Chapter Fourteen: Letters and Heroism (Jin's POV)
Author's Note: Where was Liz? At my grandmother's, and at my friend's house…doing what 18 year olds do…being a teenager! WOOHOO! LOL! Ok, I'm going to take this opportunity to thank my reviewers.
Kukkaistytot: Thanks a lot for all your feedback. I appreciate it a lot, and you seem to be really enjoying the story.
Anonymous person: Thanks, LOL. Keep reading, maybe they will.
Boo and Shmoo: Without you guys, I'd merely be a lost writer in the crowd. You guys always read what I write, no matter how much it sucks. BFFE, guys!
Soleil: Thanks, I appreciate that a lot.
Thanks to all of you! And on with Chapter Fourteen!
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Seeing Calleigh at the gate to the tournament was awkward. It multiplied the feelings that already existed by about two thousand. So, I decided to train for a bit, then go back to my hotel room before the tournament began, to avoid seeing her again. I walked into the room, and threw my gym bag onto the bed.
I was staying at the worst hotel in New York City, and frankly, it sucked. I walked over to the TV, and turned it on, to see if there was anything interesting on the 'premium movie channels.' Unfortunately, this hotel's idea of premium movie channels were channels that only played stuff from the fifties and sixties. I reached into my gym bag and pulled out my pants to be washed. But, as soon as they left the bag, an envelope fell out onto the bed. Written in the center, in beautiful handwriting, in purple gel ink was 'For: Jin Kazama. Please read A.S.A.P.,' and in the bottom corner, it said 'From: Calleigh.' I blinked a couple times to be sure I wasn't imagining it all, then finding that I wasn't, opened the envelope.
In that same beautiful handwriting, the following words were written:
Jin,
I don't even know where to begin. First of all, I am so sorry about running off like that. It killed me to do it, but I was just so scared. I had no idea what to do. I thought of you like the perfect man, and then all of a sudden, I hear news like that? You have to understand why I took it so harshly. You do, don't you? I know you do, because you're the most caring and understanding man I've ever met. The second I realized what I had done that day, I just wanted to take it all back, and go and talk things through with you. You're the best friend I have ever had, and I would do anything to go back in time and change everything that happened that day. I know that if I could, we would still be friends today, and closer than ever.
As I read, tears came to my eyes, because everything she was saying was exactly how I felt, too. I flipped the page over and continued reading…
It's three a.m., and I've been through six or seven drafts of that first paragraph already (that either means I'm a terrible writer, or I'm really serious about this. I'll hope for the latter). But, I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I have this written, and I convince myself that I should give it to you. That lengthens the time that the situation will take…by a lot. Christie and Eddy are at the door, telling me to go to bed, because my light is keeping them from sleep, but I don't care. It's not like they sleep, anyway. Plus, I need to get everything out. I just wish you hadn't hid this from me, Jin. I really do care so much about you. I think we need to talk…if you see this before then, I think we need to talk after the last bout tomorrow. Meet me outside the practice arena then, ok?
Calleigh
All I had to do was say the right things when we talked, and everything would be back to normal. But what if we'd lost too much time as friends to ever trust each other again? I'd always trust her, because Calleigh could never change that drastically. Either way, I still had to wait for tomorrow. Waiting…something I'd never been good at.
I lay down on the bed, and took the letter out again. It had taken her until three in the morning to write two pages? I laughed a little, and refolded the letter, gently placing it back into the envelope.
This room was dreary. Very dreary, and the paint on the walls was cracked. Then there was that annoying ticking of the radiator. Any normal person would have been able to handle it, but I'm definitely not a normal person. I glared angrily at the radiator, and grabbed my jacket. "I need a walk anyway…" I told myself, leaving the room, still glaring at the radiator out of the corner of my eye.
New York City at night…not a very joyous place to be. I heard the sound of sirens around every corner, and a bunch of alleys, which I dared not enter. Sure, I'd met Calleigh in an alley, but these alleys seemed a lot less welcoming. Angry voices and breaking beer bottles resounded from each one. Every time I came close to one, I rushed a little more, and ran past it. Until I came to one particular one. I heard a very familiar voice coming from the dark.
"I told you, damn it! I don't have any more money!" Calleigh yelled at about five men, who were closing in on her. "I'm warning you…leave me the hell alone!"
I crept into the alley, to see her going into tae kwon do fighting stance. Slowly and quietly, I prowled behind a pile of boxes, ready to attack of any of them so much as laid a finger on Calleigh's beautiful blonde hair. I wondered slightly if it was my destiny to come out here tonight. Maybe this was where Calleigh and I would reconcile. Maybe if I saved her life, she would see that I'm not a bad person, and not be afraid of me anymore.
One of the men laughed, nearly uncontrollably. "You think we're scared of your little girly slaps and kicks? Please…there are five of us, and only one of you!" he chuckled, then threw a punch at Calleigh, only to have her grab his hand and throw him, head over heels, backward.
"Leave me the hell alone! I'm a tae kwon do, hakke-sho and hakkyoku-ken champion!" she went back into stance, and popped her knuckles.
In about a half second, two of the guys headed toward her to attack her, but just before they reached her, I knocked the boxes over. "Leave her alone!" I yelled, pulling them away from her and standing in front of her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she whispered to me, seeming quasi-grateful in her tone. "I mean…that didn't come out right…I'm glad you're here, but how did you know I was here?"
I turned my head slightly, and said, "Instinct…plus, I was just going for a walk, and walked by this alley. I recognized your voice," I explained, turning my glance back at her attackers.
"Oh, that makes sense…" she grinned slightly, peering over my shoulder to see what the men were doing now. Now, each of them was giving me an increasingly blank stare. It looked almost like the evolutionary chain of the blank stupid stare. Level one, clueless. Level two, stupidity. Level three, obliviousness. Level four, complete and utter blindness, and level five, the huge bubble of hot air.
"Who the hell are you?" one of them asked me. It was clear to both Calleigh and I that they were all off their gourd, drunk. "And what the hell are you doing here, protecting little miss…person…here?"
"I'm an…acquaintance…of hers, and it's really none of your damn business either way!" I explained, going into stance, and glaring angrily at each of them. I could have sworn I heard Calleigh sigh when I said acquaintance. It hurt me to say it, too, but I didn't know if we were friends or not yet. "What did she do to you to make you in get her face like this?" Secretly, I knew she'd done nothing, but I wanted to hear the lame excuse they'd come up with.
"Well, uh…nothing, really…we just thought maybe she'd have money, and we wanted to maybe get a little action!" the leader grinned at me, hoping I was on the same wavelength as they were.
"Oh, you see…that, my man, was a mistake!" the anger in my glare increased about tenfold, as I pulled back my fist, and hit him in the face as hard as I could. "Why would you want to harm someone as innocent as my friend here?" I glanced back at Calleigh, who was now grinning again.
Within another two seconds, the other four men were attacking me, leaving me no choice but to fight back. After being hit in the face three times, I gave them each a swift punch, and they were all running away for mercy. Calleigh walked around me, and looked at my face. A little spot of blood on my lip, and on my forehead…basically nothing. But not to her. She ripped a little of her sleeve off of her extra-long sleeved shirt, and wiped away a little of the blood on each cut. "You didn't have to do that, you know?" she asked, moving some of my hair from my eyes.
"Yes I did…" I nodded, pushing her hand from my face. "But, must you do that?" I asked, shrugging slightly. "They're only tiny cuts…"
She ignored my brush off, and put her hand back up to my face. "Yes, I must…" she nodded, still wiping more blood away, as we walked out of the alley. We were in for a long night. Long, and full of talking…