Bloody Roar II: A Hidden Bond
Part 3
"Hey, did ya hear??"
Wednesday afternoon at school, with just one more period to endure and the students would be let out; Erika flew into her Biology class and greeted her best friend breathlessly. Since the teacher hadn't arrived to class yet, she had immediately headed for Uriko's desk. Gasping, she had managed a few understandable words before Uriko held up her hands and protested, "Slow down!"
She took in a deep breath. "So did you?"
"Did I what?"
"Hear about the party?!"
"Um, no" Uriko answered with a confused look on her face.
Erika laughed. "Ryan's throwing a private party tonight at the Teen Zone, and he's invited a quarter of the freshmen grade! Where were you these days, Saturn?"
Remembering that she and Kenji had gone to her secret spot in the park everyday after school, Uriko giggled and said, "Nope, but close"
Too excited to notice the secret smile forming over her best friend's face, Erika continued, "So are ya going?"
"Okay, why not?" she replied with a grin.
With two days of school left, there were parties thrown left and right at the girls' high school. The juniors and seniors had their graduation prom, and not wanting to feel left out, sophomores and freshmen celebrated themselves with parties and dances at the community center. The Teen Zone was a popular dance club near the girls' high school; students usually went there to hang out with their friends or whenever someone had a birthday.
"I guess you don't know that it's a date party?" Erika questioned.
"I-it is??" Her friend stammered, while thinking, Ooh, that could be a bad thing
No one knew about her and Kenji's relationship yet, not even Yugo, Mitsuko, or Erika. She hadn't planned to keep it a secret, but somehow, the two both had not uttered a word about their getting together. Everytime people had seen them with each other and grinned at the couple, they just hastily told them they were "just friends."
Erika nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Who are you going with?"
"Umm, can't decide, you can go first"
Looking embarrassed, she looked away and said, "Better not call me crazy"
"I won't, I promise!"
"Ryan."
Uriko gasped in surprise. "Really? I thought you said he was a jerk!"
"Who's a jerk?" A voice behind them questioned.
Grinning, Erika replied teasingly without even turning around, "You are, Ryan."
Ryan grinned back at her and motioned her over to his desk. After whispering a "See ya later," to Uriko, she obliged and the two started chatting about the party.
A date partyoh boy Uriko thought nervously as she began to take out her supplies from her backpack. Should I go with Kenji? Would people get suspicious?
"Hey," a voice behind her greeted, breaking through her train of thoughts.
Smiling faintly, she turned around and replied looking slightly distracted, "Hi Kenji."
Noticing the look on her face, he asked, "Something wrong?"
"Nope, everything's-"
"Hey Kenji!" A chirpy voice called out from somewhere in the other side of the room.
Wondering who'd interrupted her, Uriko glanced over at the direction of where the voice had come from. She didn't have to wait long; one of their fellow students wearing a tight, sleeveless shirt and black skirt bounded over to the couple from across the room. A closer look at the girl with fiery red hair and sultry green eyes told the couple that it was the lead representative of the ninth grade, and one of the more popular girls in their grade, Wendy Kesler.
"Um, hi Wendy," Kenji replied, somewhat awkwardly.
Obviously not sensing his discomfort, Wendy went on, "You hear about Ryan Scheller's party tonight?"
"No"
"Well, he's throwing a party at six o'clock at the Teen Zone, and I hear that it's gonna be cool cause there's going to be black and violet lights so most of the people that are going will be wearing white." She said all in one breath.
"Uh, thanks for the info" Kenji said with a weary expression on his face.
"Anyway, I don't have a date yet, so you wanna go with me?" Wendy asked.
"" he glanced at his girlfriend.
"Are there going to be a lot of people there?" Uriko questioned, those being the first words she'd uttered since Wendy had interrupted her and Kenji.
"Ohh, you're here too, Uriko" was the freshman representative's reply, clearing not acknowledging her classmate being there until that moment. Her light green eyes narrowed as they flickered back and forth from Kenji to Uriko. "I guess you're already taken then, Kenji."
That's kinda conceited of her to say Uriko thought, feeling irritated as she admitted, "He's not takenyou can go with him if you want."
