Hello everyone! I'm back again with another new chapter update! Thanks for the reviews and your patience for my updates! Hope you enjoy the new chapter! :)

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

You're completely powerless against me," a warped voice echoed in his thoughts.

This was a normal occurrence for him, so he was hardly phased by the demonic voice invading his subconscious. This was actually more tolerable than having that new monstrous threat assaulting his thoughts. He chose to ignore it, as usual.

"You're becoming weaker with each passing day," the voice jeered menacingly. "Soon, I will be able to overcome you."

The voice, his other self, spewed the same vitriol over and over to the point where it had no effect on him; he was stronger now. He just hated that he could hear traces of his own voice intermingled and harshly warped and tainted by that demon to the point where he almost confused it for his own twisted, dark thoughts. That couldn't be the case, for he always considered himself and that beast to be two separate beings.

"Your plan won't work…you'll never be free."

He continued to ignore it. On most occassions, his dreams were never really dreams, just this. He was always trapped in his subconscious with the demonic voice mercilessly taunting and goading him until it mentally weakened him. Again, it would pass, he just had to endure it for now. His own vulnerability caused this to occur, so the devil inside worked harder to break him.

"Thousands of people are dead…will die because of you, and you'll still have me within you."

The demon was going for broke. A small portion of that last statement felt like a hot needle in his chest, but he didn't react to it, but it wouldn't matter if he did; he always knew.

"You never saved anyone…not even your mother."

Another searing stab burned through him. He was growing furious, but he remained in control of his emotions.

"Everyone that comes near you is doomed to suffer," the voice laughed in a cruel, maniacal manner. "That woman is no different."

He hated that the demon was always aware of his thoughts, emotions, and his intentions. He had no mental privacy.

"Drowning your thoughts with her won't keep me away," the voice claimed. "You're only dragging her down with your misery."

This was an old tactic with a new twist. The demon normally stuck to mentioning his mother or had made attempts to mention his old school acquaintances to add fuel to his fire. Seeing that he'd grown immune to that, he searched for a new target.

"Your selfish desires have caused you to behave recklessly," the voice stated. "You were so careful in the past…why her?"

The demon must've figured that he had to create a fresh wound to dig into to tear into new flesh to cause him to crack. The demon's otherworldly, maniacal laugh reverberated within his thoughts.

"I see…she intrigues you, she is intriguing…for a human," the voice determined. "You share similar pain, and she numbs you."

He allowed the demon to continue his rant without interruption.

"Your strange fantasies are laughably pathetic," the demonic voice insulted. "I'm your one true reality…only true hell exists within you, so purge that senseless emotion from your thoughts."

'Nothing you say will deter me from my goal…you will die along with me,' he finally responded, threateningly. The demon laughed mockingly once again.

"You're finally starting to intrigue me…we shall see how this unfolds," the voice spoke in a calmer tone with interest. "She's here…"

He was confused by the last statement but decided not to utter another word to the heinous demon.

"Show her the true monster that you are…I'll show her true fear…"the voice continued rambling as it faded gradually until only silence persisted.

After a while, a strange, but familiar sensation rouse him from his slumber. He still felt loosely tethered to his unconscious state, but the warm sensation pulled him further from his trance. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open as he began to awaken and once again enter into his cruel reality. Once his tired, blurred vision straightened, he was greeted with a pair of azure blue eyes gazing back into his own. He watched as she pulled away from him with a faint smile on her lips. He was left with the lingering taste of wine on his lips, which only served to heighten his level of disorientation and confusion. In his haziness, he just continued to silently observe her from his seat. He had to recollect his thoughts; he still felt mentally and spiritually drained after his confrontation with his other side.

"Hmm, I didn't think that'd work," the blonde remarked calmly as she took a small sip of wine from her glass. "But at least you're awake now."

Jin noticed that she seemed extremely relaxed, even her attire matched her behavior. She wore a simple pair of blue jeans with a loose fitting grey sweater and her hair seemed to be slightly damp as if she had just gotten out of the shower. He also couldn't help but to notice that, once again, she was adorned with fresh bandages; a small, white bandage dressed her right temple. She also walked with an abnormal gait that signified that she experienced a bit of pain with each step she took. He, admittedly, felt slightly jilted by her absence from their dinner plans, which led to him feeling bitter and angry with her once again. He figured that she had a change of heart, so he ate alone and made his way through half a bottle of vintage wine before passing out. However, seeing her current condition, he could clearly see that she encountered some issues that delayed her. He wanted to question her about what happened, but he was honestly too fixated on observing her peculiar behavior to do so at the moment.

