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Chapter 19 – Happy Birthday Jin
Jin sat down on the grass, watching Julia return to the hotel while he stood there cursing his luck. He had always a feeling that he wasn't just a normal person. Some things that Julia told him made sense, but that was definitely a weird story. Jin remembered once again the day that he lost his mother. It was a hot day in Yakushima and the night before, Jun had told him that many things were about to happen.
Jin ignored her because Jun was always having premonitions and he thought that she was just worried about something.
In that morning, Jin followed his mother to the woods to practice. She had been teaching him the Kazama Style since he was a small child. Jun loved the forest, she was always talking about the nature spirits, but that morning she said there was an evil aura in the woods. Jin wasn't scared because he had always felt safe in Yakushima. Then, suddenly Jun told him to go back home and wait there. Jin was puzzled; they were supposed to be training. When he finally headed back to the house he heard Jun's scream, but before he could see anything he was attacked from behind and lost his senses for several minutes.
When Jin woke up, Jun was on the floor hardly breathing. He didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life Jin felt hopeless and scared. There was no one there to help them. In her last words Jun told her son who was his father and she sent him to Heihachi Mishima, his grandfather. She also advised him to seek his protection without trust him totally.
What could he do now? Should he trust that girl and her weird story? Why would she lie and make up such a strange story?
Jin was confused and worried about what he had heard from Julia, but he couldn't ignore the facts. He knew that Heihachi was capable to kidnap someone and he knew that the old man had always wanted more power.
Was this Toshin real? What about Kazuya? Was he really a demon? If his father was a demon, he was too. Half human, half devil.
Three hours later all the contestants were reunited in the hotel waiting for Heihachi. Ling spotted Jin and met him.
-'Hey…where have you been?'-she asked.
-'Outside…'
-'When I thought about coming to a tournament I always thought it would be fun…I would be meeting other people and stuff…but this sounds really…'
-'I still don't know why you're here…'
-'What do you mean?'
-'Heihachi brought you to Japan with a purpose, just like he accepted me as his heir.'
-'Look…maybe you need to meet more people, you know…friends. I have a new friend, her name is Julia…maybe you should meet her…and we could hang out together.'
-'Maybe later…'
-'She's over there…I'm going to talk to her ok?'
Ling found Julia arguing with Hwoarang. She didn't know what was going on but she was ready to defend her friend against that jackass Korean.
-'You are the most disgusting guy I have ever met!'-Julia said.
-'Really? I can make you change your mind!'-Hwoarang shot back.-'Meet me tonight.'
-'Is that all you think about?'
-'Mostly…'
-'Pervert!'
Heihachi started his speech in that moment and everyone shut up, even Hwoarang.
In the beginning Heihachi announced that the fights would have a 30 minutes limit and no deadly strikes were allowed. Then, he proceeded, explaining where they were going to fight. While Heihachi was talking, Jin decided to go to his grandfather's room and see what he could find. He needed answers.
Heihachi's room was locked so he had to go from balcony to balcony until he reached the right room. To someone who was an expert in martial arts it was a piece of cake.
He didn't know what to search, but since he couldn't access to Heihachi's computer because he didn't know the password, he decided to check the documents in his desk. One of the documents mentioned Julia Chang and her mother.
Jin read everything about her and Michelle. She wasn't lying after all, at least about her mother. In that moment Jin heard something outside and when he got to the balcony he saw two jeeps arriving in a hurry and going to the underground garage. It was Heihachi's personal army, the Tekkenshu. That was why Heihachi was keeping everyone else inside the hotel, so his army could arrive without being seen.
He continued his search but there was nothing more. He was going to leave when he noticed the shelves with books. They were all about mythology, spirits, darkness and sacred rituals. He opened one of the books and some papers fell near his feet. It was a map from a place in Mexico and some pictures of dead people. They seemed to be from the Tekkenshu. Their bodies were in a cave. Jin remembered Julia's words. Maybe she hadn't made up the story, maybe the Toshin was real.
Jin left the room and joined the others downstairs, Heihachi wasn't there anymore and everyone was talking about the matches. Jin looked at the wall where a huge screen was showing the first match of the tournament in the next morning: Nina Williams versus Bryan Fury.
Talking about Bryan Fury, Jin tried to see him or Nina, to see what they were doing, but he could only see a group of people arguing in a circle. Actually everyone seemed to be there except for Heihachi, Yoshimitsu, Nina, Anna and the guy named Gun Jack. Because of that massive argument, Jin decided to go his room and wait there for a while. After that he needed to speak to Julia and Ling. Now he was almost sure that Ling was also in danger and he wanted to warn her.
Downstairs, people were starting to calm down. The argument had started because Bryan Fury had called Hwoarang a girl because of his long hair. Hwoarang was a guy of honour (in his own particular way) and when someone insulted him, his rule was to hit that person as hard as he possibly could. That was precisely what had happened, the only problem was that Bryan was also ready to start a fight, so when Hwoarang punched him right in the face he took his fighting stance and if it weren't for Lei, Eddie and Paul, a violent fight would've happened.
When Jin was entering his room, a voice called him.
-'Your grandfather wants to speak to you.'-a man told him.
-'Who are you?'-Jin asked.
-'Abel…I work with Mr. Mishima.'
-'Then you can tell him that I have no intention to speak to him.'
-'I think you better come with me. This matter concerns not only you, but also the people you know.'
That sure got Jin's attention, so he had no other choice but to follow Dr. Abel.
Heihachi was waiting in his room.
-'So…I haven't seen you downstairs…'
-'I don't owe you any explanations!'
-'Tell me, Jin have you been sleeping well?'
-'Huh? What do you mean?'
-'Nightmares?'
-'No.'-Jin lied.
-'Are you sure?'
-'Cut this crap…I know why you took me as your heir. I have something that you want and that's why you made me believe that you wanted me around to be the next leader of your crappy Zaibatsu. Actually you never wanted that…you want the Zaibatsu all for yourself.'
-'Since when do you use your brain, Jin?'-Heihachi asked surprised.
-'It doesn't matter…'
-'So…and what is that you have that I want so badly?'
-'Power…it's all about power! I'm not even shocked to know that you have kidnapped people…'
-'Well I'm happy to know that you approve my actions…but this time I'm innocent.'
-'I didn't say I approve your actions, actually if something happens to Xiaoyu or the other contestants I'll make sure you pay the price.'
-'Is that a threat?'
-'That's a warning…'
-'I'll make sure to remember that.'
-'Good…now can I go?'
-'Sure…I just wanted to know how you feel...'
-'About what?'
-'Well, it's been four years now since your mother died…it's a very sad coincidence since it's also your birthday today.'
Jin didn't say a word about this comment. He knew Heihachi's intentions and he was determined to handle the situation, but he did feel hurt. Jun's death had been extremely painful.
-'Happy birthday Jin! Oh…and be careful, there are some familiar faces on this tournament.'
When Jin left, Heihachi told Dr. Abel that somehow Jin knew about the devil gene and about the Toshin. Julia Chang had probably told him the whole story.
-'She knows more than I thought…we have to get rid of her.'-Heihachi announced.
-'But she's a contestant.'-Dr. Abel said.
-'Just call the Tekkenshu and leave the rest wit me…Miss Chang needs to learn a lesson.'
