Second chapter: As before, critics wanted, praise welcomed :D Suggestions for other ending #s would also be nuce, cos this one's all rushed off and crappy. Points of comment for this section:

- Uriko's reaction on seeing Kenji: Crappy? Or too dramatic?

- Your views on the fight scene

- Anything else.

Read on!

Whispered Words: In health and in sickness. Part 2.

A damp, unpleasant breeze fingered coldly around Uriko's exposed legs, slipping questing tendrils down her baggy sleeves and neck, and she shivered as she pulled her kuyata more tightly round her slim frame. Damnation, but she should have changed before coming out here. What was it about alleys that made them so... ikky? The rest of the city still basked in the liquid-ruby light of a warm summer evening, but as far as this little patch of hemmed-in concrete was concerned it might as well have been the middle of a Murmansk winter. Where the heck could a cold damp breeze come from on an evening like this? At least there was light: while not an iota of sunlight could ever filter down into this place – some bright spark in the planning division had had a damn great platform built about thirty feet up that completely blocked out the evening sky, God knew why - the back of the alley – well, more like a yard, really - opened up onto a section of the city railway line, and enough of the dirty-yellow glow of the track lamplights filtered through the chain-link fence separating the two to outline everything in a thin sheen of grainy amber. Not that there was much to look at, save a few nondescript bin bags stashed in one corner, a couple of semi-rusted bins in the other, the occasional crumpled sheet of newspaper tittering shakily in the breeze. None of the other paraphernalia, though – dead rats, dog dirt and addicts' needles, the mainstay of back alley trash throughout the city, almost overflowed the area with their absence. Someone had to clean this place on a regular basis – or maybe animals and junkies just didn't fancy the decor. Whatever the reason it'd made a damn good place to train before they'd found anywhere better. Heaven knew there were much worse back alleys in this city to practice in – training amidst and falling over into rats and dog crap made her want to puke at just the thought. Her mind wouldn't even allow her to consider the implications of falling onto discarded drug-blood-and-virus smeared needles. Nasty, to say the least. But some alley traditions would never change, and one of those was the damp, unpleasant breeze.

The other was the smell. A smooth blend of wet cardboard, decomposing garbage and, yes, dog crap, and about as subtle to the nostrils as a well-aimed brick. And where the hell was that dog shit smell coming from?! There wasn't any!

All in all, Uriko considered, not the sort of place you'd want to come to share a romantic evening with your partner. Good God, if Kenji fell for this there was no hope for the guy at all... not that there would be any once he got here, she thought as her pyres of anger smouldered darkly.

A soft tap echoed from the alley entrance, a tiny corridor of space between two buildings; the sort of sound made by someone dropping to the ground with practiced silence. A moment later the sound of approaching footsteps sounded in her ears, growing gradually louder, and she drew in a sharp intake of breath. She'd spent enough time around Kenji to know the rhythm of his steps. It was him...

A cloud of butterflies took wing in her stomach. Suddenly she needed the bathroom real bad. This was crazy, this was totally stupid. She still had a few seconds, she could transform and run away from here, from all of this –

No! She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to anger. He betrayed me, he USED me. That's shouting distance from fucking RAPE.

Tap, tap, tap. His footsteps approached through the dusty starved darkness, cautiously, quietly but quickly, the hallmark of an education in stalking – in assassination - far too ingrained to undo, and with every step the anger grew.

He used me. Tap. He used me. Tap. He USED ME!!

Her eyes swirled, molten gold layering over chocolate brown as her growing rage inside her vied for control, screaming at her to morph, get him, what are you waiting for?! She concentrated, forcing herself to revert. Surprise was the key...

Tap, tap, tap.

And then he appeared, stepping smoothly out of the shadows into the grainy light of the alley. A dark fluid-amber statue in the dusky darkness.

Uriko's breath jammed in her throat and she clamped her hands over her mouth as a squeak of – pain? Pleasure? Anger? Terror? Grief? Joy? – threatened to cry out into the air; an overpowering dizziness engulfed her as time seemed to funnel out and slow to nothingness. The incident at the phone was nothing compared to the maelstrom crashing through her heart at seeing him here, now, in the flesh. In the back of her mind she was vaguely aware that she'd begun to stumble, but in this sudden land of no-time nothing moved, not even herself; only the panicked signals from somewhere around her stomach region were informing her of her slow backwards tumble, and they were drowned out in a bubbling flood of nausea as she stared across at her lover's shaded figure, unmoving, poised silently in his confident stride. Memories were flensing through her consciousness, memories poison-tipped with agony, memories of their past times together... memories of him. The wispy outline of his dark crown of hair, shadow made softness. The hair she'd run her fingers through as they'd cuddled together on Yugo's couch, that she'd lovingly laid her cheek on as she'd ridden him piggyback, breathing it's wondrously languid, giddy scent. The soft-edged contours of his body, muscles rippling alluringly beneath his faded skintight cotton shirt with each step as he approached; muscles with which he had swung her through the air joyfully in his arms during their walks in the park; shivering, throbbing muscles her hands had frantically traced as they –

Don't think about it, don't think about it - ! I won't cry, I won't cry, I won't –

- those lips, those soft, smiling, oh so sweet lips, lips that spoke and laughed, lips that had kissed her lips, that had kissed so lovingly her stomach, her thighs, her –

- No! A rising rawness clawed at her throat and jabbed needles into her eyes; her breath hitched slightly as she fought to control the raging conflict inside her. All that is gone! Gone! Remember what he is, remember what he did!

