Hello again, everyone! Here's chapter 13!

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters. They are all property of Namco.

It was inevitable, but much to his strong reservations to avoid it at all costs, he finally caved and decided to watch this asinine interview. He had begun to wonder what his father had to say and why was it so damned important that he had to stage this publicity stunt to get his attention. It had been advertised on all the airwaves, showcased on billboards, and plastered all over the newspapers. He hadn't realized that the business affairs of two rival corporations would garner so much attention from the public. After a day of lazing around with his bodyguard, it was time to focus their attention back on their enemies to see what aces they had up their sleeves. Jin pressed a button underneath his desk and a large panel opened over the fireplace, revealing a large flat screen TV built into the wall. It was almost time.

Nina laid on the couch, relaxing after the nice takeout meal they had from a local sushi restaurant. She had kicked her heels off and curled up to get completely comfortable, especially since her boss hadn't dismissed her presence since she had arrived earlier in the day. A well paid prisoner, that's how she would describe her current situation, at least until her "probation" was over and he lifted the restrictions from her duties. She glanced over to her employer and saw him sitting at his desk with a dark, pensive expression on his face as he watched the television adverts with disinterest. The interview would air soon and she only imagined the whirlwind of emotions spinning within him concerning his father's publicity stunt.

She sighed, "Jin, I'm sure this'll be nothing but Kazuya and G Corp playing the victim to gain sympathy from the public. Don't stress yourself over this," she tried to assure him.

The dark haired man grunted lowly at her words. Despite her reassurance, he knew that she underestimated his father's ability to piss him off as well as his inability to suppress his anger when provoked. So far, he had done a damn good job at controlling his demonic side, and for her sake, he prayed that he could continue to keep the beast within hidden. He remained silent.

The assassin parted her lips to speak again, but the interview was airing. After the show's video montage opening ended, the journalist's face appeared on screen. She was an attractive middle aged woman with perfect hair and perfect makeup. 'This should be interesting,' Nina thought as she focused her attention on the TV.

"Thank you for joining us. I'm Mao Takanori, and today I'm sitting with the head of G Corporation, Kazuya Mishima, for an exclusive, raw interview concerning the on going conflict between his company and the Mishima Zaibatsu, which is currently being controlled by his estranged son, Jin Kazama. Welcome, Mr. Mishima, how are you? Thank you for joining us."

"Thank you for having me, and please, you can call me Kazuya," he said with an alluring, confident smile.

The woman smiled warmly at him. "Thank you. So, tell us a little more about this tense rivalry with your son's, formerly your father's, empire," she questioned.

"Well, initially, I was proud of my son for winning the 5th King of the Iron Fist Tournament, and I applauded his ambitious business endeavors; however, it didn't take long for him to start ruthlessly antagonizing my company and several of my affiliates," Kazuya told her.

The woman nodded in interest. "You're saying that your son may have been planning to ruin you all along with his newfound power? Do you know why he would do something like this?"

Kazuya feigned a clueless expression while shaking his head. "I don't know. He was such a good kid, but he slowly became obsessed with power and began undertaking dirty schemes in order to acquire it. I did my best to sway him from his crooked path, but he was too far gone. Now, he's out to ruin everything I've built," he lied fluidly.

Nina rolled her eyes at the steaming pile of bullshit falling from his mouth. Every word he spoke was a bold faced lie, and she was astounded that an experienced journalist was buying into his deception so easily. Her eyes moved over to Jin to observe him. He seemed to be thinking intently as he sat at his desk with one elbow propped onto his desk while he rested his cheek on his fist. Due to the darkness of the office, she could barely register his facial expression, but she hoped that he wasn't allowing Kazuya's words affect him. 'I never knew he would be this tame and cunning, but he was always duplicitous and manipulative. That gaudy suit, however, that's definitely all Anna's doing,' she thought mockingly with a smirk.

"All of the business takeovers and the military activity in other countries, what do you think the Mishima Zaibatsu plans to gain from this?" she asked inquisitively.

"From the intel I've gathered, I've been told that he's planning some kind of war."

"A war?! With whom?"

"Who knows, but whoever is in the path of his wrath will be destroyed. He was always a stubborn child. I did everything to show him the best way in life, but he refused to listen to me," Kazuya told her, deceptively.

