HI! I am back! Thank you for liking the last chapter. I am still adjusting. This fic is just like a storm. It first became a low pressure area first before turning into a storm, but not the strong typhoon that you think. This fic has got no ideas and I am just trying to think on the spot… to see if it works. This fic was actually nameless until the day I posted the last chapter sigh. Tee hee hee… Enjoy chapter two… I hope.
Just Sharing: I was surprised last Friday night. A student of mine gave me a Christmas gift and I am going to have it for my incentives... Tee hee hee... Thank you very much, my dear. More cash to come for me at the beginning of the year... Ureshii da yo... ^_^
DISCLAIMER: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi-sensei and Gakuen Alice belongs to Higuchi Tachibana-san. All rights reserved to the both of them.
Chapter 2: Stones and Alices
Chapter Summary: They didn't know that their lives would be until they arrived and explained everything.
Her eyes were still staring at the guy with scarlet eyes. She couldn't remove her vision from the boy especially with the fire in his right hand.
"Aren't you going to give it?" He dangerously said to her.
Sakuno was still speechless when he said that. She couldn't move her body from crouching on the ground.
"Tch!" He reacted as he slowly walked closer to her, "Annoying little girl."
Her eyes widened when she saw him walking closer to her. She thought of screaming but before she could that, a ball had quickly passed them catching their attention. The boy's fire had diminished as it passed by it. Sakuno was pretty shocked and relieved to see the tennis prodigy from a distance making his stance there.
"R-Ryoma-kun…" She whispered as she looked at him.
The scarlet eyed boy glared at him as he clenched his eyes. They had a little staring contest making the atmosphere tense than ever. It was Ryoma who broke the silence
"Are you some kind of entertaining her?" Ryoma stoically said shifting to a normal position, "Cause it's not working." He walked closer to Sakuno's location who was still sitting on the ground.
The boy didn't shift his stare to him as he replied, "Stay out of this."
Ryoma stared back at him and shortly replied, "…Kotowaru."
The raven-haired boy created a new fire in his hand making him wide eye a little, "You'll pay for this."
He covered his whole body to the girl and fiercely looked at him. He didn't even say a word. The whole place was quiet and the one was waiting for the other to attack. But before the boy could attack, a new light emanated above them once again, making them to look above. Ryoma and Sakuno were blinded by the light but the boy just looked at the light. Ryoma used his own hand to cover her while Sakuno just closed her eyes. As long as the light intensified, they could hear something from the light. It was like, shouting, before they could register what it was, the sound created words and surprised everyone below.
"NATSUME, YOU IDIOT!"
Ryoma and Sakuno were surprised as they witnessed the scene in front of them. The boy who was trying to attack them was being attack to his side… by a girl kicking him in the process. The girl came from the light and as soon as she got out, the light went out as well.
The girl was hovering the boy at that moment, scolding him in the process.
"You did not wait for me! Didn't I tell you not to act on your own?!" The girl said grabbing him from his collar.
"Get off of me!" The boy hissed at her.
"Learn to control yourself, geez!" She warned before she slowly leaned away to give him space to sit up.
The boy was able to sit up but was stopped to stand up when he cringed and clenched his shirt. Ryoma and Sakuno saw his reaction and they saw how the girl approached him again.
"Natsume!"
"I am fine!" He said pushing her with a little force.
"You are not, dummy! And I already warned you."
Sakuno being a worrywart citizen couldn't take the scene any longer. Despite the fear that she still had, she decided to follow her instinct. Without, hesitation, she walked past the tennis prodigy and approached them.
"O-oi!" Ryoma called out to her but she ignored him and proceeded to the couple.
"A-anou…" She wondered as she looked at them, "W-what's happening to him?"
The girl looked at her and was a little surprised to see her there. Her expression had immediately changed as she looked back to the boy and tried to help him again, "He's fighting for his life."
"W-what do you mean?"
"His alice is draining his life whenever he uses it."
"Don't say any more, polka dots," The boy interrupted grabbing the girl's hand while creating another fire with the other, "I have to finish what I came here for."
When Ryoma saw the fire again, he quickly grabbed Sakuno from behind and pulled her away from them. The girl on the other hand reached for his other hand causing the fire to cease once again;
"This is my job to begin with!" The girl said, "Stop stealing it, you idiot!"
"You cannot blame me," He retorted as he pointed Sakuno, "She sensed me right away."
Sakuno blinked at his words. The girl looked at her once again. That was the only time Sakuno could observe the girl. She had twin plaits and was wearing the same uniform like the boy. Judging from their looks, she knew that they were not in the area. More on, how could they explain the light where they came from? The gripped from Ryoma's hand to her shoulder tightened when the girl stood up and walked closer to them.
"Sorry about that," The girl said, "I knew Natsume attacked you a while ago."
