Bodominjarvi: Although there's some actions of Nina's I dissprove of in the game, I've never had a problem with Nina's canonical personality (She's a true ice queen – no nonsense, confident, pragmatist, violent as hell, mean and only kind to a few souls). That being said, I've always known she is capable of kindness and feeling emotions deeply. I mean if this woman can bring flowers to her dad's grave, it's possible she can be kind to others too and be close with Jin. I love her sense of humor too, people often miss it but it's there. She's not a boring one dimensional character to me. Also, I prefer to write closely to her canon self as opposed to taking a good chunk of her personality out and replacing it with bits of other things- things she's not so if you say that's how Nina would react, it makes me happy. :) I love getting into her mind and writing her. She's enriching and fun. My fav female Tekken character and main. Love her lots!

I really love the term 'lovebirds' for Jina. Jin and Nina (Jina) are the heart of this story and not the war so I'm glad my story is giving the impression of how close they are and that they give of a sense of togetherness. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter Sixteen

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He'd never seen death up close before. Even when he eliminated the demonic Jinpachi who was gone as soon as the final punch turned him into dust. Jin had been killed too, but gunshots but it was different to feel it and different to see it happen to someone else.

One moment, that man was talking to them and the next, he was dead. Like the switch of a button. Gone. It happened so quick. Those lifeless eyes…

It was a sign of the impending war. One which he'd have to start.

Now that he had seen death in another angle, he was sure nothing else could shock him anymore about that morbid topic. He'd been so shaken up once he returned.

Nina was right, for the war to start he was going to have to cross the lines. It's just so ironic he felt so emotionally attached to a woman who brought death upon others. Life was so strange.

He heard the constant ringing from countless calls from the reception to Nina's room. She forgot to pick up her dry cleaning so he did it for her and placed it in her room. Being in the room made his heart ache.

Was she coming back or not?

It was way past the break he granted her and she wasn't answering her calls or emails. He couldn't help but feel somewhat betrayed by this. After how well they got along and now this…

It felt like everything went down the drain. It felt like he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up with her. The more he thought about her absence, the more angry Jin felt. Did he truly have her?

He looked at the napkin with her lip print on it. Jin carefully put it back in his drawer where it would be safe.

Nina didn't come back to the apartment after the day in the office. He had no clue where she went. Her stuff was left. He was sure the dust would soon start collecting on it. He couldn't help but lie down in her bed and breathe in her scent, that shampoo fragrance which still lingered on her pillows. He breathed in deeply. That fresh and clean scent. He loved it so much. There was this strange longing to weave his fingers through her hair as they deeply kissed. He'd never been so attracted to a woman before. Jin couldn't help but to stay longer in her bed. It would have been nice if she was lying next to him.

He closed his eyes and imagined her somewhat soft breathing from the last time she slept on his bed with him. The rise and fall of her chest. The feel of her heartbeats under his palm. It was a pleasant break from the Azazel and Devil filled nightmares.

She'd not going to come back. She ran off. She abandoned him.

He sat up in bed, clearly lying down trying to get some shut eye didn't help. His thoughts always ran rampant when he was trying to relax himself.

I'm all you have. The devil's voice echoed in his mind. No one will protect you but me.

That entity never let up on it's seduction attempts. Trying to win him over to the dark side. It knew his thoughts, feelings and anything else that conjured up in Jin's mind. Sometimes it felt like Jin was the intruder inhabiting his own body. Day by day, the devil was convincing him not to hate him. At times, Jin almost gave in and that scared him.

My father merged with the devil. I won't make the same mistake. Jin thought. The thought of sharing his body with an entity made him feel sick. This was his body. His.

Without me, your body would not be. The devil countered. I bring life to you. You won't even enjoy it. Pitiful.

You're trying to push me out of my body. Jin shot back silently. Hating the devil couldn't become a chore, it had to feel right.

You weren't born with the weakness. It was created. By your own fear. Embrace me and live.

He felt sick that it was using the 'live' thing. He once said that to a woman after her exorcism. When he saw her all broken with no hope after their fight in the woods. Perhaps the devil was around that time too. It was mysterious really. With his fingers, he combed through his bangs.