Ms. Takanori turned her face towards the screen and reported, "After this short break, we'll learn about the root of this conflict between father and son and how Kazuya and G Corporation plan to stop Jin Kazama's assault on the world."

Great. At least they were given a short break from Kazuya's evil mug and his vicious lies. Nina stood up from the couch and stretched with a small yawn. She walked over to the bar and poured a glass of scotch.

"Make me one," the young man requested from the desk. He needed something to numb him. He was generally apathetic about the interview thus far, but he knew his father had something else up his sleeve. 'Bastard,' he cursed as he narrowed his eyes in anger. 'It doesn't matter if the public eats up his lies. I'll return things to the way they should be and nothing else will matter.' He was pulled from his thoughts when the svelte blonde leaned over him to place his drink in front of him. He looked over to her and noticed she didn't have a drink. "Where's yours?"

She shook her head as she folded her arms across her chest. "I figured that you'd need it more than me," she admitted. She looked down at him and wondered how he was faring. He didn't appear to be phased, but if she learned anything from being in his presence so far, it was that his mood could shift like the flick of a switch. "Don't let his vile words get to you, don't give him the power to force you to lose control, especially after you've come so far, Jin," she encouraged him in a gentle tone. Inspiring and uplifting others wasn't a skill she naturally possessed, but their time together had somewhat improved her sentimentality.

He picked up the glass of scotch and downed it in one throw. It burned, but it was nothing compared to the flames slowly igniting within him. He wanted to heed her words, but the rage he felt from seeing his despicable father's face paired with his vicious lies only tempted him to release his pinned up anger. 'I'll kill him...before I leave this world, I must,' he thought darkly. A calming hand on his shoulder snapped him from his murderous thoughts.

"Relax and breathe," the blonde instructed soothingly. So far, nothing too horrible was said, and she didn't understand why he let it affect him so much.

Shockingly, he did as he was told and he slowly felt himself receding back from his rage filled thoughts. He didn't know whether it was the alcohol or her comforting hand resting on his shoulder, but something succeeded in checking his anger. The adverts were over and the interview continued. Jin's breath hitched in his throat as he watched the second part of this spectacle.

"We're back and ready to conclude our interview with Kazuya Mishima. We last left off on getting the details about the conflict between these corporate giants, now we're going to delve into the history and roots of this family. Tell me, Kazuya, what would Mrs. Mishima say about this situation?" she asked as she leaned in with interest.

Kazuya smirked. "Mrs. Mishima is my mother. If you're referring to the mother of my son, I must confess that I do not know much about her," he revealed to her.

"Oh? I'm sorry, I didn't know. So, your son is a lovechild?"

He chucked lowly. "Love? No, it was nothing like that. It's...complicated. However, he was extremely close to his mother, a mama's boy you could say. Like the child of a single mother, Jin never received sound discipline being raised by a woman. Her passing caused him to be, I could say, mentally unstable, and that's when his downfall began."

"That's terrible," the interviewer remarked. "So, all this started because of your son's inability to cope with grief properly?"

Kazuya nodded slightly. "I would have been there for him if I was able, but it was unfortunate that I couldn't. Now, he's lashing his anger out at me and he's dragging the entire world into our personal quarrel," he explained, convincingly.

"I see. Hopefully with your help, the world will have someone, a champion to cheer for to stop Jin Kazama's warmongering," she smiled at the devilish man. "One last question. If you could say anything to your son, assuming that he's watching, what would it be?"

Kazuya's lips pulled into a tight smirk as he slowly turned towards the camera. His bi-colored gaze seemed to pierce through the screen as if he were one hundred percent sure Jin was the recipient of his dangerous eyes. "I'd tell him to come see me whenever he's ready, but only if he's willing to be who he's truly meant to be," he delivered the mysterious message calmly with his usual evil smirk.

The reporter seemed a bit confused about his message, but due to time constraints she couldn't probe him for anymore information. "That's all the time we have, but I would like to thank our guest for being here to answer our questions. Thank you, Kazuya, and good luck with everything," she wished as she stood up and extended her hand to shake his, and he surprisingly stood up and shook it in return with a deceptively kind smile.

No longer being able to handle the ridiculousness of this farce, the blonde reached for the remote and turned the TV off. "Glad that's over," she rolled her eyes and shook her head. That interviewer was dumb as bricks for buying whatever Kazuya was selling, perhaps she was charmed by him or something. She looked down at Jin and noticed that he was in quite a somber, moody disposition. "He knows what he's doing, please don't fall for his tricks."

