SURRENDER by Tina


A Note from Tina: Wow, I'm working fast here, four parts to this story in three days! Yay! Anyway, just as a note to all who happen to read my story, I know pretty much little to nothing about modern Japanese culture. You'll notice that so far my story is taking place in Tokyo, and—well, just don't be surprised if it comes out sounding more like an America-Tokyo, if you know what I mean. Also, I'm uploading two chapters at once. Those who read my story, I'm sorry; I have a college course program I'm going to be attending for the next three weeks, and it'll be a long wait before I can update more.

2.0 – His Return

Jin ran forward and wrapped a large, thick hand around Xiao's mouth, silencing her before she could finish her cry. He whirled her around and pulled her firmly against him, sliding an arm around her waist to keep her from flailing and struggling to get away. He watched her small face pale, noticed the dark streaks of what he was guessing was mud on her cheeks, her dark eyes, bleary and blood-shot, widen in fright, her smooth lips quiver under his palm.

"If I let go, will you promise not to scream?" he whispered into her ear, leaning down close so that his breath tickled her skin. He felt her damp hair against his cheek, smelled the dirt and filth.

She nodded her head vigorously, her hands grabbing at his wrist.

Jin released her, slowly, steadily, making no quick movements. He'd known Xiao would be startled to find him here. Under different circumstances, he'd have waited outside her apartment before she got home. He hadn't liked the idea of jumping her in the safety of her own personal abode, but he couldn't risk staying out in the open for too long. Not that it would have mattered, he added silently, she'd still have freaked out, anyway.

Her hair was a mess, wild and wet and falling in black tangles past her slender shoulders. "Jin?" she blinked. Once, twice, four times, as though she weren't sure if she was seeing him clearly.

"Xiao," he said. He didn't know what else to say.

She hadn't changed much over the years, really. Her looks had just matured. Gone were the playful pigtails and vibrantly colored dresses. Now she wore her black tresses long, at least halfway down her back, and she wore more conservative clothing—a silk blouse that would be off-white if it weren't soiled in a dirty gray color and a pair of black loose fitting jeans. She was still the same size, same shape, that he remembered. She still had the same cute, little face, only a bit thinner, he noted, with its deep brown eyes—though older and more tired looking than he recalled—straight pert nose and soft cheeks.

"Oh, my God," she gasped. She stepped closer to him, raised a hand to touch the side of his face. "Jin, is it really you?"

Jin nodded.

"But—why? How? You…you're supposed to be…"

He was tempted to finish the statement for her, but for some reason he felt that that would only upset her more.

She covered her mouth with her hands. "After all these years… I thought you were… But the papers said… You never even…" Her voice was extremely muffled and he couldn't make out everything she said.

Suddenly she dropped her hands. He saw anger and rage written on her face and she looked like she was about to lunge at him. He'd expected her next action. Hell, he'd even counted on it. She slapped him hard across the face.

"How dare you," she hissed, her eyes glaring daggers at him. "Don't you ever scare the shit out of me like that again."

Jin said nothing. He felt the sting of her slap against his right cheek. He hadn't stopped her because he figured he deserved it after what he'd put her through after all these years.

Xiao had quicker mood swings than he'd ever seen. One minute she looked ready to kill him, the next she looked like she was about to throw up. "I-I need t-to sit down," she said shakily.

Jin remained where he was as Xiao walked over to a sofa in the living room and sat down. He watched her lean forward on the cushions, propping her elbows on her bent knees and resting her head in her hands. For a while she said nothing, and Jin took that as an opportunity to think of what to say next.

He knew she'd have a lot of questions, most of which he wouldn't be able to answer. He looked over at the pile of mechanical devices resting on her kitchen counter. Perhaps he should start off by telling her about those. The first thing he'd done when he broke into her apartment was check it over for bugging units—cameras, microphones and such. He'd found two microphones placed in her telephones, one in the kitchen and one in her bedroom, and there'd been one camera placed in the entry way, scanning a good part of her kitchen, living and dining room.

Before he could bring the matter up, however, Xiao lifted her head and gazed up at him, a serious expression painted on her face, her eyes searching his. "I don't know what to say to you," she said honestly.

"You don't have to say anything," he said. "Listen to me, Xiao." She winced at hearing him say her name, realized it shook her to hear it after not having done so for several years. "I need—"

"You're supposed to be…dead," she interrupted him. Her eyes bore into his, but he had a feeling she wasn't really seeing him. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts. "I-I read it in the newspapers. Y-you died in a car accident going around a bend in the highway—your car crashed into the sea…" She looked to him for some verbal confirmation, but he wouldn't give. She had enough evidence to the contrary standing before her. "How can you possibly be alive?

"I attended your funeral, damn it!" she exclaimed suddenly, slamming a fist into her knee. "I watched them put your casket in the ground. There's…there's just no way—"

Jin hadn't known about the funeral. That was no doubt Heihachi's doing. Even if he didn't believe the papers, he'd have to give some show of mourning and compassion for the public's eye. After Jin's triumph over his grandfather in the last tournament, word had some how gotten out about Heihachi's illegal top secret experiments, practically abolishing any good image he had manifested for himself. What those experiments were was still unknown, as it'd undoubtedly been decided that it was too disturbing for the public to handle. Only those who'd been involved in the experiments and Heihachi's true, loyal followers still offered him support. He was still a successful international businessman, regardless, but now he was looked down upon by the majority of Japan.

"Lies," he said without any emotion. "All lies."

Xiao blanched. "Lies? How can they be lies? They found your car, it was completely destroyed," she was rambling now. "The police said there was no chance of survival."

"Fake," he said simply.

"But—"

"There was no body, Xiao. No body, meaning no death."

