When At First...

  Sensha felt a sharp pain on her mouth, and in the same instant, she felt a heavy-headed dizziness.  This was not the more typical lightheaded dizziness caused by vertigo or just standing up too quickly.

  As the sting grew, like a quickly rising sun, into a great burning, and she had a moment to clear her head, she noticed that she was now on the wet ground and that her dizziness was caused by the punch that she did not see coming.

  That blonde, whatever her name was, had been only pretending to be unconscious.  The blow served her right for not making sure, she supposed, but she had been more concerned with helping Roric- a mistake in itself, given the circumstances.  A mistake that allowed the blonde to easily sneak up beside her and peg her on the lip with a full-fisted back swing.

  She was again able to see the moonlight reflecting off of the small puddle.  She tasted the copper warmth of blood in her mouth.  She felt another pain, this time in her ribs, as the blonde kicked her.  Fortunately, she had not used the tip of her pumps, Sensha thought to herself, so it did not hurt as much as it could have.  In other words, the pain was not enough to distract her.

  Sensha was on her knees; her left forearm holding her ribs and her right hand in the mud to support her.  The blonde bent down at her left, and began to speak.

  "Well-"

  That was all she managed before Sensha, with astonishing speed, met the blonde's chin with her right fist.  Sensha heard the crack of teeth before the blonde flew backwards and landed with a splat on the wet earth.

  The blonde appeared to not be moving, but Sensha was not going to make the same mistake twice.

  Doubled over, and still holding her ribs, she took two unsteady steps to the blonde, and then dropped to her knees beside her.

  The blonde's face was turned away.  Expecting her to spring back into action any second, Sensha reached out a hand, grabbed the woman's chin, and turned her face.

  The blonde did not move at first, but soon began making slight head motions signifying her gradual return to consciousness.

  "Not this time."  Sensha rose to step one foot over the woman's body.  Straddling her, she returned the favor of the full-fisted backhand, though this one was to the blonde's temple.  Not wanting to take any more chances, she struck the side of her head a second time.

  Sensha sat on the blonde's stomach and let out a breath; a fleeting sigh of relief.  She was done with this adversary, but there was still Roric to help.

  She placed her hand on the woman's soiled blouse, between her breasts, and pushed to stand.  She steadied herself, then turned and ran towards Roric.

  He was in the middle of the road with the man who also never mentioned his name.

  As she had on many occasions before, she once again wondered why those two insisted on never revealing their names.  The two seemed to just appear out of nowhere, about a month ago, and for seemingly no reason, began an ever-increasing harassment of Roric and Sensha.

  It started as a small annoyance, almost inconsequential, but grew on a daily basis into the confrontation at hand.

  It seemed completely meaningless, at first, and with no apparent logic.  Of course, they did not know the two were working together at the time.  The blonde had been approaching Roric while he was away from Sensha, while the man had been "just happening" to repeatedly bump into Sensha.

  She and Roric eventually realized that these two where trying to seduce them.  They were not sure why, and had formed many theories, even some pretty outlandish ones.  Not even their wildest imaginings, however, were quite so unbelievable as the truth.

  It was a truth she still struggled to believe, even as her eyes were locked on this man as he high-kicked her husband across the jaw, sending him spinning to the ground.

  She wanted to cry out to Roric, but thought better of it.  The man did not know she was approaching him from behind, and it was best to keep it that way.  She, instead, settled for a silent prayer.

  She was within earshot, now, and heard the man shouting at Roric.

  "Do you have any idea how many lifetimes I've spent trying to destroy the two of you?  Huh?"  The man took a step closer.

  "Do you even remember any of them, yet?  Do you remember 1225, in Africa, when I beat and raped your wife until she was a half dead, half insane wreck?"

  "How about 1540, in Japan, when I set fire to her face?  She was a hideous monster, and you still loved her as much as ever."  He spat out the last half of the sentence in an almost uncontrolled rage.

  "And you," he said, returning to a calmer tone as he walked closer to Roric.  She had drawn close enough to hear him, despite his relatively quiet voice.

