9/19/00
Bloody Roar II: Unwanted Betrayal
Disclaimer: the characters such as Uriko, Kenji, Mitsuko, etc. belong to Hudson Soft; Erika, Chrysta, and Curt belongs to me.
Dedication: to God, my parents, anyone who likes my writing, my supportive friends and beloved cousins.
Poem I wrote for this fic:
"Looks can be deceiving";
But don't assume the worst
Just because your eyes unintentionally
Lied to you and made your mind
Believe the sight before them.
Something we all have in common is
That there's another one,
And they are somewhere out there…
Whether a mere clone or
Forged together by birth.
If one has cruel, evil intentions,
Then as long as the two never meet
Peace and serenity will stay.
This is a story that's about what happens
When that 'pact' is broken,
And they go out for your blood…
What of our two main characters
Currently involved in their own conflict?
They may be fighting now,
But hopefully, they'll soon come
To their senses and help each other out;
Working together is a safer insurance.
After it's all over, they'll turn and smile.
In the end, they will realize that
Their affection is too strong to be broken…
By a mere misunderstanding.
A hushed secret unspoken,
Uncertainty runs between the couple.
The love kept deep down inside
Begs to be said, released.
Will it ever be let out?
Or will the secret stay hidden,
Until it's too late for
The cared one to find out?
Prologue
"When will we be starting?"
"Tomorrow." That was decided with in a malicious tone.
"Why just the two of them? Can we not get rid of the others as well?" Another voice took on a slight level of whining.
"They're stronger than ya might think. The others will be out of it soon, and then those two brats are most likely gonna take over, being the youngest," The complainer was informed.
"So this is just dirty work," came the blunt statement.
"If they don't fall for it, you both can get rid of them instead."
Wicked smiles were plastered on the fighters' faces as they replied, "With pleasure…"
*****
First day of school…ugh, only a couple of good things to look forward to…
As a sigh of reluctance escaped the mouth of a young teenage girl, loud talking and yelling were being called out. High school students ran about the huge grassy lawn, greeting their friends and quickly trying to chat about their summer before the morning bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. The brown-haired female's eyes glanced the area for familiar faces and waved to some of her friends, but couldn't find the two people she was really keeping an eye out for. When only ten minutes were left until first period, her shoulders slumped slightly in disappointment. Feeling slightly dejected, she blew a strand of her silky hair up from her face.
Just then, someone called out loudly, interrupting her search; "Urikooo!!"
Immediately recognizing whom that was, she eagerly turned around to see the caller. "Erika!!"
A girl with flashy dark brown hair and wide green eyes appeared from a large crowd of students nearby. Covered by a light blue sweater and matching knee-length lavender skirt, she left the crowd and ran to the first girl. The two hugged excitedly and grinned as they starting launching questions and comments at each other.
"You're looking great, Erika! Where'd ya go off to this summer??" one of them initiated.
"Thanks! I was at my cousins' for a couple of months, that's all!" Erika Daweson replied with a small hop.
Her friend wrinkled her nose. "At least you went somewhere; I just had summer school!"
That, and training with Mother… she thought to herself with a furtive smile.
Erika giggled. "Math?"
"Yup," she confessed sheepishly. "But at least I'll be in Trigonometry this year!"
"Hey, I thought you didn't like math! How come you're in such an advanced class?"
The teenager shrugged. "Well, I might not like math, but that doesn't mean I can't do good in it, right?"
"Hehe, I guess not…!" Erika's eyebrows raised slightly all of a sudden in delight. "Hey…I have a question…"
"Mmmhmm?"
"Did you see Kenji this summer?"
Her best friend's shoulders slumped lower as she frowned sadly. "Nope…he and Yugo went off somewhere."
"Who?"
"Oh, Yugo's his caretaker, guardian, brother, or whatever you'd like to call him."
Erika nodded. "Hmm…okay…did you miss him? I mean Kenji, of course."
Her companion giggled. "Does a fish want water?"
She smiled in amusement. "That much, huh?"
"Yeah…didn't get to see him after June…"
"So you're hoping to hang out with him today, I'm guessing?" Erika questioned.
"Definitely!" came the enthusiastic answer.
A big grin spread over the dark-haired girl's face; she didn't reply.
"Why do you want to kno-hey!" the first girl started to ask.
