Chapter 6: Confront Him

"You have a new assignment today, Ms. Kazama," spoke an important looking man with narrow eyeglasses matter-of-factly.

"I'm still working on the last two you gave me," Jun responded with arms crossed. It was common knowledge that she did not take very kindly to being overworked or being swamped with too many assignments to do all at once.

"Yes, I know," her boss replied exasperatedly, "I've given those assignments to my other officers who've been strangely idle for quite some time. Seems someone is taking all the work for their own. I think your enthusiasm would be better suited for this one. I want you to focus exclusively on this—it is high profile."

Jun looked down at the desk she stood in front of as her boss—Mr. Waikato—pulled out a fairly thin manila folder filled with all the preliminary information she'd need to know in advance. From the looks of it, there wasn't a lot of information to go off of.

"This is what you specialize in, the cases that seem impossible."

"Catch the bad guy, huh," Jun said taking up the folder, "I'll see what I can do."

"Do your best."

Jun exited the office and returned to the main room where her desk was located. For the majority of the day, she mulled over all the details before finally coming up with a plan of action. The one thing she could be certain of was the fact that Tekken Zaibatsu was involved. She passed over the name Kazuya Mishima and grew silent. In the left corner of the page was a picture and Jun looked upon it for long minutes. She had a mental image of Kazuya in her mind and it did not match the photograph, but she could not bear to look at it any longer—she was beginning to see similarities. There was hardly any information about him. She could not be certain if the name was simply a coincidence or the person she was thinking about at the moment. She'd heard nothing from Kazuya in a very long time and she couldn't be certain where he was or how he was living his life. He hadn't attained any higher education as far as she knew. If anyone was going to be the owner of Tekken Zaibatsu, it would have been Lee. Not only that, but Kazuya wouldn't know the first thing about running a huge company such as that. Until she had further proof, she'd assume the Kazuya Mishima on record was different from the one she once knew. It was the only thing that made sense. It was the only thing she wanted to believe.

The best place to start her investigation would be the owner of the Tekken Zaibatsu. While she did not expect to get a lot of information from this source, she expected to obtain some kind of direction in her investigation. Clearly, animals were being smuggled illegally into the country. The hard part would be finding indisputable proof. A large corporation like the Tekken Zaibatsu that could throw around money as often as a human could breathe was sure to have covered its tracks. Evidence would be allusive, there was no doubt, but Jun was an expert in finding things where others could not. As the day came to a close, she wrote down the people she would interrogate and the places where she would go before moving in on her prime target, the Tekken Zaibatsu.

/

The next day was full of activity. There were many companies suspected in being involved with the scandal that she was only then beginning to uncover. She did not realize that it would be quite this difficult to gather information out of the people who should know much more than what they were divulging to her. Eventually, just walking through the front door of a business building made her weary. It would all start the same. She'd ask the front desk assistant if she could speak to the person in charge, wait for almost an hour, firmly demand that she be taken to the person in charge while also reminding the assistant that she had a scheduled meeting and finally after much misunderstanding, she'd finally be presented with what she wanted. She'd sit down with this person—usually a Japanese male in his middle ages or older—and begin, at first politely, but then with more fervor, with the interview. The interview itself never took very long. Most people in their position had long since learned the merits of keeping their mouths shut and waiting for their attorney, but Jun had expected this. She wrote down what she could from them including their expressions and movements and any other minute clues into their state of mind. On her own time, she'd be able to speculate and form a rather educated hypothesis. Then she'd continue from there. Usually, it would lead to her solving the case in perhaps a month, but sometimes she wound up being unable to solve anything. It wasn't often that this happen, but Jun was thoroughly aware that it was possible. This time, however, she felt that it wouldn't be the case. Everything was going as planned. Those who she interviewed were nervous. Someone would eventually crack under pressure especially with the right catalyst. She'd only have to find one thing on them and someone would spill the juice—this was what she suspected would happen.