A trailing strand of golden-brown hair wound it's way lazily into Uriko's vision as her idle backwards fall continued, twisting and undulating in the half-light. Gazing past it, she saw Kenji's booted foot inch towards the ground as he took another step. Saw his head – oh, so slowly! – turning to face her. Saw the gleam of recognition light up in his eyes as he noticed her. His lips twitched, the beginnings of a smile –

- those lips that kissed you so lovingly? It was those same lips that slandered you, dammit! It was those damn lips that spread your most intimate secrets over the whole school to be laughed at –

"Hey, Uriko!"

- and it was in those same damned dulcet tones that he did it!

Without even so much as a gracious warning, time snapped back into normality, prompting a squeal from Uriko as her backward stumble suddenly and emphatically asserted itself – legs scrambling crazily at the ground as she fought for balance, she covered several metres in a mad 45° backward sprint before a foot landed in the right place, bringing her to a less than graceful stop. Gods, she thought as she gasped for breath, her heart pounding from the adrenaline surge, I need to do that less often.

Kenji's quiet laughter rang through the air as he ambled towards her – or ambled as much as someone could when their walk of preference happened to be a stalking tiptoe. It was hard enough to get Kenji to smile at anything, Uriko knew, and so to get him to actually laugh out loud she must really have looked like an idiot. Sure enough, his teasing voice floated over a few moments later; "Have you been drinking, Uriko? I thought you didn't do that sort of thing..."

"Y-yeah, well, you just startled me, is all," she stammered embarrassedly as she hastily smoothed down her kuyata, focusing intently on each crease and wrinkle so she wouldn't have to meet Kenji's eye. She could feel a rising blush creeping into her cheeks and she cursed herself mentally, both for being such a klutz in front of him, and for caring – she knew he'd betrayed her and yet still she felt flustered around him? Dammit, girl, he RAPED you! "You've gotta learn to make some noise when you walk, you know?"

He smiled. "As you wish," he replied. "I shall endeavour to be noisier in the future." He was silent for a few moments, then – and this time it was his turn to sound embarrassed – he began, "So, uh..." he coughed slightly nervously, then continued, "um, so... what were you wanting to, umm, practice?"

At any normal time, Uriko thought, Kenji's demeanor probably would have set her giggling till she couldn't breathe – as far as he was concerned a comment like that was being forward to the point of sheer indecency. The problem was it wasn't any normal time anymore; now, she knew better. The pyres of anger were smoldering again, and this time there was no soothing love or doubt to control them; she felt the last few forlorn droplets trickle like tears of defeat from her soul as she watched him standing there in his trademark ninja garb so nervously, so innocently.

Yeah, keep on acting. You obviously didn't think bragging to all and sundry was too 'forward', did you? You bastard.

She held out her arms invitingly and gave a coy smile. "Come here, mole-boy, and I'll show you exactly what I'm wanting to try..."

He didn't need inviting twice; he stepped forward eagerly, yet gently, and then she was enfolded in his loving embrace. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against the soft, warm contours of his chest with a contented sigh, her ears thudding with the passionate beats of his quickening heart –

- Careful, Uriko –

I know... I know... just one last cuddle won't hurt, though...

She felt his lips brush delicately through her hair and plant a soft kiss against her forehead. That tender touch had whispered so against her skin – against her heart – in a hundred hugs before, and each time it had brought with it the warm reassurance that Kenji... would always be there for her. Would always be there to love her and comfort her, even as the rest of the world so churlishly and cruelly spat venom against her heritage. Would be... almost, perhaps, like the father she had never had. But even with her soul so rended at his betrayal, even knowing of his duplicity, she couldn't quite suppress the warm shiver of comfort that washed through her body at his touch. She tilted her face towards his, her eyes closed languorously as his kisses moved tantalizingly downwards, brushing gently - but oh, so intensely! - against her eyelids, her rose-flushed cheeks, and down, down towards her own lips, breathless, tingling with anticipation –

"You told Ben, didn't you."

The words were whispered, but they reverberated in the air like the echoes of a gunshot. She felt his probing lips freeze in shock against her skin. Heard him gasp sharply. Her eyes snapped open and suddenly there was no warmth but dark fire in her pupils as she locked her gaze with his. His eyes were wide, shockingly white in the gloom, alight with shock, fear –

Her fury erupted like a fusion warhead.

But no confusion.

"Uriko, I –"

The punch struck with horrifying force. Every ounce of weight, every fibre of muscle, every hissing droplet of wounded spirit and screeching blood-lusted feline rage powered up through her arm and exploded forwards into his stomach with all the raw, unstoppable power of a cannon blast. The blow literally lifted Kenji off his feet, wrenching a gasp of pain and shock from his throat and sending him crashing across the unyielding concrete, to crumple into a boneless heap against the far wall.

