The Empress Chapter 23, a Prince of Tennis + Kuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ Crossover fanfic

"If you have no intention of taking me seriously, we might as well quit."
—Frei Fuyuki

The Empress | Chapter 23

"S-So, when is Frei-chan available to play our game?" Smith cut in. He wanted the beauty's attention on him again, not Echizen Ryoma.

"Hm," The beauty hummed before facing him, "How about now?"

"Yuki," Ryoma stared at the beauty and grabbed her hand under the table. His hazel eyes tried to convey the conflicting feelings he felt at the moment.

Squeezing his hand in return, Fuyuki conveyed her reassurance.

Ryoma knew she was strong. Too strong at times, but that never stopped him from worrying about his step-cousin. She could be impulsive sometimes and it made the freshman anxious on her behalf. The beauty wasn't always like this; she used to be more sad and lonely than anything else. Maybe even a crybaby, but not impulsive. So it took a while for him to get used to.

Even though Ryoma knew she is most likely to win against the foreigner, he didn't want her to play against the older male; what if this only encourages him to keep challenging her in hopes of a date. No, that won't do at all.

Ryuzaki looked between the Prince and the beauty. She wasn't sure how she felt. The two clearly had a special relationship but it didn't seem like it involves anything romantic—not yet at least.

Fuyuki released her childhood friend's hand gently and stood up, "Yuki is going to go get changed."

Haru and Ryoma followed, much to everyone's confusion.

"Wait.. don't tell me that perverted butler is going to change her again nya!" Kikumaru said in shock, then anger. The others had told him what happened and the cat-like male was still not over how the butler had changed the beauty in the locker room.

"What?!"

"Change her?!"

"Why is Echizen going too?!"

"Don't tell me-"

"-he's going to watch?!" someone said in horror.

If the Prince had heard what was said about him, he would have felt indignant.

The beauty returned to her room. It was located right across the boys' rooms and just as small—if not, a bit bigger. But because she's the only girl in the camp, she had the whole room to herself so no bunk beds. Just one single bed, a desk, a vanity set with a mirror, her closet, and a balcony with a great view of the courts. Thankfully, there was also a small bathroom attached. Kurobe had considered her circumstance—one girl amongst the all-boys camp.

With a quick scan of her closet, Fuyuki picked one of her many her tennis attire.

Ryoma was currently sitting on her bed while frowning at her back. She didn't have to look at him to feel his intense stare.

"What are you thinking Yuki?" he finally said.

Fuyuki finally looked back at him and smiled. "Don't worry, Ryo-chan. Yuki isn't careless enough to lose." She thought it was adorable how he still worries about her.

With a sigh, the freshman turned his head away when he heard the sound of clothes dropping to the floor. He was slightly surprised the butler had left the two alone to retrieve Fuyuki's special racket from the monitor room—she had forgotten it there of all places.

Ryoma disliked the foreigner that challenged Fuyuki. How dare he so casually ask her out on a date in front of everyone. Now, they might be under the impression that they could do the same and get away with it.

Gritting his teeth, Ryoma decided that if—somehow—Fuyuki doesn't beat him hard enough, Ryoma will.

"Ryo-chan, don't frown anymore."

Ryoma knew not to look at her so he stared at the dresser, which was a mistake because the mirror on top reflected her smooth and pale exposed back. Turning his head away with a light blush, Ryoma looked out the balcony doors.

He hoped the beauty didn't notice his slip up.

The beauty giggled adorably as if reading his thoughts. "You stopped frowning," she observed. Hearing the sound of her steps approaching the bed and the slight dip beside him, he knew she was ready.

When he looked back at her, he didn't comment on her outfit knowing it's the norm for the beauty. With a tight black top that wrapped tightly around her neck with shoulderless opening, the top ended under her rib cage. She matched the top with a short black skirt. And even though Ryoma knew she had a safety short underneath, it didn't stop him from worrying about her revealing more skin. With her lucky bell choker around her slim neck and the wristband he gifted her on her wrist, she was ready. The beauty didn't wear her trademark stockings but rather high black socks that reached her knees.