He was conflicted. He wanted to retaliate against his father for having the audacity to speak about his mother in such a dishonorable manner. He had no right to even mention her considering that he wasn't there for her or him, ever. He wasn't a father, only a man with a child. The anger in him was becoming turbulent, and perhaps the best way to rid himself of this feeling was to pay his father a visit. In fact, it may have been the only way to purge this feeling from him. 'You damn bastard...I hate you...I'm going to kill you...' His thoughts began to fill with darkness, the perfect fuel needed to trigger the demon inside of him.

She could tell that he was seething with fury and she thought it'd be best to leave him to his thoughts, but then again she didn't trust him to be alone in his current state. She had no idea that he'd be so sensitive over the interview, but she knew when the topic of his mother came into play that it would be a sure way to get under his skin. Kazuya knew exactly what he was doing indeed. What could she possibly do to help? Her employer attempted to stand up abruptly with an angry scowl displayed over his features, and instinctively she quickly moved in front of him and grabbed onto his shoulders, using most of her strength to keep the larger man seated. "Where are you going? You're not thinking of doing anything irrational, are you?" she questioned him as she tried to hold him in place.

Why was she getting in his way? This didn't concern her at all. If his father wanted to settle their score, then he would gladly accept his invitation. Drinking and taking deep breaths wouldn't subside his anger, only pummeling his father's face would assuage him. He seized the woman's wrists in his hands knowing full well that he possessed the strength to free himself from her grip, yet he did nothing. She stared at him with that alluring sapphire glare, silently communicating with him to control his temper. The assassin's critical eyes made him feel guilty and foolish for displaying such an unreasonable overreaction to mere words. He wondered how weak he must've looked in her eyes right now. He sighed and leaned his head back onto his chair in defeat. "Forgive me," he muttered lowly, feeling slightly ashamed. "I don't know what got into me. My father..."

"He's an egotistical asshole. You're stronger than this, and I don't want you to lose sight of your goals because of him. We have a mission to complete, remember?" Nina reminded him, hoping to clear his mind from Kazuya's poison.

Their mission? She meant his mission to destroy the world, but she still considered herself a part of his corrupt plans despite everyone around them trying to sway her to abandon him. He hadn't forgotten about Lars' words to her that night in her hospital room. She referred to herself as his pawn, but he never viewed her as such, at least not in the way she thought she was. Then again, perhaps she was his pawn. Who else was he going to unleash his dark thoughts and wavy emotions unto? The fact that he had her there within his grasp proved to him that she was a pawn for his borderline self-indulgent uses. His hands were still clamped onto her wrists as he leered at her through the dim lighting of the office. He pierced his brown eyes into hers, somewhat seductively, as he asked, "Why do you trust me?"

Nina was ensnared in his clutches and by his powerful glare. She attempted to pull away from him casually, but she could feel that he had no intentions of loosening his grip on her wrists anytime soon. That question again. Should she not? She didn't cower from his eyes as they pierced through her. "I'm putting my trust into you until you give me a reason not to," she answered candidly.

"If I gave you any reason to doubt me, what would you do?" he asked curiously.

The assassin smirked. "Hmm, I guess you'd have to deal with me directly. I don't handle deception very well."

Jin smirked in return at her threat. He finally stood up from his chair, still holding onto her wrists. He was surprised that she was actually letting him hold onto her like this without objecting. He wondered about her sometimes. Was she being nice to him because of the salary he was paying her or because she truly cared about him and his plight? Either way, she was here. "Thank you," he said as he looked down at her.

She smiled inwardly at the strange and amusing man. "For what?"

"For...not leaving, despite how insane this all is."

"I just hope everything works out for you, and then you'll finally be able to live a normal life without the burden of your bloodline," she said truthfully. As she spoke these words, she noticed the sadness looming in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

If he didn't tell her the full truth, was it still considered lying? His hands slowly slipped upwards from her wrists and over her hands as he clasped them to his chest. He said nothing as his eyes never left hers.

A rare feeling washed over her, she couldn't accurately pinpoint it. Her heart quickened its pace as she now felt herself growing nervous from his actions. Why was he becoming so damn bold these days? Her breath halted in her throat as he slowly descended down to her face. "Jin, wait-" Her small protest was cut short when his lips smoothed over hers. Her eyes fluttered in shock a few times before she closed them and relaxed a little into the kiss. His kiss was warm and sensual, and the longer it prolonged, the more she gave in.

