Chapter V: The Truth About Katherine Arnholt
A/N: Namco still owns Tekken.
Sorry I couldn't get this chapter
out any sooner. Plz, R&R !
" Guess who's been made Assistant Director of the SLO?"
" Yeah, that new girl; the one hanging around that silver-haired kid."
" Oh, Riyo's so gonna be pissed!"
Kazuya seethed; his father had done it again. Heihachi had not been satisfied with adopting Lee Chaolan. No, he had to "motivate" him further by forcing this gaijin upon him as a superior who would be bossing around throughout his entire school career, no doubt.
Despite the authority bestowed upon her, Katherine Arnholt was in for a very rough start. It seemed that Takashi Misaki was very eager to settle his score with her, and had planted grisly things like rat guts and frog liver in her locker first thing in the morning. Her high-pitched scream was heard all over the school building, and when Lee rushed to her aid, Kazuya stuck his foot in his path and smirked as his brother tripped and fell head over heels.
Katherine's ordeal was far from over. A senior called Riyo Kanzaki had developed a deep grudge against her overnight. She was the daughter of one of the School Governors, and had been the most likely candidate for the position Katherine now held. Thus, she used her influence and popularity to wage a cold war on Katherine, who found herself shunned by almost everyone. No-one would speak to her for fear of Riyo's wrath.
Kazuya would study Katherine carefully whenever he had the opportunity. Had her nerves been frayed yet? Was she about to snap? With Takashi Misaki on one front, and Riyo Kanzaki on another, and a demanding job in between, Kazuya imagined the breaking point had to be close. He sulked some more, adding Katherine's tenacity to the long list of reasons why he despised the girl.
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As the week progressed, Katherine saw less and less of Lee, not so much due to her busy schedule than to the fact that Lee was beginning to forge bonds with his own classmates. She would see him exchanging jokes and anecdotes with the rest of them, and she would feel relieved that he had managed to fit in. You could imagine her shock, therefore, when she stumbled into an unused classroom during lunch on Thursday, only to find him there, smoking.
Lee instantly discarded the cigarette. " Kathy, I... I can explain..." he stammered.
Katherine's jaw was set, her arms folded. " So this is what you have to do to fit in with your 'friends'," she said coldly." Never took you for the type to succumb to peer pressure, Lee."
"It's not like that, Kathy... They.. they dared me..."
Katherine scoffed at him." You were playing a game of Truth or Dare?!"
" No.. we were just pulling stunts, and I... I'm sorry, Kathy.." he finished lamely.
Katherine hissed vehemently," I can't believe this of you Lee; I should report you for that!" She turned away from him. " This is your last chance!"
" It won't happen again, Kathy..." He looked around for a change in subject." So, um, did you make it to the ballet team?"
"No.."
" How come? you're a great dancer!"
" Never mind!"
Her defensive response made him suspicious. " Is it because she wouldn't let you join? Kathy, you shouldn't let her do this to you! You should tell someone!"
"No!" She took several shaky steps back and beat a hasty retreat, leaving a guilt-ridden Lee in her wake.
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Kazuya smirked. Takashi Misaki had a bone to pick with him, all because his father, another School Governor, had failed to get Heihachi Mishima to expel Katherine Arnholt for Monday's incident.
" You people are so full of yourselves! You think you can boss us around and get the whole world to run the way you like!"
" We're Mishimas; that's what we do."
Misaki charged Kazuya, but the moment he touched him, he drew back with an agonized cry, as though he had received an electric shock.
Kazuya smirked again, and bent to retrieve the shiny gold locket that fell out of Misaki's pocket. He flipped it open to reveal the picture of a fair-haired man and a little girl sitting comfortably on his shoulders, both laughing happily. His smirk faltered; this pendant reminded him of his own locket, snatched from around his neck by his cruel father when he was but a helpless child.
" Well, well, Misaki; looks like you enjoy collecting girls' trinkets," he said, addressing the fallen bully. " And you claim Chaolan is gay?!" He raised his eyebrows in mock disbelief.
