Chapter 6

Bloody Roar III: Deception Strikes From Within

By Tiger5913

Sequel to Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past

Chapter 6

The Past Comes To Haunt

His girlfriend released a shrill scream.

Unaffected by the noise, the distraught, mysterious woman continued striking at the figure that she had downed, hitting him relentlessly with her fists. Lethargy never seemed to faze her as she continued battering him, an unspoken flame of fury ignited in her twin icy indigo eyes, the energy of her anger lashing out at the poor wolf zoanthrope with its invisible waves of scorching heat. Shaking her head, the dark-haired nurse snapped back to her senses, and leapt at the stranger, knocking her away from the unconscious, vulnerable body of her boyfriend. Time seemed to stand still when the two females fell to the floor simultaneously, shoving and clawing the other in order to be more dominant.

"How-dare-you!" the rabbit managed to squeeze out as she was trying to pin her opponent with her elbows.

"How dare me!!" she shrieked, struggling wildly. "How dare you! The nerve you have to attack me!! And your stupid wolf boyfriend, he ruined my LIFE, taking away the ONLY thing that was worth my living for!! He deserves to be punished!!!" With that, she threw Alice off of her and jumped up, hobbling to a standing position while glaring at the other bystander, a slightly deranged, unstable glint hovering in her irises.

"You're crazy!" the twenty-three old zoanthrope declared. "I don't know who the heck you are, or why you're mad at Yugo, but you've got the wrong person! He'd never ruin anybody's life! He's a gentle, sweet, caring person!!"

"Lies, lies, all lies!!" The attacker screeched, grabbing her sides and leaning foreword a little as if she were in pain. "Poison, he's poisoned your mind!! You, you're too blind to see anything, because he's clouded your mind! He's manipulated you just like that old fool Hajime Busuzima did to those poor, unsuspecting captives of my brother's!!"

"Your brother? And …Busuzima?" she wrinkled her nose in distaste. "How do you know that name??"

"Shut up! I don't have to tell you anything!" the intruder said hysterically. "All you have to know is that I'll stop at nothing to make sure Yugo Ohgami gets fatally punished for what he did to me, and whoever dares interfere will be killed as well!!"

This woman… is crazy! Alice thought, flinching at the confident tone of voice that the other female portrayed as she had spoken those menacing words of threat. What the heck does she want with Yugo?? And… how does she know Busuzima??

"Get out of my way!" her foe suddenly demanded, bending her knees, ready to spring at and get rid of who or whatever got in her path. "I'm going to finish this!!"

Her crimson eyes widening, the nurse crouched her body and took to her battle stance, gripping her clenched fists tightly as she lightly hopped around her beau's body, unwilling to let the crazed stranger win her way. Without warning, the mysterious woman suddenly leaped and dove for the unconscious zoanthrope lying on the ground; a split second before she could land on him, Alice jerked and twisted, knocking her form away with her own. Both fighters fell to the floor harshly, wincing at the hard impact, but the villain arose first, her eyes blazing with anger, and a sliver of lust for blood glimmering in her darkened pupils.

"Stay out of this!! This is none of your business!" She shrieked, the knot securing her hood loosening as she thrashed and screamed, almost resembling a young child throwing a tantrum. "I won't let him get away free, not now, not when I'm so close!"

She seems really determined to hurt Yugo… the cyan-haired female winced at the loud tone of voice echoing through the lonely, deserted hallway of the alley. It just occurred to her how alone she and her boyfriend were, and if she didn't get the two of them out of their current situation, than no one else would be able to. Well, I won't let her touch him again! Not my Yugo… I didn't let the ZLF take him, and I won't let this crazy woman try to either!

"Are you ready to give up yet?!" her opponent bit the words off coldly, giving off an arrogant smirk, conceited confidence aligning her clenched lips.

The twenty-five year old immediately snapped to attention, and replied defiantly, "No! Never!"

The stranger's face scrunched into a furious snarl, and she threw her head back, unleashing a loud, inhuman yell that stunned nearby birds, causing them to engage into flight. The volume made Alice cringe and her hands shot up to cover her ears, but she kept her ruby red eyes focused on her for, not wanting to be caught by a surprise attack. The woman cut herself off abruptly, and swooped down to pick up a metal crowbar that had been listlessly lying down on the ground, surrounded by other scraps of unwanted garbage. With a determined look plastered over her expression, she darted foreword at the nurse, swinging the heavy object directly at her.

