Disclaimer: I don't own Prince of Tennis or any of its character. If I did, Ryoma would be Fuji's.
Cloud Age Symphony
By Amaryllis Namikaze
Chapter 1 – A Weird Bunch
It wasn't uncommon for a high school to have a fighting club in Japan. Myth-beings liked to practice sports and – above everything – fight. With their magical abilities, it was too difficult not to want to train and exercise. So it comes as no surprise that Seigaku was a Ninjutsu club.
Ninjutsu, or nimpo, was comprehended as the action of knowing/learning martial arts and strategic and stealth plans. Most high school – and some junior high too – had a club of this, as most teenagers wanted something sports-related. At Seishun Gakuen – commonly called Seigaku – it was no different.
There was a male and a female club, though only the former was active in crime resolving. Seigaku was well-known enough, being shadowed by the Hyotei team and the Rikkaidai team more than they'd like to say. They weren't put out of the flashlight because they were weaker – they were simply because Atobe Keigo, Hyotei's leader, was an arrogant prick, and because Rikkaidai High School was also known for their brainy students, so, it wasn't all surprising that more people turned to them when wanting a crime solved.
Either way, you'd never think the Seigaku team cares about this, as they never let it ruin their mood or day. And you could see that from the way that Kikumaru Eiji was bouncing on his chair while waiting in the reunion room for their trainer.
"Eiji, calm down," pleaded a boy with a weird hair. He was Oishi Shuichiro, current mother-hen and merman of the team. He wasn't the strongest physically – far from that – but was respected as the vice-captain.
"But, Oishi," Kikumaru Eiji, the team's prankster and hyperactive one, whined. "There's nothing to do, and I want to train!"
"Ryuuzaki-sensei said that there would be a surprise today. What do you think it will be, Tezuka?" Fuji Syuusuke questioned the team's captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu, who was sitting beside him.
Fuji was the type of guy you wouldn't want to irritate, as he was a sadistic tensai. From the way he carried himself and smiled at everyone, you'd never think he could never ever be a demon, but the reality was just that.
Tezuka, on the other hand, was never smiling. He was a vampire and, as such, had to have control over his actions not to accidentally scare someone away or, well, cause worse things. Most vampires were feared and avoided (people certainly didn't like the majority of the ones belonging in the undead group), but not Tezuka-buchou. He was known for his patience and seriousness, not his thirsty.
"I do not know, Fuji," the captain answered, not in the mood to the demon's mind games.
"Saa," said person smiled, opening his eyes. They possessed an incredibly sapphire color and were sharp, glaring into your very soul. The feeling of looking at them couldn't be more uncomfortable.
"Nyaa, Oishi, make him stop!" Eiji covered behind Shuichiro's chair, who laughed sheepishly. Eiji's pointy, elf ears were twitching, demonstrating the fear he was feeling. Fujiko was his friend since junior high, but this didn't make any less terrifying.
Momoshiro Takeshi, the team's werewolf, was sitting as far as his chair permitted, his hands gripping the glass table unconsciously. Fuji-senpai was scary.
"Fshhh…" came a nervous hiss from beside Momo. Kaidoh Kaoru was a pretty laid-back guy who chose not to talk much, as it was of his goblin nature. No one knew why he was always hissing, but, truthfully, goblins were always making weird noises. They were a strange bunch as much as the demons with their games.
Inui Sadaharu was quietly writing everybody's reaction in his notebook, murmuring "ii data" at each person's information. He was a genie, and, as such, needed to know as much as he could gather about each person (or, at least, that's what he told whoever asked why he was scribbling down their conversation and habits). After years together, the team was already used to it.
And, finally, there was Kawamura Takashi, who observed Fuji's open eyes with wary (who wasn't?). He was a troll; as such belonging to creature group, but – like everyone in Seigaku team – wasn't like most trolls. His personality was, for most of the time, gentle and kind, treating everyone fairly and smiling sheepishly. The true Taka-troll-san came when there was a duel and he needed to fight, transforming into a, well, it was hard to explain by itself.
