I don't own Tekken. Ditto on the CIA. I own myself. Cheryl owns herself.
Fear the Spork!!
This part and the two after it were written to fill up space before the tournament and to let us get to know the characters a bit better. Don't hurt me if you think it sucks. They were written hastily, but I tried my best to put events together in a good effect. They turned out decent, anyway. Have fun.
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"Who is Kazuya Mishima?" Kiley stopped in front of Paul, making him halt quickly. He stared at her for a moment, and then went to lean over a rail at the end of the deck. Kiley followed him, anxious to hear what he had to say. Cheryl and Marshall stayed back and watched them speak.
"Kazuya was my oldest rival . . ." Paul began. "When he died, I stopped fighting for a time because without Kazuya, and my hatred for him, I found no more purpose in it all. But soon after I realized that for someone as mighty as Kazuya, it would be an insult to cease altogether just on his account. It was hard, but I regained my fighting spirit, and I became even more powerful then ever. I entered the third tournament just for him." He turned toward her. "Though my hatred for him was great, I also had a great deal of respect for Kazuya Mishima."
"I see." Kiley leaned over the rail as well and thought for a moment. "You won the tournament for him too, didn't you?" she said finally.
"To a certain extent. I thanked him for making me push myself to defeat him every time I won a match. It's because of him that I've come so far . . ." Paul looked off to the side and started tugging Kiley's arm. "Come on," he said, "there's someone I want you to meet."
Marshall and Cheryl followed the two again toward a tall man with long, black hair who was wearing a white shirt and brown colored pants with assorted law enforcement equipment strapped to his belt. Kiley noticed a gun holster, but it was empty. Most likely its contents had been left behind to minimize complication. The man noticed them coming his way and smiled, waving to Paul.
"Girls, this is an old buddy of mine, Lei Wulong. He's with the Hong Kong Police Department."
"How's it going?" Lei said with a heavy Chinese accent. He shook hands with both girls, grinning the whole while.
"This is the man that's going to help us!"
"Help you do what . . .?" Lei's eyebrows rose suspiciously at Paul's comment. Paul explained to him the situation. Lei looked skeptical, but he agreed to do what he could.
"Lei is an expert when it comes to covert operations." Paul said, patting his friend's back. Lei grinned wide again, but he blushed, giving his tanned cheeks a red hue. Lei was a boastful man by nature, but he wasn't used to having others do the boasting for him.
"Lei, my man, what brings you to the 4th King of Iron Fist tournament?" Paul turned the conversation to him.
"Mostly, I'm on a job. There's a young boxer here I'm supposed to protect. The mafia is after him; they hired an assassin to kill him, and I'm supposed to find out who that is, stop them before it's too late, and bring them into custody."
Paul blinked. "Wow. I just joined to win," he said. Lei grinned wide again and laughed. Cheryl, Kiley, and Marshall gave each other looks and moved closer to talk to Lei.
"Hong Kong jurisdiction? 'Sounds busy." Kiley said to him.
"Actually, it's Hong Kong and the surrounding districts, but it's not so bad. China is mostly a peaceful place." Lei paused. "You're in the CIA. Sounds busy." He turned back on her.
"Mostly desk jobs for us. It's not so bad." Cheryl replied.
"Marshall Law! How are you?" Lei stepped toward him. "I have not seen you since the second tournament! What have you been doing?"
"I own a Chinese restaurant." Marshall grumbled. Lei looked sympathetic for a moment, but chuckled again. "It's not so bad." Marshall added. Lei laughed aloud again at that and gave him a swift slap on the back. Marshall nearly fell over with the force.
Just then, one of the smoke stacks bellowed and the group felt the ship's engine turning. Cheryl looked over to the West and saw the city of Tokyo slowly moving away from them. Lei looked at his watch.
"They are late. It's almost 5:30." He said. Kiley thought his accent was adorable.
"Heihachi must have returned late." Marshall mused.
"Who cares? It's almost dinner time!" Paul grinned. Kiley smiled at the remark, but she couldn't help but wonder why Heihachi had been late. Her brows furrowed. Paul looked down at her and his expression turned sour as well. He touched her shoulder and motioned to follow Lei toward the deck where they supposed Heihachi had just boarded. Cheryl and Marshall followed behind them again, chattering about San Francisco.
Eventually they met up with the captain again, who told them Heihachi had already gone to his cabin to prepare for dinner. He also said it would be another hour before dinner was to be served.
"Only an hour?" Cheryl looked at Kiley.
"We'd better go." Kiley said to their companions. So the girls said goodbye and went to prepare for dinner. As soon as they got to their cabin, they threw their deck clothes to the floor and ran to the closet to fetch their evening gowns. They were both made of black velvet and were almost exactly alike, except that Kiley's flowed from the back a bit more, and Cheryl's had elbow-length gloves.
