Earlier that morning...
Jin sits perched at the end of the bed with his elbows balanced on his knees. His eyes are closed in deep meditation as he fights the demon back. He rubs the inside of his palm with his thumb incessantly, and slowly, he feels the evil retreating. The crawling underneath his skin minimizes to an itch and the voices that scream inside his head reduce to whispers laced in his own thoughts. He wants it to go away. He wills it to go away.
The skin of his palm has become calloused over time, but he keeps rubbing the same spot. It's the only thing that physically helps Jin gain control. His breaths are shaky, but controlled; five seconds inhale, five seconds exhale. The black seared tattoos start to lift from his skin and he clenches his teeth through the pain. Steam rises from his torso and forehead as they sizzle away, leaving his skin in the same intricate design they branded themselves on. Jin grips the side of the bed, gathering the sheets between his fingers as the pain increases. His body burns all over. He wants to scream out, but he can't. Instead, he focuses on his thoughts.
The will of man is greater than the devil.
You will not control me.
I am strong enough to get through this.
You will not control me.
The pain finally starts to subside and his grip on the sheets loosens. Jin opens his eyes and glares into the cracked mirror across from him as the yellow of his eyes return to their almond brown. He exhales in relief. The devil is gone, for now.
He doesn't have much time.
He stands up from the bed, his legs weak as he steps over the piles of clothes and old leather-bound books of history and religion haphazardly strewn about the room. He stumbles into the bathroom, exhausted, leaning against the sink for support. Each time the devil unleashes, it seems to take more of Jin's energy to contain it again. He needs rest but is too unsettled to sleep for long. He only dreams of the devil. It keeps him up at night.
He should have jumped.
He should have thrown himself over the ledge and greeted his death willingly. At least then his soul could have finally rested. At least he could have saved Xiaoyu from getting hurt.
There is a knock on his apartment door and he stiffens. Only a couple people should know where he is and they know better than to come here. Jin shuffles into the empty living room and stands in front of the door as he waits for the knocking to continue. There are two more soft knocks and then a small envelope slides underneath the door and stops right in front of his feet.
The front of the envelope is titled: JIN K.
He picks up the envelope and tears the seal with one swipe of his finger, pulling out a shiny purple business card trimmed with a gold border. The purple shimmers to green like a hologram when Jin angles it against the light to flip it over. The other side is trimmed with the gold border but the card itself is white and has a message written in elegant cursive.
I have something for you to try
-Zafina
Jin sighs, raking his fingers through his hair. He tosses the card and envelope back on the floor and turns to get dressed in jeans, a black tshirt and jacket. He grabs his apartment key from the kitchen counter and opens the door to a little girl not even half his size.
She cranes her head up to look at him and smiles wide. Her two front teeth are missing. "Hi, Mister Neighbor!"
Jin stares down at the little girl. Her name is Kiku and she lives with her mother in the apartment next door. She has a long ponytail of sleek black hair and wears a polka dot dress with a dozen friendship bracelets on her wrist. Sometimes Kiku can hear Jin when he's in pain and asks him through the vents if he needs a hug.
"Where you going?" Kiku asks as Jin steps out the apartment and locks the door behind him.
"Out."
Jin walks down the hall toward the stairs and she follows, skipping behind him and running her fingers along the chipped paint. Jin has become the center of her fascination since he moved in. At first he was worried she'd bring on too much attention, but no one else has even noticed him. "Well, can I come?"
"No."
"Why not? I won't cause any trouble. You won't even know I'm there."
Jin starts down the stairs and pulls the hood of his jacket up to cover most of his face. "No."
"Well, do you want to talk through the vents when you get back?" Halfway down, Kiku flops down on the steps resting her chin on her palm and a pout on her lips.
"Maybe," Jin says, glancing over his shoulder just in time to see a smile shoot across Kiku's face.
"Okay, bye mister neighbor!" she calls after him, dashing back up the stairs.
"Took you long enough," Zafina says when she cracks the door to her town home.
"A bit theatrical with the message, don't you think?"
