Haunted By Paraphernalia

Summary: Prequel to Like a Boy; Kenji and Uriko are married now and life is beyond perfect, except for Kenji's behavior. Kenji battles a sickness that runs through his veins and he fights a piece of him he can never lose without harming the one's he love; Uriko is confused about the entire issue and is willing to help her Husband anyway she can. The results of his diabolical curse can send Kenji on a life threatening edge and questioning his thoughts about trust, love and responsibility. The only problem is each one has a devastating outcome that Kenji may just have to end his life for the sake of his family.

(A/N): I'm back, thanks to a hiatus away from work and school, YES! But only for temporary reasons; a specific Turkey Day, then a weekend! Finally! After Like a Boy, I felt as if there was still more to this story than just a happily ever after; you know, before this was born. Ha-ha, anyway I'll get onto the story starting off at the beginning of their marriage other than starting after a few years down the line, that's too boring. Oh, not only am I debating on the rating but this story may contain explicit language, mature content and uncensored scenes. Don't flame me for not warning you… Anyway, here we go with part 1 of Prisoner.

1

Prisoner

Under the cherry blossom tree; full of life with well bloomed Sakura's Uriko took in the amazing beauty as a gentle breeze whispery cradled every sense of feeling by the feather like touch that was the wind, lightly grazing across her body. She felt safe and secure and a touch of happiness overtook her; a petal from the beautiful flower fell from its budded roots and flew to Uriko, sliding over her cheek. Taking the abandon petal and caressing its delicate features just before the wind picked up and the petal she collected flew away. Just then, hundreds of petals began to fall from their buds and swarm around Uriko; she lifted her arms high in the air and slowly twirled underneath the happy place presence as she inhaled the essence gifted smells the blossoms ushered onto her. 'This is the best day of my life.' The young feline thought truthfully, if only she could stay and savor this time perpetually. As the breeze slowed so did the petal of Sakura's began to cease, Uriko could express how much she loved this moment, but didn't want to bask away from the environment ambiance; it was until gentle, male dominate hands engulfed themselves around her curvy silhouette form and a lean but rippled body pressed into her from behind.

"Guess who?" was the sound of the man's strong, mature enough voice. Uriko smiled and buried deeper into her newlywed husband, Kenji.

"Hey, Kenji." Uriko said peacefully. Uriko could feel Kenji's smile as his face pressed against her cheek; he lowered his head down some to tenderly place his lips; in a kissing way on her creamy, soft shoulder, before amiably kissing her solicitously on the gape of her neck. She turned towards him as they smiled at each other in an ardently sensual way before he asked, "So, how are you enjoying the last day of our honeymoon?"

"Kenji, this is perfect! You know I've always wanted to take this trip and see this parks beauty before we go back home! Thank you so much!" (A/N: If you've ever seen Memoirs of a Geisha; when she meets with the Chairmen again in the park around the Sakura's, then the park Uriko is referring to looks just like that one.) Kenji's smiled widened at her blissful exhilaration; he knew he made the right choice when he gave Skylar that call –Kenji and Yugo helped him jump his car- to ask him about this location after he and Uriko returned from China.

"Anything for my lovely wife." Kenji eagerly said back. When Uriko smiled and slightly blushed at the comment Kenji couldn't help but think, 'Man, I'm going to love saying that.' Kenji then reached over his head and plucked one of the Sakura flowers from off the branch and tucked it in her long, flowing and lighter than brown hair. "Now you have a piece of the Sakura's with you, even if it's only temporary." Uriko continued smiling and cupped Kenji's face in her hands before kissing him with love stricken intensity. When she pulled away, he could see the ardor lingering in her beautiful brown eyes. "I love you, Kenji."

"And I love you, Uriko." They kissed each other once more before strolling away from the tree, hand in hand. Uriko rested her head against his shoulder closing her eyes with a little smile playing over her face and thought, 'I pray this marriage will forever stay this way.' She snuggled closely to her Husband as they continued walking away from the park all the way back to the vehicle.

Later that evening…

Uriko and Kenji had just returned to their home no less than an hour ago. While the newlyweds were out of town, Mitsuko, Alice and Yugo went out their way to buy them a new house, A'Niyah designed the house, applied the furniture and had created it to the young couples imaginary image; she did it as a thank you implication for introducing her to her new husband Andrew and reminding her that she didn't have to endure the life of a stripper. Instead, she became a full time student, like Uriko; in College majoring in interior design. Kenji already had a full time job working with Yugo at the W.O.C., making more than enough money to support him and Uriko. The house and furnishes were a mere present to them both, and after leaving China; before going to the park, they were able to see the house before they took the trip.

Kenji removed his shirt from his body as Uriko removed her flower and undid her braid, she sat Indian style on the bed they shared and combed her hair of any tangles that was present. Kenji tossed his shirt into an empty laundry basket before walking to the bathroom and running bath water, he had a special treat for Uriko that night, at least sort of. 'She's lucky I'm doing this.' Kenji thought as he placed bubble soap in the water before groaning in misery, "I don't do bubble baths." Kenji said aloud, his masculine dilemma begging him to reconsider the feminine use of bubbles in a tub. Quickly brushing off his disgusted attitude towards the filth that surfaced the uprising water he retrieved a box from a nearby linen closet before striding back to the water. Opening the box and making sure the coast was clear of intruding brown eyes he scooped the rose petals from inside the box and tossed each of them on the cloudy, bubbly substance; he threw more pieces around the bathroom floor until the entire box was empty. Once that was over, he walked to the other side of the bathroom and pulled out thick candles that didn't need a holster before lighting them with a lighter. Placing each different candle around the room for bathing; he then afterwards walked to the sink opening a clear containment; along with the sides of melted chocolate and wiped cream; the first containment held ripe to the core strawberries.

