Happy Holidays everyone! I know it's been soo long since my last update, but now that my schedule is lighter I'll be able to focus on writing again! I finally got my writing mojo back and I'm looking forward to pumping out more chapters! Thanks again for your patience as reviews! :)
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters. They are all property of Namco.
As usual, the morning was filled with a long stream of boring meetings in which she was forced to be an unwilling participant. They were still in the process of rebuilding the public's faith in them, or in other words pulling all the stops to keep their funding from other companies on a steep upward incline. Also, their recent string of mishaps weren't necessarily working in their favor. With Bruce on temporary leave and her latest public embarrassment, which she was sure was without a doubt tied to the blonde bitch, they decided to lay low for a awhile. She wasn't too upset with this decision since it gave her more time to reflect on some things and plan ahead for others.
The bored brunette stifled a yawn with her hand as she sat quietly at the large boardroom table amongst the other affluent businessmen as they discussed their concerns with Kazuya. They'd go back and forth with him on certain issues, but in the long run his threatening, malicious eyes and aura pretty much forced them to concede with his wishes. Nothing of interest was said, save for one older business associate of his heatedly expressing his disdain for Jin Kazama after an assassination attempt was quickly thwarted. From the details he gave about the incident, it seemed that the blonde bitch had struck once again. 'The boy and his faithful guard bitch have been quite busy lately…Nina, you're such a nuisance,' she thought to herself with a visible frown on her ruby lips.
The meeting adjourned a few minutes later with the end result turning out in Kazuya's favor. Not only had he been busy with repairing his business relationships, but he had been working diligently to reform and reorganize his military forces while Bruce was in recovery. Despite that, he had done his best to keep his cool to prevent himself from doing anything irrational. Once the rest of the men cleared out from the boardroom, he found himself left alone in the company of his partner. Actually, he didn't quite understand how to peg her within his organization, for she was neither his personal bodyguard or secretary; he didn't need either. It wasn't until late that he began to ponder these things and wonder what her true role was on his team. It was true that she was adept in helping him devise dastardly schemes to foil his son's plans, but they usually only produced short term results that required them to go back to the drawing board. He glared at her from across the long table in silence with his ominous red eye focused in on the woman in the scarlet suit.
Anna felt the weight of his gaze on her and she calmly shifted in the large leather chair somewhat nervously to cross her fishnet clad legs. He had been in a bad mood lately, and it was evident through their occasional steamy run ins becoming quite sparse and chilly lately. However, she'd work hard to win back his favor since she had witnessed firsthand that no one faired well on his bad side. "A penny for your thoughts, boss?" she asked in her usual playful, flirtatious tone to lighten the mood.
He continued to stare at her with a scowl pulling at his lips. "Your sister…" he paused as he noted the way her eyes narrowed at the mere mention of her sibling. He wanted her to harbor her so called hatred and put it to good use. "She's proven to be quite troublesome…I expect you to take care of her," he spoke tersely with a serious expression.
She smirked at his request. It was inevitable that their paths would eventually cross in their field of work, but it was the sole reason that she so willingly joined Kazuya's ranks. Sure she had her fun pulling strings from behind the scenes to get the job done, but it was time for her to take center stage. Besides, she wouldn't mind it at all if that meant that she could pay her dear sister back for publicly humiliating her at their last press conference. She had worn her best outfit with her favorite heels, yet instead of a new cover story featuring her interview, the articles mainly focused on that damned "assassination attempt" fiasco. Also, she supposed that she'd pick up where Bruce left off and avenge the soldiers they lost in the past. "It's in the bag, I've been planning our reunion for quite a while," she informed him with a mischievous smirk. "After I'm done with her, she'll no longer pose any threat to our plans."
Her words meant nothing to him, he wanted to see results. His dear son's bodyguard had gotten off too easily and slipped through their fingers one too many times. Just as he promised, he'd make her regret not joining his ranks when he presented the opportunity to her. He still didn't understand why Anna just wouldn't kill her and be done with it. Even when she had assisted him all those years back, it took her forever to actually work up the nerve to finally stop her sister, in fact, she had nearly waited until he was staring down the barrel of the assassin's gun before she sprang into action. Their strange rivalry was interesting at times, but it was time for Anna to be serious and put her older sibling down, permanently. With nothing else to discuss with the woman, Kazuya rose from his seat and coldly strode past her before exiting the boardroom, leaving the brunette alone with her thoughts.
Once she heard the door click as it closed, she released a sigh of relief. Her boss wasn't an easy man to cope with when he was in a foul mood, but as usual she would hold it together and perform her duties. She sat back in the chair and idly tapped her nails against the hard, shiny surface of the table as she attempted to conjure up a few schemes to exact her revenge on her sister. 'Oh, Nina, it took you long enough to finally react, but now that I have your attention there's no way you can avoid me now,' she thought with some satisfaction as a wicked smile appeared on her face.
