Hybrid

By: Dyaoka

Disclaimer: I don’t own the Prince of Tennis. I wish did!

Warnings/Notes: Longer chapter than the rest of the others! *nods* This is the concluding chapter of Hybrid! Thank you all for reading! Rest of the notes are at the bottom.

 

Part Five

   

The humans stayed at the lake a bit longer than Eiji had anticipated. There was some fishes, they had found, that swam near the bottom of the spring. The humans had replenished their supplies of food and water by the second night they were staying there. However, the majority of the day, Eiji stayed as far away from the humans as possible, almost always at the other end of the spring, spending the majority of the time staring down at the spring’s deep depths. One or twice, he saw a silhouette of a rather large fish in the water that had to be his new friend, Ryoma.

Eventually, the sky darkened and the humans called out for the cat-hybrid, wondering where he was. Eiji showed up, looking as dejected as he had in the morning. They seemed to understand why he looked so unhappy and it was obvious that they were trying to cheer him up, giving him the first choice of the fishes they caught. However, when they reached out to pet him as they usually did, Eiji shied away, his tail always flicking back and forth nervously. Ah…how it hurt to see such innocent trust to be shattered.

Usually Eiji would be ecstatic with the amount of attention he was getting, but he just couldn’t be happy for some reason. It was apparent that the humans were apologizing.

“You haven’t forgiven me yet, have you?” Fuji said sadly as Eiji shied away from his hand. “I’m sorry.”

Eiji flattened his ears against the top of his head before bouncing away. He was quite aware that the humans were watching him depart sadly. As quietly as he could Eiji walked over to the dark end of the spring, where he had first met Ryoma. Curling up, Eiji allowed himself into a light slumber.

Several hours later, Eiji awoke to the soft sound of something exiting the water. Opening his eyes, Eiji found the place was completely lit up by the moon and stars. Last night, he had been so focused on finding the golden-eyed hybrid; he didn’t even notice how fantastic the view was. The fire that the humans had lit had died out long ago, it having no to timber to eat.

The moon was full and round, casting an ethereal glow over the spring. The reflection of the stars in the spring looked like tiny diamonds had blossomed in the depths of the water. Eiji wanted to just stare and admire the view forever. But his attention was drawn to the fish-boy upon the back of a rock that protruded from the shallows. Eiji wandered a bit closer to Ryoma, wondering what the boy was doing. There was a strange glow around him, probably from the moon and the reflection of the light from the water. He looked so delicate and…pale, as one could say. His eyes were closed and all movement around him had ceased—like time had stopped.

Who knows how long the cat-hybrid had been staring when golden eyes opened lazily and stared back. “What are you staring at?” he asked, his voice sounding rather strange.

“Unya?” Eiji cocked his head in one direction.

“Don’t play stupid” Ryoma warned. “Tell me something. Why do you travel with those humans? It’s obvious they hurt you. Leave them. Humans are no good after all—they only care about themselves.”

Eiji glared as the click went into his mind again, translating what Ryoma was saying to him. Ryoma only sighed. “You’re a fool to trust humans. I’ll tell you something. I’ve seen those humans before, but I don’t know if they’ve seen me. But they took away my…friends. They’re part of this group that catches all these different hybrids and then keep them locked up in cages. It’s…horrible, I’ll just tell you that. I’d recommend you get away from them now. After all, I’ll be leaving too” Ryoma said, giving Eiji a pointed look. Eiji shook his head disbelievingly. 

“Nya…” Eiji’s ear drooped a bit as he turned to look back at the humans that rested on the other side of the spring. It couldn’t be true…could it? He knew almost nothing of these humans, except for the fact that they seem really friendly. The events from the day before came rushing back at Eiji when he thought that. They were friendly and meant no harm…right? That’s why they’re apologizing to him! There is no way that they could be the people Ryoma was talking about.

“Whatever” Ryoma said, closing his eyes again. “But take my words for it. If they lock you up in one of those cages, my first words to you will be ‘I told you so.’ Now leave me alone—this is the last chance I get to sleep.”

Eiji blinked at Ryoma. Wait…wasn't he a fish? Didn’t fish sleep underwater? Looking back at Ryoma, Eiji gave a mental shrug and then stretched, deciding to go back to sleep.

Somewhere near dawn, Eiji heard a small sound of water splashing upon rock. He looked over to where he last saw Ryoma, but the only glimpse he caught of him was that silverish-golden tail that quickly disappeared under the dark water. The fish-boy had gone, without even a good-bye. But then Eiji had the feeling this was not the last he has seen of the fish-boy Ryoma. Perhaps they’ll meet in the future.

