The Empress Chapter 24, a Prince of Tennis + Kuroko no Basuke/黒子のバスケ Crossover fanfic

"Her tennis is... monstrous yet beautiful."
—Echizen Ryoma

The Empress | Chapter 24

"Whoa," Kotaro Hayama jumped, staring at their new camp gates. The whole place was surrounded by walls followed by trees on both sides of the walls.

The others were equally impressed by didn't quite voice it out as Kotaro did. They simply followed behind their team captain.

Once everyone gathered in front of a small stadium, a middle-aged man stepped in. Beside him, was Aida Kagetora.

"Dad?" The coach of Seirin was surprised to see him here.

Seeing the surprised look in Riko's eyes, Kagetora grinned. He wanted to go hug his cute daughter but restrained himself; there were many eyes on them.

Seirin finally noticed there were more basketball players than the groups that traveled with them via bus. Some of them included Seiho High, Senshinkan High, Josei High, Fukuda Sogo Academy, Shinkyo Academy.

"Welcome to FREI U-19 Camp." the man greeted, "My name is Omura Kane. I am the head coach of this camp."

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

"!"

"What..."

"Her hair!"

"Those eyes!"

"Devil Mode?!" Kirihara exclaimed in shock.

Fuyuki's hair had turned blood red and her eyes- they were- scary, to say the least. But there was a certain look to it that ensured they couldn't look away. Black pupil, red iris, and black sclera. They looked inhuman as she walked back to her spot on the court. Surprisingly, her skin turned slightly red, unlike Kirihara's noticeable red.

Let me take over, Yuki.

"Again."

Smith flinched under her gaze but performed the same serve: Bio-Magnetism. If only to see what she can do to return it.

The girl returned it with her own and when Smith returned it with another Bio-Magnetism, Fuyuki was able to counter it the way she wanted. She dropped to the ground as the shot approaches her, then enters the air sphere and allows it to carry her. This counter worked because Fuyuki was able to penetrate the exterior of the Bio-Magnetism sphere that would otherwise hit her with the force of a wall. Once inside the sphere, it became significantly less dangerous. But she was also able to return the shot mid-air thanks to the extra strength her new form provided. Along with opening the first gate of a dangerous technique. Her whole right hand and shoulder were covered in black energy as she swung her racket to meet the ball head-on.

Fuyuki knew no matter how much stronger the foreigner's strength was compared to her, he wouldn't be able to counter it so he was forced to run from the ball. And as she expected, the ball completely destroyed the spot where it bounced off of and the wall behind him.

"No way!"

"Wow!"

"Was that... One of Muga no Kyochi*'s three doors,Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami*?"

"But Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami's light isn't so dark."

Wilson had seen many special moves and the famous Muga no Kyochi's three doors. He had seen many ace plays and skilled players. But this. This was something Wilson has never seen before. The energy surrounding her right side was so dark that it felt like she had activated something that should never be unlocked.

For the first time since Miyazaki came to Japan, he pulled out his earbuds. His eyes widened uncharacteristically. The male was shocked. He thought it was only rumors or some sort of tennis folk tale. But to see it here.

Hiraoshi thought there was a strange sense of nostalgia when he watched her form. Again, he had to remind himself he had only been in Japan for tournaments before and he never encountered her in person. But- there were so many images that flashed through his mind. Hiraoshi gripped his head in pain, it felt like his head was splitting. There is no way he would have felt this way if he only saw her tennis on TV. Unless she was doing something to him.

The older Fuji, on the other hand, immediately recognized the dark light.

Fuyuki extended her hands and looked at them directly, the court behind her as the lights shone brighter. "This court was built for Yuki's mama." She turned her glowing hazel eyes on him, "Let's go, Fuji Shusuke."

Yukimura watched from the sidelines and served as the umpire.

Fuyuki's aura completely changed as she stepped to her side of the court. There was intense pressure in the court all of a sudden.

The game began as she asked softly, "Rough or smooth?"

"Smooth," He replied.

