Chapter 4: Promise

"Jun-san, what happened?" Lei asked when he saw Jun running up to her room, her eyes covered in tears. She ran past him and into her room. He didn't understand what was up with her but he could hear her cry her heart out against the shut door. "Jun-san…?"

Inside the room Jun continued crying. How could he say that to her? How? She didn't understand and that made tears burst through even more. She sat down with her back against her door. He was just using her all along…something that could entertain him. A toy. And that toy had been used, all the joy had been sucked out of her and there was nothing left for him to relish on…and so he threw her away.

No.

She didn't believe that. He was gentle with her, nothing wanton was in what they had done, it was genuine and pure and what she felt from him was the same. Not for a moment did she feel even an ounce of lust from him. And his eyes that morning…no it couldn't be true. It was a cry for help. Not a rejection. Slowly she rested her head against the door, staring up at the ceiling. She dried her tears and hugged her legs, resting her chin on her knees staring away in front of her. She had promised to herself that she would never let go of him no matter what but now…

"Kazuya…"

Evening

Kazuya sat in his office, staring out of the large window. There was a huge pile of work on his desk and the phone kept on ringing but he didn't bother reacting. Lee walked in his office with that usual cocky smile of his and told him that someone wanted to visit him. Kazuya didn't move a finger, his back to Lee, as he stared outside, his chin resting on his fist, his legs crossed. Against the setting sun, the upcoming darkness and his own stature made him looked like a stubborn emperor. Lee couldn't help but notice it and walked up to him.

"Lord Kazuya and my brother? What is the matter?" he said in his American accent that irritated Kazuya—and that hypocritical tone of his only made it worse.

"I am NOT your brother!" he simply said without looking back at him.

"Why so? Heihachi brought us both up and took care of…"

He never got to finish that sentence, as Kazuya's iron grip was around his collar the second he said 'Heihachi'.

"You take his name and I will kill you! Leave! Get lost!" he barked at him, blood racing up to his temples and ears. He finally pushed him to the floor and Lee left immediately, fixing his collar. "And close that damn door behind you!"

Once again Kazuya found himself alone. He had dimmed the lights.

"Jun…"

He had been thinking about Jun the whole day, not even bothering with anything else or anyone. He had come here when the last star from the sky had disappeared and now he saw the first star appear in the dark purple sky.

"Lord Kazuya? They call me Lord Kazuya. Hmph…" he said staring outside, Jun's face flashing before his eyes, "…a lord who has everything but has nothing."

He didn't deserve her. She shouldn't be with him or he will drag her to hell with her. He was the wall and their love was the wall flower…a flower that blooms but is destined to fall away. For the first time ever in his life did he feel so much disgust at himself. He could see his reflection in the glass now and didn't like what he saw. Tightening his fist, the hatred poisoning his soul, he punched it shattering it to a million pieces, blood flowing out of his hand.

"Oh, you depressed again, darling?" a flirting voice rang behind him.

Kazuya didn't turn around, rolling his eyes—he knew the voice well. The woman who had been introduced to him by Lee and who had been hovering around him ever since. She had been staying in the Mishima mansion with Lee but had always tried getting cozy with him.

"Anna Williams…" he said slowly, as she walked behind him, two glasses of red wine in her hands. She just laughed flirtingly as she turned his seat around looking at his black eyes, placing the red wine in his hand and bent forward exposing her cleavage to him. Kazuya's face was a stone.

"There is just something about you black haired, black eyed men!" she said and sat on his desk, the slits in her red dress exposing her legs and thighs to him. He continued staring at her without expression, in the same pose he was in when she came in. He was still thinking about Jun, her black tearful eyes haunting him like those of a wounded swan.

Anna took a sip of her wine and hunched forward, till she was a few inches away from his face.

"You know Kazuya, I have been thinking about you a lot these days," she said as she took another sip of her red wine. "It's like you and I were made for each other. You know what I mean?"

Kazuya just stared at her, the glass of wine still untouched in his hand. She moved forward and placed her hand on his thigh feeling his powerful muscles there.

"Look at me…don't you think I am beautiful?"

No response.

