My alternative universe story is related to the stories of the "Sacrifice", "Chapters", "The Cracked Mask" series. and Aizuki will both come out. Because it is an AU, I am mainly focusing on romance as I don't' really have to focus on tennis. unlike my other stories, I update this on my blog first, and right now, my blog has up to 40 something chapters. I feel that in order to understand it, I have to give this back ground information.

The Alternative Universe is a bit like ancient china, but it is not meant to be ancient china. Think of it as being a bit like Watase-sensei's Fushigi yugi. Sort of like ancient china, but not really ancient china. An important thing in the story is that there are no concubines and there are courts that are not just functional. It is not an European court because the aristocratic women does not interact with men even though they are probably more free by being allowed to venture of their house. They can only do so when they happen to see that men, most of the time they are with other women. So there are almost two courts- One for men and one for women.

Main issue:

NAMES. Because this story is an alternative university one I have been really confused about how everyone should address each other. This problem also arise because unlike my previous stories, I am not just having the Shitenhouji regulars coming out. Other people from other schools actually come out and have interaction. Because this is meant to be a semi-Chinese AU, I am not comfortable with having people address each other by the Japanese way. I did thought that maybe I could still have people having two names which will be used depending on the relationship of that person with whoever he is talking to. But then it still gets really weird. Because if Shiraishi addresses people like Kenya by their first name, then Kenya should be addressing Shiraishi by his first name, but for me- that is really weird.

My solution is this: I will just give them one name, they will be using that one name. Which means, Shiraishi is just Shiraishi. This is his name, I am ignoring his first name. Likewise, for people like Kenya, Koharu and Yuuji, their first name is their only name. The negative side is that some people's address toward others will be drastically altered. For example, we wouldn't have Chitose calling Tachibana "Kippei", but he would be addressing Tachibana as Tachibana, which is quite weird, I admit. Likewise, if Yanagi does come out then we actually wouldn't have their famous "Ah Renji." "Ah, Sadaharu." Inui and Yanagi using each other's last name does sound weird but that is how it will be.

I admit, as the writer of the story, I choose, out of their last and first name, the one that I prefer. So, I know that a lot of people actually call Watanabe by his first name but because I prefer his last name, I will be using his last name. The opposite happens with Oshitari Yuushi, I am going to use his first name despite most people calling him by his last name.

Address in regard to elder siblings: This is a society like ancient China and how I treat their names show that I am not making it Japanese. However, I am going to use the Japanese words of sibling titles. This is because I feel that it is too weird to use the Chinese words (although I will be using some Chinese words in regard to the instruments that are played by the characters). I also feel that using English is too strange too, and in addition, there will be people who address people non-related to them using the words elder sister or elder brother. This is okay if you add their name in front in both Japanese and Chiense but with English, it is too strange. So I will be using the words Oniichan, oneesan etc etc. So a bit of a Japanese influence.

The nature of society: As I have previously said, this will make Historians weep. It is a very historically-incorrect story- but I am not writing a historical novel. It is a blend of eastern and western society. The architecture, food and clothes are all Chinese, but the society is not fully Chinese. As I mentioned before, there is no concubine in this society. You have one wife and the husband doing anything else is adultery (although it is certainly not an extremely moralistic society, as the story will show.)

The men and women of court do not actively interact with each other but they are not completely isolated from one another, there are festivals and certain banquets that allows the two different genders to interact with one another. The women in aristocracy are expected to actually go out and go to a sort of court in the palace. When the empress is there then the empress is in the very centre, but it still exists without her. Basically it lets the noble women gather together and one is expected to go there quite often, especially for those who lived in the city.

Class structure/social hierarchy: The royal family is naturally at the very top of the hierarchy, and then it is the nobles. But the aristocracy is actually subdivided into high, middle and low. This sort of depends on how long your family have belonged into nobility and all that. Basically, people belonging to high nobility are in a family that has been nobles for a very long time. So it is a bit natural that snobbery would exist in such a society. The gentry in my story comes after the nobles and people from there often actually have to work, but being gentry what they can do is limited- probably joining the army or serve in the palace. That kind of things. Please don't ask me how all these gentries support themselves in this world because I actually don't really have an idea. XD

After the gentry are the commoners, and then the peasants. Unlike some other societies, the peasantry in this world is actually regarded as being lower then commoners. Basically the peasantry are refereeing to all the farmers and people who work in the country side, so there is a sense of prejudice against them. I guess you can say our modern definition of the word applies, they are seen by city dwellers as uncouth.

So once again, a reminder of the social hierarchy in this world.

The royal family

The aristocracy

The gentry

The common people

The peasantry.

Social hierarchy and position will play a role in the story.

Age: everyone is basically three years older then the age that they will be in the original story. So basically the third years in Prince of tennis are 18/17 (most are 17). The second years in prince of tennis are 13 turning 14, so in my story we will take the 14 instead of the 13, so they will actually be 17.

Watanabe is 30 in this AU, while Shiraishi is 18. Ashita is 18 while Aizuki (my other OC) is 28.

Title: Bleach fans might know the title but please don't think that I am plagiarizing- that phrase is actually a saying in Chinese