Her boyfriend glanced at her, his light brown eyes silently asking, "Are you sure about this?" She nodded very slightly, then turned away before he could see the hurt look on her face.
"Um, I guess I can go with you" Kenji finally said, his words coated with obvious reluctance.
Wendy's face brightened. "Great! See ya at the party!" With that, she ran off to her group of friends.
Stupid Ryan The couple thought, although they didn't know the other was thinking that as well.
"Have fun" Uriko told him; her eyes focused on the front of the class.
"You're going too, right?"
"Nope."
"What?? You're gonna stick leave me with her?"
"Take care of yourself at the party," the brown haired girl replied, ignoring his previous comment.
Damn it, now she's mad Kenji growled quietly.
"See you later," he said halfheartedly and left to go to his own seat as the teacher walked into the classroom.
*****
Man, I can't believe I'm going with him
A smile on her face as wide as the Cheshire Cat, Uriko used her free hand and pushed open the double doors leading into the club, her other arm around A.J. Haru, another cute freshman guy from one of her classes. Dressed in a knee-length white dress with a beige colored shawl wrapped around her shoulders, she brushed back her wavy hair and peered around the inside of her classmate's home. Just a couple of hours before the party, she'd received a call at her house and A.J. had asked if she wanted to go with him. Glad to have gotten an invitation, she accepted, and there they were.
Erika stood inside the dance room, staying nearby the doors and greeting the guests as they arrived. Seeing Uriko and A.J., she flashed her best friend a wink and motioned them toward one of the other many rooms of the Teen Zone. Looking around at how the place was decorated, Uriko and her date walked through a narrow hallway with glittery designs plastered on the walls.
The twisty path ended at a dark room, where a gleaming ball and flashing colorful beams were the only source of light. Groups of teenagers danced in the center of the dance floor, while the disc jockey fumbled with his records; loud music blared out of the speakers located at the top corners of the room. Tables were lined up against one wall, pizzas and cans of soda resting on top on them.
Not too long after she and A.J. had came, the room quickly filled up with more students, making the air seem slightly stuffy. A fast-rhythm song started playing, and Uriko tugged A.J. near the others and they started twisting their bodies to match the beat. While they were dancing, the fourteen-year-old girl's eyes caught sight of Kenji and Wendy nearby. She received a surprised look from Kenji, but sadly turned her head the other way and casually moved herself over to another spot in the crowd; her date followed. Over at some of the corners, several freshman girls and guys occupied them, talking amongst themselves.
An hour quickly passed by, and the food on the tables quickly disappeared, as well as the shyness of the students hanging around in dark parts of the room. When everyone had coincidentally gathered together at the middle of the dance floor, the music cut to a stop. The flashing lights disappeared and after a few seconds, Ryan hopped onto the stage and stood behind the microphone. An overhead light turned on, and the freshmen booed while he was yelling, "Hey everyone!"
The response was deafening. Ryan clapped his hands over his ears in mock protest, a big grin on his face.
"How about we take a break from this and play a game?" he asked the crowd after taking his hands away. "We can get back to dancing later."
From the slightly weary cheers, he took that as a yes and smiled. "Our next event is gonna be an old-fashioned game: hide-and-go-seek"
His schoolmates looked at him strangely and he quickly continued, "with a twist! The last five people found get to take either a small gift like this," Ryan paused and presented a little box wrapped in glimmering paper. "Or this," he held up a bucket containing a beige-colored substance. "And dump it on me."
Enthusiastic whistles and laughter rang throughout the room.
"Everyone knows the rules, right? Then let's get it on! Erika and I will be the seekers," he gestured toward the black-haired girl standing a little ways from him. "So when we start counting, you all better run!"
The freshmen waited restlessly for him to finish talking before they began to clear out of the room, rushing around to find a good hiding spot.
"Hey, before you go, there's one more thing I need to tell ya!" He shouted. "In this game, there's no lights"
Immediately, the lights went off, enveloping the room in darkness, once again. A few of the students screamed at the sudden move.
"Sogood luck!" Ryan smiled mischievously and motioned Erika over to him. The two of them turned around, covered their faces and started chanting, "One"
The crowd scattered, people running in all different directions to get out of their current room. During the midst of the rush, Uriko was shoved along unwillingly and a look of discomfort flickered about her face as she felt herself being squeezed in the traffic of teenagers. By the time she got away free, she had lost sight of A.J.; the brown-haired girl groaned and remembering the game, ran down one of the many hallways to search for a secluded spot to hide.
