Threads to Life Chapter 17: The Journey, a Prince of Tennis + Gakuen Alice Crossover fanfic

Hi! I am back with a new chapter. Sorry if am delaying my update, I was supposed to post this yesterday but something came up... sorry. Last week was pretty busy for me and didn't have time to write. I hope you understand me… And I am going to say this now... I am not sure if I am able to update on Tuesday. I'll be attending a cosplay event tomorrow and will be visiting a friend on Sunday so I don't have time to write fics. But I'll try to write at nights... domo…

sweetangel - tee hee hee... yep, indeed. haha... sa totoo lang di ko pa alam pero me idea na ko kung ano ung ke Fuji... :P Tee hee hee salamat... In the future... there will be... ^^

Tama... para mas madali mo akong makita kung sakali makagawa nga ako...

Thank you... and I'll see you soon... ^_^

Chapter 17: The Journey

Chapter Summary: They went on a journey and they didn't know that it would be 'that' hard. Find that out.

Narumi sent the group off with so many blessings, much to Mikan's delight and Natsume's irritation. The others just sweat dropped at the whole scene. The others talked their way as the others remained quiet. Sakuno was talking to the girls while Ryoma remained quiet who was miraculously with Natsume and Ruka's side. Tsubasa watched the kids ahead of them.

"Our first stop will be in Lake Kilma," Fuji announced as he felt a strong presence from a certain location.

"That's the outskirts from the town," The shadow manipulating user said, "It will take at least six hours to get there."

"Do we have ways on how to reach the place fast?" Eiji asked him.

"If Noda-sensei is with us, it would be very easy but to use his alice more often could bring us trouble." Tsubasa explained.

Fuji nodded at him. He knew that it would be a long journey for them. Momo joined the quiet boys and started making their atmosphere 'livelier'.

They were in the middle of crossing a lake when someone interrupted them. Sakuno sensed it among others. She called everyone's attention;

"M-minna-san, watch out!" She closed her eyes and raised both hands creating a large barrier to all of them. A force welcomed them and good thing that Sakuno was able to put up with the barrier before the force reached them.

"Daijoubu, Sakuno?" Mikan asked her after the sudden attack.

Sakuno nodded her head at her.

"Show yourself!" Natsume said preparing to use his alice. Ryoma was behind him, pissed at the sudden attack.

"Just as expected for the special alice user," The person said catching their attention, "You could block that much energy."

They looked at the source of the power that they were sensing and saw a person standing at a branch of a tree.

"Reo!" Tsubasa gritted his teeth as he saw him there.

"That's not nice to treat a senior, Andou." Reo said looking at him.

"You are not our senior!" He continued, "You abandoned the school if you have forgotten about that."

"Bitter, aren't we?" Reo smirked at them, "Too bad, I will not go back to that place anymore."

"What are you doing here?" Eiji said and then looked at Fuji, "More importantly, who is he?"

"I'll explain to you later." Fuji said his eyes opened. He knew that the person in front of them was no easy opponent.

"I know why you are all here in this area. I'll make sure that you will not complete them."

"WHAT!" All of them reacted at the same time.

Sakuno placed her hands to her chest. Reo was planning to stop her. She didn't know why the guy was doing it to her. She took a step forward and faced him;

"W-why Reo-san?" She asked her, Hotaru and Mikan were behind her, "W-why are you doing this?"

Reo shrugged and smiled at them, "It'll be fine if there are interruptions, right?" He said making them curse differently, "Well, since this is your first day, I'll give you the bonus. You can have the first stone."

"What?!"

Reo looked at Mikan and stared at her for a few seconds before he sighed, "I'll take my leave now," He looked at his companion and nodded, "Let's go." Both of them disappeared.

They looked at the tree where they were standing a while ago. The person that Reo with was carrying a special gun, it must have been the source of the power that Sakuno blocked a while ago. Everyone remained quiet after that.

Mikan thought really hard. She noticed Reo's expression before he left them. She thought of seeing sadness in his eyes but it was only for a short while. She didn't know if it was true or if she was just seeing things. Her thoughts were cut when someone tapped her.

"Everything will be fine." Hotaru said giving her a small smile.

Mikan smiled at her and nodded, "You are right. I know."

"Thank you for saving us, Ryuzaki." Ruka faced Sakuno afterwards.