This was Seigaku's Ninjutsu club. Poor little things hadn't been warned about Ryuuzaki-sensei's surprise.
Said trainer came in after Fuji finally closed his eyes, to everyone's unspoken relief. She was a fairy, as most people tended to be (the humanoid group was really common). Differently from nymphs, fairies had translucent wings in their backs which were almost never used, as most fairies didn't have enough strength in its structure to lift their bodies in the air. Both species had butterfly-like antenna atop of their head and as they got older, it started to wrinkle as skin would.
Ryuuzaki-sensei hated comments about her (not!) wrinkled antennas. In her young days she was one of the fairies strong enough to fly, but not now in her old age.
"Settle down, settle down," she commanded and the team did. She smiled, almost arrogantly, as indicated a person behind her. "Now, I would like to introduce your new teammate, Echizen Ryoma."
It was easy to identify species because of their characteristics. Elves had pointy ears, trolls were very tall, nymphs and fairies had antennas, vampires were incredibly pale, werewolf were full of wolf-like traits, zombie were – well – almost dead on their feet, and much more. Even their clothes were full of hints of what they were.
But nothing prepared them to recognize these characteristics in specific.
Echizen Ryoma was, simply putting, too beautiful to be real. His hair appeared to be so smooth, so smooth in its black color with tints of emerald everywhere, framing his face nicely. His eyebrows were thin and he had a button nose right above pouty lips. Frail chin and cherubic cheeks gave him a feminine appearance, as well as his short limbs and slender figure. And his most attention-getting trait was his eyes: huge, cat-like, golden eyes.
"Say hello, Ryoma," Ruuzaki-sensei chided with a familiarity that only friends had.
"Hn," the small boy grunted, but no one was offended by this, as they were still too enchanted.
He was wearing a dress-like toga – there was no name for it. It was white and appeared to be made of silk, the front part stopping his mid-thighs and the back trailing all the way to ground softly. A thin filigree belt was around his slim waist, holding the toga in place. He was barefoot and there were extremely thin silver lint going through his toes and curling around his calves. His wings weren't in their true feathery form, placing themselves in the middle of his upper back in a small, less magnificent one. A halo made of gold floated above his head, emitting a soft light.
What snapped them out of the enchant was the bored expression that the pretty creature was wearing.
"Saa, an angel on our team? Interesting…" Fuji murmured, smiling. Ryoma briefly looked at him, taking into account the horns on his head, the bat-like wings and the pointy long tail, before deciding that his smile was false.
"Nyaaa, he's so kawaii!" A redhead threw himself at the angel, who made no move to get out simply because he was being strangled to death.
"Eiji, he's turning blue!" A weird boy chided. He had gills in his neck and wore a leather jacket that resembled a fish's tail, which made Ryoma aware of the fact that he was a merman.
"Uh? Ah! Gomen, gomen!" The elf apologized and Ryoma glared. The boy had dark blue eyes and red hair that did nothing to hide his pointy ears. He was average tall for a elf and certainly was as cheerful as most of them. Only his clothes were unusual, as they weren't the common elf-used green and brown, but blue and red with an orange scarf that made the angel wonder, because it wasn't cold outside.
"I'm Tezuka Kunimitsu, the team captain. A third year and a vampire," said person introduced himself to the benefit of the boy in front of him.
Echizen quirked an eyebrow up. He decided the leader wasn't so irritating, if he could introduce himself being direct to the point. His clothes were dark and his expression grim, but most vampires were this way. As most of the undead, he had sharp eyes and calculative traits, staying quietly observing.
"Oishi Shuichiro, third year and vice-captain. It's a pleasure to meet," the merman said with a kind smile on his face.
The redhead jumped beside him, waving enthusiastically, "Nya, nya! I'm Kikumaru Eiji and I'm an elf, isn't that cool?"
Ryoma couldn't see what was so cool about it.
"Saa… Fuji Syuusuke, a third year and a demon. It will be nice to have you on the team," the creepy one said. Ryoma already knew that he was a demon, but with such a soft expression it was hard to believe - not that he hadn't seen false friendly demons before.
