Chapter 10:

Going Public

The hallway was quiet and strangely silent as Denise and Lei made their way to the cold metal grave that now had a new occupant at the time being. A few of Lei's collogues and Denise followed him down the corridor. Lei approached the metal door. He took a deep breath and opened the door letting light shine through. The body sat against the bottom of the wall, just opposite of the door, so as soon as they opened it, they saw it. It sat, left leg propped up and left arm hanging over it, right leg lying straight and the right arm limply hanging, head hanging to where they couldn't see the face. Blood stains covered the clothes hat were torn and ripped, right arm covered in glittering blood as it trickled down onto the floor, creating a small puddle. Denise and Lei hung their heads and looked back up at what was once Kazi.

"Heh heh..... heh...." They both took a step away from the body. It's shoulders started to shake up and down as Kazi raised her head, laughing in a dangerously low tone. Her lip was busted and bleeding, her left eye barely open, and jagged cuts streamed her face. Her mouth curved into the infamous grin.

"THE HELL-" Lei couldn't even finish, Kazi just grinned, and Denise looked horrified.

"I've been waiting...." She opened her eye all the way to show the blood sinking over the original amber brown color, making the whole eye red. Kazi jumped and attacked Lei. She got a few hits before Lei pulled the gun on her and shot her in the arm. Kazi screamed, jumped back, and grit her teeth.

"Denise." Lei said, "Code Red Eighty-Two." Denise's eyes widened, and she shook her head leaving the room to give the orders. Lei left the room and locked the metal door. Kazi slumped back down to the floor against the wall. She touched the place where her locket used to be hanging around her neck.

"Hwoanchan......" Kazi said regretfully, "I'm so sorry..... Forgive me....." She nearly broke down in tears but held them back, as she always did.

……………….. Three Days Later …………………

Hwoarang stood in the giant crowd in downtown Tokyo. He spotted a man dressed in blue jeans and golden flames. 'Kazama, you bastard. You got her into this and now she's getting a public beating. I'll have my revenge. For her. Asswipe.' Hwoarang thought. There was a partially large stage in the middle of the crowd and was surrounded by cops and cop cars. A muscular man who would probably weigh at about three hundred pounds was holding a large stalk of mature dried bamboo that was reinforced with a thin breakable pole of metal inside. He stood for about half an hour and finally caught a glimpse of Kazi. Lei pushed her along, with her hands cuffed behind her back. He finally got up there; uncuffed her, and threw her to the ground.

"Kaziya....." He whispered. He started to feel her presence within him again just as when they were children. He felt only a portion of the girl's pain. The crowd of people shouted and screamed for her demise. Cameras and news broad casters stood close to the stage. The man rushed at her with amazing speed and hit her in the head as she tried to duck.

Kazi lay on the ground. It had been nearly an hour since they had started. Everyone believed she was dead. But Kazi wouldn't give up. 'Not... Just... Yet.....' She thought. She felt weak. She summoned all of the strength she could and stood up on her own two feet. Her gray jacket was lying a few feet away. The man went to hit her again from above. Kazi caught it in both of her hands. He pushed her back. It was a battle of pure strength. He pushed her back a few inches. Kazi felt something snap. She stopped sliding and began to push him back with the strength she didn't know she had. She took step after step amazing and confounding the audience as it went silent. The man was truly using all of his strength but with no avail. Kazi couldn't let him win. She wouldn't, not as long as her soul stirred. She seemingly yanked the pole from him and looked at it for a moment. She suddenly brought it down over her knee and snapped it in half. The audience gasped. Hwoarang tore his eyes away only for a second to see Jin's face. The expression he wore was a surprised pleased look, much like interest although Hwoarang was so mixed up in his thoughts that he didn't see that.

Kazi hit the large man with a combo of furious kicks and suddenly grabbed his arm. Hwoarang's eyes widened. She took the man's knee out and lifted her foot up onto his cheek. She straightened her leg and a sickening sound of the man's broken neck filled the area. She dropped him to the ground, looking down at him with no remorse. She turned her head and faced the 'booing audience. Her lips formed the words: Fuck you, and she held out her middle finger, grinning again. That's when she darted and hopped the cop cars. They all shot at her, but surprisingly she didn't get hit once. Hwoarang tried to follow but got caught in the crowd. He suddenly saw Denise standing in the middle of the road and didn't see the car heading straight towards her. Kazi ran out and pushed Denise out of the car's way but ended up getting hit instead. Hwoarang screamed but was only heard by the one person he'd thought would never care..... Jin Kazama. Jin turned around to see Hwoarang with his mouth opened wide and his hand stretched out between the cramped crowds, out towards Kazi. Jin could hear Hwoarang's fearful screams and knew that no one else could hear him. Jin ran off to help Kazi.

Kazi rolled over the top of the car and landed on her stomach. She had a piercing pain in her side. She bravely ignored it and pulled herself off of the ground, running in the opposite direction as fast as her legs would take her. Jin saw her run and turned the other way to find Hwoarang. It didn't take long at all; he could still hear Hwoarang's persistent screams to get to his sister as he pushed as hard as he could through the packed crowd. Jin scribbled something on a piece of paper and rushed by Hwoarang, slipping it in Hwoarang's pocket and taking Kazi's jacket with him. Hwoarang felt this and turned to see Jin running off. Hwoarang slipped into a nearby alley and ripped open the note...........