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 11: Know the Name

"So Ryoma, shall we begin?" Ichigo asked. After Echizen successfully transformed into a shinigami, the two of them followed the others into Urahara's underground training chamber. It took the two of them a while, but they finally found a spot far away from the other training pairs.

"Yes, Kurosaki-senpai," the freshman answered.

"Kurosaki-senpai?" The orange-haired boy wasn't used to being called senpai, and was about ask the freshman to just call him Ichigo, but Echizen misinterpreted him and spoke up first.

"Well, compared to Urahara-san and the others, you don't seem to have as much experience to be called Kurosaki-sensei," Echizen said bluntly. "Are you sure you can teach me how to fight?"

How uncute. Ichigo thought as he gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to grind his knuckles on the younger boy's skull. But he does have a point. What am I supposed to teach him? Ichigo asked himself. It was his first time teaching someone how to fight, and he wasn't sure where to begin. Suddenly, the substitute shinigami remembered his first time training with Urahara. That's it. "Ryoma, you want to learn how to fight hollows right?"

"Isn't that the reason why we're here?" The freshman answered sarcastically.

"Do you want to learn how to easily defeat any hollow you encounter?" Ichigo's asked.

"Yes," Echizen gulped when he saw his teacher's expression suddenly change. Ichigo looked much more serious now.

"Well then, I guess there's no other choice. You'll have to learn the name of your soul slayer," Ichigo said.

"Name?" Echizen wondered. "Our swords have a name? What does knowing the name of our soul slayer have to do with fighting hollows?"

"Calling out a soul slayer's name will release it into its true form. And once a soul slayer is released, its wielder's combat ability increases greatly," Ichigo answered. Echizen immediately remembered what Hitsugaya did to the hollow outside the hotel. "Now, draw your soul slayer," Ichigo continued. "I'm going to attack you, so you better be ready. I don't want to accidentally kill a kid like you."

"W-wait a minute, Kurosaki-senpai! How will I know-" Echizen was interrupted when Ichigo suddenly raised his huge soul slayer and swung it towards him, intentionally missing him and hitting the ground to his right instead.

"That's enough questions for now. It took me almost a day to find out the name of my soul slayer, but in your case it might take longer so we shouldn't waste any time," Ichigo said without even looking at Echizen. "Be careful, my next attack won't miss."

Is this guy serious? Echizen thought. Then without warning, Ichigo suddenly lifted his soul slayer and swung it horizontally towards the freshman. Echizen realized that it was too late to dodge, and instinctively drew out his own soul slayer to parry his mentor's attack Compared to Ichigo's Zangetsu, Echizen's soul slayer looked normal, with a blue hilt and a circular hand guard etched with curved lines from the center to the edge.

Fuji-senpai wasn't kidding when he said he felt so much stronger and faster as a shinigami. The freshman thought. If I had this much strength and speed while playing tennis, I could probably take the grand slam without breaking a sweat. Echizen jumped back to buy himself a little more time to organize his thoughts, but Ichigo was already upon him.

"Good. You consecutively blocked my attacks," Ichigo said as he and Echizen locked swords. "That means you've already adjusted to being in spiritual form. Now there's only one thing left for you to do." Echizen jumped back again, this time to avoid being crushed by Ichigo's brutish strength. "Attack me with everything you got," Ichigo said. "If you manage to put a single scratch on me, then our training is already finished."


"Wow, I never expected you to be a woman, Yoruichi-sensei," Kikumaru said. Back inside the store while he was transforming into a shinigami, Yoruichi managed to slip away to get some clothes and change back into human form.

"It's probably because of the way I talk," the Goddess of Flash answered as they reached one of the edges of the underground training chamber. "We're here."

"I'm all set to begin," Kikumaru said enthusiastically.

"You're really into this aren't you?" Yoruichi asked the excited senior. "Are you really that eager to learn how to fight hollows?"

"No, I just want to do really well in our training so you can teach me how to turn into a cat," Kikumaru answered truthfully.

"Well, I can't see anything wrong with that," Yoruichi sweatdropped. "But before we begin, I must tell you that my training method is very different from the others. Most of them will probably teach your teammates how to release their soul slayers, but I will teach you fighting methods that will allow you to defend yourself without needing to use a soul slayer."

"Without needing to use my soul slayer?" Kikumaru drew his blade that was sheathed horizontally on his lower back and stared at it for a few seconds. It was short like a kodachi and had an orange hilt and a rectangular handguard with two 'I' characters etched on it. "How am I going to fight without a weapon? Will you teach me how to use the kido-thing Kuchiki-san told us about?"

"Not just kido, but more importantly, I'll teach you how to fight using hakuda and hoho," Yoruichi said. "Now, for the first part of our training, we'll be running around the perimeter of this training area."

"Running?" The last thing Kikumaru expected from Yoruichi's special training would be running. Besides, ever since Tezuka returned to the tennis club after recovering from his injury, they had already ran enough laps to last them until college.

"Yes, you heard me right," Yoruichi replied. "But it's not the kind of running exercise you're expecting. I'm going to teach you the basics of shunpo."

"Shunpo," Kikumaru wondered.

"Let me put it this way, I could easily cover the entire perimeter of this training area in a single flash step. But for a beginner like you, you could probably do it in seven to ten flash steps," Yoruichi explained.

"That's so cool!" Kikumaru said excitedly. "Let's start the training already!"

He's got the right attitude, that's for sure. Yoruichi thought.


"Damn," Echizen cursed under his breath. He couldn't tell the time accurately inside the training chamber, but he has been trying to hit Ichigo for half a day already. But no matter how hard he tried or how often he changed his attack patterns, the orange-haired shinigami always managed to dodge or parry his blows.

