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 13
It was the last day of the accursed King of Iron Fist Tournament 4. Nobody was sure who'd gone into the final to face Heihachi, either that being Kazuya Mishima or Jin Kazama, the latter not being ruled off with his whereabouts being a mystery… but then again, who was to be sure what was going on. The tournament had been dangerous to understand from square one.
To enter was to die. A slow painful decline to nothing.
***
Rubi, Mika and Yumi stood with their backs to the wall of the youth centre, awaiting Xiaoyu's return. Around them, people were coming and going with food and decorations for the evening bash that was going to sweep across Tokyo with the results of who won the Iron Fist tournament. Everyone was in anticipation, just hanging on an excuse to party their brains out.
"Wow, everyone is really taking this seriously," Mika said, eyes following a group of people carrying baskets of alcohol down the road.
"You wouldn't believe it," Rubi put in. "It's just totally crazy."
"You should see the central high street at the boulevard." Yumi whistled. "It's totally streaming with lights."
"I don't think they did this the last time around…" Rubi said, trying to think back to two years ago.
"Oh, they were more exclusive club parties. But this year, everyone is taking to the streets. And best of all, we can join in without having to break any rules!" Yumi grinned and took Mika's hands, swinging the girl around. The pair laughed in unison.
"Hey, Xiaoyu's back!" Rubi said, breaking up their little dance. She waved to the Chinese girl, who rode towards them, pulling her bike to a stop at the pavement edge. The three girls went over towards her.
"So, any luck in finding Miharu?" Mika asked.
Xiaoyu shook her head sadly. "Not a trace. I've been to her house twice. The first time nobody was there and when I went again, her dad was in but he said she'd gone out this morning. I've been to all the obvious places." She began to count them off on her fingers. "The water gardens, the back end of the school, the woods, Tokyo City Central, The mall, The Park… where else can I look?"
"It's strange how she can just suddenly disappear like this," Yumi commented. "But then again, yesterday when she came out with us, she didn't act herself."
"It's this Jin thing…" Xiaoyu mumbled.
"What?" Yumi turned to her.
Xiaoyu looked between the three. "It was the other week when Jin sent a message through Julia to Miharu which pretty much told her to leave him alone. I don't understand why he just doesn't speak to her or any of us for that matter. Poor Miharu."
"She probably just wants to be alone. I guess we haven't been helping with all the boy hunting we've been doing." Mika shook her head. "And now she can't even console herself to talk to Jin. He disappeared remember."
"Though, I've heard he's suppose to be in this final match up," Xiaoyu said. "Everyday the former competitors are talking about the fixtures, moaning and such about how they could have beaten the remaining people. And then I hear about Jin being in it today. You know, I don't know who to trust for my information."
"Well…" Rubi patted Xiaoyu's shoulder. "Come on. We can't just hang about here. Lets backtrack to all the regular places again and see if we can't find her. I don't think she could have suddenly left Tokyo so quickly, and for a fact, she didn't jump off the face of the Earth…"
***
How long had she been walking circles? Minutes? Hours? It didn't seem to matter as long as her head was clear.
Miharu looked up at the darkening blue sky, hands stuffed into the pockets of her fleece. She's thought maybe over this last week the heaviness of her heart would lessen, but it seemed to just get worse, as she kept hearing news about Jin, here, there and everywhere. She didn't want to care anymore, but she did. How could she not? She'd heard earlier today when some people were discussing the finals that Jin was one of the people there.
How can he, she thought, when he's missing? Or was he? Maybe hiding again… from her.
'No! Stop it! No more!' Her mind hollered and she fought to change the subject.
Once the tournament was over, she knew she'd feel a whole lot better. Well, hoped anyway.
The minute she had got up that morning, she knew she couldn't face her friends, and she had done her best to avoid them, and so far, it was working. She'd been to places that she'd never been before, even gone to watch Yamaki's soccer match. He'd seen her there and she knew he'd been shocked. She waved at him and nearly distracted him from the match. She was praying he didn't take it as a sign that she wanted to go out with him now. So she wouldn't have to follow up on a difficult encounter, she'd left the match just before the end.
After an hour or so of street wandering, she'd found herself walking the path of the park, the most familiar and calming place she knew of. Of course, she hadn't gone there to start off with, as she knew her friends would instantly think to look for her there.
She was surprised to see the park abandoned, though, she did think it was all to do with a city wide celebration of the ending of the King of Iron Fist tournament. It had been a big influence over everything, and the media was sure going to get a kick out of it too. Heihachi Mishima was going to show off as much as possible; most likely sure he was going to win the tournament.
Well? What did it matter now? She'd failed in what she was suppose to achieve and was now lay on the park hill edge, looking over the city in a thoughtful silence. Her eyes began to droop tiredly as she stared down towards the many blinking lights.
