Part 4     Part 3 - Part 5

The crowd had become quiet and all eyes were on the crumbled cyber ninja. He lay near the VIP box and Kechara could not help but stare at the gaping wound left by the Manji sword.

Suddenly a groan erupted from Yoshimitsu's mouth and he writhed upon the ground. The apramedics rushed in and discovered that Yoshi could stand. The crowd was amazed.

And Jin Kazama laughed.

Kechara shot him a sharp look and he caught it. He stood up and explained in a booming voice, "Kunimitsu has made another mistake! Instead of killing Yoshimitsu, she hit his suicide spot instead!"

The crowd relaxed and chuckles arose. Of course everyone knew about Yoshi's Hara-Kiri suicide move! Either Kuni had forgotten or she had not really wanted to kill him.

Kechara exhaled deeply in relief when Yoshimitsu hobbled off the battlefield. She was beginning to have second thought about the Tournament; combatants didn't really care if their opponent was killed. She shivered. She wasn't the strongest fighter and knew that her body couldn't take much abuse. And that would be an extreme disadvantage against Hwoarang's strong, fast kicks.

She masked any reluctant attitude she might have shown and turned to Jin. "What's the deal with Kunimitsu?"

He turned his twinkling eyes toward her. "I, honestly, have never met her. I heard about her in Tekken 2 but she was never in the third Tournament." He smiled. "I heard she was after Yosimitsu's sword and the leadership of the Manji Clan, but she made a few mistakes." He turned his head and scanned the crowd. "It would probably be better to ask someone who was there. Right now, I think your best source would be Anna Williams. She, Nina, Paul, and Yoshimitsu were all there, but you probably won't get a straight answer from the two, and Yoshimitsu probably doesn't want to talk about it." He looked amused. "Kuni's name wasn't registered in this Tournament. I wonder how she got in."

"Good question," Kechara agreed, but had already started out of the VIP box. She left Jin deep in thought and ran outside the door of the arena, where she waited for Anna.

She spotted the Irish woman in her famous red silk dress. Kechara dashed over to her. "Hi!" she said brightly.

"Hello," Anna replied. "Is there something you want of me?"

"Yes," Kechara replied, nodding. "You were in the Iron Fist 2, right?" And upon agreement, said, "Can you tell me about Kunimitsu?"

A troubled look passed the red-haired woman's face. "I actually don't know much about her, except that she was an outcast from the Manji Clan. I did get to fight her in a match, and though she is an excellent ninja, she misjudged alot of things and I defeated her." She smiled. "I would tell you to ask my sister since she got to talk to Kunimitsu for awhile, but unfortunately, she is still having memory problems from the Cold Sleep experiment, so probably can't help you. Sorry." She shrugged apologetically.

"Thanks anyway," Kechara replied. So Kuni was an outcast and Yoshi's former rival. No wonder she wanted to get rid of him.

Anna left and Kechara found a clock. Another hour til the next match. She remembered it would be Grififn's match with Julia, and that she had promised herself that she would go to that one. She ran back to ehr apartment to check the place.

She took a shortcut through a patch of forest. As she was running, she looked up to see a bird who had an odd call.

And ran smack into the cat-masked ninja.

Kunimitsu brandished the Manji sword and struck a fighting pose. Kechara did not want to fight right then, so cowered down, still keeping her eyes on her opponent.

Kuni relaized Kechara was not after her and lowered the sword. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"I, I was going back to my room," Kechara stammered.

"So you want nothing to do with me?"

"Um, actually, I was kind of wondering about what happened to you-" she said truthfully.

"It doesn't matter," the voice behind the mask said. "Now I must go." She made to dart away.

"Wait!" Kechara said. Kuni paused. "Please, I'm so confused, I'll hide you in my room while you talk so no one can find you. The excitement may die down by then and you can slip away unnoticed," Kechara pleaded. She realized that she could be making a dire mistake but had already spoken.

Kuni stood up from her crouched position and Kechara could tell she was analyzing her. "Are you sure you're not chasing me?" she growled.

"Positive."

