Me: Wow, who knew ancient samurai families could get a bit crazy? Now with Momo captured and fighting her way out, what will the other members of the Hyotei team do for their Shinigami? Sorry for the late updates - I've been having trouble sleeping lately but at least I was able to put my head back together. I don't own Prince of Tennis! I only own the OCs and the plotline of this fanfiction!

Chapter 62 - East versus West?

"So let me get this straight," Rin popped out from the bushes, looking at the huge samurai castle that stood within the forest. "Momo's trapped in that huge thing and we gotta get her out of there and there are chances that there will be skilled assassins and bodyguards who are gonna ring our necks?"

"Yep," Hitomi's voice crackled through the earphones. "I'll navigate you guys throughout the castle and hopefully avoid confrontation while we're at it. Oishi and I will do whatever we can from the van outside."

Haruka sighed deeply, fixing her own earphones. "You know, as dangerous as this sounds - I prefer this rather than going through a bunch of accounting books. It kind of reminds me of one those Mission Impossible movies. Although," - she glanced at the orange haired Yamabuki Regular who stood beside her in a black burglar suit. "Are you sure you wanna fight a couple of Samurai? Rin and I can hold our own as Wu Shu fighters but that's us. Ayane can scare people with her brute force and voice and Kiyone just needs milkshake foam. Shizuru and Isane are experienced in the military aspect and I think Momo will slice down a whole army when she finds out you're here. Sanada is a kendo specialist himself and Mai is definitely the best in theatrics. Are you sure you wanna do this?"

Sengoku glanced at the tall samurai castle, feeling his knees become weak at the sight of it. He shivered at the thought of facing professional combatants and somehow the Hyotei girls - he couldn't guarantee their safety. Tezuka and Sanada focused deeply at the structure lying before them while Shizuru quietly crept ahead of them with her hand placed behind her back. He shook his head; this rescue needed way more than just luck. Sengoku tightened his grip on his tennis racquet before moving in.

Shiraishi on the other hand couldn't believe what the sandy blonde volleyist was doing with a pair of yo-yos. He knew that yo-yos had their own set of levels for their tricks but what did Kiyone plan to do with children's toys against professional bodyguards? He sighed deeply as the little girl placed on her yo-yo gloves before checking the grip and fit, grinning excitedly to herself. Marui swallowed hard as he found Ayane suiting up with a pair of fingerless gloves and in a black Camouflage ops suit which pretty much accented her every curve on her body. The red head however could only imagine what Atobe would do to him if he ever found out that he had quite a view and also that Ayane was not out to kill him. Jackal put on a black beanie and black shirt whereas Haruka borrowed one of Rin's black Chinese Wu Shu robes. Night easily covered their tracks and all they had to do now is hide the glimmer of their eyes behind the bushes and the trees.

"Ayane-chan, we're gonna be dealing with bruisers and more experienced fighters," Marui shuddered fearfully although not for himself but more about the anticipated damage that Ayane was capable of. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

The tangerine haired vice captain strapped her gloves on cheerfully, slapping her hand against her arm and showing her muscle. "I may have dainty arms but I bet I can put a hole in a wall any day!"

Jackal glanced at Haruka strapping on a light pink sash as a smile appeared on her lips. "It's show time."

"The fortress has six floors deep beneath the earth and twelve floors ascending," Hitomi's voice crackled through the earphones, giving the team a full scale view of the tower. "Now, there's a bit of a problem here. We only have one door entering the facility considering we can't just sail over the wall. There are two guards making a circle. At a certain point, both guards will not be able to see you but the window will only be three seconds. He has some bodyguards but the security is not too tight according to the satellite's reports. 50 percent of his security members are the typical brute force fighters while 25 percent are patrollers and the last 25 are divided into two groups: 12.5 percent are veterans and the other 12.5 percent are the members of the Toyotomi family themselves. But the veterans shouldn't be too hard to handle after a tennis ball clobbers them in the head. Isane, tranquilize both guards."

Isane positioned herself at the top of one of the peaks, setting up tennis ball and racquet. "You got it."

Isane narrowed her emerald green eyes carefully, bouncing the ball up and down. She watched the two guards encircle the whole structure as the first tennis ball flew out straight at the man's head. As that guard fell down, Isane glanced at the other one and aimed straight at his neck as well. She knitted her eyebrows together before trying to calm herself down. After two whistling sounds echoed through the air, both of the guards took a straight hit in the head and fell down on the ground unconscious.

"Good job, coast is clear," Hitomi's voice crackled through the earphones, prompting the others to move in. "Move in before anyone sees you. Remember your divisions and make sure you have your things with you."

Shishido dashed in, followed by Isane, Shiraishi and Kiyone towards the eastern wing. Shizuru led in Mai and Tezuka towards the southern side while Ayane moved along with Sengoku and Sanada for the frontal attack with Marui. Haruka, Jackal, Kajimoto and Rin strapped on their Wu Shu weapons before entering the other wing of the castle. Hitomi watched her teammates roll in while looking at the digital and holographic 3D image of the Toyotomi castle. Touching another screen, blue dots showed Shizuru, Tezuka and Mai's names on it as they continued moving in. Another screen showed red dots with Ayane, Sanada and Kiyone on it. Her eyes swivelled back to check the other screens while Oishi kept his eyes on the others.

"You guys are really good at this," Marui swallowed hard as Sanada followed behind Kiyone, noticing the smaller girl narrow her eyes. "Where did you guys learn how to do this?"

"Green dots representing Sengoku, Isane and Shishido," Oishi watched the green dots move quickly. "Wow Hitomi, you're really good at this... They're not fighting anyone at all."

Hitomi giggled softly, wiping her lenses against her jacket. "Before I destroyed my eyes, I used to play DOTA, Warcraft, League of Legends and the usual strategy games. Right now, it's like playing a game of chess except your pieces don't have limited movements."

Suddenly, one of the screens started beeping as she found yellow triangles converging towards the blue dots. Hitomi calmly pressed the three triangles before looking up the characteristics and stats of the enemies via satellite, watching the computer measure their power. She called up several tabs in her browser before looking through their criminal records and their credentials, shivering in fear. Toyotomi had come completely prepared! She saw one familiar name before googling it up on the internet only to backtrack in horror.

Tokugawa Kyo is the direct descendant of the one and only Tokugawa Ieyasu and grandson of swordsman Tokugawa Shigure.

Hitomi's eyes widened in fear as the Mastermind grabbed her microphone.

"Team Kurenai: You have three friendlies moving in! I repeat: three friendlies; get out of there," Hitomi swallowed hard nervously, hearing the beeping getting louder. "The other two are easy to take down but do not confront! I REPEAT: DO NOT CONFRONT! YOU GUYS HAVE A MASTER SWORDSMAN SHOWING UP! SHIZURU, TAKE ANOTHER ROUTE, DAMN IT! Mai and Tezuka are going to be taken down before you know it! These aren't your normal lackeys! These guys are high paid fighters!"