She didn't get to the headquarters of the Tekken Zaibatsu until the second day. She'd get even less information from here, but that didn't matter. She had to at least follow through on the basic detective routine no matter what. When she stepped in through the revolving doors, she knew it was going to be a long wait. The front desk happened to be in the back of the lobby and no one seemed to even acknowledge the fact that she had a legitimate meeting with the person in charge. She'd get strange looks as if it was preposterous to meet personally with this person. Jun went through her normal routine of waiting and demanding, but even this didn't work out very nicely. Eventually, she was forced to take things into her own hands. Since she had blatantly been denied entrance to the head person in charge, she had grounds to arrest him. It was just the break she had been waiting for.

Jun stormed into Kazuya's office. She had had enough of the runaround downstairs in the lobby where she had politely asked to see Kazuya. There were associates after associates, clerks after clerks, secretaries after secretaries—this was the last straw. Using the elevator, she escaped all their attempts at thwarting her appearance before Kazuya. She basically wound up scouring the entire Mishima Zaibatsu central office building. On each floor, she looked into every room and quickly moved onto the next one until she finally progressed to the top floor. There were twenty-six floors in all.

Jun came upon a large set of mahogany doors with brass handles. If this wasn't where the head of the corporation resided, she had no idea where that person would be hiding. Now that she was here, she felt a hint of fear, but not enough to dissuade her from what she would do next. She took a deep breath and pushed open the doors with considerable force—it would add to her authority, she believed.

"Kazuya Mishima! You are under arrest!" Jun yelled out in a loud, clear voice.

Her voice hung in the air as it echoed through the poorly furnished room. With all its splendor of expensive carpet, decorated walls and other gilded decorative elements, a shiny, mahogany table and leather chair, it felt empty. The room was darkened. Even the lamps were turned off. The only thing that shed light to the dreary environment was the large window which currently had its blinds rolled all the way up. Even the pure rays of the sun couldn't penetrate the darkness of the office room. The large leather chair at the table was turned from her, but Jun's eyes immediately went to the shadowy figure which stood in the direct line of the sunrays. His back was to her and she saw one hand in his pants pocket. Though he stood in the bright light—he seemed shrouded in darkness.

"Did you hear me, mister? You are now under arrest," Jun repeated as she advanced on the motionless figure.

It was only when she was close enough that he turned his face to her. That single action froze Jun momentarily in her tracks.

"Kazuya…that Kazuya. This can't be…"

"Jun Kazama, it has been a long time."

His voice no longer held any recognizable emotion and she began to wonder if she had made a rash conclusion about the man looking at her at this moment. She still couldn't clearly make out his face.

"Isn't it a shame that the only reason you'll choose to be in my company is to arrest me?"

"Kazuya…Just answer me this: Are you that same person who lived with Jinpachi who I came to visit almost every day? Are you…really him?"

"No. These days, I can hardly remember what my life was prior to killing my father. Whoever I was then no longer exists."

Jun watched as the other turned back to the large, bright window. "Wait…does that mean…?"

"Didn't you come to arrest me?"

"Ah…yes, but maybe I got my information mixed up. That sometimes happens, you know…and Kazuya Mishima is a rather common name…" Jun said feebly trying to come up with a plausible excuse.

"Oh, is it," Kazuya said with no interest. "Then perhaps I'm not the Kazuya you were looking for."

"Mr. Mishima, if it isn't too much trouble—"

"Why so formal? Why not call me as you always have?"

"Alright then…Kazuya, if it isn't too much trouble, could I see your face clearly. I was given a picture of the man who was in charge of the Tekken Zaibatsu. We can clear this up quickly if—"

The words caught in her throat when she felt Kazuya's hand take a hold of hers. His touch felt cold, but not in the physical sense…She felt herself being pulled forth into the light of the window.

"I apologize for the dimness of the room, but there's nothing that can be done for it. Only the light from the sun manages to creep in."

Jun was finally able to look directly at him and all she could do was stare. She knew it was rude, but she couldn't help herself and he didn't show even the slightest evidence of being uncomfortable. Now that she saw him up close and in real life, she realized that it was the same Kazuya from before…her Kazuya from childhood. The very person who she couldn't stop thinking about and at the same time, the very same person in the picture she held. How could she not have realized it before?

