Love Worth Fighting For
By Indigo Siren
Disclaimer: Tekken is © to Namco. I am making no money from this fan fiction; it is just for fun. I however own all the characters that are not apart of the Tekken franchise. All rights reserved.
Chapter 9
Feathery white clouds hovered at her feet, and as she stepped on them, she felt as if she weighed of nothing but air. The clear, white, glittery stretch led onward into an endless landscape, but Miharu felt like she was meant to go somewhere and her heart led her in the right direction. Whether right or wrong, she trusted her instincts and trudged on.
It may have only been seconds later, but it felt like hours had passed before she came to a stop, staring at a girl just a head in shimmering mass of fog. Miharu's pace picked up and she was running in curious anticipation towards this figure, drawing to a dead stop as her eyes graced over the sorrowful face of Ling Xiaoyu.
The Chinese girl was knelt carefully within the misty expanse, looking at a couple of small pictures in her hand, tears dripping like tiny crystals from her eyes.
"Xiao?" Miharu called softly.
The Chinese girl instantly stood, dropping the pictures. Not even giving Miharu a look, she ran off into the mist.
"XIAOYU! WAIT! COME BACK!" Miharu cried. "PLEASE DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME! I'M SORRY!"
But her calls went on deaf ears as the girl disappeared into the mist, gone without a trace. Miharu could do nothing but sigh. She walked towards the pictures that Xiaoyu had dropped and bent down to pick them up. With the pictures now in hand, she glanced them over, her jaw becoming slack. They were the two small passport sized photos of her and Jin on their last date. Her eyes filled up with tears, not only because of Xiaoyu's anger at her, but because she missed him greatly. Life was forever cruel, as was her dreams. Yes… a dream… she accepted it, that his face would only be welcome to her here.
Looking up, she felt the tears trickle down her cheeks, painting clear streaks of pain across her face.
"Why?" She blubbered softly. "Why must I be tortured? If there is a message or a sign I need to know, give me it and leave me alone…"
She sat down with thump against the puffy whiteness that represented the ground. The softness greeted her, and for once, she had wished it were rough and unforgiving, scratching at her skin until blood was drawn. She wanted the pain to seep from her, but only within her dreams, not on her physical body, as life carried on whatever, though her dreams were forever lingering with things of the past. She would not mar her body over this.
The wind caught around her frame, whipping coldly, and her skin reacted violently making her huddle tightly against it. She understood this feeling, that drawn directly from her heart. She closed her eyes, listening to her shuddering breaths, wishing for this all to stop.
"You're worthless…"
Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around for whomever spoke to her. There was nobody.
"You're pathetic…" She stood as many voices began to pick up around her, haunting in eerie echoes of hate and disgust.
"Nobody cares about you…"
"He rejected you…"
"Not worth the time…"
"Why don't you curl up and cry away your life…"
"Nobody needs you…"
"You've ruined people's lives…"
"SHUT UP!" Miharu screamed out as the voices began to become overwhelming. "YOU DON'T KNOW ME! YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND!" She was running with her hands over her ears, looking for means of escape, but everything seemed to be closing in around her. "YOU AREN'T REAL! YOU AREN'T!"
"Poor, Miharu… so alone… so afraid… just what she deserves…" The voices taunted in unison.
"SHUT UP! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I'M NOT LISTENING ANYMORE!"
Her screams filled the void and carried, carrying over the voices. She collapsed to her knees and sobbed for all she was worth, hands still pressed over her ears.
Soft, careful hands took her arms and she reacted with a start, screaming, eyes looking up in fear. She came face to face with the beautiful woman in white.
"Leave me alone," Miharu whimpered. "I can't take it anymore…"
"I'm sorry," the woman whispered. "I'm sorry if I frighten you…"
Miharu shook her head. "No… you don't, it's just…"
"You think I'm part of this cursing nightmare you endure." She shook her raven-haired head. "No, I'm here as the sign of peace. As long as you look for a way out and keep on fighting, I'll always be here."
"I'm lonely… nobody can help me…" Miharu cried.
"Of course people can help you, Miharu. You're just experiencing the overwhelming pain of loss. There is something missing inside of you… something that will guide you," she said.
Miharu looked up into those knowing, angelic eyes. "Who are you?"
"The one who will help you heal. My name is Jun Kazama."
Miharu's eyes widened. "Jun Kazama… are you… related to Jin? His mother?"
She smiled. "Yes, that's right."
"But… you're dead…" Jun just smiled at Miharu. "Why are you here?"
"As I said…" Jun helped her to her feet. "To heal. Your mind is giving you hidden messages, ones that you must puzzle together. And also, these nightmares are playing on your fears and your pain. They are linking up to something, maybe an interpretation. Only you will work it out when the time comes."
Miharu looked down. "Well, I've dreamed of creatures, the pain of rejection, the feelings of compassion… and now hate and cursing… I just don't get it at all…"
"You will. Everything will come to make sense, and you'll think of things you never have before," Jun said, holding her shoulders carefully, giving her nothing but comfort. But her face then turned serious. "But I must warn you, when you are searching for answers, you need to be careful… things are getting more flagitious by the minute. And I'm not talking about your dreams…"
Miharu watched the eyes of Jun Kazama, but saw nothing but uncertainty within them. She was completely baffled.
