Hello everyone! I'm so sorry that's it's been so long since I've updated, it's been difficult finding free time to do so lately, but I'll try to keep more chapters coming. Thanks again for the reviews everyone! :) Here's chapter 18!
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters. They are all property of Namco.
The tensions between the two opposing powers was rising and becoming more intense and dangerous with every strategic move made by the men controlling them. Losing the upper hand was never a good feeling, but whether they won or lost, the public always stood in their corner to offer them support. They were always ready to hear the latest reports and get the latest scoop to shovel out to the public through various outlets. They were waiting now, waiting for their next big performance.
With precision, the brunette carefully applied more rouge to her lips while waiting in the lobby for her employer to come down from his office after several morning meetings. There was some unholy mess he had to handle after the raid on the base in Russia was a complete failure. With Bruce temporarily out of commission, they had suffered another great blow to the core strength of their units. It was a shame about what happened to Bruce. The poor man was airlifted from Moscow and returned to them humbled and battered. Of course she felt bad for her fellow comrade, but deep inside she hid a childish giggle at his misfortune and unfortunate encounter with her sister. However, it was his own fault since she warned him not to recklessly pursue her.
'A broken nose, busted knee cap, and a severe concussion, poor Bruce should consider himself lucky…I hope he learned his lesson,' she thought in amusement as she puckered her crimson lips in her compact mirror. She could hear Kazuya's heavy footsteps approaching her from behind, his hard soled leather shoes echoing throughout the lobby from his stride.
"Let's get this over with," he said hotly as he walked past the brunette and pushed through the thick glass doors.
Anna quickly followed in step to keep up with the angry man. Kazuya was never a "people person", so it was imperative for her to serve as his primary mouthpiece to deal with the masses.
Once outside, the pair was swarmed and bombarded by the press like famished vultures diving down onto a new carcass to pick clean. Flashing photography lights blinded their eyes while a multitude of questions overlapping each other assaulted their ears all at once.
"What are your comments on the bombings?"
"Will G Corp donate money to charities to provide assistance to the countries affected by the war?"
"The Mishima Zaibatsu has a seemingly unstoppable army, does G Corp have the resources to fight back?"
Question after question came, one after the other that neither of them could barely respond to efficiently or clearly. Anna held up her hands as a signal to calm the overly eager reporters. "One at a time, people, you'll all have your chance if you're patient enough," she declared in her usually playfully flirtatious tone. Her eyes shifted over to her boss, who seemed highly irritable with the anxious journalists. This is why he needed her there.
Kazuya folded his arms and looked over the crowd of hungry reporters with an expression of slight annoyance mixed with pure hatred. Despite the many pros of having the media of their side, he simply couldn't stand this charade they had to put on for these feeble-minded clowns. Charity? How laughable. And why was it assumed that after one loss they'd be completely incapable of matching Jin's forces on the field? These speculations were completely inaccurate and uncalled for. 'That pathetic whelp… he's completely destroying that company from the inside out. When I do seize control, the damage control will be nearly impossible to manage,' he thought disdainfully. He silently watched as Anna continued to razzle and dazzle the crowd with her cunning tongue and miraculously detracted attention from difficult questions skillfully with winks and seductive smiles.
Anna's responses were succinct and somewhat evasive as she avoided telling them anything vital about their plans. All they needed to know was that, despite their losses, they'd still continue fight against the many injustices and crimes wrought on the world by the Mishima Zaibatsu. That way, they'd garner more sympathy and support from the public and more corporations would fling money their way to aid the war. "Please have faith in us, we'll stop at nothing to restore peace to this world. Our setbacks won't hold us down," she strongly declared with a contrived air of gallantry.
The public puppets ate her words up hungrily, but they hungered for more. Unfortunately, it was time for them to take their leave. A nameless grunt under his employ ran to his side and informed him that their car was waiting for them, so it was time for them to wrap it up. Kazuya stepped beside Anna and placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "We're leaving…no further questions," he announced to the crowd.
