Not the Admirer
By Indigo Siren
Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken, nor the characters etc… under the concept. I am making no money from this Fan Fiction, Tekken © to Namco. I do however own any extra characters that don't appear in the Tekken series.
A/N: Sorry Xiaoyu fans, this isn't a Xiaoyin story. I wanted to create something different. I know Miharu wasn't about in Tekken 3 but I suppose her element of being there would still kick in, even though she gets a proper mention in Tekken 4.
Chapter 1
'Miharu Hirano, you're going to be late again.'
"Stupid voices…" Miharu muttered as she dashed to get to school on time.
Her mother had scolded her for getting up late yet again - the third time that week. The same stern tone of her mother kept repeating itself inside her head.
What a headache!
The young girl was glad to see the gates of the Mishima Polytechnical School ahead of her, and she didn't falter to race as fast as she could towards them - just as the gate began to close. She started to panic and hastily skidded forward, nearly tripping, as she crossed through the gate, which closed promptly behind her.
The caretaker looked at her with amusement. "You made it just in time, Miharu, would have been a shame to lock you out."
She couldn't help but smile at him before dashing off to get to class.
***
"Miss Hirano, I see you finally decided to join us," her homeroom teacher, Miss Ayame, said as Miharu flung open the door to her classroom.
"I'm sorry, sensei," Miharu apologised, making her way towards her seat.
"You're becoming rather tardy, Miss Hirano," Miss Ayame continued, staring hard at the girl. "I shall see you after registration is finished."
'Fantastic!' Miharu clenched her lips and inwardly sighed, taking a second to compose her voice. "Yes, sensei." She took her seat and opened her book bag.
Miss Ayame went back to taking the register, which she had been in the process of doing before Miharu had entered.
"Too many late nights, Miharu," a soft voice said to the late comer. She turned her head towards a Chinese girl with two bobbing pigtails, each tied neatly on either side of her head.
"Tell me about it, Xiao," Miharu replied at her friend's level.
Ling Xiaoyu smiled at her, but was distracted by her name being called out on the register.
Miharu put her head down on the desk. It was going to be one of those days again.
***
When the bell rang for first lesson, Miharu stayed behind for a minute to have a small lecture from Miss Ayame. It was the usual prattling as it seemed to the young girl, knowing undoubtedly that her teacher would give her a detention. When she was dismissed, she was thoroughly glad to leave, shutting the door firmly behind her. Out of her teacher's earshot, she swore.
Xiaoyu, who'd waited for her, stepped away from the opposite wall.
"Detention?" She asked.
Miharu nodded as they started towards their lockers.
"Tough break, you know Miss Ayame is like that," Xiaoyu said, fiddling with the strap on her leather book bag.
"Why me!?" Miharu whined. "Now mum's gonna come down on me like an avalanche. She keeps saying I'm becoming lazy, and how can I help it?! Life is just so utterly predictable."
"Come on, you never give anything a chance." Xiaoyu bounded in front of her, taking a grasp on her shoulders. "Think of the all the wonderful things you could be doing!"
"Like what?" Miharu asked.
Xiaoyu smiled and spun around to Miharu's right side, arm over her shoulders as they walked. "Picture this." The Chinese girl's hand shot out in front, moving slowly across her view as if trying to create an image ahead of them. "A beautiful theme park, lots rides… water, food, breath taking attractions. Wouldn't that be a dream?"
"Are you going on about the theme park you're planning to build, again?" Miharu asked, stopping as they reached their lockers.
"How can I not?" Xiaoyu sighed happily, leaning back on the metal locker door.
"And what has this got to do with me and my boredom?" she asked intently.
Xiaoyu shifted, putting in the combination into her locker. "Well, you won't be bored when it's built." The young girl smiled in that wild, happy way she always did.
Miharu just shook her head, opening up her own locker, peering over quietly at her energetic friend.
Xiaoyu was lucky, that's what she thought. She lived in the residence of the infamous Heihachi Mishima, one of the richest men alive. He could build her a theme park and give her anything else she desired. Miharu could only dream of living in the Mishima mansion and basking in all the wealth that Xiaoyu was surrounded by. Of course Xiaoyu could never be bored with life, she had too much around her to make her life one big fair ground ride.
Miharu snapped out of her thoughts and grabbed out a book, groaning at the cover. "You got Math, too?"
"Uh huh," Xiaoyu moaned loudly, banging her head on the locker door purposely as she closed it. "I hate math, especially our stupid teacher."
"Tell me about it. Come on, let's go before we are late and I find myself with another detention."
Xiaoyu nodded and took Miharu's arm as they trailed off to class.