It was rough so the beauty served. The girl didn't hold back and Fuji was surprised by the speed and pressure from such a delicate-looking person when he returned the serve. But despite the heavy serve, her form was elegant as a dancer.

Knowing the girl wouldn't appreciate him holding back, he returned the serve with one of his ace move, "Topspin Tsubame Gaeshi." This move allows the user to return the ball with an extreme slice that doubles the amount of spin. The slice combines with the topspin and causes the ball to dip toward the ground and continue rolling across the court without a bounce.

Fuyuki stilled for a split second to narrow her eyes at the approaching ball before widened as if she saw something in it. And she did. She saw right thought it as the beauty returned it before it touches the ground, which—from Fuji's experience—only a handful of players have succeeded in doing.

Her eyes seem to glow in contempt as she stared at him from across the court as if he was a complete stranger that she must destroy. The look was only there for a split second yet he still felt the chill.

When Fuji goes to return the ball, he is shocked to see it wasn't a normal shot. The ball had split upon hitting the ground. There were eight pieces of the ball all scattered around him. When Fuji realized this, he quickly took action and returned the first piece of the ball and went to return the others. Except, the moment his racket makes contact with the first piece, his strings break. Fuji could only stand there and gaze down at his broken strings as the other pieces of the ball fly past him.

"Vier Slice," She smiled. But it wasn't the warm and light ones she usually gave, it was malicious and cruel and mocking. "Unfortunately, we don't have a spare racket."

Fuji looked towards Yukimura and realized the Demi-God didn't bring his. The Tensai smiled closed-eyed, "Frei-chan, I didn't realize you were so good." He had never seen this side of her. She was always so sweet and gentle—at least to Ryoma's friends. Fuji had a suspicion that she may have a split personality.

"Thank you, Fuji-kun." she accepted the compliment but didn't continue the topic.

"Frei-chan," Yukimura grabbed her attention, "What was the black light before?"

'Black light?' Fuji wondered. The sadist didn't see any black light. Perhaps he was too focused on her form.

The beauty was taken back by the Demi-God's question. She hesitated for a split second, "It was the first gate."

"First gate?"

Fuyuki nodded, "Ja. The first gate of Jiko Hakai no Jotai, Yokubo no Choten.*" The dark energy that Yukimura was talking about suddenly engulfed Fuyuki's right side.

Fuji shivered. The dark energy felt so cold despite him being so far away from it. It was a horrible feeling. He felt helpless and disgusted. His mind was racing as he felt himself fall backward.

When he looked across the court, Fuyuki whimpered in pain as she was also falling. But before she could hit the floor, the Demi-God was already by her side. The last thing Fuji remembered was the cold flashing black energy that seemed to be devouring Fuyuki.

Snapping out of his sudden flashback, he looked towards the girl and examined her. She seems to be okay this time, despite using the black power again.

Unknown to Fuji, Yukimura was watching him from the corner of his eyes then Fuyuki. Seeing Fuji's glazed-over look, Yukimura concluded that he remembered. But- he looked back at the beauty. She had said it was the first gate to Jiko Hakai no Jotai, which now that he got a better look, looked very similar to Muga no Kyochi's first gate, Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami. Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami allows the user to concentrate all of the energy of Muga no Kyochi into different parts of their body, increasing the capabilities of that body part.

The only known difference Yukimura can see is Jiko Hakai no Jotai's light that surrounds the user was very dark while Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami had a bright light that warms the user. Yukimura was concerning how something changed—or perhaps came to the surface—when the match started.

To combine her Devil Mode—if one could call it that—with Jiko Hakai no Jotai to counter the destructive shot was impressive but dangerous.

And he wasn't the only one that thought that. Many others were also worried about the consequence. Devil Mode was considered dangerous because of the effect it had on the user after the match is over, and to add another alarming technique to it seemed unwise despite the power. It was almost as if the girl didn't care for her health as long as she could counter Smith.

