The Soul Within
Chapter 1 - Where Is Your Heart Now?
Written by: Amber M

Author's Note: Cha! This is my very first Tekken fic. Enjoy!


Julia stared at the blank computer screen, in it seeing the dark images of that night, two years gone now. She only wished she could say it was something straight from a horror movie... but it had been real. The cold of that night arose as she remembered seeing someone she cared about penetrated by so many screaming bullets; it made her breath hard to swallow, her skin crawl as if maggots squirmed among her very veins.


Flash back

It had been after suffering a defeat to Nina Williams, the deadly, professional assassin, when the sense of being watched grew stronger. There was an onlooker that had been watching the battle from afar. A gut feeling told Julia exactly who it was.

Rising to her feet from the stone ground washed in blood, Julia looked to the forestry, staring into the darkness. She found the strength to walk and cautiously made her way through the natural obstacles, pushing her way through shrubbery and weaving around jutting branches here and there. Sure enough Jin Kazama was amidst the shadows, tucked away behind an aged cedar tree, whose bristly boughs blocked the streaks of light beaming down from the pale moon. He lowered his head, but otherwise stood motionless. Julia sensed a quiet intensity that made her knees weak and her stomach turn uneasily.

The paused ended as she carefully stepped over the large twigs at her feet, nearing the young man she'd only met once before. A twig snapped and Julia could hear herself draw in a sharp gasp.

Jin hadn't flinched. But he turned his head slightly toward the young woman, catching but a piece of her image in the corner of his eye. He said, "Julia?" His voice was deep, laced with sadness beneath the wrapping of curiosity.

Julia had to mentally kick herself to speak. "Uh... Jin..." she replied lamely, feeling that her early lunch might inevitably make its way back up her throat at any minute. And it wasn't just from being unmercifully pounded in her stomach twice over (from two, coincidentally, back-to-back battles) but also this awkwardness of not being able to even imagine, in the least bit, what this guy was thinking. It was all quite odd. To think she would meet him again here...

The last time they'd met was for an unofficial match, two days ago, within an ironically peaceful village. It had been declared a draw by the judgment of Jin and Julia, but what happened was that they were "interrupted". Their attention had been diverted to the common denizens, fearful of an ominous monstrosity fitting the description of Ogre lurking in their forest. And so the two ran to check into the story, and found nothing... nothing but a handful of massacred people. There wasn't really anything either of them could have done at the time but return to the tournament. They went without facing each other again, until now.

That battle had lasted a considerable amount of time, due to clumsiness or maybe a strange desire to prolong the presence of one another, Julia wasn't sure. She came to know that he had an incredible power cooped up inside of him -- so, it must've been something of the latter.

The silence was growing immensely awkward.

Julia dropped her eyes to her feet, her boots caught in the meshes of the coarse grass. "I guess," she nervously muttered, "We won't be fighting again -- any time soon..."

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Julia looked up with a confused stare.

Jin turned around to face her. "That you lost."

"Oh," Julia looked back to the ground, feeling a bit relieved by his "normal" tone of voice. "Well, I'm not going to leave empty-handed though," she hesitated, lifting her gaze to the silhouettes in the distance to her side, "I'll find my mother."

Jin took a moment, laying his eyes upon the beautiful girl. The moonlight graced her toned and lovely body, and lay heavenly strokes to her angelic face, which Jin could only dream about since their first encounter. He shook his head, realizing that he was beginning to stare. "You said we won't be fighting 'any time soon'?" Julia nodded, looking back up into his dark eyes. "Does that mean you intend to put me down?"

"Put you down?"

"You know, fight me until I fall to my knees, begging for mercy. I am a Mishima after all."

"R-right," Julia stuttered, shuffling her boots around nervously.

Jin said with a little smirk on his face, "What did you think?"

"Uhg, don't get the wrong idea," Julia mumbled and got back to his first question. "I don't have to bear a grudge for you. You are a Mishima, but thus far, you've done nothing to personally harm me so I've no reason to hate you." She quickly added, "But... it doesn't mean I like you, either!"