Oishi had never heard Hitomi so frantic and panicked. He grabbed the microphone from Hitomi, hooking himself up to the system.

"Kurenai-san, please be careful," Oishi bit his lower lip while looking at the screen. "These guys are professionals."

"We currently don't have any other passageways unless we make one," Mai's voice crackled through the stereo. "We've been following one way paths to get around here. This guy came prepared!"

Team Kurenai

"Shizuru, you do know we're going to end up fighting a bunch of veteran fighters, right," Mai swallowed hard, holding her tennis racquet tightly. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Shizuru remained silent and looked at Tezuka who crept behind the walls along with her. Checking her black bag strapped onto her back and her belt, she bit her lower lip anxiously. She definitely did not imagine introducing herself to Tezuka in such a way that he would see all the scary and dangerous stuff she does. Fuji already knew her secret as the tomboy girl who beat up guys for sick kicks and especially those who played foul just because the person was better than them. Opening a small pouch in her bag, she pulled out a pair of brass knuckles and glanced towards Tezuka before shaking her head distraughtfully. Tezuka definitely wouldn't approve violence in the court; what made her think that he would approve of violence now? She inhaled deeply before facing them, noticing the shadows appear on the wall.

"Mai, Tezuka-san, the moment I throw the smoke bomb - run straight and make sure they can't hear your footsteps," Shizuru glanced at the corner they were about to take, inhaling deeply. "I'll buy us as much time as I can."

Tezuka narrowed his eyes at the brunette; why would Shizuru want to face master and professional fighters? "Shizuru-chan, as honourable as it sounds - facing them and hearing the panic in Yamaguchi-san's voice spells certain death. We should retrace our steps and find another path."

Shizuru bit her lower lip darkly, smiling faintly at Tezuka. "If we did, we would give away that we were trying to break in. According to Yamaguchi-senpai, there are two easy ones to take down. Mai, I'm sure you have your tennis racquet to clobber them with. Your racquet's made of pure karophite. That thing isn't going to break even with a bombing so I'm pretty sure a racquet won't dent even after a straight hit to the head."

Mai nodded nervously while Tezuka grabbed Shizuru's wrist, staring straight into her bright red eyes. His throat ran dry and his grip on her wrist tightened considerably. He knew how samurai families worked; especially those that had been prestigious during the battle of Sekigahara and the Edo Era. Some of the samurai families still maintained the traditional feudal system and most of the fighters probably descended from war-torn or noble samurai families. Many of the fighters would at least have fought on the average one battle in their lifetime or at least five confrontations. With muscle memory, the speed and reflexes would have never faded. Shizuru was going to get killed out there!

"So when will you tell her that anonymous, tk1007 and Tezuka Kunimitsu are one and the same person?"

Hitomi's words suddenly began to echo in his mind as he looked deeply into Shizuru's eyes. He wanted to tell her so many things but the task of saving her teammate came first. His grip slowly loosened as she pulled away from him, looking ahead. Tezuka inwardly berated himself for being so afraid; he had already set the stage. All he needed to do is take advantage of it. True, it's normal to fear rejection yet it was better knowing the answer than not knowing what she thought at all. He couldn't believe it; how did she manage to completely walk through his defences without even trying?

"Shizuru, um just so you know," Mai swallowed hard, looking beyond the corner. "I don't have any martial arts expertise whatsoever but I'm pretty sure there is one thing I know that will come in handy. I think I still have a few mist mixtures in my pocket. Do you have any water at least?"

Shizuru smiled sadly, shaking her head before getting ready to pull something from her bag. "Unfortunately, I don't. But I do know one thing - I can take down a full-grown man armed if I wanted to."

"I think you're selling yourself short sweetheart," Mai grinned teasingly as the three of them crept along. "Although, I noticed - why are we the only three man team here?"

Shizuru smiled lightly and pulled the sticks out of her bag, taking the turn at the corner. "Because we're doing a stealth attack and both of you stay here and don't move."

Tezuka and Mai stopped as Shizuru took a turn only to hear loud beating and whacking sounds. Loud groans of pain echoed in the hallway and Tezuka saw shadows falling on the ground. The tensai laughed a little upon noticing the astonished expression on his face; Tezuka probably never expected someone with Shizuru's face to be the type to take out three veteran fighters. Suddenly, loud groans and loud blunt force sounds echoed throughout the hallway as some of the shadows fell on the ground. Mai flinched slightly as Tezuka twitched several times; what was Shizuru doing back there?

"How," Tezuka glanced at Mai as the tensai nonchalantly shrugged as one of the thugs fell down right in front of them.

"Don't ask me, she's been like this since first year," Mai laughed slightly until they heard a loud metal clang, causing the two to freeze. "Shizuru!"

The two tennis players immediately rushed to the other side as they found a samurai katana grinding against Shizuru's bamboo stick. The brunette however didn't seem fazed as she ducked beneath and swept the man under. The man rolled away with his katana gleaming in the light and reflecting Shizuru's darkened crimson eyes. His traditional dark blue samurai hakama slid down and revealed multiple dark blue, purple and green marks from the bamboo stick while Shizuru had a small cut bleeding right beneath her right eye. He smirked before standing up, adjusting his samurai armguards.

"Impressive for Tokyo scum," he lowered his stance before smirking darkly. "There is no honour in battle without an exchange of names."

Shizuru smiled faintly with a darkened gaze, tightening her grip on her bamboo stick before adjusting her stance to combat a katana and unveiling two sticks. "Your master has no sense of honour to force a woman to comply with his will."

Tezuka stared for a moment; this wasn't the same Shizuru he and the tennis world had been accustomed to seeing. She normally had polite words but not words that dripped with venom and promised defeat of the opponent. The bespectacled captain of Seigaku suddenly heard something unlock as both bamboo sticks suddenly extended and revealed a sharp end on each stick. His eyes widened and Mai definitely had her eyes popping out of her sockets as Shizuru lunged forward and swept him under from the spear before defending with the shorter one. Her eyes watched his movements carefully as the man launched himself again with his spear which she redirected and slid the blade along her spear. The moment his direction changed however, she slammed both spears together and locked them together before revealing a chained double edged naginata that wrapped around his blade.

"Humph, modern weaponry," the man snorted indignantly as he tried to yank Shizuru closer. "Bastardizing a traditional and simple weapon of the Japanese soldier..."

Shizuru narrowed her eyes at her opponent, parrying his attack. "Tezuka-san, Mai, please go on ahead."

Shizuru remained silent before dashing towards him, vanishing the moment she was two inches close and appeared behind him. The chains had already wound themselves around the fighter as he fell to the ground. Looking up with the same cold eyes, Shizuru slowly stood up before dismantling her double edged naginata back into double baston. Watching him groan in agony, Shizuru slowly began walking past him until he slowly started getting up. Tezuka's eyes narrowed darkly as he slowly approached him from behind and spun around for a full roundhouse kick with Shizuru jumping for a jump spin hook kick. Tokugawa fell over as the two captains stared in astonishment at one another. Shizuru blinked several times; when did Tezuka know how to strike with a full roundhouse? She blinked several times once more, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. Her crimson eyes widened with horror; he had just seen her fight a more experienced fighter! Would he be scared of her? Would he hate her for being someone who could throw away one's emotions the moment she enters the battlefield? Shizuru bit her lower lip; she was definitely screwed.

