Impossible Fantasy
By Dyaoka
Disclaimer: I don’t own Prince of Tennis nor do I own
Final Fantasy.
Warnings/Notes: A little note to those who has played
the Final Fantasy series. We know that Bolt/2/3 was used in the beginning and
then it was switched to Thunder/ara/aga. Bolt and Thunder are not the same in
this fic though! Bolt is one variation of Thunder. :) Okkiz? Oh yeah, although I
DID say that Scroll Six would be 20,000 words long (it is, by the way), I have
to separate it into two different chapters because my computer keeps freezing
whenever I’m trying to upload it. >.< SORRY! I’ll upload the second
part soon! (‘n don’t come complaining to me saying I didn’t keep my
promise because I did ‘n typed it all…)
Scroll Six, Part One: Friendly Competition
They were all
sorted into groups—and Ryoma wasn’t too happy about that idea at first. When
they were all told that they would be split into ‘fair’ groups for the
competition, there were many people that looked at the current champion’s
direction, hoping to be among his team. There were others who just eyed him
warily, not wanting to be his opponent. It had already been decided before hand
who was whose partners. The many contestants were split into even groups of
four, although there was a remaining group that only had two—it must have been
fate; Shinji and Ryoma were the remaining two and neither looked in the least
pleased about it.
In a corner of the
room, a lone figure stood away from the crowd of competitors, leaning heavily
against the wall. He cared nothing for this…this nonsense. There were only a
few here that would worry him—among them were also the two cloaked figures
that were standing like sentries next to the golden eyed boy. He’s never
seen them before, although he couldn’t say that because he hadn’t even been
able to catch a glimpse of their faces, but an occasional gleam that peeked out
from under the taller one’s hood. It was obvious those were glasses.
Fingering his own
pair of glasses, one stoic youth inspected them, as if expecting them to
shatter. They didn’t. In fact, they remained motionless in his hands and he
placed them back on after cleaning them of a speck of dust. “Are you Tezuka?”
someone asked. The already really tall youth looked up to a yet even taller man
that was peering down at him.
“And if I am?”
Tezuka answered.
“I’ll just
warn you—although you may be on my team, don’t get in my way” the man said
haughtily, sending Tezuka a glare which he returned. The bespectacled youth
didn’t even notice that the rest of his ‘teammates’ had gathered around
the corner, having been too absorbed in his thoughts. He took this moment to
examine his so-called teammates. Giving a mental snort, the youth already knew
that just from his appearance alone, they thought of him as a pushover. After
all, weren’t usually those with the glasses the pushovers?
Besides the man
that just spoke (rather rudely) to him, there was another male, indefinitely
younger than the other with small scars upon his face and dressed in strange
clothes—obviously from another country, not Lindbulm or Alexandria. The last
member of the group was a girl. Superior was what one would describe how she
looked, from her facial expression to the way she held herself with poise.
Confidence was woven about her as tightly as she was gripping that fan she held
in her hand as she fanned herself.
“Really now!
What the hell are they thinking? Putting us into groups like this…how
insulting!” she complained quite loudly. “Some of us here can take care of
ourselves!” However, her complaints (and several others) were drowned out when
there was a loud cheer from outside by the crowd. It was loud, much louder than
the previous ones.
The committee
official that was with them started to talk to the contestants briefly about the
rules and such. Tezuka tuned him out, already knowing the rules. Anything is
valid in this competition—which made it so dangerous and yet…fun. Tezuka
smirked in delight at that thought.
Meanwhile, near
the exit of the building, Ryoma was scowling at everyone and everything. It
would be his normal behavior if anyone asked Nanjirou, but that old man wasn’t
here now, was he? The golden eyed youth knew that trying to work together with
Shinji was like trying to get a mountain to move—it just wouldn’t cooperate!
Next to him, Shinji was thinking the exact same thing.
‘Why me?!’
~*~
Momo, Oishi and
Karupin sat in the crowd that had amassed at the stadium that day. “Usually
the competition takes several days to get through—once it took a month”
Karupin was informing them in a rather hushed voice as to not attract too much
attention as a ‘talking’ cat. They had taken Oishi there, hoping that he
would stop worrying about Eiji that much. He hadn’t gotten much sleep,
spending most of his time searching for the said red head. However, as Shinji
had said, he was no longer within the perimeters of the city.
“Look! Look!”
Momo suddenly exclaimed with glee. “First fight up! Isn’t that Fuji?”
“It is” Oishi
said with surprise. “But why isn’t he with Ryoma and the others?”
“Maybe because
the committee chose the teams for them?” Momo conjectured.
“Yeah…”
Oishi murmured as he watched the shortest figure in the group of four that was
cloaked in black cloth that he had bought a week ago to make into a new cloak
and outfit—he probably wouldn’t have done very well if not for the help of
Taka, Oishi and Inui. It was lined with intricate gold designs at the trims and
Inui was the one who had done the designs (because he was bored and said he had
nothing better to do because he was banned from Taka’s kitchen). The rest of
the team was all strange looking in his eyes. Probably because he, Oishi, after
all this time, was still use to his own culture’s clothing.
“Alright!” one
loud and hyper female announcer exclaimed loudly. “Fight number one! It’s a
one on one duel! Contestants look up to the screen to find your position! First
team to get a three out of four win goes to the next round! And remember,
people—no holds barreled!”
Oishi looked up
too, at the large screen that was floating in the air that held the names of
said contestants. Apparently, Fuji was going third on the team. Of course,
Fuji’s real name wasn’t on there. The blue eyed prodigy had gone under the
name of Suke, a nickname that was given to him by his older sister and younger
brother—an affectionate nickname, yet holding true to its meaning. Suke means
to ‘rescue or help’ and that’s what Fuji did for his family. He helped
them a lot. Meanwhile, the match had already started, yet Oishi was reminiscing
for the majority of the time. If it wasn’t for the screams from the crowd and
the happy cheers from Momo that knocked him back to reality, he would have been
drifting down memory lane for quite some time.
“That was a
great uppercut! Caught his opponent off guard!” Momo was saying. Karupin
snickered softly, his attention also on the fight that had just finished. It was
rather quick, but it was very smooth and flawless. To the ex-captain’s eyes,
everything spoke for itself. The man who had won that round was on Fuji’s
team—just by the way that he fought, he could tell that he’s gotten some
training in fighting, but the majority of the fight there was backed up by the
magic that he’s displayed. The other one, who had lost, was concentrated more
on defense magic rather than actually trying to fight. The other was on the
offensive before the man could even throw up one shield.
