8/31/00

Bloody Roar II: A Hidden Bond

By Tiger5913

Disclaimer: the characters such as Uriko, Kenji, Mitsuko, etc. belong to Hudson Soft; Erika, Ryan, and Wendy belongs to me.

Dedication: to God, my parents, my ever-supporting friends, and my beloved cousins.

The poem I wrote for this fic:

Uriko and Kenji;

To outsiders, it appeared that they came

From totally different backgrounds

Remembering their past made

The care and friendship they had

For each other grow stronger.

One was energetic and outgoing,

Her twinkling light brown eyes

Full of warmth and care.

The other, solemn and secretive,

His mahogany eyes reflecting his

Intense attitude and maturity;

But naturally,

They made the perfect couple.

Part 1

"And today, we are starting a new project." Loud groans of protest were heard throughout the classroom, but nevertheless, the teacher continued, "Don't say this was unexpected; I had already told you all about it last week."

Project #1,008 A freshman with long brown hair sighed and reluctantly sat up to listen to the teacher, Ms. Gerna, gave out further instructions.

"Since we're nearing the end of this school year, this will be like your pre-final exam," the instructor informed. "It will be a major portion of your grade, so take this seriously."

Just tell us what it is, The same freshman urged silently.

"Lately, we have been studying and discussing the human mind, correct? This project is related to that topic. You and a partner - yes, I'm assigning partners - will be researching about the other's phobia. Your phobias do not have to be common things, like about height or small, enclosed places. They can, but can also be something different; unique."

Phobia? Oh yeah, a fear about something The student frowned and wondered, Why are we gonna do research on feared things? Hmm

"Psst!" A girl to her right whispered. After glancing quickly at the teacher, she smiled at her friend and cautiously threw a folded up piece of paper on her desk. Curious, her friend hid it under her desk and opened it:

Hey Uriko! Research on phobiasweird, huh? Well, anyway, I hope we'll be partners! Since you already know all of the stuff I'm afraid of and vice versa, so this shouldn't be too hard for the both of us!

Erika

Uriko Nonomura smiled and turned the paper over. She took a pencil from the top of her desk and wrote back:

Weird is right! Teachers and school projects Pray that we'll be partners!

When the teacher wasn't looking, she slipped it into her best friend, Erika Daweson's hand, and turned her attention back to the front of the class.

"Today, I'll pair you up with another of your peers and the only thing you two will do is find out each other's greatest fear, and discuss how you're going to research the subject that leads to your partner's phobia," The teacher paused and looked up at the clock. "You have fifteen minutes, so work quickly. I'll give you instructions each day, then let you go on your own. Any questions?"

No hands were raised. Uriko glanced quickly at the clock plastered on the wall in front of the room, each tick of the hand bringing the class one more second toward the end of the school day.

She smiled. "Very well. As I call out your name, please get up and sit next to your partner, switch seats if necessary. Andrew Collins and Maggie Reza"

Uriko crossed her arms over her desk and rested her head in them. A young teenager of fourteen, she was a good student at school and pretty popular due to her friendly and caring personality. Slim and petite with waist-length auburn hair, she was sometimes mistaken and assumed to be a frail and weak girl; but inside, she carried a hidden secret that only very few others knew. Erika didn't though. Even though she was Uriko's best friend, Uriko wasn't sure if she could be trusted with such a secret like that.

Even though she did well in her courses and usually started projects with an eager attitude, today; the female student was only half-paying attention to the instructor as she kept calling out pairs. She sneaked a peek at her best friend and Erika waved two fingers at her in hello.

"Erika Daweson and"

The two girls held their breath.

"Ryan Scheller," the instructor finished.

Erika looked at Uriko and made a gagging face. After rolling her eyes, Erika stood up and grabbed her supplies, then slowly trudged over to sit by her partner.

Poor girl, stuck with Mr. Pest-of-the-Class Uriko thought sympathetically as she looked at her best friend, although she couldn't help letting out a quiet giggle at the sight of Ryan Scheller pull out a chair for Erika in mock politeness. Barely spotting a whoopy cushion the same color as the pinkish-red chair, Erika refused and sat in a different chair on the opposite of him.

What an immature jerk, Uriko concluded at the same time Ms. Gerna called out, "Uriko Nonomura and Kenji Ohgami,"

Huh? Me and Kenji? The fourteen-year-old lifted her head, looked behind and across the room to her new partner.

Kenji Ohgami was a quiet student who sat toward the back of her class. He was small, but muscular for his age, with raven black hair and chilly brown eyes with a light shade of orange in them. A solemn young boy, most girls thought he had attractive features, although Uriko had once seen him with a sinister expression before, when they'd first met. He and Uriko had been in school together since the beginning of the year, and sometimes he'd given her a ride home, but they'd never exactly became close. Since their encounter, they had become friends, yet there was still something in the back of their heads reminding them of what'd happened before.

