Even in the midst of a heated war between humans and ghosts, Lee Chaolan did not forget about the birthday of Jun Kazama, even when she had not remembered it.

As a veteran womanizer, Lee had made it a point since the first King of Iron Fist tournament to remember the birthdays of every female who participated, in case he found himself in a position to woo one of them. Jun's birthday was still fresh in his memory, and he immediately brought it up when the day started. Unfortunately, Jun did not remember she had a birthday: being she had spent seven years in suspended animation, it was easy for her to lose track of the important days such as that.

"When we're as old as we are, Chaolan, things like birthdays become unimportant," Jun had said when Lee brought up her birthday. "However, it was very sweet of you to remember it. Is there anything you would like to do for me on this special day?"

At first Lee was going to offer up his body for birthday sex, but he quickly decided against it as he was unsure what Kazuya would have thought if he found the two of them consorting with each other in such a way. So instead, he invited both Jun and Kazuya to a certain restaurant that was in the western part of Tokyo: a place called Sakura Smiles.

Sakura Smiles was a themed restaurant that was a popular tourist destination due to its fine Japanese cuisine, reasonable service, and hourly shows that the employees put on to entertain the patrons. "This is so ridiculous," Kazuya said to Jun while Lee was off talking to the waiter at the front door about their reservation. "Instead of celebrating something as trivial as a birthday, we should be scouring the city for any leads on the Wisps' activities. The Shinkenger hunted me like a dog, so why should I do any different to this woman who would copy my work?"

"Chaolan and I have yet to hear of a Wisp attack that did not happen while we were around," Jun explained as Lee finished talking to the waiter and made his way to where Jun and Kazuya were sitting. "Nagalya is a very arrogant person: she specifically targets us and builds her schemes around our location to mock us. If the Wisps do decide to attack today, it will probably be here in this restaurant."

"Then why are you here and not somewhere with less people?" Kazuya asked with a raised eyebrow. "Would it not be better for your overbearing conscience if you fought the Wisps with no innocent people at risk?"

"There is a chance that they will not show up if we purposely bait ourselves," Jun answered before a thin smile formed on her face. "Besides, I do not want to hurt your brother's feelings. He went through all of this trouble just to please me, and it would be rude of me to say no."

"What are you two talking about?" Lee butted in as Kazuya and Jun stood up and followed the silver-haired playboy into the restaurant. "I went through a lot of trouble to get these reservations, so the least you could do is not gossip amongst yourselves and attempt to enjoy the marvelous gift I have given you!"

"Watch your tone, Chaolan," Kazuya growled as the trio entered the main dining room. "I will not tolerate your insolence: speak to me like that again or the meal that will be served will be your bloody carcass pulped and tenderized."

Not willing to combat his brother just yet, Lee quieted down as Jun looked around at the dining room. It was quite spacious, with the waiters dressed in light blue kimonos and twenty-three different tables. There were two large tables on either side of the room with a flat wok in the center of each one, where the cooks in black kimonos cooked meats and put on shows for whatever customers were fortunate enough to book a reservation in that area. At the far end of the room was a moderate-sized stage with two sliding doors acting as curtains. This place does have a certain charm to it, Jun thought as she and the two rival brothers sat down at a medium-sized table for their small party. I am glad that Chaolan brought me here.

After a couple of minutes, one of the waiters came up to the trio's table and took their orders. Once that was done, the waiter took something from his pocket and placed it next to Lee. To the trio's surprise, it was another blue metal shard. "One of the cooks in the back requested that this be given to you, Mr. Lee."

"I see: tell him I said 'thank you.'" Lee said after a moment of silence. Once the waiter had left with their orders, the silver-haired martial artist brushed back his hair and let out a sigh. "Even when I'm trying to get away from it all, the shards and the whole mess with the Wisps seem to follow me."

"Stop your whining and get used to it," Kazuya replied with his voice cold and stern. "If you had ended this when it was still fresh, things would not have gone out of hand and you would not have to worry about people giving you shards." Reaching out to take the shard but remembering how much of a struggle it was to keep just one of them from electrocuting him, Kazuya pulled his hand back and instead folded his arms. "If you are truly a warrior, then you would accept your fate to fight and look forward to it."

