SURRENDER by Tina

A Note from Tina: All right, here it is, the seventh chapter. 'Tis quite a bit shorter than the previous one, which I redid for those of you who might want to go back and re-read it (just the last scene at the diner). I'm a lot happier with it now. I felt kinda bad that I made Xiao seem like the weak damsel in distress, so I gave her a stronger part in that scene, and I was more detailed about Jin's fight against the Tekkenshu. Hopefully you'll find it more enjoyable too. ^^

7.0 – A New Plan

Xiao felt like she was going to throw up. She could feel the disgusting bile burning up in the back of her throat, but she swallowed it down, her eyes watering with the effort. Were they not fleeing for their very lives at the moment, Xiao would've asked Jin to pull over so she could empty her stomach.

Jin, who was sitting behind the wheel at the driver's seat, didn't seem to notice; though he appeared to be too focused on the road ahead of him to be aware of much anything else.

Her stomach was churning, twisting itself almost into a painful groan. Images of Jin brutally attacking those men in suits filled her mind's eye, the sounds of cracked bone and spilled blood echoing off the walls of her skull. The startled looks on innocent people's faces as bullets flew everywhere throughout the diner, their terrified screams and the sound of their bodies falling still ringing like the gong of a church's bell.

She'd never been through anything like that in her life before. Sure, she'd read about it and watched live footage on the news in Tokyo all the time, but experiencing it was something entirely different. Even while fighting in a tournament, the worse she'd seen or gone through were a few scrapes and bruises and maybe even a broken nose.

And Jin's fighting back at the diner… She'd never seen him use such strength before. She hadn't even known he'd possessed it until now. He'd knocked men down quicker than anyone else she'd ever seen in hand-to-hand combat before. Such power and aggressiveness, it was almost like he was being possessed. In fact, for an instant back there she'd allowed herself that he really was, just from the red fiery glow he had in his eyes when he was fighting.

"Xiao, are you okay?"

She jumped, startled by Jin's smooth, deep voice disturbing the deafening silence that had pervaded the truck's compartment. "I-I'm fine," she lied.

"Are you sure? You look a little pale."

"Yes," she said, averting her eyes from his to gaze out the passenger window. However, as she did so something red on his arm caught her eye.

"Oh, my God—Jin, you're bleeding!" she exclaimed frightfully.

Jin made to shrug his shoulders, as if to say it was nothing, but stopped and winced in pain instead. "It's nothing," he tried to reassure her. "Just a flesh wound. I'll be fine."

"How did—was it those men? Did they get a shot at you?"

"No. Pretty close, just skimmed me."

"But…there's so much blood. We need to get you some medical treatment."

Jin waved his other hand, dismissing the idea. "No, no. I'll be fine, really."

"But…" Xiao trailed off. Just as she was beginning to argue, she noticed the blood flow had stopped. She would've been relieved if it weren't for that fact that it had stopped so suddenly, like someone had stuck a cork in the wound to keep it from spilling.

Jin grunted, moving his arm around once again, this time without wincing in pain. She knew he was aware of what had just happened, though he looked so calm about it, like it was something that occurred naturally, that she didn't know whether to say anything about it or not.

"We need to get out of here," Jin said, shoving aside the opportunity to ask him about his wound.

"I know," Xiao said automatically. After what'd just taken place, that much was clear. They couldn't stay in the same area.

"No, but I mean Japan," he said more firmly, chancing a glance at her, his deep brown eyes intense. "We need to get out of Japan."

Xiao's eyes widened. Though she'd been thinking about the possibility ever since they left this morning, the prospect of hearing it spoken out loud made it much more real. "W-what? Japan? But…I—"

"We don't have a choice. They know we're here and they'll scrape the whole country 'til they find us. I can't leave you behind, either, now that they know you're with me. They'll go after you to get to me."

"Who are these men, Jin?" Xiao asked.

Jin's reply was hesitant, and she knew he wasn't going to give her a straight answer. "Men who want me dead."

Xiao sighed, but didn't fight the issue further. She'd learned that it was impossible yesterday. "So where are we going then?"

"I don't know. I can't go back to Australia."

"Is that where you've been this whole time?"

Jin shrugged. "Off and on. I couldn't stay there for too long, so I'd travel else where for a while, then come back."