"T-Tezuka-san," Shizuru still continued to stare agape at the man she admired.

Tezuka watched the girl gape at him as if he had made a fatal mistake. It was only then that it occurred to the bespectacled Seishun captain that he had seen her wield a dual set of weapons and he just ambushed a guy who was about to attack her. Martial arts had been his hobby ever since he was small since his grandfather had achieved master status in Judo, Aikido and Karate so he followed in his steps until his grandfather started struggling with scoliosis due to age. He silently berated himself for being such a fool; Shizuru was one of the sweetest girls he knew in comparison to what he had in Seishun Gakuen and the other stereotypical female Hyotei students and certainly aggression couldn't be part of her personality now could it? He had heard the stereotypical loudmouths, the stuck-up rich brats and the loud crazy fan girls and frankly, his team and he had been coming up with ways on how to avoid them. He remembered the time Hyotei had played against Seishun Gakuen - the fan girls would not stop cheering and screeching. If Tezuka knew if he didn't know any better, he would've believed that they were half banshee or some sort. Whatever it was, he had no desire to attract a fan girl and here he was - trying his best to make a normal girl fall in love with him and he just well... As Fuji would kindly phrase things, he just blew it.

"Anyway," Mai clapped her hands, walking in between them and smelling the tension. "So shall we head on? Momo might be looking for us."

Team Sanada

Sanada Genichirou hadn't expected his cousin to be kidnapped easily by Toyotomi. He probably could imagine the damage she could do to him alone. She won Kendo tournaments and had been wielding a steel blade way before he did. He always preferred sharp katana instead of his family's serrated edged tradition. However, Momo had completely deviated from the style and had it changed into a reverse-edged blade. He frowned darkly; why would she want such a blunt blade? It wouldn't do much when she was going to show off her Samurai abilities in the annual floor exercises in front of the elders. But when she used the sword, Sanada shuddered upon remembering how much force and speed she had on the blade. She nearly shattered his shoulder if not for his defensive measure and the armour plating they used for swordfights.

"Ayane-chan," Marui swallowed hard, searching around the place. "Are you sure we're going in the right direction? I don't think I wanna fight some professional fighter at the moment."

"Nobody wants to," Ayane smiled cheerfully while patting the Magician on the head; her eyes sparkled determinedly. "Don't worry; all they need to taste from me is my Howitzer Haymaker* and the Jupiter Straight if they're gonna mess with me!"

Okay now Sanada seriously began to doubt whether or not Momo was still sane despite everything she had in Tokyo.

Sure Rikkai Dai had their own set of nut cases but he had never heard of cases of a girl ripping off car license plates and clobbering people with it or attacking people with thirty inch skillets or attacking people with random things in a caveman-like fashion or having rumours that humans can transmit rabies by biting other people. Sanada remembered all the rumours he had heard the first time about Hyotei's eccentric team and so far, Shizuru seemed to be the only one normal but somehow - he definitely knew that there had to be some quirk to her if her whole team was insane. Yukimura Ai had maintained the decorum in her team and had their set of eccentricities but how did Shizuru and Momo put up with that abnormal level of insanity? He pondered for a few moments before frowning; then again, Momo had been friends with Niou and Marui ever since elementary school years so there should be some sense of immunity right? The heir to the Sanada clan sighed deeply as he proceeded on, keeping his sword closely to his body.

"Stay close to me, four of you," Sanada glanced at Sengoku who fearfully began looking at the place, knitting his eyebrows in annoyance. "Sengoku, if you didn't want to come here you could have waited outside."

Sengoku shook away his fear before pounding his chest. "And leave Momo-chan with some ancient uptight bastard who sounds like he has a stick shoved up his butt? No thanks, that's really unlucky and she's my lucky Shinigami! Momo-chan's... really different."

Sanada raised his eyebrow; he had never been the sociable type but he might as well know who would be his cousin's boyfriend at the least. Their relationship as is was extremely strained ever since the creation of the hierarchy in the Sanada family.

"Momo-chan didn't swoon like other girls; I don't like shallow girls really," Sengoku admitted mildly with a wry smile, prompting everyone to stop. "I flirt sure but it gives me a chance to see who can be real or who can be really plastic. Momo-chan was the first one who bit back instead of swooning over. She actually threatened to punch me a few times and shred me to ribbons and I know as a Sanada, she doesn't need luck to be able to do that. I was really confused... why didn't she fall for it?"

Sanada chuckled dryly, walking forward. "Of course, you should never expect anything less but excellence from a Sanada."

"Yeah, I know that now," Sengoku goofily scratched his head, remembering how Momo would smack his head for saying something stupid or whatever weird thing he may have said. "But when I watched her play and behave, I could see how conflicted she was. It was like she wasn't enjoying the game anymore. She was just playing mechanically and striking down her opponent mercilessly but not in the spirit of the game. She was treating tennis like a battle when it's supposed to be a game of sportsmanship and good will... I saw Momo-chan cry in the rain before. I mean - I'm sure even the reaper cries sometimes for the souls she is sent to collect."

Marui chuckled in amusement. "That's rich, coming from someone who usually goofs off. Ow," - Marui found himself whacked at the upside of his head by Ayane who glowered at him to not tease Sengoku. "But yeah, Momo always takes things seriously no matter what happens. She didn't have a stick shoved up her ass before though. She used to be a lot more lenient and crazy before. What happened, fukubuchou?"

Yes, what happened?

Sanada remembered the times when she was a lot more optimistic and kind. She would smile meekly and do little girl things; not pedal her bike at extreme speeds and nearly get him killed via heart attack. He remembered how her family would often spend time with his and they would do kendo together. He remembered how the elders would yell and beat him for losing against her, saying that women had no capability to fight. But he remembered the times he did win, was Momo giving him a chance or did she feel bad for beating him all the time? Momo also had perfected the Tea Ceremony without any complaint and had done many miko rituals without any complaint. So what exactly went wrong? One day, she suddenly became so uptight and their relationship strained. Or was he the one who strained their relationship?

"I see you've made yourselves welcome in my humble abode, Sanada-sama. My apologies for not setting up for the party you have brought along. I was too focused on scheduling and setting up the wedding that I had forgotten to take notice of my own wife's guest list."

Sanada glared at the sounds echoing in the hallway; his voice sliced through the air like a knife. "Where is Momo?"

"Do not fret; she is in perfectly good hands. You should have more faith in me as her husband. Although," - Toyotomi paused for a moment with a slow smile. "I did not know that the Sanada heir has also sought help from the Tezuka clan and the sister of the commander-in-chief of the police. Uchiha was it? She is quite the marksman; just like her older brother except with a rifle. The rest – I did not know you had also brought mongrels to deal with me."

