Part 9     Part 8 - Part 10

The matches had not been suspended, so the one between the robot Gun Jack and returning Tekken 2 veteran Lee Chaolan went on under the bright lights of the Mishima industrial park. After cleaning up a bit and leaving Kunimitsu's questions unanswered, Kechara went to see if she could be distracted from what had just happened, and also to see the silver-haired devil. He surprisingly didn't look very old, certainly not around the 40 he was supposed to be.

"As soon as he heard Nina and I went into a Cold Sleep, he volunteered himself," said Anna Williams, taking a seat next to Kechara. "I'm glad he did." She giggled.

Kechara smiled as she watched Lee strut around the ring, blowing kisses to girls and laughing slyly. Anna stood up and called his name, waving her hand.

Lee. He saw Anna and dashed to her. He bowed, kissing her red-gloved hand, and arching an eyebrow. Anna giggled again and ran her fingers through his silver hair.

He caught Kechara's eye. "Ah, and who is this?" he asked, putting an arm around Kechara's waist and tickling her side.

She laughed and pushed his hand away. "Kechara Matz, nice to meet you, Lee," she said, smiling.

Perhaps Anna felt neglected, for she said, "I don't know if you want to mess aroud with her, Lee. She's in with Mr. CEO, Jin." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Well, if he's ever bad to you, call me," Lee said to Kechara, and winked. He purred to Anna, then went back out nto the ring.

Anna sighed happily. "Oh, how I missed him," she crooned.

"He has a nice car," Kechara said lamely. She didn't want to say anything she liked about him around his assassin girlfriend. Damn, he's kinda hot...

The girls sat in silence until the fight started. Lee's Sleep obviously had not hindered his fighting skills, and the Russian robot quickly fell to his lightning-fast attacks. Leaving Gun Jack short-circuiting on the floor, Lee backflipped and laughed in a victory pose. He then sucked up to the crowd, blowing more kisses and posing for pictures.

Hot but conceited. Kechara bid a happy Ana Williams goodbye and left the area.

Lee had been distracting but not enough to make her feel any better about Jin. She didn't want to miss the next match, which was between Anna and the Mexican wrestler, Armor King, but she felt a strong need to see Jin, and she followed that need.

Kechara walked to the Zaibatsu hospital, which was located just outside the main building. The entrance was heavily guarded, but one of the Force recognized her from Jin's office incident and convinced the others to let her pass. She questioned the receptionist on Jin's whereabouts and was directed up two floors, down the hall on the left, room number 86B.

Kechara had gone up the two floors, and while going down the hall, saw Eddy Gordo with a giant scratch on his shoulder, complaining to a Japanese nurse in Portugese. Kechara pitied the poor nurse but forgot all about it as she reached room 86B.

It was dimly lit by a blind-covered window. Jin lay on a hospital bed, eyes closed and breathing on a respirator. Kechara quietly stepped in and stood beside the bed, surveying all of the bedside equipment and watching Jin's slow breathing. She bent over and pushed his long bangs away from his face, then rubbed his forehead and down his cheek.

She thought he was either asleep or unconscious, so was surprised when his hand came up and grasped her's on his cheek. His eyes opened, and using his other hand, he pulled off the respirator.

"Don't need that," he said quietly, and Kechara saw a flash of his Mishima heritage. He focused his deep brown eyes on her's. "I'm sorry. I didn't think that would happen. I probably should have known it would." He gritted his teeth as a pain ran through him, and then took a heavy breath. "But thank you. That took some guts since you knew what was happening."

"You had better not die, for all I did for you," she joked lightly, and he chuckled as loudly as his wound would permit.

"I won't," he promised. "I'll just need some support in the meantime. You mind helping me a little more?"

She smiled. "I suppose I could manage. I might have to bring Ling along once in awhile, but I'll do what I can."

He grinned but did not say a word. There was a short silence until Kechara leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He then leaned up as far as possible to catch her and kissed her soundly on the lips. She slowly bent forward so he could rest on the bed again, and kept contact for a long time.

Kechara felt so light-headed by the end of the kiss that she had to use the bed for support. Jin smiled at her then slowly closed his eyes again. She quietly promised she would come back then tip-toed out of the room.
--------------------

"He's too old for you though!" Ling complained as she plopped down on a beanbag. "And you're only 15! I think it's a bit soon, don't you?"