"I… I… think so."
"You have the stones, right?" The girl in pigtails asked her.
"W-what stones?"
"The alice stones," She answered her, "I need those back."
"I—I don't know what you're talking—"
"Stop pretending that you don't know," The guy said interrupting them, "You used it on me a while ago?"
"I-I did?/She did?" Sakuno and the girl both said at the same time.
Sakuno couldn't believe what the boy was talking about. She raised her hand to her neck and tried to locate something. Her eyes widened as she realized something.
"N-nai…"
Three sets of eyes looked at her. Ryoma was the one to ask her.
"Do iu koto?"
Sakuno looked at him and frowned, "T-the necklace that you gave me… i-it's gone."
They were shocked when she said that. The girl decided to break it this time;
"Could it be…" The girl said looking at her entire being, "T-the stones are inside you?" Shock was awfully visible to her face.
Ryoma was a little pissed and couldn't understand what was happening now, "What are you talking about? And more importantly, who are you?"
The girl blinked and realized it, "G-gomen, we've been rude, My name's Mikan Sakura and this is my partner Natsume Hyuuga. We're from Alice Academy."
"Alice Academy?" Sakuno repeated, "I've never heard of that."
Natsume looked away and not planning to explain everything. Mikan did it for him;
"You will never, really," She answered as she looked at the two of them, "We've from a different dimension."
"You mean…" Ryoma guessed which Mikan nodded to.
"You are right," She looked at Natsume before she looked back at them, "We're not in this world."
Silence welcomed them. It was too good to be true. They didn't know whether to believe her or not but judging from the boy's 'magic' they knew that they had to believe what she said. What was that 'magic' about anyway? They actually didn't know.
"Well, may I know your name too?"
Sakuno flinched as she asked that. She looked at Ryoma to ask permission but the latter was just looking at them. Somehow, she knew what he was thinking about so she did the introduction instead;
"Anou… My name's Sakuno, Ryuzaki Sakuno and this is R-Ryoma-kun, Echizen Ryoma-kun."
"I see, Sorry for the bad meeting Natsume did to you," Mikan said grabbing both of her hands, "He meant no harm at all."
Natsume grunted when she said that. Sakuno just gave her a hesitating smile while Ryoma just stared at them not planning to say anything.
"OI! ECHIZEN!"
They looked at the last person who shouted. Ryoma looked that way as he recognized Momo's voice who was with the acrobatic player.
"What's taking you so long?" Momo said as he approached them, "Buchou hates being late during practice you know."
"I am done with my practice, you know." He said looking away from him.
"Well, who are these fellow guys, nya?" Eiji asked looking at Natsume and Mikan.
"W-well, they are Mikan Sakura-san and Natsume Hyuuga-kun—"
"No need to be formal, Sakuno-chan. Just call me Mikan." Mikan said smiling for the first time.
Eiji and Momo were shocked to see the girl smile and immediately leaned closer to her.
"You are cute, nya!"
"Yeah, just like Ryuzaki-chan, here!"
Mikan blushed but she smiled contrast to Sakuno who blushed too but she looked down. Mikan was pulled away by Natsume and glared at them;
"Don't get too friendly with us. You don't know who we really are."
"Natsume!" Mikan glared at him. Natsume just grunted showing irritation to them. Then, he looked at Sakuno afterwards.
"You," He suddenly butted in making her flinch, "You better give us what you absorbed before it's too late."
Sakuno was shocked when he said that. His stare was piercing right to her system. It was a stare that a person didn't want to mess up with. She looked down and encouragingly replied;
"B-but I don't know… a-anything."
"Ummm, what are you talking about?" Momo asked afterwards looking at Ryoma.
"Long story." Which the boy shortly replied.
'Mikan, Natsume.'
"Woah!" Momo reacted when they heard that, "What was that? Am I hearing something?"
"Tsubasa-senpai!" Mikan said as she looked above.
'You have to come back, the portal is disrupting. If you don't use it now, it will be hard to locate you again.'
"B-but the alice stones…" Mikan said concentrating to communicate, "We have finally found it."
'We'll get it back later. We'll think of a plan but for now go back to the academy.'
"Guess we don't have a choice," Natsume said as he threw a stone in midair and created a large light almost making everyone blind, "Hey polka, we need to go."
"Don't call me that, you idiot!" Mikan retorted but walked closer to him. She then looked at Sakuno, "Sakuno-chan, I know that you are confused right now, we will explain things when we come back."
"M-matte!" Sakuno tried to reach them but Ryoma blocked her way.
"Just what is going on?" Ryoma looked at them, "Tell us before you go."
"The stones that she has are called alice stones," Mikan explained with an expression of painful look to her face, "And those stones are inside your body now."
"B-but how…"
"Natsume was right, you blocked his attack a while ago," Mikan said to her, "You have the power to control those stones inside your body."
