Upon the announcement of Tekken 7, my love of the Tekken series was reignited. I spent some time refreshing my knowledge of the series and felt inspired to do some writing. There will probably be more where this came from, although I can't promise that they will come quickly.

Disclaimer: If I owned this, there would never have been fighting animals, and the women would probably wear more clothes.

The bar was warmer than the air outside, so Christie bundled her thick hair to the top of her head and tied it there in a ponytail to cool off her neck. With a sigh, she plodded toward the counter—ignoring how the men around her eyed her moving hips—and claimed one of the stools. Only after ordering her drink did she start seriously surveying her surroundings. The music was awful, and it stank of tobacco and smoke. Christie didn't frequent bars, really—especially ones like this—but after another day of feeling so close and yet so far to Eddy, she was willing to put up with the seediness and perverts for a few solid drinks. She wondered if any of the other tournament participants were there. A cursory glance around told her that most of the men were red-faced with heat and alcohol, but she didn't find a familiar face among them.

Oh, wait. There were three.

The first one she spotted was that little Chinese girl. She was sitting with the orange-haired tae kwon do artist and the blond boxer at one of the tables. The men each had large mugs of beer in hand, but she had nothing. She was simply leaning back in her chair, arms crossed, glaring at the Korean as he talked to her. It looked like their conversation was a tense one. She didn't have a guess as to the names of the men, but the girl was Ling Xiao… something. Xiaoyu, maybe? Christie hadn't paid much attention to her before.

However, she was aware that many of the men in the bar were paying attention to her. She had picked up enough Japanese during the tournaments to know that some of them were urging each other to talk to her. She groaned inwardly as she took her drink from the bartender, hoping that she could finish it before she had to deal with any creeps.

The Chinese girl—Xiaoyu, Christie reminded herself—was getting up. She said something curt to the Korean man and started sauntering toward the door. In a flash of inspiration, Christie switched her mind from Portuguese to Japanese and said (with a terrible accent), "Hey, Xiaoyu, are you all right?"

The girl halted and swiveled her head toward Christie. By the way she scrutinized Christie's revealing outfit, it was clear that she didn't think too highly of her appearance. On the other hand, Christie was skeptical of grown women who still wore their hair in pigtails, so perhaps they were even.

"I'm fine," Xiaoyu said simply.

"Are you sure?" Christie asked, then nodded toward the empty stool next to her. "Come on. Let me buy you a drink."

"Thanks, but I don't drink," Xiaoyu answered.

She didn't drink? Weird. Got to think of something else. "Then come help me practice Japanese."

After a pause, Xiaoyu replied, "I should really get going."

"There won't be any more matches today," Christie said. "Just take a break. You really look like you need it. No offense."

Another moment of hesitation passed before Xiaoyu sighed and plopped herself on the stool next to Christie. To her pleasure, she noticed that the men around them now seemed much less certain of their plan to approach them. This is what's so great about groups.

Christie took another sip of her drink and turned her attention to Xiaoyu, who was propping her chin in her hands. "So what's got you so worked up?"

Abruptly, Xiaoyu bolted upright, flexing her fingers like claws, and exclaimed, "Men!" before reverting to her previous position.

"Join the club," Christie smirked.

"I mean, all I want to do is understand what he's thinking and why he's doing all these things so that I can help him heal and move on with his life," Xiaoyu went on with a frustrated sigh as she began tracing the ring patterns on the wooden counter. "But he won't even let me see him, let alone talk to him. I wish he would stop pushing me away."

Christie blinked, then shook her head with a sardonic chuckle. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

Xiaoyu glanced at her. "You, too?"

With a nod, Christie downed a bigger gulp. "The only reason I'm even here in this ridiculous tournament is to try and find him."

"Me, too!" Xiaoyu said, suddenly turning in her stool to face Christie while slapping a hand against her own chest. Then her whole body slumped with a sigh. "But so far, no luck."

"Me, either," Christie said wistfully. Then she studied Xiaoyu more closely. "Do you know him? He first fought in the third tournament. His name is Eddy Gordo."

Xiaoyu squinted her eyes as though it helped her mentally sort through her memories. "That was a few years ago. What does he look like?"

