Bloody Roar II: Unwanted Betrayal
Part 3
Damn those freakin' assholes! Damn them to hell!
A totally enraged Kenji repeatedly threw his fists into the stone wall before him. It had been several hours after the brutal fight, and the afternoon had turned into nighttime. The dark-haired boy was currently in the backyard of Uriko's house, taking out his dangerously explosive anger by punching the wall and frequently cursing him and Uriko's new enemies. Over and over, the image of the battered girl flashed in his mind; that made him feel tortured.
After a horrified Mitsuko Nonomura had seen her daughter in the beat-up stage, Kenji somberly told her what had happened. Uriko's mother immediately motioned him to set the girl down on the couch and nursed her wounds, and then she called up Yugo Ohgami and his girlfriend, Alice Tsukagami (Nonomura). Both of them had promised to come over shortly after nightfall. Currently, Uriko was still unconscious, but according to Mitsuko, she felt the same faint pulse in her wrist that the young ninja had.
Kenji finally stopped pounding the wall when he noticed that his knuckles were starting to look red. Glancing down disapproving at them, he thrusted his hands in his pockets and went back into the house to be greeted by hushed whispers coming from the kitchen, next to the living room where Uriko was resting. Kneeling beside her, the young student stared mournfully at her still figure, bandages covered up by the thin blanket placed upon her. Subconsciously, his shaky hands traveled lightly across her body and grasped her hand tightly, wincing slightly at the coolness of it.
It doesn't look like she's even still alive… Kenji thought bitterly. Uriko…don't die…not when you haven't even reached your fifteenth birthday…
"Is it that serious…?" a concerned voice was faintly heard by him.
He felt disgusted at their attitude as he replied silently, his words coated with sarcastic passion, No; it's not serious, even though Uriko looks like she's freaking dead! But no, her condition's not that serious at all!
"Uriko…" her name slipped out of his mouth before he realized what he'd said. "Whatever happens, don't leave…" he pleaded softly.
Kenji lowered his head and rested it gently in the middle of her chest, listening to her heart beat rhythmically. Squeezing his eyes shut as tears once again began trickling out of them; he held tightly onto her hand and just lay there, the pounding of her heart strangely sounding soothing to him.
She can't go…she doesn't know that I love her…
At that previous thought, Kenji's head suddenly popped up from atop her chest, his own heart beginning to pound at his silent confession.
I what…?
"I love her," Kenji realized in a soft tone of voice. "But that's impossible…" I'm not capable of those emotions! …Am I?
Just as he thought he felt her hand twitch slightly, a low gasp was heard at his admittance. He turned his head to look behind him and scowled quietly when he saw Mitsuko, Yugo, and Alice under the doorway leading into the kitchen.
"…Yes?" Kenji asked his audience a bit harshly.
"Kenji…" Alice started to say, but trailed off, deciding not to comment on his public confession. The blue-haired woman bit her lip as she looked sympathetically at the teenager.
"She's going to be okay," Yugo finished for her, his buff features softening at the sight of his torn younger 'brother'. "Uriko just needs rest; we really should get going."
"I'm staying." Kenji stated bluntly, the tone in his voice not leaving any room for negotiation.
Yugo looked at him sternly and opened his mouth to argue, but Mitsuko shook her head and mouthed, "It's alright, he can stay." Shaking his head, the muscular twenty-three year old thanked her and turned to leave. After Alice gave her 'mother' a tight hug, the two women followed Yugo out of the room; Kenji and Uriko were left alone.
"They say you're gonna be all right," he whispered to his girlfriend with a weak smile. "So when will you wake up? When will you ever get to go outside and bask in the rays of sunlight, running around with that caring aura of yours emitting from you?" Grumbling in frustration, Kenji thought in slight amusement, Hrmp, if Uriko was conscious, she'd probably comment on how 'corny' my statement is, just like a few months back…
"Uhh…" a soft moan that came from her lips was her response.
"!"
"Pain…ow…" Uriko groaned as her eyes started fluttering open.
"Uriko!"