She had been intentionally poking and prodding at her sister's soft spots not because she was insensitive, but because she wanted her words to truly be heard by her coldly dismissive and aloof older sibling. She knew she hated being confronted by her past, especially with any memories they spent together during her recovery phase, but it was high time that she stopped ignoring her. Now that she was at the perfect level of pissed off, they'd have one hell of a time once they came face to face. It was the only choice she had in order to force Nina to open up and confront the many underlying issues in their relationship. If she did nothing, she'd go on putting on her little façade by pretending that the past was irrelevant to her or that she was completely oblivious about the things she had said or done.
Whether she liked it or not, she'd reach down into that dark void within her sister's memory and force her to remember who she truly was. It was a pity that they couldn't sit down over a nice cocktail and hash out their problems like normal siblings, but then again, that would be absolutely boring. She longed for the days when her sister's fire burned bright, and even with their frayed relationship back then, they were still capable of having fun and gained great fulfillment in trying to best each other on the battlefield. Ever since she suffered from amnesia, things were never the same. She was so cold and much more apathetic than she could ever remember her being throughout their life. Even their last battle lacked the passion it used to possess, which made her defeat to her older sister all the more unsatisfying and embarrassing since she wasn't even sure if it was real Nina who bested her in combat.
She had tried so hard to rebuild her sister to her former glory, with a few modifications here and there of course, but it was all to no avail. Anna sighed and attempted to dismiss those old thoughts from deterring her from her mission. 'Nina…I know that you pretended to be incapable of recovering your old memories…you chose to run from your past like a coward, but I'll never let you forget who you really are,' she thought deviously as she sat in silence in the deserted boardroom.
Normally plagued with insidious thoughts and voices he had no rein over, he would usually find it exceedingly difficult to sleep peacefully with unmolested thoughts. However, for the first time since he could remember, he slept like a log. His body felt well rested and less tense, and for some reason, he didn't completely dread waking up this morning. His usually stormy thoughts basked in a quiet calm, and the only thing that persisted was the disjointed yet vivid memories of the previous night. Various images kept flashing through his mind to the point where his thoughts were wholly consumed with them. Memories of the black, satin dress, the floral perfume, and peachy lips all swirled within his head like a cyclone, forcing him to not let a single detail from the evening slip from his thoughts.
The thumping in his chest quickened as his mind slowly recalled memories from the prior night and he took a deep breath before slowly opening his eyes. His blurred vision finally straightened through the slits of his eyes and were greeted with the sight of the bright neon numbers on his clock. It was almost ten o'clock; he overslept his normal waking time by three hours. Strangely, he didn't feel alarmed or anxious that he had missed something important, and if he did, he didn't care.
He closed his eyes once again, and instantly more flashbacks pervaded his thoughts with memories of that black satin dress falling to the floor and soft, creamy thighs caressing against his hips. The memory instinctively forced him to snap his eyes open and quickly turn over to face the bed space beside him. It was vacant, but why was he so expectant? He sighed heavily and slowly sat up in his bed whilst running his fingers through his tousled hair. A strange sensation crossed his senses; it was the phantom feeling of slender fingers slipping through his locks, gently tugging them as his head was forced down onto his pillow. Now, things were starting to make sense, and it most certainly clarified a few mysteries that were jogging his brain. For one, it explained why he woke up in the buff, and secondly, those fragmented memories started piecing themselves together to paint a clearer picture. Jin groaned as he cradled his face in his palm. 'Last night I…we…' his thoughts trailed off.
He remembered them parting ways for the evening after exiting the limousine, but he guessed they both didn't anticipate the long, awkward elevator ride in silence from the garage up to the residential floors. They were both trying their best to keep their eyes averted from each other to prevent any strange feelings from erupting in either of them. Despite this, there was an unexplainable calm over his nerves and his confidence was at an all time high. The closer they arrived to their stop, the more compelled he felt to act out on his desires. He didn't want the night to be over just yet, so when they arrived to her floor, one stop before his, his hand bravely reached out for her arm again and softly grasped it as she attempted to step out of the elevator. She faced him with a genuine look of surprise in her sapphire eyes, and he didn't utter a single word to her, he only pierced her gaze with his dark, smoldering eyes. Much to his surprise and relief, she stayed. The next stop was the penthouse floor, his private quarters.
Jin gazed over to the empty bed space longingly as those thoughts replayed through his mind. So much happened in such little time that it was difficult to process absolutely everything. He had so many unresolved questions and her absence only made him more confused. When and why did she leave? He supposed that she didn't want to be immediately confronted with issues concerning their deed and retreated to the temporary safe haven of her own quarters before he awakened. Was she having regrets about her actions? Was she upset with him for some reason? The thought made him even more anxious about the overall aftermath of their night together. He had his concerns as well, but he wanted to take things one step at a time before jumping to any conclusions.
He finally got out of bed and stood up slowly. The plush carpeting was soft against his bare feet as he lazily roamed around his quarters in a listless daze, nude and confused. His clothes from the prior night were strewn across the floor in various places, and he decided to tidy up after himself in an attempt to maintain good housekeeping. With a sigh, he knelt down and picked up his silk dress shirt, and upon closer inspection, he noticed several buttons missing from the garment. He narrowed his eyes in confusion as he tried to recall the events that led to the destruction of his shirt.
