[Fic] Black Dream
Title: Black Dream
Author: Winter's Light/Eternal Snow/ tsumetaitsubasa
Characters Used:
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Shonen ai, OOCness
Summary: [Ryo-centric] How far will he be buried in his dreams until someone pulls him out?
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Chapters:
Previous:
Chapter One
Side Story I: Echizen
Black Dream
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Chapter 2:
“Nya! He looks like an angel! Uwah! He’s so cute!!”
“E-Eiji, you’ll wake him!”
“Ooooh… Hey Oishi, do you think he’s a sorcerer or maybe a sage?”
What were those irritating voices? Echizen thought as he groaned, bringing up a hand to cover his forehead from a bout of pain. Why won’t they shut up?
“Hey Oishii! Oishii!! I think he’s waking!”
Giving up thoughts of sleep, Echizen Ryoma lifted his eyelids to find a tanned face with cat-like azure yees and flaming wild red hair in his face.
Eyes widening in recognition, he stuttered out, “K-Kikumaru-senpai!”
“Kya! Ochibi-chan is a psychic! He knows my name!” the Kikumaru-look-alike shouted happily as he grinned, “Is he, is he?”
A figure appeared, Echizen quickly glanced at his surroundings - he was inside a cottage-like house maybe? - from behind a large table and another male walked in.
The Oishi-look-alike smiled kindly before kneeling in front of the bewildered freshmen, whispering, “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt,” and proceeded to clasped his hands on Echizen’s chest, muttering strange incantations.
Echizen gasped in surprise as a warm feeling flooded through him and he shut his eyes.
Oishi’s hands lifted and he shook his head, “Strange, not a demon, not a psychic nor a Seer, and not even an angel… Is he even human?’ he muttered.
Echizen opened his eyes, grumbling, “Hey… I’m right here you know…” he warned as his sullen mood began to take over.
“Nya! Ochibi-chan is so cute!” Kikumaru replied as he lunged and tackled the poor and defenseless freshmen.
Echizen blinked and looked around some more. There were two futons, one which he was lying on, a couple of small tables, large table….and… that was it? Where was he? Was this even a cottage?
“Where am I?” he asked, voicing his question from underneath Kikumaru’s arms, a bit muffled, “What happened?”
“We found you lying on the road - in strange clothes - oh! That reminds me! I hope you didn’t need those because Eiji found them quite fascinating and accidentally lost them while he went out,” Oishi gave a worried look while Kikumaru looked ashamed and let go.
“Sorry Ochibi-chan nya…” he murmured, meowing a bit.
“It’s fine,” was the short reply, “go on…”
“Well, you had a fever so we took you into our tent,” at that Echizen raised an eyebrow - it looked too big to be a tent. Noticing Echizen’s questioning look on the tent, Oishi answered, “Used magic on it, well soon your fever came down. We also changed you into some spare clothes that Eiji had found.” Oishi smiled while Kikumaru laughed at Echizen’s expression.
“Don’t worry nya! We didn’t look!”
Echizen growled and noticed for the first time since he woke up that he was wearing loose brown pants with a thin rope as a belt and a brown shirt to match. Not much, but still something…
However, it was not like the modern style Echizen was so used to, this was…looked… much older…
“Thanks…” he grumbled, looking away.
Oishi smiled a bit before eyes widening in realization. “Oh! I almost forgot, I’m Oishi Syuichiro by the way,” he introduced himself, bowing slightly, though it was awkward due to the fact that he was sitting.
Echizen blinked, but wait… Didn’t he already know who he was? Nevertheless, Echizen replied, “Echizen Ryoma, nice to meet you,” and bowed slightly as well.
“Kikumaru Eiji at your service nya!” Kikumaru answered glomping Echizen once again. He then blinked in puzzlement, “Eh?” The cat-like male reached over Echizen’s shoulder and encountered a pair of black feathered wings. They were about a foot and a half in width.
“Eh?” Echizen asked, turning around to see what the older male was looking so surprised about. “EH?! Wings?” he yelped as the wings folded on his back.
“How peculiar…” Oishi mumbled as he stroked his chin, “There are plenty of humans with wings but… None are black… Is this an omen?”
--
Echizen grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest and wondered how he got dragged into this - shopping in the marketplace for extra supplies…
“Nya! Don’t feel so sad, Ochibi-chan!” Kikumaru warmly cheered as he tackled the smaller and shorter youth once more, “I’ll show you all the neat places!! This here is called the Schwester Square!” (1)
Echizen stared blankly at Kikumaru. “…Schwester? Are the people here German?”
“Uwah! Ochibi-chan sure knows his stuff! Most people here are German, but some are British and others are Asian, nya,” the cat-like male continued to explain.
“We’re in the country of Helles,” Oishi continued, veering off to go and look for some strange herbs that Echizen had never heard of. (2)
“’Helles’?” Echizen repeated, “Is that German too?”
Kikumaru nodded as the two were left to wait for Oishi to come back. “It’s funny, translating it, it means ‘Hikari’ - ‘Light’. Strange huh unya?”
Echizen found himself nodding. The black feather wings on his back flapped nervously - hidden from plain eyes’ view.
