Chapter Eight

"Always remember one thing, Teal. If you don't remember any of the advice that I give you, remember this. Everyone is special, but we are a different type of special. We posses a power that some people will call a curse. But we? We call it a blessing. Never let anyone tell you that you are not special, and ever let anyone take advantage of you. Not your body, not your powers, nothing. You understand?"

"Yes, obachan."

Her grandmother's last words of advice played in her head as Teal tried to calm herself down, by meditating. She was only 9 years old when her grandmother had told her that, and weeks later, she was killed. Teal had spent that whole morning practicing using her powers as a fighting tactic for the first time, ever. When her mother and grandmother taught her the family style martial arts, they had only taught her because it was apart of the family, and so she could pass it on to her own children one day. In order to not offend her maternal side of the family, she practice using her powers with the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu her father had taught her. As she practiced for hours, she still couldn't understand what had happened the night before at the ball. What was the light that came to her, and the voice that saved her and told her to leave? If she wasn't confused then, she was definitely more confused now. Helena had somehow found out everything that happened (which wasn't a surprise. It was like JCo was following Teal's every move) and seemed pretty impressed, but pretty upset that Teal had put the whole operation in danger, warning her to not get that close to Jin Kazama again, unless instructed. Since her next battle wasn't until two days later, hopefully she can finally rest up, and possibly go back to Tokyo to visit her mother. Yeah, like Helena will allow me to even do that, she thought to herself as she sat back down on her hotel bed. After stretching her legs out for a couple of seconds, there was a rapid knock on the door. The knocks continued as she got up to answer it, thinking it was either Lili or Christie.

"Alright alright! Sheesh Lili—"Teal said opening the door, but stopped. "Xiao?!"

"Hey girlie!" Xiayou said excitedly.

The two girls squealed and hugged each other, and it was like they were never separated in the first place.

"What are you doing here?" Teal practically yelled at her.

"You know I'd never miss a King of Iron Fist Tournament, Teal. And how come you didn't tell me that you were in it too?" Xiayou said.

"I'm sorry, I was kinda thrown into it at the last minute. How come I didn't see you until now?"

"They had me fighting in Thailand first, and then I came here." Xiayou said, and then smiled. "This is awesome Teal! We might fight against each other for real."

"Yeah, we might." Teal said. "If we do, don't hold back on me okay? I'm kinda supposed to win every fight, so I wanna beat you fair and square."

"Who says you're gonna beat me?" Xiayou smirked. "But you don't have to worry about that. I always give it my all. Can I come inside now?"

"Oh! Of course, my best friend." Teal said, letting her inside of the room.

They both sat on the bed and began catching up, and it was like old times all over again. Teal had explained to Xiayou everything that had happened to her, from mistaking Leo for a boy, to seeing Jin once again, and even the events the happened the night before.

"You got to see Jin before me? Aww." Xiayou said when she found out.

"This is serious, Xiao. He's doing a lot of bad things with his company. Actually, none of these companies are doing any good. I'm already being used for one companies muscule." Teal said.

"Right, I know." Xiayou nodded. "But it's still been years since I've physically seen him. I mean, I did consider him a friend at one point."

"Yeah, me too..." Teal said.

Later that night, the girls decided to go out together. It was back to club Echo, since it would be the fighter's last night in Okinawa. Teal was relieved that Helena hadn't asked her to do any "top secret" missions for the night, and just wanted to have fun for the first time. While she was getting dressed, she was finally able to speak to her mother to see how she was doing. It had only been a week, but it felt like forever, and she really did miss her mommy.

"How is the senior trip going musume? I miss you." Asai asked her.

"I miss you too mommy, the trip is...fine."

"Okay. I trust you not making bad decisions or fighting. You know I don't like fighting."

Teal thought about all of the fights she's already been in so far, and how she was almost killed multiple times, and sighed. "Yeah, I know you don't..."

"Okay. Is Xiaoyu and Miharu with you too?"

"Xiao is, Miharu is back at home." Teal said. "And she says hi mommy."
"Tell her I said 'what's good'." Asai said.

Hearing her mom trying to talk slang in her thick Japanese accent made Teal laugh. " 'What's good?' Mommy, please."

"I'm just trying to be 'with it'. Is that what you kids are saying nowadays?" Asai asked.

Teal laughed louder. "I'll let you know when I see one mommy."

"Okay okay. What are you doing right now?"

"We're getting ready to go out."

