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Chapter 12. Zooanthropes | ||||||
"I understand so much now." she said after they finished. "Before you told me I didn't understand how you could hate fighting, or always be so self conscious, but now..." "It's alright." he assured her. "I really don't expect anyone to understand me. I'm not even sure I completely understand myself." "Long, I'm so sorry." she held his cheek in one hand and looked into his eyes. "I was always complaining..." "It's alright Jannu." he smiled. "You don't have to apologize to me. I know that you didn't understand... there was no way you could have known. Besides, it really is my fault. I should have overcome this long ago." "Don't be so hard on yourself okay?" she requested, smiling back at him. "I'm sure it can't help things." "You're right." he agreed. "Jannu... thank you, for listening. I never thought anyone else would care so much." She gave him another smile, her way of thanking him for trusting her with his secrets. Then they leaned into each other for another kiss, the soft touch of their lips and warmth of each other's embrace driving all their fears and doubts from their minds, if only for a moment. Jannu... Long thought. Right now all I want is to love you... But somewhow... Something is still wrong inside me. I have to find myself, so that I can... but I don't know how. Finally the broke off the kiss and looked into each other's eyes again. "Long, thank you." Shina said. "I never thought I needed anyone else... But now... I'm glad you proved me wrong." "Well, it's nothing really." he replied, glancing over the room. "Anyway, we can't just sit on the couch kissing all day." "Why not?" she joked. "He he, I guess we could go out and do something fun today. Maybe we could Yugo and his friends to come too? They're always fun for a bunch of laughes." "As slow-witted and perverse as he sometimes is, I think I'm begging to respect him." Long said of Yugo. "He really does have a lot of concern for his work, he seems bent on making a difference in he lives of zoanthropes. He also seems to have a great deal of concern for his friends... I guess he's not a bad person." "Yugo's cool once you get to know him." Shina agreed. "Of course, once we invite him Kenji's gonna come, those two stick together. And of course if the Nonomura sisters find out they're going to tag along also... It's a little saying of mine: Wherever the Ohgami boys go the Nonomura sisters are sure to follow. Kinda like Mary's little lamb..." "I wouldn't mind a little company." Long acceded. "It'll be fun... like a triple date I guess." she smiled and got up of the couch. "Of course, now that Yugo knows that we're together all of them are going to know too... but you don't mind that right?" "Well..." Long teased. "I don't know..." Shina socked him in the arm. "I'll go call him." she decided. "He should have finished his speech and gone home already, so I'll call and ask him if he wants to go out and have some fun. Then we'll decide where to go." The group of six strolled happilly along the paved streets of the L.A. Zoo, stopping in front of the monkey cage. They gazed at the gangly animals, which played happily, swinging from tree branches. "Remind you of anyone?" Yugo asked, pointing into the cage at one who was scratching his head. "Yeah, my math teacher!" Uriko exclaimed, she and Kenji shared a good laugh. "It reminds me of someone too." Long remarked darkly. "Oh, really?" Yugo asked, turning towards him. "Someone I hate." Long added. "It's not your father is it?" Shina asked, Yugo took it for a joke and started laughing his head off. "Er... no." Long replied, trying to ignore Yugo. "It isn't really important now... maybe I'll tell you later." "Let's go look at all the cats!" Uriko suggested enthusiastically. Yugo took a map of the zoo out of his pocket and studied it. "They're not all in one place..." he told her. "They probably don't have any rabbits, do they?" Alice asked. "I don't suppose they're got any moles either." Kenji said. "No, don't think so..." Yugo replied, still studying the map. "They don't even have wolves! Not even grey wolves like me..." "Your beast form anyways." Long muttered. "Hey, speaking of which, what's yours Long?" Shina asked. "I sure haven't ever seen you transform..." "He's a tiger." Yugo interrupted. "I found that out the hard way..." "I was an assassin." Long shrugged. "What did you expect?" "A tiger, huh?" Shina added. "Master Long, the tiger!" Uriko announced, making her best growling noises and scratching at the air. "How come you never use your beast form Master?" "Master?" Yugo repeated. "That sounds kin..." Alice elbowed him in the gut before he could finish. "Ow, Ally!" "Uh..." Long replied. "I don't have much use for it." "Actually you probably should have used it about a month ago..." Shina pointed out, giving him a nudge. "Tiger." "Actually I did have to use it in order to heal after it was over." Long admited. "I was pretty messed up." "You two make such a cute couple." Uriko complimented them. They both blushed a little as they realized they