Even though being cruel is in his nature, the true source of his bitterness tonight comes from the realization that he was the one who inadvertently started this nightmare. Jun deduced as Kazuya turned his head and looked out into the rest of the dining room while lightly tapping his finger on the table. He told me yesterday that Nagalya was born from the excess energy of one of his creations, and that if he had not made that creation in the first place none of this would be happening.

Of course, he is not the only one who had made that sort of mistake, she thought as she took off her sunglasses and placed them on the table before looking up into the ceiling. I too became caught up in his sorcery and used his knowledge of the dark arts to resurrect my father whose mad ambitions almost destroyed us all. With a sigh, Jun continued to get lost in her thoughts while she waited for her food to come. Just as I had a trial to overcome with my error, Kazuya now has one with his…and he does not like it one bit.

After a few minutes of silence, two men came up to the trio's table and placed their orders in front of them, making sure that the order they put in front of their customers was indeed their own order and not of one of their companions. "It has been a long time, everyone," one of the men said, causing the trio to look up and see a familiar face.

Standing next to the waiter was a large Japanese man wearing the black kimono associated with the cooks of the restaurant with black hair set in a chonmage style and a wide scar across his forehand. "Am I to believe that you cooked our food, Ganryu," Lee said, slightly impressed. "I'm surprised that you didn't eat it beforehand!"

"Chaolan, that was very rude of you," Jun said in a surprisingly stern voice. "It is good to see that Mr. Ganryu has graced us with his services. I am sure it will be delicious." Jun bowed her head and picked up her chopsticks to begin eating her rice appetizer. "I was under the impression that you were running a sumo stable in Hawaii now."

"The stable is closed at the moment: I now work here in hopes of improving my cooking skills and starting my own restaurant," Ganryu answered truthfully before turning to Lee. "Lee-sama, the shard that you received earlier was from me. I was told to give it to you as soon as I picked it up, so when I heard you had made a reservation I brought it with me to give to you." Turning to Kazuya, Ganryu reluctantly bowed his head in polite greetings. "Kazuya-sama, I hope you do not hold any ill will against me for leaving your circle after your resurfacing. I simply wished to distance myself from my old life to start a new one."

"Don't feel bad: I purposely kept the word of my death alive so that I could start over, as well," Kazuya said with a hint of resentment towards Ganryu's feigned politeness, knowing full well he didn't return to his fold because he could not stomach working for him. "However, if this food is not to my liking, I will make sure that your culinary career hits an irrevocable snag."

"Your criticism is much appreciated, but I must now go back to work and complete your main dishes." Bowing his head once again, Ganryu glanced over to the waiter next to him and motioned for him to take another person's order before walking back into the kitchen. "Thank you for choosing Sakura Smiles, and I hope we have the honor of serving you again someday."

"…I guess it was nice of him to come out and greet us," Lee said with a shrug before splitting his own chopsticks so he could dig into his bowl of brown rice. "I wonder if he's still chasing the two Changs. Did you hear about how he tried to pick up Julia and-"

"Ganryu has problems, just like you do," Kazuya said with his voice full of impatience. "Fortunately for him, his problems do not seem to be quite as extreme as yours…"

"Gentlemen, please," Jun intervened with the same stern voice she used to stern Lee. "This is not the time to be quarreling: we are here as a group, so we might as well act as one." The tension between the two of them is increasing with every moment: their relationship is indeed a strange one, she thought quietly while Lee and Kazuya glared at each other bitterly before turning away and eating their food quietly. Despite growing up together, there is a dark rivalry between the two of them almost as great as the one they have with their father. Hopefully they will be able to cooperate long enough to defeat the Wisps.

As soon as Jun completed that thought, the lights darkened as the stage at the end of the room was lit with a single light. The room came to a quieted hush after a couple of seconds and the sliding doors slowly slid open to reveal a traditional medieval Japanese household room with two women in dark purple kimonos with light blue dragons splashed across the front: one of them standing up, and the other on her knees with her head bowed down.

The one standing up was someone who Jun and her two male companions had become quite familiar with in the past week: Nagalya, with her chalky skin and dark blue hair made apparent to everyone in the room, though her telepathic powers kept them from saying anything. "Welcome to Sakura Smiles, masters and mistresses," Nagalya said in a surprisingly polite voice. "I hope that you have been enjoying your fine cuisine today…"

"She is absolutely stunning in that kimono," Lee whispered just loud enough for Kazuya to hear. "If only she wasn't a homicidal maniac: I would shower her with so many other kimonos…"

"Well, she is a homicidal maniac, and she wouldn't think twice about leveling the city if opportunity presented itself," Kazuya replied with a growl. "Stop thinking with your extremities and start thinking with your head, idiot."