“I don’t see
how people can find enjoyment out of fighting…” Oishi sighed.
“A pacifist,
eh?” someone said behind them. They turned around to face an older youth with
a red dot upon his forehead. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear that. But
I must say, I agree with you.”
“Yes! Fighting
only hurts people, and it hurts yourself as well! Using it for other’s
entertainment is wrong!” Oishi just nearly exclaimed. Then, he sighed again.
“But no one listens…Heck, our friends are down there.” Momo sniggered and
then returned his attention to the fight that was going on.
The other youth
gave hearty laughter. “So are mine. I’m actually not suppose to be here,
watching all this. I’m part of the temples, going against violence and all.
But my friends are down there that I just had to come.”
“You’re not
dressed as a monk…” Oishi said, eyeing the other’s clothing. It looked
rather much like what a farmer would wear, a cotton shirt with worn slacks.
“It’s the only
outfit I have that would actually blend in with the crowd” the youth said.
“After, a monk coming here in his formal clothes would look rather…bad to
the temples that don’t support violence.”
“I can see that.
But that kind of…gives a lot of it away” Oishi said, gesturing at the
dot upon the other’s brow.
“I just say that
it’s a social ranking status from where I’m from” the monk said.
“Isn’t
that…lying?”
“A mere
stretching of the truth. After all, this dot does signify the rankings
upon the temple…” the young monk gave a smirk. “I am Tachibana Kippei. A
pleasure to meet you.”
Oishi nearly froze
when the young monk had given his name. The olive-green eyed boy rarely spoke to
other people, hence he did not think of a pseudonym for himself. “N-Nanashi”
Oishi stuttered. Tachibana raised an eyebrow in interest. “I have no name and
no family name. So I go by that.”
“Interesting. No
Name for a no name” Tachibana said with a knowing smile. “Well, I hope that
you’ll find happiness and a family down the road of life.”
“Th-thank you”
Oishi was suddenly all-stuttering.
“Hey! Hey!
It’s him!” Momo suddenly cried excitedly. “Look! It’s his turn!” The
ex-captain was careful in not to use any names.
“What is it?”
Oishi asked, turning to Momo. The violet-eyed youth only pointed at the screen
that showed two people walking towards each other, one wearing a black cloak
with gold lining, the other a broad shouldered man that was walking.
~*~
Fuji was smiling
as usual, under the cover of the cloak that hid his face. The moment his
opponent has seen him, Fuji knew what the other man was thinking; ‘What’s
this? A shorty? I’ll win for sure!’ Oh…how wrong he is. Fuji Syusuke is a
prodigy. At what? In the areas of the Dark Arts, especially the most difficult
spells were his specialty, but he won’t use them unless it was absolutely
necessary. The blue eyed prodigy had taken one step backwards the moment the
fight had started, taken in advance for the swing that was coming in his
direction. Despite the fact that he wanted to play around with the man’s mind
(super duper, really wanted to), he couldn’t risk having the cloak be taken
off. After all, there were hundreds of thousands of peoples in the stands that
would recognize him. Especially since his brother was one that was watching this
fight in a secluded area beneath the stands.
“I’ll spare
you the pain, so I ask you to forfeit” the man said with a smirk.
Fuji didn’t
speak, just stood there. He thought over it for a moment. His own team was
currently winning, with a 2-0 score. If he gave up, they would only need one
more win and he wouldn’t have to fight. Fuji took a glance over at his
‘teammates.’ The two that had already gone were yelling at him to fight. The
last one, most likely an Alexandrian soldier, looked pretty reliable. If she
lost, then Fuji would take it into his own hands to go and win the last point
needed. After all, you only had to reach 3 points, right? But for now, he could
forfeit. Fuji just nodded to his opponent and walked back to the sidelines,
eliciting a bunch of groans and boos from the crowd. The winner of that round
gave a triumphant smirk.
“Really…weaklings
should stay off of the field!” one of his teammates spat at him. Fuji did
nothing. They were told that as the contestants were thinned out, they would be
eventually dueling with just themselves, no teammates and no help. He’d
probably shock the people out of their pants then, the prodigy mused. Yes, he
would…if he didn’t meet an interesting opponent before then, of course.
The Alexandrian
soldier, as according to Fuji’s thoughts, did win the fight. The lass was strong,
he’d give her that, but was lacking terribly in magic skills, only knowing
basic spells to reinforce her power. As Fuji and his team walked out of the
stadium, he glanced upward at the screen floating in mid air. It was
broadcasting the next fight’s list. Well, there was no one he knew that was on
the list and so he decided to go to the stands where his remaining friends were.
After all, he doubted that he’d have another match so soon.
However, tried as
he might, the committee officials wouldn’t let him over to the stands so Fuji
was left with contenting himself in the lounge that was beneath the
stands—where the majority of the contestants were. They were also watching the
fight from a screen, but made substantially less noise than the thundering
crowds above them. Fuji stayed seated in a corner there, with the cloak’s hood
over his head the majority of the time. Nobody approached him as he watched the
ongoing matches. Drinks, refreshments, food was passed out by the committee
officials and Fuji only took a drink of water, not really having the stomach to
be eating something at the moment. He had seen Kawamura Takashi’s fight, and
it was rather spectacular. It seemed that Taka, despite the fact he was always so
timid, was quite…frightening when he begins to feel the magic flare through his
veins. Added to that, the usually timorous youth had amazingly strong strength
as well. No wonder that there were several people that had been talking about
him earlier.
It was getting
close to the ending of the day and apparently, the team that happened to go last
was the team Inui was on. Watching his taller friend pass by, Fuji just gave a
subtle nod and Inui nodded in return. However, to several contestants, this
greeting wasn’t lost on them. After all, earlier that day, they had seen them
with the current champion and several times previous runner up champion, Shinji.
Despite the fact that Fuji was the only one to have forfeited that day, they
didn’t doubt he had great powers and were wary of him.
