Chapter 13: Love

The graveyard had stood there for countless years and it stretched for miles. The caretaker could hardly be bothered with making sure all the graves were up to par. With time, the gravestones became dingy and cracked. Visitors hardly came which was to be expected. Some graves dated back centuries—the loved ones who might have come were probably deceased as well. Despite the age, however, there weren't really any tales of lingering ghosts or haunting—at least for this particular graveyard which was a feat in itself. Lately, however, the caretaker had become aware of some strange disturbances near the newer part of the cemetery. Despite never seeing anyone visit, the flowers at a certain grave remained bright and vibrant. The old ones that had been there had suddenly sprung back to life. This wasn't an altogether bad thing; in fact, it was rather invigorating to see such bright colors in a dreary place, but the caretaker couldn't make much sense out of it.

One day the caretaker simply sat there watching the gravesite where the flowers were, waiting the whole time for a person to come, but none came. Neither did anyone come the next day or the next. He examined the grave and saw that it was quite pristine. It caught his eye among all the other sad, lonely stones.

Some days he could have sworn he heard a child's voice, but then the sound would disappear just as quickly as it appeared. The small voice travelled on the breezes whenever they came through, but he could never quite place where it was coming from. When he looked towards where he thought the voice originated, he would be looking once again at the well-kept gravestone. He looked down at the name and read "Kazumi Mishima". It was a simple gravestone with only a single name engraved upon it. There was no epitaph, no last words to describe anything about who this person might be. It was depressing the more that he looked at it. Most graves had some other words on it besides the name of the deceased. There was always the standard "In Loving Memory" or "Rest in Peace, but here there was nothing as if the woman's life had been brief and inconsequential ending with a hasty burial and a cheap gravestone.

Days and weeks passed before a woman approached that very same gravestone. A very beautiful woman who walked with a grace all her own—at least in the caretaker's eyes—bent down to take a closer look at the site. The caretaker took it upon himself to approach her. He didn't get many visitors anyway.

"So you're the one who's been looking after this one," the caretaker said when he was within earshot.

The woman looked up a bit startled as if she hadn't noticed he was there. "Not at all, but I would like to be alone at the moment," she replied in dismissive tones.

The caretaker took his cue and left her to her own devices, but not far enough to where he couldn't see what she would do next.

Jun grimaced at the stone's simplicity. "That thoughtless bastard. He couldn't even spare a few dimes for his own wife," she said to herself. She looked up to the skies and called out, "Kazuya! Wherever you are, I'm here!"

A hefty amount of wind rushed passed her, stinging her eyes a bit with all the grit and dust of the other gravestones. Then it died down abruptly. Before her stood a little boy. Just like with the other spirit, he appeared solid, but closer observation proved that he was indeed translucent.

"Are you—You're Kazuya, aren't you?"

The child nodded simply.

"Well, can you talk?"

"Sorry," he finally said. "It's been a long time. Why are you here?"

"I've come to take you back to your rightful place."

"I've long since been rejected," the child answered in monotone.

"Kazuya—"

"I'm not Kazuya," the boy interrupted despondently.

"I know you're just a small part of him, but it's the only thing I can think to call you."

There was something about this child that tugged at her heartstrings. He seemed utterly abandoned and alone. His eyes never once looked at her directly. He seemed resigned to his fate as if he had given up all hope.

"Your eyes, they seem determined, filled with purpose. What did you expect to accomplish today," the child spoke once again.

"I had hoped to convince you to come with me. Kazuya, the real Kazuya, he's alive and I want him whole again."

"Your determination moves me, but your plan leaves much to be desired. If I could have gone back to him, I would have. He's made it clear that he wants no more to do with me."

"It'll be different now because I'm here. Kazuya deserves another chance and I want to give it to him."

"I see now. You want to employ your own abilities. Do you believe you'll be successful?"

"Yes, I have to anyway. That's how my powers work."

"Then I will follow you."

"You will?"

"I don't exactly have a choice. I've done nothing more but wait around uncertain of what I should do next."

