5/22/01
Disclaimer: the characters such as Kenji, Uriko, etc. all belong to Hudson Soft.
Dedication: God, my parents, my 'brothers', Hudson for creating Bloody Roar I-III, and my readers, especially Xion, PokeDigi, LazzyQ, Alica, Deoku, VGuyver, Flyby, StarryPeach, Xavier, and Niteflite.
Bloody Roar II: Passage Into The Previous Years Series
Next installment following Bloody Roar I: The Destruction Of Impeccability Series
Bloody Roar II: The First Inklings
By Tiger5913
POV - Kenji
7:32AM
June 10th, 2015
What in the world was I thinking last night?! Someone that is cheery, bright, and possessing a beautiful spirit liking me, a cold, battle-hardened merciless scoundrel. Her jumping away from my embrace felt as critical as if she had struck me across the face, and the rejection remains imprinted in my mind. It stung even more than the tearing of my skin from a blow in the heat of battle, but although I feel rueful about this situation, I also feel disgusted with myself. Why did I give into my feelings for Uriko like that? There are so many other guys in school that are more deserving of her than someone like I.
But… last night, I really couldn't help it. Damn, I hope Uriko didn't think that I was acting like the A.J. guy or anything such as initiating something so straight-foreword like a kiss. Then again, what does this mean…? Had the other dates that Uriko set up all been useless? Is she the girl that is going to change my opinion about love, in more ways than one?
She has a captivating essence; I can say that for sure. So perhaps the girl that she - and I as well, I suppose - were looking for has been right here all this time. I just wish that I could find some way to tell her… if I could only muster up enough courage from my cowardly self…
POV - Uriko
8:14PM
June 13th, 2015
Dear Diary/Journal,
Ack, I haven't been writing for the last several days! Sorry! I've been kinda hectic with finishing up my part of the phobia project. It's almost done, and thank goodness too, since it's due tomorrow! I feel kinda sad about that, cause it means that Kenji and I won't be in such close quarters anymore… Things've been awkward between us ever since the 'kiss' that night after the dance; I've tried to act normal for the last couple of days though, be myself and everything, but I'm not sure if Kenji fell for it or not.
Actually… to be honest, I'm not sure what he's been thinking these days. I mean, he's been more in-drawn than ever, even worse than in the beginning when we first started out! He keeps avoiding looking me in the eyes, and whenever I talk to A.J. in the hallways while Kenji and I are walking through together, he always gets his brief weird look at first. It's as if he's mad at A.J. or something… Then it disappears after about a second.
I talked to one of my friends, Victor, about this (I didn't tell him about the 'kiss' though), and told him how strange my partner had been acting toward me these past few days. Victor says that he thinks that Kenji was probably jealous of A.J., but didn't want to say or mention anything, "since this is Kenji Ohgami we're talking about here", using my friend's exact words.
Why would Kenji be jealous though? I've been hanging out with him a lot more than any of my other friends, girls and guys, these last couple of weeks! Well, I asked Victor about that too, and he told me that Kenji had been usually solo and a bit reclusive until I entered the picture, until I chipped away at his shield. And now that Kenji's gotten the feeling of not being alone, of having a companion, a friend, he likes it and wants to hold onto the situation.
Lonely… I should've seen that myself. (Ugh, I'm such an idiot…) You know what? I'm gonna go tell Kenji how I feel about him tomorrow, as soon as I see him in school! I know that I can just pick up the phone and let him know right now, but that really feels too impersonal and he might think I'm messing with his mind or feelings or something of the sort. So I gotta tell him face-to-face, I just hope that he won't shy away from even more or anything like that when he finds out about my feelings for him…
POV - Kenji
1:21AM
June 14th, 2015
I can't sleep. I've been lying in my bed, awake, and staring at shadows dancing on the ceiling for the past couple of hours or so. Funny, ever since Alice moved in with Yugo and I, my brother has been acting rather particularly affectionate toward her, and even when she isn't around at times, he is smiling for no particular reason. Those two always go downstairs for breakfast together in the morning, despite the fact that they sleep in different rooms at night.
Lately, while all of us are eating breakfast (Alice cooks, thank goodness), I listen to him and Alice making these cute little witty comments to each other, and I get a forlorn sense. I watch them kiss after their "daily morning routine", and a feeling of envy comes over me. And then… sometimes, when the envy goes away as I leave for school, Uriko's face flashes in my mind momentarily.