Sakuno's eyes widened when she said that. What was with those stones? The stones had powers that she was able to use them? What was really happening right now? She couldn't believe it all.
"Sakuno-chan, I promise I'll explain it to you when we come back," Mikan said, "But for the meantime, don't let anyone know aside from you that you have them."
"W-what…" She didn't really know what to say as she looked at them for an instance, her gaze shifted to Natsume who was giving her a warning look.
"If you want to cherish your life, just follow what she says." He said before he pulled Mikan inside the said portal.
The two of them entered the light and after a few seconds they were engulfed by it. The area felt like that light had never been there. It was just the four of them.
"W-what was that?" Momo said asking to nowhere, "And who were those people?"
"What were they talking about Ochibi?" Eiji said looking at him, "What's with the stone alices they were saying?"
"He's right," Momo said looking at Ryoma this time, "Was that some kind of magic?"
"Don't ask me," Ryoma still calmly answered them but deep inside he was really confused, "I don't know anything?"
"What about you, Ryuzaki-chan?" Momo asked her who was still shocked at the event, "What are these stones that they were talking about? And they are inside you?"
"I… I don't know either?" She said as she was staring on the ground, "I… really don't."
Ryoma just looked at her and was really shocked too. Sakuno was still registering what really happened a while ago.
"I… I want to go home." Sakuno aimlessly walked ahead, "I'll see you tomorrow Ryoma-kun… senpai-tachi."
"C-chotto!" Momo tried to stop her but Eiji interrupted, "s-senpai?"
"Something is up, look at Ochibi."
Momo followed his line of vision and saw Ryoma seriously looking at the wondering girl. The former decided to stay quiet. Whatever happened a while ago, they knew that it was something not to ignore. Ryoma was giving a different kind of expression which was far from the teasing look.
It was something serious that they would discover in the future.
Night, Ryuzaki's Residence:
She told her grandmother that she would not eat dinner tonight. She told her that she ate outside with her friends. Miraculously, Sumire believed her. Three hours had passed but she hadn't done anything productive in her room. She didn't have homework but she need to study their next lessons for tomorrow. She knew that it was useless, because she would not be able to concentrate to her studies.
Not that she was thinking something else.
She looked up and stared at her reflection on the mirror in front of her. Observing herself, she knew what happened earlier was indeed real. She was looking for an evidence just to prove it.
And that evidence was no longer there.
Sighing to herself, she let herself collapse to her bed and stared at the ceiling. What was happening to her? Who were those guys? Were they really from a different world? What did she do back then? When Natsume attacked her with his fire, something from her just reflected it. There were questions that she couldn't answer to herself. And she wouldn't know them useless she could meet them again.
She had to meet them again… and fast.
"Sakuno…"
She sat up when she saw her grandmother opened the door, "Obaa-chan…"
"Why are you still on your uniform?"
"Eh?" She looked at herself once again and realized that she was right. A lot of things had happened today that she didn't notice that she was still clad in her uniform despite that she was looking at her own reflection a while ago, "G-guess I forgot to change." She closed her eyes as she stuck her tongue out.
"Silly girl," She said walking towards her and did not waste time to help her change, "Change into something comfortable."
"O-Obaa-chan—matte!" She blushed when Sumire was getting all grandmother mode, "I can take care of myself! Mou!" She was able to get away from her.
"Hayaku! Someone's waiting for you downstairs!"
"E-eh?" She stopped looking out from her closet and looked at her, "W-who?"
"Just change okay." Sumire winked at her before she walked out from her door.
Sakuno pouted as she continued looking for a change of clothes. Later on, she decided to go down the stairs to see the visitor that was waiting for her.
…Only to be shocked.
From their sofa, Ryoma stood up and bowed a little to give respect of his intruding.
"Yo."
"R-Ryoma-kun? W-what are you doing here?" She couldn't believe what was happening right now. Ryoma was her guest that night? It was totally a shock for her indeed.
"I came to talk."
"E-eh?"
"It's night Ryoma," Sumire said peeking from the kitchen, "What do you want to talk about with my granddaughter?"
Before Ryoma could answer her, Sakuno butted in;
"Obaa-chan, he just wanted to ask me about something, can I go out for a while?"
"Where will you go then?"
"Tennis court nearby." Ryoma shortly answered.
"Okay," She said, "Don't be long."
"H-hai…"
"Bring her back to me… completely Ryoma." Sumire teased.
"O-Obaa-chan!" She retorted blushing in the process.
"Itekimasu…" Ryoma weakly spoke as he went ahead.
Sakuno followed afterwards still thinking why would Ryoma take time to visit her that night.
Later on:
They had been quiet all through the walk. She felt awkward and she didn't know how to initiate a conversation.
They never had a serious one before anyway.
