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Chapter 14 – Beloved Son
Ling was relieved to know that Heihachi hadn't returned to the hotel when they arrived.
-'What do we do now?'-she asked Jin.
-'We better go and prepare ourselves for dinner…it's almost seven…'
When Ling arrived to her room, she jumped to the bed and sighed. What a day…she had travelled a couple of hours to South Korea, thinking that she was going to have a great time, exploring the capital and going to the most awesome shops around, and instead she had gone to a poor area of the city where Jin had fought against this jackass, who was always calling her "pigtails" and was a hell of a fighter, because not even Jin could beat him. She couldn't believe that there was someone as strong as Jin Kazama. Hopefully it had been the first and last time they seen the Korean, not that he wasn't cute, but that guy was anything else but troubles. She couldn't understand why Jin had told him to go to Japan for a rematch.
Ling shook her head to put her thoughts in order and she decided to take a shower and dress properly. Then she noticed she was lying on some clothes that were in her bed. She was shocked when she got up and saw six different dresses. All beautiful and all in different colours. There was also a note from Heihachi, saying that she should wear one of the dresses that night.
Ling stood there for a few minutes, admiring the six dresses. There was one, very similar to the Chinese dresses she was used to see the rich Chinese women wear. It was golden. She loved it. Then she left her room and entered Jin's room without even knocking.
-'Did you know there was a party tonight?'-Ling asked.
-'What?'-he asked coming out of the bathroom and putting on his shirt.-'You should learn to knock…'
-'I'm sorry…'-Ling apologised feeling a bit embarrassed.-'What the hell was that?'
-'What?'
-'Take off the shirt…'
-'No!'
-'Jin…take off the shirt and let me see…please…'
Defeated, Jin took his shirt off showing a red mark in his abdomen. His right hand was also hurt and there was blood coming down his face from his eyebrow.
-'Oh no…Heihachi will be so mad at us when he sees this. Does it hurt?'
When Ling touched Jin's face with her fingers, he instinctively took a step back. He wasn't used to that, the only woman who had touched him had been his mother and probably Taka. But that small contact between his skin and Ling's fingertips had been enough to trigger all kind of emotions in him.
-'I'm sorry…it must hurt. Maybe you should go to a doctor.'-Ling said worried.
Jin managed to put again his mask and act like nothing had happened.
-'I don't need a doctor. I've been worse than this.'
-'Just stay there and don't move. I'll be right back.'-Ling ordered.
-'Wait…Xiaoyu…you don't need to…'
But it was too late. Ling was already out of the room and she didn't hear his words. A few minutes later she was back, with some ice and a bandage to his hand.
-'Look…you don't need to do this. I can't take care of myself.'
-'Just sit down…'
Jin obeyed and Ling put the ice on his eyebrow.
-'Here…press that while I take care of your hand.'-she said with a smile.-'I hope that Korean idiot is full of bruises too.'
Jin laughed.
-'He must have some marks too.'-Jin said.-'I hit him hard…'
-'Why did you tell him that you'd be in Japan waiting for him?'-Ling asked.
-'I don't know…I just felt happy to find someone that's worth fighting with…I got carried away.'
-'Maybe it's true then…'
-'What?'
-'What it's said about boys…that they only care about cars and sports…'
-'Not all…Look…Xiaoyu…I'm fine…honest.'
-'That's what you think. Anyway…about tonight…just don't get too close of Heihachi or he'll notice your injuries.'
-'I know…'
-'Sorry for entering in your room without knocking.'
-'It's ok…anyway…I didn't know about the party…'
-'You have a suit here too.'-she pointed to the bed.
-'I know.'
-'I'll see you later, ok?'
-'Yes.'
When Ling left, Jin watched the grey suit in his bed. What was Heihachi planning? Whatever it was, he needed to remain focused and alert which was an impossible task to accomplish with Xiaoyu around. What the hell was happening? Was he losing his concentration because of her? Or was this only his imagination? It was good to have someone to talk to. In the beginning it had been strange, since he wasn't used to talk to people. In the beginning he didn't even want Ling to stay with them in Tokyo, but now he was used to her presence. She wasn't that bad and honestly she was different. She was probably the only person he could trust. But now he was afraid that he was becoming too close to her.
An hour later, Jin was knocking on Ling's door.
-'Are you ready?'-he asked.
-'No. Go ahead and wait for me downstairs.'
Jin went to the hotel restaurant and saw that the whole restaurant had been booked by Heihachi to hold his special dinner. There were at least 15 tables.
Heihachi was coming down the stairs with a strange man in that moment. He stopped to speak to him.
-'Jin…you look almost like a real man…'-Heihachi said.
-'Is he your grandson?'-the other man asked.
-'Yes…he's still just a kid. But he's strong enough to enter the tournament.'
-'I bet he is. He takes after Kazuya…'
-'Yes, my dear and beloved son…May he rest in peace.'-Heihachi said.
