Hye! I am back again… I am very, very sorry for the two weeks delay. I was supposed to update this last Saturday but something came up and I was tired yesterday that I could not move around at all. I hope this will still interest you... and thank you for sticking up with me until now. This fic is reaching to its end but I don't know how many chapters left. Anyway, this is the new chapter. I hope you like it…
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 30: Intentions and Purposes
Chapter Summary: She never expected that from her. No one expected that she would. There was something that they should know especially to the people from the other world.
"Suteki…"
She looked behind her when she saw a girl with twin pigtails eyeing on her Ice alice. Her eyes were big and her mouth was opened wide. She didn't know why this girl would be there with her in the woods where she was hiding. As of the moment, she was using her alice which everyone feared about.
…but this girl was different.
She covered herself with her alice with thick crystals and that was she had witness at that time. Instead of fearing her, she walked closer to where she was bringing the smile of surprise on her face.
"You have a beautiful alice." The girl said circling around her as if she was an art that a person could spend time watching her, "I've never seen a girl glowing around her."
Glowing? She thought as she raised an eyebrow. The girl was still looking at her with amusement and still circling around her. She didn't know what to say or react. Surprising her even more, the girl grabbed her hands despite the coldness and numbness of them and smiled sweetly at her.
"Cool, your hands cold but not you heart."
She blinked at her remark, "How can you know that?" She spoke to her for the first time when she appeared from nowhere.
"I know!" She just beamed closing her eyes in the process, "You have a warm heart and I can feel it."
She stared at her surprisingly. The girl was still holding her to her hands and was not planning to let go until later. She found the girl weird at all. She wouldn't cut herself from her thoughts if the girl wasn't going to talk until she moved their hands together.
"My name's Mikan, what's yours?"
Hearing her name was the weirdest thing that she had discovered that day but she never expected that the girl's name would be the wonderful discovery that she wanted to cherish despite everything.
…And changed everything.
"N-Nobara…"
She looked at her from the group of people staring shockingly at her. Grinning down at them, she could see the look of being deceived by her from their eyes.
"Nobara-san… why are you grinning like that?"
She looked at him, the only person who accepted her in the group aside from the people that wanted her in. She could see the surprised look from his eyes. She looked down and faced them with a different expression.
"I came here for a mission." She said non-emotionally.
"What mission?" Momo said as he took a step forward, "And why are you holding Ryuzaki-chan like that?"
"Can't you all see why?" She said giving him a mocking grim, "She is my mission. I came here to take her away from you."
"What?!"
All of them gave her the unexpected expression that she was waiting… shock and bewilderment.
"You….You are kidding, right…" Mikan said walking closer as well but Natsume and Hotaru were blocking her to come any closer to her, "Nobara… bring Sakuno down here. Come on, she's unconscious. I know that you just saved her from something a while ago."
"Do not be silly," She said eyeing her, "I created the mist with my own alice and knocked her unconscious in the process.. I could bring her without hassle."
"What do you mean?" Mikan said looking straight at her, "Nobara. I don't get what you mean."
"You don't have to."
Everyone was shocked when someone talked for Nobara. Behind her, there was a portal appeared all of the sudden and a blinded light almost filled the area. Gilbert covered Flameshe from the light. He evem carried her away from the crowd not giving a time to glance at them. The rest waited for the light to disappear.
All of the people there, Mikan was the most speechless one. They were standing beside Nobara. The wind was circling them as long as the portal disappeared.
Natsume, Hotaru and Ruka looked Mikan who was eyes were widened. She was not expecting to her there, together with her loyal companions.
Yuka, Reo and Shiki were standing alongside Nobara.
"It's been a while, Mikan." Yuka said eyeing her from above.
"M-mom…" She almost whispered when she saw her mother at that moment, "W-why? No-Nobara…"
Reo walked closer to Nobara and grabbed Sakuno from her, carrying her in his arms this time, "You did a good job there. I knew that I could count on you." He said looking at the ice princess.
