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Ch. 7: In the Name of Justice
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As I said before, I actually am a little glad that Feng Wei chose to come to my uncle's dojo. The Chinese fighter could have easily gone to Kenichi's, yet he chose mine. And because of that, my Uncle ended up in the hospital and I entered the tournament in order to try and find him.
But before I joined the tournament, I pushed my potential past the limit and trained myself like never before. And I didn't go through it alone.
Surprisingly Kenichi came to my aid, helping me become better. His encouraging words and vast wisdom seemed to really strengthen me both physically and mentally. Through that, we became increasingly closer, and he became my trusted ally.
I didn't know it at the time, but Kenichi secretly wanted me to become stronger in order to fight and defeat me in the most honorable way possible. Yet I couldn't see it, but a mysterious force was evolving around us two…
Asuka stared anxiously at the clock, almost begging it with her eyes to hurry up. Was it just her imagination, or was the second hand moving slower than it normally does?
It was the end of the day, and not only that, but the end of school. And if that weren't enough, it was the end of the entire senior year for 17-year-old Asuka. It felt so strange to her; the past year had come like a blur to her, almost all like a dream.
She was soon to be going to Tokyo for college, where she had also been accepted to the Junior Division of the Worldwide Wildlife Conservation. It had been her childhood dream to become a wildlife officer, and she was finally reaching her goal. Asuka had been elated when she received the letter in the mail. Visions of jungles of Cambodia and mountains of New Zealand crossed her mind; she was finally going to travel the world. The ties that bound her in place in her home were about to be loosened...in a matter of five minutes...
But it felt strange; she, Asuka Kazama, freshman in college already? She was 17! Of course, she was going to be 18 pretty soon, since she had the latest birthday in her entire grade. But it was scary and exciting for everyone: their futures were almost unlimited now that they had graduated, and in 3 minutes Asuka and the rest of the no-longer Senior class were going to pursue their life-long dreams...
The clocked ticked on. Asuka played with the golden chain of her necklace and smoothed out her skirt. Relax Asuka! She thought. Whenever she got nervous or excited she never seemed able to sit still and would fiddle with her necklace.
Asuka thought back to last night. It was just after she had gotten home after graduation ceremony. She had been sitting on the steps of her dojo when someone sat right next to her.
"Hey," Kenichi said as he sat down.
Asuka smiled. "Come to try and fight me again?"
Kenichi shook his head. "Nah, not tonight...too much going on."
"Yeah," Asuka said, "I know what you mean. Can you believe it? We're through with high school now!"
"I know," he replied, shaking his head, "College."
For a while they just sat there in silence, staring out at the horizon, where sunset had just finished disappearing beneath lavender and reddish orange clouds. The sky had turned midnight blue, and the stars were just appearing.
Asuka sighed dreamily. "I'm gonna miss these kinds of things."
Kenichi, confused, asked, "Hmm?"
"You know. Here. Right now. Talking like this. Who knows when we'll be doing this again?"
Kenichi sighed. "You're right. And the next time we fight each other...have an argument whether Australia is a country or a continent..."
Asuka laughed, "Yup, I'll miss those times."
The night was getting cooler, a crisp breeze blowing by, playing at the strands of their dark hair. Unexpectedly, Kenichi spoke.
"Have you ever wondered what would have happened if we had never met?"
Asuka blinked in surprise. "It has crossed my mind once or twice," she admitted, "But then again, I think about a lot of things...like what would have happened if I did grow up with my mother...or if I didn't go to private school...there are a lot of what ifs in the world Kenichi. Why ask that one?"
He sighed. "I don't know...it's just that now that we're officially high school graduates, I look back in my life. Things would have been really different without you."
Asuka blushed a little, but he didn't notice. "I mean, I think about a lot of things too," he went on, "Like...could we have lived another life? Is there another world out there?"
Asuka paused. "Could be," she said, "But I honestly don't regret not living this way. Sure, there are a lot of things in life I don't agree with...and I do wonder if I could have possibly lived in another world...full of adventure, thrill..."
He shook his head at her. "You're too romantic."
She stuck out her tongue and he chuckled. "If there is another world out there," he said slowly, "Why did we end up here?"
Asuka answered, "Fate is a funny thing. If we ended up elsewhere, we wouldn't be talking here right now." Asuka stretched out her arms and placed them behind her head. "Well frankly, if there is another world out there full of adventure, I'm going there!"
Kenichi chuckled, and Asuka ignored him. "Besides," she paused. "Would you have wanted it any other way?"
Kenichi thought for a moment. "No, not really. I just wondered if things could have been different..."
"And who knows," he added thoughtfully, "Maybe things will change sooner or later. You could change. I could too in the next 2-4 years."
Asuka thought about that. Then she smiled and got up, reaching out her hand for Kenichi.
"If you do change," she said as she helped him up, "Don't change too much." 1
Kenichi smiled, excepting her hand. "I won't," he promised.
"And when we meet again after college," she said, "Be sure not to forget about me."
