Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 24
Cloudy Occurrences On The Horizon
Uncertainty brings doubt and misguiding
Precision in her subconscious mind,
Not knowing of her past disturbs
Her deep within; comfort and love
Shows in the form of an item.
Uninformed of your own identity…
The silkiness of the dark voice played with her mind, overriding her former pleasant thoughts and she shook her head firmly, fanning her hands as she tried to resist the seductive trap.
Cannot even find out the truth… Pathetic…
At the last statement, she turned away and proceeded in a different direction, away from the apathetic jeers. After taking just a few steps, a sudden obstacle appeared in her path; the large black space before her started to enlarge, sucking her into its somber abyss with a dizzyingly strong force.
No sturdy knowledge of your past… the voice continued taunting persuasively. Not knowing you're actual self…
Futilely attempting to fight against what ever it was that quickly swallowed her up; its pessimistic mood seeped into her consciousness, wiping out the virtuous part of her. She squirmed in the corrupted atmosphere; feeling a bit smothered by the dark, suffocating cloud that clung around her like a deadly, poisonous omen. A loud cry pushed itself out of her lips as she unwillingly succumbed, the hole taking her in despite protests.
*****
The volume of the scream awoke him; jolted quite abruptly from sleep, Long sat up in his bed and shook his head in confusion, startled by the shout.
W-who was that? He wondered. Could it have been… Jane??
Realizing that it had came from his girlfriend's residence next door he hastily got of his room. He realized that he had forgotten to put on his glasses as black, fuzzy shadows greeted him in the hallway. His lengthy black bangs grazed against the sides of his face as he darted across the few measly feet that separated the couple's rooms. Fearing what events were transpiring her, he clutched the small cold knob tightly, inwardly preparing himself to morph as he shoved the door open a bit roughly.
Darkness met the Kenpo master's eyes in addition to the blurry features of the setting. Although he couldn't see too well, he knew where the leopard zoanthrope's bed was and rushed over to it. Lying down upon the firm mattress covered with a white bed sheet, asleep and squirming restlessly, Jane groaned as if she were in pain, her body tossing and turning. Leaning over her, he placed his hands on her shoulders and shook her gently, but with firm concern.
"Jane!" He hissed into the quiet room just as a soft moan escaped her lips. "Jane, wake up!"
As she opened her mouth and was presumably about to scream again, the blonde-haired woman was startled awake from her nightmare. She shot up into a sitting position, making her companion jerk back automatically in bodily instinct. Short gasps replaced the formerly silent environment and drops of sweat glistened on her forehead as she placed a hand on her chest, over her heart and tried to slow down her speedy pulse.
"Jane… what's wrong…?" came the worried inquiry.
"Long… it-it's my identity case…" she whispered breathlessly, closing her eyes. "Not knowing about my background continues to haunt me the pass two nights since the time of the last meeting we had with our compatriots…"
"Shhh… it's alright…" Long hushed her gently, going back to her shadowed figure and encircling his arm around her shivering form in comfort. "I… I am so sorry for bringing that subject up at the teahouse, Jane… Perhaps the meeting that we're attending tomorrow night will keep you astray from those thoughts of bafflement…"
Unresponsive, she felt his embrace tighten and the mattress sag a bit as he tentatively sat on it. He slowly fit her head snuggly under his chin and strands of his long dark hair, let down loose for sleeping periods, brushed against the smooth skin of her face. Her ear rested over his heart, and she could hear the fierce pounding of his pulse distinctively.
"Why… why… is your heart beating so fast…?" Jane asked quietly, her voice a bit shaky.
"I heard you scream… and it struck fear in me when I thought of you being in any kind of danger…" the tiger zoanthrope replied softly, lifting one of his hands and placing it gently against her cheek. "Would you… like to talk about your dream? Or are you not comfortable with that right now?"
"I… I was being pulled into a dark hole…" she began. "The same thing happened each time I dreamt this… I don't know what's in the dark pit, but my gut feeling tells me that its contents are far from good…"
"You have very reliable internal instincts," her beau told her. "Trusting them is wise…"
"And a voice…" the leopard zoanthrope continued. "A voice keeps taunting me… saying that I don't know anything about my past… saying that I don't know my true identity… that I am pathetic…"
A fierce glint appeared in his dark brown irises. "You are not pathetic; quite the opposite."
