Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 2
An Abrupt Reunion
The young couple met up again
She looks at him, her eyes
Filled with surprise and fear.
Appearing to be the same, she senses
Something dark emitting from him.
They never found any real leads. Even after they'd performed the search multiple times, and Yugo had called for information around the area, but they never found any solid foundation.
She never gave up hope; Uriko could sense that he was out there, alive someplace.
The two of them had felt a special connection with each other ever since the first time they had met, despite the fact that they had fought at their first meeting. But even as she didn't surrender to the dark possibilities, the high school graduate had her limits. Although she'd never admit it, her spirit was beginning to wither, and her dreams of finding him had started to fade. A few stray tears slipped down her cheek at the sad memory and the young woman brushed them away irritably.
*****
"I had a great time…thanks…"
It was the following night and Uriko was standing on the front porch of her house. A teenage boy with short black hair and twinkling blue eyes wearing a black shirt and matching windbreakers was next to her.
He smiled. "You're welcome; I had a great time too. If you're free, can I see you again in a couple of days?"
"Sure, Matt…" she answered softly, reaching for her house key.
As she looked up to say goodnight, he slowly leaned foreword to kiss her. The high school graduate flushed and turned her face, feeling his lips brush against her cheek. Not objecting, her date smiled again and walked down the pathway leading away from her house. After watching him get into his car, he and Uriko waved to each other as he drove off. When he left, she immediately unlocked the door and darted into her house, feeling choked up.
Breathing so hard that she felt like she was being suffocated, the brown-haired girl squeezed her eyes shut as tears slowly slipped down her cheek. Even though she still loved Kenji, Uriko had started steadily dating a former school peer of hers, Matthew Farley not too long ago. Her best friend, Erika Newton, had introduced them. But although Uriko liked Matthew, she felt confused as to where he and Kenji stood.
Sitting in the living room, Mitsuko heard the door slam shut and called out, "Uriko?"
"Yeah? I'm back, Mother," she answered, walking into the room where her mother was.
"Did you have fun on the date?" the tall woman asked.
"Y-yes…" her daughter replied, looking a bit guilty.
Sensing her unease, Mitsuko stood up and went over to the high school graduate, hugging her warmly.
"Uriko, there's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself…" she said gently.
"I know… but I still miss Kenji," the brown-haired girl persisted.
"We're all concerned about him, especially Yugo, but you have to understand that Kenji might be-"
Breaking away from her mother's embrace, Uriko cried passionately, "No, he's not dead! Why is everyone assuming that Kenji died?!"
Tears formed in the angry girl's eyes and she dashed from the living room, running out of the house. Mitsuko called to her daughter and went after her, but she had disappeared by the time the woman had reached outside.
Numerous blocks away, Uriko came to an immediate stop and practically forced her eyes open as she panted her tiredness. Overhead, the sky was barely enlightened by faint orange rays and dark blue was coming to replace the lighter color. Still, she went on, this time, an actual destination in her mind. As she walked along, she soon caught sight of a large, forestry-looking place: the park she'd known since a long time ago.
This was the last place we went together… the young woman remembered with a faint shadow of a smile as she timidly started toward the tranquil park. All of a sudden stopping, she looked up. I-it's getting late… I'd better go back…gotta apologize to Mother…
Walking backwards, eyes on the woodsy area, Uriko took a few steps before turning around and leaving. Going toward her home, she stuck her hands into the pockets of her blue jeans, wincing at the icy feeling of her palms contacting her warm thighs. The chilly wind blew carelessly at her upper body; two thick white straps were all that covered her bare shoulders, the rest exposed by the open areas of the tank top she was wearing.
When she was only a few blocks away from her house, a masculine-sounding scream cut through the quiet night air, startling the shivering Uriko. Curious, she quickly ran toward the direction of the noise to investigate, her former attitude of concern for others slowly rekindling.
Eyes letting off the familiar yellow glow of light, the agile teenager ended up around the corner leading to a dark alleyway; another cry was heard, this time, sounding very close by. Cautiously peeking around the bend, preparing herself to morph for the first time in two years. Uriko tightened her facial features; glancing at the dark area, she thought she'd sensed a zoanthrope around somewhere.