Seeing her running shoes peeking out under the bed, Ryoma knelt in front of her and slowly put them on her dainty socked feet.

"You spoil me, Ryo-chan." She said with clear affection that makes him melt inside. He had truly missed these moments where she let her guard down. "Worry not, my beloved cousin," she leaned down slightly to meet his hazel eyes, "You're the only one I would go on a date with." she pecked his cheek gently before leaning back—just as the butler walked inside the room.

Thank Kami-sama for small mercies, he didn't have to respond to her teasing.

Ryoma didn't have to look over to know Haru was glaring at him. Not that he cared; he wasn't exactly the butler's biggest fan either.

"Fuyuki-sama, let me style your hair." he smiled gently at the beauty. Ryoma noticed the lack of 'Ojou-sama' in his address to the beauty. He had known Haru long enough to notice how the butler calls her 'Ojou-sama' in public and 'Fuyuki-sama' in private or amongst those that held special interest towards Fuyuki. Perhaps it was a method to display his close relationship to her but Ryoma didn't comment on it.

With a nod, Fuyuki walked over to her vanity mirror and sat down on the stool.

Haru got to work after placing her red racket against the stool. Ryoma had also given her that, it was his racket's pair and it made him feel touched that she still used it.

Parting her hair in two sides, Haru tied each side high on her head with long black ribbons that trailed down and curled the ends of her silky locks.

Ryoma didn't know a thing about styling a girl's hair but he knew the beauty's long hair was always styled beautifully. When his eyes met hers in the mirror, she had a knowing look. She was always able to read him as he, her.

"Louis, what are you doing?" Wilson couldn't contain his annoyance any longer. "We aren't supposed to play any official matches."

The gray-haired male grinned in response, "Good thing it's not an official match then."

Seeing the stubborn look in his eyes, Hiraoshi sighed, "We just got here and you're already causing trouble."

Smith pouted but didn't say anything in response because it was partly true.

"Nee," a voice beside the four called out for their attention, "Are you guys also visitors?" Horio asked.

"Nope," Smith began, "We are here as payers. But it was Frei-chan that invited us." he smiled with appreciation, thinking of the beauty.

"Eh, Frei-chan?" Kikumaru asked, "How do you know?"

"Well, if it was any of the other coaches, we would have been here at the same time as you or not at all. You see, we had another tournament in America so we got here late and the coaches don't accept the lateness so Frei-chan had to invite us."

"Another tournament?" Inui asked.

"Yes," Hiraoshi answered, "We were invited to play at a tennis tournament because we won the Fall Tennis Tournament last year."

"Ah!" Kamio connected the dots, "You guys were on TV!" he turned towards his captain, "Tachibana-san, remember the guy that confessed to Frei-chan on TV?"

The male Tachibana's eyes widened as he recognized the four players.

Meanwhile, the returned players looked on with confusion but didn't question it when their teammates promised to explain later.

"But I didn't know Frei-chan had such authority to invite players to the camp," Oishi stated.

"Of course," Wilson raised an eyebrow, "Her father is the biggest sponsor for this camp." the foreigner had done some research ahead of time.

Atobe had a knowing look, "FREI Corp's CEO, Frei Alexander, ahn."

Wilson nodded but didn't say anything more.

"So Frei-chan wasn't invited as a player..." Oshitari said to himself.

Smith raised an eyebrow, "Of course not. This is a boy's camp." Yet that got him thinking, "It isn't like Frei-chan to stay here if she's not a player so then... why is she here?" he mumbled in thought.

"Ah," Momoshiro snapped his fingers, he heard the pondering male loud and clear. "She mentioned wanting to see Echizen," he remembered two weeks prior to the start of the camp, Seigaku and Hyotei regulars met the beauty.

"Echizen Ryoma again?" Smith immediately frowned, "What exactly is their relationship?"

"That's what Sakuno and I want to know as well!" Osakada shouted.