"Where did you go?"

"Uh, a few places in Europe, England and Scotland, a few parts in Asia, the west coast of the United States, Brazil."

Xiao blinked. Wow, he certainly got around. "And how did you get to all these places?"

Xiao thought she saw a hint of a smile on his lips. "I flew."

"Okay, so you've been chased practically everywhere around the world, but you've always come back to Australia… Why?"

There was a brief pause. A sigh. "I don't know. Australia became the closest thing I had to home besides Japan, which I was convinced at the time—and proved correct as of now—that I couldn't return to. I'd go back there to recuperate, gather supplies to set off again, you know?"

"Weren't you ever afraid they'd be there waiting for you when you returned?"

"No. For some reason they never figured that I'd backtrack there, and by the time they figured it out I'd already have fled to another country."

"So that's why you planted your death there. It'd be more plausible because they knew you lived there, and people there knew you—at least from a distance, anyway—and they could confirm your disappearance."

Jin nodded, but said nothing.

"And now…now you've run out of ideas as to where to go?"

Jin shook his head. "No. If I were alone it'd be much easier. But now that I have you with me I need to look out for you too."

Xiao suddenly felt guilty. If she hadn't been with him today, perhaps those men never would have even showed up at the diner.

"It's my fault, though," he continued, as if sensing her thoughts. "I got you into this mess. I never should've come to your apartment."

"Why did you?" she asked, her voice soft and full with wonder. She'd never really thought about that before. Why did he come back to her after all these years?

Jin glanced at her again, and she caught a quick flash of something there—longing and fear, perhaps? "Aside from the fact that I could've afford to stay anywhere public…I-I wanted to see you again, Xiao."

Xiao managed not to act surprised, though her heart was fluttering madly and her spirits had risen with a hope she wasn't aware she still possessed. Did that mean that…he cared about her?

"I wanted to see that you were doing well. I hadn't seen you in years. Even during the fourth tournament, I'd only seen you fight in the ring and"—Jin paused to clear his throat nervously—"on that night on your balcony…"

Xiao's heart sank. So his concern for her was nothing more than like a brother looking out for his younger sister. That would also explain why he'd pulled away so suddenly that evening on the fire escape. Stupid, stupid, Xiao, she scolded herself. Why would you think it any differently? That's always how it's been, ever since the beginning.

"Oh," she said, not bothering to try and hide her disappointment. She, too, cleared her throat. And, as she did so, a thought struck her. "Hey! I know where we can go!"

Her sudden enthusiasm startled Jin. Her turned confused eyes on her. "Where?" he asked.

"My uncle Wang's old estate in China. It's been empty for years now—ever since he passed away. It'd be perfect!"

Jin stopped to consider this. "Where in China is it?"

"Not too far outside of Beijing. It's hidden in the woods. No one would think to look for us there."

Jin nodded his head approvingly. "All right. Let's do this."

* * * * *

"What do you mean you let them escape?" Heihachi demanded his two Tekkenshu that had returned from the incident at the diner through clenched teeth.

"Uh, sir," the one with an ugly gash over his left temple spoke; the blood had dried mostly, a dark red crust caked to his skin, "we didn't let him escape, he just sorta…did."

Heihachi slammed a fist onto his desk, rattling several solid objects and causing sheets of paper to slide off and down to the floor. "You had him right there, right in your very hands, and you let him get away!?"

"The man had unimaginable powers, sir," spoke the second, who was now inspecting his wound under his shirt—purple and blue bruises at the center of his chest, deep red blotches beneath the skin, showing signs of some internal bleeding. "There was no way we could've fought him off with only two men."

"Why do you think I gave you those guns?" Heihachi hissed, spit flying out of his mouth at the intensity of his anger. "They're loaded with a special sedative made to knock out someone with his abilities."

"We didn't, uh, we didn't—get to use them."

"Well, we did, sir," interrupted the first. "But, like he said, the man is powerful—we could barely make a scratch on him—"

"If it wasn't for that little, bitch," growled the second, "we would've been able to take him on."

"What little bitch?" Kazuya asked, who'd been sitting in the back, listening intently to everything spoken.

