Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 3
The Hurt Is Still To Come
After the brutal fight ends,
The pain isn't going to stop there.
Neither are the feelings of
Confusion and horror still
Patiently waiting to greet her.
"Wake up," a voice hissed at her, startling the young woman out of her drowsy, injured state. She tried to shake her negative reply, but then writhed as she felt a jolt of pain hit the back of her head.
"N-no…" was her low protest. "I-it hurts…"
"I said, wake up," again came the persistent hiss, the tone rising as it emphasized on the last part of the demand.
Painfully, Uriko opened her eyes with great reluctance. The vision before her blurred, but slowly came to a settle as she blinked several times. Sighting a dark-clothed figure, she squinted and realized that it was Kenji; all of a sudden, the events that she just went through came flooding back into her mind.
He…he caused my pain… She thought dazedly. And I thought he loved me… ugh…
Lolling her head around, Uriko noticed her new surroundings and current position. The two of them were in some kind of cave, and she couldn't see any light around, just the dark brown walls; they made her feel like she was imprisoned. The artificial source of light in the room gleamed from a small candle sitting on a table nearby.
Uriko tried to move her legs to walk, but felt resistance, as if something was binding her. She looked down at herself and spotted the tight ropes wounded around her legs. Her blue jeans were also viciously ripped, probably from the fight before, and the area from her sneakers to the bottom of her upper thigh was exposed to the chilly environment. The female teenager was about to reach her hands out and untie them, but something was entrapping them too. Glancing at her arms, she spied ropes tied around her wrists as well and she let out a soft moan of protest.
I am imprisoned… she thought as she weakly struggled against the thick, tough objects that bound her. I…I have to get out of here…
"Do not resist; you will just bring more suffering to yourself." The girl heard a voice in front of her remark matter-of-factly.
"W-what difference does it make? I am already in pain and agony!" She shouted angrily at him, eyes focused on the ground, not wanting to meet his cold gaze.
"Hahaha…" his cruel laugh brought a chill down her spine and Uriko shut her eyes, feeling a bit fearful. Displeased with her resistance, she felt cold fingers grip her chin and wrench her face up.
Staring dully into her shaky brown eyes, Kenji informed her, "Not as much as you're about to be in…"
"H-huh? What do you mean by that??" She questioned shrilly as soon as he moved away to a corner of the room.
Without answering her, Kenji retrieved something from the area where he was inspecting, and stepped toward her again.
"…What's that?" Uriko inquired, eyeing him cautiously. Just what the hell is he doing??
With a malicious smile, he held the slinky object up. "A…whip?" She figured out. "What, what are you doing with that!"
Ignoring her, the blue-haired ninja tightened his grip on the whip, wrapping one end of it several times around his arm, and carefully holding the larger other half. Finally really looking at him, she saw that his scarf and former navy blue outfit were tossed onto the ground, and he was now only clothed a pair of black pants.
"N-no…you're not…" she began to protest.
What's wrong with him; did he hit his head and lose his memory?! The cat zoanthrope wondered.
"Shut up!" Kenji hissed his answer. "You can't order me around."
Wincing at his harsh tone of voice, Uriko kept quiet as he brought his face close to hers, so that his warm breath blew upon on her face.
"Worthless fool." He taunted.
"If I'm so worthless, what do you want me for?" She asked softly with sincerity.
The ninja smiled wickedly. "Everyone needs an object to play with. Just like the way you and all the others played with me like your little toy…"
"W-What?" Uriko cried, astonished by his accusation. "What's that supposed to mean? I never used you! None of us never used you!"
He remarked in a silky tone of voice, "Oh… really?"
"Yes!" she replied passionately, eyeing him wearily as he began rubbing her bare shoulder with one of his hands, ignoring the strap.
…The bloody hell does he think he's doing…? She wondered.
Kenji snarled. "You never cared about me like you said you did; no one gives a damn about me."
"That's not freaking true!"
He fingered the strap of her tank top. "It's not nice to lie."
No…he's not going to…to… He'd better not or I'll…! She thought, panic flowering over her. "What…what happened to you?"
"I was brought to my senses, that's what happened…" the ninja replied, not really explaining anything.
