Chapter 2: A Troubling Death

Kazuya woke up to the scent of an acrid, burning smell. His eyes began to water from the heavy smoke that had traveled into his room. Sensing something was not right, he pulled the covers off of him and unlocked the crib bars just as he had seen his mother do plenty of times before and stumbled onto the carpet. He couldn't walk very well so he simply crawled out of his room. As he moved closer and closer to living room, the smell transformed into something rather sickening. When he stood up to get a better look of the living room, he saw that no one was there and nothing looked particularly out of place. Then he entered the next room which was the kitchen. When he pushed through the blue veil curtains, the smoke and smell intensified twofold. He made out a wheelchair in the thickening smoke, but that was as far as he got just as he felt strong hands snatching him from the ground. He struggled from it in protest, but it was like fighting against a brick wall. The only thing he knew was that the wheelchair was getting further and further away.

"Maaaamaaaa!" Kazuya cried out desperately and repeatedly.

Even as the curtains closed in front of his face, he still called for her. Since she hadn't come, he knew that something was wrong. Whenever he called her name, she would appear before him without a second thought. Now she seemed so far away—he hadn't even heard her call back in response. Then he could no longer see anything as the hands who held him grasped him in a position that allowed no movement—he could no longer even make a fuss.

"Christ, you're giving me a headache with your screaming," Kazuya heard Heihachi say.

Kazuya felt all of his airways blocked so he was made to quiet down if he ever wanted to breathe again. When Kazuya could see again, he only saw a burning house and as uniformed men scrambled about with hoses.

"Save her," Kazuya said at once.

"What was that boy?"

"Save her," Kazuya repeated indignantly, "You're big and strong. Save her."

"Why don't you save her, brat, since you care so much about her?"

"No…no, I can't," Kazuya said in a confused manner.

This was the perhaps the most Kazuya had said at one time and the fact that he was speaking to his father was an even more unusual occasion—they never spoke to one another. Kazumi had always kept him at a safe distance from his father.

"Because you're weak. You see that house burning down before you—your mother is going to catch her death and there's nothing you can do for it, boy. No use in making a fuss over it."

"But…but, she's…"

"What was that, kid? I see you don't really understand anything, do you?"

Suddenly, Kazuya found himself on the ground. Kazuya looked back at his father questioningly.

"Let me tell it to you simply. You're never going to see your mother again."

"Never…?"

Kazuya only received a grin from him, "Well, if you don't know now, you will later on. You should count yourself lucky, kid—you might have died as well. It would have been nothing to simply leave you in there and claim that I had no idea where you were, but, you see, that would be too much of a coincidence with my entire family dying at once. I do still need to keep on my father's good side—and, of course, there's my image I need to keep up."

"Father…"

Heihachi looked at him waiting for the other to say something else.

"Father…you talk too much."

"Is that all you got out of all of that? I see I'm going to have easier time fooling you—that is, if I care to. Your mother—ah, I see I have your attention—your mother presented me with the perfect way to get rid of a very persistent headache: herself. She died all on her own without any help from me so her death couldn't be helped. Even if I were to charge back in there like some wanton idiot, she'd already be dead. She must have fainted while trying to cook something on the stove and her face fell onto a steamy hot eye turning her brains into a crispy mess. When I found her, she was thoroughly stuck to the iron. Silly woman. But it really is a waste explaining things to people who can't even spell their own name."

"Mama…was burned…?" Kazuya said slowly—he desperately wanted to understand, but Heihachi might as well have been speaking in a foreign language.

Kazuya understood that his mom had been caught in a fire; he could clearly see the deteriorating house. He didn't think of the fact that fires needed some reason for them to start. He simply presumed that Heihachi was describing how the house was burning and how his mother was still inside for some reason—he didn't catch the fact that his mother had already been dead before the fire had even started. But there was something else that Kazuya could never hope to figure out on his own—at least until years later—his mother should not have been cooking in the first place. She was a frail, paralyzed woman who had no business going about her daily life without assistance let alone taking care of a baby all on her own. She had been defiant towards Heihachi and he had retaliated in his own cunning way.

Soon Kazuya found himself in his father's arms as more uniformed men surrounded them peppering his father with questions wanting to know exactly what had taken place. He seemed to have been forgotten so he simply fell asleep again after a while even in the uncomfortable grasp of his father.

/

"You can walk, can't you?" Heihachi asked the child who insisted on crawling everywhere, "I won't have you embarrassing me any longer. Stand up."

Kazuya understood the command "stand up" and he tried to do so in an unsteady fashion.

"If you had been trying to do that all along, you wouldn't look so mentally challenged now," Heihachi growled.

Before he fell back down again, he grabbed on to one of his father's pant legs for support.

"You can't walk if you're always holding onto something," Heihachi said shaking the other off, but Kazuya's grip was surprisingly strong. "Get off already, boy," he said shaking him off even harder until Kazuya practically flew off and collided with the leg of the marble table nearby. "Damn," he cursed under his breath. He looked around himself to see if anyone had noticed their little debacle.

When Heihachi didn't hear any movement from Kazuya from under the table, he peered under it. This was certainly not out of concern, but for worry that Kazuya would start wailing and bringing attention to them. They were presently at Kazumi's closed-casket funeral. It had been decided that they would hold the ceremony at Jinpachi's mansion. Many of Kazumi's family attended, but there was only three Mishimas in attendance.

"Kazuya," Heihachi called in a hushed voice.

To his surprise, he found the other staring back at him with a puzzled expression.

"I'm fine," Kazuya said breaking the silence.

When Heihachi forcibly pulled the other out, he noticed a line of blood crawling down the front of his face.

