AN: Remember when I told you that my flash drive had been stolen which had two unpublished chapters on them? Well, one of my friends found it and gave it back to me. I was so happy about that. So happy in fact, that I want to integrate them into the story. 17 and 18 are the missing chapters. I'll keep The Halloween Chapter and place the two newly found chapters afterwards. "The Final Decision on the Matter" chapter will then go after those two, but I will re-upload an updated version of it since it sort of conflicts with the two new chapters coming. So don't be surprised everyone: I'm switching the latest chapter, "The Final Decision", and putting it after the two new chapters. It's the only way I could make it work plotline wise. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 18: Despondency (Ten Years Later)

Kazuya didn't understand why he felt the way he felt on this day. He stared at his math textbook with a complete lack of interest. On a normal day, he'd at least want to start and get finished with his homework—now it seemed too much of a bother. For the third time that day, he sighed to himself. He hadn't even been interested in eating breakfast….and he loved eating. He might have been starving by now, but he hardly noticed or cared. Kazuya knew that he had to get his math done so he opened the shiny book and flipped to the page with the chapter problems. He found himself staring at the derivative problems and completely blanking out. He'd get nothing done under these conditions.

With arms crossed behind his head, he sat back in his desk chair and his eyes traveled to the ceiling. There were a lot of things to feel thankful for, wasn't there? Over the last ten years, Kazuya had begun to realize that there were plenty of things in his life to be grateful about. He was fifteen now and could more clearly evaluate his life. For one thing, there was Jinpachi. He was every bit of a father that Kazuya could ever expect plus more. Until him, Kazuya couldn't even remember a time when he dared to trust in another adult. Jinpachi had proven himself and Kazuya was glad to have gotten to know him. Busy as he was, he had still managed to have quite a heavy impact on Kazuya. If the world really was full of betrayers and idiots as Devil had told him at some point during the time he had run away from Heihachi, Jinpachi would not exist nor would Jun. Jun was an anomaly, Kazuya knew, but she still existed. One couldn't expect to find such a caring person on a regular basis and Kazuya counted himself lucky to have known a person like that. She still visited him, but not as much as before. School had begun to take up more and more of her time as she took far more difficult courses. She planned to go to a prestigious university and the best way to do that was to take college level courses. Kazuya saw her perhaps twice a week at the most. Whenever she visited, they'd wound up just talking and it could have been about anything. Both of them were busy pursuing their goals and when she visited (or sometimes Kazuya would visit her), the only thing they'd feel like doing was talking. It was oddly relaxing. Jun was perfect in Kazuya's eyes even if she could sometimes annoy him or use her secret tickling torture if she wanted to get him to talk. Not to mention that when he was around her, he dared to think of a future that he could be proud of, full of joy and happiness.

Even the sound of those words made Kazuya cringe. Joy and happiness were both emotions that were in utter contrast to what he felt now. Maybe he was just being ridiculous or ungrateful, but he couldn't shake that feeling. He closed his textbook after getting sick of staring at the equations and took his leave from the room. Of course, his grandfather was not here especially in the afternoon. The only people here were his housemaids and a few guards. Kazuya stepped out into Jinpachi's garden, the very same one he had been mesmerized by as a boy. Beautiful things still fascinated him. It wasn't until a few years ago though, that he had actually gotten the nerve to actually go into the garden. For some reason, he always seemed to make things far more complicated than they really were. There were never any laws against going there—it was just that Jinpachi had never invited him. Turns out it had been a minor oversight on Jinpachi's part. In his words, "Of course you can go into the garden. It's open to anyone who wants to come. I think it's a great place to do your homework." He had made it sound so obvious. Kazuya wondered why he had been so anxious about it in the first place.

He made his way easily to his favorite spot. Aster, Clematis, Crocus, Hydrangea, Morning Glory, Orchids, Passionflowers, Petunias, and Rhododendron all grew in its purple varieties as they sparkled in the full light of the sun. There was a bench in this very spot that Kazuya chose to sit at. It wasn't until he saw so many fully bloomed purple flowers in one place that he discovered that he rather liked that color. There was no particular reason behind it, he simply found it pleasing. On this day, however, even their vibrant colors did nothing to brighten his mood. It was starting to get a little frustrating. Why feel so despondent if there was no reason for it? It wasn't as if something horrible had happened yesterday and he was way over the fact that he had once been thrown off a cliff. Kazuya believed that he had already accepted his life the way it was and that there was no need to dwell on the negative. How could that explain this day? Maybe there was something he was overlooking.

And that was when he thought of his mother. Wasn't this the very same day of her death? Yes, that was it. He could hardly remember her passed the fact that she had been nice. He couldn't even remember her face. It was all just a vague memory, but it seemed to matter the most today. He knew her death had been premature at the hands of some kind of fire. The entire event was blurry. He couldn't determine his role in the whole thing or how he had made it out alive. It didn't matter so much to him now—he was alive and still able to move on with his life.