Jin's lips moved against hers slowly as he relished in the feeling of having her plush lips melding into his once again. He could feel her hands gripping onto his shirt as their lips remained joined. Finally, he parted from her and opened his eyes to gaze at her, they were both breathless. He hadn't anticipated for any of this to happen, but now that it had, what would she do? As the recluse that he was, he never imagined such a scenario occurring between him and another woman, but over time his resolve weakened. He remained silent, fearing that he would say something to ruin the mood.

Nina breathed deeply and slowly as she tried to register what had happened. Her fingertips still curled into the silk fabric of his dark shirt, and beneath her touch she could feel his heart pounding. Everything escalated so quickly that she could hardly generate an appropriate response to the situation.

Their eyes remained locked as they both casually stared at each other in confusion and arousal. The signs were always flashing before her eyes, but she was always in denial that he was capable of such actions or had any interest in performing them. In fact, due to that very reason, she felt more comfortable being herself around him. She had even slipped into some of her tomboyish ways around him because she didn't regard him as a 'regular guy', and her playful flirtation was just a tactic she used to keep herself entertained or to lighten the mood.

She closed her eyes for a brief moment and exhaled. "Wow, that was nice," she whispered in a low sultry tone as she looked up at him with a small smile. "But, it mustn't happen again."

He lowered his eyes from hers and wondered if he had made a mistake by crossing that boundary with her. 'I should've stopped myself...I should've kept my focus,' he thought, regrettably. His attention was captured by her again when he felt the soft palm of her hand caressing against his cheek.

That look made her feel guilty, but the truth still remained that neither of them had time for anything like this. She gently rubbed her thumb over his lips to remove smudges of her lipstick from them. She couldn't deny that it felt pretty nice to be kissed like that, but she often denied herself life's pleasures to remain pragmatic about certain situations. This was a distraction, which was something they couldn't afford in times where they had to be ever vigilant, and continuing down this path of exploration would only lead to more complications between them.

"I'm impressed," she said with a smug smile replacing her softer one.

Jin stared at her in confusion for a moment and asked, "What do you mean?"

She still had her hand pressed against his cheek as she took a step forward, closing the gap between them as her crystal blue eyes cut through his. "I'm impressed that you had the courage to make a move like that, at least while I was fully conscious," she said teasingly as she finally stepped back and turned away from him. The urge to laugh at his dumbfounded face was nearly impossible, but she successfully held it together.

The moment their lips touched, a feeling of deja vu overcame her. That night, she thought it had been a strange, lucid dream, but she found it quite odd that she'd dream of him kissing her in the back of the helicopter unexpectedly. She would have crucified any other man, but for reasons unbeknownst to herself, she had made another exception for him.

His face began to heat up with embarrassment at this revelation. She knew all along, yet she skillfully hid her knowledge of that night from him. He watched her walked away as he was lost in his thoughts. "Wait, Nina," he called out to her as she was headed towards the door. "I'm...I'm sorry."

The blonde woman paused and looked over her shoulder. "What's done is done. Let's just move forward from here, your slate is clean, Kazama," she enticingly stared at him for a moment before finally opening the door. "All in all, I had a pretty interesting night, thanks to you. Goodnight." With that, she finally left.

Her actions and words were always so unpredictable, yet it always kept their interactions interesting and entertaining. Everything was jumbled, his thoughts, his emotions, they were all over the place. If one were to ask him what had possessed him to do such a thing, he still wouldn't be able to conjure up a reasonable answer. He acted on his desires alone.

It was a fun new experience for him, but if he learned anything from his past, it was that his pleasure was always short lived. His beautiful distraction would only temporarily whisk him away from the harsh reality of the world they lived in, the world that he unfortunately had to bring to ruin before the final day of his reckoning. He would have to come out of hiding and face his new reality.

Jin silently sulked in his dim office, coming to terms with the decisions he would have to make in order to advance his plans. 'It's the only way, there's no way around it. I can't keep running away from this. I just...I wish there was another way...so many people will suffer," he thought sullenly as he slowly sank back down into his chair.

Well now...chapter 14 coming soon! Thanks for reading! R&R!:)