A second passed. Then another. And another.

Devil's words weighed up in his mind. It wasn't lying. Maybe..

No, don't go there! Jin quickly thought.

He felt his hand rise up and lightly stroke his cheek. It wasn't Jin doing that. He grimaced and turned his face away with what little power he had salvaged from the monster.

You're alone and only I'm here.

Jin closed his eyes in shame as devil's strange touch comforted him. He hated himself for it.

This is why he was desperate to get rid of it. To awaken Azazel and end all the monstrosity.

He'd have to work harder to make sure there wouldn't be a next time.

In a span of a few years, Jin has had more than one goal. First was to find Ogre and destroy him out of revenge for his mother's death. He succeeded but died. Second was to destroy Heihachi and take control of the Zaibatsu, he couldn't do it and left. Simultaneously, he was trying to fight off the devil's control. Next goal was to end Jinpachi and take control of the Zaibatsu. Which he succeeded. But killing Jinpachi broke him. If going by fate's pattern, he hoped his current goal was not going to be a failure. He shut down his conscience everytime it used his mother's image to warn him. He despised that he went against her teachings and forced himself to not think of her too much. It was not easy shutting his heart off. It wasn't easy not letting his mother- his moral compass guide him because he had a different opinion from her about this war.

It was necessary.

So no other soul could ever be burdened with the Devil Gene and he would be freed. There was nothing else in the world that could stop Devil.

"Why do you hate the devil so much?" The old man asked Jin as he lay in the hospital bed. "Why do we all hate the devil so much?"

It took Jin a moment to register that the old man was talking about the general depiction of devil.

"Because it hates us." Jin responded. He looked over to the nightstand and saw a Book called The Famished Road by Ben Okri. This terminally ill man had the energy to read? Did reading that prompt the man to ask a strange question?

"Why does the devil hate us? What did we do?" He croaked.

Oh. So he had more philosophical questions to ask. Maybe Jin had to read that book too.

"I asked myself that question many times and the only answer I could come up with was that…," He paused and closed his eyes, "The devil sees us humans as weak. It thinks it is superior to us and at the same time….it envies us." Jin replied, not feeling the zeal of his own statement.

The devil didn't even counter his words. Pitiful.

"We are envied." The old man let out a lazy chuckle. "Because God favored us."

Jin folded his arms and said nothing more. If that was true then Jin didn't have an answer on why God favored the human species. The old man was delirious but Jin did not regret coming to check upon his progress. He did promise Eddy to keep an eye on the old man. On the surface, the old man seemed okay but Jin's intuition told him that this was going to be the last conversation this old man would be having for a long while. Maybe he'd never ever have one again. Eddy met the old man earlier which was good.

Then a sick feeling settled in Jin's stomach. He had these feelings before something bad happened. As a child, whenever he had a feeling that someone was going to pass away, they'd die later on. Whether it was a few days, weeks or months, they still died. He never told his mother because it scared him.

It happened less often during his time with his grandfather.

"You think you're going to recover?" Jin asked the man. "Do you have hope?"

A wry smile spread across the old Brazilian's face. "No. I won't make it. But since you so kindly paid a visit to me, I have a last wish before my time comes."

The young man sighed. He wanted the treatment to succeed so Eddy didn't leave empty handed. Why wasn't this old man fighting for his life? This old man also seemed to want something from him too. Something he should be telling to Eddy. Why would any stranger entrust their last wish to someone like him?

"Save it." Jin said. "I'm not family to you."

"No. There's no time. Please…child…please listen."

Child.

Jin's heart felt heavy at the word. He was no longer a child. Far from it. But that one word spoken with so much affection, which he always sought from his grandfather but never got. Only his mother showered him with affection that a child needed. He slowly looked at the ailing old man with a slight sadness in his eyes.

The old man squinted, wondering if this young man's blank expression was really replaced by some emotion.

"You are around my Christie's age. Young and innocent. You have yet to see the world, my child. I..," The old man paused and breathed harshly.

