The training

Proper (?) summary: Little does Heihachi know that encountering (again) Jun Kazama during his training for the second Tekken Tournament will be that small thing that shall push his family future into direction quite different from madness and bloodshed that overshadowed Earth in many other parallel universes.

Author's notes: I promise the author's notes will be kept to minimum and shall be at the end of chapters. First chapter is something else, since you should know what to expect. This story was conceived a long time ago, I'm not even sure whether Tekken 4 was out yet. So it may diverge from later installments, though I try to rather be sort of closer to canon than not, in a way. It was also the time of my love for Final Fantasy series, which influenced a certain solution I used in this AU. I generally will try to make canon divergences logically explained (sooner or later), but there shall be some Thomas canon moments. That is, moments when I see the canon story and I see in my mind the meme 'Thomas had never seen such bullshit before'. And we all know that, well, Tekken storyline has quite a lot of Thomas moments :). Still I'll try to make sense (hopefully).

Important information for Mishima family fans, so you'd know whether this story is for you:

Jinpachi Mishima: he isn't gonna be portrayed either as a good guy nor as a villain; we won't see much of him anyway, though obviously he has influenced Heihachi. Heihachi doesn't hate his father here, this is a Heihachi-isn't-a-total-dick story after all.

Heihachi Mishima: as in title and summary. He isn't your favorite evil cackling old man here. Definitely not a saint, but not completely evil. Tried to make him humane, but as in 'like a real human being' not as in 'good compassionate guy', cause I regard humans badly ;). Some things he does will be different from canon, but the differences will hopefully make sense. Still canon purists may disagree.

Kazumi Mishima: she is gonna have some issues. Again canon divergence coming from my interpretation of the storyline so purists may not like. She is definitely dead here though, so we won't see her, only listen to Heihachi speak about her.

Kazuya Mishima: sorry, boys and girls, he is an evil psychopath here. 100% pure I give a fuck only about me and enjoy hurting others type of a person. Sorry, Kazuya fans.

Jun Kazama: is NOT in love with Kazuya, sorry. Also here we'll gonna have HUGE canon divergence without explanation, cause sorry, Jun fucking Kazuya, because they were 'pulled into each other arms by mystic force' is my biggest Thomas moment in whole Tekken storyline.

Lee Chaolan: we won't see all that much of him, but he's gonna appear couple of times and will undertake some actions at certain moments. Generally he's rather an okay guy here, I'd say.

Jin Kazama: his life's gonna be completely different here. Sorry if you expect your typical mad Jin drowning world in blood. He may seem OOC at first, but there is a reason for how he is.

Warnings: this fic will touch a lot of sensitive topics – asexuality, gender dysphoria, rape, corporal punishments, abortion, sexism. I shall do my best to write about them to my best understanding of all these things, however primo you must remember this is Heihachi POVed story – he may think and say things that may be infuriating sometimes, but there shall be people to hopefully help him understand some difficult topics better. Secundo my characters cannot represent everyone out there. They have their own ways of dealing with their problems just as all of us have various ways of dealing with our past and present. You may find their decisions to be different than yours would be. I shall add further notes when we come across some of the delicate matters.

God, that was long, sorry. It's not gonna happen again :).

Ah, right, I'm no native and searching for beta. This not betad yet, sorry.

Also, I AM GONNA FINISH 'ALTERNATIVE' I PROMISE.

Chapter

The place was as tranquil and soothing as he remembered. A small clearing amongst the woods surrounding Kyoto was a host to tiny colorful flowers, pleasing to ears bird songs and sun rays cutting through the fresh clear morning air like ancient katanas cut through enemies. Well, maybe with less bloodbath. Heihachi took a long time debating whether it was wise to get out to train in the middle of nowhere instead of his safe hideout he usually spent his time preparing schemes to overthrow Kazuya from his seat as the head of Heihachi's zaibatsu and honing his fighting skills for the extremely conveniently held second Tekken Tournament. Bows for latter to Lee. The brat might hate Heihachi, but apparently he despised Kazuya even more if he's taken risk to (less than enthusiastically) cooperate with his former guardian to get rid of the older "brother" once and for all.

