Hi! I am back with the new chapter. I don't want to say anything because I don't want to promise anything… Well, I hope you will like this… domo…
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.
sweetangel - tee hee hee... yep, Eiji's funny alright... I love the way he behaves... ^^
thank you. This is the new chapter... ^^
Chapter 19: Barrier Alice
Chapter Summary: He discovered something new and she discovered something new as well. What would happen next? Find that out.
"Do you know this guy?" Momo asked her as he walked closer to Mikan.
Mikan didn't say anything but she nodded. She tried to approach the newcomer and talked, "Shiki-san, w-what are you doing here?"
"Same as yours , Mikan-chan." Shiki answered carrying the stone in his hand. He looked at his hand and observed the stone, "This is 'greed' I am holding."
The others were pretty shocked when he said that. The newcomer just stared at the stone and he could easily recognize what stone that was. Shiki looked at them and talked;
"You were selling lamps to the dudbears so it was only natural to think of being selfish and thought what your priority was."
"You were spying us then." Tsubasa said walking a little closer.
Shiki looked at him, "Your alice cannot reach me shadow manipulator."
Tsubasa cursed when he said that. He was right. He knew what he was planning and it was useless to use his alice against him.
"Just who is this person?" Momo repeated asking to no one.
"I am Shiki," Shiki volunteered, "Member of Anti-alice Organization and," He said looking at Mikan afterwards, "Yuka-san's partner."
Seigaku's team's eyes widened when they heard that. Mikan couldn't help but feel sad about the announcement, "Shiki-san, please give that back to us."
"I am sorry," He said closing his hand in the process, "I can't grant you that wish."
"No!" Sakuno protested as she tried to reach the person but Ryoma just pulled her back.
The stone disappeared from his hand, "With this, you cannot complete the stones while we have one."
"Why are you doing this?" Hotaru said looking above them, "Why doing the hard way?"
"Because you don't prefer the easy way," Shiki answered the obvious, "I am only following Yuka-san's orders."
"Curse you." Natsume glared at him as he created a fireball in his palm and threw it to him.
Shiki just raised his hand and blocked it. Ryoma and Sakuno were shocked when they saw what he just did. Shiki looked at them, particularly at Sakuno;
"That's right, Ryuzaki-san. I am using the same alice as yours," He said, his hand was still lifted in the middle, "I am the original owner of your alice anyway."
Her eyes widened. She didn't know what to say when she heard that. Was he talking about her barrier alice? He was the owner of that alice. She looked at Mikan who was showing an upset expression at that very moment.
"Mikan-chan here stole a portion of my alice in order to protect the healing alice that is in your body right now," Shiki explained, "We targeted Imai Subaru to come and join us for we needed someone who could tend to our aid but Mikan-chan interrupted and stopped her mother's plot."
"What you were doing was wrong!" Mikan commented, "You wanted to go against the academy!"
"I only believe Yuka's words," Shiki said dropping his hand in the process, "She wants what's best for you."
"What she's doing now is hurting me," Mikan said showing her emotions that time, "Why can't mom see that?"
"You'll never know a mother's feelings when you always act like that, Mikan."
Her eyes widened when he said that. What did he mean by that? How could Shiki say something like that to her? She couldn't understand her mother, yes but how could she if Yuka wasn't telling her? If she could give her a brief explanation to it.
"You should meet up with your—" Shiki's words were interrupted when something or someone stopped him from talking. He sensed the newcomer and before he could catch by the figure, he easily avoided the force.
The others looked at the scene and were shocked to see who it was. It was actually Eiji, flying like a speed of light. Ryoma and Sakuno were shocked when they saw him do that.
"You avoided me that easily, bummer." Eiji said forming to reach him again but was halted when Shiki suddenly talked;
"You are pretty fast but not as fast as my sense." Shiki said as he raised his hand and aimed at him.
Eiji was not prepared at the force. He felt a gust of wind around him before he was pulled back with that force.
"Kikumaru-senpai!" Sakuno shouted when she saw that. She used her alice to block his back from falling really hard.
Eiji looked at her with an eye, "S-sankyuu, Ryuzaki-chii!"
"You are good at using my alice, Ryuzaki-chan." Shiki said looking at her.
Sakuno looked back at him, "S-shiki-san, please stop this."
"If you'll come with me now, I'll stop then."
"You bastard!" Natsume threw another fireball to his location but Shiki just easily avoided it.
Shiki aimed his hand to the fire alice and used his power on him. Natsume was being thrown back with an unkown force just like Eiji. Since his direction was towards Eiji, the acrobatic player was able to catch him.
Mikan and the others were pretty shocked at the power that the original barrier alice user displayed. He looked at them and smirked;
"You are probably wondering why I got this," Shiki said as he looked at his hand, "Yuka-san just gave me the privilege of using the wind."
