Making Amends

By Indigo Siren

Disclaimer: Bloody Roar is copyright to Hudson Soft and my using of the characters and any game plot within this story are clearly for entertainment purposes only and are in no way being used to make money. I do however have rights to my idea of the story. All rights reserved.

A/N: My first go at a Bloody Roar story. I'm not absolutely 100% with the official storyline, but I'm going on what I've found out and decided for myself. If it is wrong, then it is wrong. Also, please don't complain on my choosing of pairings. Actually, I've gone with pairings that other authors have used. Hope you like the story. It is set after Bloody Roar 3, just so you know the timeline. (Am confused about Primal Fury/Extreme)

Finally, no flames. If you don't like, don't review.

***

Part 1

The impact of his punch had enough force behind it to send her flying across the hard wood floor. She'd never thought he'd be so merciless with her…

"No, no, no…" The teacher shook his head gravely at his student. "You are doing it incorrectly. You are dropping your guard at the wrong time; you are making it plainly obvious to your opponent that you are relying on an offensive tactic."

The young girl clambered back to her feet and bowed, wincing slightly as her bruised body reacted painfully to every little movement. "I'm sorry, Master Long."

The Kenpo Master sighed inwardly. Why on Earth he'd agreed to take Uriko back on as his student, he'd never truly figure out, but after the incident with Xion and the tabula, he'd been compelled to see that his student brushed up her fighting art. Her form was a rough yet effective version of his own, but it lacked validity and timing when it came to some of her movements. Also, he'd found a weakness in her defensive arsenal, though, it didn't seem to be too much of a weakness when she took into the offensive. She was fast and forever shifting between high and low pokes.

Still, she had much to learn…

"Can we rest now?" The young girl whined tiredly. "We've been doing this for hours."

Turning to the clock, he saw that indeed they'd been practising for most of the afternoon. Hours had seemingly gone by in seconds with them both being deeply involved with their training.

"Yes, I think it is wise for us to stop for a short while. Would you care for a drink?"

She nodded feverishly. "Yes please, Master Long. Just water, thank you."

Her teacher disappeared from the room into the small kitchen area of his apartment home. Uriko was glad that he now lived so close to her and the others. It had been some sort of agreement that everyone was to live quite close together, in case anything else was to happen. She'd heard Gado say it was for security reasons at that moment in time, with the Humans being so tedious with the Zoanthropes. It made her wonder somedays if the world wasn't just going to implode on itself if all the fighting didn't stop, even with all the peace preaching that went on.

Whatever the case, everyone being close in unity, like a pack, felt pretty assuring to the fourteen year old. She lay back with a sigh, noting that the hard floor wasn't doing her bruised body any justice. Well, as they say, what didn't kill you always made you stronger, so, she was going to grin and bear it, all for the sake of her learning.

Uriko hummed lightly, staring up at the white wash ceiling, blatantly taking note that Long had returned to the room, setting down her drink on the coffee table he'd moved from the centre of the room. They'd moved things about his lounge, to clear way while they practised, since it was the biggest space in the whole apartment. It hadn't been too hard since he didn't have many belongings anyway. Long had never been one to buy in needless things, and most of the modern conveniences that Uriko loved and relied on, didn't seem to exist to him. It had taken her a lot of persuasion to even get a TV in the place, and even then it just sat collecting dust in the corner. Long pretty much proved that his life as a hermit wasn't going to just dissolve since rejoining civilisation.

Uriko sat up on hands and knees and crawled over to the table to collect her drink. "Thank you."

Long dragged a stool away from the side and took a seat, sipping away at his hot brewed tea, while Uriko shuffled forward to sit cross-legged in front of him.

"I hope that you are not using these lessons as an excuse to avoid your homework responsibilities," he said, considering the fact that most of her Sundays were preoccupied with training with him.

"Oh no! I make sure to get it done. Mother wouldn't let me come if she thought that I was trying to skip my studies," Uriko told him, shifting to a more comfortable position on the hard flooring. "Still, she isn't always so keen for me to be fighting anyway."

"I haven't made your mother unhappy with me, have I?" Long asked light-heartedly.

Uriko giggled, carefully lapsing back so her drink didn't spill all over her. "No, of course not. I keep telling her that it's for my own good. Though, I do think she wants to sock you one for returning me home with multiple bruises."

"The day you go home without a bruise will be the day you no longer require me as your teacher."