Just then, Lee called out from the other end of the corridor," Hey, Kazuya, can I talk to you for a second?"
" If it really is a second , Chaolan, " Kazuya sneered, pocketing his prize.
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" It's Kathy," Lee began hesitantly." She's being bullied, Kazuya."
Kazuya rolled his eyes. " What was your first clue, idiot?"
Lee ignored this." By that girl, Riyo Kanzaki. I think it gets physical."
" And what would you have me do? Leap to the rescue of the damsel in distress? Hmph, I was under the impression that you were her knight in shining armour..."
" This isn't funny, Kazuya!" Lee chided. " You know, it's all your fault Kathy has to go through all this!"
Kazuya stopped walking, and Lee took a few steps back in case his brother decided to hit him. He ploughed on," Everything's been about you all along. Father never liked me; he just adopted me to make you shape up. Same thing with Kathy. He doesn't give a damn about her, so long as he can use her to get back at you!"
Kazuya sneered. " Caught on, haven't you? I'm glad your head isn't all sawdust."
He pushed past him as the bell rang.
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Katherine's breaking point came on Friday morning. They had a maths lesson, and halfway through proving a theorem on the blackboarad, she collapsed in full sight of everyone present. She was taken to the school infirmary, and both Kazuya and Lee found themselves eavesdropping on the doctor's conversation with her father, during morning break.
" She's been roughed up. Bruises on her arms, and signs that her hair was pulled..."
I told you so, Lee mouthed silently at Kazuya.
They continued to listen to the doctor's diagnosis. " She's suffering great stress. I think whoever hurt her has triggered some sort of... repressed memory, from early childhood. That's why she's being unresponsive, but otherwise she's fine. I think we should check her into a paediatric hospital, just to be safe."
Kazuya frowned. Repressed childhood memory?!
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Mishima Residence
Kazuya ransacked his father's study. As a School Governor, Heihachi had access to all the paperwork pertaining to the students and their families. Kazuya found the file on Katherine, and one document in particular caught his attention.
Official Certificate Of Adoption
Kazuya scanned its contents, then put it aside to peruse other documents. According to an old police report he found, a little girl no more than four or five was found abandoned in a park, somewhere in Sothern England. The child was amnesiac and bore unmistakable signs of abuse. She spent the next few days moving from one foster home to another, until she was finally adopted by Sir William Edward Arnholt, to be rechristened Katherine Elizabeth.
Kazuya put the papers away, fuming. Heihachi must have found the girl's traumatic past rather attractive; that was why he chose to pit her against his eldest son. Kazuya had a sudden mental image of his father sneering coldly at him. What, son, you say you've had it rough? Look at your brother, look at that girl! And see how they've now become better and worthier than you'll ever be in your life...
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Tokyo Paediatric Hospital
Katherine Arnholt was slightly anemic and very much exhausted from her stressful first week. The doctors insisted that she was otherwise fine, that they merely wanted to keep her overnight for observation, and that they would be sending down a child psychiatrist first thing in the morning to get her to open up about her fears.
Kazuya sneaked into her room after visiting hours, and stared at her as she slept off the effect of the sedatives. She looked pale and vulnerable, with her long fair hair fanned out on the pillow. So small and helpless did she seem, that Kazuya, the left side of his face twitching, reached for her neck.
A twist to the left, a twist to the right, a satisfying crack, and she would be wasted...
That voice in the innermost chamber of his mind egged.
The girl suddenly stirred, whimpering in her sleep,"Daddy..."
That put a stop to Kazuya's murderous intent, and when his facial convulsions passed, he proceeded to do what had initially been on his mind. He placed Katherine's locket on her bedside table, along with the notes from the lessons she had missed in school, and quickly left the room.
Truth was, Kazuya would never know what Katherine had been through, and for that matter, neither would she, for she was living a lie, courtesy of her adoptive father, a sweet one no doubt, but a lie all the same.
And I envied her for it...
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