"Mother, what would you think of me now? Have I made you proud?" he asked to the clouds as he looked up.

Above all else, he wanted to make her proud. He didn't know her very well, but he always felt this need to make her happy. She seemed like a warm person who was capable of rewarding good behavior.

"Kazuya…"

The voice itself sounded strange and foreign, but it was somehow familiar. He knew it to be that of Devil's. It was far away and whispery, but he could still hear it. He chose not to respond, however. Devil's voice could always be heard at times like these whenever Kazuya found himself in a less than content mood.

"Kazuya…"

Jun wouldn't be visiting today. She was busy studying for the fast approaching exams. This was not a good time to dwell in a depressed state. The only thing Kazuya could think to do was train. It was the only thing that took his mind off of all else. When he was fighting or at least pretending to fight something, his mind would suddenly become one-track. While the garden was beautiful, it would always cause his mind to wonder about things better left unknown. He knew his mother to have died in a fire, but then he would get this feeling that there was something missing. It was only a feeling—an annoying one—but a feeling nonetheless. Kazuya sighed once again and took his leave from the garden. He made a beeline to the main gym that he would always workout in. There was no more set time to his training—it was whenever he felt like it. These days that meant whenever Jun wasn't around to pester him and drag him away from his often darkening thoughts.

With age he had gotten stronger. Jinpachi's attack which had once been able to incapacitate him easily could now be blocked or evaded. That was only the beginning, he knew. He still couldn't actually defeat Jinpachi when he was serious, but he knew he had made some headway. He only had to keep getting stronger. Electricity came at brief spurts as his fists pounded into the punching bag over and over again. As he put more and more force behind his punches, the electricity became more apparent. Then he started on his kicking. He found that these were just as powerful as his punches—or at least he judged them to be. Kazuya tired of the punching bag pretty quickly and moved on to lifting weights. It was the best way to gain muscles, he knew. Tiring himself out over an entire day of lifting weights was a time well spent in Kazuya's opinion. Gaining more muscles meant that the skills that he had already developed would become that much more devastating.

He continued on in this manner for quite a few hours before calling it quits. By the time he reached the end of his workout, he could hardly even stand, but that was fine. After putting up the weights, he sat down tiredly near it with one of his knees up and his arm resting on it. His eyes looked exclusively at the tiled floor. He held no discernible expression as he did so—he hadn't felt like pondering about anything. Rather, he enjoyed the feel of traversing pain that had often accompanied intense sessions of training—it was natural and oddly comforting. He waited patiently for his breathing to become steady again before even thinking about moving. Strangely, though, he found himself falling asleep. It wasn't often that he failed at making it back to his room, but this day was different out of all the others. He simply couldn't get up the strength to follow his normal routine.

His mood hadn't changed much, he realized. Even trying to think of nothing couldn't change that fact. This should have been a day like any other full of pointless, but necessary activities. Kazuya didn't expect excitement or anything surprising. A steady, unchanging life was something Kazuya wanted despite the fact that he knew it would be rather boring. It was safe, however, very safe and free of a fearful future. He wished to end all thoughts of the future and continue to live in an endless wheel of set routines. That would be just perfect.

Kazuya's eyes were closed now and he had opted to lean against the weight's rack and then later simply decided to lay out on the floor which was only slightly more comfortable. It didn't matter to Kazuya. Little things like comfort and convenience was considered one of the many pointless things he would encounter in life. But if so many things were pointless, what exactly did matter to Kazuya? Was it just training that mattered to him or was the goal that training was supposed to achieve a matter of importance? Did he still care about his goal or was he just wasting his time here in a gym? And why, no matter how he tried to convince himself otherwise, did he feel so guilty when he deviated even a little from training every day? What goal did he want to achieve—whose goal?

"Kazuya…"

"Leave me alone…" he murmured—he was only partially awake.

"Kazuya, my child…you have been naughty…"

"I don't care about you…I don't care what you think…"

"You will, Kazuya…eventually, you will…"

/

The years had been kind to Chaolan Lee. Despite initially having little luck with connecting with his fellow peers, by this time, they were starting to warm up to him. Instead of being put off by his hair, they were fascinated. Instead of being left out because he was quite rich, they were impressed by this. If there was one thing that increased Lee's popularity twofold, it was his money or at least his claim to it. Many parties would be held at his place. After about two of such parties, the stigma about Lee's adoptive father magically disappeared. As long as it never bothered them, then it didn't matter. As for Heihachi, he had no protests to the sudden explosion of activity at the house especially since he thought it was a good idea that Lee was building a positive image of himself at least with the youths—it bolstered Heihachi's image as well. Heihachi barely even came to his estate in the first place so Lee saw little of him and he was basically given free reign.