Helping each other zip up took at least five minutes. Zippers were not either girl's favorite thing in the world. Neither was make-up. Half an hour was spent applying make-up, and then another 10 minutes was taken to fix each other's faces so they didn't look like fools. Apparently, the end result was worthy of a social outing. They were well received by the men in the dining hall, catching the eye of quite a few of them. Paul and Lei were by the door in tuxedos, waiting for them. Paul's hair was pulled back into a ponytail like Lei's, but long strands hung down, framing his face. Cheryl thought he looked rather charming that way, and looked to Kiley for confirmation. She didn't have to ask whether she agreed or not. Kiley stared at him, flushed. Apparently, she thought it not only charming, but also attractive. It was a nice change from the grunge look his hair gave him when it was entirely down.
"Might we escort you ladies to your seats?" Paul grinned, offering Kiley his arm. She smiled at him and took it gracefully.
"Why, thank you, sir!" she replied pleasantly and began walking. Lei got booted in the shin to remind him to offer Cheryl his arm. Lei responded a bit too quickly and half dragged Cheryl over to the long table where they would be dining. Paul rolled his eyes and pulled Kiley's chair out for her. She sat down as Paul pushed it back towards the table and looked to Cheryl when she sat beside her. Lei sat on the other side of Cheryl, then Marshall, who had shown up right at that moment, and Paul sat on Kiley's left, right next to the head of the table where Heihachi would sit in just a few moments. Across from Paul sat Kuma, a well-trained Grizzly whom Heihachi kept as a pet. Why it was allowed at the table escaped Kiley.
The seat across from Kiley was left empty for the moment. Across from Cheryl sat a man named Bryan Fury. Paul leaned over and told Kiley that he was an android created by Dr. Abel, one of Heihachi's mad scientists, and it was understood that he and Lei didn't get along well. Across from Lei was Yoshimitsu, a manji clan space pirate who also had issues with Bryan. Even at the table, he wore armor that resembled a cockroach's shell and a skull-like mask, which he never removed. The same could be said of King, who sat next to him, still wearing his leopard mask. Next to Marshall sat Craig Marduk, a vale tudo champion from Central America. He never looked directly at the man across from him in the mask. On down the table, places were filled with martial artists wearing formal dinner attire who mumbled amongst themselves. Cheryl and Kiley were watching the people around them. They saw Violet, Steve, and Hwoarang at the other end of the table and waved to them. Across from the Korean sat a young man who looked remarkably like Kazuya. They knew it was Jin Kazama, Kazuya's son, whom Hwoarang had mentioned before. Next to Jin sat a younger Asian girl who was staring in awe at the setting of the dining room. Next to her, Kiley noticed a Giant Panda. The young girl spoke to the Panda often, and the animal seemed to respond in a way that the girl understood.
The room suddenly went quiet. The girls looked to the double doors leading out of the room and saw Kazuya there. Again, Kiley's heart stopped in her fright. She nearly panicked when she noticed that the only empty seat in the room aside from Heihachi's was the one across from her. Her breath returned to her when she felt both Paul and Cheryl's hand on each shoulder. Both of her friends, concerned for her when they noticed that she had become stiff, instinctively had touched her shoulders to bring her back to the world. She smiled rigidly and shrugged their hands off and tried not to look directly at Kazuya's eyes. The entire room had an unnerving sensation to it, but people began speaking again nonetheless, which made Kiley relax a bit.
"Hello, Kazuya." Paul grumbled as he watched him sit down. Kazuya had not bothered to change out of what he had been wearing earlier. His suit was formal enough, and the trench coat was a nice touch. He had, however, had the sense to leave his sunglasses in his cabin.
"Hello, Mr. Phoenix." Kazuya said to him, looking at Kiley and Cheryl. Unlike his father, Kazuya had somewhat of an accent. Not heavy, but very smooth, and almost attractive in itself. That was another thing that frightened Kiley. He was suave. In Kiley's experience, that automatically meant trouble.
"How've you been?" Paul asked, watching Kazuya watch Kiley avoid eye contact with him. This annoyed him, so he put his arm around Kiley defensively. It worked well, because Kazuya detached his gaze from her, assuming that the two were together. Paul heard Kiley release a heavy breath and he looked over at Cheryl who had also noticed. Cheryl then pretended to be interested in a conversation Marshall and Lei were having. It didn't help that they were speaking Chinese. Nevertheless, she pretended to listen to them while actually surveying Kazuya's demeanor. How would he know she didn't speak Chinese? She felt sorry for Kiley, who was trapped between the two men that hated each other so much.
"I've been well, Paul." Kazuya replied after readjusting himself in his chair. "Just . . . doing some work for G Corporation." Paul took his arm from around Kiley's shoulders and leaned forward a bit, watching Kuma with one eye. Paul and Kuma also had a history. Kuma had been trained to assassinate Paul by Heihachi since before the first tournament. This Kuma, however, was a replacement. The original had died, living a rather long life for a grizzly bear nonetheless. Paul still felt the need to watch the bear he had fought with in the third tournament. This Kuma was stronger than its predecessor.