"Oh, really? Well I won't hold you up. I talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay mom. Suki desu."

"Suki desu, I love you too."

Teal hung up the phone just as Xiayou came out of the bathroom. "Are you ready? We're waiting on youu."

"Alright, alright, I'm ready." Teal said as she slipped on her other boot. "Let's go."

When they got to the club, it was already in full swing, and the techno-music bumped throughout the place. Xiayou had immediately gotten excited and grabbed Lili, dragging her onto the dancefloor. Teal and Asuka had sat at the bar, and while Asuka ordered a drink, Teal had only ordered a Sprite.

"This club is pretty jumping, huh?" Asuka asked.

"Yeah, it is." Teal said as she looked at Xiayou and Lili on the dancefloor.

They continued to talk to each other until Teal felt someone tapped her shoulder. She turned around and saw a man looking at her.

"I knew I've seen you before." He said in English. Teal recognized his accent, and figured he had to be British. She thought he was kind of good looking too, and he looked not too much older than her. "Are you fighting in the tournament too?"

"Mhmm." Teal nodded her head, and began to speak in her fluent English. "I'm guessing that you are too."

"Guilty. I'm Steve." He said, holding his hand out.

"Teal." She said, shaking it.

"Do you wanna dance?" Steve suddenly asked her.

Teal looked at him, and then at Asuka, who was downing her second drink. Asuka looked at her and smiled.

"Go ahead." She said. "I'll probably be on the floor next to you soon anyway."

"Okay." Teal shrugged, getting out of her chair.

Steve lead her to the dancefloor just as the music changed up. A techno version of "The Way I Are" by Timbaland began playing, and Teal immediately got into the dancing mood. After dancing with him for three songs, she had to use the bathroom and walked away. The club's bathroom had a pretty dim black light, so she could barely see in front of her. She quickly used the bathroom and walked to the sink to wash her hands. The bathroom door opened and Teal didn't pay attention to who walked inside.

"This bathroom is too dark." A voice said from behind her.

"Yeah, it is." Teal said, not bothering to turn around.

"I just wanted to see if it was really you, Teal Yakima." The voice said again.

Teal stopped washing her hands and turned around slowly. There was another woman in front of her, but she had a mask over her face, so Teal couldn't tell who it was.

"Who are you?" Teal asked slowly.

"The woman that's going to kill you." She said.

Almost immediately, the woman kicked Teal with force, and caused her to slide towards the wall. Teal caught her balance before she hit the wall, and dodged another one of the woman's hits. She grabbed her arm and pushed it back, and the woman easily landed back on her feet.

"But if you want to know my actual name, I go by Kunimitsu." The woman said.

"Look, Kunimitsu or whatever your name is, whoever you're looking for is not here." Teal said.

"I'm looking for you, Teal. I was assigned to capture and kill you, and I never fail a mission." Kunimitsu said.

"Well, you're gonna fail this one." Teal said, getting into her fighting stance.

Kunimitsu charged at Teal again, this time simultaneously taking out two knives and began trying to slice her with it. Teal dodged almost all of her swings, except for her last one, which cut through her shirt.

"Ugh, what?! I paid 30 bucks for this shirt!" Teal said angrily, and began trying to hit her also.

Kunimitsu dodged most of Teal's hits, but Teal caught her off guard with a round kick, which was followed by another kick to the stomach, causing Kunimitsu to fly back towards the door. Teal ran up to her, attempting to jump and slam her, but Kunimitsu grabbed her arms and threw her out of the bathroom violently. Before Teal could get her mind around what was going on, she saw Kunimitsu flying down towards her with her with her knives, and moved out of the way quickly. Lili, Xiayou and Asuka were around the bathroom at this time, and they helped her up.

"Teal! Are you okay?" Xiayou asked.

"Your little friends will not stop me from completing my mission." Kunimitsu said.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Lili said.

Even though the music from downstairs still boomed loud enough to hear from where the bathroom was, Teal still heard a phone ringing and realized it was Kunimitsu's.

"Hello?Yes...I was just getting ready to finish her off...Understood...Okay." Kunimitsu said. She hung up the phone and looked at Teal. "You're lucky that the plan was changed. We'll definitely be seeing each other."

After she ran away, Teal looked at the rest of her friends, and seen that they were just as confused as she was.

"What's up with the ninja girl?" Asuka asked her.

"I dunno... but I think a hit was put on me." Teal said.