He knew the strawberries were ripe and juicy because before he bought them he tried one; he wanted to make sure that his time with his wife was absolutely perfect, if any flaws came about they were only minor and would be taken care of infinitesimally. He had a bottle that resembled a Champagne glass in a bucket like structure material filled with ice and two wine glasses, 'This day is going to be special for the both of us.' Kenji thought with a smile. He placed the remote on the tray on the opposite side of the tub to flip through each track song, but he didn't turn on the stereo system, otherwise that'll be a dead giveaway, so instead he unscrewed the top on the bottle and was pouring both glasses with the liquid when Uriko called out for him. "Baby?"

She startled him for a moment that he almost wasted the drink. He set the drinks down on the tray next to him and screwed the top back on promptly before calling back to her, "Yeah, what's up, honey?" He tried to use his voice to drown out the noise when he placed the bottle back in the bucket of ice and walked out of the bathroom; closing the door behind him and seeing what his tiny wife was doing.

She still had on her clothes; tight white spaghetti strap shirt and around the thigh, navy blue shorts with her long hair wrapped in a Chinese bun with Chinese hairstyle sticks. Her back was to him as she rummaged through her drawers for her sleeping attire and under clothes. "I was wondering if you were done in the bathroom so I can wash up." Discovering what she planned to wear she walked to Kenji who was protectively guarding the entrance to the bathroom.

"Not very likely, I have a surprise for you?" Kenji said, still blocking the way. Uriko smiled at him, "A surprise? Like what?" She questioned in her jittery voice. Not moving from his location, Kenji stretched his length to a nearby dresser that had the blindfold he purchased. "You'll see." Was all he said before he placed the textile fabric over her eyes.

Uriko couldn't stop the excitement that washed over her, she already had a lovely two week honeymoon and now she was being treated in their home, talk about exciting! Once the blindfold was over her eyes Kenji waved his hand in her face to make sure she couldn't see a thing before he descended the door. He guided her into the bathroom making sure her feet surpassed the rose petals covering the floor until they reached their intended location. "Okay, now don't take off the blindfold when I left go of your hand." He told her.

"Okay, I got it." She responded, clueless as to what was going on.

"Alright, now don't move... Don't move, just stay right there and don't move." Kenji informed her once more after he released her hand and began to remove the remaining pieces of clothing still strapped on his body, before proceeding to get inside of the mildly hot tub water. Once he was inside and everything seemed prepared he spoke to her again, "Okay, now you can take the blindfold off."

Uriko used her free hand that didn't have access to holding her material wear and undid the fold. It didn't take long for her mind to assimilate the scenery and she gasped at the romantic moment that presented itself. "You did all this... for me?" Uriko questioned as she glanced at the work etched into the bathroom.

"Every last bit." Kenji coolly responded.

Uriko glanced back at him and smiled, she loved it all, the seductive food, the lustful drinks, the amorous rose petals, the enveloping bubbles... Then it hit her like a ton of bricks and her smile effectively bounced its way off her face. She was going to join Kenji in the tub, naked?! In those two weeks they spent in China, away from home on their honeymoon, the couple never went as far as kissing and touching, this will be the first time they've been together naked, the first time they've been engaged in any form of washing together, the first time he will actually see Uriko naked! Yes, Uriko still haven't had sex with him; it was the farthest thing from her mind and the only thing she has been prepared for was being head over heels in love with him, not masking her way into intimacy. She dropped the clothes in her hands and dumb-fondly asked, "So, we're supposed to get in the tub together?"

"Well, how else would we treat each other?" He remarked with a tiny giggle added along to his statement. Uriko felt nervous, she really didn't intend on this, she was still an amateur. "So are you getting in or are you going to wash yourself with your clothes on?" Kenji asked.

Uriko sighed barely loud enough for a whisper and put on a tough girl act to show Kenji that this was no big deal to her, but deep down inside she took it overboard with a dramatic conscience. She slowly pulled her shirt off over her head before moving down to her shorts, from the corner of her eye she could see Kenji's hungry wolf eyes stalk her motions as she began to strip off her clothing. Down to the last pieces of censorship, she looked into his eyes and she could see determination somewhere within to at least have a quick glance at her blessings. She prayed over and over in her mind that he would at least turn his attention away from her and at least give her the privilege to swiftly disrobe and jump in the tub without him peeping so hard. As if her prayers have been answered Kenji snapped his fingers before voicing, "Oh, crap. I knew I was forgetting something." Kenji turned his body to the right side of the tub retrieving the remote to the stereo system. Uriko quickly sent a thank you prayer to thy dear father and immediately removed the rest of her clothing before entering the tub.

She still wasn't comfortable about the whole thing; she sat far away from his body and pressed her legs into her chest. When a soft, melodic song began to play Kenji placed the remote back onto the tray and looked at Uriko questionably. "Honey?"

"Hum?" Uriko said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

"Why are you all the way over there, come here?" Kenji said back in a gentle voice that sort of eased the tensions pinching at her nerves. When she didn't move it began to make Kenji wonder. "What are you afraid or something? I'm not going to do anything to you, you know."

Uriko scoffed at him, "I'm not afraid, I was waiting for you to give me the say so on when I can get next to you."

"You don't need me to give you a signal, just come here so I can love on you." Kenji said as he bent forward a little, strapped his hands around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Uriko didn't mind the position, she loved being next to him it was just the fact that what she felt pressing against her skin sent her a nerve-wracking, un-ending chill down her spine; she could tell he obviously wasn't trying to provoke her or rush her because he was flaccid but also had his moments of getting excited which switch to cease because of her tensing up; anyway, even though he was 'trying' to be a gentleman, it was just the fact that she knew something was there that had her un-calm.