Ryoma, who had been watching the beauty from the beginning, furrowed his brows with concern and dismay. Yuki, you opened that forbidden gate...

Haru clenched his fist from the sidelines. She was being reckless again. Those doors weren't meant to be unlocked for a reason and the butler worried greatly about the effects it had on Fuyuki's mind and body. He wanted to stop her but knew better. He always knew better than to stop her from doing what she wants; it wasn't her fault. Fuyuki was raised like that. To sacrifice anything for victory. It was heartbreaking because once again, he couldn't do anything for her.

"That's enough." Kurobe's voice cut everyone's thoughts and voices as he spoke through the speakers around them, "Fuyuki-chan, you know better than to have an unofficial match in this camp."

Hearing the coach's voice, Fuyuki's aura changed back to normal as if she gained some sort of awareness. Her eyes, hair, and skin returned to normal when she looked towards the closest camera. With an apologetic tone, she said, "Yuki is sorry, Yukio-san."

With the match coming to a stop, the girl approached the net for a handshake.

Fuyuki truly should have known better than to have a match without asking Kurobe's permission. But she was irritated because the foreigner acted as if he actually liked her. Fuyuki could see right through him.

That's right. There's no one that can truly like you.

Smith also approached the net with vibrant eyes.

"Good game." She held out her slim hand for a handshake, "!"

"You're amazing! Frei-chan!" she wasn't expecting the male to not only shake her hand but also pull her towards him and wrap his arms around her wrist over the net.

"Hey!"

Annoyed, Fuyuki pushed the older male away from her roughly. Why did they all feel it was okay to touch her so casually? She hated being touched. Especially by fakes like him.

A part of her called her a hypocrite.

Ryoma grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from the sulking foreigner.

Osakada was shocked at the sight; for Ryoma-sama to hold a girl's hand... She felt like she was in another universe where her Ryoma-sama was actually interested in girls rather than his aloof tennis-crazed self.

Ryuzaki had similar thoughts, but her chest also tightened as she continued to watch the Prince hold the beauty's hand.

"Onee-chan!" Toyama bounced towards Fuyuki and stared at her intensely. "Let's play a game!"

Oshitari Kenya sweatdropped. His tennis-obsessed teammate was truly one of a kind. Coach Kurobe just said unauthorized matches aren't allowed. But the male was taken back by the girl's talent; he thought the beauty probably would have laughed at him if he said he thought the mountain training was too dangerous for her that night.

Shiraishi sighed with a fond smile and pulled the childish male back by his shoulders. "Kin-chan, not today."

"Ehhh!" The freshman was displeased but didn't complain further when Shiraishi continued, "We can go inside and finish off dinner."

"Yatta!"

Fuyuki watched the simple-minded freshman and was tempted to laugh. She can't remember a time she was like that.

Liar.

"Sorry, Frei-chan." Shiraishi smiled at the girl sheepishly. He could finally look her in the eyes without imaging her half-naked form thanks to the powerful display of power she showed. Although, he wasn't sure how he felt about her dark side yet. It was clear as day that the girl was more than she lets on.

Fuyuki nodded in response, accepting the apology. Although it was unnecessary.

"Yuki," The girl turned to Ryoma with a questioning look, "Let's go." he held her hand in his and walked them back inside the building.

"Hehe,"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow, "What it is?"

"Ryo-chan is holding Yuki's hand."

". . ."

When the younger boy was about to let her hand go, she held it tighter and took the lead with a smile. "Yuki likes holding Ryo-chan's hand."

Maybe she is simple-minded like Toyama.

The others watched the pair but didn't say anything as they trailed behind them. There was so much to think about.

When most of the players returned to the dining hall, they weren't surprised to see the food was heated up for them.

Fuyuki took her seat again in the same spot and noticed how the gray-haired male was suddenly more interested in being in her personal space than before. She wasn't sure how such a person existed, if she was the one that got bested, she wouldn't be so calm. Nor interested in the person. The only interest she would have would be how to crush them.