The entire school knew of Chaolan Lee. Along with that, Lee had a small group of friends who would visit him on a regular basis until it seemed as if they lived there. Now this small group that always hung around Lee was not one that Lee particularly liked, but they were attached and Lee didn't want to hurt their feelings. It was three boys and they each worshiped the very ground that Lee tread upon. He hated them, but he loved them. He was never alone anymore. He didn't have to duck out of activities because he couldn't find a partner or a group. He felt secure in his social life that there would always be someone beside him even if that person was a complete fool. It was something that Lee could live with for now, but he knew that he wanted more.

Jun hardly ever came to see him anymore. He might have been more upset if he could blame this entirely on Kazuya, but he knew that Jun was busy building a strong foundation for herself in going to college and becoming a veterinarian. He knew that she was meant for something great. All he could do now was root for her from the sidelines.

"Lee, you look incredible today," one of his faceless friends commented to a Lee that was lost in thought.

"Ah, yes, you never fail to remind me."

In a few years, Lee expected that he would get tired of this and ditch them forever. Besides, there was college in his future as well. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be anywhere near the one that Jun planned on attending. He'd have to face a world unknown to him—a world known as America. Already, he was studying English so that he wouldn't be a complete oddball upon living there.

He knew that he was drawing closer and closer to his ultimate goal which was to become in charge of the Tekken Zaibatsu. He was patient and knew that surely he'd outlive his adoptive father. It would be a matter of waiting after receiving the proper education.

/

Jinpachi climbed several flights of stairs before getting to Kazuya's room. Only after knocking on the door a few times did he realize that the room was unoccupied. He opened the door and stepped in briefly. It was night time and well past Kazuya's bedtime—or at least the bedtime that Kazuya had established for himself. Kazuya must have been asleep by now, but just not in this room. He probably hadn't been able to make it back to his room—an occurrence that happened rarely and usually when Kazuya was less mindful of his own limits.

Today was the day of her death. He knew something was wrong when Kazuya had missed dinner. He had come up to see how he was doing and his suspicions had been made true. For good measure, Jinpachi looked into the room beside this one and took note of the growing collection of tennis shoes. There was twice as much as there had been before. Jinpachi flicked the light on and rows upon rows of pearly whites and fresh, shiny shoes stared back at him. If Jinpachi was into tennis shoes, he might have called it beautiful. Instead, the whole thing struck him as strange. He'd heard of people collecting quarters, manga, or insects…but not athletic shoes. Then again, Jinpachi was not an expert on things concerning this.

Jinpachi climbed downstairs and out to the main gym. The lights were still on when he stepped in. It wasn't hard to discover Kazuya near the weights.

"Ah, Kazuya, sometimes you don't know what's good for you."

Jinpachi bent down and lifted him up easily in his strong arms.

"No…leave me alone…" Kazuya grumbled to no one in particular. His eyes were still closed.

Jinpachi assumed that he was only mindlessly responding to being moved in any way. If only that were true.

"I'm sure you'd rather be in a bed than on this hard floor."

"I won't…ever listen to you."

Jinpachi only caught some of that, but he took it with a grain of salt. He thought that he might have a little chat with Kazuya, but he'd have to wait until tomorrow. Kazuya made no more comments the rest of the way. Upon placing him back into his familiar bed, Kazuya, as if it were programmed, immediately pulled the covers very closely to him so that he was surrounded by it. A bed was always nicer than a floor, but Kazuya was liable to sleep anywhere whether it was comfortable or not.

Jinpachi took note of his grimacing. A bad dream, perhaps. It would make perfect sense especially on a day like this. How much really did he recall of his mother?—obviously enough to make him feel something on her death's anniversary. Perhaps it was time he was told the full story. He was old enough now and it seemed as if he had made a recovery from Heihachi's upbringing—at least to a certain extent.

He was nicer, much nicer than before. Jinpachi could occasionally find a smile on Kazuya's face if only for a fleeting moment and only if it was incited by someone else. Jinpachi didn't always have to wrangle a conversation out of him at every dinner—sometimes, he really did have something to say. He had his own thoughts uninfluenced by others—a fact that made Jinpachi quite relieved. The "robo"-Kazuya from before was incapable of making his own plans and setting his own schedule. He could have sat all day in one place staring at nothing, but it seemed that this had changed. Soon to be taking on more responsibilities, Jinpachi needed the other to be far more independent.

Jinpachi had great plans for Kazuya as well. Whether Kazuya would accept them or not was another problem altogether. The best that Jinpachi could hope to do was give him a few more options that he didn't know he had. His future was not set in stone, but Jinpachi dreamed of one where they could work together and form an even stronger bond. That was exactly what his corporation needed.