He pulled the back-side of her body into his chest and allowed her head to lay against him with their fingers entwined in one another. Moments passed by slowly as they laid pressed against each other, him gently stroking her smooth skin and she ran her thumb pad finger against his hand and every once in a while return a kiss somewhere on him when he left a kiss behind on her; in between those times they began to eat the fruit and drink the beverage until everything was gone and empty. Uriko was used to being cuddled up naked with her husband by now but when the bubbles in the tub began to dissolve she panicked. She sprang up from her comfortable position; Kenji had a confused look on his face until Uriko pulled a wash cloth and held the soap in her hands. "Uhh, this waters starting to get a little cold, how about we wash up, okay?" Uriko was expecting a response, but the look in Kenji's face said something she either didn't want to admit or understand, so before she could apply the now soapy rag to lather her skin, Kenji seized her wrist.

She gave him a questioning look when he took the rag from her grasp and began to wash her instead of her washing herself. He was so gentle with her that her nervousness escaped her body and –now faced him, both of them elevated on their knees- she rested her head against his bare, solid chest. She listened to the sounds of his heartbeat; each beat seem to beat for her, imprinting that she was his, there was no harm to come about how she was his everything, he loved her unconditionally and she had no reason to fear him because he was never in a rush. Uriko felt foolish about doubting how he would ever mistreat her in any way that she found herself lathering up a rag to wash him in return...

And Then…

After the intoxicating bath, Uriko and Kenji returned to their bedroom; clothed and relaxed in its warm cushioned sanctuary. She was resting and curled against him as he gently began to cosset her skin with intense tenderness; Uriko was slowly falling asleep on the movie they were watching. About several minutes after she drifted off to sleep, Kenji glanced over to her and smiled at her tantalizing features. She was a beauty disguised in a young woman's body; he was so happy to claim her, happy to call her his, happy to say that he loved her. He was so immerse with the love he administered to her that he found himself slowly approaching her lips with his. "All I need is one taste, one taste from the lovely Mrs. Uriko!" Kenji said inside of his mind, but it wasn't the voice he expected to hear; it was deeper, more dedicated to a man's tongue than a teenager. The voice scared him that he backed away from Uriko; not his body but his face. He thought maybe she was messing with him in a bad impersonation of a man's voice, but he could see she was sound asleep. 'Then what was that?' Kenji thought to himself.

He shook off the thought and returned to embracing his wife who snuggled even closer to him almost purring by the comfortable environment he accommodated for her. As Kenji dreadfully tried to repudiate his earlier encounter, he couldn't shake off the feeling of that voice, but why? He sighed breathlessly as he glanced back over to Uriko; he made himself more comfortable against his wife and positioned himself to hold her while he slept beside her. As if it were a horror movie, Kenji saw a reflection; without a mirror; of a man who looked just like him. He had strange bloody red eyes, an evil look that masked his face and his hair was a strange nylon color; his face was in between him and Uriko's; removing his true love from his sights and that same deep manly voice he heard earlier screamed at him, "Kenji!" Kenji screamed and threw himself away from Uriko's body; awaking the young feline at that moment and making him fall out of the bed.

"Kenji!" Uriko called out to him, peering at him on all fours on the bed. Kenji looked over the edge of the mattress sort of terrified, as he looked this way and that for that impostures face. He started breathing in a heaving like matter rather heavily, with his long bangs covering most of his face like a sheep dog.

"Kenji?" Uriko called to him again, this time startling him, she looked at him in confusion. "What's the matter with you? Are you okay? What's wrong?" She asked, as she crawled over to him still in the bed and cupped his face with both of her hands.

Kenji mentally shook himself and looked into his wife's curious brown gaze. He shook his head at her and pulled her into his arms. "It's nothing, I thought I saw something." He told her.

"You sure weren't acting like it was nothing." Uriko heard herself respond, as she embraced him showing that she was here for him.

Kenji closed his eyes for a split second and heard a tiny, barely audible whisper coming from behind his wife. He averted his eyes in that direction and a complete look alike of him with that same face was laid out relaxed on his side, with a pool of blood underneath his body; a full wine glass of the same crimson color; his hair was tangled and soaked with blood dripping from every strand, from there down blood covered his frame along with a droplet falling from the corner of his lips. As if that wasn't the only devastating part, there laid another man in front of him; his head was disassembled from his body, his eyes were rolled to the back of his head, but they weren't white like you would expect it to be, they were blood shot as blood poured from the crevices of his eyes. His jaw line was pulled apart, as if somebody put their hands in his mouth and ripped it as far as it could go along with his tongue which was also ripped almost completely out of his body; exposing its long length that normally wasn't seen by the naked eye. His body was twisted in an unexplainable manner, and all joints were distributed among the bed. Kenji felt the urge to regurgitate, as his Amber victim of eye's drifted back to the twin like man. His face aligned itself with an evil smirk as he raised the glass to Kenji telling him, "Have fun, little man!" Kenji's face was swallowed with disgust as he dropped his arms from around Uriko and took off running outside the house. Uriko chased him outside, calling his name from the doorway when Kenji's Mole Zoanthrope body morphed and escaped from her questionable sights...

That Next Day…

"And you didn't sleep with him? What, are you waiting for Dr. Phil or Oprah to give you the say so?" Arias retorted back to Uriko. She was carrying a deep glass pan that held meatloaf within it on her oven-mitten hands. Uriko had stopped by and ask the brain of the couple, Jashad -who knew almost any and everything about different things-, could predict what could be affecting her puzzling mind since the dramatic scene between her and Kenji the night before. Jashad rolled his eyes at his wife and said, "Arias, our friend is dealing with curiosity about her husband's problem that occurred the night before; not sexual advise from television entertainers."

