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*~*Chapter Nine*~*
1.
"What do you mean it's not it?"
Lee Chaolan is the first to step forward, breaking the circle of silence. Before he could utter a word, Jin's tone was dark and laced with contempt and was directed at Lee.
"You did this."
"On the contrary, I…"
The silver haired man coughs and straightens his composure when he is met with Jin's angry eyes.
"I must learn what my guests are up to and you people are no exception."
"What have you done?" Nina's voice is just as thunderous as Jin's expression.
"He tricked us."
"I wouldn't class it as trickery."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yes, it was just an illusion I had crafted, didn't know it'll work so well."
Jin takes his turn to speak, "I trusted you and you poisoned me."
"Intoxication is the right term for it."
Nina pulls out a gun, aiming it straight for Lee's face.
"Tell me why I shouldn't kill him right now?"
Upon noticing the gun, Jin drops his scowl and fixes his gaze on the gun.
"No, we won't kill anyone."
Nina cocks the gun. "Why the hell not?"
"Because…." Jin's mind raced to find the answer. Every reason had him gunning to destroy Lee Chaolan but he couldn't. It was a stretch too far; they shouldn't get on the wrong hand of the law. Coming this far meant that they had to continue, even if they met someone like Lee on the way.
"I'm waiting for an answer, Jin."
"Because it's wrong. It's not right. We can't stoop to his level."
That's the only reason he would voice and Nina would have to comply.
He can sense Nina's desire to pull the trigger, to have this all over done with. The blonde stood there for a moment, finger on the trigger and eyed Lee like he was a prey in misery that she had to put out.
When she lowered the gun, Lee spoke in relief. "Thank you, but I must insist…"
Several robots ran into the room and took their positions. "I never let my enemies off so easy."
The robots exposed their guns, targeting all three of them with multiple crosshairs.
"I could just kill you or hand you to Heihachi. You can take your pick."
"I hope you celebrate your saintly decision, Jin." He hears Nina scoff and closes his eyes.
"Lee, killing us will get you nowhere."
Lee stares at Anna and smiles, "I never wanted to hurt such a beautiful flower like you."
"Lee, you want to know what we're after right?"
"I already know."
"I promise you, we won't be a threat. We just wanted to kill it. We don't want anything else with it."
Another robot points it's gun at Anna and Lee's eyes hold suspicion. "Well, can you promise me Ogre's blood?"
"If you can reach it before Heihachi can, I can't promise you who is going to be f…faster."
"Anna!"
"Nina! I'm trying to keep us alive here!"
"Don't go to Heihachi." Lee muses.
Jin watches the young William sister bargain with the duke. He listens carefully to each of the robots humming. There were at least twenty one of them in the room and then there were three of them. He mouths to Nina the number seven before turning around, grabbing the one closest to him and smashing its metallic skull against the wrath of his knee.
He continued his Kazama style hit combo, fisting through robot after robot and when he was down to the last one, Nina had Lee at gunpoint again demanding that he forget them.
"Your robots are so pathetic."
Lee said nothing.
"We should go."
Jin repeats himself again and Nina whips Lee on the side of the head with the pistol.
"Try to pursue us? Then there will be no one worse than me. Got it?" She raised the pistol and brought it down, knocking him out completely.
2.
The days grew brighter but slower.
After departing from Miyazaki city, they had travelled through small towns and only stopped to replenish their food stock and taken rest for a short while. Neither one of them were interested in stopping by to dwell in inns or guest houses providing what happened in their previous encounter.
Some of Jin's men caught a bad cold and complained about being drawn to luxury. Jin hadn't slowed down but allowed his men the liberty to catch up when they recovered.
They met up at the coast in Fukuoka and the fatigue caught up with them.
Nina and Anna would argue over the events in Lee's mansion and the two sisters fought. Anna would plead her case to keep their heads above water while Nina hated making false promises. She had unable to sleep at night and waited for any impending threat with her gun.
Jin often found himself staying awake, because he too felt as if Nina's threat wasn't strong enough for the likes of Lee Chaolan.
One night, Nina had fired out of defence and they found that she had killed a wandering deer.
They took care of the deer. His men were hungry for meat and even the William sisters had opted for a meal other than vegetarian snacks.
The deer was seasoned by Anna. She found some Wasabi, Onions, Shiso leaves, Shiitake mushrooms and salt to flavour the meat. It wasn't the best combination but Jin found everyone tucking in to a meal.
The men on the other hand, picked some leaves to serve the meat in.
"You should try meat, it's really tasty."
"I do eat meat." Jin responded and finally accepted the dinner they had prepared.
He wasn't sure of the taste because the combination was a little odd for him and Nina teased him.
"Shame there's no bowls and chopsticks for a gentleman."
Jin returned her smirk, finding her remarks somewhat amusing himself.
"Anything else we should know about you?"
"I hate talking during dinner and I dislike it when women speak with their mouths full."
Nina didn't give him a witty remark after that and after their dinner, both remained by the fire while the others slept.
"You should go to sleep." Jin would tell her.
Her reply would always be the same.
"I suppose that if you find Ogre, our contract ends."
Jin nods. "As promised, you'll be free. I just hope you don't turn back to the life you've left behind."
"So you'd like me to be a saint like you?" Nina chuckles, she tried to imagine herself as a woman with a clean slate. Deep down, she wanted that but her ego did the decision making for now.
When Jin did not reply, Nina shifted the subject. "Well, since this is going to be a long journey, I should find ways of getting to Ogre quicker."
"I thought you said he'd come once I join the tournament?"
"I said that but things could change."
Jin eyes narrowed but he continued to listen. "When Anna and I first tried to hunt Ogre, well I had this crest. It's the same as your tattoo."
Jin touches his arm through the fabric of his top, "It's Devil."
"Maybe, but the strange thing was- when I asked someone from the reservation, they told me that a woman bearing this mark would rise."
"A woman?"
"Hmmm, but you're a man so I think they got that part wrong."
Jin nods, "So what about this legend?"
"At first, I thought it was some old tribal crap but Ogre paid a visit that night and took some people. When I tried to fight it off, it hated that crest and destroyed it before disappearing."
"So it is some sort of weakness."
"I suppose but the thing is, I don't think Ogre is just a single being. I think, there's more, like a whole race of them because you could always lay out the same trap for it but it would be a different height or a different weight even though they all look the same."
"You could be wrong."
Nina gives him a small glare. "I'm barely wrong."
"Then why tell me this now?"
"Because I didn't think it was going to do me any good. But now you know, one of them could be the one that you're after."
The flames dance a strange but a slow rhythm and suddenly both of them fell tired.
"I think I better call it a night."
Nina moves away to join her sister in the tent. Jin pauses for a moment and stares into the fire, he touches his emblem through the cotton material and wishes none of this was real.
He didn't know what time it was when he heard a loud crash and a couple of curses exchanged both in English and in a foreign tongue.
Jin rubbed his eyes and reluctantly rolled out of his futon bed to check what the commotion was. The day was a dark blue the fire was out and the leftover meat was now a string of meat hanging off bare bones.
He was thankful to being able to sleep a good amount of hours.
He found Anna holding a knife in the air while a man was sprawled on the ground with the most challenging expression. His hair was swept back with a pair of goggles that rested on his head.
"Jin, good that you're here. I found this no good street rat picking at our food!"