"Alright," the cat ninja agreed. She looked at the glowing sword. "Just remember what will happen if I find out you are lying to me."

Kechara eyed the sword and clenched her fist. "I'm not lying," she said firmaly.

"Where are we going?" Kunimitsu asked.

"Follow me." Kechara started to reach for her hand but then reconsidered and just started walking. She walked normally while Kuni prowled behind her.

When they were in site of the building, Kechara pointed and said, "Room 17, the door's open. I was in a hurry this morning," she said sheepishly.

Kuni glanced around around (Kechara wondered how she could see out of that mask) and when the coast was clear, darted with extreme speed into the apartment. Kechara ran after her but unable to keep up.

When she walked in, she found the ninja sitting on her couch, sword on her knees, opening a can of Pepsi. Her mask turned toward Kechara and she said, "I'm going to take this mask off right now and I'm just warning you."

About what, Kechara was curious, and found out. Kuni put her hands to the edge of her mask and pulled it off. The left-hand side of her face was covered with slash scars. She looked at Kechara with dark green eyes. "Dagger training," she muttered. "My teacher wasn't the nicest." She touched her Pepsi to her lips and gulped. "It's been so long since I've had one of these," she said, tapping the can with her pinky. She set the can and her mask down on Kechara's coffe table. "The next match, I'm figuring, is important to you so I'll just answer your questions that you have."

"I just want to know everything. I heard about your participation in the second Iron Fist, but nobody really knew much about you, at least no one I know. And then you just disappeared after that." Kechara sat in her chair so she could her the story.

Kuni was quite sociable, now that she knew Kechara was not an enemy. "I was in the first Iron Fist also, but that's kind of boring so I'll just skip it. Starting with Tekken 2..." She felt her hands down her scars. "No, wait. I'll start with the whole Manji thing. That was before Tekken 1 even." Kechara kept an eye on the clock while Kunimitsu told her long story.

"I was born into the Manji Clan, so naturally started training in the martial arts when I was very young. My weapon of choice was the dagger, and my instructor, though not of my choice, was Yoshimitsu's father. He was very skilled in what he did but had a hard time dealing with mistakes." She traced her finger down her face. "Each of these is a mistake I made. My sensei said I should never forget my mistakes. And I haven't." She stared at her mask. But now because of that, I have to drag this cursed thing around.

But my skills did improve and soon I was able to defeat my sensei in battle. Then he introduced me to his son, Yoshimitsu.

"Upon first glance, I already knew that I didn't like him, and he didn't like me. My dislike for him grew when his father put him against me in battles. I was at a disadvantage as Yoshi was trained in sword, a longer weapon. Everytime I would defeat him, sensei told him 'good fight' and then told me what I had dome wrong during the sparring. Everytime Yoshi won, he was praised and I recieved another scar." She looked scornful. "In my opinion, that is not the way a teacher should act, kin or no kin in the battle. Treat everyone the same.

"Yoshi and I grew up, and then Yoshi's father was killed in a raid one day. The Clan chief no longer wanted his job, which is something I never figured out. By then, Yoshi and I were skilled ninjas, the 'best of the Clan' the elders declared. So both of us were nominated for the position of Clan chief, which meant receiving the Manji sword."

Kunimitsu took the sword by its hilt and raised it up. "This sword has properties you don't understand, girl. It has powers beyond recognition." She placed the sword back upon her knees and continued.

"To make that story short, I lost and Yoshi was elected. My rage at him finally boiled over and I set out to steal the sword. I came very close in the Iron Fist 2, but a stroke of fate prevented me from my prize and I was cast out of the Clan by Yoshimitsu." She shook her head.

"After that, I stayed in hiding. Rumors went around about Tonshin catching me but they were all untrue; I was merely biding my time and training harder and harder." She pulled her dagger out of a sheath on her hip. "My dagger is a true weapon now. I can use it most effectively and I have yet to meet someone who can match my skills." She picked up the sword with her other hand and held it next to her dagger. "I will, of course, begin sword training once I leave here. I still want to be Manji leader; now that my rival is dead, they can accept no other." She grinned.

