Bleach Fan Fiction / Prince Of Tennis Fan Fiction ❯ Princes of Death ❯ Worries and Fears ( Chapter 8 )

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 8: Worries and Fears

Keeping in mind Urahara's warning, the Seigaku regulars decided that it was best for all of them to sleep in Tezuka, Inui, and Kawamura's hotel room with two people awake and watching out for hollows at any given time. They drew lots on which time interval they would be on guard duty, and then returned to their respective rooms to wash up and to get their bed mattresses and pillows. Momoshiro and Inui were on first watch, and sat on a bench at the balcony as the others tried to get some sleep on the mattresses they laid side by side on the floor. Echizen was the first to doze off, followed by Kikumaru, and then Kawamura who snored a little. The rest of the tennis players just lay on their mattresses, either thinking about everything that happened to them that day or simply trying to fall asleep

Oishi for one, found it hard to sleep that night. Despite the precautions they have already taken, he still felt a little worried. He pulled his blanket higher because he found the air conditioning too cold for his tastes and closed his eyes, but he couldn't stop thinking about their safety. He turned to his right and saw that Eiji already asleep. He heard the rustling of blankets to his left and turned in that direction. There he saw Fuji staring at the ceiling with a serious look on his face.

“Can't sleep?” Oishi asked in a soft voice to avoid disturbing the others.

“Yeah,” Fuji answered. “I keep on remembering what happened to us earlier. How about you?”

“I'm a little worried,” Oishi admitted.

“I should have guessed,” Fuji said, smiling.

“Fuji,” Oishi hesitated for a moment. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but what did you feel when the hollow going was after you.”

“Fear, panic, desperation, powerlessness, if that's what you mean,” Fuji's facial expression didn't change as he said those words. “But aside from those, I also felt an intention to kill. I've never felt it before of course, but when I did, I couldn't mistake it for anything else. Every moment, it was almost like someone was breathing behind my ear and at the same time scratching the back of my neck with a knife”

“I'm sorry for prying,” Oishi said as he looked away from the prodigy.

“It's okay, I think I needed to let it out anyway,” Fuji said, this time smiling for real. “You worry too much about us Oishi. You can't take care of all of us at the same time. Learn to trust us more. I'm sure none of us has plans to get injured before the nationals.”

“Fuji,” Oishi was surprised to hear those words coming from his sadistic teammate.

“Besides,” Fuji added. “I'm the one who should say sorry to you. Eiji told me that you were very worried about me and Taka-san.”

“About that,” Oishi said. “I'm not really sure on how I would explain this, but when the two of you left the hospital, I didn't worry about your safety at all. It's not that I didn't care about you or anything, but whenever I thought about the two of you I had this reassuring feeling telling me that you're safe and nearby. But shortly after Tezuka and Inui left to check Kaidoh's room, I suddenly felt worried and then when I remembered the two of you, I had this sad feeling like someone I know was moving away to another country. I tried to ignore it, but the feeling became worse and worse until it was like someone I knew had just died. Luckily, the others came back and agreed to search for the two of you.”

“That's strange indeed,” Fuji said.

“Isn't it,” Oishi said. “And if that strange man didn't arrive to help you, then those feelings would have been correct.”

“How about now,” Fuji asked. “When you think about the team right now, what do you feel?”

“Hmm,” Oishi waited for a while before answering. “It feels warm. It may sound cheesy, but I feel like I'm at home.”

“So what are you worried about,” Fuji said. “If you trusted that feeling of yours when you went looking for us, then why don't you trust it now and get some sleep?”

“Fuji…” Oishi had to admit that his teammate was right. “Thanks. I think I can sleep now.”

“Goodnight then,” Fuji said before Oishi turned around. A few minutes later, he noticed that Oishi was finally asleep. Fuji stared into the ceiling once again, and resumed his musing on the happenings earlier that day.

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Kaidoh tossed and turned on the mattress. Since he was little, he was already afraid of ghosts and spirits though he has never seen any of them. But now, after mysteriously losing consciousness and waking up in the hospital, he was finally able to see the incorporeal beings that he dreaded and found them… not as frightening as he thought they were. Then he remembered what Fuji had told them about evil spirits called hollows, and realized that he wasn't afraid of them too, at least not in the way he was afraid of ghosts several hours ago. He never realized though, that it wasn't really ghosts that he was scared of, but the fact that there was something around him that he couldn't overcome no matter how hard he worked. But now that he's able to see them, Kaidoh felt like he could overcome any challenge the world of spirits would throw at him.