Kikumaru nodded, as he too wanted to know their secret relationship. "All we know is that O'chibi isn't Frei-chan's boyfriend because she already has one."

The freshmen were surprised to hear that. Especially the returned players, Osakada and Ruzaki, but while the girls were relieved to hear that, the returned players were irked that the beauty was taken.

"Of course," the gray-haired male nodded with a knowing look, "she's currently dating Atsushi Murasakibara, one of the Generations of Miracles' basketball player."

"Ehh-"

"One of 'Generations of Miracles'?"

"Currently?"

"Wait!" Momoshiro said in surprise, "if you knew Frei-chan has a boyfriend then why did you ask her out on a date?!"

Smith smirked, "Because Frei-chan had many before him. She only keeps him around so fewer guys ask her out. Not me though, I won't give up!" he pumped his fist in the air.

Ryuzaki frowned slightly, "Isn't that horrible for this Atsushi person... to be used like that?" there was no malicious intent in her voice, just curiosity and pity.

"Hah?" Smith glared at the girl before sighing when the girl flinched, "Any guy would be lucky to be dating Frei-chan, even if it's fake. It just means they have to try hard to make her fall for them." the foreigner smiled at the girl apologetically, "Besides, it's mutually beneficial for both of them."

"Mutually beneficial...?" Osakada repeated.

Before they can discuss the beauty's love life further, the beauty's butler walked in. "Ojou-sama is ready, She's waiting in Court two." He informed but wasn't surprised to see almost all the middle-schoolers stood up to follow.

The older Fuji brother had so many questions for the gray-haired male but he was also interested in this match. He hoped by observing the game, he'd be able to remember what happened during his match against her a few days ago. Yukimura hasn't told him everything when Fuji had asked. Still, he didn't persist, knowing the Demi-God wasn't going to discuss it further.

Without further delay, Haru walked them to the court, where the beauty and Prince resided. Fuyuki was standing on one side of the court while Ryoma was sitting on the closest bench to her.

Smith wasn't surprised to see the aura around the beauty changed significantly the moment she stepped into the court; he watched too many of her matches to be surprised now.

The light wind blew her long hair with the flow and the sound of the bell around her neck was eery in the quiet atmosphere.

"Is she going to be okay?" Shishido was worried because the foreign male was one of Japan's ex-representatives. And to become a representative, Shishido can only imagine what strength they must possess.

"If she's truly second in Japan, she'll do fine," Kamio answered.

"Second in Japan?" Momoshiro, who stood beside Kamio repeated.

"Ah, Momo-chan." An acknowledged. "Yeah, Frei-chan ranked second last year in the teen female category."

That news seems to be of a shock to the middle-schoolers that heard her. Momoshiro didn't expect her to be that good and now, his expectation rose sky-high.

Toyama, who sat beside Ryoma, heard this with his sharp hearing and bounced on his feet. "Yatta! I wanna play the winner!" he exclaimed in childish glee.

Ryoma didn't comment as his eyes were fixated on Fuyuki's form.

linebreaklinebreak

"Smooth or rough?"

"Smooth," Smith answered with a grin.

It was smooth so Smith got into position and served the first ball normally to test her ability in-person. Fuyuki narrowed her eyes and didn't move from her spot as the ball passed her.

There were some confused mumbling around her, but she was far too distracted by her thoughts to pay them any heed.

Smith looked at the girl with a confused look and the two players stared right into each other's eyes before it was broken by the beauty as she picked up the ball. "If you have no intention of taking me seriously, we might as well quit." Her grip tightened around the neon ball.

The foreigner could see the girl wasn't humoring his testing round so he nodded and caught the ball when she threw it at him swiftly.

This time, he used more than seventy percent of his strength and Fuyuki easily returned it. Seeing as how she managed to look so elegant doing so, Smith stepped it up by returning the ball with one of Ryoma's ace moves.

"It that.." Osakada began.

"Echizen's Twist serve?!" Horio finished.

That was easily countered when Fuyuki used both her intense speed and extremely fast reflexes shown. Tilting her head to the side when it aimed for her face then moving into a position to return it with a smash.