With a small yawn and a stretch, Eiji sauntered back over to where the humans slept quietly. Without thinking, Eiji dropped down next to one of the humans and curled up next to them. Whoever it was immediately tensed up at that, but then relaxed a bit after seeing who it was. Then, hesitant fingers started to scratch at the sensitive spot behind his ears. Eiji snuggled closer and purred, completely content. The half human-half cat hybrid looked up too see the split-personality human. He smiled awkwardly at Eiji. In his own cat-like way, Eiji smiled back.

When Eiji woke up again, he was feeling a little more than grouchy. His sleep was interrupted three times that night and the humans weren’t letting him sleep anymore. With a small feral growl, Eiji got up and untangled the sheets from his limbs. Wait…when did he end up on the sheets? Thinking back, Eiji remembered falling asleep next to the split-personality human. Looking around, Eiji saw him filling up their water flasks. The others were packing away their stuff.

Yawning, Eiji walked up next to the human and watched him for a while. The human smiled back at him and laughed nervously. “Um…hi! Good morning. How did you sleep? Oh…I know I haven’t introduced myself yet. But I didn’t know you knew how to understand words! You can call me Taka.” Eiji stared at the human as if he grew another head. “My name is Taka.” He gave Eiji another one of his smiles and a wink as he point to himself.

Eiji splashed the human—correction, Taka—with some water. He gave a squawk and then retaliated in the same manner Eiji did—putting his hand under the spring water and pushing it so it splashed onto the other. Before five minutes had passed, both their shirts were thoroughly soaked through.

“Taka! What are you and the kitten doing?” Fuji said suddenly, appearing from behind the soggy two who looked back at him guiltily.

“Um…refilling the flasks?”

Fuji rolled his eyes and beckoned for Eiji to go to him. But Eiji was the most leery of him at the moment. It was him that spoke to him so harshly those days ago. However, Eiji was not one to dwell on the past. Walking forward, Eiji nearly tackled Fuji onto the ground before hopping off and running as far away as he could get. They’re not getting him out of this shirt, nope! Today was definitely going to be a hot day…

“Ah! He got my shirt wet!”

“Don’t worry, you’re not the only one” Eiji heard Taka say to Fuji. Hm…humans had such peculiar names. Eiji briefly wondered what the other two’s names are—they never introduced themselves to him. But it didn’t seem like they had any intention of doing that anyways. The gentle-faced human was rather private about some things and the other…he was silent to even his friends! His human friends! But it seemed like he was always like that, the stoic human. He probably spoke a word a day.

Walking into the nearby trees, Eiji waited quietly up in one. He was silent and almost asleep. The only thing that told that he was up there was the tail that dangled below him that twitched every now and then. Fuji had laughed and almost gave an experimental tug on it when he walked past. That woke Eiji almost immediately—he did not like it when his tail was grabbed.

~*~

Before anyone knew it, they were all on their feet and traveling again, with Eiji as the guide. For three days and four nights they traveled, with Eiji relentlessly pushing them forward. He allowed them little rest, though one could tell that he was visibly tired. On the fourth night they were traveling, they came to the edge of the forest and into a clearing full of high grass and small ponds. The magical thing about the place was…

“Fireflies!” Fuji exclaimed, completely surprised. He honestly hadn’t been expecting to see them around. When he was a child, there use to be fireflies all the time in a nearby park. But then one day, they all disappeared and Fuji had missed them terribly.

“Wow” Taka breathed. “Incredible!”

They all looked over to Eiji who just gave a tired yawn and beckoned them all to follow him. Despite the fact that they wanted to stay and watch the fireflies, they continued on with Eiji. Eiji led them to the top of a small hill that over looked something. The humans peered out over the edge and saw, to their disbelief, a town.

“Oh my goodness!” the gentle-faced human exclaimed with a gasp. He looked over to Eiji who had gone down to slinking about on all fours, obviously exhausted. With a smile, he walked over to Eiji and started to stroke his hair. The hybrid did have wonderful hair that had a soft silky texture to it, like the fur of a cat. “Thank you” he said. The cat hybrid only looked up and gave him a smile.

“Nya…” Eiji yawned and then nuzzled at the gentle-faced human’s hand.

“Guys, how about we set up camp here…?” the gentle-faced human said. “The town’s really close, but I don’t think our little kitten is going to make it.”

There was a soft chuckle from Fuji who agreed and chose a spot not to far from the firefly field to rest at. The humans unrolled their blankets and sleeping bags and crawled into it. Eiji was too tired to struggle when the placed an extra blanket on top of him at where he’s curled up next to the gentle-faced human as he had done several times before.

“Thank you” Eiji heard whispered into his ear by the gentle-faced human. He looked up at the human who was smiling down at him. Eiji smiled softly and lifted his head so they bumped noses. With that done, Eiji settled down to sleep.

