Secrets

Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters

Thanks to EpikStyle, hibeki, Sachi Gosetsuke, Thee Slushee, Aki Ronin, Gillian and Doodles123 for reviewing.

Gillian: Thanks. I thought that my writing had similar qualities to a medical diagnostic epilepsy machine as well : )

Doodles123: I think I cracked a rib from laughing. You didn't even get my pen name right. Some beta you are. Hang your head in shame.

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8:00am, Mansion

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Asuka lay on her stomach, holding her chin up with her palms as she rested her elbows on the gutter. She lifted her dark eyes up to the sky, admiring the shapes that the clouds would form in the bright blue sky.

Miharu and Xiaoyu had left early, after Miharu had received a deep cut from the mansion's cat, when she went to retrieve her cosmetic bag from Asuka's room. Asuka shook her head. How many times had she warned her that Momo wasn't the type of tabby to forgive and forget?

The courtyard was silent that day. For some reason, Jin wasn't training.

Asuka sat up, crossing her legs, and sitting back.

Last night's events still stuck clearly in her mind. Who, or what, was that shape in the hallway? Sure, the maids had sometimes told her of Mishima ancestors, who had been brutally murdered in the very mansion, but they were all just silly old tales, constructed to scare little kids from invading the private parts of the manor.

And anyway, she didn't believe in ghost stories.

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"Jin Kazama,' Hwoarang puffed, after the long flight of stairs, "I need to see Jin Kazama."

The stylish Japanese secretary stared him up and down, held up a finger and tapped a number into her phone. She began to swiftly prattle in Japanese, and when she hung up the phone she addressed the Korean ruffian.

"I'm sorry," she simpered in perfect English, "Mr Kazama isn't in today."

"What do you mean he isn't in?" Hwoarang snapped.

She stamped something behind the desk, and then quickly glanced at him again.

"It's Saturday."

"So what if it's Saturday? Doesn't he have a company to run?"

"Yes, and he does it from his home on the weekend."

"Where does he live?"

"I'm not permitted to divulge such information to you."

"That's bullshit!"

"Sir, please don't raise your voice at me, or I will be forced to call security."

Hwoarang gritted his teeth, and released his grip on the desk with a sigh. He had come too far to fail now. He would just have to wait till his rival checked in.

"Fine. I'll wait till Monday."

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9:00am

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"Hey Mr Tanaka," Asuka greeted the businessman politely, pulling off her earphones and seating herself in her usual lounge chair.

"Hello, Miss Kazama."

"You can call me Asuka. I don't mind."

Mr Tanaka half-nodded agreeably, and put down the book he was reading.

"Do you know where Jin is?"

"He just left to pick something up from his office."

"Oh so he'll be back in an hour."

Mr Tanaka smiled.

"I very much doubt that, Miss Ka… Asuka. He should be back in fifteen minutes."

"Yeah right. The way he drives? I'd be surprised if he got back today."

Mr Tanaka shut his book slowly.

"How do you know this?"

Asuka blinked at him.

"He took me for a ride once in it. We got pulled over cause he was going too slow."

"Did it occur to you that he was going slow because you were in the car?"

"No," Asuka said slowly, "Why would he do that?"

"I think that Mr Kazama is trying to set an example for you. Bearing in mind what money and power did to the rest of the Mishima family, I understand that he doesn't want you to turn out like them, or him, for that matter."

Asuka stared.

"That's stupid. I'm not going to turn out like them. And there's nothing wrong with him, besides his uptightness."

Mr Tanaka smiled kindly.

"You should have seen what happened to his first car."

"What happened?" she asked automatically.

She didn't remember Jin ever telling her that he had another car. Curious.

"This when a few years ago, when he was still in high school. He was coming back from a party where he'd been drinking, and he drove the car into a pole."

Asuka burst out into laughter.

"He drove it into a pole?"

Mr Tanaka nodded smiling.

"I remember that Mr Mishima had to pull a lot of strings to stop it from being put on his record… And then there were the other cars…"

"What other cars?" she immediately asked, "He had more then one?"

"Three, if I remember correctly."

Asuka laughed.

"Wow. He really does suck at driving."

Mr Tanaka smiled indulgently.

"But he's still pretty uptight about work," Asuka shrugged, "It's all he ever does."

"I believe," Mr Tanaka began in reply, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, "That Mr Kazama has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. And at times, I wonder if him running the company is a good idea. Especially considering that he can never stay awake during business meetings longer then five minutes."

Asuka grinned and shook her head.

"So he's not such a loser after all. There may be hope left."

Mr Tanaka abruptly stood up. He winced and his right hand flew to his ribs.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he wheezed, "Just a battle scar."

"Sparring?"

"No. Actually, I was attacked in the street."

Asuka's eyes widened.

"Really? By who?"

"A foreigner. He was just looking to pick a fight, and I was in the way."

Asuka shook her head wearily.

"I hate people like that."

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7:00pm

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Asuka sat still for a few moments, rereading the same line for about twenty minutes. She looked up at Jin, who was on his laptop again, reading a business proposition ("It's very important, imouto, the company's future could collapse if I don't read this.") Was Mr Tanaka serious in saying that Jin wasn't as uptight as he was made out to be? Asuka put her book down, contemplating whether she should open her mouth or not.

"…Oni-chan?"

"Yes."

"What's in the right wing?"

Jin looked up slowly. Asuka immediately realized that she should have kept her big mouth shut.

"You haven't been down there, have you?"

She gripped her book a little harder.

"No," she lied, not quite meeting his eye.

The atmosphere in the room had changed considerably; she could feel the tenseness in the air. And although she couldn't explain it, she often got the feeling that Jin could read minds. She struggled to meet his probing expression, knowing that her pale cheeks were significantly reddening.

She almost jumped when Jin unexpectedly snapped his laptop shut.

"I forbid you to go down there, Asuka," he ordered, fixing her with a defiant stare.

Asuka felt as if she had been slapped in the face. Every other reprimand he had given her had repercussions that he had patiently elucidated to her, but this time it was just a flat-out order. And she hated to be bossed around; her protagonist role in breaking up fights throughout childhood was proof of this.

Asuka ignored her inner voice and jumped up in indignation.

"Why?" she called to his retreating figure, "What's in there that makes it so secret?"

He spun around on the spot. Asuka was taken back at how quickly his expression had shifted from his familiar, brotherly look to a look of intense fury. The calm expression that once flickered in his quiet, hazel eyes was glaring at her disrespectful accusation. It was the same face that consumed him while training. It was as if he was staring at an enemy.

Asuka took half a step back. At this movement, Jin seemed to realize his actions.

"Don't go down there, Asuka, I mean it."

And he left.

No explanation. No apology. No goodbye.

For a second, she doubted whether that was her brother.

Asuka's hand gripped the edge of the edge of the arm rest behind her. She collapsed onto the soft, velvet covering, lost in her own thoughts.

The rooms beyond the hallway contained something. Something that might hold the answers she had been searching for. After all, where were all of the private documents, family trees and photos? These were the things that the rest of the mansion had been deprived of. If one of the rooms contained any of these, then she was willing to do anything to unravel the truth.

Asuka sighed.

Her brother's angered expression was still stationary in her mind, as clear as it had been only a minute before.

Maybe Jin wasn't as innocent as she thought he was.

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