At least they had accepted him…and his wings…
“Please continue,” Echizen stated blandly as Oishi came back with three paper bags full of supplies. Echizen found himself handed a paper bag and he kept hold of it.
Kikumaru grinned, holding onto the other bags and continued to act as a tour guide. “The next country to the south is the Land of Belnar - I’ve never been there myself - to the west is the small village of Gute Gluck - the ruler is very superstitious but really nice! To the east is the Asian country of Long - the king is so stern nya! And um…” he faltered.
“’Um”?” Echizen pressed, curious about the north side.
“The country of Safaia…was ruled by the noble prince, Fuji Syuusuke - also known as the Prince of Sapphire because of his beautiful blue eyes. Before he ruled, he was the kindest prince anyone could remember, even if he was a bit of a sadist… However…” Kikumaru stared at the ground, hesitating as if it was painful to recall on what had happened, “when his parents were killed and he came to rule… His personality suddenly changed.”
“What was he like?” Echizen asked, wondering how this world’s Fuji was like.
“He became cruel… He didn’t care if his country fell into poverty as long as he was happy,” Kikumaru’s voice started to waver and Echizen suddenly had a brief image of the prince giving him a cold glare in that earlier dream, “But… He recently fell asleep and hasn’t awaken since…”
Echizen’s head shot up and he remembered his dream. The one where Fuji-senpai had collapsed…
Had he been the cause?!
--
Fuji Syuusuke jolted up, breathing heavily. He brought up a hand and crushed it through his chestnut brown hair, moisture sliding down his pale skin. Eyes opening to reveal a gentle yet pained blue hue, he sighed and got up to go the bathroom.
Ever since his youngest teammate had collapsed, sent to the hospital and then announced to be in a coma, he hadn’t been sleeping well. He would blame his lack of sleep on worrying over his teammate however…
He knew that Echizen Ryoma would come back better than ever - once beat, he would come back twice as strong. He had told himself over and over again so many times. He comforted himself that way… So his lack of sleep had to be something else….
…but what?
He noticed that whenever he did sleep, he’d dream of a place where dragons existed, magic thrived, winged beings were a normal thing and kings ruled. But whenever he dreamed, no one was there - a quiet and void place…
He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
He must have been reading too many fantasy books again.
--
“Where are we going?” Echizen asked as the three veered onto a dark and dirty path. Kikumaru turned around to face Echizen from the front and grinned.
“Getting you something to defend yourself with nya,” he answered. Noticing Echizen’s blank look, he continued to explain, “Some people may randomly attack you so you need to know how to defend yourself.”
“What about you and Oishi-senpai?” Echizen asked before he could stop himself from saying “senpai.”
Oishi turned around at the sound of his name and smiled. “You don’t have to call me that… I’m not your senpai, we barely know each other,” he gave an awkward smile.
Echizen bowed in an apology. “Sorry, it’s just… you look like someone I know - a senpai…,” he explained, “could I still call you that?”
Oishi nodded and Kikumaru started to blab. “Ochibi-chan can call me whatever he wants!” he proclaimed, then went onto explaining how they could defend themselves.
“Oishi is a healer so he can heal himself - besides, he took a little martial arts when he was young and a bit of magic lessons,” Kikumaru said as Oishi gave a nod, “I have some cat blood so I can transform into any feline, nya!”
Echizen smirked, that was so like Kikumaru-senpai. “But then… What are we getting?” he asked as they stopped suddenly. Forgetting that they were still walking and talking, Echizen blinked in confusion as he stared up at the small building.
“’Schweterherrin’?” Echizen read, turning to see that his “senpai” had disappeared and were now entering through the clothed doors. “Eh?” he asked, jolting out of his thoughts, startled and quickly followed. (3)
“C’mon Ochibi-chan! Hurry up!” he heard Kikumaru’s voice as he pushed through the door. Blinking, he looked up to see that there were dozens of swords - sheathed and unsheathed - hung up on the walls and ceiling.
He let out a small “wow” and realized that he was getting a sword.
--
Echizen kept walking - following through the darkened hallways and soon found himself in a small lit room. In it, there were more swords, a table and a couple of chairs surrounding it. There was a clothed door next to him. He peered curiously at it.
“-fit you, don’t you think?”
“Well, it is nice…” A silence then, “I’ll take it!”
He blinked - those voices were familiar. He let out a small gasp - could it be?!
The cloth was pushed out of the way and the tall male walked out, thanking the owner of the shop, holding onto a fiery-red sheathed sword with fireballs embedded in the hilt and walked right into Echizen.
“You should look in front of where you’re going,” Echizen blandly replied, now sitting on the cold dirt of the floor. He started to brush his shirt and cloak off when he found a hand waving in front of him.
“Hey there, didn’t mean to bump into ‘ya, chibi,” the male said and Echizen found himself staring at another twin - Momoshiro Takeshi.
Echizen soon recovered from his shock - this dream was getting weird - first he had awoken with black feathery wings on his back and now he was seeing double?! When will this nightmare end?
“Whatever…” he mumbled as he got up by himself, brushing off more dirt.
“What’s going on?” asked the other voice and the female figure walked through the clothed doors. She took one look and burst out laughing, thinking that they were arguing.
