A/N: Hi, everybody! Finally, I managed to rewrite this fan fic. Hopefully, it's better than the first Amazing Race: Anime Edition. Oh, yeah. For better understanding, I've added footnotes at the end of each chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Ouran, Prince of Tennis, Shaman King, and Yu-Gi-Oh. I do not own the Imperial Hotel either.
THE AMAZING RACE: ANIME EDITION
CHAPTER 1
It wasn't the summer holidays yet, but more people seemed to have trickled in the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo for some odd reason. Thirty-five of the guests have split up into groups of four and have settled themselves in the spacious lobby of the hotel. Each member of the group was talking energetically to their fellow members. Why were they here again? They were the contestants of the newest season of The Amazing Race.
Let's start with the group of teenagers seated across the receptionist's desk. From their looks, one would assume that they were taking part in a cosplay competition. Actually, they were just ninjas who came all the way from the small and remote village of Konoha. They were only forced by their senseis, Hatake Kakashi and Maito Gai, who were two of the biggest Amazing Race fans ever since Konoha had been given cable television. Only two members of the group were huge Amazing Race fans, and they came by the names of Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee.
"Isn't this exciting?" Naruto cried eagerly, running around the huge couch that was able to accommodate their group. Some guests turned to stare at him, shocked at the blond ninja's behavior. After all, sophistication is the only thing put up with in a high-status place such as the Imperial Hotel.
Lee nodded in agreement. "I know!" Tears of joy were already flowing down his face. "All my life I've wanted to become a contestant, and now's my chance!"
"Let's just hope that we won't be crawling under a rock after this," Sasuke said sourly, sighing for the umpteenth time.
Neji sighed along with Sasuke. Being the typical spoilsports that they were – they don't even watch the show, for Pete's sake – they were only forced to join the show. It was a choice of joining or being forced to read Icha Icha Paradise along with Kakashi. And they were only thirteen; they do not want their innocent minds to be scarred for life, do they?
"Cheer up, you guys," Sakura said. As much as she wasn't a huge Amazing Race fan, she decided that joining the show would be good for her. It would be nice to go to other countries, even if they will be competing for a price. "Let's just think of it as a vacation from our missions. It'll be fun, I promise!"
"That's right," Hinata seconded the motion.
Sasuke and Neji sighed, knowing that if they give up right now, Kakashi's magazines will be waiting for them. Might as well try to be optimistic … if that was even possible for them.
The next group comprising of seven high school students was sitting next to the café. Only one member of the group looked like an elementary student was holding a bunny stuffed toy and was delighting in a slice of chocolate cake. From their manners, one would assume that they come from a high-status school. Indeed, they were students from the prestigious Ouran Academy.
There was another group sitting not too far away from the Ouran students. From their appearances, one can assume that they were athletes. This time, they were members of Seishun Gakuen Middle School's tennis team.
Fuji, the brown-haired teen from Seigaku who had his blue eyes perpetually closed, stood up from the couch and approached the Ouran group. The group took notice and turned to look at him. It was then that the tall, blond teen named Tamaki widened his blue eyes at the sight of Fuji. "Fuji-san, isn't it?" he said, surprised.
Fuji let out a chuckle. "I should have known that we'd meet here once more, Suoh-san," he said.
"You know him, Fuji-senpai?" Momo, the tall black-haired boy from Seigaku, said in amazement.
"Hai," Fuji replied. "We met when we were registering for the show."
"So, he also forced you guys into joining the show?" Hikaru piped up. It was true; Tamaki suddenly signed them up for the show without any explanation whatsoever. Not that he minded, though. It's not every day that he could play a game like this.
Kyouya, another Ouran student, took the time to observe this Fuji guy's group. Then his eyes stopped on the jacket of the boy wearing a white cap. "By any chance, are you from Seigaku?" he had to ask.
"Yes, we are," Tezuka, the ever-so-stern captain of the Seigaku tennis team, replied. "Why do you ask?" He had heard of Ouran's tennis club. It wasn't much of a force to be reckoned with. Not that he can say that out loud, of course.
"My cousin Choutarou talked about Seigaku once," Kyouya replied. "And a family friend of Tamaki's talked about your school as well."