Instead of finishing her sentence, she let out a squeal of surprise as the young student felt a strong arm slip under her backpack and clamp around her waist. Another hand reached toward the top end of her right arm and furiously started to tickle her while she squirmed to get out of the grasp. Laughing, she tried to protest in gasps, "Who is that…let…me go…teehee…!"
After a few moments, she kicked the shin of the figure behind her and wrenched one of her hands free. She whirled around; grabbing the arm that was tickling her and quickly twisted it over her head, forcing the person's back to face her. A surprised "Ahh!" came out of their mouth as she thrusted the arm into their spine.
Looks like training came in handy, she thought, a bit triumphantly.
"What was the big idea-" she tried to ask.
"So…this is how you're gonna greet me?" her captive said in an incredulous tone of voice, yanking out of her imprisonment. Turning the tables on her, the girl stumbled foreword as two arms from behind her secured themselves tightly across her abdomen.
"Heeey!" she shrieked when something rested itself on her shoulder.
"I'm glad to see you too, Uriko," was the calm reply into the long sleeve of her blue and white top.
"Kenji!!" she realized.
Chuckling, he released her and said, "Took you long enough!"
"Aww, you jerk!" Uriko Nonomura cried as she teasingly, but forcefully socked the boy in his arm.
"Ow!"
She laughed. "Now that I've done that…hi!! Where've you been the last couple of months? You're looking a lot better!"
Kenji Ohgami flushed. "Thanks, you look pretty yourself."
Uriko flashed him a smile and gave a cute little twirl. Roughly five feet and four inches, she was a slender girl of fourteen, her fifteenth birthday approaching soon. Clothed in a blue Chinese outfit with oversized white sleeves and royal blue shorts, one of her favorites, she absentmindedly tossed her long auburn hair over her shoulders. Sincere brown eyes were focused on the boy in front of her as she answered, "Thanks back! Hey, tell me, where were you?"
"Nowhere…" he replied, throwing a look at Erika, who was waving to a few of her fellow students.
"Ohh…" she nodded slightly.
The teenage girl wondered if where her boyfriend went had something to do with their shared…special abilities. Quickly scanning over his lean figure, she realized that he seemed taller and a little more muscular than the last time she'd seen him; Uriko suddenly remembered that her boyfriend was fifteen now. As his bangs bobbed freely in front of his face, she noticed a hint of blue in his dark black hair. Curious brown eyes with a light of orange in them looked back at her as he asked, "What are you staring at?"
"Did you dye your hair?" was her reply.
"Oh, that…um, no… I was just outside a lot…this summer." Kenji told her, glancing at Erika in precaution as he said that. Luckily, she was conversing with someone else.
Suddenly, the bell rang, startling the two. As Uriko was about to leave, she leaned close to him and whispered, "Tell me later?"
"Okay…lunch or after school, whenever I next see you." he answered and they started to part ways.
"Hey, wait!" she called out.
Kenji came to a stop. "Yeah?"
Uriko smiled and held out her arms. "Hug?"
He smiled back. "Sure, sorry I forgot to give one to you earlier."
The couple embraced tightly, and then Erika tapped her best friend's shoulder. "Um, I don't mean to interrupt or anything…but Uriko, we gotta get to class!"
Uriko frowned as Kenji said, "Darn it, don't you wish summer vacation hadn't ended yet?"
"Yeah," she agreed. "Well, see you later, okay?"
"Bye," he waved and ran off to his first period, which was in the opposite direction of Uriko and Erika's class.
"You two look so cute together!" Erika commented as she and Uriko started walking across the quad.
Giggling, her best friend said, "Thanks, I hope so!"
The two girls talked while pushing and shoving their way through the crowds in the hall; it was just like last year, an enormous traffic of disgruntled students rushing around. It was easy to tell who were freshmen-they had lost looks on their faces-and who were upperclassmen-the ones who seemed to be confident in their position at the school. The best friends groaned when they finally reached their room at the end of one wing.
"Oh well, here goes nothing…" Erika remarked dryly with a heavy sigh as she stepped through the door.
"School is hell," Uriko commented, quietly because she usually didn't swear, and rolled her eyes as she trailed after her friend.
*****
"I don't see why we can't just go and kill them right now. That takes the fun out of it." A bored voice stated.
"Remember, if they don't do it, we get to finish them off." The partner assured, a sly smile spreading over his lips.
"What are we supposed to do first?"
"Hit them where they're weak."
"Damn…that simple…? They're nothing but our pathetic 'significant others', but…well, fine."
