Tacuma

Title: The Prince of the Rings

Writer: tacuma811

Pairing: Perfect Pair, Golden Pair, Ah-Un Pair, Emerald Pair

Chapter: 6/?

Genre: AU, fantasy, angst, romance

Rating: PG-13

Word count: words

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor do I own the Lord of the Rings.

I'm soooooo sorry for the late update! Please know I still write for this fic! I did not abandon it, it just takes a lot of time to write, since there is so much research to do! My apologies. I hope someone still reads this.

The Prince of the Rings – Chapter 6

The fellowship ran across a forest floor covered with yellow flowers. Far above is a roof of golden leaves, held up by silver pillars, huge grey trees. Kaidoh looks around a little nervous.

'Fsssh, it's dangerous here,' he muttered. 'We'll never know when the Elf-Witch will attack us. Everyone who looks at her will fall under her spell and disappear forever.'

'You're just a coward,' answered Fuji. 'I went through the dark mines of the Dwarfs, and now you're telling me you're afraid of these light woods?'

'I didn't say I was scared.'

'You were implying it,' answered Fuji with a grin. He wanted to say something more, but Tezuka nudged him with his elbow, and the Elf kept his mouth shut.

Meanwhile, Echizen heard someone call his name. He looked around, but didn't see anyone, except the other members of the fellowship.

'You're coming to us is as the footsteps of doom. You bring great evil,' spoke the voice.

Echizen looked around again, but they were still alone. It seemed none of the others had heard to the voice, so Echizen shrugged and ignored it.

'The evil Witch won't have me,' muttered Kaidoh behind Echizen. 'Not I.''

It suddenly bows with arrows were pointed at him and the other members from very close by. A black and white-haired man seemed to appear out of nowhere.

'The Dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark.'

'KOJIROH!' shouted Fuji happily. He stepped away from the deadly arrows and hugged the other Elf.

'Syuusuke! It's been so long! I haven't seen you for at least fifty years! Maybe even a hundred!' said the captain before he ordered his men to put their bows down. 'What are you doing here? Who are these guys?'

'Didn't Yukimura tell you we were on our way? I'm sure he is expecting us!'

Tezuka coughed. 'Fuji,' he said.

'Oh, of course, guys, this is Saeki Kojiroh,' said Fuji. 'He is the captain here, protecting Lothlorien. He is my childhood friend. We grew up together. He used to live in Mirkwood too. Kojiroh, these are Eiji, Oishi, Echizen, Momoshiro, Kawamura and Kaidoh. You already met Tezuka before, right?'

'Nice to meet you,' said the captain. 'Please follow me. If Yukimura knows you are visiting, we have to hurry. You know he doesn't like waiting.'

Saeki led the fellowship deeper into the woods. Upon a hill were more trees, even bigger than the ones before. In the crowns of the trees were houses, hidden by the leaves. An entire city built in the trees. The houses are beautiful and light, a combination of white, grey, silver and gold. Saeki led them up to the stairs until they arrived in front of two very good-looking Elves.

'There are eight of you here, where nine of you left Rivendell,' said one of the Elves. He had short black hair. 'Tell me, where is Inui.'

The other elf turned to him. 'Sanada, he has fallen into the shadow. Isn't that right?' the fair creature asked Fuji. Fuji nodded. 'The Fellowship is at the edge of failing, but hope remains if the company is true. Go and rest now. You can sleep peacefully over here. I will speak with you tomorrow.'

Saeki led the group away and showed them a place where they could sleep. Tiredly they sat down, dropping their heavy luggage. Fuji was the only one who seemed to have energy left, so he walked away with Saeki, to catch up with each other's lives.

The members of the Fellowship fell asleep while they listened to the beautiful voices of the Elves that sung mournful songs about Inui and his death. Tezuka was the only one who understood the language. He listened to the words when he noticed Kawamura was still awake.

'You can sleep. The borders are protected,' he said.

'I can't,' said Kawamura. 'That voice, I heard the voice of the witch in my head. He spoke of my father, of the fall of Gondor. He said there was hope left, but I can't see it. Not after the horrible things he told me. I know the people of Gondor are losing faith in my father. His way of ruling might bring us down. Have you seen the White Tower of Ecthelion? Something so beautiful shouldn't be lost. It should never be destroyed by Orcs.'

'I've seen it,' answered Tezuka. 'And we won't let them destroy it.