***
"Oh, this seriously is not my day," Miharu sulked, staring at the two different papers in her hands.
"Don't worry, Miharu," Xiaoyu said. "Everyone hates tests."
Miharu stared down at a maths test paper she had done the day before and scored a low 45 on, and the othe, a test for English she had took that day, which she had scored a pathetic 26.
"I hate pop quizzes!" Miharu said, kicking an empty can in the courtyard as they headed for lunch.
"Calm down," the Chinese girl consoled. "You'll feel better after lunch."
"I hope so."
The pair entered a large dining hall, lit by the lights streaming in from the large windows on the far wall. There were eight rows of tables, three benches to a column.
Xiaoyu almost screamed when she saw the menu. "They are actually going to serve shrimp dumplings! They're actually doing something right for once!"
Miharu merely nodded, grabbing a tray. When she was served, she settled for kakeudon, grabbing a mineral water and headed for a table where Xiaoyu was sat with some more of their friends.
Xiaoyu tucked into her dumplings, falling into her own little heaven. Miharu was glad at least one of them felt like eating.
For some time, she stared at the bowl in front of her, playing with the noodles idly.
"Cheer up, Miharu," her friend, Yumi, said. "We all get bad scores now and then."
"I ALWAYS get bad scores," Miharu said, finally taking a bite of her meal.
Another girl named Mika, who was sat next to Xiaoyu spoke. "You're not the only one. Then again, I did quite well on the English pop quiz today. A 64!"
Miharu groaned, covering her face with her hand. Xiaoyu jabbed Mika in the ribs.
"Ow!" The girl yelped, and rubbed her sore side. "Sorry, Miharu."
"Never mind," she responded in a muffled voice behind her hand.
Her life was a mess. She wasn't meeting the grades; she was always getting on the bad side of her mother; she felt she didn't fit in anywhere. And her love life? She didn't have one.
"Don't look now, girls," Yumi said, her eyes lighting up. "Just look who entered the room!"
Miharu turned her head towards the doors of the dining hall, hearing a commotion pick up from practically every girl in the vicinity.
A tall boy had entered. He was the envy of all the males in school and the crush of all the females. He was of a strong build, his uniform fitting him a little too snugly for his shape - it was probably why he'd rolled up the sleeves and not just to look 'cocky'. He wore red gloves with an arrangement of silver studs on, the fingers neatly cut off. His face was as neutral as it always was he passed the swooning masses of girls. He ran a hand through his thick crop of hair, shaped into a widows peak, the front part flagged with soft bangs that levelled with his strangely shaped eyebrows that curled at the ends.
This, was Jin Kazama.
Miharu rolled her eyes and carried on with her dinner despite her friends whispering and giggling over him obsessively. To her, he was just some sorry pin up boy who waltzed around with a tough image to ward off practically everyone. But the mysteriousness was what seemed to attract the schools population of girls. All except her.
"You're so lucky to live with him," Mika said to Xiaoyu.
"He doesn't really talk to me much," the Chinese girl said, playing with one of her bobbing pigtails. "He's too busy with Mishima-sama, training in the dojo. Also, he studies a lot, so he stays in his room or goes to the library."
"We should go to the library a lot more often," Yumi said shaking Miharu's arm, "Then we might see him."
"Yippee," Miharu said, unenthusiastically.
Xiaoyu, Yumi and Mika stared at her in a disbeliefing silence.
"You don't like him?" Mika asked, completely stupified.
"Why do I have to like him?" She asked blankly.
Yumi and Mika were about the answer her with a thousand and one statements when Xiaoyu loudly 'shhhhh'd.
"He's coming this way," she said, making them all go quiet, trying to act natural.
Jin walked down their row, a heavy tray carried easily in one hand, his stride neither hasty nor slow. He passed close to their table.
"Hi, Jin," Xiaoyu greeted him.
He glanced over her, his way of acknowledging her, though he didn't seem all that bothered with getting involved with her socially. He sat at a table on the next row across.
Mika grinned wildly. "He actually looked at you! You're so lucky!"
"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Miharu said, rather fed up.
"He's like a god, Miharu," Yumi said, clasping her hands over her heart. "How can you not love that handsome physique?"
"Easy." Miharu finished off her bowl, uncapping her water bottle to take a hefty sip.
"Don't you think he's cute?" Mika asked.
Miharu gulped down the water and fastened the lid on her drink. "Frankly, I think Jin's a stupid pretty boy. He thinks he can act all high and mighty and show off with his big muscles." Her voice was picking up in pitch as she spoke. "Please! Looking at him makes me gag! I wouldn't be caught dead with him! He's a sorry rich kid, a complete flake and has the personality of twig." She stood up, picking up her empty tray. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to do some hefty revision."
