Author's notes: This story is mostly based on Tekken 4 and the currently (2004) released information on Tekken 5 and its characters. Though some infos were taken from Tekken Official, some situations, events and characters are all fanmade. This is also the sequel to my previous fanfics, Tekken 5: The Kazama-Mishima Connections & The Kazama-Mishima Connections 2. Rated G
Disclaimer: Kazuya Mishima, Jun Kazama, Jin Kazama, Asuka Kazama, Wang Jinrei, Ling Xiaoyu, Hwoarang, Steve Fox and all Tekken characters referred in this fanfic are the property of NAMCO. This is only a fan fiction from the imagination of an obsessed fan. No copyright infringement intended.
Chapter 13: Akuma
The ticking of Kazuya's Rolex echoed through his ears along with the howling of the soft breeze. That's how thick the silence was. Every single sound was amplified to deafening.
Sighing heavily, Kazuya dropped his arm to his side and began pacing once more, constantly muttering one curse after another. It's been well over an hour and still, Jun Kazama hadn't arrived atop the helipad...and neither have their children, which, more than anything, frustrated him even more. He had an inkling that Jun may try to avoid them, but he was certain that Jin and Asuka would come.
A few floors down, the Kazama siblings were hastily making their way to the top, though they had to stop more than once to catch their breaths. They were tired, but they knew they had to hurry up the roof.
"Come...on...Asuka..." Jin pulled an already groggy Asuka up the last few steps. When they poked their heads up the stairs, their father immediately whipped around, his expression changing from surprise, to anger, then quickly to disappointment.
"Where's your mother!" he demanded.
"She's not here?" Jin gaped. "But we thought"
"WHERE IS SHE! And what took you two so long!"
"Dad, we tried looking for her," Asuka explained. "We suspected she might try to escape, so we followed her back in the mansion. She wasn't there or anywhere in the estate in fact. We've practically turned this whole place inside out!"
"No..." Kazuya shook his head, his shoulders slumping. He slapped his hand over his face and dragged it down to his chin. "This can't be happening. This CANNOT be happening!"
"Calm down, Dad. We'll just...Dad?" Jin approached his father cautiously, with his sister at his heels. Something strange was happening to Kazuya. His head was hung low and he wasn't breathing normally.
"Dad?"
Suddenly, a rumble of deep, bizarre laughter echoed through Kazuya, shaking his shoulders awkwardly. When he looked up, both his eyes were blazing red and there was a sinister smile on his lips. Jin and Asuka immediately backed off at the sight of his distorted face.
"So...you are Kazuya and Kazama, Jun's children," he spoke in a voice so unlike his own.
"Dad, what are you talking about!" Asuka questioned. "You already know that! And why are you referring to yourself in"
"Stay back, Asuka!"
"Huh? Oni-chan? What's the matter? What's wrong with Dad?"
"It's the akuma," Jin positioned himself protectively in front of Asuka. "Devil's taken over Dad again!"
"NO!" Asuka cried and attempted to rush towards Kazuya, but her brother held her back. "Damn you! What did you do to our Dad! Where is he! DAD!"
"I'm afraid Kazuya Mishima can't hear you, my dear," Devil drawled. "He's at one of his...weak moments."
"Weak moments?" Jin almost laughed. "Our father's not weak! He's never weak!"
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Devil contradicted, his expression growing even more sinister as his fury began to rise. "You're father is weak because he couldn't...or rather, wouldn't discard, what you humans call, emotions. He's wallowing up in sorrow right now for the loss of that wretched woman. Sorrow...such a sickening word; but not as much as the other feelings he still harbors within himself. It is in these weak times that I become stronger. I must admit: Kazuya had me quite impressed. He controlled me for a very long time."
"Our mother isn't wretched!" Asuka yelled. "She saved Dad!"
"And in doing so, prevented me from becoming even more powerful!" Devil roared. "By bearing you, that woman weakened my powers! But maybe...just maybe, she might have done something for my advantage," he raised his arm towards them, a strange, purple aura enveloping his entire body.
"What are you doing!" Jin took several steps back, careful to block his sister from whatever unpleasantness that was very likely to befall them.
"Something I should've done a long time ago," Devil smirked. His eyes blazed brighter until it was absolutely blinding. Jin turned and shielded Asuka but his efforts where in vain. He could only watch in shock as his sister unexpectedly crumpled to the floor, her screams piercing through the air.
"ASUKA!"
"AAAAH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!" Asuka squirmed and writhed in pain, confusing her brother. He couldn't see anything physically wrong with her; that was, until he saw a ghastly burn on her left arm, which slowly formed into a dark tattoo: exactly like his own.