Jun pulled away.
"Heed my warning," she said simply. "What you choose now, may effect the outcome of everything. Though, you may think you're doing the wrong thing, but in the end, it will be right, even though you fear it…"
Miharu instantly knew she couldn't be told more, and decided not to press on, since she wouldn't get the answers anyway. "Alright," she whispered.
Jun nodded. "Good luck." And she turned away, walking into the mist, swallowed within the white.
Miharu watched her go, and inevitably began to feel a dizziness overwhelm her. The misty whiteness wrapped tightly around her head, the pressure making her vision distort to black. She felt her body falling backwards, landing on the softness of the clouds and bouncing slightly, welcome now by the darkness that had flooded her eyes, suddenly clicking into place over the white.
Her bedroom now looked a strange place.
Her dream was over. What now?
Lying there for a moment, everything seemed hazy, but distantly, she remembered Jun Kazama's words, echoing over and over inside her head. That's just when she realised a very nasty headache was coming on and both of her hands went to her throbbing temples.
"I never should have drank so much," she whimpered.
Though she didn't get considerably drunk, she'd easily let go to drink the night away, especially when Xiaoyu left. She'd become depressed. And now, she was feeling the churn of the after effects taking revenge. She smacked dry lips together and groaned, slowly kicking the covers off and swinging out of bed, dying for a drink. She stumbled precariously towards the bathroom, deciding not to poison her eyes with blinding light while she felt this rotten. She was glad to see the sink, sitting waiting for her, almost calling to her with its cool water within.
She ran the cold tap till the water came out icy cool and she cupped her hands beneath it and sipped away until the dryness faded into a far off memory. She splashed her face, letting the drops dribble across her pale cheeks. She grabbed the towel from the rail and slightly dabbed her face. Though refreshed, her headache still thumped slightly and her stomach was starting to twist knots, painful ones at that. She nearly fell over as wave after wave of nausea threatened to ground her. She'd never felt this kind of pain in her life.
She quickly shuffled towards the toilet, dropping to her knees and threw up, exhausting the contents of her stomach till she felt a peaceful emptiness inside. She coughed and wheezed feebly, dry heaving over the bowl. She waited there shaking, but nothing more would come. Now settled, she grumbled tiredly and sighed, glad that her headache was beginning to subside. With certainty she could stand, she made a grab for the sink and took to having a hefty drink of water.
'Remind me never to drink lots of different alcohol in one night,' she noted to herself. 'And watch what I eat too.'
Whatever it was, all that mattered now was making it back to the bed and finishing up the rest of the night under her quilts. In the morning light, things could be solved and repaired.
***
"Sunday mornings are meant for sleeping, not traipsing out to see who you're gonna brawl with," Miharu protested feebly as she walked through Tokyo towards the main building for the Mishima Zaibatsu offices.
Feeling much better then she did hours ago, she was willing to walk it and get some fresh air, while her dad was having a lye-in after a night with Hanii. And for a fact, Miharu wasn't going to ask or even question what they had done. What gave it away was Hanii in their kitchen, making breakfast, wearing one of her dad's shirts. An interesting sight, but Miharu wasn't bitter, and exchanged pleasantries with the woman, eating her prepared food and going out to see whom her next opponent on the agenda was in the King of Iron Fist Tournament.
Her stomach and headache were now a bad memory, very much settled by some tablets she'd rummaged out of the medicine cabinet. She finally made it to the Mishima owned building, after a long trek and walked through the glass revolving doors into a plush ochre coloured lobby.
The receptionist at the desk was talking into a phone headset, speaking with that high, bubbly voice only receptionists seemed to have. She turned as Miharu came to the desk, put up her hand for a second while she finished the call, and then turned to the awaiting girl, beaming. "Hello, Miss Hirano. Here for your match scheduling?"
"Yes, thank you, Kaoru," Miharu answered her, smiling back.
Kaoru nodded and spun her swivel chair towards a long row of cabinets, fingers running down the labels before producing a set of keys to open one of the lower draws. She flipped through a few folders and made a small noise of success as she produced a wad of envelopes, flicking through them at the speed of light, producing one labelled for Miharu. She handed it to her.
"Thank you," Miharu said graciously and turned towards the doorway, taking a slow walk across the lobby as she tore the envelope open. She slipped the paper out with anticipation, stopping like a statue as she read it:
Wednesday 5.00 - Tokyo Arena - Versus Kazuya Mishima.
Her eyes went wide and she quickly backtracked to the desk. "Excuse me, Kaoru, are you sure this is right? This isn't a miss print?"
Kaoru took the paper back and slipped on a pair of glasses to look at the writing. Still smiling, she handed it back. "I'll just check on my computer."
She spun her chair towards a computer and tapped away quickly, scanning through to find the tournament details file with all the matches that had been recently scheduled. Miharu waited, completely nerve wracked. No way could she face Kazuya!
When Kaoru stopped typing, Miharu jumped slighting.
"Well?" Miharu asked.
Kaoru turned the seat. "Your match scheduling is perfectly correct. No miss print. Your opponent is Kazuya Mishima."
