Ryoma had given her some as well. She was thankful that no one divulged about the kiss on the cheek he gave her… if anyone did see that. Remembering that scene, she felt her temperature rising. Her face blushed as she thought that. Ryoma did kiss her on the cheek but it was memorable for her. It was only on the cheek but she could feel his lips there.

Was it really natural to feel that way? Or was she beginning to get crazy? She hoped she wasn't about the last one. Reaching her room, she found herself being alone with the tennis prodigy once again.

Was being alone with the famous Echizen Ryoma common for her? There were questions that she couldn't answer or let alone left unsaid. All she could feel right now was her heart did beat rapidly. Memories with him from almost a month ago came rushing down inside the room and it was pretty awkward. She bit her lower lip as she bowed at him and walked to her chair which was just sitting next to him.

"It's tomorrow."

She dropped her bag first on the table before she looked at him, "E?"

"The gifts."

"Oh," She blinked at him and blushed at the same time, "R-right. It's tomorrow."

"Have you guessed my message?"

"I… I am figuring that out." She answered not looking at him.

"Still?"

"Well, it's not that easy," She looked at him just to defend herself. Blushing, she mustered enough courage to express her thoughts, "Unless, you are talking about your own heart."

The boy didn't say anything but he was just looking at her making her blush even more. She found the ground interesting to watch once again. That was totally embarrassing.

"Mada mada dane."

Hearing his catchphrase, she only pouted at him. Not even his words would pass her answer. Great. Just great.

"But close enough."

"Eh?" Much to her surprise, the tennis prodigy stood and walked towards her. He patted her head and smiled a little, making her blush a little.

"You don't need to think hard about it. It's just right in front of me." He said before he moved away walking back to his chair like nothing had happened.

And her, she was left flabbergasted. What did he mean by that? She remained still from where she was standing, well, she was still standing to her chair. If it wasn't for the teacher who just arrived, she wouldn't return from her dreamy state and sit down on her chair.

She secretly thanked the teacher who started the class of the day.

Night:

She was exhausted but everything was worth it. Everything was ready for tomorrow. She had them packed up in a neat wrapper with ribbons with it. She even had one for the mysterious guy and the other people who unexpectedly gave her something last month.

She had everything ready for tomorrow.

Looking at the clock, she only realized that it was almost midnight. She never realized that she had been making chocolates for hours. Tomoka was there a while ago but after she finished making hers, she went home telling her that she could finish hers. Stretching up, she felt at ease of finishing them. All she had to do was to give them to the boys tomorrow.

There were some left and thought of leaving some for Sumire. She looked at the heart-shaped chocolate from the tray. Not really knowing how long she stared at it, something came to her mind.

'It's just right in front of me.'

She remembered what the tennis prodigy said to her a while ago. She hadn't found the answer to that… she thought. Well, she had an answer but she wasn't sure if that was the right one. Picking up a piece of it, she stared at it aimlessly… as if she could find the answer by just doing that. To continue her analysis, she fumbled of her necklace with her right hand and when she got it, she also stared at it.

It was the Valentine Key Ryoma gave to her. She put them together thinking it would solve anything. In the end, she only sighed and chuckled to herself. It was such a ridiculous thing to do.

"I must be out of my mind," She murmured to herself as she accidentally pressed the tip of the key to the center of the chocolate, "As if his heart has a lock to open it." Then her eyes suddenly widened. Realization down to her.

Why didn't she think about it in the first place? Staring at the chocolate and the key, she thought that she finally got the answer. A smile was crept to her face despite the blush that was forming right to her face.

She knew what to do aside from giving the chocolates to him.

March 14:

The big day arrived and it was the girl's time to be busy with their gifts. Sakuno's first task was to find the boys who gave her presents last month. She didn't have the hard time finding them. She gave them the chocolates not missing to blush at them.

As she finally gave the chocolates to the guys, she made her way to the court. The regulars were there and were currently packing up. Eiji noticed her first.

"Ryuzaki-chan!" The acrobatic player didn't waste time and hugged her without warning. She only blushed as she tried to scan her surroundings.

"S-senpai, I—I can't breathe." She managed to utter as she couldn't find the guy she was expecting to be with them. Fuji saw her movement and voiced it out to her.

"Echizen is on the rooftop, avoiding his fangirls." He said casually making her blush even more. She didn't deny that she was actually looking for him as well.

"But before that," Momoshiro cut her, "Is that…" The rest eyed the bag that she was holding and followed their gazes when Eiji finally let go of her, mimicking what the others were doing and exclaimed their own thoughts.

"Chocolates, nya~" The acrobatic player leaned closer to the girl, "These are for us, right?"

