Technically, this isn't my first fanfic, but it's the first one I've posted onto this site. Please be gentle. I'd like some feedback, either positive, but especially the constructive kind. I've enjoyed many of the stories on this site and amazed at the creativity. So much so that I was inspired to write my own. This is a one shot only, kind of serving as the beginning. Anyways, please enjoy.

I guess I have to write this as I've seen it on many others…

Jin is owned by Namco, but the other character, Maemi is my own.

Silent Understanding

He took a moment to compose himself. He had been through hell and didn't want evidence of it in his face. Prior to coming to where he was now, he had found a gentle stream of water. He washed off his arms and hands of any dirt. When that was as clean as he thought he could get it, he washed his neck and then finally his face. From his face, he was not only trying to remove any dirt, but also the redness in his eyes. The cool water had the desired effect, swelling down the puffiness in his eyes; however, even with the cool water cupped in his hands and over his eyes, the burning sensation returned. His cupped hands released their hold on the water and gripped his head, wiping away the flood of tears they could along the way. His body shook with each and every sob he let out.

He wanted to cry out, he wanted to rip apart anything he could get his hands on, but that would not change anything. He could not stop the pain or grief, but he knew he had to postpone it. He was told to do something and he was going to do it. With the little resolve he had left in him, he once again did his best to wash away the redness and puffiness in his eyes. Instead of cupping the water, he plunged his whole head into the stream, rubbing his face underneath the water before forcing his head out of the water with a snap, his wet hair slapping his neck as each clumped strand found its resting place. He squeezed as much of the excess water out before putting his clothing back on. Somehow, the laundry that was hung out to dry the day before had escaped being incinerated. He pulled some fresh clothes from the line and tossed aside the tattered remains of what he was wearing.

It was now late morning and a beautiful day. The grass was a luxurious green speckled with color from the flowers that sprouted here and there. Only a few clouds dared to travel the skies if only to offer competition to the birds that were flying. Yes, a truly wondrous day to hide the horror the darkness of the night hid from everyone except one. The sun was nearing its peak, drying out his thick black hair as he made his way to the only person he had left to turn to. He had been standing there staring at the front door trying not to remember the events of the night before only to have the images flashing before him. It seemed an eternity had passed before he remembered why he was there. With a clenched fist and hesitation in his heart, he knocked on the door. A minute passed before he heard someone approaching. When the door finally opened, the familiar face he was hoping to see was there.

"Jin? Hey what's up?" The surprise on her face was obvious.

"Sorry to come here unannounced." He replied, somewhat agitated, although he did his best to appear calm.

"I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised to see you here. Isn't today…training? Won't your mom be upset that you're not there?" she asked.

The mention of his mother nearly broke him. He didn't respond to her question, only losing himself for a moment before she interrupted him.

"Jin? Hello?" she said as she waved her hands in front of him. "You, ok?"

Jin snapped out of his daze. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired." The young girl looked at him with concern. It wasn't like her friend to seem so dazed, but then again, these were troubling times for the young man.

"Maemi…" Jin started before his friend interrupted him.

"Come inside, Jin." Jin followed Maemi into her house.

Maemi and Jin had been friends since childhood. What brought them together was what they shared in common. They were both teased as children. She was teased for being such a tomboy and when Jin came to her school, he was teased because the children had heard their parents' gossip about him and his so-called father, or lack thereof. It happened that one day, the children were teasing Jin so much that he was nearly ready to start a fight. Maemi saw this and intervened before the other kids could see what he wanted to do.

"Hey," she yelled as she placed herself between Jin and the other children. Addressing the leader of the pack she continued. "You shouldn't tease him unless you want one of my fists in you face! Besides, who Jin's dad is, is nothing compared to who you were kissing yesterday in the girl's bathroom!!" With that all the other kids looked at the leader who was running away.

Triumph covered Maemi's face. She never did like that little boy. When she turned around to check how Jin was, she found he had started to walked away.

