I don't own Tekken or its characters. I don't own the CIA. I own me (and this story). Cheryl owns Cheryl.

FEAR THE SPORK!!!

(I should really write a song -.-) pulls out her trusty Odin Caesar and strums a riff

Oh, yes-someone e-mailed me asking about the pronunciation of my name, and some of you others might have been wondering as well. That, and I deleted the e-mail by mistake. Whoops. (I'm sorry.) It's not 'Kelly'. It's 'ky-lee'. Kiley. Yes, that's my real name.

Okay, the story picks up momentum as we come closer and closer to the tournament!! Aside from the reasons given in the game, Marshall has another reason to join the tournament. Find out why he's so moody when he thinks about his son Forrest! Enjoy!

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"I'm worried about her, Paul." Marshall said as the group sat at a table in the massive ballroom. If it weren't for the tables, most of which were filled with even more food after the more-than-filling dinner, the room would have been nearly empty. There were hardly a few dozen people on board, including the servants and crew. Apparently, Heihachi used the ship for more than just the tournament.

"So go look for her." Paul shrugged. He had been hiding his irritation fairly well, but everyone knew how he felt regardless.

Heihachi's orchestra was playing a waltz, and several of the contestants were on the dance floor in their best attire. One couple in particular kept Cheryl's attention as they fumbled, trying to learn to dance with the others. Jin Kazama and Ling Xiaoyu certainly made an odd pair. She watched Violet and Steve Fox walk over to help them, with Hwoarang laughing from the side. When Violet couldn't stop Ling from stepping on Jin's pant leg and watched him tumble over, he noticed Cheryl watching and shrugged at her with a good-humored chuckle. He looked odd with his dark sunglasses on inside the room, but Cheryl supposed he had his reasons. She smiled at him and turned back to her other friends.

"Kiley will be alright, Marshall," she said from a seat at Marshall's left, coming back into the conversation, "she can take care of herself." She placed her hand on his, hoping to calm his fears.

"But it appears that Kazuya is the only other person not here," Lei fidgeted with his bowtie, "I also fear for Kiley's safety. We don't know what foolish thing she might do if he confronts her."

"Are you calling my friend a fool, Lei?" Cheryl stood angrily, gaping in disbelief.

"Well, no," he held his hands up defensively, looking around at the several other fighters staring at them, "but you've got to admit, she does seem just a bit brash." Cheryl looked crossly at him; after staring for a moment, agitated, she decided he was right, sighed helplessly, and sat back down, chin in palm.

"I know that. I'm worried too, actually. Not so much about that Casaba guy, but if she's all by herself in our cabin, she might get lonely." She sighed again and rested her cheek on the table, utterly depressed.

"'Casaba'...?" Lei and Marshall gawked.

"Hey, you just said yourself that she could take care of herself." Paul leaned forward, suddenly not so sure of that himself. His face was suddenly a visage of concern, wondering if he should have gone after her himself when she had first left. Before, he hadn't even thought that Kazuya would actually seek her out, but now he was certain of it. Without waiting for Cheryl to respond, he rose and left the table, heading for the doors to the deck.

The others watched him go, wondering what he might do if he found Kazuya. They didn't have to wonder for too much longer.

Just as Paul reached the large double doors, the attendants at the other side opened them. In stepped Kazuya and Kiley, arm in arm, laughing at something Kazuya had just said. They noticed him and stopped. Paul blinked a few times before what he was seeing actually registered.

"Good evening, again, Phoenix." Kazuya smirked. Kiley's eyebrow rose slightly, waiting for Paul to stop staring at her and respond. Paul saw she was irritated and looked at Kazuya instead.

"Hello again. Having fun, Kazuya?" Paul stood more firmly now that he had overcome his shock and crossed his arms over his chest. He was calmer, but made certain Kazuya knew how angry he was. Kazuya merely smirked all the more deviously.

"Why, yes. My companion here is not only blessed with grace and beauty, but also with a wit that never fails. We've been enjoying an enlightening conversation out on deck."