"What kind of work? I heard G Corporation's management was into cloning and crap like that. You doing that?"
Kazuya's eyebrow immediately rose. "Not exactly, but I suppose it's something of the sort. More like gene research." Kazuya began to chuckle, but the others could not discern what he found so amusing.
Suddenly, Kazuya grabbed Paul's suit jacket and pulled him halfway across the table towards him. Kiley felt her heart stop beating for several seconds while the two men glared at each other, her gaze fixed on their faces. Paul had a grave expression on his face, one like Kiley had never seen in her life, and she thought they were going to kill each other right there at dinner. A moment passed before either of them spoke. They were too busy staring each other down.
"I know it was my father who sent that advertisement for the tournament, and I know it's because he wants to kill me himself. I have no respect for Heihachi, nor do I have any intention of underestimating his power. Phoenix, if you get in my way, I will kill you!" he spoke in a hoarse tone through clenched teeth, but Paul didn't flinch. Kiley was still scared out of her mind, remaining immobile until Kazuya finally released Paul's collar. No one else seemed to have noticed, but it did seem quieter again. Kiley felt Kazuya watching her again and turned to Cheryl.
In Kazuya's mind, knowing Paul as well as he did, he thought of all the ways he could have gotten a girl like that. He almost instantly came up with the answer; 'he couldn't!' and chuckled to himself again. He had been deceived, and it almost worked. He looked at the other girl, whose name he wasn't quite sure of, and decided that she was also intriguing. Attractive, even. He broke his icy stare and looked behind him to see Heihachi coming. He scoffed and turned back around. Kuma licked his hair, and he shoved the bear over toward Heihachi's seat, which brought a groan from the beast. Heihachi patted Kuma's neck and sat in his seat.
His presence was noted by all, and a grim smile spread across Heihachi's chiseled feature's as once again, the room went silent. He chuckled as he took in the many acidic stares given to him by nearly everyone at the table. He knew very well that each and every one of them wanted him dead. Heihachi was disappointed when his gaze reached Kazuya, who sat there looking bored and indifferent. He was furious and thought that if Kazuya hated him more than anyone there, he could at least show it. He appeared very calm outwardly though, and cleared his throat. He rose from his seat.
"Good evening, friends. I'm glad you all could make it to my little competition. I'm also glad to see some new faces, as well as the familiar ones. I won't bother you with rules and regulations at this time; all I wish to say now is," he lifted his glass, "welcome." He tipped his glass in a toast and drank, then sat back down. Servants began bringing in plates of salads and soups.
Neither Kiley nor Cheryl felt very hungry, but they ate anyway. They were both made even sicker by watching Kuma rip into the raw salmon that had been specially prepared for him. They glanced at each other and took smaller sips and bites and decided to deal with their queasiness by biting the bullet and being good guests. Kiley looked down the table at the Panda and watched her munch her bamboo, which seemed to be roasted and marinated in something. She looked back at Kuma, which was a mistake. The bear's jowls were dripping with fish guts and saliva, and just when she thought it couldn't get any more disgusting then that, Kuma began drinking water out of a silver dish in front of him, dribbling its contents everywhere. To keep herself from hurling, she allowed herself to shudder visibly and decided to give eating a rest for the moment. Paul and Kazuya both noticed her discomfort.
"Really, father, must you keep this-this animal of yours at the diner table?" Kazuya said, smacking Kuma's arm with the back of his hand. The bear groaned again and looked to Heihachi for defense.
"Kuma? Of course! He's part of the family, Kazuya, get used to it! Whoever heard of making a brother eat away from the rest of the family? Preposterous!" Heihachi scolded, then stroked Kuma's massive paw. Kazuya snorted, then resumed ignoring both of them. Kiley laughed softly at Heihachi's pampering of Kuma. Afterall, it wasn't the bear she minded, it was his table manners.
She looked briefly at Kazuya, who was trying to keep Kuma out of his hair again, and wondered what his interest was in her. The way he greeted her on the deck, then the ceaseless staring, and then . . . what? Had he come to her rescue, or had he merely been expressing his own disgust with Kuma's eating habits? It all made her wonder.
Kiley's dreaming ceased when suddenly Lei and Marshall began a heated argument again in some indecipherable dialect of Chinese. She figured that what little she knew of Mandarin (if, indeed, it was Mandarin) would not help her discover what the rowl was all about they were speaking so rapidly. Paul seemed to know what they were saying, but when Kiley asked him, he chuckled and replied, "You don't want to know." She sat back, frustrated, and was practically pushed into Paul's lap by Cheryl, who screamed and tried to jump backward, tripping over her chair when both men stood, knocking their chairs backward and using wild gestures to accentuate their arguments, whatever they were.
