"Disappointed?" Jin asked once the door was shut securely behind him, "Oh, I get it. You're just trying to piss me off again, aren't you? Yeah, I'm such a big disappointment, cry me a river."

Hwoarang peeled off the olive green coat he was wearing, throwing it onto the back of a nearby chair. He shook his head with a tired sigh. "Jin, more talking. Less angst."

He pulled out a chair for himself and sat down, pushing out another chair with his foot for Jin. The small table that separated them didn't seem like room enough, but it would suffice. Any kind of barrier between him and the demon-boy was better than no barrier at all.

Jin sat down across from Hwoarang, slowly unzipping his coat as he began speaking. "I don't know where to start, really. This isn't something you just sit down and talk about over tea with a friend."

Something amused Hwoarang, because he grinned, "Well, we're not drinking tea and I'm not your friend, so why don't you just start at the beginning?"

"The beginning," Jin nodded, "Ok." He took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"My mother, Jun, participated in the second Iron Fist Tournament, where she met my father, Kazuya Mishima. Kazuya was Heihachi Mishima's son, who usurped the Mishima Zaibatsu from him after the first Iron Fist Tournament."

"Boy, how could anyone fall in love with a Mishima?" Hwoarang smirked, resting his chin in his hand. His smirk slowly faded when he noticed Jin wasn't paying any attention to him. His gaze was fixed on the table.

"My mother never liked to talk about my father, but when I got older, she became more open and honest with me. Eventually, she told me that my father had been …possessed by a demon. There was good in his heart somewhere, she said. My mother," Jin laughed quietly, "she loved everything. So she loved my father. I don't know if he loved her back. It doesn't matter now."

"So, what happened to your father?"

Jin was still watching the table; "He was murdered."

"What? How? By who?"

"My grandfather, Heihachi. Threw him into a volcano."

Hwoarang simply blinked in disbelief. "He what?"

"He probably thought he was ridding the world of some great evil. In some way, he was right. Kazuya was a devil. Some little treat he passed on to me."

"But you had said your father was possessed by a devil. How do you get possessed? Are you possessed?"

Jin shook his head. "No. When Kazuya was a child, his father threw him off a cliff. Said that if he were strong, he would survive and climb back up. Kazuya lived, but barely. He let the devil possess him at his weakest point, at the brink of death. The devil gave him strength to climb back up."

"Good god, that's fucked up."

"You're telling me. So Kazuya grew up. With the help of the devil, grew more powerful than his father, and delivered some poetic justice. Threw him off a cliff for revenge."

"Let me get this straight," Hwoarang tapped his finger on the table, "Heihachi throws Kazuya off a cliff. Kazuya throws Heihachi off a cliff. You mom likes dysfunctional families. Falls in love with your father for some odd reason, then Heihachi throws Kazuya into a volcano. You're born. So, what happened to you? If you're not possessed, then what?"

"Fast forward to four years ago. Things are fine, I'm living with my mother, and I'm 17 years old. Life seems normal. My mother gets a feeling that something is coming for her, and tells me to go to my grandfather. Surprisingly, the last place I wanted to go was to that psychotic old man who killed my father. So I stick around to watch my mother die."

"Ogre."

"Right. I tried to fight him, but I couldn't. He was too powerful … knocked me out cold. I woke up to the smoldering remains of my home. He gave me this," Jin pulled off his jacket and exposed the markings on his left arm.

"Ogre gave you a tattoo?"

"A brand, a marking … something. Maybe it was a reminder. My thinking is this; the devil is the only being strong enough to kill Ogre. Since he could sense it inside of me, he marked me with this brand. A big warning sign."

"So you ended up defeating Ogre."

"Actually, I was one of two people who bested Ogre. Paul Phoenix almost defeated Ogre, but left before Ogre turned into his real form: True Ogre. I defeated them both. So, in all technicality, I was the King of the Third Iron Fist tournament."

Hwoarang's eyebrows furrowed, "So why aren't you some rich bastard, driving expensive cars and throwing people off cliffs?"

"After I defeated True Ogre, I remember watching the Tekkenshu come through the doors of the temple. I didn't know what they were doing, so I thought they were there for backup, just in case True Ogre killed me. Didn't make any sense at the time. What really didn't make sense was when they opened fire on me…"

"They SHOT you?"

"Uh, yeah. So I was on the ground, and I saw my grandfather. He was last thing I had in the world, and he took care of me for two years, so I thought he was there to help me. Maybe there was some mistake. I reached out to him … and he shot me in the head. One shot. Point blank."

"I don't believe you."

"Listen. It hurt, but it didn't kill me. It was his betrayal that finally caused the devil within me to awaken. All the hate, all the anger in me welled up at that one point. The devil did the same for me as it did for my father. There was nothing else I could do but let it take control. I watched as it disabled the Tekkenshu guards around me. I watched as it forced Heihachi through the stone wall of the temple. But I couldn't let it kill my grandfather. All the control I had left went to just … flying away."

"Even after he shot you in the head, you couldn't kill him? Why the hell not?" Hwoarang banged his fist against the table to emphasize his point.

"Because I don't kill people. I, Jin Kazama, do not kill people."

"Alright," the Korean nodded, "I think I got it now. But, why are you here? Revenge? Don't you know you'll never be any better than Heihachi if you're just out to kill him? You're just going to let this continue until, what, your son throws you off a cliff?"

Jin hung his head. "My father is alive."

"What? You said he got thrown into a volcano!"

"I can't let this continue!" Jin cried, looking up at Hwoarang for the first time in the entire conversation. He balled his hands into fists and slammed them onto the table. "Heihachi is evil! He might not be a devil, but he is an evil man with an evil heart! Kazuya is a devil! This is what my mother would have wanted! All she wanted to do was rid my father of his evil by showing him that he didn't need the devil's power to make him happy! I…" he choked on his own words, tears rolling down his cheeks, "I have to stop it. I don't have a choice," Jin whispered.

"Damn it, Jin, you do have a choice. Heihachi's seriously fucked up in the head. If you don't beat him, someone will. Someone will take over the Zaibatsu, and things will get better."

Jin laughed sharply, startling Hwoarang. "Who will win, you? No, I have to win. I have to kill Heihachi and Kazuya."

"Jin Kazama doesn't kill people."

Silence hung in the air. The two men stared at each other, saying nothing. This was one fight Hwoarang was hell bent not to lose. He would stare Jin into the ground if he had to. The Japanese man stared right back, more in shock then defiance.

"I don't kill people," Jin whispered, "I don't…kill people. Heihachi and Kazuya … aren't people!"

He stood up so sharply; he knocked the chair he was sitting in on its back and across the floor. "This is how it has to be, Hwoarang!" Jin pointed an accusing finger at the Korean, who was standing up slowly. "I'm not doing this for the Zaibatsu, but for the good of the world! After I'm done, there will be no more evil, no more hate, no more Mishimas!"

"Just because you kept you mother's last name doesn't mean you're not a Mishima, Jin! Listen to yourself!" Hwoarang was standing carefully, legs angled just slightly back into a ready stance. "You're out to kill your father, who never did anything to you! And what if you do kill them both? There's still one last bit of evil left in the world, and it's in you!"

Jin snatched his coat and shook it violently at Hwoarang. "I said there will be no more Mishimas. That includes me." He turned on a heel and went for the door, pausing for only a moment to grab a duffel bag.

"I'll stop you."

The raven-haired youth glanced back at the redhead, shaking his head slightly. "No, you won't."

Jin opened the door and stepped out, leaving Hwoarang alone in his room.