I have seen the world enough, Jin thought bitterly.

"I don't want Eddy or Christie to see me like this. I don't want them to know that I won't make it. Please…don't let them.." He gasped, his eyes becoming moist. "I want them to remember me alive and kicking. Please promise me."

Jin was immediately transported to the time his mother protected him right before her death.

Love.

Such a powerful thing. More powerful than hate.

He slowly closed his eyes and exhaled deeply.

"I promise."

Later, the reports confirmed his fear and the man's words. Eddy's grandfather was not going to make it.

It had been five days since she last saw Jin.

Or communicated with him in any form.

Three more days from the two day break he put her on.

Usually making a decision never took this long for her.

Logic told her to leave. Something else tugged at her and said don't.

The anger she felt that day had dissipated, leaving her confused and in a state of limbo. She hadn't returned and instead booked a suite at a posh hotel. There were times where she'd lay in her bed, touch the space vacant to her and wonder about Jin. She'd feel so forlorn. She only slept twice in Jin's bed, once was to comfort him and the second time was because she hurt her ankle and he let her sleep on his bed with him. She could remember that night ever so clearly. First time she desired to have sex with a man but Jin was fast asleep so she, once again had to touch herself and think of him. Had to imagine that it was him caressing her between her legs. She then wondered if Jin knew she slipped her hand between her thighs and looked at him, flicking her bean as risqué thoughts of them having electrifying sex filled Nina's mind. She'd saw him sometimes in matches when he did his rage art, pummelling his opponents with his fists. Her mind could barely register the movement of his arms.

Nina thought, if he could do that with his fists, what could he do with his hips?

She had to use her other hand to cover her mouth to muffle her loud moan. After that, much to her surprise, Jin's hand went to her chest. His hand cupped a breast unintentionally and she was very much in shock to do anything for some time. The warmth of his hand felt so good on the breast he cupped. It was obvious he was dreaming of her because he uttered her name. It sounded like music to her ears. Nina spent the entire night on his bed. God knows how she managed to last.

She also spent a good portion of the night thinking about how good it would be for Jin to shove her against a wall, rip off her shirt, push her bra out of the way to take a nipple into his mouth only to suck her with wild passion. Not letting go of her until she had a mind blowing orgasm. When Devil did that to her in the throne room, Nina thought how much she would love it if Jin did that to her instead.

Despite staying away from Jin, her feelings and desire for him still grew. She was losing control.

Sick of lying in the bed and being anxious, Nina forced herself to get out. So she wouldn't feel the corners of her eyes turn moist as she never showed her emotions in front of others. This sudden influx of emotions that she felt was more than she ever felt before since waking up.

She found her way to a bar to drown her sorrows and secretly mope there with a resting bitch face. The truth was that it was her emotions that got the better of her in that moment. Listening to that threat about Jin becoming a lab rat really riled her up. She downed the drink and it burned her throat. Her hands were slightly shaking at the idea of Jin being bound in a lab and tested on.

The mere thought something so bad like that happening to him made her both quake with disgust and shake with anger. Nina couldn't ever recall a time where she felt so damn protective over another soul. This was something else. Something different. She had a nightmare about it, she and Jin were at gunpoint, some masked person snatched Jin's arm and she grabbed onto an unconscious Jin, crying out for him to be spared, yelling and cursing at the person wanting to take him to the labs for testing against his will. She never had such an emotionally charged reaction in her life. That sheer desperation she felt for him to be safe. She sighed heavily within sips of her drink.

Had she had no emotional ties to Jin, she would have followed his orders to the T.

For the first time, she killed someone out of emotion. Not because she was paid too.

She hadn't gotten in too deep just yet. There was still time to back out. Nip things in the bud.

As she finished her drink, Nina remembered what she said to Jin. That he'd have to cross lines to carry out this war. Oh now she regretted her words. In the heat of the moment, she lost her temper. She hoped though Jin would change his mind about the war and he'd find another way. That was wishful thinking but she was desperate. He'd been dealt a bad hand and she couldn't bear it if his life got even more fucked up than it was. How would he ever come back from being the world's most hated man? It scared her that she couldn't even imagine a way out for him. If anything was to be taken away from this situation, it was that she wasn't as selfish and uncaring as she thought she was.