Fuji watched as
Inui and his team walked onto the stadium, and two other people besides Inui
himself were wearing cloaks—obviously to conceal their identities. Inui was the
first person to go on his own team. Fuji smile widened a fraction of an inch as
he saw the opponents to Inui’s team. ‘Stepping stones’ Fuji thought to
himself. In less than a minute, Inui had won easily. All he did was use magic
and cover his opponent in the dirt, nearly completely burying him. That was all
it took for a ‘I give up!’ from his opponent.
That night, when
their group met up again, Momo had somehow become the soldier he use to be and
was blabbing loudly about fighting techniques that he’s learned. Of course,
once when he tried to demonstrate, he accidentally took out person next to him
(who remain nameless). Oishi had scolded and berated him for a long time about
that, not to mention Taka, who had reverted back to being timorous and shy
again, also chided him.
During dinner, the
talk was mostly of data that Inui had gathered of the competitors that he had
already seen fight. Momo had many comments to add to Inui’s data, of course
and the talk between them eventually turned to an argument over who could drink
the other under the table (which was completely unrelated to the original topic,
by the way). In the end, only the youngest of them had turned in early, after
all, it seemed that Ryoma had to participate in the starting and ending of the
competition, as it should be for the current residing champion. “We’re the
finale tomorrow, Shinji” Ryoma had said with a yawn before setting off to
sleep. Since they were in Shinji’s home, he collapsed on the couch, eager to
rest. The blind youth only nodded, already half asleep in his seat. Before long,
Taka had to wake him to get him to bed.
“Quite the
caretaker, aren’t you?” Fuji said with his usual smile plastered upon his
face.
“I’m only
doing what’s right” Taka replied.
“What’s the
difference between what’s right and what’s wrong?” Fuji asked, his smile
faltering for a moment as he watched Momo search the cabinets for any liquor.
“You’re quite
rude, aren’t you?” Inui said, correcting his glasses that had been slipping
off. “Why would a underage drink?”
“Hey! I drank
before!” Momo said indignantly.
“Momoshiro
Takeshi, underage drinker…” Inui muttered to himself. Momo only rolled his
eyes at the taller youth.
~*~
“Welcome to the
start of the second day of the competition!” one hyper Tomoka exclaimed. The
other announcer, Sengoku, was snoring at where he sat, asleep. His snoring,
unbeknownst to him, was amplified by the voice amplification spell. Ryoma was
yawning and struggling to keep his eyes awake. Although the sun has already
risen, he had a very restless night. He was plagued with dream after dream until
Ryoma had finally decided to go through Shinji’s cabinets for any potions that
would result in a dreamless sleep. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any. It
wasn’t until that he returned to the couch he had settled on, he realized that
the bottle was next to balcony, as that was Shinji’s favorite spot in the
house. By that time, the sun was close to rising.
Now, Ryoma was
half dead on his feet and after this, he decided that he’d going straight back
to get some more sleep. He didn’t even hear when the hostess had been
addressing him. When he did notice, all Ryoma said was; “I’m tired, go away!
I don’t want to deal with you so early in the morning!”
“Apparently
someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed” Tomoka said sarcastically,
eyeing Ryoma critically. Ryoma only glared.
Indeed, true to
what he had set his mind to, Ryoma had quickly left, going back to Shinji’s
home to get some more sleep. He didn’t bother heading over to Taka’s place
because he knew that the rest of them were still resting and that Taka was
already over at Shinji’s home. The moment he entered the plain house, he went
for the living room and collapsed onto the couch, curling up into a fetal
position, hugging his knees close to his chest. Although he couldn’t remember his
dreams, the golden-eyed boy knew that they were horrific and were rather
significant. But he couldn’t remember. As Ryoma slowly drifted off to sleep, he
was aware of someone placing the blanket that has fallen to the floor back upon
him.
Taka, who had
observed the golden-eyed youth since he’d returned that morning, had stayed
quiet. Ryoma was obviously deep in thought, to not even notice that he’d
approached the couch. But he saw that the tired golden orbs began to disappear
over heavy eyelids and Taka decided to place the blankets over Ryoma before he
got a cold.
With a sigh, he
went back to the kitchen, the place he was prior to Ryoma’s return. There, he
sat in a chair, pondering his thoughts. He had met Ryoma before, but those
times, he’d seen a definitely more cheerful Ryoma. Of course, not that
one could tell that Ryoma was cheerful or not, but to Taka, it was just something
that came to him naturally, to be able to tell people’s moods. This
Ryoma…was burdened by something. Something that Taka did not know about, and
he doubted that Ryoma would tell him. Shinji seemed to know, but depraved Taka of
the information. Although Taka was worried for the young champion, Taka was
also worried for Shinji. His charge was acting more and more out of character
everyday. He rarely mumbled to himself anymore, he started going outside more,
albeit it was just over to the patch of green that was near the outskirts of the
city. Shinji was talking more—more to him and to everyone else around him.
However the facts that these pointed towards positive improvements in his
persona, the fact that Shinji was sleeping more and staring into space much more
often was a sign for the worst. The last time that had happened was several
years ago, before Taka had been Shinji’s caretaker. The timid youth had heard
from several of the Rumor Mills that Shinji had almost died. Added to
the fact that Shinji would be moving in several weeks, the young caretaker was
worried.
“Really…”
Taka said with a sigh as he rested his head in his hands. With the appearance of
the people Ryoma had been traveling with and the disappearance of one of them
had nearly driven Taka to exhaustion, trying to deal with so many people. But he
was also suspicious of them, the companions of Ryoma. He had checked the Rumor
Mills before, and each of them had matched the description of fugitives.
However, when he had taken this subject up with Shinji one night, the blind seer
had said it was alright and that they were innocent. Despite the fact that it
had been OK-ed by two seers (Ryoma and Shinji), Taka was still wary, although he
did his best to not show it. All the same, he was sure that the one who
introduced himself as Fuji was perceptive enough to tell, but nevertheless he
greeted Taka with a warm smile and conversed often with him about silly
inconsequential things.
“You should stop
thinking so much” said a voice from the door way of the kitchen. Taka was
startled and he looked upward to see the pale face of Shinji looking…no, not
looking…facing him. Taka immediately went to the blind youth’s side to guide
him over to a seat.
“You should have
called for me! What if you hit your head or something like that again?” Taka
exclaimed.
“I would kindly
ask for you to not remind me of those incidents again” Shinji said with a
slight flush to his pale cheeks. Taka smiled at the youth, knowing that the he
couldn’t see him anyways. “Now that I’m awake, why don’t you move Ryoma
into my room? The bed is unoccupied” Shinji said, trying to divert the
subject.