Echizen stared. T-This female was a Ryuuzaki-sensei look-a-like! He conclude, as the “teacher” continued to laugh.
“Oi! Sumire-chan! Don’t laugh! I just bumped into Shorty here is all!” Momoshiro explained as Echizen cast him a glare for calling him short.
Ryuuzaki stopped laughing, putting hands to her hips, she growled, “Momoshiro, didn’t I tell you not to call me that?”
Momoshiro laughed, rubbing the back of his head, attempting and failing miserable to look innocent.
“Ochibi-chan! There you are!” Kikumaru’s voice was heard as Echizen found himself being cuddled once again. (But not before seeing a blur of red hair and a laughing Momoshiro). He growled, Momo-senpai would have to pay for this later.
“E-Even he calls him ‘Ochibi!’!” Momoshiro stuttered between fits of laughter. Ryuuzaki seemed to have caught the contagious laughter and started laughing herself.
Soon, Echizen found himself able to breathe again and he quickly loosen the ties on his cloak. “You don’t have to choke me, Kikumaru-senpai…”
Momoshiro blinked at Echizen’s use of Kikumaru’s name. “Senpai” huh? Seemed like they were schoolmates? Nah, it didn’t look like it… Then… What…?
Why did this boy seem familiar?
And why…did this seem all too weird?
--
Momoshiro Takeshi hugged his little sister good night and went off to bed. He had had a long and tiring day at practice - even if Tezuka, the captain, had been lenient lately due to Echizen’s “illness”.
His temporary “illness” had caused his regulars seat to be taken away and now Momoshiro and replaced him. Doing that, however, made him feel guilty, he thought as he laid in bed, switching off the lights.
It had been a week so far but Fuji Syuusuke looked the worse of the whole tennis club. (Even Echizen’s parents didn’t look that bad surprisingly). Could it be that Echizen and he had a secret relationship in which no one knew about? Nah, it can’t be, besides, Fuji himself claimed it was nightmares and lack of sleep.
Momoshiro frowned and rearranged himself so that his arms were pillows for his head. He, too, had been recently having nightmares - no… Dreams… Just about - always the same thing - a place.
That fantasy land.
He closed his eyes sleepily. Hopefully tonight, he won’t be plagued by those odd dreams…
--
“Momo-senpai!”
Momoshiro frowned at the way he was being addressed as he clenched his eyes shut. Didn’t they know - didn’t he tell them to call him “Momo-chan”?
Wait…
Only one person called him that and that was…
“MOMOSHIRO!”
Momoshiro would have jumped up and stood up at attention if not for the fact that he was in bed, lying down and that he was sleeping… And it was dark… Was Ryuuzaki-sensei here too? Wherever “here” was…
Blinking tiredly, Momoshiro slowly got up as two hands - a small boy’s and an old female - helped lifted him up.
“Momoshiro, thank god! I didn’t know what to do when you collapsed!” the old lady said as she brought a mug of something to him.
“Oishi made it- don’t worry,” was the answer Momoshiro received when inquiring what it was. Slowly, he brought the mug up and drank it, savory the sweet tangy taste it had.
“Ah… that was good!” he exclaimed, one hand rubbing his stomach, the other still holding onto the mug. He had his eyes closed in happiness and savoring the taste.
“Glad you liked it. Are you feeling alright?” asked a familiar voice, as if he hadn’t known Momoshiro.
Momoshiro opened his eyes and nearly dropped his mug. There were Oishi, Kikumaru, Ryuuzaki and Echizen - all dressed as if they were living in another time period.
He felt his eyes roll up as he fainted.
Momoshiro woke up.
--
Kikumaru Eiji tried to launch himself onto Momoshiro just as he passed out again, however Echizen and Oishi stepped him just in time while Ryuuzaki caught the mug.
“Nya! Why did he suddenly pass out again?” Kikumaru cried out, exasperated as he threw his arms up in the air.
“I still don’t know how he got a whole pile of sheathed swords to fall on top of him…” Echizen muttered as he crossed his arms, shaking his head, remembering what had happened.
Ryuuzaki had asked Momoshiro to go and get a few swords from the storage room in the back - however, there was a large crash and Oishi, Kikumaru, Echizen and Ryuuzaki found him buried under almost all the swords.
It was a miracle he wasn’t dead from the swords - all of them seemed to be sheathed.
So they brought him into an empty room with a small comfortable chair and put him there.
When he woke up however…Echizen blinked, his reaction was certainly different… It was as if it was someone else…
Echizen shrugged it off as Ryuuzaki told Oishi and Kikumaru to stay and watch Momoshiro while she help Echizen get his sword. She was, after all, a swords mistress.
Echizen soon found himself being measured on the arm - elbow to hand and then elbow to shoulder. Then, Ryuuzaki measured his back (for who knows what), and muttered things under her breath as she left in a hurry to retrieve something.
He sighed. He didn’t think it would actually take this long… He closed his eyes as he sat himself down on a chair nearby, wishing he was back home.
Maybe…. Kikumaru-senpai would know? After all, he did tell him all that stuff… What about Oishi-senpai? Would he tell him? Or just think he was psychotic?
