Big thanks and major kudos to Andrew Glasco for his ideas on this chapter. Also, there is another scene in here dedicated to IndigoSiren.
Chapter 26
Denying The Truth
For a second, Uriko felt herself being drawn to him… willingly returning to the warmth of his hand and the memory of their shared embrace; how powerful this act of eroticism was, possessing the deadly ability to beguile her into letting him have his way with her. Innocent as she was, the young girl just had her first experience being a victim of passion and succumbed due to her own curiosity and desire of wanting to further the fire dancing through her veins, even serving as a silent admission of her mild attraction toward Kenji. But as their faces got closer, she detected the lust in his eyes and realized her position, how he wanted her for the pure physicality – she was still his captive and he only wanted her body to satisfy his virile desires, very likely nothing more than that. Refusing to be used in such a manner, she slapped his hand away and drew the blanket more tightly against her body, determined not to become entangled in his web again as she shook her head vigorously and cried out in a hoarse tone, "No! No… we can't-!"
As calm and collected as ever, the dark-haired ninja was unabashed and comfortably allowed his next provocative words to linger in the air, "And another astonishing turnabout to further this ever-engrossing game… though I must admit that you cause me bewilderment on occasional instances, kitten. After all, only moments ago your voice urged me on, and yet now your attitude has completely changed to the opposite stance. How fickle…"
"That was a mistake…! A mistake that shouldn't have happened… oh, why did I-I… argh…" his younger companion just kept shaking her head and even released her hold on the blanket to cover her ears, trying to blocking out his taunting statements that admittedly shook up her own resolve on her person. There truly was mental warfare going inside her head at the moment, multiple self-beatings at the weakness that made her succumb, as well as sizable portions of deep shame that forced her to admit she liked the pleasure Kenji had given her. Of course, Uriko would never admit that little tidbit of information to him, for he could easily hold it as a sort of mental weapon over her in the future, but one having to live with the truth somehow felt worse; the fact remained that he tempted her, and she fell for it. A long trickle of tears started gliding down her smooth cheeks at the wrenching revelation, leaving nothing but doubt and confusion as the tormented girl sobbed quietly and turned her face away to hide the new display of victimization…
Her tears stirred his anger, oddly enough, and made him want to strike some sense into the girl, but managed to restrain himself; his reasoning for the desired action was that he had pleasured her only minutes before, so why would she be crying over it now? "A mistake…?" Kenji repeated in a low, controlled tone, though he practically growled out the next words, "Interesting, truly, how you did not utter an expression of regret a single time while our…activities…were occurring, my precious little kitten…"
She did shudder a bit, knowing full well that she could not lie and deny that she had indeed enjoyed their experience together, but… "It-it was new! And… really strange! I… I just wasn't expecting it to feel… to feel like that… Y-you've gotta admit, it was weird to you too, Kenji!!"
He shifted his weight back, placing his hands upon the bed to prop his weight up as he regarded his slightly-hysterical companion through narrowed eyes. "Labeling the experience as 'weird' is a tad harsh, I believe… after all, many times it has tended to have a negative connotation; I would rather think fondly of our embrace. I suppose it is differences like that which make us polar opposites. But I am honestly curious, why do you so adamantly refuse to admit that you enjoyed it? …And that you want more, to keep on going?"
Stung by the underlying truth, Uriko flung her arms at him as if she were trying to throw the essence of his words away from her vicinity; "'Cause… because I'm ashamed! You have no dignity, Kenji… but then again, you don't know how it feels to be a normal person with morals anyway, so of course you wouldn't understand why I feel stressed out about this…"
The latter part of her statement pricked his nerves a bit and he almost frowned, but twisted it into a strange form of grin as the level-headed assassin hissed heatedly, "Shame…? No, my dear cat, I believe you are upset because you wantonly allowed a man that you despise to violate your body, and you enjoyed every second of it, even responded to help his actions, almost like a little harlot succumbing to her master's commands… Hah, so you see, I can identify the reason behind your dilemma quite well…"
The label he just tagged onto her person made the girl sneer at him furiously, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was seething from what he said, "A man? Yeah right, you're not even a boy! You're just a creep, a slug even lower than dirt! And I'm not a whore, so stop wishing I was one! The only thing you actually said that's true just now is that I-I hate you! You're never gonna touch me again, you hear that?!"
He allowed her comments to reach him, but not one of them truly found his ears, and even smirked triumphantly to show his lack of concern as he elicited provokingly, "Put down your claws, little kitten… Spew forth whatever you wish, but one fact will always remain the truth, and you cannot escape the knowledge that you did give yourself to me."