Nina slowly walked over to the chair in front of Jin's desk and sat down. She sat the wine glass down and looked over the food in front of her with interest. His desk had a full spread of food laid out from an expensive restaurant that, unfortunately, they would have trouble dining in due to being high profile war criminals. Her guilt had set in once she saw the lengths he went through to plan this, but she was still determined to make the best of it no matter what.

After she had arrived back, she showered and then quickly visited the infirmary to have her wounds checked and bandaged. She was informed that she had a minor concussion from her head wound and a mild sprain in her knee. They wanted to keep her overnight, but she strongly rejected the suggestion. Opting to take a shortcut in proper treatment, she was administered a strong opiate to treat her pain before quickly leaving and setting her sights on making it see Jin despite being fairly late. She was starving by now, and with no further delay, she indulged in the meal before her.

He watched as she took extreme pleasure in eating the dinner he had set out for her. The dishes to be served hot had gone cold; the chilled dishes were now room temperature, yet she still dined happily as if she were perfectly content with everything just the way it was. Of course he would have preferred for her to be present so that they could enjoy dining together, but he supposed he was pleased that she actually showed up, albeit later than originally planned.

Once she was finished with her dinner, she sat back comfortably into the leather chair with a look of gratification washing over her features. She felt completely satiated at the moment, and she was happy that she was finally able to experience some form of pleasure after a long, grueling day. She sat up once again and reached for her wine glass. She was slightly baffled when Jin stood up from his seat and walked over to her to casually remove the glass from her hand. She slowly raised a brow in question.

After observing her behavior for a while, he finally figured out why she was acting so unusual. She was clearly on some form of pain medication, and it was obvious that she shouldn't have been mixing alcohol with it. Before she could object further, he finished the last of her wine before setting the empty glass back onto his desk. She drowsily stared back at him for a brief moment with mild confusion.

"You shouldn't be drinking," he asserted firmly. "Are you going to be all right?"

"I'm fine," Nina replied calmly in her typical dismissive fashion.

"What happened?" he further probed with concern.

"I don't want to waste my time talking about that…bitch," she muttered bitterly. She stood up and walked lethargically over to leather sofa within his office before she sat down comfortably by herself.

He had never seen her behave in such a manner, so he was cautious yet curious about how he should approach the matter. He'd witnessed her anger before, but tonight she had a certain serene yet melancholy air about her demeanor. It was difficult to discern if she was in a sour mood or if whatever medication she was on was affecting her behavior. Despite her indefinable mood, he slowly strode over to the sofa as well and took a seat beside her, prepared to handle whatever may come from the unpredictable blonde.

There was a somewhat comfortable silence that persisted between them for a while, and he wondered if he should do anything in particular to change the mood like turning on the television or lighting the fireplace, but he decided against both for unbeknownst reasons. She just sat there quietly, staring blankly at nothing with a trace of sorrow reflecting in her blue eyes. He continued to sit poised and silent in the corner of the sofa with several possibilities of actions to take running through his mind before the blonde woman caught him off guard by shifting her weight and leaning against him with her eyes closed. Jin tensed a little and remained silent as she rested her head against his chest.

Nina felt so drowsy and fatigued at the moment and longed to just fall asleep, but she was doing her best to stay awake, especially since she was diagnosed with a small concussion. It was tempting, however, to completely abandon doctor's orders with a good meal filling her, drugs to sedate her, and a comfortable new pillow upon which to rest her weary head. Besides that, the mood was set nicely in his office, the lights were dim and both she and Jin seemed at ease and relaxed. After a few moments of silence, she felt his arm slowly envelop around her shoulders as if he were attempting to comfort her. She sighed softly and said in a low voice, "I told you I'm fine."

He allowed his mind to shift onto autopilot and did what felt natural. "It doesn't appear as such," he pointed out. "I'm pretty sure your injuries should have warranted an overnight stay in the infirmary." He knew that she had a terrible habit of trivializing her injuries when, in fact, her wounds could've been far more serious than perceived. Seeing her this way always made him feel a certain degree of guilt about everything, he felt personally responsible for her well being since she was carrying out the orders he assigned to her despite the many dangers and risks she'd face.

"If you're going to spend the entire evening grilling me, then I'm going to leave," she warned in a lethargic tone. She kept her eyes closed as her head remained resting against his chest. With each passing moment, she felt her mind slipping further into unconsciousness. "Jin…" she mumbled softly.