"What do you mean?" Mikan asked him totally not aware of her surroundings.
"Your mother gave me a stone and inserted it to me," Shiki said, "It feels good to have another power, isn't it Ryuzaki-chan?" He looked at her who flinched in the process.
Sakuno walked a little forward to him, "Please, stop doing this."
To her surprise, Shiki blew his wind towards her. Sakuno tried to block it but there was not enough time to do that so she was hit with the force. She screamed due to pain. The wind was sharp and it scratched her delicate skin. Ryoma was really shocked as well as the others. He immediately covered himself in front of her hugging her in the process but it was too late.
"I forgot, my wind is sharp when I desire to make it like one." Shiki smirked as he looked at them.
Fuji and Tsubasa who saw the real thing went closer to the freshmen. Hotaru aimed his invention towards him but it was immediately broken by his wind. Mikan approached her best friend just to make sure that she was alright. Kokoroyomi and Ruka tended Eiji and Natsume.
Fuji gripped his hands tight as he looked at their opponent. He was no ordinary alice user so they shouldn't let their guard down. He was thinking of using his alice when Momo beat him to it.
Shiki was being poured with harsh running water on top of his head. Everyone was speechless when they saw his reaction. They looked at Momo who was making movements with his hands.
"If you can control the wind, I can control the water," He smirked as he dropped everything on the ground, "Don!"
Shiki gritted his teeth and was about to aim back at him, "You little—"
"You've done enough!" Ryoma hissed as he raised his hand to him like trying to stop him at all cost. Due to desperate demand, Shiki was being pushed back but this time with force.
"What the?" Shiki was rather surprised at the turn of events.
Ryoma on the other hand, was surprised as well. He looked at his palm and examined it.
"R-Ryoma-kun,w-what was that?"
He looked at Sakuno who was still in his arm. He shook his head before he answered her question, "I don't know. Something just… came off."
"That's telekinesis." Tsubasa interrupted catching everyone's attention.
"Telekinesis?" Eiji looked at them.
Before Tsubasa could explain, Shiki caught their attention.
"Seems like I underestimated you people. Anyway, I got what I want and my instinct is right," He looked at Sakuno whose injury was slowly recovering by itself but the girl hadn't noticed yet, "See you soon, definitely." With that the original barrier alice user disappeared not really trying to be stopped.
The area was quiet once again.
Ryoma was pretty absorbed after the incident but then he remembered something. He looked at the girl that he was holding and pretty shocked to see that her wounds were slowly healing;
"Ryuzaki!"
Sakuno blinked at him and frowned. She was not aware of what was happening to her. She was beginning to notice where he was looking so she looked at her injured body. Her eyes widened when she realized it.
Her wounds were closing by itself.
"I… I am not using my alice, I swear!" Sakuno said holding Ryoma's arm in the process.
Mikan and the others saw what happened. The former looked away and Hotaru saw it.
"She is regenerating, even without using her alice." Tsubasa said seriously looking at her.
Ryoma gripped his hands real tight. He was not showing his concern but his senpai could see through him.
He was worried for the girl.
He was not the only one. Fuji looked around and seemed like everyone around them was really worried about her. Sakuno's life was put to danger once again by using her own life force even though she didn't intentionally use it.
Natsume and Ruka on the other hand tried to follow Shiki but it was no to avail. They went back with frustrations on their faces, especially the former.
"Let's rest minna," Hotaru said easing the tense, "Sakuno needs one."
Everyon nodded. Ryoma assisted Sakuno to walk. The girl was injured because of the sharp wind Shiki gave to her a while ago. No wonder that she unintentionally used her healing alice to heal herself. Even though it was only a small portion, that didn't mean her life was spared. They remained quiet as they looked for an inn.
Later on:
They were able to log themselves in a cozy hotel courtesy of Tsubasa and his antics. They decided to stay at Sakuno's room in favor of the girl's request. Ryoma and even Ruka didn't want that but Sakuno wanted to know something.
It was about Shiki and Ryoma's newfound alice.
"Shiki-san's the original owner of the alice that you are currently possessing." Hotaru explained sitting in front of her. Mikan was sitting beside Sakuno while Ryoma was at her other side. The others were only standing around the area.
"Was he telling the truth?" Fuji said carefully saying his words, "about you… stealing his alice?"
Mikan anticipated that question but she was still shocked, "I did that to save Hotaru's brother. I didn't realize that it would come to this."
"What's Yuka's plan anyway?" Fuji asked another question.
Mikan didn't answer. Instead she looked down. The area became tensed after that. Natsume was the one to answer him.
"Her mother wants her to leave the academy and forces her to join the organization."