"Hey, where are you going? I just saved your butt back there!" she yelled at him as she chased him down. When she finally caught alongside him she saw anger in his face.

"I didn't ask for your help." He said.

"No, but had I not, you would've gotten into big trouble! You know, fighting is punishable by expulsion here!"

Jin stopped in his tracks. "How did…"

"I was watching. I could see that you wanted to fight him. Not that I blame you. I've been wanting to punch his lights out for the longest time!"

Jin only looked at her. "So, who was he kissing in the girl's bathroom?"

Now she looked at him and as she did, a huge grin crept onto her face. "I don't know, I was just kidding, but I guess he was kissing someone afterall!"

Jin's eyebrow arched up in disbelief before he and Maemi both began to laugh. They had been best friends ever since.

Maemi led Jin to the living room before taking herself into the kitchen. In a few minutes, she came back to the living room with a tray of tea and a bowl of food. She set it down on the table and began pouring Jin his favorite tea as Jin took the bowl and began eating.

"Thanks Mae. I don't know what I'd do without you." He said in between chewing and swallowing.

Maemi knew Jin well enough to know he was agitated and that his favorite tea…jasmine…would calm him down. She also knew that when he was agitated, food always helped settle his nervous stomach. As she waited patiently for Jin to finish gorging himself on his bowl of food, Maemi sat across from him in her favorite chair nibbling on some cookies.

"Where's mom and dad?" Jin asked as he finally set his empty bowl down. He was such a frequent guest in Maemi's household that his parents gave him a room in their house, so when he started calling them mom and dad, it didn't bother them or Maemi at all.

"They're shopping. They've saved enough money to buy things for the house and they wanted to do it today."

"That's right, are they buying that TV they wanted and the stuff for the kitchen?" Jin asked, but whether to avoid the subject of why he was there or out of genuine curiosity, he wasn't sure.

"Jin, I know you didn't come here to ask about my parents. What's wrong? What happened?"

Jin took another sip of his tea before he settled back into the couch he was sitting on. He wasn't quite sure how to tell her what happened, or what he needed. The silence between them grew before Jin saw the look of imploring and impatience on his friend's face.

"Ok-ok, sorry, I'm just thinking, that's all." Maemi only continued to look at her friend.

Jin finally leaned over, elbows resting on his knees as he held his hands together and looked down at the floor. With a soft voice he finally spoke. "I…I talked…to my…mom last night."

Maemi was overjoyed to hear that Jin had finally spoken to his mom. The relationship between the two had become strained over the past several months. Jin complained that his mother had turned into some neurotic, obsessive person. She was training him in her defensive style of martial arts intensely almost ruthlessly for some time and she was weary of him leaving her sight. True she didn't get to see her friend as much because of this, but they talked often on the phone. And in those conversations, Jin was not happy. He had said his mother was driving him crazy and whenever he tried to talk to her calmly she became erratic and wouldn't listen. Jin had talked to Maemi several times about running away, perhaps to find his father's family, he had heard so many things about the Mishimas in Tokyo, but regardless of all that was happening between he and mother, he loved her. If anything, he wanted to know what was happening to his mother, but everytime he tried to bring up the subject, he would only get more of her episodes.

So yes, Jin and his mother talking and it not being accompanied by rants was a good sign, however, she could almost hear hesitance in his voice, maybe even a crack as if her were about to cry.

"That's great Jin…right?" she asked very concerned now as she leaned in closer to him.

Again, there was silence before Jin looked up at his friend with a forced smile. "It is…it is." Again he took another sip of tea and did his best impression of relaxing into the couch. How was he going to do this? How was he going to lie to his best friend? It tore him up inside that he felt this was the only way, but the last thing he wanted to do was relive that nightmare he endured the night before. All he wanted was to get of town and do as his mother had asked. Wait…

"She told me I should go to Tokyo." He said with a chuckle and trying his best to conceal that what he was saying was being used to cover up the truth he didn't want to speak of.

"What?" Maemi asked more out of shock.