I can't say anything for sure, but I think it means that I want what my brother and Alice has right now. A relationship, being around someone that I care for, to have such feelings that would bring a smile to my lips at random, to not be embarrassed when I portray a playful and teasing attitude… Yeah, I do want that… I had been feeling the angry roots of jealousy clawing at my stomach these past few days when I saw A.J. and some other jerks flirt with Uriko. Those events occur when the two of us were strolling through the hallways, or were trying to get away to somewhere secret at noon to eat lunch by ourselves.
Sometimes, just for the briefest millisecond, I wish that I could be like those jerks, only because then I'd have the courage to so blatantly tease and flirt with Uriko without feeling self-conscious. Still, I think it'd be better if I just had enough courage to tell her how I feel about her, instead of wishing for such stupid important things like the aforementioned.
It's almost two o'clock now. But I still can't sleep. I think I'll go out and take a walk; I'm jumping out of my window instead of going downstairs, just in case I wake up Yugo or Alice somehow. Hm and I think I'll don one of my favorite ninja gi outfits if anyone decides to mess with me (who knows how long my walk will be). For some reason, I'm getting a bad feeling about leaving the house at this time, but I'm far too restless to stay inside. Hah, what do you know, it seems like I have picked up a trace of my devoted 'teacher's' (by that I mean Uriko, of course) determination…
POV - Uriko
12:36AM
June 16th, 2015
Dear Diary/Journal,
Man I feel tired, but I can't wait till later in the morning to write this, so I'm gonna do it now. SO MUCH has happened today yesterday (oops, forgot it was past 12 o'clock, hehe)! OK, for starters, guess who's sleeping in the guestroom right next door to me? I can still barely believe it myself… but it's Kenji! I saw him about half an hour ago, and I think that he'll recover soon (it's a good thing we're both fast at healing injuries…).
Why is he sleeping over at my house? I'll explain. Yesterday, Kenji wasn't at school, and that was surprising to me because he has (or I guess it's had now…) perfect attendance. Also, we were supposed to turn in our phobia projects in Biology class, and I didn't think that he'd miss turning in something so important…
I'm a little ashamed of saying this part, but I kinda forgot about Kenji's absence after school let out… But I have a good excuse though! (I think…) It started raining while I was walking home, and I just couldn't resist playing around because I love the rain! None of my zoanthrope allies know this (not even Mother), and I bet that if they did, they'd think it was weird since I'm a cat. Well, just because a cat's my beast form doesn't mean that I have to hate water or have every single of a cat's personality traits, right? (I do like how my eyes glow when it's dark though, hehe… I have to keep that a secret from my normal human friends though, for obvious reasons…)
But by dumb luck I guess, I decided to take a shortcut through this alleyway to get home more quickly, since it was dark by the time it had stopped raining. While I was walking through, I suddenly realized that it was the very same place I first met Kenji a couple months back when I was searching for Mother. I felt a little creeped out by the memory though, especially when my body tensed up for some reason and my ears picked up on how quiet the area was… quiet as the breeze of death…
It must've been some kinda creepy prophecy because just then, I heard someone say in a low, chilling tone of voice, "Enjoying yourself?"
And the speaker turned out to be Kenji… He was crouched on a ledge in the alley, and jumped down in front of me, then started walking foreword (I still didn't know who it was yet). I took a step back, but the worry left me with a sigh after I saw and recognized that the person was Kenji - I had help identifying him thanks to this street lamp nearby.
When I saw him at first, of course I felt relieved cause I figured I knew him and no reason to be scared and such. But I started getting a creeped out feeling when I noticed that he wasn't doing anything except stare at me. It wasn't a good stare that's why… Kenji was looking at me like he was a predator, and I was his prey or something of the sort…
"Um, something wrong…?" I asked him finally, breaking the silence.
He didn't say anything; just walked out from the shadows and I could see him fully then. I remembered him wearing that outfit the night we fought a couple of months ago, the yellow skintight ninja gi. Even though he had this evil expression on his face, I still thought that he looked really cute… I think no matter what, I'll never think anything bad of Kenji. I like him too much to do that.
