Title: Princes of Death: A High-spirited Saga

Author: chibi-kyuubi

Genre: Action/Adventure/General

Rating: K+

Summary: Prince of Tennis and Bleach crossover. The Seigaku regulars go to Karakura Town for an exhibition match, but end up getting influenced by Ichigo's reiatsu. Will they be able to master their newfound powers before it is too late to save Tokyo City from being turned into a base of operations by Aizen's minions?

Disclaimer: I neither own Bleach nor Prince of Tennis.


Chapter 9: Urahara Answers

Ururu escorted the nine boys into a spacious room near the back of the store, or what they thought was at the back of the store. They walked so far from the entrance that they should have been on the adjacent lot already. Urahara was waiting for them by the doorway, and asked his guests to sit around the table at the center of the room where Ichigo and Rukia were also seated. The regulars felt a little and sat quietly. Kaidoh positioned himself so that he was close to the black cat sitting at the corner of the room. A strange tall man came in immediately and served them tea.

"Nice to see you again, Fuji-kun, Kawamura-kun. And to everyone else, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Urahara Kisuke and I own this little store here. These are two of my colleagues, Kurosaki Ichigo-kun, and Kuchiki Rukia-san." Urahara said before he joined them on the table. He sipped some tea from his own cup and Rukia followed suit. Urahara noticed the tension of the nine students and smiled in amusement. "Please, make yourselves at home. It seems like we have a lot to discuss and it would be most unfortunate if you spent the entire time being uncomfortable like that." When his guests started to ease a little, Urahara continued. "I assume you're here to ask some questions."

Tezuka nodded towards Inui and the team's dataman opened his notebook. "Based on what Fuji and Kawamura told us, we think that you might have an idea on what's going on. I have already prepared some questions, I hope you don't mind if we to go through them one by one. Question one: These things that we've started seeing, what are they really?"

"I think Kuchiki-san over here could explain that better than I," Urahara said humbly.

Rukia nodded and took out her handy-dandy illustration pad. In her 'nice and friendly' tone, she explained to the Seigaku regulars the basics of afterlife and the role that shinigami play in it. Echizen was about to comment that her drawings didn't suit her explanation at all, but Ichigo already beat him to it.

"You know Rukia, you're confusing them even more with those drawings," the orange-haired boy said.

"Shut up Ichigo! You just don't know how to appreciate others' efforts," Rukia shouted as she threw her cup at the boy, leaving a large hump on his head where it hit. "My drawings are very helpful aren't they?" Her voice suddenly returned to being 'nice and friendly' when she asked the regulars, who nodded in fear rather than agreement.


"Thank you Kuchiki-san," Urahara said after the female shinigami finished her lecture.

"Pluses, Hollows, Shinigamis. That's a lot to take in all at once," Momoshiro commented.

"But you see them, don't you? Unlike you guys, I grew up with the ability to see spirits. It took me some time to realize what they were, but I'm sure you'll get used to them eventually." Ichigo said. "But since it was Rukia who explained it, I don't blame you for your doubts. I think I even had nightmares when I first saw her drawings." Ichigo managed to dodge Rukia's handy-dandy illustration pad but not her punch that followed afterwards.

Urahara was glad that Ichigo's teasing of Rukia eased the boys a little, and thought that it would be a good time to continue their conversation. "Your next question please."

"Question two," Inui turned his notebook a few pages back. He had already taken ten pages of notes just from Rukia's explanation. "We were only able to see spirits since last night. Do you know what happened to us yesterday that made us suddenly see them?"

"Do you remember what happened yesterday at the park?" Urahara asked back.

"Yes," Inui answered for their team. "We were warming up for our exhibition matches at the afternoon when we heard explosions. We tried to avoid the commotion by going to an open area, but one explosion occurred directly above us. We lost consciousness afterwards and woke up in the hospital."

"And what do you think is the cause of those explosions?" Urahara asked.

"We suspect them to be the work of terrorists," Inui answered.

"That's what people who can't see spirits think," Urahara shrugged. "But they never find any evidence of an explosive device on the scene of the explosions, don't they?"

"So you're saying that those explosions at the park were caused by a spiritual entity?" Inui thought that it was the only possible conclusion.