At that reminder, anger just ignited within her again, and the teenage brunette shrieked her next words forcefully, although she was really trying to convince herself more than Kenji, "I-I did not, darn it! You f-forced me! You just barged in when I was changing and grabbed me, and not to mention hurt my arm like heck, you jerk! Then you shoved me down and the bed and forced yourself on me!!"
The dark-haired ninja paid little heed to her passion and laughed freely; "You might be able to convince others of that, Uriko… but unfortunately for you, your efforts are wasted here, for you and I, we both undoubtedly know the truth… I did not mistake feeling you press yourself closer to me… your hips wriggling in delight… the loud moan you released after you bit me… and of course, who could forget the way your body responded so willingly to the pleasure that I gave to you…"
Her lower lip trembling from fury, the thoroughly-annoyed Uriko ripped the blanket off of the bed and wrapped it tightly around her body as she strolled over to the bathroom with the intention of getting fully dressed this time, and thoughts plagued her on the way. Argh, just walk away, walk away, walk away…! Kenji's just trying to poison my mind with those horrible thoughts – what he's saying isn't true, darn it! I'm not a loose little whore, or one of those cheap hussies he probably goes to every night; I didn't give myself to him, he bloody forced me!!
His taunting, chilling laugh found its way to her while she walked, and his eyes trained intently upon her slender form as she left the main room and escaped into the lavatory, slamming the door shut loudly before three clicks sounded to inform that she had checked the lock carefully. Kenji was unfazed by her impassioned declarations; he knew what had happened between them, and now could entice her if he wished, and aside from that, he had been in far more dangerous situations, so the mere thought of this girl being a threat mildly amused him at most. Comforted by his renewal of confidence, his laughter finally died down to a chuckle upon realizing that his captive was fully aware of what transpired, and no matter how much she tried to deny it, he would always be right should he bring up the incident in the future. Even better, given the right situation, he could have her again… that thought alone excited him, arousing a now familiar feeling below the waistline, but the young ninja merely laid back on the bed and reflected on the evening, thinking of the many twists and turns, both for and against him… and yet in the end, he had won the night – of that he was completely certain.
Inside the small bathroom, Uriko set the blanket over the downed toilet seat cover and quickly grabbed the nightshirt that had been left on the counter, draping it over her body, grateful for a barrier at least, but felt angry that it had come at this time, which was far too late… Trying to shake off the memory, she performed her nightly pre-bed duties, all the while ignoring the slight ache at her nether regions, and eventually emerged from the facilities with the large comforter encircling her figure again. She walked forward, passing by the bed to reach her bag and on the way, yanked off the sheet from around her form and threw it at the smirking face of her captor, who had sat up when she re-entered the room, and allowed her the small pleasure of hitting him in the face. The still-blushing girl unzipped the container of her belongings and withdrew a large sweater with the arms far too long, but nonetheless, she threw that over her shirt and when it draped down to mid-thigh, she finally felt safe enough to be around the cleverly manipulative ninja.
Smirking arrogantly in response, the seventeen-year-old tossed the blanket aside out to the bed's length in one easy motion, undisturbed by the pathetic attempt of an attack, and then glanced at his young female captive, commenting casually, "This has been quite an interesting evening, even I must admit… but let us rest now. I am sure that we both have much to anticipate for tomorrow, after all."
"Go to hell," she hissed at him vigorously in a rare show of great aggravation, as if the way she just cursed was any indication; he glared at her silently but only made a gesture toward the cot, which caused the girl to shudder at the mere concept of resting next to him. Firmly making a decision in her mind, Uriko reached out just far enough to yank the blanket back into her grasp, as well as the only pillow on the bed before stomping over to where the dresser was located, a safe distance away and across the room. Under his watchful eyes, she wrapped the long comforter securely around her form to prevent getting dirty from the floor and plopped right down, resting her head onto the pillow as she faced her captor, and submitting to a childish urge, stuck her tongue out at Kenji. A licentious smile curved his lips as he sought to taunt and provoke the younger youth, rather enjoying this new game she had just initiated, "The floor is suddenly more inviting than the bed? Or are you just cowering because you are so afraid of the truth of your true feelings, my precious little kitten…?"