Uriko snorted. "Like that will ever happen."

"Practice makes perfect. And in the meantime, as long as you don't neglect your studies, everything will be alright," he pointed out.

"You don't have to worry about anything with my school work. I'm doing fine…" She assured.

"… With young Kenji's assistance." He clearly noticed his student's cheeks turn bright pink at the mentioning of the boy's name, which brought a smile to his face. "Yes, I believe he's been very helpful to you as of late."

"Yeah, he has," she said softly.

"Yugo and Alice informed me that you both were meeting up for many study sessions," he pushed on, not normally the one to be so teasing with an implying situation, but around his student, he always felt a bit more free with the way he spoke to her.

"Well, uh, what about you and Shina, Master. She helps out around here an awful lot, doesn't she?" Uriko reversed back to a surprised and now glowing Long.

"Jane and I are good friends, nothing more…"

"So you say…" Uriko couldn't help but grin to add to things.

"I am very grateful for Jane helping out around here. It grows lonely at times, and I can assure you that there is nothing going on…"

She put her hands up in defeat, not wanting to get him going. "I believe you, Master."

The Kenpo teacher silently went back to sipping his tea. Uriko sat back up to finish her water off, feeling slightly out of place all of a sudden. After what seemed like forever in silence, Uriko struck up into conversation again.

"Master? What work do you do while I go to school? I've always been curious and I keep forgetting to ask. I mean, if you don't want to say…"

"I work in a library. I never thought that it would be a place I'd ever end up. Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"Actually… it's not," she admitted. "You're quiet… and libraries are quiet. You match each other."

He chuckled. "I suppose so. After everything I've ever done in my life, I think it is the best place for me to reside."

"Master Long, the greatest Kenpo teacher in the whole world, now a local librarian…" Uriko beamed. "Doesn't sound right, but it most definitely fits the profile!"

Long hid his flattered face. "Yes, well…" He decided to steer the subject, putting down his now empty teacup. "What do you wish to do when you leave school, Uriko?"

That seemed to stop her dead as she was grasped by the thought of a life beyond education.

"Oh, well, I never really thought about it. I'm not really good at anything…"

"Nonsense," Long interjected. "You are a smart and skilful young woman. I'm certain you can do a lot of things if you put your mind to it."

"Well, I'm a good fighter, I know that for sure," she said, hopping up and bounding about the floor space with a kick or two. "But fighting isn't exactly a career unless you become a soldier or something. Me! A soldier! Running around with an armoury of weapons and kicking butt along the way! Danger knows no name like mine!"

"You should not use your skills to unlawfully hurt others. And the worst you could do is to hold a career that gives you jurisdiction to combat or use weaponry pointlessly."

"I don't think I'd be cut out to be anything close to a mercenary," Uriko admitted.

Long didn't seem to respond to that, only give her somewhat of a scowl.

Uriko steered off from this, now instead putting her arms out in front of her as she pictured a future version of herself, trying to outwardly describe it.

"Nope, not me! I'm going to be a quiet girl. Besides being able to fight as well."

"You will find your one true calling, Uriko," Long convinced her. "And as long as you don't decide to take up demolition work, I think we will all sleep well in the future."

Uriko huffed. "Thank you for your support!"

Long chuckled and stood. "You are very welcome. Now, let's move everything back to where it was. It's about time I saw you home safely."

Uriko looked up at the clock and squeaked. "Almost six! Time really does fly! Dinner will be ready soon!"

The pair dispatched across the room, carefully pulling back all the chairs and the tables into their rightful places, setting everything the way it was before. As Uriko was putting a chair back against the far wall of the room, she accidentally nudged a cloth-covered case in the corner. Suddenly intrigued by what he Master had got under there, she decided to take a peak, lifting the corner off to see through the glass casing around the object inside.

She gasped, surprised at the object she saw.

'A staff!' She thought, quite astonished to actually find a weapon of some sort in Long's apartment. She'd always thought he'd been so opposed to keeping weapons.

"It was a present from a teacher back in China." Uriko nearly jumped out of her skin, realising that Long was standing right behind her. "He too never believed weapons could resolve anything. He believed they were a hindrance and made people weak and reliant on something that lacked insuring protection. We only ever used it once in training, and then he gave it to me as a present before I came here, for taking care of his daughter, Lanfa."