"Jun, you are just as naïve as I remembered you to be. What did you really plan to do today? You're in the perfect position to finish the job. Why is it that you stall?"

"I just…I just can't believe. You are the one? You are that same monster who has been illegally smuggling endangered animals and experimenting on them"

"Yes, I am."

Jun was finding it hard to breathe just as it had been before all those years before. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"There are few things that I can recall from back then, but I do remember that time when you were about to go off to college for the first time. I had wanted to do something then, something that I hadn't had the courage to do until now."

She blushed when she felt his presence so close to hers and suddenly she found herself lip locked with the man she was supposed to be arresting at this point, the man who she had loved even before she knew what love really was. If she had been in her right mind, she might have pushed him off, thrust him to the floor, grabbed his arms and cuffed them, but her mind was no longer making logical sense.

When he kissed her, she didn't want him to stop. She responded quite vigorously much to Kazuya's surprise. He had been fully prepared for her denial; a crisp slap to the face. He knew this might be the last time he would find a chance like this and he had taken it. Whatever happened after made little difference to him.

As always, Devil's presence became nonexistent when Jun was around. While just moments before Kazuya could hear Devil's incessant whispering, now he could no longer hear its voice. Devil's voice was impossible to ignore; whatever it ordered him to do, he found himself doing with little restraint. He had lost more than just his father on that day—he had lost whatever it was that had given him some leverage over Devil's influence. Kazuya hadn't known what had kept Devil at bay for so long, but now he felt the palpable darkness driving further and further into his heart. As he found his lips passing over her tender skin, there was no darkness to speak of—and he didn't want that feeling to end.

"Kazuya," Jun breathed when she found herself pinned to the ground and lovely warmth spread throughout her body, "We…can't do this, you know…I have to…"

"Is that really what you want?" Kazuya asked quietly in her ear.

She felt him breathing next to her and she shook her head "no" despite herself, "That's…that's not fair."

"How is this unfair? Is this…excitement that I'm feeling one-sided?"

He had already deftly pulled her top off as he traveled down from her neck. When he got to her breast and began to peel off her bra, Jun's hand searched for the collar of his dress shirt and pulled him back upward to her face. One tug was all it took.

"Kazuya…we can't do this."

"Can't or won't?" Kazuya asked simply.

Jun looked away when he said this, "We could be making…the biggest mistake of our lives…"

"Jun, if I wanted, I could destroy you where you lay, but I choose not to. When you first walked in claiming that you would arrest me, I had already decided that it wouldn't happen. But Jun, if you give yourself to me, I will allow you to finish your job and I will not raise a hand against you."

"You forget, I can fight too—"

Jun gasped when she felt her hands pinned firmly to the ground. When she tried to move her hands, they were virtually immobile.

"There is a large unclosable gap in our strength difference. You won't win if you sincerely try to fight me. Rather, you have something else that no one has. Something that I want."

"Kazuya…I don't care how you want to look at this. If I wanted to fight you, I would have done so already. All your silly threats were unnecessary. If…if I really didn't like what was happening, I would have told you. How weak do you think I am? If I want to…I could just leave."

Jun tried again to move her hands to no avail.

"What can you do, Jun, if I don't allow it?"

"You want this to be consensual? Get a condom and I'll think about it."

She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. She should have said something else, something more threatening or volatile. At the very least, she had to express how disgusted she was of this whole thing. She hated herself for wanting him this badly. The attraction was so strong that it seemed unheard of to let this moment be spoiled by something like pride. The only thing she had done was pretend as if she was unperturbed by all his talk about "strength" and "allowing her to live".

But he had made no physical advances towards her since she had pulled him back up. In fact, if she was judging from his body language alone (aside from his hands pinning down hers), he seemed rather hesitant. It belied his threats.

"Fine," he said finally.