It did come as a surprise though. Heihachi always thought the two of them more or less got along, despite childhood fights, Lee being Kazuya's secretary and everything. Apparently he was wrong. Then again he always had the impression Lee was much smarter than his own son. He probably scented soon enough where the winds of the future blow. Sad the intelligence both he and his own father prided in apparently wasn't a dominant gene in Mishima family.

Anyway, going out like this was risky. The whole point of the tournament, as Lee convinced Kazuya, was to draw Heihachi out into the welcoming arms of Kazuya's butchers. Training unprotected like this, in the middle of nowhere where no one could be a witness to slaughtering the old head of Mishima zaibatsu was tempting your fate. Heihachi was bold, but he wouldn't get as far as he did and survive as much as he did, if he was stupid. That was his inane son's domain. Fine, maybe Kazuya was not a complete fool, but he definitely played his cards much worse than Heihachi would in his position. Spoiled, rich brat, who tasted power and rolled in it ignoring how the world turned against him and his obviously immoral schemes. Not that Heihachi was a saint himself, but he knew that publicity was everything in this world. He had spent quite a lot of time in USA, the land of capitalism, and, unlike his peers, and even more time studying the histories of countries other than his motherland, Japan, and understood one thing – you could do anything you wanted and end up being 'the good guy' as long as you got your worldwide propaganda right. Kazuya did not care for this. That was his huge mistake and the reason why all the people who abandoned Heihachi once in hope for some utopian better future now were even more gladly abandoning Kazuya.

Nevertheless. Heihachi had it enough with closed spaces. He needed to clear his mind in the calm natural scenery at least once in a while. Besides, being lost in the middle of nowhere had the advantage of being in the middle of nowhere. If no one spied on him on his way here - and he did make all possible precautions not to be recognised coming here - it should be fairly safe now. It was highly doubtful Kazuya's men would be strolling through Kyoto forests.

He went through his normal warm-up routine, then after a while switched to his usual Mishima karate moves. He practiced all of them with his mind less clear than he would like to, but all the news he's got about recent moves of Mishima zaibatsu throughout the world were clouding it (the brat was really ruining his empire's reputation!). Finally he decided to switch to the part he knew he needed to deal with the most. His speed. He knew this aspect of his fighting was inferior to young Kazuya's. Heihachi never was the quickest of fighters – he relied more heavily than he previously realized on his pain resilience and sheer brute force of his kicks and punches. That was the spirit of Mishima karate, after all. To beat the enemy to a bloody pulp while being tough enough to survive any beating. But it hadn't been good enough last time. Kazuya won because he was quicker, more nimble, agile. The Mishima karate hit was destructive, yes, but only when it landed. So, Heihachi reluctantly realized he needed to work on that. The stupid pride in his abilities cost him a lot last time. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. So he switched to shadow fighting and after some time to good old catching as much leaves as he could that some boxers did. He was going to start the ridiculous, but quite effective juggling balls while performing some karate kicks, which was as challenging as idiotically looking, when he noticed someone's presence. Shit, he cursed internally. All he needed now was some random hiker who would blabber everywhere that he had met the supposed-to-be-dead former Mishima zaibatsu head near Kyoto.

The figure appeared to be familiar. They stared at each other for a moment as he recalled when he had met her before – ah, right, the Greenpeace girl. What was her name? Kawazu? Kaza? Right, Kazama. He recalled with some distaste, but not without a note of amusement, and, well, honestly, not without being at least a bit impressed how the much younger back then girl managed to get into the Mishima dojo, which was a feat in itself considering Mishima karate was designed rather for men in its reliance on brute strength and the dojo was rather reluctant, not to say sexist, in accepting women, and who managed to get to him, the very head of the biggest corporation in the world, to have a discussion (rather a one-sided attack actually) on ecology, which she has also taped, the little bitch. Thankfully, he had, trusting his honed for years instincts when dealing with people, managed not to say anything that would sound completely compromising. Still, the girl tried to make a big deal out of it, but, as far as he remembered, she got nothing other than awe from fellow Greenpeace supporters with not much attention from your average people.

Now she was staring at him frowning, obviously displeased with what she's been seeing. At least they had something in common.

She snorted. 'So it was all a hoax?'

He raised his impressive Mishima brows. 'What?'