Jin smiled, laughing quietly.

"What were you doing out here anyway?" Julia said in a slight whisper.

"Julia..."

"Huh?" she said, startled by the sudden softness in his voice.

He slowly neared her, stepping over a rooted tree limb. He stood but a foot from her, gazing deeply into her honey-brown eyes, how warm and compassionate they were.

Julia faltered for words, her lower lip quivering a bit as she tried to grasp the frantic thoughts racing through her mind. He began to lean into her, his lips coming closer to hers. Then he stopped, an inch from her face. For a long moment they simply stood there in the night, staring into each other's eyes, hopelessly confused.

Jin wanted to kiss her, but this nagging feeling that something was wrong kept poking at him; it was so irritating that Jin half-expected to turn and find some freakish clown behind him with a pointy stick in hand. It wasn't anything about her... It was this particular night that was in question. It was instinct damning the mood.

Julia had had this feeling as well, though it was not as powerful as Jin's was, and so she was left with a longing that she hadn't known about until he almost kissed her.

Confusion was soon followed by an extreme awkwardness. Julia was the first to feel this and began to glance about herself, looking to make an exit.

Jin put a hand to the back of his neck, finding that his skin was clammy. He saw that Julia was about to walk out of his life, possibly forever. He went after her.

Just at the border of the forest once again, he caught her arm, grabbing onto her wrist gently. "Julia," he said, not sure of what he could possibly say now. Julia looked at him, her brows creasing into a frown. "I..." quickly, he searched and searched his mind, finding no perfect words to say that could make her understand. All he could come up with was, "I hope you find your mother," he said with a little sigh. Half-heartedly, he let her arm fall back to her side.

Julia bit her lip, turning away with a weak nod of the head. She walked off.

And then ran.

Later that night, Julia found herself slinking amidst the site of the final match of the tournament, veiled by the shadows of the night. The moon stood in a dull twilight devoid of a single star high above the building atop a cliff overlooking an extensive forest, though the cliff itself was parched beyond repair. She had followed Jin, although she wasn't completely sure why. Perhaps because it was impossible to ignore the sadness in his eyes, and the feel that he had remorsefully forced himself to let her go. She found a good hiding spot among the debris, with a pretty good view into the building.

After the grueling Ogre and True Ogre fights, it seemed that Jin had won but then...

There was Heihachi.

Oh, how Julia hated the wretched man. She hadn't really gotten an opinion of him from Jin, but judging from the way Jin so trustingly looked to the old guy now, she could see that they were, at least, somewhat close.

Julia began to hear the pitter-patter of multiple people, rushing they were.

Before she knew it, there was that dreadful sound of bullets, the sound of Jin's pained cries. She peeked around the corner, taking her shaking hands from her ears and then seeing Heihachi standing behind a group of suited up soldiers. They were surrounding Jin's limp and bloodied body.

Julia fell back, crawling backwards as tears welled in her eyes. Jin was... dead?

But then...

End Flash Back


Julia pulled her fists to her chest, looking down at the keyboard with a tear in her eye. He had black wings... and demonic red eyes... That young man she had seen in the forest... did he die? And then this demonic creature replaced him afterward? After he had flown away, Julia submerged again into the shadows, making sure not to be seen by Heihachi, although she direly wished that she could destroy him while he was weakened -- but she felt it wasn't the time. Instead, she searched the area, eventually finding Michelle, her dear mother.

It seemed like centuries had passed since that night. Often had she closed her eyes to find Jin there, gazing into her eyes so affectionately.

Julia faintly heard one of her colleagues coming down the hallway and into her room.

"Mail, Julia," the young man said.

Julia half-turned in her chair, snapping out of that trance. "Thanks Michael," she said, taking the few envelopes into her hands.

Michael smiled, turned and left, still with other deliveries to hand out, and then Julia scanned over the print upon the envelopes.

She picked up her mug of warm tea, taking a sip when she found that the third letter was in a foreign language...


End Note: That's it for now... I might lengthen or add/change a few things in this chapter sometime. You got some thoughts, comments? Please share. TY :)