"You bastard!" Uriko shrieked as Kenji rolled onto his knees and doubled over, retching and gasping for air, and suddenly a stinging river was washing down her cheeks as those tears, those tears she swore she wouldn't cry, came flooding out in torrents of burning grief. "You absolute bastard! I thought I could trust you! D... damn it!" Her voice choked off as words failed her; the madness, frustration, rage and shame and loss were flooding her mind till she felt like she'd explode and there were no words in existence strong enough to vent them. Tears flensing into the night air behind her, a terrible wordless drawn-out cry of fury filling her ears, she charged.

"Uriko," Kenji rasped as he staggered to his feet, his eyes gleaming with a panic as intense as his former friend's madness, "W-wait a second - " But she didn't – possibly nothing could have made her stop anymore, except the dying echoes of the snapping of his bones, his groans of agony. His blood. He ducked as her fist slashed viciously through the air, whipping harmlessly through his thick-set hair where his jaw had been only a second before, and his hand darted to his belt and thrust towards the ground. There was a harsh bang and a cloud of acrid smoke filled Uriko's eyes. She was prepared, however – years of sparring practice with her so-called friend had taught her every one of his tricks, and he'd used that one far too often to fool her anymore. She thrust out her hands, catching herself against the cold concrete wall, and lashed out blindly with a back kick. Her foot contacted something solid and she snarled with satisfaction as a yelp of pain reached her ears. She spun round as Kenji staggered backwards from the unexpected strike and threw a double punch that slammed into his chest with a sound like a thick-set book being dropped onto a floor – wumph! – sending him flying off his feet with a ragged gasp of pain.

He couldn't stay stupid forever, though; her attacks had been unexpected, but his hardened battle instincts were surging into the fore even as he tumbled, and with impressive speed he flipped himself upside down and planted his hands on the ground, turning a potentially damaging fall into a graceful backwards cartwheel, hair and clothes flying as he spun head over heels and landed upright in a perfect low stance, back leg locked straight, torso turned forwards, open palms guarding head and groin. A small part of Uriko observing doled out grudging respect at his smooth recovery. The rest of her was already surging forwards, her face contorted and a feral snarl escaping her throat; her fury only heightened by his flourishing acrobatics and the fact that she'd gone and given him a chance to recover. She had to keep him off-balance if she was going to win –

"Uriko, wait - !"

"Shut the hell up!" Her shriek and her foot scythed the air at the same moment, the latter sweeping round to knock his forward leg from under him; rather than leaning his weight forwards to counter as she'd expected, however, he shifted his weight to his back leg and Uriko's snarl dopplered into a shocked squeal as, like a snapping rope in a tug-of-war contest, the full strength of her kick knocked his leg aside with as much resistance as a shadow, sending her spinning crazily off-balance. Kenji deftly dropped into a forward splits and swept his leg in a wide arc along the ground, flicking Uriko's remaining foot from the ground with insolent ease and flipping her into a dangerous tumble that wrenched an angry, terrified yell from her throat. She plummeted, limbs flailing uselessly, saw the ground rushing up to meet her –

- she was going to break her neck! -

- and then suddenly Kenji was sliding underneath her, catching her safely in his arms before she struck the concrete.

She blinked in shock, but before she could even begin to react he shoved her upwards, propelling her ungracefully to her feet.

"Huh?" Uriko spun round as Kenji leapt back up, but rather than the relentless attack he'd expected, Uriko paused. Her brow was wrinkled in confusion as her astonishment briefly overrode her driving rage, and she fixed him with a glare of incomprehension. "What the hell was that about?"

Kenji, still poised in a wary fighting stance, shook his head solemnly. "I didn't want you to get hurt."

Uriko actually choked in amazement, she was so stunned; it was like being hit in the face with a bucket, a waterfall of iced water, and for a moment she couldn't even breathe. "You..." she coughed harshly, her eyes watering – from the shock or the grief, she couldn't tell; did it even matter? - and her rage boiling up through the cracks of her mind like acid lava; she hadn't thought it possible to get any more furious than she was. Showed how much she knew. "You... didn't want to hurt me?" Her head fell back and she barked a peal of bitter laughter at the cold, indifferent metal roof above the alley. Then suddenly she was flying forwards, claws and teeth and fur almost ripping her skin apart as her beast form tore it's way out of her human body and a hissing shriek splitting the air, and Kenji hadn't even time to blink before the blood-red blur cannoned into him, sending him crashing across the ground with a gasp of pain.

"THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU GO BRAGGING TO BEN, YOU BASTARD?!"

Ignoring the bellowing from every muscle and bone – fear strangling his mind – Kenji rolled onto his back and his eyes widened as he saw Uriko plummeting towards him like a bird of prey, blades extended. Her claws struck sparks from the concrete as he rolled aside and leapt to his feet.

"Damn it, Uriko," he growled hoarsely, his arms trembling from pain and exertion, three crimson lines blossoming like blood-soaked roses beneath the shreds of his ruined shirt where her claws had caught him on her first attack, "I don't want to fight you! Can't we discuss this?"