  He grabbed Roric by the back of his hair and pulled his head back hard, forcing Roric to look the man in the eyes.  "I spent all of World War I making sure I met you on the battlefield.  I took great pains to make sure you didn't die after I blew every limb off your body and carved out a chunck of your skull."

  His voice rose again with his anger.  "I sent you home a bloody door mat with brain damage, and your wife still stayed with you and spent every penny you had to keep your worthless carcass alive."  He punctuated the sentiment with his knee to Roric's forehead.

  "The centuries advancing as they were," he continued, speaking as if recounting a story, "I decided a blunt physical assault was just not going to get things done.  Science and mentality were evolving.  Horrible disfigurations weren't breaking people apart as much as they used to."

  He began to slowly circle around Roric, who was gradually raising himself off of the wet highway.  She now was at greater risk of being seen, but the man seemed sufficiently focused on Roric.

  "I decided that a more subtle approach was in order.  I'd try while you were young.  Still fresh in the marriage.  How devoted can a couple in their early twenties be?"

  He was silent for a moment, but continued to circle.  She slowed her advance and made an effort to be quieter.  She also listened as the man continued in a more conversational tone.

  "I'm just getting fed up with you two.  My plan didn't work.  You're both still in good health.  I think it's time I vented a millennia of pent up aggression." His voice grew louder as he kicked Roric in the thigh.

  "Hey, that gives me an idea.  Maybe next time I'll be a psychiatrist.  Arrange some troubles then blame them on your wife.  Maybe have my associate do the same for her; get her to blame you for her life's complications.  I'll have to give that one some thought in our next life."

  "But right now," His toned changed again.  He now spoke in a more pseudo-excited manner.  "It's all about the grins.  I'm just going to enjoy beating the crap out of both of you before I finally kill you in some extremely excruciating manner which I've not yet decided upon."

  The man squatted in front of Roric, who was sitting but still propping himself up by his hands.  The man lifted Roric's chin to once again look him in the eyes.

  "Maybe when my associate returns, dragging your wife's unconscious body back to me, I'll have you watch as I have my way with her."

  A small fire began to well up in Sensha's stomach after hearing that, and she stopped, having less of a desire to be closer to the man.

  "You don't have any idea how many times I've taken your wife, do you?  How many lifetimes in how many civilizations where, with any normal couple claiming to be in love, a relationship would have ended with even the suspicion that the man's wife or girlfriend was had by another man."

  "But we're not talking about normal couples, are we?"  He threw Roric's jaw aside as he stood and turned away, his seething anger picked up again.

  He took two steps away, then immediately turned back towards Roric and continued speaking.

  "No, we're talking about love.  Real love.  Not the fantasy that everyone buys into because they're so damn needy.  No."  His voice and excitement increased with every word.

  "You two are the only real thing on this planet, and I've spent nearly all of human existence trying," he began kicking Roric repeatedly in time with his rant, "to get rid of you two so I can finally be free."

  Sensha bolted forward, crossing the ten, or so, feet between herself and the man.  She managed to contain her yell until she was right on him, so as to not give him any extra forewarning.

  "No," she shouted as she pushed him away by his head.  She thought she heard a crack before he stumbled to the ground and slid about two feet along the glistening blacktop.  Part of her hoped she'd broken his neck, but she kept moving towards him and continued her assault.

  He instantly moved to try to get up.  Not fully with her wits about her, she kicked without aiming any place in particular, and because he was moving, she wound up kicking him in the arm.

  She bent down and wildly beat him about the head and upper body with her fists, but it was not enough to keep him at bay.  He managed to swivel on his back to swing his feet to kick her legs out from under her.

  She came down mostly on her back, but a jarring pain, in the back of her hips, paralyzed her.  In moments she realized that she had hit her tailbone on the hard surface of the street.  She also realized her error of allowing herself to lose control.

  She remained still, partially because it was near agony to move, but also in hopes that he would not attack her further.

  "I guess my friend failed to take you down," he said as he picked himself up.  "No matter.  Just leaves more for me."

