Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 18
Disbelieving The Precision
Anger, deception, confusion
Thoughts of that sort run through
His mind, blinding his senses, letting
Fury ignite to the surface; but will he
Make the effort to resolve the situation?
It took a moment for him to register what he had just unveiled.
I am that boy… the one that Long orphaned… Then that means my father is-or was, his brother-in-law… My mother… Ivy… his sister… Suddenly, another realization hit the seventeen-year-old zoanthrope. "You and I… we're related…?"
His companion again nodded his silent reply, his eyes nervously flickering upon the younger man's form.
I… I can't believe this… "And you knew this for how long?? Ever since we met up again three years ago?!"
"No," Long told him firmly. "I did not realize it myself until you told all of us that your father was Adam Takiyo…"
"You knew since then?!" A sense of reason nagged at his conscience, telling Kenji that his friend hadn't had enough time to collect together his thoughts. He pushed it aside doggedly and continued, sounding a bit snide, "I suppose that I should be grateful you told me at all, right?"
He is speaking out of anger… The Kenpo master winced at his low, angry tone of voice. "Kenji… I won't deny that I have no excuse for not telling you earlier…"
B-but… Kenji was busy with… me… Uriko thought numbly, feeling a strong urge to defend her martial arts instructor from her fiancé's verbal assault. The young woman turned to peer at her other female compatriot, surprised to see an expression of shock on her face. So Jane didn't know either…
Long is related to Kenji? The leopard zoanthrope blinked and shook her head rapidly. Why didn't he inform me of that…?
"Damn right you don't have an excuse," The blue-haired ninja scowled evenly, unsure of where all the pent-up rage was coming from.
"You're deeply angered with me." Long stated a bit bluntly. "I can understand."
Kenji turned away from him so that his face was out of view. Breathing heavily, the teenager subconsciously balled up his fists, clenching and unclenching them in a simultaneous rhythm; an infuriated glint was lurking in the depths of his light brown eyes. The tiger zoanthrope was about to speak again, when without warning, the young ninja made a lunge for him and grabbed one of his arms, holding it in a severely tight grip.
Although he had somewhat expected a reaction of the sort, given the situation, despite the fact that Kenji usually had a mild temper, the dark-haired instructor couldn't help grimacing slightly when the fingers wrapped around his forearm tightened as his companion decreased the space between them. He stood his ground, unafraid of what might happen to him.
"Why??" The mole zoanthrope questioned, his voice raising a little. "Long, how… how could you…"
Does he know how often I have asked myself those very same questions?! "To be truly honest with you, I still do not know the answer to those questions."
His mouth set in a thin, firm line, the male teenager was unresponsive, but managed to maintain his stiff, silent posture.
"Are you pondering on whether or not you are going to hurt me?" Long asked him sensibly, his face looking neutral at the inquiry.
Again, the brown-eyed ninja didn't reply. After a seemingly endless moment passed between them without any verbal communication, Kenji's lips parted, appearing to want to speak, but instead, he released his death grip and slowly backed away. His friend peered at him curiously, wondering why he had let him go without further conversation. Before either of them could say anything, the mole zoanthrope turned his back and darted agilely away from him, going back around to the front of the house.
A couple of seconds post witnessing that, the Kenpo master sighed regretfully and started to follow the direction where the younger man had headed. He rounded the corner just in time to see his auburn-haired disciple disappear down the street after Kenji and the emotionless look on his girlfriend's face.
"Did you-" she choked up a bit on the words, but then regained her voice back. "Did you 'forget' to tell me something?"
Jane… she heard… "Jane, I…" he began to say weakly.
She cut him off. "We live in the same house… Couldn't you have found any time at all to tell me in the two-week period what you discovered about your relation with Kenji?"
His eyes looked pained. "I know that I should have-"
Jane half-turned away, avoiding his gaze. "I just wish that you had told me sooner… rather than I having to find out by escorting the runt here…"
"You-you led Uriko over here??" The raven-haired zoanthrope let out a slightly frustrated sigh as he placed a hand on his forehead.
"I figured that Kenji would have told her anyway!" His girlfriend exclaimed her defense. "Engaged couples don't keep secrets that important from each other!"
An agitated expression appeared over Long's face. "I'm not angry or accusing you of interfering or anything like that! I am just-" He trailed off, suddenly hearing her last statement. "Wait a minute… Did you just say that those two are…?"
…Damn it, I promised Uriko that I wouldn't tell… The blonde-haired tomboy scowled at her blurt-out. "Forget you heard that."
"Uriko and Kenji are engaged?!" Her beau questioned, overlooking her request.
"You had better not mention that to anyone else!" She demanded, glaring at him sternly.
"You mean… neither Mitsuko, Alice, or Yugo know about them?"
"No." The twenty-three year old female admitted.
"But an engagement… That is a serious, life-changing matter-"
"Those two are both seventeen. I believe that they're old enough to make their own decisions without any of us meddling. We all know that Kenji weighs responsibility fairly heavily, and I'm sure some of that trait of his has rubbed off on the runt."