Miharu gripped the front of the desk slightly. "Seriously?"
"Most serious, Miss Hirano." The woman's smile never faltered.
Miharu sighed shakily. "W-well, thank you." And she quickly left, suddenly having the urge to drop to her knees and scream to the heavens.
***
Just like old times, she found solace on her favourite park hill, lying face up on the grass, staring at the passing clouds.
'Good old hill, you never fail me,' she thought.
Though it was a perfectly nice day, she was plagued by utter dread at the thought of having to fight the powerhouse Kazuya Mishima in three days. It was unthinkable! How could she beat this man? The strength she has felt behind the hand that had touched her arm in the restaurant clearly called out with fierce aggression, which he could obviously throw out with those fists of his.
She knew she'd have to pack in the training extra before this match up, if she ever had a chance of winning. But she was doubtful.
A ball bounced at her side and she jumped, sitting up.
"Surprise, surprise! Didn't know you'd be here!" Yumi said, running up to collect the offending ball. Mika and Rubi could be seen following close behind.
"Hi, guys!" Miharu greeted them all.
"I see you're in one of you deep thinking sessions," Mika noted. "Always come here to do so. Practically gives you away."
Miharu stood, dusting down the back of her trousers. "Can't break tradition now, can I?"
"What you thinking about?" Yumi asked, wrapping an arm over her shoulder.
"I have this match up on Wednesday, and it's against this man named Kazuya Mishima," she told them.
"Of the infamous Mishimas?" Rubi asked.
"Yes, and I'm not joking when I say he is strong," Miharu said, almost quaking in her shoes.
"I hear the Mishimas are great martial artists," Rubi said, and smiled meekly. "I hope that didn't just give your confidence another stab?"
"I thought as much," Miharu said and sighed. "I'm just worried is all."
"You'll do fine, I'm sure." Yumi patted her back. "Come walk up the park? Clear your head?"
"Okay," Miharu agreed, and turned to stroll with the three up the side of the path. "So, what you doing out here so early?"
"I got booted out the house while my parents redecorate," Mika said with a laugh. "They said I'd be no help, and handed me a ball and told me to go out and play. Uh, don't they realise I'm eighteen? Oh well, I thought it would be nice to kick a ball around anyway. So, here we all are."
"It was riveting till Mika started cheating in our little game," Yumi said, giving an evil eye to the accused girl.
"That's not true! Right, Rubi?"
The other girl folded her arms. "No comment."
Mika piqued. "It's a rebellion against me, I swear!"
The group laughed, continuing up the long path descending the hill. They soon spotted Xiaoyu riding her bike. She was adorned in her fitness gear, huffing and puffing up the hill, working up a sweat. She looked up at the oncoming group, and hesitated to stop on seeing Miharu, scowling and decided to keep riding.
"Hi, Xiao," Mika said and waved.
She smiled a little. "Hi, Mika. Hi, Yumi. Hi, Rubi." She gave a cold glare to Miharu and rode by. This stopped the group in their tracks, watching the Chinese girl ride away, and all faces were on Miharu.
"What was all that about?" Yumi inquired.
"Uh, we kind of fell out last night when we went out to the club," Miharu said as she rubbed her arm idly.
"Why though?" Mika asked.
Miharu looked between them. Could she afford to lie anymore to her friends? She decided the secret wasn't worth keeping anymore.
"Rubi knows," Miharu said and Yumi and Mika turned to the Japanese-American curiously. She raised an eyebrow for a moment, confused, but Miharu gave her a look that suddenly brought everything back.
"Can we know too?" Yumi asked, turning back to Miharu.
Miharu sighed. "I guess so. But first, do you promise not to get mad?" She waited until they gave their guarantee before she carried on. "Well, I'm going to put it to you plain and simple, and I'm sure it'll surprise you." She took a deep breath. "I was Jin Kazama's girlfriend."
A bird tweeted loudly. A car exhaust made itself known. A ball broke a window. An empty packet of crisps attempted a tumbleweed impression across the grass.
Yumi and Mika stared at her.
Miharu cleared her throat. "Yup, it's true. And that's why Xiaoyu is angry at me, because I kept it quiet for so long."
"I can see why," Mika said plainly.
Miharu cringed, afraid of the anger, but was surprised when Mika and Yumi both jumped up and down screaming and hugged her.
"MIHARU! YOU DOG!" Mika said laughing.
"You're so lucky! Was he a great kisser? Did you see him naked?" Yumi asked.
Miharu grinned. "He was a great kisser, and no, I didn't see him naked."
"Aww, that's too bad." Yumi broke out into fits of laughter.
Miharu smiled sadly and both girls seemed to notice and stop their girlish laughter.
"Wow… and he disappeared didn't he?" Mika said softly.
"Were you still dating when he left?" Yumi feared to ask.
Miharu nodded. "Yeah…"
"I'm so sorry." Mika patted her back, and Yumi soon followed the pattern, saying a soft apology for the girl's loss.
"It's okay. It took time to get over, but I'm feeling better then I did two years ago." Miharu blew out a heavy breath of air and smiled again. "So, it now explains all my thoughtfulness all that time back."