Sanada's blood ran cold. How did he know all these people?

"I was quite surprised that a couple of Hyotei brats could take down experienced fighters especially that disgusting brunette," Toyotomi hissed darkly through the speakers. "She has a cute face though but she is such a pest. I did not expect a Tezuka to condone such behaviour from a woman. Kyo is one of my good friends and how did she treat him? Humph, I'll see to it you are all sued for trespassing and abuse of my hospitality."

"WHAT FUCKING HOSPITALITY," Ayane balled her hands into fists until her knuckles turned white, shaking her fist in the air. "YOU STUPID RETARD, YOU'RE EVEN WORSE THAN JERARD ON THE INTELLIGENCE SCALE! GIVE BACK MOMO-SENPAI OR I WILL MARCH UP TO YOUR OFFICE AND CLOBBER YOU WITH WHATEVER I CAN GET MY HANDS ON!"

Marui squeaked fearfully before adding at the end of her sentence. "Take her seriously, man. If you don't want a hairline fracture in your skull, you'll do as she says! Besides," Marui managed to man up despite Ayane's threats making him feel small. "I want my best friend back! More like my first girl best friend!"

Toyotomi remained silent for a moment. "She dated an idiot like you?"

Marui, fuming, stamped his feet furiously on the ground. "No, she's my friend that's a girl, dumbass! Ayane's right - you're probably even stupider than Bakaya in English! You probably get zeroes in Behaviour Tests!"

Somewhere far away, one could hear the Rikkai Dai Devil sneeze the moment Marui made his reference.

Toyotomi chuckled in amusement, causing the stereo to crackle a little. "Well, perhaps this world is simply too modern for my tastes. Momo belongs in the samurai world as my Yamato Nadeshiko*. She is to be a housewife to take care of my heirs while I work. Is that not how society works? Men are of the highest power in society and that it is our job as men to display our power. What better way than to have an obedient housewife who knows the traditional code?"

"FUCK YOU!"

Everyone froze when Ayane snapped loudly. Sure they have heard her call people bad names but swearing with her uncontrollable volume? Not very pleasant.

"YOU DON'T KNOW SQUAT ABOUT MOMO-SENPAI! SHE IS ANYTHING BUT A YAMATO NADE-WHATEVER," - Sanada sweat-dropped slightly at the sight of the tangerine haired girl yelling at the air; how did Atobe and the rest of her teammates or the whole Hyotei in particular put up with her volume and yelling? She could probably shatter glass at her volume. "I DUNNO WHO THE HELL YOU ARE BUT NOBLE SAMURAI CLAN OR NOT - I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS SO BAD THAT PIGS ARE GONNA START FLYING AND ATOBE GROWS A BRAIN! WHILE I'M AT IT, I'LL FIND YOUR MOST EXPENSIVE SWORD OR ANTIQUE AND BASH IT OVER YOUR EMPTY HEAD! MAYBE THEN YOU'RE HEAD'S GONNA FIX UP AND GROW A BRAIN, SLEAZEBALL!"

"Um, Kobayagi-san," Sengoku swallowed, watching the fuming girl glare at nothing but a random dust particle.

"WHAT," Ayane suddenly grabbed Sengoku by the collar of his shirt, glaring with her blazing wrathful emerald orbs.

"Um," Sengoku swallowed hard, knowing well enough that Ayane could easily pummel him into a wall. "They sell pork chop meals on planes, Swine Flu infected the world via airborne and some countries transport frozen pig meat as export to other countries via airplanes. And technically, Atobe does have a brain - he grew it ever since he was..."

"OKAY FINE," Ayane threw Sengoku to the ground with such force there was an explosive thud, pointing menacingly at the air. "I'M GONNA BEAT YOUR ASS SO BAD THAT PIES WILL GROW WINGS AND FLY TO END WORLD HUNGER, DINOSAURS WILL ROAM THE EARTH AND YOU'RE GONNA SPARKLE LIKE EDWARD CULLEN BECAUSE YOU'RE ABOUT TO SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST! WHILE I'M AT IT, I'LL TAPE YOUR WHOLE BODY AGAINST A CHAIR AND MAKE YOU SIT THERE AND LISTEN TO JUSTIN BIEBER OVER AND OVER AGAIN WITH THE HEADPHONES DUCT TAPED TO YOUR EARS! MY SENPAI AND I ARE GONNA BEAT YOU TEN TIMES OVER!" (SS: No offense to Bieber fans or to Justin Bieber, I just saw a meme like that online and I kinda found it funny.)

Seeing her breathe heavily, Sanada could only stare at Atobe's current girlfriend. The man wasn't kidding when he said that Ayane definitely had the pipes in singing or cheering. He could feel his eardrums splitting from the sheer volume and his brain melting from the strange or extremely flawed logic of her threats. Heck, he didn't even know who Justin Bieber was but the way she made the person sound was like he was the Ultimate Scourge of mankind, Prelude to the Apocalypse or some sort. Again, he began to question whether or not it was a good idea to drive her away from Kanagawa. At least she'd be spared from the insanity that Ayane was spewing off.

There was nothing but silence until Toyotomi chuckled darkly.

"So, you must be the reason why Momo is being so defiant to me, you buxom air-horn. Very well, I would like to meet you and your so-called 'teammates'. Continue down the pathway and take the third staircase. It will lead straight to my office, wench."

Ayane extremely fumed up that Sanada wasn't sure if he smelled something burning or if Ayane simply emitted much steam from her ears before cracking her knuckles. Ayane soon broke into a sprint with Sanada and the others following after the rampaging female vice captain. He exchanged glances with Marui who shrugged sheepishly; even he had no idea that Ayane could burst into a crazed rampage so quickly. The Rikkai Dai vice captain had never met anyone with such heavy aggression issues but during the training, she was very polite and sweet not rampaging like the Hulk for that matter. The only thing lacking was that she needed to be green and in a female version of the Hulk's clothes and also she needed to be was to be smashing through walls.

"YEAH, IT BETTER - YOU STUPID SLEAZEBALL!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"I could've sworn that I heard Ayane yelling..."

Momo quietly walked around the hallways with a torn kimono top and hakama bottoms that she managed to find under the floorboards. Momo held onto the katana imitation in one hand while feeling out the walls with the other hand. She shivered slightly from the unsettling feeling she had in her stomach and the deafening silence. She held her breath before closing her eyes, listening to all the sounds around her. The wood creaked and an eerie silence filled the corridor; Momo flicked up the katana while creeping over carefully to the next corner until a shadow started appearing on the other side. She narrowed her eyes darkly and lightened her steps considerably until she got to the corner. As the shadow crept closer, Momo prepared to swing the sheathed blade to knock out her opponent until nobody appeared. Her eyes widened as she stepped into the corridor only to see nothing but an empty corridor.

"Where," Momo knitted her eyebrows together until the wood creaked and she spun around blocked the blade that nearly decapitated her. "Who are you?"