All of a sudden, a hand shot out of what seemed like, a closet and gripped her arm. Uriko shrieked in surprise as she tumbled into the place and the person inside shut the sliding doors, leaving her only to see pitch-black. She recovered quickly and twisted around wildly to wrench her arm from its tight grasp, while muttering into the darkness, "Hey, what's the big idea?!"
"Stop struggling-!" A voice hissed back a reply.
She rebelled and pulled her hand away hard, wincing as her back struck the wall at the strength of her yank. The force of it also caused her mysterious companion to stumble foreword and collide with her; they fell. Stunned momentarily by what'd happened, she shook it off and instantly opened her mouth to let out a harassed scream. Before even taking in a deep breath to prepare it, a hand clamped her mouth and her scream became muffled.
"Don't do that!!" the voice scolded.
Uriko threw off the hand and whispered furiously, "Who are you?!"
"Kenji, and don't scream! Ryan or Erika's gonna find us if you do!"
As if right on cue, the two heard a shriek outside nearby, and the triumphant voice of Ryan saying something to the student he'd just found. Light footsteps were heard heading toward them, and Uriko covered her mouth with her own hand, waiting quietly. She didn't move until the sounds went away and then she tried to move her legs from underneath Kenji to kick him. Something inside the closet was trapping her lower body, pinning it to the carpet floor.
Resorting to her fists, she grabbed what she assumed was Kenji's arm and socked it, while asking, "What do you think you're doing??"
Immediately, he grabbed her hand and held her arms over his head, leaving her with no other offensive options except verbally.
"Sorry for the sudden 'attack'," Kenji whispered to her. "But I didn't know how else to get your attention!"
"If you wanted my attention, then come up to me and talk, not just reach out of nowhere and grab me like that! You scared the hell out of me!" She growled, feeling a little angry.
"I said sorry" he repeated, sounding somber.
Uriko's expression softened. "If you wanna talk, okay, but can we at least get out of here? Or maybe you could please get off of me first?"
Unknown to her, he blushed a crimson red and jumped up, reaching down a hand to assist her. Still holding onto his hand, she slowly slid one of the doors opened and poked her head out, listening for any noises. Hearing only very faint sounds, she took a quick look around and saw a closed door nearby. Deciding to take a chance, Uriko ran swiftly across the hall and slowly pushed open the door, darting inside and dragging Kenji behind her. She examined the wall with her hand and her fingers contacted a light switch; she flicked it on while her boyfriend shut the door not so quietly.
"Shh!" Uriko shushed him. "Don't be so loud!"
"You don't think they're gonna notice a light on in this room?" Kenji argued. "What difference does the door make?"
"Plenty!" she shot back. "Okay, let's just change the subject" The female student trailed off and turned to face him.
"It was stupid," Kenji blurted out somewhat stupidly after a moment of silence had fell between them.
He wasn't sure Uriko knew what he had meant by that, but she agreed, "Really stupid."
"Never should've done it in the first place,"
"Right."
He glanced at her questioningly, a smile playing about his lips as he asked; "Do you even know what I'm talking about?"
"Not really," she answered with a quiet laugh.
"Keeping our, um, relationship a secret?"
"Ohh, yeah," She nodded in recognition. "I think you're right about that being a stupid thing to do."
"You're not mad anymoreare you?" Kenji asked.
Without answering, Uriko let go of his hand and went over to one of the walls. She stood with her arms raised in an offensive position and her feet spread apart, then started hitting the wall with gentle force.
"I guess that's a yes?" he questioned, looking a little sad.
"I'm practicing my fighting moves by pretending that the wall is Wendy Kesler; she's such a rude snob," she replied, ignoring his question as she delivered a high punch to the wooden surface. "I don't want to forget the moves that I watched Master Long let me 'copy'."
"There's not many reasons to fight anymore"
"You don't know that," she said, her brow knitting together in a sad frown.
He shrugged. "Guess I should do it too, then. Hey, why don't we practice on each other?"
Uriko paused in the middle of a jump kick. "Don't you mean 'with'?"