It was the most decorative weapon she'd ever seen. It was barely even worn in, showing of a nice polish like sheen on the wood. Over that it was patterned with gold paint, with a picture of a phoenix and a dragon intertwining up to each end, where each was cut off at the parts bound tightly in rope.

"It's been kept in good condition. My teacher notified me of it's history; a family heirloom. I was surprised he'd contemplated giving it to me, and he wasn't going to take no for an answer. So here it sits, under my care now," Long explained to her.

Uriko, now aflame with the whole idea of weapons, was now inclined to touch it. "Can I…"

"No, Uriko," he said, shaking his head. "It is to stay safely contained."

"But I'd be really careful," she pleaded. "I just want to have a better look at it."

"I want to keep it in the same condition, Uriko, I'm sorry," he said, a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, arguing isn't going to get you back home any faster now is it? We don't want to upset your mother if I return you late."

"Oh, okay…" Uriko relented and went to gather her things, only glimpsing back to watch Long recover the case.

***

"Come in, come in!" Mitsuko ushered her adopted daughter and the Ohgami brothers' in. "I see you've brought more things around for the party next Wednesday."

Alice bounced in, all bright eyed as she carried a box of decorations. "I want my birthday to just feel special. I'm so happy that you're hosting it here for me. You're cooking is the best!"

Mitsuko hugged her daughter with pride. "I only want the best for you, my little rabbit. Oh, well, not so little anymore. Twenty three candles on your lovely birthday cake this year."

Yugo took Alice's box and stacked it on his own, setting it aside with all the other boxes meant for her birthday. "Excited, Ally? Not long left of being twenty-two…"

"Of course! Going to miss being twenty-two, but at least I can say I've done it," Alice said with a giggle. She turned to help a struggling Kenji with the boxes he was carrying. "Here, I'll take that." She grabbed the top box, lightening the load.

"Thanks, Alice," the mole Zoanthrope appreciated. "My arms were about ready to drop off. Yugo left me carrying all the heavy stuff all the way here."

Alice turned sharply to her boyfriend. "Yugo Ohgami, that was a mean thing to do!"

The mentioned boy gave her a goofy smile. "I know, I'm sorry."

Alice shoved the box forcefully pushed the box against him, winding him. "Here, take this."

Kenji went and sat his box on top of the one Alice gave to Yugo. The wolf Zoanthrope winced and gave a sigh, going to stack the last of the boxes.

Mitsuko went back towards the kitchen. "Well, since you're all here, I insist you stop for dinner. It shouldn't be long."

"That's fine with us," Alice confirmed between them and went to take a seat on the couch, glad to finally sit down. Yugo went to join her, while Kenji remained standing.

"Where's Uriko?" Kenji inquired, noticing that the young girl had not come to join them on their arrival.

"Oh, I think she'll be coming back from Long's soon," Alice answered. "That's where she usually is most of her Sundays."

"That's right," Mitsuko shouted from the kitchen after overhearing.

It was just then the door flew open and in bounded the young lady in question. She turned wide-eyed in seeing her sister and the others.

"Speak of the devil," Yugo said. "How's everybody's favourite kitten doing?"

Uriko stuck her tongue out at him as she removed her coat, vaulting pretty much into the room to give her big sister a cuddle. "I'm feeling as good as ever! It's so cool to see you!"

Yugo laughed, pulling at the tightly enveloping arm of Uriko's. "Calm down, I think you're killing your sister!"

Uriko relented, only to bop Yugo over the head though.

Alice gave Uriko just as much of a squeeze in return. "I'm happy to see you too."

Uriko giggled like mad; she always acted this crazy when her sister and the others turned up. Now that she had given Alice her hug, she decided to give Kenji a good greeting too and practically leapt into his arms, nearly toppling the poor boy.

"Woah! Uriko, careful now!" He said, managing to pry the girl out of his arms, but she wouldn't remove herself from the hug.

"Spoil sport," she teased him and let go, turning back to her sister. "Are you stopping over for dinner, I could ask if you could?"

"Already sorted. Your mother asked us before," Yugo informed her, settling back with an arm around his girlfriend.

It was then that Mitsuko peered round the door to spy that her daughter was home.

"Uriko, please wash up now, dinner is being put on the table," her mother said to her.

The young girl bounded up to her parent and gave her a quick hug. "Yes, mother." And she quickly disappeared upstairs to the bathroom.