“Alright” Taka
said, moving to the living room where Ryoma slept. Shinji took this time to
‘observe’ the room. Without the sense to see, he still had his sense of
touch, smell, and listening.
“You can come
out of hiding” Shinji said. The shadows moved, showing a rather disheveled
Karupin. Last night, when Taka had helped Shinji into his room, they found
Karupin occupying the bed. When Taka had brought the cat out of the room, the
moment that he had left, the cat had managed to sneak back in and ended up
curling next to Shinji. Shinji had never minded animals; it was quite the
contrary. He actually adored animals, but he couldn’t do anything about that
fondness since he was blind and Taka refused to even take him to the local zoo.
“And where were you this morning?” Shinji asked, scratching Karupin
affectionately behind the ear as he climbed into the blind seer’s lap. Karupin
only purred as a response. Yes, Karupin knew that Shinji loved animals. That’s
why he felt so pampered by Shinji, an animal lover. After a while, Shinji had
stopped stroking Karupin’s fur, his hand dropping to his side. When Taka
returned, he found Shinji asleep in the chair with Karupin on his lap.
Later that
morning, the rest of the group had dropped by, minus Momo and Inui, who were
already over at the stadium watching the fights despite the fact that the
temperature was starting to swelter. Ryoma was still asleep then, oblivious to
it all, and he hadn’t even moved one muscle on the bed. ‘He must really be
tired’ Taka thought as he checked up on the dark haired youth. When lunchtime
came around, Momo and Inui showed up, bickering over the fights that had
occurred, not one of them had even noticed the abnormal heat of the weather. It
was the bickering— which ended up to include Oishi—that awoke Ryoma. The
golden-eyed boy had greeted them groggily and begun to eat his breakfast/lunch
slowly. He wasn’t even able to finish half of the food on his plate, claiming
that he wasn’t that hungry. Eventually, a little after noon, they all left the
household (with Karupin with them) to go to the competition.
~*~
Ryoma blinked,
absentmindedly rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Although Fuji had a hood nearly
over his entire face, the golden-eyed boy was aware that Fuji was looking at
him. It was the same with Inui, but with much more subtlety. They had been there
for over three hours and Ryoma had slept through the majority’s part of the
fights, resting on a comfy beanbag that was near one of the screens that was in
the room that was beneath the stands. Of course, next to Ryoma was Shinji. The
others that was there was Fuji and Inui; Taka had disappeared somewhere.
“…must watch
out for that one…” Inui was saying. “Very careful, agile, and dangerous.
Tezuka Kunimitsu. His opponent died again…hm…”
Something jolted
in Ryoma’s mind when Inui said that. “What?” Ryoma all but croaked.
“You’re
awake?” Inui asked, eyeing the boy in front of him. “Well, I was saying to
watch out for Tezuka Kunimitsu. He seems to be no average fighter.”
Ryoma snorted.
“Whatever you say.” Tezuka…the name sounded familiar, but didn’t ring
any particular bells. At least, not at the conscious level of his mind.
“After this
fight, we’re up” Shinji said. He didn’t sound very pleased—in fact, he
sounded downright bored. “I wonder who our opponents are…oh well. They
probably won’t stand a chance against me…But then again we only have two
people on our team and one of us might get tired out. Hm…might get
ugly…Added to the fact I can’t see…they must be getting their spirits up,
to be able to fight the brat-champion so early on. They must think of me as a
handicap to him. I’ll show them who’s the handicap…” Shinji had begun
muttering to himself again.
“Stop talking to
yourself” Ryoma said as he got up and stretched, but fell back down again when
Shinji tripped him. Whether the blind youth had done that on purpose or not,
they didn’t know. He only gave them a blank look. Of course, that didn’t
stop Ryoma from glaring at his teammate. “Are you going to get up or not?”
“My legs fell
asleep” Shinji said, attempting to get up.
“Whatever. Just
get up,” Ryoma snapped. “They just finished the fight.” With some effort,
Shinji managed to get up. The moment he did though, a lost expression came upon
his face.
“Ryoma…?” he
called out, reaching into the air. The golden-eyed boy reached out and snagged
the blind youth’s wrist and nearly dragged him over to the stadium.
The moment the two
had stepped out into the stadium, things went wild. The sun hung low in the sky,
casting shadows over some areas and bright rays of light to other areas. Despite
the fact that it was nearly sundown, the heat was still quite humid and there
was little to no breeze in the stadium. How the crowd of people could stand it,
no one knew. Ryoma looked up at the screen that displayed the order of the
fight—it seemed that Shinji was going first and second. “You’re first and
second,” Ryoma informed, guiding Shinji to the center of the stadium.
“Who’s my
opponent?” Shinji asked. Ryoma looked over to Shinji’s opponent who was
glaring at them. Ryoma smirked.
“I doubt
you’ll have to worry” was all Ryoma said and left Shinji’s side.
‘That didn’t
really help…’ Shinji thought frustratingly. He hated it when Ryoma did that.
When Sengoku
announced the start of the fight, Shinji’s opponent immediately swung at him,
aiming for the head. Whether it was luck, pure instinct, or his seer abilities,
Shinji stepped to the side and just barely avoided being tossed to the ground
face first. It was then that Shinji let out a barrage of magic attacks.
“Confuse!” Shinji yelled, his palm facing his opponent. A shock of yellow
passed through the man and suddenly, he was looking around like an idiot in a
daze. The man charged, but not in Shinji’s direction, in the crowd’s
direction. They took noticed and screams of people were heard as they tried to
get away from the rampaging contestant. “Bolt!” A bolt of lightning shot
down from the sky and struck the man, almost instantly frying him to crisp. They
heard a whimper from the man before he slumped over onto the ground, already
half dead. There was a small beep heard as the score changed from a 0-0 to a
1-0.
Shinji stayed
where he was, but lowered into a crouch, with one hand on the ground, the other
over his heart. The youth had his eyes closed, but it wasn’t like he needed
them. When the signal was given for the fight to begin, Shinji didn’t hesitate
to cast a strong wall around him. Whoever it was that he’s facing has obvious
talents in magic, as he was able to tell the moment his opponent had started to
walk close to him. There was shifting of the earth beneath the blind seer, and
the youth immediately knew that he had to switch the position from defensive to
offensive. Shinji knew his opponent was a skilled magician…but what about
fighting skills? Granted, Shinji knew almost nothing about fighting, but he’d
decided to wager it.