"W-who?" she whimpered, shutting her eyes as she remarked, "Too tired…"
Shifting to hold her hand between both of his, Kenji smiled in relief and told her eagerly. "This is Kenji; are you okay?"
Her face scrunched up in a grimace as she tried to sit up.
"Uh uh, stay down," her boyfriend ordered gently as he shook his head in disapproval.
"My head hurts…" The fourteen-year-old girl complained weakly. "…And my back."
His expression tightened while he muttered, "That little she-devil…"
"…What'd you call me?" she looked at him, her eyes once shining with her energetic attitude, now appeared tired and stormy; she also looked confused.
"Not you," he assured her quickly. "Our twin brother and sister, Wannabe-Ninja and Copy-cat."
She chuckled. "You made a joke…"
"…Uh huh…and why is that funny?" he inquired curiously.
"You're usually very serious,"
"But I've loosened up, right? It's not like I've never laughed." Kenji grinned. "I remember how you got me to smile the first time I gave you a ride home last year; you were all yelling in my ear while I was pedaling."
"Yeah…uhh…sorry about that…" Uriko let out a dry cough.
"It's okay…"
"…So what am I gonna do about my double?" she asked while stubbornly lifting herself up into a sitting position on the couch; deciding to assist her rather than argue, Kenji let go of her hand and stuck a few pillows behind her to support her aching back.
"I don't know," he answered after Uriko looked a little more comfortable. The black-haired teenager didn't tell her about him making that dark promise of killing her glamorous twin. The couple glanced at each other and wordlessly leaned in together in a gentle embrace.
"We need to ask Mother and Yugo for help," she murmured finally, hugging her boyfriend as tight as she could manage with her still-recovering arms.
"What do you mean 'we'?" Kenji asked shrilly.
"We gotta wipe out those suckers." She replied matter-of-factly.
"Not you, no way," he shook his head forcefully and his long bangs swiveled around his forehead. "I can take care of them by himself; you need rest." Uriko smiled faintly and reached her hand up to gently touch his cheek.
"Thanks for the concern, but if I could take on Jenny, Master Long, Shina, Stun, you, Busuzima, twice with Shenlong, and still get out okay, then I can beat my dear 'twin sister'." She replied convincingly as she named off all the people that she had to fight in order to rescue her mother a little while back.
He raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay, you got a good point there."
Uriko stifled a yawn as she lazily shut her eyes, her long black lashes clashing gently with her bottom eyelid.
"Oh…sorry if I'm bothering you. Tired?" Kenji asked with concern; he could see signs of tiredness in the depth of her cloudy brown eyes.
"A little bit…"
"Uh, I'll leave you alone then…"
"Are you…sleeping overnight?" she questioned.
Her boyfriend nodded and informed, "Yes. Oh, in case you want to know, Yugo and Alice were here earlier."
"Thanks…"
"I'll see you in the morning then," the fifteen-year-old boy got up.
"Kenji…"
"Yeah?"
"Stay with me till I go to sleep…please?" she asked timidly.
Her boyfriend smiled. "Sure, I want to look out for you." Especially since I failed to do that earlier…
"I appreciate that, thanks, although don't think I'm some kinda damsel-in-distress!" Uriko said with determination as a grin spread over her face.
"Hey, I don't," Kenji assured. "You're one of the most strong-willed people I know."
She sighed. "Always suave with your words…"
"I guess I'll take that as a compliment…" he answered wryly. "Now, go to sleep, okay…?"
"'Night," the sleepy young student said to him before closing her eyes.
The male ninja leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, then settled back into his crouching position. As she began to breathe more evenly, Kenji took her hand and once again kept it in between the two of his, the softness of her skin caressing his rough palm when he held on more tightly.
*****
"…Are you sure we should be doing this so soon?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Don't worry, I feel a lot better."
"After barely forty-eight hours?" her boyfriend asked somewhat incredulously.
"Mmmhmm," Uriko assured him, even while a groan escaped her mouth as she was standing up to go to her room and change.