And suddenly she felt her hands freed up as he left her to lie on the floor by herself. Jun took in a gulp of fresh air and lied in wait for his return. This was the perfect time to bolt, but she had no desire to do so. Her mind always returned to Kazuya and what was in store for them. Even if this was wrong on countless levels and this was far too rash to even consider, she would have no regrets. After this day, Jun felt that she could move on from this craziness, forgo any lingering feelings she had towards Kazuya, and get back to the life she had built for herself.

He took a long time coming back. Jun vaguely remembered the jingling of keys as Kazuya took his car keys off the table and put it into his pocket and as he carefully closed the door to his darkened office. He was really going to go out and buy them all for her sake. The darkness had been cold and unwelcoming upon bursting into the room unannounced, but now it was warm and comforting. She closed her eyes and fell into a light sleep before she heard the door opening once again.

She pretended to be unaware of his presence, unaware as she heard the packet being ripped open and the sound of stretching latex. A jolt of electricity went through her body when she felt his fingers pass between hers.

"Are you ready, Jun?" she heard his voice rumble in her ear.

She turned her face towards his and looked into his brown eyes. She closed her eyes and then nodded.

/

When Kazuya woke up the next day, he watched a blurry image of Jun slipping her clothes back on again.

"Are you leaving?" Kazuya asked the other.

"I held my side of the deal," she said in a plain voice.

"Was that all it was then, a deal? There was…nothing else?"

Jun looked back at the other squarely, "That's all it was. I need to get cleaned up. When I come back, you better still be here. I will apprehend you and take you back to the police."

"I guess they chose you for this job for a reason," Kazuya said back. "But why don't you stay awhile longer. We haven't seen each other in a long time. Perhaps…"

"Kazuya, what part of 'I'm arresting you' do you not understand?"

"No, I understand perfectly. I was hoping to convince you of something before you did all of that."

"I don't know what game you're trying to play, Kazuya. I don't know why I even agreed to what happened last night. If I don't leave now—"

"Please stay."

Jun turned away from him and stood motionlessly in front of the large double doors of the office.

"I'm…sorry, I can't."

"But, I don't want you to leave. Since the day you left for college, I have been empty. It wasn't until then that I realized that you were the reason I even bothered with hope. Even if it looks impossible, there is some way out of this trap. I need you, Jun."

"Kazuya, I won't even try to decipher what you're trying to say to me. The only thing I need to know is that you are guilty of the charges set before you and that it is my job to bring you in."

"Yes, I am guilty, but I have never tried to deny anything. I am willing to repent, even pay for all my sins, but I know that will be impossible without you by my side—"

"Kazuya, if you're asking me to be your girlfriend, it's too late for that. I remember back then if you had asked me that, I would have said yes with no hesitation, but now—"

"Then explain what happened last night."

"Last night? It was a mistake—a convenient one."

"I may be a bad judger of character, but you don't seem like the type to give yourself to just any guy who asks. Some part of you secretly enjoyed it."

Jun didn't understand why tears sprang to her eyes at that moment. She tried to wipe them away quickly, but they just kept coming. Another electricity of pleasure jolted through her when she suddenly felt Kazuya's presence nearby and he wrapped his arms around her waist. He still hadn't put his clothes back on.

"I don't want to be the reason for your tears any longer."

Jun didn't know how to respond, but when she did it was out of fear and confusion. She pushed him away roughly as tears still spilled down her face.

"You're just a sick little pervert. I can't see how anyone could be attracted to you!" she cried out in a loud shaky voice.

She had expected Kazuya to try and stop her as she ran out, but she experienced no such thing as she made her way to the stairway and scrambled all the way down to the first floor. She didn't even hear any pursuing footsteps. There were no protests or shouts—nothing. It was as if he had already given up. She hated that her mind had felt the need to even analyze his response—she wasn't supposed to care.

Even though there was no pursuit, she hurriedly stuck her key into the ignition and sped off to her apartment. It wasn't until she was ten miles away that she began to breath normally. She was glad when she was able to take a shower and wash away all the filthiness that had occurred. Her blinds had been up, but as soon as she got out of the shower, she closed them and laid down on her living room couch. She tried to think of something else, anything else, but her mind always returned to Kazuya.