Uriko leapt again, blades raking the air, the fury still burning like demonfire in her pearlescent eyes. "We-rr – have – " she roared, tigerlike, mouthparts designed only for hisses and spits mangling her speech into an inhuman rasp, each word punctuated by a clawed punch that took all Kenji had to knock aside, "– nothiiing – to-rr – damn – well – discusss!!" The last shout was marked by a furious kick that slammed into his chest and sent him staggering into the wall, and she surged forwards, snarling victoriously, hair flying and claws flashing, flinging a punch with all her might at his exposed torso.

Kenji moved. She never even saw him, she didn't know how it was possible to dodge so fast, but suddenly her fist was flying with bone-breaking speed towards a blank wall where her target had been only a moment before –

The crunch echoed through the alley.

Uriko blinked dumbly as she stared in mute shock at her trembling hand. Hitting a wall like that... should have been painful...

It had. A glance at Kenji's face told her that – his face was pale and drawn, skull-like almost, his eyes screwed with exertion and his teeth clenched as he fought against crying out. The fingers of his outstretched hand twitched feebly, like a dying spider. The outstretched hand crushed between the unyielding stone and her paw.

"Wrr..?" Uriko wrenched her fist away as if Kenji's hand had suddenly caught fire and Kenji groaned and staggered backwards, clutching his injured hand beneath his arm. Even in this semi-light her keen cat eyes could see, with a kind of dreamy sense of horror, the pale pinpricks of moisture gathered in the corners of his eyes...

"Wrr... wha..?" Uriko's growling timbre wavered and melted into a disbelieving whisper as her beast form retreated soundlessly, almost shamefully beneath her skin – like a cat, she imagined absently, who has always been caught staring at the family's pet hamster and it never realized that that little rodent was important until the day the child came in and saw the blood on it's paws and screamed –

She looked down at her hand in the pale gloom, eyes wide in the dark. She flexed her fingers softly. A hand that should not have been perfect. Should have been smashed...

"Damn it, Kenji," she began to whisper as she raised her head to stare at his hunched frame, but then something in her broke and her voice rose to a wail of frustration, "What the hell is wrong with you?! You... you hurt me more than anyone could... and then you try to save me?"

"I told you," he growled, his breath hissing between his teeth, "I didn't... want you to get hurt. Could we please... discuss this... for a moment?"

"But you told Ben, damn you," She hiccupped and spun away, suddenly ashamed, as she felt her eyes prick with tears. At least it was a blessing she was out of breath; her exhausted panting masked the quiet sobs that almost certainly were waiting inside her. She'd never seen him cry before...

"I don't... deny it," he replied through his own breathlessness. "But I... I never meant to... it was just... a slip of the tongue..."

Uriko spun back round, dashing the tears from her eyes. "A... slip of the tongue?" she growled. "You'd call that... a slip of the tongue?"

A faint wry grin tugged at the corners of Kenji's mouth. "Well..." he panted, "What about the time... I moved in to Yugo's house? And you introduced me at school... 'Hey, everyone, this is Kenji... he's sleeping with this guy I know,' you said..."

Another punch soared towards Kenji as Uriko leapt forwards again, tears flying. "That's not... the same!" she gasped, swatting air as Kenji dodged desperately. "That was a damned slip of the tongue... how can you let slip... something like that?" Punch after punch flashed out at her target, but something was wrong, this felt wrong - the driving rage was slipping, shuddering like a house of cards touched by just the faintest beginnings of a breeze, and there was nothing to sustain it but yawing void of grief and desperate desperation –

He raped you!

But -

What is there to question?! Get him!

Kenji scooted backwards under her wildly swinging assault, blows raining against shin, thigh and forearm as he executed a series of blocks. "Uriko, please," he pleaded, and something in his voice cracked in desperation, "Stop this! I never meant to... if I'd known how much it'd... I didn't tell him any detail, I swear, damn it, Uriko..."

But she would not stop. Fatigue was beginning taking it's toll; she was slowing, gasping for breath, stumbling, but Kenji was in no better condition himself – his limbs were numb with fire and it was all he could do to defend. And the look in those eyes, the sheer well of despair and confusion, the wrenching sobs choking what little breath remained in her slight frame told him that this was going to continue in lieu of any other solution until she died from the strain -

Kenji leaped backwards in an attempt to gain some ground and cursed as a cold thud against his shoulder blades informed him that he was yet again against a wall. The tiny part of Uriko still driving her onwards shot forwards, it's faint blood-lusted hiss echoing through the cavernous reaches of her mind, and leapt into a clumsy flying kick. Evidently she'd learned, she thought dully; at least a kick wasn't going to hurt when it hit the wall after he dodged –

Kenji crouched and sprung with every remaining ounce of effort he had left, kicking back off the wall behind him into a tumbling half-somersault that sent him soaring over Uriko's head as she flew harmlessly by underneath. Had she the breath, she might have managed a mewl of astonishment – a leap like that, she might just have managed well-rested and with a run-up, and she had feline in her veins. That guy had way too much agility. As it was, she could only blink as she bounced off the wall and spun in time to see Kenji hit the ground in an untidy forwards roll – or at least, that's what it looked like it had meant to have been, but he fumbled the landing; the exertion was getting too much even for him, it seemed, and instead of leaping gracefully to his feet he gave a startled yelp as he stumbled over his own feet and crashed ungainly to the ground.