'I wonder…' She considered, stifling a yawn. '… If Jin is okay… Whatever he is planning to do…'
***
Anger… Hate… Curse…
Anger… Hate… Curse…
Anger… Hate… Curse…
No way to escape, trapped in a void of endless torture of his soul…
Jin was trying to fight, but there was nothing to fight against, nothing that he could even reach out and touch. All he could do was listen to the taunts and laughter of the man he should have called 'father'. It was he who passed on this curse to him, this darkness that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Wake up, Jin Kazama!"
That harsh voice snapped him from the darkness and he found himself into a torch lit dojo, suspended by chains from the support beams at the back of the room. He pulled at the chains as hard as he could and they broke, sending him down onto the hard wooden floor. He kneeled, choking as he tried to breathe, his body burning. He could feel that darkness within him trying to break free, but he knew he was stronger now and could keep it at bay… if only for a while.
He looked up at the man ahead of him with narrowed, angry eyes. Kazuya Mishima stood before him, arms folded, waiting for him. This man, one he's never got to know, and he could feel a darkness around him that was more powerful then anything he'd felt before. He knew he couldn't let him live with such a darkness.
"You… if only you were dead. If I kill you… I will end everything…" Jin spat, suddenly up and charging the man. The fight had begun…
***
The land was dead. Parched of water and cracked beyond redemption. It was a dusty brown that showed clearly that it was void of any kind of life.
"What happened here?" Miharu mumbled, walking this deadened landscape and looking around her at the emptiness.
She continued to walk on, dismayed by death at every turn, and cringing at the crunching sound under her feet, that was like that of broken glass. She jumped as thunder erupted in the sky, the sound so close it almost knocked her off her feet.
Crimson lightning lit up the black sky, streaking like blood across a dark palate.
"It's a dream… all a dream…" She said to herself, kneeling to touch the ground. It just didn't feel real to her.
Whispers in the air could be heard from a distance drawing closer towards her. She stopped any movements and listened carefully. She rose from her position, carefully and slowly, turning to the direction of the voices…
… And jumped as slick, silver creatures, made of a thick oil like substance rushed around and past her, hissing together as they rose up into that black sky. She looked up, mouth agape as she remember those things from one of her earlier dreams.
The ground made a crackling sound as she snapped her head down, and screamed as bony arms began reaching up at her. Without a second thought, she was running like crazy, not daring to turn back or look down as the cracking sound was chasing her, more arms rising as bodies were pulling themselves free of this arid territory. All around her, bodies rose up, taking to the air, screeching like banshees. Every creature that began to either rise from the darkness or materialise out of nowhere seemed to be pulled towards the sky.
Miharu was panting, completely overcome by horror at the whole scene bursting with a new sense of life that was dark and incisive. She tripped on a pile of rocks in her path, and fell onto that dry, hard ground. She cried out, and pushed herself up to sitting, ignoring the pain.
In front of her, she could see the faces of people see knew, calling out to her with breathless voices.
Xiaoyu… Rubi… Mika… Yumi… Her father… Hanii… Yamaki…
Each face soon disintegrated and was sucked towards the dark sky, which suddenly split in a large, white line. Miharu went rigid, staring at this widening crack in the sky. She didn't know if she could escape what was coming next…
All the evil that had been there had come together, and from that crack of light burst a distorted winged demon. It was a large shadow creature, as black as the darkest night. It roared in anguish, turning two gleaming red eyes down on Miharu.
Her eyes widened into two scared orbs. Never before had she seen anything so terrifying, and the evil it was letting off was incredible.
Its roar died down as it looked at her, watching her trembling body with interest. It reached out one of its large shadowed claws towards her.
Miharu shook her head and screamed, arms flung up to protect herself.
"NO! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
That dark clawed hand stopped above and didn't attempt to even touch her. It just hovered there. She watched it, breathing hard, shaking uncontrollably. She could see it watching her, maybe even with sadness.
The air was hot and stifling, so hard to breathe. It had been as if the darkness was taking away the oxygen, taking away what was last of the life. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she gasped for breath.
"Why are you afraid of the dark?" A sweet voice came from behind her and Miharu turned, feeling a blessing coolness, relieving the burning in her body. Jun Kazama stood before her, and where she stood, a patch of springtime grass had grown.
"I… I don't understand…" Miharu managed to say.
Jun just smiled, and approached her, coming to kneel down, taking Miharu's shoulder. "You know, the darkness isn't always bad. What you think is evil, maybe good trapped behind a guise."
Miharu watched the woman's face as she turned to look up at the eerily silent shadow demon, still smiling.
"It's okay…" Jun said to it. "… She just doesn't understand. But she has a heart full of kindness and love…"
It made a sort of moaning noise and with a flash, it was gone and the world had become a much greener place, happy and alive.
"Do not give up hope, Miharu," Jun said. "In time, things will be understood. You will see things like you've never done before. And remember, you may see something that is covered in darkness, but ask yourself, is it truly evil?"
Miharu nodded and closed her eyes, filled with a calm serenity. Jun's touch was so relaxing and gentle, and somehow secretly beneath it, was passing on messages of knowledge.
And right there and then, Miharu began to understand things.