As soon as the high school graduate heard a loud groan, she sensed that she was witnessing a fight first-hand. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she started to walk off, but then…
"Ar-rgh…!" Uriko's ears twitched at the mangled, pleading cry of distress. Now starting to worry a little, she stepped out into the alley to confront the jerk that was doing the beating up. Her light brown eyes widened in shock at the sight in front of her.
A human-sized creature with mahogany colored fur quickly silenced their unlucky victim as it jumped on the opponent's head, locking ten vicious, long claws around the base of his neck. The creature kept its legs straight up in the air, and without hesitation, started spinning around very fast, maintaining a tight grip around the poor man. Within seconds, his head was twisted off, and the dead body lay still and lifeless on the ground.
Feeling her stomach churn at the scene, Uriko covered her mouth. The horrified girl took in a couple of deep breaths, a little disgusted at herself for weakening at the scene. She'd seen worse before, back then when Busuzima and the ZLF were wrecking havoc amongst the normal human citizens. Taking in a few throaty breaths and gasps, she willed her heart as well as herself to calm down.
Unfortunately, the creature heard her loud gasping, and had also sensed the girl's zoanthrope nature. Screeching a challenge, the beast turned toward her direction, and soon darted quickly at the brown-haired student. As the other zoanthrope ran, she noticed that it was doing so in a strange position, with an arm was plastered in front of its face - perhaps in protection?
Standing a mere yard before her, the young female's opponent let out a low snarl. Raising her fists in case she would be attacked in the next second, Uriko quickly made out the posture and a couple features of her challenger. The beast was obviously an animal, standing erect, and was a couple of inches shorter than her.
It-it must be easy for this…beast to kill others, as well as unmercifully… A perfect quality for an assassin, the young woman thought with a chill. I wonder if the man it killed was a human, or a fellow zoanthrope? Looking at the wicked glint in the other beast's eyes, she thought, I hope it's the latter…then that man would have at least had some sort of a chance to fight back…
While analyzing that, Uriko also noted the red pants that the creature was wearing, as well as the gray scarf wrapped around its neck. Its feet were small, and had what seemed to appear like two talons, but of course, they were bigger than the size of birds. Huge sharp claws were pointing toward her, and she shuddered slightly at the sight of the gleaming objects, looking like built-in knives attached to the zoanthrope's hands.
"…What are you…?" she asked rhetorically, knowing full well that it couldn't reply, being in beast form.
But as she caught a glimpse of her opponent's chilling green eyes, she took in a shaky breath. Squinting her eyes at the shadowy figure, she took a few steps backwards, hoping to lure it under the dim streetlight that was nearby. Even though aware of what she was doing, the zoanthrope nonchalantly stepped foreword into the light. She inspected it for several seconds, and then the realization hit her; Uriko dropped her guard and gawked wordlessly.
It's a…mole… But w-wait a minute, could that be…??
"Kenji…?!" the girl inquired, her voice growing high-pitched. "N-no, wait… T-this can't be…you wouldn't kill someone so coldly like that…!"
After staring intensely at her for a second, the brown-furred mole hopped over her head effortlessly, coming to a smooth landing. With her back turned to it, she could hear the scuffling of its feet scampering quickly away.
"S-stop!" Uriko cried out as she turned to face the beast. She started to chase after the mole, but after a few feet, it surprisingly stopped, and so did she.
The two locked eyes for a long, silent moment and the both of them were standing still while doing so. Breaking the eye contact, the mole back-flipped away from her; stubbornly, she followed. At the third flip, a flash of light emitted off the creature and soon faded. Uriko blinked as bright spots danced before her eyes; she got rid of the effect with a few shakes of her head.
Re-observing the scene, she spied a tall figure walking toward her, stopping at a foot distance. The young woman eyed the person cautiously, but stood her ground, making no move to back away. Without warning, a hand shot out toward her at a lightning fast speed, seemingly reaching for her throat. Uriko's quick reflexes allowed her to bend her body backwards, and instead, she imprisoned the arm in a tight, iron grip.
Growling in annoyance, she demanded gruffly, "What do you think you're doing…Kenji??"
Her shadowy opponent didn't answer, just glared at her while crouching down and kicking hard at her shins. Temporarily distracted, Uriko groaned, and taking that as an advantage, the figure thrust both palms at her abdomen, pushing her back. The brown-haired girl fell to the ground; as she was standing up again, a hand grabbed a hold of her hair and yanked. Lifted to her feet, Uriko muffled her pained cry and bravely stared into glowing blood red eyes of her opponent. Up close to him, she could make out the person's dark blue hair and malicious-looking facial features.