"I'm not list-ening…" the earthbound figure replied in a sing-a-long, melodic tone as she covered her ears and closed her eyes, though truthfully for once, she was cursing her zoanthrope counterpart for being a feline and having great hearing to pick up everything he said. Still, she refused to let the domineering ninja know of that little factor and remained stationary, burrowing deeper into the blanket until only half of her head was bared to naked air, this action making a peculiar light shine in the antagonist's intense amber eyes…
"Oh, but I believe you are… otherwise, you would have no reason to burrow deeper into your hole like a frightened little mole as you just did now," - his gaze stayed trained on her intently, quiet, confident, never wavering – "You hide because you know I speak the truth, Uriko…"
"Brrr…" she shivered just then, rustling in her blanket as she hugged her fists to her heart protectively, drawing inner strength to defend herself from his mental molestation; "What an annoying, shrill wind that's blowing in here tonight… I sure wish it'd go outside where it belongs…"
Though his words were cool and confident, his eyes were bitterly icy as he elicited provocatively, "What a shame that you only see atrocity, for I find the breeze to be in perfect harmony, my precious kitten… it falls upon my skin and presents a feeling that I lacked before that moment, granting me new knowledge and an undeniable, intoxicating sense of strength… I find nothing but positive attributes, and yet interestingly enough, the truth that this draft brings tonight apparently draws different feelings from those that are too picky and spoiled to appreciate such generosity…"
"Don't make fun of endearments, you jerk!" She scowled ferociously at him, angry that he cleverly turned her own insult against her with his baffling, selectively poetic way of speaking, "Other people actually say what they mean, and how dare you make fun of them for not being all confusing and telling how they feel, just like it is…!"
"Yes, yes, I am aware that you find my speech offensive, my dear cat…" the ninja answered with a smooth drawl, very effectively keeping control of his emotions; "But I wonder, do you truly think my way of speaking is abhorrent, or are you simply too dimwitted to understand the meaning of what I say?"
Aggravated, she gritted her teeth slightly and ground out, "I'm not stupid just 'cause I think the way you talk is weird and confusing! Sheesh, you're even worse than Master Long sometimes…! Argh, forget it… just shut up already and let me go to sleep!"
"Well, if that is what you wish to have… then you will be allowed that luxury when you return to your rightful place, Uriko." Kenji bit off coldly, unyielding steel in his tone. "How intriguing your actions are… I was always under the impression that kittens were spoiled rotten, taking nothing but the best in every situation they are presented, and yet with you, there is an open spot upon the bed, and you would rather choose to rest upon the cold floor."
"That's 'cause this spot is the best place in the room… it's away from you!" She briefly laughed, the expression of amusement sounding rather bitter but ever so catty to match that of her zoanthrope counterpart as she noised smugly, "Meow, Kenji…"
"…Stubborn as a mule, I believe that is the known saying," he mused calmly with a casual shake of his head, though his eyes did take on a curious light just then, suggesting that the ninja was not utterly pleased with her current behavior; "Will you not comply then?"
"Sheesh, of course not!" Uriko voiced quite forcefully and shivered at the thought of his body looming over hers in the bed while she was sleeping, teasing and toying with her senses and beguiling her mind so skillfully, as he just did not too long ago… "I don't wanna sleep next to you…! Y-you'll try to force me again…"
He chuckled darkly and waved her words away dismissively while a hard edge of amusement formed over his expression when he repeated her accusation, "'Force', you say… hah, that is such an inappropriate word for what we shared, Uriko… You had better be mindful of where you direct your anger to, for you received that which you asked in the first place… you could have stopped me, used your arms to push me away, but you just pressed yourself closer and moaned for more…"
"Grrrrrr… no! Shut up! You're lying!!" Her eye twitched in visible anger at his provocative words, but then the girl had to bury her face into the pillow and mentally fought away the erotic memory of his lips teasing her body and indeed drawing moans of pleasure and consent from her accursed, treacherous self when he had brought her to a blistering climax…
Unfazed by her furious cry, he chuckled lowly, his eyes still trained intently upon her blanket-wrapped form, easily identifying the unease and discomfort she felt by the rigid position, "An odd form of hatred, indeed…"
"Would you please just leave me alone now…? I wanna go to sleep…" her voice was actually soft and light as she pleaded and the girl released a heavy sigh at his most recent remark, tired of wasting her time fighting with him; tears pricked at her eyes when she murmured softly, "Oh, sis… I wish I was home so bad...! I wanna get outta here… I can't stand this, someone trying to control my life…!"
The ninja shot a bleak glare to her back, relishing in his power of authority over the feeble victim and his next words were flat, not laced with any amusement or uncertainty, only straight coldness: "You are never going home again, Uriko Nonomura."
