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 4:
I stood opposite to Katsunori, my racket loosely in my hand. This was the moment of truth. The tension was building up in the atmosphere around me. Karou lay on the bench with the rest of my teammates looking after him. Shusuke preformed first aid on him and bandaged him up—for the time being. But then again, everyone already knew he had lost too much blood. Every minute we waited put his life in more danger. Why was I being so selfish? Why couldn't I just play and take him on? Because I wanted to know about the prophecy.
"You said something about the prophecy." I stated holding a green tennis ball in my hand—I was to serve first. Katsunori, loosing his grip stood up and looked at me with amusement.
"Yes. You're right. I haven't told you about that part yet." He stroked his long spider fingers through his pitch-black hair. He walked a bit closer and then began to explain himself. It seemed he enjoyed talking so much.
"The strong will on my own wouldn't allow me to stay on earth—even if I wanted to with all my heart. You see? And then I met a death assistant. He wanted you, and so did I. It was perfect don't you see that? It was like killing two birds with one stone shall you say. I was to find you, for his purpose and for mine. You were the claimed 'prophecy' and you were also my nemesis."
"Well, what does the god want with me?" I asked, still a bit perplexed. Then the amusement in his eyes changed to a sudden coldness.
"I could care less about what he wants with you because I'm going to kill you." He sneered; the blackness in his eyes was like death staring back. "Now, serve." He said, no, more like ordered me to. Reluctantly, I obeyed. It wasn't the fact I was scared, it was that fact he was scary. He wasn't human; he was a ghost, living in the human world because of his revenge. If you were in this situation, you'd be pretty nervous too. And also he had the golden racket. I'm not a genius; I have Shusuke and Tezuka for that, but I could tell that something magical was in that racket and that because of that, I knew was going to lose.
"You look like you're scared." He sneered at me at the opposite end of the court, watching me with everlasting darkness. Could this really have been from not noticing him?
"I'm not." I said coolly, "I never lose, mind you." I said this with confidence more to ease myself than to scare him.
"We shall see." He lifted the ball and smashed it with brute force through the air, a normal enough serve. Moving with thinking, I hit the ball back, doing a cool drive back—the ball went out. I glanced towards him, and he smiled back.
"Do you feel different Ryoma?" he asked mockingly. Startled by his comment, I blinked. No, I felt the same right after I make a smash drive what did he—and that's when I felt it. It was a small feeling, but surely it was there. A sense of evil growing in me—burning me from inside out. I wanted to yell out, but no sound escaped my lips. Gripping my stomach, I bowed down. I could hear his laughter, filled with so much envy and hate.
"How does it feel, Ryoma? Tell me, to have so much pain surging through your body? I'll tell you how I feel, I feel great. I almost want to die with so much happiness."
"Yeah." I gasped. "That's what you call a weirdo." I answered, but the pain prevented me from saying anything else. Looking at the ground, I saw Katsunori's racket fall to the ground and saw his feet move closer to me.
"You should be feeling afraid by now." He warned. "You see, because I wasn't joking when I said I was going to kill, you. I'm going to make you suffer. You see?" He said pointing at me. "You'll be under my power now." His pitch black eyes began to glow. And my skin, which burned, began to turn black.
"Gah." I muttered, tying to stand, but it was useless; I was pinned down to the ground like a wounded animal. The pain that surged through me was too immense. Tears uncontrollably flowed from my tears. I could hear voices all around me filled with worry and concern, but I couldn't make out the words, not the mention to whom the voices belonged. I wanted to die, to just sink away from this pain. I didn't even understand half of what was going on. And then when all this darkness was taking over me, I was in a field, with tall grasses and wild flowers. Trees could be seen in the distance and not a single person was in sight. A gentle wind brushed over my face, causing my tears to vanish. I blinked and walked forward, cautiously, waiting to see if there would be any pain. None. I was a bit content and continued to walk on. But I had no idea where to walk. There were just fields and fields of wilderness—flowers, trees and animals. It seemed almost fantasy-like.
"Ryoma." A voice faintly said. I turned around to see the source of the voice, but to my disappointment, there was nothing. I stared around again and again, but there was no one there. I began to run, for no apparent reason; I just wanted to see if this really was a never-ending valley. I stopped, bending over and breathing heavily. I didn't know how long I had been running, since my watch again, was not visible. I glanced up to see a castle with dark ominous clouds covering it, as if it was protecting it.
"What kind of place is that?" I asked myself, since I had no one else to talk to.
"It is a place on for those of the deceased, of those who are powerful enough to penetrate the poisonous clouds." The voice explained. I turned around as fast as my body could and stared face to face with myself.
"What?" I hissed.
"Fear not, I am not you." The copy of myself said and then began to turn shape.
"A…Shape shifter?" I said and then shock my head. What was I saying? Shape shifter? Since when were they real? The person before me now was a young beautiful woman, wearing a kimono.
"Now what are you?" I snapped, not intentionally, but the pain from before were beginning to return.
"This is my true form and I was a goddess." She said in a pure voice, which flooded through my ears like music. "Sorry for the inconvenience of your worldly pains returning, but I didn't anticipate that it would take you so long to get here. Then again, I would take on 10 minutes, in human time for a goddess such as me to arrive here, while it took you…" She thought, "almost an hour."
"So, it was my fault!?" I asked. She blinked and then smiled.
