A/N: Just to say a big thanks to all those who've been following the story and even more so to those who have taken the time to bother reviewing. It'd be really nice if you could keep up the comments and the constructive crit - just so I know what you all think about where the story's going, and more importantly, how it could be improved. I'm trying to give all the characters adequate airtime, while building up the relationship between Kazuya and Jun. It just takes time. ;)

Thanks again for the support! :D

-oOo-

:: IX :: Unmaskings

Nina found herself spending more and more time in Akio's bed every night rather than her own. At first she had surprised herself, but then she had begun to grow comforted by it. It wasn't only the sex, and it was that fact that had puzzled her at first. Every night she would talk to him as they lay there; and not just about anything, but about herself. She told him about her job and her home and her family and even about Anna. He rarely spoke back to her about himself. Mostly he would lie there and listen, an intent look upon his face.

"Do you really hate your sister that much?" was one of the few questions he actually asked her.

"Yes," she returned shortly. "Anna and I never got on, even when we were children. Bot somehow, as we got older, the disagreements grew into a permanent hatred."

He looked at her questioningly, as though the logic of the whole affair escaped him.

"I know it sounds as if my sister and I let things get out of hand. Perhaps we did, in a way." She sighed, remembering. "Anna was always the family favourite. She was spoilt as a child. She used to get anything she wanted. My father used to give her everything she asked for." She paused, despondent. "I loved my father terribly, but he never seemed to notice me. His affections revolved around Anna. I was always left out of everything he did.

"Then, when Anna was eighteen, she went to work for the Mishima Conglomerate here in Japan. Father was devastated and became ill. I was the only one there for him, yet he always called for Anna, no matter what. So I phoned her and asked her to come and see him. But she said she was too busy, and she sounded all haughty and sophisticated, like we were all too insignificant for her.

"When she didn't arrive, father seemed to blame it on me. He said I didn't try hard enough to get her to come over. I couldn't do anything to console him. And then…"

Akio's face was serious.

"And then…?"

"And then he died. He died hating me," Nina finished on a breath, half-amazed she'd told him all this.

"Do you think your father's death is the whole cause of your hatred for one another?" he asked.

"No," she replied honestly. "We were always rivals, from the moment she was born. I can't remember a day when I haven't hated her."

She looked up at Akio then, at the silent watchfulness on his face. There was something in his eyes that told Nina that he was troubled about something. She wished he'd tell her what it was, just as she'd told him the things that troubled her.

But he never did.

"I have something really important to tell you."

Jun was holding the door to her room open, listening to Lei trying to explain himself. It was one in the morning, she had been trying to sleep, and frankly Lei was making no sense at all.

"Lei, slow down. What's going on? Why are you up so late?"

"I've been in the library," he said, clearly agitated.

"Library? Why?"

"Because…" he stopped mid-sentence and took a deep breath. "Look, just let me in, Jun. This is gonna take awhile."

Intrigued, Jun let him in and shut the door behind her.

"This had better be good, partner," she warned.

"It is. Listen, I was up in the library researching."

"Researching what?"

"It's a little complicated. You see, when Michelle's mother was kidnapped, she had in her possession this artefact – a pendant of some sort."

"So?" Jun interrupted, confused.

"Well, Michelle's mother is a Native American, as you may or may not have known," Lei continued at top speed. "And so I decided to look up some ancient Mayan legends to see if they mentioned anything about bright, shiny pendants."

"And what did you turn up?" Jun inquired, at a loss to know why this had anything to do with her.

"Zilch," Lei replied. "Except for one passage which refers to this monster called the God of Fighting – who just happens to wear a bright pendant around his neck!" he finished with a flourish.

"Excuse me," Jun began sarcastically, "but wouldn't practically every monster, god or hero in ancient Mayan texts wear a pendant of some description? I mean, it's not as if your 'find' is anything out of the ordinary."

"Yes, but I haven't finished yet," Lei continued impatiently. "You see, the myth says that this God of Fighting was kept alive by the pendant he wore, because the Mayan gods had breathed his life-force into the jewel embedded in it. And when the God of Fighting became corrupted by his power, and began to steal the fighting force of humans, the gods stole his pendant and put him to sleep. In other words, whoever has the pendant controls the God of Fighting."

Lei had been expecting Jun to laugh in his face, but to his surprise she slumped down on the nearest chair and stared ahead of her.

"Aren't you gonna tell me I'm crazy?" he asked her. She looked up after a moment, smiling at his humour.

"Lei, I have a feeling this God of Fighting has been unleashed already."

"What?! Jun, are you serious?!"

Jun nodded slowly. "I didn't want to tell you, Lei, but a couple of nights ago I went snooping. And I met Kazuya's mysterious advisor."

"You what?!"

"You heard me. The problem is, this advisor isn't human."

"Isn't human? Jun, is this some kind of joke?"

