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 73

By Haruka (haruka@ymail.com)

--

Ryoma goaned as he rolled over. He felt groggy and dizzy and didn’t understand why.

“Ochibi-chan?”

“Eiji-senpai?” he murmured, blinking up into the worried eyes of both Eiji and Fuji. “Fuji-senpai? What’s going on?” He rubbed his eyes and frowned. “I remember a van ran us off the road and a guy grabbed me ….” He sat up suddenly. “Momo-senpai?!”

Momo wasn’t there, but an assortment of other boys were. Atobe, Yuushi, Sengoku, Sanada, Akaya – it looked like they were all trapped together in a bright room with no furniture, but plenty of big colorful cushions spread around the floor instead.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” Atobe replied, gesturing around the room. “There are no windows in here.”

“We didn’t want to try to run away while you were still out,” Sanada told him and stood up. “But now we can.”

“Why run?” Ryoma frowned. “Can’t Eiji-senpai teleport you all out of here and bring help for me?”

“Our powers are being capped, Ryoma,” Fuji said softly, holding up his arm. There was a seemingly-innocent silver bracelet on it, and Ryoma saw they all had one, including him. He moved to take it off, but Yuushi grabbed his hand.

“Don’t,” he warned. “There’s some trick to it. I tried removing mine earlier and got a shock bad enough to make me cry out.”

Ryoma dropped his hand. “Do you know who’s doing all this yet?”

“Sengoku does, he saw one of them driving the van, nya,” Eiji pointed out.

“Yeah,” Sengoku said grimly. “And it’s no accident that the eight of us were taken by this guy –“

“I’m glad you weren’t surprised.”

The boys all looked toward the door and gasped.

“Richard Baker!” Fuji said grimly.

“Yes,” said the former Coach of the American team they’d played at the Goodwill Games. “How nice to see you all again.”

“I’m afraid we can’t share the sentiment,” Atobe told him. “Why have you done this?”

“Sour grapes, probably,” Akaya snorted. “Because his team lost.”

“Tom and Terry didn’t lose,” Eiji pointed out.

Baker ground his teeth. “Only because they couldn’t take orders.”

“Huh?” Eiji frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Those two were supposed to lose!” Baker snarled. “They disobeyed me when they won!”

“Well, good for them,” Yuushi said. “What kind of Coach tells his team members to LOSE?”

“The kind that kidnaps the winning team?” Ryoma offered dryly.

Baker focused on him. “Oh yes, you, the one who beat Kevin. He could have saved it all, but YOU had to ruin it.”

“YOU ruined it!” Sanada snapped indignantly. “You had a great team and played them like puppets and couldn’t care less about the sport of tennis – for you it was all about sponsorships!” He crossed his arms and glared. “In spite of you, the team was successful and got the sponsorships, anyway.”

“Yes, but I lost my job,” Baker said, advancing on Sanada. “I’m not even allowed to go anywhere NEAR the team members, so I couldn’t carry out any revenge against them; I would be the first suspect. But you –“ He stopped in front of Sanada. “You and your teammates I could steal away, and no one will suspect me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Sengoku pointed out. “People will figure out what we all have in common.”

“Maybe, but I’ve been careful to hide my reappearance in this country,” the man retorted. “And I have an accomplice who is here for the first time.” He looked toward the doorway as another man entered. He was tall and looked to have been muscular at one time, but now seemed to be gaining a considerable paunch. A permanent sneer seemed affixed to his face.

“Who’s that?” Akaya asked Sanada, who shook his head. He didn’t know, either.

The only one who felt a hint of recognition was Ryoma, but even he couldn’t place him.

“The name’s Smith,” the big man told the boys, and although he was speaking Japanese, like Baker, it was obviously not his native language. “I was a tennis coach in America, until some ugly business went down.” He scanned the boys until his gaze fell on Ryoma. “You’re Echizen Nanjiroh’s kid, aren’t you?”

“And you’re Kevin’s father,” Ryoma replied, finally remembering where he’d seen that face before. It had been in the background of a photo in his father’s album from his early days in tennis.

The other boys gasped. “THAT’S Kevin Smith’s father?” Sengoku said in surprise.

“This isn’t good,” Atobe murmured under his breath. The last they’d heard of Mr. Smith was when he’d planned to sell Tom and Terry to the black market Changechildren researchers in the States.

“What do you both want with us?” Fuji asked.