“Ah! I think we have it!” Ryuuzaki’s voice came as Echizen snapped his eyes open and flinched at the large decibel, jumping about five inches above his chair.
The old woman came in, holding onto a sheathed sword - a pure blue sheath decorated with a lighter shade of swirls and marbleized together. Hilt wrapped in a cloth or silver-blue and a small ribbon-like thread dangled at the end.
“Hold onto it,” she commanded as she handed the beautiful weapon to Echizen, who in return, grabbed onto it, blinking in confusion. “Tighten your grasp on the hilt…”
Echizen did so and found himself feeling…different was a word to describe it. It was as if he knew how to wield a sword, fight gracefully and kill. Having this new knowledge was all so… overwhelming and he dropped the sword with a loud “clang”.
“Echizen!” Ryuuzaki’s scolding voice yelled as Echizen flinched once again. He picked up the sword, this time, not letting go. “Much better…” she muttered, nodding and fingering her chin.
“Yep! It’s perfect!” she smiled and took out a thin silver blue rope and tied it around the sword so it made a loop - so he could place it on his back. “Yuki…”
There was a silence and Echizen stared blankly at his “coach”.
“Eh?” he finally voiced out his thoughts.
“Stupid. Yuki is the swords’ name, don’t’ you know anything?” Ryuuzaki scolded as she handed back the weapon. Echizen bowed his head.
“Well, that’ll be 6500 gold.”
Echizen blinked. He had completely forgotten about money! As he tired to explain, he heard a soft “thunk” in his pocket and reached in, pulling out a few gold coins. “EH?”
Ryuuzaki smiled, “Well, lookie, you do have some money…”
Echizen handed a few coins and looked up in time to see that Momoshiro had walked in - seemingly tired. Oishi and Kikumaru followed - Oishi looking worried and Kikumaru jumping around and up and down in excitement.
Ryuuzaki frowned. “Momoshiro… Are you going or should I set up some place for you to sleep?” she asked, worried for the tall male.
He shook his head, “I’ll be going. Thanks ‘Baa-chan,” he replied as he stumbled out the doors with the rest of them staring.
“Want us to watch over him for a while Ryuuzaki-san?” Oishi asked, turning into mother hen. It seemed even this world’s Oishi was a mother hen.
Ryuuzaki gave a laugh and nodded, “Who knows what that oaf of a grandson will do?”
“G-Grandson?” Echizen choked out as the three of them turned to look at him. Seems like someone forgot to tell him something.
“Well yeah… I changed my name into my maiden after my husband died,” Ryuuzaki explained and Echizen gave a sympathetic nod. “Nah! Don’t worry about it! He was never home anyways…”
“Nya! Ryuu-chan! We’ll be gong now!” Kikumaru shouted, happily trying to brighten the mood as they nodded in thanks and left the shot to keep up with Momoshiro. (which wasn’t very hard) Ryuuzaki scowled at the nickname nevertheless, she waved.
As they walked in silence back towards the tent and the square (with Oishi “mothering” over Momoshiro), Echizen dragged behind and tugged on Kikumaru’s cloak, whispering, “I need to talk to you.”
Kikumaru only smiled and nodded, also walking slower now.
Once Oishi and Momoshiro were out of earshot, Kikumaru asked, “Whatcha wanted to talk to me about, Ochibi-chan nya?”
Echizen hesitated. Well, he got this far… “This is a dream - I’m… I don’t know how to explain it but… I’m from another world… I went to sleep and woke up here - but I need to get back to my world.”
Kikumaru nodded, then fingered his chin. Surprisingly he was calm - not laughing or teasing him. “You should talk to Prince Tezuka then… In the Land of Long. He should know how to take care of it.”
Echizen’s eyes widened in surprise - Buchou was a prince too? He nodded and inwardly smirked. “Thanks Kikumaru-senpai. Could I go tomorrow?’
Kikumaru pouted. “Ochibi-chan might be attacked!”
“That’s why I have a sword…”
Kikumaru promptly ignored him. “So Oishi and I will go too!” he concluded as Echizen’s eyes budged.
“WHAT?”
“Tomorrow morning it is!” he continued as he pranced up to Oishi to tell him about their trip to the Land of Long.
“Wait! You’re supposed to be watching over Momo-senpai!” Echizen reminded him.
“Oh… Well, he can come too! And we should all get a good night’s rest!” Kikumaru continued as Echizen gave up and slapped a hand on his forehead.
Well, at least tomorrow would be interesting.
-end of chapter 2-
Author’s Notes: Now, I’ve read many fics when the people grow wings, it HURTS. A LOT. Here, I’m making it so that it’s not part of the body but rather… More like a curse. So it can’t be part of the body. More of this shall be explained later.
1. Sister Square.
2. German for light.
3. Swords mistress.
I decided to add some bits of German ‘cause back in the Renaissance time period, it took place mostly around Germany. Therefore, the language. Correct me if I’m wrong here. XD
Ah I also decided to make Momoshiro Ryuuzaki’s grandson. Thought it’d be kind of funny. Besides, Momoshiro calls her “Baa-chan”!
Alright, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Any problems with this fic, please explain. I’d love to hear your comments too. Very helpful and I’d love to hear advice.