The bitter, dark possibility of his statement slammed into her with full force, and thankful that her back was turned to him, Uriko allowed tears to slide down her cheeks freely as she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to fight off the desolation discreetly seeping in. "I-I will too, darn it! A-as soon as you start our next battle already, I-I'll beat you and be halfway home! I'll… I'll do whatever it takes to beat you, Kenji, I promise…"
"Your training still has far to come; if you are serious about improving, then tomorrow, we shall spar and I will continue teaching you. Hrmp, you will need to be at your absolute best if you wish to stand a chance against me, amateur…"
Though she was thinking of that same idea, still confused in the gray area of why he would assist her, the Kenpo learner growled when he insulted her fighting disadvantage again; "Okay, we will! I still don't get why you're helping me with this… but I'm definitely gonna be careful around you 'cause it's probably for some evil purpose as usual."
"Huh… believe whatever you wish, little girl," he snorted and slanted his head to the side in an expression of nonchalance, "But you will undoubtedly benefit from my knowledge, and witness considerable improvement in your technique through my guidance, so with those rewards to receive, you have no need for a reason or explanation for my actions." The young assassin had absolute confidence in his words, for while he was thrilled with the possibility of having a challenging fight with the girl, truly, the thought that she may actually defeat him and win their deal was a bad jest at most.
"Blah, blah, blah…" Feeling fatigue settle too comfortably into her body, she yawned loudly and snuggled even deeper into the blanket, finally feeling warm after experiencing so much bitter iciness both physically and mentally over the course of just a few nightly hours. "Holy Mackerel, it must be really late by now! Go to sleep already, you darn owl…"
"Of course, I would love to do so…" he grinned as he spoke while twisting his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, starting over towards his captive with a mysterious glint in his eyes and his posture its usual tall and proud stature. With her eyes closed, Uriko was unable to detect his presence even when his shadow loomed over her form, although she felt a bit surprised that he had finally agreed with her, and slight gratitude for the serenity of the current atmosphere. When he reached his destination, Kenji knelt down beside the girl in silence, looking upon her face in undeniable amusement, knowing full well with a smug smirk that her peaceful expression would be broken in mere moments. He reached down and securely grabbed her lightweight form in his arms, and simply slung her over his shoulder, to which she screeched aloud in surprise and instantly began to struggled, but unfortunately had entangled herself in the blanket too much to offer steadfast resistance.
"Ack! What the heck do you think you're doing?! Hey, put me down right now, you creep!!" She protested heatedly even as the darker-haired teenager simply chuckled in response and casually walked back to the bed, plopping his unwilling accomplice down upon the mattress only a moment later, of course much to her disapproval. As soon as she regained footing, the brunette frantically scrambled to unravel herself from the blanket, after succeeding when quite a few humiliating minutes passed, she shot Kenji a cold glare and tried to step past him in an attempt to leave the bed. He simply shot an arm out to impede her forward step, and in response, the usually soft-spoken girl eyed him evenly, her irises filled with a bleak deadliness that was rare in her character as the muscles throughout her body tightened with rigid tension. She allowed the silent emotion in her mahogany pools to convey her feelings about the adversary to the corresponding person, and her arm soon flew up as well, a clenched fist hovering mere inches away from coming into contact with his nose.
"Let… me… go…" she growled lowly.
But unfortunately for her, the ninja had been in many situations requiring much more nerve than this current one, and although he felt just a bit impressed by her show of strength, he was not the slightest bit intimidated by the foolish courageousness, so he simply smirked and gave a command. "Such aggression over such a small, tedious little factor… Lay down and go to sleep, Uriko. Despite what you might think would happen from resting beside me, I will assure you right now that I have no ill intentions toward you, nor currently harbor the desire to engage in another encounter resembling our most recent one. This has been a long, trying night for the both of us, and I simply wish to rest in preparation for our training session tomorrow."
"I never know what to expect from you…" she confessed softly, but wanting to end the ugliness of the situation, she finally decided to believe him for now and turned around to lie down upon the cot, though inwardly noted to herself that she would indeed hit him if he broke his word. The tentative girl snagged most of the blanket and tucked the material underneath her chin, trying to get rid of the goose bumps that prickled her arms at being so close to the antagonist again; she could never sleep on this bed again without remembering what they shared. Closing her eyes and trying to quickly succumb to unconsciousness, she scowled viciously under her breath, still feeling resentful toward the older youth for touching her the way he did earlier, and was also angry at herself for not fighting him off. Detecting unease and very obvious tension stiffening her muscles, Kenji just smirked a tad before he descended right next to her, noting that it certainly did feel good to rest against the pillow, as it had been quite an eventful night.