"Ah, you mean Keigo?" Tamaki said cheerfully. The Atobes were the Suohs' family friend. Keigo was supposed to study in Ouran, but he ended up choosing Hyotei, Ouran's sister school, because of the tennis team.
"Wait, wait, wait," Momo interrupted the conversation. "By 'Choutarou' and 'Keigo', do you mean Ohtori Choutarou and Atobe Keigo?"
Kyouya and Tamaki nodded. Momo didn't notice that Kaoru and Hikaru – the twins from Ouran – were giving him a look that said "DUH!"
Inui took the knowledge as an opportunity to take out his green notebook and pen. "Ohtori-san, Suoh-san," he said quite formally, "since you two are quite associated with them, what do you think of their tennis skills?"
The rest of the Seigaku regulars sweat dropped. "Nothing gets past Inui, ne?" Kawamura remarked, forcing a smile. He didn't really know whether he would be amused, embarrassed, or just plain creeped out.
Kyouya was about to reply when a soft voice spoke up from behind them. "Mitsu-niichan? Taka-niichan?"
Tezuka would have turned around, if not for the fact that no one has ever called him "Mitsu" for his entire life. Kawamura, however, having the nickname "Taka," turned around. He eventually realized that he didn't know the boy with disheveled black and huge blue eyes. Beside the boy was a taller boy with brown hair and an expression that said "Get out of my way or I'll kill you."
"Seto-chan! Moku-chan!" Honey squealed, suddenly glomping Mokuba. "How have you been? I haven't seen you guys since, like, FOREVER!"
Kaiba Seto shrunk back as he heard the honorific that Honey had used in his name. Yet, he bowed formally in front of Honey and Mori. "Takashi-san, Haninozuka-san," he greeted brusquely.
"Seto, Mokuba," Mori greeted brusquely. This caused the people surrounding them to sweat drop at their … well … brusqueness.
"Hold it, Kaiba." From behind them, a boy with blond hair and a big mouth spoke up. He was wearing jeans and a green polo shirt. "You know these guys?" He pointed to Honey and Mori.
"Obviously," Seto said, rolling his eyes. "Most of the bodyguards in the Kaiba Corporation come from the Haninozuka and the Morinozuka family. It's usually featured in the news. Don't you watch any news anymore, Katsuya?"
"Well, I'm sorry if ESPN is more interesting than NHK!" Jou snapped. He huffed and returned to his group of friends. He found his best friend, Yugi talking to a really short boy. "Hey, Yugi. Who's that?"
"Oh, hey, Jou-kun," Yugi greeted. "I'd like you to meet Oyamada Manta. He lives next door to the game shop."
Manta smiled and gave a short wave.
"Oi, Manta!" A boy with light blue hair suddenly joined in on the conversation. His gaze flitted from Yugi to Manta, then to Yugi again, then to Manta again. "You didn't tell me that you're friends with the Mutou Yugi!" He looked at Yugi again and beamed widely. "Hi! I'm Horo Horo, and I'm a huge fan of yours. Can I have your autograph?"
Before Yugi could reply, however, the receptionist approached them. "Excuse me," she said in a fluent English accent. "Mrs. Doganieri and Mr. van Munster want all of the contestants to go to the restaurant."
The groups stood up from where they were sitting. Some of them looked at each other in confusion. Then, they saw Seto and his group head to the flight of stairs. Shrugging to themselves, they decided to follow him.
Seto, of course, had been to the Imperial Hotel more than once in his life. This was always his destination during local – and sometimes international – meetings with the different branches of the Kaiba Corp. He had already known every nook and cranny of the hotel, to be honest.
They entered the restaurant in the second floor. Everything was quiet, and there were no people there. They discovered, however, that there were two adults – a man and a woman – and eight teenage girls sitting in a long table. Everyone figured that they must be the staff of the show.
"Good afternoon, everyone," the man greeted. "Please have a seat."
Everyone took their seats and was offered some onion soup before the woman cleared her throat. "Some of you probably know the two of us." She gestured to the man beside her. "But for the sake of those who don't, I'm Elise Doganieri and this is Bertra von Munster. We are the creators of The Amazing Race, in which you will be the contestants."
"And we'd also like to introduce you to the cameramen and the new host for the show," Mr. van Munster added. "The new host for the show will be Kasumi Yamazaki. These seven girls behind her will be the cameramen for each of the groups."