“Despell!”
Shinji heard his opponent yell. This was his chance. He felt his wall go down
and Shinji immediately ran to the side, not really knowing the perimeters of the
stadium, nor did he know where he stood in the stadium.
“Blizzard!”
Shinji yelled, raising a hand to the sky. He felt the coolness of his own spell
against his exposed skin, but that didn’t stop him from casting other spells.
“Comet!” The blind seer heard his opponent cast a barrier. This was his
chance. Shinji suddenly had an idea where his opponent was, due to his seer
abilities. No, it didn’t allow him to ‘see’ things. It just told him where
things were. Shinji immediately started to run towards the direction his
instincts were telling him to go and all the while, he was casting spells at his
opponent. “Demi!” Shinji exclaimed and he felt a tremble in the earth—the
spell had been pushing hard against the barrier to cause it to grind into the
earth. “Debarrier” Shinji whispered when he felt the smooth surface of a
barrier. “Stop.” With that last spell cast, his opponent was completely
stopped, oblivious to time.
There was a pause
and then the soft beep was heard as the score changed again. 2-0. There were
exuberant cheers from the crowd and it was loud and grated Shinji’s ears. He
felt a hand grab his shoulder and Shinji tensed. “It’s only me” was the
sarcastic voice of Ryoma. Shinji relaxed, but his guard did not. “Turn to the
left and walk for about fifteen steps forward. Taka is there” Ryoma
instructed. Shinji felt a pat on his back and the blind seer walked in the
direction his younger friend had told him to go in, somewhere in his mind hoping
that it wasn’t to the mouth of a monster or something.
Ryoma watched as
Shinji walked off in the direction he’d told him with some doubt written upon
his expression. It wasn’t like he instructed him over to a death trap or
something…
The fight had been
signaled to start, and within a moment, it was over. Before Ryoma had done
anything, his opponent had gotten onto his knees and bowed, saying that he
forfeit. Ryoma nearly had the impulse to strike the man down then—he waited
so long to do something and this idiot just made him come for nothing!
Scowling, Ryoma heard the beep of the score, the boos and cheers of the crowd.
Ryoma calmly counted to three before walking away, ignoring Tomoka that was
trying to get some words from the golden-eyed boy. He had nothing to say.
~*~
“Hahaha! Lucky
you, huh, Ryoma?!” Momo laughed, thumping Ryoma on the back. “Hahaha!”
Ryoma had a sour look upon his face as he turned to Momo.
“Whatever.”
“But what really
worries me is that Shinji actually…fried that guy” Momo continued to say.
“I didn’t really think he was that type of person. I hope he knows what sort
of damages he’s doing to other people…”
“He knows,
alright. But he’s blind remember? It’s self-defense. Besides, the guy
wasn’t dead” Ryoma said.
“Yeah, so I
guess that’s ok” Momo said as he stretched.
“Why are you so
worried? I thought that you would be use to seeing stuff like that, since you
were from the army and all…”
“Of course
I’ve seen stuff like that before!” Momo exclaimed. “But no matter how many
times I see it, it’s still…a horrible thing.”
“Ah. I
couldn’t agree more” said a voice from behind them.
“Oishi!” Momo
said in surprise. “I thought you were asleep.”
“Not with the
ruckus you two are making” Oishi said with a grimace. “You two should be
asleep too—especially you, Ryoma. You look like you need it.”
“I know” Ryoma
said. “But I just can’t sleep.”
“Sleeping
problems, eh?” came a deep voice. They looked over to see Inui and his glasses
glinting in the darkness. How he was able to make it do that was beyond them.
Hell, it was beyond logic. “I could make a sleeping drought for you…with its
taste modified as well…”
“No, no! Inui,
you don’t need to do something like that for Ryoma” Oishi said. “It’s
probably because he was asleep the majority of the afternoon, causing him to be
so awake now. Right?”
“Ah…” Ryoma
agreed almost wordlessly. Something told him he didn’t want to drink anything
that Inui made for him.
“What Oishi says
is true though, Ryoma. You should go try to get some sleep or you’ll be a
walking zombie like you were today,” Inui said. “It’s rather late and
there’s tomorrow’s competition to worry about. After all, you don’t want
to forfeit just because you overslept, now would you?”
Shooting Inui a
glare, the golden-eyed boy stomped off down the hall to where his shared room
with Fuji was with Momo’s laughter echoing behind him. Opening and closing the
door gently, Ryoma looked over to where a peaceful Fuji slept near the opened
window, on top of his sheets and curled up with one arm around his pillow. A
soft sultry wind blew in, disturbing the moon kissed tresses. With the darkness
shrouding the room and the only source of light being the window behind Fuji,
the youth almost looked ethereal. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on
your view), that wasn’t the case.
Ryoma just gave a
small sigh before collapsing on top of his bed. He didn’t bother with the
blankets—it was way too hot for them. Karupin wasn’t here; again, he was
over at Shinji’s, claiming that the other youth and him had talking to do.
With another small sigh, Ryoma rolled over and tried to fall asleep. It just
didn’t work. It was either too hot for him to sleep (though that was rarely a
problem—the place he lived in with Nanjirou also had sweltering heat during
the Dry Season) or it could have been…
‘No!’ Ryoma
thought frantically. ‘It’s not that!’
Since…forever
(well, as long as he could remember), Karupin was always by his side when he
slept. Sometimes when he wasn’t, he’d always curl up with a large blanket or
pillow, pretending it was Karupin. And then…and then…
Fuji.
Ever since Fuji
had started to share a bed with him, he’s started getting use to having the
light haired genius next to him. Ok, so he needed someone else next to him when
he slept! Was that such a big deal?! If only he was really tired…otherwise he
would have been able to fall asleep easily…With a frustrated growl, Ryoma
padded across the room and dropped onto Fuji’s bed. The light haired genius
unconsciously shifted over a bit and swung an arm over Ryoma’s waist, drawing
the smaller boy closer to him. Fuji was muttering something under his breath,
but Ryoma didn’t catch it. It was spoken too softly. ‘Gotta do something
about the heat though…’ Ryoma thought as he lifted a hand upward. He
didn’t even say anything and suddenly the room became a bit cooler.