Arias placed the hot glass on the oven mittens that was pressed against the table before saying, "No, just hear me out for a second. It could be that Kenji is probably just stressed."

Jashad furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as Uriko gave her a hearty laugh, "Why in the world would Kenji be stressed? Everything's fine between us?"

"Yeah, it might be fine to you because you're still a Virgin. Think, lady; he's been working full-time at that job of his since High School, paying bills, this, that and the other, you two just got married which another responsibility he has to carry on his shoulders…" Arias said.

"How is that another responsibility?" Uriko questioned.

"First off, he's still young and secondly he has to provide happiness for you and work hard, but not spending too much time at work so it could seem like he's putting his job before his woman. That issue, right there is causing stress to keep all of you happy for better or worse. With the amount of stress on a man, it causes tension on him and his testosterone levels build up; now with Kenji being such a sweetheart and a gentleman to you, waiting for either the right moment or when you're ready makes it worse because he has to restrain himself from sexual intimacy. It could explain the reason as to why he took off running from you yesterday, because the effects to release tension and stress can't or won't engage anytime soon that he had to get away."

Uriko denied telling the two about the transformation so she kept that from them; Arias, on the other hand, made a solid point that Jashad raised his eyebrows in acceptance. "She might be right; but it's either that or something else, he could just be keeping stuff from you to keep you from worrying about him, it's just a common guy thing, they don't want their significant other worried about them so they keep it to themselves. He probably has some skeleton's hidden in his closet that are harmful to you as well as it is to him that he just don't want you to know about yet because you two did just get married."

"Maybe…" Uriko said off into the distance, reminiscing over what happened that night.

"Try being sexy for him tonight or later on down the line… I mean, it's going to happen eventually, you know the whole sex issue." Arias said setting the table; Uriko looked scared after she said that which caused Jashad to intervene, "OR, when he gets home tonight talk to him about what happened, get more open with him."

Uriko looked back down at her table mat before nodding her head, "Okay, I'll try." Both stories seemed satisfying enough; except the whole sex thing, it seems all her questions were answered, especially since Kenji didn't come home at all last night. 'If there was anything going on with Kenji why wouldn't he tell me? Of course I will try to help him; he is my husband after all. And if anything was going on why wouldn't he tell me about this earlier when we were just friends? Maybe it's nothing, maybe he is stressed about our new life and I just haven't known it yet.' The puzzling new information Uriko was retrieving and interrogations unanswered by the prime source made Uriko depressed that she folded her arms over the table and made a sad face as she rested her chin on her forearm.

Jashad sat across the table from the young feline and watched her morose emotion. "What's the problem, little lady?" He asked her.

Uriko sighed before responding, "I really don't know, I thought everything was going great but now I feel as if it's my fault."

"Why would it be your fault?"

"Anything could be going wrong with Kenji and I feel like I'm the source that broke the camel's back."

"Well, at least you're concerned about him, but you aren't the source that broke the camel's back because you two aren't separated, he's not blaming you for anything and I know for sure that whatever's going through that guy's head right now has nothing to do with you."

Uriko stared at Jashad with sad kitten eyes. "You really think so?"

Jashad nodded his head, "Of course. That kid really loves you; no doubt about it." Uriko was about to say something but Jashad cut her off. "If you're thinking what I'm thinking then I'll just tell you, I know. I know that Kenji does care about you a lot; that night you got busted for pretending to be Andrew, me and Arias had to let him know what was really going on. After we told him everything it made sense to him but he really didn't care, all he wanted was to make sure you were okay. You can't find too many guys who would ignore their girlfriend impersonating their friend and take them back disregarding the trust that's supposed to bond them." Arias had returned from the kitchen carrying an extra dish of some stewed vegetables just in time to catch Jashad scooping a spoon full of her baked macaroni; obviously preparing for a taste-testing bite.

"Yeah, well trust can be an issue when you're thinking about sneaking to taste something before anybody else has a chance to." Arias said to Jashad standing at the table and placing the dish on it. Arias swatted his hand away making him drop the spoon back in the pan, "Now stop that...! Just because of that little stunt, me and my best friend's plate are going to be made first." Jashad stared at Uriko who shrugged her shoulders at him.

"This is a perfect definition and example of trust in me and Arias' case." Jashad said to Uriko. As the dinner plates were passed around and Uriko began to eat, she thought about multiple topic conversations that she should exchange to Kenji when he returns home.

Later that Evening…

Uriko was speaking to her mother about Kenji's behavior while Mitsuko was working at their family store. Being a protective mother that Mitsuko was she thought Kenji did a little more than freak out and take off running down the street causing him to transform.

"No, mother; it's not like that. Kenji was really freaked out yesterday and I've been confused about it ever since."

"Oh, well sweetie maybe he's going through something right now and he just doesn't want to upset you or know about it."

"That's just what Arias' husband said…" Uriko responded back in a low voice.

"Well what did Arias say? I know those two have different opinions about something's, well almost everything."

"She said he could be stressed, after the whole marriage and all that his testosterone levels are building up." Uriko said truthfully.

Mitsuko's eyes were huge for a moment before they went back to their normal height then changing rotation like into thinking, before saying, "She could be right. It could be a lot of things going on with that young husband of yours that you don't know about. You got to understand the poor child has experienced a lot in his younger days that he can't put behind him. Just talk to him, that's the best solution." Uriko nodded her head before taking her leave. 'I'll figure this out, either from him or by myself.' Uriko thought before heading back home. 'Even if that means I have to manipulate him just to get an answer.'