"Kazuya is quite charming as well, Paul. Really, we should all chat some time." Kiley smiled at the larger man with more than a little ire. Paul figured that she could be a dangerous woman when she was angry, but was willing to take on a little challenge, if only he could get her to look agreeably upon him again.

Paul was about to say something to her when Kazuya tugged lightly at her arm, and they walked away to sit at an empty table at the far end of the ballroom. Not understanding quite what he had done, he watched morosely for a moment as Kazuya pulled out a chair for Kiley and sat across from her. They had already begun laughing again when he felt Cheryl's hand softly touching one of his arms. He looked at her and turned toward the table where Marshall and Lei were waiting for them.

Cheryl could see that he was confused, if a bit hurt, and led him back. She couldn't help but feel that he deserved his punishment, but she also knew that by the morning, Kiley would act as if none of this had ever happened. She just needed a bit of time to simmer.

Before he sat back down, Paul had to resist the urge to look back at Kazuya with an acrid glare, but he plopped down heavily with a great sigh, and looked down expressionlessly at the table instead. For a moment Marshall wondered if he was even completely there before Paul suddenly lifted his head with a huge grin.

The others merely stared at him for a moment, wondering what could possibly be going through his head. Cheryl couldn't have known it, but Marshall and Lei, knowing Paul better than anyone, recognized that it was his way of covering his melancholy. The two looked concernedly at each other, then over at Kiley. Marshall's head tilted in pity, and Lei's nearly hit the table when he realized what was happening.

They knew for certain that Paul was in agony, but Kiley didn't seem to be thinking about it at all. On the other hand, through her smiles and laughter with Kazuya, they could see that she was still angry. Lei watched them for a moment then looked back at Paul. Though he was still smiling, his eyes showed Lei just about the most pathetic state the man had ever been in for as long as he had known him. It hurt just to watch him.

Lei heard Marshall chuckle a bit from beside him. Lei couldn't think of anything worse to do at the moment than laugh at Paul. Although he looked docile, as depressed as he was, he was still Paul. His temper would never leave him no matter how sullen he was. Lei's assumption was correct. Although at first, Paul didn't appear to have heard Marshall, in a few moments, he was out of his seat and heading toward the door again. Lei looked over at Marshall with an angry look.

"What on earth was that about?" Cheryl said, shocked. She decided that she wasn't having fun anymore. Everyone was leaving the table upset, and by the looks of things, Lei and Marshall were about to fight and do the same, and then she would be all alone and be the last one to get up and go, looking like a fool in front of the other contestants and guests. Cheryl was about to save herself the wait and turn in for the night before she heard someone speak.

"This table looks like it could use a little cheering up. What's with you people?" They all turned to see Violet walking their way, having given up on Jin and Ling.

"Not really, the moody party has already left. Why don't you join us?" Marshall crossed his arms over his chest and nodded toward Paul's vacant seat.

"That's alright. Actually, the reason I came was to ask Miss Cheryl if she wanted to dance." Lee saw Cheryl start and blush slightly before completely turning around and smiling at him.

"Actually it's just Cheryl. I'd love to dance!" Cheryl stood, waved to the two at the table and waited beside Violet.

"Wonderful! Then let's go, Cheryl." Violet smiled and offered her his arm, walking toward the center of the room. Lei and Marshall smiled and waved back, watching them walk to the center of the dance floor.

Once Marshall was sure Paul was safely out the door and Cheryl was across the room with her dancing partner, he looked oddly at Lei then laughed aloud.

"Honestly, Lei, don't you think it's hilarious?"

"I do not think it's funny at all. Paul is obviously in a lot of pain, and having his best friend laugh at him does not help him by any means, I'm sure." Lei said, his accent thickening with his anger. He leaned back, a bit disappointed in Marshall.

"I'm not his best friend. Forrest is," Marshall took on a sour look for a moment at the thought of his son, but chuckled again shortly after, "besides, think about it. Paul Phoenix, the 'island', is in love! It's an absolute riot! He'll get over this whole ordeal in a matter of hours, and so will she. Then, we'll start to see things happening. Mark my words." Lei paused to think for a moment.

