If it is normal, then it is speech.
If it is in italics, then it is thought.
If it is in bold, then it is the character's natural tongue.
If it is in underline, then it is Devil.
Don't own any characters except Razer and the rest of the gang (excluding Hwoarang).
Author's Note: This chapter has been edited (13/09/2010).
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Pain
After many hours, Razer slipped back into consciousness, but kept her eyes shut. She could hear somebody move around the room, putting things down, rearranging items, zipping bags shut, turning a tap on and off, and so on and so forth. Another thing she was aware of was of gentle warmth, that of which she didn't recall before dozing off, and a soft breeze overhead.
In her mind, she came to the conclusion that the covers must've been pulled up and a fan was on. After breathing in, she identified the person to be Jin as opposed to Hwoarang (who she initially thought it was), and that he was trying to keep himself occupied whilst she napped.
Pressure finally came, a portion of the mattress dipping at his body's weight. The Greek felt his body heat radiating and approaching, before it finally came into contact with her hand. She shuffled over a little, trying to make it appear that she was still asleep – sadly, she was a terrible actor (and liar, as the Korean liked to remind her).
A gingerly squeeze came with a small chuckle, "I know you are awake."
The simple, sleepy reply followed soon after, "What gave it away?"
"Your breathing."
"Would've thought it was me moving."
"No, not as much as your breathing."
"Hmm. How was the old man?"
"Decent… for once…"
More movement occurred, followed by the releases of her hand. She opened one eye to see his figure quickly passing over her, eventually coming to rest behind her. Construction came in the form of a tight hug. She smiled, closing the eye, licked her lips and spoke softly, "You really are random, y'know."
"Hmm…"
"What's wrong?"
"Only thinking."
"And you need to hug me to think?"
A nuzzle to her cheek temporarily silenced her, "Perhaps."
"You're very, very short today. Something's up and you're not telling me."
"I am only worried about tomorrow."
"Paul won't get past you. Just push him over, he'll fall backwards because of the weight of his hair."
"Hmm."
"Okay so, it's something else."
She felt him shakily exhale, "He has sent the Tekken soldiers to look for you again, and I overheard him saying that he was going to wire your room, and frequently monitor Hwoarang's room as well as my own."
"So what's the big deal? I'll stay with Xiao or Lei or Julia. And if they get monitored too, then I can just go to Miharu's house."
"I doubt Miharu's mother would want to deal with Hwoarang's attitude in her house…" He heard her grumble something, "What? You do act like him sometimes."
"I've been around him for six years, of course I'd inherit some of his characteristics."
"True…"
"Any idea what he wants from me?"
"What do you think? You are clever, figure it out."
"He wants to take the Gene away?"
"Yes. What for, I do not know. I wish that I did know."
"Then let him have it. I don't want it."
His voice dropped, "You cannot extract the Gene without killing the host."
"Oh well."
There was a slight smirk evident in his voice, "You're of more use alive."
"I can think of a dozen ideas for why I should be dead."
He sat up a little, his body resting on hers, "And I can think of a hundred reasons to keep you living."
Razer immediately challenged him, "Name them."
"Keep your friends company, keep fighting the Gene with me, another unique mind in the premises, sparring partner, keep Hwoarang happy…"
"That's only five."
"Keep me happy."
"That doesn't count. That fits under the 'creating joy' category. Another ninety-five to go, Kazama."
He chuckled slightly, "I do not need to go on."
"That's because you know you can't."
The Japanese boy looked at her face, noticing that her eyes were still closed. He half-heartedly attempted to peel one open in the name of fun, "You have had enough sleep, Miss Athane. Wake up."
Razer groaned angrily and attempted to push him away, her slender hand snatching his muscular wrist. After a few instances of more pushing, she simply decided to push on a pressure point, causing him to remove his hand and whimper in pain. She smirked, a hint of both arrogance and playfulness in her voice, "I win."
"That really hurt."
She blindly looked for his hand, latching onto it and bringing it close to her. She found the pressure point for a second time and rubbed it softly with her thumb, "Sorry, I guess."
There was a pause in his voice, "You have a very soft touch. It is rather contradictory to your attitude."
"Theeeeen why were you complaining before?"
Silence.
She smirked and pulled his hand closer to her face, using the back of his hand to rub her cheek, "And you have very soft skin. You must be gay or something, man; do you use lotion or something?"
"If I were gay, would I have kissed you?"
"…Are you calling me a man?"
The Greek was silenced with another kiss, ending much quicker than the previous one had before. Jin left her face and rested his head on her shoulder, still allowing his hand to be toyed with idly, "No. I am defending myself."
"Right…" Uncomfortable silence clung to the air. Before long, it was broken with a question, "Should I call Miharu and ask if I can stay over at her place? Could be a bit safer."
"You could come to school then."
"Don't tease me like that. I haven't attended a school since I was twelve. Was home-schooled when I lived with Hwoarang."