"Uriko…"
"No, really, I'm okay!" she said as cheerfully as she could while walking out of the living room and ascending up the stairs. Following behind her, the couple reached the top and started going down the hall; upon reaching her room, the brown-haired girl said, "Besides, we gotta get rid of them ASAP, right?"
"Still…are you absolutely sure?" he repeated as they stepped inside.
"I feel well enough, I can do it," she told him, although his question brought a worried frown to her face as she pulled out another one of her favorite outfits from her dresser.
"Well…I'll have to take your word for it," Kenji said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Looking distracted, Uriko subconsciously began tugging her elbows loose of her sweater, getting ready to yank it over her head. Suddenly remembering her companion, she stopped and giggled, feeling self-consciousness. "Uh…you're gonna watch me change?"
He blushed fiercely and immediately stepped outside, quickly shutting the door.
"I, I'm sorry about that…" The teenage boy apologized as soon as she went back outside a few minutes later.
Pink flush was decked along her cheeks. "It's okay, I don't mind since I know you didn't do it on purpose."
He smiled and said nervously, "Y-you look nice,"
"Thanks," she replied just as timidly.
The female sophomore was now dressed in mainly white, with blue and gold trimmings along the edges of her clothing. Her outfit made her seem like she was going to a gym, with her short, sleeveless top, the shirt slightly exposing her bare belly. Covering the upper portion of her legs was a pair of white shorts, the fabric ending a couple of inches above her knees. What she was wearing wasn't really her choice of style, but she figured it would be more comfortable to fight in. Usually Uriko let her silky brown hair hang loose, but at the moment, she had it tied up in a tight ponytail behind her head. The long bangs of hers still dangled in front of her face though; she kinda preferred that.
Kenji had the opportunity of changing as well, since Yugo had stopped by earlier that morning and dropped off a small bag of clothes for him. He'd gone into the bathroom and reemerged in a gray shirt, also without sleeves like Uriko's top. His lower body was snug in matching gray pants, and to top the outfit off, Kenji had wrapped a black scarf around his neck.
"Yeah, I understand…man, are you a superhuman or something, recovering that fast?"
"Hey, we both somewhat are…" she answered seriously. Her fingers curved into a clawing position while she playfully hissed and pretended to scratch his arm.
"Okay, calm down, kitty." He joked with a grin as the couple walked down the stairs and neared the door leading outside of Uriko's house.
"See you later, Mother!" She called out before they left, and then turned to Kenji and managed to shoot back teasingly, "You should talk, mole boy."
"Grrrr…" he growled, although he wasn't really mad at her remark; what she said was true, after all.
Watching from afar, a hushed voice whispered, "Hrmp, they've got more guts than I thought."
"Looks like she's still alive." Her partner taunted.
"Shut up Bakuryu," she hissed.
"It's not my fault you screwed up," came his arrogant reply.
She tossed her hair back, an irritated expression on her face. "Whatever, let's just get them…"
Waiting for their opponents to appear, Uriko and Kenji continued conversing lightly, although there was a slight edge of nervousness in their voice.
"Think our new techniques will help? I mean, the first couple of them are okay, but the others…" the young girl whispered to her boyfriend out of the corner of her mouth. She'd finally found out that Kenji had been training in the summer like she had and the two of them planned to use them in the next battle.
"I hope so…" he replied.
Just as he was saying that, they heard a swift, swishing sound, and the quiet landing of two light-weighted figures. Practically expecting it, Uriko and Kenji whirled around and took several steps back; an emotionless was both of the teen's faces as they eyed the people standing before them.
"At least they didn't catch us by surprise this time," Uriko remarked in a low murmur to her boyfriend.
"Right." He replied quickly, looking coolly at the clones.
"Well, isn't that a warm greeting." The fake Uriko commented, her words coated with sarcasm.
The other brown-haired girl glared silently at her while saying, "Let's cut the meaningless chit-chat." Getting ready to fight, she thrusted her fist out at her enemy, then retracted it and twirled around in a full circle to land into her battle stance. Next to her, Kenji back-flipped almost effortlessly and flipped the scarf behind him to the back of his head. To the couple's annoyance, their doubles copied their movements, smirking while they were doing so.