Nagalya walked over to the side of the stage and watched as the woman sitting down raised her head and made her features known. She was definitely a Wisp, with her light blue skin and long, silk-like violet hair shining in the light. Silently standing up, the woman revealed something that she had been hiding in her kimono: a long katana in a dark red sheath as tall as she was. The crowd let out a collective "ooo" at the impressive weapon that she had hidden in her kimono, and the woman removed it from its sheath and let its polished blade shine for the crowd.

"I am told that we have a birthday in the house today," Nagalya said while her companion performed a slow but smooth kata with the katana. "Jun Kazama, please come up to the stage for these fine people…and do it quick, unless you want me to take their lives right now and create a huge panic."

With that threat psychically transmitted to Jun's mind, the former detective stood up and turned to Kazuya and Lee. "Please do not follow me unless I say so: we do not know what she'll do if she does not get her way. For now, it is safer to play her game."

"Hmph…do what you wish," Kazuya replied with a scoff. "Be sure not to get in over your head: you will be of no help to anyone if you are dead…"

With that less-than-compassionate warning, Jun left her table and walked up to the stage until she was right next to Nagalya. "Thank you for gracing me with your presence tonight, Ms. Kazama," she said with a mischievous smile. "If you don't mind my asking, how old are you today?"

"…I am forty-five years old," Jun answered, looking out into the crowd.

"Forty-five years old? That's pretty impressive," Nagalya said with a whistle before using her telepathy to make everyone in the room except for Kazuya and Lee applaud. "You don't look a day older than thirty. What is your secret?" Before Jun could say anything, Nagalya interrupted her and continued. "That's fascinating: I'll have to keep that in mind."

"Why am I up here, Nagalya?" Jun asked, unamused by Nagalya's charade.

"Since you are a world-class fighter, I was hoping you could give these fine folks a demonstration and duel my very good friend over there: Ayumi Tajiri, the Geisha Wisp," the pale-skinned woman said with her smirk only widening as her companion ended her kata and pointed her long blade at Jun. "Don't worry: I specifically told her to avoid your vitals until I say so."

"This is the first time I have heard you give your subordinates a human name," Jun observed as she turned around and slowly assumed her fighting stance. "What did this lady do to deserve her rank as a Wisp? She seems like she perished at a young age."

"She made the mistake of falling in love with a monk, despite how they are men of the cloth that have sworn abstinence from…frolicking," Nagalya answered while the Geisha lowered her blade and began advancing towards her adversary. "Soon after that, she was killed by a different and more zealous monk and she let her hatred stew in the afterlife until she became a Wisp."

"…what a tragic tale," Jun said after a pause while she jumped over the Geisha's low horizontal slash to kick her in the jaw. "Unfortunately the only solace I can offer her is an honorable battle and my deepest sympathies." The impact of the kick knocked the Geisha away with her kimono flowing behind her like the tail of a comet. Even with such long garments, the Geisha still had the where-with-all to land gracefully on her sandal-covered feet and charge at Jun once again.

With surprising quickness, the Geisha used her long katana to poke Jun in the shoulder with just enough force to cause her to take a few steps back so as to avoid getting impaled, and then used that opportunity to extend her hands further bring her blade down in a vertical slash to scratch Jun's leg and draw blood. That's an impressive feint: I didn't even think about that possibility, Jun mumbled as the Geisha Wisp brought her weapon back to a neutral position while Jun's healing factor tended to the scratch. I have never seen someone so skilled with a blade so long.

The Geisha lashed out at Jun once again, this time with a high horizontal slash that Jun was barely able to duck under, cutting a couple of strands of hair off her her head. Seeing her opening, Jun rose back up and launched the Geisha a few meters into the air with a vertical elbow strike: the Kazama-ryu's patented Charging Strike. Just before the Geisha hit the ground, Jun sent her spiraling away with a quick heel kick and resumed her fighting stance while the Geisha landed on her side.