Kechara didn't say a word as she shut Ling's door. She had found the Chinese girl waiting for her outside the hospital and had spilled the entire Devil story to her, including the kiss. They had trekked back back to Ling's technicolor room to talk, and Ling had no intention of Kechara off the hook about Jin.

"I mean, come on, you guys aren't even allowed to do anything for 3 years yet, unless you want to be illegal!" Ling rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Oh, you think I have an age difference problem? How old is Forest? Hmm, 26? Dearest, you're 17! And you think I'm bad..." Kechara laughed.

Ling stalled. "Okay, never mind." She stormed into the kitchen, then brought back some Coca-Cola for the both of them. "American soda," she scoffed as she popped the lid and gulped the liquid. "Anyways, I'm just worried about you. Older guys can be brats, even though Jin's not just any older guy. Nobody knows what little things he and his nice little purple friend could do to a girl. Especially one like you."

"Purple friend, yes," Kechara said. "But little purple one w ill be gone, if I can help it! That's why I came here! I guess I didn't expect to fall for him-"

"Oh, yeah, right! I didn;t think you were that naive!"

"Just let it go," Kechara sighed. "I'll figure something out." She fell into the other beanbag and took a drink. "So what match is going on now?"

"Changing the subject," Ling muttered. "Anna and Armor King. It's gonna be starting soon."

Kechara sipped her soda again. "Oh yeah, I want to see that one. Armor King's cool."

Ling stood up. "Or you could go see your precious Jin," she pouted, batting her eyelashes. She then grinned evilly and walked out to the kitchen.

Kechara sank deeper into the beanbag. She had the urge to go see him again, but wondered whether she should tell Ling. As the Chinese girl re-entered the living room wearing a smirk, she decided against it. "Are you going to the match?" she asked.

"No," Ling replied. "I need to go see Forest. We made plans."

Kechara rolled her eyes and got up. "Okay, I'm taking a walk. Have fun!" She waved, and, leaving her soda, left Ling to get ready for her date.

As much as she wanted to watch the match, Kechara abandoned the idea and again headed to the hospital, her mind swirling with thoughts about Kazama. I wonder how many other people he's done this to. At least I know he's not as bad as Hwoarang or Lee. Oh, God, speaking of which... She caught a flash of ginger hair approaching her.

"Hey, bitch!" She heard the gangster's silky voice address her. Sighing, she looked at him and waited for him to jog over to her. "Hey, nice fight, bitch, I never would have thought you would have beat me." She caught a flash of red passing his eyes and pretended to ignore it as he put his arms around her shoulders. "So what are ya up to? You were walking pretty fast. Going somewhere?"

"Yeah," she mumbled as she tried to slip out of his hold.

He instead tightened his grip. "Are you going to the hospital to see your loverboy, hmm?"

Kechara froze. She eyed him coldly. "Loverboy?"

"Aww, that's so cute!" Hwoarang cooed, shaking her. "But I'm afraid I can't let you go there. I'm on my, ah, 'get well' trip and I need to see him alone. While he's hurt, I have the biggest feelings for him." He grinned wickedly and emphasized each word with a slight punch.

Kechara realized Hwoarang had never gotten a rematch wth Jin after their draw, and was willing to take him out when he couldn't fight back.

"He asked to see me right away," she lied and forcefully backed out from under his arm. She slowly began walking backwards toward the hospital building, keeping her eye on the Korean.

He clenched his fists. "You can't stop me," he sneered and dashed at her.

Kechara had to reasonable idea of what to do, so elbowed the coming form in the chest, and entered her Hawk Stance.

Hwoarang fell back, gasping and clutching his chest. "Fuck!" he exclaimed. He glared at her, his face softening into a malicious grin. "You won't fight me," he declared. "Not right now." He pointed.

Kechara wondered what he meant then understood as she glanced down. After the Devil encounter, she had changed into a tight, short black skirt and blue shirt. She had grabbed her 4-inch-heeled black dress shoes, which she could barely walk on, let alone fight.

Hwoarang laughed. "Well, I guess I have to go now, so, see ya!" He walked past her, nearing the hospital.

This is great, Kechara thought. I'm going to risk my life and possibly embarass myself just for a guy.

She took a deep breath, and then turned to face Hwoarang's retreating back. She took off one of her shoes and threw it as hard as she could at him, and hit him hard on the right shoulderblade.