  He grabbed her by her black hair and pulled her up, forcing her to stand.  She cried out as the pain shot through her entire body.

  Fortunately, when she was finally standing, it did not hurt quite as much, but it still hurt enough to make her keep her body stiffened, and she winced every so often during and after he turned her around to press her back to his chest.

  He jerked her a few times in his anger, and with her wincing, it did not take long for him to realize what had happened.  He knew now that she was barely a threat.  Certainly nothing he couldn't handle.

  She was more skilled in this incarnation than she had been in the past, but she was now virtually paralyzed, and he had hundreds of lifetimes of experience at his disposal.

  She let out a small cry as he turned her and himself with a jerk, intentionally hurting her again, to face Roric.  He laughed a little as he watched Roric finally managing to pull himself into a standing position.

  "Hey.  Look what I got, Roric."  Roric stepped towards him, but the man grabbed Sensha by the chin and yanked her head around not quite far enough to break it, but far enough to send the message for Roric to stay put.

  "So," the man continued to speak, "what do you think I should do to her first?"

  He used his free hand to grab and lift her hand on the same side.  He worked her index finger into his grip.  "Maybe start breaking all her bones, one by one?  Eh?"

  He dropped her hand and moved his to her exposed cheek.  He stroked her skin.  It felt very soft beneath his fingers.  He pinched the flesh twice before lightly grazing his fingernails repeatedly over it.

  "How about I start peeling away her skin?"  His nails where not long, but neither were they cut very short.

  "Or maybe," he moved his hand slowly down the front of her body, grabbing one of her breasts on the way down to cup the crotch of her jeans, "Maybe I'll play with her some."

  Sensha sucked in a breath at the man's intimate grip on her.  "Oh, I think she might be enjoying this a little," he said, though he was very much mistaken about the cause of that gasp.

  Upon that touch, an image flashed into Sensha's mind, as if it were before her eyes.  For that instant, she saw, and even heard, nothing of her current situation.  She witnessed, instead, a black man attacking her.

  He was very dark, and had no shirt.  He pushed her, and she fell backwards to the ground.  It seemed to be light out, perhaps midday.  There was a river behind him.  She was against bushes.  The small limbs hurt her back.

  He wore a cloth around his waist, like a skirt.  Bare feet.  African.

  She began to remember that he had mentioned Africa- the present beginning to break through to her again.  The moments in time merged and the vision became a memory.

  He had followed her to the river.  She was getting water when he snuck up behind her.  He forced her to the ground.  Hit her many times.

  Tears and her head turning from side to side blurred her vision.  She tried to keep him away, but he was far more powerful, and his blows very painful.  Her pain almost distracted her senses from telling of his entrance.

  Perhaps it would have been better if he had beaten her a little more.  Perhaps she would have not felt his invasion at all.  Perhaps she would have been fortunate enough to fall unconscious.

  She began to pray for an end to this, but she very quickly found herself praying, instead, for her beloved.  They were to be married in two days, and this beast of a man was stealing her virginity.  What would become of them, now?

  The present began to partially slip away a moment as another vision flashed before her.

  Incredible heat.  Blurred vision, again.  Agony.  Screaming.  Terror.  Scars.  Her beauty gone forever.  Japanese people shunning her.  Except....

  Her neck hurt.  A voice.  "Yeah, I think she likes this.  Don't you think, Roric?"

  The air is cold.  She's face down in tall grass.  The grass is wet.  She can't get up, because... because there's a man holding her down.  But she does not know whom.  She never saw him.

  She was bringing the sheep in from the field, and then she was suddenly flying forward to the ground.  Tearing clothes.  Tearing... tearing flesh.  No!  Not there!

  Oh, my love, what did they do to you?  Your arms and legs.  No.  No, you listen to me.  I love you.

  I believe you.  I believe you were drugged.  You never really slept with her.

  Do you hear me?  I'll never leave you, and I'll never let you leave me.

