"Kazuya!"
A now sixteen-year old Kazuya walked up the familiar path to the Kazama residence and after almost a decade of being mostly secluded in the mountains of Hokkaido, it felt strange to be back on the island of Kyushu. Having not seen him in nine long years, Jun excitedly ran to meet him and the corner of his mouth curved in a small smile when he heard the sound of her voice. "Sashiburi-dana, Jun," he greeted her when she finally reached him.
Somewhat breathless from her sprint, she took a moment to catch her breath and studied his appearance. Much taller than her now, Kazuya's skinny frame had filled out considerably and the changes that puberty had brought were striking. His voice had deepened, his chest and shoulders had broadened but what struck her most was the change in his demeanor. The little boy who left nine years ago had been warm, albeit a bit introverted after his trauma, but the young man in front of her had a harder, colder edge to him. Expecting his enthusiasm to match her own, she was surprised and slightly hurt that his smile barely reached his eyes. For the most part, his face was inscrutable but she could still see that he was in fact pleased to see her. Throwing her arms around him, she hugged him tightly. "It's so good to see you again! Welcome home!"
Caught off guard by her exuberance, he dropped his duffel bag and hesitated a moment before slowly returning her hug. "Arigato," he returned quietly. When he had left to study martial arts, Jun was only seven and had remained so in his mind, so it took a bit of getting used to that the young woman with her arms wrapped around him was the same girl. Her hair was still the same, cut about shoulder length and secured with a white headband, and her taste in clothing hadn't changed much, but the body that filled them was much more developed. Now her khaki shorts snugly encased her new hips and thighs and he could see the outline of her bra through her plain white T-shirt.
"Doshta?" Her voice broke his reverie. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Unaware that he had been staring at her, he snapped to and apologized, "I'm sorry, it's just that you look so different."
"So do you!" She poked one of his biceps. "Got a license for those guns?"
"Guns? I don't own any firearms," he said, confused.
It took her a moment to realize that he had taken her joke literally and when she did, it made her laugh merrily. Kazuya did not appear pleased about being laughed at. "What's so funny?"
"Sorry, Kazuya," she giggled. "I keep forgetting that you were a hermit for nine years. It's slang. Guns are a nickname for biceps. I was complimenting you on your arm muscles."
"Oh." His serious expression relaxed a bit. "Well, thank you."
"How about me?" She did a little pirouette in front of him. "Do I look like you expected?"
"Uh, no, not really," he replied.
She seemed a bit crestfallen at his bland response. "Do I look bad?"
"What? Oh, no! I didn't mean it like that," he objected. "You look very nice."
Sticking her tongue out at him, she looked more like the Jun he remembered. "Yeah, thanks a lot." She reached for his duffel bag but he held onto it firmly. "What? I was going to help you carry it."
"It's fine, I can do it."
Letting go of the strap, she looked at his face, which was still so stern. "Kazuya, is something wrong?"
Without changing his expression he asked, "No. Why?"
She blew out a puff of air that lifted her bangs momentarily off of her forehead. "I don't know. You just seem so serious." She said the last part of the sentence while doing an impression of his face, knitting her brows together and glowering. Though he cracked a small smile at her impersonation of him, Kazuya's demeanor remained otherwise stoic. "Are you sure you're okay?"
He thought about it for a moment and conjectured, "Perhaps it's because I've been away from other people for so long."
Having never considered it, she had to admit that his explanation did make sense. Deciding to leave the subject alone for the moment, she took his hand and pulled him towards the house. "Papa will be so glad to see you!"
Entering the house, Kazuya felt nostalgic looking at the place that had been his foster home prior to leaving for his martial arts training. Not surprisingly, very little had changed in the years of his absence. Having started life with a silver spoon in his mouth, he knew that Jun and her father didn't have a great deal of money but they had nonetheless looked after him as if he were one of their own without ever complaining of the additional financial hardship and he had never forgotten it. Walking into his room, he surveyed the spare furnishings and set his duffel bag on his old bed. Pulling out a large wad of yen notes wrapped in paper, he set it aside and closed the bag.
"Ddang, ddang." Standing in the doorway, Jun knocked on the wall and crossed her arms. "So, home sweet home?"
"Exactly as it was when I left," he mused.
"Hungry? We made dinner in honor of your homecoming."
"Sure. Be there in a minute." Putting the money in the pouch of his worn hooded sweater, he followed her into the kitchen.
"Kazuya! So good to see you!" Jun's father smiled broadly as he stepped into the room.
"Kazama-san, thank you for having me back in your home," he returned, bowing.
"You are always welcome here, you must know that," her father said warmly.
Taking the money out of his sweater pouch, Kazuya respectfully offered it to him with both hands, his head lowered. "Please accept this."
Jun's father waved it away. "Kazuya-kun, I cannot take that."