'You've hidden behind your dearest son to rule from the shadows and if finally people lash back you'll throw all the blame on him?' She definitely looked like she thought she was being very smart.

He rolled his eyes. 'Have you ever seen this scar?' He pointed at his chest.

'What of it?', she asked unimpressed.

'You haven't, because it was what Kazuya gave me when he attempted to kill me.'

Jun, for that was her name, he recalled, did not seem convinced.

'So what, you're hiding from him now or something like that?'

There was a pause. '...exactly.' Heihachi's face must have betrayed his thoughts, since Jun's demeanor slightly changed. He'd swear he saw a shadow of worry on her face. So, she wasn't that stupid. She realized if he was hiding from Kazuya then someone seeing him was... inconvenient. He couldn't help but wonder briefly if it would cross her mind so quickly during his times on the top of the food chain as it apparently did now. No wonder - Kazuya made one of his dominant modus operandi making people disappear.

Their stares were locked for some time, then suddenly Jun moved right into his reach zone, with zero hesitance. He admitted to himself she proved again she did have balls, chapeau bas to her. Still, stupid. But making his life much easier if he'd decided to break her neck, here and now, with no witnesses.

She stared up, right into his face.

'I could have run, you know, and you would not catch up with me, old man.'

'You could have,' he admitted.

'I have trusted you,' she stated, like it was a big thing. And maybe it was, since it could easily cost her life.

"Foolish girl," he thought, but kept quiet.

'Since I've trusted you here, where you could easily slice my throat, will you trust that I shall not run off to that bastard informing him of your continued irritating existence?', the impertinence incarnated has asked. Heihachi thought of it. Admittedly, Kazuya was in much greater clash with environmental organizations than Heihachi's ever been, so there was no reason for this young, adamant activist to make the hateful man's life easier. Still.

'There is no reason for you to care for my life and this precious information could be used in exchange for some eco-friendly concessions on his side.'

Jun simply slapped him. The impudent brat! He grabbed her unceremoniously by her collar and growled "Do this again and I'll snap every single bone in your pitiful body, stupid child!'

'Assume that I am like one of you, Mishima murderers, and I'll rip your cock off!', she snapped back fearlessly. He put her down.

'I'm no murderer,' he spat. It wasn't exactly true, but he knew the importance of stubborn denial of facts which could lead him to prison one day. Besides, he only ordered kills when he was absolutely sure there was no other way. He felt his conscience was clear. It was this world that was dirty and forced you to play dirty.

They mirrored each other's look of irritation for a couple of minutes.

'Are you preparing for Tekken?'

He nodded.

'I've seen you training and approached you cause I want to train with you.'

He realized why immediately. He would not rule his huge corporation if he was slow.

'You think you can defeat Kazuya?', he snorted.

Her cheeks went pink with anger.

'I don't think, I will!' He laughed and barely dodged a very well aimed kick. Even before, he remembered, she fought very well, heavily counting on her kicks, speed and agility. Now, as they've started to exchange hits she seemed even better. She definitely had worked on her evasion – while Heihachi was attempting to lay a blow on her she was showering him with hers. Not that it would impress him much. Anyone who ever fought him claimed his pain resilience and unwavering stance was legendary. Finally, he managed to spot the opening and launched a hit that sent her a couple of meters away and tumbling on the grass. If she was less muscular he'd hear her bones cracking for sure. The girl, he gave that to her, gathered herself quickly, but it was obvious the hit winded her badly.

'Kazuya will land more than one hit on you,' he stated calmly, without derision. After all, she held herself quite fine against him, it took him some time to land that one, decisive punch. 'But you did well working on evading. You'll have to work on more debilitating kicks though.'

Jun grinned victoriously. 'And you should work on that speed. You might be willing to take so many kicks from me, but Kazuya'll send you flying', she smirked.

'Doubtful,' he grinned back. He would lie if he said he did not get to like the brat, at least a tiny bit. She's got balls, she had a fighting spirit and talent, she was dedicated to her cause. Maybe it wasn't Heihachi's cause, but he could still admire a youngster that was thinking of something more than only their own pleasures.

'Fine', he said. 'You'd better not waste my time,' since obviously he would not praise her out loud. Praise only goes to young people's heads, he firmly believed.

"I won't," she grinned.