It was the bright sun glaring down upon him that woke Eiji up the next day. As usual, it was just a little after the sun had risen, meaning that the humans have yet to wake. Untangling himself from the blankets, Eiji sleepily made his way over to the place where it overlooked the town. Indeed, although it was a small town, it was already bustling and streets were starting to get filled up with merchants setting up their stands. With a small yawn, Eiji looked back over at the sleeping humans. Ah…they probably won’t miss him.

As he was proceeding to go down to the town, there were soft sounds of footfalls behind him. Eiji turned around to face the human that rarely spoke. Cocking his head in a questioning manner, Eiji looked at him.

“Sorry, and thank you” the human said, looking at him, his emotions carefully concealed. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul—apparently, it’s not true in his case. Even they showed nothing. “And…you may call me Tezuka.” Eiji only blinked. “Te.Zu.Ka” he said again, slower this time and pointed to himself. He knew that the hybrid didn’t understand, somehow. That was why he looked so sad that time by the spring when Fuji had claimed he knew how to talk. It was probably true, he did know how to talk, Tezuka had thought. But only knew simple little words and phrases.

Eiji smiled and jumped, giving Tezuka a hug. Apparently, it caught the human completely unprepared as he stumbled backwards. Eiji only grinned and let go of the human. When he was going to go off again, he was stopped again. Tezuka had grabbed a hold of his arm and shaking his head. “Stay for a bit. Fuji, Oishi and Taka will be sad if you go.” Eiji shrugged, only getting the gist that Tezuka was asking him to stay.

“Unya…” was the only sound that escaped from Eiji’s lips as he looked over to the town. Oh well. The town could wait.

After a short wait with Tezuka (he had finally, very hesitatingly, started to scratch Eiji behind the ear), the others awoke from their slumber. They all seemed rather refreshed, for some odd reason. Probably because they were very eager to get into town. Spending a month in the wilderness and wandering about not knowing where your ‘guide’ is leading you, it’s very refreshing to be back in civilization.

“Come on, the sun’s up and we’d better get to town” Fuji said as he swung his pack over his shoulder. As they started off towards it—but not in their regular order. Eiji hung near the back, with the one whom he’s known to recognize as the gentle faced human. They didn’t speak to each other, but Eiji could always feel the human’s gaze upon him. Usually, he would not be at the back of the group.

Although the town they saw from the hills was rather near, it still took a good hour to actually reach it. They walked into it, looking every bit like travelers from a foreign place. Their clothes, dirty and rather worn down, weren’t the same type as the townsfolk wore, as Eiji noticed. The humans had headed straight for an inn the moment they stepped foot into town. No doubt they had missed the beds and a bath—definitely a bath.

Ushering the hybrid into the building, Eiji immediately froze. No! He didn’t want to be here and started a dash for it, but strong arms seized him around the waist and the red head found himself being slung over a shoulder and carried upstairs to where the rooms were. With a strangled cry, Eiji tried to free himself, but found it to no avail. When he was finally let go and placed on a bed in one of the many rooms the inn had, Eiji started to sulk.

Half an hour and many high pitched squeaks and water splashes later; Eiji was now cleaned of all the dirt and sweat he had on him and the clothes he’s been given were clean as well. But of course, that’s what water and soap was supposed to do, wasn't it? It was to clean. Even if it meant getting the gentle-faced human all wet, at least the cat-hybrid was clean now. Eiji only sighed and curled up on the bed, tired out from the struggle in the bathtub. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

~*~

“Oi, oi! Wake up already!”

Eiji swatted at the hand that was shaking him awake. He wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. The bed was so…comfortable and warm. There was a tug on his ear. Eiji immediately jerked up at that, glaring at whoever it was that dared to tug at his ear. It was the gentle faced human.

“Now, now…we’re going to go get something to eat, you know. You must be hungry. You slept all day yesterday.”

Eiji gave a yawn, not particularly caring what the human was saying. He settled himself back onto the bed and was about to doze off when he heard one of his favorite words…or rather, food.

“Fish.”

“Nya?” Eiji was up and staring at the human. The gentle faced human smiled back, barely concealing a snicker.

“Oh, come on. Let’s go. They’re not going to wait for us forever, you know” the human said. He gently took the hybrid’s hand into his own and led him out the door. Somehow, Eiji liked that warm comforting feeling of holding someone’s hand. It made him feel…not so lonely anymore.

But then he dropped Eiji’s hand when they got to the lobby, something that Eiji was disappointed about. However, the mention of fish was more than enough to cheer his spirits up. The pair met the rest of the group and they departed out the door, talking almost excitedly. Only Tezuka and Eiji were the silent ones in the group.

