Disclaimer: See chapter one
Chap. 15
After school…Shin walked through the hallway of the school as various students brushed past him and headed for the exits. Eyes searching, Shin seemed to be looking for someone when his gaze fell upon the brunette cat zoanthrope. Uriko stopped before exiting and turned to Shin as he approached.
"Hey, Shin."
However, the harpy zoanthrope tossed the pleasantries aside, "Have you seen Rei around?"
Uriko shook her head lightly, "No. She said she had something to do after school. I guess she left off early."
"Hm?"
Looking him over, Uriko noticed the slightly worry within him. Which was strange since he never looked worried about anything, except when it concerned Rei. 'It's just too cute' she chuckled mentally.
"Is something wrong?" she asked neutrally.
"I don't know." the youth answered. Shin lowered his head somewhat, "It may be my imagination, but…ah, never mind."
"No, what?" she pried. "Come on, tell me." Uriko quickly pouted her face, "You know I'll keep asking until you tell me."
His eyebrows narrowed together into a frown, "I get the feeling…that she been avoiding me. It sounds silly, I know."
"Not at all. I know the feeling."
Shin lifted his head, realized that her answer was in a silent tone, much different from her normal hyper voice, "Oh?"
Uriko suddenly went off, "Oh, look at the time. You should get going. You don't want to be late for work."
Shin's frown deepened into confusion, "Huh? Wait a min…"
"Go on. I'll see you later. Bye."
Shin was speechless as Uriko quickly ran off away from the school. She seemed ready to say something, but then cut it off right away before he could learn what. 'It must be about Kenji.' It was no secret to him that the two shared something, possibly closer than friendship. But given their shy natures (yes, Uriko too), neither one would take the first step. 'They should just get it over with' he mused to himself before looking at the time. Despite her abrupt cut-off, Uriko was right. He had to get to work. Hopefully, he would be able to talk to Rei later on when he returned. With that in mind, the dark-haired youth whisked out of the doors and vanished in moments.
'Why does this dream disturb me so much?'
Like Rei, Kenji had left school early on. He wanted some time to think, but the more he did, the more he frustrated himself on seeing that an answer won't come to him. It was becoming annoying at best. The images he saw were still blurry, but he knew it was important. 'Could it be from my past? No, it's something else.' Though his past was just a blur as the dream, he had a strong feeling that that wasn't the cause. 'So what is it?'
"Hey Kenji, wait up."
Kenji blinked out of his revere to see Uriko dash up beside him. As soon as she reached him, she bent forward slightly in order to catch her breath. 'She must have run really hard if she's out of breath' he noted simply, since Uriko was always full of energy.
"Uriko…"
"Why did you leave so early?" she muttered after finally catching her breath. She then pouted in aftermath "And without me no less? I have it in my mind to kick your butt the rest of the way to your house."
Uriko glared at him, but stopped when she him smiling lightly. For Uriko, that was a rare sight. Not uncommon, but rare. The smile disappeared and Kenji answered her, "Sorry. I just had something on my mind."
The girl stood up and simply stared at him, causing him to be confused and ask, "What's with that look?"
She folded her arms, "I'm just waiting for you."
"Waiting?"
"For you to tell me."
"What makes you think I will?" he replied with a slight frown.
She smiled, "Because you will. Right now, you're thinking, 'maybe I should talk to Uriko about this.' But being the silent person that you are, it'll take you a nice good five to ten minutes to get started."
Kenji looked away in disbelief at having her know him so well. 'Am I that predictable?' With a sigh, he went on to talk anyway.
"I've been…having dreams. Weird dreams. I…don't know what to make of it, but something about them…shakes me up."
"Shakes you?" she worded in confusion. "You mean scares you?"
"No. I wasn't afraid." he responded. "It's like there's something familiar, but something…overwhelming."
"Maybe it was just one dream."
"That's what I thought at first. But then it happened four times more times." He took a step forward, "Ever since that earthquake, they haven't stopped."
"Sounds weird. But given everything that happening, maybe it's nothing but your mind playing tricks on you." she suggested. Like Kenji (And mostly everyone else for that matter), she knew little about his past, aside from when he was an assassin for ZLF. She was hoping that this wouldn't be a recursion of that. Her side ached at the thought of what had happened last time he was brainwashed.
---
"Delta, attack Beta."
Kenji was still trying to shake off the effects of the mind control when he was suddenly hit from behind. He remembered stumbling forward, but everything became as blots of haze. When it cleared though, he saw that his razor-sharp claws…had found their place in Uriko. Out of pure shock, Kenji removed his claws and Uriko's limp body fell to the ground.
"Wha…what have I done?"
---
Her hand unconsciously drifted to the side. It took her a couple of days to recover from that, during which Kenji stayed by her. He had apologized for it repeatedly, even though he wasn't responsible. After that, it took him a long while for him to break out of his shell and talk regularly again.
"I wish I could believe that." The boy said lightly. "But it feels so strong."
Silence ensued between them as Kenji continued to stare away. Uriko slowly moved beside him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. Whatever it is, we'll deal with it, 'kay?"