After the introductions, the two creators explained the rules of the show. The waiters, meanwhile, went and served them with the most luxurious meals. After that, the conversation went to the groupings.
"Before, the show only included teams with two members," Mrs. Doganieri said. "But for this season, we decided to have seven teams with five members each, in which the members will be selected randomly."
"Take a look at that small box beside your plate," Mr. van Munster instructed.
Everyone looked to their right. There was a small box next to them; the waiters have placed the boxes next to them just a few moments ago.
Mrs. Doganieri and Mr. van Munster stood up and prepared to leave. "Take your time to get yourself acquainted with your teammates." With that, they left.
At that, Kasumi stood up. "Okay, everyone," she spoke up, "I want you to open your boxes at the count of three. One … two … THREE!"
Everyone took their boxes and opened them at the same time. There, they found a number. Kasumi explained that they can now look for those people who had the same number in their boxes.
The first team was composed of Hitachiin Kaoru, Hyuuga Hinata, Kujaku Mai, Oishi Syuichiroh, and Tao Ren. Their cameraman was Takayama Kim. The group was off to a bad start, the atmosphere filled with awkward silences. Mai looked indifferent and busied herself with filing her nails; Kaoru's hands were over his head, obviously bored; Ren kept glaring daggers at everyone every now and then. Only Hinata and Oishi looked like they wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words.
The second team consisted of Kaiba Mokuba, Katsuya Jounouchi, Morinozuka Takashi, Tezuka Kunimitsu, and Uzumaki Naruto. Their cameraman was Kawaguchi Natsumi. While the first team was awkwardly silent, the second team was dead silent. Mori and Tezuka simply nodded to each other. Mokuba, Jou, and Naruto looked confused at the two teens' behavior.
Chocolove, Kikumaru Eiji, Mutou Yugi, Suoh Tamaki, and Uchiha Sasuke were members of the third team. Nomura Shizuka was their cameraman. The group had great chemistry from the start. They started introducing each other and already giving pep talks to themselves. It was only Sasuke who looked out of place.
Haninozuka Mitsukuni, Hyuuga Neji, Inui Sadaharu, Kaidoh Kaoru, and Oyamada Manta were members of the fourth team. Their cameraman was Yamazaki Megumi. Kaidoh was relieved that he was grouped with someone he knew, particularly his Inui-senpai. Neji and Manta seemed to be getting along just fine. Honey, meanwhile, started to christen his teammates with nicknames. Neji was Ne-chan, Inui was Ii-chan (because he kept saying "Ii data" and calling him "Inu-chan would be too weird), Kaidoh was Mamu-chan (since he heard Momo call his teammate "Mamushi" and since his schoolmate, Kaoru, was already Kao-chan), and Manta was Man-chan.
The members of the fifth team were Fuji Syusuke, Hiroto Honda, Horo Horo, Ohtori Kyouya, and Rock Lee. Their cameraman was Igarashi Siopee. Fuji and Kyouya got along well, and so did Horo Horo, Honda, and Lee. Fuji's friends and Kyouya's friends, meanwhile, moved away from the team. The two tensais were definitely a force to be reckoned with.
The members of the sixth team were Fujioka Haruhi, Haruno Sakura, Kyouyama Anna, Mazaki Anzu, and Momoshiro Takeshi. Their cameraman was Shiomi Saemi. It was only then that Momo realized that he was the only guy in the group. Part of him felt upset, but another part of him felt quite lucky. I mean, he's a guy, after all; a guy somehow has to love being surrounded by a group of girls.
Finally, the seventh team was comprised of Asakura Yoh, Echizen Ryoma, Hitachiin Hikaru, Kaiba Seto, and Kawamura Takashi. Their cameraman was Hayata Rina. Ryoma felt relieved that he had his Kawamura-senpai as his teammate. Yoh and Hikaru were already striking up a conversation. Seto, meanwhile, kept glancing at the second team. He was already worried as to what harm his little brother might befall now that he's teamed up with Katsuya.
Kasumi watched the teams get to know each other. She let out a small smirk. "Okay, guys, there's a room assigned to each team. I expect all of you guys to get a good night's sleep, for the race starts tomorrow afternoon. So good luck!"