The others took to sitting around the large, set table in the dining room opposite. Yugo and Alice sat one side with Kenji facing his brother on the other, leaving space next to him for Uriko. Mitsuko pushed herself a chair up to the head of the table on the sides of Alice and Uriko's seats. After that, she began to bring through the bowls of food to set out on the table so they could choose what they wanted.

"This looks delicious, Mrs Nonomura," Kenji complimented.

"Why thank you, Kenji. I hope you're find it just as delicious as it looks." She turned to her daughter as she bounded into the room promptly. "Ah, Uriko, take a seat."

"Mother, it looks fantastic. You always make so much!" Uriko slid into her seat, rubbing her hands in anticipation to eat.

"You never know who might appear for dinner," she said with chuckle. "I always have intuition about these things." She took her seat now that everything was set out. "Feel free to tuck in."

Yugo whooped and headed straight for the meat tray. Alice shook her head, slightly embarrassed because of him and dished herself out some vegetables.

With everyone finally filling their plates up and setting into their meals, the conversation once again began to pick up.

"So, are you looking forward to next Wednesday, Alice?" Uriko asked. "It's not really a big party but still, it should be nice with seeing everyone again."

"Yes, I am… but I have this feeling…"

Mitsuko raised a brow to this. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, my birthdays never turn out the way they are suppose to. Always something goes wrong." Alice sighed and began to go through her recall of past events. "I mean, last year we had that power cut and that caused my friend Toa to have a panic attack for some strange reason and she accidentally pushed Uriko onto the snack table…"

Uriko groaned. "I remember that. I got a mini sausage lodged in my ear!" She sunk into her chair as the group erupted with laughter.

"And the year before that, the catering people got the food mixed up and we ended up with a whole wedding set up and a very unhappy pair of newly weds," Alice continued. "Oh, and the year before that, the incident with the flooding. I don't know whose bright idea it was to put a ball down the U-bend but the toilet made a right mess and the water damage to the ceiling was pretty pricey."

"And these all ironically happened on your birthday?" Yugo concluded.

Alice gave a nod. "Yeah, pretty much. It's like I have this stroke of bad luck."

Mitsuko laughed. "Oh don't be silly. It's just these things happen."

"Well, don't be surprised if something happens to ruin the day," Alice warned.

Uriko giggled. "Well, we'll have to keep you wrapped in lucky charms for the day."

"You'd better not give me a rabbits foot," Alice said, giving her sister a mock glare.

She responded by sticking her tongue out. "Wouldn't dream of it. Don't worry about it. I'm sure everything will be fine!"

But of course, with Uriko saying this, Alice started to feel even more worried. Most likely she'd end up eating her words come next Wednesday.

***

Uriko was glad to hear the final bell of the school day ring. The freedom she felt the minute she leapt out the main doors was astounding and she bounded about like she was on a sugar high. Maeko, one of her closest friends, followed her out close suit, not quite as over enthusiastic about the escape to freedom, even though she was pretty happy about it.

"Calm down, Uriko," Maeko said. "No need to go over the top!"

Uriko turned around with a hop and grinned at her friend. "You don't understand how happy I am! School is out and we can go home and relax!"

"After doing the piles and piles of homework," Maeko said with a sigh.

Uriko took the girls shoulders and gave her a big hug. "No worries about it! Won't take too much time out of our lives to do!"

"Your excitement will fade once we have to go back into school tomorrow," she pointed out.

Uriko pulled back and folded her arms with a huff, a pout formed so childishly. "Oh pooh, you had to ruin the moment!"

Maeko winked. "Anytime you need me to, I will!"

Kenji appeared behind Uriko unexpectedly. "Still meeting at yours to study around seven?"

Uriko jumped, hand clutching to her chest dramatically as she turned with a grin to her close companion.

Maeko giggled. "And here's Kenji, always making a powerful entrance."

Uriko laughed at her friend's comment and turned back to Kenji. "Yeah, that's right. Yugo and Alice will be about, right?"

"They are still sorting out all the birthday food plans with your mother," he told her.

"Not long to go!" Uriko cheered. "Then my big sister is twenty three. It will be such a cool party."

"We can all hope so, and pray for Alice's sake that the birthday curse doesn't strike again," he said, smirking at such a ridiculous idea.

"You don't actually believe it, do you?" Uriko questioned, giving him a prod.