"No. Lei, I don't know what the hell it was, but I saw it with my own two eyes. And that's not all. It has some strange sort of power over Kazuya."

"So you're telling me this 'non-human' entity is the God of Fighting?"

"It's possible," Jun said. She looked up at Lei, who was pacing the floor thoughtfully.

"If what you say is true, Jun, then we're all in big trouble."

"I know."

"Then what are we going to do?"

Jun shrugged. "That I don't' know. Besides, Lei, I've got something else to tell you that could complicate things even further."

"What's that?" he asked suspiciously, stopping in his tracks.

"They're onto me, Lei."

"What?! You mean they know about you working for the WWW?!"

"Yes, and they probably know about you too."

"But then why haven't they done anything about our presence here?"

"I don't know," Jun returned. "But it seems that Kazuya needs me for something. Apparently he's interested in something I have that he doesn't."

"Hmm." Lei looked deep in thought. "This is getting interesting. He could be using you to get information out of the other contestants. It would explain why he's gone to all that effort to get to know you."

"Yes," Jun replied doubtfully. "But somehow I think there's something more to it than that."

"Uh-huh, and what would that be?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not sure, but one thing's for certain. I'm going to find out."

"I bet you will," Lei replied wryly, then turned serious again. "Wow, this is one complicated scenario. What I'm worried about is Michelle's mother. If Kazuya has already 'awoken' this God of Fighting, then he has no further use for Mrs. Chang. He could just conveniently dispose of her."

"How are you going to tell all this to Michelle?" Jun asked with concern.

"I'm not," Lei returned. "Not now anyway. I'll just have to find out what's really going on and keep quiet in the meantime."

"I hope you're not going to do anything dangerous, Lei," Jun warned him.

"Who, me?" he said innocently, smirking broadly.

Jun had gone back to Lee, or rather, he had asked her to come back to him. It had not been something Jun had liked to do in principle. She had found it hard to trust Lee, but somehow she had ignored that fact over time. It was partly her attraction to him, but also partly down to the fact that he did not turn her away. She did not like to say that Lee felt the same way about her, because she still wasn't sure about Lee's intentions. She was playing a dangerous game – she knew that – but as Kazuya knew about her background anyway, she had little to lose.

"You don't trust me," he said to her one day as they sat in his room and drank coffee. They had never really discussed anything of personal importance with each other, and so Jun was surprised at his statement.

"What makes you say that?" she questioned curiously.

"I can just tell," he replied complacently, in a way that annoyed Jun considerably.

"You seem to be able to tell a lot about me," she stated sourly.

"I've seen a lot of women like you," he explained with same indolent look on his face.

"And you wonder why I don't trust you?" she threw back at him irritably, only to have him shrug in reply.

"I'm afraid it's a part of me I can't quite control," he replied at last. Jun frowned at him.

"Why are you like that, Lee?" she asked him. "Why don't you care about anything? Do you do it to spite Kazuya?"

"Sometimes," he admitted. "Kazuya and I have never got on."

"And why's that?"

"Jealousy. He was jealous because Heihachi adopted me as his heir, and since Kazuya is the oldest brother and rightful heir to the Mishima, it must have been hard on him. Not that I'm sorry for him," Lee added quickly, "because he made my life hell all through our teenage years together. He still tries to make my life hell. I just have to throw what I can back in his face."

"But why would Heihachi want to make you his heir in the first place?" Jun questioned, puzzled. "He must have something against Kazuya, to disinherit his own son."

"I'm not bothered about it," Lee returned shamelessly, getting up to retrieve his cigarette pack from a nearby table. "You have to understand, Jun – the Mishima is a part of my life that I hate, and yet I am forced to love it. My only defence is to look at these matters with a certain ambivalence."

"But I thought you promised Heihachi…?" Jun interrupted, confused, but he stopped her.

"No – I have no love for my father. I'm merely grateful to him for giving me a safe, secure life." He lit his cigarette and took a drag without the slightest look of regret on his face. "My childhood in my homeland of China was spent during a time of political unrest. My future there was unstable. Heihachi brought me here, away from all that. He gave me food, clothing, shelter, money, all this…"

"But he never gave you the thing you needed most," Jun put in quietly. Lee smiled faintly at her.

"It never mattered. I've never known anything different." He turned to look out of the window for a moment, wordless, deep in thought.

"If it's any comfort to you," Jun ventured uncertainly, "I understand you a lot better now."

He laughed as he turned, a laugh of self-mockery.

"I have no need to be understood by you, Jun."

"I know. You want it to be easy for you, not too intense, not too deep." She paused and smiled slyly up at him. "I've met men like you before."

He caught her scornful tone.

"Do you think I'm taking advantage of you?" he asked, not missing a beat.

"Yes."

He stumped out his cigarette with extraordinary casualness. "I hate to admit this," he began, "but you're different from other girls, Jun."

