Here's chapter 3. And thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on chapter 2!
Jin laid uncomfortably on the couch, he had the T.V on but he wasn't paying attention to it. He stayed up for countless hours thinking only of her and the events that occurred that evening. He'd never seen anyone in such a drastic physical condition, but what bothered him more so, was to see her cry like that. She wasn't just emotional, she was far beyond devastation….she was broken…and he felt responsible.
" What can I do?" He thought out loud.
He knew that time was of the essence; her very mental health could depend on what he does. He felt so unsure of so many things but one thing he knew for sure; He wanted to make her smile again. A short moment after, the alarm he set on his phone went off. He looked at it and saw it was 9 am. He stayed awake well over 12 hours.
" I guess there was no point in setting an alarm." He dismissed the alarm off his phone and rose up from under the plush sheets. He stretched his arms over his head to loosen up the stiffness caused after being in such a confined space. He walked up the stairs and down the hallway to Xiaoyu's room, he could always find it since the door was decorated with pink flowers. One thing about her that would probably never change; she was extremely girly.
He opened the door slowly and peaked in and she was still asleep, not that he was surprised. The light from the window shined on her pale skin so delicately, it only seemed to illuminate her appearance all the more. Despite knowing that her "paler than usual" skin was caused due to blood loss, even with all the bandages wrapped on her body, there was always a certain essence about her that would never fade. One that he could say he's come to admire.
He closed the door back slowly and walked downstairs. He went straight into the kitchen and looked around as he contemplated what to make for breakfast. He looked around in the cabinets and found a box of pancake mix. He rummaged around the fridge and found some bacon and sausage.
" Hmm, I wonder if she'll be ok with this for breakfast?" he said to himself. He knew that she wouldn't have her full strength yet and would need a hearty breakfast. He started by putting the sausage and bacon in a pan and turning on the stove top. He then grabbed a bowl and stared at the pancake box for instruction. He was instantly struck by confusion.
' ½ cup of water?…1/3 of milk?….what the hell? How am I supposed to know how much to pour?' he thought. He decides it'll be better to just go off intuition, so he poured the milk and water in a bowl and poured the pancake mix over top. He proceeded to stir it together, but then realized that he couldn't find a large spoon to stir the mixture with. He saw a blender on top of the counter and figured it could work all the same.
He poured it into the container of the blender, when he heard the crackle of the bacon and sausage on the stove. He pressed the button on the blender to get it to mix while he rushed over to check on the bacon and sausage. By doing so, he failed to realize that he didn't put the cover on top of the blender and before reaching the pan, pancake batter spewed all over the kitchen. He turned to the blender to shut it off, but then caught on to the distinct scent of burning meat. He was caught in the middle of two dilemmas; whether to stop the burning food or to stop the blender from splattering pureed food all over.
Xiaoyu, who was woken up by all the commotion, walked into the kitchen doorway.
"Jin what's going on down-ah!" Her sentence was interrupted as a brown puree splashed onto her face.
His jaw almost dropped in surprise as he cut off the blender and saw her covered in the slushy ooze. As she wiped it off in disgust she looked at the stove top being surrounded by a dark smoke.
" Jin turn off the stove, quick!" She exclaimed while pointing towards the burning hot skillet.
He ran to the stove as oil from the sausage and bacon began to flicker above the pan, both the sausage and bacon burnt to a black crisp. Before he could remove the pan from the stove, it become so hot, the sausage and bacon began to leap out of the skillet and launched through the air. Xiaoyu screamed and ducked behind the wall as it was flung all over the kitchen. He quickly turned off the stove and ran the pan into the sink where he doused it with water. Xiaoyu looked off to the side and saw that three sausages hit exactly where she was previously standing, she couldn't help but freak out a little on the inside.
' I can't believe I was almost pummeled by burnt sausage!' she thought. She emerged from behind the wall with a manic look on her face as she witnessed her kitchen in utter ruins.
"Uhhh…What just happened?" She asked blankly.
Jin looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting."
"Well it's a little hard to do that when you hear explosions coming from downstairs."
"I'm sorry I disturbed you, I'll clean this up. You just go back to bed."
"….Can you tell me why it looks like Kuma and Roger Jr. had a fight in here first?" she asked.
" I was just trying to make breakfast for you but that was stupid. Ever since I became owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu I haven't had the need to cook for myself. Someone has always done it for me, I guess a few years without having to cook will make you lose experience on how to do it."
Xiaoyu sat there with surprised expression, she heard everything he said, but nothing else processed after he said: " I was trying to make breakfast for you…". "Breakfast…for you."
"Jin, you did all this for me?"