"A-anou…" She started as they reached the nearest tennis court.
"You really don't have it."
"E-eh?"
"The necklace…"
Her eyes widened as she reached for her neck. It was really gone, "H-hai… I… I am pretty sure that the necklace didn't drop in that area."
"…"
"Before that, I felt something odd that I followed it somewhere. A-and then… he came," She said as she looked away, "He attacked me and the necklace had suddenly glowed."
"…"
"I was protected by that light, Ryoma-kun," She looked at him and continued, "It came from the necklace before it disappeared."
"…"
"…"
"Gomen."
"E-eh?"
"…"
"W-why? Y-you didn't do anything wrong?"
"It's because I gave you that necklace…"
She flinched a little when he said that.
"And they came."
"I-Iie, d-don't say that," She looked down as she blushed, "I… I should be the one to be upset."
"…"
"I… I lost what Ryoma-kun gave to me," She said unconsciously touching her neck, "It's because Ryoma-kun gave that necklace to me."
"…"
"…"
"Karupin."
"E-eh?"
"Karupin wants to see you."
"R-really?"
"Come by next time."
She blushed when he said that. Ryoma was inviting her to come to his house again… to see Karupin? What was really happening? Despite the confusion, she was able to nod at him. She wasn't even aware that he yanked out his phone and typed something on it.
"Your e-mail?"
"E-eh?"
"Give it to me."
She was taken by surprise at that moment. Blinking twice, she panicky yanked her own phone and clumsily gave him her e-mail address. Ryoma gave her his afterwards.
"Tell me if something happens."
She blinked for the second time as she looked at him. He was just looking at her and urging her to speak. She blushed as she looked down.
"H-hai… arigatou."
"You're going to meet them again, aren't you?"
"Them?" She looked up again and nodded, "I… need to know what really happened back then."
"…"
"I have to meet them."
"Make sure that you'll tell me."
"H-hai…"
"Ikou, I'll take you home." He said walking ahead once again.
Sakuno watched his back. Her heart was beating fast as she was staring at his back. Ryoma was worried of her. She knew it. She felt like he was blaming himself for the event.
She too knew it well. She was in some sort of danger and knowing the root of it would clear everything for her. Ryoma wanted to make sure that she would not hurt herself anymore.
The tennis prodigy would help her at all cost.
"Ryuzaki."
She was cut from her reverie and looked at him. He was a few meters away from her. Realizing it, she walked a little faster to catch up to him.
The next day:
Class one and two were pretty busy at that time and at the same time, something really came up to both classes.
"Class, attention please!' The teacher from class 1 said catching the students' attention. Sakuno was looking at the window and only looked in front when their teacher talked.
Meanwhile at class 2 the same event was happening as well.
"We will have a new transferee student today." The students murmured when the teacher said that. Ryoma yawned ignoring the announcement.
Both classes waited for their new transferee students to come. When they sensed them, both eyes looked in front and were shocked to see who they were.
"He/She will be your new classmate." The teacher from the class one and class two miraculously said at the same time.
Sakuno was totally shocked as well as Ryoma as they were looking in front of them.
"Hyuuga Natsume/ Sakura Mikan," Both teachers said introducing the new transferee students at their classes at the same time, "Introduce yourself to them."
Natusme just looked in front of him after he only said his name and locked gazes at her afterwards. Sakuno flinched when he stared at her.
Mikan had enthusiastically introduced herself in front of them. She even waved at him when she saw him sitting there. The other had begun murmuring to the gesture she did.
They knew that it would be a long day for the both of them.
Done! How was this chapter? I am slowly getting the plot now… I think… Well, I am not going to say anything anymore…
Vocab:
Kotowaru – I refuse
Do iu koto? – What do you mean?
Itekimasu – A person often says when he/she leaves the house.
Review please… need to know what you think… Domo… ^_^
Notes:
Can someone tell me if the New Prince of Tennis OVAs is true? It is said to be that it's the continuation of the Shin POT II. I've seen pictures of it and I just can't believe it. Well there will be further announcement about the OVAs in the future though... That means, there will be more episodes to wait... I am so excited now... tee hee hee... Waahh... I am panicky now... ;p
The main characters are all 12 years old. Mikan and Natsume turned out to be thirteen during the long battle so I decided to make them twelve instead. But the storyline will be changed and it has got not nothing to do with their current lives. There will be stones and alices but that is there all to it. I'll give some notes in the future chapters too. (Natsume was able to kiss Mikan during her early years... so the possibility about Ryoma and Sakuno kissing here in the future is highly probable... tee hee hee... ;p - maybe in just Natsume way... you know what I mean tee hee hee) Smoochy... ^_^
Next Chapter: The Start of Everything
Happy New Year Guys!
Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!
For my close Friends out there...
Ake Ome!
From: MitsukiJunko ^_^