Eddy found Nina sitting along at a small bar. He drank at the same bar and was the one who told Nina about it before. He sat next to her at the bar and got talking. She told him that she left the place and that both shocked and disappointed him. It was like a kick to the gut.

"Don't you want to return?"

"For the first time, I'm finding it hard to make a decision." She admitted to her friend.

The nervousness came every time she thought about appearing in front of Jin. Her pride held her back from calling him. Hearing his voice again, feeling his dark eyes roam over her after those five days of not being in each other's company…things suddenly became awkward. How would he react to her not being around? Would he accept her back after that? There was a strange ache within her. No soul in the world had ever had this effect on her. No one but Jin.

Nina exhaled softly. She could not let Eddy know the real reason of her reluctance to make a decision.

Eddy didn't know the full extent of her problems or what exactly was going on between her and Jin but he felt that Nina was a kind of woman to be driven by unconscious feelings, if emotions were in the mix and that could perhaps explain why she married Jin. Otherwise it was logical choices all the way. Unlike her, his emotions made almost all his choices in life. Despite that, he could feel her agitation and decided to help clear up her anxiety.

"I've sworn to stay away from Mishimas ever since Kazuya killed my father." Eddy said. "Yet I swallowed my pride to help my master. Sometimes in life we have to do difficult things so others' can benefit. It's not going to be easy. Me spending time in prison wasn't easy, seeing my reputation crumble. I had no one apart from my Master to pull me through the dark times."

Jin had no one who could stand with him now and she was the only one he had. The only one capable to helping him see his plans through. He wanted to eradicate the devil gene from the world so no one else had to suffer. His selfless sacrifice would never be known by the world. She was the only soul to know that.

Upon seeing Nina still being so quiet, Eddy decided to take the conversation elsewhere. He tried lighting up the mood but Nina seemed to be lost in this abyss.

"Right now, word is going around that I'm the loose canon. That I'm the one guilty." Eddy revealed to Nina.

It was hard to ignore the gossiping, the looks and whispers of colleagues when they saw him around. Eddy didn't even know what he'd done to deserve such a thing but it hurt and made him feel sick all over again.

"Who said something?" Nina asked, narrowing her eyes.

He was about to answer her question but then his phone suddenly rang and he muttered a sorry to her before answering. The blonde kept silent as he spoke to whoever it was on the other line. He sounded surprised and anxious.

"There's a meeting about the spy in the next couple of hours." He said to Nina. "The lab results finally came in. It would put those rumors to rest about me."

Finally. He rose up from his seat.

She wanted to ask him to let her know how it went but for some reason but she kept her mouth shut. Nina also stopped herself from asking Eddy to be a messenger for her and Jin. Even that made her feel so tense. It would probably send the wrong message. It would probably make things even more awkward than they were.

Eddy was determined to carry on where she left off from even if she didn't request it. He felt that this was still important to her despite her current circumstances. He had a small hope she'd request him to pass on a message to Jin just to ease her anxiety but that dissipated when she remained silent. He hoped she found the courage to speak to Jin. He didn't want her to end up like himself, unable to face Christie after weeks. It sucked.

"See you around, Nina." The Capoeira fighter said before turning away.

The blonde woman watched him walk out. In that one moment, she finally made her choice.

In an interesting turn of events, Jin found out that the lab results turned up and that they were also addressed to Eddy Gordo. It meant Nina was in touch with him. He was also well aware of the rumors passing through about Eddy actually being a spy for Lee Chaolan. Jin figured he had a reason too betray him. After all, working for the son of a man who killed your beloved parent wasn't an easy pill to swallow. He wasn't sure whether to feel disdain that Eddy lumped him in with Kazuya Mishima or to feel impressed by his lack of nativity. Jin read the reports prior to holding a meeting.

Eddy had a solid reason to be a spy.

This issue was starting to drag and he had to nip this one in the bud.

"The fingerprints founds belong to Mr Gordo." One of the board members said to Jin. "Sir, I think we know whom to fire."

