Disclaimer: R. Tralins nor I own the Prince of Tennis or The Princess Bride. Nor do I own this story.

Chapter 15

The Last Chapter

Fujiko stepped inside the royal chambers. "Leave me," she told the servants, "I wish to be alone."

The servants bowed and obeyed her wishes.

Fujiko waited until the last servant left and serenely walked towards the table where a wine bottle and two goblets were placed. She poured the wine onto one of the goblets and then took out a vial with some kind of liquid hidden in one of her sleeves.

"This is for you, Tezuka," she whispered as she dropped the liquid into the wine.

"Are you trying to poison yourself or are you just fixing yourself a drink?"

Surprised, Princess Fujiko turned around and saw Tezuka lying on the bed. "Neither," she answered. "This is for Prince Atobe."

"Prince Atobe?"

"I thought - why kill myself? I will kill him instead, take revenge for killing you, and be the sole ruler of this country," Fujiko calmly explained.

"Ah." At that moment, Tezuka didn't know whether he loved Fujiko even more or became afraid of her even more. Probably both.

Fujiko finally realized that it was her True Love in the same room with her. "Tezuka, you are alive!" She rushed to Tezuka's side and hugged him. "Again!"

"Aa," Tezuka said as he let Fujiko hug him. "Did I not tell you that even death cannot stop our True Love?"

Fujiko suddenly became sad. "But I think I already married Prince Atobe."

"Did you say 'I do'?"

"I don't think so. I don't even think the ceremony is finished yet."

Back in the Hyotei Palace Main Hall…

"Marriage," the minister Ibu Shinji continued. "Is everlasting. It is for eternity. Marriage is a dream within a dream that lasts forever…

So whoever has any objections to this union, whoever thinks that Prince Atobe and the commoner Fujiko should not wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Minister Ibu Shinji finally looked up from his speech and noticed that, save a snake currently chasing a cat, he was the only one there.

"Not again," he sighed. "Why does everybody leave whenever I…"

"Psssh…"

"Nya!"

"But I did hear Prince Atobe say we were man and wife," Fujiko said.

"But the Prince is not always right, aren't you Prince Atobe?" Tezuka addressed the prince who was standing on the doorway with his racket on his hand. Fujiko gasped in surprise and quickly clung to Tezuka.

Prince Atobe laughed. "Ore-sama does not make mistakes. Ore-sama's subordinates do, as ore-sama sees that you are not dead as Oshitari had told ore-sama.

Speaking of subordinates, where the hell is Kabaji? Ore-sama thought he'd be here right now protecting the royal chambers."

"I have not seen him, but I think I saw a note from him on the top of your dresser," informed Tezuka.

"Is that so?" Prince Atobe walked over to the table and began to read the note aloud.

Dear Prince Atobe,

I am sorry to leave you in such short notice but I have decided to leave your employ and sail to the far shores of America. I have a penpal there who said I could easily find a job in Hollywood. I rather think that I have a talent in becoming a great mime. After all, with my excellent mimicking abilities and silent persona, I think this will be the perfect job for me.

I wish you well and, who knows, maybe we'll meet again someday.

Always your loyal servant,

Kabaji

P.S.

Congratulations on your wedding.

"Who knew he was such a chatty fellow in writing?" Fujiko remarked.

Prince Atobe crumpled the paper. "Let's see if ore-sama gives him a good reference!"

"Good help is really hard to find nowadays," Tezuka said.

"It's not like ore-sama needs him to get rid of you, anyway," Prince Atobe pointed his racket towards Tezuka. "Even though you are not dead like you are supposed to be, you certainly are not in a good condition to fight. You can't even get out of that bed," the prince finished with a sneer.

"Are you sure about that?" Tezuka said as he got out the bed and stood with a racket on his hand.

"You idiot! Ore-sama has Insight, remember? Ore-sama knows for a fact that you can barely stand let alone play a tennis match with ore-sama to the death!"

"Well, that's true," Tezuka conceded. "But… what the? Look! It's Andre Agassi!"

"Please," Prince Atobe scoffed. "Only commoners would fall for that trick."

Tezuka shrugged. "I thought it was worth a try, at least."

"Here, try this," Fujiko plucked Kikumaru the Cat who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and handed it to Tezuka.

"Nya?"

Tezuka took Kikumaru the cat and, with all his available strength, threw it towards Prince Atobe.

"Nyaaa!"

"Ha!" Prince Atobe mocked as it looked like it was going to pass over his head. "You overthrew!"

Then, much to the Prince's surprise, Kikumaru began to drop and ended up landing all fours on his face.

"Zero-shiki Drop shot," Tezuka simply stated. "Kikumaru-style."

"Argh! Get this stupid cat off ore-sama!" Prince Atobe swayed madly, trying to get Kikumaru off his face.

"Nya! Nya! Nya!"