"Miharu?"
This time, it wasn't Jun's voice and Miharu jumped, opening her eyes.
Xiaoyu fell backwards onto her rear as Miharu shot up towards her. The latter blinked incoherently, coming back to reality. She was still on the park, sat on the grass, but now, it was dark and sky was filled with twinkling stars.
"It took us ages to find you," Xiaoyu said. "We were wondering where you had got to."
Miharu sighed. "Here and there."
Xiaoyu shuffled onto her knees and touched her friend's shoulder, just like Jun had done to her in her dream. It felt reassuring.
"Are you alright?" Xiaoyu asked.
Miharu slowly nodded. "I will be."
Xiaoyu could do nothing but just nod too before standing, pointing off down the hill. "Come on, the others are waiting for us. We have a party to get to."
"We have?"
Xiaoyu raised a brow at her friend. "Yeah. The tournament is over."
Miharu was shocked. "It is? Who won?"
"Jin did."
"He did!" There was even more shock for the Japanese girl.
"Yeah, that's what's going around," Xiaoyu confirmed and helped Miharu to her feet. "Come on, lets go."
"Um, yeah, okay," Miharu said, following her friend, thoughtful about Jin winning. She was happy for him, but she wished she could tell him she was. She was afraid… that he'd disappear again. And this time… forever.
***
Music thumped through the air, as loud as it possibly could, as people celebrated the end of the tournament. Nobody really cared who won, they just celebrated it anyway… well, except some of the former competitors, who just hung around to get drunk.
The whole of Tokyo was lit up in spectacular colours, so bright and bold, it should have glowed all the way across space and back. It looked like nobody was going to sleep tonight.
Rubi, Mika and Yumi pushed their way through the crowd, with Xiaoyu following up the rear with a quiet Miharu, who had to be careful not to be pushed around too much as people barged by her.
"THIS IS SO GREAT!" Mika shouted out as she spoke to Yumi.
"WHAT?" The other girl said, unable to hear over the music.
"I SAID, THIS IS SO GREAT!" She repeated.
Yumi lip read instead and nodded vigorously, giving the thumbs up. She turned to hook her arm through Rubi's as they continued through the find a place to get drinks. Rubi beckoned Xiaoyu and Miharu to follow as they disappeared through crowds of people.
Xiaoyu had to drag Miharu to keep up, who didn't seem that excited to celebrate, even for Jin's sake. He'd won the tournament, but it didn't make her feel better.
'I'm still alone.' Miharu sighed inwardly.
***
The celebrations went on, and the girls hung around listening to the music, eating and drinking as much as possible. Miharu grinned and bared it, standing aside and drinking some lemonade. Xiaoyu was occupied with talking to Julia who was on her way back to the hotel to get her things to prepare to leave on her plane in a few hours. It was pretty tearful goodbye between the two, as Xiaoyu kept begging Julia to stay a bit longer though she knew she couldn't. Miharu finally got to hug Julia after Xiaoyu had let her go.
"You take care of yourself, you hear?" The older girl said.
Miharu nodded. "I promise."
Julia nodded and wiped her eyes, adjusting her glasses. "Well, I hope to see you again."
"You too," Miharu said.
"Goodbye, Julia. Don't go for too long," Xiaoyu said through her tears.
Julia smiled lightly, calming down. "I'll visit you, or you visit me. Let's see what happens."
"You'll see Lei again, won't you, Julia?" Miharu suddenly decided to ask.
Julia turned to her. "Yeah, he's over in New York at the moment. He hopes to wrap things up soon and come visit me in Arizona."
Miharu gave a small smile. "Good luck to you both for your future plans."
And thereafter, Julia left them. Xiaoyu perked up a bit when the other girls got her dancing. Nobody was afraid to dance tonight in the streets.
Miharu watched dejectedly, feeling she wasn't having any fun at all. That was when she decided she'd had enough. She drank the lemonade, put the plastic cup in the bin and went to Xiaoyu.
"I'm going now," she said in her ear.
Xiaoyu turned sadly. "Why not stay longer?"
Miharu shook her head. "I'm tired and… I just feel I need to sleep tonight off… if you catch my drift."
She knew Xiaoyu did as she nodded. "Okay, I understand. Have a good night, Miharu."
"You too," she answered before drifting around the crowd, managing not to get trampled as she got to a clear strip to start her walk home.
It had cooled down considerably since she'd walked into the centre of Tokyo, and she was now precariously keeping her fleece together as she tried to hunt some bus fare out of her pockets. She thought it would be quicker and safer to bus it, but it was quite a walk to the bus stop yet though it would be worth instead of freezing to death.
She'd pretty much left the crowds and places of population. She was now in a long stretch of empty road which led on for a quite a bit yet. She could hear the music and crowd far behind her, leaving it behind as she continued on, glad to be alone once more.
Though asking to be alone for long on a night like this was too much to ask. She jumped as horde of dark cars screeched to a halt beside, and partially on, the pavement beside her. She turned, covering her eyes from the blinding headlights, just making out suited men climbing from the cars.