His movement speed and reaction time are improving, and his attacks are starting to get stronger. Ichigo thought. But his spiritual force isn't increasing at all. Sure he's got resolve, but maybe it's not enough. That's probably why Urahara…

Maybe I should try a feint to his left, Echizen thought as he thrust his sword towards Ichigo's chest, expecting his trainer to block it easily. But to his surprise, the orange-haired shinigami didn't move at all. Echizen felt the tip of his sword touch Ichigo's skin, but instead of cutting it, his soul slayer just slipped towards Ichigo's right shoulder. I didn't even scratch him. Echizen was so surprised that he lost his balance and fell face first on the floor.

"So is this all you've got?" Ichigo taunted the fallen shinigami. "Geez, and I thought you guys would be strong because you got shinigami powers from my reiatsu. Or maybe I'm just unlucky and got the weakest one."

"I'm not done yet," Echizen said as he struggled to get up.

"That's good to hear," Ichigo said, though he didn't sound the slightest bit relieved. "But now you know that I can't be cut easily, so I'll have to make things a little more difficult." Ichigo raised his soul slayer and pointed it at the freshman. "Once I stop talking, I'm going to start attacking you, so you better get ready." Then after a short pause, Ichigo suddenly dashed towards Echizen who barely managed to block his teacher's sword. Ichigo twisted his soul slayer a little, and scratched Echizen's right shoulder as he drew his sword back.

This guy, he was holding back the entire time, Echizen thought. His right shoulder twitched a little, but the pain on it was minimal. He's much faster and stronger than when I was attacking him. If this keeps up, I could get seriously injured.

I thought that I would be a kinder teacher than Urahara, Ichigo thought as he prepared for another attack. But it seems like pushing him to his limits is the only way for him to learn his soul slayer's name. I can avoid accidentally killing him, but I can't do anything about the pain his wounds are going to cause him.


"Are you even trying?" Renji asked Kaidoh who was struggling to stand up after being knocked down during their sparring. The second year's robes were cut up in different places, and some holes revealed shallow wounds on his body. The black bandana on his head was a little loose and he adjusted it as Renji continued to lecture him. "You won't stand a chance against higher level hollows if you can't even land a single hit on me."

Kaidoh replied with an angry hiss. I've already tried everything dammit! This guy just doesn't leave an opening. Besides, what kind of instructor injures his students during training? The second year thought. His soul slayer was similar to the one Renji had, except for the green hilt and the chain design on the diamond-shaped hand guard, so the only reason he could think of why he couldn't hit Renji was the difference in their combat experience. Kaidoh readied himself and was about to try a different attack pattern when he saw Momoshiro and Matsumoto walking at a distance.

"Oi, mamushi!" Momoshiro yelled when he spotted Kaidoh looking at their direction. "Rangiku-san and I are going to take a break! She said that at the rate I'm improving, I'm going to be stronger than her in no time! I'm-" But before Momoshiro could say more, Matsumoto managed to jam her knuckle into the loud boy's mouth.

"Where the hell are you looking?" Renji moved in for a surprise attack, but ended up being the one surprised when Kaidoh parried his sword effortlessly. The shinigami lieutenant moved back a little from the initial surprise and during that small amount of time, Kaidoh managed to switch to the offensive and Renji found himself being pushed back. What's with this guy? The red-haired shinigami thought as he blocked the second year's continuous attacks. His movements are completely different from before. Even though my reiatsu is limited in the real world, for an inexperienced shinigami like him to put me on the defensive is quite an achievement. And what's this strange aura I'm feeling? By the time Renij realized it, a rip in the human world appeared behind Kaidoh and second year suddenly disappeared.

"Don't underestimate Kaidoh Kaoru!" Kaidoh shouted as he reappeared behind his trainer, and delivered a small cut on Renji's lower back.

"I was starting to wonder when you'd get motivated," Renji said as he turned around, smiling even though he was just wounded. "I was a little surprised by your strange power, but it won't work on me again. Come and attack me like you did a while ago. It's time for me to get serious too."


All the curses Echizen knew failed to describe how he felt several hours after Ichigo started to hit him back. Being unable to cut his target and unable to avoid being cut, pretty much summed up the freshman's frustration during the second half of their training. He couldn't even stand up straight from all the wounds he received from his supposed trainer.

"You can't go on fighting like that," Ichigo said to the struggling freshman. "If you want, we could take a break and I can call Inoue to heal you while we're eating. We can still have about a day to train afterwards."

It's just like when dad played against me seriously for the first time, Echizen thought bitterly. I can't let it end like this. I just can't.

"Kurosaki-senpai, I want to continue," Echizen said after a few moments of silence.

"But at this rate, you'll pass out and we'll lose even more time," Ichigo argued.

"Don't worry Kurosaki-senpai, that won't happen," Echizen grasped his soul slayer with both hands and raised its blade to his eye level. A bright blue aura surrounded the freshman as he slowly regained the strength to stand straight. "Embrace your enemies, Fubukihime!"


Notes: First of all, Kaidoh's ability allows him to 'teleport' by passing through hueco mundo as a kind of shortcut. (And no, I didn't copy it from Nova in the Bleach anime. Heck, I don't even understand how his power works.) Second, Fubukihime translates to "Snow Storm Princess." Third, the training scenes that were not included in this chapter will be shown as flashbacks during battles in later chapters, so please be patient. Last but not the least, please review after reading. And if you know anyone who loves Bleach and Prince of Tennis, please tell them about my story.