Ryoma ran into the room. "Sorry for being late." He looked at Prince Atobe who was still trying to detach Kikumaru's claws from his face. "Is it just me or doesn't the Prince look like a dancing Monkey doing that? Like, he's a Monkey Prince." He paused to think it over. "Wait, that doesn't sound quite right."

"Nevermind that," Fujiko took Tezuka's hand. "Let's leave now while he's distracted."

"Aa," Tezuka concurred. "Echizen, don't forget the snake."

"Aye, aye Buchou," Ryoma saluted and grabbed Viper.

"Psshhh…"

And so, Tezuka, Fujiko, Ryoma and Viper made their escape, through the help of the Kikumaru the cat, while Prince Atobe continued to dance like a Monkey… Prince.

It was thereafter that the legend of the brave, heroic, and energetic cat that helped save the day was born.

Kikumaru: 'The Deus Ex Machi-NYA.'

"Have you accomplished what you wanted, Echizen?" Tezuka asked the younger tennis player.

Ryoma pulled his cap down to hide his face. "It turns out I'm still mada mada dane."

Tezuka was tired but somehow found the strength to put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Why don't you try being on my crew? I employ a lot of great tennis players who you could pit your talent against and improve even more. I'm sure someday, you'll finally achieve your dream."

Ryoma looked up into Tezuka's warm, encouraging eyes. "Buchou…"

"Echizen! Here!"

Ryoma turned his gaze away and saw his Kawamura-senpai waving wildly at them. They quickly ran over to him.

"Hey, where did you get the ride?" Ryoma asked as he looked at the thing Kawamura had with him.

Kawamura blushed. "Um, I kind of borrowed it from this guy…"

Somewhere in the Hyotei Palace…

"Dude, where's my bike? Why does somebody always steal my bike?"

"Let's go, Kawamura. Echizen." Tezuka said.

"Yosh."

They almost made their escape, but then a Hyotei warrior named Choutaru blocked their path and summoning all his courage, yelled, "Halt! In the name of the great and mighty Prince Keigo Atobe!"

Tezuka and Ryoma both reached for their rackets but Fujiko held a hand to stop them.

"I'll take care of this," she said. Then walking up to the guard, she opened her icy blue eyes and stared the poor soldier down. "Move."

"Y-yes ma'am. I mean your h-highness," poor Choutaru stammered then quickly ran away, probably seeking the safety of his Shishido-senpai.

"Now that's the Fujiko I know and love," Tezuka said tenderly.

"Yech," Ryoma muttered.

"Oh Tezuka, let us not let our guard down forever!" Fujiko passionately replied and Tezuka and Fujiko shared a kiss that made Viper blush, Ryoma gag, and Kawamura laugh in embarrassment.

And this time, their kiss entered the Top 5.

OWARI.

Well, not really.

I know some of you might hate me as an editor because I cut out too many parts of the original. I really had good intentions. But as a show of good faith, I now give you the unedited ending of The Tennis Prince's Bride – the way R. Tralins wrote it – as a thank you to all you loyal readers.

As Fujiko and Tezuka were ending their kiss, Ryoma looked behind them and saw a battalion of Hyotei soldiers on their tail. "Not sorry to interrupt, but we need to get away here quickly."

The others obviously agreed and got on the bicycle. It was a difficult thing to do, but with Kawamura pedaling, Ryoma and Fujiko hanging by his sides, and Tezuka slumped on his back, they managed to do it.

"Don't let them get away!" They heard the voice of Prince Atobe who finally managed to free himself of Kikumaru the Cat.

"Here, Kawamura-sempai," Ryoma handed a racket on his comrade's hands.

"BURNING!!"

It looked like the four was going to get away, especially with Kawamura's BURNING strength making them speed up and away from the Hyotei soldiers. Yes, it seemed that they were going to get their happily ever after ending.

That is, until Kawamura's furious pedaling made the tires flat; Ryoma suddenly fell from exhaustion from his battle with the Samurai; Fujiko pointed them in the wrong direction; and Tezuka's magic pill began to lose effect.

And through the long and dark night, all they could hear behind them was the ominous sounds of the Hyotei army slowly but surely bearing down upon them.

OWARI.

Well, you could say that R.T. was a bit of a pessimist. I guess when he was writing the ending, he was in a bad mood or something.

So what do you think? Did they get away from the Hyotei army? Well, I'm a bit of a romantic so if you ask me – yes, they somehow got away and they had many adventures (and tennis matches, of course) aboard Tezuka's ship. Fujiko and Tezuka got married and had many babies. Ryoma finally beat the Samurai. Kawamura finally opened that sushi restaurant he dreamed of. And Kabaji became a famous mime in Hollywood.

After all, this is a work of fiction. We're entitled to our happily ever after, aren't we?

Until the next story,

"Don't let your guard down."

Molvania City, Molvania

September 24, 2008