I do not own Prince of Tennis. Please also note that though this is a Japanese manga, I have purposely dropped the formality of the Japanese culture and have chosen to call them by their given name. I know it's wrong *shame*, but it's a habit, maybe because I'm Canadian, eh? ^-^ Sorry, I just though I should apologize because readers have pointed it out. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 3:

Have you ever walked into a party room and everyone is talking and having fun, but as soon as you step foot into the room everyone and everything goes silent? Dead silent? Well that's just want happened today—except the attention wasn't at me, it was the man standing in front of me. At first I noticed only the man himself, but then I realize that he was holding a gun. Then the screams came and of course it was chaos. People, hundreds of people were trying to get out of the tennis court, they just wanted to go home, but amidst all this an invisible force held people bad from their seats. Some began to cry, others try to call the police, but as I guessed, they were not in a place where time existed so they could receive no connections on their cell phones. The man looked around calmly and smiled, his black eyes finally rested on me.

"Please do not be afraid," He spoke quietly, but everyone could tell it was an order, not a request. He took a step towards me. "My name is Katsunori and I do not wish to hurt anyone." He blinked and looked around the stadium, but my eyes locked into the person in front of me. "I have one person whom would interest me at the moment." I unconsciously stepped back.

"Ryoma Echizen, the prophecy that came to be." He said, placing his hand on his forehead. "Do you know what it means to find you?" His black eyes pierced mine.

"W-What do you mean prophecy?" I asked, clearly confused. He smiled evilly and slightly lowered his gun.

"Of course, it was meant to be hidden from you, your real secret, of what you really are." He spoke coolly. "You cannot be realized unless I kill the human you, Ryoma." He said lifting his gun up again. "I have to do it, for your sake, Ryoma…Ryoma-sama." He added. And what was I to do? I was stuck there in shock. Prophecy of what? Why did he want to kill me? I blinked and I saw his index finger pull the trigger. This was it; this was the end of my life, my tennis career. Blood squirted into the air and I lifted my arm to feel the wound where the bullet had hit me, only to find that there was no wound. I looked in front of me and Karou lay on the ground.

"K-Karou?" I gasped. "HEY KAROU!!" I yelled bending down.

"Hey (cough) I'm not dead…it just got my shoulder." He panted, as the trickle of blood continued. I applied pressure to the wound.

"Why Karou, are you and idiot or something? Did you think I couldn't look after myself?" I scoffed so the tears wouldn't flow. It must seem foolish of me. For a boy to cry, but…Karou…he was my friend. Out of everyone on the team, it was probably Karou who couldn't accept me, but I guess, that's what brought our distant friendship, not so distant.

"Sure…I mean (cough) you were just standing there." He managed to say, with his eyes closed.

"Ahhh…." Katsunori said. "I missed, pity really. I mean, I only had one bullet in there." He explained and placed his gun away. "However, there are more than one way to kill a person is there not?" He asked me, as he walked closer. Karou tired to move, but he had lost too much blood. With a grunt he slid into unconsciousness. "You're very lucky Ryoma, to have a friend who would give their life for yours. I'm even surprised he could escape my powers of confinement." He sneered. I gasped. Not because I was scared or confused, but because, I finally remembered who this man was. I had seen him in American, as he went to my previous school, but I never really talked to him, or noticed him very much for that matter. So why follow me here?

"You're—" I began, remembering everything now. Katsunori smiled.

"Ah yes, you remember now Ryoma." He asked.

"But…" I wondered how he could stop time.

"Let me explain Ryoma. A short while after you left, I admired your ability to play tennis. If fact, so admired that I began to play myself. But I wasn't like you, I could never be. I mean I would have to live another lifetime to become someone as good as you. I was always a klutz and everyone made fun of me and though I pretended that it didn't bother me—it did. Every one of those hurtful comments." He narrowed his eyes. "And you…you didn't even notice me. You just walked past me in the halls without even looking at me. You were just like everyone else."

"Sorry, I didn't know you had feelings for me. You should have told me, you know?" I sighed. This was obviously this was going to make him more upset.

"SHUT UP!" He yelled. "You think that you're better than me. Well I was going to prove you wrong. I was going to be a better tennis player than you because you don't even deserve that talent! You take it for granted! And then…" He broke off and smiled. "I died. I got run over by a bus after my tennis practice because I was so tired. And you know what? No one in my school cared. They didn't even cry. And so I swore that I would stay on earth for, as long it would take me to get my revenge. So here I am. This is the happiest moment in my life, Ryoma."

"Wait…you're dead?" I managed to say. This was by far the most awkward experience I…well ever experience. Talking to a dead guy, not really on my 'to do' list. A flash of white appeared on Katsunori's face. "That's right." He answered back. "So there's no way you can kill me…I'm practically immortal." I pondered about this for some time now. So he was a dead guy who used to go to my old school. Well he did have some skill, being invisible because I barely remember him myself. Actually, I'm actually surprised I did remember him. So what now? A human fighting ghosts? Nope that doesn't work too well. I blinked and sighed…yep there was just one option left.

"Okay…Katsunori. How about if we play a tennis game against each other?" I immediately saw his face had lightened up—if you could even describe it like that. Let's just say that he was a bit gray instead of that gothic blackness I usually saw. "If I win, you'll let everyone go and disappear forever. But if you win…you can take my life."

"Ha. Ha! Ryoma, I don't think that you are in the position to gamble anything." Katsunori said and I knew something along the lines of that was coming. Well…I had a back up plan.

"Yeah, I know, but wouldn't you feel more…I don't know better? Like you'd bet me at tennis and you'll take my life. Sounds pretty rewarding to me, don't you think so?" I watched as Katsunori pondered about this offer. I could tell he was having a hard time not accepting it. I knew after his explanation that tennis was his passion and this was the time to show his love for the game. Of course, I also knew that I would win.

"Fine." Katsunori said after a minutes thought. "I'll play you."

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" I asked him, I couldn't take any chances. Katsunori took out a pocketknife and made a small cut in this index finger. He then took out a piece of ancient yellow paper and allowed three drops of blood to drip unto the page. He then looked up at me and handed me the knife and paper.

"This is a scroll of the death gods. It is used to create a pact with a human and a ghost. It is very powerful and will obey the restrictions that will be written onto it. You must also put three droplets of you blood on the page to allow the pact to be sealed. Once sealed, there cannot be any exceptions, so write out what you want very carefully. When you are done, hand back the page to me" Katsunori explained, wrapping a ripped piece of cloth around his finger. I did as he told me and handed the stuff back to him. Immediately the sky turned dark and cloudy. The wind was blowing debris into my eyes. A racket appeared in Katsunori's hand. Thick, gold and it didn't look real. Could it be that this wasn't going to be a fair game? Could be his racket had powers as well? Well I couldn't think about this anymore, because he was ready. The game was about to begin. The game that would decide my life—and everyone else's as a matter of fact. I just hoped the gods were on my side.

Please also leave a review. I would appreciate it very much. It makes me feel great when people leave them and it gives me motivation to continue writing. Without them, I would have quit this and many other stories a while back. I'll try to update soon, but that's not a promise, you know with exams and all. Thanks once again to my supporters!

-Itachianimefan

P.S The next chapter is the finale!!!!!