"Again, again," Kazuya demanded with bright eyes.

"What are you a glutton for punishment?" Heihachi hissed as he positioned himself so no one would see.

He quickly made his way to the bathroom. When there, he grabbed a ball of toilet paper, wetted it and wiped his face clean. Thankfully, there was no large gash only a small cut a little ways back from the edge of his hair. After putting some pressure on it, there seemed to be no more bleeding. It was then that he remembered Kazumi complaining about Kazuya's tendency to tumble out of bed on purpose. She had been forced to keep him in a crib longer than usual because of that fact. Either Kazuya liked feeling pain or he found the entire exercise exhilarating—whatever was the case, it would explain his reaction in this situation. Heihachi found it all to be quite convenient—it meant that he didn't have to deal with much crying in the future especially when he planned to drastically change the way things were done.

"Where's mama?" Kazuya asked pronouncing "mama" like "maw-maw" as he usually did.

"Kazuya, you're no longer allowed to ask that question anymore."

"But…"

"I don't want to hear it anymore. The next time you ask, there will be some dire consequences—or let me put it this way: ask again and very bad things will happen."

"Okay," Kazuya replied simply.

"There will be no more coddling, understand?" Heihachi said slowly.

Kazuya only stared back at him.

"Nod if you understand, brat."

Kazuya nodded back.

"There will be no more holding hands," Heihachi continued. "At least nod, boy."

Kazuya nodded again.

Heihachi sighed exasperatedly, "And you will no longer act as if you're working with only a third of your brain."

And Kazuya only stared at him in his eternally good mood.

Heihachi lifted him off the sink roughly and dropped him on the floor only to receive a giggle. The fact that Kazuya found tumbling and falling exciting was going to drive Heihachi crazy.

"Now stand up."

Kazuya climbed to his feet once again and followed Heihachi as best he could to the living room where Jinpachi had just stood up to give the eulogy. Heihachi couldn't wait until this entire ordeal was over so he could put her death behind him and move on with his ever increasing plans. The kissing-ass route was beginning to fall apart since the woman who connected their families together was already dead. The only thing keeping them together was Kazuya, their only son and Heihachi doubted if that would be enough pull to convince Kazumi's family to continue their ample support.

Heihachi glanced over at Kazuya and found that he had adopted a rather somber mood—maybe there was a chance that the brat was finally understanding the situation and the fact that his life would only go downhill from here. In reality, Kazuya was only sensing the emotions around him. He couldn't understand Jinpachi's melancholic speech or the reason that so many people were sad all at once—but he understood unhappiness and he didn't like it at all.

They stayed a while longer after the ceremony was over. Heihachi spoke to many people that Kazuya had never seen before. He only knew of Jinpachi and Kazumi's parents. Jinpachi was the only one who took the time to actually speak with Kazuya as he pulled him away from his father.

"There's something I'd like to ask you, Kazuya," Jinpachi said slowly so that the other might understand, "How is your father?"

"He's happy."

"Happy?"

"He's happy," Kazuya repeated, "He says I shouldn't ask about Mama anymore."

"Well, I suppose that's good advice. Do you…understand what's happened here?"

"Everyone is sad because Mama was burned."

"Burned in what way?"

"Like, "ouchie" burn. But…how come…how come I can't ask her if she's alright?"

"You see, you can't."

"Why not?"

"She's gone."

"She ran away?"

"No, she's no longer in this world."

"I don't…understand."

"You're a person," Jinpachi began slowly, "I'm a person and so is your father. Sometimes, a person can disappear forever. They no longer breathe or talk to people anymore. That is your mama. The burn was so bad that it caused this."

"Really, really bad burning…caused my Mama to dis-a-ppear."

"Exactly."

"I wanted to say good-bye before she disappeared…"

"You can still do so."

"Really?"

"Touch that casket over there and say it aloud—she'll hear it."

Promptly, Kazuya made his way to the casket and everyone seemed to quiet down as they saw the determined way he walked towards it. There was something special about a son wanting to say a few words to his recently deceased mother.

"Mama, you disappeared so quickly…I wanted to say good-bye. I know you can't talk back, but I want you to know that I really miss you and that I'll never know someone else like you ever, ever again. I want you to be happy too so please don't frown…," for some reason, Kazuya felt this heavy sadness fall upon him. He didn't exactly like the sensation of tears, but they came forth nonetheless and he found he couldn't stop them, "please don't frown because I promise you…I'll always make you happy."

A few others burst out into tears as well as Kazuya simply stood in front of the casket with gushing tears. Kazuya looked up when he felt a familiar shadow overhead.

"Glad you've come to your senses, but you're shedding unnecessary tears," Heihachi spoke in hushed tones, "I'll have to take you home since it seems you can't pull yourself together."

Heihachi picked up Kazuya in perhaps the gentlest way he had ever managed. He was all too glad to find an excuse to leave the place. Once he was in the car, he found that he had yet another task.

"Alright, kid, the funeral's over. No point in crying anymore."

Kazuya continued on quietly as he stared at the car floor.

"And you said you promised to make your mother happy…how can you do that if you're crying?"

Kazuya looked up at him when he said this, "You're right."

Heihachi was more impressed that Kazuya had understood this than anything else. "Alright then, buckle up, kid."

Really, Kazuya still needed a booster seat as he was still too small for a regular seat, but things like this never bothered a man like Heihachi.

The day after the funeral was one of the many pivotal points in Kazuya's life—it was the day when things began to change forever.

/

AN: Can't wait for the next chapter? Yeah, I know. And I really enjoy hearing others' opinions.