He's exposed! Get him! The last vestiges of her rage yelled inside her mind as she watched, as through a dark haze, Kenji scrambling to find his feet; he'd landed wrong, his back was exposed, he was easy prey. But she was simply too exhausted; her legs were trembling from the effort of keeping her upright, her arms were trembling just from the effort of hanging loosely; her breath heaved, her whole body burned with a screeching agony, she felt sick, she felt as though she were bathing in magma, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse and puke her guts out until consciousness abandoned her –

Damn you! Her mind raged. You're giving up! You're just going to leave him? He raped you!

It wasn't rape... some small part of herself murmured, He never meant to –

You're going to believe THAT?! He deceived you then and he's deceiving you now! Now get him!

No... she whispered. Through the darkening shadows of black exhaustion she watched as Kenji scrambled up to his knees -

What the hell is wrong with you?! The baying demon roared. Coward! You're pathetic! You're nothing! Are you so spineless you're going to let this rapist, this murderer walk away? You're forgiving him?! KILL him!

That's not true, sh-shut up – Uriko's fists clenched and her eyes squeezed shut as she fought desperately against the raging turmoil inside of her –

Coward! Weakling! Finish what you came here for!

I won't, shut up –

You were just a puppet to him! A pretty little sex toy to be used and thrown away! He never loved you!

That's not true! It can't be –

And why would he want to love you anyway? You're nothing to ANYONE, you're pathetic –

SHUT THE HELL UP!!

KILL HIM!!

"NOOOOOO!" Uriko screamed and suddenly she was flying madly forwards, claws and teeth and fur exploding from her skin as any semblance of control vanished to the winds, conscious of nothing anymore but to end it all, silence the unbearable storm, the pain and the madness and the grief and the rage and confusion and frustration and torture and ahead was her lover and rapist and friend and protector and betrayer and she saw him turn and saw his eyes widen in horror and flash with red fire and –

- Uriko slammed into him in a waist-height flying leap with all the force of an out-of-control lorry, seizing his midriff, smashing him from his feet and sending them both powering through the air like a mad ballistic missile; they crashed against the wall and Uriko twisted, locking her legs against the concrete and kicking back –

Crash after crash resounded through the air as Uriko executed her signature take-down, leaping and smashing from wall to wall like a tennis ball shot from a cannon. Bins, bags and boxes went flying as they ploughed through the carefully stacked piles, shook mortar dust from the walls, sent the wire paneling pinwheeling through the air as they rebounded from the underside of the platform above and shot downwards –

And with a last, bone crushing crash they bulleted into the ground. For all it's impressiveness, landing was the one part Uriko had never mastered, and she yowled as the impact sent her tumbling bonelessly across the rough concrete. She came to rest against something soft and furry, hissing with a furious all-over pain – a move like that did as much to damage her as her opponent; keeping beast-form afterwards was never a good idea, but she had to if she wanted to continue this...

The last of her reserves depleting, she dragged herself to her aching feet and looked down.

It was Kenji, or, at least, Kenji in his mole-morph, sprawled prostate on the concrete; but even as she watched his beast form began to disappear, claws retracting, fur melting like chocolate into his skin, his animal grunts translating into an exhausted panting. His beady red eyes swirled into the luscious brown irises of his human form, which flickered slightly to gaze into her own... and then, like a cloud moving from the sun, the smallest of tender smiles flickered at his lips. The smallest sign of apology... but...

Then, with a quiet note of finality Uriko's knees buckledas the last of her strength left her, and with a sigh almost of dreamy relief she fell slowly to her knees and collapsed on top of him.

And then there was silence, punctuated only by their ragged, exhausted breathing and the occasional crash of a dustbin lid returning to the ground.

Boy, Uriko thought absently as she lay sprawled across Kenji's heaving chest, her head lolling against his shoulder, isn't this a familiar position...

"You know," Kenji panted as he gazed upwards at the reddened clouds through the huge hole in the platform above where they had impacted, "You really are... very attractive... when you're angry..."

Uriko blinked in surprise as the words registered. Then suddenly she burst into a fit of the giggles. The feeling was wonderful, as if a great weight had come sliding off her shoulders. "W-what?" she gasped, raising her head to gaze in disbelief at her friend, "What... the heck... have you been watching, Kenji? American movies?" She fell back against him and laughed harder than ever, the sound echoing through the quiet air, sweet, cooling tears of mirth streaming down her face, soothing the rawness that her earlier tears had burned.

"Well," Kenji responded, grinning, "Yugo always told me... to tell you that... if I ever got you angry. I take it... he was joking?"

"Y-you might say that," Uriko giggled, "T-that would explain... why he could never get a date..." She spluttered and then dissolved into laughter again, and after a moment Kenji joined in, until the whole alleyway resounded with the sound of their infectious mirth.

"Oh, man..." Uriko chuckled as she wiped her eyes on Kenji's shirt. "Well, that was a heck of a training session. You didn't really seem on top form today, though."

"No, not really..." Kenji replied, a slight note of hesitation permeating his voice. "I... couldn't hurt you, not when it was my fault in the first place..."

Uriko wriggled round until she was lying fully on top of him, face to face. "So, come on then," she answered, propping her head up on her hands, her elbows either side of his ears, and gazing down into his eyes, "Tell me: Why did you tell him?"