"K-Kenji…?" I stuttered then (I confess: I was scared).
"Don't call me that…" was his murmured reply.
"What…?" Naturally, I was confused by his attitude.
Kenji didn't answer me verbally after that, and instead, he pulled that something and I caught this silver glint flashing from it. It turned out to be a dagger.
I was sure I sounded panicked when I asked probably stupidly, "What are you going to do with that?!"
He ignored my question, which didn't really surprise me; "Come with me."
"Where? What for?" A feeling of dread sunk in my stomach.
Still, I hadn't been prepared to hear: "Busuzima wants you."
"W-what?? No way, I'm not going anywhere near him!" By then I had a darn good guess what had happened to him, but I asked anyway, "Kenji…what happened to you?"
"Come with me, or else," I could see his knuckles start to turn a little white, so I guess he was holding the dagger really tightly…
I replied defiantly, "Over my dead body!"
That wasn't a smart thing to say because it just fueled him. Smiling really wickedly, he said, "That can be arranged…"
"…And what do you mean by that…"
"If you won't go, then I'll have to kill you." Even right now, I still can't believe that he could say that so calmly, without flinching the slightest bit…
"You shouldn't play with sharp objects," I told him in a smart-aleck tone of voice, then quickly kicked the knife away from his hand with my foot.
That was the last of our conversation; after that, we fought, and I ended up knocking him unconscious after I used my Rage Move on him. I felt terrible about doing that, and… and I still do, actually… I kinda half-dragged, half-carried Kenji back to my house so that he could rest, sleep and hopefully restore back to himself. He should be all right… but if he got any serious severe injuries from me, I'll be so mad at myself for doing that to him…
POV - Kenji
9:31AM
June 16th, 2015
I'm back home now. And one of the things I am remembering most vividly from last night is that, although I don't have much experience at all, I know that Riko is a great kisser.
POV - Uriko
9:31AM
June 16th, 2015
Dear Diary/Journal,
Oh yeah, I can't believe that I forgot to add something when I was writing earlier! The guys before him were totally blanked out from my mind last night because Kenji's a great kisser.
POV - Kenji
6:42PM
June 17th, 2015
All right, I think that I should probably explain my last entry. My English teacher checked our journals last Wednesday, and gave them back to the class the following day. She wrote comments in my journal about how she was glad to see I was being so honest and also that she thought Uriko's "love project" was a fairly clever, and subtle way of saying that she liked me. Okay, I'm pretty sure now that Uriko has feelings for me the same that I have for her, but all the way from a couple of weeks ago? I highly doubt it. I was such a jerk then, after all. Final note, I received full credit from my teacher for the journal assignment (an A+, in other words).
Back to the aforementioned topic, it brings anger to myself when I confess: I fought Uriko again. What does that make, the third time now? One of these days, I'll get what is coming to me, I swear it. But instead of struggling, I'll embrace it, because that's what I deserve. Some things are still a little fuzzy to me regarding the battle, but I am acknowledged of the fact that I must have been brainwashed again, damn it. I hate Busuzima. How I long to execute my most gruesome and painful techniques on him, but that would only be a small punishment compared to the suffering that he has caused to others and I.
Being her though, Uriko didn't voluntarily tell me what I did to her, and then when I remembered bits and pieces of the incident, she immediately started defending me. I don't understand, why would she be so kind to me when I've been nothing but an aggravating nuisance to her? Her heart is holy and pure, inhibited by an aurora of forgiveness that reflects out from her eyes, and portrayed by her behavior…
What male pride I have stored within me probably lessens when I admit that I shed tears last night. Yes, I cried. I cannot remember the last time that I've done so, none of the years I have resided with Yugo, at least that much I know… Well, I'm not really ashamed to confess of the first time that I cried for God-knows-how-long, because it was for someone. Some of those tears that were spilled contained guilt and frustration at myself, how weak-minded and pathetic I am…
But the rest… the rest of the tears were shed for Uriko. I think that if I were in her position, I would probably disown me as a friend, or started avoiding me at least. But not her, she would never do that. She is too kind. We had an intriguing talk that night, I degrading myself, her defending me… However, after that topic of discussion leisurely died down, Uriko was silent for a few minutes, as if she was in some kind of trance, or deep in thought.