were the center of attention. "I don't know..." Yugo mused. "Not to insult you two or anything, but you're both completely different from each other..." "So!?!" Shina demanded. "Opposites attract you know!" "Yeah." Uriko agreed, glancing over at Kenji. "Sure do." Alice added, gazing lovingly at Yugo. He groaned and thought, So I'm going to have to become more like her to get her to stop liking me? Nah, it's not worth the effort... "Anyway, we can't just stand here all day." Yugo reminded them. "So where are we going?" "Crazy." Long joked. "Especially with you here..." "Hey!" Yugo protested. "Let's go see the cats!" Uriko insisted. "Which ones?" Yugo asked. "We've got panthers, leopards, lions, tigers..." "Let's go see the tigers!" Uriko suggested. "In honor of Master Long!" "Oh, alright." Yugo reluctantly agreed, folding the map up roughly and stuffing it into his right pants pocket. Long smiled and bowed gracefully to his student, who smiled back. Then Yugo ran off into the crowd, the others running to catch up before he got lost. "Yugo, you numbskull!" Alice scholded, slapping his arm when she finally caught him. "What were you trying to do?" "I'm leading you to the tigers..." he replied. "What? Was I going too fast?" Uriko ran up in front of him and stuck her tongue out. "You're mean, Yugo!" she accused. "What did you think you were doing anyway?" Kenji asked. "Never mind..." Yugo groaned. Shina caught up to him and gave him a good sock in the back. "Owwww!!!" he whined, bending over and rubbing his sore back. "That's what you get." Shina stated, punching her fist into the palm of her other hand and grinning mischieviously. Long soon appeared from behind the crowd, walking up to them in a casual manner. "Anyway, just follow me." Yugo said, slowly leading them through the crowd to the tiger exhibit. It turned out to be a little farther than they expected, but soon enough they were looking through the fence at three deep orange and black striped Bengal tigers. "So... what do you think, tiger?" Shina asked Long. "Must you call me that?" Long complained. "Does it bother you," Shina teased. "tiger?" Not as much as the beast form it reminds me of, he thought. He sighed and looked into the cage at the lounging tigers. Two sat down in the shade while a third emerged from behind some brush and walked over to a little stream in the middle of the exhibit to take a drink. Long admired the sturdy build of their muscular forms, along with the gracefullness and power of their movements. It is no wonder that some Martial Arts techniques are based on their movements, he thought. After looking at them for a few minutes he felt an unusual, but welcome sense of peace and calm steal over him. And then he decided that he really didn't mind being called a tiger after all... "I wonder what would happen if you changed into your beast form and jumped in there." Yugo teased. Shina groaned at the remark and punched him in the side. "You imbecile." Long grumbled. "Alright, alright, we've seen the tigers." Yugo muttered imaptiently. "Can we go now? I'm hungry, I wanna go eat." "You can be so rude sometimes." Alice berated him. "I'm hungry too." Kenji defended, rubbing his stomach as it let out a low growl. "Heh, guess I should've eaten breakfast." "I want pizza!" Uriko yelled. "I want steak!" Yugo added. "I want food." Kenji griped, rubbing his stomach. "I want a salad!" Alice commented. "With letuce and carrots and..." "What else would you want?" Yugo groused. "How about some burgers?" Shina suggested. "I could go for that." Kenji agreed. "Me too." Yugo said. "I don't mind." Long conceeded. "I guess so." Alice aquiesced. "You treating?" Yugo asked. "I might as well." Shina replied. "Thanks," Yugo said. "I owe you one. I'm just really low on cash right now. I really should get back into the ring." "Aw, forget about it." she replied. "I was the one who asked you guys to come here anyway... so I should do the treating. Anyway, I can't think of a better use for all the money lying around in my bank account." "Wish I had that problem." Yugo whined. "Don't we all?" Long added. "I usually do," Yugo added. "but..." "Hey, I can't help it if people pay me good money to fight their battles for them." Shina explained, shrugging. "Anyways, where's the closest burger joint Yugo?" "Uh..." he mumbled, fishing through his pocket and pulling the crumpled zoo map out of it. "It's that way." he finished, pointing back the way they had come. So they all started off in that direction, Long lingering at the tiger cage for a moment before following after them. "What should we see next?" Alice mused. "I wish they had house cats." Uriko whined. "Cute, cuddly, furry little..." "Well they don't." Yugo interrupted. "We could see the leopards." Shina suggested. "Yay, more cats!" Uriko agreed. "Er... I guess so." Yugo said. "What about the food!?!" Kenji cried. "We're talking about what we're going to see after we eat." Alice explained. "Oh." Kenji replied sheepishly. "Really Kenji," Alice complained. "you should spend a little time off from hanging around Yugo." "Hey!" Yugo whined from up