He tilted his head downward slightly to look at the blonde woman resting against him. He made a small grunt to acknowledge that he was listening to her.

"Say something interesting to keep me awake," she requested sleepily. His chest was quite comfortable, and the alluring scent of his cologne aided in relaxing her even more.

That was an odd request coming from her, and it was one he didn't know how to fulfill. What did she want him to say? Was there anything in particular that she wanted to talk about? He wanted to attempt to continue their discussion concerning their situation, but he knew she'd probably object to that, especially with being so moody and exhausted from her mission. When they had interesting conversations in the past, she usually initiated them; he felt that he never had anything to say to her that she'd find interesting. "I don't know what to say," he confessed in defeat. He could hear her sigh against his chest.

"Really? You had so many interesting questions for me the last time we spoke," she reminded, teasingly.

"You mean the ones you refused to answer?" he countered with a stern tone and expression that she couldn't see. He could hear her laughing lightly. "What's funny?"

"You get so upset with me sometimes…I can just imagine that scowl on your face," she mocked playfully. "I guess I have a bad habit of pissing everyone off…" Her voice trailed off a bit with her last statement.

As usual, she seemed to gain pleasure from teasing him, but he'd grown accustomed to it. He remained silent for a moment before saying, "I'm not upset…just confused…about everything."

She could detect the faint gloom in his tone. The blonde woman tiredly lifted her arm and draped it over his chest, further increasing her comfort level. They were both confused, but she was content with just going with the flow without further complicating matters with needless explanations. Everything they were currently involved in was complicated enough, why couldn't this be the only thing that was fun and easygoing for them? He was right, he didn't know what to say, so she decided to commandeer the conversation into a different direction. "If everything goes according to plan, what do you plan to do afterwards?" she asked curiously. She recalled that he had presented the same question to her a while back, and now she was actually interested in knowing what he'd do after all the turmoil subsided, that is, if it ever did.

Jin tried to prevent himself from tensing from her question. Inevitably, his heart rate fluctuated as he debated finally telling her the truth. His mind was at odds with his heart once again, which resulted in the paralysis of his tongue.

Her blue eyes slowly opened as she noticed how tense he became and heard the rapid pounding of his heart beneath her. She craned her head upwards a little to observe him. His eyes were focused on nothing in particular as he appeared to be nervously calculating his response. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern in her tired eyes. "Jin?"

He released a slow exhale as she called his name. He tried to discreetly swallow the nervous knot in his throat, but he knew it wouldn't breeze past her keen eyes. He lowered his head a bit to look into her worried eyes and presented her with a faint smile to reassure her that he was fine. Surprisingly, it seemed to ease her suspicions; her sedated mind inhibited her usually intuitive observational skills. "It depends," he finally responded. She looked dissatisfied with his vague answer, so he continued. "I suppose, after I return things to their natural order…I'll go on with living my normal, boring life." He lied, and he never felt more like a spineless coward.

He was such a curious case. Her brows furrowed briefly before she relaxed her face and gently rested her head against his chest once again. "That does sound boring," she admitted. "Didn't you have any thing exciting to do before…everything happened?"

It was very difficult to recall the times in his life where he wasn't consumed with rage and revenge. His life goals altered with every tragedy he endured. He supposed that he once had ambitions and goals in his life that didn't involve killing his family members, slaying beasts, and contemplating several ways to end his miserable existence. "I wanted to be a computer engineer," he answered. "I figured that I'd work for my grandfather."

She smiled slightly at his response. "That seems to be a fitting career choice for you, uncomplicated and monotonous," she jested lightly. She figured she'd ease up on teasing him before he became upset, but it was so amusing to her. "I'm joking, I'm sure you would've been happy doing that."

He thought for a moment with a thin smirk appearing on his lips. "No, you're right, I would have been miserable," he confessed. "I would've been following the standard model; school, work, marriage, family, work, work, work…" he droned on in a dull tone with a bit of resentment. He wanted to fit into society's mold, once upon a time, until he realized the misery in such a bland life from observing others. He wanted to be free from his curse, but he also wanted to experience excitement. Maybe he would have wanted to travel and leave Japan behind or perhaps travel to some remote area of the world where no one could find him; his possibilities were endless, before everything.

"A normal life seems miserable to you?" she asked incredulously. "I thought that's what you wanted." Wasn't his entire goal in life revolving around curing his curse for a life of normalcy?

