Bleach Fan Fiction / Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Princes of Death ❯ At the hotel ( Chapter 7 )

Title: Princes of Death: A High-spirited Saga

Author: chibi-kyuubi

Genre: Action/Adventure/General

Rating: K+

Summary: Prince of Tennis and Bleach crossover. The Seigaku regulars go to Karakura Town for an exhibition match, but end up getting influenced by Ichigo's reiatsu. Will they be able to master their newfound powers before it is too late to save Tokyo City from being turned into a base of operations by Aizen's minions?

Disclaimer: I neither own Bleach nor Prince of Tennis.

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Chapter 7: At the Hotel

Echizen, Momoshiro, and Kaidoh were sitting near the hospital entrance when the other Seigaku regulars arrived. The three lower years had already changed out of their hospital clothes and were now wearing casual clothing. Beside them lay all of the team's bags, which were already packed and ready. As the three of them greeted their senpais, Kaidoh saw another spirit passing through a wall. It was already his third time seeing a spirit after the old man is his room. He still wasn't used to being able to see them - he still feels his spine tingling when he does - but at least he managed not to faint on the spot. The last thing he wanted to do was to embarrass himself even more in front of his rival and the freshman.

“Senpais!” Momoshiro said as he saw the rest of the Seigaku team coming through the hospital entrance.

“Yo! Momo, Ochibi, you could never guess where we found Taka-san and Fuji,” Kikumaru said as he approached is two favorite kouhai and started a conversation with them.

“I'll go to the nurses' station to fix everything before we leave,” Tezuka said to the others. “Oishi, inform everyone about Ruuzaki-sensei's instructions. Fuji, Kawamura, if you need any medical attention, you can go with me to the station.”

“Ok,” Oishi nodded.

“I think we're uninjured,” Fuji said.

“Yeah, sorry again if we caused everyone to worry,” Kawamura added.

“Alright, since it appears that out bags are already arranged, we'll leave the hospital immediately after I'm finished,” Tezuka said before heading to the nurse's station.

----

After the chaotic events that happened at the park, Ichigo, Rukia, Karin, and Yuzu decided that it was best to spend the rest of the day at home, and passed by the video rental store on their way back. Ichigo picked up a martial arts movie, Karin got a copy of `Charlie's Angels,' and Yuzu got a movie about a dog named Lucky. Rukia had no idea on what they were doing, and unwittingly picked up a DVD of `The Bachelor.' Ichigo's father joined them at the living room as they watched the movies while eating their take-out dinner. They finished watching Ichigo's and Karin's choices, but after watching `Lucky,' they couldn't help but be moved into tears. When everyone broke out crying, Karin said she needed to go to the bathroom, but her muffled sobs could be heard outside. After everyone had calmed down, they decided to call it a day and headed to their rooms. Rukia followed Ichigo to his room though, to return Kon, who watched the movies with them, and to hang out the orange-haired boy before going to sleep at the sisters' room. Ichigo was sitting on his bed as he tried to explain to a clueless Rukia the appeal of reality dating game shows - though he himself didn't like watching those - when her mobile phone rang.

“Who was it?” Ichigo asked after Rukia closed her phone.

“It was Urahara,” Rukia answered, sounding a little distracted.

“What did he say? Has he found new information about Aizen?” Ichigo asked.

“No, not about Aizen,” Rukia answered. She wasn't sure on how to bring up the topic without sounding like it was Ichigo's fault. After a few moments of silence, she continued. “Do you remember those guys you saved in the park earlier?”

“Yeah,” Ichigo tried to recall what happened. “They were wearing the same kind of jersey so I guess they might be a sports team of some sort. What about them?”

“Some of them were attacked by a hollow a while ago,” Rukia said. “Don't worry, they're safe for now. Urahara is watching them.”