"What do you mean?" Momo said trying to act calm. Eiji was already at his side.
"I ordered her to join you and let you believe that she's on your side," Reo said watching their expressions changed gradually, "What do I expect what the ice princess. Good at masking any emotions."
"Kono yarou!" Momo said as he was about to use his own alice but someone beat him to it.
A tennis ball was flown to their direction and Shiki blocked and crushed it into pieces to avoid from moving.
"You never ceased to amaze me, tennis boy." Shiki said grinning down at Ryoma.
Ryoma on the other hand, was glaring at him. He gripped his hand that he used from throwing that ball to him. He was too shocked to react during the first minutes but when he finally realized what was going on, he acted without thinking and threw the ball to the guy, "Bring her back."
"Sorry but no can do," Shiki said making a portal once again, "We are so close at reaching our goal."
"It's time for us to go," Reo said walking closer to the portal, "We will take good care of Ryuzaki-chan for you."
"Bring her back! Mom!" Mikan said running closer to them but Nobara threw ice crystals in front of her, "Nobara!"
"Stay where you are if you don't want to get hurt." She said icily. Her eyes were cold when she was staring back at her.
"Don't you dare!" Yuka said eyeing Fuji who was secretly using the vines to reach them. Yuka inserted her hand to Sakuno's chest, "If you want her to live."
"Fuji-senpai." Ryoma looked at Fuji with a hint of concern this time.
Fuji looked at Ryoma and then to the rest before he looked at the unconscious girl in Reo's arms. He could see the girl's expression from where they were standing. It was someone disoriented because Yuka's hand was somewhat disturbing the power of her alices inside her. Griping his hands, he slowly canceled his alice and brought his hands down.
Yuka smirked when he saw that and then looked back to her daughter, "If you want to see her, come and find me. I'll give you twenty fours to look for me."
They just looked at them. Shiki went in first and Yuka went in next. She looked at her daughter for the last time before she disappeared from them. Reo walked to the portal next. Ryoma gritted his teeth as he helplessly watched her being taken away from them. Nobara was the last to enter the portal.
"Nobara-san!"
She stopped from entering when someone called her. She looked behind her just enough to see Momo looking at her… totally betrayed by her.
"Why? I trusted you. We trusted you." Momo said as if the words were really hard to say from his mouth.
She didn't say for a few minutes. She looked at them with cold eyes. From Mikan to Momo. Looking at Momo last, she turned a little and gave him her last message of the day;
"I told you. I am not the person you thought I was. I didn't ask for you to trust me."
Momo's eyes widened and became speechless. He just eyed her there gripping his hands real tight. Nobara stared at them for a few seconds before she entered the portal without saying another word.
Thus, the portal disappeared without a trace.
Later on:
It had been an hour since Sakuno was taken away from them. They camped outside since they checked out from the inn and were about to travel to their next destination. They were just outside the Makive Caverns and decided to settle for the night there.
But they couldn't sleep at all.
Ryoma was sitting on a rock and preferred to be alone. No one dared to approach him at that moment. Mikan was with Hotaru and Ruka at a corner of the cave while Natsume was out somewhere near the cave. The rest remained inside the cave but none of them was talking until someone broke it.
"What do we do now?" Eiji said looking at them, "We just can't stay here and wait."
"We know that but," Tsubasa answered him, "don't know where to find them."
"Let's search from them," Kokoroyomi suggested making everyone look at him, "that's the only way, right?"
"Where should we start then?" Tsubasa looked back at him, "This place is huge. We don't know if they are still in this area."
"Tsubasa-san's right," Fuji said looking on the ground, "We don't know where they are at this moment," He looked at Mikan's direction, "Unless, Sakura-san knows where there are."
They looked at the nullifying alice user and thought of the same thing. They wished that Mikan would know where Yuka was.
xxx
He threw some stones to the water. He had been trying to sense her but no to avail. That was right. He had been trying to communicate with Sakuno using his own alice. If the girl could sense it, she would use her own alice as well. He remembered that they had that sort of connection when one used the alice.