"Miharu Hirano?" One of the men asked, stepping away from the blinding headline to reveal a stern looking blonde. She recognised the logo on the suited men. It was of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
"Y-Yes," she said, no longer just shaking from the cold.
"We'd like you to come with us." He wasn't asking, it was more of an order.
"Why?" Miharu inclined to ask.
"It would be best you ask questions later," he merely said.
She held her ground. "No, I want to know why you want me to go with you."
Men were starting to move in on her, especially this blonde, whom was doing most of the talking. "We have reason to believe you are in league with Jin Kazama. You are holding out vital information in a serious situation. You will come with us now."
She knew she had to get out of there. "I don't know what you're talking about! I have got nothing to do with him."
"We'll take you by force if necessary," the blonde said, not even hearing her out.
A hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, and she immediately reacted with unimaginable speed, to take that offending hand and twist it, flipping the person over.
"Stop her," someone said and Miharu was suddenly faced with men coming at her from all directions.
She ducked a pair of arms ready to grab her and quickly pushed a man forcefully from her path as she took off running. She screamed as a bullet hit the wall beside her and she instinctively covered her head with her arms.
"You idiot! We need her alive!" She heard that blonde shout. "Go after her!"
She didn't slow for an instant, fearing for her life. Footsteps were heavy and fast behind her, and urged her on, ignoring the burning in the back of her legs.
'Someone please help me…' She prayed.
She felt one of them slam into her back and she fell with her hands out to stop her fall. Barely after she hit the ground, she'd side-rolled and low kicked the man who slammed her, as he was about to dive onto her. He tripped and fell into the roadway. She snapped up to her feet and 'Cloud' kicked the next closest of her pursuers.
Seeing her chance to get away again, she ran straight for the side of building, thinking it was a short cut…
… But instead, it was a dead end.
She stared at the tall, brick wall, in dismay. She ran to take cover behind a dumpster.
She heard the click of a gun and gulped silently.
"Come out now and you won't be hurt."
'Like hell I won't…' Miharu narrowed her eyes. It was a fight or flee situation, and the flee option went out the window when the brick wall was introduced.
She surprised the group of men covering the entrance of the alley as she leapt up over the dumpster, bounded on the top and performed a kick straight into them, toppling them like pins in a bowling alley.
She was about to attempt to run again when she met the butt end of the blonde man's gun, straight to the temple. The world did a double take and she was suddenly sprawled on the concrete.
"Get up you fools," the blonde said to his comrades. "She's nothing but a weak child. We've got her now."
Miharu's head was spinning, she couldn't see straight, and her vision was starting to cloud. A very bad sign that she was losing consciousness.
"I'm going to die…" She whispered aloud to herself.
She could feel them advance on her, ready to grab her…
… That was until a cold wind swept the alley and a sound swept through that had their skin prickling to goosebumps. It sounded like a harsh growl, breathy and deep. It didn't sound like one of the men. In fact, it didn't even sound human. Her fuzzy eyes looked up at the wall at the back of the alley. It had a dim light shined onto it, but over that was a large shadow. Human shaped, but with large wings.
It was as if her dark dream was about to happen.
"What the hell!" She heard one of the men say.
There was a lot of shouting after that and the sounds of guns firing. She couldn't move to see the action. She was completely immobilised. She assumed that after suffering a concussion from during the tournament recently, that she hadn't fully yet recovered, and now she was suffering badly after taking this latest blow to the head.
She wished she could see what the hell was going on.
An eerie red light flashed in the blink of an eye and a roar followed, echoing through the alley. The sounds of gunfire started to deplete, instead, replaced by blood-curdled screams and horror blinded cries. Flesh was being torn to pieces, bones broken with load, stomach wrenching snaps. A man's body flew straight over Miharu - well, what was left of it.
It was over as quickly as it started. One final cry lifted in the air and echoed into nothing. All went deadly quiet, except for the hoarse breathing of the inhuman being standing just a head of Miharu, looking down onto her.
She was fighting to stay awake, listening and waiting, hoping she wasn't going to die too. Her heart raced as she heard it step towards her, stopping at her back. She was cowering under it's shadow, unable to do anything to stop it ripping her to shreds.
But it didn't do that.
It hesitated for a moment and then kneeled down to her, reaching out to brush her cheek.
She felt long nails carefully moving the hair from the side of her face. It was warm, almost boiling hot. The world was beginning to dark, and she finally realised she couldn't hang on to consciousness much longer.
She would have jumped it she could have moved as it put it's arms under her shoulders and her legs, picking her up. She hung limply within the warm grasp, her head tilted back.
She could hear the wings spread with the ruffling sound of the large feathers in the small breeze, and suddenly, they both left the ground.
The scenery was moving fast around her, making her head spin even more, and she raised her head the best she could to look up towards her saviour's face. But it was at that time she finally fell into darkness and her face pressed to the warmth of a bare chest, that last feeling, as she was carried through the night.