"Isn't that what you say to every woman?" she retorted coolly, yet feeling irritated inside at his indifference.

"Oh, I usually do," he answered smoothly, sitting back down next to her, "but this time I really mean it."

He leant forwards to kiss her, but she stopped him.

"Lee, I don't think…"

"What, that there's something more between the both of us?" She watched him watch her silent face. "Do you think I'm just pretending to feel something for you?"

"Aren't you?" she started to say, feeling perplexed inside. She let him kiss her this time, but she still felt it hard to shake off the feeling that she shouldn't be getting mixed up in all this. Because now Kazuya's game was becoming more dangerous than it had been before. And Lee could be a player in his game too.

There had been no better way that to kill Kazuya off in his sleep. That was what Akio had told Nina. This plan will be foolproof, he told her. Nina had been doubtful at first. Kazuya's rooms were on the uppermost floors, and she had no idea how she was to get up there, nor how she was to pinpoint his actual bedroom. But once again Akio had managed to secure her a safe passage to the top of the Mishima Building and not only that but also a detailed plan of the uppermost floors. Nina had received the blueprints with a dubious look on her face.

"What's the matter?" Akio had asked, seeing her doubtful countenance.

"Where did you get these?" she questioned, her brow furrowed. "No one in the world has prints like these of the Mishima Building."

"I have good contacts." It was the usual phrase, but Nina was more than just suspicious.

"Your 'contact' is an insider, right?" she said, suddenly realising. "You've got someone in the Mishima Conglomerate to help you with all this, haven't you."

Akio remained as nonchalant as ever.

"It's better if you pretend you don't know," he replied evenly. "What you don't know you can't give away."

"Oh come on!" Nina exclaimed, "I'm a trained agent!"

"Even trained agents are humans," he quipped, still stony-faced.

"And I'm beginning to think you're not," she half-joked, half-scolded him.

And so now here she was, at the top of the Mishima Building, lowering herself down towards Kazuya's bedroom window, dressed in black, all her equipment tied to her belt. She had planned her escape route down to the very last detail, and yet somehow she still didn't feel very safe or secure. The problem was, her mind was on Akio. She found it hard to assess him and how his mind worked. She didn't like the fact it meant so much to her. Her job right now was to concentrate on the mission in hand, and then it would all be over. Or would it? There was something inside her that had suddenly become unsettled, and her work had begun to lose its usual buzz.

Nina shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Focus, focus, focus, she told herself between gritted teeth. Focus, goddammit!

She had stopped in front of Kazuya's bedroom window and was peering closely in. She could see the faint form of Kazuya lying on his bed, apparently asleep. There was no time for Nina to waste. She bent forwards and began to work at the computerized window locks with a miniature laser, which posed no problem since Akio had neutralized the locks through the main security system. After a while Nina was free to pull the windows open and quickly slip inside.

Kazuya was lying in bed, asleep, a serene look on his face. Nina stared at him a moment, almost amazed at how unassuming and defenceless he seemed in sleep, the great and powerful head of the Mishima empire, the King of the Iron Fist. She stood back and took out her silenced PPK. There was no time to feel sorry for him. If she had to kill him then she would do it. Lifting her gun, she aimed for his forehead. In a moment all this would be over.

She was just about to pull the trigger when suddenly Kazuya groaned and shifted in his sleep. The sudden movement was enough to startle Nina. Lowering her gun, she checked to make sure Kazuya was not awake. He still seemed to be asleep, but Nina soon realised that it was not him that worried her. There was something else in the room. That was what had caught her attention. She could not see what it was, but she could hear it. Disorientated and confused, Nina stood back and looked around her. The sound was a low hiss, a breath of wind that seemed to come from all corners of the room. It was a sound that chilled her to the very core.

"Who's there?" she whispered, her voice unable to stop shaking. "Who are you?"

There was another sound, this time from Kazuya. Nina shifted her gaze back to him, her heart racing. What she saw horrified her. Kazuya's face had changed, contorted until it did not seem to be his own. And the strange sound, that electrifying hiss, seemed to be emanating from his own mouth, even though it was closed.

A deep and new kind of fear rose in Nina and up into her throat. She had never been afraid of the tangible, of the physical, but now she somehow knew that what she was faced with now was the unknown. She stumbled backwards, petrified, unable to move. She did not know what was happening to Kazuya, but he looked more like a ghost than a man.

"This isn't happening," she whispered hard to herself. "Oh my God, this isn't happening!"

And then she saw it, standing beside Kazuya, on the other side of the bed. Someone, something, it's cold, red eyes boring into her. The look sent a new kind of terror running through Nina that she had never felt before. She opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out. She wanted to vomit; she could feel the fear in her throat, rising, choking her, stifling her as if to death.

For the first time in her life, Nina turned and ran.

Next: The relationship between Jun and Kazuya unexpectedly deepens...