Soul Regained

The final battle of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 was happening at a place referred to as Ground Zero. Asuka Kazama was one of the participants in the tournament, but she was no finalist. Even so, her intuition told her that she should go.

When she had initially started her walk toward Ground Zero, the sky had been gray. There had been no wind. However, the sky darkened to a sinister green with a brewing storm. Heavy winds blew with swirling tornadoes forming in the distance.

Eventually, Asuka saw two men with noticeably demonic traits. One was a very large, muscular, older man with a furious purple aura and spikes coming out of his back. The other was a younger man with large black-feathered wings, horns, and mutated clawed gauntlets.

"Hold on a sec! What are you guys doing?" she asked rather casually considering the sight they were. The winged one slightly looked her way but quickly averted his gaze. Asuka zoned in on him. "Hey hey! Don't ignore me. Hey buddy, listen to what I have to say, would ya?" she urged.

He laughed and turned around as he said, "Shut up you insignificant girl! Do you think you can stop me?" He held his claws at his sides as if ready to strike and lifted his head menacingly.

To Asuka's surprise, she actually recognized him if she were to picture him without all of the demonic traits on his body. Her eyes narrowed. "Jin?" she asked.

Devil Jin looked her over a little more closely. "Who are you?" He did not recognize her, and he didn't like that a human had seen him like this, especially a human that knew who he was.

"Jin, it's me, Asuka. Don't you remember me?"

He gritted his teeth. The pain was starting to return. No…no more pain. The pain had finally stopped. He didn't want to feel it any more. "Go away!" he concisely demanded.

"No, listen to me!" she insisted. "I don't know what's going on with you, but something's obviously wrong. What's with those wings and…all of that?" She gestured her hand as if in a small circle toward him, referring to his devil traits.

"I told you to go away," he said viciously. "Now go…or I'll kill you," he threatened.

"You're not really Jin, are you? Who…or what…are you?" she narrowed her eyes.

"So eager to die?" he held forth his hand as if he would claw into her face, completely ignoring her question.

"No, that's not it! Jin, listen to me! This isn't you!" she argued with stubborn persistence.

"Shutup!" he said and attacked her.

Asuka defended herself and as soon as she found an opening, she grabbed Devil Jin by the face with her hands and slammed his body into the ground.

He rolled to the side and clutched his face. She couldn't be that physically strong to do that to him, not if she were normal.….except…it was that pain again…Kazama. She was a Kazama? No…no more pain! Not again…

Asuka eyed him closely. Something about that last hit had shaken him, but she knew it was different than if they had been fighting regularly. Something about her fingers touching his face disturbed him. And she'd heard the name Kazama emit from his thoughts. She wanted it to try touching him again, but not yet. "We're both from the Kazama family, Jin," she explained.

He looked up at her intently and silently for a moment. "I hate the Kazamas."

"But you're a Kazama!"

"And I hate it!" he hissed. His head was hurting. The pain was throbbing lowly within him. She was disrupting the bond between his two selves. Their conflict against each other was returning and tearing at him.

Realizing he was distracted, Asuka ran up to him and put her hands on his face again.

He screamed and pushed himself away. Devil's animalistic tendency seeped out for a moment as he wildly hissed. Then, Jin took hold, and he paused. "Asuka," he finally addressed her by name.

"So you do remember me," she said.

"No," he admitted. "But that doesn't matter right now. Listen carefully-we haven't much time. I have to fight that guy."

Jinpachi Mishima had folded his arms and been silently watching them the whole time. He had assumed Devil Jin would dispatch their little interrupter immediately, and when he hadn't, he had chosen to simply wait.

"And I have to do it like this," he said.

"No, you don't! That's too dangerous. You're insane," she argued.

"He must be stopped at all costs."

"Oh, and you? Have you looked in the mirror?"

"You are correct. I must be stopped as well. Whatever happens, after I take him down, do not let me anywhere near his body."

Asuka wanted to ask him what he was talking about, how it was that he'd allow himself to be near Jinpachi to fight but not afterwards...but he had swiftly moved in to attack Jinpachi. She knew that she'd only be asking for death if she tried throwing herself into their battle now. So, she watched, and she waited. It was a surreal spectacle. Jinpachi could shoot fire from a hideous fanged mouth on his abdomen, and Devil Jin could fly about, shooting a laser from his third eye.

When their battle ended, the sky had calmed and returned to gray. The winds had stopped. She immediately ran toward Devil Jin who was walking towards Jinpachi's body. He swiped at her and shoved her back. "Foolish girl. Don't interfere."

She realized what had happened. The effect of her touch had worn off. The one who told her to stop him was some tiny part of Jin she'd been able to call out…briefly…and now he'd returned to the one that had hissed at her. "No, you told me to, and even if you didn't…we're Kazamas. No matter what you may say about hating it…I'm getting you back!"

He turned to face her entirely. Again, his claws were at his side, and again his head lifted itself for a moment to gaze at her with contempt. He had to get her out of the way quickly, and he had to do it without her touching him.

Asuka eyed him. She didn't have to beat him like in a regular fight. She just had to touch his skin somehow.

Devil Jin hunched over for a moment, gathered his energy, and shot a laser beam from the red third eye on his forehead. She immediately ducked its path, and saw an opening as he shook his head from the blast he'd just shot. She ran up as if to tackle him and wrapped her arms around his lower back, her head against his chest, hugging him. She held onto him tightly with her eyes closed. She felt him twisting his own body, his wings flapping wildly, trying to shake her off, screaming in agony. The screams made her blood curdle, but she would not let go. No matter what. Jin needed her.

Neither of them saw the purple aura that was lifting itself from his body, the color that was returning to his skin.

Eventually, his resistance subsided, and the screams died away. But still she held onto him tightly without looking at him. She felt his own now human fingers gently touch her. "It's alright," he said softly. The malice in his voice was gone. She opened her eyes and loosened her grip but kept her fingers lightly touching the sides of his torso, still weary. She lifted her head to look at him. The wings, the horns, the third red eye, the markings all over his face and chest were gone. His eyes that had been a pale wicked gold that pierced their gaze into her were now simply brown. "Thank you, Asuka Kazama," he said.

Now he took the moment to be the one to embrace her. He held onto her tightly as if he never wished to let go. His right hand held the back of her head, and his left arm wrapped around the small of her back. She hugged him back, her arms once again embracing his lower torso, and they stayed in the embrace for awhile, no words passing between them. Words were not needed in this precious moment. Asuka felt tears stream down her face. She knew…he meant his words of thanks from the depths of his soul, the one he'd regained, that he'd finally returned to truly being her cousin, Jin Kazama.