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 13
It was the last day of the accursed King of Iron Fist Tournament 4. Nobody was sure who'd gone into the final to face Heihachi, either that being Kazuya Mishima or Jin Kazama, the latter not being ruled off with his whereabouts being a mystery… but then again, who was to be sure what was going on. The tournament had been dangerous to understand from square one.
To enter was to die. A slow painful decline to nothing.
***
Rubi, Mika and Yumi stood with their backs to the wall of the youth centre, awaiting Xiaoyu's return. Around them, people were coming and going with food and decorations for the evening bash that was going to sweep across Tokyo with the results of who won the Iron Fist tournament. Everyone was in anticipation, just hanging on an excuse to party their brains out.
"Wow, everyone is really taking this seriously," Mika said, eyes following a group of people carrying baskets of alcohol down the road.
"You wouldn't believe it," Rubi put in. "It's just totally crazy."
"You should see the central high street at the boulevard." Yumi whistled. "It's totally streaming with lights."
"I don't think they did this the last time around…" Rubi said, trying to think back to two years ago.
"Oh, they were more exclusive club parties. But this year, everyone is taking to the streets. And best of all, we can join in without having to break any rules!" Yumi grinned and took Mika's hands, swinging the girl around. The pair laughed in unison.
"Hey, Xiaoyu's back!" Rubi said, breaking up their little dance. She waved to the Chinese girl, who rode towards them, pulling her bike to a stop at the pavement edge. The three girls went over towards her.
"So, any luck in finding Miharu?" Mika asked.
Xiaoyu shook her head sadly. "Not a trace. I've been to her house twice. The first time nobody was there and when I went again, her dad was in but he said she'd gone out this morning. I've been to all the obvious places." She began to count them off on her fingers. "The water gardens, the back end of the school, the woods, Tokyo City Central, The mall, The Park… where else can I look?"
"It's strange how she can just suddenly disappear like this," Yumi commented. "But then again, yesterday when she came out with us, she didn't act herself."
"It's this Jin thing…" Xiaoyu mumbled.
"What?" Yumi turned to her.
Xiaoyu looked between the three. "It was the other week when Jin sent a message through Julia to Miharu which pretty much told her to leave him alone. I don't understand why he just doesn't speak to her or any of us for that matter. Poor Miharu."
"She probably just wants to be alone. I guess we haven't been helping with all the boy hunting we've been doing." Mika shook her head. "And now she can't even console herself to talk to Jin. He disappeared remember."
"Though, I've heard he's suppose to be in this final match up," Xiaoyu said. "Everyday the former competitors are talking about the fixtures, moaning and such about how they could have beaten the remaining people. And then I hear about Jin being in it today. You know, I don't know who to trust for my information."
"Well…" Rubi patted Xiaoyu's shoulder. "Come on. We can't just hang about here. Lets backtrack to all the regular places again and see if we can't find her. I don't think she could have suddenly left Tokyo so quickly, and for a fact, she didn't jump off the face of the Earth…"
***
How long had she been walking circles? Minutes? Hours? It didn't seem to matter as long as her head was clear.
Miharu looked up at the darkening blue sky, hands stuffed into the pockets of her fleece. She's thought maybe over this last week the heaviness of her heart would lessen, but it seemed to just get worse, as she kept hearing news about Jin, here, there and everywhere. She didn't want to care anymore, but she did. How could she not? She'd heard earlier today when some people were discussing the finals that Jin was one of the people there.
How can he, she thought, when he's missing? Or was he? Maybe hiding again… from her.
'No! Stop it! No more!' Her mind hollered and she fought to change the subject.
Once the tournament was over, she knew she'd feel a whole lot better. Well, hoped anyway.
The minute she had got up that morning, she knew she couldn't face her friends, and she had done her best to avoid them, and so far, it was working. She'd been to places that she'd never been before, even gone to watch Yamaki's soccer match. He'd seen her there and she knew he'd been shocked. She waved at him and nearly distracted him from the match. She was praying he didn't take it as a sign that she wanted to go out with him now. So she wouldn't have to follow up on a difficult encounter, she'd left the match just before the end.
After an hour or so of street wandering, she'd found herself walking the path of the park, the most familiar and calming place she knew of. Of course, she hadn't gone there to start off with, as she knew her friends would instantly think to look for her there.
She was surprised to see the park abandoned, though, she did think it was all to do with a city wide celebration of the ending of the King of Iron Fist tournament. It had been a big influence over everything, and the media was sure going to get a kick out of it too. Heihachi Mishima was going to show off as much as possible; most likely sure he was going to win the tournament.
Well? What did it matter now? She'd failed in what she was suppose to achieve and was now lay on the park hill edge, looking over the city in a thoughtful silence. Her eyes began to droop tiredly as she stared down towards the many blinking lights.