Sakuno blushed a little, "I-it was an impulse though."

"Without your impulse, we would've been fried or something." Tsubasa walked closer to her ruffling her hair.

"T-Tsubasa-senpai." Sakuno tried to stop him but no to avail. She was still blushing at the same time.

"Senpai, if you keep doing that, they would attack you." Kokoroyomi suddenly said catching his attention.

"What do you mean Kokoroyomi?" Tsubasa asked the mind reader.

Kokoroyomi was about to answer when his hair to his body stood up. Someone gave him a message of wrath, "T-they just want you to stop being that close to her, that's all."

He watched the mind reader act ridiculously. He knew that someone was threatening him and he knew who for some reason. To give his instinct some proof, he suddenly hugged the girl. The girl squealed of course, but that was just to tease the people around them. His instinct was right; he could see the tennis player glared at him. Even the animal lover was giving the same thing, much to his surprise; the youngest member of the group was giving him a death glare. He smirked as he succeeded at his experiment.

"Let's just get out of here." Natsume grumpily said walking ahead to cross the lake.

Tsubasa chuckled at his behavior. Him too huh? He thought as he looked at the fire alice user. Mikan just smiled at his action. He didn't see that coming. He let Sakuno go and push her to the girls after that. He then watched the group after that.

"Saa… you also like to see people suffer." Fuji said walking beside him.

"Huh?" He looked at him trying to get what the tensai said, "Maybe… you can say that."

Fuji smiled at him and then looked ahead. He thought that he would be enjoying this journey now that he had found a new comrade in Tsubasa's side.

Eiji began doing his acrobatic skills as he crossed the lake, making everyone amaze at the stunts that he just did.

"Eiji-san is cool," Kokoroyomi said clapping her hands for several times, "Is he a part of a circus of something?"

Sakuno answered for her, "I-Ie, he's just good at acrobatic skills. He uses that when he plays tennis."

"I see," Kokoroyomi nodded, "but he is cool."

"Ochibi, kocchi, kocchi!" Eiji waved his hands making them wonder at the person he called.

"Ochibi? Who's Ochibi?" Tsubasa asked to no one. Natsume smirked a little. Aside from him, Mikan was the only person who Ochibi was.

Ryoma at that meantime want to kill a senpai. Why would he call him that even in a different world?

"He is talking about Echizen." Fuji answered for him.

"Senpai!" Ryoma retorted at him making everyone look at him, "What!"

"Nothing…" Kokoroyomi who was smiling at him. He knew that it was him since he was reading everyone's mind. Ruka and Hotaru remained silent but they were just refraining from laughing.

"Let's go already," Eiji announced and looked ahead, "Oh look, there are rabbits over there."

"There are?!" Sakuno and Ruka asked at the same time. Everyone laughed at them except for the non-emotional people there. They both blushed and looked away at the same time.

Ryoma looked at Sakuno. She was blushing. Ever since she discovered Ruka who also loved animals they had some sort of understanding themselves. He couldn't help but feel a little awkward about it and he didn't understand himself anymore.

"Cool buddy," Momo said surprising him with a headlock, "I know that Ryuzaki-chan will still choose you over him so you don't have to worry."

Ryoma tried to free himself away from him and act normal as he replied, "What are you saying senpai?"

"Ah, so young, so young." Momo ignored him.

"Come here Youichi-kun, let's cross the lake." Mikan said spreading her arms to him.

Youichi looked at her before he walked closer to the girl but he didn't reached for her hands instead he grabbed her plaits and used that to climb to her.

"I-itte, Youichi-kun!" She shouted a little because of the pain.

He finally settled to her neck after that. The others watched the two of them before they started to laugh.

"Youichi-kun never fed up with his tactics on you." Tsubasa said smiling at them.

"That's not funny, senpai." Mikan pouted making the others laugh even more.

"Let's see the rabbits." Ruka looked at Sakuno.

Sakuno nodded at him and walked together to cross the area.

Ryoma secretly grunted. He walked calmly next to them trying to act cool. He didn't like the feeling but he must not jump into conclusions. He didn't even know why he was acting like that. All he was aware was he didn't like what was happening.

Fuji, Momo and Tsubasa just snickered at his behavior. They knew how hard he restrained from being calm. At least they were proud of how he put up such a nice act.