"Ahhhh!!" The rabbit zoanthrope cried out as she dove aside, but the bar still managed to lash at her lower thighs, and penetrated her skin, scratching nasty cuts along her the back of her legs. Painfully, she lurched and hit the floor on her stomach, having the wind knocked out of her; wheezing, she struggled to her knees and watched the growing scenario before her eyes.

"HAH!" the estranged intruder bellowed triumphantly as she started proceeding toward her target. "Yugo Ohgami, I finally can have my revenge!!"

"NO!!" Alice screamed, summoning strength from inside her to launch at the other bystander. Anticipating the move, her foe ducked low enough for her to sail over her head, then guffawed in mockery at her attempt, strands of coal black hair peeking out of her hood to gasp in the sweet oxygen of the day and not suffocate any longer.

"You're not bad!" The woman commented, laughing almost hysterically. "But it's a shame you're not good enough to save your pathetic lover!"

Yugo!! The nurse shouted inwardly, holding her now-sprained ankle. With her free hand, she stretched toward him, and was rewarded with a vicious swipe of the crowbar, receiving a bleeding scar on her tender palm, forcing her to retreat her arm. "Leave him alone!!"

"Fool! Do you think I would back away now after I've gone so far?!" The villain shook her head vigorously, her dark tress whipping about her face, and she knelt down next to Yugo, holding the bar over her head with both of her hands. "After years of suffering, it's your turn to pay your debt!!" She descended the object speedily, aiming for his neck.

"SISTER!!!" The protective cry pierced through the alleyway, making the woman flinch and she was temporarily distracted from her task. She wasn't able to resume it, for a swift tackle shot into her body, the impact knocking her far, throwing the crowbar away from her grasp, and slamming her into one of the brick walls securing the area. Another figure went along, using her form as a shield, and pinned her against the hard surface; her head struck the structure as well, and she howled in pain.

"Stay the hell away from my brother!!" A voice shouted into her ear as angry puffs of breath blew onto her cheeks, and the wall dug into her shoulder blades when more pressure insured. "You touch any, and I mean any, of my other friends, and I will tear your goddamn head off, do you hear me!!"

"Who are you?!" she screeched, twisting and turning to throw off the figure that was trapping her, "No, I don't care who you are!! I'm just here to destroy Yugo! And if you try to interfere, I'll do away with you as well! I'll kill all of you!!"

Slightly dazed by the sudden turn of events, Alice tiredly wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist, and gazed around to see who had arrived to save her and the wolf zoanthrope. "U-Uriko?"

"I'm here, Sister," came the Kenpo student's reassuring reply, and the teenager wrapped her arms around her sibling, who had begun to tremble. "Uranus, Strider, Kenji, and me. We're gonna get you and Yugo out of this, okay?"

Meanwhile, the enigmatic woman was still fighting against her captor. "Let go of me this INSTANT!!"

His fingers biting into her skin, uncaring of her person, Kenji ground out through gritted teeth, "You think I'm stupid?! You think I'm gonna let you free, so that you just go and try to hit my brother with that damn crowbar of yours, and let you kill him?! If you ever try doing that again, I swear I'll-"

Her dark-colored irises disappeared under her eyelids when she slid them shut, and concentrated deeply, giving into the fighting urges stored within her. The next instant, a blinding light emitted from her body, coupled with a wave of energy that threw the ninja up into the air, and he slammed into his fiancée's form. When the flash faded, everyone adverted their attentions to the spot where the foe had previously been in, surprised to see another figure in her stead. Arising from the ground was a creature that sported ripped shreds of dark clothing hanging off of two scaly arms, and a pair of feet stood a firm position, wicked claws latching onto the concrete.

"She… she's a…?" Alice murmured questioningly, her eyes wide with shock.

