Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, Prince of Tennis or any of its characters.
New Beginnings
[21] Beyond Imagination
"That sounds like some sort of survival training," Kagome said, staring at her cousin in disbelief.
He stared back.
"Your captain does realize that you guys are... tennis players, right?"
"It's for endurance and stamina," Ryoma elaborated. "The monkey king has a cabin in the mountains and buchou says training in the mountains is good." Something about difference in oxygen levels, if Ryoma remembered correctly. He had stopped listening after Inui took over and began explaining the details. As if he cared about the chemicals in the air and their reaction with the human respiratory system. Or the names of the cells responsible for converting the energy taken in by the human body into usable energy.
Kagome rolled her eyes, "You guys seriously do nothing but eat, breathe, and live tennis... Don't you have anything better to do?"
It was Ryoma's turn to stare at her, mirroring her earlier stare of disbelief.
"Like video games," Kagome tried. "Souta loves video games. Or maybe girls, aren't you interested in any girls?" She knew that her cousin was more than a little popular in their high school. Apparently being raised in America made him quiet exotic.
He didn't answer.
"I mean," she continued. "You're still going through puberty, aren't you?"
"Puberty," he repeated, his tone flat.
Kagome narrowed her eyes. "You do know what that is, right?" Did he fall asleep during health class? She wouldn't be surprise if he had. He had already told her how he had no trouble falling asleep in English; she wished she could say the same.
"Che." Ryoma turned his face away, eyebrows scrunching upwards in annoyance. "Of course I do. I went through a stupid three-inch growth spurt and it took me weeks to correct my reach. I almost lost a match." To make matters worst, it was a mock-match against Sanada; his eyes narrowed at the memory. At least it wasn't Atobe.
The young priestess opened and closed her mouth, repeating the gesture a couple of times, speechless. She knew that her uncle was a famous tennis player and had gotten Ryoma just as obsess with the sport as he was. Hell, he had even attempted to do the same with Kagome, but as a young girl—and even now, unfortunately—she had been much too clumsy to enjoy a game. "That's really not what I meant," she finally mumbled. "How long will you guys be mountain training, anyway?"
"Rest of the week," he replied. "We had special permission from the school."
Apparent tennis wasn't only important to the tennis players, she had almost forgotten that Seishun Academy took pride in having one of the best tennis teams in the high school circle. "Well, have fun, I guess. Work hard! Do you need help packing?"
Ryoma shrugged, "Already did."
Not convinced, Kagome graced her cousin with her infamous flat stare. "Don't tell me you only packed a change of clothes, tennis balls and your tennis racket."
"Well," he responded. "I can't very well bring Karupin with me."
Kagome stared at her cousin but she couldn't tell whether Ryoma was being serious or not. Knowing her cousin, it could go either way. "Of Ryoma," she breathed, remembering her trips to the Federal Era, "you have so much to learn."
Momoshiro took one glance at Ryoma, fell over laughing and couldn't stop even when Tezuka turned a death glare in his direction. "Yo, Echizen!" he managed to wheeze out between breaths. "You do know that you don't actually need that many things, right?"
Ryoma glared. "Kagome made me take it," he grumbled. He looked as if his back was going to give out. The backpack Kagome had packed him was about twice his own height. He didn't even know it was possible for his backpack to expand to its current size. Ryoma could only hope that it wouldn't burst open in the middle of the trip.
"I will pay," Atobe commented with a flick of his hair, "just to see you hike up the mountain carrying that."
The young tennis prodigy's glare intensified. "It's good for training."
"I'm sure it is," Atobe sneered.
"What's in it anyway, nya?" Kikumaru asked, giving the backpack a tentative poke. Usually, he would open the pack right then and there to check its contents but he had a rather horrifying vision of everything bursting out and burying him if he did so.
Ryoma shrugged, his shoulders cracking loudly as he did so. He winched. "I don't know. Food, maybe. Or a map." My entire house.
"A map," Atobe said, scoffing at the mere idea. "Please. Who does she think I am? My regulars are already waiting in my cabin for my magnificent presence. With me leading this group of..." he eyed the Seigaku regulars with a slight sneer, "...misfits, we're absolutely not going to get lost. As if I need a map."
They were lost.
Ryoma was pretty sure that they've been lost for the past half an hour but Atobe was too proud to admit it until just a few seconds ago. He gritted his teeth, feeling the urge to dump his more than a little heavy backpack onto the ever annoying tennis captain. He would have too, if he wasn't so afraid of cracking every last bone in Atobe's body and getting sued.