He continued to smirk. "If I lived a normal life, I wouldn't have experienced the craziness and excitement of fighting monsters and surviving unexpected encounters with deadly assassins," he joked dryly.

Those dreams she was having lately not only revived memories of her strained relationship with her sister, but also memories of her fated meeting with the man currently beside her. Life, it worked in very strange ways. She forced those thoughts from her mind and returned her focus to their current conversation. His attempt at mimicking her dry humor again brought a smile upon her face. A small laugh pushed through her lips. "Very funny, Kazama," she commented. "Maybe you should be a comedian instead."

She grew quiet after a while, and he wondered if she was finally attempting to go to sleep. He guessed that he made a very comfortable pillow for her, but since he was comfortable as well, he didn't mind it at all. He thought about allowing her to rest for the night, but for safe measure he decided to keep her awake a little longer for health reasons, of course. He slowly stroked his hand up and down her arm to see how responsive she'd be. She shifted against him slightly while mumbling something incoherent against his chest. "What about you?" he asked.

"What?" she mumbled again with confusion as she tried to mentally respark her mind to stay awake.

"Did you always want to be…an assassin?" he asked curiously yet with a cautious tone. He figured that since she was answering his questions without making things difficult that he could get some interesting information out of her.

That was too much of a deep, thought provoking question that she wasn't sure her fatigued mind could handle at the moment. "Of course I did," she said with feigned certainty. "It was every girl's dream to be a professional killer, didn't you know that?"

He narrowed his eyes slightly at her clearly sarcastic response. "I'm serious," he said. "If you didn't do this, what would you have done with your life instead?" He could feel her hand grip the material of his shirt slightly as she remained silent for a moment, hopefully contemplating a serious response.

Nina sighed as his question forced her mind to wade through her foggy memories of her past to recollect and piece together the fragments. It was a difficult task, but she gave it her best shot. "I think I wanted to be a nurse," she replied in a low voice. She was surprised when his body shook slightly as he let out a low chuckle. "Why is that so funny?"

Now that was a career choice he definitely couldn't envision her doing. He didn't mean to laugh or mock her, but he was caught off guard by her answer. Once his small chuckle subsided, he said, "I'm sorry, but that's hard to imagine."

"You think I lack compassion?" she asked seriously.

"No, it's just..." he started before pausing. He wondered if he had somehow offended her. She had joked that he was boring, so why would she be upset if he viewed her as being a tad bit too unsympathetic to be a nurse? "I'm sorry," he apologized before things escalated.

"It's fine, forget it. I don't think that's what I wanted to do anyway…that's what she told me…" she said with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "That lying whore…" She didn't understand what kind of pleasure her sister gained from impeding her memory recovery by fabricating lies and twisting truths about her past, but because of her she still struggled to discover the truth until this day.

Jin knew she was referring to her sister again, but he didn't want to lead the conversation down that difficult path. From her earlier reaction, he definitely deduced that her sister was the root of her foul mood, but their disdain for one another seemed too complex and layered for him to understand, and he highly doubted that she would be willing to divulge that information to him. Besides, he wanted to keep things lighthearted and fun. "So, if you didn't want to be a nurse, then what?"

It was interesting that he found her hypothetical career goals so intriguing; however, she found the conversation to be quite engaging and mildly therapeutic to alleviate her stress. She focused on what she truly recalled from her former life that had actually been backed with tangible proof. "I wanted to be a gymnast," she revealed. "Well, for a moment I did." She remembered seeing old photos of herself in a gymnastics leotard at a competition. Those old pictures helped to connect the dots of her past, a lot. Being inspired by the Olympics of her time, she remembered briefly aspiring to be a gymnast as a young girl.

He waited until she either confirmed or denied this to be true before he allowed himself to be misled again. Though it was an unique career choice, it suited her far better than a nurse, and it was something that would fulfill her need for challenges and excitement. "Well? Why didn't you?"

"I followed through with it, and I remember being pretty good at it, I had to be in order to qualify for a national competition," she explained. "My father wouldn't have allowed me to continue if he didn't see my potential."

He listened to her, pretty impressed by her accomplishment. Her life was filled with much more interesting stories than his own, and besides that, most of his experiences were depressing. Before everything, he had only lived a quiet life alone with his mother.