The woman flashed a sultry smile before blinding her with her kimono's sleeves and knocking Momo back. The Shinigami, staggering back, fought back to regain her balance and composure as she swung her still sheathed katana and blocking the blade that nearly took her face but still managed to cut a strand of her hair.

"Well aren't we cheeky," the woman brushed back her black tendrils haughtily, revealing bright red lips curling up into a smile. "No wonder Hatori-kun seemed so determined to make you his wife. You're no slouch either. Unfortunately, Tokyo has somewhat tarnished your mind."

Momo smirked lightly, unsheathing her blade carefully. "Toyotomi Ukiyo - you know, there is a reason why I refuse to marry into a samurai family. That kind of life of being a submissive housewife and a household possession of a man - disgusting."

Ukiyo tossed back her long black hair, curling her hair around her finger. "Should it not be a great honour for a woman to be married to a man of high status?"

"Where is the honour when she is nothing but a pleasure toy and a punching bag to the man," Momo retorted hotly, tightening her grip on her blade. "I will carve my path with my own power and talent. That is society's law."

Ukiyo frowned as she changed her stance, unsheathing her blade carefully with her katana glimmering under the dim light. "Very well. Let me test that strength of your resolve."

Momo's dark eyes glowered as she slowly drew her sword, watching Ukiyo's movements carefully. She inhaled deeply before changing her stance into a more aggressive stance, watching Ukiyo's sudden change of stance or any foot twitch. Her heartbeat pumped slowly as drops of sweat trickled against her face. Without any warning, Momo dashed forward with her sword humming loudly as it let out a loud clang against Ukiyo's blade. Sparks flew upon contact as Ukiyo slid to the side to go for a rib strike while Momo blocked it and redirected her attack, preparing to strike against her shoulder. She kept her two hands fastened tightly to the blade as she went for slashing her legs. Ukiyo back-flipped and kicked the girl right under her jaw, knocking Momo back and regaining her balance.

"Tokyo has dulled your fang," Ukiyo chuckled humourlessly as Momo sprinted forward again with her blade singing towards her. "I wonder - who exactly has dulled your fang? Is it that orange imbecile that Hatori-kun had met that day he went to profess his love for you?"

Momo flared angrily as her sword clashed against Ukiyo's. How dare she insult Sengoku like that! Momo bit her lip and slammed her blade against Ukiyo's and knocked the woman back before launching herself towards her for a relentless assault. Hold up, Momo pondered deeply as she started defending herself from Ukiyo's attacks. Why was she so angry when Sengoku was called an imbecile? He really was anyhow at some point. Sengoku may have had his stupidity but he always knew how to make her happy. Come to think of it, how did Sengoku know how to make her happy? He couldn't have gotten information out of Hitomi but Sengoku always knew how to make smile.

"Aww, but you're so cute when you're mad."

"I wasn't flirting with your captain."

"I'm lucky to have met you, what's your name?"

"I'm Sengoku Kiyosumi! Yoroshiku, hime-chan!"

"Well, at least I found my lucky Shinigami under the rain~!"

"Yay, I got to make you laugh, lucky~!"

"Win or lose, it's the experience that counts right? If you win, that's a bonus. If you lose, that's a bonus for you too since you learn from it right~? I have faith in you, Shinigami-chan!"

"I don't know what your context of crazy is, Shinigami-chan. But yeah - I did become crazy; crazy for you."

"Doesn't the sun look better when it has ten rays instead of five?"

Smiling wryly, Momo slowly lifted her blade and held her katana now only with one hand. She could see Ukiyo's haughty black eyes staring back at her as she took on a different stance. Ever since she first enrolled in Hyotei, stayed in a dormitory, had been beat down by the Sanada family, Momo couldn't believe how far she had gotten. She remembered how her teammates had accepted her with open arms even if Naomi had her brains attached the wrong way. Sengoku had stood beside her without complaint even as going far as helping her face her demons with the Sanada clan. He had taken a healthy hit though; she pitied more the racquet that had taken the full brunt force of the katana. With a sigh, Momo chuckled dryly; she felt like she was part of one of those traditional samurai soap operas she hated.

"Hou," Ukiyo watched Momo take a more aggressive stance, raising her blade in front of her face. "I've never seen that stance before. Where did that style come from?"

Momo refused to grace her with a response as she darted towards her and shoved Ukiyo back. As the black haired woman stumbled back due to impact, Momo kept up her attack as her sword flashed right at Ukiyo's left side, lightly scratching the girl's face. As Ukiyo bent her back backwards, she sprung back and prepared to slash Momo who parried with her sword going at the opposite direction. Despite Momo's parry, Ukiyo nearly took off Momo's arm only to slash the sleeves of Momo's kimono and slap her with the sleeves of her own kimono. Momo staggered back and followed the sound of the clattering geta before side-stepping and cornering the woman against her blade. Ukiyo stopped before her neck touched the blade, standing still silently. Momo slowly stepped forward as the blade remained an inch away from Ukiyo's neck.

"Take me to the exit," Momo coldly commanded as she pressed the cold steel against the girl's neck. "I shan't say it twice."

Ukiyo smiled slowly as she held onto her own blade. "The test is far from over. As the fiancée of Tokugawa Nezu, I cannot disgrace the name of the Toyotomi by accepting defeat from one of my vassals! The Sanada are vassals to both the Tokugawa and the Toyotomi."

Momo remained glacially silent as Ukiyo surveyed her eyes carefully at the dark brown orbs. Soon, Ukiyo flipped up her blade and swung it at Momo's as the Shinigami stepped back to gain more momentum for her blade. As both their swords clashed, she slid back and forth as their blades grinded and slashed against one another. Momo, kicking off the ground, rammed her katana against Ukiyo's as the girl slid her blade against Ukyo's to knock her back and push the violet haired female back. Digging her heels into the ground, Momo lowered her stance and launched herself again for a spinning strike as Ukiyo had been completely thrown off guard as Momo zoomed past her, slightly tearing her obi before striking her from behind which Ukiyo managed to block in time. Sparks ignited between the clashing steel as Momo parried Ukiyo's blade away before giving her a straight kick to send Ukiyo tumbling over and her sword falling unto the ground.

"Tch," Ukiyo rolled back to her stance, watching Momo stand firm on the blade. "Where did you gain such ability? You barely used open handed combat like that before."

Momo sheathed her blade before taking Ukiyo's blade. "The modern world taught my father and me many things about women and men. That - men are to protect women not as their possessions but as their equal and that women are not to abuse their kindness but enhance it. Men cannot strike women for it is a sign of weakness. But women can also not strike men for one does not bite the hand of the one who has granted the same courtesy. Am I right?"

Ukiyo froze before lowering head, prompting Momo to notice a bluish-purplish mark near her collar bone.

"And I also believe that a man should not force himself on a woman when she is not ready to make the step and vice versa," Momo darkly narrowed her eyes at the mark. "I believe that is from Tokugawa Nezu?"

Ukiyo could do nothing save nod wordlessly at the violet haired female.