Well, if he's not gonna move, guess I will Uriko sighed and gathered up her belongings, then went to the back of the classroom. When she got near Kenji's desk, she made a shooing motion at the guy sitting next to him and after he'd vacated the chair, she plopped down in it. The teenage girl dug into her backpack for a piece of paper and a pen, while taking a look up at her partner. Coincidentally, he was peering down at her and their eyes met. Flushing, she glanced back down at her pack and pulled out a sheet of notebook paper.

"Hi," she greeted quickly, focusing her eyes on writing their names on the paper.

"Been a while," was his cool reply.

"Yeah" Uriko replied as she momentarily looked up and her light brown eyes met his again. "Well, looks like we'll be spending some time together, so on the subject, can you tell me what's your biggest phobia?"

Kenji hesitated and finally answered, "You go first."

Shrugging, she said, "Okay," and wrote down, "My biggest fear is losing my family."

Her partner glanced over her shoulder and commented, "Clever."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm serious, you know. So tell me, what's yours?"

BRRRIIIINNNGGGG! Loud shuffles were made as students hurriedly packed up their stuff to get out of class.

Uriko groaned. "Darn it, that's the bell! Kenji, tell me quick!"

Wordlessly, he took the paper and ripped it into two, then wrote on one of the pieces. He handed it to her; then he stood up and left the room, clutching the other half. Shaking her head, Uriko looked down at the paper and read silently to herself what he wrote:

I'm afraid of being captured and brainwashed by Busuzima again.

A concerned and sad frown spread over her brow.

"Hey!" A voice behind her piped up.

"Hi Erika," Uriko replied knowingly without turning her head around. "Too bad about Ryan, huh?"

Erika sighed in slight distress. "He's such a jerk; I never even found out his phobia! Ryan kept fooling around and changed the subject whenever I tried to ask him about his fear. Think Ms. Gerna will let me switch?"

"Don't think so, you know how she is," Uriko slipped the paper into her backpack and looked up at her friend sympathetically.

"How're you doing with Kenji?"

"Okay, I guess."

"That's good!" Her best friend said and then waved her arms around the room. "Hey, why are we still standing here in class? Let's get outta here!"

"'Kay," The freshman agreed as the two girls walked out of class and down the hallway. From out the window gleamed rays of sunlight, lighting up the shadowy hall as well as the students rushing through the crowds, trying to get outside.

"Mondays are such a drag" Erika commented when they wrenched themselves out of the group of other high school teens.

Uriko smiled and started walking down one end of the street. "Well, see ya tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Her friend called to her and darted in the opposite direction.

Just one more month, just one more month Uriko thought optimistically as she slowly trudged toward her home.

A low rumble growled through the air, the gray sky overhead threatening rain. The teenage girl shivered when a chilly breeze picked up, her yellow long-sleeved sweater and pale pink shorts no barrier to the growing-cold weather. She gripped the straps of her backpack more tightly and hastened her pace, peering over her shoulder at her darkening surroundings. Upon seeing a familiar street sign up ahead, she smiled in relief and started to run, when she suddenly heard a few yells coming from around the corner. Curious, she slowed down and sneaked toward the voices, hiding her body behind the tall green shrubs.

"Go the hell away!!" She heard someone yell, flinching slightly at the loudness of the voice. "What do you want?!"

What's going on? Uriko peered around the bend cautiously. Through the haziness of the weather, she could still make out two people in the middle of the street. There was a guy wearing black clothing, stepping up menacingly someone sprawled out on the ground in front of him; the figure was blocking her view from seeing who was the person that had called out. Another object was thrown to one side. A squinting of her eyes told Uriko that it was a dark blue bike.

"Who's that jerk threatening?" She whispered in question softly to herself.

The figure in black muttered something to the person before him, too low for Uriko to hear what he'd said. He took a couple steps foreword and afraid that he was going to hurt the one on the floor. She couldn't afford to stand still anymore, and leapt out of her hiding place.

"Hey, you!!" Uriko cried out.

Before the dark-clothed figure could turn around to see who'd called him, she dropped her backpack and ran up to him, jumping into the air and kicking his back with both of her feet. Uriko was the fastest runner in her class and really good with speed. The figure flew a feet through the air and landed onto the ground hard, as auburn haired girl herself came to a swift and graceful landing. Stumbling while standing up, he turned and glared coldly at the girl who had attacked him.

"Scram!" She shrieked loudly as she put up her fists and got into a fighting stance. The figure hesitated before darting off, casting one last look at her while he disappearing into the shadows down the street.