"Of course not. I was not able to talk to you until you came close enough to the castle."
"What do you want?"
"I'm sure you've encountered Katsunori, the worthless human that was resurrected by another goddess, and my nemesis, Sonjo." She explained. I wished she would hurry up; the pain was increasing. "It was a disgrace to all of the god-like here in the afterlife, though at the time, no one knew—at least that's what she thought. However, I was watching her closely, for other reasons and I found out. She did the one thing that was not allowed, she brought a human back to life." Her eyes hardened and looked away. "Sonjo is to be executed after I explained to the right authorities what had occurred."
"He said I was the prophecy." I said, the words just appeared in my mind.
"Ah yes." She said amused. "I'm glad you heard about that." She walked over to me. "You are the prophecy that must kill Katsunori, as he is immortal. However, you have special abilities to kill even that of the immortals because you are the prophecy." A joy leapt through me.
"I can kill him? That's great because he's been a pain. How? When? Can I do it now?" I was so eager.
"The process alone is simple. You must," She said while she reached into her kimono and pulled out a gold arrow. "Pierce this into his heart. It will not be hard, despite the fact if you are an excellent archer or not. The arrow will be attacked to his heart anyway. For his soul is not real. It does not fit into the world of humans. However, with any good thing comes a price."
"A price?" I asked. What could it be? Money?
"That's right. The price that is required to have this arrow and to kill Katsunori, an immortal is…your life." She stared into my eyes.
"My life? Like all of it?" I asked. She looked at me as if I was asking a stupid question.
"Yes, your life, meaning that after the task is done you will be dead within half an hour. I don't care what your concerns are; you must kill him because we don't know the next time another prophecy will appear on earth! This is important. You life is nothing compared to the power an immortal can achieve within a year. Yet alone eternity. He may be stronger than what the gods can handle." She paused. "As a reward, you will be granted to live in this castle a may be trained to become a god yourself."
"But…I don't know."
"Think about it quickly. Katsunori's hate pulses throughout Earth, tearing the core of it slowly. It will only be a matter of time before Earth falls apart and those 6 million people live in it will die."
I didn't look at her. I knew the answer even before she answered my question. I had to take his life; despite the fact my life will be taken. I was for the better good.
"I'll do it."
"Good. Your time here is almost up. Here." She threw the arrow towards me and I caught it. Instantly I felt my life being consumed on. Like sometime small started feasting inside my body.
"Urh." I said, bending down.
"Yes." She said walking away. "You'll feel that pain until the job is done." Fading rapidly, she turned around and smiled weakly. "Thank you Ryoma, that is all I can say." And then she vanished. Well, I don't know what was going to happen, but I know one thing, I had to get this job over with. My life, it was going to be extinguished soon. My tennis career would be over. Father will be disappointed. Mother, she'll cry. What about my friends? Would Karou be okay? Will they remember me? All those people I met. It would be a shame to let them go, but it would be worst to let them all die because of my fear of dying. Gripping the arrow with anger I slowly gained my senses and the pain. I was on the ground, my arms were now black and I was on the tennis court, back to Earth with Katsunori.
"Oh Ryoma? Is that all you have? Are you done now…hmm…maybe I should kill you off now? Yes…that would be a good idea."
"NO RYOMA GET UP!" Sakuno yelled.
"Ryoma" Shusuke began.
"Hey!" Momo yelled.
"It's not use, you can't move." He sneered at them.
"Damn. No. Ryoma!" Karou huffed. "Don't let this pain go to waste!" Yes. He was right. I made enough people suffer and it was time to end it. End it all. Using all the strength I had left, I shot up and threw the arrow. Katsunori grinned, but then realized what had happened.
"You." He started but the arrow pierced his heart and he began to disintegrate.
"Go back to the dead," I sneered. "Back to where you belong." And then I fell on the ground. No pain was felt. Right. I was going to the castle.
I stood above the church watching my friends and my family cry over my dead body. Hovering above the air, I was filled with pity for them, for they did not know that I was alive, in a way.
"I'm sorry." I whispered as my mother hung over my coffin and cried her eyes out. I wondered if there even was a body in there. I was told; by the goddess that they instantly replaced my body with a fake and that it was Momo who felt my pulse, only to not find it at all. Poor guy, what must he have felt when that happened? I glanced down and saw Momo, angrily whipping the tears from his eyes. And Shusuke, Tetsuka, and even Karou, hung their heads low. Damn. And there was nothing I could do. I stayed there until the service was over and then floated outside.
"Ryoma." A voice called out. My eyes widened when I saw Sakuno looking straight at me. I blinked.
"Can you see me?"
"What are you doing Sakuno? Whom are you talking to?" Her friend asked her with a tissue. She looked up again and sighed.
"Nothing." She said as tears rolled down her eyes. "Nothing."
Watching all my friends leave I floated up to the castle, where the execution would take place.
~~Fifty years later~~
Everyone I knew had grown old. I watched them day-by-day. Some people from way back when had become famous tennis players and I was so proud of them. Some married, some didn't. But I stood by them, though they didn't know it. It hurt to see the pain in their eyes when my name was mentioned. It hurt, but I accepted it. I had not grown a single year and probably, that was the most painful thing. I would continue to live forever when my friends and everyone I knew would die. This was the fate no one would have predicted. It was what the fate that turned out to be.
The end ^_^
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-Itachianimefan