1

Prisoner Part 2

Uriko heard the sound of the automatic alarm system for their car sound off, she jumped obviously startled in her bent position as she scrambled across the room to turn off the lights. With the lights off, of course she loped back to the couch but she ended up ramming her right big toe into the couch structure frame. "Oww, Oh freaking heck! Oh man, that crap hurt so freaking bad! Oww!" She heard the key in the deadbolt begin to unlock, slowly recovering from her painful state she took a seat on the couch and tried to look better than how she felt. When the door opened Uriko retrieved the remote and flicked on the system.

Kenji had his eyes glued to the floor whistling a little tune as he turned back to the door locking the entry to the him and his wife's residence, he turned back still whistling the tune and gazing at the floor as he passed the hallway table, throwing his keys in a tray before continuing on. He lifted his head when he realized that there were more melodic tunes playing then his own whistling version. The candle lit room filled his vision, as similar rose petals filled the floor and the couch; its incredible aroma began suffocating his senses with its fragrance. He looked from the décor to the person liable for the quixotic scene. His eyes opened completely as he whistled at his wife. Uriko was laid on her side on the couch with her silk red robe flared open; she even had petals of roses individually placed on the silky fabric, she clothed herself with an enticing, candy red corset lingerie with hypnotizing candy red fish net stocking. The materials seem to reveal covert etches of her figure that Kenji never seen before. The bottoms were like cut off boy cutters with red stitching that had a heart flying away and a kitten chasing after it saying "Meow."

Kenji shook his head in misperception, "Uh, am I missing something here? What's going on?" Kenji asked her. Uriko moved one leg over the other in a seductive notion, trying to get Kenji to comprehend what her intentions were.

"What do you think?" She said in a low purring voice.

Kenji thought for a moment making a humming noise, "Let's see here, fresh lit candles, rose petals everywhere, stereo sexual music playing and a vixen in a lingerie staring me down with lust written all over her person… Nope, I'm not grasping this."

Uriko fought back the unction to roll her eyes in irritation; she stretched herself out with her arms above her head and put an arch deep in her back to provoke a clearer message. "How about now?"

Kenji sucked in his bottom lip, trying to fight the urge of moaning in sexual desire towards what Uriko was doing; the fishnet and her curves were practically unbearable, including the long months maybe even adding up to be a year of abstinence was starting to take a toll on him. He looked deeply into her eyes even though the partially lit room couldn't express enough of the scene before him, he could still see the nervousness somewhere deep in her eyes. The nervousness shattered his hormones and was replaced with slight despair; he felt Uriko didn't really trust him enough to make love to him, but then again he also felt depression because he noticed that she was pretty much faking the fact she really wanted him or that she wasn't one hundred percent ready for any sexual affection.

Kenji let out a sigh, closed his eyes and shook his head, "No sweetie, I'm still not understanding this moment at all." Even though he was lying to her Uriko thought he was serious, she sat up groaning in irritation as she threw her arms out in a gesturing way, "Oh for crying out loud! Kenji, the whole moral behind all this is because I'm trying to make love to you!"

"No you're not." Kenji said dryly. Uriko dropped the gesture and stared at Kenji.

"Yes I am. How can you tell me otherwise?" She retorted back.

Kenji moved towards her and sat next to her before looking deep into her eyes; his eyes were obviously telling her that he could see through her mask of lies but then they changed suddenly and Uriko felt different, like on a more negative side of different as if she was exposed to danger that she closed her eyes tightly to ignore the sensation. When she opened her eyes again, Kenji began moving closer to Uriko making her fall backwards with curiosity. As she was lying down on the couch, Kenji took both her knees in his hands and pulled her legs apart from each other; Uriko's heart skipped a beat. He positioned himself in between her legs while running his hands down her thighs to the sides of her small stomach and pressed his knuckles into the softness of the couch to support himself hovering over her. Uriko's face was blazing hot like fire as she lay underneath her husband, she could see the desire burning in his eyes which made Uriko think twice about what she was doing.

"Would you really be ready for this?" Kenji said to her, in literally one swift motion he grinded smoothly on her womanhood making sure she felt everything he had on his person again but not trying to make it seem like he was trying to break away the trust they recreated. Uriko gasped out loud before she quickly covered her mouth and looked at Kenji in surprise, mostly at how bold he was. 'Maybe Arias was right?' She thought. Before she could stop herself she said back to him matter-of-factly, "That caught me off guard, but I never said I wasn't ready."

"Oh, really? Well, how about this?" Kenji said. He began to grind into her slowly in a rhythmic manner about 6 times and nibbled on her neck; kissing and sucking in unison. Uriko couldn't take it, even though this was strangely exhilarating in a way, but it also pushed her instincts because she wasn't really ready for this, at least not quite yet. Then something hit her senses, some kind of smell that was suffocating her with wreak-like features and a burning smell as well? The malicious and fiery substance was consuming her and the entire radiation energy flared from Kenji's body, she began to shiver even though she wasn't cold; she felt the endangerment lingering around as the darkness that was in small spots all over the room began to form not only shadowy figures of tall men with bloody red eyes but a smoked filled room with fire blazing everywhere. She gasped; she wasn't suffocating from the fire and the smoke but at their person because each one of them were positioned in strange ways, one of them had marks cut deep into his neck as if he was strangled repeatedly. The one next to him body's was cut in two, his bottom half stood standing full of support as his top held the upper portion with strengthening support, the next man's head was backwards as his intestines was cut out and wrapped around his neck. Uriko placed her arms around Kenji for security as she looked around at all the other male figures who stared at her in their death stricken image. She held Kenji tighter who was beginning to grow cold, colder than the dead? The ironic thing about her being as cold as him was the fire blazing around them, and it was like he didn't even notice it. She pulled back from him and saw a completely different Kenji; his eyes were just as red as the other men lingering around the room of their house. She couldn't see his face as he pulled away, it was masked by darkness and smoke filled her vision with a whole new image of Kenji, but the eyes were loud and deadly. Then something fell from his lips and upon her cheek, she brushed it off to see a thick droplet of blood on the pad of her finger. She quivered and shook from the coldness around her body and her fear, then without notice a deep voice that was nothing like Kenji's voice said deep with male dominance, "What a beautiful little kitten you are. You shouldn't be afraid, this is only the beginning…" With lighting speed his head jerked down and took a huge chunk of her skin from her neck, Uriko screamed, then louder and louder as blood gushed from her neck. She applied pressure on her wound as she pushed Kenji away struggling to sit up. Before she was even halfway in a sitting position, Kenji took her throat in his hand and flung her back into the couch, trying to release all the blood from the artery and vein he punctured, until Uriko felt unconsciousness…