"She countered it so easily!" Kikumaru said in surprise. He wasn't expecting it. Most players have trouble returning that serve.

Fuyuki knew the gray-haired male was still underestimating her. And provocating her with Ryoma's serve.

With a smirk, Smith collected a sphere of air in his free hand that mimics the feel of a ball then fired it at Fuyuki just before hitting the real ball. By doing this, Fuyuki knew he was expecting her timing to be skewed, causing her racket to seemingly stop before hitting the real ball. Usually, when the air travels through the racket and the receiver tries to hit the ball, the ball hit is out. "Gemini."

"What is that?" Kite narrowed his eyes.

"An illusion?" Kai questioned.

Fuyuki knew better. She countered it by allowing the air-ball to flip her racket, preventing her from losing momentum. This allows her to hit the ball normally as if the air just passed right through.

Based on the calm look on Smith's face, he had expected her to return it. He hit a sidespin smash with the frame of his racket that causes the ball to fly in a circular ring formation until it hits the course without bouncing. Usually, the move would take the receiver by surprise but Fuyuki didn't allow it to keep spinning as she swiped her racket against the ground in the same circular ring formation until her racket connected with the ball.

"Was that... Shiraishi's Entaku Shot?" Oshitari asked in shock.

"And she returned it so easily!" Zaizen's eyes widened. Even he had a hard time going against his captain's Entaku Shot.

Shiraishi himself stared between Smith and Fuyuki in a trance.

A wide smile grew on Smith's face as he started spinning. At first, it was slow before the speed turned akin to Toyama's Super Ultra Great Delicious Mountain Storm. He smacked the ball against his racket during mid-spin and ended up with a final position of his arms stretched out on each side, head tilted forward, and one knee hitched forward like a falcon. The ball—with some sort of dark surrounding energy—flew to Fuyuki's side in speed too fast to follow with the naked eyes as there seemed to be dark smoke coming out of the ball from the intensity of the serve.

Fuyuki's eyes widened for a split second as the dark shadowed ball flew past her.

"!"

"What is that serve?!" Kirihara shouted.

"Dark Cyclone." Smith said.

"To use Yuki's move against her," The beauty began, eyeing the dark smoke still coming out of the ball from the intensity of the serve.

"'Yuki's move'?" Sanada narrowed his eyes.

"Yes," An—who stood near the stoic vice-captain—nodded, "It's one of Frei-chan's ace moves."

Urayama's eyes shone with clear awe. "That's awesome!"

Yukimura, Yagyu, Niou, Marui, Kuwahara, and Kirihara all looked at An for further explanation.

"I see." Yanagi said, "It's a very strong ace. The user's spin is so fast that the ball's intensity is nearly impossible to counter like Toyama's Super Ultra Great Delicious Mountain Storm. But-" he looked at the dark energy surrounding the ball, "what is that?"

"I'm not sure but most of Frei-chan's ace moves have that dark energy." An explained, "It's like her signature."

"Hmph," flicking one high pigtail over her shoulder, Fuyuki knew she had to figure out how to counter her Dark Cyclone or find a way to lock it. When she had come up with that move, she created it so it would be near impossible to counter; she didn't expect anyone to mimic one of her ace moves.

"15-love," Ryoma said from the side. The Prince was staring at the side of her face. Intensely. She could practically feel all the questions he wanted to ask her.

"Sorry Frei-chan, but I want that date," Smith said with a sly look in his eyes.

"So it seems."

Thankfully, Dark Cyclone would only be used while the opponent is busy trying to return the ball so it wasn't possible to use it from the get-go, only for time-consuming returns. With that reassurance, Fuyuki gripped her racket when the foreigner served the ball normally. Fuyuki wasn't going to play her Dark Cyclone; she wanted to prove that she could win without it.

When the ball landed on her side, she realized it wasn't a normal serve; it appeared like a regular serve except just as she was about to return it, she felt like the ground was crumbling under her and extreme hot temperature all around her, enough to burn her skin before it returned to a normal court.