'I wonder…' She considered, stifling a yawn. '… If Jin is okay… Whatever he is planning to do…'
***
Anger… Hate… Curse…
Anger… Hate… Curse…
Anger… Hate… Curse…
No way to escape, trapped in a void of endless torture of his soul…
Jin was trying to fight, but there was nothing to fight against, nothing that he could even reach out and touch. All he could do was listen to the taunts and laughter of the man he should have called 'father'. It was he who passed on this curse to him, this darkness that would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Wake up, Jin Kazama!"
That harsh voice snapped him from the darkness and he found himself into a torch lit dojo, suspended by chains from the support beams at the back of the room. He pulled at the chains as hard as he could and they broke, sending him down onto the hard wooden floor. He kneeled, choking as he tried to breathe, his body burning. He could feel that darkness within him trying to break free, but he knew he was stronger now and could keep it at bay… if only for a while.
He looked up at the man ahead of him with narrowed, angry eyes. Kazuya Mishima stood before him, arms folded, waiting for him. This man, one he's never got to know, and he could feel a darkness around him that was more powerful then anything he'd felt before. He knew he couldn't let him live with such a darkness.
"You… if only you were dead. If I kill you… I will end everything…" Jin spat, suddenly up and charging the man. The fight had begun…
***
The land was dead. Parched of water and cracked beyond redemption. It was a dusty brown that showed clearly that it was void of any kind of life.
"What happened here?" Miharu mumbled, walking this deadened landscape and looking around her at the emptiness.
She continued to walk on, dismayed by death at every turn, and cringing at the crunching sound under her feet, that was like that of broken glass. She jumped as thunder erupted in the sky, the sound so close it almost knocked her off her feet.
Crimson lightning lit up the black sky, streaking like blood across a dark palate.
"It's a dream… all a dream…" She said to herself, kneeling to touch the ground. It just didn't feel real to her.
Whispers in the air could be heard from a distance drawing closer towards her. She stopped any movements and listened carefully. She rose from her position, carefully and slowly, turning to the direction of the voices…
… And jumped as slick, silver creatures, made of a thick oil like substance rushed around and past her, hissing together as they rose up into that black sky. She looked up, mouth agape as she remember those things from one of her earlier dreams.
The ground made a crackling sound as she snapped her head down, and screamed as bony arms began reaching up at her. Without a second thought, she was running like crazy, not daring to turn back or look down as the cracking sound was chasing her, more arms rising as bodies were pulling themselves free of this arid territory. All around her, bodies rose up, taking to the air, screeching like banshees. Every creature that began to either rise from the darkness or materialise out of nowhere seemed to be pulled towards the sky.
Miharu was panting, completely overcome by horror at the whole scene bursting with a new sense of life that was dark and incisive. She tripped on a pile of rocks in her path, and fell onto that dry, hard ground. She cried out, and pushed herself up to sitting, ignoring the pain.
In front of her, she could see the faces of people see knew, calling out to her with breathless voices.
Xiaoyu… Rubi… Mika… Yumi… Her father… Hanii… Yamaki…
Each face soon disintegrated and was sucked towards the dark sky, which suddenly split in a large, white line. Miharu went rigid, staring at this widening crack in the sky. She didn't know if she could escape what was coming next…
All the evil that had been there had come together, and from that crack of light burst a distorted winged demon. It was a large shadow creature, as black as the darkest night. It roared in anguish, turning two gleaming red eyes down on Miharu.
Her eyes widened into two scared orbs. Never before had she seen anything so terrifying, and the evil it was letting off was incredible.
Its roar died down as it looked at her, watching her trembling body with interest. It reached out one of its large shadowed claws towards her.
Miharu shook her head and screamed, arms flung up to protect herself.
"NO! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
That dark clawed hand stopped above and didn't attempt to even touch her. It just hovered there. She watched it, breathing hard, shaking uncontrollably. She could see it watching her, maybe even with sadness.
The air was hot and stifling, so hard to breathe. It had been as if the darkness was taking away the oxygen, taking away what was last of the life. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she gasped for breath.
"Why are you afraid of the dark?" A sweet voice came from behind her and Miharu turned, feeling a blessing coolness, relieving the burning in her body. Jun Kazama stood before her, and where she stood, a patch of springtime grass had grown.
"I… I don't understand…" Miharu managed to say.
Jun just smiled, and approached her, coming to kneel down, taking Miharu's shoulder. "You know, the darkness isn't always bad. What you think is evil, maybe good trapped behind a guise."
Miharu watched the woman's face as she turned to look up at the eerily silent shadow demon, still smiling.
"It's okay…" Jun said to it. "… She just doesn't understand. But she has a heart full of kindness and love…"
It made a sort of moaning noise and with a flash, it was gone and the world had become a much greener place, happy and alive.
"Do not give up hope, Miharu," Jun said. "In time, things will be understood. You will see things like you've never done before. And remember, you may see something that is covered in darkness, but ask yourself, is it truly evil?"
Miharu nodded and closed her eyes, filled with a calm serenity. Jun's touch was so relaxing and gentle, and somehow secretly beneath it, was passing on messages of knowledge.
And right there and then, Miharu began to understand things.
"Miharu?"