Anna figured she better try something else.

"Since you and I get along so well why don't we take it to the next level. Come to me…come and take me…right here…right now…" she said huskily, moving towards his lips…closer and closer.

Ting.

Anna was choking, shocked when he threw the wine in her face and held her by the throat, lifting her clearly off the ground with brute strength.

"You gold digging bitch! You think I can't see right through you!" he roared at her, his hand tightening around her neck making her gasp dreadfully, fear locked in her eyes. "You think you can swindle the Zaibatsu away from me and then enjoy it all for yourself! Hah! I know the likes of you very well! You and Lee are exactly alike! You honestly think I will be interested in a woman such as yourself…someone who doesn't even have an ounce of shame in her? Get out of my sight!"

Lee was walking up to Kazuya's office with some more papers when he heard a dreadful scream from inside the office.

"What?"

The door opened and Lee was surprised to see Anna being flung out of it like a rag doll. She landed on the ground in front of him.

"Anna!"

He immediately came to her aid, holding her in his arms. He looked at ahead of him and saw Kazuya staring at them both as he walked out of the room, the lights switched off, his coat slung over his shoulder—he was leaving. He walked near the two of them and without even looking at them spoke.

"Lee! Know that you can never take away what is mine. The same goes for your slut friend. A dog should know its place."

All the two could do was stare away at him in disbelief, watch him leave.

Kazuya walked out of the office building and stood outside in the night, his guards scurrying around him as they made arrangements for "Lord" Kazuya. At first he liked being referred to as that but now it stung him, making him wince every time he was referred to as that. His car came towards him and he sat inside it. He didn't give out any orders meaning that he should be taken to the Zaibatsu mansion. He sat in the back seat staring at the ceiling.

"How pathetic am I?" he kept on murmuring to himself, the car taking him further away into the darkness. "Jun…please forgive me…"

Night

Jun was standing in the small garden outside her room. Everything was black and no colors of the world were there to sooth her. It was as if the god who had painted this world had gotten disgusted at his own work and smeared black paint on it, wiping away all trace of His virtuoso and His craft. The chilly wind assaulted her like the cold edge of a blade but Jun ignored it, her eyes damp, gleaming. She had been crying almost the whole day, Kazuya's bitter words resounding in her ears again and again wringing tears out of her mercilessly. She wanted to help him but he had pushed her away. She had tried helping him, had offered her hand to him but he had smacked it away—and yet, she could still hear him calling her, she could see his eyes calling, screaming for help. It tortured her more now and the fact that she loved him now made it worse. She felt like she was losing him over and over again for the rest of her life.

She could feel hope fading away, just the way the blackness of the night had faded away all the colors of the world. She was losing Kazuya. He was slipping away from her and she had lost her strength to hold on…

"Kazama-san…"

Jun straightened up a bit and dried her eyes. Who could want to see her right now? Can't she even cry alone!

She slowly turned around and saw the same old man whom she had seen come between Heihachi and Kazuya—Wang Jinrei. He was standing in front of her in a stately way, his hands folded under the loose cuffs of his Chinese shirt. She could see a rather large roll of prayer beads in his shriveled hands that he was systematically fidgeting with as he looked at her…in her eyes. Once again she felt him searching for something in her and she looked away, uneasy. He coughed suddenly, and she realized that she hadn't bowed to him. She did so quickly, embarrassed at her lack of manners.

"Sorry, Jinrei-sama! I was…"

"Don't worry, Kazama-san, its all right," he said sharply, and put his prayer beads in his pocket. He took on a somber expression. "Would you mind if I speak to you…now…"

Her initial reaction was 'no' but she agreed.

"What is it about, Jinrei-sama?" she asked as she trailed him.

"Kazuya…"

They continued walking for some time and after a few minutes of walking Wang stopped. Jun stopped too, looking around. They were on the beach and she could see the guards near by. Somehow though, they didn't interrogate them and Jun figured that it was because he was a family friend of the Mishima's. Wang slowly looked at the Zaibatsu compound and sighed deeply.