Kenichi replied, "'Course I won't. I could never forget about unfinished business."
Asuka laughed. "Good," she said, "'Cause when we meet again, we're gonna settle our rivalry once and for all."
...Thirty more seconds until the bell rang. Asuka stared anxiously at the clock...tick...tock...tick...
The bell rang.
Outside the front entrance of the school, buzzed a swarm of students, all elated to get their summer vacation started. Some had yearbooks out still, signing some last minute signatures. Others were saying good-bye to their friends. Teachers, left to right, guiding kids out, catching some last minute pranksters.
Asuka weaved in and out of the throng, looking for Megumi. She spotted her red-streaked hair, along with her digital video camera, videoing her every move.
"And here's our high school graduate, looking lovely today in her school uniform. 'Course, enjoy it while it lasts 'cause we're gonna burn it soon!"
Asuka laughed and said, "Class of 2006!" to the camera, making the devil horn signs with her hands. (A/N: c'mon people, you know! Rock on sign? Gah, just had to point that out because of all the REAL devil stuff being mentioned in the story...)
Megumi tossed her long hair from her face and turned off her video camera. "Everyone's going to the Pizzeria. Are you coming?"
Asuka's face fell. "I have to get to the dojo."
Megumi pouted. "Aww...c'mon, just one quick slice of pizza? Everyone in the senior year is coming!"
Asuka reconsidered. "We-ell..."
Megumi placed her hands together. "Please?"
Asuka grinned and shrugged. "All right. But I'll have to make it quick."
Megumi whooped and brought out her camera again. "Well there you have it folks, the one, the only Asuka Kazama, future top agent of the 3WC, living the high life with her best friend for once!"
Asuka linked arms with Megumi, who was filming everything around them as they walked out of the school one last time.
"We're gonna remember this day for the rest of our lives, my friend..."2
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As she ran, she stepped on a stray stone with the side of her foot, and nearly tripped. But she regained her balance and continued running. She wouldn't be running if she didn't let Megumi pull her around everywhere at the Pizzeria...then again she knew she shouldn't have gone there in the first place.
But it wasn't her fault that a group of thugs decided to try and beat up a lone teenage boy! Of course Asuka stopped them. It was in her nature after all...
But the least the boy could have done was try to fight back! She thought. Now she was late, and we mean really late, and her father was gonna kill her...
Asuka sped towards the dojo, not even stopping at her house to change into her Aikido uniform. She braced herself as she walked towards the entrance, trying to ready herself for her father's punishment. But Asuka stopped abruptly when she got there.
Something's not right, she thought. There was something out of place with the dojo...something...
Then she realized what it was: the door. It was wide open.
What her father did was close the door, unlocked, when classes started. That way, if a person was late, they would have to open the door themselves, and the large front doors of the dojo temple made a lot of noise, so everyone inside would hear, which meant embarrassment for that person. In fact, Asuka was getting ready for opening the door in shame, ready for the unwanted attention that happened several times to her...
But it was wide open.
Tentatively, she walked towards it slowly, trying to see why her father would leave it open. Was it to humiliate her? No…he wouldn't embarrass her intentionally…
The closer she got, the clearer inside the dojo became. As she stepped inside, she gasped at what she saw.
The students...all of them...injured...some of them seemed to be just arousing then...
At that moment, Mrs. Sanada and Mr. Jiro, also fighters at the dojo came to her, struggling as they did so.
"Mrs. Sanada! What happened to your arm!"
"Asuka," she said, "Call the ambulance. The students are badly injured and your father is in critical condition."
The color seeped out of her face and she struggled to breathe. "My father...?"
"Call them now!"
Ten minutes later, the students, who only suffered broken bones and minor injuries were taken care of. The dojo was in shambles and the large, expensive door was in fact, broken. Ambulances were outside, and a small crowd of people was gathering outside, flabbergasted by the ambulance and the police officers. But that wasn't Asuka's concern...
She stood by the stretcher, where her father lay unconscious, wearing a neck brace and his collarbone broken along with his back. He needed a respiratory machine to help him breathe. He was really hurt.
Asuka bit her lip, pale as a ghost, holding his hand. "Will he be ok?" she asked the paramedic.
He replied, "He's condition is stable for the moment, but I'm afraid he will be staying at the hospital for quite a while."
Asuka thought horrified, for the moment? "He might suffer some long-time injuries. But don't worry Miss Kazama, he's in good hands."
Asuka nodded numbly. "Thank you," she whispered.
They placed him inside the ambulance and drove off to the hospital, leaving Asuka standing alone, mind numb and shaking. She didn't know how long she was standing there when she heard her voice being called.
"Asuka?"
She turned and found Mrs. Sanada. "What...what happened here?"
Mrs. Sanada sighed. "Some Chinese Kenpo fighter came...demanded a fight with your father...he won...and he took out his victory on the students."
She clenched her fists. "Who was he!"
She shook her head. "We don't know...after he was finished, some students went to help him, and got hurt as well."
