Chapter 4: The Truth
"Jin! open up!" I called banging on his on his door. I told him if he didn't let me know he made it back home I was going to come to his house in the morning. "Jin!" I continued pounding on the door, "JIN!" The door flung open as a sleepy and irritated Jin came out. "What are you screaming for so early in the morning? You're so annoying."
Jin was only wearing black pajama bottoms without a shirt. He hair was all messy from his usual sleek backed style, and he still wore his red fighting gloves from last night.
"Early in the morning? It's 12 in the afternoon. Have you been asleep this entire time?" I asked while making my way through his door past him. His house was a decent size. Everything was so clean it looked as if no one lived here. "What time did you come back?"
He took a seat on the couch in his living and began running his fingers through his hair. "Ahh around 5:00."
"Five this morning, why were you out so late?"
"I just lost track of time was all."Jin slouched over placing his arms on his knees, "Why are you here any way?"
I crossed my arms as I stood in front of him, "I told you I was going to come find you if you didn't answer me. It's a good thing I came to otherwise you would've slept the day away."
"Okay mom." Jin rubbed his face then looked back at me, "I'm going to go take a shower. Don't break anything in my house." Jin got up to go upstairs and left me alone. I took the liberty to take a quick tour around the downstairs area. His house was pretty simple with little decoration. The kitchen was extremely clean and all the plates and appliances were brand new. He never even at off the plates once. I opened the fridge to see what kind of food he had but he only had a carton of eggs, milk and some juice. How has he been living like this, does he even know how to cook? I pulled out the eggs and milk and began making omelets for the both of us.
Jin soon returned downstairs in a white button up shirt and black slacks. "What are you doing?" he asked while continuing to dry his hair.
"I figured you'd be hungry, the only thing you had was eggs so I decided to make omelets. He took a seat at the table patiently waiting for me to hand him his plate. He took one bit analyzing the taste before deciding to take another. "How does it taste?"
"It's edible." he answered while continuing to eat. I guess that's the best response I'll ever get from him. We ate in silence. I periodically snuck looks at him to make sure he was still eating.
"Jin, Oh Jin open up please," someone shouted as the knocked on the front door.
Jin let out a deep frustrated sigh as he went over to answer the door. Once he opened the door a man with silver hair rushed through and gave him a bear hug, "Jin I'm so happy to see you. You look so well." The man walked past Jin and entered the kitchen and stopped as soon as he saw me sitting down. "Oh my and who is this lovely lady. It's unlike Jin to have any friends over much less a lady. Tell me am I interrupting something?"
"No! She's just a friend and we were just eating." Jin's face grew annoyed with the man's continued presence in his house. The man sat down next to and held out his hand for me to shake, "My name is Lee Chaolon. I'm Jin's uncle." I nervously shook his hand and tried to move away from him since he was so close. "I'm so glad little Jin is making friends. He's such a prude sometimes I was afraid he wouldn't be able to meet anyone."
"Aren't you a teacher from our school?"
"Yes and a counselor to. Tell me young lady what's your name?"
"L-Ling Xiaoyu."
"Oh my Chinese, I knew we had a connection from the moment I saw." Lee hugged me tightly stroking my hair.
I asked through his hug, "What connection are you talking about?"
"You see I'm Chinese as well I was adopted by Heihachi Jin's grandfather when I was a young child. I was so fortunate to be adopted into such a prestigious family." Jin pulled Lee off of me dragged him towards the door. "Jin you're being so rude to me am I nothing but kind to you. I used to rock you to sleep at night while you cried in my arms."
"That never happened, stop making up lies. She'll believe them."
"Well I really only came to tell you that Heihachi wants to see you for family dinner tonight. It's mandatory." Lee looked over at me and smiled, "Feel free to bring your lady friend as well. Bye Xiaoyu I'll see you in school." Just like that he left.
"Sorry about that," Jin apologized and sat back down to finish his omelet.
"Don't be. Your uncle's pretty funny." I took another bite of my food before I asked him, "Why don't you live with your uncle or grandfather."
"My family and I don't really see eye to eye."
"Why's that ."
Jin looked at me and sighed, "My grandfather just wants to use me for his own personal gain. His only interest in me is that I grow up to inherit the Mishima Zaibatsu from him. Since I was young that's all he's been training me for, when I entered high school I decided to move out of the main house to have a little bit of freedom." Jin started laughing to himself a little.
"What's so funny?"
"It's just hard for me to take my family serious sometimes. They wanted nothing to do with me when I was living with my mother, once she was out of the picture my grandfather couldn't wait to find me. It almost makes me feel like my grandfather had something to do with her death..."
"Your mother- how did she die?"
"She was killed. I saw her fighting this demon and I went to help her but it knocked me unconscious. When I came to my house was burning down and my mother was no where to be found. She told should anything happen to her I need to find a man named Heihachi Mishima. When the police arrived they were able to get in contact with him and told me that he was my grandfather and I would have to live with him from that point on. I also found out the man in charge of the Mishima Zaibatsu at the time and the man who abandoned my mother and I was Kazuya Mishima; and he is my father."
"Have you ever met your father?"
"No, not yet. I'm waiting to get stronger so when I meet him. I'll destroy him." I was taken aback by his words, Jin had that evil look in his eyes, I didn't know how to respond to him. "I can't ever forgive my father. My mother used to speak so kindly of him, telling me that I look just like him, and how he's just a misunderstood man. I hated the way she spoke about him, how she was still in love with him even though he left her. I can't forgive him for poisoning her mind and not being there for her when she needed him most." Jin realized what he was saying and looked up at me to gauge my reaction. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
I shook my head no then looked at him, "I'm not scared, I'm just sorry that you feel that way. But I guess I can't really blame you for feeling the way you do. I won't pretend to understand what you're feeling because I don't. I don't know your mother but, I bet your mother would be disappointed to hear you say those words." Jin raised his eyebrow at me willing to listen to what I had to say. "I'm not saying what your father did wasn't wrong, but I'm sure your parents had their reasons for not being together. She probably didn't want you to know the truth because she wanted to protect you from Heihachi." Jin turned his face to the side and kind of scoffed off my comment. I lost my nerve to finish my comment and just sat in silence.
"You know," Jin commented. "You kind of sounded like her when you said that. That sounds exactly like something she would say."
"Sorry I didn't mean to sound like a parent."
"Don't apologize, it felt… nostalgic." After that we finished our breakfast and helped Jin wash the plates and put everything away. "Thank you for coming over today."
I felt as though I was seeing the real Jin Kazama and not the cool collected front that he tried to put on for everyone at school. The distance between us was closing. "No problem buddy, that's what friends are for." I gathered my things and Jin walked me to the front door ready to leave. "Are you going to dinner tonight with your family?"
"I guess I have to since its mandatory..."
"Try not to look so sad about it okay. I'm sure it won't be that bad."
Jin chuckled at my comment and reached up to brush a stray piece of hair out of my face. "If only I could think like you... be careful going home."