ahead. "I heard that, you know?" "I'm just hungry." Kenji commented. "I'm hungry too." Uriko added, smiling at him. "It's right up ahead," Yugo told them. "hold you horses!" "What horses?" Shina teased. "Hm... I wonder what horse zoanthrope would be like..." "It would be strange to see one standing on it's hind legs." Long contributed. "But then again I suppose it could be said that we all look strange when we transform." "I think a horse would look a lot stranger than me." Uriko said. "Yeah, me too." Kenji agreed. "There it is!" Yugo cried, pointing to a roof top that was barely visible from under a churning sea of human lines, leading up to the counter. "I'll get it this time, if the rest of you can find us a nice spot to sit." Shina offered, glancing around briefly at the crowded tables. "Okay." Yugo replied. "Fine with me." Alice conceeded. "What does everyone want?" Shina asked. The group turned towards the front of the store and squinted at the menu hanging on the wall. "I want the biggest burger they've got!" Yugo ordered. "And some huge fries and a big soda too. Uh... make it a cola." "Hm... I wonder if they have any salads?" Alice muttered, squinting at the menu. "Oh good, they do. Get me one of those along with a milk shake." "I wanted pizza." Uriko grumbled, searching the menu for something she might enjoy. "I guess I'll make do with the chicken sandwitch, and a root beer and some fries." "I want a quarter pounder with cheese." Kenji said, smiling. "And another normal hamburger, and a bunch of fries, and a..." "God damn Kenji." Yugo complained. "But I'm hungry!" Kenji protested. "Now where was I? Oh yeah... and I want a root beer." "I think I've got it all." Shina informed them. "No kidding." Yugo teased. "Go and find us a nice spot to eat!" Shina growled, making a scratching motion at him. Yugo snickered and dodged it, nodding before he walked off into the crowd. Alice, Kenji and Uriko also turned to follow after him. "You going to help me carry it all, Long?" "Of course." he replied, studying the menu. "I'm not sure what I want yet anyway." "Just remember to tell me before we get up to the front..." Shina began, turning to look at the line. "not that we'll get there anytime soon!" "Hm, I think I'll try the chicken sandwitch." Long decided. "I've never had a chicken sandwitch before..." "You don't eat out often do you?" Shina wondered. "It's not the same in China." Long explained. "Not that I would know what it's like at the moment, I haven't really been in public for years. I've only been here in the U.S. since a day before what happened a month ago." "Oh, so you went back to China to become a hermit, huh? I guess that makes sense, it must feel like home to you there." "The wilderness does." he corrected. "Not the house or the city I used to live in while I was young... Although I don't suppose it matters much where you live if you're a hermit, as long as the weather isn't too bad." She gave him a smile and they waited patiently as the line slowly inched towards the restaurant's front. "Where do you feel at home Jannu? If you don't mind me asking." "All over the place." she replied. "I travel all over the world... get alot of work in Isreal though, there's always some battle somewhere in the Middle East where they need more soldiers. But where do I feel most at home? Here. I just love the U.S.A., there's just something that appeals to me about it's being the world superpower, the center of attention, you know? I'm actually thinking about going for citizenship here." "Really?" Long wondered. "I'm surprised, I thought for sure that since you are native to France..." "I'll always have a place in my heart for it." Shina admitted. "Especially Paris... but I like my image here... like to pretend that I'm some kind of American bad @$$, you know?" "Sounds like you." he conceeded. "So, what kind of work are you doing here? The U.S. isn't currently in any kind of major conflict on their own soil..." "I'm fighting the war against illegal drugs!" she exclaimed proudly. "I'm actually working for a swat team right now, you wouldn't believe how many crack houses we have to bust down in the city." "It's a little different from your usual line of work, correct?" Long commented. "Yeah, not quite as much action." she agreed. "We just bust into places looking all mean and they usually give up, just like that. Every now and the I get to do a little shooting, but it's very seldom that anyone gets killed. It's good pay anyway... and some excellent benefits too." Long nodded, to show that he had been listening, and the line moved up a few spaces. "This is gonna take forever!" Shina whined. Suddenly Yugo reappeared through the crowd. "Hi guys!" he called, waving at them as he walked over. "We found a nice little table... but it only had five chairs. Then Ally said she would sit on my lap, but I told her that she couldn't and she started whining at me... and so I just left and came over here." "I'm bored." Shina complained, she curled her hands into fists and punched the air to one side of the line. "Fight me, Yugo!" "What? Are you crazy?" he