More camera lights flashed as she and Kazuya waded through the thick crowd of paparazzi and reporters to get into their newly arrived company car. The brunette woman found herself giving them a few last minute photo ops, out of courtesy of course. After all, they would need a good magazine cover for the story. Her moment of basking in glory and fame came to a violent, abrupt halt as a loud piercing shot rang out over the area. A small gasp of air pushed from her lips, and her body felt weightless as she felt herself falling.
It was a particularly slow day for her, so she simply had to find something to cure herself of the ever looming ennui over her life. When she wasn't globe trotting to carry out missions or taking out inept hitmen, she found that she had too much down time at her disposal. In that aforementioned down time, her eyes had been assaulted by one too many fluff pieces in various magazines featuring a certain sly tongued, brunette minx whose lies had slithered beneath her usually thick skin and tickled a few nerves. Normally apathetic and aloof towards her younger sibling, the blonde finally found herself to be a little more than peeved with her as of late. Cutting words and cruel jibes were commonplace in their dysfunctional relationship, but this time she had gone too far.
With her trained muscles and skilled balancing, she sat perfectly perched high up in a large tree with the scope of her sniper rifle trained on the spectacle before her. There were varying reactions to the shot that seemingly came from nowhere. Some stood in place in startlement and confusion as if they were still trying to ascertain the nature of the sound; others frantically screamed and scattered from the scene, abandoning the latest scoop to abide by their natural instincts of self preservation.
True to her dramatic fashion, she watched as the attention seeking woman in the long, red overcoat wobbled and flailed about as her balance was suddenly thrown off kilter by the destruction of the stiletto on her left red heel. Now, they were even. The blonde's lips raised with an amused smirk, and she even let out a small laugh at the sight. Luckily for the stumbling woman, a strong, reflexive hand gripped her arm before she completely toppled over. What a hero he was after all. She adjusted her scope and focused in on the devilish man's face. Her heart leapt for a moment as his gleaming red eye burned into her focused blue eye through the scope. Had he seen her? Whether he had or not, it was time for her to make a hasty retreat. She had done what she came to do, and now it was time for her to take her leave.
She swiftly jumped from the height of the tree, and with the reflexes of a cat, she landed perfectly on the ground before bolting to her motorcycle not too far off. She would have to take several discreet back roads to avoid suspicion from the authorities. A woman with a rifle strapped to her back zipping down the streets would be sure to rouse the suspicions of anyone. She usually hated being impulsive, but just for the day, she had fun acting on her desires for vengeance. 'Anna…that'll teach you to keep my personal business out of your shitty tabloid articles,' she thought as her motorcycle roared as she zoomed down the streets.
The sounds of loud thuds reverberated throughout the room as powerful, thunderous fists repeatedly collided into the large punching bag before the temperamental man. The dull ache in his fists weren't enough to hinder him from completing his daily training. Usually, his mind was a blank slate while he trained, but recently his thoughts were plagued with the many horrors and atrocities caused by the war he initiated. Even worse, it wasn't enough. More blood would have to be spilled in order to awaken that beast. The voice of that creature still echoed in his dreams at night, continuously taunting and begging for him to cause more mayhem. It was maddening.
The tingling sensation of electricity flowed through his arms as his punches were now fueled by anger, allowing more of his true power to manifest due to the cursed Mishima blood flowing through his body. 'It's as if that bastard wants me to destroy the entire world before he comes forth...' his thoughts whirled angrily as he continued to throw a violent onslaught of punches to the bag. 'What's the point of trying to save the world if it will be reduced to a wasteland of rubble and corpses!?'
His concentration was broken when he heard the wooden floor creak ever so slightly outside in the hall. He halted his punches and stepped away from the bag, breathing heavily and rapidly from the exertion of energy. He unstrapped his red gauntlets and tossed them onto a nearby bench. His hard eyes stared down at his bare hand vacantly as he slowly flexed it to sooth the minor aching in his fist.