What happened to him? Where was the Kazuya that she had known all those years ago, the boy she had left to head off to college to begin her life as an adult? His voice was chillingly calm and his eyes had held no light behind them. Something must have happened, but she couldn't figure out what it was. She hadn't asked either. Perhaps she hadn't wanted to know. Maybe she was tired of trying to "save" him all the time. He was an adult as well. He was fully capable of making his own choices. Whatever had happened must have been his fault. It wasn't her duty to take pity on him, was it?

Please stay.

Jun flinched involuntarily as she heard his voice as clear as day as if he was standing over her at that very moment. The scary part was she had been willing to do just that without any further questions. She had wanted to stay forever. Because of this, she knew that she had to leave. Whatever attraction they had to each other, it wasn't natural. But she couldn't deny that she had felt something last night.

She remembered the scar that her fingers had traced diagonally across his chest. When had that gotten there? How had it gotten there? She had kissed it tenderly. Any scar that size must have been painful, perhaps even life-threatening. She couldn't see it clearly because they were both shrouded in darkness. It was impossible for her to decide whether it had been there for long. Maybe he had been mauled by a large bear—it would serve him right, but it would still be disconcerting.

There was something else she was missing. Something obvious yet unseen.

Then she sat up on the couch. Could it be the same thing? The emotionless eyes of a dirtied little boy flashed into her mind at that moment. She only knew that there was some external evil at work and Kazuya was not at fault. It had been so obvious back then when Kazuya's kind even gentle personality was still fresh in her mind. How had she missed it? She had seen that same little boy, but…

"Jun Kazama."

She was startled out of her thoughts when she heard her name spoken so arbitrarily.

"Spirit," Jun said almost at a whisper as she sat up on the couch. "I can only guess why you're here."

"Do you regret your decision?"

Jun looked up to the ceiling desperately, "What could I possibly do? He's changed…he's changed drastically."

"There is much you could do if you found it in your heart to do so."

"What are you suggesting I do? Pretend as if nothing has changed and do as he obviously wants to happen between us. It's too late for that kind of talk, you knows—years and years too late. I've moved on."

"That is something else altogether. I am not here to discuss your love life. There is something far more practical you can do for him. But first I must explain to you the situation. There simply isn't enough time for you to figure things out for yourself."

Jun frowned and placed her thumb and index finger on the bridge of her nose. "Yes, fine. Just tell me," she responded quickly.

"Since he was a child, an evil spirit has inhabited his body, a spirit known as Devil. The only thing Devil sought was to fully control his newfound vessel so that he could carry out his own sinister plans upon the world. That has not happened. Not yet, but the situation has become desperate as you say. Not much of the Kazuya you knew is even left. Some part of him is still conscious and still is aware, but that is all. Jun, you must save him before it is too late."

Jun was quiet was for a long minute before she could trust her voice to speak, "A-an evil spirit? This is all just so…"

"You've suspected it already. It shouldn't be too much of a stretch."

"No, it's…I wanted to hear something different. I wanted to believe…" then Jun sighed heavily, "Sometimes I make stupid decisions. I leap without knowing the facts. If I'm really his only hope, then there really isn't any in the first place."

"Do not count yourself out so quickly. I will help you prepare for what you must do."

"What exactly is it that I'm supposed to do?"

"You, Jun, must extract Devil from its host; break the contract that has long since enslaved Kazuya's soul."

/

AN: Let me just take this moment here to say wow. I think Sokka2Me has managed to leave a review for every chapter (including the first story). That's crazy, but very much appreciated. You asked about having Heihachi's point of view. Well, I wasn't exactly planning on doing that, but it would make sense to do something like that instead of just having him pop out of nowhere. I'm trying to get as many POV's as I can in this story because Tekken 3 will be extremely focused on Kazuya. And, Huannguyen, thanks man.