"So…you're the part that 'loves'. Why did you choose this place?"

"She taught Kazuya how to love, how to value others in spite of. I am often ignored. I often complicate matters where decisiveness would have been the better road. There is little room or patience for me. Even in the best of times, I am taken for granted."

"You know, you're rather depressed for someone who represents love."

"Sorry."

"Is that all you can say?"

"I'll follow you wherever you go. Lead the way, miss."

Jun sighed. "Alright, then. Let's find this righteousness."

The child disappeared without a second thought and she felt a certain heaviness disappear from the gravesite. The flowers that were there rotted away and the gravestone itself dulled in appearance. Kazuya's presence was gone from the place.

"Don't push yourself too hard. You've driven a long way to reach here."

Jun heard his voice in her ear but she couldn't find him specifically. "I'm in a bit of a rush."

"You have a long road ahead of you. Travel with care."

Jun wasn't sure if he meant it literally or metaphorically, but she did have to travel far to get to the Mishima Gardens. It was the place she had been dreading the most. Heihachi might be there. She wasn't even sure if she was allowed on the property.

/

Jin was once again left wondering where he should go next. Having made it to Nepal, Nebraska, he had no idea where he might find the G Corporation research facility. The articles hadn't been quite so specific as to where the location was. He began to walk in any direction hoping that he might one day simply run into his destination. He was in another country after all and he didn't know very much English.

He found himself running. He raced through neighborhoods after neighborhoods, mall centers after mall centers until he gave himself a break and drank greedily from a public water fountain. Then he realized something, he was hungry, very hungry. He hadn't so much as packed a sandwich before he left home, a fact that became quite depressing.

The water fountain that he found had been in a public park. With a heavy sigh, he sat down on a bench nearby to rest. He was just beginning to realize how naïve he had been to believe that he could face the world all on his own. Everything seemed new to him. He was certain that the money he did have wouldn't work in an entirely different country. Still, he liked all the new sights. It was only comforting thing left to dwell on.

"Hey, brat, move over so I can sit down."

Jin looked up in shock when he heard that voice. It was him. It was Kazuya—the Kazuya. Perhaps not the same Kazuya from his dreams, but his appearance was unmistakable. He seemed more imposing, more powerful than before and it looked as if time itself hadn't been kind to him. Jin sat up automatically and allowed for the other to sit.

"How the hell did you make it all the way out here? I thought surely that woman would have kept you somewhere safe."

Jin was too much in shock to even respond. Did the other really know who he was? How could he if, theoretically, he had never seen him before and only knew that he existed?

"You know who I am?"

"You are Jin, are you not?" he questioned.

"But how…?"

Kazuya stood up then. "You've been having dreams as well, haven't you? It seemed real, but I knew better. At least, I thought I did. You can't change the past yet that's all I seem to think about."

"But we can change the future."

"And I think you're in over your head. Better that you went back home somewhere…safe."

"I can't. Besides, I'm here now."

"A miracle in itself, I suppose." Kazuya turned to him then. "By some strange stroke of fate, you actually made it here. You knew I would be here."

"I didn't know anything," Jin said looking down. "I think I was 'led' here."

"The particulars aren't important. Do you have someplace to stay?" Kazuya implored.

Jin shook his head no, suddenly quite shy in the other's presence. Despite everything, Jin felt that all his immediate problems were solved. There was someone who would take care of him. He would be fed, he'd have someplace to sleep and he wouldn't be left out on the streets alone. He looked up at the other expectantly, but the other seemed deep in thought as if it required the skills of a rocket scientist to determine what to do next.

"Just take me to where you live," Jin said loudly cutting through the other's thoughts.

"No," he said roughly startling the other. "I can't take you there. It isn't safe." Then he began to pace slowly. After a few moments, he stopped. "Follow me," he said steadily.

When he walked off, Jin scrambled after him. Jin heard the other mumbling to himself, but he decided not to comment on this. Jin might be able to believe that this was Kazuya, but he was quite different. Something was very off about the man. They walked quite a ways before they stopped at one of the dinkiest hotels Jin had ever beheld.