"We know that far." Ryoma said looking at the Fire alice user.
"The organization wants my alices," Mikan suddenly said, "Two stealing alice users are an advantage for them. In addition to that, I have the nullifying alice of my deceased father."
Everyone remained silent after that.
"Like hell I would let them."
They looked at the last person who talked. Natsume looked at them before he shifted his stare at Mikan;
"Even if she's polka dots' mother, I will never let her."
"Natsume…" Mikan looked at him quiet surprised at his words. The latter stared at her with the determination of implementing what he had said.
"Mikan-chan has nullifying alice that the organization doesn't have," Tsubasa announced, "Yuka-san doesn't have."
"I'll talk to mom when I have the time," Mikan said looking at Sakuno, "We should focus what is more important here."
Everyone looked at Sakuno who became anxious.
"The second sin. Shiki got it." Kokoroyomi suddenly said making everyone speechless.
"Gomen, minna," Sakuno said looking down, "I let my guard down."
"Don't be," Tsubasa said walking closer to her, "Shiki will not destroy that stone. I know that far."
"We still need to find the five sins from Pandora's box," Fuji said looking at them, "We should not lose hope."
"Senpai's right," Momo agreed, "We should not let our guard down next time."
Everyone nodded after that, satisfied at the conclusion that they made.
"What about Ochibi's power today?" Eiji said breaking the ease that they had, "I don't think it's the same of what that Shiki guy has."
Ryoma looked at his palm and observed his palm.
"Echizen-san," Tsubasa called his attention, "Try to move that object beside you without touching it."
The prodigy blinked twice before he followed what he had told him. He looked at the vase beside him and concentrated at it. Not a five second passed, the vase was lifted on its own. Everyone was totally shocked when he did that.
"S-sugoi, Ochibi!" Eiji said leaning closer to him, "How did you do that?"
"That's telekinesis." Mikan said making everyone look at her, "Like what Tsubasa-senpai told us a while ago. Ryoma-san has telekinesis."
"He has two alices too, are you saying that to us?" Fuji asked the obvious.
"Well, maybe true, maybe not." Tsubasa answered him this time.
Ryoma and Sakuno frowned as his answer. The former couldn't help but feel curious about it.
"I don't understand." He asked looking at Tsubasa.
Tsubasa looked at everyone before he looked back at him, "Your alice is locomotion which involves movements of the object but then again you use telekinesis to move objects. The difference is you don't touch the object that you wish to move using telekinesis unlike for your locomotion alice."
Everyone looked at him after the explanation, Tsubasa continued to clarify things.
"When you throw objects you control its movement with your mind. In telekinesis, you just stare at it and make it move," He looked to the ceiling and went on with the explanation, "When you aimed your hand to Shiki-san, you transmitted your power with your telekinesis to your hand and created a strong force for him to throw backward."
"Hmmm," Ryoma nodded getting the idea, "Yarujan."
"It seems that you understand my explanation." Tsubasa looked at him.
"Ne," He looked at him once again, "Can I use this to people?"
Tsubasa blinked but answered nonetheless, "As long as you have enough force to do it."
Ryoma smirked when he heard that. If someone could read his mind, only Fuji could guess what it was. Then he looked at his two senpais;
"Senpai, I've seen your alices today."
"Oh that," Momo said as looked at everyone. He grinned before he continued, "Yeah, that's my alice alright."
"You are a water bending alice." Mikan said and then looked at Eiji, "And Eiji-senpai's alice is to fly like a shooting star."
"Seems like your alices have special features." Ruka observed as he stared at them.
"What's your alice, Fuji-san?" Kokoroyomi asked the tensai.
"Why don't read me, kokoroyomi-san?" Fuji said smiling at the mind reader.
Kokoroyomi did but for some reason he couldn't read him, "Why can't I read you, Fuji-san?"
Fuji just continue smiling at him before he replied to him, "Because I am not thinking about it."
"Ehhhh," The mind reader reacted, "No fair."
The others laughed after that. Somehow, the area was filled with ease after that small talk.
Sakuno felt the same way. Her senpais were helping her now and they had their own alices. It was only the healing alice that she possessed that was stopping her to help them in full cooperation. She couldn't help but feel a burden to then.
"Minna, Sakuno needs to rest," Mikan announced to everyone, "Everyone should leave the room now."
Everyone started to leave. Sakuno breathed freely when they were starting to leave. She had heard enough for the day and she really needed to relax. She hadn't recovered from the power that she didn't use intentionally.
"You stay Ochibi!"
Ryoma was about to stand up but was halted when Momo and Eiji said that. Sakuno was also shocked when they said that.
"I agree with them," Hotaru said staring at the both of them, "Since you trust each other, it's better for you to stay together in the same room."