They traveled to the center of town, where it was the busiest place of all. Almost acting upon his first instinct, Eiji was going to go and steal something from the stands, but changed his mind about it quickly when he felt a small tug on the back of his shirt. He looked back and up to see Tezuka frowning at him disapprovingly. Apparently, he could read minds like Ryoma! Eiji giggled a little at the thought, which drew attention from his human companions. They looked at him as if he grew another tail or something.

“You…giggled” Fuji finally said with a smile upon his fair face. Eiji just cocked his head to one side questioningly.

“Let’s get some food as a reward for a giggle!” Taka said enthusiastically. He was obviously very hungry.

“Nya…?”

~*~

Six dishes…Six dishes…Six dishes…

A certain half cat-half human hybrid managed to finish off six dishes of FISH in one sitting. Taka was still rather appalled at this fact and Fuji was still ever smiling as they watched ‘Kitten,’ as they decided called him, stretched.

“Oishi, when are you going to tell him your name?” Fuji asked.

“Huh?”

Taka laughed. “We all already told him our names. Even Tezuka!”

“Hn.”

“We just thought that maybe it would encourage him to speak more if he knew all our names, you know? I mean, it is rather difficult to talk to someone when you don’t even know their names!”

“That makes sense…”

“So? When are you going to finally introduce yourself formally to him?” Fuji asked with hint of laughter in his voice.

“I guess…I can tell him now, right? Ok…here I go.” He clears his throat. “Uh…Kitten?”

Eiji looked up from where he was licking the plates clean. The humans chuckled, the sight before them being more than unbearably cute, as one would call it.

“We’ve been traveling together for a month now…and I guess you still don’t know my name, right?” the human begun uneasily. He had no idea how to do this, but he decided that he’d carry through with it. Eiji had set the plate down and was staring at him with those intense deep azure eyes that faintly resembled Fuji’s, but a much deeper and darker tone than Fuji’s light sapphire eyes. “Well…You can call me Oishi. It’s simpler to call me Oishi.” Eiji cocked his head. “Oishi” the human repeated, and he felt foolish for doing so.

Then the hybrid closed his eyes slowly and faced the ceiling. Deep azure eyes opened and then fixed themselves upon the humans that sat around the table.

“Eiji” the hybrid spoke. Though they heard it only once before, this was the first time the humans heard it up close. It was a rather hoarse, but it was a pleasant sound. “I’m Eiji.” The hybrid gave them all a small smile.

“You spoke” Oishi said with a smile. But Eiji would speak no more for them at the moment. The hybrid’s sensitive ears heard the clip-clop-clip-clop of the hooves of horses that drew near. It was already time to leave. Eiji understood what it meant being a thief, but that was what he was originally. And horses do not bode well for thieves.

Without giving an explanation, Eiji immediately bolted for the door. The humans shot him a confused look, but Eiji gave them his brightest smile and a wave before disappearing through the door. He raced down the street of the town, and as his ears had confirmed for him, the horses just rounded the corner onto the block. Judging from the badges they had pinned on, they worked for the government. Apparently, it looked like they were handing out new bounties on the petty thieves and such. Eiji did a flip as he ran, flying over the officers on their horses. That usually startled the officers and the animals they were with.

Wasting no more time, Eiji climbed up onto the top of one of the merchant’s stalls and then jumped onto the roof of the building it was next too. With a smile, Eiji looked down to all the commotion he had caused. Ah…this was life. He watched the officers hand out the papers to the merchants and miscellaneous townspeople.

One of the papers that the officers held came loose when a strong wind blew it upwards. Eiji snatched it when it came past and smoothed it out to see what it was. It was a bounty for him. Eiji grinned. He knew that the people of the last town would inform the government. It wasn't the first time something like this happened after all.

With almost a gleeful bounce in his step, Eiji stealthily jumped onto another nearby roof. ‘Bye-bye’ Eiji thought to the humans he befriended. He needed to leave this place now, since they had bounties for him.

The half cat-half human hybrid smiled as he walked into the outskirts of town. If he was correct, there should be a city to the east and another town to the north. Which way should he go? Eiji looked up at the sun that had just sunk below its highest point. Without a second thought, Eiji chose to go to the city.

There is always bound to be more things to see there.

 

The End

 

 

Ah…I finished. The ending sucked, didn’t it? ^_^ I suck at writing endings because I just don’t want them to end! I’m planning the sequels, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to writing them. Probably after Impossible Fantasy is finished since it takes up so much time. >.< And I rushed a bit on this chapter…probably because I just wanted to finish it ASAP. =P Well, thanks for reading!