The gangster exclaimed loudly in pain and whirled around to glare at Kechara. She held her other shoe in her hand, poised to throw that one too.

Hwoarang snorted and then started to walk again. She dashed towards him and threw the shoe pointe blank at his back.

He cried out again, this time mostly in anger. Kechara dodged a nasty back kick he threw at her and jammed her knee into his stomach. He gasped and stumbled backwards.

She now had his full attention, and also the attention of some of the people that had been passing by. She thought of Jin, and decided that it would be worth the embarassment of fighting in a short skirt, rather than let him suffer and maybe even doe by Hwoarang's wrath. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was falling in love with Jin. Ling's right, she thought. He's not just any older guy. He's MINE.

Pumping with energy, she went on the offensive and used a 4-hit kick combo, catching Hwoarang by surprise and sending him to the pavement. She continued her assault when he was on the ground. A weird sort of power flowed through her as she caught him on the rise with her triple punches. A bright white spark flashed as the last uppercut connected, and Kechara felt a slight flutter on her fingertips. Her eyes left her fallen opponent and followed the spark as it flew toward the hospital.

Hwoarang groaned, writhing on the ground in pain, but Kechara ignored him. Extremely curious about the light, she dashed after it into the hospital and followed it through the halls.

It left straight to sleeping Jin's room, and then hovered near the ceiling, casting shadows. Kechara watched in the doorway, worried, then suddenly felt totally calm and peaceful. A soft music echoed through her mind, and she saw in the bright light the sweet face of a Japanese woman with shoulder-length black hair and a white headband, soft brown eyes focusing on Jin. The image descended upon the young Kazama and enveloped his body. It sank into his skin, and Kechara watched as his wound and the blood disappeared. The light faded, and Jin stirred.

Kechara had recognized the face in the light as Jun Kazama. She had come to heal Jin of his Devil injury; Kechara wondered why she hadn't taken care of the entire possession but but was distracted from her thoughts by Jin's awakening.

Jin was obviously a bit confused as he swung his legs over the side of the hospital bed and stood up. He noticed Kechara still standing in the doorway. "What...?" he asked, shaking his head.

Should I tell him? The question was answered by telling him, "Your mother."

As soon as she said those words, Jin's face instantly softened and he walked over to hug her. She noticed a giant scar on his chest as they embraced and he kissed her hair.

"Mom..." he murmured, then pulled away from Kechara. "Let's get out of here," he said, looking around the room. "I've seen my share of it."

Jin slipped ona clean pair of pants he found on the back of a chair and smoothed his hair back as best he could. They left the room arm-in-arm, passing nurses who looked at him, amazed. The quickly passed the receptionist and stepped outside through the heavy swinging doors.

"Where to?" he asked. "Want to see if the match is still on?"

"Sure." Kechara noticed her shoes on the ground and qucikly slipped them on.

The walked to the battle site, only to find it deserted. "Well, I guess that's settled," Jin said, crossing his arms. "No blood. It must have been a clean fight."

Kechara scanned the area, verifying Jin's words, but was distracted by a yellow spot. She focused on it, and caught the outline of a face before the ye closed and vanished.

Must be that Allison girl. I wonder what she wants. Kechara walked toward where the girl had been crouching and noticed a small puddle of blood, leading into a trail of it. She waved to Jin, and told him about the eye.

He looked perplexed when she pointed out the blood and started walking along the red trail. "The only way to figure out," he told her, and they went into a run after the Canadian.

The blood eventually disappeared and Kechara and Jin had lost the trail.

"Oh well," Kechara sighed. "We could always be early for the next match."

Jin chuckled. "If you don't mind, sweetie, I think I'll pass on that one. I have some business I have to attend to."

Sweetie... Kechara froze for half a second but then stared at him in disbelief. "You're going back to your office? After what just happened?" She shook her head.

"I can't keep being afraid," Jin replied. "If I am afraid, then it will totally take over my life and I will lose all of my liberties." He smiled and touched her cheek. "Besides, I'm part Mishima. We never run away from anything."

"Yes, I know," Kechara remarked dryly. "But don't run into it full-force like a Mishima."

"And that's why I'm also part Kazama. Believe it or not, I'm not as dumb as I look." He arched an eyebrow.

Kechara shoved him playfully. "Maybe not dumb, but you flirt too much!" She giggled.

He formed his mouth into an O of feinted surprise. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Let's go."