"Correct," Urahara was pleased with Inui's quick thinking, "a very powerful hollow to be more precise. It was about to kill, or should I say disintegrate you guys, but Kurosaki-kun here managed to save you. He might not look like it but he's a powerful shinigami."

Ichigo glared at Urahara before he looked away from the table, expecting words like 'thank you' or 'I owe you my life,' from the Seigaku players. The boys completely ignored him though, because they were still busy processing everything that Rukia and Urahara had just told them.

"And then you found us and called the hospital?" Inui asked Urahara.

"Not immediately after," Urahara answered. "Kuchiki-san was also there when it happened, and was worried so she called me to watch over you."

"But what does that have to do with being able to see spirits?" Inui asked.

"A lot actually," Urahara looked at Kawamura and Fuji before he continued. "You see, there are several ways for a normal human to become a shinigami." Urahara glanced at Rukia and continued, "The most common method is to receive shinigami powers directly from another shinigami." Urahara looked over at Ichigo. "Some however, gain shinigami powers by overcoming their transformation into a hollow." He looked back at the regulars again. "Now, there are rare cases when a human bypasses hollow transformation and gains shinigami powers by being exposed to a large amount of hollow and shinigami reiatsu at the same exact moment. The concept behind it is hard to explain, but it is like a combination of the first two methods I mentioned."

"And we became shinigami because of that," Inui put together everything Urahara told them so far.

"Yes," Urahara continued. "In order to stop the devastating attack of the hollow, Kurosaki-kun had to exert the same amount reiatsu counter it. Your group was standing right in the middle of their swirling energies and got affected by them."

"Now I remember," Echizen suddenly said. "I think I saw an orange-haired shinigami like him before I passed out."

"Me too," Kaidoh added.

"Being able to see a shinigami means that you have strong spiritual power or you're already a spirit." Rukia explained.

"That leads us to Question three," Inui said afterwards. "You said that we're being targeted by hollows because of our spiritual power. What can we do to avoid being attacked by hollows? Can we reverse the process and become normal humans again?"

"There are very few documents in the archives of Soul Society that discuss the process that gave you shinigami powers, and none of them mentioned anything about reversing its effects. I'm not even sure if it's permanent," Urahara said. "But if avoiding hollows is your only concern, with some practice you can mask your spiritual force to avoid being detected by spiritual entities." Urahara suddenly looked serious. "However, some hollows cannot be fooled that easily. These high-level hollows are very dangerous not because of their strength, but because of their intelligence and cunning. If one of them ever catches your scent, running away or hiding would not be of any use."

"Then what do you suggest that we do?" Oishi blurted out. He couldn't keep quiet anymore now that they're discussing the team's safety.

"You're going to stay at our town for two more days am I correct?" Urahara said.

"How did you know?" Oishi was surprised that a stranger knew so much about them.

"Kuchiki-san did ask for my services," Urahara said calmly. "And when she told me to watch over you, I assumed she meant complete surveillance, so I had your phone calls tapped and your backgrounds checked. It's not my habit to disappoint customers, you know." Oishi was about to say something about privacy but Urahara ignored him and continued. "But that's not the point. What I was about to suggest was that you undergo a little training here to learn the ways of a shinigami and to learn how to use your special powers."

"Special powers?" Inui asked.

"Oh, I must have forgotten to tell you," Urahara covered his mouth with a fan and pretended to be embarrassed. "As I said a while ago, it is rare to find documents about the process that gave you shinigami powers. But rarer still, are accounts of people who have gained shinigami powers in the same way as you did. It's not that Soul Society didn't know of their existence, mind you. It was because none of them were actually worth writing about in the first place. The strongest one didn't even match up to a lieutenant rank shinigami." Urahara took a deep breath before he continued. "However, the ones whom I found records of were of special interest to Soul Society because they developed powers that normal shinigami didn't have. Powers that resembled hollow abilities more than anything else."

"What kind of special powers?" Oishi asked.

"Like the one you have Oishi-kun," Urahara said as he looked towards the vice-captain. "Do you remember yesterday when you sensed that Kawamura-kun and Fuji-kun were in danger and pinpointed their exact location?"