"Kazama, Jun may have succeeded in hiding her daughter from me; but you can't escape destiny!" Devil cackled. "You, girl, grew up far from my grasp so your angelic blood dominates. However, that does not change the fact that you have the cursed blood; and now, the curse has finally fallen upon you! You'll soon join the ranks of your parents and your brother...like one big happy family! HAHAHAHAHA!"
"YOU BASTARD!" Jin lunged towards Devil and pulled him roughly by the collar. "How could you do this!"
"Because I can!" Devil went through a fit of hysterics.
"I don't mean you!" Jin spat, suddenly growing furious. "I meant my father! I know you're in there somewhere! How could you, Dad!"
"O-Oni-chan. W-what are you doing?"
"Shush!" Jin silenced his sister and tightened his hold on Devil, allowing his face to become just as distorted. "Dad! How could you leave us again like this? How could you allow him to do that to you're own daughter! Asuka would've been spared the curse had you not carelessly allowed him to take hold of you!"
Jin saw the red in his father's eyes flicker. Asuka saw it as well and quickly understood what her brother was trying to do.
"Look what it did to me, Dad!" Asuka wailed. "You have to fight it!"
"ENOUGH!" Devil growled and pushed Jin harshly towards Asuka. An intense self-struggle ensued along with the crackling of red and white light spewing from Kazuya's form.
"K-Kazuya! S-stop it! You...can't...SHUT UP!" Kazuya's voice began changing. His arms clasped around himself and he fell down the floor, screaming. After an interminable length of time, his body started to relax and the light that surrounded him ebbed away.
"Dad?" Jin gingerly moved towards his father's heaving form and put a hand on his shoulder. Kazuya jerked a bit before painstakingly sitting up and dragging air into his lungs.
"Dad? Daijobu ka?" Jin asked again, giving Kazuya a short pat on the back.
"Unngh...what happened?"
"Dad! Thank goodness! You're okay!" Asuka rushed towards her father's side and started to help him up but Kazuya wouldn't budge. Instead, he seized his daughter's left arm and examined the burn on her skin. Upon realizing what it was, he shot up to his feet.
"DAMMIT!" he stormed. "I was afraid this was going to happen! I should've just left you in Osaka! You would've been safe there like you had been for the last seventeen years!"
"How long did you think you were going to hide her from Devil?" Jin countered. "Much as I hate to admit it, Devil was right. Just like me, Asuka was born with the cursed blood in her veins. The curse was bound to wrap itself around us no matter how hard we try to escape it," Jin put one hand over where his own tattoo was. "It followed me in Yakushima Forest didn't it?"
"What about Mom!" Asuka's eyes widened at a realization. "She wasn't born with our blood! How come she has a tattoo like ours?"
"Not exactly like yours," Kazuya pressed his lips together. "Since the Devil Gene was introduced to her body via genetic modifications, it reacted with her Angel Gene, which may be the reason her marking is opposite yours; and probably the main reason she's become unstable."
"The real question is...where is she?" Jin brought up. "I can't understand her. I mean...she remembers us, doesn't she? She and Asuka even had a good talk before...before that whole thing in her room. How come she had to disguise herself? How come she denies us? And what's the point of her coming here when in the end, she was just going to leave without so much as a goodbye?"
A memory flashed through Kazuya's mind in an instant: a private conversation he had with an old friend of his grandfather's...
"It is destiny that you should meet and beget new lives. But it is also destiny that all of you face this great adversary: one that shall bring upon dire sacrifices...
"I am afraid nothing can stop it, Kazuya. It is impossible to reverse the cogwheels of destiny once it has started its course...and it began at the moment of your births; sealed by your bond; strengthened by your reunification. The chosen celestial, who has emerged from the ashes of death, must step up to this responsibility...for the world's sake..."
"Dad? What's wrong?"
An eerie chill suddenly passed through Kazuya. Jin and Asuka felt it too. Absentmindedly, they faced southwest, shivering slightly from whatever inexplicable force that washed upon them mere seconds before.
"D-Did you feel that?" Asuka stammered.
Both her father and brother nodded at the same time.
"She's luring us," Kazuya realized. "That's why she came here. She wants us to follow her."
"Follow her!" Jin repeated. "That's insane! If she did want us to do that, she should've just asked us!"
"Things aren't that simple," Kazuya refuted. "Not with the current situation. And I think I know exactly where to find her..."
A/N: Here's some theory I made about Kazuya's weak moments and well...it may be the reason why he's angry most of the time. If Kazuya feels those 'nice' human emotions (sadness, grief, happiness, love and such), he is vulnerable to Devil's control. Remember his Tekken 5 ending? That's were I got it. And here's a tiny theory on Asuka. She has the Angel Gene and Devil Gene but since she grew up away from Devil's grasp, her Angel Gene dominates while her Devil Gene is dormant. Only after the Devil spirit awakened that (tattoo thing) will she be able to tap on to that power. That should give you some stuff to think about for the later chapters...
Chapter 14