"Sure does," Mika said. "Surprising about you and the word thought-"
Rubi elbowed her. "Mika, that's cruel."
She giggled. "Couldn't help it. Miharu has to admit she was somewhat of a dip back then."
Miharu nodded in agreement. "Sure was."
Mika stuck her tongue out at Rubi. "See."
Rubi rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out back.
"And you know guys," Miharu suddenly said hopefully. "I think I've seen him around. You know, with the tournament."
Yumi snapped her fingers. "Could be! I hope you find him."
Miharu looked up at the sky. "Yeah, me too."
***
"Tracking the bug. Following this roadway due north. Slowing down at the turn in point a mile ahead."
Konoha looked up at the suited man that addressed him, looking over his tracking equipment in the back of the moving van. Sat around him was a small task force on the trail of the bug that was inside Miharu Hirano.
'I wonder where Miss Hirano is going?' He thought, then nodded at the suited man. "Right, we're staying in pursuit. Mishima-sama classes this sudden movement as suspicious. We must see where she is going."
"Right, sir," the man acknowledged.
Konoha sat back, wondering why he got himself roped into this chase. It wasn't his line of work. He was better as an office worker, not a spy, or even a stalker as he felt working this situation. He was intent now to ask the boss for a pay rise for this work.
It wasn't a short time later, still listening to the murmurs with his co-workers before he heard the voice of the driver break through into the back.
"Mr Konoha, sir? Are you sure this would a place she'd come?"
He frowned and stepped towards the small grid that separated the front and back cabins. "Why do you ask?"
"Uh, it's a sewage recycling plant, sir."
Konoha blinked in shock. "Say that again?"
"A sewage recycling plant."
'What would she be doing here?' Konoha sighed in disgust. "Let's check it out anyway."
***
"You've got to be kidding me," Konoha said, covering the lower part of his face so he wouldn't throw up. He was standing on a bridge, right over a large pool of sewage waste, consisting of a lot of unfriendly materials.
"The tracker leads right here sir," a blue suited man next to him said.
"Oh yes, well, do you really think she'd come here to have a nice, good old swim?" Konoha sarcastically spat. "Are you sure it's not broken?"
"It's the latest in high-tech equipment, thoroughly tested," he said to his supervisor.
"Not good enough," he muttered reaching out for his phone, speed dialling the G-Corps offices.
The deep voice of Kazuya answered in just under two rings. "What have you to report?"
"Uh," Konoha cleared his throat, crinkling his nose at the smell. "We traced the bug to… a sewage tank."
"A sewage tank?" Kazuya said blankly.
"Yes, Mishima-sama." Konoha bit his lip waiting for an answer.
He heard a disgruntled sigh of his boss. "And how, in blue blazes, did it get in there?"
Konoha cringed and turned to the blue suited man next to him, who was puzzling. "How'd it get in there, Koiki?"
The man found a plausible explanation. "The bug was made to sit in the body under a temporary basis. The stomach acids would have eventually broke the casing and dissolved it. It was made so it couldn't have been passed through, uh, excretion." He saw Konoha cringe and he shrugged with no better terms to tell him. "But, my theory is, by a few test results that we have done, it could have been that her body reacted badly to it and she… vomited it back up."
He went silent and Konoha feel even sicker now. "Did you hear that, Mishima-sama?"
"Yes, and thank him for the biology lesson and tell him that he and the lab boys they are fired. Useless imbeciles! They should have run more tests on the bug! What if it had killed her? What pathetic morons did I hire?" He took a sharp breath. "Get back here right now, and bring that damn bug with you! I can have some of the scientists take a look over it." Kazuya hung up.
Konoha twitched slightly. He wanted the bug. From the sewage…
He looked down and bit his lip. He wanted someone to get it out of there. Like hell was he going to be the one to do it.
He sighed and turned to Koiki. "Mishima-sama said you're fired, and the lab boys too." He turned passed the shocked man. "And can someone get some equipment out here to fish out the bug." He was met by a lot of nauseated faces. "You heard me!"
***
Miss Safaia entered the room just after Kazuya had cut contact with Konoha. He looked completely stressed out as she stepped up to his desk with a tray in her hands.
"Coffee?" She asked, presenting it before him.
"I want something much stronger then a coffee," he said, rubbing his temples.
"How about I invite your little girlfriend to fix you up?" She said with a sneaky smile.
He snapped his eyes up on her. "I pay you to be my secretary, not a smart mouth."
She rolled her eyes up, looking innocent. "The smart mouthing is an added bonus. It comes free with the job."
"You can shove that smart mouthing up your ass if you actually want to keep this job," he said with a sneer, watching her eyes go wide slightly. "You are very disposable. And I'm very sure smart mouthing would suit the job of cocktail waitress more..."
"No, no, sir!" She said, nervously laughing. "I'm happy with this position. I'm much more appreciated with it."
"Oh really?" He said, a chuckle slipping into his deep voice. "Appreciation means nothing, and neither does your credentials with an attitude like yours. Now, kindly remove yourself from my office before I decide to make that cocktail waitress job come true."
She mumbled something in acknowledgement and quickly scurried out, much to Kazuya's amusement.