"Did anyone bring a phone?" Oishi asked, worriedly.
Inui shook his head. "It wouldn't be much help even if someone did bring one. We're not going to get signal this far up a mountain."
"Did you peasants know that if you're with me you have a less chance of getting signal?" Atobe asked, completely and utterly unconcerned about their current situation. "They flee due to my great beauty."
Ryoma found himself contemplating murder. As if it wasn't bad enough that he had to carry Kagome's "survival backpack" as she had called it... He paused, blinking and gave his pack a side-glance. He didn't actually think she packed a map and even if she had, it wouldn't have mapped the mountain's non-existent routes and Atobe's stupid cabin but there must be something else in there that could be of use. He reached behind him, unzipped on of the side pockets and rummaged around for a few seconds. He managed to pull out pens and pencils, a notepad, his cellphone—which, as Inui had predicted, wasn't receiving any signal—a small bottle of lotion and pepper spray. He huffed, utterly useless.
"We should go northeastward," Tezuka said softly. "It might take a while but we're bound to meet up with a river and if we follow it upstream, we'll end up at the cabin."
"Ah," Atobe breathed. "That's right, my cabin is next to a river, isn't it?"
Oishi fretted. "Wait, what makes you think we haven't already passed it?"
Tezuka checked his watch. "I have been there before. The shadows of the trees are at too steep of an angle at this time of the day."
At his words, more than one person turned and stared at Tezuka. Ryoma was pretty sure only Inui knew what Tezuka was talking about.
And so, with no better plan, they did as Tezuka said. Ryoma wasn't even sure how the captain knew if they were going in the right direction but at least they were doing something instead of just wandering around pretending everything was fine. A couple hours of rocks, roots and everything else that was making the hike harder than it should be, Ryoma was pretty sure they were even more lost now than ever before even if they had found the river that Tezuka mentioned and were currently following up the stream.
"I think we should camp out for tonight," Fuji said quietly. "It's too dark to see and it's dangerous walking up the mountain at night."
Tezuka pursed his lips. "I had wanted to reach the cabin today but I guess that is the best choice."
"Oh thank god," Momoshiro said with an exaggerated groan as he dropped his backpack. "I thought I was going to die."
"Speak for yourself," Ryoma huffed.
"Ne, Ochibi, you do know that you could have always abandoned your backpack, right?"
Ryoma glared at his red-haired senpai. "Kagome will find out and she will kill me."
"Higurashi-san is too kind to do that," Momoshiro protested.
Tezuka and Ryoma exchanged glances. They knew his cousin; not only did she have a temper, she also has the ability to fight to back it up.
"Please tell me she at least packed some food," Momoshiro moaned, already ate all his snacks. "I'm so hungry right now." As if to emphasized his words, his stomach growled and was joined in seconds later by more than one person. They all then directed their gaze towards Ryoma's backpack in anticipation.
Ryoma frowned but reached over to unzip the main compartment of his backpack. He stared, blinked and then a slow grin spread across his lips. Sending a quick prayer of thanks to his extremely thoughtful cousin, Ryoma pulled the sleeping bag and a portable tent from his backpack, practically hearing the mouths of his teammates and that monkey king dropping open behind him. His lovely cousin, much to his delight, was also thoughtful enough to to pack a first aid kit—even if he was sure Oishi-senpai already had that covered—an umbrella, blankets, matches, a pot, a pillow, and much to Momoshiro's delight, cupped noodles.
"Yes!" he cried. "Echizen! You have got to share!"
"Only the food," Ryoma responded with a glare. "You're staying away from the sleeping bag and the tent." It was bad enough that they were going to camp out for the night, he didn't need itchy bug bites that were only going to distract him later.
Too hungry to care, Momoshiro nodded eagerly. Later, he'll argue with Echizen, saying that as a senpai, the sleeping bag should go to him but right now, food was the most important thing.
"Higurashi-san sure is thorough," Oishi murmured, gratefully.
"And to think we made fun of ochibi when he first brought his backpack!" Kikumaru said.
Tezuka gave the pile of necessities a look over before turning around to face his companions. "Kikumaru, go get water for the pot. Fuji, Oishi and Inui, gather stones and start setting up an area for the fire. Momoshiro and Kaido, gather firewood and Atobe and Echizen, clear an area so we may camp out for out for tonight.