“Kaidoh, is something wrong,” Tezuka asked. He was lying on the mattress to the right of the second year, and noticed his kouhai's uneasiness.

“Ah, i-i-its nothing buchou,” Kaidoh was startled when the team captain suddenly spoke up. “Sorry if I disturbed you.”

“It's alright, I wasn't sleeping,” Tezuka replied. “You should get some sleep before you go on guard duty. I don't want you falling asleep while on watch.”

“Y-yes buchou,” Kaidoh immediately turned to the opposite side and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He thought about asking the reason why Tezuka wasn't sleeping, but the team captain probably won't give him a straight answer anyway.

After he saw his kouhai pretending to go to sleep, Tezuka closed his eyes and relaxed some more. A while ago, he couldn't sleep because he kept on thinking about how the things they have discovered that day would affect the team emotionally. At first he thought that this would bring the team closer to each other, but then it might become a distraction for them. He worried a little if they would be able to cope with the changes that were going to happen - he thought that being able to see ghosts was only the beginning - but after talking to Kaidoh, he remembered that the their team was strong, not only in tennis but also in their personalities. It would be a big mistake to underestimate them, Tezuka reminded himself before drifting into dreamless sleep.

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It was a few minutes past five in the morning when a hollow's howling noise rattled the Seigaku tennis players. Kikumaru and Echiezen who were on guard that time thought that the sound came from above them and went out to the balcony to check. There they saw a large centipede-like hollow twenty meters long flying towards their direction. Kikumaru and Echizen were about to run inside when a short, white-haired shinigami suddenly intercepted the approaching hollow.

“Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyourinmaru!” The shinigami cried out as the sky above them suddenly darkened. Then to the two onlookers' surprise, a dragon made of what appeared to be water and ice came out of the shinigami's sword and froze the flying hollow before it dissipated into blue particles. The shinigami who apparently jumped from the ground to a height of eight stories landed on a balcony to the right of the one Kikumaru and Echizen were at. The sky was starting to clear up when a female shinigami appeared beside the one who fought the hollow. They didn't seem to notice the two tennis players watching them and spoke to each other normally.

“Whoa, you're not holding back today taichou,” the well-endowed shinigami woman sounded like she was teasing her companion.

“Of course,” the younger-looking shinigami replied. The serious tone of his voice contrasted the woman's easy-going attitude. “I want to finish purifying the hollows in this area before going to Urahara's.”

Kikumaru and Echizen almost jumped up when the heard the name Urahara. The two of them had ducked low behind the balustrade to avoid being noticed as they eavesdropped on the conversation.

“But it's strange though,” the female shinigami said, sounding a little more serious. “The two hollows we purified late last night were also headed towards this direction.”

“I thought I sensed something a while ago, but it's gone now,” the other shinigami replied.

Kikumaru and Echizen thought they heard the beeping of a mobile phone when Momoshiro stepped into the balcony. Kikumaru signaled the junior to duck, but when Echizen looked at where the two shinigami were standing, they were already gone.

“We thought we heard a hollow,” Momoshiro said with a yawn in between. The other regulars were standing right behind him, also waiting for Echizen and Kikumaru's answer.

“There was a hollow,” Kikumaru said. “But a shinigami appeared and purified it like it was nothing.”

“What happened to the shinigami?” Momoshiro asked.

“He landed over there,” Kikumaru pointed at the now empty balcony. “Another shinigami appeared beside him and they were talking to each other before you arrived.”

“We heard them say something about this Urahara guy,” Echizen added.

“You must tell us more,” Inui said as he pulled out his notebook.

“At this rate, none of us could go back to sleep,” Oishi interrupted. “I'll call the lobby and ask if we could have breakfast sent here. We can talk about what happened while eating.”

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After an interesting breakfast conversation, the Seigaku tennis players went out to look for the address Oishi found on the piece of paper. They asked several people for directions, but strangely, none of them knew of a store that existed on that street. But when they reached their destination, they found the shabby store right where it was supposed to be. Tezuka approached the two children sweeping in front of the store and asked if they were at the right place.

“Geez, the owner sure has a lot of visitors today,” one of them, a red-haired boy said.

“Jinta-kun, I think they're the special guests the owner told us about,” the other one, a timid-looking girl said.

“I know Ururu, I know,” Jinta opened the door and signaled the Seigaku regulars to go in.

“Please come in, the owner has been expecting you,” Ururu said.

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Notes: Urahara's explanation of what's been happening will be on the next chapter. It was supposed to be on this one, but I thought it would be nice to describe some of the characters' reactions and feelings to what had happened to them that day. Please review after reading.