By Indigo Siren
Disclaimer: Tekken is © to Namco. I am making no money from this fan fiction; it is just for fun. I however own all the characters that are not apart of the Tekken franchise. All rights reserved.
Chapter 9
Feathery white clouds hovered at her feet, and as she stepped on them, she felt as if she weighed of nothing but air. The clear, white, glittery stretch led onward into an endless landscape, but Miharu felt like she was meant to go somewhere and her heart led her in the right direction. Whether right or wrong, she trusted her instincts and trudged on.
It may have only been seconds later, but it felt like hours had passed before she came to a stop, staring at a girl just a head in shimmering mass of fog. Miharu's pace picked up and she was running in curious anticipation towards this figure, drawing to a dead stop as her eyes graced over the sorrowful face of Ling Xiaoyu.
The Chinese girl was knelt carefully within the misty expanse, looking at a couple of small pictures in her hand, tears dripping like tiny crystals from her eyes.
"Xiao?" Miharu called softly.
The Chinese girl instantly stood, dropping the pictures. Not even giving Miharu a look, she ran off into the mist.
"XIAOYU! WAIT! COME BACK!" Miharu cried. "PLEASE DON'T BE ANGRY WITH ME! I'M SORRY!"
But her calls went on deaf ears as the girl disappeared into the mist, gone without a trace. Miharu could do nothing but sigh. She walked towards the pictures that Xiaoyu had dropped and bent down to pick them up. With the pictures now in hand, she glanced them over, her jaw becoming slack. They were the two small passport sized photos of her and Jin on their last date. Her eyes filled up with tears, not only because of Xiaoyu's anger at her, but because she missed him greatly. Life was forever cruel, as was her dreams. Yes… a dream… she accepted it, that his face would only be welcome to her here.
Looking up, she felt the tears trickle down her cheeks, painting clear streaks of pain across her face.
"Why?" She blubbered softly. "Why must I be tortured? If there is a message or a sign I need to know, give me it and leave me alone…"
She sat down with thump against the puffy whiteness that represented the ground. The softness greeted her, and for once, she had wished it were rough and unforgiving, scratching at her skin until blood was drawn. She wanted the pain to seep from her, but only within her dreams, not on her physical body, as life carried on whatever, though her dreams were forever lingering with things of the past. She would not mar her body over this.
The wind caught around her frame, whipping coldly, and her skin reacted violently making her huddle tightly against it. She understood this feeling, that drawn directly from her heart. She closed her eyes, listening to her shuddering breaths, wishing for this all to stop.
"You're worthless…"
Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around for whomever spoke to her. There was nobody.
"You're pathetic…" She stood as many voices began to pick up around her, haunting in eerie echoes of hate and disgust.
"Nobody cares about you…"
"He rejected you…"
"Not worth the time…"
"Why don't you curl up and cry away your life…"
"Nobody needs you…"
"You've ruined people's lives…"
"SHUT UP!" Miharu screamed out as the voices began to become overwhelming. "YOU DON'T KNOW ME! YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND!" She was running with her hands over her ears, looking for means of escape, but everything seemed to be closing in around her. "YOU AREN'T REAL! YOU AREN'T!"
"Poor, Miharu… so alone… so afraid… just what she deserves…" The voices taunted in unison.
"SHUT UP! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I'M NOT LISTENING ANYMORE!"
Her screams filled the void and carried, carrying over the voices. She collapsed to her knees and sobbed for all she was worth, hands still pressed over her ears.
Soft, careful hands took her arms and she reacted with a start, screaming, eyes looking up in fear. She came face to face with the beautiful woman in white.
"Leave me alone," Miharu whimpered. "I can't take it anymore…"
"I'm sorry," the woman whispered. "I'm sorry if I frighten you…"
Miharu shook her head. "No… you don't, it's just…"
"You think I'm part of this cursing nightmare you endure." She shook her raven-haired head. "No, I'm here as the sign of peace. As long as you look for a way out and keep on fighting, I'll always be here."
"I'm lonely… nobody can help me…" Miharu cried.
"Of course people can help you, Miharu. You're just experiencing the overwhelming pain of loss. There is something missing inside of you… something that will guide you," she said.
Miharu looked up into those knowing, angelic eyes. "Who are you?"
"The one who will help you heal. My name is Jun Kazama."
Miharu's eyes widened. "Jun Kazama… are you… related to Jin? His mother?"
She smiled. "Yes, that's right."
"But… you're dead…" Jun just smiled at Miharu. "Why are you here?"
"As I said…" Jun helped her to her feet. "To heal. Your mind is giving you hidden messages, ones that you must puzzle together. And also, these nightmares are playing on your fears and your pain. They are linking up to something, maybe an interpretation. Only you will work it out when the time comes."
Miharu looked down. "Well, I've dreamed of creatures, the pain of rejection, the feelings of compassion… and now hate and cursing… I just don't get it at all…"
"You will. Everything will come to make sense, and you'll think of things you never have before," Jun said, holding her shoulders carefully, giving her nothing but comfort. But her face then turned serious. "But I must warn you, when you are searching for answers, you need to be careful… things are getting more flagitious by the minute. And I'm not talking about your dreams…"
Miharu watched the eyes of Jun Kazama, but saw nothing but uncertainty within them. She was completely baffled.