Momo inhaled deeply and sheathed her blade before kicking back the katana back to Ukiyo, turning away from her but not before taking one last glance. "Whatever you intend to do with that blade is none of my concern. However, it shall be my concern if you lay a finger on my pride then, rest assured. Death will come knocking on your door if ever that were to happen."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Team Shiraishi

Well, Shiraishi had expected crazy ninjas to jump out of the floorboards and shoot him but the hallway they took remained pretty quiet.

The wooden panels creaked under their feet while Isane stood behind them with her rifle in hand, watching the back of the team. Shishido cracked his knuckles while waiting for anything random to pop out whereas Shiraishi remained in front of Kiyone. The smaller girl glanced around her while making sure her hands were near her yo-yo until they finally reached a flower patterned door. The whole team stared at it for a moment before exchanging glances with one another.

"I've seen these in video games," Shishido groaned and twitched furiously at the ornate sliding door. "Every time there's a door at the end of the hallway, there's usually a big boss behind it that we need to defeat or something."

Kiyone blinked several times before grinning childishly. "Then we're just gonna have to squish its head like a lemon, right Cap-senpai?"

"Yeah – wait a minute, who gave you that idea," Shishido stared aghast at the nickname that the little girl had given him. "Can't you remember names like everyone else?"

Kiyone pouted before sticking her tongue out childishly. "I'll remember yours... eventually."

"In which that term "eventually" means never," Shishido groaned in annoyance before preparing to slide open the door. "Well, you ready?"

Isane swallowed hard, making sure that her gun was loaded and that she had one extra magazine left in her tennis bag along with an extra gun. For some strange reason, her brother had dumped it there because Itachi had noted that it was "too bulky to carry around". What more the customized pistols and hand guns that both he and Sasuke had made? Sasuke always had two of his hand guns strapped at the back of his waist and Itachi had his strapped onto his legs.

"Yeah, let's go."

The moment he slid open the door, the four of them stared in shock and surprise they found a huge green house with plants growing all over the place. Shiraishi blinked several times as he found several aconites on one side and some butterfly attracting flowers. He wouldn't be surprised if he saw exotic and rare plants and even found poison ivy growing in a very ornate manner. He blinked several times and started fingering the leaves carefully, watching out for any thorns. Kiyone on the other hand had her yo-yo's drawn out as she started looking at the bright yellow sunflowers that seemed to be gazing down at her.

"STOP REMINDING ME THAT I'M SHORT," Kiyone pursed her lips in annoyance at the sunflowers while stamping her feet in a tantrum, sticking out her tongue then after.

"Kiyone-chan, the flowers aren't doing anything," Isane tried to calm down the sandy blonde who looked like she was going to rip them into shreds by plucking off their petals one by one and then stamping on them while searching and surveying the place as well. "But I have to admit; these plants are abnormally huge. I wonder how they managed to grow them so big."

"The Toyotomi clan was known to have the biggest gardens before the Battle of Sekigahara. After all, isn't one of your friends a History bug?"

Shishido narrowed his eyes darkly, glancing around at the Japanese characters and Japanese themed decorations lining on the wall. "I see, this was the blueprints of the castle of the Toyotomi clan was supposed to look like if not for the Tokugawa clan for bringing you guys down. After Hideyori had been deposed, Tokugawa Ieyasu had taken over and when he was forced to commit Seppuku, his clan took over."

A hollow chuckle echoed throughout the air. "You're quite intelligent for a stupid Tokyo scum. Not many would choose to remember ancient Japanese history."

Shishido narrowed his eyes as a young man in a suit and monocle stepped out from behind the huge leaves with a book in hand. "Who the hell are you?"

"Do you like it," the young man gestured to the many plants surrounding them. "Hatori-kun suggested the landscape would be similar to the Zen gardens. But Ren thought – how about those tea green houses the British had back in the Victorian period? Ah, it is only during such a relaxing time you get to appreciate their beauty."

"Zip it, three eyes," Shishido blinked several times at himself before venomously glaring at the man; how did his insults get so lame? "Where the heck is Sanada? You don't just kidnap someone out of whim or to get laid! Besides, wrong woman – she could have shredded him into ribbons if she had the brain of Gakuto! If the guy wanted to get laid so badly, he could've just gone to Tobitashinchi in the southern area of Osaka! Tch, gekidasa daze."

They all stared at Shishido in astonishment; why did he know these things?

Upon seeing the stares, the capped dash specialist groaned in annoyance and pulled his face. "Geez, what the hell is wrong with you people!? My brother's took History as his pre-law course and he's now a lawyer! I had to listen to him mumble that stuff everyday!"

"My, my, my, such a hot-blooded youth," the young man plucked a flower from one of the bushes, inhaling it before throwing it aside. "Well, Ren thinks you all shouldn't be here in this fortress. After all, Hatori hates it when people do not greet him when there is such a wonderful party. Such impudent guests."

Shiraishi however glanced at the aconite sitting in a row of other aconite before quietly bending down to pick it up. He examined the petals on the flower quietly without the people noticing him. Their stare off was pretty intense and he stood behind Isane who practically towered over him. He fingered the flower gently before checking the substance between his fingers. Smelling it a little, Shiraishi shook his head before looking at the other plants. He wasn't a botanical genius but he didn't have to be when he saw oversized Venus Flytraps growing all over the place. The red marks and the jagged leaf like edges said it all and the sight of the other hanging pitcher-looking plants that looked big enough to fit humans in there really proved to be something. Shiraishi quietly pocketed some of the flowers and a few more plants he had found on the ground. He couldn't help it; it all looked so pretty. Shishido on the other hand stormed towards the male while Isane held him back.

"What's this," Ren brushed back his long jet black hair, laughing in amusement. "I did not know women are allowed to carry such barbaric weapons."

Isane narrowed her eyes darkly and suddenly aimed her hand gun straight in Ren's face, shocking the man and Shishido and losing her shyness and meekness all at once. "Please, we do not have time for this. Can we please have Momo-chan back? We simply came here for our friend."

Kiyone pulled out both her yo-yos with her liquid blue eyes sparkling angrily while singing innocently and impishly, rolling her yoyos up and down. "GIANT-SENPAI'S GONNA MAKE YOUR FACE LOOK LIKE A CORKBOARD~!"

"Well before we do that," Ren smiled slowly and snapped his fingers as the plants suddenly started to quiver and shudder to life. "I think you should all know how interactive my plants are. They haven't had friends over for some time."

As the plants started shuddering and quivering, many of the Venus Flytraps opened their gaping mouths before snapping them shut. Isane's eyes widened in horror as she pointed her gun straight at the mutated plants. Shishido bit his lower lip and backed up a little as the plants started stretching their necks and snapping their jaws. Shishido kicked one aside as he swat one of them with his tennis racquet.

"Damn it, I thought this only happened in movies," Shishido whacked another plant with his tennis racquet.

Ren smiled and drank a cup of tea before sitting down and folding his legs on the white iron chair. "Do not fret; the pain will steal you over faster than you know it."