Before she could say anymore, he snapped the whip at her, the thick stringy rope connecting with a slash diagonally across her chest and then, several more in the same area.
Uriko managed to say in the midst of her loud groans of protest, "Ugh… don't…do that!"
Paying no heed to her plea, the ninja whipped her with the slick object repeatedly, over and over in different spots, even as she protested further. Soon, angry red welts appeared on her arms and legs as she closed her eyes and tried to sway her mind away from what was happening. But still, the high school graduate couldn't ignore the repeated lashes against her skin.
"Uhhhh…" she moaned painfully. This…hurts… My skin… is on fire… "Why…are you doing this…"
Surprisingly, Kenji answered her; "I want you to suffer like I did."
"If you wanted support or anything else…I-I would have helped you…" the brown-haired girl told him weakly.
"I don't believe you…" he replied, and continued his task.
After a few minutes, she let her head hang limply; as her body was being tortured and abused, she felt like her skin being torched. "No…more…" Then she slowly began to black out from the pain, not noticing when Kenji suddenly jerked. Hesitating, he held his head between his hands as the whip clunked to the ground and he grimaced.
*****
"Uhhh…"
Her heavy eyelids lifted up; she realized that she wasn't being whipped anymore, instead, she felt a soft object cushioning her head. Delicately stretching her muscles and wincing, Uriko suddenly discovered that she was lying down, and that her arms and legs were no longer trapped.
W-was that all just a dream? The confused young woman wondered, but then she felt pain flickering her entire body and grimaced. No…I'm pretty sure it was real…
Just then, she felt something warm shifting and pressing intimately against her. Shifting her position, Uriko turned to look behind her and saw Kenji lying beside her, his hair tousled and his breathing peaceful.
Oh my God… what happened??
Glancing down, her face went aflame when she spotted his arm slung casually over her chest. Letting a dry cough of embarrassment, she carefully lifted his wrist and set it down, feeling a bit strangely.
This is my chance to leave… Uriko thought. Yet, she felt a bit reluctant to leave to young ninja, now that she'd found him. I-I guess I should stay…just until my injuries heal up…
As if on cue, the lashes on her back began to burn and she winced again. Trying to keep her mind off of them, the high school graduate turned her attention on her companion. Looking at him curiously, she wondered to herself, Why did he untie me? Wait…why did Kenji even whip me in the first place?
Slightly fearing him but at the same time feeling her heart go out to him, she laid back, facing him, and stroked a few stray strands of his hair. Uriko's eyes studied his face for a few moments, then flickered downwards. Placing a timid hand on his shirtless chest, over the blue-haired boy's thudding heart, she suddenly noticed a few scars cutting into his rough skin. Her mouth fell open a little at the sight and she allowed her fingers to trail over to them, delicately tracing each jagged line.
He looks so serene; calm…not like the way he was a while ago…
Just then, as she looked back up toward his face, Uriko caught sight of a thin black collar around his neck.
Hmm…? What's this? One of her hands left his chest and reached toward the small ring.
The second she brushed against it, Kenji's eyes shot open and he immediately clutched her wrist in a tight grip.
"Don't touch that." He warned sternly.
Trying to wrench her hand out of his grasp, Uriko grimaced and said, "Let… go of me."
"What were you doing?" the ninja questioned, ignoring her request.
"Nothing," she replied, still struggling as she awkwardly sat up. Damn it, he's got a stronger grip than I last remembered.
His suspicious red eyes went down to glance at her other hand and he sat up as well. "Why were you touching me?"
"What? Puh-lease… D-don't flatter yourself," came her quiet answer while she took her hand off, and then looked away.
Kenji growled as he thought to himself, I should just kill her… kill her now… Catching her confused brown eyes, he realized, but for some reason, I can't bring myself to do it.
"Why can't I kill you…?" he wondered out loud, caressing her chin with his other hand.
"I'm wondering the same thing myself." Uriko admitted wearily, again trying to tug out of his grasp.
He laughed. "I think I'm attracted to you-"
She snorted. "Hah! Yeah, right."
"-But it won't last for long."
"Oh gee, how did you come to the first conclusion?" She asked sarcastically, feeling an angry strength growing inside of her.
For once, he wasn't sure what to answer. "I…I don't know."
