(DISCLAIMER: I do not own Tekken. All characters, names, events and places referenced are the property of Tekken)
Prologue: Beneath the Skin.
Lee stared vacantly out of the small circular window at the patchwork quilt of fields, towns, roads and landscapes that scrolled along as he soared through the sky high overhead. The stillness that had overcome the world after the chaos of the global war started by the Mishima Zaibatsu had made Lee feel meditative and retrospective. He remembered how awed he had been the first time he had been on a plane and seen the world as birds and pilots do. It was one of his first happy memories. However, his thoughts soon turned to the man who had taken him on that journey and a long hardened pain buried under Lee's calm surface caused him to turn his gaze from the window and lean back into the comfortable luxury chair that first class afforded him. He smiled subtly at how normal it felt to be on a private jet, in a leather heated seat worth a few thousand dollars and a perfectly mixed cocktail in the little holder next to him. With beautiful air hostess's to answer his needs. How far he had travelled from where he had begun, those many years ago.
The momentum of a smooth flight always caused a little tiredness to wash over him and answering to its call he allowed himself to drift off into sleep. A sleep filled with repressed memories long buried.
(HONG-KONG CHINA: NEAR A LARGE HARBOUR)
A small scrawny boy falls to the ground hard, his arms and face bruised and grazed, but he does not linger there, he clambers up quickly and fixes his assailants with a cold tearful stare. "Leave me alone" he shouts, willing they will listen, but the larger boys surrounding him only laugh and approach again with malice. Lee is afraid, the fear reaches his limbs and they shake and feel weak, hidden inside him there is a reservoir of anger and pain that he wishes he could draw upon, but his body only shakes. He has nothing in this world, no loving family, no close trusted friends, his only possessions the clothes on his back, but the boys around him don't care about his plight, they want blood and amusement, merely because Lee is a small hungry street boy, with dirty clothes and freak white hair, and no one that cares enough about him to stop them.
The leader of the other boys pushes Lee hard in the chest, then grabs his hair and backhands him in the face, Lee grimaces with the burning sting of the slap, but it is the low blow to his stomach and the subsequent kick in the side that caused the real damage, and drives him to his knees in front of his assailant. Lee could not rise, try as he might, his legs were failing him and finding his breath was painful and hard. His vision faltered for a second and darkness closed in on him, but he found the will to fight against it, forcing his bruised eyes open. Lee began to regain his sight and when it returned clearly it was not the faces of the boys he saw but that of a man standing in the harbour close by.
The man was unlike any Lee had ever seen, it was like he was carved right out of stone or old wood; his expression was hard, fierce and powerful. He was wearing robes that lee had only seen in pictures about ancient warriors. This man stared hard at Lee and something in that single look, something about the power of this man connected with Lee. Despite his situation Lee found himself thinking that this man would not let other men move and bully him, would not fall to his knees in front of his assailants, would not feel sorry for himself at the circumstances life had given him, would not follow those he could lead, would not be bettered or beaten down. He would make his own future, with his iron will and his fists and he would carve the path he alone wanted. The man's eyes were fixed on Lee's, as if he wanted something from Lee, as if he was waiting for an answer to a question.
As if from nowhere the shaking in Lee's limbs stopped, the water in his eyes dried, he found his breath and took in a deep gulp of life giving air, his blood began to boil, new fierce energy in his veins. Lee found his vision, and placed a piercing gaze on the man who sought to better him, and then Lee came to the truth he would never be bettered again, he would strive for perfection, would become something more, he would carve his way into the future like the stone man in the harbour. With this he rose from the ground; from his knees; from his pain and misery; from the squalor he had known, from poverty, from the street, from those that would belittle and oppress him. He stood up for the first time in his wretched life.
Lee screamed a war cry, as if in a great battle and shouting over an awful clamour. He did not give the boys the chance to react, he sprung at the leader like a predator and head butted him with all the might he could muster; it was enough, the boy feel in a bloodied whimpering pile. This time it was Lee who delivered the kick to the boy's ribs, and the feeling of strength it gave him Lee would never forget. He did not let up and allow the other shocked boys time to register what had happened. He lashed at them like an unchained beast, with a fury in his eyes. Striking one assailant in the face over and over with rapid punches, while all the boy could do was try to cover up and protect himself. Then when the boy yielded and begged for him to stop with a bloodied mouth Lee stopped, turned and tackled another terrified boy to the ground. He rained strikes upon the boys face, giving back all the bad energy he had ever received. Then he stood and witnessed the results of his newfound power. The three boys lay beaten on the ground and a fourth was running away shouting, he moved to pursue this last victim, his predator senses hungry for more, but the sudden realisation of a presence behind him made him stop and turn slowly.
The man of power from the harbour stood high before him, His eyes boring into Lee's, searching the depths of his soul. "Hmm a good battle, you fought well boy, but do you know why you found victory?" Lee could not bring himself to answer, for he did not know why he had so suddenly found strength. The Man looked past lee into the distance "You won because you believed you could, you came to the truth that no man alive could stop you from attaining what you desire". The man's voice was strength and Lee just listened, rooted to the ground, he did not know what he felt towards this man, but he knew this encounter would change everything. The man lifted Lee with one hand and raised him to eye level "Do you have a home and a Father boy", Lee did not even have to think of the answer "I have nothing". The Man regarded this for a second then smiled a little as if he had thought of something amusing "This is good boy, very good, what do I call you?" Lee's answer came out more like a whisper "My Name is Lee, Lee Chaolan" The man of power listened to these words and his face grew more grave "I am Heihachi Mishima, I am your father now".