"I was there when he built this compound, Jinpachi Mishima. He said he was going to make sure he would be able to help this world with his immense money. He said it would be a symbol of peace and of world aid. That was almost 50 years ago and times have changed. This place is so far from it now. Now it reeks of bloodshed, screams and of violence," he said with a sigh.

Jun listened intently, her black eyes as deep as the night that covered them.

"Jinpachi Mishima…Kazuya's grandfather? The man who he said gave him the only love he knew as a child?" Jun thought to herself.

"Yes, that is true," Wang said, reading her thoughts. "He died almost 50 years ago and once his son, Heihachi, took over the Zaibatsu went where he feared it would go. But that is not what I want to talk about. It is about Kazuya, Jinpachi's grandson. You have felt it, haven't you? The dark power that he harbors. It lingers in him like a snake that has filled him with poison…poison that is his own to drink."

Jun stared at him, slightly dazed.

Wang continued.

"The darkness in him will consume him. He sold himself to it many years ago but he doesn't know what he has bargained for. He must be saved. This darkness must be stopped right now and the one that can stop him…is you, Kazama Jun!"

Jun felt her heart sink, numerous images flashing before her eyes—red eyes, a legion of purple demons, Kazuya, herself, their lovemaking, Kazuya falling into a blazing inferno. She felt her knees buckle but she kept her ground, bracing herself for Wang's words that were hitting her like a ton of bricks.

"I have been trying to stop Kazuya's ultimate demise but my hands have weakened with age now. For my friend, Jinpachi, I tried to save those two seeds of his loins…but Heihachi is beyond redemption. The greed for power is insatiable in him. But Kazuya has a lot of his mother in him. Already, Heihachi's fall from grace is too much for my friend's soul. Please, don't let Kazuya fall too. I have tried but I have only met with failure. I-I cannot reach him. But you can because I have seen it in you. It's your destiny. You are the one destiny has picked?"

Jun didn't know what was going on. What was this old guy rambling about?

"Jinrei-sama, I don't understand. You are probably mixing me with someone else…I am no more than a simple girl from…"

"Yakushima forest," he finished for her. He took a deep breath and continued. "You see, you are the one people in my time spoke about. You're the 'Chosen One'."

Jun was feeling her heart race. Confused. Shocked. Distraught.

"Jinrei-sama…I…"

"Please listen. I know this is weird for you and rather shocking but it is true. I have heard the prophecy many times. The prophecy about 'the chosen one' who would be born in the Yakushima forest and would bear children of light and darkness…"

Wang had been going a little hard right now he realized as he saw Jun's troubled expression. He calmed down a bit and thought about how to go on without giving Jun brain-hammerage. He could see that she was about to collapse and wondered over how to continue.

"I have figured out one thing since I heard the prophecy 22 years ago. You are not only destined to bear that child, Kazama-san, but also to purge that darkness away in this generation. That darkness is Kazuya…"

Jun just kept staring at him; tears welled up in her face. Wang bit his lips. She really was as sensitive and fragile as he had heard her to be. He stood there quietly for a while wondering how to continue but figured he might as well stop beating around the bush.

"What my fists and my wisdom cannot do, your kindness will…your love will."

Jun looked at him shocked. How did he know?

Wang continued.

"Please, Kazama Jun, please save that boy—save him from doom. You must…"

Jun eventually broke down, tears flowing down her eyes.

"Jinrei-sama, please…please…what do you mean? I don't…I don't understand!" she said between her sobs, hiding her face in her hands.

Wang was surprised when she broke down and slowly walked up to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder—the shoulders on which she was to carry a heavy burden. He gently helped her up.

"Please pull yourself together. Already you have done some of it. You have brought out the dormant goodness in him. I can feel it in him. His aura is not the same as it used to be. It is like a hesitant ray of light, fragile and weak, oozing out of the darkness. But it is there and the one to bring it out is you. If you've done this much you can do more. Don't give up! Don't give up, for his sake, don't, if you love him…"

Jun nodded as more tears flowed out of her eyes.

"I love him…I love him more than anything in this world…"

Dawn

Jun was standing quietly by window staring at the golden rays of the morning that greeted her.

"I…am the 'Chosen One'?" she mused, not knowing what to make of it all.