"There's no use in hiding, I know you're there," he spoke to the silence. A few more moments passed before the wooden door slid open slowly and revealed the silent assassin, who failed to uphold that title at the moment since he sensed her presence.
Nina slowly stepped into the dojo, clad in her normal office attire, and took a quick survey of the room. It was a pretty spacious traditional dojo decorated with various calligraphy scrolls on the walls as well as a variety of katana and daisho mounted on the walls. This was no doubt a place she could easily envision the old man spending most of his days before his most unfortunate demise.
Her eyes landed upon her employer and she drew in a small breath as she took in his appearance. The dim torch lighting in the room cast an amber glow over his form, and the sheen of sweat covering his body highlighted and defined his muscular physique. Her eyes then locked onto his left arm and studied the strange marking, which he had explained its origins to her that night in Phuket. She finally exhaled as she folded her arms across her chest and forcefully averted her eyes elsewhere as she idly walked about the room. "You weren't in your office," she stated matter-of-factly.
Jin noted her strange behavior and wondered if she came to him in need of a distraction. He, too, was in need of one as well. "So, you came down here to spy on me?" Of course, he didn't mind it at all, especially since it was her; he needed a break from his troubled thoughts anyway.
Nina cast a quick glance at him before returning her eyes to the katana collection on the wall. A low sigh escaped her parted lips. "I wasn't spying nor was I trying to sneak up on you, I'm just checking on you," she explained.
He quietly surveyed her as she silently stared at the swords on the wall. She seemed fascinated with them, but it also seemed that she was using them as a diversion as well. "You're restless," he observed.
"Restless, bored, or maybe mentally unstable," she scoffed as she finally tore her eyes away from the swords. She was secretly fantasizing about the damage she'd do unto a certain brunette wielding such a powerful weapon.
Of course. It seemed she had been reading one too many tabloid articles concerning those stories her sister had been responsible for leaking to the press. Upon skimming through her old files in the past, he had come across some of those hurtful assessments concerning her mental health, but he didn't think she'd be bothered by that. However, he himself knew better than to mention certain things concerning her complicated past, for he knew they would be her automatic hot buttons. Hardly anything got underneath her skin, but moments like this proved that even a cold blooded weapon like her could possess some vulnerabilities.
"It seems that you got your revenge," Jin said as he took a few steps towards her. "Hopefully, it was worth it, but you know she'll only use that as retaliation to further support her claims." Before he left his office, he had heard about the pandemonium over an assassination attempt occurring at Millennium Tower on a live news broadcast, and since he hadn't seen his bodyguard for most of the day, he only assumed that she was the culprit behind that mayhem. Ever since he had gifted that motorcycle to her, she was always zipping off and probably causing mischief somewhere.
The blonde smiled smugly and turned to face him finally. She kept her eyes solely focused on his to keep them from straying elsewhere. "It was well worth it, and I could care less what the little tart does in return," she declared flatly.
He didn't understand her ongoing feud with her sister or the nature of it, but it was safe to assume that neither of them would relent anytime soon. He stared at her silently for a moment and found it amusing that she was purposely trying to avoid looking at him. "You seem distracted," he pointed out with a faint smirk.
"You're assessing my mood quite a lot today, I must be easy to read," Nina shrugged her shoulders with folded arms. "I do suppose that I've been distracted and restless lately, but the same could be said about you."
"I'm fine," he instantly replied in an attempt detract attention away from his problems. Sometimes, he felt bad that she solely focused her attention on him and his issues, it made him feel selfish and overly demanding.
"It's those dreams again, isn't it?" she speculated. "That thing is still being stubborn I take it. At this point, we should just bomb the whole damn temple and get this over with."
If only it were possible, but sadly he wouldn't allow it, for it was his fated battle to destroy that beast. "Hmph, you needn't worry yourself, everything will be fine," he reiterated. He paused when he noticed the shorter blonde woman intently staring into his eyes with her azure gaze as if she were studying the emotion behind them. At times, the power behind her eyes made him feel weak, but he didn't want to look away.