Kiyone rolled down her yoyos before whirling it around and whacking the Venus Flytrap right under the chin. With her Loop-the-Loop trick, she doubled the speed as it started swatting back the creatures. The Venus Flytrap tried to snap her yoyo as she slid right beneath it due to her height. She swallowed hard and looked at the voracious plants. Shishido stated quite a point; where did they get the resources to create voracious man-eating plants? She jumped up on one of the creatures before swinging her yoyo around to wrap two together. Isane started opening fire, reloading as fast as she could. Bullets pierced the creatures but not enough to destroy the plant unless they had something that could cut it from its source or something good enough to burn it. Isane bit her lip as she backed into Shishido who whacked another plant's vine with his racquet.

"Hey Isane, you don't happen to have a spare gun do you," Shishido went for a full baseball swing and swat the creature straight in the face if it had any.

Isane glanced back and checked her tennis bag, swallowing hard and hesitantly handing the gun to Shishido. "Unless you're good with handguns..."

"Works for me," Shishido watched the creatures come closer as he placed both hands on the gun, squinting at the creatures for better aim.

At this point, Shishido couldn't help but curse his inability to fire a gun properly.

His hand shivered and shuddered along with the aching in his arm didn't help. The plants swivelled their necks as his bullets fired straight past them, causing Shishido to step back. The dash specialist dashed out of the way as one of the plants stretched out its neck to strike him. Kiyone whacked a few more with a spinning UFO and whirling it in a horizontal lying loop. The plants continued to march towards them, seemingly cornering the three players.

"What the hell? Where is Shitenhouji's captain," Shishido glanced around the area frantically, firing more bullets. "What the hell, he freakin' ditched us!"

"Not quite."

A plastic bag flew in the air and went straight into the Venus Flytrap's mouth. For a few moments, the plant popped the water balloon in its mouth as the three players stared at it in shock and it suddenly let out a howling shriek. The plant jerked its head straight into the air and howled angrily before completely crashing on the ground with a loud thud before completely withering. Their eyes widened and Ren looked extremely surprised when Shiraishi tossed a plastic bag in his hand with some weird substance in it. Their eyes widened as they backed up from Shiraishi who had a very confident smile on his face.

"Regardless how mutated something is," Shiraishi tossed one to Shishido, tossing another bag to Isane. "I don't think they can beat nature's most powerful poisons. At the same time, when we don't have fire – poison and a little bit of this and that should do the trick."

Shishido stared at him aghast; his jaw hung agape. "What the hell did you mix in this thing?"

"Nothing a little Aconite poison couldn't do and a little bit of salt," Shiraishi shrugged with a calm smile, pouring some of the contents down a Pitcher plant that prepared to eat him only to have it crystallize. "I really don't know who keeps super saturated salt solution in a greenhouse. Aren't salt solutions dangerous to plants unless they're going into sculpture making also...? And usually, in a greenhouse – you have all sorts of creatures. All I had to do was step on a Funnel Web Spider and not get bitten before getting some of the venom off the floor."

Seeing the weakness of the plants, Isane grabbed her magazine of bullets. "Shiraishi, do you still have some of that mixture left?"

Shiraishi pulled out a bag of dark coloured liquid. "Yeah but whatever you do, don't make it touch your skin. The super-saturated solution will crystallize on your body from the sweat coming from your pores. As long as you have some trace of salt on your body, it will react even if it's not a crystal."

"Why the hell do you know this, you freakin' nerd," Shishido popped another bag in the plant's mouth as it started crystallizing and withering away.

Ren narrowed his eyes at Shiraishi. "Oh so Tokyo folk do have some brains."

"For your information, I'm from Osaka," Shiraishi blinked several times; could he not see the difference in their accent? "Besides, being eaten by a mutated plant doesn't look good on an obituary."

Kiyone launched herself into the air before stuffing a bag into the creature's mouth, winding the yoyo around the creature's mouth to instantly pop the balloon. "Kura-kun, do you have more?"

Wait did she call me by my name?

Although on the inside he was leaping up in joy, Shiraishi tossed her a couple of bags as she started stuffing it into the other creature's mouths. That was one step ahead of Kenya unless she had been calling him by his first name by then. But everyone called him by his first name since he refused to be mistaken for the other Oshitari. Hopefully, not on a very affectionate scale yet. He had never expected his vacation to involve fighting an ancient samurai family let alone killing mutated man-eating plants. He dodged a vine as he threw the bag on the creature's face along with some salt he found. He glanced around at the plants only to see a coconut tree growing somewhere in the middle of the freshwater plants. Shiraishi nodded to himself; so that's why there was some random bottle of sodium chloride lying around and a pool walled with salt crystals. It only meant one thing: that thing had enough salt to solidify into a crystal.

"Anything combustible here," Shishido groaned as he served another shot into the plant's mouth. "I don't think we have enough ammo to go around."

Kiyone glanced up to see a gas vent up at the roof. A frown marred her features however when she realized how short she was and even climbing on one of the mutated toadstools didn't help. She jumped on one of the Venus Flytraps and looked for a spring boost only to have the creature nearly eat her if Shishido hadn't burst the salt bomb in the plant's face. Shards blasted and pierced the creature from the impact of the bullet as Kiyone jumped back down.

"Splendid show but I don't think that will get you anywhere," Ren smiled as he closed his book before pulling out a lighter to light his Tobacco cigarette. "Your friend seems to have some advanced knowledge in Chemistry."

Shiraishi glanced at the lighter, seeing the fluids inside. But he couldn't just randomly grab the lighter until he remembered how quick Kiyone's hands were as she snapped her wrist to launch the yoyo.

"Kiyone-chan," Shiraishi grabbed her arm as he pointed to Ren's table. "Think you can get the lighter?"

"I can't reach the gas valve," Kiyone pouted childishly, pointing above at the very corner of the room. "It's too high up."

Isane fired at another creature, glancing at Shishido suddenly having an idea. "Shishido-kun, the gas valve – up on the corner of the room!"

Shishido, swivelling his head around, suddenly spotted the valve before gaping in admonishment. "I can't shoot that far! I don't have the grades of Yamaguchi or your 20/20 vision that's been modified to see 20 metres away from you!"

"I know you can do it," Isane smiled as she started firing at the other creatures, taking steps back. "I'll cover you."

Shishido could feel his heart jumping and watching Isane shooting the other creatures while Shiraishi and Kiyone went off to steal the lighter. His lips thinned into a line as he stared deeply at the gas valve. His hands trembled but he knew that this was their only chance of getting out of a crazy room filled with man-eating plants. Shishido once again glanced at Isane before steeling himself to stare sharply at the gas valve. He glanced at the last two bullets sitting in the magazine before looking once more at the gas valve. Why would anyone put a gas valve over there anyhow? He glanced at some of the stoves hidden behind the other leaves before blinking several times. Okay, he had seen too many horror and combat movies. Star Wars was his favourite but nothing there mentioned man-eating plants.