Everyone set off at once, except for Atobe who gave a strangled gasp. "Manual labor? Me?"
Tezuka glared. "Atobe."
Atobe stared at Tezuka for a moment but it was clear that Tezuka wasn't going to change his mind. With a huff, Atobe slunk away, growling unsavory things under his breath. With one brat out of the way, Tezuka turned towards Ryoma, eyeing him with raised eyebrows.
"I brought the backpack," Ryoma said, lifting his nose and glaring, challenging the older man to deny that just bringing the backpack wasn't a task in itself.
Tezuka huffed but turned away, following Atobe.
Smirking, Ryoma leaned back against his backpack, watching his teammates and the stupid monkey king scurrying around in order to complete the task they have been assigned. "Wake me up when the food's ready," Ryoma said, closing his eyes. More than one set of glares was aimed in his direction.
Twenty minutes later, everyone was seated around a warm campfire with a cup of ramen noodles in their hands. "These noodles are beneath me," Atobe grumbled with a sniff.
"Then don't eat it, you stupid monkey," Ryoma huffed.
Atobe sniffed again but didn't bother arguing, not with his stomach attempting to imitate a whale's mating call.
"Is this even legal?" Oishi asked worriedly. He had a fear of the campfire spreading and them burning down the entire mountain. But then again, Tezuka was here so everything should be fine.
"No," Tezuka answered honestly. "However, if the smoke does alert someone, they'll be able to lead us back down the mountain, especially if we end up not finding the cabin."
Oishi panicked at the mere thought. "But we will, right?"
Tezuka frowned, staring at the moon. "I would assume so" he said, answering Oishi's questions. "But I also don't remember the mountain being this vast. I had assumed we would have reached the cabin before nightfall." Something in the distance howled, low and rumbling that made Tezuka think of Wakagami's growls when he was "sparring" with Higurashi.
"Are there wolves in this mountain?" Kikumaru asked, eyes darting around in fear.
"Oh yes," Atobe grinned. "Among other predators too. Like lions and leopards."
Kikumaru and Kaidou exchanged pinched, fearful looks.
Ryoma glared. "Lions and leopards aren't native to Japan, you fool. The only place you'll see them is the zoo."
"Well," Atobe shot back. "One of them could have escaped and bred, which would populated the entire mountain given enough time!"
"With what? A monkey?"
Fuji chuckled. "Now, now, that's enough you two. You guys need to finish your dinner and sleep early. We might have a long day ahead of us tomorrow and you both will need all the energy you have."
"We should take turns keeping watch," Inui murmured softly.
"Why?" Kikumaru asked, utterly panicked. "There aren't really any lions here, are there?"
"No," he responded. "There are, however, mountain bears and wolves. Better safe than sorry."
Ryoma shuddered, feeling as if there was a large weight on his chest. He wanted nothing more than to sleep and ignore it all. "I'm going to sleep first," he said, cleaning up his empty noodle cup and rolling out the tent.
"Scared?" Atobe taunted.
"Of course," he responded easily. "Nothing sounds scarier than your stupid lion-monkey hybrid."
Everyone sighed, and decided to let Atobe and Ryoma verbally fight out their frustrations as they cleaned everything up and began to turn in for the night. Ryoma set up his space, refusing to share and smirked when everyone laid on the ground, softened only by leaves and grass as he crawled into his tent and under his sleeping bag.
"Kaidou! Stop that!" Kikumaru whispered angrily, pressing against Oishi's warm back.
"I'm not doing anything!" Kaidou hissed.
"Then who the hell is hissing?" Momoshiro shot.
Kikumaru moaned. "Ooh, don't tell me there's snakes here too!"
"Echizen! You gotta share your tent!"
"I have a knife," Ryoma's muffled voice answered. "And I will use it."
After some cursing directed towards the youngest tennis player, everyone—except for Tezuka, who had volunteered to take the first watch—fell into an uneasy sleep.
Ryoma woke up when the ground underneath him rumbled. He had slept through earthquakes before and wouldn't have been surprised if he had slept through this one. For some reason, something, and he was sure it wasn't the rumble, had woke him. He blinked blurry eyes as he sat up slowly, joints cracking as he did so.
"Get up," Tezuka's voice came from outside his tent.
With a yawn, Ryoma wiggled out of his sleeping bag and crawled out of the tent, looking around and noticing that Tezuka was currently going through the process of waking everyone up.