This time, it wasn't Jun's voice and Miharu jumped, opening her eyes.
Xiaoyu fell backwards onto her rear as Miharu shot up towards her. The latter blinked incoherently, coming back to reality. She was still on the park, sat on the grass, but now, it was dark and sky was filled with twinkling stars.
"It took us ages to find you," Xiaoyu said. "We were wondering where you had got to."
Miharu sighed. "Here and there."
Xiaoyu shuffled onto her knees and touched her friend's shoulder, just like Jun had done to her in her dream. It felt reassuring.
"Are you alright?" Xiaoyu asked.
Miharu slowly nodded. "I will be."
Xiaoyu could do nothing but just nod too before standing, pointing off down the hill. "Come on, the others are waiting for us. We have a party to get to."
"We have?"
Xiaoyu raised a brow at her friend. "Yeah. The tournament is over."
Miharu was shocked. "It is? Who won?"
"Jin did."
"He did!" There was even more shock for the Japanese girl.
"Yeah, that's what's going around," Xiaoyu confirmed and helped Miharu to her feet. "Come on, lets go."
"Um, yeah, okay," Miharu said, following her friend, thoughtful about Jin winning. She was happy for him, but she wished she could tell him she was. She was afraid… that he'd disappear again. And this time… forever.
***
Music thumped through the air, as loud as it possibly could, as people celebrated the end of the tournament. Nobody really cared who won, they just celebrated it anyway… well, except some of the former competitors, who just hung around to get drunk.
The whole of Tokyo was lit up in spectacular colours, so bright and bold, it should have glowed all the way across space and back. It looked like nobody was going to sleep tonight.
Rubi, Mika and Yumi pushed their way through the crowd, with Xiaoyu following up the rear with a quiet Miharu, who had to be careful not to be pushed around too much as people barged by her.
"THIS IS SO GREAT!" Mika shouted out as she spoke to Yumi.
"WHAT?" The other girl said, unable to hear over the music.
"I SAID, THIS IS SO GREAT!" She repeated.
Yumi lip read instead and nodded vigorously, giving the thumbs up. She turned to hook her arm through Rubi's as they continued through the find a place to get drinks. Rubi beckoned Xiaoyu and Miharu to follow as they disappeared through crowds of people.
Xiaoyu had to drag Miharu to keep up, who didn't seem that excited to celebrate, even for Jin's sake. He'd won the tournament, but it didn't make her feel better.
'I'm still alone.' Miharu sighed inwardly.
***
The celebrations went on, and the girls hung around listening to the music, eating and drinking as much as possible. Miharu grinned and bared it, standing aside and drinking some lemonade. Xiaoyu was occupied with talking to Julia who was on her way back to the hotel to get her things to prepare to leave on her plane in a few hours. It was pretty tearful goodbye between the two, as Xiaoyu kept begging Julia to stay a bit longer though she knew she couldn't. Miharu finally got to hug Julia after Xiaoyu had let her go.
"You take care of yourself, you hear?" The older girl said.
Miharu nodded. "I promise."
Julia nodded and wiped her eyes, adjusting her glasses. "Well, I hope to see you again."
"You too," Miharu said.
"Goodbye, Julia. Don't go for too long," Xiaoyu said through her tears.
Julia smiled lightly, calming down. "I'll visit you, or you visit me. Let's see what happens."
"You'll see Lei again, won't you, Julia?" Miharu suddenly decided to ask.
Julia turned to her. "Yeah, he's over in New York at the moment. He hopes to wrap things up soon and come visit me in Arizona."
Miharu gave a small smile. "Good luck to you both for your future plans."
And thereafter, Julia left them. Xiaoyu perked up a bit when the other girls got her dancing. Nobody was afraid to dance tonight in the streets.
Miharu watched dejectedly, feeling she wasn't having any fun at all. That was when she decided she'd had enough. She drank the lemonade, put the plastic cup in the bin and went to Xiaoyu.
"I'm going now," she said in her ear.
Xiaoyu turned sadly. "Why not stay longer?"
Miharu shook her head. "I'm tired and… I just feel I need to sleep tonight off… if you catch my drift."
She knew Xiaoyu did as she nodded. "Okay, I understand. Have a good night, Miharu."
"You too," she answered before drifting around the crowd, managing not to get trampled as she got to a clear strip to start her walk home.
It had cooled down considerably since she'd walked into the centre of Tokyo, and she was now precariously keeping her fleece together as she tried to hunt some bus fare out of her pockets. She thought it would be quicker and safer to bus it, but it was quite a walk to the bus stop yet though it would be worth instead of freezing to death.
She'd pretty much left the crowds and places of population. She was now in a long stretch of empty road which led on for a quite a bit yet. She could hear the music and crowd far behind her, leaving it behind as she continued on, glad to be alone once more.
Though asking to be alone for long on a night like this was too much to ask. She jumped as horde of dark cars screeched to a halt beside, and partially on, the pavement beside her. She turned, covering her eyes from the blinding headlights, just making out suited men climbing from the cars.