She continued staring at the rising sun, watching it cast the spell of life and beauty on the island. Wang's words were still dancing around the wounds in her heart. She had been standing there since her conversation with Wang and had been thinking of nothing but Kazuya…and the promise she made to herself. Once again she looked at the rising sun and watched it light up the dreary mansion where her lover sat alone…alone with darkness all around him…with darkness inside him.

Kazuya was lying on the bed, staring at the sunrise too, sitting up slightly to get a better view. He couldn't help but think of Jun as he watched the rising sun spreading light in the darkness. She was like that, someone who lighted up his world. Pure and beautiful, full of life. He had Jun's hair band in his hand. She had forgotten it when she had left his room and once she did, the darkness swallowed him again…the hair band being his only connection with the light that once existed in his life. He kept it in his hand stretching and pulling it gently. Never did his loneliness sting him so much. It suffocated him. He brought the hair band close to his face and kissed it, secretly yearning for her to return to him, to light up his life as she did in that single day. But then fear would rack him…fear of losing her in that darkness too. He finally lowered his head, bringing up her hair band to his eyes.

"Jun…"

Slowly he felt a gentle hand on his cheek. He was surprised, not wanting anyone to see him in such a moment of weakness. Slowly he looked up and saw her standing next to him, the same kind and gentle smile on her lovely face. Kazuya thought he was dreaming, but there she was standing next to him, stroking his face lovingly with the gentleness that only she had, her black hair covering the side of her face, her eyes slightly damp at seeing him in his misery.

His eyes lighted up but then he turned away, fear brewing inside him again.

"Jun…please, don't come near me…"

"Why, Kazuya?"

"Don't come near me. I don't want to lose you…"

He looked away. Jun simply made him look at her, in her eyes, and he did before lowering them again as if ashamed of what he was.

"No matter what happens, no matter who you are or who you become, fire or darkness…if I have to burn away to be with you I will burn away as many times as it takes…because I love you…I love you…"

It was then that he hugged her, encircling her completely sinking his head into her chest, holding on tightly, desperately. She was surprised and surprised even more when she felt warm tears on her skin. Here, right now, he was the same little boy scared of being thrown off into an abyss again, into darkness again, hanging onto the little ray of light he knew—desperately, so desperately. She couldn't stop the tears from coming.

"I won't let you fall. I wont let it swallow you again…I promise," she whispered to him, her tears flowing and mixing with his.

A man walked through the darkness and into one of the rooms for the fighters. He was one of the Zaibatsu head bodyguards, Grant Cole. As he walked inside, he saw candles lit and a man sitting on the floor, meditating, his Japanese sandals behind him, his bulging muscles even more prominent in the light. He was facing the other way, his spiky hair casting a shadow on the wall as it were a Devil's shadow—Heihachi Mishima. Heihachi smiled when he felt his presence. Cole came and kneeled behind him.

"What is it this time, Cole? I hope you have some good news," Heihachi said as he turned his head slightly towards him.

Cole shook his head slightly, which made Heihachi frown.

"Master Mishima, it seems that there is a woman involved with the young master."

"A woman?"

"Yes."

"I see. And who is she?"

"Kazama Jun."

"Kazama Jun? The woman who is a participant in the tournament?"

"Yes. But what is interesting is that she was approached by Wang Jinrei and one of my men, one of your remaining loyal guards, told me that he was asking her to stop Kazuya's darkness."

"Hah! She can never do it! Kazuya is a stubborn man…too stubborn. He has too much of his grandfather and mother in him."

'Too much of his father' thought Cole but didn't say it.

"Master, I am afraid you are mistaken. The young master has changed recently."

"What! You mean…"

"Yes. He hasn't been his usual self. In fact he even allowed one of his men, Baek Do-san, to leave the Zaibatsu and start a new life. Something punishable by death during his earlier reign and your reign."

"I see…so he is becoming a weakling!"

Cole stayed silent as he saw Heihachi stand up to his full height.

The electric ki glowed around Heihachi as he stood up—the power of the Mishima's. An evil smile crept across his face.

"Kazuya…your weakness will be your downfall!