Kenji batted her hand away. "Of course not! It's all coincidental!"

"That's right!" Uriko insisted. "And nothing more!"

Kenji gave a nod and turned away. "I'll see you later. Goodbye for now!"

"Bye," Maeko and Uriko said together.

The former girl was in awe. "He's so handsome and he really has a close connection to you."

Uriko blushed. "You think so?"

"I know so."

Jiro and Hiroshi, two boys from Uriko's class came towards the pair. They were quite close friends to the girls but somehow they seemed to get on their nerves more then anything.

"Hello beautiful ladies!" Jiro said, being the more boisterous of the two guys; he slung his arms of Uriko and Maeko's shoulders, only to be nearly pushed down by the pair. "Oh calm down you lascivious vixens."

"When did you learn such a big word?" Maeko teased.

"Ever since he brought himself an easy read dictionary," Hiroshi said, earning himself a punch on the shoulder from his friend. "So, what did you girls think about the test in history?"

"The one on 'the weapons of war'?" Uriko asked and blew out a sigh. "It was hard and pointless. Why do we need to learn about it anyway?"

"To keep our attention for more then two minutes in a lesson," Maeko said.

"I think it's such a cool topic. Learning about guns and stuff," Jiro put in.

"Yeah well, do you think in the future we'll really need the knowledge to tell the difference between a musket and a shotgun?" Uriko asked and shook her head. "So pointless!"

"Well, I guess that learning of war and all the little aspects leads us to not make the same mistakes of the past," Hiroshi dictated, earning himself some raised eyebrows from the others.

"That could be a close definition," Maeko confirmed, slightly unsure.

"Just think, before guns they had bows and arrows and silly sticks to poke people with," Jiro said almost mortified at such a thought. "What kind of fights did they have back then?"

"Honourable ones," Uriko put in.

"Yes, oh mistress of Kenpo," Jiro teased. "You'd know that, wouldn't you?"

Uriko swatted at him, narrowly missing. "I'm just saying! You always poke fun at me actually learning to fight. I tell you it's done me a lot of favours to be able to defend myself." She crossed her arms. "And besides, guns aren't everything. If you were a bit slow in the head, you wouldn't be able to instantly work a gun to your advantage, while with a staff, anyone could throw that around and knock someone out."

"Logical," Hiroshi agreed.

"Yeah, well, I guess," Jiro said, voice dropping in defeat.

"My Master Long has a staff given to him by his teacher. It's really pretty and looks really deadly too. But he says weapons aren't everything. They hinder more then help in most cases," Uriko went on proudly.

Jiro's eyes seemed to light up. "He has a staff? One of those REALLY old ones?"

"Yeah, I'd say so. Could have been used for a weapon a long time ago, though, it's barely shown ware," she informed him.

Jiro carefully put his arm around Uriko's shoulders, giving her very urging eyes. "It would be cool if we could see it. Maybe some use to use for our educational purposes."

Maeko shook her head. "I see where this is going…"

Uriko pushed him off. "No. I can't show you. I'm forbidden to touch it and I won't disobey my Master."

Jiro snorted. "You're such a goody-two-shoes. It's not like you're going to be smashing it around. We only want to take a gander at it."

Uriko rubbed her arm, trying to cook up more excuses. "I dunno, I can't… it would be wrong…"

"You're just chicken," Jiro jeered.

Maeko frowned at the boy. "Jiro, don't start."

"I'm not a chicken!" Uriko snapped defensively.

Hiroshi came between the two, feeling something would start if he didn't. "Now come on, lets just forget about it."

"Uriko the chicken! Buck, buck, buck!"

Maeko put a hand on Uriko's shoulder, fearing the girl was close to snapping. "Don't let him goad you."

Hiroshi turned a scornful glare on his friend but said nothing.

"You don't have to be such a weed, Uriko," Jiro pushed on. "We just want to look. What? Is one touch going to have you all in big trouble."

Uriko just said nothing, crossing her arms.

It was then Jiro's imitation teasing of her that really started to make her crack.

"Oh master, I breathed on your oh so wonderful staff, oh please don't beat me!" He said, doing a rather bad rendition of her voice.

"SHUT UP!" Uriko screeched and stomped up to him, voice lowered. "Fine, I'll show you."

"Uriko…" Maeko worriedly spoke.

The aforementioned girl shook her head. "No, it's alright. It will also kill my curiosity over it."