'No, we won't,' said Kawamura softly. He laid down and soon he fell asleep. Tezuka laid down as well. It wasn't much later when Fuji joined the group and got some rest himself.

A few hours later Echizen's eyes flicker open. Yukimura, all dressed in white, glowing in the moonlight, passed by and looked at him. Echizen stood up and followed him. They walked down stone stairs and stood on a small square. In the middle stood a silver basin.

'Look in the mirror, Echizen,' said Yukimura.

'Why would I?' asked Echizen, not planning to follow what he was told to do.

Yukimura poured water into the basin from a silver jug, and the water started glowing. 'I don't know,' he said. 'It could be the past. It could be the present, and it could be the future.'

Echizen stepped forward. He wouldn't mind seeing the future. That could be interesting. He walked to the basin and looked into the water.

The first thing he saw was Inui, but the image quickly disappeared. The Shire appeared. It was burning. There were dead bodies everywhere, and Orcs ran around. Echizen held his breath as the image changed again. He saw Hobbiton, but it wasn't green anymore. It was grey and cloudy. The land filled with brick factories. Hobbits being used as slaves, crying, falling on the ground under the heavy weight they carried. Suddenly, everything turned black. An eye surrounded by fire appeared in the middle of the darkness. An invisible force pulled Echizen towards the water. The Ring fell out of his shirt, but the necklace kept it in place. The image didn't disappear until Echizen pulled himself away from the basin. He fell backwards and hit the ground.

'I know what you saw,' said Yukimura as Echizen stood up. 'This is the future. This will happen if you fail to destroy the Ring. The Fellowship is breaking. He will try to take the Ring from you. You know who I'm talking about.'

'Why don't you take it if you know so well what I should do,' said Echizen a little angry.

'Oh, I would love that,' said Yukimura with a smile. It was like he grew taller and like the light was changing. It wasn't light reflecting on his white clothes, but darkness. 'I would be the Dark Lord, beautiful and terrible as the dawn. I would be stronger than any foundation of this earth. All would love me and despair!'

Echizen stepped away from the Elf. 'You're not getting the Ring. It makes you pretty scary.'

That moment Yukimura changed back to his old self and chuckled. 'I passed the test. I could resist, but it means you will have to continue this quest and bring this all to an end, so the future you have seen will not become reality.'

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

'Once they were Elves,' spoke Yanagi to the leader of his Uruk-hai as they watched another of these fighting monsters was born. 'Elves, tortured by darkness, ruined until they got this perfect form of Uruk-hai. How humiliating it must be for those first-born. Prepare yourself for battle!'

Quickly, the Uruk-hai leader left and made sure his '' men got breastplates, helmets and swords. They marked themselves with the white hand of Yanagi to show who they fought for. Two hundred of them stood in front of their leader, ready to leave, and prepared to kill.

'Hunt them down,' said Yanagi. 'A 98 per cent chance you will kill them. A hundred per cent chance you will get to taste men flesh. Do whatever you want with them, but bring me the Halfling alive an unharmed. He has something I want. Go now!'

Two hundred Uruk-hai finally descended, furiously running full speed towards their destination.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

The members of the Fellowship were given boats by the elves of Lothlorien. They were rowing over the silver river, away from the shores. The Elves watched them quietly, until one of them shouted.

'Syuusuke! You didn't even come to say goodbye!' It was Saeki, who pushed himself through the crowd until he could see the boats.

'Sorry!' shouted Fuji back with a bright smile. 'I'll visit you properly once this is all over, alright?'

On Saeki's face appeared a smile as well. 'It's a promise! Say 'hi' to your brother for me!'

Fuji wanted to answer, but Tezuka stopped him. The boats were too far from the shore by now. 'Do you want every Orc to know we're leaving?'

The honey-haired elf grinned and waved at his friend who stayed behind. It looked like Saeki was having the same problems, because Yukimura was talking to him, and he didn't look too happy. Fuji's grin grew wider as he made himself comfortable in the boat. He had made a good choice when he said he would be in the boat with Kaidoh. Had he joined the Hobbits, he would have to row himself, but now the Dwarf was doing a pretty good job, and Fuji could relax.

In one of the other boats, Echizen looked at the little bottle Yukimura had given him when they left. He had told him the light of a star was inside it, but Echizen didn't believe it. Nobody could catch starlight, let alone put it in a bottle. He put the present away and lay back to take a nap.