“Go back to
sleep” Fuji mumbled sleepily as he buried his head against Ryoma’s shoulder.
Ryoma turned pink and dropped his hand back to his side, but heeded the
instructions. He went to sleep rather peacefully that night, listening to
Fuji’s steady breathing.
…and the next
thing he knew was whispering that was too loud to actually to be called
whispering. It should be dubbed as shouting. Unconsciously wincing at the tone
that Momo was ‘whispering’ at…With a small groan, Ryoma turned over. He
didn’t want to deal with the violet eyed youth at the moment, thank you very
much. He wanted to sleep. But then his mind was starting to wake up even more
and he became aware of his surroundings…and the arm that was still over his
waist and the half-embrace that he had just buried himself in. It was…Fuji.
And he was talking to Momo in a hushed tone.
“Ryoma needs his
rest; it’s best that you be quiet and leave for a while.”
“He’s going to
be late, you know?”
“Ah…a few more
minutes shouldn’t hurt. Don’t worry, I’ll get him there on time” Fuji
said with a small chuckle.
“Alright, if ya
say so!” a cheery Momo left, closing the door noisily behind him. All was left
in peace and quiet for several moments and Ryoma was about to drift off again
when Fuji spoke, and this time, the words were directed to him.
“I think you
should get up now, I know you’re awake.”
Damn that Fuji.
~*~
“Now, now,
Momo…” Taka said, trying to allay a certain violet eyed youth’s laughter.
“It’s not nice to laugh at people…Plus, we’re at a restaurant too!”
“But—but…!
Oh my gosh…this is just too hilarious…” Momo said, taking another gulp of
air before launching into another series of laughter all, drawing a bit of
unwanted attention from the other customers at the restaurant. Ryoma, only half
awake, didn’t really comprehend why Momo was laughing so hard. Giving another
yawn, Ryoma was about to doze off again when Momo snatched the pillow from his
grasp.
…pillow?
“Fuji! Why did
you let him take the pillow with him? He looks even more tired now than he did
yesterday!” Momo said with a grin.
“But he looked
so adorable…” Fuji said, trailing off with a smile, considering his next
words carefully. “I just couldn’t refuse. Besides, he wouldn’t let go of
the pillow when I tried to get him out of bed.” Several snickers were heard,
and it wasn’t just from Momo this time.
“What do you
want?” Ryoma demanded crossly, still trying to figure out what had happened
just ten minutes ago. He remembered that Fuji was trying to get him out of bed
and he didn’t want to get up…What happened after that? The golden-eyed boy
frowned a bit and then gave another yawn. His brain just wasn’t functioning
this morning. “Argh…Momo, gimme…”
“Ryoma, you’d
better wake up soon” came Shinji’s highly amused voice. “If you don’t,
you might not know what just might come flying at you.” A sadistic looking
grin was added to the end of that statement.
“Oh? Was that a
prediction?” Inui asked Shinji and then turned to Ryoma who was had snatched
back the pillow and was hugging it close to him, his eyes already drooping
close. “Or was that a warning?”
“Who knows”
Shinji said mysteriously, his grin disappearing from his face. Taka sighed.
Before Ryoma and company showed up, Shinji didn’t smile that much. He still
didn’t now, but he was still a lot more open than before. If he was only like
that all the time…
“Well, since
Ryoma doesn’t seem to be awake enough for breakfast, I guess I’ll ask for
his food to be packed” Taka said and was about to call one of the waitresses
over, but was stopped by Shinji.
“He missed his
meal. He’s getting no breakfast.”
“Yeah! That’s
how it was for me when I was a guard! You miss a meal, you gotta wait till the
next one!” Momo added.
“But he’s not
in the army” Oishi said, looking over at the dark haired boy that was sleeping
with worry. “I wonder why he’s so tired…”
“It’s
obvious…” Shinji muttered under his breath. All eyes turned to look at him,
but he did not notice and if he did, he paid no attention to it.
“And why is
that?” Oishi asked. “Oh God…don’t tell me he’s been wasting all his
energy doing something dangerous!” Shinji just shrugged and leaned back in his
chair.
“What time is
it?” Shinji asked, changing the subject tactlessly. Momo looked up at the
clock that hung on one of the walls of the restaurant and gasped.
“CRAP! YOU GUYS
ARE GONNA BE LATE!”
“Ok. Momo,
you’re paying!”
“What?!”
“This is an
order from your senior!”
“Ryoma, let’s
go.”
“Lemme
sleep…”
~*~
“W-we made
it…” Taka said.
“Just on time”
Inui said—and in his haste, he forgot his cloak back at the restaurant.
“Ryoma, lend me your pillow.”
“No way” was
the stubborn answer. The boy had managed to keep up with them despite being half
asleep—and now he was on the verge of falling asleep again.
“I’ll give it
back to you” Inui promised.
“No.”
“Now, now…”
Fuji said as he reprimanded Ryoma as he would to a child that wanted something
desperately. “Just lend Inui you’re pillow, ok? Nothing’s bad going to
happen to it—you’ll get it back all in one piece.” ‘Hopefully…’ Fuji
added as an afterthought. There was a snicker from Shinji as listened to the
Champion being scolded like a child. Before Ryoma could even say anything, Fuji
snatched the pillow from the boy’s grasp and tossed it over to Inui. The
taller youth thanked him, well, both of them actually, as he transmuted the
pillow into something that resembled a cloak. Ryoma just gave a yawn and turned
over on the beanbag he was currently resting on.
“Well, Ryoma,
Shinji, I wish you both luck” Taka said with a cheerful smile.
“What?” Shinji
said, his unseeing black eyes ‘looked’ over at Taka.
“The two of you
are up next,” Fuji informed, giving the two of them a pointed look which both
didn’t see. Shinji was blind and Ryoma was asleep.
“Taka, wake him
up” Shinji said, exasperated at how long Ryoma could sleep. “Otherwise
he’ll just sleep through the whole day.”
“Yes, yes”
Taka said as he gently shook Ryoma on the shoulder. “Ryoma, wake up.”
The boy just
batted his hand away before trying to find comfort again in the beanbag he
rested on. “Now, Ryoma, you’ve got a match to go to” Taka said as he shook
the boy a bit harder.
“G’way…”
came a mumble.
“Ryoma, get
up!” Shinji nearly shouted. “If you want to lose, be my guest!”