wondered. "Not here!" "You're just afraid you're goona lose, aren't you?" Shina demanded. "Aw, it's on!" he replied, getting into his fighting stance. Shina and Yugo both moved away from the line to a clear spot to fight. "I'll just stay here and hold our spot in line..." Long muttered, but neither of them heard him. Shina delivered a few quick blows. The first one was so sudden that it caught Yugo off guard, but he shot his arms up just in time to block the next two. She kicked at his legs and he stumbled to his knees. A small crowd gathered around them to watch. "Come on Yugo, you can do better than that!" she taunted. "But I don't like to hit girls." he whined. "Oooo! I'll get you for that one!" she growled, kicking him so hard he flew into a wall. The crowd got a lot larger very quickly, and a lot noisier. "This was a bad idea." Yugo whined, peeling himself off of the wall. By now the crowd had attracted the attention of the park security, who were pushing through the forest of people towards them. "Oops." Shina mumbled, diving into the crowd and reappearing by Long's side whistling a little tune. Yugo was stopped by a couple security people, and Shina and Long watched while he was interrogated for a few minutes before he pointed at Shina and sulkilly walked back into the crowd. "I didn't do it." she said, slipping away. The security guards walked up to Long and looked around for her for a minute, before separating to search the crowd. Once they were gone Shina re-appreared at his side in a few more minutes. "Can you believe that?" she complained. "Can't even get into a little fight without attracting the attention of the entire park." "Anyway, it certainly seemed to move the line." Long informed her. She looked up to realize that they were only two people away from making their order. "Can you remember what everyone wanted?" "Yeah." she answered, after reciting the order in her head. "Did you want anything besides that burger, Long? Maybe a drink or some fries?" "Some water would be nice." he replied, moving up a bit as another person left the line. "You don't like soda much do you?" "I like tea." he explained. "Hot tea though, not the kind you get from those fountains. Some chai tea would be so nice right now..." "I guess I'll just get you water then." she decided. Finally the last person in front of them moved away and they made their order. Shina recited everyone's meals, adding her own, and then they waited for a few minutes before their order was called. Once it was they picked everything up and glanced around for the others. "Where do you think they are?" Long wondered. "I think I saw Yugo go this way." Shina said, walking off into the crowd. Long hurried to follow her, carefull not to get lost in the sea of living bodies. Eventually they found the four sitting at the table, anxiously awaiting their lunch. "Food!" Kenji cried, jumping up from his seat to grab a tray from Shina and help set everything out. Long found another chair close by and pulled it over so they all could sit down. As soon as the food was passed out they all sat down to eat, Yugo giving Shina a glare or two. "What is it!?!" she finally demanded. "It's not like I never beat you up before..." "Not in public!" Yugo whined. "That was almost as bad as that one time you followed me into the boxing ring and beat up my opponent!" "Oh yeah..." Shina remembered. "That was fun, I should do that again some..." "No way!" Yugo interrupted. "I don't know what's worse, you helping me in the ring or Ally cheering from the sidelines." "What's so bad about it Yugo?" Alice asked innocently. "You need a cheerleader, those guys on TV have the nitrus girls..." "It's the nitro girls, and that's wrestling!" Yugo argued. "And you always embareass me! Both of you!" "That's my job." Shina quipped. "Glad I don't have it." Long added. "Oh shut up." Yugo mumbled. "Way to go tiger." Shina complimented Long, giving him a little nudge. "With an attitude like that you can join the make-fun-of-Yugo club here..." "I think I'm getting the hang of this." he admitted. "Aw great, just what I needed." Yugo groused. "Another person to pick on me!" "But I don't pick on you Yugo!" Alice protested. "You're still just as bad as they are." he muttered under his breath. "I figure I don't need to pick on Yugo because everyone else does such a good job of it." Uriko added. "I don't pick on you Yugo." Kenji stated. "Although I might not stick up for you either if I think you're being a jerk... but in this case it was Shina's fault." "I was bored!" Shina defended. "And so you're just going to pick a fight with anyone who gets in your way?" Kenji asked. "Yeah," she answered. "what else am I gonna do?" Everyone else groans and shakes their heads. "You know, considering that Gado's her father, we really shouldn't be surprised." Yugo reminded. "Hey! Only I can talk smack about my Dad!" Shina shouted. "Why?" Yugo wondered. "I've known him almost as long as you have. Our fathers were so close we might as well be cousins or something, so why can't I make fun of him?" "Because I said so!" Shina growled. The rest of