“I thought it might just be coincidence that the Menos Grande attacked them earlier, but now,” Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed even deeper as he remembered the strange reiatsu he felt that morning. “Come to think of it, I think I sensed them when they came into town this morning, but their individual reiatsu wasn't high enough for hollows to take notice. I doubt they can even see spirits.”

“Not anymore,” Rukia said.

“What do you mean?” Ichigo asked.

“You can't feel it, but their spiritual force has almost tripled since the events in the park,” Rukia said. “Do you remember when you asked me to check on them after the Menos escaped? I didn't feel any special reiatsu from them, but when you were about to leave, I realized that I couldn't feel any reiatsu at all. It was strange since there was bound to be a little leftover energy from you and the Menos, but something in the area was messing with my shinigami senses. So after you left, I phoned Urahara and asked him to look after them for a while.”

“Why didn't you tell me earlier?” Ichigo shouted. He wasn't angry at Rukia for not telling him, but to himself for not realizing it earlier. Even though Rukia didn't blame him directly, the orange-haired boy knew that he had something to do with what's happening.

“I wasn't sure if something was wrong them in the first place!” Rukia retorted. “There could have been another hollow or a shinigami in the area that was confusing my senses!”

Ichigo was speechless. For a few moments, he just stared at the black-haired girl that stood in front of him, and didn't say anything. Rukia didn't mention the possibility of them being influenced by my reiatsu on purpose, so that must be what really happened, Ichigo thought. She still thinks I won't be able to handle knowing things like that. It's so like Rukia to keep the problems to herself rather than telling me so I can help out. Ichigo sighed in frustration.

“So what else did Urahara find out?” Ichigo asked after he calmed himself down.

“He didn't tell me,” Rukia answered. “But he asked us to go to his place tomorrow morning. He also mentioned getting a lot of sleep tonight.”

“I doubt he's going to tell us anything more even if we called him,” Ichigo said. “But if he doesn't tell us everything he found out by tomorrow, I'm personally going to beat the information out of him.”

----

The Seigaku regulars walked from the hospital to the hotel even though it was quite far, because some of them wanted to stop by the burger joint on their way. Even though they already ate at the hospital, the tennis players still felt hungry because of the sudden increase of their spiritual power. This became more evident as they walked the still busy streets, and saw a couple more spirits passing through oblivious pedestrians. If the images of the dead were a little hazy in the hospital, now they look as clear and opaque as their living counterparts. By the time the group arrived at the hotel, everyone had already accepted that what they were seeing was not a figment of their imagination. Even Oishi, who had only realized that he was seeing ghosts when Kikumaru told him, was already convinced that everything happening around him was for real.

“Whoa, Ruuzaki-sensei pulled it off this time,” Momoshiro said as he saw the hotel across the street, and the other regulars agreed with him. Even though they were not staying in a five-star hotel, the place that the Seigaku coach got for them was ten times better than the shabby cottage she borrowed for their training camp.

The Seigaku regulars entered the 20-floor hotel - they found out later in the elevator - and then Tezuka approached the reception desk to inquire about their reservations. Their coach had gotten them three rooms with three beds each, so Tezuka and Oishi decided to split the team with Echizen, Momoshiro, and Kaidoh, in one room, Oishi, Kikumaru, and Fuji in another, and Tezuka, Kawamura, and Inui in the biggest room with the balcony. After everyone had placed their belongings in their respected rooms, Tezuka called for a meeting.

The group of tennis players sat in a circle on the floor of Tezuka, Kawamura, and Inui's spacious hotel room. Inui narrated in detail everything that happened in Kaidoh's hospital room, including the conversation between the two shinigami which Inui recorded word for word on his notebook. Afterwards, it was Fuji's turn to tell what happened to him and Kawamura after they heard the howling noise inside the café. Everyone couldn't believe what Fuji - and sometimes Kawamura - was telling them, until the two boys showed them the soul candy dispensers. Fuji then told them what he could remember from Urahara's parting words, including his warnings about being attacked by a hollow again. The group remained silent as each of them tried to make sense of these two stories.