“Lose?!” Ryoma
said, his head shooting up to look over dazedly at Shinji who had an annoyed
expression on his face. “What do you mean?”
“Ah…do you
hear that?” Shinji commented as boos were heard from above them; where the
crowd was. “It was our turn to go up a minute ago. If we don’t get there
soon, we’re automatically forfeit.”
“What?! Why
didn’t you wake me up sooner?!” Ryoma exclaimed, snagging Shinji by the
wrist and taking off at nearly breakneck speed towards the stadium.
“They tried to
wake you up many times already!” Shinji barked and nearly ran into Ryoma when
the boy just stopped. They were at the stadium, by the apparent cheers of the
crowd. “Who’s going up first?” Shinji asked, knowing that Ryoma was
looking up at the screen.
“You are”
Ryoma said. “Don’t you dare loose” Ryoma said as he led Shinji into the
center of the stadium.
Two hours later
and three tiring battles later, the victor was decided. Shinji and Ryoma had
won; and all three of their victories had been difficult to obtain.
Nevertheless, they won. Nearly collapsing when they arrived back at the resting
place for the competitors, Taka had caught them both easily and told them that
they did great. With little effort, Taka had picked up an exhausted Shinji and
settled him down on one of the other beanbags as Fuji did the same with Ryoma.
“That was a good
fight you put up” Inui said to the two tired youngsters; there was something
strange laced into his voice…was it satisfaction, Ryoma wondered dismally.
“I’ll deal with both you’re wounds later, but my fight is up next.
Hopefully, it’ll turn out as spectacular as yours, but I doubt it.” Then
from the pack, Inui took something out. “Fuji, make sure that Ryoma eats—he
already skipped out on breakfast.” The bespectacled youth handed a wrapped
package to Fuji before walking away.
“Good luck,
Inui. I know you’ll need it. Ryoma, you better not fall asleep again” Fuji
said sternly as he took a seat in the chair that was next to the boy. “You
should thank Inui when he comes back, you know.”
“Sure” Ryoma
snatched the package from Fuji’s hands and unwrapped it. It was a sandwich.
Without any hesitation whatsoever, Ryoma took a bite out of it. ‘It’s
good…’ Ryoma thought as he quickly set on to devoured the sandwich. Fuji
chuckled.
“Looks like
Inui’s been in your kitchen again” Fuji said as he turned to Taka. The
benevolent youth smiled and nodded as he watch Ryoma eat hungrily before asking
his own charge if he was hungry. However, Shinji only asked to be left alone so
he was able to recuperate his strength.
“Very well,”
Taka said as he turned to watch the match that was displayed on the screen they
were facing. “I hope that Inui win his round.” Indeed, since the score for
Inui’s team was currently 0, the other team with 1. Inui was going second, and
hopefully win.
“You shouldn’t
underestimate him” Fuji said with a smile, though his hood did well to cover
his face. “He’s good.”
“Is he,
now…” Ryoma muttered as he crumpled the wrapping and tossed it at the
wastebasket at the other end of the room. “Score” he said to himself as he
leaned back into his beanbag. He was awake now, after that fight he had. He
didn’t know who that person was, but he was good. Hell, that whole team was!
Shinji had a hard time defeating the two he went up against and Ryoma also had a
difficult time.
“Isn’t that
the man that Inui was saying to watch out for…?”
“Yeah, it is”
Shinji said, his eyes also on the screen. “He’s…Tezuka Kunimitsu.” The
name was spoken in a tone of…anger, loathing and antipathy. “Always the
meddler, he is...I’ve never liked him. He’s strong, as one of his caliber
should be, but he’s always been…proud despite his situation. Never someone
to take lightly, no, no matter what…” Ryoma absentmindedly brought his hand
over to his head, where it was starting to throb…just like when he first met
Momo.
“Shinji, do you
know him?”
“Yes” came the
dark reply. Shinji was just glaring at the screen as if he could burn a hole
straight into Tezuka’s head. Other than that, he said no more. The rest of
them directed their attention back to the screen as well, watching Inui’s
fight with one Tezuka Kunimitsu. It started out with Inui with the upper hand,
but almost immediately, the positions were altered. Tezuka was on the offensive,
attacking Inui at every point possible. Inui had a great defense, however, and
didn’t yield. All the while though, Inui was often seen muttering something to
himself.
“…left, sixty
five percent…”
“Why’s he
talking to himself?” Ryoma asked.
“It’s Inui’s
distinct way of fighting” one smiling Fuji said. “He’s watched the other
fights of Tezuka and during that time, he collected his…data.”
“Data?”
“Yes” was all
that Fuji answered.
Attack after
attack came from Tezuka, but Inui parried them all. Tezuka wouldn’t even give
him a chance to damage him, it seemed, and the only thing he could do at
the moment was defense. ‘He is…completely different’ Inui thought to
himself as he raised another shield against Tezuka’s bolt attack. It was
powerful and deadly, charring the dirt ground a coal black. ‘I don’t
think…he’s even using his full strength…’ Inui wiped the sweat that
trickled down his brow, almost throwing the hood off in the process.
“Firaga!” Inui
called out, blasting his opponent with fire, taking his chance of lowering his
shield.
The moment he
shouted that though, Tezuka had called out “Ice!” Although the flames
weren’t extinguished, they were lessened and slowly disappearing due to the
appearance of sudden icicles that appeared out of the ground. Inui took this
moment to chip off a block of ice and charge at his opponent, intent on driving
it through him. However, Tezuka was ready. He held out his hand, his fingers
pointing towards Inui and just whispered something. Suddenly, Inui was thrown
backwards by an unseen force…straight into the icicles. There were some
horrified screams and shouts of excitement from the crowd as that happened.
“I-Inui!”
Oishi gasped as he saw his friend being impaled by those many spikes. Momo was
watching the grisly scene with an incomprehensible expression upon his face.
But Inui wasn’t
about to give up. With a groan of pain, he picked himself up, leaving a bloody
trail in his wake. “Guess it all comes down to this…” Inui said to
himself. He wanted to win. He didn’t know why he wanted to win this badly,
but…he just had to win. He just…had to. Otherwise…otherwise what? Smiling
grimly, Inui already knew the answer. He wouldn’t be able to face Eiji again.
The younger red head had made him promise three things and he planned to hold
true to that.