Sakuno blushed really hard. Just what were these people thinking? Of course she trusted Ryoma, but being with a guy not once but twice was pretty awkward for her. What would Ryoma think about it?
"Che.."
To her surprise, the tennis prodigy sat back to where he was sitting. Her blush never ceased to leave that time. Ryoma agreed to them without a fight, didn't he?
"Take care of Ryuzaki-chan, Echizen." Fuji teased and warned at the same time.
Ryoma stared at his senpai and completely understood what he was talking about. Soon after, the both of them were the only ones left in the room. It was pretty awkward for the both of them. He was sitting beside her so she didn't know if she could lie down now.
"Ummm," She started trying to initiate a conversation. She was not looking at him but she continued still, "W-where do you… sleep?"
Ryoma didn't say anything until a few minutes of being silent, "Do you want me to sleep beside you?"
She blushed really hard when he asked that, "R-Ryoma-kun!"
"Hai, hai." He said standing up in the process, "I was just kidding."
She looked at him when she felt him standing up. Ryoma walked to a closet and pulled something out from there. It was a clean futon and the boy had set it up for him. She watched him there until he could finally settle himself on the futon.
"You go to sleep, I won't bother you."
"H-hai…" She nodded as she started to lie down but then she remembered something, "Ano… Ryoma-kun…"
"Hmm…" He reacted but he didn't look at her. He was just staring at the ceiling.
She turned her body in an angle of ninety degrees so that she could face him. She bit her lower lip before she mustered enough courage to voice her thoughts, "G-gomen na, Ryoma-kun…"
Ryoma looked at her this time and frowned, "What for?"
"For…" She looked away before she continued, "breaking my promise."
"…"
"I… I used the healing alice without me knowing it… but still…"
"It was unintentional."
She looked at him only to see him still looking at her.
"Don't worry about it." He said giving the same countenance.
She fixed her lying position after that, "but… what if I got injured again? What if I use the alice against my will? What if I—" She held her breath and stop saying her thoughts when she suddenly realized that Ryoma was already beside her, sitting on the bed his hand was on her cheek and his eyes were intensely looking at her. Just how did he get to her location that fast?
"Ryuzaki," He started staring straight at her blushing face, "No matter what happens… I won't let my guard down unlike today... I'll protect you."
Her eyes widened when he said that. Her heart was beating really fast and her face was betraying her now. She didn't know what to say and she only held her breath even more when he slowly leaned closer to her face. She didn't know what to do as she was panicking inside. Was he going to kiss her? Was he really going to? He leaned even more and closed his eyes in the process as well.
"Echizen, Ryuzaki-chan, are you awake?"
Both of them flinched when they heard someone talked which was followed by a knock. The door opened and revealed the 'intruder'.
"T-Tsubasa-senpai?" Sakuno sat blushing as Ryoma fixed his own sitting position on the bed, "I-is there something that you need?"
Tsubasa observed them and smirked afterwards, "I brought you extra blanket for the night. The staff said that it would be very cold tonight."
Ryoma grabbed the blanket from him and nodded. He was somewhat pissed at the 'interruption' but he didn't show it.
"A-arigatou, senpai." Sakuno thanked him instead who was still blushing.
Tsubasa nodded and walked out of the room, "Good night guys," He said as he was about to close the door but then stopped for a while, "oh, and you can continue what you were doing a while ago." He closed the door after that leaving the two speechless.
"M-Mou!" Sakuno lied down and covered herself with the blanket. She didn't know how to face Ryoma after that, "Senpai no baka!" She whispered after that.
"Oyasumi." She heard Ryoma standing up as she felt it.
Her heart was still beating fast at that very moment. She could even hear it to her chest. Ryoma acted different a while ago. He was totally different.
"I am serious."
She flinched when he talked.
"You don't have to worry about anything."
She didn't reply to him but she nodded making sure that he would see her do that. Ryoma didn't say anything after that but she could hear shuffles from his side. She knew that he was lying down on the futon once again. When she thought that he did, she calmed down and touched her panicking heart with her hand. Sleep would be very hard for her but she could get by. Trying to sleep, she closed her eyes and whispered something;
"Oyasuminasai, Ryoma-kun."
Done! How was this chapter? I wanted to finish soon. Sigh… It was hard adjusting with the time… I hope you forgive me… Anyway, how was this chapter? Tell me your thoughts please… Domo…
about Shiki, well I know I made his a bit tad rude here... Sorry about that. I hope you'll live up to them as antagonists in the story... but who knows... in the future... :3
Momo and Eiji's alices are revealed. Fuji is still a secret... tee hee hee... Stay tuned... Domo...
Reviews please… Need motivation…
Next Chapter: Teardrop Crystal