"Yeah, but it's not like I willed to know where they were," Oishi said. "I just followed this feeling I had."

"Exactly," Urahara snapped his fan. "The hollow reiatsu that you absorbed familiarized your spiritual senses with hollow energy patterns, allowing you to detect their presence to the centimeter at a range of ten kilometers. It's comparatively, a well-documented ability of shinigami like you. With some training, you can learn to activate and deactivate it at will and use it to detect other spiritual entities as well."

"That's so cool, Oishi!" Kikumaru said excitedly as he slung an arm around his doubles partner.

"Momoshiro-kun has showed signs of his hollow-granted ability too," Urahara said as he looked at the confused second year. Momoshiro had no idea what the merchant was talking about because he didn't feel anything different in him, aside from being able to see spirit of course.

"You mean his monstrous appetite? I'm afraid he's always been like that," Kikumaru said followed by snickers from himself and Echizen.

"Or maybe you mean his extraordinary ability to irritate people," Kaidoh said sarcastically, ignoring Momoshiro's death glare.

"Something similar to that, Kaidoh-kun," Urahara said. Kaidoh and Momoshiro stared at Urahara quizzically, waiting for him to continue. "One of the problems I had while observing you was that someone in your group was subconsciously confusing my spiritual senses. At first I had no idea who it was, but when your group got separated at the hospital, only Momoshiro-kun's, Kaidoh-kun's, and Echizen-kun's reiatsu were being jammed. I confirmed who it was last night when the spirit sensors I placed in your hotel rooms started working when Momoshiro-kun fell asleep."

"But how did you know I fell asleep at that time?" Momoshiro asked.

"Of course I placed hidden cameras in your rooms as well," Urahara laughed sadistically behind his fan when he saw the regulars shift uncomfortably.

"But how about the others? Do you know what special powers they have?" Oishi asked.

"Based on what I have read, some of the hollow-like powers could only be used when the person is in spiritual form. It also appears that some only learned how to use their special powers after receiving certain stimuli, like seeing a hollow use a similar ability first," Urahara answered. "I'm pretty sure that most of you will learn to use your special powers if you train here. So, what do you say?"

Tezuka knew what his answer was, but he wanted to make sure if everyone had the same opinion. He looked at each his teammates: Kaidoh made an acknowledging hiss; Inui adjusted his glasses, a sign that finds the prospect interesting; and the others nodded in agreement.

"Before I agree with your proposition, I would like to ask one thing," Tezuka finally spoke up. "Why are you so willing to help us? Do you want something from us?"

"Well, aside from all the exclusive data I could get from your training, it was actually a direct request from Kurosaki-kun and Kuchiki-san. I still owe them much from the trouble I caused some time back so I couldn't refuse." Urahara answered truthfully. "They didn't want me to tell you this, but they feel responsible for involving you in our spiritual business." But before Urahara could continue, Ichigo and Rukia managed to jump him and cover his mouth.

"But if you didn't protect us with your reiatsu, we would have been killed by the hollow," Oishi said. "Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san, even though we're complete strangers, you have done so much for us. Thank you." Oishi bowed low and the other regulars imitated him.

"Ah, it was nothing, really. If you ended up getting killed by a hollow afterwards, then saving you that time would have been useless," Ichigo looked away and rubbed the back of his head. "Besides, someone did the same thing to me before. That person broke the rules of Soul Society and became a fugitive just to save me and my family, who were also strangers to her. I'm just trying to do the same thing."

"Ichigo…" Rukia realized that she was blushing, and immediately let go of Urahara to hide her pink face from the orange-haired boy.

"Now that you know our reasons, what is your team's decision, Tezuka-kun?" Urahara asked.

"We would happy to accept your offer," Tezuka answered.

"Excellent," Urahara stood up and slid open the door behind him. Behind the paper door stood Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Yumichika, Ikkaku, and Renji, already in shinigami form. The five of them had been inside that room the entire time listening to Urahara and the regulars' conversation. "Now I'd like to introduce you to the people who are going to help me in your training."


Notes: I split this chapter into two because the original was very long, and I wanted a little consistency in terms of chapter length. If there are any plot holes in this chapter, the next one will probably cover them. Please review after reading. I really appreciate reviews, no matter how short or long they are.