Smith looked toward him. “Awhile ago, I hooked up with an underground organization that conducts experiments on Changechildren. They wanted me to bring them the Griffy brothers, but somehow, they managed to escape and my son disappeared with them.” He gestured to the other man. “Baker and I knew each other from before the Goodwill Games, when I had talked to him about Kevin’s career. We met up again after I was fired from coaching, and kept in touch – we found we had a lot in common then, and even more so now. We were both screwed over by you and your friends.”

“Since we happened to have a grudge against the same people,” Baker continued. “When Smith told me what happened with losing the Griffys, I suggested a new deal with the Organization, where we would find them even more Changechildren. THIS time, there would be two of us working on it, and we’d have the advantage of those new bracelets that the Organization developed.” He smirked. “It wasn’t hard to choose which kids we would give them.”

“Why ME?!” Sengoku exclaimed. “I’m not a Changechild – I’m useless to you!”

Sanada facepalmed and Atobe shook his head.

“Not entirely useless, my boy,” Baker said. “See, we aren’t going back to the U.S. right away. The Organization has to arrange for it, and they have to make sure everything is kept quiet when they do so – it could be a few days, a week, or more. We’re awaiting word from them, and in the meantime, we’re free to do whatever we want with you. I figured it only made sense that you would be here to get your share of my revenge with your teammates during this time we’ll have together.”

“But what’ll you do with me later?” Sengoku asked in a small voice. “The Organization won’t want me.”

“Maybe they will,” Smith told him. “Maybe they can use you for experiments in trying to turn a kid INTO a Changechild.” He shrugged. “But if not, I guess that’s it for you.”

Sengoku turned pale as the reality finally hit him.

“Right now you’re criminals but not murderers,” Fuji pointed out. “Are you sure you want to take that step?”

Smith’s reply was to backhand Fuji across the face, knocking him into Yuushi’s arms.

“Fujiko-chan!” Eiji cried.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Atobe demanded. Baker grabbed him by the back of the neck.

“The answer to that is: Whatever we want.” He shoved the Hyotei Captain away from him. “That’s what you need to understand – as of now, you’re here for nothing else but to serve OUR whims. We say, you do, or there’ll be more of that.” He nodded toward Fuji, whose reddened cheek was being inspected carefully by Yuushi. “Understand?”

“You can’t seriously think you’ll get away with this,” Sanada said. “They’ll track you down, and then you’ll go to jail.”

“Or we WILL get away with it, and will live richly for the rest of our lives,” Baker said. “This house is just a small example of the money backing that Organization – you’ll find it to be large, luxurious, and very, very private – no neighbours anywhere you can walk to.” He smiled in an unpleasant way. “And while we’ve got you, we plan to have fun.”

The boys exchanged worried glances. None of them really wanted to know exactly what the men meant by ‘fun.’

Akaya moved forward, cracking his knuckles. “I say we all rush ‘em! There are eight of us and only two of them, and –“ He stopped suddenly as Smith pointed a gun at him.

“You don’t really think that the Organization left us unable to defend ourselves, do you? We’ve got the bracelets, guns, and more.”

Sanada pulled Akaya back carefully and pushed him behind him. When the Rikkai Vice-Captain turned back, he was slapped hard across the face by Baker. Akaya gasped out loud and Atobe moved to get between Sanada and Baker, but was stopped by Ryoma grabbing his wrist.

“If weapons don’t scare you, we’ll try this,” Baker warned, eyes narrowed. “Every time one of you tries something funny, or doesn’t do what he’s told right away, we’ll take it out on one of the others. So if you’re feeling heroic, you’re better off NOT causing any trouble or it’ll go badly for someone else.”

The boys said nothing, but exchanged uneasy looks. It seemed that the men had them right where they wanted them.

--

Akutsu Jin tolerated Dan Taichi. He wouldn’t say he liked him – Jin didn’t like anybody – but still he put up with him, for reasons he would never be able to explain.

That was a lot harder to do, however, when their team manager was bawling like a baby.

“I-It’s terrible, Akutsu-senpai!” he blubbered. “Sengoku-senpai w-was STOLEN, and I couldn’t do a-anything about it!” Taichi rubbed his wet eyes. “I felt so useless! If I-I had been big and strong like you, they n-never would have got him!”

Jin took a drag on his cigarette. “I doubt that. You said there were other kidnappings after his, right? All of those kids you mentioned were bigger than you, except for Ryoma.” He frowned, thinking of the Seigaku brat in the hands of Baker and his accomplice. He may not like Ryoma, either, but that didn’t mean those guys deserved to have him at their mercy.