Kenji blinked. "You... don't sound all that angry..."

"I used up all my anger back there. I think, anyway. Now I'm just curious."

Kenji sighed and looked away. "I really didn't mean to," he replied heavily. "I guess... I just couldn't help myself."

Uriko raised an eyebrow. "You 'can't help' boasting about your sex life?"

Kenji looked momentarily shocked. "What? No! I didn't - you think I gave him details? I – all I said was..." he looked away again, and Uriko could see embarrassment creeping into his eyes as he hesitated, then continued, "... all I said was that... you were beautiful, and that... it had been... amazing..."

Uriko felt something swelling inside her, something entirely different from the bile of grief and fury that had choked her only minutes earlier; she could feel her heart hammering in her chest and Kenji's heart to, thudding in sync just below her own. What was he saying?

Then... he hadn't...

She remained silent as he glanced briefly up at her, then gazed back into the ether. "You... you're the best thing that ever happened to me, you know. I just... couldn't keep that to myself. And... I really am sorry. If I'd known how much it'd hurt you..."

She smiled softly; had she any left shed, she might have had tears in her eyes. "You really are an idiot, you idiot," she whispered, a faint, embarrassed blush tingeing her cheeks at his words. She lowered her head and pressed her lips delicately against his; he hesitated for a moment, as if afraid this couldn't be true and she was about to attack again at any moment, then slowly kissed back, raising an arm to brush his hand gently against her cheek. Uriko made a contended sound somewhere between a moan and a purr deep in her throat; she closed her eyes as a wonderful light-headed giddiness swept over her and ran her fingers lovingly through his tousled hair, pulling him closer...

Eventually they broke apart, panting slightly. Uriko's head was spinning from the sweet, sweet touch of his lips; for a moment she couldn't even think straight. About a year ago she'd got properly drunk for the first time in her life, when she'd been home alone one night and, bored, had decided to rifle through Alice's bookcase to see if there was anything worth reading. What she'd found was a lot more interesting to the young, curious teenager than mere books; tucked behind her Harry potter collection she'd come across a litre-bottle of vodka, around a quarter empty. Having never really tried the stuff before, she'd figured Alice wouldn't notice if one mouthful went missing. Just a swig wouldn't hurt, right?

Wrong. The stuff had hit her like an intercity train. That first mouthful – admittedly a big mouthful – had kicked so hard she'd spent the better part of two minutes sprawled on the thick mauve carpet giggling insanely at the sheer hilarity of the colour of her top, a rather dull off-colour green.. After a while she'd fallen into a bleary torpor, warm and cozy as if she'd sunk into a hot bubble bath, taking an occasional nip from the bottles – for some reason two others had appeared from nowhere, but she seemed to have gained the extra arms to hold them and had decided not to worry about it – and dreaming befuddled dreams about chasing oddly Kenji-shaped mice, and it wasn't until she'd happened to catch a hazy glance at her drink that she'd realized, through the fluffy pink clouds of spirit heaven, that her occasional nips had drained almost half the contents. Those feelings, or something like them, were flooding through her now; similar in a way, yet at the same time as different as reading a book on parachutes and taking a running leap from an aircraft into fifty thousand feet of sky. No amount of alcohol could ever hope to compete with the sheer purest joy, the burning heat and blissful giddiness that but one touch of those lips could evoke.

And that's not to mention that I'm not going to feel like my brain's trying to smash it's way out of my skull afterwards...

And only – was it really only a couple of hours ago? – she'd both feared and hoped she'd never, ever feel those sensations again as long as she lived.

They gazed at each other for a moment, smiling softly, and Uriko leaned forwards to kiss him again. Abruptly Kenji winced, a startled hiss of pain escaping between his teeth; shifting her weight, Uriko had leaned herself onto one of his injured areas. "Oh!" she cried as she saw his reaction, "S-sorry-!" She shifted again in an attempt to regain her former position, but all she accomplished was another strangled hiss as her knee caught him in the side; judging from that, and the look on his face, he wasn't too healthy there either.

"Would you mind," Kenji growled, his face twisting as she squirmed hurriedly backwards, her expression one of acute flustered embarrassment, and banged into a raw patch on his hip, "not moving around quite so much."

"S-sorry," she murmured as she stopped wriggling, blushing as Kenji grinned half-mockingly at her. Now straddling his stomach – Oh look, her inner pervert mocked, another familiar position, this one, if you just shuffle back a bit – she brushed a lock of hair from her eyes to cover her confusion. "Um..." she hesitated, "How much did I hurt you?"

"I'll survive," Kenji grunted in reply as Uriko began to run her fingers lightly down his chest, checking for injuries so she could better avoid them, "A lot of cuts and bruises, I think, but nothing feels broken." He grinned wryly. "Though that's not for want of trying – ow!"

"Sorry," Uriko apologized hurriedly as her fingers brushed across a frayed patch of his shirt; in the half-light she thought she could make out a faint patch of red on the fabric. She decided not to look too closely.

"I doubt I'll be morphing for a while, however," he continued, almost matter-of-factedly, as if they were discussing just one more training session down at the park - Uriko wondered whether she ought to feel offended or relieved that he was viewing the whole thing so calmly. "You seem to have honed that bouncing attack somewhat... I don't remember it being that brutal – ow!"

