YAY! CHAPTER 88 IS NEIGH!

Man oh man, sorry if this one took this long to post. We haven't had the net at home for almost a week now, so I can only access it here at work x.x!

HUGHLOVERX – W00T! here it is :D! the next chap with a little bit more NAKED LOGAN GOODNESS ;)! (sorry, but he ain't gonna do a strip tease for you gals ;P).

SKETTY – and yet more comment about the godly naked LOGAN O.O! LOL! Anywayz, awesome to know you loved the previous chap ;)! Let the creepiness and haunting mood continue…

JOSEFINA – thank you so much for commenting on the story ;)! Heehee…don't worry. You can have Logan back after this fanfic is over :D! and yeah, I really didn't stick to each and every word from the movie. I really felt the need to flesh out the characters so I decided to borrow from the book and comics persona :D!

DOZA – yeah. Based from the movie, Yuriko is dead and done. But hey, anything can happen in a fanfic. And in US1, I really tried to make her comeback as believable and feasible as possible ;)! After all, they don't call her deathstrike for nuthin ;)

Chapter 88: Nothing is as simple as black and white

Yuriko felt her entire body tense up when she saw Logan standing naked right in front of her. His naked body was only a few inches away from hers, and she could almost feel her skin against her own. And the little girl was right. He was so beautiful, so handsome. He was perfect, and he was everything she could ever want. And the way that he was looking at her made her spine tingle in a sensual way. She had never seen the present Logan look at her like this before. But this Logan looked at her like he wanted to devour her in his love, drown her in passion and pleasure.

"But are you sure that he's really what you want?" The little girl asked deviously. "Or are you just telling yourself that you want him?"

The young Yuriko snapped her fingers and Logan suddenly disappeared from where he was standing. And this time, he disappeared completely. He didn't reappear again.

Yuriko almost felt her heart jump out of her chest as she watched Logan disappear. She wished he could have stayed long enough for her to touch him, to feel him…Long enough for him to feel her too. But then, she realized that that Logan was not real. That Logan was just a creation of her imagination. She remembered what the professor had had told her earlier. He told her that she might not be able to tell the difference between what was real and was not in once she had entered her mind. And now, she was starting to understand what he meant by that, because everything looked and felt so real.

"I see you miss him already." The little girl said. She noticed the split-second sadness in Yuriko's eyes when Logan disappeared at the snap of her fingers. "Don't worry." There was a fake tone of concern in her voice. "You still have 'him'."

And at that moment, she snapped her fingers again, and William disappeared and reappeared right in front of Yuriko. Like Logan, he too was naked and his eyes were also so passionate and seductive. There was a slight smile on his curvy lips that made him look like he loved seeing her, that he was so happy to see her like this. And since this was the younger William, his body was toned and firmly muscular, unlike the older Stryker who was portly and physically unfit.

Yuriko's eyes widened as she saw William like that. He looked more real and more vivid than he had ever seen in her previous flashbacks. And god, he looked so handsome. She still couldn't believe how this young man used to be the Stryker she knew. Her eyes stared deeply into his as she looked at him. Her heart beat faster in her chest like solid drums. She couldn't pull away from his stare. She didn't want to. She just wanted to stand there, and stare at him, and touch him, maybe even more. She wanted to drown herself in those strong blue eyes and feel the caress of his lips.

The girl noticed the intensity and sensuality of Yuriko and William's stare, and it made the smile on her lips grow wider. Then she spoke. "Do you want to know something that you've always known for the past few decades of your life? Something that you've known all this time, but you didn't want to admit to yourself?" She asked.

Yuriko suddenly breathed in, and she clenched her fists and closed her eyes.

/"None of this is real."/ She thought to herself. /"None of this is real."/

She realized that this Stryker was unreal like the Logan she saw before. She should not succumb to the wants of her heart. Instead, she should focus on what she had come here to do. She should focus on what her heart truly needed, not the mindless, empty desires that she harbored within her. And as for the child, that child was nothing but an obstacle.