Her companion nodded a bit uncertainly. "…All right. I trust your judgement."
"I'm not sure how well I can trust you, though…" She sounded a little mournful.
"Jane…"
"Maybe I should go somewhere alone and think about this…" Jane continued, paying no heed to his murmur.
"May I suggest we, together, go somewhere and discuss this situation?" He pleaded softly.
"I… don't know…" she mumbled.
Long took a few steps toward her and tentatively placed a hand on her arm with heart-felt affection. "Please…"
"Long… Are there any other things you are keeping from me? Anything that is relatively important as this you and Kenji matter?"
"No," he told her firmly. "I have pretty much… bared myself to you."
That is not necessarily true… She argued silently. I'm not positively sure that you… "So you say."
"I am not lying to you, Jane." He said softly. "Nor have I ever tried to do anything that would hurt you…"
"But… how can I be sure? I mean, I do not even know if you-" The blonde-haired woman stopped her sentence abruptly, preventing herself from revealing the rest. "Never mind."
"…What is it?" Her comrade asked her quietly.
"Forget it," Jane muttered, her voice leaving no room for further argument.
A twinkle appeared in the tiger zoanthrope's eye as he presumed what she was trying to say, and he slowly pulled her toward him. She allowed herself to be tugged close to him, resisting only when there were mere inches separating them. Smiling gently at her Long placed his free hand under her chin, applying slight pressure in an upward motion.
When the young female sighed and glanced up at him somewhat reluctantly, she swallowed back her gasp upon seeing the intensity lingering in his eyes. His dark brown pupils, hazy with emotion, searched her corresponding sky blue irises, communicating silently without verbal assistance.
"Wua ie nee…" he said to her, his voice barely above a whisper, leaning toward her and placing a petal-soft kiss on her lips.
"W-what…?" Jane felt a bit baffled. "I… I think you have taught me that phrase, but I can't recall what it means… It's Chinese for… for…?"
Long swallowed, sounding a bit shaky as he translated his previous statement for her, "I said that… I-I love you…"
He… he does…? "You-you do…?" she murmured her inquiry.
"Yes," her companion told her in a stronger tone of voice while the intensive look was still hovering in the depths of his eyes. "Jane… I know that I haven't told you before - although I definitely should have - but please don't be upset with me…"
Still feeling a little stunned; the leopard zoanthrope shook her head numbly in reply.
"I care… very deeply for you…" he continued softly.
When she didn't respond, just glanced up at him silently, he stepped foreword and descended toward her until their foreheads came into contact. Jane didn't object to their position, not even when the tip of their noses gently grazed against each other. The Kenpo master slowly slid his hands down to cover over both of hers, clasping the pair tightly, then bringing the sets up to place them on his chest, over his beating heart.
"I… I don't want to lose you…" Long whispered to her tenderly. "If you can, please forgive me…"
H-how romantic of him… she thought, feeling her rough exterior begin to deteriorate. "You will not, trust me…" she said, finally finding her voice.
Jane… ever-admirable… "Thank you for your compassion," her boyfriend smiled weakly. "I just pray that I will have a chance to speak with Kenji again… We need to talk about our… relation."
The young woman looked thoughtful. "You know what… I think that it would best if we left here and went someplace for a little while. Give Kenji time to cool off; Uriko went after him, so she will probably help him calm down. We could come back later tonight, when all of us planned to meet and listen to Kenji tell us about Xion." She stopped momentarily and peered at her companion. "Perhaps then, you can try and get him to talk with you…"
"That is a commendable idea," the dark-haired man complimented her. "I agree with you; alright, we will come back later tonight."
The tomboy nodded, then retracted her hands from his chest, pulling away slightly and tugging in a certain direction. "Until that time comes… you and I have a few things to discuss amongst ourselves…"
He nodded solemnly back in reply, obediently staying silent as he let her lead the two of them toward her charted destination.
*****
"He was taken away by Tylon the same night I assassinated his father…" The sentence rang unconditionally in his mind.
Growling out loud in hostility, Kenji shook his head frantically, holding both sides with his hands.
"I…turned him into an orphan…"
Damn it! I don't want these reminders!! The angered teenager slid his palms to cover his ears, knowing full well that it wouldn't help.
"Long, how… how could you…"
His running slowing down to a paced jog, he grimaced upon realizing that he would never forget that conversation. Caught up in his thoughts, the young ninja was oblivious to the sound of the rough bottom soles of sneakers coming in contact with the sidewalk.
"To be truly honest with you, I still do not know the answer to those questions."
When he shakily took his hands off and came to a stop, he finally noticed the noise of footsteps approaching him. Whoever the other person was, the place where both of them had stopped was in the entrance of the park. The portion that had been burned down by Xion was presently closed off, but the rest was available to the public.
Presuming that the figure behind him was the Kenpo master, Kenji whirled around, his eyes infuriated as he proceeded to yell, "Don't follow me, Long!!"
