Threads to Life Chapter 16: Reunion, a Prince of Tennis + Gakuen Alice Crossover fanfic

Hi There! Sorry for a week delay, but I am back with a new chapter. Thank you guys for reading and reading this fic. Even though it's not really receiving lots of reviews, I am still fine with it. I just love writing, no matter how busy I am. This is the new chapter… I hope you like it…

sweetangel - tee hee hee... yeah they did alright. Too bad, Ruka ruined the moment... Yep, they found out what to do... You'll know the answer to your instinct today, ;p

I guess that's the way it is... Let's just see what will happen in the future...

I'll try my best domo... ^^

P.S: I think, I'll use the same name as here, if that possible to have a Japanese name... tee hee hee.

AnimeMango - hi... welcome back... and it's okay... I am glad that you came back and you let me know about it. Well, I've been updating this fic everyday Tuesday morning (PHT) but I'll give announcements on my FB page if there is some changes. Thank you reading until the latest... ^^

Chapter 16: Reunion

Chapter Summary: Who would have thought that he could see them in a different world, let alone they would be there to help? Find that out.

The next day went normal for them. Ryoma and Sakuno went to their class that day. It would be a shame that they wouldn't stay longer in the school.

They would start looking for the magical stones outside the school after a week. Sakuno felt a little sad, just when she was getting into the atmosphere, she would be leaving it. It felt different when she was in a different school, and the alices that she was seeing everyday was getting immune now.

It was break time and she decided to explore the school. She was navigationally-challenged but she didn't mind it. She would just use her sense when she felt that she lost her way. Ryoma would feel her if she did that. Ryoma was practicing with Natsume at that very moment. The former had told her something about their powers combined for some reason.

On how to do that, she didn't know.

As she turned to a corner, she spotted Ruka feeding the animals at the barn. She had the time to stare at the animal lover before she decided to approach him;

"K-konnichiwa, Ruka-kun." She called.

Ruka looked at her and smiled a little, "Konnichiwa." He then looked back at the animals that he was feeding.

Sakuno sat beside him and watched him feed them, "You really like animals, don't you?"

Ruka nodded.

Sakuno didn't say anything after that. So Ruka was just like his best friend, a boy with few words. She felt at ease with him rather than Natsume. They were both okay for her but she still felt nervous whenever Natsume was around.

"Are you…"

She looked at him when he started to talk.

"Are you and Echizen… a couple?"

Blush suddenly appeared to her face when she heard his question, "W-we are not. W-what are you saying?! I… I am just his number one fan! We are just merely an acquaintance!"

Ruka blinked at her and blushed, "Y—you don't look like one to me."

"E?"

"If you are not, he wouldn't follow you here and ask for an alice to use."

"…"

"I think… he was guilty."

Ruka looked at her, "Guilty?"

Sakuno looked down staring at the rabbit which was currently eating the carrot, "He… was the one who gave me the necklace."

"…"

She knew that he was aware of that but she just couldn't help to bring it up again, "I kept telling him that it wasn't his fault. I am glad to have met you guys because Ryoma-kun gave the necklace to me."

"…"

"I got to meet you too, Ruka-kun," She closed her eyes and smiled at him, "I am very happy."

Ruka blushed but Sakuno didn't know that. He just looked down to watch the animals that he was feeding. Sakuno did the same and enjoyed the scene. Somehow, she missed Karupin. She missed Ryoma's cat.

They stayed like that for a few seconds until someone coughed behind them. They both looked behind them and saw the tennis prodigy casually standing not far from them.

"R-Ryoma-kun." Sakuno stood up and walked closer to him.

"What are you doing here?" Ryoma asked. Ruka stood up staring at him.

"I was just watching Ruka-kun feed the animals." She said gesturing the animals behind them.

Ryoma looked at the back and nodded. To her surprise, he grabbed her wrist and looked at Ruka, "I'll be taking her."

Ruka nodded and sweat dropped, "Go ahead."

Sakuno was rather shocked when he did that. She wasn't able to say something when he started to drag her away from that area.

Later on:

Ryoma brought her to the school's garden. She was wondering why Ryoma acted weird in front of Ruka. He was quiet. He was always quiet but it was awfully different today.

"Ryoma-kun?" She called out when he let go of her wrist. Her heart was pounding really hard inside her chest, "Is… there something wrong?"

Ryoma didn't answer that was why she felt a little awkward.