Jiro smirked. "Alright then. After you, Madame."

Uriko lead them off, all the while thinking. 'I hope curiosity doesn't kill the cat… or at least get it into big trouble…'

***

"Why am I doing this again?" Uriko mumbled, staring up at the front window of her Master's apartment. She turned to look at Jiro, giving him a sharp glance, though he countered it with a simple smile.

'I should have taken the name-calling and gone on with me life. But no, had to be stupid…'

"So, it's in there," Jiro stated. "How you going to get in?"

"Through the window, fool," Uriko snapped. "I'm not exactly going to use the door, am I?"

"Is he in?" Jiro asked, following the girl up the window, both peering in.

"I don't know. He might have gone out to pick up some food. He does usually on a Monday," she answered.

"Well, go on then, go have a look and see if you can get the staff," Jiro urged.

Uriko sighed, gave a slight push back to step away from the window. She rubbed her hands together as she hopped up onto the narrow ledge and pushed on the jarred side window, watching it open with ease. She looked back at a smirking Jiro, then over his shoulder to just down the street where Maeko and Hiroshi stood watching from afar. She gave a slight nod and went inside.

'This is wrong,' she kept telling herself as she tiptoed across the lounge. She made a quick peek into the kitchen and then out into the hall, listening.

No, her Master Long was out… for now.

"Go on, Uriko," she heard Jiro whisper in a hiss from the window. She just waved a hand at him, ignoring him as she went further into the room, more precisely, towards the back wall where she knew the case was covered. With a light tug, the covering slipped off, revealing the encased weapon to her in all its glory. She was in awe once again, but instantly shook it off when hearing Jiro's inquiring voice about her finding.

"Yeah, yeah, give me a second," Uriko growled, kneeling down to unhitch the latch on the side, opening the front.

Her first reactions of the feel of the weapon in her hands were that of shock and surprise. It was much lighter then it looked and it felt like it had become an extension of herself. It was just simply amazing.

Wasting little time to hang around, she bounded back and out the window, now presenting the staff to show to Jiro, who too was amazed by it.

"Guns can never be as artistic as that without a good dose of spray paint," he said. "Come on, let's show the others."

Uriko would have protested going off with the staff, but Jiro was already dragging her down the street. She could have easily stopped him in his tracks, since she had her Zoanthrope strength on her side; but then again, she did want to show Maeko especially this staff. What harm could it do?

Maeko and Hiroshi stood with their backs to a wall of an small alley at the end of the street, partly embarrassed and worried that they were partly involved in this stupid operation. They were both surprised to see their friends return, weapon in hand.

"I thought you were only going to look?" Hiroshi said.

"Yeah, and I thought you'd want to see too," Jiro answered, turning to Uriko. "Can I hold it?"

She hesitated. She gone this far, maybe she could trust him to be careful. "Okay."

It was nerve shattering to let the weapon slip into his hand. Jiro was so taken by it, weighing it up.

"Now this is fantastic. A great weapon of war… but I guess guns are the better killer," he said.

"It's not all about killing, Jiro," Maeko scolded him on such a notion. "Now lets just put it back and forget this ever happened. We'll get into trouble. Actually, Uriko will most likely have the blame on her."

"Yeah, Jiro, hand it over, I have to but it back before Master Long gets home," Uriko told him firmly.

The boy backed off a pace. "Give me a minute." He was beginning to swing it lightly in a batting motion.

"Stop playing around!" Uriko snapped and made a grab from the staff, managing to take an end.

"Hey! Come on!" Jiro protested.

"No more!" Uriko pulled the staff from his hands sharply. In this process, it snapped around in her grip, the end of it bumping against a metal dumpster to the side of her.

A crack was heard loud, with many cringes following.

Uriko turned in horror, screeching in dismay to see the end hanging by a few threads of wood.

"Oh… no," Maeko muttered. "I knew this would happen."

"NO!" Uriko yelled, almost collapsing, her face turning full on to Jiro. "Look what you've done!"

"Not my fault, you're the one who snatched it off me!" Jiro said defensively.

Uriko literally ran circles, pressing the broken end of the staff back together. "Oh no! What am I going to do?"

"Put it back!" Jiro yelled. "He'll never notice!"

"It's broke, you idiot! Of course he'll notice!" Uriko screamed at him.