Jun pulled away.
"Heed my warning," she said simply. "What you choose now, may effect the outcome of everything. Though, you may think you're doing the wrong thing, but in the end, it will be right, even though you fear it…"
Miharu instantly knew she couldn't be told more, and decided not to press on, since she wouldn't get the answers anyway. "Alright," she whispered.
Jun nodded. "Good luck." And she turned away, walking into the mist, swallowed within the white.
Miharu watched her go, and inevitably began to feel a dizziness overwhelm her. The misty whiteness wrapped tightly around her head, the pressure making her vision distort to black. She felt her body falling backwards, landing on the softness of the clouds and bouncing slightly, welcome now by the darkness that had flooded her eyes, suddenly clicking into place over the white.
Her bedroom now looked a strange place.
Her dream was over. What now?
Lying there for a moment, everything seemed hazy, but distantly, she remembered Jun Kazama's words, echoing over and over inside her head. That's just when she realised a very nasty headache was coming on and both of her hands went to her throbbing temples.
"I never should have drank so much," she whimpered.
Though she didn't get considerably drunk, she'd easily let go to drink the night away, especially when Xiaoyu left. She'd become depressed. And now, she was feeling the churn of the after effects taking revenge. She smacked dry lips together and groaned, slowly kicking the covers off and swinging out of bed, dying for a drink. She stumbled precariously towards the bathroom, deciding not to poison her eyes with blinding light while she felt this rotten. She was glad to see the sink, sitting waiting for her, almost calling to her with its cool water within.
She ran the cold tap till the water came out icy cool and she cupped her hands beneath it and sipped away until the dryness faded into a far off memory. She splashed her face, letting the drops dribble across her pale cheeks. She grabbed the towel from the rail and slightly dabbed her face. Though refreshed, her headache still thumped slightly and her stomach was starting to twist knots, painful ones at that. She nearly fell over as wave after wave of nausea threatened to ground her. She'd never felt this kind of pain in her life.
She quickly shuffled towards the toilet, dropping to her knees and threw up, exhausting the contents of her stomach till she felt a peaceful emptiness inside. She coughed and wheezed feebly, dry heaving over the bowl. She waited there shaking, but nothing more would come. Now settled, she grumbled tiredly and sighed, glad that her headache was beginning to subside. With certainty she could stand, she made a grab for the sink and took to having a hefty drink of water.
'Remind me never to drink lots of different alcohol in one night,' she noted to herself. 'And watch what I eat too.'
Whatever it was, all that mattered now was making it back to the bed and finishing up the rest of the night under her quilts. In the morning light, things could be solved and repaired.
***
"Sunday mornings are meant for sleeping, not traipsing out to see who you're gonna brawl with," Miharu protested feebly as she walked through Tokyo towards the main building for the Mishima Zaibatsu offices.
Feeling much better then she did hours ago, she was willing to walk it and get some fresh air, while her dad was having a lye-in after a night with Hanii. And for a fact, Miharu wasn't going to ask or even question what they had done. What gave it away was Hanii in their kitchen, making breakfast, wearing one of her dad's shirts. An interesting sight, but Miharu wasn't bitter, and exchanged pleasantries with the woman, eating her prepared food and going out to see whom her next opponent on the agenda was in the King of Iron Fist Tournament.
Her stomach and headache were now a bad memory, very much settled by some tablets she'd rummaged out of the medicine cabinet. She finally made it to the Mishima owned building, after a long trek and walked through the glass revolving doors into a plush ochre coloured lobby.
The receptionist at the desk was talking into a phone headset, speaking with that high, bubbly voice only receptionists seemed to have. She turned as Miharu came to the desk, put up her hand for a second while she finished the call, and then turned to the awaiting girl, beaming. "Hello, Miss Hirano. Here for your match scheduling?"
"Yes, thank you, Kaoru," Miharu answered her, smiling back.
Kaoru nodded and spun her swivel chair towards a long row of cabinets, fingers running down the labels before producing a set of keys to open one of the lower draws. She flipped through a few folders and made a small noise of success as she produced a wad of envelopes, flicking through them at the speed of light, producing one labelled for Miharu. She handed it to her.
"Thank you," Miharu said graciously and turned towards the doorway, taking a slow walk across the lobby as she tore the envelope open. She slipped the paper out with anticipation, stopping like a statue as she read it:
Wednesday 5.00 - Tokyo Arena - Versus Kazuya Mishima.
Her eyes went wide and she quickly backtracked to the desk. "Excuse me, Kaoru, are you sure this is right? This isn't a miss print?"
Kaoru took the paper back and slipped on a pair of glasses to look at the writing. Still smiling, she handed it back. "I'll just check on my computer."
She spun her chair towards a computer and tapped away quickly, scanning through to find the tournament details file with all the matches that had been recently scheduled. Miharu waited, completely nerve wracked. No way could she face Kazuya!
When Kaoru stopped typing, Miharu jumped slighting.
"Well?" Miharu asked.
Kaoru turned the seat. "Your match scheduling is perfectly correct. No miss print. Your opponent is Kazuya Mishima."