"Nothing's wrong," He said after a few seconds of silence, "It's about our mission."

"Our mission?"

Ryoma looked at her making her blush even more.

"I promise that I'll collect all those magical stones and receive hope for you and then," He seriously said, "We'll go home together."

Her eyes widened when he said that. She couldn't reply to his words at that very moment. It was really rare for Ryoma to say something serious like that, let alone that was non-related to tennis. He even promised something to her and not even in blue moon she would expect that.

Even so, she was really happy that he talked like that.

"A-arigatou Ryoma-kun."

"Nogi likes animals, huh?" He suddenly said after that, looking away in the process.

She looked at him and replied, "Well, yes. He likes animals," She started before she smiled, "Just like Ryoma-kun."

"Che…"

"You must've missed Karupin, ne?" She asked him.

"It's having a hard time dealing with Oyaji," He closed his eyes before he continued, "I am not worried at all."

She smiled at him. He did miss Karupin, alright. They remained silent for a few seconds before they were being raid by unexpected visitors.

"Guess who?" The person said behind Ryoma covering the latter's eyes in the process.

Sakuno was shocked that she couldn't find the words to say. She was too surprised to see them there.

"Why do I hear Kikumaru-senpai's voice." Ryoma said trying to remove the person's hands from his eyes, "He's not behind me, is he?"

"Saa… good guess Echizen."

"F-Fuji-senpai?" Sakuno whispered their senpai's name, still shocked at their appearance.

The person behind Ryoma removed his hand but not to hug him from behind, "I miss you, Ochibi!"

"Kikumaru-senpai, Momo-senpai," Sakuno said when Ryoma was able to turn around to face them, "W-what are you doing here?"

"Helping you of course." Fuji said.

Momo clung to Ryoma as well replacing Eiji in the process, "Are you having fun here, with Ryuzaki-chan?"

Ryoma was rather pissed instead of answering his senior's question. Sakuno, on the other hand, was shocked and another thing was bothering her at that very moment.

"Ummm, ano…" She started calling their attention, "H-helping me, you mean…?"

Fuji walked to her and nodded, "We are here to help you."

"Fujiko's right nya," Eiji butted in walking close to her, "We'll be with you on the mission."

Sakuno looked at Eiji for a couple of seconds. Eiji got her message and talked;

"We heard these two talking about you having powers, nya," He explained, "That's why we are here."

"We?" Ryoma inserted.

"Tezuka and I but he can't come," Eiji answered, "He still needed to guard our team. Arai and Horio would be replacing us for the meantime."

Ryoma tried to register what the acrobatic player was saying. Three regulars left their spot and to think that it would be Horio and Arai to replace them. He knew that the latter would be bragging about it.

He was not worried for it was almost summer break so there was no official tournament while they were away.

"D-does Obaa-chan know this?" Sakuno couldn't help but ask.

Fuji shook his head and replied to her, "We decided to keep it a secret. The rest of the team doesn't know about your alices," He looked at Eiji and smiled, "I just let my guard down and heard our conversation."

"That's why I brought them here."

All eyes looked at the last person who talked. Ryoma and Sakuno didn't know the newcomer but they had an idea that he was a teacher in the school. The teacher noticed this and introduced himself.

"Sorry for being rude, my name is Noda," He said looking at them, "I was the one who went to your world and fixed everything there."

"Noda-san helped us with his time-travelling alice to get here," Fuji continued, "And explained everything on the way."

"H-how did you know… about the mission?" Sakuno asked the teacher.

"I've been informed before they told you," Noda said looking at her, "Narumi also told me to take some people back with me and that explained why they are here now."

The area was silent after that. No questions asked for they understood far enough. That only meant one thing; they would be doing the mission together with their senpais. Ryoma, not really admitting it, was glad that they were there to accompany them.

"You shouldn't talk private things publicly."

They looked at the area where they saw other group of people there.

"N-Natsume-kun, Mikan-chan." Sakuno called out to them.

"Nodacchi-sensei," Mikan beamed when she saw the time traveller, "I am glad that you are here."

"Glad that I did not lose my way through time, yes." Noda corrected her making her sweat dropped.

"It's good that you are here as well, senpai-tachi." Mikan looked at the newcomers.

"Good to see you again, Sakura-chan, Hyuuga." Momo greeted them.

Mikan nodded, "But Natsume's right, we should not talk things here. Let's go inside."

Everyone nodded and made their way back to the academy.