"Jerk" Uriko muttered and bent down to pick up her backpack from the concrete road.

"I could've taken care of him myself" An upset, yet familiar voice behind her murmured.

All of a sudden remembering the person on the street that she'd saved, she immediately turned around to see a teenager around her age, covering his face with one arm.

"Um, hello? Who are you?" she asked, wondering why he was hiding his identity. Slowly and with reluctance, he let down his hand, barely revealing the top of his face and her chocolate brown eyes widened when she recognized the boy.

"Kenji!"

He flipped up into a standing position at his name and quickly turned his back to her, heading toward his fallen bike. Despite his scowl, Uriko dashed around his form and stood stubbornly in front of him, but let out a gasp as she did so. Her hand instinctively went to cover up her mouth as she spotted two long, jagged cuts on one of his cheeks and the thin line of blood that trickled from it, down the side of his face.

"Oh, Godare you okay?" Uriko uncovered her mouth; she reached foreword and delicately touched one of the cuts. Flinching, Kenji moved away and brushed past her.

"What happened?" She asked with concern.

"" Came his silent answer.

"Aren't you gonna say something?"

"Something." Kenji replied in a smart-aleck tone as he propped up his bike.

Hrmp She thought, while a frown spread over her brow. "Funny."

Even as she said that, Uriko bent her head down to unzip her backpack and pull out a small white handkerchief. Slipping the bag back over her shoulder, she went over to Kenji.

"What're you doing?" he asked, eyeing the cotton fabric.

"Trying to help your cut heal," she answered matter-of-factly as she folded it vertically several times. After it was turned into a straight strip, Uriko stepped more closely to him and wrapped the hanky around his head, tying a knot at the back.

"There, that should stop the bleeding." The teenage girl gave him a faint smile. "Wellsee ya," she turned to leave.

That wasnice of her What's her motive? Kenji wondered as he eyebrows tightened into a small frown. He was feeling weird toward her; perhaps it was gratitude or maybe something else. All he knew was that he couldn't stop the next sentence that came out of his mouth, "Um, you need a ride?"

Surprised, Uriko answered, "Surethanks."

She smiled at him again and climbed onto the back of the bike. The fourteen-year-old let her feet rest on the rims of the rear wheels, and wrapped her arms around Kenji's firm waist. He stiffened in response, but didn't say anything, just pedal down the street in silence.

*****

Huhthis is sad

Uriko involuntarily frowned as she sat on a chair in the library, reading the first paragraph she had found about abduction in that day's newspaper. Her current class period was German, but the teacher substituting that day didn't know any words of that language, so he had let the class go to the library to hang out and study.

The abduction of 15-year-old Aaron Quera occurred today, at a local high school around 4:38PM. This has obviously not been the first; in the past year, there have been approximately 300-500 kidnappings of residences under 18 in the local area. Only 67% of them have been found again, and returned to their protected homes, whereas the rest are currently missing, and searches for them still continue.

She let out a heavy sigh and thought, Kenji's pretty lucky, I guess Just then, the first sentence of the next paragraph caught her eye.

Police and other officials strongly suspect that the mysterious zoanthrope beings are responsible.

The young student's eyes widened as she thought darkly, That's total bull! UnlessBusuzima is kidnapping people again and recruiting them into zoanthropes

She shivered as a faint, yet vivid memory of her childhood flashed through her mind

*****

"Noooono shot, no shot!"

A frightened kid with a tear-streaked face sobbed at the sight of the sharp, pointed object descending toward the small arm.

"Quit squirming, damn it!" came the harsh reply as the needle jabbed into the soft, tender skin of the shaking arm. A pained scream ripped out of the poor youth's mouth. Several feet away, an assistant was holding down a different youth, the same fate being done to the other child. The two kids screamed in unison as the needle was yanked out roughly.

"Ha! After the zoanthrope blood gets settled, we'll begin training!" was the last thing they heard before darkness claimed their consciousness.

*****

BRRRRRIIIINNNNGGG!

The loud noise of the bell knocked a startled Uriko out of her flashback. A curse accidentally slipping out of her mouth, she gathered the article in her arms and ran to her Biology class, the memory haunting her mind on the way. As she settled into her seat, she stuck the newspaper into her backpack and took out other class supplies. More students barged in, and the class grew louder. Right after the teacher had stepped a few feet into the room, Uriko spotted Kenji following a split second later.

Does Kenji remember his past at all? How he got the abilities to turn into a mole beast form? She wondered, resting her head on the wooden desk. No, wait, I forgotBusuzima brainwashed him not too long ago

With a sad expression on her face, the ninth grader shifted her attention from her partner to Ms. Gerna and listened as the instructor began a brief explanation about the project.