Kenji's eyes shifted over to look and Uriko's hand. It was quite assuring. He was glad he talked to her about this. The dream didn't seem so frustrating now. A wistful smile overcame his face and his head lent toward her.
"Thank you, Uriko."
Night
Alice wiped her brow after exiting the hospital. It had been a full day for her today. A couple of people were injured when a zoanthrope went berserk midtown. Alice sighed. This wouldn't help out things at all. Yugo had been there to try to make sense out of it, but his efforts proved fruitless. So much so that he wouldn't be able to return home that night. Another sigh, 'This isn't how new couples should be.' What could be causing this?
While this went through her head, she walked toward the subway. A train had rolled on past, causing her to frown. 'Great. Now I'll have to wait. I may as well walk home.' Her home wasn't that far really, but it's been a long day and she didn't really feel like walking. As she readied herself for what was going to be a tiring walk, she took note of two sole figures standing under the tracks. One was a little child, clothed in what appeared to be white ceremonial robe. The other was a man that practically towered over her. He was bald and wearing a white and blue karate gi. The two of them turned and focused their gazes solely on her. Alice stopped, seeing that she was the focus of the two.
"Uhh, hello. Can I help you with something?"
The large man stepped forward, "You're right. This one is strong. But she must be tested."
The man suddenly dropped into a fighting stance, causing Alice to jump back, "Wha-what are you talking about?"
Suddenly, the large man struck out with a large fist. Alice jumped off to the side and the man swung around with a kick. Alice raised her arms and blocked the attack. The man blinked in surprise. Such a blow would have at least shoved a lesser fighter. But Alice didn't even take a step back. Despite her sweet appearance, Alice was one of the most powerful zoanthopes in the world. Her use of speed and outright agility has defeated many an opponent in the past and her strength came to light in the midst of a fight.
The man stepped back and reversed his stance. Then in a flash, he charged at her with a consecutive flurry of punches and attacks. Alice nimbly sidestepped and avoided most of the blows. The last blow however, managed to nick her on the shoulder and nearly loose her footing. But rather than try to stop herself from falling, she let her body drop, and shot her hands downward. Then she pushed herself forward while her legs left the ground and she double-kicked the man. Although it was a hard attack, the man took it without a step back. Alice planted her feet on the ground as she took this in.
'Big guy. I guess it wouldn't be that easy. Still, he has to be pretty strong to take a blow like that.'
The man suddenly dashed, much to her surprise and dive in with a slide kick. Instinctively, Alice hopped over him and he slid past beneath. Rising up, he then kicked backward, catching Alice in mid-section and causing her to slide back. Alice grimaced. 'How did he move so fast?' It didn't take a genius to know that he wasn't a normal person. She wasn't sure if he a zoanthrope himself, but either way this had to stop now.
Looking at the big man, Alice bent forward in preparation. The man seemed to regard this for a moment and slowly stepped to her. 'I got him thinking. Good.' The lavender-haired woman edged back slightly, still waiting for the man's attack. Suddenly, it came, in the form of a sudden blow. Alice hopped to the side and the man followed up with a elbow. Alice suddenly twirled backward, crouched on ground, and slid toward him. Her foot hit his, causing him to tumble back. Not letting go, Alice suddenly shot forward with a punch, catching the man square in the gut. The blow was good, but she knew it would take more than that to take him down. She followed up with three more quick blow, each one and strong as the first and each one causing the big man to stagger back. Finally, Alice ducked low briefly and shot straight up into the air. Her arms flailed around, hitting him with repeated blows while the force to the attack took the man into the air as well. Alice then landed on the ground, strangely enough without being dizzy. The man landed as well, unfortunately for him, on his rear end. The little girl, who had been watching nearby, covered her mouth to stifle her cry before moving over to him.
"Ryoho, are you alright?"
The big man gave a low groan, "Yeah. She's a lot stronger than she looks."
Alice moved toward them and placed her hands on her hip, "Okay. You two better start explaining yourselves right now."
Ryoho painfully got back up on his feet and for a moment, Alice thought he would start fighting again. But the little girl stepped up in front of him, "It's okay, Ryoho. We can trust her."
At this, the man seemed to relax considerably, indicating to Alice that the girl was in charge here. But suddenly, the man lurched forward, causing Alice to be defensive again. But it wasn't because of his sudden movement. It was because of the burst of energy that she felt burst from his body. It was undeniably powerful. Powerful…and overwhelming. The girl panicked and turned to Ryoho.
"No, not here!"
The big man strained, but Alice felt the energy dissipate from him. 'He's definitely not normal.' Meanwhile, the girl turned back to Alice and bowed to her.
"Please excuse us, but we have a favor to ask of you. There is an opponent we need you to defeat."
Alice's eyes widened with disbelief, "Are you serious? You guys attack me and now you're asking for my…help?"
The girl looked down and gave another bow, "I'm really sorry about that and I'd like to explain, but I can't right now. Please help us. Many are depending on it."
'Many are depending on it? What does she mean by that?' Alice was about to ask when a flash of light blinded her momentarily. Alice covered her eyes from the light and when it faded, both the man and the little girl were gone. Alice looked around rapidly in search, but they were nowhere in sight, leaving her mystified.
'What was that about?'