Marshall looked down at Cheryl and said something to Lei, which was probably something to the effect of "Now look what you did." Lei had been about to help her stand back up, but stood to protest Marshall's statement. Instead, Cheryl ended up helping herself back into her seat and Kiley stood and smacked both of the men on the back of the head. She scolded them a bit, then sat back down to an awkward silence and felt everyone staring at her. Simultaneously, both men replied "Sorry" and bowed their heads. After a few chuckles, the previous atmosphere resumed.
"Are you alright?" Kiley asked her friend, who was smoothing her dress.
"I'll be okay." She leaned in closer to Kiley and whispered, "Isn't Lei adorable? With his cute accent and ponytail? I mean, he's kind of good- looking himself, as well."
Kiley blinked and replied, "And also over 40. A bit old for you, deary. Cute, but old." Cheryl pouted.
"Well, it looks like that's the best we're going to do here, now, doesn't it?" Kiley laughed at her lightly and began to eat again.
"Good to see you finally eating, my dear." Heihachi said to her over a spoonful of miso soup.
"I'm just a bit anxious. This really is my first tournament. I'll get over it." She said pleasantly and took another bite of her salad.
"Let's hope so." He smiled in return and looked to Paul, who was fiddling with his food, annoyed at being left out for so long. Finding nothing more to talk about than their recent endeavors and accomplishments, being enemies, they left their chat at a brief few exchanges. Paul went back to fidgeting and Heihachi turned his attention back to his pet.
Kiley watched the two of them and then noticed Kazuya staring at her again, yet not so openly this time. His head was bowed as he ate, but his eyes were on her. Her brows creased as she looked at him, becoming more daring after noting his behavior concerning her disgust with Kuma. Kazuya paused, stopped eating, settled back into his chair, and stared right back. Actually, it was more of a dark glare.
It took a moment before either of them realized they were both being stared at by Heihachi, Paul, Cheryl, and Lei. Kiley's face flushed, and she went back to eating. Kazuya snorted and continued to relax in his chair. Kuma turned and licked his face, leaving a trail of saliva and fish entrails across his cheek. Kazuya gave a loud exclamation of disgust while pushing his chair to the ground behind him violently and cursed. Paul began laughing hysterically, and Kazuya threw his handkerchief at him when he was done cleaning himself. Being whacked in the face with it, Paul slammed his palms down on the table, making the whole section shake, and stood. They glared acid at one another until Heihachi told them to sit down and be polite to the others.
Kiley helped Paul wipe off his face while Kazuya sat and scowled some more. He watched them a moment and snorted. Cheryl looked at him and instantly thought 'jealousy'. Cheryl looked at her friend then and wondered if she knew what was happening. It was pretty obvious, but Kiley was known well in the agency for being a true airhead. She was blonde, afterall. Cheryl was perceptive enough to notice that Paul was wondering the same thing she was. She also knew that Paul also had a 'thing' for her friend. He just wasn't being creepy about it.
Kazuya sat sideways in his chair facing the furthest end of the table. He continued to occasionally scoff through the entire meal. He didn't make eye contact with anyone else afterward.
Servants began to bring in the main course soon after the altercation between Kazuya and Paul.
"What, more food?" Cheryl said to Kiley. "Those salads were huge! No banquet at Headquarters was ever this big."
"I know. But the whole agency also doesn't have half as much money as Heihachi himself, and he's feeding about two hundred less people than a CIA banquet would." Kiley replied quietly.
"True . . ." she nodded in response.
"So, girls," Heihachi began again, "I'm curious. How much does your Agency pay you?"
"About enough to pay for rent and groceries. That's it." Kiley said.
"That's why we share an apartment. We both can now afford the finer things in life." Cheryl smiled.
"Like eating at Denny's once a month." Kiley snorted to herself, but the others could hear her. Heihachi chuckled at them.
"Pretty much," Cheryl admitted, sighing, "right now, we're still saving up for some new windows. Some punk kids tried to break in one night. We showed 'em what-for!" Cheryl raised a fist in the air.
"Although, our apartment is pretty big." Kiley said, "But we really need a lot of space for all of our equipment. Which we also had to pay for." Heihachi stared with his mouth agape for a moment.
"I thought your government paid people in your field well!"
"Heh. The field. It would help if we were actually out on one once in a while. We used to go out once a month or so on drug busts and the like. Now, we're just desk workers. I think that's Jack's fault." Kiley finished, aside to Cheryl.
"We should ask about that when we get back."
"I concur."
"You know, it would be great if you came to work for me." Heihachi said to them, "You would be paid well, and your home would be provided by the company. I could use a few more good field agents." Paul and Kazuya both looked up at him, then at the girls, alarmed. Cheryl stared right back at Kazuya dangerously. Why was it any of his business?
"Thank you, Heihachi, but we're under a job contract. We can't leave just yet." Kiley said smiling. Both flustered men sighed quietly then and went back to eating.
Heihachi looked at his watch. "Oh dear," he said, "we're running late." Everyone looked up at him. "You'll have to excuse me, I must observe the final preparations for the ball." Heihachi bowed and walked off through the double doors.