He was giving it a try now.
But she was not responding. Was she still unconscious? Or was she far within reach? He couldn't think of any possible solution than that and he didn't want to think the impossible.
He didn't believe that sort of thing anyway. He hated the fact that he couldn't do anything when she was being taken away from them at that moment, hated the fact that he just let them go like that. Hated the fact that he let her disappear from his sight... without doing anything. He gripped his hands tight as he merely cussed audibly if it wasn't for the footsteps approaching his location.
"You are showing that face again."
"..."
"Just like before."
"What are you doing here," He said not looking at him, "Momo-senpai?" He knew what his senpai was talking about. It was the first time he felt frustrated when someone beat him... even though it was an unofficial match.
"I should be the one asking that," Momo sighed as he sat beside him, "this isn't like you."
"Who am I then?" He looked at him for the first time he got there.
Momo looked at the large amount of water in front of them, "Come on Echizen, you know yourself better than I do. You don't sulk like this."
"I am not sulking."
"Then what are you doing?"
"I am thinking."
"Oh yeah," Momo looked at him, "What are you thinking?"
"I am thinking of Ryu-" His words got caught in the middle as he realized what he was saying, "-things."
Silenced welcomed them for a few seconds before Momo broke it himself;
"You know, I am supposed to tease you for that," He chuckled after he said his thoughts. Ryoma was narrowing his eyes at him, "it isn't the right time to do it anyway."
"And I should be teasing you with the Ice princess too."
"That's not a funny joke."
He knew that Momo was right. His expression changed when he said that. Of all the people from the group, he knew that it was his senpai felt betrayed the most by the ice princess. He could sense it at his own age that he was having a hard time either.
"Ne senpai," Ryoma called his senpai and was able to smirk when he continued, "Who will you choose then?"
The dunk smasher blinked as he looked at him, "Huh? What?"
"Tachibana-san no imouto or Aisu no hime?"
It took seconds before Momo realized what he was talking about. He leaned closer to him and ruffled his hair;
"Baka!" He reacted blushing in the process, "They have got nothing to do with it."
"E, really?" trying to pry his hand away from his hair, he was able to tease him. At least, he wanted to forget their current problem at that time but he knew that they would go back and think about it.
As long as they had to save the braided-pigtailed girl from the hands of the Anti-Alice organization.
Meanwhile:
"They seem to be fine now," Ruka said eyeing the two near the shore and teasing each other, "That's good."
"No it's not," Hotaru said shifting her attention from the two to her best friend, "We have a bigger problem to solve."
Ruka looked at Mikan as well. Youichi was sitting beside the non-active girl at the moment. He looked around looking for his best friend but Natsume was nowhere to be found.
Mikan on the other hand was staring nowhere. She was affected at everything. Blaming herself for Sakuno's abduction. It was her mother's doing anyway. Even though they kept telling that it wasn't her fault, she couldn't help but blame herself from it.
"Mikan," Hotaru placed a hand to her shoulder, "Stop blaming yourself and help us. You are the only one who will know her mother's whereabouts."
"I don't know where mom is," Mikan said looking down, "I don't where she is."
"Think carefully," Hotaru insisted, "She's your mother. You know her the most. Think of the possible places that she might go."
Mikan closed her eyes and tried to concentrate but doing that she could only see the image of them smiling mockingly at her;
"I can't! I don't know where she is!" She covered her ears this time, "She moves everywhere!"
"Dummy!" Hotaru snapped, "How can you not know your own mother? What if you there are some misunderstandings between you two? Isn't this the time you settle things with your mother?"
"H-Hotaru..." Her eyes were eyeing her best friend. Hotaru never raised her voice to anyone not even to her. She did it a little but only to a slight level than her normal tone. At least she knew that Hotaru was angry at her.
"Stop worrying things that are not necessary. Learn to face the problem, you idiot!"
