Haruka's Fanfiction

*NOTE* Alternate Universe wherein I shamelessly borrowed/altered ideas from various media sources and even threw in some of my own. If anything is canon here, it’s probably an accident. Some chapters contain corporal punishment. Yaoi warning.

Earlier chapters can be found here.


Changechildren (Prince of Tennis)

Part 76

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

--

Okay, NOW what do I do, Shigure?! Kyo wondered peevishly as he crouched in cat form under a car. The police impound dogs were surrounding him, barking furiously, but they couldn’t reach him. The only problem was that he could transform back at any moment and then it would be a tight fit for him, too.

Just when he had almost decided on a suitably painful revenge for his older cousin, the dogs all ran off at once. Kyo held his breath and peered out – they were definitely gone. He darted out from under the car and ran as fast as he could for the open gate.

Someone scooped him up in their arms and rushed him over to the bushes where he finally changed back. Yuki was the only one there with him, and he handed him his clothes.

“Shigure’s got the dogs chasing the guard until we get out of here, and everyone else is back in the car. We’ve got to go now, too.”

Kyo nodded and hurriedly finished dressing, then the two of them ran for Aoi’s car that was parked down the road.

“Keep going!” Shigure’s voice was heard behind them suddenly. Kyo glanced back and saw the writer pulling on his clothes as he ran. “The dogs will hold the guard for another five minutes!”

The three Soumas piled into the car and she began driving back to the mansion.

“I think that went rather well!” Shigure declared proudly.

“Only if Shinji got the information we need,” Aoi said, glancing at the thirteen-year-old.

“Of course I did, the van had no reason to hide what it knows.”

“And what did it know?” she pressed.

He turned an emotionless expression toward her. “There was a second van, and a man named Smith was driving.”

--

“No … don’t … please!”

Baker grabbed Fuji by the hair, drawing a pained cry from the boy. “Didn’t I tell you to stop fighting me? You want me to go in there and get your friend Eiji instead? Or Ryoma?!”

Tears squeezed out of Fuji’s tightly closed eyes. Of course he didn’t want any of his friends to be subjected to Baker’s abhorrent touch and he was trying to behave, but after the man stripped him naked and began putting his hands in places where they didn’t belong, he couldn’t help himself.

“Now be a good boy and be still and it’ll all be over soon.” Baker chuckled nastily. “You might even enjoy it.”

Fuji choked back a sob as the man’s hand slid between his legs. Help me, he prayed, someone please help me!

The door banged open and both Fuji and Baker turned toward it.

Yuushi thought he’d been prepared for whatever he might see when he found the right room, but the look of despair on Fuji’s tear-stained face as Baker loomed over him like the monster he was made him see red. Baker realized it and lunged for the bedside drawer where he had stored his gun. Yuushi charged him just as he pulled it out and swung it toward him.

Fuji brought his knee up as hard as he could between Baker’s legs, grabbing the gun from him as he doubled over.

“Fuji, are you all right?!” Yuushi asked fearfully, then stopped. Fuji wasn’t just holding the gun; he was pointing it steadily at Baker.

As the man raised his head and looked up, the first thing he saw was the gun aimed at his face and just beyond it, Fuji’s eyes. In their cold, aqua depths, he saw no mercy.

“Fuji,” Yuushi said carefully, “give me the gun.”

The safety clicked off. Sweat broke out on Baker’s face.

“Don’t do it, Fuji,” Yuushi’s deep voice was calm and soothing, but inside he was scared to death. He’d never seen anything like the look in Fuji’s eyes before. “You don’t want to kill him. Think of Yuuta and how he’ll feel.”

The icy hardness began to melt from Fuji’s expression. “Yuuta?” he repeated softly.

“Yes,” Yuushi told him, “he wouldn’t want you to hurt anyone.” He held out his hand. “Give me the gun.”

Trembling, Fuji surrendered the weapon to Yuushi. Baker’s sigh of relief was echoed in the doorway, and Yuushi saw that the other boys were there, too.

“Where’s Smith?” he asked, putting the safety back on the gun and passing it to Atobe.

“Tied up. We left Ryoma and Akaya guarding him.” Atobe glanced toward Fuji. “Just in case.”

Sengoku and Sanada got to work binding Baker’s hands behind him with an extension cord while Yuushi covered Fuji with a blanket. The smaller boy looked up at him slowly.