She realized that she shouldn't listen to her. She should only listen to herself. Though the child's words may be true, that didn't mean that they were right. After all, she didn't need someone to tell her what to do and what not to do. She didn't need anyone to tell her what to feel and what not to feel. She was done with that. She spent the past decade of her life doing just that, and she wanted it to stop now.

"I see you're blocking me out. You're stronger than I thought." The child said. Then her voice suddenly became softer. "And because of that, I am proud of you, Yuriko Oyama." This time, she sounded more like a friend than an interrogator. The child's voice was now more welcoming than questioning. "I am proud of you." She said again. "You truly have come here to do what you have set out to do."

Yuriko noticed the sudden change in the child's voice, and she felt compelled to open her eyes and see the child again. But as she opened her eyes, she suddenly found herself naked. She was still standing in the grassy field by the cherry blossom tree, but she had no clothes on, and she had marks on her skin. She had lines drawn all over her svelte form. And the markings seemed to outline the skeletal structure of her body.

Quick, nervous and rugged breaths escaped from her lips as she looked at herself. She brought her hands close to her face and saw lines on them too. There were lines drawn from her wrists, up to each of her fingers. She remembered these markings. She remembered them all too well. These were the markings that Stryker had given her during the Weapon X-2 project.

Then she looked in front of her and saw the older Stryker standing before her. His was in his military combat attire and he had something in his hand. It was a vial. And it was filled with the substance that she feared the most. It was filled with the substance almost drove her mad with fear whenever she saw it, swiveling in that container. And Stryker had that vile smile on his lips…The smile that silently said "I own you forever."

"But before I let you go." The little girl said. She watched as Yuriko stood there, frozen and shaking in fear, and naked in front of Stryker. "I want to finish what I was supposed to tell you…about that 'something' that you had known all this time."

The cherry blossoms suddenly started to fall heavier around her. And the wind blew some of its pink flowers towards Yuriko and Stryker.

"Deep inside you know…" The little girl said. She watched as the cherry blossoms fell within her view, almost creating a pink flowery barrier between her and the two older people. "…you've known all this time, that no one, no one, not even Logan, will ever love you as much as William Stryker does. You know that, Yuriko. No one will ever care for you and want you and love as much as he did…as much as he does."

Stryker suddenly grabbed Yuriko by the hair and harshly tugged her downwards, so that the back of her neck was exposed to his view.

"No!" Yuriko suddenly cried out. She couldn't struggle. She seemed to have lost control of her body. She felt like a slave to Stryker's iron grip. "No!" She cried out again. Why was this happening? What was going on?

"Enough!" She cried out again, louder than she ever had.

Then in that split-second, both Yuriko and Stryker disappeared. And the only person who was left in the beautiful grassy field, was the little six-year-old girl named Yuriko Oyama.

Little Yuriko tilted her head up and looked at the falling cherry blossoms. A childish smile spread across her pink lips as she lifted her hands up in the air, trying to catch as much of them as she could in her little hands. The gentle rays of the bright afternoon sun seeped through the branches of the tree and softly glared against her eyes.

She looked like she was standing under a rain of beautiful pink flowers…pink flowers that blew across her fragile form as the wind carried them as they fell. Some of the petals landed upon her dark hair and tanned face, and she loved the feeling of them. Their soft petals were like cotton against her tanned skin.

Oh how she wished cherry blossom trees could bloom for the entire year. Her father told her that cherry blossoms only bloomed within the months of April and May, usually at the time when they visited her mother.

Yuriko gently moved her flower-filled hands close to her, and she gently pressed the soft, sweet-smelling flowers against her face. She closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet subtle scent of the petals. Whenever she was this close to the cherry blossoms, she felt as if she was with her mother too. She felt as if her mother was also touching her face.

She had never known her mother. The only memory she had of her was the vague image of her face that she could now only see through the pictures that her father had kept of her. She doesn't even remember being cradled by her mother in her arms.

Her father told her that her 'okaasan' went to heaven right after she was born. He told her that her 'okaasan' was an angel that was sent down to earth to bring her into this world. And when she was born, her mother had finally completed her mission, so she had to go back to heaven where she belonged.