"But… If this is disrupting my subconscious mind… being unacknowledged of my past must be an important issue…" Jane sighed. "I have to know about my past… I need to find out about it… I just can't ignore this… Argh, I don't think I can go back to sleep…"
"…Jane. What about the future?"
"What do you mean?"
"…Think about the future," Long proposed. "Instead of dwelling on the mystery and confusion of your past… why not think about your future? That may be able to occupy your mind until morning…"
"But what about my future…?" she questioned. "I am unsure of that as well…"
"As am I," he admitted quietly. "However… I still find myself pondering on it sometimes…"
Relaxing in his hold, the blonde-haired woman captured a small group of his raven-colored hair in her hands and stroked them with her fingers. "Really? Do you picture anything in your mind when that occurs?"
Unknown to her, he smiled. "Yes. I vividly remember noting the tension between humans and zoanthropes lessening… And all of us enjoying our more tranquil lives, performing our everyday procedures, yet still remaining friends… as with Shawn and Danielle."
Jane nodded, a soft smile playing about her own lips at his prediction. "That sounds very pleasing… And what about us…? As in, you and I?"
His cheeks flushed warmly with embarrassment, despite the cool temperature of the room. "Uh, well… Ahem…"
"Are you alright?" She lifted her head out from under his chin and met his eyes in concern. "Is something wrong…? What do you see happening to us in the future…?"
Long cast his gaze to another part of the room, his voice quiet and timid as he answered, "We… we're still together… But our situation different from the way it is right now…"
Does he mean what I think he means…? The female zoanthrope wondered somewhat tentatively. "What do you mean by… different…?"
He nodded solemnly, his face turned slightly away from hers. "Different… Because we each possess a circular object, small, but with vast in-depth meaning… One that binds two people in holy matrimony…"
Married… she realized. "…You do…?"
"Yes…" her boyfriend replied softly. "I hope that does not scare you, Jane, it was merely a conjecture-"
"No, don't worry, I'm fine," the blonde-haired woman interrupted him gently. "I-I just think I'm feeling a little tired now, that's all…"
"Oh, I apologize for keeping you up…"
She smiled. "It's okay."
"Will you be alright…?"
"Yeah, I think so…" Jane answered quietly, although her voice couldn't mask the unease and uncertainty in her tone.
"Do you… do you want me to stay here… with you?"
Her crystal blue eyes widened slightly at the suggestion. "Stay here… with me…?" We've never slept in the same room before…
"If you wish for me to do so, I will…" Long told her sincerely. "…I'll sleep on the floor, if you're worrying about the bedding arrangement."
The leopard zoanthrope found herself shaking her head slowly, ruffling his short-sleeved black shirt that served as the upper portion of his nightwear. "Don't do that… you are not a pet, after all…"
"…What is your proposal, then?"
"......" she didn't answer as she began to slightly blush.
"…Oh." He said, his own cheeks flushing pink. "But are you sure… that you won't mind…?"
Jane chuckled softly. "I assure you, I'm not planning to pounce on you or anything like that…"
We have been living together for almost three years… but never slept alongside each other before… her boyfriend thought silently to himself. Out loud, he kidded weakly, "Are you sure about the reversed situation…?"
"I trust you." The twenty-three old female replied simply, strong belief in her words.
Smiling warmly at her devoted faith in him, Long descended his face toward his companion to place a soft kiss on her forehead. At the gentle touch of his lips, a smile quirked at the corners of her mouth. She laid her hands on his forearms and kept a firm hold on the hard muscles of his biceps. Starting to slowly stroke the rough blonde strands of her hair, he leaned down again, this time aiming lower and letting their lips gently come into contact with each other.
This is definitely more… more preferable than being trapped in the haunting nightmare of my past… Jane tightened her grip on him slightly.
Jane… sweeter than silky mounds of warm honey… The Kenpo master thought a bit dazedly as he led both of his hands up to gently cup her face in his callused palms.
The couple parted after an endless period of time, smiles on both of their faces as the female zoanthrope said quietly, "I think I'll be able to go back to sleep now… Thank you for listening to me rant about my nightmare."
"It's alright…" her beau released her from his embrace as she laid down upon the bed, cushioning on her side, her short blonde hair splaying over the soft white pillow underneath.
"Have sweet dreams now, Jane…" the raven-haired man whispered to her in gentle affection, smiling at her silhouetted figure. Following her example, he lied down as well, pulling a part of the blanket over himself.