If he recalled correctly, he had been on his best behavior as they arrived to his quarters. Once they entered, he silently watched as she admired his luxurious surroundings, and as she did so, he admired her look of awe as she took everything in. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before that dress had corrupted his obedience once again, and he swooped in on her like a hawk grabbing its prey. During their steamy kisses, her nimble fingers attempted to undo his buttons, but his patience was nonexistent as he assisted her by quickly and carelessly ripping the shirt open in haste. The clicking sound of his buttons colliding with various surfaces within his room echoed in his memory.
Jin's eyes caught the sight of a lone button on the carpet and picked it up and gazed at it with a small smirk appearing on his face. In retrospect, he thought himself to be quite rude for not giving her a proper tour of his quarters and supposed that if time allowed for it in the future, he'd definitely make it up to her. He sat down on the edge of his bed and entered his thoughts, reflecting on everything. It was like an out of body experience for him, and even though he was fully in control of his actions, he was still astonished and awestruck that he actually went through with it. His desires, he finally acted upon them without fear or compunction. Doing so made him feel more human and normal than ever, and he actually felt more satisfied than he had ever been. For so long, he always punished himself for simply being a man and regarded such thoughts and emotions as impure, illogical, and irrelevant to him, but once she managed to put a small breach in his once impregnable resolve, it eventually shattered over time.
Jin fell back onto his bed and stared lifelessly up at his ceiling as his thoughts swirled around like a cyclone, still consumed with thoughts of the previous night. He just couldn't shake those images and that unexplainable phantom feeling of her still surrounding him even in her absence. He quite enjoyed it when she pushed him back onto his bed with a mischievous smirk, and he had discovered that he had a fondness of such roughness from her. The weight of her body on top of his as she straddled him and rendered him a complete slave to her and the feel of her soft lips trailing kisses down his abdomen constantly pervaded his senses. His ears were once again blessed with her beautiful song, especially since they had free reign over their space with no prying ears. He still remembered her eyes, he liked how they were full of excitement and lust when she gave him her undivided attention as she gazed at his body in arousal. It was another boost in his confidence that caused him to hold nothing back as their bodies intertwined together.
He covered his face with his palm and exhaled heavily to cool himself down as he felt his temperature rising again. 'This has to be a dream…it all feels so surreal,' he thought to himself, still in a state of disbelief. It was going to be a long while before he could clear his mind from those carnal thoughts, so he decided to revel in them for a little longer before he would even attempt to move forward and properly prepare himself for the day.
He hoped that he'd be able to catch up with her later to discuss matters concerning this situation. Due to his inexperience with dealing women, he definitely didn't know what to expect from this situation or how it would be remotely possible for them to move forward. He always shied away or shunned the opposite sex, finding most interactions with them to be awkward or bothersome. His mother, she was his only example of womanhood, the epitome of womanhood in his eyes when he was a child, but once he left his quiet life behind and moved to the city to live with his grandfather, that all changed.
He was exposed to a plethora of different women ranging from shy and reserved to loud and abrasive, yet he still didn't quite understand them. He never had a father to talk to about these things, and he surely didn't speak of these things with his grandfather, who was always surly and strict when it came to his training and academics. Besides, his mind was always so consumed with revenge that nothing else mattered to him, and after the continued downward spiral of his life, he found it nearly impossible to find pleasure in the things most normal men would, he had no use for them.
So now, it was hard for him to grasp his own reasoning for his newfound curiosity, especially his interest in a woman like her. She was so unlike the woman he thought he'd be interested in, and definitely radically different from his only example of a woman, his mother. Nina was an enigma, a strange woman indeed. She was neither shy or reserved, but not loud or abrasive either. She wasn't particularly kind at times, but not necessarily unrelentingly mean; not modest, but definitely not overly exploitative; not annoying or silly, but not overly serious or humorless. She didn't wear her emotions on the surface, but she wasn't completely adverse to opening up when the time called for it. Overall, it was difficult to place her in a box with a singular label on it. Perhaps it was her strange push and pull nature that drew him in; her evasive, non-clingy behavior allowed him the chance to pursue at his own leisure but not in complete vain since she tended to be warm towards his advances at certain intervals. He learned from her that he preferred to hunt and give a good chase, a trait he wasn't aware that he possessed until now; challenging things always excited him and properly fed his ego if he conquered them.
His strange musings would have to be brushed aside for now. Despite his nervousness and reservations, he would have to seek out the woman that occupied his mind eventually. It would be an uncomfortable conversation for the both of them, but it was absolutely paramount and essential if they expected to proceed with their duties and keep their working relationship in tact. Until then, he supposed that he'd have to douse out the embers of his residual passion with an ice cold shower to jolt himself back to reality and out of his whimsical fantasies.
End of chapter 22!
I wonder what Anna has in store for Nina, obviously nothing good. Poor Jin... he has no idea about how to deal with a woman like Nina, but I'm sure she's feeling just as conflicted as he is. We'll see...