Kenji shook her frantically, "Uriko! Hey, Uriko! Open your eyes! Your eyes open them up and look at me!" Kenji screamed at Uriko who was screaming her vocals out, eyes shut tighter than sown jeans and before he knew it her hand morphed and scratched at Kenji who backed away in the nick of time. "URIKO!" The calling of her name made Uriko's eyes fling open. Her eyes scanned the scene setting and Uriko began breathing fast in a panicked stake.

"What the hell just happened? Why did you attack me? What's wrong with you?" Kenji partially screamed at her.

She stared at him with confusion playing over her face, "What do you mean what happened?! You attacked me for no apparent reason and took off a huge chunk of my neck! What's wrong with you, why would you do that?" She replied frantically.

"What, ME? I didn't do anything I just sat next to you and I looked at you for a while before I tried leaning into you for a kiss to tell you that you don't have to rush yourself for me, but you shut your eyes, started resting against the couch cushion and began screaming your head off!"

"Only because you came towards me in an awkward state, started grinding all over me and stripped my neck from skin and meat telling me this is just the beginning then choked me with one hand!"

Kenji stared at her in complete confusion, "No! No, I didn't! I was right here the whole time watching you have an episode!"

"I wasn't having an episode, you bit the crap out of me right here!" Uriko raised her hand -that morphed back to normal- to point at the location of her pale skin.

"I don't see anything, no open wound, no blood." Kenji remarked. Uriko furrowed her eyebrows and rubbed her neck to feel nothing but skin, she repeated her action frequently with both hands this time in hopes of receiving a different source, but nothing.

"No, no, no, no, NO! No, it was there and half of my neck was gone, I-I was bleeding rapidly and I was freaking out trying to fight you away but you acted like you were trying to kill me!" Uriko exclaimed.

"Uriko, you really think that I would try to intentionally hurt you." It wasn't in the form of a question, but Uriko answered it as if it were one.

"Well, no of course not. But that doesn't explain why you would do that to me!"

"Uriko, I didn't do anything to you, not a thing. You were probably hallucinating or something; you just might need some sleep because you might have sleep troubles."

Uriko thought about it for a moment, "I guess, but tell me something why did you leave me like that the other night?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know all I know is that I had fallen asleep for a moment and you flew out of the bed with a little scream, when I checked on you, you were acting like you were alerted with your surroundings so I tried to comfort you but afterwards you stopped embracing me and took off running down the street. It had to be something serious because you transformed. If I don't know anything about you then what I do know is you either transform when you're threatened, senses or something is bothering you?"

Kenji knew what she was talking about; that face, that man, that thing that looked like him but it wasn't. Kenji didn't want his wife to fret about his problems; he barely understood them himself so how would she understand? 'I barely even remember what happened when I morphed, it was like I was a puppet; brainless, incompetent, not in control. I don't know what came over me; I just had to get away. How would she understand that I left because that's all I could think of doing, she would probably think it was something she did; I don't know what to tell her, all I can tell her is a sideline lie.' Kenji thought. "I tried to restrain from making love to you, I blame it on that stupid drink from yesterday. I didn't want to scare you so I had to leave; it was all I could do at the time." Kenji heard himself say to her.

Uriko lowered her head and whispered more to herself, "So Arias was right?"

Kenji stared at her, "What about her?"

"I, uh... Went to go see Arias and Jashad earlier today because I was confused about yesterday and Arias told me that the incident that happened was probably because of your testosterone level." Uriko told him shyly.

'No, well it's kind of like that but no.' Kenji thought. "Why would you go to them? It's not good to ask Jashad questions because the guy is almost another version of a fortune teller; he knows everything. While he and Arias was on their honeymoon she found out that the new installment to a book came out and she wanted to go get it when she got a little more money on the side to spend. He told her that he would get the book for her later but she had already got it. He said that he found out she had the book even though she found a place he didn't normally look to hide it because of the way she was acting after she read it."

"That might be true; my mother even said the same thing."

Kenji's eyes got huge, "You told Mitsuko?"

"Well, you weren't here so I couldn't think of anything else to do; what's worse than going to my mother?"

"You're right; there is nothing wrong with that, I'm just glad she's not after me because of it."

Uriko gave him a slight smile before it fled her face. "Why didn't you come home last night?"

Kenji could truthfully answer that question because he did remember what happened later on that night, but the only thing he didn't understand was as he was trudging around in the dark streets how in the world did he get soaking wet especially since it wasn't raining?

"Actually I did, I came home around 3 and changed clothes before I carried you to the room, because you fell asleep on the couch and I curled next to you all night until the alarm went off waking me up to go to work."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry for trying to fool you with this stunt I just pulled. When I'm really ready for an intimate relation, I'll let you know upfront, only if you promise me that if you ever feel the way you were acting yesterday, please don't hesitate to tell me about it, let me know ahead of time."

"I won't; sorry for making you worry about me."

"It's okay, at least I know now."