“Any conclusions Inui?” Tezuka said, finally breaking the silence.

“Only one,” Inui answered. He had been rapidly writing on his notebook as Fuji told their story and even afterwards, as if trying to derive an equation from it. “If everything the man said to Fuji and Kawamura was true, something happened earlier this day that caused our spiritual force to increase. Whatever it was, it must have happened before we fell unconscious or while we were out because we all began seeing spirits after we woke up. And because of this change in our spirit power, we are able to see and hear dead people and have become a possible target for these evil spirits called hollows.”

Everyone nodded in agreement to Inui's conclusion.

“But how about Fuji and Taka-san being turned into shinigami?” Kikumaru asked. “Can't we conclude that they became shinigami like the ones we saw in Kaidoh's room? And does it mean that all of us can become shinigami too?”

“There is a high possibility that they have become shinigami when the swallowed the candy,” Inui answered. “But since they haven't tried performing Konsoh on a good soul like those two shinigami did to the old man, we still can't be sure. And as for your other question, there is only one way to find out.” Inui pointed at the soul candy dispensers on the floor in front of them.

Kikumaru shook his head in refusal. He would rather have it that someone else tries the candy before he did.

“How about those hollows?” Oishi asked Inui. “Do you honestly think that we will also be attacked? I'm a little worried. Well, not really. I'm very very very worried.”

“I was wondering about that too,” Kawamura added. “While we were on the way here, I kept looking around thinking that we might be attacked but I didn't find anything.”

“There is a possibility, but I'm no position to give a sure answer,” Inui said. “My data on hollows is insufficient to make any valid conclusions, but if we want to know more about these creatures, we have two options. First is to find more hollows and get primary data out of them or, as an alternative, we can get second-hand data from the only person we know that has sufficient knowledge on hollows. Taka-san, Fuji, do you know the name of the man you met in the alley? We could try to look him up on the telephone book.”

“Taka-san asked him before he left,” Fuji said. “He said his name was Urahara Kisuke.”

“That sounds familiar,” Tezuka said. He searched for something in his bag and pulled out the papers he got when they was released from the hospital and handed them to Inui. “It's the name of the person who paid for our hospital bill.”

“He's also the one who called for our ambulances,” Inui added. “It says so here. His phone number is also listed, b-but, this is illogical.”

“What is it Inui-senpai?” Momoshiro asked.

“His phone number is not from Japan,” Inui answered. “No, I doubt this phone number even exists. If you dial this on the phone you won't get anything.”

“So that means we can't call him either,” Echizen concluded.

“Wait, I suddenly remembered something,” Oishi pulled out the piece of paper with the hotel's address that Tezuka gave him earlier. He turned it over and read the name Urahara Kisuke and address to his shop written on the other side.

“That address is in this town!” Kikumaru said. “Good job Oishi!”

“The chances of this happening out of coincidence are less than two percent,” Inui said.

“But I wonder how he managed to place his address there,” Momoshiro asked.

“I don't know,” Tezuka said. “I asked the nurse for a piece of paper and she gave me that. I thought it was scratch paper and ignored what was written on the other side.”

“So buchou, when are we going to visit this man?” Echizen asked, smiling.

“First thing tomorrow morning,” Tezuka answered as he adjusted his glasses. Everyone seemed to be pleased with their captain's decision.

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Notes: The movie `Lucky' that Yuzu rented is the same one that Momoshiro watched in episode 116. To those who haven't seen that episode, Momoshiro said that he wouldn't cry from such a childish movie, but he was in tears after watching it. Ichigo and Rukia's conversation in this chapter is related to the scene I added in chapter 2 some time ago. (New readers have probably read it already.) And to those who wanted to see Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Renji (the Abarai one), and Yoruichi in this fic, don't worry because they will make their appearances real soon. I really appreciate reviews, so please keep on reviewing.