"You want me to stay here?" Jin asked incredulously.

"You don't have any other choice, do you? I doubt you had the foresight to bring any money with you," the other said in an almost accusing tone.

"I'm just a kid—I don't have any money!"

"Why did you even come here? What possessed you to make such a foolhardy journey? Now I have to care of you," Kazuya said with a grimacing look.

It never occurred to Jin that Kazuya didn't want him here. He was under the impression that Kazuya himself had "sent" for him somehow, that those dreams were proof that he wanted to make things right with his son. The revelation was shocking. Again he wondered what he had gotten himself into. Was it even logical to have followed a dream so wholeheartedly? Who had sent those dreams? Were they even real?

"I'm sorry…I didn't realize…"

"Just go inside already, kid. I can't very well leave you out there in some park like a homeless child. No son of mine will be caught dead."

Jin was led to a room fit for a single person. He knew instantly that Kazuya would not be staying with him. He was to be left here on his own. None of this was going as he had planned it in his head. He thought simply finding Kazuya again would solve everything, now he realized it was only a small part of the solution.

"Dad," he began slowly as he stood in the small room, but he was interrupted before he could say anything.

"For god sake, don't call me that," Kazuya said exasperatedly.

Jin looked up a bit startled by this reaction.

"If they knew you were here," he said shaking his head slowly. "The walls have ears you know, watch what you say from here on out. I'm not your father and you are not my son."

"But…" Jin thought for a moment. "Who is 'they'?"

"The less you know the better."

"So what will you do?—keep me trapped here? What do you plan to do with me?"

"I don't know yet. You waltz in here unannounced and you expect me to already have a plan. What do you want anyway? Why are you even here?"

"I…well…I thought we…" the words became trapped in his throat. How could he say that he wanted the other to return home with him, that he wanted him and Jun to be a family again? He'd be rejected without a second thought. Maybe…Maybe the situation required a little more finesse. "I don't know yet," he finally replied copying the other.

Kazuya looked at the other with an amused expression. "You came all this way for something, I'm sure of it. Maybe a few days 'trapped' in here as you say will jog your memory. Silly brat, you haven't the slightest clue how to get back home."

Jin didn't like the belittling tone Kazuya had begun to use. In fact, he wasn't sure he even liked this Kazuya. Did he even want to ask him to come back with him? Could Jun even appreciate someone like him? Maybe Kazuya had been right. Maybe he really was in over his head.

"I'm leaving," Kazuya announced abruptly when the other wasn't able to hold his interest.

"Wait!" Jin shouted before the door closed. "I'm hungry!" he yelled out so the other might hear him through the door.

For a long moment, nothing happened, but then the door opened once again. Jin could already see the agitated look on his face.

"You expect me to feed you as well? We can't be seen together in any case. Here." Kazuya took some money out of his pocket and tossed it over to the other who wasn't able to quite catch all of it. "Use it wisely. I doubt we'll be seeing much of each other."

"When will you visit? Why do you have to go?"

"So many damn questions. Just be grateful for what I've given you. Maybe you should use your resourcefulness to find your way back home. There's nothing for you here anyway."

"There's you," Jin said with more determination than he thought he had.

"You have no one," Kazuya declared as he closed the door once again before the other could say anymore.

Jin looked down and gathered up the rest of the money that had been thrown at him; twenty-five dollars in total. He had no idea if it was a lot or not much at all and he also had no idea when Kazuya would be back to replenish his allowance. He dropped the money on the bed and noticed that the key card was there as well. This was where he would live. This was where he would change his fate. He laughed out loud at his grandiose thoughts. He couldn't even find a change of clothes let alone something as abstract as one's fate. Who was he kidding? The hopelessness of the situation weighed on him heavily. He crumbled down to the floor and found that he could not stop his tears from coming.

/

AN: The next chapter will probably be in Kazuya's POV since it'd be a little difficult to describe what he's thinking through Jin's eyes alone. Hopefully, I won't "slack off" again anytime soon. I seem to be on a roll. Stay tuned.