Title: Say Goodbye…
Summary: Excuse me? What did you just say? That cannot be true right? It just can't. It just can't. What do you mean 'say goodbye'?
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis. The anime and its canon characters belong to their rightful owners.
"Syuu, where are we going?" Ryoma asked as Fuji led him and Tezuka around the Halloween festival that was going on.
"Don't tell me you aren't excited to go around?" Fuji teased the two of them, continuing to pull them along. "It's Halloween. Let's go have some fun."
"I can admit to having a little fun, but where are we going?" Ryoma asked again.
"You'll see," Fuji said, that signature smile on his face.
That one smile alone signaled the two that the sadist was planning something, and they probably wouldn't like it at all.
Walking up toward one of the booths, Fuji tapped on the counter. "Hanako! You there?"
A figure in a black cloak with silver smoke swirls came up to the counter, the cloak dragging behind the figure.
"What is it Fuji?" the figure asked, removing the cloak from her head.
"Did you dye your hair?" Tezuka questioned, raising an eyebrow at the girl's new looks.
"Or your face for that matter," Ryoma added, looking the girl up and down.
Hanako chuckled in response. "Oh no, no, no," she replied with a giggle. "I'm just wearing a wig and some accessories for the holiday."
Instead of a brunette the two were seeing, the girl had orange hair along with pure red eyes unlike her usual black ones. There were also black vines painted along her face, arms, and legs. Under the cloak, they didn't know.
"Were you able to get the booth I requested?" Fuji questioned the girl.
Hanako nodded happily before jumping over the counter and landing on her feet. "Come on. I'll show you the booth. I managed to get someone who is scarily good," she giggled. "Almost all of her predictions come true. It is ridiculous!"
Hanako led them into a booth with a dark purple covering, giving it the usual mystery type of feeling. "Come on then," she said, ushering them in and sitting them down in front of the table in the room. "She'll be here soon."
"Who is it?"
"A friend I met a while ago. She can be utterly scary. If she tries for a prediction, she is accurate as heck. If she's just joking for some fun, then meh," Hanako admitted before seeing some movement from the corner of her eyes. "There you are."
"Sorry I'm a bit late," a female voice replied, wearing a cloak that covered her figure and the upper half of her face.
All the three males could see was a small smile upon the girl's lips and a few locks of brown hair peeking out of the hood.
"Shall we get started?" the figure asked, sitting down on the other side of the table and then intertwining her hands on the table.
"Alright then," Ryoma shrugged. He didn't mind. After all, there was the fortune teller from before whose fortune was still supposed to come true. Only one new thing had been added to his life, and he was waiting for the next three.
The figure chuckled before turning her head to look at the three of them. "You three will undergo an event tonight," she started. "You have been dating for at least a few months no? The three of you that is. I can see that two of you have been dating at least a year or so now."
The three turned to each other before turning back to the figure with a nod. How was she able to tell all that just by looking at them anyway?
Turning to Tezuka, the figure said, "You will have quite a scare tonight, but not by anything built into the festival. Just follow your own advice, and don't let your guard down."
Tezuka blinked at the information and nodded slowly. How did the girl know that 'Don't let your guard down' was his normal piece of advice for anyone.
The figure chuckled before moving to Fuji. "I must thank you for allowing me to come here. If you hadn't requested this booth from Hanako, I wouldn't have had a reason to show up. For you, I would suggest keeping a lookout for your surroundings unless you want to lose something precious."
Fuji nodded to both parts of her statement, a little worried about the last part though. If Hanako said that these girl's predictions were mainly true, then he really wished that she was joking around with this one.
Finally turning to Ryoma, the female's smile turned into a thin line.
"What is it?" Ryoma questioned, narrowing his eyes at the sudden change of expression.
"You my boy are certainly going to have a tough time at this festival. My only fortune for you at the moment is 'say goodbye'."
"Excuse me?" the three males in the room questioned.
"What in the world girl? Are you serious with that?" Hanako questioned, turning worried eyes toward the short male. "I had no idea that you could give fortunes like that away."
"I am being 100 percent honest Hanako," the figure said, much to the four's horror. "The boy will say goodbye. As to what it is goodbye to, I cannot see that."
"Oh dear… and on Halloween too," Hanako sighed before nudging the three males to stand. "Why don't you three walk around the festival neh? Be careful okay you three?" she wished them as they left the booth.
Turning over her shoulder, Hanako said, "I really hope that your prediction isn't fatal girl."
"I never meant it to be," the figure stated, leaning their head down just as Hanako had closed the flap to the booth.
"Well that was," Fuji paused as he tried to come up with the right word for the prediction they had just gotten.