She turned from her friends and went to take her dirty dishes away, not before noticing Jin was staring at her hard. She couldn't hold his gaze for long - it seemed to pierce through her like a hot poker. Even though she had her back to him, she could still feel the weight of his glare on her.
He had heard everything she had said about him, but she didn't care. She was glad.
'Maybe that'll sink his battle ship,' she thought, dumping her tray on the counter before heading for the exit.
Xiaoyu and company watched her depart with complete shock.
"She really is having a bad day," Yumi said.
"She'll be alright," Xiaoyu said, slightly worried for her friend. "Maybe she needs a little time to herself."
"Hey, look at Jin," Mika said, making the others turn to look at him as his gaze followed Miharu out of the hall. He turned to catch them staring but they quickly turned away.
"He must have heard," Yumi said quietly.
Xiaoyu and Mika nodded, carrying on with their meals.
***
Miharu had spent the remaining part of lunchtime in the library, though she wasn't really able to concentrate at all. She was still reminded of all the girls and their silly little crush on Jin.
There is much more important things than love, Miharu thought, stabbing the rubber end of her pencil against the maths textbook over and over. She just couldn't get her head around these things. She sighed, glad when the bell rang so she could go to lesson.
Her friends thankfully gave her some space, knowing she wasn't exactly in the mood. It didn't help her that she was getting some funny looks from some of the girls who had heard what she'd said about Jin in the dining hall.
In the end, she couldn't care less.
***
At the end of the day, she walked home alone. She'd waved Yumi and Mika off at the bike stands as they rode off with some other girls and not long departed Xiaoyu's company as the Chinese girl had an after school activity to attend.
The trek home was long and boring, but extremely thoughtful. Her test papers were tucked up in her book bag, but she couldn't stop thinking about them being there, stabbing at her.
Mom is sure going to kill me...
She felt that nothing ever pleased her mother, like she was one big mistake. She sighed, knowing these tests would add more icing to the cake.
No true ambition; no real good grades; an uncertain atmosphere at home, and no boyfriend in sight. Miharu was at the end of her wits.
And what was worse, it had just started to spit with rain, ready for a big down pour.
"Great, I didn't even bring an umbrella," she muttered, getting ready to cross the road.
She stepped out, quivering, dragging her feet dejectedly.
"Nothing else could possibly go wrong in my life…" she wondered miserably. "… Can it?"
A loud horn suddenly blared at her. She turned her head, but it was almost as if she was moving in slow motion. Out of nowhere, a truck raced towards her. The roaring of the horn told her to get out of the way. But she couldn't. She froze up, like a scared little rabbit; all she could do was scream, covering her face.
The next few seconds seemed like a blur, maybe because she was so struck with fear. Two hands grabbed her around her waist and the next thing she knew, she was thrust off her feet. Time had never moved so slowly in all her life.
The truck shot by.
She was still alive.
Her feet met the pavement and the hands left her waist. She could have collapsed there and then from the shock, but composed herself, wiping the beading sweat from her brow.
'That was so close… but who…'
She turned around to meet her saviour.
Her jaw dropped.
Jin Kazama stood there in front of her, book bag slung over his shoulder.
"You should be a bit more careful," he said, a little too stern for her liking.
Miharu blinked unbelieving, watching him turn and walk away.
She finally got her voice back. "Hey… w-wait up!" She ran after him on shaky legs.
He stopped, looking back, his voice deep and snappy. "I thought you wouldn't be caught dead with me…" This stopped her running. "Aren't I just a stupid pretty boy, a sorry rich kid and a complete flake?" She cringed as he quoted her own words back at her. "Don't I make you gag or something? That's what you said, right?"
She stared at him, somewhat ashamed. Could she see hurt in his eyes? Or maybe it was just anger.
She didn't know how to say sorry to him. Or was she even sorry? She couldn't decipher the emotions that were running through her right there and then.
"W-Well, you didn't need to save me," she finally said. "It would have been better if I'd been run over!"
Miharu quickly turned and ran off. Jin stood watching after her, completely bewildered.
***
When she got home, she ran in and slammed the door shut, putting her back to it.
She sighed lengthily. "What is up with me?" She spoke aloud.
For some sudden reason, when seeing him after he saved her life, she had felt something twinge inside her heart.
"No way…" She whispered, touching her chest. As quickly as the thoughts came, she scattered them with a shake of her head.
"MIHARU!" Her mother's voice echoed through the hallway.
She quietly grumbled to herself, clutching her bag where her poor test results her hidden. "I'd better face the music."