" All what? You mean leave your kitchen in ruins?"
" No, no I mean…you wanted to make this for me?"
He looked somewhat surprised by her question but then looked away.
" I did, but it failed miserably." He stated.
All she could do was smile brightly as she walked into the kitchen and stood next to him.
" It's ok. Well I have enough strength to stand today so how about I show you a couple things?" She stated.
" No Xiao, you need to rest."
"Hmmm, well how about this then?"
She proceeded to the fridge and grabbed some additional bacon and sausage along with a few eggs. She grabbed a new pan from inside the bottom cabinet and placed it on the stove with all the items conveniently placed around her. She smiled and held her hand out towards him; he took heed to the hint and grabbed her hand. She pulled him forward as she turned her back towards him and stood in front of him. She then put both of his hands on her waist. He looked slightly baffled as he tried to withdraw his hands but she kept hers on top of his to keep him from moving.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Since you think I'm still too weak to be out of bed, how about you just hold me up like this while I cook?" she said as she pressed harder on his hands to get him to hold her tighter.
He couldn't help but looked at her awkwardly for her suggestion.
" Xiao I can't…I mean I shouldn't be.."
"It's ok Jin, it's not like it's a hug or anything you're just helping me keep steady. Geeze, even after your little comment yesterday, look at who's the nervous one now?"
He glared, knowing that she was referring to her supposed suggestion for them to sleep in the same bed yesterday. He grinned and proceeded to pull her closer to his chest and lay his head in between the crevice of her neck.
" And just who said I was nervous?" He then proceeded to lick her neck in one, long swift movement.
Her face froze and her embarrassment instantly resurfaced.
"You jerk! Why would you do that?!" She shrieked as she flails around trying to escape his grasp.
" Nope. Just cause of your comment I'm not going to let you go now."
"Ah! No please I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
"You better hurry and start cooking before we both starve to death." Once saying that he nibbled her ear as his form of persuasion. She let out a shriveled shriek and proceeded to get started to stop him. He couldn't help but embarrass her a little now. The first time he did it, it was just to cheer her up, but now he was having some fun with seeing how embarrassed he could make her get.
Before long, he really wasn't paying attention to how he was holding her, he was intently watching as she showed him how to prepare their breakfast.
" See? You have to have the heat on medium instead of high so they can cook evenly. And it's probably easier to cook them separately such as sausage first and then bacon second so there isn't so much oil."
She started to move away from the stove and over to the counter, Jin made sure to hold her waist even tighter to make sure she didn't fall. There on the counter, the blender remained in a disarray, being covered in pancake batter. She looked at Jin a little disturbed.
"Uhh….what made you want to stir the mix in the blender?"
"I couldn't find any large spoons to stir it, this seemed like the next best thing."
" I can see you definitely haven't cooked in awhile. So then wait, how did you make the soup for me yesterday?"
" It was in a can. All I did was warm it up."
She looked annoyed.
"and the bread?"
" Pre-made."
Her eyebrow started to twitch.
" I should've known." she stated blatenly.
She rinsed out the bowl and proceeded to pour some more mix into the bowl, she grabbed a measuring cup of the table and pour in some milk.
" See? You use this to measure the amount of milk and water you need."
He stood there with an annoyed look on his face.
' I must be an idiot. That measuring cup was out in the open and I didn't have the common sense to use it.' He thought.
She poured everything in and then she grabbed an egg and some cinnamon. She sprinkled some cinnamon inside and proceeded to break the egg.
"Hey wait, it didn't say on the box to add those things." Jin Exclaimed.
"Yes I know, the egg is to help the mixture stay together so it won't fall apart while cooking and the cinnamon is just for more flavor. You want to help me stir it?" she asked.
He looked at her puzzled; she just looked back at him and smiled. She grabbed an automatic whisk from inside one of the kitchen drawers and plugged it in. She then handed it to him and told him to make sure it's all the way into the bowl so there isn't another "blender" incident. He used one hand to hold the whisk while using the other to hold the bowl, still keeping his arms around her from behind.
She showed him where the button was to turn it on and he pressed it. She held her hand over his and helped to guide his hand around the bowl to help him to stir. She looked up at him and saw he was fully focused on what he was doing, she found it to be adorable how hard he was working to do this simple thing for her. Once it was fully mixed, Xiaoyu warmed up another pan with oil and proceeded to pour in some of the batter.
" So what do you do with the pancake now?" He asked
"Well, once it browns around the edges, you flip it over to cook on the other side."
