For Services Rendered

By: Bunny

Rated: Teen 15 and up

Genre: Romance, Comedy, AR

Summary: RyoSaku, AR. Ryoma is a world famous tennis player, but at 22 years old, the world has noticed his deficiencies in the romance department and they demand some action. Enter Ryuzaki Sakuno, a girl normal enough for him to tolerate as his pretend girlfriend.

Brief A/N: This is an Alternate Reality where Ryoma and Sakuno never went to Jr. High School together because Ryoma didn't move to Japan in middle school. Ryoma and Sakuno are also older (22 years old) from the beginning, so pay attention to the age changes. At times they may be a little bit OOC, but that's from the differences I've incorporated into the story plot, not so much a deliberate attempt to be OOC or a flagrant disregard on their characterizations. I know it's hard to believe sometimes, but people do grow up...I can't write a realistic fanfic about Ryoma and Sakuno being 22 years old and acting like 12 year olds, yanno? ...smiles...

Also, I want to send out lots and lots of love and sparkles to my supporters here in the RyoSaku fandom. You guys are the best! I love reading through all your comments, feedback, and excitement. Nothing makes me happier than the reviews you leave telling me the lines or parts of the story/chapter you enjoyed as well as the loving support you guys offer me in some of your reviews. I might not always express it, but I read EVERYTHING you say, I LOVE it all, I re-read it often and I LOVE YOU GUYS, I can't thank you enough for your years of support! I hope you all enjoy this story very much - it's your encouragement that keeps me going and the muses flowing!

Chapter One

Name: Echizen Ryoma. Age: 22. Location: New York, NY, USA. Occupation: World famous tennis player. Status: Single.

Very single in fact, and it was now officially a problem. Not that Echizen knew about it. Nope, it was his manager's problem to deal with his public image and reception and thus it fell on his shoulders to figure out how to salvage this. This, being that Echizen was a rich, famous, good-looking young adult and at 22 years old, he'd never been in any romantic relationship. Not to say that girls didn't throw themselves at him whenever the opportunity arose, nope, the deficiency was completely on Echizen's side as he barely glanced at girls. In fact, Horio Satoshi his loyal manager who had 14 years of tennis experience was at a loss as to why that was. Echizen definitely didn't swing for the other team so to speak; no…in fact it was more like Echizen didn't swing at all in the romance department. Problem? People noticed. Literally. People, that is to say, People magazine noticed, and in their annual feature of Sexiest Man Alive they hadn't just featured Echizen Ryoma as their #1 sexy bachelor. They'd also been oh so kind as to gab up on his love life, or rather utter lack thereof. Problem? It was causing mass hysteria and speculations about the long-standing Prince of Tennis. Problem? It was at the point now that it was escalating into all sorts of ridiculous tabloids. Problem? There was a swarm of paparazzi waiting to pounce on him...and Echizen was going to be pissed about it.

Which was of course…all Horio's fault and his problem. Of course.

How was he supposed to break it to the stoic tennis player that the only way to fix this was to get himself a girlfriend? Echizen acted nonchalant about just about everything non-tennis related, but Horio suspected with his 10 years of dating experience that Echizen had in fact, zero experience with girls. As in…telling him he had to take on a girlfriend might cause a storm to brew that Horio didn't think he wanted to be around for.

Though…what else were friends/managers for? Right? He could do this. He'd given up life in Japan, his home country where he was born and raised, and a lovely girlfriend of his own that still lived in Japan in order to have the privilege of managing the famous tennis prodigy. Horio had always loved tennis and this was a chance of a lifetime for him: to meet and work with his tennis hero. He needed to believe in Echizen that this could somehow all work out.

He just didn't know how in the world it was going to work.

Ryuzaki Sakuno rushed through the long back corridor of Ariake Coliseum that was used for VIP, players, management and anybody else to be separated from the massive crowds of the main arena areas. It was a path Sakuno was all too familiar with seeing as how she traversed it at least a few times a week for whatever events were going on. You see…food delivery was a very serious business and since the ramen shop Sakuno worked for was practically next door to Ariake Coliseum, they were called to deliver hot ramen, gyoza and the few other items they offered to some VIP or management on sometimes a daily basis. Which is why Sakuno had a key to the long back corridor and could be found on most days rushing back and forth on it.

Of course, it wasn't what she'd envisioned herself doing at 22 years old when at 18 she'd fallen in love with the art of making ramen and signed on as an apprentice ramen chef. Still, she was slowly but surely learning the art of how to make the most delicious soup dish on earth. That is…in her opinion anyways.