"You're worried. What is it that has you so worried?" she questioned further after her in depth analysis of him.
Everything. The war, the bad publicity, the nightmares, the unpredictable hitmen, the loss of his sanity, it was all weighing down heavily on him. He hid it because he knew she'd secretly overwork herself to keep things in order for him. He remained silent as his bodyguard continued to observe him.
"You worry too much. If you feel threatened because of the bounty on your head, you shouldn't," she said reassuringly with a small smirk. "Most of your headhunters couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. So, relax a little, Jin, and let me handle everything."
She was a workaholic. It wasn't as if she hadn't been busy or that he hadn't given her anything to do, her thirst for constant action was unquenchable. Over the past week, she had been eliminating assassins and hitmen who had their targets set on him left and right. She had even taken extra precautions and acted as a sentry after hours to keep a vigilant eye out for suspicious activity despite his concerns for her depriving herself of sleep lately. Perhaps this wasn't just boredom, maybe she was just as stir crazy as he was.
He hardly left HQ for business runs, and if he did they were only quick trips that hardly required her assistance. Even with a skilled bodyguard stepping within his shadow, he was careful not to expose either of them to any unnecessary threats if it could be avoided. She would be highly upset if she was ever made aware of this fact, so he kept that secret to himself.
"I suppose I'll take the blame for your boredom," Jin said as he looked down at her. "I have been postponing many interesting activities for us to partake in."
Nina raised a brow in intrigue. What was he getting at? "Oh? Go on," she said in an alluring voice.
The raven haired man smirked. He had her interest after all. "It's nothing too exciting, but I've been asked to attend the opera tomorrow night with a business associate," he informed her. "Due to you carelessly cancelling a meeting I had a few weeks ago, I've been pestered to reschedule, but with all that is going on, it's been impossible."
The blonde pondered on his words for a moment to recall this incident he spoke of before responding. "Oh, you mean the day you carelessly disappeared without warning? I had no idea that meeting was important. What about it?"
Jin folded his arms after her snide retort but said nothing to counter. "It's only polite that I at least hear him out," he continued. "Unlike the others, he's not as vile and intolerable as the pitiful businessmen sending me daily death threats."
That didn't sound very interesting at all. She was hoping for something more adventurous and thrilling. "That sounds awfully boring," she commented in a dry tone. "I would say count me out, but I'm sure that's not a possibility."
"Of course it isn't, you're going to grin and bear it with me," he said as he turned away from her and slowly walked towards the door. "You are my escort, after all."
Escort? That was yet another lie the media was spreading about her, all thanks to her dear sister. She rolled her eyes at his remark and said, "Comedy clearly isn't your strong suit, Kazama." Even as she watched him walk away, she could envision the satisfied smug look on his face. It was now evident that she and Jin had been alone together for too long because too much of her dry humor was rubbing off on him. She followed him to the door until he abruptly stopped. Now what? She remained silent.
The raven haired man peered over his shoulder to look back at her. "On a more serious note, I need you there with me. Besides, you might find it quite entertaining in other ways."
"I surely hope so," she muttered to herself. She prayed that it wouldn't simply be an event full of champagne clinks, charades, and pretentious conversations, but it shouldn't be, not with the most wanted man in the world by her side. Surely, and hopefully, some daring soul would make a move to keep her from completely withering away from boredom.
"Don't stay up too late tonight," Jin advised as he left the dojo. "I don't want you to over work yourself…you've done enough."
She watched him leave silently and sighed to herself again. Perhaps she was over doing it, but she couldn't help it, it was her job. However, she would heed his words and attempt to get at least a full four hours of sleep tonight.
End of chapter 18.
When I first started this story, I had no idea it'd be so long, but I have so many different ideas brewing that I need to sort out! Remember, a rating change is on the horizon!;) R&R