"Sorry," – her fingers skipped over a ragged tear in his shirt. She sighed inwardly; she hadn't remembered it being that brutal either, and she certainly hadn't remembered it hurting herself as much as her opponent. Fortunately there was always a certain amount of regeneration when morphing either way, and the worst of the wounds seemed to have healed. Though what was left was bad enough; she felt as if she'd been hit by a truck, and it was going to be a long, long time before she had the stamina to morph again either. She was just glad that her little game of human pinball hadn't ended up breaking bones. Morph-healing extended to flesh wounds and no further... attempting to heal a fractured limb through the same method was never a good idea, given the obvious complications in having your entire internal structure forcefully rearranging itself around snapped, disjointed and above all sharp-edged fragments of rib or femur...

"Although," Kenji sighed regretfully as she continued her search, "I probably deserved it... I guess even I should have been able to realize how stupid it was to say anyth – ow!"

"Sorry." This place echoes some, doesn't it? She leaned forwards, more carefully this time, and propped her head up on her hands again, her sky-blue eyes gazing down with an air of appraisal into Kenji's own earth-browns - appraisal and, perhaps, a slight tint of pity, as would a parent to a small child demanding to know why it was wrong to take all the toys off that boy over there. But there was humour there, too. "Yeah," she replied, "I guess you should have done, boyo. You're lucky I'm in such a good mood about it, is all I can say."

Kenji gave a wan smile at that. "Of course." He sighed quietly. "So... where do we go from here?"

They lay in silence for a moment, the soft semi-muted sounds of the city humming gently in their ears like an insect swarm in a moonlit garden. Quiet droning of cars, a rising, then fading statacco of high heels as a crowd of club-goers trotted by the alley entrance. A catcall whistle, a gaggle of giggles. The drawn-out honk of a horn. The world wasn't intruding, not yet, Uriko thought. This alley had been the entire universe for them, not a few moments before – had for her, at least. Now, the rest of the world was gathering again, drifting, wraith-like, round the fringes of this little pocket of existence. Waiting for their permission to rejoin. But, for the moment, there was a borderline – in here, these four concrete walls, shielding this little ocean of calm suspension. Out there, the rest of the world, with it's ensuing problems, it's complications. It's people. Those at school, and the rumour, the knowledge, spreading outwards like a slow infection. But for the moment, it was out there. For the moment, she was in here, in comfort and warm safety. She sighed. "I dunno," she replied quietly, laying her head against Kenji's chest. "I can't imagine what school's gonna get like once all... that... gets around. At the very least, things'll get... troublesome... and what I did to Lucy's only gonna fan the flames., in retrospect."

"Hmm?" Kenji queried. "Why? What happened?"

"Oh..." Uriko chuckled softly, her eyes idly following a paper bag as it skipped across the concrete in a gentle breeze. "She's who I... found out from. I... persuaded her that these... rumours were nothing more than that."

"'Persuaded?'"

"Yeah..." Uriko grinned. "There's a rather Lucy-shaped dent in the school locker racks." She sighed. "People'll be wondering why I got so mad at a 'rumour', though... they're going to put two and two together eventually, and even that lot of morons can't come up with '5' all the time."

Kenji chuckled, then sighed. "Sadly true, I guess." His brow furrowed as something seemed to suddenly occur to him. "Say..."

"Hmm?" Uriko queried wordlessly, lifting her head as Kenji glanced into space, his eyes narrowing in that patient way she had come to recognize over the years. It took a deal of effort to get used to the subtleties in Kenji's expressions. It was like trying to read a French novel without bothering to learn but a smattering of the language first – you might get the bare gist of it if you were lucky, but the fine point would almost certainly be lost, and practically no-one who wasn't Uriko could ever hope to decipher his expressions past the absolute minimal level. His face was an ivory mask he removed only in the company of those he truly trusted, and even then – even with her – only hesitatingly; possibly (She had guessed, but could never bring herself to ask) even now, he could not fully bring himself to believe that he was liked, appreciated, loved; that if his friends saw past into his inner self, then all pretences of friendship would be abandoned... But as with all masks, the trick was to look to the eyes. And, looking into his eyes now, she could see he was weighing a delicate question in his mind, subjecting it to close scrutiny. Literally – his gaze was focused intently, as if the question itself was hanging in the air a few feet in front of him as he checked it over for flaws or shoddy paintwork. Something he always did when thinking hard; just one more little oddity she'd had to get used to with him. But then, she thought wryly, other people might do just the same thing... if there was anyone else in the world who actually thought about anything in the first place.

"Um..." he began hesitantly, "I don't suppose I could – "

"Ask a question?" Uriko grinned at Kenji's pained expression; he didn't like being obvious. Underneath the smile, though, her thoughts darkened – his hesitation, and the fact that he'd asked if he could ask, meant that in his examination of the question he'd found razorblades attached. Possibly she wasn't going to like this; but after a small hesitation she replied, "Yeah, go ahead."

"Well... I was just thinking..." He hesitated again, and Uriko's eyes narrowed fractionally; she probably really wasn't going to like this – "Um, I mean... Does it really matter if word of... of us has got out, really?"