Author: Winter's Light/Eternal Snow/ tsumetaitsubasa
Characters Used:
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Shonen ai, OOCness
Summary: [Ryo-centric] How far will he be buried in his dreams until someone pulls him out?
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Chapters:
Previous:
Chapter One
Side Story I: Echizen
Black Dream
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis.
Chapter 2:
“Nya! He looks like an angel! Uwah! He’s so cute!!”
“E-Eiji, you’ll wake him!”
“Ooooh… Hey Oishi, do you think he’s a sorcerer or maybe a sage?”
What were those irritating voices? Echizen thought as he groaned, bringing up a hand to cover his forehead from a bout of pain. Why won’t they shut up?
“Hey Oishii! Oishii!! I think he’s waking!”
Giving up thoughts of sleep, Echizen Ryoma lifted his eyelids to find a tanned face with cat-like azure yees and flaming wild red hair in his face.
Eyes widening in recognition, he stuttered out, “K-Kikumaru-senpai!”
“Kya! Ochibi-chan is a psychic! He knows my name!” the Kikumaru-look-alike shouted happily as he grinned, “Is he, is he?”
A figure appeared, Echizen quickly glanced at his surroundings - he was inside a cottage-like house maybe? - from behind a large table and another male walked in.
The Oishi-look-alike smiled kindly before kneeling in front of the bewildered freshmen, whispering, “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt,” and proceeded to clasped his hands on Echizen’s chest, muttering strange incantations.
Echizen gasped in surprise as a warm feeling flooded through him and he shut his eyes.
Oishi’s hands lifted and he shook his head, “Strange, not a demon, not a psychic nor a Seer, and not even an angel… Is he even human?’ he muttered.
Echizen opened his eyes, grumbling, “Hey… I’m right here you know…” he warned as his sullen mood began to take over.
“Nya! Ochibi-chan is so cute!” Kikumaru replied as he lunged and tackled the poor and defenseless freshmen.
Echizen blinked and looked around some more. There were two futons, one which he was lying on, a couple of small tables, large table….and… that was it? Where was he? Was this even a cottage?
“Where am I?” he asked, voicing his question from underneath Kikumaru’s arms, a bit muffled, “What happened?”
“We found you lying on the road - in strange clothes - oh! That reminds me! I hope you didn’t need those because Eiji found them quite fascinating and accidentally lost them while he went out,” Oishi gave a worried look while Kikumaru looked ashamed and let go.
“Sorry Ochibi-chan nya…” he murmured, meowing a bit.
“It’s fine,” was the short reply, “go on…”
“Well, you had a fever so we took you into our tent,” at that Echizen raised an eyebrow - it looked too big to be a tent. Noticing Echizen’s questioning look on the tent, Oishi answered, “Used magic on it, well soon your fever came down. We also changed you into some spare clothes that Eiji had found.” Oishi smiled while Kikumaru laughed at Echizen’s expression.
“Don’t worry nya! We didn’t look!”
Echizen growled and noticed for the first time since he woke up that he was wearing loose brown pants with a thin rope as a belt and a brown shirt to match. Not much, but still something…
However, it was not like the modern style Echizen was so used to, this was…looked… much older…
“Thanks…” he grumbled, looking away.
Oishi smiled a bit before eyes widening in realization. “Oh! I almost forgot, I’m Oishi Syuichiro by the way,” he introduced himself, bowing slightly, though it was awkward due to the fact that he was sitting.
Echizen blinked, but wait… Didn’t he already know who he was? Nevertheless, Echizen replied, “Echizen Ryoma, nice to meet you,” and bowed slightly as well.
“Kikumaru Eiji at your service nya!” Kikumaru answered glomping Echizen once again. He then blinked in puzzlement, “Eh?” The cat-like male reached over Echizen’s shoulder and encountered a pair of black feathered wings. They were about a foot and a half in width.
“Eh?” Echizen asked, turning around to see what the older male was looking so surprised about. “EH?! Wings?” he yelped as the wings folded on his back.
“How peculiar…” Oishi mumbled as he stroked his chin, “There are plenty of humans with wings but… None are black… Is this an omen?”
--
Echizen grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest and wondered how he got dragged into this - shopping in the marketplace for extra supplies…
“Nya! Don’t feel so sad, Ochibi-chan!” Kikumaru warmly cheered as he tackled the smaller and shorter youth once more, “I’ll show you all the neat places!! This here is called the Schwester Square!” (1)
Echizen stared blankly at Kikumaru. “…Schwester? Are the people here German?”
“Uwah! Ochibi-chan sure knows his stuff! Most people here are German, but some are British and others are Asian, nya,” the cat-like male continued to explain.
“We’re in the country of Helles,” Oishi continued, veering off to go and look for some strange herbs that Echizen had never heard of. (2)
“’Helles’?” Echizen repeated, “Is that German too?”
Kikumaru nodded as the two were left to wait for Oishi to come back. “It’s funny, translating it, it means ‘Hikari’ - ‘Light’. Strange huh unya?”
Echizen found himself nodding. The black feather wings on his back flapped nervously - hidden from plain eyes’ view.
