Part 2     Part 1 - Part 3

"Ra!" Ling's hyper voice awoke her from outside the door. Kechara sat up and stretched, yawning. She swung her legs to the side of the bed and slowly stood up. "I'm coming," she mumbled and hobbled to the door.

It was still light outside and and Ling's bright face made it seem even more so. "Did you see the schedule yet?" she squealed. She shoved a piece of paper in Kechara's face.

She grabbed it out of Ling's hand and looked it over. She glanced sharply at Ling. "Where did you get this?"

Ling looked at her as though she was stupid. "Kazama-san came around and handed them out. Didn't you get one?"

Kechara smacked her forehead. "I was sleeping! What time is it?"

"6:30."

"I told you to wake me up in an hour!" Kechara yelled.

Ling blinked and scratched her head. "Oops, sorry, I kinda forgot. I was a bit distracted."

Kechara growled and looked over the paper again. It was the schedule of the matches the day after tomorrow. Ling was up against Forest Law (and was quite excited about it, for reason unknown) and her- Kechara scanned the list- and groaned.

"Hwoarang? Oh come on! I don't want to get anywhere near that moron!" She stepped backward and fell into her soft couch. Ling walked through the doorway and sat down beside her.

"He's not that bad a person, once you get to know him. It's just that you're new and he's just like that to new people, especially girls." Ling gave her a serious look. "Be careful though, Ra, his fighting skills are some of the best." She stabbed her finger at the paper. "They were nice enough to put you in a late fight. That way you can spend most of the day watching fights, studying them, you know. That will give you time to exercise and stretch too." She shifted her position, putting one of her feet on the coffee table. "Don't be tense when you fight. I learned the hard way." She sent Kechara a hard look when Kechara pushed her foot of the table. "Especially against Hwoarang. He's a confident little bastard and he'll play mind games with you if he sees you're nervous."

Kechara sighed and stood up. "He's going down," she declared darkly. She walked over to the ET center and turned on her Playstation.
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An hour later, Ling had left and Kechara was still playing her Playstation 2. She was startled out off her mashing by a light knock on the door. She pressed pause and stood up. When she opened the door, a tall man in a white shirt and black pants met her gaze with deep brown eyes through long black bangs. Kechara took a short, sharp breath.

Jin Kazama smiled. He offered his hand, which held a piece of paper. Kechara accepted it, recognizing the format of the match schedule.

"You were asleep when I came around before," he explained shyly. He slipped a look past her into the room. "Enjoying the Playstation?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "Yes..."

He averted his eyes. "Okay, okay, I give in. You and some others want to know how your apartments are so suited to you, don't you?"

"Okay, yeah, we were kind of curious," she replied. Before he could explain, she offered, "Would you like to come in? Maybe have some, uh, Yoo Hoo or Pepsi?"

He smiled. "Sure, thanks."

She moved into the kitchen as he settled on her couch. She brought back a Pepsi and a Yoo Hoo. "Pick."

"Pepsi, please," came the quiet answer. He took it and popped it open. "I helped design this apartment while basing it on my own interests."

Kechara shot him a look. "So how did Ling's room come about?"

"I am the most powerful man in the world," Jin replied, eyes downcast. "I can do anything I want." He looked at her. "In my prior Tournament experience, these rooms were so extremely dull. They were either white or grey and, God, it was just like coming home to hell after a match.

"I decided that maybe you guys would feel better if the rooms were suited to you." He shrugged. "I admit I've been doing a bit of investigating-"

"Into everybody?" she asked, astonished. This perfect stranger had nosed into other people's personal business! It did make it better, but still...

"Yes," he admitted, toying with the tab on his Pepsi can. "I realized everybody would be extremely pissed off at me, pardon that, but the Tournament veterans would be happy and would be able to explain to this year's people about last year's rooms." He shrugged again. "I guess nobody spread the word though. I understand if you're angry at me aboutt he invasion of privacy and I guess it was kind of wrong. I'm sorry." He stared at the floor, shoulders hunched.

Kechara looked at him. She studied his excellently chiseled face, the twitching of some of his muscles under his clothing, and the way the light shone on his spiked hair.

Here was the man who owned the insanely rich Mishima Corporation, who had at his control what seemed like the whole, who could knock out anyone in just one punch. And here he was, a boy of barely 20, ashamed and almost on the verge of crying, asking for a reprimand just for trying to make people feel better. He had had an extremely difficult life. He had been through the worst confusion, the worst punishment, the worst losses anyone could imagine. His emotional pain throbbed.

Kechara wanted to hug him. So she did.

He reacted with surprise at first but then found confidence and held her tightly. When their embrace ended, she found his eyes shined.

They had been aquainted only minutes before, but they both found themselves trusting one another which startled and scared both of them. She understood but did not know what it felt like, and Jin was glad of that. He didn't want anyone to go through what he had.

The emotional embrace brought both confidence and neither felt uncomfortable after that. Kechara let Jin spill his emotions to her and she listened carefully as he remembered his life with tears pouring down his cheeks. She found herself in his arms a couple more times and even brought up enough courage to kiss him on the cheek.

When his story ended, they sat in silence for a few minutes. Jin could tell she was thinking and did not say anything.

"I-" Kechara started but could not find the words to go on. His problems were much worse than she thought, and his pain- well, she definitely wasn't a psychic like his mother but, God, his pain pushed his happiness into a black hole. The only thing that kept him going, he said, was the memory of his mother. He remembered the walks, the meditations, the stories she told him. He remembered the night Ogre came, despite being knocked out. After that night, his life had been hell. All the bad things that had happened, going to his grandfather's, the forced possession by the Devil, the pressure of his job, were never as bad as hearing his mother's screams in his dreams. He never knew why he could hear them since he had been unconscious while the Tonshin killed her.

Jin had had the hardest time telling that part. Kechara was extremely touched by his trust in her and how he pushed himself so he could tell her.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on Kechara's door, followed by a hyper voice saying, "Ra! Are you there? Come on, I'm hungry, let's go eat!"

"Crap," Kechara muttered. "Figures she picks right now to be hungry."

Jin was wiping his eyes. He retreated to Kechara's bathroom, presumably to wash his face. Kechara turned off her PS2 (it had been on the whole time!) and straightened herself up.

Ling's voice became impatient. "I know you're there, Ra, or else you'd be lost somewhere on the island." She sounded smug.

Kechara rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm coming!" she shouted, and upon hearing the bathroom sink running, opened her door to let her friend in.