Taichi was nodding. “Ryuuzaki-san s-said that it was all the members of the Goodwill Games team that were t-taken, so Sengoku-senpai is the only member from Yamabuki. Why w-would anyone do this? It makes no sense!”

Jin didn’t offer any ideas. He knew most of what was going on and who was behind it. He could, if he wanted, tell the people at the mansion what he knew and all the kids would be brought back, maybe before anything bad happened to them. He wasn’t interested in protecting the kidnappers, especially since Baker had refused to take Marui Bunta when he asked him to. Turning them in could be his own brand of revenge.

But he could do that anytime. And in the meantime, it might be interesting to wait and see exactly what DID happen if he stayed out of it for a while.

“Akutsu-senpai?” Taichi asked tentatively. “Why are you smiling?”

--

Tarou shook his head as he listened to Sumire and Aoi explain what happened. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he said. “I’m even more sorry that I abandoned my team to go on a date. If I’d been there –“

“Don’t beat yourself up, Tarou.” Aoi put a hand on his shoulder. “How could we have known this would happen?”

“How is Nanjiroh holding up since Ryoma was taken?”

Sumire sighed. “He’s not saying much, but he’s never been one to share his innermost thoughts or feelings.”

“And the other kids? We have to make sure they don’t go off on their own like last time.”

“We told them not to, but we can’t watch all of them every minute,” Aoi said. “Right now, though, I think they realize that staying here is safest. For all we know, the kidnappings may not be over.”

“But if Inui’s theory is correct, and I think it must be, then most likely, they are,” Sumire added. “Which means the kids might get it into their heads to try a rescue, anyway. The only thing is, with their powers being blocked – what CAN they do?”

--

Tezuka studied the framed picture of himself and Atobe on their bedside table. How had this happened? His boyfriend had been kidnapped for the second time, but this time, was there any way to save him? The same plan wouldn’t work now – their powers were useless against whatever was blocking them.

“Tezuka?”

He looked toward Oishi, peeking tentatively in the door. “I don’t want to disturb you.”

“It’s all right, I’m sure we’re all thinking about the same thing.”

Oishi walked in and sat down on Atobe’s bed. “I don’t know what to do, Tezuka. I know what I WANT to do – I want to go after them! But I can’t for the life of me think of a way.” He wrung his hands. “The fact that Eiji hasn’t teleported home scares me – is he being blocked by the same thing that’s keeping us from using our powers to find them, or is he –“

“I’m sure that’s it,” Tezuka interrupted. “That’s why we can’t risk letting anyone try anymore. What happened to Atsushi and Kabaji was nothing to ignore -- one of us could get badly hurt fighting the block.” He sighed and picked up the photo frame. “I don’t know what to do, either.”

“Buchou,” came Taka’s voice from the doorway. Momo was there with him, “Inui’s trying to come up with a plan, but without being able to use our powers, he’s stumped.”

“And if the smartest amongst us is stumped, we’re in trouble, big trouble,” Momo said flatly. He smacked one fist into the other. “I want to go out there and tear each building apart brick by brick until I find Ryoma and the others! I want to pick up every person on the street and shake them until they tell me if they know anything!”

“Well, I DON’T want to have to get you out of jail,” Tezuka told him, putting the picture down and standing up. “We ALL are feeling helpless and frustrated. Going on a rampage in the city won’t help – how do we know any of them are even in Tokyo anymore? Or Japan at all?”

“We don’t even know if they’re alive,” Oishi murmured.

Taka looked stricken and Momo fell silent. When Inui spoke suddenly from behind them, they both jumped.

“Tezuka,” he said, “I’m sorry to admit that I can’t think of a way around the power block that we can safely attempt. So I’m going to switch my focus to making a list of people that have a grudge against any or all of the kidnapped players. Once I’ve finished compiling it, we can begin to investigate everyone on it and work by process of elimination.”

“There are a lot of kids that were taken, a LOT,” Momo pointed out. “Doing it like that could take too much time!”

“That’s why we’re asking for any help that can be offered,” Inui said. “Kaidoh is going around to all the Changechildren now and suggesting that they make lists of their own on whom they think would have a reason for taking one or more of these kids. We’ll cross-reference them and go after the ones most frequently mentioned to start with, working our way down from there. Mizuki has offered to help me sort through all of them once they’re complete.”

Tezuka nodded firmly. “It looks like this is all we can do for now, so let’s do it to the best of our ability. Let’s get started on those lists.”

--

End of Part 73

(2008)

Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi.

This fic is not to be re-posted.