Kechara bit her lip. "Kunimitsu, the thing is, Yoshi isn't dead."

Kuni shot her a sharp look. "I am beginning to like you, girl, so I was hoping that you would not lie to me."

Kechara shook her head vehemently. "I'm not lying. Yoshi has a suicide move and I guess you hit him right in the right spot. He walked away, with some help, after the battle was over."

The cat ninja was silent for moment then let out an exasperated growl. "That Hara-Kiri move! Dammit, I forgot all about that!" She made as if to break something, but as Kechara stood up to comfort her, she spotted the PS2. She dropped both the sword and the dagger and brought her hand to her mouth.

"That's it? That's the new Playstation?" she said. When Kechara nodded, she said, "It's beautiful! How does it play?"

Kechara saw she had half an hour left til Griffin's fight. "How about you see for yourself?"

Kuni squealed, which was one of the things Kechara had least expected from her, and dashed over to it. She picked up a controller, handed the other to Kechara, and turned it on.
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About twenty minutes later, Kechara had to force Kunimitsu to turn the PS2 off so that she could get to Griffin's match on time. During the twenty minutes, Kechara had talked about herself and she and Kuni were getting along like friends. She found Kuni was an avid believer in truth and trust, which she said were what probably lost her the sword in Tekken 2.

"So I'm trusting you not to mess this place up while I'm gone," Kechara said. The had agreed that Kuni would hide out in her apartment until there was a chance for her to escape the island.

"You can trust me like I trusted you," Kuni swore. "I'll be busy anyway." She eyed the PS.

Kechara laughed and started out the door.

"Wait!" the ninja cried. "Is there anything to eat around here?"

Kechara unhappily shook her head, then brightened as she remembered, "There's a box of candy under my bed, but that and the drinks are the only things. I'll pick up something for you at the cafeteria."

"Thank you!" Kuni said, clapping her hands. "And could I by any chance take a shower?"

"Sure."

"Thanks again! Have fun at the match!"

Kechara rolled her eyes. "I hope so!" She smiled and closed the door as Kunimitsu picked up the Playstation controller again.
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"Kechara!"

For the first time that day, Kechara heard Ling's voice. She had just stepped out of her room when she spotted Ling at the end of the walk. Ling waved furiously to her and they ran to meet each other.

"Where were you last match?" the Chinese girl demanded, but before Kechara could say anything, "Oh, wait, you got to sit with Kazama-san, didn't you?"

Avoiding Ling's suspicious eye, she admitted to it. Ling smiled mischievously.

"You two..."

Kechara gave her a small slap on the shoulder to shut her up. Before Ling had time to yell at her, she said, "Come on! It's almost time for the next match! I don't want to miss it!" She atarted running.

"Oh, yeah, that guy you talked to is in it," Ling realized, as she ran after her friend. "To the spot in the forest!" They raced each other down the alley.

Griffin's fight was taking place in a small clearing in a patch of patch of forest behind the Zaibatsu main building. There were only wooden benches surrounding the battlefield and almost all of them were full. Julia was one of the more popular fighters and always drew a crowd.

Kechara and Ling took a seat together after a spectator moved over courteously when he saw Ling. They were just in time, for as they sat, the announcer boomed, "Round 1, Fight 2. Enter: Julia Chang!"

The young Native American girl walked into the ring casually, waving to the crowd. They cheered. Of course they wanted their beloved to win over some new, unknown fighter! Ling clapped loudly. Kechara, for some reason, had never really liked Julia.

The announcer said, "Enter: Griffin Burkhart!"

Griffin walked out slowly, looking all around him. There wasn't much applause so so Kechara summoned all her courage, and stood up and yelled "Go Griffin!" She then stuck her fingers in her mouth and gave a piercing whistle. She sat down and clapped loudly.

Everyone stared at her, including him, and he was blushing. But then he stood up straighter and smiled at her. He was still pretty nervous but had found someone who supported him watching, and that gave him confidence.

"Ready? FIGHT!"