An illusion?

It felt like she was being crushed under an agonizing force but-

An illusion is only that- an illusion. It wasn't real.

Closing her eyes, her other four senses became keener as she swiftly heard the ball and returned it with one of the new moves she's been working on. Granted, it wasn't complete yet so it would have to do for now. She smashing down on the ball fast and with strength. When Smith tried to return the fast-but-normal-looking ball with his racket, the ball rose straight up with an illusion of a phoenix upon bounce then flew down even faster just beside the stunned foreigner. The most exenterating part was probably how violent the move was; the ground where it bounced was concaved upon impact and dented.

"You can't know all my ace moves." Fuyuki's eyes held a mocking gleam.

"Heh," Smith's stunned expression changed to a grin again, "We'll see, Frei-chan."

"15-15."

When Fuyuki served, Smith returned with that move.

The beauty was surprised when he played the one move she reserved for the more violent games: Bio-Magnetism.

"What is that?!" Horio screamed in horror.

There was a flash of bright blue light around his racket as he accumulates a large amount of air in the ball before hitting it. The air released from the ball speeds towards Fuyuki dangerously fast. The force of the air is powerful enough to knock her off her feet. The ground crumbled beneath her feet.

The technique was incredibly dangerous, capable of not just knocking the opponent off their feet and flinging them backward or into the air, but the ball also has so much force that it can break through the structures of the ground, wall, and ceiling. It is a technique that focuses on injuring the opponent and preventing them from ever playing tennis again. Even in its early stages, the move was able to leave an opponent deaf and blind.

The split second of surprise ensured she wouldn't be able to counter the move the way she wanted; she wanted to avoid being slapped around by the technique by dropping to the ground as the shot approaches her, then enters the air sphere and allows it to carry her. Fuyuki would have been able to return the shot in mid-air. However because she missed her timing, she switches to her left hand before she begins to use Bio-Magnetism herself. It was possible to return Bio-Magnetism without the use of another Bio-Magnetism, but it expends a lot of energy and would strain her wrist.

That's not to say when she returned Smith's Bio-Magnetism, it didn't take more power because it did. Fuyuki flinched under the pressure as the racket in her hand quivered as she shot back another Bio-Magnetism.

"W-What the heck is that?!" Kamio repeated the Seigaku freshman, gripped the railing with his eyes fixed on the serve.

Mizuki gapped, "S-he returned that...?"

Fuyuki expected Smith to dodge the attack but was surprised when he prepared for another Bio-Magnetism in return.

"She can't return that!" Atobe narrowed his eyes at the approaching dangerous shot.

Fuji Shusuke nodded while opening his eyes wider.

Fuyuki didn't think her wrist could perform another Bio-Magnetism. Especially because if the ball reaches her side, it would be three times more powerful. She wasn't as strong—at least physically—as Smith and she knew it. So when the ball approached her, she jumped back from the spot. But despite jumping away in time, the blow was too much as she was pushed back—she tried to shield her head by crisscrossing her hand in front of her as she slid backward—until her back hit the wall.

"Ah!"

"Frei-chan!"

"Yuki!"

"Ojou-sama!"

Once the dust cleared out, they saw the beauty narrowing her eyes.

"!"

"What..."

"Her hair!"

"Those eyes!"

"Devil Mode?!" Kirihara exclaimed in shock.

Almost 4,000 words. This chapter got really big so I had to split it into two chapters. Since the next is like Part II of this chapter, I'll publish it next Saturday (Sept 19th) rather than the following Saturday (Sept 26th).

As you guys may have noticed based on the middle-schoolers' reactions that I made Bio-Magnetism unknown to them. In fact, I made all the special techniques from PoT movies unknown to the characters because it makes it more interesting and I have fewer original moves to come up with, which saves me time.

Lastly, I'm looking for an editor. I would really appreciate having someone go over the next few chapters; even when I go over the chapters, I miss some stuff because I've been staring at it for so long. If you're interested, please send me a short paragraph demonstrating your written skills. I promise not to judge harshly.