This part and the two after it were written to fill up space before the tournament and to let us get to know the characters a bit better. Don't hurt me if you think it sucks. They were written hastily, but I tried my best to put events together in a good effect. They turned out decent, anyway. Have fun.
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"Who is Kazuya Mishima?" Kiley stopped in front of Paul, making him halt quickly. He stared at her for a moment, and then went to lean over a rail at the end of the deck. Kiley followed him, anxious to hear what he had to say. Cheryl and Marshall stayed back and watched them speak.
"Kazuya was my oldest rival . . ." Paul began. "When he died, I stopped fighting for a time because without Kazuya, and my hatred for him, I found no more purpose in it all. But soon after I realized that for someone as mighty as Kazuya, it would be an insult to cease altogether just on his account. It was hard, but I regained my fighting spirit, and I became even more powerful then ever. I entered the third tournament just for him." He turned toward her. "Though my hatred for him was great, I also had a great deal of respect for Kazuya Mishima."
"I see." Kiley leaned over the rail as well and thought for a moment. "You won the tournament for him too, didn't you?" she said finally.
"To a certain extent. I thanked him for making me push myself to defeat him every time I won a match. It's because of him that I've come so far . . ." Paul looked off to the side and started tugging Kiley's arm. "Come on," he said, "there's someone I want you to meet."
Marshall and Cheryl followed the two again toward a tall man with long, black hair who was wearing a white shirt and brown colored pants with assorted law enforcement equipment strapped to his belt. Kiley noticed a gun holster, but it was empty. Most likely its contents had been left behind to minimize complication. The man noticed them coming his way and smiled, waving to Paul.
"Girls, this is an old buddy of mine, Lei Wulong. He's with the Hong Kong Police Department."
"How's it going?" Lei said with a heavy Chinese accent. He shook hands with both girls, grinning the whole while.
"This is the man that's going to help us!"
"Help you do what . . .?" Lei's eyebrows rose suspiciously at Paul's comment. Paul explained to him the situation. Lei looked skeptical, but he agreed to do what he could.
"Lei is an expert when it comes to covert operations." Paul said, patting his friend's back. Lei grinned wide again, but he blushed, giving his tanned cheeks a red hue. Lei was a boastful man by nature, but he wasn't used to having others do the boasting for him.
"Lei, my man, what brings you to the 4th King of Iron Fist tournament?" Paul turned the conversation to him.
"Mostly, I'm on a job. There's a young boxer here I'm supposed to protect. The mafia is after him; they hired an assassin to kill him, and I'm supposed to find out who that is, stop them before it's too late, and bring them into custody."
Paul blinked. "Wow. I just joined to win," he said. Lei grinned wide again and laughed. Cheryl, Kiley, and Marshall gave each other looks and moved closer to talk to Lei.
"Hong Kong jurisdiction? 'Sounds busy." Kiley said to him.
"Actually, it's Hong Kong and the surrounding districts, but it's not so bad. China is mostly a peaceful place." Lei paused. "You're in the CIA. Sounds busy." He turned back on her.
"Mostly desk jobs for us. It's not so bad." Cheryl replied.
"Marshall Law! How are you?" Lei stepped toward him. "I have not seen you since the second tournament! What have you been doing?"
"I own a Chinese restaurant." Marshall grumbled. Lei looked sympathetic for a moment, but chuckled again. "It's not so bad." Marshall added. Lei laughed aloud again at that and gave him a swift slap on the back. Marshall nearly fell over with the force.
Just then, one of the smoke stacks bellowed and the group felt the ship's engine turning. Cheryl looked over to the West and saw the city of Tokyo slowly moving away from them. Lei looked at his watch.
"They are late. It's almost 5:30." He said. Kiley thought his accent was adorable.
"Heihachi must have returned late." Marshall mused.
"Who cares? It's almost dinner time!" Paul grinned. Kiley smiled at the remark, but she couldn't help but wonder why Heihachi had been late. Her brows furrowed. Paul looked down at her and his expression turned sour as well. He touched her shoulder and motioned to follow Lei toward the deck where they supposed Heihachi had just boarded. Cheryl and Marshall followed behind them again, chattering about San Francisco.
Eventually they met up with the captain again, who told them Heihachi had already gone to his cabin to prepare for dinner. He also said it would be another hour before dinner was to be served.
"Only an hour?" Cheryl looked at Kiley.
"We'd better go." Kiley said to their companions. So the girls said goodbye and went to prepare for dinner. As soon as they got to their cabin, they threw their deck clothes to the floor and ran to the closet to fetch their evening gowns. They were both made of black velvet and were almost exactly alike, except that Kiley's flowed from the back a bit more, and Cheryl's had elbow-length gloves.