Sakuno shyly nodded, "H-hai… arigatou for last month senpai-tachi," She bowed first before she started giving the chocolates to them. The regulars thanked her as well. Tomoka did her part of giving chocolates for Horio and Kaidoh receiving teases from the other team.

Kaidoh was blushing and whatever Momoshiro told him did create a fight between them. Horio received Tomoka's chocolates but just like how the girl teased him about his gift to her, he exactly did the same to her… meaning more fight in the court.

Sakuno giggled at the reaction she received from them, let alone to her best friend. She wanted to stay with them but she knew that there was one missing in the team and she knew she had to find him.

And she knew where he was.

A tap on her shoulder caught her attention. She looked to her side and saw Fuji nodding for her to leave. She nodded back at him and quietly left the court.

It was time for Ryoma Echizen to receive his present from her.

At the rooftop:

As usual, she could spot the tennis prodigy lying on the cold, solid rock of the ground. It was a bad habit but he just stubbornly did it. But she wasn't there to scold him, she was there for that reason and they both knew why when he realized her presence and looked at her;

"You are late."

She meekly strode her way to where he was now sitting and sat beside him, "F-Fuji-senpai just told me you were here."

"Figures."

Blush appeared to her once again. Now that she was with the tennis prodigy, she didn't know how to initiate everything to him. She never really expected something like that. Ryoma wasn't helping her either. Not really taking the silence anymore, she fumbled in her bag and produced a small box that wrapped with red ribbon. It was just simply and not girly, probably the thing that he preferred for her to make.

"H-happy White day, Ryoma-kun."

They also knew that the box wasn't giri as he reminded her. No wonder that she was totally blushing while giving her chocolates to him. Ryoma accepted the box quietly not until he uttered 'thanks' to her. It was really unexpected that there was no one on the rooftop. Just where his fangirls went to? She was just blankly staring at the box which the boy was currently opening. The chocolates where exactly the same shape she practiced last night, and they were quite different from the others.

These chocolates were also heart-shaped and she added golden colored to them, just like the key he gave her. There was also a keyhole-shaped at the middle of each chocolate, reminding him of the message he gave her.

"So, this is your answer?" He said as he grabbed one and eat the whole thing.

Sakuno blushed when he did that… and blushed even more if it was possible when he grabbed another one and did the same thing. It seemed that the tennis prodigy liked the chocolates. She let a few more seconds to pass by before she shook her head… pertaining to her answer;

"N-no."

That made him stopped from eating another, "No?"

At first she hesitated, but later on she mustered enough courage to reach for his collar as if she was looking something from there. Her blush was intensifying when she was doing that and she never dared to look to his eyes fearing that she would see something unexpected from there. She bit her lower lip when she finally found it. She stared at it for a while before she finally looked at him to his amber eyes;

"Unlock the giver's heart, right?" She asked Ryoma before she grabbed her necklace and combined the two pendants; her key and his heart.

She actually inserted the key to the keyhole of the heart that he was wearing. Just like her key, the heart was also metal-gold. And just like that, it clicked. The heart was opened and it collapsed to Ryoma's hand. The boy smirked at her making her blush even more.

"I-it's always right here," She said touching her own chest indicating where her heart was, "I… I remembered what you said."

And just when she unlocked the heart as quickly as possible, he also locked it to his necklace with the same speed, "Yarujan," He grabbed another piece of chocolate from the box and looked at her, "Not really close enough." He said and stuffed the chocolate to his mouth.

To her utterly surprise, the tennis prodigy grabbed her nape and pulled her closer to him, making their lips collided. Her eyes widened when he did that and his eyes were the complete opposite to her.

The kiss was sweet.

Ryoma didn't chew the chocolate. Instead he took a bite and pushed the other half to her mouth, thus kissing her in the process. She blushed to the fullest… like it was for the record. It lasted for a few seconds before he moved away from her, with the satisfied expression to his face.

"They both are." With that he continued eating the rest of the chocolates not really bothering of offering her another… well, by hand. It was a good thing he didn't because she didn't know if she was able to.

She was still stunned at the last event. It was her first kiss… on white day. Her first kiss with Ryoma. The chocolates were supposed to be worth triple times the necklace he gave to her but it felt like the role was reversed because of that kiss.

…The kiss that Ryoma shared with her chocolates.

Done! How was it? The kiss was here... guys... tee hee hee... I only invented the Heart necklace so that the key had a partner. The ideas were also on the spot… hahaha, I didn't know what come over me and decided to write these. Anyway, I hope you like it.

There will be one last chapter next month. See you then. :)

Happy White Day Minna

~ MitsukiJunko ~