She waited a few moments before grabbing a spatula and placed the spatula underneath the frying dough. She then proceeded to lift it up and turn it on its side. Jin looked at her so innocently curious. She looked back and smiled. Once the first one was finished, they poured a second one in. While it cooked, they swapped out the sausage and began cooking the bacon. After awhile the edges started to brown, she then grabbed the spatula again and gave it to him.
"You wanna try this time?" She asked.
" You can't be serious, I destroyed your kitchen." He spoke nonchalantely
" Well we can't go back in time to fix that, now can we? But you're learning, might as well try it out." She pressed the spatula into his hands and he reluctantly looked at the pancake with some obvious hesitation.
"Better hurry or it'll burn." She said trying to motivate him. She was surprised he was so hesitant, he can fight in tournaments all the time, as if it were a natural thing to do. But when it came to something common such as cooking, he was completely lost.
He held onto the spatula tightly and proceeded to place it under the pancake, he lifted it up but was afraid to flip it. She motioned her hands in a slight turning motion to hint to him how he should do it. He then turned his wrist and flipped it, and the side of the pancake landed on the edge of the pan. He looked at it annoyed and push it off the edge and fully into the pan. Xiaoyu just giggled seeing how annoyed he was.
"It's a little harder than it looks, but you did well, most people miss it completely." She said trying to laugh it off, she could tell he was still pretty annoyed. She turned around and patted his head as if he were a child, he looked away.
" Aww it'll be ok. Does someone need a hug?"
He looked at her in disbelief.
" Don't you dare." He looked at her menacingly. She knew that he wasn't one for loving physical contact.
She grinned and held her arms out proceeding to hug him, he back away before she could wrap her arms around him.
" Come on Jin, accept my love!" She laughed as she ran after him. He blushed and ran the opposite way.
" No dammit, stay away from me! I hate hugs!" He shouted.
"Come on, it won't hurt." At that moment, as if it were a cruel sense of irony, she slipped on the pancake batter still on the floor and fell flat on her back while hitting her head.
She rubbed her head in pain and he instantly stopped and ran to her side. He craddled her head in the crevise of his arm while holding her up by her shoulders. He slightly lifted her up, holding her in his arms.
" Xiao, I'm so sorry. Nothing about that was a good idea, I knew you were still weak from yesterday." He said simpathically.
" It's alright Jin, I just slipped on the batter. I'm fine."
He only looked down sadly, knowing that it was still his fault that she fell, since he caused the mess in the first place and didn't clean it. She could see how sad he was knowing that he unintentionally caused her more pain. She slowly lifted up her arms and held them out. He looked at her seeing that she was asking once again for a hug. But this time it was different. She wasn't trying to torture him with kindness, but to console him as a person who cared for him.
He couldn't remember the last time he allowed someone to hug him. The only one who ever did was his loving mother, Jun. She didn't want him to grow up cold hearted and corrupted like other members of their family. Although she too was corrupted, by the powers of Unknown, she was always able to find the greater things in life. She motivated him to try to look for the best in others, but he knew by the way he turned out, she must be turning over in her grave. Her death, along with the damnation of his family and the devil gene running through his veins, it caused him to do the exact opposite of her teachings. He was corrupted too. But more so in a corporate domination aspect, not like that was much better than being mentally unstable like his father, grandfather, and great grandfather.
He knew he had alot to change about himself, a lot of values that he needed to appreciate in order to find to simple things in life that he could enjoy. Although he wasn't a person to ever really display affection in a way such as that, he would be willing to try it if it meant it could give him just a slight amount of happiness.
He slowly leaned his head down until it laid comfortably in the crevise of her neck. His arms were already around her holding her up from the fall and he only held her tighter. It truly felt like for the first time, Jin had hugged her. She softly wrapped her arms around his neck and brought him in closer to embrace him tighter. She was in complete happiness, in all the years she's know him, with all the interactions they ever faced whether at school or in tournaments, all the hell they faced, this is the first time he ever embraced her.
Her arms were hurting from the strain of holding him so tightly, she could tell that they were starting to bleed slightly but it didn't matter to her. She would allow it to happen a thousand times over if it meant she could hold him like this just a little longer. Jin placed his arm under her legs to lift her off the ground, still nestled comfortably against her neck, the softness of her skin overwelming him. He craddled her over to one of the kitchen chairs to sit her in and slowly released his grip. He stood straight and noticed that she was covered in pancake batter, he laughed internally because he knew he was too but the slight tint of pink on her arms alarmed him, he knew that she had disregarded her newly opened wounds.
"You're such an idiot." He stated casually.
She only smiled, knowing that he was referring to her now bleeding arms.