"Freaky?" Ryoma questioned.
"That's it," Fuji admitted. Shaking his head slightly, he turned to Ryoma. "What do you think she meant by 'say goodbye' Ryo?"
"That's what I want to know," the shorter huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"I believe that it what we all wish to know," Tezuka sighed as the three males continued to walk.
"Why don't we take our minds off of it and go by the other booths?" Fuji suggested, trying to change the tense atmosphere that had surrounded them ever since they had exited that booth.
"Sounds fine to me – whoa!" Ryoma yelped as something shot past him.
"Sorry!" another voice called out, rushing over and picking up whatever had nearly hit Ryoma in the head. "I swung too hard and must have thrown the baseball way off," the figure admitted. Turning to Ryoma, the male said, "Sorry about that."
With a bow of apology, the male left the three.
Ryoma sighed in relief as he slowly reached to clutch the cloth above his chest. "That was close."
"No kidding," Fuji breathed out. "He nearly hit you right there Ryo."
"Let's go before something else happens," Tezuka suggested, reaching to grab Ryoma's wrist as Fuji grabbed Ryoma's other one.
As they walked, they would occasionally run into Hanako, who was now walking around. Her excuse was that the owner of the booth she was originally in was finally at the festival, so she could now walk around.
The three males could see that she had clear worry in her eyes though, which would explain how often that they would all cross paths at the festival.
Each time they would cross paths, she would apologize, saying, "I'm so sorry for the fortune Ryoma-kun. I didn't know she would give a fortune like that tonight."
The three would have to calm her down and say that it wasn't her fault.
"You can't help a prediction," Fuji reassured the girl, knowing that to be true considering his sister was a very good tarot card reader.
"Well, I still want to apolo-Ryoma-kun look out!" Hanako yelled, jumping at him and tackling him to the ground just as something swung over them.
"Ryoma!" Tezuka and Fuji both yelled.
"Are you alright Ryoma-kun?" Hanako questioned, getting off of the boy and pulling him up to his feet. "If I am ever in charge of a festival like before, I am definitely checking each booth structure. That pipe nearly took your head clean off!"
Ryoma was slightly shaking from the near death experience. If Hanako hadn't pushed him to the ground in time, the pipe that had swung from behind him would have connected to his head and possibly killed him, or at least have given him a concussion.
"I'll be fine. Thanks Hanako," he breathed, shaking his head slightly as he tried to calm his breathing down.
"I don't even know whether you three should even be here anymore," Hanako said, looking around. "Are you sure that you want to stay here? I mean really. This makes two times doesn't it!"
Fuji, Ryoma, and Tezuka turned to each other, questioning each other with the looks in their eyes.
"I think as long as I have these two and you Hanako, then I'll be fine," Ryoma admitted first, turning away from his two boyfriends.
"We just can't let our guard down any longer," Tezuka added, crossing his arms over his chest with a stern look on his face.
"We can't let our precious Ryo-chan get hurt now can we?" Fuji added on, throwing his arms around the younger's shoulders and hugging the boy to him.
Hanako sighed at their answer. "Fine, but at least let me come with you. The more the merrier right? And you'll be walking around anyway, so I can check on the booths and get more ideas for my next festival."
"Fair enough," Ryoma answered as the group of four started walking again.
It was only an hour later that they had wished that they had either listened to Hanako or had never gone to that fortune teller in the first place.
Within that hour, Ryoma had nearly been clobbered by more flying objects, or pieces of the booths they were passing by would suddenly break and fall next to him. Even a streetlamp that was supposed to be in good condition cracked all of a sudden and practically fell down on him, clearly scaring the hell out of the three with him.
It was only due to quick moves by Tezuka, Fuji, and Hanako that the boy came out of each of these incidents without a scratch.
Hanako gulped right after she pulled Ryoma toward her by the back of his shirt. "Really?" she whined. "A flying arrow? What booth was this thing from?"
"I am starting to get freaked here," Ryoma admitted silently, gulping at how close the arrow came to piercing him.
"Let's just see how one more attraction goes, and then we'll be able to go home," Fuji suggested, getting reluctant nods from the other three. "Does anyone have an idea of where we should go?"
"How about that one?" Ryoma suggested, pointing at the haunted house in the area.
The group turned and saw a castle-like front to the haunted house. They couldn't exactly see the name of it because of the vines covering the sign.
"Are you sure about that one Ryoma-kun?" Hanako questioned, looking at the building warily as they walked up to it.
"Won't know until we try," he responded, causing everyone to give a light smile toward the boy.