"Do not interfere, or else," was his low threat. With that, he cruelly threw her back onto the ground; Uriko hit the floor roughly and tightened her fists. Before she could get up, he appeared to throw down a wooden object, and disappeared into a puff of smoke.
Clumsily pulling up one of the fallen straps of her tank top, the girl let out a quiet sob of pain and daintily touched the top of her head. She tightened up her expression as she quickly flipped back up into a standing position. Not taking any chances, Uriko decided to try morphing for the rest of the journey home. The changes came quickly as usual, but as she closed her eyes, twirled her outstretched arms and concentrated on the animal genes inside of her, she felt a bit strange during the transformation.
Reopening her eyes, she glanced down at herself, and was shocked to see that her cat form seemed a little bigger. Her vision behind the familiar red eyes from her zoanthrope form was heightened, allowing her to notice a lot more than she could two years ago. The ears that sprouted from her long brown hair were larger than before, and Uriko discovered that she could hear a lot better, the senses picking up every little noise in the alley.
What…what happened to me? She wondered, at the same time giving into the animal instincts and lazily reaching up a normal cat paw to scratch at a small fly that flitted around her. Never mind; it's not that much of a change from my old beast form, probably just some annoying leftover thing of puberty. The light brown-furred cat raised her head to the sky. Hrmp… if I don't get home soon, Mother will really worry.
Ignoring the small differences, she pranced toward home, where she knew an explanation was going to have to be given.
*****
At least we know that he's alive…
After being drilled repetitively by Yugo and questioned by her other friends for a couple of hours that morning, Mitsuko saw the frustration in her daughter's face and told the others to let her rest.
Rest… hrmp, how could Uriko rest, knowing that her missing boyfriend was somewhere out there? Waving them away absentmindedly, Uriko went up the stairs to her room and locked the door. Flopping down on her bed, she closed her eyes and tried taking a short nap, but soon felt too restless for sleep. Sitting up, she went over to her closet and pulled out a dark orange basketball.
I think I'll go shoot some hoops…
A soft mew was heard as she was deciding that. Looking down, she spotted a small black kitten strutting foreword, proceeding to rub her head against Uriko's knee. The teenager girl had remembered when she and Kenji had founded the cat in an old mansion on a Halloween back when they were still fifteen. Smiling, she bent down and petted her cat on the head adoringly.
"Don't worry Kineko," she whispered to the black-furred feline. "I'll be back soon… I won't disappear like Kenji did…"
She opened the two glass frames of the window by her bed, and hopped onto the roof, clutching the orange sphere under her arm. Carefully making her way down the side of the house where she knew no one would be able to see her, the teenager was about to dart away, when she heard something interesting coming from the living room, where her comrades were discussing the situation.
"…That was the third murder this week in the city. Police investigations have failed to uncover enough evidence to convict anyone…" came a voice from the television.
She waited to hear more: "…As you can see here, the most recent victim was discovered decapitated, and vicious markings were found covering his entire body."
Uriko made a disgusted face; she knew what the anchorwoman was talking about. Still clothed in the same outfit as yesterday, she left for the basketball courts nearby immediately. But on the way, by a strange impulse, the brown-haired girl went to the alleyway from last night. As she looked down the dark path, noticing that the body of the man was gone, a meaningful look came over her face.
The reporters work fast… I wonder if they'll ever be able to find the…culprit? She thought as she stepped away and turned towards a different direction.
All of a sudden, she heard a crash behind her, and instincts told her to duck as a large piece of metal flew over her head. Still ducking, Uriko instantly turned… and courageously faced at her attacker. A little bit of shock was etched across her face, despite the fact that she felt like she shouldn't have been surprised, but still was.
"I-it's y-you again…" The first words she spoke to him since that little …incident… was in a bit stutter.
Wow…he's actually coming out in daylight, huh? The high school graduate thought dryly and with a touch of sarcasm.
Looking cautiously at the dark blue-haired boy, she stayed where she was, keeping her distance. Now that it was daytime, she observed him carefully, not even flinching at his unresponsiveness; Uriko expected it.
