Chapter 53

After they had gotten dressed, Kazuya and Lara went out into the garden.
"Do you think Chaolan is alright?" Lara asked a bit worried, while they walked down one of the paths, which had been lit beautifully yesterday night.
"He will be tomorrow. I guess he's pretty angry at the moment, Chaolan can be in a really bad mood from time to time… I guess we all can."
They walked along a garden path till they reached a patch of green grass where they sat down. Lara leaned back and looked up to the clear blue sky. She let her mind wander but everything she came up with was the sad feeling that she had to say goodbye soon. She kept asking herself how she had gotten herself into this position, why she had allowed herself to fall in love and how it had happened that Kazuya had done the same.
"Kazuya, can I ask you a question?" she suddenly said.
"Certainly."
"I always thought that Japanese men liked quiet and shy women. The type that takes care of the children and the home…"
"I don't like being bored to death, and I have enough people in the kitchen. Besides so far you have been obedient," he added jokingly.
"Careful what you say." She said throwing herself on him.
"I always am." He tried to sound as serious as possible.
"Of course you are." Lara said ironically.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh nothing. Just that you never keep your mouth shut, when you can provoke someone."
"But that's one thing you like about me," he insisted.
'There are many things I like about you,' Lara thought to herself, which brought her back to thinking about leaving tomorrow. She wondered what was going on in his mind. If he was as sad as she was about parting. They would have been so perfect for each other, both rich, both with an unusual lifestyle and a certain love for the adventure. In their situation, they could even make a long-distance-relationship work. It was not as if they couldn't afford the occasional flight. The time it took to fly from Tokyo to London vice versa, would be an issue before any of them even had to think about money. So there was nothing unsolvable there, if it weren't for Heihachi. As long as Kazuya was working for him, he would never let him travel to London. And as long as he lived, he would not leave Lara in peace, when she came to Tokyo. She sighed and got Kazuya's attention by it.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Nothing." Lara shrugged it off, but of course, he knew well enough what it was.
"We should not be sitting here just thinking. There is still one thing left, I wanted to show you. Shall we drive into town later today?"
Lara sat up, but just shrugged.
"Lara, cheer up," he said to her. "We definitely have to do something. This leaves only one question. Do we want to eat for lunch or for dinner? I have to tell the kitchen."
"Dinner will be fine. I am not very hungry yet, after the extensive breakfast."
"Let me just pass the message to our chef," he said getting up. "You can stay here, and when I come back, I will show you Kuma."
Lara nodded and he set off. She looked after him, when he marched down the gravel path. She listened to his footsteps, till they died down.
She sighed again. She already missed him, although he was only gone for a few minutes, how should she deal with this tomorrow? Lara crossed her legs and started fiddling with some strands of grass. The soft bubbling noise of a nearby runnel going through stones into a pond would have been very soothing, if it weren't for the emotional chaos within her. Lara looked around, she was in a part of the garden she had not seen, when she had infiltrated the estate, this was the area she had seen through Kazuya's window yesterday night. The teahouse was nearby and little winding paths led through patches of grass, rows of trees and occasional flowerbeds. For a moment, she wished she could be here during cherry blossom and she already started to make plans to reconstruct her gardens back in Surrey. Her thoughts were interrupted by crunching noises of someone walking down the paths. Although she was pretty sure, that it was Kazuya, the excitement of the last days had left her alert. She got up and waited for him to arrive.
"Ok, it's dinner tonight around seven or eight. Kuma is about to be fed in a few minutes. We better get there now and don't keep him waiting, the beast can be very moody."

The enclosure was huge. Lara had expected a bit less, but Kuma was living like a bear in the zoo. No, actually he was living in luxury compared to these poor caged animals. The animal was nowhere to be seen and Lara continued to scan the area. He had a cave, to where he could retreat and Lara was astonished to find a TV screen was set into the cave wall.
"Is that to monitor the enclosure? But why is it inside the bear cave?"
"No." Kazuya laughed. "Actually this is for Kuma. Strangely enough watching TV calms him down, when he is angry. Once in a while, when he seems really aggressive the screen is turned on. He is always fascinated by it, and sits down to watch."
Lara looked at Kazuya with raised eyebrows.
"Seriously," he said.
Lara heard footsteps approaching from behind and a man dressed in white, with a ribbon around his forehead, approached carrying a basket with raw fish.
Kazuya told the man, that they would take care of the feeding for today and the other man disappeared as quickly as he'd come.
Suddenly something slammed against the fence close to them. Lara was alarmed and jumped back, instinctively she grabbed for where her holsters normally were, but her hands went into thin air. Around the same time the information, that the animal was behind the fence reached her brain and she smiled sheepishly at Kazuya. He grinned.
"He's not after you. He smelled the fish."
"It's hard to turn off these reflexes."
"I know," he replied grinning. "More than once have I moved into stance, when someone harmlessly raised his arm."
Kuma interrupted him with a demanding growl.
"Keep it down, Kuma, or I will cancel your lunch."
The animal seemed to understand and move back from the fence, lowering himself onto all fours. Before he had done so, he had been a threatening nine feet tall, Lara guessed. Usual grizzlies were just over eight feet, but Lara was used to animals that were beyond their usual size. Now he had a height of about four and a half feet, more to her liking.

Kazuya opened a hatch, which was built into the fence and grabbed into the basket. He threw him the first fish. Kuma caught it and within seconds, the fish had disappeared. Kazuya held out the basket for Lara. At first, she hesitated but then she grabbed into the basket and threw the next fish into the enclosure.
"Does anyone ever go in there?" Lara asked Kazuya.
"Heihachi does almost every day. I try to avoid it, when I can. Normally Kuma does not attack. But he does not trust me and I do not trust him."
"I wouldn't trust a grown grizzly bear either." Lara said. "I have met my share of them during my travels. They are unpredictable."
Lara turned back to the fence and was shocked to find Kuma nearby. He had approached when she had spoken to Kazuya, but the wild beast seemed harmless. She almost thought she saw hurt in his eyes. Feeling guilty, she grabbed the next fish and carefully threw it to him, avoiding sticking her hand through the opening. Gratefully Kuma took the fallen fish.
"But he seems to be alright." Lara said.
"You are much better with him than me."
"It's a he, right? You are never good with other males."
Kazuya made a face. He knew she was right; he hated other men. Still the bear was hardly that and Kazuya doubted that he would be better off with a female bear. The bear was Heihachi's silly idea, and he hated everything about Heihachi. And he hated bears. In fact there wasn't much he didn't hate.

Author's Note:
Again this was supposed to be the last chapter, but I became longer and longer. Somehow I found there was a strange gap between the end of this chapter and the beginning of the following one. I am almost finished with the story. I have even written the actual end. I still have some gaps to fill, but I'm almost there. I had to get this one out now. The next will be along soon.