At least they had accepted him…and his wings…
“Please continue,” Echizen stated blandly as Oishi came back with three paper bags full of supplies. Echizen found himself handed a paper bag and he kept hold of it.
Kikumaru grinned, holding onto the other bags and continued to act as a tour guide. “The next country to the south is the Land of Belnar - I’ve never been there myself - to the west is the small village of Gute Gluck - the ruler is very superstitious but really nice! To the east is the Asian country of Long - the king is so stern nya! And um…” he faltered.
“’Um”?” Echizen pressed, curious about the north side.
“The country of Safaia…was ruled by the noble prince, Fuji Syuusuke - also known as the Prince of Sapphire because of his beautiful blue eyes. Before he ruled, he was the kindest prince anyone could remember, even if he was a bit of a sadist… However…” Kikumaru stared at the ground, hesitating as if it was painful to recall on what had happened, “when his parents were killed and he came to rule… His personality suddenly changed.”
“What was he like?” Echizen asked, wondering how this world’s Fuji was like.
“He became cruel… He didn’t care if his country fell into poverty as long as he was happy,” Kikumaru’s voice started to waver and Echizen suddenly had a brief image of the prince giving him a cold glare in that earlier dream, “But… He recently fell asleep and hasn’t awaken since…”
Echizen’s head shot up and he remembered his dream. The one where Fuji-senpai had collapsed…
Had he been the cause?!
--
Fuji Syuusuke jolted up, breathing heavily. He brought up a hand and crushed it through his chestnut brown hair, moisture sliding down his pale skin. Eyes opening to reveal a gentle yet pained blue hue, he sighed and got up to go the bathroom.
Ever since his youngest teammate had collapsed, sent to the hospital and then announced to be in a coma, he hadn’t been sleeping well. He would blame his lack of sleep on worrying over his teammate however…
He knew that Echizen Ryoma would come back better than ever - once beat, he would come back twice as strong. He had told himself over and over again so many times. He comforted himself that way… So his lack of sleep had to be something else….
…but what?
He noticed that whenever he did sleep, he’d dream of a place where dragons existed, magic thrived, winged beings were a normal thing and kings ruled. But whenever he dreamed, no one was there - a quiet and void place…
He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
He must have been reading too many fantasy books again.
--
“Where are we going?” Echizen asked as the three veered onto a dark and dirty path. Kikumaru turned around to face Echizen from the front and grinned.
“Getting you something to defend yourself with nya,” he answered. Noticing Echizen’s blank look, he continued to explain, “Some people may randomly attack you so you need to know how to defend yourself.”
“What about you and Oishi-senpai?” Echizen asked before he could stop himself from saying “senpai.”
Oishi turned around at the sound of his name and smiled. “You don’t have to call me that… I’m not your senpai, we barely know each other,” he gave an awkward smile.
Echizen bowed in an apology. “Sorry, it’s just… you look like someone I know - a senpai…,” he explained, “could I still call you that?”
Oishi nodded and Kikumaru started to blab. “Ochibi-chan can call me whatever he wants!” he proclaimed, then went onto explaining how they could defend themselves.
“Oishi is a healer so he can heal himself - besides, he took a little martial arts when he was young and a bit of magic lessons,” Kikumaru said as Oishi gave a nod, “I have some cat blood so I can transform into any feline, nya!”
Echizen smirked, that was so like Kikumaru-senpai. “But then… What are we getting?” he asked as they stopped suddenly. Forgetting that they were still walking and talking, Echizen blinked in confusion as he stared up at the small building.
“’Schweterherrin’?” Echizen read, turning to see that his “senpai” had disappeared and were now entering through the clothed doors. “Eh?” he asked, jolting out of his thoughts, startled and quickly followed. (3)
“C’mon Ochibi-chan! Hurry up!” he heard Kikumaru’s voice as he pushed through the door. Blinking, he looked up to see that there were dozens of swords - sheathed and unsheathed - hung up on the walls and ceiling.
He let out a small “wow” and realized that he was getting a sword.
--
Echizen kept walking - following through the darkened hallways and soon found himself in a small lit room. In it, there were more swords, a table and a couple of chairs surrounding it. There was a clothed door next to him. He peered curiously at it.
“-fit you, don’t you think?”
“Well, it is nice…” A silence then, “I’ll take it!”
He blinked - those voices were familiar. He let out a small gasp - could it be?!
The cloth was pushed out of the way and the tall male walked out, thanking the owner of the shop, holding onto a fiery-red sheathed sword with fireballs embedded in the hilt and walked right into Echizen.
“You should look in front of where you’re going,” Echizen blandly replied, now sitting on the cold dirt of the floor. He started to brush his shirt and cloak off when he found a hand waving in front of him.
“Hey there, didn’t mean to bump into ‘ya, chibi,” the male said and Echizen found himself staring at another twin - Momoshiro Takeshi.
Echizen soon recovered from his shock - this dream was getting weird - first he had awoken with black feathery wings on his back and now he was seeing double?! When will this nightmare end?
“Whatever…” he mumbled as he got up by himself, brushing off more dirt.
“What’s going on?” asked the other voice and the female figure walked through the clothed doors. She took one look and burst out laughing, thinking that they were arguing.
