Chapter 4: And There was a Cliff

Heihachi hadn't been bluffing when he had hinted at putting Kazuya's budding energy to full use. If Kazuya wasn't bone tired after training, then Heihachi was not satisfied. In the beginning, training hadn't really taken that long, but now it took hours. Kazuya's weights continued to increase, however now it was by ten. Heihachi also began teaching Kazuya actual fighting technique—and that was when the intensity of the training was ramped up to almost impossible levels. Instead of training outside, they had moved their site to a private gym that was located on the other side of Heihachi's gigantic property.

Heihachi was brutal and Kazuya had no choice but to accommodate his father's methods of training. It was no longer that his muscles were simply worn out, but now there were real bruises to show for all the pain. Kazuya knew that this was certainly not what his mother had wanted for him, but he was in no position to resist.

The years passed by and Kazuya could scarcely recall a day where he didn't feel like he would shatter into a thousand pieces. Everywhere he felt sore; even laying down brought no comfort. Just when he thought that things couldn't possibly get worse, they often did. It seemed Heihachi was incapable of showing such things as mercy towards his son—especially when he thought his technique was off…which it often was.

"You really have no natural talent, do you?" Heihachi snarled at Kazuya referring to his son's skills at fighting.

"Father, I promise I'll try my hardest," Kazuya maintained as he slid back into the fighting stance that had long since been drilled into his head.

Heihachi keenly watched his son perform the combination of moves that he had been teaching him for the past few days. When Kazuya finished, Heihachi smoothly shot one of his large fists into Kazuya's guts and the five year old was thrown back quite a few yards until his back struck the wall. Had Kazuya not been used to such attacks, he might have gotten the wind knocked out of him (and this had actually happened on earlier occasions), but it seemed that he was strong enough now to climb back to his feet afterwards.

Kazuya tried the routine out countless more times all ending up with the same response from his father.

"After all these years, you're still pathetic."

Kazuya was doubled over in pain as he could no longer hide the fact that Heihachi's attacks really did do some damage. "F-father, I'm sorry."

"Hmph. You say the same thing every day yet you come back with the same lack of skill as always. Don't bother 'apologizing', it makes you weak."

"I don't know why…I just don't know why it is so hard to please you."

"I've only asked one thing from you and you can't even do that much. You were and you always will be a pathetic excuse for a son."

Kazuya looked to the floor when he said this, "I'm sorry…"

"What have I told you about that?" Heihachi said severely.

Kazuya visibly flinched at his harsh voice.

"Alright, I'll take pity on you just this once," Heihachi began. Kazuya looked up in a surprised manner, "You'll be locked in here until sundown. Use your time wisely and perfect your technique. When I come back, show me that the Mishima blood flows strong in you and I won't have to subject you to my punishment."

Heihachi couldn't help but grin at the determination he saw in his son's eyes—it wasn't something he saw there very often; it suited his face well, far better than his usual look of defeat.

"Alright then, get to it," Heihachi said as he made his way to the door.

Kazuya watched as the door closed and heard as his father locked it from the outside. He slowly climbed to his feet and for the first time, he trained by himself without guidance. There was something oddly comforting about this fact. The constant pressure to get everything right was momentarily lifted; he could think on his own. To his surprise, the first thing that came to his mind was Jun.

His meetings with her had become far in between and at some point they completely lost contact with each other right around the time when Heihachi moved their training location. Besides, Kazuya was already beginning to look vastly different from when they first met—at least body-wise. He wondered if that might scare her away; in a way, he was glad to not to have to meet her continually. He had already sensed her pure and innocent nature even though he could not put words to it. Surely a person like that would want nothing to do with him. He really could do nothing for her. Jun seemed to know exactly what she liked or didn't like and she already had some goal which she strived towards. Kazuya had none of those things—he didn't really know himself. He only knew of his sworn duty as Heihachi's son which was to do everything he could to please him. He felt trapped, but that was the only thing he was used to.

His father had performed the routine plenty of times in front of him so Kazuya could picture it in his mind. If only he could translate it to his own movements. He attempted to do so over and over and over again until he did so mindlessly. The routine ended with a sharp, uppercut and Kazuya suspected that this was what he had been executing sloppily. Perhaps there wasn't enough oomph in his interpretation. Maybe he needed to hit harder.

Kazuya grew more and more fluid with the various moves he had to perform that he found that he could finish it in a shorter amount of time. Each time, he eased more and more of his strength into it. He became so concentrated on his execution that the time seemed to pass rapidly. By the time Heihachi stepped through the door, Kazuya was sitting cross-legged in the center of the room with closed eyes.

"I presume you're thoroughly prepared for this," Heihachi said drawing Kazuya out of his half-sleep trance.

"Yes," Kazuya said looking up at his father with bright eyes.

Kazuya climbed to his feet and smoothly moved into his beginning stance. Even as Kazuya began, it was as if time itself was at a standstill. Since this was his actual performance in front of his father, he no longer held his strength back. Each time he struck his fist forward, he began to feel weightless as if gravity could no longer hold him down. Kazuya moved rapidly and whenever he had to strike forth consecutively, those punches became blurs. He was fond of his finishing move which was an uppercut; he managed to put so much air on the move that had there been actual impact on an opponent, he might have been sent unconscious.