"Brainless lowlifes," Uriko retorted irritatingly at the two opponents, her words again shocking herself and Kenji since they were both used to her kind language and milder temper. The existence of her twin and the fact that she'd gotten so brutally beaten really agitated the sophomore student.
"Look who's talking," was Bakuryu's chilly reply.
Without warning, Kenji growled and quickly ran foreword. After he leapt into the air, he let out a loud, "Kee-yah!" and kicked his twin in the chest.
Fortunately, the fake Uriko jerked her head to glance back at her partner and while she wasn't paying attention, her opponent took advantage of that. Before she could remember whom she was fighting, the other brown-haired girl put a determined look on her face and tried out one of her new techs. Sneaking up behind her still-distracted double, Uriko kicked her in the back three consecutive times, then delivered a hard uppercut blow; she made the other girl fly across the sidewalk and crash to a landing.
Her jaw set, the angry twin glared at Uriko as she wiped the blood away from the corner of her mouth, not even noticing that it was staining the white sleeves of her otherwise-green outfit. Without even murmuring any threats, she darted foreword; her opponent could tell that she was trying to execute her "Fire!" technique, which was unfortunate for the red-eyed girl.
Time for new tech #2… she decided hastily.
Just as her clone was rearing her arms backwards, Uriko raised her hands over her head and concentrated silently, before thrusting her clenched fists at her enemy and shouting, "Ice!" Little gusts of chilly wind wrapped around the twin, startling her out of the unfinished Fire tech as blue sparks began emitting from Uriko's hands. Forming into solid, they flew through the air and jabbed into her double, then vanished as quickly as they had appeared. The person hit by the icicles grimaced as she was forced back a few steps from the attack. Countering that, she sprinted at Uriko and kicked at her shin, morphing into her beast form while doing so.
So we're doing beast forms, Uriko thought. Mother and Kenji probably wouldn't want me to do this, but…
She spun around with her arms outstretched and knocked her twin away, morphing as well; reappearing in the animal figure of a gray, tiger-striped cat with vicious teeth and sharp claws. Confident with her tremendous advantage in agility and armed with way better attacking force than back when she'd saved mother, Uriko's temporary red eyes focused on her fake mirror self.
"Grrowl!" the clone challenged, scratching angrily at the air.
"Mmrrowll!" was Uriko's reply.
Fighting not too far away from them, Kenji heard the familiar noise and turned to spot his girlfriend morph and see the girls hissing at each other in their cat forms.
She shouldn't have morphed, not in her condition! He thought, feeling concerned about her.
While he was looking away, Bakuryu managed to sneak a double kick attack on him and he tried to jump out of the way. Realizing his mistake too late, Kenji cursed under his breath as his twin leapt into the air as well and grabbed him by the waist. Spinning his victim around so that he was upside down and pointed toward the floor, the evil clone cruelly slammed Kenji roughly into the ground. At the last minute, the brown-eyed ninja twisted his head toward one side and instead received the harsh blow to his shoulder.
Damn it, I'm beginning to think that morphing might be a good idea… Kenji thought with a groan as he tumbled on the rocky sidewalk. Glancing around the neighborhood and making sure that no one was around, he quickly hopped up, closing his eyes and clasped his hands together at the middle of his chest while his body spun around. Aggression and a bit of bloodlust quickly took on the young student's instincts as a wave hit his opponent and a large brown mole emerged with narrowed red eyes. Fortunately for Kenji, he had good speed, strength, and tricky technique moves on his side; that thought in his mind, he somewhat appeared to smile in his inhuman form.
Out of the corner of her eye, Uriko subconsciously noticed that her boyfriend had transformed. Remembering the new techs they had earlier planned to use, she eyed her double momentarily, then left her and ran over to Kenji's side. Realizing that it was his cue, he refrained from attacking his opponent and gestured for her to make the first move. Hissing viciously, she dashed at Bakuryu and grabbed him by the arm, twirling him around several times before tossing him to her partner. Upon nearing Kenji, the brown furred mole hit him multiple times, then finally knocked him forcefully into the air with his huge claws.
