Breathe Into Me

"Are you even sure he hears you?"

"If not, I'll have to beat him down…"

"Can you handle him?"

"I'll do what I can…"

Alisa and I reached the top of the Mishima Ziabatsu, and the corridor introduced us to even more dead bodies. I could see why Lars was having a hard time; blood covered the corridor like clothing. And surprisingly, I could smell it.

"This blood is disgusting," I said, still walking. "I don't understand how he can say that blood is delicious."

"He is a devil," Alisa said. "Things are different in his eyes. As for you, you are the opposite of a devil because of Ms. Kazama's power. The powers you possess act like a catalyst as well, but it is not overwhelming. His drive to protect you has allowed his devil to take over his body at an alarming rate."

I blinked once as I laid my hand on the door knob. Bloodshed is the cause of this? Then that means that what Jin said about global chaos wasn't a lie…

"Jin was right about global chaos…he wasn't lying. But I could tell that he didn't just leave us for any reason. There must be something here that he didn't want us to see."

I opened the door and ran to the main computer; the monitor displayed a video. I guess it was for Lars and me. I clicked on it and began to watch it.

"Xiao, if you're watching this, it means that something's terrible happened. I cannot come back and see you yet, because there is someone I must take care of alone. Whatever you do, don't follow me."

Jin had even left a video explaining his sudden absence. He must've did all of this after he took care of Heihachi.

He let out a brutal scream, and I saw his devil markings cover his body in an instant. My heart twisted when I saw him struggling. I couldn't do anything to help…

"Look, Xiao…Just…just go home! This isn't…a fight that you…you can handle…!"

With that being said, he let out a monstrous roar and flew away into the sky. That would explain the gaping hole in the ceiling…

"Jack," I said. "Lay Lars down on the ground and stay close to him. I'm gonna look around for a moment."

Jack did as I said and laid down, whimpering. I'll never understand dogs, but they're so cute! Alisa didn't follow me; she must've realized that this didn't really involve her. I just walked into the next room alone.

(Hwoarang)

I don't understand why Xiao told us to stay put. But, this is her fight; better not get involved.

"Has it been easy adjusting to your original life?" I asked.

"Yes it has," Jun said. "At first, I was a little skeptical about Kazuya, but his aura didn't give off a bad vibe. He changed, somehow…"

"Don't worry about how he changed," Asuka said. "He's really a good person; and a great father! Only a man like Kazuya would go to such lengths to find Jin!"

"I suppose you're right."

Jun cast a gentle smile at both of us. I gave off a smile of my own, but not for the reasons the she was. I was smiling because something inside of me just warmed me from the inside out. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't care.

"Well, what do we do now?" I said, bored out of my mind. "We can't really go anywhere."

"Out in the woods, there's a waterfall back there. You guys can go check out."

I blinked twice; there was a waterfall in the woods? Awesome!

"There's a waterfall in the backyard?" I exclaimed. "Awesome; let's go, Asuka! Thank you so much!"

Jun giggled and waved even as I dragged Asuka out of the house in a rush.

"Hwoarang, slow down, the waterfall's not going anywhere!"

"I still wanna see it! I hope it's large enough for me to do a cannonball off the top!"

Yes, I am I huge big kid. Don't judge me for it, either.

(Ling Xiaoyu)

I traveled into his library room, where the bookshelves were touching the ceiling. To be honest, I didn't think he read books. But, with confusion surrounding him, I would be reading everything in relevance to my situation.

"He's hiding something," I whispered as I looked around the library. "But where would he hide something so significant?"

"You wanna know why he doesn't wanna tell you?"

I looked around, searching for the voice. I heard someone's footsteps, but I couldn't tell exactly where they were. But I didn't take that person as a threat.

"Kazuya, is that you?"

The footsteps stopped, and the figure stepped out of the shadows. Geez, I almost had a heart attack…

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" He said. "I could've stopped snooping a long time ago!"

"Well, I wasn't gonna try to scare you; by the way, why are you here?"

"I came here to give you some important information. Do you wanna hear it?"

I nodded; if it's information about Jin, I wanna know every detail. "Yes; what is it?"

"You might wanna sit down for this…"

I sat down on the couch, getting myself comfortable. What's this about?

"I had did some research on the devil gene and I came up with some theories as to why he disappeared afterwards. You may wanna read through them before jumping to conclusions."

He handed me a manila folder filled with reports on the devil gene and strategies on how to deal with it. When I read through every one, I felt confident, but also scared. I had a choice to make when I found him; will I kill him? Or will I put him in a coma?

"Alright…let's go back to the main office so Alisa can scan these for good measure."

He followed me out of the library and into the main room. I approached Alisa and gave her the files that Kazuya gave me.

"Alisa, can you scan these files for me, please?" I asked. "They're extremely important."

"Of course; performing scan and save process…"

As she did that, I approached Lars' limp form. I didn't mean to hit him as hard as I did, but it was for his own good. I shook him slightly to wake him.

"Lars," I whispered. "Wake up…we're in the main room."

He started to stir. "Ugh…ouch, what happened…?"

His gaze lingered to me for a second and he frowned slightly. "Why'd you hit me so hard…?"

"I'm sorry…can you stand?"

"Yeah…"

He slowly stood up and groaned in pain slightly. Damn, I didn't mean to hit him that hard. I guess I took Tekken Force training a little too serious.

"Don't strain yourself if you can move," I said, helping him to his feet. "I can support you."

"No, I'm fine…I'm starting to heal."

He stretched out his back and within an instant; I saw the bruise that I granted him suddenly became a memory. I blinked at his sudden appearance.

His body returned to its strong, muscular state as he stretched. His eyes were no longer glazed over; I could now see the light reflecting against his eyes. He looked like work of art…

"So, uh…" I shook my head, trying to clear my head for a quick minute. "We have some new Intel on the devil gene itself. We're hoping that it might lead to something on Jin."

"It might; but it'll be fine. We're gonna find him, okay?"

He hugged me tightly, reassuring me that we're gonna be looking for him, no matter how long it takes. I cuddled next to him.

"Thank you, Lars…"

I know I'm gonna regret this, but I did it anyway; I kissed him softly, desperately trying to keep myself from falling on top of him. Yes, this is true…and don't get any ideas.

I broke the kiss before we could continue any further. Um, yeah…when we find Jin, I might fear for my life; hell, all of ours.

"Um, Alisa, did you finish the scanning of the files?"

"Yes; scan complete. Saving files…"

I closed my eyes, now realizing that the video Jin left behind for us was no doubt another riddle. And that came with another realization; Jin was the one sending the riddles.

Um, okay! If this chapter's boring, let me know! I'll make sure to make the next chapter fun!

Xiaoyu, stop fighting your feelings for Lars! You like him, so just tell him already! But don't do anything you might regret.

Hwoarang being a kid again is awesome!

Send in some good reviews! Later!