It took Kazuya a moment to notice the steady flow of crackling lightening around. Slowly, it died down and the weightlessness disappeared. Suddenly it was as if someone had dropped a metal ton on top of him. Reality came rushing in and he felt an exhaustion that he could never hope to conquer as he fell to the wooden floor.

If Kazuya had known the expression that his father had on his face, he might have tried a little harder to stay conscious a while longer. To put it frankly, Heihachi was utterly surprised. Not only had Kazuya performed to perfection—he had gone beyond the task. The blue lightening suggested firm control and full-on intensity. How could he have improved so rapidly in such a short time? What motivation had he taken hold of in his absence?

Heihachi walked over and picked up his unconscious son. He didn't drag him as he usually did when Kazuya was unable to walk on his own. He didn't even leave Kazuya in the hallway which had turned into his pseudo-bedroom. Heihachi traveled all the way to Kazuya's room and placed his son on his bed. It was a little much to expect Heihachi to actually tuck the other in—he simply closed the door and went about his business. This was the closest to intimacy that Heihachi would ever get with his son.

Kazuya had shown him something unexpected: talent. It only meant that Heihachi would grill him even harder since he now knew the true extent of his capabilities. Today had only been a hint of it, but Heihachi intended to draw it out even more.

/

"Again!" Heihachi barked at a perturbed Kazuya who had been punching into the sand filled bag all day.

His knuckles were beginning to redden with overuse.

"You're not putting much thought into your punches anymore. You think you can slack off just because it's a simple 'punch'? A true fighter puts everything he has into each and every attack no matter what it is."

Kazuya took his time with his next punch as he pulled his arm back. It was either now or never—he'd either break something and have to deal with the splitting pain or strike the bag open. His fist shot forth fiercely and thankfully the former occurred. A spray of sand grit flew into his face and he spit some of it out as the bag quickly emptied its heavy content.

"Good enough," Heihachi said. "We're through for today."

Heihachi had seen the short spark around his hand when he struck and that was all he had been waiting for. He wanted to make sure that what he had seen before hadn't been a simple fluke and Kazuya had just proven that it wasn't on this day and on the days that proceeded. Heihachi encouraged his son to put his all into every attack and he taught him more and more combinations. If there was one thing that Heihachi could say about his son, it would be that he was quite nimble and this was impart due to his body type. Despite having him eat so much on a regular basis, Kazuya hadn't gained much weight. He always appeared to be lightly muscled as if his strength had not increased in the least.

They'd be at it all day now. It seemed whatever business that Heihachi had been tending to in the past was set aside. For some reason, however, Heihachi still wasn't satisfied. Even if there was the occasional crackle of blue electricity, it never got to the same intensity that Heihachi had seen before. Kazuya couldn't understand his father's frustration, but he knew that he had to work harder.

"This isn't the best that you can actually do," Heihachi accused his son one day, "Why do you continue to hold back?"

Kazuya looked up at him in confusion. He really had no answer for his question.

"Perhaps you lack the proper motivation," Heihachi continued.

"I don't know what you're talking—

"Again!" Heihachi interjected.

Presently there was a large punching bag in front of him and Kazuya again went through the series of fist lunges and kicks he had learned yesterday. Had Kazuya been an impatient child or one eager to advance his training, he would have complained about the monotony, but Kazuya was none of these things. In reality, the only motivation he had towards fighting was the fact that his father expected him to be a good fighter. There was no personal connection. He had no idea if he liked or disliked Heihachi's constant drills. The only thing which Kazuya drew motivation from was his sense of duty. He believed that whatever his father told him to do that he was obligated to do it.

As he pounded away at that punching bag, he wondered if things would ever change. Was this what his life was going to consist of? Would Mom be alright with the direction his life was headed? He didn't have the strength to try to answer those questions not even when he was left to himself in his room.

Night time had come once again and as usual—if he made it to his room which he did that night—he made himself comfortable under the heavy blankets. He would toss and turn into various positions and when he ended up never finding one that was comfortable enough since he was always sore all over, he simply fall asleep in the usual sprawled on his stomach position.

For the past few nights, Kazuya would always hear a sound akin to a rock hitting his window. Consistently, he would dismiss them since his body would no longer want to move. At some point the quiet "pings" on his window would end and hours later the sun would rise once again. This night was a little different, however. Having nothing better to do, Kazuya had decided if he would test and see if there really was something hitting his window so earlier that day in the morning he had simply opened it. Surely whatever was making the sound would fall through instead of bounce off.

He heard absolutely nothing that night besides a brisk wind that caused him to pull the covers even tighter. Just when he was about to write the entire situation down as his mind playing tricks on him, he heard something drop onto the floor—at least he'd have something to look forward to the next morning. There was no way he would bother with it now.

"meow."

Kazuya peered from under his covers towards the rather close sound. He could barely make out the figure that sat on the ground before him.

"Are you…?"