"Yeah, can you believe that? After all this time of me talking to you about going to Tokyo to find out about my father's family, my mom tells me I should go there and do just that!" again forcing a smile on his face.

"I don't understand…why would she say something like that? After all this time…"

"Yeah, it's like she was reading my mind." Torture was the best word to describe what he was going through. Not only was he trying to hide the truth from his friend, he was doing exactly what he didn't want to do by thinking back to the night before, reliving the horrors and the despair each and every moment he was sitting on his friend's couch.

There was something different in her friend today. Nothing he was saying was making sense. Better put, it wasn't so much what he said, but what he wasn't saying. His actions and mannerisms were not what they should have been. The Jin she knew would have come to her with this information with worry and caution, not an agitated sense of eagerness. It was right then she realized that Jin was hiding something from her.

"Jin, something's not.."

Jin stopped her. He didn't want to talk anymore about it. It was excruciating enough. He had to end this without hurting her feelings anymore than he already knew he did. "Mae, I need your help. I need to get to Tokyo."

"But your mom…" At that moment, Jin reached for Maemi's hand with his own. He held her hand as if he never wanted to let go and he looked into her eyes.

Maemi was angry now. As she looked into his eyes, she could see he was aware that she was onto him, that she knew he was keeping something from him. And now he was asking her to help him run away without so much as a reason, a real one at least. Yet as her angry eyes looked upon his, she could see something else there. He was pleading to her with his eyes. He was saying, "Mae, please don't ask me anymore…this hurts too much already. Help me now, please."

With that Maemi abruptly stood from her seat and rushed up the stairs to her room. Her eyes had begun to burn, but she took deep breaths in an attempt to stop her tears.

Jin sat there defeated. He heard a commotion in the upper part of the home which he attributed to Maemi being angry with him. She was onto him and he knew it. He had blown his only chance of getting out of Yakushima and possibly ruined his relationship with Maemi. He truly had nothing now. Everything he ever had had gone up in flames and his mother…she was taken as well. He didn't know what he was going to do only that he had to find a way to Tokyo. He was about to get up and leave when he heard footsteps racing down the stairs.

"Mae?" Before he knew it, she was standing in front of him. She had brought with her a duffle bag and a backpack which he eyed with curiosity.

"It's some your clothes from your room here, and the backpack has a cd player, some cds, and some bathroom supplies, you know, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, blah, blah, blah. There's a tour ship that leaves Yakushima in a couple of hours. That gives us some time to get there. Check the duffle, make sure it's got enough stuff to get you going and I'll pack some food in your backpack."

Jin was stunned. As he watched his friend head into the kitchen, he couldn't help but feel like the luckiest person alive to have such a friend. At the same time, he felt saddened. He didn't know what to expect in Tokyo, but was certain that one way or another, he would never come back to Yakushima. Looking at the duffle bag now, he could see the certainty in it. Nevertheless, he did as she asked and checked the duffle. 15 minutes later, Maemi emerged from the kitchen just as Jin finished zipping up the duffle.

"You ready? If we leave now, we should get there in plenty of time." she asked.

"Mae, I can't ask you to…"

"Not another word Jin." It was all she had to say. Jin knew what lie behind those words. She knew as well as he did that they may never see each other again and that the reason why may never be spoken. She had always been vocal about how important his friendship with her meant to her. Even if it meant making this whole ordeal harder it was the least he could for her.

"Let's go then," he said. Just as they were about to walk out the door, however, Maemi stepped back inside. A minute later she met Jin outside the door.

"Almost forgot." She tossed Jin his jacket. Actually it was her jacket. He had given it to her. The two were walking home on a sunny afternoon when all of a sudden it had started to rain. Caught totally unprepared, the two shared the shelter of his jacket as they raced to her house. Upon returning to her house, Maemi's parents offered Jin a ride home. When Maemi returned the jacket she and Jin looked at each other. Realizing how soaked the jacket was, it remained in her house to dry only to become a permanent resident in their closet, where she wore it often. Jin never asked for it back.