She was right. She didn't like that one bit. "Didn't that little tiff back there give some hint, Kenji?" she growled. "Of course it damn well matters – or are you planning on spreading it around some mo – "

"Nonono," Kenji interrupted hastily, holding up his hands; Uriko grudgingly fell silent. "I think I phrased that wrong," he continued. "What I meant was, there's not really been all that much damage done, has there?"

A little better, she thought, but still a definite zero on the comfort factor. If Kenji didn't think that spending the rest of their school lives plagued with taunts about what they 'got up to', being the butt of improper suggestions from possibly every jock in the damn place, even lewder rumours springing up like weeds wherever they stepped, even... her insides shriveled at the thought; dear God, Alice or Yugo finding out! – was 'much damage done' then he had some serious issues about just what constituted damage. She kept quiet however, waiting for him to explain.

"I mean," he continued, "Consider: Even before all of... this, there were hundreds of rumours concerning the two of us anyway. Everyone already believed we were sleeping together in the first place."

"Yeah," Uriko pointed out, "But now they know."

"True," Kenji replied, "But they already treated us as if we were anyway, so nothing really is going to change, is it? The mockery might even start to slacken off, if you think about it. It's not our relationship itself that's the laughing point for them... I imagine Lucy's already slept with almost the entire male population of the school, and for her it's a point of pride. It's the fact that we don't like our relationship being public that gets us mocked, because they know it'll annoy us. So now that it is in the open, they'll think we don't mind it being public, so the taunting should die down."

"Yes, Kenji." Uriko replied clinically. "The other possibility is, they'll just mock us twice as much because our relationship is public when we don't want it to be."

"Or they'll do that." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Urko, I never meant – "

"Yeah, I know." Uriko cut him off roughly; suddenly she didn't want to hear him apologize. "Nothing to be done about it now, though, is there. We'll just have to... take whatever comes our way, and hope it blows over soon, I guess."

"Even the blackest storm gives way to day in time," Kenji agreed – sounded like a quote, although Uriko couldn't imagine from where. But then, Kenji had a habit of speaking in poetic flair anyway, so it could just as easily have been made up. She just "mmhmm"ed in agreement, listening to the murmurs of the outside world. It's people and it's problems, waiting expectantly.

But... they would survive. There would be difficulties, barriers, but they could overcome them. Would overcome them. That slow infection of rumour spreading through the school... well, it would go. In time. She would contract it, she would get sick – get sick of many things, she thought grimly, thinking of Lucy's grinning, leering visage – and she would eventually get better. It might not even get any worse in the first place.

"We'll just have to see," Uriko murmured; more to herself than Kenji, but he nodded. "Well, anyway, come on, boyo." She sat up and clambered to her feet, wincing as every muscle in her body and an extra hundred she didn't even know she had complained loudly and bitterly. Gods, she thought, my everything hurts... "We can't be lying round here all night, can we?" She offered her hand as a help-up and he took it gratefully, pulling himself to his feet with at least twice as much wincing as she'd done. "Thanks," he groaned. "Though, if it weren't for you I could get up normally, so it's a dubious thanks, I guess."

Uriko grinned. "True. Still, if you hadn't – huh?" She frowned as she glanced at his hand still in hers. Her eyes narrowed, and she squeezed experimentally.

Kenji gave her a puzzled glance, seemingly oblivious to the pressure. "What's wrong?"

Uriko glanced back up at him, an eyebrow arched. "That doesn't hurt at all?"

"No. Why? Should it – " Abruptly his expression shifted into one of acute embarrassment as a sudden realization dawned. "Uh, I mean, um – "

Uriko's eyes narrowed at his reaction. "This hand," she continued, "was the one you caught that punch of mine in. I saw tears in your eyes, Kenji! I heard bones break! But there's nothing wrong with it at all..." She fixed him with a Look. "I know for a fact morphing doesn't heal bones, mole-boy. What's gong on?"

Kenji withered under the intensity of her gaze. "Well, um," he replied nervously, squirming, "That was sort of, um... faked..."

"Faked." Uriko's voice was deadpan.

"Well, um, you were going a little... um, mental," Kenji replied, his eyes refusing to meet hers. "I just wanted to get you to slow down for a moment, so..." He held up a hand as she took a breath to reply. "It did hurt," he added hastily, "I thought it was broken for a minute. It certainly felt like it. But it was just popping joints, that crunching sound. And the rest of the agonizing was genuine... I just sort of... forced the tears..."

"I... see..." Uriko growled. She turned to the side to hide her grin. Son-of-a-bitch sure was cunning...

"I was getting desperate!" he continued – from the tone of his voice, he was getting desperate now too. "It was one of those spur-of-the-moment things – I just thought if you thought you'd hurt me enough, you might slow down a little..."

"Indeed." Uriko still hadn't turned back towards him. "Well, I think you need... teaching a lesson for that, boyo..."

"W-what?" Uriko's grin widened; thee was real fear in his voice now. "Uriko, look, I'm really sorry, just let's not fight any more – "

His words abruptly cut off as Uriko spun and found his lips with her own.

"Silly boy," she purred as they broke apart. "You really are naïve, aren't you..."