Helping each other zip up took at least five minutes. Zippers were not either girl's favorite thing in the world. Neither was make-up. Half an hour was spent applying make-up, and then another 10 minutes was taken to fix each other's faces so they didn't look like fools. Apparently, the end result was worthy of a social outing. They were well received by the men in the dining hall, catching the eye of quite a few of them. Paul and Lei were by the door in tuxedos, waiting for them. Paul's hair was pulled back into a ponytail like Lei's, but long strands hung down, framing his face. Cheryl thought he looked rather charming that way, and looked to Kiley for confirmation. She didn't have to ask whether she agreed or not. Kiley stared at him, flushed. Apparently, she thought it not only charming, but also attractive. It was a nice change from the grunge look his hair gave him when it was entirely down.
"Might we escort you ladies to your seats?" Paul grinned, offering Kiley his arm. She smiled at him and took it gracefully.
"Why, thank you, sir!" she replied pleasantly and began walking. Lei got booted in the shin to remind him to offer Cheryl his arm. Lei responded a bit too quickly and half dragged Cheryl over to the long table where they would be dining. Paul rolled his eyes and pulled Kiley's chair out for her. She sat down as Paul pushed it back towards the table and looked to Cheryl when she sat beside her. Lei sat on the other side of Cheryl, then Marshall, who had shown up right at that moment, and Paul sat on Kiley's left, right next to the head of the table where Heihachi would sit in just a few moments. Across from Paul sat Kuma, a well-trained Grizzly whom Heihachi kept as a pet. Why it was allowed at the table escaped Kiley.
The seat across from Kiley was left empty for the moment. Across from Cheryl sat a man named Bryan Fury. Paul leaned over and told Kiley that he was an android created by Dr. Abel, one of Heihachi's mad scientists, and it was understood that he and Lei didn't get along well. Across from Lei was Yoshimitsu, a manji clan space pirate who also had issues with Bryan. Even at the table, he wore armor that resembled a cockroach's shell and a skull-like mask, which he never removed. The same could be said of King, who sat next to him, still wearing his leopard mask. Next to Marshall sat Craig Marduk, a vale tudo champion from Central America. He never looked directly at the man across from him in the mask. On down the table, places were filled with martial artists wearing formal dinner attire who mumbled amongst themselves. Cheryl and Kiley were watching the people around them. They saw Violet, Steve, and Hwoarang at the other end of the table and waved to them. Across from the Korean sat a young man who looked remarkably like Kazuya. They knew it was Jin Kazama, Kazuya's son, whom Hwoarang had mentioned before. Next to Jin sat a younger Asian girl who was staring in awe at the setting of the dining room. Next to her, Kiley noticed a Giant Panda. The young girl spoke to the Panda often, and the animal seemed to respond in a way that the girl understood.
The room suddenly went quiet. The girls looked to the double doors leading out of the room and saw Kazuya there. Again, Kiley's heart stopped in her fright. She nearly panicked when she noticed that the only empty seat in the room aside from Heihachi's was the one across from her. Her breath returned to her when she felt both Paul and Cheryl's hand on each shoulder. Both of her friends, concerned for her when they noticed that she had become stiff, instinctively had touched her shoulders to bring her back to the world. She smiled rigidly and shrugged their hands off and tried not to look directly at Kazuya's eyes. The entire room had an unnerving sensation to it, but people began speaking again nonetheless, which made Kiley relax a bit.
"Hello, Kazuya." Paul grumbled as he watched him sit down. Kazuya had not bothered to change out of what he had been wearing earlier. His suit was formal enough, and the trench coat was a nice touch. He had, however, had the sense to leave his sunglasses in his cabin.
"Hello, Mr. Phoenix." Kazuya said to him, looking at Kiley and Cheryl. Unlike his father, Kazuya had somewhat of an accent. Not heavy, but very smooth, and almost attractive in itself. That was another thing that frightened Kiley. He was suave. In Kiley's experience, that automatically meant trouble.
"How've you been?" Paul asked, watching Kazuya watch Kiley avoid eye contact with him. This annoyed him, so he put his arm around Kiley defensively. It worked well, because Kazuya detached his gaze from her, assuming that the two were together. Paul heard Kiley release a heavy breath and he looked over at Cheryl who had also noticed. Cheryl then pretended to be interested in a conversation Marshall and Lei were having. It didn't help that they were speaking Chinese. Nevertheless, she pretended to listen to them while actually surveying Kazuya's demeanor. How would he know she didn't speak Chinese? She felt sorry for Kiley, who was trapped between the two men that hated each other so much.
"I've been well, Paul." Kazuya replied after readjusting himself in his chair. "Just . . . doing some work for G Corporation." Paul took his arm from around Kiley's shoulders and leaned forward a bit, watching Kuma with one eye. Paul and Kuma also had a history. Kuma had been trained to assassinate Paul by Heihachi since before the first tournament. This Kuma, however, was a replacement. The original had died, living a rather long life for a grizzly bear nonetheless. Paul still felt the need to watch the bear he had fought with in the third tournament. This Kuma was stronger than its predecessor.