"But they said you'd drifted out to—" Revelation dawned on her and she gasped.

"I did it. It was all me. It wasn't real."

He could watch the scenario he'd given her play out in her mind's eye. "You? But why? I mean—how could you pull that off?"

Jin sighed heavily. This was going to be more difficult than he thought.

Xiao jumped from the sofa. She fast walked into the kitchen and went for the sink. Grabbing herself a glass out of one of the cabinets, she poured herself some water. She gulped it down hastily in big, loud gulps, water dribbling down her chin and neck. When she finished she slammed the glass down on the counter. It was then that she noticed the bugging units.

"What are those?" she asked.

"I found those in your apartment," he told her. "You were bugged."

"Bugged? That's not possible."

"Yes it is. I took the liberty of taking them down for you." For himself, really, he amended mentally.

"But—who? Why?"

"I can't tell you that."

Xiao frowned. She knew that phrase all too well. "Oh, no. No you don't. You're not going to pull this secretive shit on me now. I deserve to know what's going on."

"You're right," he admitted. "You do. But unfortunately I can't tell you what you want to know."

She was angry, he could see that plainly. And who could blame her? He'd been lying to her for over four years now. So far, she'd handled the situation amazingly. He'd expected his return to be much more dramatic with her for some reason, basing on how he knew Xiao to be from when she was younger, but dramatic was hardly the word he'd use to describe this.

She closed her eyes, taking a few deep, calming breaths. "Okay, so let me get this straight," she said. "Over the past, what, four years, since you've been gone, two years in between you decide to play dead? Now, all of a sudden you're just…alive, and you show up at my apartment, pulling down bugs from my home… This doesn't make any sense."

"I don't expect it to for you."

"Oh, so this all makes perfect sense to you, then. Okay, whatever, as long as you know what's going on, I guess it's okay that I'm walking around in the freaking dark," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Jin hadn't seen this side of her before. Xiao was never sarcastic; she was always honest and open.

"Xiao, listen to me, if I'd had it my way I would've never come back. Trust me, the last thing I want is to make your life more complicated."

"Well, it's a little late for that, isn't it?" She crossed her arms over her chest. "What is it then? Why have you come back?"

"Because…" This next part was hard for him. No matter how many times he spent rehearsing it, he always bottomed out when it came to asking for help, especially from Xiao. For as long as he could remember, it'd always been her coming to him, never the other way around. After his mother died, he promised himself he'd never rely on others, that he would always be able to take care of himself. And though he wasn't really asking for much, he hated to do it. "I need your help," he said finally.

Xiao blinked. She didn't bother to hide her surprise. She, like himself, knew how he was about this. "With what?" she asked after a few moment's awkward silence.

"I just need a place to stay for tonight, or maybe a couple of nights. I don't know yet. I've been traveling for the past two days with no night's sleep and I'm exhausted. I just need some time to rest, and then I'll be out of here."

Jin watched her face. He couldn't tell what she was thinking, what she was feeling. This was something he'd have to get used to. He was accustomed to reading her emotions like an open book. Looking at her was as good as reading a blank slate as of now.

"Why me?" she asked.

"What?" He was confused.

"Why me? Why couldn't you stay at a hotel or something?"

Jin felt a pang of hurt. Was she turning her back on him? He searched her eyes. This wasn't the Xiao he knew. This was a…stranger. The Xiao he knew would never abandon the ones she loved. Then he realized something. She was baiting him. She was trying to fool him into giving something away.

"I have nothing, Xiao," he said, and it was the truth. From here on out, he vowed, everything he told her would be truth. What he couldn't tell her he just wouldn't say. "No money, nothing."

She walked over to the entryway, picked up her purse off the floor, where she'd dropped it, and took out her wallet. "How much? I'll loan you the money. You can pay me back when you can."

Damn her. "No." He shook his head. "I can't. I can't let you register me into a hotel. I can't go anywhere where there are a lot of people."

Again that blank, emotionless expression. It was almost frustrating. "Why not?"

A deep, heavy sigh. "I'm being followed, Xiao. And don't ask me by what or whom, because I can't tell you that."

Her face softened a bit. "Are you in danger?"

"Only if I'm out in the open."

She stared at him, no doubt debating whether or not to trust him. After a while, she finally said, "Fine. You can stay here."

* * * * *

Heihachi Mishima walked into the computer head quarters of the Mishima Financial Empire building. "Well?" he asked the chief computer operator's specialist. "Anything yet?"


The man swiveled around in his chair, his round, bald head lifting to gaze up at the tall, elder man, his eyes blinking behind the large, wire framed glasses. "No, sir, nothing."

"Are you sure you checked everywhere? Every hotel, every inn, every…I don't know—hospital?"

"Yes, sir," the man replied, turning to take an affirming glance at his computer screen. "He's not registered anywhere. It's like the papers said, he's dead."

"You fool. I didn't become the leader of this company by believing petty lies such as this. He's alive, and he's hiding. Smartly, too, I might add, not registering anywhere."

"Yes, sir."

"There are no reports of anyone seeing him? Or anything unusual?"

"No, sir, none."

"This is getting ridiculous. We've been hunting him down for four years now. I've sent out my finest men to search for him, and several times we've come close to nailing him, only for him to always be one step ahead of us somehow. I don't understand it. The boy may be clever, but he's not a genius."

"It was easier when we had a live record of him, sir, but now that he's supposedly 'dead', it's harder to track him down. No one thinks to look for him."

"I realize that, Yamada. If I could alert political officials, I would. Jin's death was a blow to this company. A lot of people blame me for his death. If this were to surface, God only knows what could happen next."

"Of course. But give it time. He can't stay in hiding forever."

"Let's hope not," Heihachi said, his tone of voice almost threatening, "for your sake."