"I had ambitions for representing my country in the Olympics after being inspired by watching great female gymnasts flying through the air on television," she relived whimsically as a reminiscent smile tugged at her lips. "The training was grueling, but I dedicated at least two years to practicing." She remembered her father encouraging and pushing her to be serious and consistent with her training, it was as if she had two coaches. Her mother, on the other hand, wasn't too pleased with her new hobby, which sparked disagreements between her parents about her father pushing her too hard and forcing her into such a dangerous, brutal sport.

Not wanting to be left out of the chance to bring Olympic glory to the family, she remembered Anna begging to take ice skating lessons, which they conceded to let her do, but after so many falls and failed axels she grew frustrated and abandoned the venture altogether. Going into gymnastics, she experienced several injuries, sprains, bruises, and broken bones, but she didn't want to give up because she didn't want to disappoint her father.

"How far did you get, and why did you stop?" Jin queried. He was interested in knowing the conclusion to her story.

A small, sarcastic laugh emerged from her. The reason behind her leaving gymnastics was forever engrained in her memory. When she was actively trying to recover her memories, she remembered researching and learning that negative memories had a more lasting impact than positive ones, which was why most of the memories she was able to recall were usually entangled with tragedies. "I was attempting to qualify for a spot on the team before the world championships, but fate had another plan for me," she started. "I was so nervous about not making the team that I convinced myself that I had to perform a complicated element to keep an edge over the competition, so I attempted to perform the Korbut flip on the uneven bars."

From the glum tone of her voice, he could tell that this story didn't have a happy ending. However, he wanted her to finish, so he didn't interrupt her.

"I had only successfully pulled off that trick a few times in practice, but I was foolish to believe that I could do it in competition with so much pressure on me," she admitted regrettably. "So, during the flip, I failed to catch the bars and smacked my face against the mat so hard that I knocked myself unconscious." She could feel Jin's hand grasping her arm gently to comfort her, which she found endearing, but she had come to terms with that embarrassment long ago.

After that event, her mother forcefully made her quit, fearing that she'd permanently maim or kill herself, and she also wanted her to embrace more safe and feminine activities like her sister. Her father was more concerned than disappointed, to her relief, and Anna seemed delighted that her dreams were crushed and that instead of touring the world, she'd be stuck at home with her.

That must've been a very humbling experience for her, and he was no stranger to those. His pride and cockiness had blinded him in the past, but he was always reminded of his weaknesses and limits when he bit off more than he could chew. He certainly experienced some well needed humbling when he recklessly fought Ogre after his mother was attacked. "You doubted yourself at the last minute," he surmised from her story. "You were good enough…you had nothing to prove." He exhaled slightly and glanced down at the woman laying against him, she seemed to be deeply pensive at the moment, possibly still reflecting back on the events from her past.

She listened to his words with an open mind. Perhaps he was right, but none of that mattered now, that was all in the past. She closed her eyes once again, definitely feeling quite tired now. She hadn't planned to sleepover in his office, but at this point, she was too lazy to travel back to her quarters.

The feeling of her warm body pressing against his inevitably triggered remnants of those past desires harbored for her. He could just imagine his other half cackling wildly at his behavior, but for once, he couldn't care less about the sentiments of that beast. The demon was right about one thing, his desires were indeed selfish, but if he was on limited time, he was going to make the most of it. Jin quietly leered at the woman nestled against him, who finally appeared to be sleeping. He lifted his free hand from the arm of the sofa and gently caressed it over hers as it laid upon his chest. He idly traced his fingertips along the back of her hand before slowly interlacing his fingers with hers. He could feel her lightly grasp his hand in return as she stirred against him.

"Things can take an unexpected turn…the events of this war will be unpredictable," he spoke grimly, unsure if he had an audience listening to him. "Death is lurking at every turn, lying in wait to claim us at any moment."

She was trying to sleep, she honestly was, but it seemed that Jin was quite chatty this evening, but at least he had somewhat interesting things to say. "With or without this war, death is always waiting," she quietly responded with equally cryptic words. "There's no sense in worrying about matters out of our control…just live."

A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as his brown eyes were still fixated on their intertwined fingers. "So, you'll help me?"

"Help you do what?"

"Live..."

She thought that she was already helping him do that, it was her job after all. She tiredly opened her eyes, and they were immediately drawn to their interlocked hands. "Of course," she simply reassured.

He was beginning to understand this strange, unspoken thing between them. It was difficult to explain, just like the strange chemistry brewing between them, but whatever it was, he wanted it to continue to exist.

End of chapter 26!

This was a long chatty chapter between Jin and Nina, but at least they reconciled. Hopefully they can overcome their inner demons in the future.