"Hmm, maybe. But then again, I can't reach you by phone so..." Zafina swings open the door as she leans against the frame. She is dressed in a white blouse and a long brown skirt that has several tiny copper-toned beads hanging on the fringe, making noise whenever she moves. Her voice is low and sultry. "Are you going to come in, Jin Kazama?"
Jin glances inside then back at Zafina. "Are you alone?"
She waves a dismissive hand leaving the door open for Jin as she starts down the hallway. "Miguel's at the gym. What is it with you two anyway?"
Jin steps inside, closing the door behind him and pushes back his hood. He looks around the narrow town house. Though he has been here before, each time he is enchanted by the colors and trinkets that decorate the area. The walls are painted a deep royal purple, ornamented with eccentric and abstract paintings and various sized and colored vases. Thick embroidered curtains flank the windows and doors and parts of the hallway making the living area appear smaller, more intimate. There is a gold birdcage in the light of the bay window with two doves perched on their respective branches and above them are a handful of wood chimes, some small enough to fit in his palm. "You know better than I do. He thinks I killed his sister."
A beautifully woven tapestry sits above the fireplace in the living area. It has the same purple and green shimmer as the card Zafina sent him. Zafina sits down on one of the plush tan couches and pats the cushion next to her for Jin. "Well, didn't you?"
Jin sits on the arm of the couch across from her instead. "I didn't order the bombing. There was an issue of miscommunication."
Zafina watches him carefully, an attractive smirk spreading across her tan flawless face. She has always reminded Jin of a siren-gypsy crossbreed. Her face and voice are no doubt alluring and her involvement in magic is nothing short of mysterious. "Sounds like issues of authority."
"Either way, I'd rather not confront him until I can… control my nature. I don't want to hurt anyone else." Jin meets Zafina's dark eyes. "Do you have something for me or not?"
"I do," she says. "How are you feeling? You look fair today."
Jin looks down and makes note of his steady hands. He balls them both into fists and shoves them into his jacket. "Better now. I had a change this morning."
"How long were you under?"
"Not long… I timed three hours."
Zafina raises an eyebrow, surprised. "And you stayed contained in your room all that time?"
Jin shakes his head slowly, trying to piece back the horror. "I escaped through the window this time."
"Do you remember any of it?"
Jin closes his eyes and shakes his head. A shudder flashes through his body and is gone just as quickly. "I don't even know how I got back."
"Ah." She presses her lips together with pity as she stands. The birds subsequently lift from their branches and flutter about the cage. She goes down the hallway out of view and quickly returns with two odd-shaped vials in her hand. When she sits back down the birds settle back onto their branches. Jin wonders if the birds are entranced by some type of spell.
Her voice is easy. "So the cold shower didn't work for you, but we were able to find a point of comfort in your palm. I threw these together for you. Hopefully, it can help with the change."
She holds the first vial up for Jin to see. It is shaped like a long narrow diamond, its contents a soft green.
"This will help keep you calm throughout the day," she explains. "It will be harder to make you angry and it will keep you mind clear. You take this every day."
She hands the vial to Jin and he holds it up to get a closer look.
"This," she holds up a rectangular bottle with red contents, "is something a little more mystic. This is what you take when you know the change is coming."
Jin places the first bottle in his jacket and reaches for the second one. The liquid is murky, the bottle warm in his hands. "What does it do?"
Zafina clears her throat. "It slows your heart rate… tremendously."
Jin meets her eyes and takes a hard swallow. "Is it dangerous? For me, I mean."
"Aren't you a danger to everyone else?" she says flatly. Jin chews his bottom lip but doesn't protest as Zafina continues. "It works more like a sedative drug. The intention of the potion is to slow your heart rate enough to stop the demon from spreading. Usually, your heart is racing, right?. Well, I want to reverse that effect so it cannot take full control."
Another quick shudder ignites his body, and Zafina, who has been watching him intently asks, "Are you cold? You seem to have the chills."
"No," he responds quickly, shoving the second vial in his jacket next to the other. "I'm fine."