Thankfully, he was here to pull the foreigner away from and ensure he sat between Smith and her. "Sorry, Frei-san." He smiled with that familiar look.

Fuyuki wanted to stay as far away from him as possible, but instead, she glanced at him, "It's fine. So long as Hiraoshi-kun controls him." Hiraoshi sounded wrong from her mouth.

With another gentle smile—he reserved that particular smile for politeness towards strangers—he returned to his food while Smith pouted beside Hiraoshi. Although the captain was surprised she knew his surname. 'Of course, she was the one that invited us.'

Seeing the somewhat distracted look in her eyes, Ryoma whispered, "Are you okay?"

Fuyuki softened and slumped against her step-cousin, "Yuki is sleepy."

Ryoma smirked, "Mada Mada Dane."

The beauty glared at him playfully, "Ryo-chan needs to be nicer to Yuki." she sulked, "Yuki is older than Ryo-chan." she flicked his forehead gently but the prodigy flinched in surprised the rubbed the spot with a growing smirk.

"Don't you agree Seiichi-kun?" Fuyuki turned towards Yukimura for support.

Most of the table turned to Rikkai Dai's captain. Since when did she start calling him Seiichi-kun?

Yukimura himself was surprised by the sudden question but nodded—more in surprise than anything else—to back up her claim, "You're right, Fuyuki-chan. We should respect our elders."

Fuyuki-chan?!

Fuyuki didn't like being called 'elder'; it made her sound old.

Ryoma frowned at the first-name calling, when did they become so close?

"Hoi hoi! How come Yukimura can use Frei-chan's first name, nya?!" Kikumaru interrupted the change between them. "You can call me Eiji, Frei-chan! Can I call you 'Fuyuki-chan'?"

"No."

It was Ryoma that answered before Fuyuki could.

"O'chibi!" Kikumaru complained.

On the other side of Seigaku's table, An was still watching the beauty when their eyes met. Her heartbeat picked up when the girl stood up while still holding their gaze and walked over to Fudomine's and Hyotei's joint table.

"Hello," she greeted gently, so different from the girl that was in the tennis court minuted ago.

"H-Hi," An was nervous but with a glance at her brother's reassuring smile calmed her down.

"Frei Fuyuki, nice to meet you." The girl held out her hand like An has been hoping for.

"Tachibana An!" An replied, less nervous and more excited now. The beauty was four years older than An so it made her somewhat overwhelmed, along with the fact that the girl was a celebrity. But it was also exhilarating knowing that she came over to An for an introduction.

"Tachibana-chan will be sharing Yuki's room with Ryuzaki-chan and Osakada-chan."

A part of An was disappointed that was the reason for her coming over but the far greater part was so ecstatic that she wanted to squeal. She really hopes it isn't a dream. "I see." It took all of An's willpower to not look like a fangirl. All sorts of images came to mind: Fuyuki and her laughing as they got to know each other, Fuyuki and her brushing their teeth together, Fuyuki and her folding their bedsheets together, Fuyuki and her having midnight snacks together. Never mind that Ryuzaki and Osakada will be there too.

"-our room?"

"Huh," it looked like she lost focus in the middle of the conversation. How embarrassing.

An was grateful when the beauty smiled at her kindly and repeated, "Shell we go see our room?"

"Ah! Yes!" An stood up quickly. Then looked at her brother and Fudomine members who were watching the two. "Nii-san, I will see you in the morning?"

Tachibana nodded and turned to Fuyuki with a smile, "Thank you for taking care of An."

Fuyuki nodded back, "Not a problem." She grabbed An's hand in hers—An fangirled on the inside—and the two were off.

The match between Smith and herself made Fuyuki snap out of it. Why should she continue to indulge these middle-schools if she gains nothing out of it?

At least Tachibana An will be of use to her.

Once the two girls left, Atobe looked at his tablemates, "Her tennis style was more... dark and violent than Ore-sama expected."

"And she looks to delicate..." Hiyoshi said with a sigh. Even if he had a crush on her, he couldn't deny that her whole persona changed when she held the racket.