Miharu gripped the front of the desk slightly. "Seriously?"
"Most serious, Miss Hirano." The woman's smile never faltered.
Miharu sighed shakily. "W-well, thank you." And she quickly left, suddenly having the urge to drop to her knees and scream to the heavens.
***
Just like old times, she found solace on her favourite park hill, lying face up on the grass, staring at the passing clouds.
'Good old hill, you never fail me,' she thought.
Though it was a perfectly nice day, she was plagued by utter dread at the thought of having to fight the powerhouse Kazuya Mishima in three days. It was unthinkable! How could she beat this man? The strength she has felt behind the hand that had touched her arm in the restaurant clearly called out with fierce aggression, which he could obviously throw out with those fists of his.
She knew she'd have to pack in the training extra before this match up, if she ever had a chance of winning. But she was doubtful.
A ball bounced at her side and she jumped, sitting up.
"Surprise, surprise! Didn't know you'd be here!" Yumi said, running up to collect the offending ball. Mika and Rubi could be seen following close behind.
"Hi, guys!" Miharu greeted them all.
"I see you're in one of you deep thinking sessions," Mika noted. "Always come here to do so. Practically gives you away."
Miharu stood, dusting down the back of her trousers. "Can't break tradition now, can I?"
"What you thinking about?" Yumi asked, wrapping an arm over her shoulder.
"I have this match up on Wednesday, and it's against this man named Kazuya Mishima," she told them.
"Of the infamous Mishimas?" Rubi asked.
"Yes, and I'm not joking when I say he is strong," Miharu said, almost quaking in her shoes.
"I hear the Mishimas are great martial artists," Rubi said, and smiled meekly. "I hope that didn't just give your confidence another stab?"
"I thought as much," Miharu said and sighed. "I'm just worried is all."
"You'll do fine, I'm sure." Yumi patted her back. "Come walk up the park? Clear your head?"
"Okay," Miharu agreed, and turned to stroll with the three up the side of the path. "So, what you doing out here so early?"
"I got booted out the house while my parents redecorate," Mika said with a laugh. "They said I'd be no help, and handed me a ball and told me to go out and play. Uh, don't they realise I'm eighteen? Oh well, I thought it would be nice to kick a ball around anyway. So, here we all are."
"It was riveting till Mika started cheating in our little game," Yumi said, giving an evil eye to the accused girl.
"That's not true! Right, Rubi?"
The other girl folded her arms. "No comment."
Mika piqued. "It's a rebellion against me, I swear!"
The group laughed, continuing up the long path descending the hill. They soon spotted Xiaoyu riding her bike. She was adorned in her fitness gear, huffing and puffing up the hill, working up a sweat. She looked up at the oncoming group, and hesitated to stop on seeing Miharu, scowling and decided to keep riding.
"Hi, Xiao," Mika said and waved.
She smiled a little. "Hi, Mika. Hi, Yumi. Hi, Rubi." She gave a cold glare to Miharu and rode by. This stopped the group in their tracks, watching the Chinese girl ride away, and all faces were on Miharu.
"What was all that about?" Yumi inquired.
"Uh, we kind of fell out last night when we went out to the club," Miharu said as she rubbed her arm idly.
"Why though?" Mika asked.
Miharu looked between them. Could she afford to lie anymore to her friends? She decided the secret wasn't worth keeping anymore.
"Rubi knows," Miharu said and Yumi and Mika turned to the Japanese-American curiously. She raised an eyebrow for a moment, confused, but Miharu gave her a look that suddenly brought everything back.
"Can we know too?" Yumi asked, turning back to Miharu.
Miharu sighed. "I guess so. But first, do you promise not to get mad?" She waited until they gave their guarantee before she carried on. "Well, I'm going to put it to you plain and simple, and I'm sure it'll surprise you." She took a deep breath. "I was Jin Kazama's girlfriend."
A bird tweeted loudly. A car exhaust made itself known. A ball broke a window. An empty packet of crisps attempted a tumbleweed impression across the grass.
Yumi and Mika stared at her.
Miharu cleared her throat. "Yup, it's true. And that's why Xiaoyu is angry at me, because I kept it quiet for so long."
"I can see why," Mika said plainly.
Miharu cringed, afraid of the anger, but was surprised when Mika and Yumi both jumped up and down screaming and hugged her.
"MIHARU! YOU DOG!" Mika said laughing.
"You're so lucky! Was he a great kisser? Did you see him naked?" Yumi asked.
Miharu grinned. "He was a great kisser, and no, I didn't see him naked."
"Aww, that's too bad." Yumi broke out into fits of laughter.
Miharu smiled sadly and both girls seemed to notice and stop their girlish laughter.
"Wow… and he disappeared didn't he?" Mika said softly.
"Were you still dating when he left?" Yumi feared to ask.
Miharu nodded. "Yeah…"
"I'm so sorry." Mika patted her back, and Yumi soon followed the pattern, saying a soft apology for the girl's loss.
"It's okay. It took time to get over, but I'm feeling better then I did two years ago." Miharu blew out a heavy breath of air and smiled again. "So, it now explains all my thoughtfulness all that time back."
