"Nipki! Nipkiiieeeee!" The older gruff man called out into the foggy woods.
"Junto hush now, if you call a kitten like that you'll only drive it further from you." He heard his wife say from somewhere nearby. Junto softened his voice to his best ability.
"Nipki…here kitten!" he said. Junto loved his wife of nearly forty-five years dearly, but sometimes her passion for cats drove him nuts. Especially with this kitten which had run off before. It came back on its own, but Ludan thought she had heard noises in the woods, so they had gone to look for the rogue kitty. He had a mind to put his foot down and say no to this search. The woods aren't safe like they were in the old days. Recently unsavory characters had come around this way, using these woods to conduct their business in. Even if it was their property, Junto didn't trust being this far out on it at night. Junto raised his flashlight up to look for his wife, but even the high beam couldn't seem to cut through the fog. Junto didn't like how this felt.
"Ludan, honey, this is far enough. I'm going to find you then were going back to the house!" he yelled into the woods. Where the land sloped up the man knew it lead up to Dove's hill. Ever since the hilltop house burned down, leaving no remains of the single mother and her son that inhabited it, not many had gone up there. The spontaneity with which it happened just didn't seem right. There were definitely dark secrets there, but Junto had no intention of exploring them that night.
"Ludan!" he called again.
"Alright dear I've given up! I'm on the pathway." She called back to her husband who was apparently still somewhere deeper in the woods.
"Honey, don't you worry, just stay there I'm coming out now." He said. Ludan giggled at how self-important her husband was.
"Please hurry dear," she said playfully, "I don't think I could move another inch without you here to protect me!"
"Ludan…Ahhhh!" she heard her husband yell. The woman immediately started to run to where she heard her husband's scream come.
"Junto!" she rushed through the forest, wildly waving off branches that tried to cling to her.
"Junto! Are you alright?" she came upon her husband on the ground shaking.
"Look…over there…" he pointed his flashlight into the bushes to reveal the body of a woman. The body was bruised and naked, haphazardly entangled in the bush. Somebody must have dropped her there and had most certainly left her for dead.
"Is…is she alive?" Junto asked?
"I'll go over and check." Said Ludan. She knelt down, lifted up the lifeless head of the body and put her fingers to a vein on the neck.
"There's still has a pulse, we should get her to a hospital while there's still time." She said to her husband.
"You want me to pick her up?" Said Junto as he stood up dusting himself off.
"Well you don't expect me to pick her up silly! Come now, who wears the pants in this family!" Ludan nudged her husband. He carefully lifted the woman's body out of the shrub, trying not to get her scratched her more than she already was. The couple then headed back to the house.
When they had gotten to the hospital the doctor had said the woman had been beaten into a coma. They had no idea when or if she was going to come out of it at all. Ludan sighed heavily upon hearing this. She looked into the room where they had set the mystery woman to rest, after dressing her wounds and bathing her. Ludan looked back over at her husband who was sitting in a chair outside the hallway, his head down. She could understand how her husband was so shaken up by this. They had three daughters of their own, one of which could very well have been that woman, had the couple not taken such great care to give their daughters a stable, loving upbringing with good education. Ludan could even say that the unconscious woman had a resemblance to one of their daughters. But even more of a resemblance did she have to the young, single mother that lived on top of Dove's hill…
By the position of the sun in the sky, Jin could tell it was late afternoon. Jin must have slept the entire day but still he was tired. He dreamt of his mother, he dreamt of the god of fight that had taken his mother's life. He'd dreamt that the ogre had taken another form. It was as if the very hilltop that he used to live on was calling him…
He sighed, not even in sleep could he find peace. But he didn't feel like contemplating his disturbing dreams, not when there was so much he had to find out.
He threw the sheets off his body and pushed up off the bed, putting on a white robe and slippers that had been giving to him by one of the temple assistants. A strange and hidden place this temple was. Well protected too. He could see ninja's dressed in black lurking in the corners, they weren't intrusive, but it was hard not to be at least aware of their presence. Jin walked out side. It was a beautiful afternoon, warm and sunny, but Jin still felt dark. He walked about the gardens going no where in particular until he spotted Xiayou resting on the edge of a bridge, her feet dangling idly over the stream below where beautiful carp fish swam around. She had her hair down, her simple baby blue sundress varied greatly from the traditional outfit she was wearing the other day. She must have gotten so tired of Hwoarang teasing her about it that she just changed. She looked up at Jin who was standing next to her.
"Afternoon sleepy head. Don't you look relaxed?"
Jin sat down next to her,
"I wish I was as you say I look." He said. Xiayou giggled.
"Well you should. Relax a little, for now at least. It doesn't do you any good to be all wound up all the time." Said Xiayou.
"What was it you said this morning about an old man Wang wanting to see me?"
"Oh, he's called Master Wang really, but Hwoarang has even me calling him old man Wang now. That Hwoarang, no reverence for anything! I swear he acts like life's some type of big joke, he's so juvenile!"
"He may have something in common with you then."
"What?"
"Were you not the one who entered the tournament to win money to build an amusement park?"
Xaiyou blushed,
"Pardon me but a theme park and haven for pandas is a very noble cause to enter a tournament!" she squealed, "I mean it's better than all those people entering for hateful reasons, like to get revenge on someone or to kill someone." Jin frowned, but he found himself examining the truth in her words.
"The fish bitin'?" said Hwoarang as he walked up to the two sitting on the bridge.
"Finally Ling, you shed the draperies and put on some normal clothing." Xiayou stood up facing Hwoarang.
"For your information I was wearing the traditional dress of Japan- a KIMONO, something a red haired Korean like yourself wouldn't know anything about!"