That's what her father had told her for the first few years of her life. That was his way of telling her that her mother died right after she had given birth to her. Yuriko knew what death was. She knew that people died, and that someday, her father would die, and so would she. Despite her young age, she knew the reality that was death.

But her father's story about her mother being an angel had made the concept of 'death' easier for her to understand. And even until now, she still thinks of her mother as an angel…an angel who was in heaven, looking down at her until they meet again.

And whenever she touched a cherry blossom flower, she felt as if she was also touching her mother. One of the few things she knew about her mother was that her mother loved cherry blossoms. Yuriko even 'remembered' seeing a big bowl of cherry blossoms right beside her mother's bed when she was born. She wasn't sure if she remembered it correctly since she was barely a minute old at that time, but she remembered the scent in the air. It was the first thing she smelled when she was brought into this world by her angel. And she knew that someday, she'd be able to touch her for real…someday.

She suddenly turned her head to the side when she heard her voice in the air. Someone was calling out to her and she instantly knew who it was.

"Yuriko!" Her father shouted out loud. He was standing on one of the hills, quite a distance away from where Yuriko was. He had a huge smile on his face and he was lively waving his hands in the air as he called out to her.

His name was Kenji Oyama. He was a thirty-one year old biochemist who was working for the research and development department of Covert Operations Division-5. By looks alone, one could tell that he was her father. He was like the older, male version of her, though Yuriko's physical features were more soft and feminine due to the physical traits that she acquired from her deceased mother.

One could say that little Yuriko acquired both her mother and her father's looks. Her eyes were her father's…strong and expressive. While her lips and the shape of her face was genuinely from her mother. Her lips were subtle, yet full and shapely, and her face was round, yet slender on the cheeks, creating a beautiful oval visage.

"Otosan!" Yuriko shouted out loud in her childish voice. She gathered as much flowers as she could in her little hands, then she clasped her hands together, to make sure that none of the flowers, not even a petal, would escape her firm grip.

With the flowers in hand, she ran towards her father. The smile on her face lingered as she let her little legs carry her as fast as they could. She felt the soft grass rustling against the soles of her little slippers, almost making her feel like she was floating. Oh how she loved this place. It was perfect, and it her mother was there.

Whenever she was here, she always felt like her mother was here with her too, running with her, looking up at the blue sky with her, climbing trees with her, catching cherry blossoms with her, and so much more. Sometimes she could almost hear her calling out her name whenever the wind blew against her face. It was as if her mother never died, like she just went away and made her home here, in this beautiful place.

Yuriko's little shoulders heaved up and down as she stopped in front of her father. She looked up at him with a huge smile on her face as she tried to catch her breath. Her tiny hands were still cupped together while she held on to the cherry blossom flowers that she gathered just a short while ago. She never let one of them escape from her grasp.

Her father looked down and smiled at her. So much happiness and love radiated from his face and eyes as he happily gazed upon the petite form of her little girl. Oh how he loved her. He always thought that has wife's spirit had somehow lived on through his little angel. She reminded her so much of his dearly departed Yuna. Yuriko was his treasure, his life, his family. He would never let any harm come to his little girl.

He leaned down towards Yuriko and gently tapped the tip of her nose with his index finger. "I see you were by mommy's cherry blossom tree again." Then he gave out a small giggle. "You are just like her in so many ways, little Riku."

That was how her father called her. He called her his little Riku. When he first told Yuriko of her name, she always pronounced it as "Riku", omitting the "Yu". That was how very young children usually talked. They often omitted some syllables, though it wasn't really that big of a deal. And now, the nick name stuck. For the past six years of her life, her father had always referred to her as Riku.

"Yes, I was by mother's cherry blossom tree." She said with a huge, childish and genuinely happy smile. Then she lifted her hands up and slowly opened her hands to show her father the flowers she had collected. "And look, daddy. I got mommy her favorite flowers too, like always." She said enthusiastically.

Kenji grinned and nodded his head. "Like always." He softly said.