"You shouldn't have laughed at him..." he said stubbornly.

"Oh, be quiet. He won't care about that. He just needs to be alone for a bit." Marshall gave a small, but earnest smile, his gaze toward nothing in particular.

"Speaking of Forrest, where is he?" Lei looked around, not seeing the younger man who had come to look up to the three older men in a way almost reflecting idolism. Lei, Marshall, and particularly Paul, were his heroes. Even if he hadn't entered the tournament, Lei would have expected him to, and almost hoped that he had, at least come as a guest. He had not seen him all day, and that disturbed him.

The sour look that returned to Marshall's face confirmed Lei's suspicions that something was amiss.

For a moment, Marshall Law said nothing. Lei had hit a sore spot for him, and it burned. Marshall readjusted himself in his seat before speaking.

"Forrest was taken from me," he fumed through gritted teeth, "from home one day while I was running the restaurant. He disappeared while he was working in the kitchen."

"Kidnapped?" Lei blurted, almost too loudly. He looked around to see that no one seemed to have noticed, so his attention went fully back to Marshall, and he leaned in closer.

"Yes. And Heihachi Mishima is the man who took him away. I'm almost positive it was to get me to join the tournament again. He didn't have to; I was going to anyway."

"But this is terrible! Why would he-" Lei had to stop as he noticed Heihachi himself heading their way.

Kazuya watched almost predatorily as the older Mishima moved along the ballroom floor. While his companion had stopped talking to watch the men and women in the center of the room with a partiality toward Jin and Xiaoyu, Kazuya began considering his next move. He wondered whether he should even wait for the tournament to begin before taking Heihachi out. He would rather fight his father under the observation of a crowd, but he was growing impatient. The man had stolen G Corporation's opportunity to learn more about Kazuya, and he was particularly angry because of his own interests in the project.

The purpose of that project was the Devil Gene inside him. G Corporation wanted to use the gene for scientific study; Kazuya wanted to use it to augment his own power. The Devil Gene; wrought by the hatred Kazuya had for his father, festering since Kazuya was but a boy, and amplified by his unrelenting desire for revenge; had allowed him to become as powerful as he was-and he was still growing stronger. Kazuya knew that if he could tap its energies from within, he could be the strongest fighter in the world without dispute. It may even grant him immortality. It certainly was a miracle he was alive, with or without the technology G Corporation had used to resurrect him.

Twenty years ago, Heihachi had thrown his son into the mouth of a volcano. He had died then. G Corporation revived Kazuya, learned of the Devil Gene, and studied him, which he complied with voluntarily for his own reasons. Kazuya needed to lay low to nurture his rather unique quality until an opportune moment, all while Heihachi still thought him dead.

His hopes had disintegrated when Heihachi's Mishima Zaibatsu had attacked G Corporation and stolen all the data pertaining to the Devil Gene. Kazuya had vowed then that he would take back everything Heihachi had stolen from him. Kazuya smirked when he thought of the irony. Most of what Kazuya had owned he stole from Heihachi in the first place.

Deciding things had become too quiet, he looked over at the woman sitting across from him. She was certainly an interesting person, and despite everything he had said on the balcony, he could not discern her reasoning for entering the tournament. Everything he had said was really what he believed to be true, but that could not be the only reason. Kazuya chuckled softly as he watched her laugh at Jin and Ling, who were still trying to learn to dance, although Violet had abandoned them. Steve Fox was still with them, but he wasn't much help. He knew nothing about ballroom dancing himself. Kazuya looked over at the young Korean Hwoarang, who was laughing the loudest of anyone in the hall. Kazuya was almost certain the vulgar boy couldn't know any more than either of his victims, as crude as his behavior always seemed. Kazuya was almost tempted to get up and teach Jin to dance himself. Almost.