"When I get paid next week, I'll go and buy us cell-phones, I heard those devices are really useful; you can talk to people on the go."

"Really? Wow, that's cool!"

"Yep."

"Well, I'm going to go head for the bathroom and take a shower; if you're hungry they have a plate in the kitchen that Arias made."

"Okay, I'll turn this off and watch some TV before I go take a shower." Kenji said to Uriko as he turned off the stereo system. Uriko gave him a quick kiss on the lips before heading into the room.

Kenji pressed his back against the couch with a sigh as he remotely turned on the TV, after every 5 seconds he would surf each channel. He changed the channel over a television commercial advertising their products like the ordinary charlatans they were, when he flicked directly to a News Channel. He was just about to change the channel when a news cast lady said something intriguing about a story, "Discoveries from last night's murder wasn't just obviously uncovered but a brutal scene was etched in an alleyway. Young Sauzi Monsuke died a ruthless death according to police officers." A tiny square picture of Sauzi appeared at the corner of the screen. Kenji furrowed his eyebrows at the picture; the child looked very familiar to him in some strange way. "We now turn to Alana Hirosuna who is live at the scene to give us more information about what happened to young Sauzi; Alana."

"As investigators predicted the body of young 19 year old Sauzi Monsuke wasn't decayed very long, the gruesome problem had to begin late last night. The young man had just got off of work and was heading home when he took a shortcut route to his place as often as he's done before."

"He had a 13 hour shift that day because he needed the extra money; I was working around that time and because his car is in the shop I offered to give him a ride home but he declined. I'm sure that if he would've accepted, he would still be alive today." The young kid who made the statement was named Kenny Touki.

"Kenny stated that he was a good friend of Sauzi and an employee of the job he worked at." The news reporter Alana said. "There's not much information on how the accident began."

An elderly man with fuzzy white hair and a sad look on his face began to say his end of his story, "I heard a muffled scream before I was heading off to bed and I sent my god son to come with me and see what the ruckus was, when I walked out with my god son towards the alleyway I heard a loud scream that was cut off abruptly before something passed by us with light switching speed. We looked down the alleyway again and saw the kid in a battered, terrible way."

"Police uncovered and revealed to us how brutal the young man's death had been."

"It seemed from this scene that the child must've had a rival or some sort; he was severely dismembered from limbs to head and his mouth was..." The officer had to cut off what he said to the reporter before shaking his head. "It was just terrible; I've never seen something so horrible happen to one child, my only question is for what? What has the kid done to deserve a death as horrid as this?"

Suddenly the screen switched to Alana interviewing someone. "Do you know anybody who would try to kill Sauzi?" Alana asked a woman.

"I-I can't imagine anyone who would ever hurt my poor boy... He was so lively and a gentleman who worked hard like any other teenager... His life wasn't perfect but he never deserved anything... Like... This...!" A woman who looked just like Sauzi said -Kenji assumed she had to be his mother- she tried to finish the interview as best as she could as her Husband held her but she broke down instantly like a stone wall with weak support.

The image of the reporter standing alone in the area of the crime reflected on the television.'Wait a second, I recognize that location!' Kenji thought. "The old man who was the first to discover the young man's body may not have seen who the murderer was but all that was seen was a dark image with red eyes; a strange description one may say about another but justice will be served in this young man's case. I'm Alana Hirosuna, news reporter live in Japan and I will continue to keep you updated about this tragic death with Sauzi Monsuke; back to you, Moka." After the report about Sauzi, Kenji couldn't help but feel like his world was crumbling from under him. He knew the child somehow but he didn't know from where? Minutes later Uriko reappeared from the bathroom drying off her damp hair with a cute pajama of kittens at play illustrated all over the set; she stood there staring at Kenji's pale face. "Kenji, are you okay?"

Kenji snapped out of the trance that he was succumbed into and stared at his wife. "Have you heard the news?"

Uriko shook her head, "No, what news?"

"A kid died last night after getting off of work, in an alleyway near Busuzima's Laboratory."

"Oh no! He's not going after people is he? Are humans blaming Zoanthrope's for the death of that kid?"

"Not that I know of... For some strange reason I think I know who that kid is or I've seen him somewhere."

"Has he ever been an assassin for the ZLF or worked for Busuzima?"

"No, there's no way. Somebody who discovered that the kid was killed said the person had red eyes?"

"It could've been an assassinator for Busuzima, I mean if the kid wasn't seen around that location nobody would've went after him that could explain those red eyes that man saw?"

"Maybe, it could be anything; nobody knows any enemies that the kid might have had. It just doesn't make any sense?"

Uriko had wrapped her hair in the towel before she spoke again. "Unless..." Kenji stared at Uriko. "Unless the one who is responsible for the kid's death is a hit man who was either hired to kill him or wants revenge on him?"

"Well you make a valid point but still it doesn't make any sense." Kenji stood up and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to talk to Yugo about it later, maybe he knows something; but I'm taking a shower and going to bed..."

And Then...

Kenji walked out the steam filled room to clean less suffocating air after conveniently washing and rinsing his body. He sighed and walked over to the foggy mirror as he wrapped his towel around the lower half of his body. Uriko knocked on the door of the bathroom to announce her presence before letting herself inside. "Hey, I was just letting you know that I'm heading to bed."