-'Beloved son?'-Jin asked with a shocked look on his face. Heihachi had never spoken of Kazuya that way.
-'Probably you'll never understand how a father feels after losing his only son.'-Heihachi said.
-'Are you high?'-Jin inquired.
-'Lets not start a fight now…my guests are arriving and I think you had already too many fights today…'-Heihachi threatened in a low voice grabbing Jin's hurt hand.
Jin's eyes met Heihachi's and he understood that somehow, Heihachi knew about his fight with Hwoarang that afternoon.
-'Make sure Xiaoyu is here in five minutes.'-Heihachi ordered and entered the restaurant greeting his guests.
Jin stood there watching his grandfather. He didn't believe his words. Heihachi had never been a protective father, on the contrary. When she was dying, Jun had told him that he should search for Heihachi and seek his protection but he should never trust the old man, because he had never cared for his own son.
Jin clenched his fists with anger.
In the meantime, Ling had finally understood what was wrong in her dress. Actually, it wasn't the dress at all. She had dressed all of them and she had decided to wear the Chinese one. But there was something wrong. At first she thought it was the colour, but it wasn't. It was her hair. She released the two pigtails and she was now wearing her long dark hair in a braid with two strays of hair falling loose.
When she finally looked to the mirror she didn't even recognise herself.
Jin was going up the stairs when she arrived.
-'Xiaoyu?'-he asked surprised.
-'Yeah…it's hard to believe, isn't it?'
Jin was speechless for a while. Until then, he had always looked at her as if she was a child.
-'Aren't we supposed to go downstairs?'-Ling asked.
-'What? Oh…yeah…we are.'
Heihachi waved when he saw Jin and Ling arriving. He called them and pointed to the two available chairs on his table. Jin and Ling sat down and a few minutes later the dinner was served.
No one could notice, but Jin and Ling weren't enjoying the dinner. Jin couldn't care less about that stupid dinner. He looked directly into Ling's eyes and understood that she was feeling exactly the same thing.
Finally, the dinner was over, but there was a kind of a party next. Jin got up and went outside for a while. Ling followed him as soon as she ended her boring chat with the strange man called Yoshimitsu.
-'Quite annoying, isn't it?'-Jin asked when she joined him.
-'A bit…'
-'Heihachi wanted me to be his heir…to take care of his businesses…'
-'But you don't want that, do you?'
-'No. I hate this life…I want to be free.'
-'Consider yourself lucky…you have a rich grandfather. Do you imagine how many people would like to be on your shoes?'
-'Is money that important to you?'
-'No…not to me…to me is just new…I had never seen a house as big as yours, I had never seen a car like yours and I had never wore a dress as beautiful as this one…'
-'You don't need beautiful dresses…'-those words slipped Jin's mouth, making him feel embarrassed.
-'Thanks…'
-'Anyway…we all know that there are more important things than money.'
-'Yes, that's true. Such as family…'
-'Family…I don't have any family, except the old man…'
-'Well, it's better than nothing.'
-'I can't trust Heihachi…I'll never consider him as a part of my family!'
-'But…you're being too harsh.'
-'No I'm not.'
-'Heihachi can't have done anything that horrible.'
-'Yes, he did! He's responsible for my father's death…though I don't care a damn for Kazuya as well…'
-'I don't understand…'
-'And you never will. Dysfunctional…that's what we are…and nothing will change that.'
-'Hey, kids…lets get inside, I'm going to announce you.'-Heihachi said.
-'What?'-Ling asked.
Heihachi had been talking with many people to promote the Iron Fist and he was now going to present Ling and Jin as possible winners of the tournament.
-'Ladies and gentlemen the Iron Fist Tournament 3 is coming soon and just like I said I'm going to enter. But I'm not going to be alone. Jin Kazama and this young lady, Ling Xiaoyu will also enter. They are training hard under my orders and I'm sure that they'll be able to classify for the finals. Many other fighters will join us, such as King, Lei Wulong, Yoshimitsu, Paul Phoenix and Nina Williams…the tournament is perfectly safe and I'm still waiting for more confirmations.'
-'Perfectly safe?'-Jin raised his voice to Heihachi.
The room was now in silence.
-'Did you also say that to my father when he entered the tournament?'
-'Jin…stop that…we're not having this conversation.'-Heihachi said.
-'Did you say to my father that the tournament was safe? Because in case you didn't notice…he died during the tournament! But you were never much of a father, were you? You probably didn't even miss him!'
Those were harsh accusations and Heihachi was red with anger. He was going to ask the security guards to escort Jin to his room, when Jin decided to leave.
-'I'll save you the trouble!'-Jin said leaving to the hotel's garden.
Ling looked at Heihachi's red face and left after Jin. She was astonished with Jin's accusations. What the hell happened in Jin's family? What kind of family was that? She didn't know the answers to those questions but one thing she knew, Jin was having a hard time and she couldn't leave him alone.