  You never did leave me.  You found me on my way back to the village.  No one knew, yet, and you told no one.  We still married.

  You did not cast me away.  I had to hide my scars from them; their hating eyes.  But not you.  You still held me close. You still kissed me gently on the cheek even though it was destroyed.

  We both believed each other dead, but neither of us ever took another.  Fate rewarded us when we met again.  So unbelievable at first.  Is it really you?

  She looked into his eyes and knew.  She knew him instantly.  Such an emotion like she'd never felt.  It was almost beyond emotion.

  Her entire body felt full and hollow, all at once.  Her heart felt as if were going to burst forth from her chest.  Her tears could not escape her eyes quickly enough.

  For an instant she could have sworn that she could hear his thoughts.  So many times this happened.  So many lives.

  Everything began to merge into a single swirl.  The past, the present, and now the future.

  Physical senses drifted away.  She was transcending time.  Transcending touch.  The physical world was little more than a dream.

  She turned her head and looked at Roric.

  "Wha-?" the man gasped as she defied his strength.  He attempted to pull her chin back around, but it was as if she were a statue.  Her body straightened, and her arms lowered to her sides.

  He began to feel a heat emanate from her.  Her flesh grew warmer beneath his hands.  He pushed and pulled her to no avail until her skin became like fire, forcing him to let go.

  "What is going on here," he shouted as he stepped away from her.  He looked to Roric, who was still standing in place, staring at her.

  The man looked back at Sensha, then he saw something truly amazing.  His mouth gaped in awe as her now light brown hair grew even lighter.  Even her tanned flesh seemed to lighten.  She was becoming paler. Her skin and her hair were gradually fading to white.

  More to his astonishment, though he was not sure at first if it was she or just the reflection of the full moon, but she appeared to begin to literally glow.  The brighter the light became, the more certain he was that it emanated directly from her.

  He looked, again, at Roric, who had not moved at all.  The man ran to Roric and grabbed him by the shirtfront with both hands.

  "What is happening," he demanded, pulling the material.

  Roric said nothing.  For a moment, he did not even seem to notice, but he soon looked at the man.

  "Tell me what is happening," the man shouted even more loudly, but Roric offered no response; not even a change of facial expression.

  This only angered the man further.  He drew back his left hand to a fist and held it for a moment as a threat.  Roric still made no response, so the man punched Roric squarely along his right jaw.  Roric turned with the force.

  The man grabbed Roric's shoulder, jerking his torso back to face him, and repeated his demand.  Roric again made no response.  The man cried out, pushing Roric away.

  "What is happening," he shouted as he punched Roric in the face, then immediately followed with a knee to his stomach.  Roric grunted and moved with the blows, but otherwise seemed to not be effected.

  The man stepped back, then laid another blow across Roric's face with a roundhouse kick.  Roric did not fall, so the man side-kicked him.

  Roric finally fell to the ground.  The man looked down at him and spat out, "Talk to me.  Say something."  He kicked Roric in the ribs.

  Roric was somewhat curled up.  The man bent over him and pulled at his shirt again.  "Talk to me, Roric, or I'll kill you right now."  He shook Roric.  "Tell me what is happening."

  "Tell me how she can do that," he said, standing, throwing an extending right index finger in her direction, and looking at her.

  His eyes widened.  Hers closed, and she began to rise off of the surface of the road.  He was frozen for a moment at the sight of her hovering about six inches in the air, her hair white and her body incandescent.

  He felt a spot of cold hit his nose.  It was a raindrop.  Another hit his cheek.  He felt another on the back of his hand.  Looking up, he saw a flash of lightning spread across the sky, though there was no accompanying thunder.  In a matter of seconds, it was pouring rain.

  Sensha seemed frozen in her elevated state.  Standing sideways to both of them, the man turned his head to look at Roric.  He had turned just in time to see Roric bringing himself into a standing position and looking him directly in the eye.

  Startled, the man pulled back a fist to strike another blow, but Roric moved almost as quickly as the lightning he had just seen spider web the sky.  Roric shot out his right hand and wrapped his fingers around the man's throat.