Ariake Coliseum and its surrounding area was also really not at all a bad place to work. Overlooking Tokyo bay, the coliseum boasted of holding 10,000 spectators and fresh sea air. Sakuno enjoyed the fast pace of the food delivery business, the excitement of the events going on at the stadium and the peacefulness of the ocean being so close at hand.

Her best friend forever Osakada Tomoka however was always giving Sakuno a hard time; telling her that she should take advantage of her easy access to rich, famous and powerful people and secure for herself a comfortable living with some rich businessman or sexy athlete. Sakuno was actually a little too distracted by the ramen to care about men or finding a husband. While Tomoka had dated all through their middle school and high school years, Sakuno had kept away from boys and focused on her studies and her family. Even now, she didn't care. She was young and she wanted to learn how to make the kind of ramen that one could laugh or cry over. She would have plenty of time to find a nice, modest man to settle down with and have a family in the future. Tomoka didn't agree with this philosophy at all, and mused to Sakuno on an almost daily basis of the opportunities she was missing out on by not making contacts for herself with the prized people she had access to at the coliseum.

Sakuno shook her head to clear away the small argument the friends had the previous night on that very subject. Feeling one of her carefully done up buns come undone from the left side of her head, she stopped abruptly and with deft hands began to make quick work of putting her long auburn ponytail back into a finely spun bun. It was as she was forced to pause in this activity that her eyes met the interested stare of a young man slowly walking the opposite direction of her in the otherwise empty corridor.

He was average height for a man, with an athletic build, and had greenish black hair sticking out underneath a white baseball cap with a red R on the front. He was wearing plain black shorts; a plain white buttoned down polo shirt and had a black tennis backpack bag over one shoulder. In his right hand he had a red tennis racquet he was spinning around aimlessly, but he paid no mind to his activity, instead focusing both hazel eyes on Sakuno who stood across the deserted hallway from him. He gave her a knowing smirk as she finished her task and blushed from the attention.

Giving a quick bow towards the man who appeared to be around her age Sakuno made to finish her jaunt out of the building only to be stopped once again.

"Oi," the man called out, his voice effortlessly carrying across the walkway and bouncing down the concrete corridor walls.

"Yes?" Sakuno asked.

"Your hair's too long," he taunted.

"My hair's too long?" Sakuno repeated back dumbly. What in the world was he talking about her hair was too long for what?

He gave her an amused smirk as he changed direction and began crossing the hallway over to her. When he was within about a foot distance from her he reached out with his left hand and gave a gentle tug on her right ponytail, which had apparently come undone from its bun as well.

"Oh," Sakuno said as she realized why the man had been watching her with amusement and felt her face heat up with a darkening blush of further embarrassment. She smiled at the man that up-close Sakuno realized was extremely good-looking and began putting her right ponytail back into a bun.

"It fell down while you were fixing the other one," he explained.

"Ah…well, it does that sometimes," she murmured.

"You aren't going to stay to watch the match?" he asked as she completed her task and started in the direction of the exit again.

Sakuno tilted her head to one side for a moment and then took him in once again from top to bottom.

"So, it's tennis today?" she asked.

Taking a step back, the man gave her a strange look and asked suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

Sakuno held up her keycard. "I'm the ramen delivery girl," she explained.

"Hn," he acknowledged.

Not knowing what else to say, and having finished fixing her hair Sakuno gave the tennis player another smile and said, "Well, um…good luck on your match."

"Mada mada dane," he said with another smirk before he started making his way back down the corridor.

Sakuno watched him for a moment as he resumed his leisurely pace and racquet spinning and then with a shrug at the odd encounter, she made her way out of the coliseum. What did he mean by mada mada dane?

As was typical of the tennis prince, Echizen Ryoma had owned the court that day. He was tired yet satisfied, but now it was time to go back to his five star hotel, suck down a few cans of ponta, pet his cat and sleep. So what the hell were all these paparazzi doing swarming about the coliseum exit? As the first flash of light erupted in his general direction Ryoma turned away from the photographer and glared at his manager.

Horio had the gall to throw his hands up in defeat, "This is your fault, you know!"

Ryoma's look darkened, "Explain."

"Okay, so there is this feature in People mag-"

Ryoma started walking away from the exit in the opposite direction.

"Wait! I thought you wanted to hear about this...besides, that's the only exit from here!" Horio called out as he chased after the tennis champion whom was walking so quickly Horio had to almost run to keep up.