When that short period passed by, the first thing she said was, "Kenji, do you remember anything about your childhood?"
I didn't answer.
"Remember what happened between us when we were about eight or nine years old?" She continued.
"…" was my reply.
"…Never mind." Her voice was barely audible.
But at that moment, this pain struck my head, and I groaned while grabbing a hold of her arm, my head with the other.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?!" Uriko sounded worried.
I said the first thing that came into my mind, even though I felt albeit confused; "… … …Riko?"
"You remember, don't you!"
I wasn't one hundred percent sure what she was talking about, but I soon found my answer when these disoriented images flashed through my mind. I saw two kids, fighting effortlessly and conversing. They looked rather disheveled, and I felt a wave of pity hit me at the sight of them. But… something told me that I knew them. And when the realization sunk in, I was shocked.
Although I couldn't exactly zoom in and see the kids' faces, I somehow knew that one of them was me. I could hear their conversation, something about a promise, and I thought that was cute. I heard my name mentioned from the girl, and I almost reeled back in surprise. That's when I found out Uriko was the one who first gave me my Kenji alias.
Yes, the two children were Uriko and I. We must have been young, around eight or nine years old… I felt a jolt of shock surge through my body as the fuzzy images began to fade. My name, Kenji, what I have been going by for the last five years, was originally given to me by Uriko back when we were little kids?? She is a very important person in my life, a hell of a lot more than I had been consciously aware of… I wonder how did Yugo know to name me Kenji, though? I need to go ask him about that. It would be far too strange of a coincidence if he just thought of that name to give me completely out of the blue.
"…Crying…protesting…fighting… Not my name…" I murmured, feeling sluggish as if I were being held down by molasses.
"Yeah, yeah…go on…" She laid my head on her lap and rubbed my back; I adored the comfort from her, it felt soothing and relaxed me.
Uriko… was my… "Best friend?"
"Mmmhmm…" she answered.
"…Promise…" I finished finally, sounding a bit ragged.
"We both remember," she said. "That's great!"
"My head hurts," was my reply.
Uriko sighed, but I don't think that it wasn't out of exasperation. "Ken-ji…mine does too, but I'm not complaining. Well, now I am, but you know what I mean!"
I smirked. "Ye-es, barely…but I do remember…Riko…" That nickname… the younger me had called her that…
We talked about how she had escaped from Tylon after that, and it ended pretty quickly because she blamed herself for not escaping with me when we were children. I found out several things about my childhood that night. And I have Uriko to thank for it. Another regarding our shared past, I called her Riko. …You know, that sounds cute on her, in my opinion.
After we sorted out what could of our hidden bond, it was late, and she was going to leave so that we could both get some sleep. Uriko told me that Yugo was coming to pick me up in the morning before she turned away to head out of the room.
All right, even right now I'm still not sure where I had found the courage to render what I did next. I suppose whatever of it that was stored inside me somewhere took that moment to come out and stop Uriko from leaving. I placed my hand on her arm and led her back to me; she seemed rather surprised when I… leaned foreword and kissed her. I think that all of the tension and longing that I had for her trapped inside me were elated to escape, be released to grasp freedom.
Personally… I didn't mind the kiss at all. My former self probably would have, though, but I'm different now. But strangely, when Riko and I were kissing, the experience didn't feel foreign at all… in fact, it felt somewhat familiar… Is that another hidden concept, yet something else that I don't know about myself? Well, I've changed rather drastically in just the past couple of weeks, and I feel glad instead of annoyed or self-conscious. I didn't think that I'd ever say anything like this, but: that class project was personally and pleasingly beneficial.
So… do Riko and I now have what my brother and Alice have? The thought of me being Uriko's…boyfriend…is very intriguing and fills me with a sense of rapture, but I also feel a bit nervous and somewhat scared as well. Nevertheless, whenever I see her face in my mind, I become relaxed and comforted; my problems and worries just drift away, dissolving as they take their leave…
The End
Author's Note: OK, you all can wake up now! ^_~ Well, should I continue with the journals and move into the story line of my fic, Bloody Roar II: Unwanted Betrayal? Hell I just hope that I'm not screwing up too badly on the characterization and portrayal of our dear protagonist, heh… Please leave a review and keep an eye out for my next stories!
With love for my fans,
Tiger5913