The boats floated over the big river. It was really quiet in the woods that surround the water. Birds fled from the trees. Unknown to the Fellowship, Uruk-hai ran through the woods, scaring the animals away.

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

A few hours later Echizen woke up when he heard voices. When he opened his eyes, he saw two enormous statues of kings on either side of the river. They were about 300 feet high, like they were watching over the river.

'I can see where you got your handsome looks from,' said Fuji to Tezuka from the other boat. 'Your ancestors don't look too bad. They're impressive!'

'They are,' replied Tezuka, not looking away from the statues. Tezuka and the others couldn't take his eyes off the kings. All of them were stunned. None of them spoke as they rowed the boats through the narrow gap between the statues' feet.

'That means we're almost there, right?' asked Fuji when they were past the kings and the magic was broken. 'The waterfall.'

'Yes,' answered Kawamura. 'We should get out of the boats soon.'

They sailed to the shore, as soon as they found a place between the trees that was big enough to pull the boats on land. They got out and stretched their sore limbs.

'We stay here for the night,' said Tezuka. 'We need our rest. Tomorrow, we'll continue our approach to Mordor from the North.'

'Fss, like it's so easy,' muttered Kaidoh. 'Finding our way through an impossible labyrinth of razor-sharp rocks and then playing hide and seek in the swamps. Something to look forward to.'

'That's our road,' answered Tezuka shortly.

'Are you sure it's safe?' whispered Fuji. 'I think we should leave now.'

'Because of the Orcs on the other shore?'

'I'm more worried about this shore,' said Fuji as he looked around. 'I feel there is something here. Something is coming.'

'Oi, lovebirds, are we getting any food? I'm hungry!' shouted Momoshiro suddenly.

'Then cook some food,' answered Tezuka before he turned back to Fuji. 'We shouldn't let our guard down.'

'Where is Echizen?' asked Oishi suddenly. Everyone looked around, but Echizen was nowhere in sight.

'Kawamura is gone as well,' said Tezuka when he noticed Kawamura's shield, but said man wasn't around.

Echizen was walking through the woods alone. He had planned to find a nice place to take a nap when he suddenly heard a sound behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Kawamura standing there.

'None of us should wander alone,' said the man. 'It's dangerous. The Ring might attract the attention of evil. If you want you can give it to me!'

'No,' answered Echizen shortly and he walked away. Kawamura followed him.

'Don't go alone. I will go with you in case something will attack.'

'The one who is most likely going to attack me is you,' said Echizen, and he sighed. He didn't like this situation at all. Once again, he turned his back to the man, but at the same time Kawamura reached out and touched the Ring.

'BUUUUURNING! GIVE ME THAT RING! NOW!'

Echizen stepped back quickly. When Kawamura took a step forward, Echizen started running away. This man was much stronger than he was. He wouldn't be able to win. Kawamura started to chase him. He ran and because his legs were longer, he quickly caught up with the Hobbit.

Seconds before Kawamura managed to grab Echizen's shoulder. Echizen slipped the Ring on his finger, and immediately he disappeared.

'NOOO!' screamed Kawamura. 'Echizen, please come back. I'm so sorry. I'm not trying to hurt you. Please come back, I just want to help.'

Meanwhile, Echizen raced through a misty twilight world. He could see the trees around him, and he could even see Kawamura, but everything was vague, and it seemed to move. But Echizen kept walking, away from the man who was searching for him. Suddenly, he walks into stairs. He climbed until he reaches the top. The world swirled around him and seemed to shrink. He saw faraway lands, images of marching Orcs, a burning Mirkwood and black ships sailing to the South. Then, there was Barad-Dur, the fortress of Chinen Hiroshi and his eye was looking at Echizen. It came closer, seemed to pierce through the Hobbit's soul.

That moment Echizen pulled the Ring off his finger. He falls backwards and tumbled down the stairs. Panting he lay on his back, not moving from his spot. When he caught his breath a little, he looked up and saw Tezuka towering over him.

'Kawamura has gone crazy!' said Echizen angry. 'He wanted to take the Ring from me.'

'Is it safe? Do you still have it?' asked Tezuka while he kneeled down next to the Hobbit.

'Stay away! I won't give it to you!'

Tezuka stood up again. 'I don't want it.'

'Then you must understand I will have to destroy this on my own,' answered Echizen. 'I don't want that man to attack me again. Tell Momo that he should go back home or something.'