Lars looked at Eddy who seemed really upset. The man had insisted he was innocent all this time but to no avail as pretty much the entire board was against him. Lars too had to stand against him.

The door opened and Nina Williams walked in. Dressed in a blouse, slacks and hair tied up as if it were a normal day at work. Jin's eyes widened. She came back for him.

His pulse raced.

"Don't stop on my account. Carry on." She said nonchantly. "Who was the rat? Or rats? Since there seem to be more than one? I mean which one of you guys are people and which ones are robots?"

She wore a sarcastic smile on her lips as she folded her arms.

The way she came in with that sass, looking like she was about to hand people their asses made her appear as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world. It only made him desire her more and smash his lips against hers. He wanted to lay her down on the conference table and then lay on top of her as her legs wrapped around his waist as they passionately made out. Jin silently huffed, hating that he was feeling that pull towards her again. In a room full of people.

She didn't care for their stares as she approached the table. She stood next to Jin who stiffened. She was standing so close, too close that he could smell her fragrance and feel the warmth of her body. Any closer and they'd touch...

"Eddy Gordo." Lars spoke up. "He's the rat."

Nina's demeanor changed. She frowned. "That's wrong."

"We should hear Miss Williams out." Lars said. "She sounds like she knows what she's talking about."

Nina was surprised by the blonde man's sudden u-turn and before she could say anything, Jin took centre stage.

"Eddy, what's your motivation in on spying on me?" Jin asked, cutting through the awkward silence. He was going to remain neutral on this which was the best course of action. Nina's eyes met with Jin's. It's the first time she'd looked at him in the eyes upon coming into the room. There was those butterflies in the stomach..

"I have none, sir because it's not me. You know the deal between us. I would never sabotage it." Eddy replied, trying to keep cool. He fucking hated being framed. Twice now and the sick feeling was drowning him.

"Why would I take your word for it?" Jin asked him back coolly, breaking eye contact with Nina. "It's your word against the fact."

Despite feeling Nina's questioning eyes on him, Jin refused to look at her. His body was growing slightly hot under her eyes and he really didn't like that she still had that effect on him. After all these days. He was also annoyed that she came here to defend her friend and expected him to do the same. Eddy wasn't a friend. He didn't know where he stood with the blonde but she obviously had some expectations from him still.

Jin's tone made her spine shiver. He sounded so cold and it was an unpleasant surprised. He was usually fiery. This whole demeanour of his felt off. Like something was controlling him. Yet, she refused to argue with Jin in front of all these people.

"You can't guarantee that the report is fact." Nina spoke to Jin and then looked at him in concern. It couldn't be helped.

He glanced at her for a split second before looking past her as if she didn't matter. Why was she trying to emotionally appeal to him in the first place? What the hell had gotten into her? He didn't think she'd want him to hint at their closeness in front of all these people.

"This woman is not qualified to speak in this meeting. She's just a mere bodyguard." Someone said.

Nina smirked and rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you going to fire him, Kazama-san?" Another member of the board asked in disbelief. "Traitors are not to be tolerated."

"They won't be tolerated." Jin retorted.

They'll be killed, Devil gleefully added.

"Sir, your bodyguard went to G Corp as reported by the previous spy. She went there without your say so we presume. You possibly cannot trust her." They said to Jin.

"That woman..," A boardman pointed at Nina and then at Eddy. "And that man are spies. They want to bring us all down."

Eddy scoffed and clenched his fist. Nina looked at the man with her ice cold glare. It made the man avoid her gaze. What was it with accusations flying around faster than ping pong balls in this meeting? She was starting to suspect at least half the board members.

"Meeting adjourned." Nina heard him announce before he stood up.

Jin tugged his coat lapels and regarded her with a silent and commanding look before walking out.

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A/N: I wish Tekken devs explored more of Devil Jin and Jin's dynamic.

My fav male Tekken character who happens to be the star of the show don't get substantial screentime. :( They turned him into Sleeping Beauty in T7. Nina wasn't there to kiss him awake cuz they didn't let her.