  This man -this man and his so-called associate- harassed us.  He attempted to seduce my wife, while his lackey attempted to seduce me.

  He got us out on this empty highway, and then they attacked us.  He punched me, and he kicked me, and threatened me and my wife.

  His thoughts grew to a mental shout.

  And we didn't even know why!

  "We remember," Roric finally said.  His mind was flooded with the memories and images from hundreds of lifetimes.

  "We know what you are."  Roric felt a warm energy flowing through his very being.  He felt strength.  He felt Sensha's glow in his mind and body.  He felt her inside.  It was she that was supplying him with this power.

  Despite all he was feeling inside, or perhaps it was more likely because of it, he felt very little outside.

  The chill in the air was absent to him.  His bruised and beaten body no longer ached.  Even the hard raindrops were mere whispers of touch- perhaps more memory than actual physical sensation.

  He was not even sure if he really felt this man's throat in his grasp.  He was barely aware of the fact that the man was attempting to kick him in his legs and groin.

  "Then you must know what you are, as well," the man struggled to say.  "You must know that this is not your way."

  "What way?"

  "Killing," the man said.  It's not your way, to kill."

  "It's not our way, because we know you cannot be killed, especially by us."  Roric spoke very flatly.  "Just as you cannot destroy us.  Lifetime after lifetime, you try to destroy us, but you don't see that you never will."

  "I will.  And I'll never stop trying."

  "Of course."  Roric began to squeeze the man's throat more tightly.

  The man began to make labored sounds, but he was still able to manage some final words.  "You can't kill," he said, desperately trying to save his own life- as if saying the words would magically halt what was happening.

  "You forget," Roric said.  "You only look like a human.  You're not one."  He paused briefly.  "Until next time."

  Roric closed his grip further.  The man sucked in a tiny breath before his air passage closed completely.

  His neck was in pain.  His head began to hurt and feel light.  His lungs burned.  The sound of his heart pounded in his ears.

  He was scared.  Unable to weep.  Unable to whimper.  Wanting so desperately to cling to life.  His final thought was barely audible to even his own mind.

  Please don't....

  ...

  Please....

  Then everything began to grow dim.  Sensha's glow decreased as her feet began to return to the blacktop.

  The man in Roric's grasp was now limp, and his throat was grotesquely misshapen.  Roric released his grip, and the man's body dropped with a wet thump on the rain-soaked ground.

  Roric felt as if he were waking up from a dream.  Though he had been technically aware of his surroundings, he was only just now noticing them again.

  He started to shiver under the cold rain.  He started to feel the pains all over his body.

  He saw the body on the ground in front of him, and though he knew about what he had just done, and all that he had said and experienced, it felt more like it was old knowledge.  As if time had worn away the details.

  He looked back up to see Sensha standing in the middle of the road and holding her head with her fingertips.  He stepped over the body and ran to her, gently grasping her shoulders.

  Strangely, he did not feel any need to speak.  As a matter of fact, he felt that to say any words at all would be a travesty.  He merely waited until Sensha regained enough of her senses to look up at him.

  When their eyes met, they felt a pull towards each other.  It was not a physical pull, but a mental one- an emotional attraction, as if two halves were fighting to re-merge into a whole.

  They quickly embraced each other in full arms.  Feelings of relief, excitement, anxiety, passion, all flooded them.

  They wanted nothing more than to be together.  They wanted it with a fanatic desperation.  They had to be closer.  They kissed each other on the lips, but that only pulled them away from each other.

  They quickly returned to their hug, squeezing tighter than before, but it was still not enough.  They were still too far part.

  They also could not hear each other.  They had only their own thoughts.  There was too much noise distracting them.  They needed to concentrate more.

  Listen.  Listen beyond the sounds all around them.  Ignore the raindrops hitting the ground.  Work past the increasing loudness of the truck horn.  Let themselves become entranced by the synchronization of their heartbeats in their ears,

  until the beating seems to fade away,

  and the hindrances of the physical world no longer exist for them.