Kazama chuckled a little, "Couldn't handle all the big words?"
The tone of her voice dropped from warning to 'try that again', "Jin. Don't. You don't know what happened back there. Don't crack jokes about my fucking childhood."
He sat up and crawled over her body, trying to apprehensively get away, "Sorry."
The next thing he knew, he'd been dragged back down, arms latched around his body. He sighed a little, unsure of what to say or think, and simply decided to relax. He felt her hands wander to his stomach, where he was pulled closer towards her in a tight hug, "I'm sorry I can't tell you anything. I'm not ready to. I… I don't know how to."
"I understand."
Razer smiled a little before nudging him slightly to get off, and then started sitting up and stretching, moving her back at many angles in an attempt to have it crack. When it failed, she sighed and slid off of the bed, fixing her normal attire (the black jeans, the black hoodie and all), before turning to face the Japanese boy lying behind her, "I really should go now. You'll probably find me with Midget, okay?"
The reply was firm yet hesitant, "Alright. Just… don't take her head off."
"I won't."
He watched as her figure slid out of the door as quietly as the whisper had been before hand. Not once did her head turn back, and not one did her posture straighten up, showing Jin that she was still in pain or was fighting off the devil within her mind. The moment the door closed, the moment he heard it click, he shot straight up and rested his head in one hand, aggravated.
It hurts, doesn't it?
It hurts not knowing how to feel, how to act with this.
It is not a crush anymore, boy. You are hurting too deeply for that.
He was not familiar with the sensation people called love. He understood how it could feel, for example with his mother, Jun Kazama… but that was family. It wasn't like this. This was something completely different.
Love… hurts. Get used to it.
What was difficult for him to understand was why it hurt so much when she was not with him. It felt as if something was missing in her absence. Yes, he felt a twinge of jealousy whenever Athane was in Hwoarang's company, but whenever she looked at him with those forest green eyes, everything died. All the pain, all the fear… it all died when he drowned in his staring.
He no longer felt safe unless she was there with him.
She is just like me… but she deserves better than me.
The Japanese boy stood and smiled to himself, looking a little further ahead than his feet.
He walked to the door and rested a hand on it, where hers had just been, I need you with me.
"You can stay here, but only if you promise not to kill me or something!"
"Are you afraid of me, Midget?"
Xiaoyu defiantly shook her head and moved to the side, allowing the taller person in. She watched the small specks of light brown hair fly by hurriedly, the rest of it concealed under the black hoodie. The Chinese youth didn't really know what to say or do. The other person just… barged her way in, basically saying that she'd been sent by Jin.
"Close the door!" came the command.
Her milky white hand slammed the brown door closed, locking it thereafter for safety measures. The normal, angry voice of Razer had a slightly different tint to it. It was a combination of a somewhat feral attitude (that of which she had definitely seen before in Jin), and what was a bad attempt at hiding a gushing teen's feelings, so to say. Brushing her black pigtails away from her face, the 17-year-old looked up, "And why are you hiding here? What's up?"
"The fucking douche Mishima is after me again."
Douche? What's that? The inner mind of Xiaoyu asked.
"They've wired my room."
A small 'oh' followed. The current state of the Greek girl reminded her of a trapped animal. She was scared, and she was definitely afraid to show it. She was making her way around the room, looking at this and that to try and distract herself from whatever thoughts were swarming around in her mind.
"What are you staring at, Xiao?"
She blinked and looked up at the person before her. Behind all the layers of green, she saw some pain. She finally found the courage to speak when she made a realisation, "That's the first time you haven't called me Midget."
"Well, you're my friend. I figured I shouldn't be too mean."
With a small squeal, the smaller girl bounded across to Razer and hugged her, "I knew you cared!"
"Don't get too comfortable," came a mumble. The hug was briefly returned before he walked across the room and looked out the window, keeping a sharp eye out for red hair in case she spotted it bolting across the lane. She then turned back to the table, searched for a pen and paper, and began to write once she found one, "Mishima has wired my room. He's trying to catch me, because he doesn't like me. But anyway, he's going to monitor Hwo and Jin's rooms, so I need a place to hide until the tournament's over. So, you got lucky in the lottery and wound up with me."
"Why is Heihachi after you?"
"Why is Jin fighting in the tournament? Why did you really fight? His reason is confidential in finding me."
"Razer, please. If I'm gonna be covering for you and Jin, the least you could do is tell me why Heihachi is after you. I have a right to know because I'm putting my life at risk to help the pair of you."
She paused and looked back to the Chinese girl, whose fists were clenched at her sides. She chuckled a little, looking at Xiaoyu's determination in an answer. She spoke, "I have something he wants. It's as simple as that."
Ling twitched. Sighing, she turned to face the door, "Want me to nab anything from your room?"
"I'm going to go and check up on Julia to see if she has the map yet. I was also going to find Hwoarang and tell him tha –"
"Don't. Just slip this under his door," Razer held up the note for a bit before placing it in her hand.