Later on:

They met Narumi and Jinno and explained everything to them. They also met the other students of the academy and the people who would go with them on a mission. Noda brought them there last night but they told them to sleep and met the higher ups and their kouhais the very next day. The teacher just told the others about their arrival just now.

No wonder that Narumi and Jinno were quite shocked to see them there at that very moment.

Everything was prepared and they were just waiting for the day to their journey.

"Wait, I need to give some people something." Mikan called cutting Sakuno's reverie.

They watched Mikan yank something from her pocket and showed it to them.

"What's with the stones?" Eiji said as he stared at the stones in Mikan's hands.

"These are detection alice stones," She explained to the three, "It helps us to locate the stones with these."

"Cool, the search would be easier then." Momo commented.

"Fuji-senpai, Ryoma-san," She said calling their attention, "I would like you to have these."

Fuji and Ryoma looked at each other before they went closer to her. Mikan placed the stones in front of them and used her Insertion alice to them.

Eiji who saw the power for the first time was amazed at the display. Being the energetic one, he couldn't help but react to it making everyone sweat drop.

Mikan then looked at Natsume first before she walked closer to him, "Natsume, you wouldn't mind, right?"

Natsume just looked at her for a while and grunted a little. Mikan chuckled at his reaction. That was his way of agreeing to it. She then used her insertion alice once again and inserted the stone to him.

"Everything's ready now, we should practice next." Hotaru suddenly said catching their attention.

"Imai's right," Ruka said agreeing to the inventor, "We should go to the training area and practice."

Ryoma watched them all fired up. He missed his own practice way back at Seigaku, minus the juice of course. Not really admitting it, he missed the laps Tezuka was giving them. The practice that they were having later was quite different from the practice that they usually did. Looking at their senpais he suddenly remembered something;

"Fuji-senpai, being here means you have alices too, am I right?"

Fuji just smiled at him. He frowned when he only received that. He knew that they had. It was impossible not to have one for they were in the Alice academy after all.

At the training area:

"Sugoi nya!" Eiji said as he was watching Ryoma and Natsume combining their alices into one. Ryoma threw a ball and controlled it while Natsume put fire around it before it landed on a tree branch, "I can't believe that I missed this when we were in Seigaku."

"You haven't seen everything yet, senpai." Momo said as he looked at the others.

Fuji chuckled at a scene where Sakuno ran away from Youichi, looking all scared. The boy just created some small spirits around him and chased the pigtailed girl around the area. Tsubasa laughed when she went behind him. Ruka and Hotaru couldn't help but snicker a little. Mikan helped her and nullified the spirits and scolded the little boy.

The boy grunted and looked away. He sat down and waited for Natsume to finish his training.

Mikan approached the almost crying girl and comforted her. She told her to get a hold of herself bacuse she needed to practice with her alice. Sakuno tried to fix herself up and concentrated on using her power.

Later on:

He finished his practice with Natsume at that time. He was just sitting on a bench drinking his soda. He watched the braided pigtailed girl practice her own alice with the pigtail girl and the inventor. She was put to pressure because there were two trainers in front of her and was afraid to make a mistake despite that it would be alright for them. He couldn't help but to smile at little at that.

"You seem to be enjoying the scene."

He looked to his just to see the tensai standing behind the bench that he was sitting. He looked back to where Sakuno was before he decided to reply;

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," Fuji answered walking to his side and sat beside him, "She's improving."

"Who?" He asked feigning ignorance.

"Saa, Echizen that's not healthy," Fuji said staring at the people who were training, "I am talking about Ryuzaki-chan."

"…"

He knew that the tensai was aware of him watching the girl who was making funny reactions. He was true, the girl was indeed improving… at least with the barrier alice.

Who would've thought that the girl could be exempted at such skills?

"Na, Echizen, what are you going to do now?" Fuji suddenly asked bringing him back from his reverie.

"What do you mean, senpai?"

"We knew it, Echizen," Fuji said looking at him opening his eyes in the process, "We knew about Ryuaki-chan's condition."

He flinched a little when he heard that. He looked at the tensai only to find him looking at him as well. He was wearing a serious look on his face. Silence erupted between them before he looked away and replied;

"I'll stop her," He said gripping his hands, "I'll make sure that she won't use it."

"Hmmm," Fuji answered like that, "I'll help too. We will help her."