Startled by his loud exclaim, Uriko jerked back in surprise, her light brown eyes widening. "Kenji-! It-it's just me…"
Feeling guilty about shrieking at her accidentally, her fiancé looked at her apologetically and murmured, "Riko… Ugh, I'm sorry about screaming at you; I didn't mean it, really…"
"It's okay…" she replied, glancing at him with compassion on her face. "You must be kinda enraged to yell like that…"
"I just found out that I have a living blood relative," he began to say to her softly. "And instead of being ecstatic about it, I'm instead feeling quite the opposite…"
"You know, I can understand how you must feel," the brown-haired teenager assured him. "After all, you found out really abruptly, and didn't have time to prepare your reaction…"
Taking notice to a bench that was nearby them, Kenji headed for it immediately, motioning over his shoulder for Uriko to go along with him. Sighing in commiseration, she followed, waiting for him to take a seat before sitting down next to him.
She started the conversation by placing her hand over his, resting on one of his thighs, and asking softly, "Are you okay?"
He didn't answer for a minute, just fixated his eyes upon the stony gray concrete of the ground. The reply she finally received from him was, "You… heard us…?"
Uriko nodded a bit bashfully. "Yeah… You mad at me?"
Her fiancé shook his head slowly. "No. I don't really know how I feel right now, actually…"
"Uh…surprised?"
"I guess…"
"Betrayed…?" she continued questioning.
"Kind of."
"Upset?"
He merely nodded his answer.
"…Resentment?"
Kenji hesitated at that one. "Um… I'm not sure…"
"I know that Master Long shouldn't have kept that…issue…a secret from you," the female zoanthrope started to say timidly. "But… don't you think that the two of you should, like, sit down and talk about it at least?"
Her companion scowled, although not directing it at her. "You don't understand, Uriko. I've spent the majority of my life growing up wondering who my birth family was. Even though I considered Yugo as my brother, my family, there was still a part of me that was trying to seek out answers about my past life…" His eyes softened for a second, but then hardened into an irate expression. "At least… what I had left of one before Long took my father away."
"Kenji, I heard a large portion of your conversation, so I know about my Master not getting along with his brother-in-law before." The Kenpo student said. "Do you… do you remember when you told me about that time you were planning to kill yourself by setting aflame Busuzima's secret lab and getting… burned to death three years ago?"
The blue-haired ninja nodded. "I remember. It was a little while post the battle I had with Yugo… right after I had managed to knock out Busuzima and decided to destroy his lab to make up for what I had done to you all…"
Uriko looked at him meaningfully. "You were feeling really pressured by what you had realized of what had happened, huh?"
"Yes."
"And… after Alan and Yugo intercepted your attempted suicide, it took a while to fully register the information in your mind, right?"
"Uh huh…" What… what is she getting at…?
The young woman didn't say anything more, just tapped on his shoulder and gestured for him to turn his body around so that the couple was facing each other.
"…Oh. You're saying that I didn't give Long enough time to adjust to this…?"
She nodded.
"…And that I should grant him another chance or something?"
The seventeen-year-old female beamed, shyly adverting her eyes away as she said somewhat teasingly, "We're… going to have really intelligent children someday."
He blushed at that remark, remembering the blissful event that took place in the previous night. "I…will agree with you on that."
Pink flushed her cheeks. "So, um, will you give him another chance? Or at least try talking to him?"
Kenji appeared thoughtful. "…Alright. I'll do it…because you asked me to."
She grinned and kidded, "What if I told you to jump off a cliff?"
Her fiancé smiled back at her. "I'd say, 'Which one?'"
"Heehee, I'd hope not!" The Kenpo student squealed in protest.
After letting out a chuckle, his expression turned serious as he asked, "So… When do you think I should talk to Long?"
"How about tonight?" Uriko suggested decisively. "I mean, after you explain the Xion situation with us, of course."
"Well, of course, my dear, significant other…" the dark-haired ninja replied, a cute twinkle appearing in his eyes.
Her cheeks took on a darker shade of crimson but she managed to grin at him. "So… what do you want to do now? Are you up for a reunion with our friends?"
He nodded. "Definitely. I haven't seen them for a long time."
"Yeah, I know. I wonder how they're going to react to your return?"
"Uh, probably happy at first, then start bombarding me with questions afterwards…" Kenji looked a little exasperated at that remark.
"If our friends start to get too close, I'll fend them off for you, k?"
"All right."
"…I need to go back to my house and call them," the Kenpo student said slowly. "Do you want to come or stay here…?"
"I… think I'll stay here…" was the hesitant reply. "This is where we're all going to meet, right?"
"Yeah, so you can stay. I'll be back in a little while," she told him softly, knowing full well what his real reason of staying there was. Meeting his eyes, she realized that he knew she understood. Smiling gently at him, the young woman hugged him briefly, then stood up and started for her home.
I hope Master Long and Jane have left by now… she thought while walking down the sidewalk.
End Of Chapter 18