Tachibana agreed with them both, "There was something off about her when she started playing tennis."

Once the returned players and freshmen visitors were settled into their new rooms, that's when the true discussions began.

"Hey, where did the losers train?" Kirihara asked his roommates with excitement in his voice. The Devil sat on his bed and look at Kaido with expectation.

"On top of a cliff." The snake-like male replied while folding his green bandana on his bed.

"I already heard about that!" Kirihara frowned but it didn't later him as he continued, "You didn't even have power, right? What'd you do at night?"

Kaido paused mid-fold and turned towards him, "We used torches."

"Torches?" he said in surprise, "Seriously?" his tone turned amused, "What is this, the Stone Age?" The male finally burst out laughing.

"Quiet, Kirihara." Hiyoshi said with closed eyes and a meditating pose on his bed. He had been trying to focus but his mind kept shifting towards the powerful female tennis player. He had initially thought she was his type but upon seeing her merciless eyes staring at Smith, he wanted to know why she was different.

"What's the problem?" The Devil asked, "I'm the only one who doesn't know!" he paused before questioning Hiyoshi now. "So what kind of secret training did you do? I heard it was life-threatening." the excitement was back in his tone.

"Secret training?" Hiyoshi opened one eye to look at him, "Who told you that?"

"Did you get chased by giant metal balls or anything like that?"

Hiyoshi sighed, "We were chased by eagles."

Kirihara stood up in anticipation, "Man-eating eagles?" he sounded a bit too excited for asking such a gruesome question.

"No." Both of Hiyoshi's eyes were open now, "We competed with the high schoolers to keep the eagles from popping balloons tied to our waists."

"Seriously?" Kirihara hopped on the bottom bunk bed to approach him, "You didn't lose to the high-schoolers, did you?"

"Of course not." Hiyoshi smirked arrogantly with a 'hmph', "We overthrew them."

"Ooh!" The Devil responded in amazement, "And, and, and... what else?" He wanted to know everything.

"All kinds of stuff," Hiyoshi answered vaguely, looking away from the seaweed-haired male.

"What kind of stuff? That's what I'm asking!" Kirihara persisted.

"Ask the others." He went back to closing his eyes to meditate.

"You're so cold..." Kirihara hung his head in disappointment, which put the snake-like male in his view, "Right Kaido?"

When Kaido didn't respond, the Devil frowned at him, "What, you too?"

Zaizen proceeded to ignore everything as he was busy skimming through a magazine containing a certain beauty with earbuds to help zone out his surroundings. The middle-schooler was clearly enjoying himself as he smiled while laying on his stomach with his legs swinging back and forth. There was a blush on his face, which—thankfully—none of his roommates noticed.

Outside the rooms, in the halls, Oshitari was talking to his room when he noticed Kuwahara watching in on a room.

'What is he doing?'

Oshitari narrowed his eyes, 'he's not looking into the girls' room, right?' With a glance at the room number, he relaxed. The girls' room was one to the left of the room Kuwahara was looking at.

Inside the room, Mukahi, Marui, and Jiro were all eating snacks while chatting. Kuwahara watched as Marui laughed at something they said. But then, he suddenly felt a gaze so he turned in time to see Oshitari staring at him.

Oshitari sweatdropped with a questioning look but Kuwahara calmly stood up and walked past the judging male.

"Zaizen! Hey, Zaizen!" Kirihara shouted.

"You're so noisy," the male finally pulled out the buds from his ears. "What do you want?" The blogger thought the Devil had horrible timing. He was about to see the last of Fuyuki's modeling picture on the next page when he was interrupted.

"You weren't here at first, right?" Kirihara was right in front of the male. "When did you join the camp?"

The laying middle-schooler looked at the ceiling lights in thought, "I met up with the losers on their way up the cliff and stuck with them." Then turned his attention back to Kirihara, "Me and Yuji-senpai both."

"Why?"