Later on:

The lake was pretty. Sakuno was enjoying the area. She could see different yet cute creatures around her. She could see yellow rabbits but somehow, they appeared differently. She walked near one and brushed its ear;

"K-kawaii… I hope Tomo-chan could see this…" Upon remembering her best friend, she became sad. She missed everyone at home. I hope Tomo-chan is doing well.

"Who's Tomo-chan?"

She looked behind her and saw Tsubasa crouch beside her, "She is my best friend in Seigaku." She smiled at him and continued brushing the rabbit's ear.

"I see. I bet she misses you a lot." He said to her brushing another rabbit's ear.

"I think she does as I to her." She said her eyes softened as she did miss her best friend.

"You'll see her soon, don't worry." Tsubasa said.

Sakuno nodded her head at him, "You are right, senpai. Arigatou."

"So what are we going to look here?" Momo asked catching everyone's attention.

"A magical stone, perhaps?" Ryoma said as a matter-of-factly.

"Nice answer, Echizen, really?" Momo answered sarcastically.

"That's what you were asking, wasn't it?" He obliviously answered back.

"Where do we look from here, baka!" Momo said leaning closer to him.

"You don't have to shout at me, baka!" He shouted back at him only a little lower than him.

"Maa, maa stop doing that," Fuji stopped them worrying that there would be frenemies in the GA world if they continued, "Let's look for the source of energy and see what we can find out here."

Everyone nodded and started searching.

"How do we know what these stones look like?" Eiji asked after that.

"We will know when we see one." Fuji answered him.

Eiji cocked his head to his head, "But I don't understand nya."

"You will see." Fuji just repeated his words.

Eiji kept on bugging Fuji but the latter just keep telling him the same thing. The others ignored them. They continued searching for the stone that they didn't know the appearance.

"There."

They looked at the last person who talked. Mikan looked at Youichi who was pointing a certain area. Mikan blinked her eyes at him;

"What is it, Youichi-kun?" She asked.

"Let's go there." He shortly said.

They others looked at the direction the boy was pointing at. They recognized what he was trying to say. Without further ado, Natsume led the way and went through the deeper area of the lake.

Sakuno followed and somehow, she felt a little odd. Staring at the lake ahead of them, she felt a strong aura pulling her towards to the lake. She walked slowly at the water as her eyes were inviting her to come.

Only to be stopped by a hand.

"Where are you going?"

She looked at the person who stopped her, "Ryoma-kun," She focused on the hand that he was holding. Well, he was holding her wrist. She blushed but she immediately shrugged it off, "It's fine, I… I just want to see it clearly."

Ryoma stared at her. She gave the determination that she could do it. After some time, he finally sighed and slowly released his hand from her wrist;

"Don't do anything reckless."

"Hai…" With that she continued walking near the lake.

Fuji, Eiji, Tsubasa and Hotaru saw the whole scene. If the situation wasn't serious, they would've been teasing the young tennis prodigy at that very moment. But they had to focus on what was happening at that very moment.

As long as she stepped at the bottom of the lake, a sudden light had suddenly emerged from the center of it. It went up and creating a blinding light. Sakuno followed its direction and looked up above.

"Isn't that…" Momo muttered as he looked at the light in front of them.

"It is indeed," Kokoroyomi answered, "that's the first magical stone that we have ever found."

They watched the light from the top and suddenly, it dashed towards Sakuno making the girl shriek.

"Ryuzaki!" Ryoma called out running to her side.

She was covered with the light that attacked her. She didn't know what to react so she closed her eyes instead. The aura was somewhat absorbing her and she didn't know why. She felt something odd entering her body. When she felt that it was gone, she slowly opened her eyes and observed her body.

"Oi…"

Ryoma grabbed her by the shoulder. He tried to calm as he could. Sakuno looked at him for a few seconds and smiled afterwards.

"I… I am fine, Ryoma-kun." She answered as she observed herself. Was that thing entered her? What was that anyway?

"I think that was one of the seven sins that we are looking for." Fuji said catching everyone's attention.

Eiji nodded, "And it entered Ryuzaki-chii's body."

"I think we just have to collect all of them and let Sakuno keep them." Mikan said as the others agreed to her.

