Chapter 10: Jumping Ahead

At the crack of dawn Nina was one of the first to be fully dressed, wide awake and painfully being patient for the announcer to rear his ugly head. Others were either just now waking up or snoozing peacefully, acting as if they had nothing to worry about. Among the early birds was Kazuya Mishima, naturally keeping a mean distance from everyone else. Out of the corner of Nina's blue eye she could barely see him but easily felt his presence.

He's the one to blame…thought Nina loudly. Now I have even more dirty laundry that needs cleaning…

His side glance met hers but she quickly shot in another direction. Just then more fighters started to pour out of their rooms.

"About time you worthless-"Kazuya was cut off by the announcer.

"Warriors of the like I believe you know what time it is so let's cut to the chase! The first round starts in 10 minutes, which means you have 9 to prepare and 1 to look at the screen and see who you'll be up against. Best of luck!"

Without haste Nina searched for her name. It was on the second row right next to…Kazuya! Already she had to deal with him!

He saw this too and only turned away, obviously not bothered by his choice of opponent. At first her frustration got the better of her, but then she realized once he was dealt with all the other fighters would be a piece of cake. Maybe even Steve…

On Dragon's Nest near the mountains Nina sat near the fabled beast's head with her thoughts in the clouds. It was the first time she'd had things on her mind other than who she was fighting.

"If I do beat Kazuya, and I will, then what? Not like I'm going to kill him or anything." She then closed her eyes while a rush of adrenaline came into her body.

There had never been a fatality within the combat circuit between the main 8 rounds, so there obviously was no rule against it. Yes, it was perfect! With no end to her suffering if he survived, Nina made the decision to kill Kazuya.

"Hey!" came the shout of the rude Japanese man.

A sly smirk crept up Nina's face and she made no response.

"You seem pretty eager Williams. Some reason for that?"

"If you don't know then this battle will be your punishment for my pain."

Is eyebrow arched in question of her comment then he lowered his head.

"I have no clue what you're talking about but that doesn't matter. The sooner we fight the sooner I get my revenge."

"Ready…" called out the announcer as the two got into their stances. " FIGHT!"

One second after the announcer cut off Nina dashed head first for Kazuya planning every move she made. He sidestepped out of the way to cut her defense and swiftly punched into the crevice of her back. She stumbled and fell forward while trying to scurry onto her feet.

Spinning on all fours Nina made a connection with Kazuya's shin and sent him crashing down. Then her foot pinned him to the ground for only a few seconds; Kazuya squirmed beneath her. To break the hold Kazuya's kicked up into the air making Nina double backwards, yet not even for a moment did she let down her guard.

In the same fashion the assassin flung herself at her opponent, blinded by fury. It was difficult for Kazuya to keep his guard stable since she aimed at several parts of his body at once. Eventually it was broken and he took the blows to his face and chest for a good while.

"Had enough?" she asked hoping for a yes.

"Not even close."

"What a shame. I really will have to end this then…"

In her right hand her sacred dagger was drawn, catching Kazuya's eye. It sliced into the meat of his cheek; a decent flow of blood ebbed out proving this. He cringed slightly then retreated.

"Your not playing to win are you?" he asked rhetorically.

"Like I said before if you don't know then your punishment will set me free!"

With lightning speed the dagger whirled around in the air until it hit the grotesque scar on Kazuya's chest. His response was a bellowing roar followed by a collapse to the floor. The crimson juice poured out of him this time especially as he tried to take the dagger out.

"Looks like I hit your weak spot, Mishima. Do you feel it coming?" she snickered.

He gagged. "Wh-what's your motive? What could I have done to make you want to kill me?"

"G Corporation…Mishima Zaibatsu…cryosleep…resurrection…vitro fertilization…any of this making sense to you?"

His dull, listless expression told her no.

"When I was frozen those bastards at the Zaibatsu decided it was fine to use my body for reproductive purposes. At this time you were brought to life and it was only fortunate for them that you had no say in being used for the same purpose. After four years of being in the real world I discover that I have a 21 year old son participating in this tournament- I despise the thought that I could be used for such a trivial goal. What I still don't understand is why they went to all this trouble to produce some test tube baby…"

Kazuya's face remained confused. "What the hell are you talking about!"

Veins bulged out of her skull. "I can't believe they would put our DNA together!"

She pressed the dagger even further into his flesh. He let out another yelp of pain then shut his eyes.

"I may not be able to take it out on those lab rats but you're the next best thing! So die Kazuya Mishima!"

Note: Happy Valentine's Day/ Easter/ St. Patrick's Day/ April fool's Day/ any other holiday I left out. Reason I missed you guys all this time is that I may have finally launched my career as a writer! I've been tirelessly working on this novel of mine and after trying to find the right publisher these people at Long Ridge Writers Group have said that they would gladly review the first few chapters of my story to see if it was publishing material. If it is they'll help me make it better and send it to print, if not they'll request another publishing group for me to send it to. I'm really excited about this! So until that comes, I'll finish up my Fortune of Fox story and happily start another Tekken tale!