Echizen stared. T-This female was a Ryuuzaki-sensei look-a-like! He conclude, as the “teacher” continued to laugh.
“Oi! Sumire-chan! Don’t laugh! I just bumped into Shorty here is all!” Momoshiro explained as Echizen cast him a glare for calling him short.
Ryuuzaki stopped laughing, putting hands to her hips, she growled, “Momoshiro, didn’t I tell you not to call me that?”
Momoshiro laughed, rubbing the back of his head, attempting and failing miserable to look innocent.
“Ochibi-chan! There you are!” Kikumaru’s voice was heard as Echizen found himself being cuddled once again. (But not before seeing a blur of red hair and a laughing Momoshiro). He growled, Momo-senpai would have to pay for this later.
“E-Even he calls him ‘Ochibi!’!” Momoshiro stuttered between fits of laughter. Ryuuzaki seemed to have caught the contagious laughter and started laughing herself.
Soon, Echizen found himself able to breathe again and he quickly loosen the ties on his cloak. “You don’t have to choke me, Kikumaru-senpai…”
Momoshiro blinked at Echizen’s use of Kikumaru’s name. “Senpai” huh? Seemed like they were schoolmates? Nah, it didn’t look like it… Then… What…?
Why did this boy seem familiar?
And why…did this seem all too weird?
--
Momoshiro Takeshi hugged his little sister good night and went off to bed. He had had a long and tiring day at practice - even if Tezuka, the captain, had been lenient lately due to Echizen’s “illness”.
His temporary “illness” had caused his regulars seat to be taken away and now Momoshiro and replaced him. Doing that, however, made him feel guilty, he thought as he laid in bed, switching off the lights.
It had been a week so far but Fuji Syuusuke looked the worse of the whole tennis club. (Even Echizen’s parents didn’t look that bad surprisingly). Could it be that Echizen and he had a secret relationship in which no one knew about? Nah, it can’t be, besides, Fuji himself claimed it was nightmares and lack of sleep.
Momoshiro frowned and rearranged himself so that his arms were pillows for his head. He, too, had been recently having nightmares - no… Dreams… Just about - always the same thing - a place.
That fantasy land.
He closed his eyes sleepily. Hopefully tonight, he won’t be plagued by those odd dreams…
--
“Momo-senpai!”
Momoshiro frowned at the way he was being addressed as he clenched his eyes shut. Didn’t they know - didn’t he tell them to call him “Momo-chan”?
Wait…
Only one person called him that and that was…
“MOMOSHIRO!”
Momoshiro would have jumped up and stood up at attention if not for the fact that he was in bed, lying down and that he was sleeping… And it was dark… Was Ryuuzaki-sensei here too? Wherever “here” was…
Blinking tiredly, Momoshiro slowly got up as two hands - a small boy’s and an old female - helped lifted him up.
“Momoshiro, thank god! I didn’t know what to do when you collapsed!” the old lady said as she brought a mug of something to him.
“Oishi made it- don’t worry,” was the answer Momoshiro received when inquiring what it was. Slowly, he brought the mug up and drank it, savory the sweet tangy taste it had.
“Ah… that was good!” he exclaimed, one hand rubbing his stomach, the other still holding onto the mug. He had his eyes closed in happiness and savoring the taste.
“Glad you liked it. Are you feeling alright?” asked a familiar voice, as if he hadn’t known Momoshiro.
Momoshiro opened his eyes and nearly dropped his mug. There were Oishi, Kikumaru, Ryuuzaki and Echizen - all dressed as if they were living in another time period.
He felt his eyes roll up as he fainted.
Momoshiro woke up.
--
Kikumaru Eiji tried to launch himself onto Momoshiro just as he passed out again, however Echizen and Oishi stepped him just in time while Ryuuzaki caught the mug.
“Nya! Why did he suddenly pass out again?” Kikumaru cried out, exasperated as he threw his arms up in the air.
“I still don’t know how he got a whole pile of sheathed swords to fall on top of him…” Echizen muttered as he crossed his arms, shaking his head, remembering what had happened.
Ryuuzaki had asked Momoshiro to go and get a few swords from the storage room in the back - however, there was a large crash and Oishi, Kikumaru, Echizen and Ryuuzaki found him buried under almost all the swords.
It was a miracle he wasn’t dead from the swords - all of them seemed to be sheathed.
So they brought him into an empty room with a small comfortable chair and put him there.
When he woke up however…Echizen blinked, his reaction was certainly different… It was as if it was someone else…
Echizen shrugged it off as Ryuuzaki told Oishi and Kikumaru to stay and watch Momoshiro while she help Echizen get his sword. She was, after all, a swords mistress.
Echizen soon found himself being measured on the arm - elbow to hand and then elbow to shoulder. Then, Ryuuzaki measured his back (for who knows what), and muttered things under her breath as she left in a hurry to retrieve something.
He sighed. He didn’t think it would actually take this long… He closed his eyes as he sat himself down on a chair nearby, wishing he was back home.
Maybe…. Kikumaru-senpai would know? After all, he did tell him all that stuff… What about Oishi-senpai? Would he tell him? Or just think he was psychotic?