Jiro shrugged. "Glue it then!"

"You're so insensitive," Maeko scolded.

Uriko stammered incoherently, trying to decide what to do, staring down in horror at the poor broken staff. She inwardly came to a decision and was suddenly running back towards her Master's dwelling, realising she had very little time left. She heard her friends following her, calling out in confusion to what she was doing.

With a swift bound up on the window ledge, she was suddenly slipping back into the lounge again, closing the distance quickly towards the small kitchen area.

"Uriko? What are you doing?" She could hear Maeko calling in to her.

"Glue, glue, glue," she kept repeating over and over in her search, taking Jiro's idea literally. It was her only option. Master Long would surely have her head if he discovered what she'd done.

'I'm so irresponsible!' She screamed inside. She gave a slight, half-hearted sigh as she came across a very small tube of glue hiding in an oddment draw. She went back into the living room, supported the staff together under her arm and fumbling with the fiddly top on the tube.

"Hey, I had a good idea," Jiro said, noticing the glue tube.

"Shut up," Uriko lowly hissed towards him, finally getting the top off.

"Careful, Uriko," Maeko said worriedly, watching her friend now knelt, trying to use a steady hand to apply the glue. It was proving a heavy task, as her hands were shaking erratically. Making a bit of a mess, she finally had the glue where she wanted it. She dumped down the tube on the coffee table and used her fingers to wipe the excess off and hold the staff firmly together as she stumbled back over to the case, setting it carefully in. She shut it quickly and recovered, making an exit in record time.

It wasn't long before the four of them were bolting it down the street, heading towards the local recreation ground.

Hiroshi was the first collapse. "That did not just happen…"

Maeko gave a very disappointed look to Uriko. "It's not going to go away, you know? You can't deny it never happened. Can you really lie about it?"

Uriko sighed, covering her almost tearful face. "Oh, this is so stupid. Why? Why did I have to do that? I want to blame Jiro, but I can't…"

Jiro looked a bit happier. "See, I don't deserve the blame." Maeko clouted him hard around the ear, enough to bring tears to his eyes. "Okay, okay, I can be blamed as an influence…"

"What am I going to do?" Uriko choked on a sob.

"How about we get a smoothie from the snack shack and we can decide from there?" Hiroshi brought up.

"HOW CAN YOU THINK OF SMOOTHIES AT A TIME LIKE THIS!" Maeko screeched at him, the boy sinking.

"It's okay, I really need one," Uriko defended. "Come on, maybe I can decide on doing something right for once…"

***

"I don't recall leaving the window open that wide," Long muttered to himself in consideration.

Not thinking much of it, though being cautious, he stepped inside his apartment and listened carefully. It was a few minutes of this before he realised he was well and truly alone. His inspection around clearly showed everything was accounted for.

He blew out a sigh of relief and went to set down his purchased grocery items on the kitchen counter top.

It was then that he stopped in mid bag emptying. Something had picked up his senses, something that had lingered. He hadn't noticed it before when he'd first set foot inside, but now, he could feel some former presence prickle over his skin.

Someone HAD been in his home. He found himself wandering into the lounge, finding that this scent was somewhat familiar to him.

'Extraordinary,' he thought. An item set on the coffee table caught his eye, seemingly out of place in his immaculate apartment.

A tube of glue. He picked it up curiously; knowing full well that he'd not used it in a while.

'Now this is peculiar indeed. What is the meaning of this?'

It was sometime later that following his instincts based on this scent, he soon discovered the true use of the glue.

The shocking truth from unveiled.

***

Uriko had not long departed her friends company when she arrived home. She stood on the doorstep for a moment. She was still contemplating what she was going to do and say involving the situation with her Master's broken staff. She'd been thinking long and hard about it over a smoothie, even with her friends giving her ideas, but she still couldn't decide what actions to take. It was such a difficult situation, and she knew eventually, everything would have to come out in the open.

Bidding the cold of the night an inward goodbye, she opened the door and stepped into the quiet of her house.

'Wait, wasn't Alice suppose to be here?' Uriko wondered, confused why the house was bathed in silence. Around her was the heavy blanket of darkness, though, she did notice a small haze of light breaking through the sliding door into the lounge. It was an odd feeling.

She slid open the wooden door and peered in tentatively. She regretted it silently as her eyes crossed the congregation that was sat there.