"meow"

Suddenly, Kazuya felt a very light weight on his back—the cat had managed to jump as far. He felt its small paws moving and he couldn't help but giggle since he was actually quite ticklish.

"Would you get off, kitty?"

But the cat ignored him and continued its pacing until he found a comfortable position at which point he curled himself into a tight bundle and began to purr.

"Well, alright, but I have no idea why you're so comfortable—I haven't even petted you."

Kazuya felt the fuzzy bundle move its tail a little as if in response. The cat might have already been asleep. Kazuya, who was virtually immobile, simply followed in suit.

Unfortunately, this was one of the few nights when Kazuya overslept and missed dawn. Of course, he wasn't aware of this fact until Heihachi came barging into his room. Just the sound of his footsteps sent Kazuya on guard and he sat straight up in bed as if an alarm had gone off. He had momentarily forgotten about the napping cat on his back and he hissed at the sudden commotion.

"Extracurricular activities again?" His father accused at the sight of the cat and open window. "So it's true, you really haven't been putting in the full effort I keep asking for."

As if to add fuel to the fire, the cat jumped into Kazuya lap and made itself comfortable.

"Scram. Get lost already," Kazuya said pushing him off his lap, "Run."

It seemed that the cat seemed to understand the word "run" and scrambled away, but stopped at the windowsill and sat steadily staring at the other with its gray eyes. Heihachi who had decided right then and there that he would simply push the intruding cat off stopped in his tracks when the cat took one powerful leap through the window landing on the grass below. Kazuya scrambled over to the window and watched the cat run off towards the woods.

"You missed the time, boy," Heihachi said in threatening tones.

Kazuya turned slowly around to his father with a fearful expression. He automatically went into defense when his father lunged at him. Initially he was able to fend off some of his father's attacks, but it soon became a one-sided match and Kazuya wounded up crumbled on the floor.

"Since you seem to like that cat more than your own training, I'll let you two be together," Heihachi said as he lifted the other by the cuff of shirt and launched him through the window.

While flying in the air was exhilarating to Kazuya, the impact was the part he always hated if it was a hard one. He landed awkwardly on his leg and let out a yelp. For the longest time, he dared not moved until he was fully aware of all the injuries he had received. He carefully turned over off his stomach so he could sit up. His left leg was twisted the wrong way, but he was able to move his right leg a little closer. Since he felt the excruciating pain traversing through his leg, he instinctively knew that it wasn't dislocated—he silently wished that it was so that he could avoid all the headache of feeling it.

He sat there for a while quietly, but then he simply laid back on the grass when he realized that his father was not coming. He laid there all day in a state of immobilizing pain and muteness. The dizziness which began somewhere near midday must have been due to the fact that he had eaten nothing that day. He hardly responded to his father's presence which he felt just as the day was ending. Wordlessly, Heihachi bent down and took ahold of his left leg and with a quick twist of his wrist he cracked it back into place…much to Kazuya's immense horror who hollered out into the night.

"Enough!" Heihachi shouted back in an overwhelming voice. "It's done already."

Kazuya bit his tongue as he tried to hold back his screams. Now there was just throbbing pain, but there was no way he was going to risk standing on it.

"It has occurred to me that in order to get you to fight at your best, you're going to need a push—a real push. Fear is what motivates you, isn't it?" Heihachi questioned the other.

"No, that's not it—it's you. I do it all for you. It's just that…some days are better than others. Some days, I really do feel invincible, but most days I feel like nothing."

"When are you ever going to learn? Strength doesn't depend on whimsical things like emotions. It doesn't change from day to day—a true fighter relies on their own resolve to give them strength each and every time in order to best the other."

"I just wanna' be a good fighter…so you won't be so mad all the time."

"Weakling, that isn't enough—you have no real reason to fight, do you?"

Kazuya didn't like his tone because he had never heard it coming from his father before. When he lifted up by his shirt, Kazuya didn't know what to think, but something didn't feel right. He closed his eyes as he gathered the courage to say the question that was on his mind.

"Where are you taking me?" Kazuya demanded to know.

When Heihachi didn't answer, Kazuya grew frantic and he began to struggle in his grasp. There was no hope of him escaping, but it was an instinctive reaction.

"Where are you taking me?" Kazuya cried again.

He peered out into the darkness, but could make out nothing until they stopped moving.

"Look around, do you know where we are, kid?" Heihachi asked.

The darkness was so thick that he could make out nothing. Heihachi held his arm out and suddenly Kazuya sensed where they were standing as a blast of wind hit his face and heard the sound of rushing water.

"The cliff…this is Mom's favorite spot."

"Yes, the view is quite beautiful here, but it will serve another purpose today."

"What?"

"You really are just an empty shell with no substance whatsoever. What you did that day was a simple fluke—your talent is constantly kept at bay due to your own ridiculous weakness. It's time you learned what a true Mishima is!"

When Heihachi pulled his arm back, Kazuya began to cry out in alarm, but his screams were all ignored as his father tossed him forth as one would a rag doll if it has lost its importance. Kazuya could hear his father's voice on the wind.

"Use your own will; find your own way back and you will discover your own strength!"