BT,
My room is wired.
Yours and JK's will be monitored.
Be careful.
I am okay, I am safe.
- SW
Xiaoyu skimmed it and skimmed it and smiled, looking up, "BT?"
"Blood Talon. Hwo's nickname by our Mentor and the streets."
"JK is Jin Kazama?"
"Well duh."
"SW?"
"Storm Wind. Nickname that Baek gave me too. Never quite figured out what it meant."
"You don't bother writing out your full names?"
"Code, idiot…" she crashed onto the couch and grinned, recalling past times, "We used to pass notes to each other when we were grounded. Baek would make Hwo sit by the back door, and me in the corridor. So he'd find a random piece of paper near the bookshelf, write on it, make a paper airplane, and throw it at me. I'd then pass it back. Good times."
"Baek?"
"Baek Doo San. Tae Kwon Do teacher. Father figure."
"I see."
"He… went missing," she began, staring at the light bulb on the roof, "and the dojang was burnt down with him. That's why we were driven to the streets. We had nowhere to go and no one to help us. Eventually we found others, and we banded together. We found Seong-Hada first, then Nas-San, then Han-Geong, then Roh-Hwang, then Chang-Sun, then Jung-Keu, then Ki-Yer and Mijj-Dala. The latter two are strange… as in I rarely talk to them."
Xiaoyu watched as she continued, "It was hard at first, no one knew what to do… Hwoarang eventually took control and just started telling us what to do, leading us. He found a little abandoned shop in an alleyway, about a block or two away from the dojang itself. We made that our hideout. It's like… boarded off and everything, so to other people, it is what it really was. To us, its home. Eventually we stole more stuff, got more money from the fights. It was enough to survive," she then chuckled and whipped out her cellphone, "This phone's three years old. Seong-Hada stole it from the mall. There's another two of the same model, one for himself and the other for Hwo."
"How do you pay for it?"
"Credit."
"Oh."
She sighed and put it away, "And now, this thing came up. The day after we ran into you and Jin, we found advertisements for the King Of Iron Fist Tournament 3. So we signed up, the broader topic being in hope of finding a new, decent, liveable and honest life… The more personal one is to try and find the person responsible for lighting that fire and killing Baek. It's been three years."
"Maybe it was Ogre."
"What's a Toshin?"
She cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, I meant Ogre."
"Ogre… That's what killed Jin's Mother too, right?"
"Apparently. When Jin was fifteen, Jun was killed, and he came to Heihachi like his Mother asked. Now, four years on, he plans to exact revenge upon the beast. He is afraid of losing anyone else he cares about, or anyone that they care about to the Fighting God…" she leant against the door, resting her hands behind her head, "As in me, Miharu and you. And our friends, like Panda, Julia, Lei, and even Hwoarang. He worries for him too."
"Please tell me you don't believe in fairytales."
"Razer, its true! Jun Kazama was killed by the God Of Fighting! Even ask Heihachi yourself, he sent a whole Tekken Force squad to Mexico to investigate, and they were all killed! All I'm saying is that its possible Mr Doo San may've been found and killed by Ogre…" She looked up to Razer, "Ogre will come to the fighters when they are at their peak in their energy. I'm guessing that means when Paul or Jin fight Heihachi. Jin plans to kill him there and there."
She smirked a little, "It is best you stop believing in fairytales, Xiao."
"What's wrong with having a little faith?"
The other girl's voice left her for a moment, silent and in pain, "Because…"
"Because why?"
"Because faith is easily lost. When you have suffered for so long, you don't believe in fairytales anymore. You have no faith. All the stories when you heart when you were a kid… were just an illusion meant to mask pain. There is nothing to believe in any longer."
Ling stared, her mouth slightly open. It was as though the other person was speaking from a higher perspective – like that's what she'd learnt in her short life so far.
The taller girl stood, knocking her knee against the dark brown coffee table. Her eyes furrowed and she grit her teeth, "Shibal…"
"Isn't that 'fuck' in Korean?"
"Yeah," she sat back down and gave up doing anything, "Don't wanna remember what it is in Greek."
Her eyes… seem so lifeless, she thought to herself.
Yet when he was around – Hwoarang in particular – they were alive.
"Well, it's clear that some bad things have gone on in your life. I'm really sorry for what happened to Mr Doo San, and to you and your other friends. I hope everything gets better after the tournament. You never know, you might get prize money for getting so high in the tournament – both of you, even though you lost! I'm just gonna…" she turned and began to leave, "I'm just gonna leave and see if Julia's ready, a-and I'll slide this under the door for you, and grab some stuff."
"Thank you."
Xiaoyu backed out of the room quickly, closing the door behind her and locking it with her room key. She stared straight ahead of her, looking at nothing but bland, white walls before her. All she could remember was how seemingly lifeless those eyes had been. Lifeless and empty.
Her friend almost had no will to live, because she'd been battered by life for so long. And to think that she was only two years older than her.