Alice, Yugo and Kenji were sat on the couch in front of the bay window, facing across to her mother. She seemed to stiffen in remembrance that she was suppose to be studying with Kenji at seven, and by the big clock on the far wall, it was nearly twenty past.

"You're late," her mother said, too calm for her liking.

Uriko gulped and set foot further inside, taking into account that she should shut the door. Now in the room, she noticed another figure sat occupying a chair next to the fireplace.

"Master Long," she said in the most composed voice she could muster, trying not to gulp at the rather blank expression that he had on his face.

"Uriko." He acknowledged her greeting, his voice ever as smooth as it always was.

The young girl could feel the tension, and began to feel a dread creep up her spine to what the group had met up for.

"What's going on?" Uriko asked, though it seemed all too obvious anyway.

"Where have you been?" Mitsuko questioned her daughter; her tone straining to stay controlled.

"I got caught up with my friends. I didn't notice the time," she said, which was the honest truth.

"And what have you been doing?" Her mother continued; all eyes were silently on Uriko.

"Hanging out… just stuff," Uriko said, giving a half-hearted shrug. It was getting even tenser by the second.

"Hanging out didn't by any chance have any connection with Long's apartment?"

Uriko wanted to step out of the room, away from her mother's inquiry. She knew where this was heading and she was becoming more scared to find out the consequences.

"Well, I guess we were close…" Uriko trailed off, feeling embarrassed that she was on the verge of lying. This wasn't like her at all.

"Uriko," Long said imperturbably. "I know you were at my apartment today. I was able to pick up on your lingering scent in the room. Now, to save everyone the grieve of aimlessly going with the prolonged method of learning the truth, I am afraid I am going to be blunt with my words. You were most certainly in my apartment, gaining access by the window, and you went against my wishes of you touching the staff. Not only touching it, you damaged it as well and tried to cover this up by gluing the broken piece back together. You left the glue as very good evidence."

Uriko flinched at how easy the words flowed out on the dark deed that had occurred. It was like he'd been there with her all along. Alice's eyes flowed over her in distress, while Yugo and Kenji were more deadpan on her. Mitsuko was ready to burst.

"And all I want to ask is…" Long's stare almost bore into her. "Why?"

"Master…" Uriko mumbled as she tried to pull words from an empty head. What could she say? Well, she could at least explain herself. "It was an accident, I swear it. I didn't mean for it to break. You see we were studying weapons of war for a test and my friend kept going on about guns and such, and I happened to mention your staff to counter the whole weapon idea. He pressured me into showing it to him and I did. And he kept fooling around and I snatched the weapon back and accidentally hit a dumpster. It wasn't supposed to happen. I didn't mean to go against your wishes."

"But you do mean it if you go ahead and do it," Long stated firmly. Uriko just gave pleading eyes, her voice now failing to come up with anything else to say.

"You could have said no!" Mitsuko seethed through her teeth. "You're a strong girl and you shouldn't let people make you do things you know you're not supposed to!"

"I know, I know," Uriko defended weakly.

"Uriko, I taught you how to fight because I trusted that you wouldn't do stupid things and make foolish choices. I specifically told you that you were not supposed to handle the weapon. It was entrusted into my capable hands as a gift that I was to keep safe and cherish, and in a matter of seconds, not thinking you could do harm, you not only broke an irreplaceable treasure, but also broke every promise you made to me."

"Master…" Uriko didn't want to cry. She was always so strong, but it felt like she had really hurt her teacher by being so selfish.

"For now, I think it would be wise I not teach you. Until I know I can rely on you to do the right thing," he said, slipping into silence.

Uriko's mouth hung open. She wanted to scream out that it was just a weapon, but then again, it was a possession of meaning. For a second, she wondered why she was acting so crudely, and wondered if she was letting herself be so influenced, being that she acted so childish.

"Uriko, I'm grounding you until further notice," her mother shouted, shocking the girl back to reality. It was the first time ever Uriko had been grounded. "Not only did you hurt your Kenpo Master, but you came in an hour late for your chores and dinner and you seemed to carelessly drop your commitment to Kenji. Oh Uriko, I'm so ashamed of you."

It hurt so much, and it was so embarrassing for all this to happen in front of her sister and friends. Uriko couldn't look at either her mother or Long, and especially the others. Tears streamed down her face as she turned, flung the door open and ran off to seek solace in her bedroom.

End of Part 1.