Gripping the edges of the thick material up to her chin, she shuddered, slightly fearing what new dreams awaited her subconscious state. Noticing her stiffening up a bit Long glanced at her shivering form, his expression softening into a look of compassion. Silently hoping that she wouldn't object, he lifted an arm and carefully slung it over the middle portion of her body, hugging her waist, holding her closely to him.
Drowsily smiling in silent response, Jane placed a hand of her own over his, and he shifted his hand so that their palms collided. As she shut her eyes, allowing her consciousness to subdue, she felt his fingers weave together with hers, linking their hands together. Pictures of her nightmare flashed briefly through her mind, and she gritted her teeth, willing them to be gone. After a moment, they slowly disappeared, and were replaced with visions of her boyfriend's predictions of their future. She drifted off to a quiet slumber, a smile on her face at the new dreams being conjured up.
*****
Uhhhh…
Bright yellow light immediately filled her sight the moment her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her bare lower arms were bathed in warmth, the sunrays shining over the majority of her bed, heating the cool temperature of the room. The thick cotton blanket that had covered her whole body from chin down the night before now was muddled around her waist. Stretching her arms over her head, Jane noticed an absence around her waist and turned her face to look over at the side where her beau had been sleeping nearby.
Seeing that the space next to her was unoccupied, her brows knit into a slight frown as she wondered where the Kenpo master had gone. Letting out a soft sigh, she lifted the blanket away and lazily slipped out of her bed. Striding across her amplitude into the bathroom, the leopard zoanthrope stepped up to her mirror.
Briefly glancing at her reflection through somnolent half-closed eyes, she absentmindedly ran a hand through her tousled blonde bangs. All of a sudden, she felt a few strands of her hair snag onto one of her fingers. Frowning a bit more deeply, Jane carefully untangled her finger free and brought it down to her face level.
A shiny glint was the first thing that caught the light blue pupils of her eyes. Her expression turned into one of earnest surprise as she spotted a golden band encircling the fourth finger of her left hand. Her eyes widening, the young woman blinked and shook her head, then slowly grazed the small object with the fingertips of her other hand. As soon as she had come into with it, a soft sigh of mystification escaped her lips; just then, a flash of red flickered when the sunlight shone upon another small object. Curious, she peered more closely at the band and discovered a beautiful ruby crystal resting in the middle of the ring.
This is… gorgeous… she thought, feeling amazed at being bestowed such a gift. Did… did Long give this to me while I was sleeping…?
"Jane… tsou aung," a husky voice spoke up from behind.
The young woman turned when she heard her boyfriend speak and her eyes caught the sight of his tall figure standing before her. A brown tray was in his arms, occupied with a small bowl of rice and two poached eggs; a little cup sat beside it, filled with a light brown liquid. The sweet smell of Jasmine tea flowed in the room, and she smiled at him.
"Good morning to you too…" she replied, trying to hide the shakiness in her tone.
"Did you-" Sounding a little hoarse, Long cleared his throat. "Did you sleep well?"
Her smile grew a little timid. "Y-Yes, I did. Thanks for the comfort after my… nightmare. However…" she glanced at the ring as she raised her left hand to neck level. "I think someone left me a certain object in the middle of the night…"
"Early morning," he corrected, but then flushed slightly at his unconscious admittance. "Ahem, I-I mean…"
She chuckled at his technicality. "All right… so you gave this to me early in the morning today?"
"Y-Yes I did…" her companion turned to his side where a bureau sat and placed the breakfast tray atop it. Looking back to face her, he began to say, "I-I brooded over what you had said regarding the relationship between my disciple and my nephew, and I realized that I rather felt the same way about ours… How we are both responsible enough to handle such a circumstance… that is, if the two of us are equally willing to do this."
A silent proposal in the midst of my slumbering, she thought to herself with a wry grin. How furtive, yet romantic in its way…
His eyes met hers, a deep intensity lingering in the depths of his dark brown irises. "M-May I hear your thoughts, Jane?"
How do I feel about this… a small part of her wondered. …I want to do this. I do love him. I wish I could say it verbally… Her smile was a bit shaky but her words were authentic and strong, "I accept your proposal."
"You…do?"
Jane nodded. "So I guess Jenny was right when she said what a future son-in-law you'll be, huh?"
He stepped foreword in enveloped her in a tight embrace that left her feeling albeit breathless. The leopard zoanthrope could hear his heart thudding quickly, pulsing in rhythm with hers as he whispered into her ear, "I should have followed Kenji's example sooner…"
End Of Chapter 24