“You fought
admirably” Tezuka said, his expression just as stoic as it had been throughout
the entire battle. “But I suggest you to give up. You need a doctor
immediately.”
“It…it
doesn’t matter” Inui said as he spat out the blood that was flowing into his
mouth. “This…with this…I’ll finish it.”
Oishi watched in
horror as he watched Inui took a stance. He himself had only seen Inui use
this…technique once…and once was enough. It nearly took his life back
then, and in Inui’s condition, he’s most definitely going to die! “No!”
Oishi exclaimed. “Damn it! Don’t use that! Just give up! Inui!”
‘Ah…sorry
and…maybe this would be good-bye’ Inui thought grimly. But he just had to
win.
“Doom…of the
Living” he whispered. And then…there was silence.
~*~
Far away from the
city Bevelle, there lies a small village; only a hundred or so people lived
there. It was small, so the government officials often overlooked that place.
The place was poor too, but the villagers lived happily there, despite the fact
that there wasn’t much money to go around. Everyone knew who was who and
neighbors were best friends. It was a serene little village with friendly
occupants. Next to this village was a large meadow with dried grass for the
reason of little rain. But the only reasons that only a handful of people would
actually stop by this place wasn’t because of the large golden meadow. Oh
no…it was something more than just that.
That tiny village far away from the Great City of Magic: Bevelle is
called Dali Village. It was the place where Seer Nanjirou was born.
A slender young
woman that sat at the edge of the meadow sighed. Her dark hair flowed gently in
the wind as her eyes gazed out into the golden yellow of the grass. It was vast,
the meadow, an ever-golden color. Slowly, she lifted her head to the heavens and
raised her hands, as if trying to reach out to grab something. ‘No…he would
never appear again’ she thought bitterly to herself. ‘Because of me…he
ceased to exist…’ She looked back at the golden field. It just looked so
much like…it looked so much like the color of his eyes.
~*~
“So you’ve
returned” a voice sneered.
“Yeah. Ya got a
problem with that?”
“Actually, I
do.”
“If ya have a
bone to pick with me, do it later. I have someone I need to talk to.”
“He does
not want to see you though. Why do you think he sent you away in the first
place?”
“I don’t care.
He’ll see me either way.”
“Why you—!”
“Gakuto! Eiji!
Stop arguing this instant!” someone commanded immediately.
“Sorry!” both
youths immediately apologized. This person, after all, was their superior.
“Gakuto, why
don’t you run along and entertain yourself in the dungeons? That’s what the
prisoners are there for, you know.”
“Yeah,
yeah…” The angry youth walked off, very displeased at the moment. His steps
echoed long and loud even after he was gone. The remaining two almost felt sorry
for the prisoners or people that would face his wrath—almost.
“Eiji.”
“…what?”
“Why are you
here? You aren’t supposed to be due back for another several months. He
won’t be pleased.”
“I know. But his
spell wore off a little early…” a smirk appeared on the speaker’s face.
“He’s been growing weak.”
“Yes…he has”
the other whispered into his companion’s ear. “Soon, Eiji, soon. Then,
we’ll all be free.”
“I know.”
~*~
“Inui!”
A certain
bespectacled youth looked around in the blinding whiteness. There was no one
there and his cloak had disappeared. Heck, all he was wearing now was a simple
white cotton shirt and pants. But…why? What happened to his clothes? Suddenly,
the scene shifted and he felt a strong wind blow at him. Inui lifted his hands
up to shield his face from the wind that was tearing at his face. And as
suddenly as the wind had come, it disappeared. When Inui opened his eyes, he
could hardly believe it.
“Inui!”
It was a green
field. It was different from the green field that was on the outskirts of
Bevelle. This was…beautiful. Flowers bloomed and trees took root here. It was
peaceful. This was…alive. Inui took one step forward, completely admiring the
scene before him. He felt so at peace here…
“Damn it, wake
up!!! Inui!!!”
He took another
step forward and collapsed onto the ground and rolled over. The sky was
blue—bluer than he had ever seen before! The sun was bright too, but it
wasn’t scorching like it usually was. It was bright, but cool. He liked this
place. Inui breathed in the air, a strange scent of grass and sugar. Where the
sugar scent had come from, he didn’t know. It was a strange, but nice smell.
“Inui!”
Who was it that
was calling his name? The bespectacled youth looked around, and yet, there was
no one. Whatever it was, it must have been his imagination. But something in his
mind was tugging at him, telling him to leave this place at once. He didn’t
belong here. This…paradise wasn’t for him to come to. He shouldn’t have
come.
“NO! Inui!!!
Damn it, listen to us and wake up!”
There it was
again…a voice. But every time, it was like the voice was different or
something…He knew these voices. He knew whom they belonged to. The owners of
the voices were very important to him. Yet…he couldn’t place it. He didn’t
know…he mind was suddenly blank.
That voice
immediately caught Inui’s attention. The bespectacled youth immediately jumped
up from his spot on the grass to face whoever it was, ready to attack. It was an
aging man, though his hair was still a dark brown, strands of gray were easily
spotted. He was dressed magnificently and Inui immediately went down on one
knee, knowing exactly who this man was.
“Your
majesty!” Inui exclaimed, actually quite ashamed that he had actually thought
of attacking his king.
Wait…wasn’t
the king dead…?
Stand up! There
is no need to bow to me; I am a dead man after all…The
king chuckled as he stroked his beard. Inui immediately got up, as per the
king’s request. Hmph…youngsters
these days. Why are you here? So intent on dying after all, eh?
“Wh-what…?
What do you mean, your majesty?” Inui asked, confused.
Get out. Leave.
This place isn’t for you, young one.
“But…I killed
you” Inui said softly.
Speechless, Inui could only stare at the deceased king in surprise. The king smiled kindly at him and then suddenly, before he knew it, the beautiful place was gone and in it’s stead was darkness and pain.
“INUI!!!!”
“Goddamn it! Shut up!” Inui hissed as he pushed someone away weakly. The pain that coursed through his entire body was almost unbearable…and familiar. He’s felt such pain before, a long time ago.
“He’s alive! He’s alive!!!”
“Inui, ok, I need you to bear with the pain for a moment” came a soft soothing voice, but fear and urgency was also obvious in that voice. And before he could answer, the pain that was already coursing through his body intensified.
…To Be Continued