A bone-chilling screech from the mysterious creature spliced into the serene environment, and malicious yellow eyes glowered at the others as the animal lifted a long nose up and sniffed the air cautiously. Observing the predicament, and spotting the teenage couple scrambling to cover her victim's body, she howled in furious anguish and whirled around, dashing away from the scene. Taking notice of cartons and various items scattered about the alleyway, she jumped onto them, ascending to the top of a nearby building and disappearing from sight.

A quivering moment later, Uriko tore her eyes away from where the enemy had vanished off to, and turned to her sister. "Alice… you okay? What happened?"

"What did that cruel witch do to my brother??" The ninja asked heatedly, taking a hold of Yugo's wrist and checking his pulse.

"A fight obviously occurred here," Uranus stated matter-of-factly, her usual pleasant facial features clouded over with an unreadable expression as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You should have brought your sister a safer distance away from whoever that was, Uriko," Strider pointed out, a frown creasing his brows as he glanced over in the direction where the villain had just been seen darting off. "You could have been in danger. That person was a zoanthrope."

"Oh, really?!" Kenji snapped at him impatiently, standing up and whipping his head to shoot a glare at him, greatly agitated that the other youth's attention had been directed to his fiancée. "None of us had noticed! Not even when she morphed right in front of our eyes! Do you really think we're all blind?!"

The cat zoanthrope cringed a little at his tone of voice. "Thanks for your concern, Strider, but I'm okay. I can keep myself out of trouble, don't worry."

A wry smile crossed over his lips. "But I am worried. About all of you newcomers," he quickly added, but still made the seventeen-year-old male raise an eyebrow in irritation. "A foreign place can be vicious and deadly, especially since none of you are familiar with the areas around here. Yet, I presumed that the two of you," he gestured at the nurse and her boyfriend, "would have had no trouble fending for yourselves. Perhaps it would more wiser if you traveled in groups of three from now on."

"We don't need to babied," the mole zoanthrope spoke lowly, narrowing his eyes and silently challenging the guide. "If you had been in Japan a couple years ago, you'd see that we handled our problems just fine, even solo in some situations. Just because we're in unknown territory now doesn't make us more vulnerable-"

"No, Kenji," Alice held up her hand to quiet him. "He's right. We're not completely used to things here, so we are a little more unguarded because there's really no telling what'll happen next."

"Yeah…" Uriko agreed quietly, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder supportively. "I mean, back home, we had more confidence because we knew our own territory pretty well. If we wanted to trap an enemy somewhere, we'd know where to go in order to gain the advantage in the battle, you know what I mean?"

Though he knew that the others sounded reasonable, Kenji merely grumbled a bitter reply, "You'll agree with someone you barely know, yet you won't even take my words into consideration."

"Now, now," Uranus chimed in, shaking her head as she wagged a slender finger. "Let's not get into another fight, shall we? I believe that the next wise decision would be bringing Mr. Ohgami back to the complex so that he could rest and heal up…"

"Oh!" the dark-haired nurse exclaimed. "Yugo!" She picked up his wrist and held his hand in both of hers, biting her lip as she looked down at him. "I don't know how badly he was hurt by that woman… We need to hurry and get him back!"

"Agreed," the female escort nodded. "Let us be on our way then."

The two guides assisted Alice in lifting her boyfriend into the air, and supporting his limp body as they slowly began trudging out of the dark alleyway. Strider peeled away at the intersection to flag down a cab, while the young couple watched them from their motionless positions, then turned to glance at each other at the same time.

The feline zoanthrope spoke first, "Listen, Kenji, I didn't mean to doubt you back there-"

He shook his head. "It's okay, I'm the one who needs to apologize. I didn't mean to snap at Strider, but… but it felt like he was implying that you needed someone to take care of you… and I know how you don't like to be dependent on others. I was… I guess I just got a little defensive."

A corner of her lips curled into a half-smile. "If you were defending me, then I can't be mad at you for doing that. But… I really can take of myself. Strider was concerned, you know, since he was just as shaken up about what happened to Sister and Yugo as much as we were. I'm sure that he and Uranus want us to try and enjoy traveling out to the States, and not completely regret coming here."

"Yeah, you're probably right," the cyan-haired youth said, although the look in his eyes told her otherwise. "…I wonder if anything happened to Long and Jane today. Weren't they scouring around Central Park or somewhere like that?"

