Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or the characters within the series. This awesome series and the wonderful characters within it are the property of Namco. This story is for entertainment purposes only.

Journey Inside a Dangerous Mind
Chapter 4: Lost
By: Kadeana

“Could you wait a sec before we start again?” Julia Chang requested like she wasn't the one who requested to continue on with the interview in the first place. “I have to erase our little discussion.” She pressed the rewind button on her small recorder.

“Go ahead but you know, that’s some good stuff,” Jin Kazama declared. “When they make a movie out of my life . . . that argument will be greatly needed for our Academy Awards hopes.”

“Oh, hush.” Like they would make a movie out of his train wreck of a life! Hollywood would be too skittish of inadvertently making him angry—something that Hollywood excelled at making people feel. After she erased their argument, her cell phone started to ring. “I have to answer that.”

“Go ahead.”

He began to breathe deeply. He centered his mind on Xiaoyu-chan. The Xiaoyu-chan in his dimension led the Manji clan, a task given to her by her long dead friend, Yoshimitsu. She was training the younger fighters of her clan. He used her mind as a portal to jump to the third dimension. Using her mind sent him straight to the younger Xiaoyu-chan’s location.

* * *

“Well, well . . . if it isn’t Chicken Little and her bitchy sidekick, Crow Legs!” Ling Xiaoyu and Kazama Asuka stopped mid-step, knowing the identity of the person behind them without even bothering to look. It could be no one but, Hwoarang . . . the red headed plague of their existence.

“Just keep walking,” Xiaoyu commanded. She knew Asuka-chan could turn around with fist swinging second—which was exactly what Hwoarang wanted.

“Going to a toddler's convention?” She could hear the smugness Hwoarang's tone and observed Asuka's hands tightened into fists.

“I am this close,” Asuka muttered, her temper hanging on by a thread.

“Oh, I’m scared.” Hwoarang was in rare form. “I think I’ll go hide behind your daycare teachers.” Asuka turned around with fists flying. He of course caught both. Xiaoyu watched them both, wearily. She knew better than to get caught in the middle of them.

“I hate you!” Asuka snapped, thinking nothing about how she was in his personal space yelling like a deranged person and he was staring down at her in wicked calm amusement.

“There’s a reason little girls never make it to the finals,” he declared. “There is no way you can stand up to real men.”

“When I see a real man, which I saw none in the tournament, I’ll ask him about that,” Asuka snapped.

“Cute,” he released her and started to stroll passed them as if he had not just provoked them at all, “but I have to go. I have a real opponent to find, Kazama Jin. The freak show still owes me a match.” He raised him arm as if waving goodbye as he got farther and farther away from them.

“Asuka-chan, you should really learn to control your temper,” Xiaoyu declared.

“Just wait! I am going to beat the living crap out of that red headed Muppet!” She raced after Hwoarang.

Xiaoyu closed her eyes just after Asuka sailed through the air and kneed the unsuspecting Hwoarang in the back of the head. She believed Hwoarang was now second on Asuka’s hit list and if he kept it up, he would make first place. Both rebels disappeared as they rolled down the other side of the hill. Hwoarang would have his hands full blocking Asuka’s fists and elbows on the way down.

Jin watched the display shaking his head. Those two would never learn a damn thing about controlling their tempers. “Where’s Taichi?”

Jin, she thought eyes shining. “Konnichi-wa!” She turned toward him smiling but her smile faltered when she saw his attire. Jin was wearing the exact replica of the outfit she was knitting for him and she had created the design for that outfit with Panda as her motivation. “Hey, where did you get that outfit?”

“You made it for me.” He smiled down at his dearest friend. She had his back from the moment they met. He also knew she had strong feelings for him that went much deeper than friendship.

“What? How could that be?” Shock was written across her face. “I’ve only just designed it. And, I don’t even have a whole pants leg finished, yet.”

“Did Taichi-san mention meeting a body snatcher?” he asked calmly.

“Yes, and it scared him. And it scared me when he told me.” She looked completely freaked. “Don't tell me that there is another me out there . . . taking all my great ideas.”

“That was me that Taichi-san saw . . . but I’m no body-snatcher,” he said quickly before she could panic. He learned his lesson for the annoying experience with Taichi.

“What are you?” she asked with caution.

“I am your most loyal friend, but I'm from another dimension,” he said honestly. “I wore this outfit so that you would believe me.”

Her caution swiftly turned into joy and she embraced him in a quick hug. “You look great,” she said happily, “exactly the same.” Xiaoyu-chan was such a sweet, happy soul. Nothing flustered her long but that trait of hers would change if he did not get her to believe him.

“I've . . . come here to warn you,” he said quietly.

“About what?” she asked spellbound.

“I know of many things . . . that have not been revealed to you yet, Xiao-chan,” he said honestly. “I . . . have some very bad news.”

“What’s happened?” she asked tragically.

“Taichi-san is a very troubled young man,” he said. “To you, Xiao-chan, he only shows a certain side of himself.”

“Troubled,” she repeated flustered, “but he seems so happy.”