Quickly standing back up, the Geisha moved her head to the side and avoided Jun's palm thrust to counter with a thrust of her hilt to strike her adversary in the chest. When Jun tried to cover her chest, the ghostly Wisp struck her on top of her head and force her to protect that area. This opened up an opportunity for the Geisha to send Jun sprawling with a powerful diagonal slash.

It's a good thing I decided to wear protection in case this happened, Jun thought as she looked at the cut on her dress that revealed her Kevlar corset. Unfortunately, my bare flesh probably won't be able to handle attacks like that. I don't know how potent my healing factor is, but I would rather not test its limits in this sort of situation.

Using her quick reflexes, Jun caught the Geisha's blade between her palms just as it was about to be brought down on her head and then threw the blade to her left to strike the Geisha in the chest with a thrusting palm. Once again, the Wisp was knocked off her feet and to the ground and gave the former detective more time to formulate a plan. Thanks to her lack of armor, she's not as impervious to physical attacks as some of the other Wisps. Maybe I can end this quickly like I did with the Rifleman.

When Jun approached the Geisha to press forward on the attack, however, the stunning specter connected with a quick vertical slash that struck Jun in her collarbone, causing the martial artist to let out a shout while the Geisha continued her attack with an upwards attack, and then a horizontal chop that knocked Jun away just as she had knocked her away earlier.

Her reach makes her difficult to approach, and unlike the Rifleman she's skilled at close range, Jun muttered while she moved her head left and right to avoid the rapid stabs that the Geisha attempted. After the seventh attempt, Jun's knee shot up and struck her foe in the stomach, causing her to back away slightly and give Jun the opportunity to send her spiraling away with a jumping reverse roundhouse kick. I suppose it's only natural that my opponents would evolve along with me.

Pursuing the Geisha as she fell on the floor, Jun lifted her foot and applied to the Geisha's chest with a swift and merciless Geta Stomp. With the Geisha stunned by the attack, Jun repeated the maneuver to try and cause more damage, but her ghostly foe quickly moved her long blade and parried the foot with it. Surprised by the unique block, Jun was left open to a quick foot sweep that was immediately followed by a crescent-motion cut that launched her into the air.

Jun landed hard on her head, and the impact elicited a cry of pain from the normally collected martial artist. However, the Geisha wasn't about to give her foe any respite: with her blade glowing like the moon on a clear night, the specter cut through the air like a knife and unleashed a wave of energy that sent Jun flying backwards through a paper wall set up on the stage.

"Impressive," Jun said out loud as she rubbed the back of her head and stood back up while removing the paper wall that had stuck to her due to her impaling it. "In addition to the extensive reach of the physical blade, she can channel her ki into it and use attacks that allow her even more distance. "She is truly an impressive fighter: I am surprised that you did not enlist her sooner."

"The Geisha Wisp hates killing: I didn't want to use someone who wasn't willing to get her hands dirty," Nagalya explained with a shrug while Jun charged at the Geisha only to get pushed back with a forward kick immediately followed by a diagonal hack that left a thin scar just underneath her shoulder. "When she heard that you had defeated the Samurai Wisp, one of the most powerful warriors we had to offer, her pride as a martial artist won over and she accepted my offer."

"Interesting indeed," Jun replied as she parried the Geisha's horizontal attack by grabbing onto the blade and pulling it towards her to take her foe with it. Once she was within range, Jun grabbed onto the Wisp's arm and applied her ki-infused palm to the Geisha's stomach to bring forth a look of agony on the blue-skinned woman's face. "Perhaps after I defeat you and stop your mad ambitions, you can tell me more about the history of these worthy opponents."

Quickly grabbing onto her foe's shoulders, Jun rammed her left knee into the Wisp's abdomen, followed by a second strike that was immediately followed by a jumping right knee that knocked the Geisha high into the air and sent her crashing onto the floor with a thud. With her opponent downed from the attack, Jun performed a quick cartwheel and drove her foot into her chest before jumping off and resuming her fighting stance.

Frustrated, the Geisha flipped back onto her feet and charged at Jun with her blade raised high above her head…so high that it hit a low-hung lighting fixture that was a few feet about the stage and caused her to stop and look up to see what she had hit. This curiosity gave Jun the opportunity to launch her into the air with another Charging Strike and allow her to crash into the same lighting fixture before she fell back down to the ground while the light teetered precariously on the wire it was held up by.