They could all tell that he had been just a tad spooked at everything that had been happening to him, but he wouldn't let the fortune ruin everyone's time at the festival. He was trying to make it as fun and scary as possible for them considering it was Halloween.
The three could argue that saving him multiple times was enough of a scare considering what could happen if they didn't save him in time.
"Alright then. Let's go inside," Fuji chimed as the four walked into the building.
They had been walking for a few minutes, occasionally turning a corner every few steps and keeping to the walls.
Compared to how the day had been so far for the group, the people working in the haunting house didn't scare them when the workers had popped out from the walls, wearing costumes or having masks on their faces with fake blood covering their bodies. Nope, not scary at all compared to the near death experiences Ryoma had faced along with the group earlier.
It was nearly an hour later that the four seemed to have finally found the exit to the haunted house.
"It seems that this place went off without a hitch," Hanako commented with a sigh, knowing that Ryoma would now go home with his boyfriends and away from this festival before something worse happened.
"That's good to know," Tezuka said, walking a bit ahead of the group to make sure that nothing was going to pop out at them and possibly try to kill Ryoma again.
Fuji had the same thoughts as he walked along with Tezuka.
Hanako turned around to tell Ryoma something before a loud screeching was heard.
Looking up, Hanako screamed. "Ryoma-kun! Tezuka-kun! Fuji-kun!"
"What is it?" Fuji and Tezuka yelled back, turning around to see what the girl had been screaming about. "Ryoma!" they both yelled, hearing the screeching become louder as the building shook.
People were screaming from inside as people rushed to and fro to get out of the building as the building shook even further.
The three couldn't see Ryoma as the crowd was practically swallowing him as they tried to escape.
A large crash was heard as soon as the last person had gotten out of the building.
"Ryoma-kun! Where's Ryoma-kun?" Hanako screamed over the crowd as they were all outside the building. "Someone call the technicians! Someone call emergency just in case!" she ordered the crowd, looking around frantically as she couldn't find Ryoma anywhere!
"My Kami-sama, where is he?" Fuji yelled to her, finally able to reach her through the crowd along with Tezuka.
"I don't know! What if he's stuck inside the building?" she yelled, desperately hoping that she was wrong.
"I can't find him in the crowd whatsoever," Tezuka informed the two, scaring them even further.
Picking up something from inside the haunted house, Hanako yelled for the entire crowd to shut up.
Once the crowd quieted, the three listened closely as they walked toward the haunted house, the sirens of nearby emergency service vehicles being the only sound other than the haunted house.
They could hear something in the haunted house, but it was getting fainter and fainter.
"Oh Kami, that better not be Ryoma!" Hanako screeched as soon as the ambulance, police, and fire truck arrived.
Turning toward the authorities, she yelled at them, "Please help! I think my friend's stuck in there! I don't even think he's getting any air!"
"We'll try our best!" the police and firemen told her as they got to work on lifting debris away from the haunted house and throwing it aside.
Hanako, Fuji, and Tezuka could only watch as they were unable to help. They would if they could, but they knew that they would only get in the way of their job.
"Please, please, please find him," Hanako pleaded and prayed as she watched.
"They have to. They just have to," Fuji told Tezuka, nearly panicking with every piece of debris that was thrown up.
"They will Syuu. They will," Tezuka said, trying to comfort the shorter male and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
A few minutes later, the firemen finally made the call. "We found him!"
"Thank Kami!" Hanako yelled as they slowly pulled up an emerald-haired boy from the debris and put him on the gurney to go into the ambulance.
"Hurry and take him to the hospital! He's got several cuts and bruises! He's not breathing either!"
"What?" the three screamed before rushing over to the ambulance.
"Only one person can go with us," the paramedic said to them.
Seeing the two males look at each other, Hanako made the decision for them. "Tezuka-kun, you go with Ryoma-kun. You've been dating him longer. I'll get my uncle to drive both Fuji-kun and I to the hospital right now." With that said, she rushed off to get her uncle.
The two nodded in agreement to each other as Tezuka climbed into the ambulance.
Fuji nodded to him as encouragement and reassurance as the doors closed. He didn't have to wait long as Hanako was dragging her uncle up to him, a pair of keys in her hands, before she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged her over to a nearby car.
He was glad that this girl was fast if nothing else as the two teens strapped into the car, and her uncle nearly slammed the gas pedal to follow the ambulance.
They could only hope that Ryoma would be alright. They could only hope that they wouldn't have to be the ones to 'say goodbye'…
MintLeafeon: Oh my Kami, please don't kill me!
Xytler (My friend from home): Note to all flamers, this is to be continued, so don't kill her, or you'll have hell to pay.
MintLeafeon: Thank you. Now see you on Thanksgiving!