"Yup," She replied, going to her significant other and slinking an arm around his elbow as they spotted two cabs approaching the sidewalk, and quickly started strolling toward the vehicles. "I hope they're okay…"

They're no safer than we are. The seventeen-year-old male thought matter-of-factly as his expression clouded over slightly at the feeling of discomfort. Is this how the rest of this little 'outing' is going to be like? The six of us craning our necks to look out for the slightest signs of danger, all the while conveniently becoming distracted and vulnerable to the enemy?

"Come on, let's get in," the Kenpo student interrupted his thoughts just then as she tugged open the door of the second cab, waving her hand toward the insides to prompt him.

Shrugging absentmindedly, he obeyed, sliding into the vinyl-cushioned seats and gazing out of the window thoughtfully as the driver began pulling away from the curb. Sitting beside him, his fiancée looked at the scenery on her side, letting a small sigh escape from her while she fondly peered at the various stores and buildings that trickled along the path of the sidewalk. All of a sudden, something snapped to her attention; a shop that was fancily decorated, with a neon red sign that seemed to furtively wink a secret message as the words flashed on and off simultaneously. A minute later, the vehicle had passed by, but the image of the saloon stayed in her mind, and a slow smile made its way over her carnation pink lips.

"Hey Kenji," she started to say, swiveling around in her seat to face foreword, "Your birthday's coming up."

He continued glancing out of the window on his side, and didn't reply for a long time. Just as she opened her mouth to repeat her previous remark, he finally answered, quietly, "Yeah, I know…"

She blinked in slight bewilderment. "…? You don't want to turn eighteen? You finally get to be an adult."

The teenager sighed heavily, and shifted to forge eye contact with his companion. "A couple weeks ago, before we left home to come here, Yugo brought up something important that involves my eighteenth birthday. First of all, since he didn't know my real birth date when he found me at Tylon, he had to guess, and I just recently learned from Long my true birth date. I have to re-register when I become an adult, with my real birthday, and… what name I legally want to go by."

"Oh…" she murmured as the realization dawned onto her. "And… you're undecided right now, I'm guessing."

He nodded his confirmation. "How do I know which loyalty to choose, the brother who's taken care of me for more than half my life, or the uncle that I had known in the first half of my life that I don't remember? I mean, logic tells me to go with the name and identity Yugo gave me, but then again, I feel that I would be betraying Long as my only living family left if I did that. On the other hand, he was the one who made me lose my father in the first place, so I should go with the Ohgami surname, as a sign of appreciation to Yugo for the help he gave me." Running a hand through his hair in frustration, the ninja snorted and added, "It's a no-win situation…! Either way, I have to disappoint one of my family members."

"Well, you turn eighteen the day after tomorrow, but… but you don't file your registration papers until we go back home, right?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I can't register here, since this isn't where I live, or was born."

"You still have time then," Uriko assured him warmly, placing a hand on his arm sympathetically. "I'd give it at least a couple weeks before we return to Japan, so you can think about it while we're still here, okay? Don't stress about it daily though, then you'll just go crazy," he grinned at that, "but give the thought some consideration whenever you're relaxed, and you feel like you could try and tackle this problem."

"Alright…" the mole zoanthrope said albeit hesitantly, appearing unsure.

"But for right now, think about what's the first thing you're gonna do when you turn eighteen," she piped up cheerfully. "I know it seems like a normal, ordinary birthday like your other ones in the past, but really, this one should be special!"

"I never thought I would be celebrating it in a foreign, unfamiliar country, as opposed to home," he remarked wonderingly. "Although this feels kinda strange, I also feel… unique at the same time."

"Well, of course!" She beamed proudly. "You should, because you're the first of any of us to have a birthday in the States! Hopefully not the last though…" she winked at him knowingly.

"Maybe…" he answered softly, curling an arm around his fiancée's waist and drawing her to him, laying his head atop hers affectionately.

Don't worry, Kenji, she thought with an elusive grin as she nestled into his figure, waiting as the car headed back toward their apartment complex. After I drag you to that place, you'll have a great time and won't have to stress about that registration issue…

End Of Chapter 6