He was almost the way she had imagined him to change in the years he was gone, with the exception of his hair and eyes. Standing at around five foot eight, Kenji Ohgami stayed silent as the girl studied him. His narrowed brown eyes that thoroughly followed her movements were missing the familiar shade of light orange in them. They were now glowing red and his hair had lost his former shade of black, instead being replaced by dark blue. The tight, navy colored one-piece outfit that he was wearing covered his whole body, with the exception of his bare, muscular arms. There was still a long red scarf wrapped around his neck, and as Uriko tilted her head a little, she could faintly spot something black underneath.
"Back so soon?" she questioned a bit snidely, still annoyed by the previous events. Even feeling irritated at him, the female teenager wouldn't admit at the moment that she was glad to be reunited with him. She was sure there was a good reason for the way Kenji had acted… at least she hoped there was…
Of course, the young ninja didn't reply.
"What do you want?" Uriko asked finally.
"Your cooperation." He answered coolly, surprising her.
"Cooperation for…?" She inquired suspiciously, raising a fist defensively in front of her face.
Out of nowhere, a couple of shurikens suddenly appeared tucked in between the ninja's fingers. With expertise, he threw both of them at his opponent; Uriko managed to twist her body away from the first one, but the second cut into her upper left arm. Wincing as blood began trickling from it, she carefully but precisely took the small object out, and tossed it on the ground.
"So you wanna fight? Is that it?" Uriko questioned, giving him a cold glare. Sheesh, what happened to him on that frickin' trip?! She wondered.
"Either fight on my side, or I will be forced to kill you," was all he said.
"Huh…? What side?" the young woman questioned.
She didn't get an answer. So, you're going to try to kill me? Fine, if you can capture me, that is… she thought as started sprinting toward the ninja.
When she was a few feet away from his face, he assumed what tech she was going to use, and ducked. Expecting him to do that, Uriko smiled, then leapt high into the air and landed on top of him. Wrapping her legs around his upper body, entrapping his arms, she leaned back, throwing Kenji over her head and slamming him onto the floor.
Quickly regaining his standing position, the blue-haired boy responded to her attack by rising from the ground and hopping over her. While she was turning around to face him, he grabbed Uriko by her arms, and the two of them shot up. Once airborne, Kenji repetitively kicked her body up, and though she tried to retract from him, he kept striking her ruthlessly. Finishing his combo, he threw the girl into a pair of trees nearby, and landed smoothly himself.
"Ugh…" A moan escaped her mouth as she struggled to stand up.
"Weakling." Kenji spat at her coldly.
"Arrogant." She shot back from her grounded position.
Picking up a large metal bar from the floor nearby, he slowly made his way over to the girl. Spotting the glitter from the object, Uriko barely rolled away just as he brought the bar down. Targeting her shivering body, the ninja casually followed the girl as she tried to stand up and get away. She grimaced as she stumbled back to the ground; not waiting any longer, Kenji struck her with the bar.
Uriko let out a pained cry when the cold metallic object connected with her back. Narrowing her eyes, she tried to ignore the injury and jumped up, the soles of her sneakers knocking the ninja in his chin. Backing away, she ran toward a tree, retracted from it, bounced off and kicked him twice in his chest. As she was going to land, Kenji recovered quickly and grabbed one of her ankles with his free hand.
Stopping short, the brown-haired girl feel toward the ground, and her hands went to support her upper body. Following up on his move, the red-eyed male teenager threw her leg over her head so that she flipped around and her back landed roughly on the floor. Trying not to show weakness, she gritted her teeth and crawled a few feet away from him. Calmly, he somersaulted into the air, and landed right in front of her face. Just as Uriko saw the navy-blue pants before her, Kenji hit her forcefully on the head, and tears squeezed out from her eyes from the pain.
Repeating the action several times, she immediately covered her head with her hands. Closing his eyes, he raised two fingers and waved them around, then pointed them at her hands. Fire shot out from the tips, burning her wrists. While she cried out in distraction, he stuck her one more time, putting heavy force into it.
Soon, she felt faint and her consciousness was beginning to filter; the image of the ninja with a careless expression on his face was the last thing Uriko remembered before slumping lifelessly to the ground. Smiling coldly and triumphantly down at her, Kenji made sure she still had a pulse before picking her up and disappearing into another smoke bomb.