"Watch it girly, talking bout my heritage and all." Said Hwoarang playfully getting into a fighting stance. Xiayou continued, "And I changed because baby blue is my color, not because of anything you said!" and with a huff she pushed past Hwoarang and walked off. The two watched her exit.
"Anyways," said Hwoarang, "Old man Wang is up and running if you want to see him. Enter the main building there, walk, you should see some fancy double doors to your left that's where he usually stays."
Jin walked through the serene corridor of the candle lit temple, which was beautifully decorated in an oriental style. But as he neared the chamber that he presumed to be Master Wang's, he could hear voices that sounded a little less than serene.
"I'm sorry Master Wang but he can't remain here. He compromises the security of every living person here."
"Damn your security! Can't you see that if we don't protect him now we may lose anything left to secure! He's our last hope against evil!"
"Master Wang, has it not occurred to you that he could very well be one of the evils we have worked so hard to protect ourselves from? I may not be as old and wise as you think yourself to be, but I am very wise in the ways of the supernatural, and I can tell when someone is no longer human, and there something about that boy-"
A temple attendant interrupted his eaves dropping.
"Master Wang will be able to see you in a short moment if you'd like to wait over here." Said the bald man in forest-green robes.
"Oh, right," said Jin, "If you don't mind me asking," said Jin to the attendant, "What exactly is this place?"
"Originally," the man said, "This was an old temple site, but about seven-teen years ago it was refurbished as a refuge from those with strong life energy wishing to hide from the destructive power of the ogre. Usually even two fighters grouped together would double the chance of an ogre attack, but monks pray day and night concentrating the peaceful aura of this holy site into a shield against evil. And the ogre has never found us. Tell me, there was a report that the ogre was defeated at the Tekken tournament. You were there weren't you? Were you the one to put the ogre to rest?"
"Well," said Jin, "I fought the ogre, but I had some help from another fighter."
"The red headed boy?"
"Not exactly…"
"Ah, I suspected so, though he was the winner of all that prize money something told me he wasn't the true earner."
"The winner of the contest is the winner of the prize, by default Hwoarang won against me in the final battle. Defeating the ogre wasn't in the contest; in fact the whole contest was merely staged to attract the ogre to us that I may fight it and take my revenge upon it for-." At that moment Master Wang's company opened the door and walked out.
"You may see Wang," the monk said to Jin.
"Master Wang?" Jin slowly opened the door.
"Yes, yes, step in Jin." Said an aged voice. Jin stepped inside, softly shutting the door behind him. He bowed his head towards the old man. Wang's body was feeble, but in his eyes Jin saw a youth and vigor like no other.
"Master Wang?"
"Come in, make yourself comfy. Pour yourself some tea." Jin did as he was told, lifting the small but heavy iron teakettle and carefully pouring tea into two cups set on a tray. Neither of them reached for the tea after it was poured though.
"You look so much like your mother, and your father too," said Wang, "but I suppose you've heard that many times before."
"Only once or twice."
"Really? I'm sure you are tired of hearing it none the less. Do you know much about your father?"
"Only that he was an evil man."
"Ah," said the aged man, "You've heard some. But perhaps with a little background information, you can come to understand that the situation is a lot more complicated that one evil man versus the world."
Jin was pretty sure he had an idea of just how complicated this whole situation was but he simply nodded listening to the wise man speak of his knowledge on the situation. Jin sat and he listened, he really listened. Jin heard of the original split between the father and son, how Kazuya came to take back the conglomerate and had done more evil with it than even his father had. Jin heard of how his mother had tried to relieve Kazuya of his evil powers, and ended up having to fight the devil himself to protect her unborn child. Jin tried his best to not cloud his mind with emotions or opinions of any kind while he listened, but they were catching up with him as Wang neared the finish of his story. As the old man finished he could see the disturbed look on Jin's face, he could only imagine what an extreme shock it must be to hear it all for the first time. The old man offered more words, though he wasn't sure if they would be of any comfort.
"There was a time when Kazuya was more misled than he was evil. But what he is now, I'm not even sure." Said Wang.
"Well he's dead now." Said Jin.
Wang shook his head slowly from side to side.
"Word is now, that Kazuya is back in Japan. Most likely to take back the Mishima empire from his father."
"He's back from the dead?" said Jin in surprise.
"I have a feeling that Kazuya never really died, though I can't vouch that he is truly alive either. I knew him when he was very little. He was a very bright boy, very spirited. Had he been given proper guidance, there's no telling what kind of things he could have done, good things, to make the world a better place. Hehachi wasn't able to give that kind care to his son."
"So he threw him off a cliff?" said Jin bitterly. Wang took note of the upset in the young man's voice.
"And I wouldn't have believed it myself, only now that Hehachi's men had pumped me full of bullets."
The old man raised his eyebrow as Jin continued,
"And Hehachi himself, with a silver handgun put a bullet directly between my eyes, yet I'm still walking around! Only I don't recall selling my soul to the devil to get back at Hehachi. What, does my father's contract cover me too?" said Jin.
"Calm yourself young man. I'm sorry to inform you that I can't tell you the exact technicalities that led you to be this way, but I can tell you that it is Kazuya's hatred for Hehachi has turned him into the evil he is today."
"Meaning?"
"You must see, that no matter what you are, at this point you still are in your right mind! Being able to realize the abnormality of the situation shows you are not yet evil in thought or at heart. And you can stop hatred from taking you over completely."
"I may be 'nornal' now but sometimes I…change." Said Jin, "And with Hehachi being after me and all, I really can't afford to lose myself now."
The old man nodded his head.
"It is true you are in a great deal of danger. Kazuya's appearance though may bide you the distraction you need to make a move in your benefit. Until you do think of your next move you are welcome to stay here and rest a bit."