"…"

They were in a comfortable silence for a few seconds until someone stood in front of them. They looked at the newcomer who was stoically looking back at them. Fuji broke the silence and talked;

"What business do you need," He started as he leaned closer, "Youichi-kun?"

Youichi just looked at the tensai for a few seconds before he shifted his stare to Ryoma. He blinked twice when he saw him do that. What surprised the both of then was when the three year old boy went closer to Ryoma and climbed up to him.

…And hugged him to his neck.

Ryoma blinked twice as he was giving the boy a weird look. He even reacted when Fuji chuckled, "What's so funny, Fuji-senpai?"

"Gomen, nothing actually," He said giving him his signature smile, "It seems like Youichi-kun here likes you."

He narrowed his eyes at him and then to the boy. The boy was popping some gum in his mouth but he was giving the cold stare he could.

"Look, look! Ochibi has got a son!" Eiji said susprising everyone at his words.

"W-what?" Sakuno was distracted and lost concentration as she looked at him.

He was being surrounded with the others, much to his annoyance. Natsume even smirked while Mikan giggled. The others just laughed at their 'cute' scene. He looked at the braided pigtailed girl and somehow, she was weakly smiling at him too. He looked at the boy when he tightened his hold to him. He gave him a frown but he never pushed him away.

What's with this kid?

They continued with the practice despite the little interruption a while ago. The training continued within the days. Fuji, Momo and Eiji were only watching them. Ryoma and Sakuno were wondering about their alices. It was impossible for them to go to the academy without having an alice after all.

They were wondering when they would use it.

The day before their departure, night:

She was preparing herself to sleep. Tomorrow would be their big day where they would start searching for the stones. Ryoma used the detection stone a while ago and sensed where they would search first. Hotaru and Tsubasa dismissed them early so that they could prepare themselves tomorrow.

She was about to sleep when she saw Ryoma entering the room. She almost forgot, they were sharing the same room. She looked at him;

"A-are you going to sleep?"

Ryoma looked at her and nodded, "You go to sleep too. We have all day tomorrow."

"H-hai…" She nodded and lied down. She watched him go to the futon and lied down as well, "A-are you okay… lying there, Ryoma-kun."

Ryoma didn't reply for a while. She was facing his back so she didn't know his reaction, but then he decided to answer her, "I've been sleeping like this ever since we came here."

"R-right, gomen." She apologized blushing in the process.

"Or," He said turning around and faced her, "Do you want me to come and join you there?"

Her already blushed face blushed even more. She didn't know what to say. A lot of things happened between them and she couldn't believe that Ryoma could say something like that.

"I was just kidding," He said smirking at her then turning his back on her once again, "Go to sleep. I am fine here."

She stared at his back for a few seconds before she replied, "Hai, arigatou, Ryoma."

"Ryuzaki…"

"W-what is it?"

"…"

"Promise that you'll keep your word."

"Eh?"

He turned around once again and seriously faced her, "Promise me that you'll never use it."

Her eyes widened when he said that. It took for a few seconds before she realized what he wanted her to keep. She gave him a smile and nodded, "Hai, I promise."

"Un," He shortly replied, "You have to keep your word to me."

"Let's do pinky swear then." She said rolling over to her stomach and showed her pinky finger at him.

Ryoma stared at her finger and frowned. He then looked at her and was telling her the same thing. He slowly showed his own pinky finger. Sakuno reached for his finger and locked it to hers.

"Your pinky may be the smallest finger but it's capable of holding the biggest secrets..."

Ryoma just looked at her doing her thing. She raised their fingers up and down as she smiled at him and continued saying the promise,

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

"..."

"There I gave you my word." She said closing her eyes as she was still smiling at him.

"..."

He closed his eyes afterwards, "Good," He said, "Now sleep."

"Hai!" She replied. They both positioned themselves comfortably after that. They should prepare themselves for the mission tomorrow.

And tomorrow wasn't going to be easy for them.

Done! How was this chapter? The senpais arrived and would help them. Well, what will happen next? Mission will be commencing next week.

Can you give me ideas what kind of alice would suit for the three? Tee hee hee… I am still undecided with the alices for them. I hope you can help me… Domo…

Tell me your thoughts please… I really need it… Thank you very much.

Sorry guys, I haven't reviewed this much. I am catching up with the time. Sorry for the typos... I feel so ashamed... :(

Last Note: The pinky swear(s) are not mine to begin with. Credits to the real owners. Zero-related.

Next Chapter: The Journey