Zaizen shrugged with his eyes closed, "I don't know"

"You don't know?" Kirihara asked with a frown.

"The food here is not bad but still, I miss homemade food of my country." Krauser was writing in his desk while conversing with the only other English speaker.

"What's your favorite dish?" Ryoma, who was sitting on a chair next to him, asked while playing on his PSP. Despite his attention on the device, he was listening.

"Miso soup."

Ryoma lifted his head from the screen in confusion before smirking, "It's a Japanese dish."

"Hey, Koshimae." Toyama crawled on the ground while making his way over to them. "I can't understand a thing if you keep speaking in English," he complained.

"But I think miso soup here is a little strong." Krauser continued.

"Right." Ryoma's attention was back to his device in hand.

"Koshimae!" Toyama threw himself on his back while threshing his hands and legs in the air like a child throwing a tantrum, "I'm bored!" he shouted, "Bored, bored, bored!"

"So..." The younger Fuji brother watched the sight from his bed and decided to help out, "Toyama-kun, what do you like?"

Immediately, the childish male sat up and turned his attention to Fuji, "That'd be tennis and takoyaki."

"I see." the freshman smiled with his eyes closed in a helpless way. He was probably questioning the childish male's method of trying to gain Ryoma's attention.

"What about you?"

Fuji paused, "Well, of course, tennis and..." he trailed off and imaged Fuyuki playing against Smith. The younger Fuji quickly shook his head. They had all collectively—except Ryoma of course—agreed that they would not be talking about the beauty in front of the Prince. Until they learn their relationship at least.

"Yeah! Tennis is great!" Toyama cut in as he stood up in the excitement and clenched his fists in front of him to show how strongly he felt about the sport. "Okay, Nii-chan! Let's play a match right now!"

"Now? I don't know..." he looked uncertain.

"Let's play! Let's play!" The childish freshman whined, stomping with arms in the air.

"What? Um, I..." Fuji looked like he regretted ever asking.

"Now sounds good." Ryoma cut in as he started putting on his tennis attire. He had been on edge ever since he witnessed Fuyuki's tennis and this was the perfect chance to let loose. The prodigy had no idea she had progressed so much with the taboo technique since their last meeting in America.

"Nice idea." Krauser agreed.

"Why are you getting changed?" Fuji asked.

"We'll play, too." Ryoma responded as Krauser joined them, already changed, and with a white racket in hand.

"Night game."

"What?"

"Now it's getting interesting!" Toyama pumped his fist in the air and smiled widely, "Come on, nii-chan!" he looked at Fuji.

"Wh-What?"

'What's wrong with these three? They just do whatever they please...'

Toyama looked at Fuji with excitement in his eyes.

'Don't look at me with those glittering eyes.'

Fuji sighed with a slight smile, 'But, well...' he thought about a certain manager/captain of his twirling his hair, 'They're better than Mizuki-san's devious eyes. And.. her merciless gaze.'

Muga no Kyoch means State of Self Actualization in the anime. In the manga, they call it Selfless State.
Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami means Pinnacle of Hard Work. It's one of Muga no Kyochi's three doors.

Jiko Hakai no Jotai apparently translates to State of Self Destruction. It could also be called Selfish State.

Yokubo no Choten apparently translates to Pinnacle of Desire.

I did it again! This chapter is 4,500 words long Ｏ()Ｏ
Sooo, I made a dark version of Muga no Kyoch. Not really sure it was a good idea but we'll find out I guess. Also, if you guys watched the OVA or read the manga then you know how ridiculous the tennis moves get, like Kazuya's Black Hole. I know the point is to hype everyone up with impossible skill shots, but it's pretty unique. I tried not to over-exaggerate. Not sure if I succeeded but let me know your thoughts and who you want to see more of; there are so many characters.

If you guys ever want to buy me coffee or thank me in a special way, my buymecoffee link is on my profile (●'ω) The website takes anywhere from 2USD to 6USD, it's up to you how much you want to pay. It's not necessary but it is available :)