"What's the matter?" Momoshiro mumbled, his words would have been incoherent if Ryoma wasn't a native speaker in sleep-talk himself. "We leaving already?"
"Tezuka?" Oishi asked. "Is something wrong?"
Tezuka stared into the sky. "It's too quiet," he said. That caught everyone's attention. Even if they weren't into hiking as much as Tezuka was, they knew that birds birds would have been singing this early in the morning. There was nothing, not a peep.
The ground rumbled again and everyone shot up, glancing around wearily.
"What is that?" Atobe asked, staring at a figure in the sky. It was much too long to be a bird and appeared to be slithering through the air rather than flying.
"A flying snake?" Fuji guessed.
Ryoma stared; with his eyes, he could see it better than most people. It was not a snake.
"Scary," Kikumaru mumbled. "It looks like some kind of monster."
His words made Ryoma pause and the ground rumbled again, this time stronger than before.
"Well, according to Sesshomaru, demonic energy is returning to the world," he remembered Kagome saying. "So... At this rate, humans and demons might live side to side once again!"
He swallowed.
There was a screeching sound in the area, and thunderous steps echoed across the mountain. Something was coming and whatever it was, it was big.
"Oh my god," Momoshiro said. "I hoped we wouldn't run into a mountain bear! Didn't we defeat one before? Quick! Everyone, grab a tennis racket!"
Just as he finished his sentence, something burst into the clearing. It wasn't a bear. Standing at about ten feet tall, it appeared to be heavily armored in large black scales. It's claws, about a foot in length each, swept across the trees in its path, slicing through them like they were paper. Everyone stared with wide eyes as it turned its attention towards the group, sniffing the air like it just caught a the scent of a treat. Although Ryoma had never seen one before—besides Sesshomaru and Inuyasha but they really couldn't be compared to this beast—he knew it was a demon.
"What the hell kind of mountain bear is that?" Momoshiro squeaked.
"Tezuka!" Oishi whispered in a panic.
"Don't make any sudden movements," Tezuka ordered.
The demon lifted its head into the air and let out a screech, showing the group the multiple rows of teeth it had. It head swiveled in their direction again and it bent down, readying itself to make a dash towards them.
"Tezuka!" Fuji said.
"Run!" Tezuka ordered, just as the demon pushed itself off the ground.
Everyone ran in the same direction, not wanting to split up and come across others like it alone. Knowing their luck, they would too. The demon proved to be much faster than it looked and was gaining ground quickly.
"What the hell is that?" Kaidou asked, a fearful look on his face.
"It's not a mountain bear!" Kikumaru responded.
Ryoma tossed a glance over his shoulder and quickened his pace. Any closer and the demon would be in clawing range and they would be sliced into pieces. There was no way they would outrun the demon for long. With that in mind, and the fact that Kagome had mentioned that they had similar powers, Ryoma skidded to a stop, spinning around to face the demon.
"Ryoma!" Tezuka called when he noticed that the young tennis player was no longer with them. Everyone stopped immediately, turning around and hoping that the brat of Seigaku wasn't monster meat.
Before anyone could grab Ryoma and resume running the hell away, the demon jumped at the young man, claws out and ready to rip apart its pray. Everyone watched in horror. However, after years of playing tennis, Ryoma's reflexes were better than average and he managed to dodge the attack and grab a hold of the demon's arm.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Momoshiro screeched.
Grunting, Ryoma narrowed his eyes as the demon swung around, hoping to through the human off of him. Ryoma held on tightly, feeling the air around him crackling with energy. Blue sparks began dancing off his skin and surrounding him in a protective barrier. The demon screeched again, this time in pain and it tried to throw Ryoma off of it with renewed effort. He wasn't about to let go.
The blue of Ryoma's purification powers wasn't diminishing and was, in fact growing stronger and stronger. Finally, the demon gave one last screech before disappearing, leaving nothing but dust behind. Ryoma fell onto his knees with a gasp. "How the hell does she do it?" he managed, remembering the fight between Kagome and Sesshomaru. He felt exhausted!
"What. The. Hell?" Momoshiro whispered in awe.
Before they could celebrate their continued survival, another demon, looking exactly like the first, landed onto the ground between Ryoma and everyone else. It roared, making everyone tremble with fright. It's attention, however, was zeroed in on Ryoma, still tired and unable to move with the same agility as earlier. Without another warning, the demon shot forward.
Ryoma stared, eyes wide. Kagome!