When he looked back at his companion, her attention had strayed from the couple on the dance floor and had found its way to Heihachi, finally, who was now sitting with her new friends. Kazuya saw Cheryl on the dance floor and found that she was also giving particular interest to the conversation. From each woman's distance, they couldn't possibly have heard what was being said, but Kazuya was certain that it was about something neither wanted to miss. Now he knew, at least to some extent, what they were doing here. It had something to do with his father.

As he watched, Kiley's expression darkened while she tried to determine Heihachi's reason for speaking with Marshall and Lei. The conversation seemed to have taken an ill turn – Kazuya also noticed the way the three men had leaned inward over the table and lowered their voices. More importantly, he noticed the man called Marshall Law's expression as his conversation with Kazuya's father became more heated. No one at the table spoke above a strong whisper. None seemed to be focused on anything but the other two in front of him. But Marshall's fists were turning white at the arms of his chair, and his teeth were becoming ever more visible in a vicious snarl. Kiley looked as though she was going to try to interrupt Heihachi to save her new friends, but Kazuya decided he wasn't finished analyzing her yet.

"Would you like to dance?" he said coolly, just as she began to move.

"What?" she looked at him blankly, nearly tripping out of her seat. He reiterated his question, but received the same vacant stare after a blink or two. He smirked suddenly, and rose. Seizing her hand, he led her to a spot near his son and his date, but kept enough distance between them to not tumble with them when they would undoubtedly fail again, he knew. He was right. As soon as Jin noticed his father standing practically right next to him, his head turned and missed Xiaoyu's foot coming for his again. Down they went.

Up until that time, he had gotten the hang of watching their feet to avoid this situation, but Jin still wasn't quite used to his father's presence, and wasn't quite sure he liked him. Kazuya was fine with that; he had little use for the boy, and any affection his son might show toward him may thwart his current plans; the most important one being the downfall of the Mishima Empire, and the death of the man who ruled over it.

Jin rose, helping Xiaoyu do the same, apologizing pathetically though it wasn't his fault. They tried again. Kazuya finally stopped moving and turned toward his companion with a slightly disturbing grin on his face. The expression he received in turn told him that he should try to be a little less intimidating if he didn't want her to leave before he gathered all the information he needed.

Kazuya took up the still flustered woman's hand and positioned himself for a waltz. Kiley wasn't sure this was where she wanted to be, but accepted the situation nonetheless, placing her other hand at his shoulder. She hoped it hadn't been so long since her last dance that she ended up like the young Chinese girl Kazuya's son was dancing with. Tentatively, she tried to move gracefully while still keeping up with Kazuya, who was moving perfectly in time with the music. Where he of all people had learned to waltz, or why, she couldn't understand, but nevertheless, he was good at it. After one or two complete turns, she decided she wasn't as bad as she thought she would be, and focused less on the movement of her feet and more on their tempo. Within seconds, she and Kazuya were in step together, and she relaxed a bit more. Kazuya smiled more genuinely, then smirked over at his son.

"Watch this, boy. You're not in time with the music, and so you're tripping all over each other trying to find a common pace," he nodded to the younger couple, then centered his attention once again on his intriguing partner. For a moment, she looked back toward the table at which her friends were speaking with Heihachi, but figured they were big boys and could take care of themselves. For now, at least.

Jin simmered over the obscure insult by his father, but decided accepting his help this once would save him a world of trouble should he ever decide to try this again. It would probably even save him an injury or two from Xiaoyu's uncharacteristic clumsiness. The two stopped for a moment to learn.

"Kiley," he caught her attention, "what is it you do for a living again?" He tried to remember the conversation at dinner, but realized he was too absorbed in trying to find out her motives at the time to listen to most of what had been going on.

"Well, it's not proper protocol to divulge, but since Heihachi seems to have known already, there's really no point in hiding it here. Cheryl and I are both agents for the U.S. government, Kazuya. We were hired as field agents, but have been mostly doing deskwork for a while now," she responded, looking him in the eye for the first time since they had gotten up to dance.