Asuka stared at Mrs. Sanada. Her sorrow turned to anger. "Did you tell the police!"
"Yes, Asuka, of course!" she replied, "Asuka, please, don't be angry. I tried to help also! You're not the only one concerned about your father."
Asuka just stood there in silence. Then she turned to some nearby students. "You!" she said angrily. "You're not hurt! You guys didn't even bother to help my father!"
"Excuse me?" one of the students said, standing up. "I helped! Look!" He took out his hand, which was broken. "You think that the rest of us didn't care? That we were too afraid to help our sensei?"
"Well you sure didn't stop that man from sending him to the hospital!"
"Well I didn't see you come to his aid either! Where were you when that man came to beat us all up? Hmm?"
Asuka fell silence, realizing that he was right. "You're right..." she said softly, silencing the student. "I didn't help...I wasn't here...it's all my fault."
Wordlessly, she turned and ran.
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The next day, she tried to visit her father - but was informed by the lady at the desk that they couldn't allow visitors just yet,
Asuka was furious. She started a very loud and heated argument with the lady, along with some of the workers at the hospital. In the end, she was forced to go home.
Asuka, and several of the able-bodied students worked to clean up the dojo in eerie silence. All day, Asuka was silent. Megumi, and some of her other close friends tried to get to her - but she wouldn't say or do anything, besides pacing back and forth across the kitchen when they arrived, pausing and staring wordlessly at them with narrowed eyes after they had insulted her, in an attempt to talk to her.
Asuka wouldn't speak to anyone. All she did was nod, shake her head, ignore others, or just walked away, deep in thought. She was silent, deep in thought, keeping her bottled silent fury and sorrow inside.
Asuka felt so helpless. She couldn't visit her father, let alone be with him in his pain. Her family's dojo had been dishonored; never had such a thing happened there, let alone in the neighborhood. The Kazamas and the Kazama dojo were well respected. Yet look what happen. No other dojo in Osaka had suffered the same fate, though her father's dojo was the best. Even Kenichi's family dojo was untouched.
Asuka felt like it was her fault. The student's words rang through her head, over and over again, making sense each time, being true each time, and bringing pangs of guilt each time. He was right; she decided to spend time with her friends instead of helping her father and beating the mysterious Chinese fighter to a pulp.
The student tried to apologize; but Asuka wouldn't speak to him, let alone listen, and he just gave up. Everyone did, including Megumi and Mrs. Sanada. They tried to bring her to her senses and convince her that everything was going to be all right, that the police would catch the man, and that her father would heal soon.
But everything wasn't going to be all right. Asuka had to do something...justice needed to be served.
Asuka held the broom tightly in her hands as she continued to sweep the floor. She ignored the students' whispers about her odd behavior. Then there was a voice that spoke.
"Hello? Uh, is there a Miss, Kazama?"
Asuka turned to the doorway, where a man stood. He looked around mid-forties, with waist-long black hair, tied in a ponytail. He was Chinese, looked professional, and even a fighter, however, he wore a puzzled expression as he looked at Asuka.
Asuka made her way to him. "Yes sir?"
He looked her critically, but instantly shook his head a little and held out his hand. "I'm Detective Wulong, Lei Wulong of Hong Kong Interpol."
"Interpol?" She questioned as she shook his hand.
He nodded. "Yes," he said, "I have some things about your father's cases."
Her expression turned grave. "Yes?"
He cleared his throat. "We have proof that it was this man who attacked your father."
He handed her several documents, and inside was a photo of a Chinese man.
"His name is Feng Wei," he continued, "He's been causing trouble back in China as well. He murdered his own master. We believe, because of he's frequent dojo attacks and fighting technique, that he murdered his master because of the rule that they had: not being able to test their fighting style with others."
"We believe that after doing so, he did the very thing his master tried to prevent him from doing: going from dojo to dojo, proving each time that he was a greater fighter."
Asuka glared at the photo. "Feng Wei..."
"Feng Wei had recently been attacking dojos in Japan as well. Yet, we also think that he's searching for something as well..."
Asuka looked up, curios. "For what?"
Lei shook his head. "We don't know. However...we are convinced that he is entering the fifth Iron Fist Tournament..."
She looked up quickly. "The Iron Fist Tournament?"
"Yes," he said, "It was announced just recently, after Heihachi Mishima's mysterious death."
Asuka, along with everyone was aware of the death of Heihachi Mishima. It was very strange indeed; there seemed to be an explosion in Honmaru, the headquarters of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Everyone was bewildered about it, and gossip was all about who might be taking over the Conglomerate. The announcement of the tournament was surprising and equally suspicious indeed.
"The tournament..."
Asuka was deep in thought. He's going to be there...
Asuka made the decision to join the tournament, defeat Feng Wei, and bring honor back to their desecrated dojo. Justice needed to be served...
1 - got that from Kingdom Hearts XP
2 - ironic, don't you think? Asuka sure has remembered that day throughout her entire life...