He ran upstairs and grabbed some more antiseptic and bandage wraps and proceeded to remove the soiled ones from her arms. She sprayed the antiseptic on her arms which still burned, he proceeded to blow on them to ease the stinging sensation, just like he did the first time. He wrapped the new bandages on her arms and since the bandages on her legs were covered in pancake batter, he replaced them as well. He then proceeded to reach into his pocket and pulled out a small white bottle and gave it to her.
" What's this?" She asked.
"Aspirin. You hit your head pretty hard...just to be safe."
She was surprised, she hardly knew Jin to take very many precautions especially with her. He knew that she could hold her own, but in this instance, he was making sure she was very well taken care of. She was flattered.
"Thank you Jin." She smiled while looking at him, her eyes glistening with a happiness he has yet to see from her. He couldn't tell why she was so happy but if it had anything to do with him, he was glad just to witness it.
He grabbed some water for her so she could take the pills. He then proceeded to go back over to the stove.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
" You just stay there and rest, I'm going to finish cooking."
" What?! But I can't have you do it by yourself, I can help! I'm much better now, really!" She tried to convince.
" It's alright. I was going to do it on my own anyway but now since you've shown me what to do I can take care of it. Just rest. Please."
She once again was surprised by his actions, he has never pleaded for her to do anything, let alone just for her to recover. It was a strange side of him she never knew of, but she would hope once she recovers that this side of him would remain, even for just a little while. She simply nodded her head and allowed him to continue.
He discarded the now burnt pancake in the pan and continued with a new one. She watched closely and saw that he was still struggling but he kept an eye on the bacon while also being able to flip the pancakes without much of a struggle. She was impressed. He learned everything she showed him rather quickly but what impressed her even more was that he was making it for her. A few moments later he finished cooking their meal, it wasn't much but they were content with it. Jin walked her back to the table and laid out a stack of pancakes and a smaller plate with bacon and sausage. He placed a fork and knife on the side with syrup, a glass of orange juice and a napkin.
She looked at the spread before her. The bacon and sausage were nice and evenly cooked, the pancakes looked a little lumpy but looked fully cooked and not burnt. She smiled, feeling like she was being catered to.
"Thank you Jin, I really appreciate this."
He simply nodded his head and went to prepare his food. Once he sat at the table with her, the kitchen still covered in pancake batter, she took her first bite of the pancakes. Jin stared at her, not noticing that he was staring. In his subconscious, he wanted to know what she thought about his food. He practically counted each time she chewed as he waited for a verdict. Once she swalled she looked at him.
" This food..." She started. He practically squeezed the life out of his glass at this point.
" This food is wonderful!" she exclaimed.
He looked completely baffled. When he tried this on his own, he burned everything. But now with just a few moments of teaching from her, he was able to cook and it actually tasted good.
" I should thank you Xiaoyu. Without you, I wouldn't have learned how to do this. Thank you." He felt that this is the most he expressed his gratitude to her. And for something so small as cooking no less.
She blushed and simply smiled at him.
" It's the least I can do for all the help you've given me." she stated.
He gave her a small smile, he was actually happy that he proved he could be helpful towards her, just like she always was for him.
They ate their breakfast contently, having idol conversations here and there. Once finished, Jin rose from his chair and grabbed their plates and ran some water in the sink for them to soak.
" Do you need any help cleaning the kitchen?" She asked, looking around to see how messy it truly was.
" No, you should go get cleaned up, I'll take care of this."
She nodded and walked carefully out the kitchen so she wouldn't slip and walked back upstairs to take a shower. Jin grabbed a bucket and filled it with a tile cleaner and warm water. He began to mop up the mess, he then proceeded to grab a washcloth and soak it in soap and water and continued to clean by wash off the tables, countertops and walls, some of which he had to climb onto a chair to reach the higher spills. Once all of that was done, all was left were the dishes which he promptly cleaned and then rinsed out the sink. He looked around the kitchen checking to see if there was anything else that needed to be done.
Then there was a loud thud.
There was a horrifying shriek.
Jin promptly looked toward the stairs, knowing that something had happened to Xiaoyu. 'What could've happened? She was just fine a moment ago. I shouldn't have left her up there alone, I should've kept watch of her'! All these thoughts rapidly running through his head as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him up stairs. Once at the top he ran to the bathroom and barged through the door.
His eyes opened wide, yet another horrific sight in front of him. As if all his efforts were in vain. His emotions swirled, merging into forms of panic and fear. Fear that she would never be the same again. He felt useless. What could he possibly do now? In his state of manic desperation all he could do was scream out.
" Xiaoyu!"
He fears things will ever be the same again.
Thanks for reading. Reviews welcome!