The dark haired boy grinned and didn't answer right away.
"Kenji?" she looked at him curiously, waiting for him to reply.
"Just like I said, practice on," he repeated. "As in fight each other? But no using full force, morphing into our" his voice dropped to a low whisper. "Beast form, or anything like that. Neither one of us should get really injured. And keep it quiet, too"
"Okay, okay, enough rules! Right now?"
"Why not? It'll kill time while Ryan and Erika are looking for us."
She smiled for the first time since the beginning of the night. "How many people do you think they've already found?"
Kenji smiled back. "Everyone except us."
"I wonder how will they know who are the last five that they find?" Uriko asked rhetorically as she thrust her fist slightly foreword and then twirled around in a full circle: her ready-to-fight position.
"They probably won't," Kenji guessed, while responding to her move with his usual back flip.
"Wouldn't it be fun to dump that disgusting looking goop over Ryan?" Uriko said, a grin spreading her face. She backed up and ran toward her opponent, jumping up into the air when she neared him, and kicking him simultaneously with her legs.
"Heh heh, yeah," came his chuckled reply. He raised his arms defensively, parrying her attack and then brought his fists toward her, punching at chest and shoulder length consecutively.
"I wonder if Ryan and Erika are an item now? Hmm, I'm surprised that so many people came to his party; I always thought he annoyed the hell out of our classmates." Uriko managed to answer. She was slightly occupied by her moving from side to side in order to avoid his blows, even though she knew that Kenji wouldn't try to hurt her on purpose. The light-weighted girl grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him towards her, carefully socking both sides of his face with her arm.
"He did," Kenji told her, ducking away from her and trying to do his "Smoke Bomb" tech.
"Then why?"
"Dunno, I guess Erika tamed him or something." He answered, using his speedy techniques to seem like he'd vanished in front of her eyes, and suddenly appearing behind her.
She groaned in mock protest and immediately spun around. "I hated it when you used that move back when we first fought and you were stillwell, you know"
He frowned, feeling ashamed and upset at himself as he remembered how he'd behaved. No guilt or thoughts of consequence running through his mind as he ruthlessly attacked everyone, including Yugo and Uriko.
"Mmmhmm" Kenji answered absentmindedly, a pained look coming over his face, distracting him from noticing that Uriko had bent down and swung her leg around, knocking him off balance and causing the boy to fall on the floor.
"Damn it!" he cursed as quietly as he could and back flipped into a standing position, the top portion of his sneakers catching her in the chin in the process.
"Sorry for making you remember that," Uriko said, rubbing the bottom of her chin with one hand as she took a few steps away from him.
"It's okay; sorry for kicking you."
She shrugged it off. "Hey, we're bound to get a couple of bruises even from practice-fighting, right? Besides," Uriko paused and grinned teasingly at him. "I'm used to you fighting dirty."
"Oh, I fight dirty, huh?" Kenji questioned her, smiling somewhat wickedly.
She opened her mouth and was about to answer, but got cut off when he hopped up and jumped at her all of a sudden. After being tackled by him, Uriko lost her balance and fell, grimacing as she connected with the ground.
"We're wrestling now?" she asked, still lying down.
Not bothering to wait for a reply, the teenage girl pounced and threw him to the floor this time. Laughing, Kenji countered that by pushing her off of him. She landed with a thud, but ignored it and charged toward him again. He caught her in his arms, stopping her attack; growling, Uriko struggled against his hold.
"Can we call it a draw?" Kenji asked, still keeping his arms wrapped around her.
"Yeah, guess so" she replied and tried to sit up. "Hey, let go"
"Why?" He asked with a teasing edge in his voice.
"'Cause I wanna get up!" But she smiled and relaxed into his embrace. "Man, you sure have changed from the first couple of times we'd met and fought, calling me an amateur at the start and then saying something poetic to me the second time around."
"'As summer bugs fly into fire'?" Kenji asked, raising his right eyebrow.
She shrugged. "I thought it was corny, but cute."
"Well, it's been a while; everyone changes, right?" he commented. "Did I change for the better or worst?"
"Better, of course."
"That's good," Kenji said and released her, then stood up.
"Should we leave? The game's probably over by now. Ryan and Erika might be looking for us," Uriko guessed.