The tallest of the group wore Arabic clothing typical of genies and had a small lamp as pendant of his necklace. He observed Ryoma with enigmatic expression.
"Inui Sadaharu, a genie, but that is much obvious," he said and Ryoma flinched a little back. This guy noticed it and scribbled it down. Good, one more weirdo to the party. Was someone normal here?
His prayers weren't heard, as the next one to introduce himself was a goblin (these bunch was never normal, always making non-sense noises). He wasn't handsome (most of his specimen weren't) and was hissing under his breath.
"Kaidoh Kaoru, second year, goblin." Straighter to the point than the captain. Fascinating.
"You're scaring him away with your ugly face, Mamushi!" A guy taller than him – well, almost everyone was – exclaimed. He had dark hair that resembled untamed fur and a friendly smile with canine-like teeth. His simple clothing indicated nothing, but most werewolves wore things like this, as they transformed all the time and not always their clothes transformed with them. He turned to Ryoma. "I'm Momoshiro Takeshi, a second year and the team's werewolf. Any problem you can come to me! And call me Momo-chan."
Ryoma said nothing, only staring, and the older boy became depressed, muttering something about "this angel being an ass".
The last to say something was the second tallest guy in the room, who had a gentle expression on his face and introduced himself as Kawamura Takashi, a troll. Ryoma surely wasn't expecting this – who knew there were gentle trolls out there?
"Well, this is the Seigaku team, Ryoma," Ryuuzaki-sensei finalized, glancing down at the shortest and youngest boy. "What do you think?"
What the angel said made everybody sweat-drop, "I want Ponta."
Because if Ryoma really said what he thought, they would want to beat him to a pulp and he wasn't in the mood to fight today. Really, this was just a bunch of weirdo.
"Ah, well," Sumire should've expected this. She had trained his father – an incredible talented demon – and he was no different. She hadn't seen the Echizen for years and the last time she checked, Ryoma was as gentle and innocent as an angel should be. She really should have known that any angel with Echizen Nanjiroh for a father couldn't be as kind as they supposedly were.
Fuji observed the atmosphere and his smile got wider. Saa, Ryoma-chan is so interesting…. He opened his eyes once again, but only said person noticed.
And Ryoma finally saw why this guy was a demon. He repressed a flinch. Good – the smiling demon was the weirder one… which never was a wonderful thing.
Humanoids: Fairy – Nymph – Banshee – Elf – Goblin - Genie
Aquatic: Sirens – Mermaids – Mermen – Sea Monster
Creature: Troll – Werewolf – Satyr - Unicorn
Undead: Vampire – Demon – Zombie
Ethereal: Angel
(This will always be here, as I can't expect you to know by heart).
About Ninjutsu (I'm certain there'll appear someone saying something about Naruto…):
Ninjutsu is the martial art, strategy, and tactics of unconventional warfare and guerrilla warfare as well as the art of espionage purportedly practiced by the shinobi(commonly known outside of Japan as ninja).
The 18 disciplines are:[7]
Seishinteki kyōyō – spiritual refinement
Taijutsu – unarmed combat
Kenjutsu – sword techniques
Bōjutsu – stick and staff techniques
Sōjutsu – spear techniques
Naginatajutsu – naginata techniques
Kusarigamajutsu – kusarigama techniques
Shurikenjutsu – throwing weapons techniques
Kayakujutsu – pyrotechnics
Hensōjutsu – disguise and impersonation
Shinobi-iri – stealth and entering methods
Bajutsu – horsemanship
Sui-ren – water training
Bōryaku – tactics
Chōhō – espionage
Intonjutsu – escaping and concealment
Tenmon – meteorology
Chi-mon – geography
(From Wikipedia).
Well, it was short people, but I hope you liked and understood better my plot (there is one. Or you think Ryoma is unkind simply because he lived with his father? It's an angel nature to be gentle, after all…)
Anyway, until next time,
Amy.