Mikan stared at her best friend. She looked down and tried to concentrate further. Hotaru watched her and never said anything after that. If Hotaru was not going to say anything, she hoped that she would give enough time to think. It was for Sakuno's sake and safety.
Ruka and Youichi and even Kokoroyomi who just arrived looked at the scene. They seemed to understand what they were talking about. And that was enough for them. Fuji on the other hand was watching them from his location. He too was thinking something important.
They had given a day in order for them to find Yuka's whereabouts. and he thought that it would not be too late when they finally had a clue where to find her.
The time was running fast and they still didn't have a single clue where to find her. They couldn't do anything until Mikan found her mother's whereabouts.
Meanwhile:
She woke up with a sound of something wheezy. Blinking her eyes twice, she tried to view around her. At first, it was dark and then she saw something flickered in front of her. She rubbed her eyes to get a clearer view then she looked around once again.
"W-where am I?" She noticed that she was in cave and the flickering thing that she caught with her blurred eyes a while ago was the fire that was lit not far from her. It brought enough light for the dark cave that she was in. She tried to remember what happened to her. The last thing that recalled, something cold covered her entire body when she was about to gather the final sin. Something hit her from the back of her head causing her to lose consciousness. The rest was unknown to her.
She tried to get and up and walk but then a force was brought her to sit back, "W-what is this?" She reached for it and felt something that stopped her from moving.
"I wouldn't force myself to get out from there if I were you."
Hearing that familiar voice, she searched from the cave and found Nobara walking closer to her, "N-Nobara-san!" She felt relieved when she saw the ice princess. She was rather nervous when she found out that she was alone in that cave but when she saw Nobara with her, her nervousness seemed to calm down, "W-where are we? W-what is this barrier? C-can you get me out from here?"
"That barrier will keep you from using your own barrier alice."
"W-what?" She looked at her and notice something odd from her. Her eyes were cold... cold as ice, "W-what do you mean? W-where is everybody? What happened?"
"You don't get anything, do you?" Nobara said icily, "To put everything simple, I kidnapped you from everyone before you could get the final sin."
Her eyes widened when the ice princess said that. She couldn't say anything at that moment.
"I guess I did a nice job of pretending." Nobara gave her a mocking smirk.
"Y-you are lying. W-where is everyone?" She leaned to the force and tried to talk some sense to her, "Y-you will not betray us. I know!"
"I already did. You are in the AAO's side now," She said still keeping the reaction she had on her face, "We are so close of reaching our goal."
"N-no... you are lying."
"She is not."
They looked at the last person who talked. Her eyes widened when she spotted the voice pheromone walking closer to them.
"Welcome to the organization," Reo said smiling and curtsied at her, "Ryuzaki-san."
"Y-you are..." She walked backwards clasping her hands in the process, "W-what are you going to do to me?"
"We will help you of course," Reo said inserting his hands in his pocket, "But you have to deal with the effect."
"I... I don't get you."She said as she looked away, "Bring me back to the others."
"We can't do that sorry," Reo said walking closer to the barrier, "We all have to combine the sins together inside you so that we could get the healing alice from you."
Sakuno realized that the moment she saw Reo in front of her. She thought that it was fine and getting rid of the alice inside her was the only way to save her as well. She took a step forward and firmly shared her thoughts;
"Get it then. G-give me the remaining sins to me and I'll give you the alice that you want."
"That's not going to be easy."
"W-what do you mean?"
"You have to prepare yourself in order to call 'Hope'. We will need necessary procedures to get the alice from you."
"Is that the reason why we can't get the alice from her now?" Nobara asked Reo.
Reo nodded not really looking at her, "Yuka wanted to spare her life so it was the least she could do."
She listened to their conversation. Somehow, she knew that something was not right at their conversation. Whatever it was, she didn't really want to know.
xxx
She had her hands to her head trying to know where her mother would be. She had to know for Sakuno's at stake. Think, Mikan, think. Where could Mom take Sakuno? She thought. The rest was looking at her.