"Hey, I let you have this, remember?"

"Yeah, but you're going to need it more. Tokyo can get really cold."

Jin could only smile. How could he not tell her the truth? Despite not telling her, she was doing everything possible to make this easy. It's something he would always regret.

The bus ride took a little longer than they thought. The whole way there, Maemi did her best to impart Jin with the every piece of information she had learned about Tokyo. It was a place she had always wanted to visit and as such learned everything she could about it, history, lifestyle, shops, etc. Jin only listened, apparently this was just as hard for her as it was for him. With barely enough time to purchase a boarding pass, the two friends waited. The tour boat would be boarding in a 5 minutes. Sitting in silence was not the way Jin had imagined he would spend what could be the last 5 minutes he would have with someone he cared so much for, but he didn't know what else to do. He was saddened more than anything at this moment.

Maemi nudged her elbow into Jin's side, catching his attention which seemed to be focused on the ocean beyond. "You'll need this." She said as she held out a bulging black wallet with a long chain attached to it.

"Wha-"

"Take it." Jin did as he was told and took the wallet. He opened it to find a generous amount of money, and a picture. "I thought you might need it."

Jin pulled out the picture in wallet and tried to return the wallet and what remained in it. "Mae, I can't…"

"Yes, you can and will!" she insisted as she shoved the wallet in Jin's hand back in front of him.

"But-"

"You know, birthdays, sometimes during semester breaks I'll work for some relatives, allowances…"

"But this must have taken…months, years…"

"Hey what can I say, I'm a packrat!"

"Then you must have had plans for this…"

"Truthfully, until you started telling me how you wanted to get away from your mom, this money didn't have any purpose."

Jin stared at his friend with questioning eyes.

"Is that so hard to believe? C'mon, my parents pretty much give me what I need, so I just saved the money. When things started going bad between you and your mom, I got worried that you might actually leave and I didn't want you to be stranded. Funny how I figured you would always come to me first before you would actually run away."

Jin opened the wallet and placed the picture back in it.

They were both staring into each other's eyes at that moment. Yes, Jin had thought of running so many times before now, and yes, he would have gone to Maemi first if only just to tell her he was actually leaving. It seemed so simple then, but now that he was really leaving, regardless of why, he realized just how hard it was. She had been a constant in his life especially over the last year, since his mother started behaving and thinking erratically. He knew that if he were to run into trouble in Tokyo, he could call her up and she would be there, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough to know that she would be there if he needed, he wanted her to be there with him. He had thought of asking her to come with him, but knew that would be selfish of him to ask her to leave her life, her parents that loved her and him.

Maemi never thought this day would come even though she somehow prepared for it. Her stash of money seemed to grow exponentially over the last year. When Jin first mentioned running away to her she began adding to her piggy bank as much as she could in anticipation that he might actually stay true to his word. The thought of running away with him crossed her mind several times, but she had no reason to except to be with her friend and although he meant the world to her, she could not hurt her parents that way. She had hoped instead that he would just ask to stay with them if only for a little while. For this reason alone she kept the few clothes and items he left in his room at her house ready for his arrival; however, today it seemed they were made to be ready for his departure.

"Mae," he finally said as she seemed to bore into his eyes, "I…I…Thank you." Jin could feel the lump in his throat growing to the point where it nearly choked him. He wanted to tell her everything. He wanted to tell her that his mother truly did tell him to go to Tokyo; to tell her that a monstrous creature had come to them in the night and taken everything from him; to tell her that somehow he fought off the creature with a power and strength he didn't know he had and even now feared; to tell her that his mother told him how sorry she was for her sudden change and that she loved him more than anything; to tell her that that last he saw of his mother, she had the most beautiful look on her face as she died in his arms—all this he wanted to tell her, to relieve himself of some of his grief, if anything to tell her so that she knew that he would never betray their friendship by keeping such a burden to himself.