"Miharu Hirano?" One of the men asked, stepping away from the blinding headline to reveal a stern looking blonde. She recognised the logo on the suited men. It was of the Mishima Zaibatsu.
"Y-Yes," she said, no longer just shaking from the cold.
"We'd like you to come with us." He wasn't asking, it was more of an order.
"Why?" Miharu inclined to ask.
"It would be best you ask questions later," he merely said.
She held her ground. "No, I want to know why you want me to go with you."
Men were starting to move in on her, especially this blonde, whom was doing most of the talking. "We have reason to believe you are in league with Jin Kazama. You are holding out vital information in a serious situation. You will come with us now."
She knew she had to get out of there. "I don't know what you're talking about! I have got nothing to do with him."
"We'll take you by force if necessary," the blonde said, not even hearing her out.
A hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, and she immediately reacted with unimaginable speed, to take that offending hand and twist it, flipping the person over.
"Stop her," someone said and Miharu was suddenly faced with men coming at her from all directions.
She ducked a pair of arms ready to grab her and quickly pushed a man forcefully from her path as she took off running. She screamed as a bullet hit the wall beside her and she instinctively covered her head with her arms.
"You idiot! We need her alive!" She heard that blonde shout. "Go after her!"
She didn't slow for an instant, fearing for her life. Footsteps were heavy and fast behind her, and urged her on, ignoring the burning in the back of her legs.
'Someone please help me…' She prayed.
She felt one of them slam into her back and she fell with her hands out to stop her fall. Barely after she hit the ground, she'd side-rolled and low kicked the man who slammed her, as he was about to dive onto her. He tripped and fell into the roadway. She snapped up to her feet and 'Cloud' kicked the next closest of her pursuers.
Seeing her chance to get away again, she ran straight for the side of building, thinking it was a short cut…
… But instead, it was a dead end.
She stared at the tall, brick wall, in dismay. She ran to take cover behind a dumpster.
She heard the click of a gun and gulped silently.
"Come out now and you won't be hurt."
'Like hell I won't…' Miharu narrowed her eyes. It was a fight or flee situation, and the flee option went out the window when the brick wall was introduced.
She surprised the group of men covering the entrance of the alley as she leapt up over the dumpster, bounded on the top and performed a kick straight into them, toppling them like pins in a bowling alley.
She was about to attempt to run again when she met the butt end of the blonde man's gun, straight to the temple. The world did a double take and she was suddenly sprawled on the concrete.
"Get up you fools," the blonde said to his comrades. "She's nothing but a weak child. We've got her now."
Miharu's head was spinning, she couldn't see straight, and her vision was starting to cloud. A very bad sign that she was losing consciousness.
"I'm going to die…" She whispered aloud to herself.
She could feel them advance on her, ready to grab her…
… That was until a cold wind swept the alley and a sound swept through that had their skin prickling to goosebumps. It sounded like a harsh growl, breathy and deep. It didn't sound like one of the men. In fact, it didn't even sound human. Her fuzzy eyes looked up at the wall at the back of the alley. It had a dim light shined onto it, but over that was a large shadow. Human shaped, but with large wings.
It was as if her dark dream was about to happen.
"What the hell!" She heard one of the men say.
There was a lot of shouting after that and the sounds of guns firing. She couldn't move to see the action. She was completely immobilised. She assumed that after suffering a concussion from during the tournament recently, that she hadn't fully yet recovered, and now she was suffering badly after taking this latest blow to the head.
She wished she could see what the hell was going on.
An eerie red light flashed in the blink of an eye and a roar followed, echoing through the alley. The sounds of gunfire started to deplete, instead, replaced by blood-curdled screams and horror blinded cries. Flesh was being torn to pieces, bones broken with load, stomach wrenching snaps. A man's body flew straight over Miharu - well, what was left of it.
It was over as quickly as it started. One final cry lifted in the air and echoed into nothing. All went deadly quiet, except for the hoarse breathing of the inhuman being standing just a head of Miharu, looking down onto her.
She was fighting to stay awake, listening and waiting, hoping she wasn't going to die too. Her heart raced as she heard it step towards her, stopping at her back. She was cowering under it's shadow, unable to do anything to stop it ripping her to shreds.
But it didn't do that.
It hesitated for a moment and then kneeled down to her, reaching out to brush her cheek.
She felt long nails carefully moving the hair from the side of her face. It was warm, almost boiling hot. The world was beginning to dark, and she finally realised she couldn't hang on to consciousness much longer.
She would have jumped it she could have moved as it put it's arms under her shoulders and her legs, picking her up. She hung limply within the warm grasp, her head tilted back.
She could hear the wings spread with the ruffling sound of the large feathers in the small breeze, and suddenly, they both left the ground.
The scenery was moving fast around her, making her head spin even more, and she raised her head the best she could to look up towards her saviour's face. But it was at that time she finally fell into darkness and her face pressed to the warmth of a bare chest, that last feeling, as she was carried through the night.