Ryoma stopped again, "That's the only way out?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sorry Echizen, but we have to deal with it tonight there's no way around this," Horio explained.

Ryoma mumbled something under his breath before pivoting yet again and making his way back towards the exit filled with anxious photographers.

"What's our exit strategy?" he asked gruffly.

"Uhm..." Horio fumbled a bit as he frantically wracked his brain for the quickest way to get rid of the photographers. They'd taken the train from the hotel and thus had no car to escape into. Hmm...

"Horio!" Ryoma yelled, sounding a bit panicky. If his boss had a "panicky." Horio hadn't really seen panicky Echizen yet, but this was maybe on the border of it. Oh boy, he was really in for it now. If there was one thing he knew about Echizen, it was that he did NOT handle the paparazzi or any sort of journalists very well, and things were going to turn into a problem of epic proportions if he didn't come up with something fast. Okay...think, think, this is your home city in your home country you can do this...the coliseum...the coliseum...they were at the coliseum, what was near there? Did he know anybody-OH!

"I have friends that live a block away in a security building, we can outrun them there and escape into their place!" Horio exclaimed in delight. He proceeded to mentally congratulate himself on a job well done.

Ryoma took his queue and stared running right through the flashing bulbs of the photographers. Horio chased right after him and behind the two men most of the photographers followed.

A few minutes later the two ran into the side of a large apartment complex and Horio quickly pushed one of the top buttons on the communication panel.

A ring came through the speakers followed by a soft, "Hello?"

"Ryuzaki!" Horio panted, "I'm in trouble let me in!"

"HORIO-KUN?" came the startled response through the speaker.

"YES! HURRY!" Horio and Ryoma both yelled back as the door buzzed open the two men rushed through and watched as the paparazzi that had been the closest to them slammed into the door trying to get in behind them.

Horio turned and began running up the staircase knowing it was only a matter of time before the paparazzi conned someone into letting them into the building behind them. Ryoma followed. On the second floor, they caught the opened elevator a resident was exiting and pushing the button for the second from the top floor, Horio leaned back against the rear wall of the elevator, and watched as the elevator doors closed behind Ryoma whom had silently followed.

A minute later the elevator dinged and as they stepped out of the lift the men were met in the hallway by a small brunette woman with long wavy hair wearing pink pajamas with kittens printed on them, and pink slippers.

"Horio-kun!" she exclaimed as she rushed forward to meet the men.

"Ryuzaki! Thanks for helping us out! Can we get inside your place? We're being followed," Horio said.

"Of course," Sakuno replied as she spun around and opened one of the only two side by side doors on the floor.

Entering the spacious apartment the two men quickly took off their shoes with a quick "sorry for bothering you" greeting to the dwelling.

Sakuno bustled about the living area picking up a few stray magazines and setting down extra pillows around her kotatsu she was snuggling under when her unexpected houseguests had shown up. She zoomed into the kitchen to put a kettle of water on the stove as Horio sat down and Ryoma followed her into the kitchen.

Horio gave a puzzled look towards Ryoma's back, but gave the odd move no further thought as he laid his head into his arms on the table's surface to catch his breath. Running around Tokyo in January at night was cold and hot at the same time and Horio couldn't decide if he wanted to pull the blanket under the kotatsu over his legs or not.

Turning from the sink with the kettle filled with warm water, Sakuno jumped in fright at the appearance of Horio's friend being in her kitchen.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Excuse me," Ryoma said as he backed away a bit giving Sakuno enough room to place the kettle on the stove. She lit the burner to the maximum heat before giving Ryoma a welcoming gaze.

"Can I get you something?" she asked, and then before Ryoma could even open his mouth to respond Sakuno exclaimed, "Oh! Tennis-san! Nice to see you again! How did your match go today? Did you win?"

Ryoma looked taken aback and stared at her blankly for a minute before finally asking, "Do I know you?"

Sakuno's mouth dropped in horror, "You don't remember me? I'm shocked!"

She had found the tennis player to be memorable enough anyway and he couldn't even remember meeting her a few hours ago? The kettle began to whistle, so she turned back to the stove and turned the burner off with a defeated look. She let out a quiet sigh of disappointment and then proceeded to turn with the kettle in hand and pour the hot water into a teapot.

"Do you...have any ponta?"

Sakuno glanced at her houseguest from the corner of her eye at his question. Suddenly, his eyes widened, "Ah! Ramen girl! Your hair's too long."

