Enemy Façade
Chapter Two

Note: I do not own Power Rangers Jungle Fury or the characters from
that series or Power Rangers itself. I do not make a profit from writing this story.
I do own however the original character Kiran Jones.
Timeline: Seven years after Enemy Within. Please also note that some events were not written in "Enemy Within" but in "Kiran: The story continues" by Darien Fawkes so please find him and read it.
Genre: Angst/Drama/Romance/General
Rating: T+ (Language, Violence, Reference to adult themes and content.)

Wake Jarrod. You don't have much time. You must take this time and use it wisely. The Lion's voice spoke to him; it reverberated from his very soul. The words spoke gravely and wisely and he silently thanked his spirit for not harboring anger towards him. He wandered to a place he felt he needed to visit and as he made his way numbly past the citizens he terrorized as Dai Shi, he paused at the entry way of the cemetery.

The last time he stood on this ground, his father was laid to rest. He had been murdered. That hadn't mattered much. Dead was dead and he was thankful. His Father was not a good man, everyone knew it but a part of him would always crave the acceptance he could never gain. Something in the caught his attention, the way the air smelled. Some of the Masters had walked this ground, it was not recent but he knew they had been there. Following the scent he looked down at the headstone and his heart dropped.

Persephone Kiran Jones.

So many raw emotions ripped through him that for one moment he forgot he was no longer Dai Shi as he yearned to roar into the sky in mourning. As he struggled to remain calm, the Lion offered no support; it was just as torn. But then they realized something as one. Under the Earth, there was no trace scent. As horrid it was to think of her decomposing body, there was nothing.

This is wrong. Dig, Jarrod. The Lion demanded and the man fell to his knees and began to claw into the Earth above the grave.

-Enemy Façade-

RJ walked with Dom into the cemetery, it was the first time either had set foot there. It seemed so quiet.

"RJ, what should we hope to find?" Dom asked, his oldest friend sighed.

"A body. If not we've just uncovered a very big betrayal and I will have to have words with my Father, Swoop and Phant." He said, his voice was low. He didn't want to think his Father or the others would lie to him about something as serious as this. They trudged through the expansive and desolate yard looking for a gravestone baring her name. As they came to an exclusive spot, the realized they no longer had to read each stone. Dai-Shi, or was it Jarrod, had been digging into the Earth and had gotten a sizable way down considering how he had been apparently using his hands.

"Jarrod?" Dom asked he approached with caution; he circled to the right, RJ to the left. Wild eyed and covered in dirt, their former littermate looked up.

"Dom…RJ…she's not here. I can't scent anything, I have to know, I have to!" his voice was desperate and hoarse, there were tears in his eyes and his fingers were bleeding. He didn't seem to notice that.

"Move. Let us dig. Where's Dai-Shi?" RJ demanded as Jarrod scuttled out of the small hole and let them in.

"I don't know. I woke up outside of his temple. My Lion is telling me I do not have much time as myself, I think they made a deal." Fear rang in his voice; he was clearly confused and upset as they were.

"We found out more about Kiran. Apparently she was abused in the worse kind of way as a child. Used for the most depraved things." RJ said, Jarrod sighed and watched them from the ground, pulling his knees to his chest.

"That makes sense considering…things…" he said softly, the other two knew they were a mated pair but what went on behind closed doors they did not want to know. "She would get violent and then panic even when she was in complete control."

"That sucks." RJ said flatly, being the wolf, he mated for life and hadn't even looked for one yet. And personally he didn't like Jarrod enough to want to even have an inkling of what was going on in his sex life.

He continued to dig in silence and listened to Dom ask question after question, seeing how Jarrod was coping. It was clear he wasn't coping well to anything, the fact Dai-Shi was living within him though not at the second, the fact he lead to Master Mao's death, and the fact it seemed his mate who shot herself in the head wasn't dead after all this time. RJ had to admit he probably wouldn't be well in this situation either.

When they struck the coffin they all looked to each other and then stood to the side and RJ looked to Dom as Jarrod watched anxiously from above.

"One…" RJ began.

"Two…" Dom continued.

"THREE!" They shouted and threw it open.

Nothing.

There was nothing.

No body.

Kiran was not in the ground.

Jarrod's face broke and Dom stood shell-shocked while quiet rage raced through RJ. The two climbed from the hole and RJ paced, trying to tell himself that his Father wouldn't be apart of this. Dom decided he would not be filling the hole back in and instead would attempt to comfort Jarrod. He knelt beside him and reached for the other male's shoulder. He jumped at the gentle touch but didn't shrug it off.

"What did I do to deserve this…all my life…I just wanted to be loved…" Jarrod choked out. Dom did something that even surprised him. He took Jarrod's face in his hands and locked eyes with him.

"You've done nothing wrong. Things happen by accident and your path may stray but you're a good person Jarrod. I've always known that. Something is controlling this. It is not you." He said firmly and was surprised to see Jarrod react with tears.

"I'm damned. That's all it is. I'm damned. I'm being punished." Dom felt guilty in that moment, he knew Jarrod had only known love from Kiran and the brief time he had been truly accepted as their littermate and now all of that was gone. He was slowly being eaten away by the darkest threat to humanity, literally. It ate at his soul and his spirit animal, draining them both and corrupting their power for his own dark desires.

"Jarrod, I swear to you I will find out what's happening here." RJ said, Dom had never heard such anger in RJ before. Jarrod looked to him and nodded once.

"Come with us, we can keep you from Dai Shi, at least until we figure out what in the hell is going on," Dom pleaded, Jarrod dislodged from him and shook his head.

"I can't! I know he'll find me. I can feel him now. He grows weary though he made a deal he is ready for me, waiting. I have to go back to being suffocated in my own skin…my mind…spirit…" Jarrod suddenly trailed off and began to look around.

"What, what is it?" Dom severely lacked any tracking skills and heightened sense of smell or vision.

"Laughter." RJ said, he shivered as a chill ran up his spine.

"High pitched manic laughter." Jarrod confirmed.

"You three! What the hell do you think you're doing!" came a voice, they looked up to see the caretaker heading for them.

"Cheese it! Dom grab the shovels, and then we'll all run like hell." RJ said, Dom looked at him, grabbing the shovels.

"Good plan." Then they ran as quick as they could out of the cemetery and down the road. Once they trotted to a stop, they looked at each other gasping.

"Is it just me or are we too old for that?" RJ asked, Jarrod let out a hoarse laugh. He cast one more look to the two then began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Dom asked, watching him sadly.

"Away until Dai Shi takes me again. I don't know what to believe anymore. I'm losing everything." He told them and without another word walked away, never looking back.

"We have to figure this out RJ, we have to." Dom said, "He needs justice and peace on his soul before it's gone. It's the least we could do."

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. Come on, I'm going to have to leave a very angry message with my Father."

To Be Continued