"I-I don't know. We didn't get the chance to find out. We didn't want to use the guns on her because we knew they'd kill her, so we tried to beat her down—"

"But then Jin came, taking us completely by surprise, and we—"

"You fools! What did this woman look like?" Heihachi asked. There was a glint of worry in his eyes. The addition of a girl would complicate things more.

"More of a girl, really. Small little thing. It was amazing how fast she could move. She had long, black hair, dark eyes—not Japanese, by the looks of her."

Heihachi paled. Kazuya noticed this. "Heihachi, what is it?"

"Ling Xiaoyu," he replied simply.

"Who?" Kazuya asked, frowning.

"That little Chinese spitfire who came to live with me when she entered the tournament. She and Jin were close."

Kazuya quirked a brow, clearly intrigued. "Jinny boy's got a girlfriend?"

Heihachi glared at him. "Don't you see? She's helping him! If she hadn't—"

"Oh, please, you're not telling me you think a little girl's helping him get away, are you? If anything, she's only complicating matters for Jin. He can get away fine on his own. With her around it slows him down."

Heihachi's expression softened to one of mild curiosity. He hadn't thought about that. It was true, though. He silently praised whatever force had brought him Kazuya to help him get through this.

A mischievous expression had fallen over Kazuya's face. "Think about this," he said. "We can use her to our advantage."

Heihachi thought for a while. "What, take her hostage and use her as bait to get Jin back?"

Kazuya grinned. "Exactly." He chuckled deeply. "If Jin and the little spitfire are as close as you say they are—and if Jin has even the slightest bit of his mother in him, which I'm sure he does—then he'll definitely come back for her."

* * * * *

Night fell later that day, and Jin found himself in another forest with Xiao. They'd driven for hours, only stopping when he'd run out of gas had to steal another car, as neither had any money to pay for gas (they'd left their things back at the diner where they were attacked).

Surprisingly, and thankfully, they hadn't run into anymore Tekkenshu.

Jin started another fire on a small, clear patch of grass surrounded by tall, lumbering trees. He and Xiao sat on the ground on either side of the fire, no pillows or sleeping bags to give themselves comfort, the fire crackling loudly in the still silence that pervaded the area, the orange glow of the flames flickering off their bodies, warming them.

"We have no money, no food," Xiao said suddenly, her voice startlingly loud in the forest. Her eyes never left the burning twigs and underbrush that sat curling in the fire. "How are we going to make it to China before we starve?"

Jin's insides twisted. This wasn't as much of a problem for him, as he'd been traveling like this for years, either through hunting for food in the forest or stealing it every chance he got. He didn't have his knife on him anymore, however, so even if he were to search for any wild animals, he wouldn't be able to kill and skin them for eating. And he certainly couldn't use the Devil gene to his aid with Xiao around.

"We'll make it," he said softly, though his tone didn't sound very confident.

Xiao's eyes lifted from the fire to look at him. "How? All our things are back at that diner. We can't go back and get it now. My money and ID—what good are they to me now?"

Shit. Jin hadn't realized she'd brought her identification with her. If those men found their car, they'd find out who she was. He knew very well they'd use every tactic they could—including putting up missing posters with her face on them, if need be.

"Relax," he said, putting on a calm face for her benefit. "Everything will be okay."

A tear fell from her eye and slid down her cheek. "How, Jin? How? I'm so scared right now. I don't know what to do. I don't know how we're going to survive. I-I…I just don't—"

Jin didn't hesitate. He crawled around the fire and sat close to her, wrapping an arm around her slender shoulders. Her body shook slightly under his hands, overcome with her tears.

"Xiao…" Jin found he didn't know what to say. He'd never been too good with crying girls, and he certainly hadn't improved with his periods of isolation over the years. "Xiao, we'll make it out of this, I know we will. I'll take care of you, I promise."

Xiao looked up at him then, her eyes red, tears glistening on the ends of her long, dark lashes. She sighed heavily, exhausted. She put a small smile on her face for his sake, showing him that she was truly grateful for his words. And then she leaned in close to him, lifting her arms and wrapping them around his neck in a hug, resting her head against his chest.

Jin, shocked at first at her show of affection, slowly wrapped his other arm around her waist and held her tightly in a warm embrace, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head before nuzzling his face in the soft, sleek hair that rested in the crook of her neck.

I swear to you, Xiao. I will go to the ends of the earth to protect you.