He nodded. "Yeah, we should go."
The two starting walking toward the door, with Uriko leading and she put her hand on the knob, starting to twist it. Before she could pull open the door, Kenji tugged on her arm and she took her hand off.
"What?" the female student asked, turning around.
Taking in a nervous breath, her boyfriend reached out and gave her a warm hug. She hugged him back tightly and started to pull away, but he leaned down and placed his lips gently on hers. Feeling her heart pound faster, Uriko kissed him back intensely, her hands instinctively raising up to entangle themselves in his rough black hair.
The couple was so busy that they didn't notice the door creaking open or the extra bright lights spilling into the room. Their attention was captured when they heard a surprised gasp from Erika. Acknowledging her best friend's presence, Uriko blushed fiercely. She and Kenji backed away from each other as Erika and Ryan gawked silently at them.
"Oh" Uriko tried to think up an excuse.
"We were just" Kenji stammered, trying to slow his ragged breathing caused by the embrace with his girlfriend.
"II guess you two are the last" Ryan finally said.
"Um, c-come on" Erika turned away and walked out of the room; before following behind her, Ryan leaned toward Uriko and Kenji, and stuck a tiny white sticker on the back of their hands.
"Oh boy, oh boy" Uriko murmured, her cheeks flushing hot with embarrassment.
His face beet red as well, Kenji muttered, "Let's go"
Without exchanging any more words, the couple went after Erika and Ryan back to the dance room. The other students were chatting with each other, waiting for their host to show them who were the five people that had 'won' the game. On stage with Erika nearby, Ryan grabbed the microphone while his companion dragged a small tub from one side of the room.
His eyes avoiding Uriko and Kenji's, he spoke into the mike, "Um, those of you who have a white sticker on your hand, come onto the stage right now."
Three students pushed through the crowd, got up on the brown platform, and stood next to Ryan. Uriko and her boyfriend followed their schoolmates, receiving a wary look from the party host as they were doing so.
"Uh, these were the last five people found, and I guess that makes them the winners." Ryan informed, and the audience clapped wholeheartedly.
"It's time to choose what ya want for your prize!" Erika told them with a big grin on her face. "Drench Ryan in pudding, or get a gift!"
The five winners cheered. After they quieted down, the person standing closest to Ryan turned to him and said, "You're gonna get dumped; hand over that bucket!"
Chuckling, Erika gestured for Ryan to step into the tub, then took out a bucket from somewhere on the left side of the stage and gave it to the first winner. Holding his hands up in mock fear, Ryan protested, "Nooooo" as the sticky, yellow contents was poured onto his head. The substance spilled down his face and ran along from his upper body to the bottom, where it met the surface of the blue plastic tub. His schoolmates chuckled in delight at the sight, while the next winner stepped up to Ryan.
"You're gonna need a shower after all this!" she declared after Erika gave her another bucket, and she dumped it unmercifully over the poor host. The third student did the same thing, and the audience roared in laughter.
"Ohh, poor you" Uriko said to Ryan, a smile of pity on her face. "I'm gonna spare ya, okay?"
The crowd began to boo, but Kenji called out, "Hey, give her a break! I'm doing the same thing, anyway."
Smiling weakly at the two, Ryan declared jokingly, "My heroes!"
Grabbing a towel and draping it over his shoulders, he got two packages from a table nearby and handed them to Uriko and Kenji. As she accepted her gift, Uriko whispered to Ryan, "Thanks for not bugging us for an explanation"
He grinned. "No problem. Good luck, you guys." Then he faced the audience. "The Teen Zone's opening up to other customers, so everyone's gotta go! See you all tomorrow! Remember, only two more days of hell, er, prison, er, school!"
The five on stage jumped off as the ninth graders laughed standing on the floor laughed, then everyone slowly began piling out of the room. As Erika hopped down as well, her best friend stopped and waited for her to catch up.
Before she could say anything or move away, Uriko apologized, "I'm sorry, Erika; I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you! It's just that-"
"It's okay, Uriko," she answered. "I know we all gotta keep secrets some time! But ya better spill it soon; some of the guys in our class are turning their attentions toward you, and the same goes for the girls and Kenji!"