"You better hit or so help me God," Shishido pulled the trigger as the bullet flew and cracked the valve open. "Yes!"

Soon, the smell of gasoline filled the air and Isane immediately stopped shooting. "Why did you do that?"

Kiyone grabbed the lighter as Shiraishi tied up Ren with some vines and some of Kiyone's extra yoyo string, grinning impishly. "We don't have time! We're gonna burn these guys like how Yane-Yane burns cheese!"

Shishido stared aghast as he and Isane ran out towards the door behind Ren with Kiyone and Shiraishi following closely behind them. "That made no sense!"

"Your face makes no sense," Kiyone stuck her tongue out as they finally reached the exit, looking at Shiraishi throw Ren aside. "Can we set the world on fire now?"

Shiraishi nodded. "Throw the lighter as far as you can."

As Kiyone pitched it towards the creatures, Shiraishi glanced at Isane and Shishido. "Shoot it down!"

As twin vines shot out and nearly hit the two of them, Isane and Shishido nodded and spun around to dodge both vines before Shishido placed the gun on top of Isane's horizontally with a smile crossing their lips.

"KATSU WA NO HYOTEI!"

As the bullets cracked from both guns, the whole room suddenly set ablaze with the plants screeching in agony as the fires nearly set the doors on fire until Shiraishi and Kiyone slid it shut. Ren stared in horror as he remained completely pale and motionless. Shishido blinked several times and poked him with the gun.

"Geez, what's his problem," Shishido blinked until he noticed a row of teeth marks on his arm with some foam-like substance, rubbing it in between his fingers. "Wait, Vanilla Milkshake foam?"

Isane swivelled her head towards Kiyone who began sipping out of her water jug frothy white vanilla milkshake before revealing a milk moustache. "What? Hitomi-senpai told me to drink a lot of milk if I'm gonna be any taller than Yane-Yane!"

Shiraishi chuckled lightly until he heard a loud explosion and the castle suddenly began rumbling. "What's that?"

"Team Shiraishi, get out of there! The fires will slowly set the whole hallway on fire and Rin decided to play press the big red button! There's a big flood headed your way!"

Team Hikifumi

"Rin, I told you not to randomly press any big red button no matter how enticing it looks," Haruka broke into a wild sprint as water rushed down the hallway.

Kajimoto and Jackal stared back in astonishment as Rin immediately ran past them. "When did this happen?"

Running ahead of Jackal, Rin flailed her arms in the air as more water rushed into the hallway. "I'm sorry, kuwee! Hitomi was the one who told me to hit that button!"

"I told you to hit the other red button on your left not the big one right in front of your face, Rin," Hitomi's voice crackled through the speakers in their ears. "Team Hikifumi, there should be a door the moment you take the first right. Go straight into it and you should find yourself in the main living room. By then, you should be able to meet the others."

Water crashed loudly against the walls until it started catching up with them. Rin's eyes widened as she immediately took the turn until the water completely splashed towards them and washing them towards the other ends of the castle. Kajimoto immediately began looking around, looking for a wall to randomly hit so the water would at least divert. Jackal pulled out Haruka from the water as they started swimming through the mess.

"How do you plan we get out of this," Jackal glanced at the water rushing in all sorts of directions, spitting out some of the water that made its way to his mouth. "This guy had enough water to create an ocean and he wasn't even near the sea for that matter."

Haruka glanced around before seeing the currents continue rushing forward before noticing the door that Hitomi had been talking about. She could only thank her lucky stars that the castle had multiple ways to get to one room, seeing the sliding door. Preparing to unsheathe her racquet, Haruka suddenly glanced at Rin and dove under water despite the rushing current. Jackal stared in shock as the water soon started rising to the ceiling. Jackal stared at Kajimoto as the current slowed down to a stagnant state as Haruka suddenly emerged right in front of Rin.

"Well, it could be worse," Haruka hopefully smiled, looking at the mess they made. "I hope we at least helped the others instead of just flooding the castle."

Jackal swam over to them, despite the water rising dangerously to the ceiling. "What exactly did that button say, Shimohi-san?"

Kajimoto glanced at his girlfriend as the Black Dragon smiled cheekily. "Press red button to drain water."

"Did it at least say from where," Kajimoto blinked several times; how could Rin just randomly press any red button and assume it would work?

Haruka and the other two could only gape at the Black Dragon stupidly at what she had said. Face-palming in shock and horror, Haruka could only groan in response as she started looking around. Waters had flooded all the way to the ceiling, leaving very little room to breathe. Glancing at the other pathway, Haruka glanced at Rin and Kajimoto before looking at Jackal and the rising level. She and Jackal could definitely pull off holding their breath in water but Rin barely had the lung capacity and she wasn't sure about Rin.

"Hold on," Haruka inhaled deeply before plunging under water and swimming towards a pathway.

While under water, she tried to yank the door open but to no avail. The place had been completely barricaded; Haruka even tried kicking it with a straight kick but the water softened her impact. Haruka frowned deeply before rising up to the surface.

"Guys, come over here," Haruka beckoned the three players as she pointed underwater. "There's a door around here and I think this is the one Hitomi was talking about. It's deeply lodged though; I can't yank it open."

"The water pressure is what's preventing it from opening," Kajimoto glanced at Jackal, earning a nod from the South American-Asian male. "Alright, here we go."

Kajimoto and Jackal dove underwater with Rin and Haruka as they found the door deeply lodged as she had said. As Jackal and Kajimoto tugged on it, there was no way that the door would move. Rin stared at the door for a moment however before unravelling her sash and lacing it against the knob. After knotting it on the knob, all four began to tug on it as hard as they could until the water spilled out with rushing pressure. Haruka tumbled out to the ground along with Rin, Jackal and Kajimoto as they were somewhere Hitomi predicted they'd be.

"I guess this is the living room that Hitomi was talking about," Haruka sauntered cautiously around, examining her surroundings. "But where-?"

Before she could say anything, the other doors and windows spilled with water from Rin's big boo-boo and out came tumbling the others. Ayane, Sanada, Marui and Sengoku tumbled down the stairs while Shizuru, Tezuka and Mai crashed from the door right under the upper corridor. Shiraishi, Kiyone, Shishido and Isane rolled out the door opposite from Shizuru and the others. One thing they had in common: they were all soaking wet.

"What the heck happened back there," Shishido began drying his cap and his shirt. "Who the hell decided to flood the place with water?"

"I thought I was going to drown," Shizuru shivered slightly from the cold water. "Where did all that come from?"

Before Haruka and Rin could explain, the lights suddenly dimmed when a gold spotlight shone on top with several native drums being beaten in the background. Their eyes followed the light only to find Toyotomi Hatori standing at the top with a smirk on his face, clapping his hands mockingly. Toyotomi strode forward in his traditional samurai armour before bowing before them.

"Welcome to Toyotomi Fortress."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

So sorry that this thing took do long! I know it's probably a bit crappy since I had so many writer's blocks. I had so many things to do for Christmas! Hopefully, I get some rest and be able to update faster! Please don't forget to review!