'It's your decision what you do. It's his decision to do what he wants to do. Go now, the enemy is close by.'

Echizen started to run towards the river. A few heartbeats later hundreds of Uruk-hai appeared between the trees. Tezuka took his sword and as soon as the monsters were within his reach, he attacked. He stood his ground, but there were too many. Soon, he was surrounded by Uruk-hai, his back against the ruins where Echizen had fallen off earlier. Tezuka is almost hit by a knife, but the moment before the weapon could touch his skin, the Uruk-hai fell down on the ground, an Elven arrow in the back of his neck.

'Don't you dare to die on me, Tezuka,' smiled Fuji as he drew his swords and helped the future king. A few steps behind is Kaidoh, his axe in his hands, ready to fight.

The leader of the Uruk-hai shouted to the others that they had to search for the Halflings. Some of them stopped fighting and ran into the direction the Hobbit hat gone to. Echizen stumbled through the woods. It didn't take long before the monster behind him found him and started the chase.

'Echizen! Hide here!' sounded Eiji's voice from a hollow tree, not too far away from the Hobbit. Oishi was there with him.

Echizen hid behind a tree, shook his head at the two others, looking behind and started running again.

'Where is he going?' asked Eiji a bit too loud. The Uruk-hai heard him and stopped looking for Echizen. Instead, they turned to Eiji and Oishi. As fast as they could the two Hobbits started to run in the opposite direction of where Echizen had gone too. They ran through the trees, trying to find paths the big Uruk-hai couldn't follow.

In an open space, they found Kawamura, who just killed the last of the Uruk-hai that had attacked him earlier.

'They're coming!' cried Oishi as he and Eiji hid behind the man.

Kawamura blew on his horn when he saw how many Uruk-hai had been chasing the two Hobbits. Tezuka, Fuji and Kaidoh recognized it and fought their way through their enemies to help their friend.

When they arrived at the Uruk-hai leader was about to shoot an arrow at Kawamura. There were two arrows in the man's chest already. Tezuka slashed the leader's head off his body before he could release another one. Kawamura slumped down against a tree. Tezuka ran towards him, while Fuji and Kaidoh took care of the monsters that hadn't fled.

'They took... Eiji and Oishi,' muttered Kawamura. He was pale and there was blood running down his cheek. Tezuka tried to stop the bleeding, but it was in vain.

'Where... is Echi...zen?' asked the fallen man.

'He is safe,' answered Tezuka. 'I sent him away.'

'I... tried to take... the Ring. I failed... you all. Sorry.'

'I know,' said Tezuka. There was no anger in his voice at all. 'Echizen forgave you. It was the powers of the Ring that made you try. You fought bravely to protect him and the other Hobbits. You have kept your honour.''

'Protect... him... them. My city...' panted Kawamura.

Tezuka nodded. 'I will not let the White City fall.'

'I...was wrong,' spoke Kawamura with his last strength. 'You... will make... a great king. I would... have followed... you.'

'I know,' whispered Tezuka, but he wasn't heard. Kawamura's eyes were closed and his head fallen to the side. 'Be at peace, son of Gondor.'

Tezuka stood up and turned around. Fuji and Kaidoh were waiting there for him. 'We should give him a proper funeral. He is the son of the steward of Gondor.'

'We have to hurry,' answered Fuji. 'The Uruk-hai took Eiji and Oishi. We have to help them.'

While the three took care of Kawamura's body, Echizen arrived at the river and pushed one of the boats into the water. He climbed in it and started to row to the other side. It didn't go too well. The boat kept going in circles, which frustrated the Hobbit to no end.

'Looks like you can't do anything on your own,' shouted Momoshiro from the shore. 'If you can't even get to the other side of the river, how will you ever reach Mordor?'

The spiky-haired Hobbit stepped into the water and swam towards the boat. Echizen tried to paddle away from him, not wanting the other to come with him, but he failed. Within moments, Momoshiro grabbed the boat and climbed in it. He took the paddle from his friend and rowed to the other side.

By the time Tezuka, Fuji and Kaidoh arrived at the shore again, the two Hobbits were long gone.

'They really left,' muttered Fuji. They put Kawamura's body in the other boat, together with his sword and horn. They let his drift down the river. For a few moments, they watched their friend go, realizing they would never see him again.

'Let's hunt some Orc,' hissed Kaidoh.

The three men grabbed the things they needed, left everything else behind and disappeared into the woods.

To be continued