Rather content in how the evening had turned out overall, the young ninja brushed off the portion of the bed sheet that he was left with, and resumed his usual rigid position of slumber as he closed his eyes and allowed his body to slow its action, drifting into a peaceful sleep.
-----
"Good night, you two…"
With a slow wave, the young woman gave the couple a soft smile, and then abruptly turned around to trail off home on her own; she had walked two of her good friends back to their residence after the meeting and turned down an invitation to stay over for a visit. She knew their intentions were selfless and very considerate, but felt that it more than slightly unnecessary to intrude on a private world just because she happened to be unattached, and her younger sister was still away on her camping trip. A little over a week had passed and the dark-haired nurse had not yet heard from Uriko, tried to call the place but was unable to locate the number, although even with the temptation of actually traveling up there, she finally decided to be optimistically trusting. Goodness knew how embarrassed the sixteen-year-old would be, having a relative check up on her as if she were a mere child and could not take care of herself, so Alice restrained herself from the notion and concentrated on other areas that needed attention.
The meeting of the resistance group had gone considerably well, given the circumstances – Alan, a former war veteran and their leading figure, just recently recovered from his injuries of the last intense encounter with the ZLF, was already back up and running about. He expressed the desire to return to his birth country of France in the next few days and start spreading news of the fight for peaceful coexistence around to the rest of the world, since the prejudicial problem did not only lie in Japan, of course. His wife protested the vigorous actions, rightfully thinking it foolish that he could possibly be risking his health and even Jane Gado, his battle-loving daughter, wanted him to keep resting, but he was stubborn enough to grudgingly refuse their requests. Alice worried about his well-being at times, but the sturdy lion zoanthrope had assured her of his confidence in her nursing abilities on more than one occasion, so she promised to try her best in serving as the group's top healer and left it at that.
As she walked home now, the young woman thought about the sadder side of the issues discussed at the gathering earlier: the death toll, where the results of the last battle had been counted and revealed that five of their members died on the field. There were a few injured parties recovering at her hospital, and the hope of their return to normalcy was fairly positive, but the majority of sympathy and compassion had to be shed for the family of those recently, unfortunately deceased. When she glanced around at the room and witnessed the anguished tears, desolation tainting the expressions of several of her fellow allies, Alice felt her heart ache for them, but with the glimpse into their soul even dealt her a rather harsh reprisal. She saw herself reflected in their eyes, identified the agony of having lost a loved one as a consequence of this necessary, yet long-drawn and will-bearing war of both fighting to achieve coexistence, while simultaneously fending off the villainous zoanthropes that wanted to use violence and terror to dominate humanity.
Speaking of which, the Zoanthrope Liberation Front had been riling up a bit of activity as the day before, recently striking a summer school that was exclusively of human students, and once again gave innocent bystanders the idea that all zoanthropes were brutal, terrorizing figures. The ZLF started the mid-afternoon event off by bombing the library of the learning facility, which of course had a few casualties right then and there, but then they carried the atrocity further by spreading fire around to the woodlands located right behind the building. Their evil deed done, they left moments later, and firefighters and other nearby volunteers rushed to the scene soon after that, trying their best to beat down the roaring flames while those trapped inside were carefully, but too slowly ejected. Worse, when the resistance group had come in to save the frightened and defenseless teenagers, they had also been scorned and throw in the same category as the adversaries, the hysterical humans unable to distinguish the difference between friend and foe.
Later that night on the news, blame had been placed not only on the ZLF, but all other zoanthropes as well, which dampened the spirits of the resistance group and caused a few of the radical members to vocalize their feelings of hopelessness in the entire situation. The selected leading figures had their hands full calming everyone down and assuring that there was a purpose in the fight, the Liberation Front would eventually fall for good to prevail in the world, but the negativity still discreetly lingered about. Growing a bit melancholic at the memories, the twenty-four-year-old nurse sighed heavily and continued strolling down the path that would eventually lead her back home, though inwardly she felt reluctant in returning to a silent and empty facility. When she finally approached the steps climbing up to her house, she threw one last glance over her shoulder, a silent attempt to leave the problems outside before retreating into family quarters that only deserved optimism and prosperity.
"No news is good news, I suppose…" she murmured quietly as she opened the door stepped over the threshold, temporarily filing away the dark and serious topics of bitter reality, instead replacing her contemplative thoughts with the events of tomorrow.