Ryoma not far from them was still thinking of a way where to find her then suddenly he felt something. He stood up as if sensing something. Momo noticed him getting all alert.
"Doushita no?"
"I sense her."
"What?"
"Ryuzaki..." After saying that, he started running to Mikan's side, "Sakura, I think I know where she is."
The rest looked at him and gathered around them. Mikan approached him and grabbed his shoulder, "Where Ryoma-san?"
"No idea but if you can view my vision..."
"Kokoroyomi can read your mind." Mikan said looking at the mind reader, "Please Kokoroyomi. Locate Sakuno's whereabouts."
The others watched them as Kokoroyomi placed his hands to Ryoma's head. The latter frowned as let the mind reader read his mind. Seeing that it would locate him find the girl, he concentrated on the aura where he could sense her the most.
"She is inside a cave."
"A cave?" Fuji said looking around him, "Which cave?" He asked the possible considering that they were inside a cave as well.
"It was dark. I could see that she is block by some barrier around her."
"What?"
"Yuka, Reo and Shiki guys are around her and currently talking to her about something. She's scared as I can see."
"Where is she?" Momo said walking closer to them. He did not hear about Nobara being with them but he knew that she was with them, "Where is that cave?"
"I am looking." The mind reader closed his eyes and used Ryoma's connection to put through Sakuno's mind and used it to look around the cave she was in. His own senses explored the cave and looked around, "I could see the light from the outside. There are..."
"There are what?" Mikan said grabbing his arms, "There are what Kokoroyomi?"
"Calm down, Sakura," Ruka said grabbing her shoulder this time, "Let him concentrate."
kokoroyomi's eyebrows frowned as he tried to explain what he was seeing, "I could see a valley... no a hill. Filled with green trees."
"Hill with green trees?" Tsubasa repeated.
Mikan was trying to register what he was saying. The way he was explaining something was somewhat familiar to her.
"Yeah, there are bearing fruits. One set of fruit," Kokoroyomi said as he opened his eyes, "Orange trees."
"Orange trees?" Mikan repeated, surprise was visible to her tone.
Kokoroyomi nodded at her, "The place is filled with orange trees around a house on a hill. The cave is just a few meters away from it."
Her heart pounded when she got the information from the mind reader. She looked at them and finally told them their thoughts. "I know where she is."
Later on:
"We should perform it now." Yuka said calling everyone's attention.
Hearing that made Sakuno tense. They would give the remaining sins to her and they would get the healing alice from her. What would happen next? Right, when they got the alice, they would use it against the school. Was it the right thing to do? What was she going to do now?
"Your life will be spared but you have to take the consequences." Yuka said.
"C-consequences?" She said looking at Mikan's mother.
Yuka showed the greed and lust sins in her hands as she stared at her, "The first one is if you can endure all the powers once they are all united inside your body."
"I-I don't get it?"
"You don't have to just let them consume you."
The message seemed to much for her to bear. That was really frightening. she bit her lower lip wishing for her friends to come. Wishing for Ryoma to...
"The other one is easy for you to accept because you will never remember anyone in this world after all this."
"W-what?" Her eyes widened when Yuka said that. That was the reason why she couldn't calm down the moment they talked something like that.
"You will forget all the people here once your mission is completed and you'll go home like nothing happened."
That information remained her speechless. Everything remained silent but the flicker of fire from the cave was the only one could be heard there.
Done! How was this chapter? Sorry for the inconvenience guys. I had a problem with my word document. I can't use it so I am using notepad for the meantime. It is troublesome but nothing can stop me from writing. This is getting to the climax. What will happen next. Find that out.
I am so happy reading the new chapters of Shin POT. They had their first date. RyoSaku first date! Tee hee hee... I hope they will each other again before Ryoma went back to America for the U-17 World Cup... :3
Tell me your thoughts please... domo...
Next Chapter:Kibou