Chapter 3: History Excavated

"Father, I'm here! It's me Asuka!" exclaimed an excited girl.

The hospital room was very quiet, although there was the sound of a TV on and the recent news about the tournament. Asuka hoped that the little incident at Ground Zero wasn't caught on tape, but apparently hoping wasn't enough. She could overhear the announcer from the door saying:

"And this is what happened after the end of the Iron Fist tournament just yesterday. It would seem this year's champ as with the 2nd Iron Fist is a female; Asuka Kazama!"

"My girl…" her father said hoarsely. Asuka smiled, but knew he wasn't finished.

"What do we have here? There's someone else in the area it looks like…Jin Kazama! The young man won the last two tournaments and doesn't look to good. But Asuka seems to be trying to get him up and…whoa! There's some kind of strange aura coming out of her and onto Jin! It's getting rid of all those funky markings, and now Jin is coming to. He's a little startled…laughter and seems to be taking refuge in between Asuka's boobs!"

Asuka was extremely embarrassed. People all over the world would be watching this! She waited for her father to react, but he remained silent.

"Well, Asuka didn't take that too well and needs to teach the two-time champ the right way to greet someone, and boy does she pull it off! POW! Right into his chest and against solid rock. I'm sure he's feeling that today. And there she goes, Asuka Kazama the Queen of Iron Fist!"

After the announcement the TV was turned off, Asuka's father started to lift himself out of bed.

"Asuka…are you there?" His voice was worse than ever.

She rushed to his bedside and rubbed his hand in reassurance. "I'm here daddy, I'm here."

He smiled to acknowledge her. "I'm glad. You followed your own instincts and took care of that ruthless Chinese man. Now I need to talk to you about that young man, Jin Kazama."

"You mean that pervert? What's there to talk about dad? I try to help the guy and he decides to help himself!" she shouted, rubbing her chest afterwards.

"There's no need to raise your voice child. Did you not witness the great power that came out of your hands?"

"Great…power…" she asks superficially. "Dad, I don't think I did anything special. They were probably just exaggerating what happened for the viewers."

He shook his head. "Asuka Kazama…my only daughter…you will probably be the last hope to that boy as well as the many other individuals that you two will meet. It's time I tell you about your heritage."

For so long Asuka wanted to know more about her and how her mother was killed. Today she would find out. She sat down in a rollie chair right next to her father and kept her eyes fixed on him.

"Let's start with your mother. What do you remember about her?"

"I remember how she could cook and fight with the best of them, and the way she'd tuck me in at night and…how she had a sad face even when she was happy."

He blew a small breath of air. "It's because of the aunt you never got to meet. Jun Kazama and your mother Mamimi went to high school together; Jun was my younger sister. Jun had thought I was dead after our overbearing father had gone insane with our mother being a prostitute. He burned the house down and left me and my mother to die while Jun was out playing with her animal friends. I managed to escape unscathed, but my mother wasn't as lucky. I guess when Jun returned to a house that was burned to the core, she assumed us taken by the worst.

"She was then adopted but must have kept her name as a way to remember us. As years past I understood more about her than I ever thought possible. Jun was an angel."

Asuka couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, dad! I'm sure my aunt was a very kind and caring person but an angel? Silly comments like that are why they invented these…" she teased, holding up a bottle of placebos (sugar pills).

Her father snatched them from out of her hand and gave her a serious look.

"Why is that such a silly comment! It would explain why that strange aura came out of you now wouldn't it?"

This made Asuka shut up. She gave one last giggle though and sank back into her seat.

"There's this story the Kazama family has about how an angel, my sister, defeats a cold-hearted devil. Have you heard of Kazuya Mishima?"

Asuka shook her head with the look of 'Who's that?' on her face.

"He's the son of Heihachi Mishima, the man who started those infernal tournaments that you just participated in. He possesses the devil gene and was supposed to be a sworn enemy to Jun…but…they didn't end up that way. In fact they became very close to one another…so close that-"

"Augh! I'm starting to get the message dad. So they got hectic and ended up having a son, and I'm guessing his name is Jin Kazama?"

"That's right. Even though he's half angel, he's also half devil and that's the part of him that's starting to take over his body."

"What does he have to do with me? And mother…what's her purpose in all this mess?"

"Your mother took longer than I'd hoped to understand about your aunt, and when she learned of Jun's death by Toshin she wanted to find Jin and keep him safe with us to ensure the Devil gene in his blood would not awaken. She was too late however, and I heard she was killed by Tekken force."

A thunderous stomp came from Asuka's high-heeled shoe. She stood up and bawled her fist. "I can't believe this! My mother was murdered by the same cursed organization I participated in! I REFUSE to let this pass without justice!"

"Asuka! Don't let your anger get the best of you. I can almost promise you there will be another tournament. I'm not sure when, but there will be another. If Kami allows it, you'll get the revenge you seek. More than likely your Cousin Jin will be there too."

'Cousin,' thought Asuka, 'this demon hybrid is just like them. Father said himself that the Devil gene was taking over his body'…she gives a fake smile to her dad.

"O.K., father. I think it would be best if I went back to the dojo and honed my skills a bit."

Her father grinned at this remark. "That's the daughter I know and love! Now you be on your way, the doctors say I'll be out in 3 days."

Practically skipping now, Asuka makes her way to the door when her father speaks again.

"One more thing, child." Asuka turns to see him.

He holds a gold locket in his hand. "Happy Birthday!" he exclaims.

Asuka dashes up to him and take the locket. After kissing his forehead, she makes for the door and waves goodbye.

She was out. Her father wouldn't have to know about her intentions. Opening the locket made her smile. It had a picture of her mother and herself when she was a very young girl. Sighing, she closed it and put it around her neck. It was time for her to act.

Once again her bike became her lackey and as she mounted it the only thought in her head was of her oblivious cousin, Jin Kazama.

"I don't care if he is my cousin. My mother died because of him and he's going to become a devil if I don't stop him." She looked up at the window were her father's room was.

"Sorry, dad. I'm going to go home of course…but then I'm going to look for Jin. He has to be stopped even if it means I have to…kill him. You of all people should understand."

With that final word, she rode off into the sunset where her quest would begin.

A/N: Uh-Oh! Do I smell another dysfunctional family relationship in the making? Tekken practically wrote the book on this subject. By the way if anyone has an idea of what I should call Asuka's father, please let me know…because my hands are dog-tired! Read and review and I'll see what I can do!