After watching her for a moment, he chuckled, "and I suppose your little overseas visit has nothing to do with my father's crooked business circuit?"

"Nothing whatsoever," she lied. Kazuya laughed aloud, causing Jin to jump once again, but he managed to stay standing this time. Mimicking the movements of his father, Jin had actually managed to correct most of his previous faults, but Xiaoyu was still trying to understand why her feet seemed to keep homing in on Jin's.

"Please, I saw your registration form in my father's office. Someone did it for you. One of your superiors, no doubt," Kazuya let his voice trail, thinking he had cornered her.

"Maybe I simply asked someone to do it because I think red tape is such a hassle. I do enough of that at work. I don't need more to worry about," suddenly, she shot him a smirk that rivaled his own in guile, "anyway, what were you doing in Heihachi's private offices? I could arrest you for prowling, you know."

He was taken aback by the sudden change in character, but quickly cooled himself, and responded sarcastically, "not unless you're hiding handcuffs somewhere in that dress, gorgeous," and after giving her a quick looking over, he winked and said, "but I doubt that." His response had gotten him much the same reaction that Kiley's imitation of Kazuya's expression had from him. Her foot missed a beat, and he nearly fell over her before she quickly picked up again. She glared at him.

"Kazuya, if that was some half-assed attempt at flirting with me, you'd better take it back now, or I'll leave you here." Kazuya saw no sign of a joke in her expression, but stared down at her indignantly nonetheless.

"Why, are you afraid your man Phoenix will hear about it?" This time, she did stop.

"Not you too," she gave an irritated groan and stepped back. He stared for a moment, at a loss as to what she meant, but remained obstinate.

"He hangs around you enough, and seems to be jealous of me already. That comment wasn't particularly directed at you, but I'm not sure why you allow it. Trash like Paul doesn't deserve such attention. I don't know what happened to make you so annoyed with him, but it's probably for the best. That's just the way he is. An irritating vermin, always stirring things up..."

Kiley suddenly felt thoroughly defensive toward her friend, but figured there wasn't much she could do against a life-long rivalry, even older than herself. She sighed, and hesitantly accepted his roundabout apology.

"Fine," she huffed, "I'll just say you're a dirty old man, and call it even." From a few feet away, they heard Jin scoff – or chortle – at the comment directed toward his father, reveling in the blatant disrespect Kazuya was receiving. Kazuya got the last laugh when Jin realized he had been paying too much attention to their conversation and not enough to his footing. He stepped heavily on Xiaoyu's slipper, bringing a shrill yelp from the teenage combatant. After a few minutes of watching his offspring frantically apologize more, finally ending the abuse and leaving the dance floor to sit, Kazuya turned back to Kiley. From the opposite direction, he noticed that Cheryl and the man with dark glasses had moved a bit closer to them. No doubt growing concerned for the woman whom he had upset. She seemed normal enough again, and the last comment she made was probably an attempt to bring the previous humor back into the conversation. Still, the jab could have been labeled as accurate, considering he had actually been flirting with her and was more than twenty years her senior. He let it slide.

"Hrmm," he nodded finally, and she allowed him to dance with her once again. They continued to dance until the orchestra finished the current song, and Kiley said she was going to turn in. Kazuya still didn't feel that he knew everything he needed to about this woman, but decided that tomorrow was another day, and it looked to him that she wasn't going to be anywhere near Paul for a while.

Paul. He remembered the utterly distraught look on the man's face when the two had entered the ballroom together. She had been with him and the other three most of the day, but apparently, something had happened after Kazuya left the dinner table that had raised Kiley's hackles. Paul was devastated. And why shouldn't he be? The woman was clever, attractive, graceful, and intelligent; in Kazuya's astute opinion, exactly the type of woman Paul would fall for because of his own obvious shortcomings. Kazuya certainly liked her well enough.

Deciding there was no real reason for him to stay, Kazuya left the ballroom grinning wickedly. He had found the perfect bait for drawing in one of his oldest, and most obtrusive, enemies.