“Thank you,” he said, and Yuushi knew he was talking about more than the blanket. The Hyotei player put an arm around Fuji’s shoulders and allowed him to lean against him.

“Atobe,” Ryoma’s voice came from just outside the door, “we’ve got Smith’s phone.”

Atobe paused for a moment, watching Fuji and Yuushi. “All right,” he said. “Let’s call someone and get out of here.”

“Wait!” Eiji held up his arm, showing the bracelet he wore. “We still have to find out how to get THESE off!”

The boys all looked toward Baker, who gave a short laugh.

“They’re locked on with a four-digit code, which I have no intention of giving you. Have fun living without your powers, brats!”

--

“So that’s what we learned from Shinji’s conversation with the van,” Aoi told the others back at the mansion. “We need to tell the police so they can track down the license plate of the second van that the first van gave us.”

“Who would have thought that our best lead would come from a van?” Nanjiroh remarked with a chuckle, then caught sight of Kevin nearby. He’d been staring at the ground silently ever since his father’s name came up as one of the kidnappers. Nanjiroh went over and crouched in front of him. “Hey kid, no one’s blaming you, you know.”

“I’m just worried about them,” Kevin answered quietly. “It was bad enough when my father was trying to sell the Griffys to the underground, but now he’s kidnapping entire TEAMS? And Ryoma ….” He bit his lip. “My father hates you. He hates me, too. And Ryoma is connected to both of us.”

Momoshiro came over and sat beside Kevin, putting an arm around his shoulders. He and Nanjiroh exchanged a worried look over the blonde boy’s head.

Tarou’s phone rang at that moment and he answered it quickly. “Hello? … Atobe!”

Tezuka’s head snapped up and everyone stopped to listen while Tarou turned on the speaker function.

“Where are you?! Shinji used his power to learn from the first van that the second one was taking you to a lakeside –“

“We’re all right,” Atobe interrupted. “We overpowered Smith and Baker and have them tied up, but we can’t get home. Our powers have been nullified by bracelets that we can’t take off and these bastards won’t give us the unlock codes.”

“We’re calling the police and I’m on my way there. Sit tight and don’t take your eyes off those men.” Tarou hung up and headed for the door.

“Tarou?” Ritsu stood up, worry evident on his face. “Please be careful. Those men are dangerous.”

“I will,” he promised.

Tezuka stepped in front of the door. “I’m going with you,” he said.

“No,” Yukimura piped up. “_I_ am!”

“I’M going,” Kevin stated firmly. “He’s my father.”

The older boys exchanged a look and stood aside to let him pass by with Tarou.

--

Fuji could only hear half of what was going on. It sounded like people were yelling, but they were far enough away that they weren’t any threat. The only person who was close to him was Oshitari Yuushi, who kept an arm around his shoulders and was murmuring nonsense in his ear. Even if he wasn’t listening, it sounded nice. Yuushi had that kind of voice.

“Fujiko-chan?” Eiji said hesitantly as he peeked into the room and approached his friend. The other boys had dragged Smith into Baker’s room so they could better guard the men, but Yuushi had felt that Fuji needed to be as far from Baker as he could manage, so he’d taken him back to their own room. “Has he said anything yet?” Eiji asked Yuushi worriedly.

“No,” the Hyotei player replied. “Have either of those creeps given up the codes?”

“No,” Eiji said in frustration. “They say they won’t, either.” He rubbed his arms nervously. “It’s driving me crazy, nya. I want to hoi out of here in the worst way.” He stroked Fuji’s hair gently. “And I want to get him home.”

“Hey guys!” Akaya looked in on them. “A couple of the others have gone outside to start a campfire to make it easier for the cops or Sakaki to find us.” He studied Fuji dubiously. “Is he gonna be okay?”

“I hope so,” Yuushi remarked, giving the other tensai’s shoulders a squeeze. “I’m sure he’ll be better once he’s away from this place.”

--

Tarou and Kevin didn’t talk as they drove. Tarou had no clue what he could say to a kid whose father had just kidnapped an entire team of his peers, and Kevin seemed to be deep in thought, anyway.

Tarou wasn’t familiar with the area he was driving in, especially at night, but he knew he was going the right way; there weren’t that many roads leading to the lake in question. Unfortunately, when he reached a fork that split their directional possibilities in two, he slowed down, uncertain.