"What kind of work? I heard G Corporation's management was into cloning and crap like that. You doing that?"
Kazuya's eyebrow immediately rose. "Not exactly, but I suppose it's something of the sort. More like gene research." Kazuya began to chuckle, but the others could not discern what he found so amusing.
Suddenly, Kazuya grabbed Paul's suit jacket and pulled him halfway across the table towards him. Kiley felt her heart stop beating for several seconds while the two men glared at each other, her gaze fixed on their faces. Paul had a grave expression on his face, one like Kiley had never seen in her life, and she thought they were going to kill each other right there at dinner. A moment passed before either of them spoke. They were too busy staring each other down.
"I know it was my father who sent that advertisement for the tournament, and I know it's because he wants to kill me himself. I have no respect for Heihachi, nor do I have any intention of underestimating his power. Phoenix, if you get in my way, I will kill you!" he spoke in a hoarse tone through clenched teeth, but Paul didn't flinch. Kiley was still scared out of her mind, remaining immobile until Kazuya finally released Paul's collar. No one else seemed to have noticed, but it did seem quieter again. Kiley felt Kazuya watching her again and turned to Cheryl.
In Kazuya's mind, knowing Paul as well as he did, he thought of all the ways he could have gotten a girl like that. He almost instantly came up with the answer; 'he couldn't!' and chuckled to himself again. He had been deceived, and it almost worked. He looked at the other girl, whose name he wasn't quite sure of, and decided that she was also intriguing. Attractive, even. He broke his icy stare and looked behind him to see Heihachi coming. He scoffed and turned back around. Kuma licked his hair, and he shoved the bear over toward Heihachi's seat, which brought a groan from the beast. Heihachi patted Kuma's neck and sat in his seat.
His presence was noted by all, and a grim smile spread across Heihachi's chiseled feature's as once again, the room went silent. He chuckled as he took in the many acidic stares given to him by nearly everyone at the table. He knew very well that each and every one of them wanted him dead. Heihachi was disappointed when his gaze reached Kazuya, who sat there looking bored and indifferent. He was furious and thought that if Kazuya hated him more than anyone there, he could at least show it. He appeared very calm outwardly though, and cleared his throat. He rose from his seat.
"Good evening, friends. I'm glad you all could make it to my little competition. I'm also glad to see some new faces, as well as the familiar ones. I won't bother you with rules and regulations at this time; all I wish to say now is," he lifted his glass, "welcome." He tipped his glass in a toast and drank, then sat back down. Servants began bringing in plates of salads and soups.
Neither Kiley nor Cheryl felt very hungry, but they ate anyway. They were both made even sicker by watching Kuma rip into the raw salmon that had been specially prepared for him. They glanced at each other and took smaller sips and bites and decided to deal with their queasiness by biting the bullet and being good guests. Kiley looked down the table at the Panda and watched her munch her bamboo, which seemed to be roasted and marinated in something. She looked back at Kuma, which was a mistake. The bear's jowls were dripping with fish guts and saliva, and just when she thought it couldn't get any more disgusting then that, Kuma began drinking water out of a silver dish in front of him, dribbling its contents everywhere. To keep herself from hurling, she allowed herself to shudder visibly and decided to give eating a rest for the moment. Paul and Kazuya both noticed her discomfort.
"Really, father, must you keep this-this animal of yours at the diner table?" Kazuya said, smacking Kuma's arm with the back of his hand. The bear groaned again and looked to Heihachi for defense.
"Kuma? Of course! He's part of the family, Kazuya, get used to it! Whoever heard of making a brother eat away from the rest of the family? Preposterous!" Heihachi scolded, then stroked Kuma's massive paw. Kazuya snorted, then resumed ignoring both of them. Kiley laughed softly at Heihachi's pampering of Kuma. Afterall, it wasn't the bear she minded, it was his table manners.
She looked briefly at Kazuya, who was trying to keep Kuma out of his hair again, and wondered what his interest was in her. The way he greeted her on the deck, then the ceaseless staring, and then . . . what? Had he come to her rescue, or had he merely been expressing his own disgust with Kuma's eating habits? It all made her wonder.
Kiley's dreaming ceased when suddenly Lei and Marshall began a heated argument again in some indecipherable dialect of Chinese. She figured that what little she knew of Mandarin (if, indeed, it was Mandarin) would not help her discover what the rowl was all about they were speaking so rapidly. Paul seemed to know what they were saying, but when Kiley asked him, he chuckled and replied, "You don't want to know." She sat back, frustrated, and was practically pushed into Paul's lap by Cheryl, who screamed and tried to jump backward, tripping over her chair when both men stood, knocking their chairs backward and using wild gestures to accentuate their arguments, whatever they were.