Maemi wasn't sure if she was disappointed that he didn't even try to tell her more of what was going on, even in these last few minutes they would share, but his eyes told her so much. She could see the battle within him raging. He wanted to tell her something, but for some reason, was keeping it to himself and that alone was hurting him. She wondered, did he know how much she was hurting inside? She would never know why he was really leaving and that hurt her more than him actually leaving. But she knew Jin cherished their friendship as much as she did and that alone would have to sustain her. For some reason, Jin chose to keep her out of this part of his life and the trust between them told her that there must be a very good reason why he was pushing her away.

"Hey, don't sound like that!" she said in an attempt to lighten the somber mood, but it only served to create a lump in her throat bigger than the one she heard in Jin's cracked voice. "You, know you can always write, or call…anytime."

"I know, Mae. It's going to be so different out there in Tokyo without you watching my back."

"I'm always watching your back Kazama!" Just then the bell to board the tour ship rang. Jin didn't get up immediately. He saw the line forming and resolved to wait and be the last to board, it would give him a few more moments with Maemi.

When Jin didn't get up to board the ship, Maemi thought perhaps Jin changed his mind, but then realized he was waiting to board the ship last, to give him a few more minutes with her. It was then she realized that this was more than likely the last time she would ever see her friend. Of course she had always wanted to see Tokyo herself and had planned a trip there in future. Perhaps she would look him up when she got there. However, it frightened her to think of what kind of a person he would be. He was leaving for a reason, not just to get away. The Jin she knew might not be waiting for her in Tokyo.

"Jin, the ship…"

This was killing Jin. Now he knew for certain that Maemi figured this would be the last time they ever saw each other. Jin didn't know what to say. Yes it may be the last time, but he couldn't tell her goodbye, he didn't want to.

"I know." An awkward silence followed. Funny how those last two words made both of them understand that neither wanted to say goodbye yet they both understood that this moment could very well be it.

Just then, the end of the cue boarded the ship. The final boarding call was made. Both Jin and Maemi stood and stared at each other. Jin grabbed his friend and held her close and tightly. Maemi did the same.

"Don't forget me, okay?" Maemi said as she nearly broke into tears.

"Never." Jin hastily replied as his voice began to crack.

Maemi broke their embrace. She knew that if she didn't, they would be standing there forever and Jin would miss his ship ride. "You better go before they leave without you."

Jin saw her eyes were beginning to water and turn red. He felt the same thing happening to his. They both gave each other as best a smile they could and then he jogged quickly to the boarding plank. He placed the wallet he was holding in his front pants pocket and never looked back.

Maemi watched her friend leave her. She knew he wouldn't look back because it would hurt him too much to see her again. She remained to make sure he boarded the boat, afterall, she always did watch his back, she always made sure he never backed out of anything he was set on doing, this was no different. When she saw that he was on board and the boarding plank pulled away, she left, tears streaming down her face as she prayed for her friend's safety.

Jin found a seat in the main cabin on the ship. He couldn't bear to see his friend as the boat pulled away, although he knew she wouldn't be there. He knew her well enough to know that she knew him well enough, that to see her again would kill him and that he might just jump off the boat so as not to leave her. He took a deep breath to quell the lump that seemed to be growing in his throat and wiped his hand across his eyes to rid himself of the tears that began to fall from them.

Jin felt a discomfort in his pants and realized he had placed the overstuffed wallet in his front pants pocket. In his sitting position, the corners and edges of it were biting into his leg. He pulled it out and opened it one last time. Yes the money offered some security, but what made him feel so much better was the picture in the wallet. It was a picture of him and Maemi taken a few weeks ago. They were at her house. She had found an old picture of the two of them as children. They each had an arm wrapped around the other's neck with each of their other arms flexing their tiny bicep muscle. In commemoration of finding the old picture, Maemi held it while her mother took another picture of her and Jin posing the same way, this time however, they were much older. Funny how time may have changed how they looked, but the smiles on both their faces never changed over the years. No, Jin would never forget Maemi no matter what happened to him Tokyo.