"You know, every time you have one of these epiphanies like learning about the origin of whatever Wisp you fight, your stamina seems to skyrocket," Nagalya said as she watched Jun bombard the Geisha with a rapid succession of gut punches before knocking her away with a quick uppercut that was normally reserved for boxers. "Does knowing about your enemy give you confidence or something?"

"I…prefer...not to think about that aspect of how my fights go," Jun said between dodges as the Geisha once again attempted to skewer her with her katana once she was back within striking distance. After the fourth stab, the Geisha opted for an upwards-diagonal slash that knocked Jun away, but not enough for her to land on her back. "However, knowing that these Wisps were once human does make me want to end their suffering as quickly as possible."

"Interesting…I prefer dragging fights out as long as possible so the agony of defeat is that much more gratifying to watch," Nagalya replied while the Geisha reared back and focused her ki into her blade, causing it to glow like a thin star. "Unfortunately for me, I think Ayumi here has had enough horseplay. Try not to get sliced in half, okay?"

Complying with the Geisha Wisp's request to conclude the fight, Jun focused her firework-like ki into her left leg and slowly began building rotational velocity while the Geisha dragged her blade across the floor leaving a long scar into the polished wood. As the two of them came closer to each other, their speed increased until Jun was practically a human tornado and the Geisha was running forward with no restraint. Something would have to give when they collided, and neither was willing to give any quarter.

With a flash of light, the two forces collided and skid to a halt with the two combatants turned away from each other. Jun's foot was held high into the air, still extended from the Spinning Heel Drop while the Geisha's arm was fully extended along with her blade. After a few seconds of silences and motionlessness, Jun let out a grunt and grabbed onto her stomach: her Kevlar had been cut open and blood was dripping from the flesh underneath.

Before Nagalya could celebrate with a derogatory statement and a haughty laugh, however, the Geisha suddenly fell on to her knees and struggled to maintain her footing: blue smoke was coming from her ears and mouth, and that usually signified a Wisp's defeat. Using her long blade as a crutch, the Geisha turned her head and allowed herself a thin smile before whispering a name to no one in particular before falling to the ground and dissipating in a hiss of blue mist. "Nori…aki…"

"Another one down, I guess," Nagalya said with her voice full of resignation before leaping an inhuman distance into the air and landing just in front of the exit before either Jun, Kazuya, or Lee could react. "I'll see you next time, true believers! Ta-ta!"

"Hey, come back here," Lee shouted out, getting out of his seat and chasing after the retreating woman despite the lengthy head-start she had. "I won't let you get away that easily!"

--

"Are you all right, Jun?" Kazuya asked as Jun continued to tend to her stomach wound. "Can you walk?"

"It looks worse than it really is: the healing factor that your blood gives me minimized the damage," Jun answered with a nod as she straightened herself out and slowly stepped off of the stage. "Thank you for your concern, nonetheless, Kazuya…and thank you for letting me fight my own battle."

"You were in no immediate danger, so I did nothing to interfere," Kazuya said with a scoff before reaching into his pocket and pulling something out. Extending his hand and offering the object to Jun, the Cold-Blooded Prince continued. "Take this: it might come in handy when it comes time to actually confront Nagalya."

The object was quite familiar to Jun: it was the ShinkenGold morpher that she had used to defeat her father two months before. When she put it on, however, she felt something press unfamiliar against her wrist that caused her to take it off and inspect to bottom of the item. It was an engraving of a short poem, and it went as followed:

Truth: justified via fists.

Honor: achieved via pride.

Loyalty: eternal via trials.

"Kazuya," Jun whispered as the gray-haired warrior turned away and started walking out the door while she stood in place, stunned by her birthday gift. After a few seconds, Kazuya noticed that Jun was not following her, causing him to turn around and look at her in curiosity. As he did so, a warm smile formed across the former detective's face. "Thank you…so very much."

"Do not mention it to anyone," Kazuya replied with a sneer. "It is bad for my reputation as the Devil made Flesh."

I feel so warm: I have become so used to Kazuya's bitterness that I had nearly forgotten that he was still emotionally capable of things like this, Jun thought with her smile only widening despite the mild pain she was in thanks to her wound while she and Kazuya walked outside to find where Lee ran off to. Kazuya: for you, I will work hard to unite the three of us into a close-knit team capable of defeating whatever Nagalya throws our way!