The brown-haired girl gave him a sideways glance. "Are you going to let me go anytime soon? Mother and the others are gonna get worried."
"Hrmp, do you think I'm stupid?"
"Sweetheart, you really don't want me to answer that right now," Uriko deadpanned. "Now please let go of my freaking hand before I break your damn arm."
He retracted his arm with a grunt.
"Geez, what a tight grip," the brown-haired girl remarked, shaking out her wrist. "So what are you gonna do now?"
"I am supposed to be interrogating you." The ninja said bluntly, and captured her arms, binding them behind her.
She twisted her head to stare at him in shock. "I hope you don't mind my asking, but… What'd I ever do to you??"
"You really want to get me started?" he asked, giving her a cold glare.
"Sigh… and to think that you loved me…" The young woman whispered under her breath as she hung her head slightly. Although I am curious…
Kenji paused when a tingle shot up his spine at the familiarity of the words; he shook it away with a frown. "…What was that?"
"None of your business," she shot at him defiantly.
"Ugh-!" The blue-haired ninja let go of her all of a sudden as he began to shudder violently.
"Kenji? What's wrong??" Uriko questioned, turning around and looking at him with concern.
With his eyes closed, the teenage boy grabbed his head with one hand, and the other scratched at the black collar around his neck.
"Damn that stupid thing already!" she said angrily.
Reaching both hands towards the ring, she stretched the rough material out so that it wasn't so tight around his neck, then she tugged at it. While Kenji opened his eyes again and the red pupils glowed menacingly at her, telling her to keep away from him, she hissed, showing her teeth. It was a characteristic that Uriko had picked up from her cat form, and she was starting to like it. He snarled at her in response, and tried to pry her hands away, which only made her more determined.
"Quit struggling-!" She commanded.
Not listening to her, the ninja reared his arm back; lightning began encircling it and he brought it foreword. The small bolts licked at her chest, shocking her body and the force of the blow knocked the young woman back a few feet.
"Tell me what that thing is!" Uriko demanded as she shakily stood up.
Damn it, she's too strong for her own good, Kenji thought as he rubbed his throat vigorously. "Stay away from it!"
"Why?!"
"That's none of your goddamn business!" He snarled at her while raising a fist menacingly.
"I'm not afraid of you!" His female companion yelled back, getting into her ready-to-fight stance.
"Are you sure about that?" The ninja asked with a malicious smile. "Because based on our last battle, you should be…"
"Kenji, I've known you since we were fourteen," Uriko stated softly. "You never really gave me a reason to be afraid."
Besides, I can beat you up so quit acting so freaking cocky, she thought quietly to herself.
"You sound so sure of yourself," the blue-haired teenager said. "Confident of your words, as if you really know me."
She frowned. "I suppose I sound kind of like you did back when you were Bakuryu."
"Oh, so you are dissing me now?"
"No…" she said, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the wall behind her. "I'm not."
"…You're an interesting one," the ninja remarked. "Why aren't you resisting me?"
Suddenly appearing frustrated, the Kenpo student went foreword and tapped the palm of her hand on his forehead. "Hello? Kenji, don't you remember our shared past at all?"
Sneering at her, he pushed her hand away so then she took a hold of his arm instead. "After all we've been through together, I've… gotten to trust you."
"You've…what?" Kenji asked, looking confused at her words; subconsciously, he slipped his wrist out a little to link his hand with hers.
"Well… do you?" She inquired softly, reveling in the familiarity of his warm grip.
"Do I… what…?" His eyes flickered briefly and she could see a bit of brown trying to surpass the red glow in his irises as he looked at her. The auburn-haired girl swore that the black ring was flashing…reacting to the change in his eyes.
"…U-Uriko?" the blue headed teenager whispered.
Fight it…come on, Kenji… she urged silently.
The ring started to shudder and he let go of her hand, struggling as a wave of static shocked through his body. Uriko went toward him, concerned about what was happening, but the ninja cried out, "Ugh…stay away-! Don't want you…to get hurt too…"
"But I-I can't just stand here and do nothing!" the young woman said, glancing worriedly at him. I have to get rid of that stupid ring!!
After a moment, he opened his eyes and she bit her lip as she spotted the shade of red starting to reappear.
End of Chapter 3