He continued to hold it out to him, looking at the floor. "Please, it is a sign of my thanks to you. It would grieve me deeply if you were to refuse." Patiently, he waited with his hands extended.
"Papa, he really means it," Jun urged. "Just take it."
Taking the wad of bills from his hands awkwardly, he thanked him. "Kazuya-kun, you really didn't have to do this."
"I know, Kazama-san, but I wanted to." His voice was earnest.
"Well, I don't know about you two," Jun broke in, "but I'm hungry!"
"That's right, Jun cooked a very special meal in honor of your return," her father said, smiling.
"That sounds wonderful. I have not had a home cooked meal in so long."
Giggling, Jun pushed them both towards the dining table. "Dozo." When the three had sat down, it made her so happy to see Kazuya really tuck into his dinner. He said very little during the meal, but she hoped it was because he was enjoying it so much. When they had finished, she brought out some red bean mochi for dessert.
Sighing contentedly, Kazuya leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. "That was amazing, Jun. You really outdid yourself."
Blushing at his complement, she pretended to be cleaning some dishes so he couldn't see her pleasure at his comment. "Oh, it was no big deal," she said breezily.
The night was very peaceful and the only sound other than Jun's fussing in the kitchen was the noise of the cicadas and crickets outside. "Would you excuse me? I think I will get some air," Kazuya bowed, pushing his chair back.
"Of course," her father nodded. "I have to get to sleep soon anyhow. I must be getting old. And I'm sure that you and Jun must have a lot of catching up to do." Patting him on the shoulder, he said, "Good night."
Jun continued to pretend that she was absorbed with the dishes so that she could watch and see what Kazuya would do. Walking out of the house, he stood outside and stared at the sky, then walked out of her line of sight. Drying her hands, she went outside to see where he went and found him on his knees at the edge of the cliff he had been thrown from. "What are you doing?" she shrieked.
Turning calmly, he met her eyes and answered, "Just looking."
"Baga! You could fall in!" She began pulling him away from the edge.
"Jun, I won't fall," he assured her quietly.
"Why would you want to look down there anyway?"
Shrugging, he said, "I don't know. It's been over ten years since I looked into that gorge. I wanted to see how it would make me feel."
She let go of his arm. "Well, how did it make you feel?"
"I felt nothing really. It's almost as if it never happened." His eyes wandered to the chasm again.
"Well, don't go near it while I'm around, okay?" she ordered. "It makes me nervous." She felt relieved when he simply nodded. Wanting to change the subject, she asked, "Where did you get all that money?"
"I earned a little here and there," was the vague response.
"How?"
Arching a brow, he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Why do you want to know?"
Putting her hands on her hips, she looked disapprovingly at him. "Why don't you want to tell me? Did you steal it?"
Offended at the notion, he shot back, "Of course not."
"Well, then how did you get it?" Crossing her arms, she waited for his reply.
Seeing that her curiosity would not be appeased, he explained, "I won the money."
"Won it doing what, exactly?" Her expression was one of skepticism.
"Fighting."
Not understanding, she blurted out, "Huh?"
"I haven't been at the dojo in a few years." Lying down, he put his hands behind his head and looked up at the stars. "For the last two years I've been sort of wandering around Asia trying to perfect my fighting skills. Street fights mostly. There's usually a lot of betting involved, but the money I gave your father was from my winnings."
Surprised, she didn't know what to say except, "There was a lot of money there."
"Yes." He continued to survey the constellations.
"You must be pretty good," she guessed. The stack of bills he gave her father was the size of a small brick.
"I do okay," he said modestly.
Confused, she wondered aloud, "Why did you leave the dojo?"
"I kind of didn't have a choice."
"What do you mean?"
Closing his eyes, he was quiet for a minute and finally said, "Jun, let's not talk about this now, okay?"
Though she was dying to know what had happened, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable. "Okay then. Will you get some sleep?"
"I'll be in momentarily," he promised. As she walked away she thought she heard him say, "Almost time."
"Almost time for what?" she echoed.
Not realizing that she had heard him, he paused for a moment and haltingly said, "Almost…time for bed."
Though it sounded odd, she bid him good night and went to her room to prepare for bed. He's so odd now, she thought to herself. Something isn't right about him. Looking out her window, she could see Kazuya still lying down where she had left him, but when she looked closer, she could see that his lips were moving and he was mumbling something to himself. She didn't know why, but something about it made her extremely uneasy and she made herself get in bed so she wouldn't have to see him doing it.
Still lying on the grass, Kazuya stared at the black dome of the sky.
It will not be long before he will pay in full for his treachery.
Kazuya's face contorted into an eerie smile. "No, not long at all," he said to the emptiness around him. "Not long at all…" He began laughing softly to himself, not knowing that Jun could hear the disturbing sound from where she lay.
sashiburi-dana: long time no see
doshta: what's the matter
ddang ddang: knock knock
dozo: this way
mochi: rice cakes
baga: idiot