Irritated, Sakuno slammed the empty kettle back on the stove and glared at her guest, "My name is Ryuzaki Sakuno and my hair is NOT too long!"

Ryoma barely suppressed a chuckle as he gave a slight bow, "Echizen Ryoma."

She frowned at him, but gave a slight bow back in politeness all the same. Why did that name sound familiar?

"It's too long," he added, somehow unable to help himself from taunting her when she gave such cute reactions.

Wait. Cute? Cute?

Sakuno's eyes narrowed in annoyance as she opened her refrigerator and made a sweeping gesture for Ryoma to help himself to its contents.

Ryoma stepped around Sakuno and gaped in astonishment at the neat rows of ponta cans of every flavor on the top shelf. Hmmm...what an interesting girl. Selecting two cans of grape flavor from the front, he handed one to Sakuno, flipped the top open on the other one and took a long swig.

Sakuno begrudgingly opened the can Ryoma had passed to her and took a small sip enjoying the feeling of the bubbles fizzing over her tongue and the sweet grape flavor encompassing every corner of her mouth. She gave a little sigh of pleasure as Horio walked into the kitchen and rolled his eyes upon spotting them.

"I should have KNOWN I would find the two of you sipping ponta in here! I don't know anybody who drinks more ponta than either of you two do," He shook his head and waved his arms in exasperation, "You both DO realize it's the dead of winter, right?"

Sakuno began to giggle at Horio's outburst while Ryoma scoffed.

"Here Horio-kun, I made you some hot tea," Sakuno said placatingly as she poured a cup of tea from the pot and passed it to Horio.

Horio gratefully accepted the hot tea cup and took a tentative sip before turning and heading back into the living room. Ryoma and Sakuno followed behind, Sakuno brining the teapot with her and setting it down on the surface of the kotatsu. They all settled down and tucked their legs under the blanket to trap the warmth from the heater under the table. Sakuno placed her ponta can on the table's surface and gave it a few spins.

"So...not that I mind the company, but why are you guys here?" She asked.

Ryoma huffed in irritation and glared at Horio, "Yes Horio, please explain why exactly we're here."

Horio gave Ryoma a nervous glance before focusing his attention on Sakuno, "Well, you see...uhm...okay, so Ryuzaki?"

"Yes?"

"This is Echizen Ryoma, he's the tennis champion I'm managing...you remember why I left, right?"

Ryoma and Sakuno both nodded, indicating they'd already introduced themselves.

"I remember," Sakuno added with a frown.

"So you know People magazine?"

She nodded again.

"Well, they do this feature every year called Sexiest Man Alive -" Horio stopped as Ryoma cut him off slamming his empty can of ponta on the tabletop.

"Are you telling me that circus was all over some stupid magazine article?"

Horio glanced at Ryoma again, "I tried to tell you about it at the coliseum."

"I've been on that stupid sexiest man list before, but they never chased after me like this. Horio, what's really going on?" Ryoma demanded.

Horio gulped, knowing Echizen was seriously pissed off as he never slammed things around and ranted this way unless he was really angry which usually only involved the paparazzi. He hated giving Echizen bad news.

Holding his hands up defensively Horio explained, "Look, Echizen...they named you number one this year, and on top of that they made a really big deal about your non-existent love life. They commented on how you've never been seen with any girls, they even speculated you could be gay, and then-" Horio stopped again as Ryoma had jumped up from under the table and stomped his way into the kitchen.

Sakuno and Horio gave each other startled looks, neither sure what to say or do at this point.

Ryoma returned to the room with a new can of ponta in hand and resumed his seat. He took a long gulp from his fresh can of soda and then setting it gently down on the table he deadpanned, "I am not gay."

Sakuno laughed outright while Horio sweatdropped in embarrassment, "Echizen! I know you aren't gay, but they do have a point. Even I've never seen you show interest in anybody, and at your age people will start to talk about that, okay? I've tried to tell you before you need to get yourself a girlfriend."

A/N: So for those of you that know me, you know I'm already done writing this story. (At least, the rough draft that is.) I've been writing it for almost a whole year, and finally finished it. (Yay!) So as it stands now, it's 19 chapters and an epilogue. Most of the chapters are fairly long like this one. I might end up adding in more stuff as I edit, making it longer, but I'm fairly happy with it as it is, so putting in more might just end up being stupid fluff. I'll try to keep up with regular updates by getting my editing done ASAP. These earlier chapters have already been edited quite a bit, so they should go up quicker. Anyhow, I hope you all are enjoying it so far. I'd love to hear what you think. xoxo Bunny