"Sure does," Mika said. "Surprising about you and the word thought-"
Rubi elbowed her. "Mika, that's cruel."
She giggled. "Couldn't help it. Miharu has to admit she was somewhat of a dip back then."
Miharu nodded in agreement. "Sure was."
Mika stuck her tongue out at Rubi. "See."
Rubi rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out back.
"And you know guys," Miharu suddenly said hopefully. "I think I've seen him around. You know, with the tournament."
Yumi snapped her fingers. "Could be! I hope you find him."
Miharu looked up at the sky. "Yeah, me too."
***
"Tracking the bug. Following this roadway due north. Slowing down at the turn in point a mile ahead."
Konoha looked up at the suited man that addressed him, looking over his tracking equipment in the back of the moving van. Sat around him was a small task force on the trail of the bug that was inside Miharu Hirano.
'I wonder where Miss Hirano is going?' He thought, then nodded at the suited man. "Right, we're staying in pursuit. Mishima-sama classes this sudden movement as suspicious. We must see where she is going."
"Right, sir," the man acknowledged.
Konoha sat back, wondering why he got himself roped into this chase. It wasn't his line of work. He was better as an office worker, not a spy, or even a stalker as he felt working this situation. He was intent now to ask the boss for a pay rise for this work.
It wasn't a short time later, still listening to the murmurs with his co-workers before he heard the voice of the driver break through into the back.
"Mr Konoha, sir? Are you sure this would a place she'd come?"
He frowned and stepped towards the small grid that separated the front and back cabins. "Why do you ask?"
"Uh, it's a sewage recycling plant, sir."
Konoha blinked in shock. "Say that again?"
"A sewage recycling plant."
'What would she be doing here?' Konoha sighed in disgust. "Let's check it out anyway."
***
"You've got to be kidding me," Konoha said, covering the lower part of his face so he wouldn't throw up. He was standing on a bridge, right over a large pool of sewage waste, consisting of a lot of unfriendly materials.
"The tracker leads right here sir," a blue suited man next to him said.
"Oh yes, well, do you really think she'd come here to have a nice, good old swim?" Konoha sarcastically spat. "Are you sure it's not broken?"
"It's the latest in high-tech equipment, thoroughly tested," he said to his supervisor.
"Not good enough," he muttered reaching out for his phone, speed dialling the G-Corps offices.
The deep voice of Kazuya answered in just under two rings. "What have you to report?"
"Uh," Konoha cleared his throat, crinkling his nose at the smell. "We traced the bug to… a sewage tank."
"A sewage tank?" Kazuya said blankly.
"Yes, Mishima-sama." Konoha bit his lip waiting for an answer.
He heard a disgruntled sigh of his boss. "And how, in blue blazes, did it get in there?"
Konoha cringed and turned to the blue suited man next to him, who was puzzling. "How'd it get in there, Koiki?"
The man found a plausible explanation. "The bug was made to sit in the body under a temporary basis. The stomach acids would have eventually broke the casing and dissolved it. It was made so it couldn't have been passed through, uh, excretion." He saw Konoha cringe and he shrugged with no better terms to tell him. "But, my theory is, by a few test results that we have done, it could have been that her body reacted badly to it and she… vomited it back up."
He went silent and Konoha feel even sicker now. "Did you hear that, Mishima-sama?"
"Yes, and thank him for the biology lesson and tell him that he and the lab boys they are fired. Useless imbeciles! They should have run more tests on the bug! What if it had killed her? What pathetic morons did I hire?" He took a sharp breath. "Get back here right now, and bring that damn bug with you! I can have some of the scientists take a look over it." Kazuya hung up.
Konoha twitched slightly. He wanted the bug. From the sewage…
He looked down and bit his lip. He wanted someone to get it out of there. Like hell was he going to be the one to do it.
He sighed and turned to Koiki. "Mishima-sama said you're fired, and the lab boys too." He turned passed the shocked man. "And can someone get some equipment out here to fish out the bug." He was met by a lot of nauseated faces. "You heard me!"
***
Miss Safaia entered the room just after Kazuya had cut contact with Konoha. He looked completely stressed out as she stepped up to his desk with a tray in her hands.
"Coffee?" She asked, presenting it before him.
"I want something much stronger then a coffee," he said, rubbing his temples.
"How about I invite your little girlfriend to fix you up?" She said with a sneaky smile.
He snapped his eyes up on her. "I pay you to be my secretary, not a smart mouth."
She rolled her eyes up, looking innocent. "The smart mouthing is an added bonus. It comes free with the job."
"You can shove that smart mouthing up your ass if you actually want to keep this job," he said with a sneer, watching her eyes go wide slightly. "You are very disposable. And I'm very sure smart mouthing would suit the job of cocktail waitress more..."
"No, no, sir!" She said, nervously laughing. "I'm happy with this position. I'm much more appreciated with it."
"Oh really?" He said, a chuckle slipping into his deep voice. "Appreciation means nothing, and neither does your credentials with an attitude like yours. Now, kindly remove yourself from my office before I decide to make that cocktail waitress job come true."
She mumbled something in acknowledgement and quickly scurried out, much to Kazuya's amusement.