"Alright, I'll be there in a minute." Kenji said starring in her direction. Uriko gave him a half smile and closed the door to the bathroom as Kenji turned his attention back to the foggy mirror. He dazed out for a moment before reality came back to him when he heard a tiny whisper, but it wasn't the same whisper he heard the night before. He glanced around the area and saw nothing; he turned back to the foggy mirror and wiped a stream of mist off the glass to see his reflection. Getting a good glimpse of himself he ran his hands across his face and left them on his eyes trying to break away from the tired emotions and expressions he had grazing his face. Dear God he was strangely tired; earlier he was well rested but now he felt as if he was going to pass out from exhaustion. He glanced back at the foggy mirror at himself when a spark of light zapped from the corner of the mirror. He looked at the spot from the mirrors view when a pale teenage face took the image appeared behind him with his head lowered, hanging off of his neck. Kenji saw his twisted body and blood dripping from what he thought was his hanging mouth and long tongue. 'What the...' Kenji thought before he turned around and saw nothing but the bathroom. He turned back to the mirror and seen that his head somehow managed to hold itself on the less supporting neck but it was the dead face of the kid from the news, "Sauzi?" Kenji whispered, his red flipping eyes stared at Kenji with his mouth out stretched to the capacity and his long lengthen tongue hanging out of his mouth like a dog out of breath. He was growling as he starred at Kenji in utter madness. Kenji didn't know what to do, he wanted to call Uriko and let her see this for herself and hopefully she would.

He opened up his mouth about to call out her name but suddenly something grabbed his throat in a choking matter as he tried to fight back the feeling, literally. He grabbed a hold of his neck and tried to back away getting a few breaths in between. "H-help!" He tried to call out but the grip around his throat was getting stronger. He glanced at the mirror as he saw Sauzi stare at him in madness still in the same location he stood in from before, but a figure of a man stood in front of him. It was the same man from the night before, he was choking him. 'Oh God! Who the hell is this? Why is he haunting me and trying to kill me!' Kenji thought. With the man's reflection clear as day in the mirror, Kenji saw as the man lifted his body in the air as he panicked and kicked as much as he could. The man threw Kenji into the mirror as he finally began to breathe but it came out as a scream when his head connected with the mirror cracking the location he was thrown into. He fell on the sink counter as he grasped his injury grunting in mesmerizing pain; his vision grew hazy as all the objects on the counter began to fall as Kenji arose part way. The mirror wasn't his only access to see the people lingering around the bathroom but his hazy vision had him seeing the blurry image of their presence.

"You think you have it all! You trapped me in the darkness and took over what was mine! I've earned that right to be a person and yet you stole it because of your family...!" The man who strangled him with dangerous dark hair, red eyes and the deep masculine voice said to Kenji loud and strong with ire.

Kenji took a hold of his throat as his hoarse and raspy voice said back, "I don't even know who you are?! You may look... Like me, but what you're saying makes no sense!"

The man began to scoff at Kenji, "Is that so?" He came up to Kenji and took his face in his hands making him allow his hazy eyes to stare in his location. "How can you forget the only person who's ever been a part of you? How can you forget about the only person who showed you love? How dare you forget about the only person who allowed you to live as the skilled assassin you are to this day?!" He screamed at Kenji as his jaw began to burn under his touch. Kenji screamed out as the man pushed his face away from his grasp standing to stare him down with his crazy red eyes. Kenji's mind couldn't register whatever was going on at this point; all he knew was this man obviously has a connection with him besides that they looked alike. He felt his eyes burning in rage at Kenji's person as Kenji tried to swiftly recover from him shaken state. The man took Kenji's hair in his hand and made him look into his eyes, "You were as weak as you were before and these creatures around you have torn you away from who you really are... You will always be a prisoner of me, a prison of yourself; you will never be whole. No matter how hard you try to tear yourself away from the past or even attempt to let it go, that cute little wife of yours will never understand the real you, the real monster that lies within; she will never stay with you when she finds out your secret. This so called love you have for her will crumble when I am whole again and you accept who you are and kill her by your own hands when the time comes, little man." He released Kenji's hair and stared down at him as Kenji's tightened fist began to tremble.

"Don't you ever talk about her like that again." He spoke back forcefully removing his weak body from the counter to the floor as he began to stand with the counter as his slight support.

The anger from the man exploded as the bathroom began to fill with darkness; all Kenji noticed was the Sauzi kid, the guy who looked like him and his self. He could still feel the counter but he couldn't see it.

"Kenji! Kenji!" Uriko screamed from a darkened spot as Kenji's no longer hazy but wide eyes began to search frantically for the feline.

"Uriko!" Kenji screamed as an echo came behind his words into the darkness.

"She can't hear you when you're trapped in your mind." The man said to him.

"That doesn't even make any sense!" Kenji retorted back as he grabbed his injured head after he felt a terrible aching feeling.

"It may not make sense now but soon you will eventually understand my meaning... Or maybe your little wife's sorrow and her dear pleas may get you to comprehend my message now rather than later?" The man said, smirking menacingly.

Kenji's veins begin to fuel with horrendous anger that this man was threatening to harm his wife in front of him. Without notice Kenji screamed in madness as his body transformed into his Zoanthrope form. The man barked out in laughter at Kenji's scream but as soon as he transformed he growled at his stupidity and retreated farther away from him sucking away the darkness bringing back the bathroom again. Sauzi cringed in fear as his body's image dissolved instantly from view and the man stared at the Mole in return. The Mole charged at the guy, who remained in the bathroom. "You certainly are something. Don't forget you will always be a prisoner of me and a prisoner of yourself." Suddenly the man dissolved just like Sauzi.

When Kenji slashed at the empty air he screeched out a scream as Uriko's voice called out his named into the distance and he felt himself began to shake...

"Kenji! Kenji! Kenji, please wake up, baby! Please look at me so I know you're still alive!" Uriko screamed as she shook Kenji awake.

His eyes opened slightly as he noticed he was still a human but his hands were still morphed. Uriko shook him and said something but he couldn't hear what she said as the quote the guy said began to haunt his mind all the way into unconsciousness. "You will always be a prisoner of me and a prisoner of yourself."

'Prisoner... Prisoner... Prisoner...'