Chapter 4: Playing In Water
Disclaimer: Tekken and its characters do NOT belong to me, they belong to Namco
He watched her sleep, could hear her slow breathing, light and filled with life. She had no machine hooked up to her to keep her breathing, no wires sticking into her skin or monitors checking her heart rate.
He couldn't sleep, that night he laid his head on a pillow but still he just couldn't sleep, but then again did he need sleep? Did he really want it? Well the answer was no, he didn't, he just wanted to watch her sleep, sleep forever maybe. His hands gripped a pillow, hovering just above her mouth. Her face still looked sickly and pale, not like she used to be.
She turned from her back onto her side, her eyes were still closed but her hand reached up to touch his face, or maybe a face he couldn't see. Then she murmured the name, the name of his beloved mother.
"Jun…" She spoke the name as if it was familiar to her, as if she was seeing that exact person in her dream.
Then the worst thing happened, she opened her eyes to see a pillow above her and Jin holding it. She didn't scream, or even gasp but simply stared at him. Her eyes were glassy with tears.
"She said…that I was going to die," tears glistened as they fell down her cheeks. The first time she had cried since the day she had came out of the hospital, tried to stand out of the wheel chair but simply fell, her legs were still asleep.
In a daze he looked at the pillow as if to ask her, 'now?'
She shook her head, "she said I was going to die when I find out the truth…I don't understand what she meant. What truth?" She hoped Jin held the answers.
He let the pillow drop onto the floor and slumped into his chair, the chair he had sat in every night since she had came, for every night she had the same nightmare, the same message, but each time it seemed to instil more fear into her spirit.
"You said Jun…did you mean Jun Kazama?" He asked; his hands shook violently as he looked straight into her eyes.
"I don't know. I can't remember, she just said she was Jun." Xiaoyu sat up slowly, sometimes her chest still hurt when she breathed, she was still weak there. The doctors doubted she would ever recover fully. "She had this beautiful but simple dress on, and a pair of sandals were in her hand, her hair was wet, as if she had just been swimming, as was the dress and her shoes.
"Don't think about it any more, just go back to sleep," he murmured.
"But if I sleep I might not wake up," she answered back timidly.
"You will…"
"Promise?" Her eyes looked at him as if he was a mysterious being who could sweep away all fear just through one simple word.
"Promise," he watched as her right hand gently glided into his hand, as her eyes gently closed.
His eyes began to close after she had fallen into a deep sleep, he tried to stay awake, he knew he had to keep an eye on Xiaoyu but he couldn't help it, for once he felt so sleepy.
He woke up sitting forward in his chair, tense, he could sense something wasn't right; Xiaoyu wasn't in the bed. His hand brushed through his hair; "where has she gone now?" He murmured in annoyance.
She sat with her feet immersed in the waters of the river that ran by the house. She didn't know what called her there, memories, instinct, but it was something she felt was safe.
She smiled down at her reflection, brushing back her dark tresses from her face to reveal a small scar, oddly shaped like a heart. She touched it but snatched her hands away just as the tips other fingers felt hot, almost sickly. When the fringe back over the scar she left it alone, not daring it push it away again, to peer at the scar through her reflection.
Her hair fell past her shoulders, almost halfway down her back. She wasn't sure if she liked it yet, but it didn't feel to weird when she moved, just natural.
As she looked further down at the giant stream, all she could see was darkness, and not a frightening type, but more of a sleepy type. Her pale pink sandals slipped into the water when her hand brushes them as it splashed into the water. She didn't bother trying to save the slippers, instead stayed sitting for a few minutes. A smile suddenly lit her face, she carefully slid into the water, and it wasn't very deep, just up to below her knees. She splashed around for a bit, the water was surprisingly warm like some sort of machine had warmed it.
She caught sight of a glimmer of pink in the water and her hands dived down, grasping her shoes. She pulled them up along with a lot of water and laughed childishly when the water splashed her in the face. She giggled and laughed and kept up the splashing and almost weird dancing in the water. It was weird to feel so alive, so mobile.
Jin watched her from a distance, shaking his head at her antics, "like the Xiao I used to know." He whispered. Her sandals paired up in one hand with her others hands swaying around in a sort of water dance, she twirled and whirled, splashing with feet like a child at a seaside. A picture of his mother flashed though his mind, in her pure white dress with her sandals, carrying them like Xiaoyu, only she walked about in a fairly large stream, the water had only gone up top her ankles.
He didn't understand why he confused his own mother with Xiaoyu; they were two completely different people, weren't they?
He was about to go back into the huge house but it was too late, she had already noticed him. She smiled and waved, laughing. He sighed and shook his head when she beckoned him to enter the splashing frenzy. He shook his head and continued walking up the steps.
Xiaoyu frowned and scrambled out of the large stream, she dropped her sandals on the ground and ran towards her. The air swished past her gently cooling her, she breathed it in, filled her lungs with it and let out a laugh. Jin turned around, smiling at her laugh, he didn't expect her to tug him away from the steps, but followed her silently. She didn't speak but brought him to the stream and jumped in hr splash left its mark. She held out her hands as if in a dancing position, something that seemed instinct.
He shook his head again and simply sat by the stream's edge, not minding that his trousers were soaked with water, even though it was worth five hundred dollars.
She shook her head in such a grownup way he couldn't help but let out a chuckle, her eyes met hers and she smiled sweetly. A flash of blinding light was driven into her vision at that moment, into her brain and memory. A cobweb was cleared as she sank to her knees with her hands over her eyes, eyes that burned fiercely. She didn't make a sound, Jin drowned her efforts out as he rushed towards her, grabbing her and gently pulling her onto the banks of the stream.
She saw someone in her shadow; she turned and called out angrily. "Show yourself!" She hissed angrily, she just wasn't in the mood to be messed with, especially because with every blink her eyes tinged in pain.
A laugh rang out into her ears to spite her, and slowly a man appeared out of the shadows, wearing an oddly bold purple suit, with his hair styled similar to Jin's. He wore a sleeveless tank top that revealed scars down his arms. She shrank back from him as he approached her.
Her hands felt for what was behind her, they hit a wall.
He stood in a fighting stance, one that she recognised from someone who had trained in the similar style. Almost as if the body wasn't hers she too got into her stance and the fight began.
He laughed at her with a flying kick but she dived away, landing a weird form that left her low. Her hands were aimed behind, as if she had wings that were tensed behind her. She looked up, her eyes didn't burn any more.
A gasp arose and she looked up, she was on the grass that was already wet under her.
Jin looked grim; his emotionless form helped her up and watched as she stubbornly refused his help, her mood had soured. She trembled with cold but continued her firm pace up to the grand mansion.