“Maybe I should have brought Shinji with us, and he could have talked to the pavement or something to tell us which way to go,” he muttered.

“Turn right,” Kevin told him. Tarou looked down at him.

“How do you know?” he asked. The boy turned to gaze up at him.

“I’m psychic, remember? The boys may be wearing bracelets that my power can’t penetrate, but the men aren’t. I know my father and Baker well enough to pick up their brain waves at this distance.”

Tarou nodded slowly. “Right it is then.” He turned the car that way and continued. He hadn’t thought it was a good idea to bring Kevin along earlier, but now he was glad he had.

--

“There’s a car coming!”

“Thank goodness,” Atobe remarked and hurried to the door. When he opened it, Tarou and Kevin were coming up the path. He raised an eyebrow dubiously at seeing Kevin, but didn’t remark on it.

“Are you all okay?” Tarou asked as they came through the door.

“All but one,” Atobe answered, pulling him aside and lowering his voice so Kevin couldn’t hear. “Baker tried to rape Fuji. He didn’t succeed, but Fuji’s not doing very well. He and Yuushi are in the other room.” He glanced again in Kevin’s direction. “What’s he doing here? His father is one of the ones who kidnapped us – he shouldn’t have to be involved.”

“Atobe,” Kevin looked over and gave him a faint smile, “I can feel your concern, but it’s okay. I can handle it.” He took a deep breath. “I want to see my father now.”

“If you say so.” Atobe led the two of them to where the other boys were standing guard over the two men. Ryoma and Kevin exchanged brief smiles, but when Smith looked up and saw his son, he snorted.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t really care.

“We haven’t seen each other in weeks and that’s all you can say?” Kevin shook his head. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Are you done talking?” Smith retorted, “because I’m done listening.”

“It’s all over,” Tarou said firmly. “We want the codes to remove the boys’ bracelets.”

Baker laughed. “Why should we tell you?”

Kevin looked at him. “You don’t have to. I’m a mindreader; I can just take them from you.”

The two kidnappers scowled. “Is that what you teach these kids?!” Baker demanded of Tarou. “To use their powers against others?!”

“You two don’t have powers, but look at what you did to them,” Tarou countered. “I would never advocate the boys hurting anyone or abusing their powers, but I’d call this self-defense.” He nodded to Kevin. “Go ahead.”

Kevin turned toward Baker. He walked over and focused on penetrating his mind, rooting around inside for what he wanted. Just as he touched on it, he saw a flash of what happened earlier with Fuji and blanched.

“What is it?” Tarou asked.

Kevin was staring at Baker in revulsion. “You tried to RAPE him?!”

“So what?” the man sneered. “You’re raping my mind right now, aren’t you?”

“Shut up!” Atobe interjected, going over to squeeze Kevin’s shoulders encouragingly. “Go ahead, Kevin, don’t listen to him.”

The blonde boy refocused. He didn’t like what Baker had said, but he wasn’t going to let him deter him from what he had to do. After a few moments, he nodded.

“Okay, I’ve got half the codes from him – my father will have the other half.” He took Atobe’s wrist and tapped the appropriate code into his bracelet. It fell to the ground, and the Hyotei Captain closed his eyes in relief as he felt his power surge through him once more.

“That feels SO much better,” he said, then playfully pushed Kevin’s sunglasses down onto his face. The younger boy grinned at him.

“You know, I’d tell you I missed you, but your ego is inflated enough already.”

Atobe smiled. “I hear sirens coming. Finish up with the codes and we can let the police take over.”

“Kevin!” Mr. Smith blurted out. “I’m your father! Use your power to make everyone forget what happened, and you and I can go home together!”

“Leave me alone!” Kevin yelled at him. “You’re pathetic and disgusting and I’m sorry I’m even related to you!” He headed out of the room. “Ryoma, take me to Fuji and Oshitari – I’ve got their codes. I’ll come back for the rest when I’m done.”

When the younger boys were out of the room, Atobe formed an ice ball the size of a pumpkin and held it in front of Smith. “You speak to him again,” he said evenly, “and I’ll create a shower of these right over your head.”

Smith snorted and looked away, but remained silent.

--

End of Part 76

(2008)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.