Crossing

Summery: After witnessing a murder, Ryoma is put under a false identity to ensure his safety. What better way to do it than to make him a 'her'?

Disclaimer: I don't own PoT/TnO, so don't sue

Warning: Boy Love/Shonen Ai/Yaoi/Whatever you want to call it, cross dressing, death (not main characters), minor OCs, light violence, and Language (not sure if I'm missing anything)

Pairing: Fuji/Ryoma

"…Talking in English…"

"…Talking in Japanese…"

'…Thoughts…'

-----Chapter Two: Reason-----

The sirens echoed in the humid night air, red lights flashing on and off, waking those who were once in the abyss of unconsciousness. Men and women in uniforms combed the area with flashlights and snarling dogs on leashes, looking for any type of clues that would aid their work.

A dark haired boy with strange golden cat eyes stood off to the side, a Himalayan cat held dearly in his arms. An officer stood in front of him, asking him questions that he was too shaken to answer, her expression bland.

"Echizen… Ryoma?" she asked patiently, eyes kind for the trembling boy, a small note pad held in her left hand with a pen position to write as soon as he spoke.

The boy nodded in reply, eyes glued to the wet ground beneath his feet. The cat in his arms stared up at the woman with intelligent eyes, meowing in dislike for the one who was causing discomfort to her human.

"Why were you here so late at night, Ryoma-kun?" She opted to use the more intimate part of his name, hoping to put him in ease.

Ryoma finally looked up, and answered in a shaky voice, "Karupin…" He raised his arms slightly to indicate that he was talking about his cat, "She ran away because Oyaji scared her, so I came out to find her." His voice steadied as each word traveled out of his mouth. His usual attitude slowly shadowed the shock of the night.

A few moments passed as the officer wrote down his answer.

"You were the one who called the police, right?" at his nod, she continued "was it a public phone?"

Another tilt of the head in a curt nod. He was getting quite tired, and wanted to go home to sleep. He still had morning practice tomorrow. Tezuka-Buchou would make him run more laps if he was late … again.

Apparently the fact that he witnessed a murder didn't seem to register in his mind. Tennis weighing more heavily on his mind than something that might endanger his life. Not that he realized the implications at the moment, sleep-clouded mind not functioning properly.

She noted the tiredness etched into the boy's face, and the glazed look in his eyes. "Let's go to the station, we'll continue there." Ryoma gave no outward reaction, already half asleep where he stood.

The officer took his right hand gently, his left still cradling Karupin, and led him to her car. He got into the passenger's seat and promptly fell asleep. He was unaware of when they had reached the station, much less how he managed to make his way into one of the rooms on the second floor.

There, they asked more and more questions until it all seemed like a jumbo of words, and he began to slur his answers together in exhaustion. When the police was finally satisfied, they let him out the room, but strictly forbade him to exit the station.

"Ryoma!" His mother enveloped him in a fierce hug the moment he was let out of the interrogation room. He swayed in her arms, fatigue wearing on him.

The lady officer from before walked out with him, and stood quietly to the side as the family had a moment of recounting. Then she coughed gently to make aware her presence, and waited expectantly for the four to turn to her.

"I'm sorry to say that Ryoma-kun can't be let out yet. Apparently, the ones he saw were from a world-wide crime organization that the FBI has been chasing after for quite a while. From what Ryoma-kun told us, they know his appearance, and thus can find him quite easily." She paused a moment to let the news sink in, then continued in the same flat tone. "We're now waiting for the FBI representatives to get here with plans and protections for Ryoma-kun and you, his family."

"No need to wait, we're here." Through the glass doors strode in two men in dark casual wear. If you looked closer, you would see the slight buldging beneath their sweaters that indicated bullet-proof vests; and the slight revelation of dark leather buckled to their belt, a part of a .45 protruding from the cover.

-----

"This is for your own safety! You can't just refuse, you're in danger!" One of the FBI agents exclaimed irritably, hands on the table before him, pressed so hard that that the tip of his fingers turned white.

"Yadda." Ryoma repeated stubbornly, arms across his chest and eyes defiant.

"Damned brat doesn't understand his position-" The man slipped back into his native tongue through his anger, and didn't realize that everyone in the room understood him.

Ahem. Rinko cleared her throat sternly, glaring at the man for calling her son names. "I would appreciate it if you do not use such language. There are children here."

The two men blinked in surprise, and then blushed in embarrassment. This seemed to calm the first man, and he sat down sheepishly.

"I don't care. I refuse to go to America. The Nationals is coming up, and I'm not giving up the last chance I have of playing with my team." Ryoma continued, undaunted by the insult, his golden eyes glinted in triumph, "I know you can't make me."

The man took a deep breath, urging himself not to strangle the brat in front of him. He calmly –as calmly as he could manage- bit out, "Look kid, you're the only one alive out of those who have witness their crime. We're close to gathering all the evidence against them, all we need is a witness. If you get killed before we can finish, then all we've done will go down the drain. I'm certain you don't want to die either."

There was a note of plea in his voice, but Ryoma was intent on getting his way and wasn't planning to back down anytime soon.

"Yadda." He repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. Before the man could blow up again, he continued his train of thoughts. "Unless…" He let it hang for a moment, just to see the man's expression, "you find a way to conceal me that doesn't require me to move away from Seigaku."

All the muscles in the man tightened briefly, before a look of grim satisfaction settled in his eyes. "Alright then, kid. I have the perfect way. For now, go to this address with your family. We have escorts for you." He gave them a piece of paper with the address on, and walked out the door without a second glance.

Ryoma was too busy gloating in his victory to notice that the man's partner seemed worried. He would come to regret his decision very soon.

Thank you everyone for supporting this story!

Hopefully, the next chapter would come out a little faster than this one did.

R&R Please!