“Ah! I think we have it!” Ryuuzaki’s voice came as Echizen snapped his eyes open and flinched at the large decibel, jumping about five inches above his chair.
The old woman came in, holding onto a sheathed sword - a pure blue sheath decorated with a lighter shade of swirls and marbleized together. Hilt wrapped in a cloth or silver-blue and a small ribbon-like thread dangled at the end.
“Hold onto it,” she commanded as she handed the beautiful weapon to Echizen, who in return, grabbed onto it, blinking in confusion. “Tighten your grasp on the hilt…”
Echizen did so and found himself feeling…different was a word to describe it. It was as if he knew how to wield a sword, fight gracefully and kill. Having this new knowledge was all so… overwhelming and he dropped the sword with a loud “clang”.
“Echizen!” Ryuuzaki’s scolding voice yelled as Echizen flinched once again. He picked up the sword, this time, not letting go. “Much better…” she muttered, nodding and fingering her chin.
“Yep! It’s perfect!” she smiled and took out a thin silver blue rope and tied it around the sword so it made a loop - so he could place it on his back. “Yuki…”
There was a silence and Echizen stared blankly at his “coach”.
“Eh?” he finally voiced out his thoughts.
“Stupid. Yuki is the swords’ name, don’t’ you know anything?” Ryuuzaki scolded as she handed back the weapon. Echizen bowed his head.
“Well, that’ll be 6500 gold.”
Echizen blinked. He had completely forgotten about money! As he tired to explain, he heard a soft “thunk” in his pocket and reached in, pulling out a few gold coins. “EH?”
Ryuuzaki smiled, “Well, lookie, you do have some money…”
Echizen handed a few coins and looked up in time to see that Momoshiro had walked in - seemingly tired. Oishi and Kikumaru followed - Oishi looking worried and Kikumaru jumping around and up and down in excitement.
Ryuuzaki frowned. “Momoshiro… Are you going or should I set up some place for you to sleep?” she asked, worried for the tall male.
He shook his head, “I’ll be going. Thanks ‘Baa-chan,” he replied as he stumbled out the doors with the rest of them staring.
“Want us to watch over him for a while Ryuuzaki-san?” Oishi asked, turning into mother hen. It seemed even this world’s Oishi was a mother hen.
Ryuuzaki gave a laugh and nodded, “Who knows what that oaf of a grandson will do?”
“G-Grandson?” Echizen choked out as the three of them turned to look at him. Seems like someone forgot to tell him something.
“Well yeah… I changed my name into my maiden after my husband died,” Ryuuzaki explained and Echizen gave a sympathetic nod. “Nah! Don’t worry about it! He was never home anyways…”
“Nya! Ryuu-chan! We’ll be gong now!” Kikumaru shouted, happily trying to brighten the mood as they nodded in thanks and left the shot to keep up with Momoshiro. (which wasn’t very hard) Ryuuzaki scowled at the nickname nevertheless, she waved.
As they walked in silence back towards the tent and the square (with Oishi “mothering” over Momoshiro), Echizen dragged behind and tugged on Kikumaru’s cloak, whispering, “I need to talk to you.”
Kikumaru only smiled and nodded, also walking slower now.
Once Oishi and Momoshiro were out of earshot, Kikumaru asked, “Whatcha wanted to talk to me about, Ochibi-chan nya?”
Echizen hesitated. Well, he got this far… “This is a dream - I’m… I don’t know how to explain it but… I’m from another world… I went to sleep and woke up here - but I need to get back to my world.”
Kikumaru nodded, then fingered his chin. Surprisingly he was calm - not laughing or teasing him. “You should talk to Prince Tezuka then… In the Land of Long. He should know how to take care of it.”
Echizen’s eyes widened in surprise - Buchou was a prince too? He nodded and inwardly smirked. “Thanks Kikumaru-senpai. Could I go tomorrow?’
Kikumaru pouted. “Ochibi-chan might be attacked!”
“That’s why I have a sword…”
Kikumaru promptly ignored him. “So Oishi and I will go too!” he concluded as Echizen’s eyes budged.
“WHAT?”
“Tomorrow morning it is!” he continued as he pranced up to Oishi to tell him about their trip to the Land of Long.
“Wait! You’re supposed to be watching over Momo-senpai!” Echizen reminded him.
“Oh… Well, he can come too! And we should all get a good night’s rest!” Kikumaru continued as Echizen gave up and slapped a hand on his forehead.
Well, at least tomorrow would be interesting.
-end of chapter 2-
Author’s Notes: Now, I’ve read many fics when the people grow wings, it HURTS. A LOT. Here, I’m making it so that it’s not part of the body but rather… More like a curse. So it can’t be part of the body. More of this shall be explained later.
1. Sister Square.
2. German for light.
3. Swords mistress.
I decided to add some bits of German ‘cause back in the Renaissance time period, it took place mostly around Germany. Therefore, the language. Correct me if I’m wrong here. XD
Ah I also decided to make Momoshiro Ryuuzaki’s grandson. Thought it’d be kind of funny. Besides, Momoshiro calls her “Baa-chan”!
Alright, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Any problems with this fic, please explain. I’d love to hear your comments too. Very helpful and I’d love to hear advice.