Sakuno felt the thing inside her. She didn't know but she felt lighter. It was the start of everything anyway. She would gather all the magical stones and find hope after that.

And then they could go home… together.

Unknown to them, the shadow manipulating alice user was staring at the braided pigtailed girl. No one could read his mind at that very moment.

"Oh!"

Or not.

He had forgotten Kokoroyomi in the team. He looked at the mind reader and saw how worried he was despite that smile that he was wearing. He sent him a message that only him could understand. The mind reader flinched a little but he nodded.

They had some sort of understanding and they would keep it… for a while.

"Let's rest, minna." Hotaru suddenly said.

Everyone agreed to her. They decided to spend the night in the lake. It was safe as they thought. Hotaru being the inventor of the group prepared everything for their journey. Everyone sweat dropped and at the same time, impressed. Hotaru was indeed the inventor freak.

Later on:

Night welcomed the place. Everyone had some different activities to do. Sakuno begged Youichi to practice with him which the little boy agreed. Mikan was with Hotaru, Momo and Eiji while Natsume was having a quality time with Ruka. Tsubasa was with Fuji while Ryoma surprisingly eyeing everyone together with Kokoroyomi.

"…"

"Do you want me to say what is in your mind?" Kokoroyomi suddenly asked him.

"…"

"Keep it."

"I see," The mind reader looked ahead and watched the braided-pigtailed girl being chased by spirits once again, "You know, we just started our journey and we already got a stone. Don't you think that it's too early for this?"

"What do you mean?" He looked at him completely oblivious at his words.

Kokoroyomi shrugged, "I think it's too early. The stone is pretty easy to get, don't you think?"

He stared at him for a long time before he decided to reply, "I want to end this journey as possible. The earlier the better."

"Hmmm," He replied, "You cannot wait to take Ryuzaki-san home, can you?"

"What?"

"Don't worry, Echizen-san," He said elbowing him, "Your secret's safe with me."

"Shut it." He retorted, a little blush was present on his face. Good thing that it was already night. No one could see them in their location, especially his expression.

They stayed like that until they decided to call it a night. Sakuno looked at Ryoma first and gave him a smile before she joined the other girls in a tent. Ryoma just watched her enter the tent before he went to their tent as well. Ryoma was teased being overprotective of the girl, much to his irritation.

But he let them go. He would do anything to protect the girl anyway. He had promised. They made a promise to each other anyway.

Meanwhile:

Her room was filled with ice. She couldn't control her alice once again and she feared that. Her alice was draining her life everytime she used her alice. She belonged to the dangerous type ability just like Natsume but the fire alice boy could control his only when he was not stubborn.

She feared her alice. She didn't want to use it but she had to. She feared for her life. She feared for her. but what could she do? She didn't have it. She had to have it but she must obey the rules. She was running out of time. She needed to cooperate or it would be the end of her.

She hadn't apologized to her yet.

She wanted to make friends with her but her situation was stopping her. Sitting on her bed, she tried to calm herself as she looked above. The place was indeed cold but she wasn't feeling cold at all.

"You are such a mess."

She looked ahead and saw the person who was responsible for her hardship, "Get out!"

"Sorry, little missy but that can't do," The person said walking closer to her and leaned to her face, "You see, she wants you to do something for her."

She gritted her teeth as she glared at the person in front of her, "What does she want?"

"You'll go on a mission." The person said leaning away from her.

"What?"

"You'll leave the academy and do a mission for her," The person smirked as he continued, "You just have to guard some nuisance."

Her eyes widened when the person said that. Somehow, she didn't like the sound of it. She knew that whatever the mission would be, it would bring a not so good result for her.

Done! How was this chapter? It was shorter thatn before... Haha… I didn't know what I was writing anymore. I hope you could give me some ideas or some motivation to do. It isn't about the time, it's about the ideas actually. I hope I could come up with a better plot in the future… Domo…

Note: I am going to use the places, probably, some people and creatures from the game called 'The Legend of Mana' while they are on their journey. I love the game and I miss playing the game. I do not own the game, capiche?

Lake Kilma: A place in the game.

Last thing: If you have free time feel free to check my new sequel fic called 'The Lost Butterfly'. See it for yourself for the readers who waited for the sequel... domo... ^^

Reviews please… I want to hear your thoughts… Thank you…

Next Chapter: Dubbears