Uriko gritted her teeth and jumped up; performing one of her moves for the first time while briefly suspended above ground. She punched the helpless boy numerous times, then kicked him a few times, the last hard blow making him fly straight toward her twin, that calculating as a new, eighteen-hit combo of Uriko's. Smiling triumphantly, yet shakily, she came to a smooth landing next to Kenji while they watched Bakuryu crash into the fake Uriko.
"Sshhleee, – (Maybe we should go,) -" came out of Kenji's mole mouth as he gave his girlfriend a sideways glance.
"Mrrowll. – (Good idea.) -" Was her mewing reply. Even though they couldn't acknowledge or comprehend the different way of communication, the couple still understood each other. Suddenly, she remembered. "Mew…roowlll – (Rage move…) -"
Uncomfortably pushing aside their guilt, the two of them rushed up to their enemies in unison. The fake Uriko got out from under her partner and the two of them stood separate from each other, looking at the couple with pure hatred.
Double Inferno, Kenji said silently to himself after pausing to a stop. Almost mechanically, he shot by Bakuryu while flames came from him, burning the opponent. As the mole stopped and clasped his claws together, deeply concentrating, hoards of fire poured in from invisible areas, piercing the victim standing in the middle. Finally, Kenji's figure appeared to split up into two ghastly images, and they slashed Bakuryu harshly, the attack forming an "X". Returning to his human form, the black-haired teenager wound up behind his clone and he looked back at the fallen Bakuryu somewhat pitifully.
That's weird, I usually get a rush of adrenaline after doing my rage move, but now, I feel bad… He thought a little bitterly.
Several feet over, Uriko and her twin had their maroon-colored eyes locked onto each other, neither of them faltering at the 'staring contest'.
Gotta distract her, gotta distract her…but how? Uriko pondered. Then, she had an idea.
She strutted up to her double with fake superiority, her claws slashing at the air as her arms swung back and forth. The mirror image hissed and scrunched down, then pounced at her, paws extended to scratch Uriko at her head. Ignoring the attack, the fourteen-year-old jumped over the other girl and landing behind her, kicking both feet at her back and knocked her foe some distance away.
Surprise Cat Pounce, Uriko told herself, starting to perform her rage move. She leapt on top of her twin's head and curled the both of them up into an energy ball of sizzling electricity. She tossed herself and her victim roughly against the street; numerous light poles, and lastly, at a brick wall of separating two residences' houses. Ending the tech, Uriko made her clone connect with the ground, while she landed a little further away and stood up dazedly as a "Whoooaa…" escaped her mouth.
Shaking her head carefully, the now brown-eyed girl glanced down at the fake and suddenly felt her legs slightly wobble in guilt. Deciding not to fight against it, she willingly stumbled to a fall; Kenji caught up beside his girlfriend and wrapped his arms around her in a caring hug.
"I-I wanna go now…" Uriko whispered, wrenching her face away from the two battered teens.
"S-so do I," he replied as his gaze fell upon them. "But what do we do about-…! Uriko, look!"
"What??" she asked worriedly while twisting her body around to see, and gasped.
Right before their eyes, Bakuryu and the fake Uriko twitched, and then began to disintegrate. It was frightening and disturbing to watch their body parts shred into tiny pieces, then dissolve into thin air. When they were both gone, Uriko blurted out in a hushed tone of voice, "How did that happen?!"
"I have no idea!" he answered, looking incredulously at the spot where his twin was formerly lying. "That was…really freaky…"
"Okay…now I know that I wanna leave," she said and with her boyfriend still hugging her, somehow stood up.
"Same here…" Kenji agreed wholeheartedly and he just kept one arm around her waist the couple started walking away. "But, I-I wonder where they went…?"
Uriko bit her lip and burrowed her face into his damp gray shirt and stated, "Mother and Alice will never believe this…"
Inhaling sharply as she laid her head lightly on his chest, Kenji answered hoarsely, "I bet the same goes for Yugo…" She didn't reply; they strolled the rest of way in silence.
*****