"Tall, dark hair in dreads, brown skin, really muscular," Christie explained. "He does capoeira."

"Oh, the one who always looked like he was dancing!" Xiaoyu said with a smile. "That's a really interesting kind of martial art."

Christie's heart raced. "Have you seen him around here yet? In this tournament?"

With a sympathetic frown, Xiaoyu shook her head. "I'm sorry, but no. I'll let you know if I see him, though."

Feeling like her body was melting with disappointment, Christie turned back to her drink and took a halfhearted sip. "Well, thanks anyway."

"I'm sorry," Xiaoyu murmured again. "I understand how you must feel."

After taking a moment to push back some tears, Christie cleared her throat and asked, "What about your guy? Who are you looking for? Maybe I've seen him."

"Oh, I know where he is," Xiaoyu waved her hand dismissively. "He just uses his military to shut me out. Shut everybody out. Except for when he wants to start wars with them."

Christie turned to her with wide eyes. "Are you talking about Jin Kazama?"

Xiaoyu sucked in a breath and glanced sidelong at her before answering. "Yes. He was my friend in high school."

A few seconds of silence passed before Christie repeated flatly and incredulously, "Jin Kazama."

"Yes," Xiaoyu reiterated, her face starting to burn. "I know what everybody thinks, but he's a good man. There's something terrible happening to him, and I want to help him stop it. Everybody keeps telling me that I should give up on him, but I could never abandon him like everybody else seems to have done." She flippantly gestured in the direction of the tae kwon do artist and the boxer. "Hwoarang says that it's none of my business and that I should just leave him alone before something bad happens to me because Jin might do something really destructive to both of us if I insist on seeing him, but I don't think he really knows Jin as well as I do. Jin is a wonderful person with a good heart. He just needs someone to help him believe that he isn't really a monster, and I know that he isn't a monster, so I'm not going to give up on him."

A beat or two after Xiaoyu finished her impassioned tirade, Christie simply shrugged. "If you say so. Who am I to judge who loves who?"

"I never said I love him!" Xiaoyu exclaimed indignantly, although the way her cheeks lit up red as a Christmas light suggested otherwise. "Everybody always says that," she mumbled as her chin went back into the palm of her hand.

Trying to keep from laughing, Christie finished off her drink. "Okay. I understand."

Xiaoyu turned toward Christie again. "What about you? Are you in love with Eddy?"

Christie fingered her glass as her face fell. "Something like that," she said quietly.

She was a little surprised when Xiaoyu gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure you'll find him. Don't give up." When Christie nodded solemnly, Xiaoyu smiled and shook her head, saying lightly, "If only they weren't so stubborn! Trying to do everything themselves."

"Exactly!" Christie grinned. "It would be so much simpler for everyone if they would just stop being so dramatic."

"Even my grandfather is that way," Xiaoyu said, then continued in a low, gruff voice. "'A man must learn to fix his own problems and rely on his own strength, or he may never be a true warrior.'" She rolled her eyes as Christie laughed. "Well, we all need a little help sometimes, and if you don't let yourself learn to love and be loved, then what's the point of anything?"

"So you do love him," Christie teased.

Xiaoyu frowned at her, though her expression remained playful. "I still haven't said that. He's my friend."

With a nod, Christie raised her empty glass toward Xiaoyu. "To our men!"

Grinning, Xiaoyu shaped her hand as though it were holding a glass and lifted it toward Christie. "To our men!"

They pretended to clink the glasses together and drink the air, which they both found hilarious for some reason. When they noticed the orange-haired and blond men raising their eyebrows at them, they only laughed harder.

Twenty minutes of chit chat later, they both left the bar and went their separate ways, Xiaoyu complimenting Christie on her Japanese, despite her heavy accent. As Christie walked back to her hotel room, she smiled to herself. One of the many things she wanted to tell Eddy was that he didn't have to go through his troubles alone. It was nice when Christie had the chance to remind herself of the same thing.

As she showered and prepared herself for bed, Christie reflected what a shame it was that somewhere out there were two brooding young men who probably didn't understand how dear they were to two particular young women. But perhaps someday they would.