"Hey, we'll just tell them to back off! Right?"
"Mmmhmm!" Erika confirmed with a nod, then grinned slyly and asked, "So tell me, if it's not too personalhow'd it happened between you two??"
Uriko grinned. "Remember the phobia project Ms. Gerna assigned us in Biology"
*****
"Have a great summer, class, and enjoy your school year next fall!" Ms. Gerna said to her students cheerfully.
Part of the class groaned half-heartedly, but still went up to their instructor to say good-bye personally. Most of the guys shook her hand, while the girls hugged her un-self consciously. Erika ran over to hug her best friend after saying bye to her teacher, and then darted over to Ryan so they could leave the campus together. With her new charm bracelet that she'd gotten from the party dangling at her wrist, Uriko went up to Kenji and linked hands with him. Right before they left class, they both waved to Ms. Gerna and they received a smile back from their teacher.
"Ride?" Uriko asked as the two strolled down the hallway, through the traffic of students.
"Of course," Kenji said matter-of-factly, turning to smile at her as he replied.
Just when the stepped outside, stopped and pulled her to one side of the building. Curious, she asked him, "You okay?"
"I, um, have something for you" he told her, and slipped a tiny white box out from his pocket.
Her eyes widened in surprise. "Wowyou didn't have to"
"It's okay, I wanted to."
"Thanks, Kenji" she said, and delicately took her present from his hand. "Can I?"
"Go ahead," he insisted.
The fourteen-year-old girl slowly lifted the cover off the box and unfolded the tissue paper inside, revealing an object. She took a closer look and saw that it was a small cat made out of clear crystal, attached to a silver necklace chain. Touching the miniature ornament, she glanced up at Kenji and smiled brightly. Throwing her free arm tightly around his strong waist, Uriko murmured into his ear, "Thank you"
Blushing, he hugged her back and then replied, "Um, you're welcomeshould we get going?"
She pulled away and grinned. "Yeah! I'm so glad that summer's finally here!"
"School doesn't start for about two and a half months; plenty of time to hang out and relax, right?" he offered as he was helping Uriko fasten her new necklace on.
"Yeah! Let's get this show on the road!" she said with a big smile.
As they started to get on Kenji's bike, the two of them felt something hit their backs and explode. The wet contents inside spilled out and soaked their clothes.
"Hey!" Uriko protested and whirled around to see what had been thrown at her.
Nearby, Erika and Ryan were laughing hard, losing a grip on the multicolored balloons clutched in their hands. Several students were standing a couple of feet away, eyeing the big bucket of water balloons sitting on the ground.
"First water war of the summer!" Ryan cried out. He, Erika, and two other friends of theirs darted off.
"You all are gonna get it!" Kenji challenged, grabbing his girlfriend's hand and rushing over to bucket. He scooped up a few balloons and chased after the others.
Laughing, Uriko glanced over at the people standing by and said, "Ami, Joe, come on, help me and Kenji!"
Her friends nodded and dumped their backpacks on the floor, then grabbed some water balloons and followed Kenji.
Before she went after her friends and boyfriend, Uriko looked at the others. "Hey, what are the rest of ya standing there for? Join in!"
Grinning, they happily obliged and the students ran off together, chucking water balloons and soaking each other. At one point, Uriko plopped down on the floor to rest, and peered up at the tranquil blue sky. Kenji noticed, and stopped playing momentarily, then jogged over to her. Wordlessly, the couple lay on the soft green grass together and gazed up at the few twinkling stars that were beginning to appear. Soon, the others joined them in silence. They didn't move from their position until the sky had darkened and the air was getting cold. The group called out a hearty good-bye to each other and went their separate ways.
"I'll miss them," Uriko said wistfully as Kenji was biking toward her house.
"Same here" her boyfriend agreed. "At least we'll all be back next fall."
"I hope so" They smiled at each other and continued down the street in silence.
Epilogue
"You two won't go back for longnot if we have anything to do with it" A figure hiding behind a tree whispered, narrowed brown eyes following the path that the young couple on the bike had taken.
The Endfor now
Author's Note: I hope you viewers liked my story; thanks for reading! I'll be asking this a lot, so sorry for being redundant: sequel or no sequel?
-Copyrighted by Christina Lin