the meal passed in a tense silence, neither Yugo or Shina venturing a single comment to each other. Once they were done Yugo lead them down the streets in the direction of the leopards. They passed several other exhibits on the way, one containing gorillas. "Hey, look, more monkeys!" Uriko pointed out. "No, they're apes." Alice corrected. "They're gorillas." Kenji specified. "I think that's what he was." Long mused. "Who?" Shina asked. "The same zoanthrope I was talking about earlier." he replied. "Oh, that guy!" Yugo remembered, slapping his forehead. "His name started with a 'G', right? And he kept on asking me to join his circus. I think he must've joined with Tylon 'cause I beat him up back when Gado and I attacked it... Man, that guy was so ugly that you couldn't tell the difference between his human form and his beast form!" Everybody chuckled at the comment. "I think I ran into him too." Alice added, trying to remember. "Yes, he was also an assassin for awhile." Long answered Yugo. "He was too stupid to be an assassin!" Yugo complained. "Tylon promised to 'donate' a little money to his circus if he would off a few people..." Long explained. "Or so I heard. Anyway, he was one of the assassins who taught me how to work, he even took me out on my first assignment." "Oh, I see..." Shina muttered. So that's why you were reminded of him. "I wonder if anyone took me out the first time." Kenji though, scratching his head. "I can't remember..." "Probably not." Long said. "Not if they believed you we brainwashed sucessfully. I, on the other hand, had not been brainwashed, but blackmailed. So they sent someone along to coerce me into... performing my service." "It's okay Master Long." Uriko sympathized. "We all know you would never really hurt anybody on purpose." "But I already have Uriko..." he protested, shaking his head sadly in regret. "It is too late now, I have already done it... So very many times..." "So, how did they blackmail you into it anyway?" Yugo wondered. "They threatened to kill his family of course." Shina explained. "Not only that." Long added, dreading the memory. "Greg... went into specific details about what they were going to do to my family before killing them. Especially my mother and sister..." "Ooo, I knew those guys were all a bunch of perverts!" Yugo howled. "Haven't I been saying that Kenji? They're all a bunch of perverted, moronic, limp-wristed..." "That's enough Yugo." Alice interrupted, cupping one hand over his mouth. "I was so angry." Long remembered. "I wanted to ring his neck... But I knew that if I turned my anger on him everything that he had said would really happen." His thoughts trailed back to that day, as he stood there with his fists clenched, glaring at the hated assassin, but unable to do anything about it. "So instead, I turned it on my first victim..." The scene of his first kill resurfaced in his mind again, the pangs of deep guilt and fear piercing his heart as he gasped at the blood covering his hands and the dead body lying on the floor. I didn't want to... I didn't want to kill you... "I guess I don't blame you Master Long." Uriko agreed. "I would do anything to save my mother." "But what I did was wrong!" he cried. "Sure, at first it seemed like only one death for their three lives! But then there was another, and another, and another, and..." "I think we get the point." Alice interrupted. "It doesn't matter." Long continued, barely aware of the others. "No one has the right to make that decision, to put the life of one person before the life of another... I should have realized so much sooner, that their lives weren't worth so many others. I should have just let them..." He trailed off, unable to finish the thought. His head hung towards the ground, expression on his face. He sighed at the hopelessness of his regret and closed his eyes to it. "What? Kill you family?" Shina demanded. How could you let them do that? Don't be angry with yourself just because you were human. "Yes." Long answered. "But I couldn't... I couldn't even bare to think about what would have been done to them... I was... so weak." "Stop that!" Shina shouted, glaring at him. "Just because you did something wrong doesn't mean you're weak! We all would've done that," she turned to look the others in the face before asking, "right guys?" "I probably would have if I had no other choice." Yugo confessed. "I would do anything to keep them from getting to Kenji again." "Aw, Yugo..." Kenji gasped. "I would." Uriko stated, folding her arms stubbornly. "I have already killed to protect the people I love." Alice added. "maybe, not in the same way as you have, but..." "But none of you can say that." Long argued. "Don't get me wrong, what you are saying is very kind, but you haven't been in my situation..." "So you're trying to say that we would sacrifice our families to Tylon instead of killing someone else!?!" Shina demanded. "What nerve! I would kill as many people as I needed to save my father's life!" "And then, you would end up just like me," Long replied. "broken." |
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