The thought of containing the demon fills Jin with hope but something starting to whisper inside takes that hope away. It is the demon, seeping into his mind, telling Jin it will not work. When he pulls his hand back out he realizes he is trembling and a slight itch begins in his forearm. Zafina notices it too, stiffening in place on the couch next to him. The air shifts, as if the cool has been sucked out of the room and the birds start to buzz around the cage again. Jin turns to look at the birds and realizes a third one flaps about the cage with the two others. He starts to rub his palm, back and forth as nervousness creeps into his chest. "It's happening."
Zafina reaches out and places a hand on his knee. Her voice is unmistakably calm when she says, "Try out the first vial now."
Jin pulls out the green diamond bottle from his jacket and unscrews the top, watching Zafina from the side of his eye as he takes a swig. The taste is cool in his mouth and he immediately starts to feel the effects of the potion. The cool rushes through his whole body down to his fingertips like liquid ice. It spills down his throat, coats his chest, and races through the veins of his legs. His mind feels hazy. He can't hold onto a single solid thought, but instead, they float around like suggestions, inklings of an idea, a hazy burst of a memory:
"Jin, come on. Don't go easy on me," Xiaoyu taunts him. She drops into her crouching phoenix, ready to spar.
He stands across from her with a smile on his lips. "I never go easy."
He charges at her, swinging with his right hook. She parries and sends a strong kick from behind at him. He catches it just in front of his chest and twists her foot, spinning her body toward the ground. She hits the mat hard, rolls back and returns to her crouching phoenix. Determined, she smiles as she catches her breath. She jumps up to do a scissor-kick, landing one in his side but he catches the other, throwing her back down. She sends a strong sweeping foot underneath him and he goes down hard on his back landing next to Xiaoyu.
"See." Xiaoyu lies back on the mat and throws her hands out on her side to catch her breath. "I can get you down one way or another."
Jin hops up easily and offers her a hand with a wide grin. "Let's work on having you still standing when that happens."
She rolls her eyes while taking his hand and he launches her up from the mats. When her feet land she stumbles forward, falling into Jin. She looks up at him, pushing off of his hard torso, gathering her hands behind her back.
The pink flush in Xiaoyu's cheeks makes Jin smile.
Xiaoyu lets out a nervous laugh, "Sorry."
Zafina studies Jin intently, looking between his eyes and hands. They start to steady again and the glazed look in his eye returns to its original alertness. The black aura she saw hovering over him before is vanishing. Zafina glances over his shoulder at the birdcage where the birds have settled back on their branches.
Two birds.
Zafina smiles, "It works."
When Jin gets back to the complex, the streets are cast under the shadow of the tall buildings blocking the orange afternoon sun. Kiku is sitting out front with a flimsy baby doll in her arms. She looks up and sees Jin coming her way, jumping to her feet.
"Mr. Neighbor, you're back!" She is elated. Jin rustles his hand over her hair and she follows him inside. "Where have you been?"
Jin looks down at her. She laughs pretending to zip her lips. "Opps, I forgot."
"Where's your mother?" Jin asks.
"With her boyfriend."
He picks up on her melancholy tone. "You don't like him?"
"Not really. Sometimes he yells at her." Kiku looks up at Jin as if discovering something for the first time. "You can hear them through the vents, can't you?"
"Sometimes." They start up the stairs and he lets Kiku hang onto his forearm as he swings her up and over the last few stairs. Jin has heard a lot of things through the vents. Kiku's mom and her boyfriend arguing, Kiku's bad dreams, Kiku crying in her room for her dad, he's heard it all. Neither Kiku nor her mother knows where he is. Jin figures everyone has their own problems.
They get up to Jin's door where there is a late notice from the landlord taped on.
"Oooo," Kiku coos as Jin rips it from the door. "You're in trouble."
He crumbles the notice up into a ball. He's got rent to pay, an empty fridge and no cash. He owes Zafina something too. Jin looks down at Kiku.
He sighs, "You want to take a walk with me?"
Kiku nods, her brown eyes wide and hopeful. "Where are we going?"
"To the bank."