"Good luck to you," the companion grinned wickedly and vanished into thin air, showing off his skills.
"Don't worry about me," his partner replied silently after he'd went away, darting away to their own target.
*****
"Where is he?"
"Maybe he got stuck after class…?" Erika suggested, looking sympathetically at her friend.
It's been about thirty minutes…Kenji is more than just a "little" late…
Uriko thought as she stood waiting by the bike racks, starting to feel a bit irritated despite the okay day she'd had."Um, I guess I'll just head off by myself," she said finally.
"I'll walk you partway," Erika offered.
Uriko smiled. "Thanks. Oh, by the way, where's Ryan Scheller been these days?"
"You didn't hear? He went to the other high school," the dark-haired girl grumbled.
"Oh…" her best friend said softly as she cast her eyes down on the floor. "Then we're rivals now…"
"Yeah…that sucks, doesn't it?" Erika frowned.
"Sorry…"
"It's okay. Hey, what's our homework in Trig tonight?" she asked as the girls were nearing her house, changing the subject. "I forgot to write it down in class."
The brown-haired teenager hesitated. "Um…let me check."
She bent down to look into her backpack and Erika crouched down beside her. After a few minutes of shuffling, Uriko grabbed one of her smaller binders and opened it while saying, "Ah, here it is…"
As she flipped through the pages, a folded up piece of paper slipped out and fell onto the floor. "…Hey? What's this?" She looked at it curiously, then set down her binder and opened the note. Scrawled inside was:
Do you know your true enemy?
"What the…?" the student murmured questioningly while staring at the paper as if the answer would suddenly appear before her. This looks like…Kenji's handwriting…why would he send me something like this?
"Hey, what's that?" Erika asked, pointing at the note.
"O-oh, nothing…nothing…" her friend replied quickly and tucked it into her pocket. She took out her homework agenda and thrusted it into the other girl's hands.
Erika took out a pen and wrote it on her hand. Giving the agenda back to Uriko, she said, "Um, thanks…you sure you're okay?"
"Uh huh…"
"…Well, I'm turning off here, so I'll see ya tomorrow, k?"
"Okay, bye, Erika." Uriko said, her eyebrows frowned in thought. Her best friend shot her a strange look, but waved and turned down the corner, leaving Uriko by herself.
Huh…this must be a joke…yeah, that's it, it's just a prank.
The lone girl decided. Still…I have a weird feeling about this… She shook her head in dismay and continued home in silence.*****
"Hey, Kenji!!"
At the sound of his name, he jerked his head toward the direction of the voice, and frowned slightly at the sight of Uriko running to him. Another day of school had passed, and he was unlocking his bike when she called out to him. It wasn't that he didn't want to see her, his mind was just pondering over what he'd gotten yesterday.
Are you sure you're fighting on the right side?
Was what he'd read in Uriko's neat writing from a small sheet of paper.He'd found that in his backpack, as he was about to get on his bike after being preoccupied when school had let out. Confused by what the message had meant, Kenji dismissed it as some stupid joke a classmate of his was playing and threw the note away; but the nagging feeling he'd gotten while reading it hadn't gone away.
Turning his attention to his girlfriend who had just caught up to him, Kenji gave her a faint smile and greeted, "Hi Uriko."
Strangely, he noticed that she keeping her distance; the teenage girl glanced at him meaningfully as she asked casually, "So…what were you up yesterday? Like, after school…?"
"Nothing much… Sorry for not showing up, I was kind of…busy."
"With…what?"
"No reason," Kenji answered quickly, concentrating on jamming his key into the lock of the thick bar holding his bike. He didn't want to tell her about the juniors that had cornered him in an area of the school and gave him a rough time, or that he'd beaten them all up practically without effort. Summer training with Yugo had really helped him fight more swiftly and put more force into his attacks.
"Erika and I were waiting for you," Uriko continued, giving him a sideways glance. "After waiting about half an hour, we decided to go off on our own."
"I apologize about that."
"…How about a ride today?" she asked almost shyly.
"Sure, whatever." He replied, getting on his bike. Gingerly, as if he or the bike was delicate, she climbed on after him; while she was doing so, the black-haired student asked, "Did you…leave something for me in my backpack yesterday?"
She stiffened. "No…"
Wondering why she was sounding so faint, he shrugged it off, deciding not to question her further and they rode off the campus.
*****