Marshall looked down at Cheryl and said something to Lei, which was probably something to the effect of "Now look what you did." Lei had been about to help her stand back up, but stood to protest Marshall's statement. Instead, Cheryl ended up helping herself back into her seat and Kiley stood and smacked both of the men on the back of the head. She scolded them a bit, then sat back down to an awkward silence and felt everyone staring at her. Simultaneously, both men replied "Sorry" and bowed their heads. After a few chuckles, the previous atmosphere resumed.
"Are you alright?" Kiley asked her friend, who was smoothing her dress.
"I'll be okay." She leaned in closer to Kiley and whispered, "Isn't Lei adorable? With his cute accent and ponytail? I mean, he's kind of good- looking himself, as well."
Kiley blinked and replied, "And also over 40. A bit old for you, deary. Cute, but old." Cheryl pouted.
"Well, it looks like that's the best we're going to do here, now, doesn't it?" Kiley laughed at her lightly and began to eat again.
"Good to see you finally eating, my dear." Heihachi said to her over a spoonful of miso soup.
"I'm just a bit anxious. This really is my first tournament. I'll get over it." She said pleasantly and took another bite of her salad.
"Let's hope so." He smiled in return and looked to Paul, who was fiddling with his food, annoyed at being left out for so long. Finding nothing more to talk about than their recent endeavors and accomplishments, being enemies, they left their chat at a brief few exchanges. Paul went back to fidgeting and Heihachi turned his attention back to his pet.
Kiley watched the two of them and then noticed Kazuya staring at her again, yet not so openly this time. His head was bowed as he ate, but his eyes were on her. Her brows creased as she looked at him, becoming more daring after noting his behavior concerning her disgust with Kuma. Kazuya paused, stopped eating, settled back into his chair, and stared right back. Actually, it was more of a dark glare.
It took a moment before either of them realized they were both being stared at by Heihachi, Paul, Cheryl, and Lei. Kiley's face flushed, and she went back to eating. Kazuya snorted and continued to relax in his chair. Kuma turned and licked his face, leaving a trail of saliva and fish entrails across his cheek. Kazuya gave a loud exclamation of disgust while pushing his chair to the ground behind him violently and cursed. Paul began laughing hysterically, and Kazuya threw his handkerchief at him when he was done cleaning himself. Being whacked in the face with it, Paul slammed his palms down on the table, making the whole section shake, and stood. They glared acid at one another until Heihachi told them to sit down and be polite to the others.
Kiley helped Paul wipe off his face while Kazuya sat and scowled some more. He watched them a moment and snorted. Cheryl looked at him and instantly thought 'jealousy'. Cheryl looked at her friend then and wondered if she knew what was happening. It was pretty obvious, but Kiley was known well in the agency for being a true airhead. She was blonde, afterall. Cheryl was perceptive enough to notice that Paul was wondering the same thing she was. She also knew that Paul also had a 'thing' for her friend. He just wasn't being creepy about it.
Kazuya sat sideways in his chair facing the furthest end of the table. He continued to occasionally scoff through the entire meal. He didn't make eye contact with anyone else afterward.
Servants began to bring in the main course soon after the altercation between Kazuya and Paul.
"What, more food?" Cheryl said to Kiley. "Those salads were huge! No banquet at Headquarters was ever this big."
"I know. But the whole agency also doesn't have half as much money as Heihachi himself, and he's feeding about two hundred less people than a CIA banquet would." Kiley replied quietly.
"True . . ." she nodded in response.
"So, girls," Heihachi began again, "I'm curious. How much does your Agency pay you?"
"About enough to pay for rent and groceries. That's it." Kiley said.
"That's why we share an apartment. We both can now afford the finer things in life." Cheryl smiled.
"Like eating at Denny's once a month." Kiley snorted to herself, but the others could hear her. Heihachi chuckled at them.
"Pretty much," Cheryl admitted, sighing, "right now, we're still saving up for some new windows. Some punk kids tried to break in one night. We showed 'em what-for!" Cheryl raised a fist in the air.
"Although, our apartment is pretty big." Kiley said, "But we really need a lot of space for all of our equipment. Which we also had to pay for." Heihachi stared with his mouth agape for a moment.
"I thought your government paid people in your field well!"
"Heh. The field. It would help if we were actually out on one once in a while. We used to go out once a month or so on drug busts and the like. Now, we're just desk workers. I think that's Jack's fault." Kiley finished, aside to Cheryl.
"We should ask about that when we get back."
"I concur."
"You know, it would be great if you came to work for me." Heihachi said to them, "You would be paid well, and your home would be provided by the company. I could use a few more good field agents." Paul and Kazuya both looked up at him, then at the girls, alarmed. Cheryl stared right back at Kazuya dangerously. Why was it any of his business?
"Thank you, Heihachi, but we're under a job contract. We can't leave just yet." Kiley said smiling. Both flustered men sighed quietly then and went back to eating.
Heihachi looked at his watch. "Oh dear," he said, "we're running late." Everyone looked up at him. "You'll have to excuse me, I must observe the final preparations for the ball." Heihachi bowed and walked off through the double doors.