“He is a master of disguising his feelings,” Jin replied honestly. “It is true that you, with your innocent outlook on life, make life easier for him.” You make life easier on everyone around you.

“What troubles him, Jin-san?” she asked solemnly. “I will do what I can to help him.” Ever since she moved in with the Manji-clan, Taichi-san had been her constant companion when Yoshimitsu-sama wasn’t around. Tai-kun was her friend and she was the type to try and turn back the hand of time, itself, to help one of her precious ones.

“He feels guilty for the death of his father and comrades.” Jin sat down in the grass and she knelt beside him. “The guilt is a festering wound that refuses to heal. I tried to help him earlier . . . but I fear that I have only made the situation worse.”

“Why should he feel guilty?” Xiaoyu asked confused. “Bryan Fury is to blame and him alone.” She sighed. “Yoshi-sama and I tried to help him. He repaid us with betrayal.” She looked sad. “If it’s anyone’s fault, it is my own. I am the one who begged Yoshimitsu-sama to take him with us.”

“Do you not understand, Xiao-chan?” Jin asked. “There is a reason why you never see Tai-kun and Yoshi-sama together.”

“What is it?” she asked innocently.

“Your Tai-kun and your Yoshi-sama . . . are the same being.”

“But that-that isn't possible.” Xiaoyu's frown was evidence of her confusion. “Yoshi-sama is like . . . old, and Tai-san is my age. There are stories about Yoshi-sama in scrolls that are years older than us.”

“Yoshimitsu is a title, not a real person,” Jin said patiently. “Once many years ago a young man helped a being from another world, when his ship crash landed here on Earth. In thanks, the creature gave him his armor and his sword in return for his kindness. This young man was of the Manji-Clan. His family name, Wantanabe.”

Xiaoyu sat listening totally enraptured. Things were slowly becoming clear to her.

“He used those gifts given to him, from the being . . . to bring the Manji-clan to the powerful group of families that it is today. But, the years passed, and he became too old to carry on the Yoshimitsu title. He then passed it on to his son, and his son past the gifts on to Taichi . . . his youngest son.”

Oh no! Xiaoyu thought in horror. Her brown eyes, shone with tears. “No.” Jin reached forward and clasped her hands. His gesture surprised her out of her stunned grief and she could only stare at the huge hands that engulfed her own hands in wander. The Jin she knew never would’ve made physical contact with her in this way. “Jin-san, why didn’t he tell me?”

“He didn’t want his dearest friend to worry about him,” Jin replied. “I made the decision to tell you . . . because I am, also, your friend. And I am from the future of my dimension . . . so I know how this situation ends.”

“Future,” repeated in a whisper.

“Taichi isn’t in my future,” Jin said quietly. “His honor could not allow him to go on. But the name Yoshimitsu still lives on, though.” And you wear it proudly, Xiaoyu-chan.

“What do you mean?” she asked terrified.

“As we speak . . . your friend is preparing to take his own life,” Jin said bluntly. “His embarrassing defeat at Bryan’s hands . . . in the previous tournament . . . weighs heavily upon his heart.”

“Bryan is monster!” Xiaoyu exclaimed. “Why would he repay kindness with hatred?”

“Taichi-san doesn’t see that his future can be bright,” Jin said. “He will eventually defeat Bryan if he stops fearing him.”

“I will talk to him.” Xiaoyu's small hands balled into determined fists underneath his. “I'll make him see that he has so much to live for.”

“You don’t have much time, Xiaoyu-chan,” Jin said urgently. “Go, find him now! He will listen to you. But you have to get to him in time.” He retracted his hands.

“Do you know where he is?” she asked standing. She looked down at him in determination.

“The Temple of Light.”

“Will I see you again?”

“Yes.”

“You look great in that outfit,” she said. “I knew it.” She winked. “See you later Jin-san from the future of another dimension.”

“See you later, Xiao-chan . . . From the present of another dimension.” He watched her run down the hill. He hoped she made it in time.

The Xiao-chan, of his dimension, was never the same after she found her friend dead.

* * *

Julia was still on the phone as he came to from his meditative state. It was unnerving to have his eyes on her as she tried to concentrate on something else. She gave up trying and ended the call.

“Sorry,” she said slipping the phone back in its holster on her waist.

“Who was that?” he asked.

“No one that concerns you,” she said quickly. “Besides, it’s not like you care.”

“True, but I was being polite.” He smirked. It was thehe same smirk that got on her nerves so much when they first met.

She turned on the recorder, trying to ignore the smirk from hell. “When did you meet Julia Chang again?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“In the finals of the Tekken Tournament,” he replied. “Our match would determine who would face Paul Phoenix.”

“She lost to you?”

“In so many ways.”

Stop it. “How did you feel about that?” She asked.

“I felt bad for her,” he replied. “She’d come all that way, in search of her mother, ultimately to fail.” He looked at her through his bangs. “My sense of revenge was stronger than hers.”

“And you, the boy wonder,” her eyes shone with tears that would never fall, “made a vow that you ultimately failed to keep.”

“You didn’t take my vow seriously,” he reminded her honestly. “Well, I didn’t think you did.” I didn't even think you heard me.

“She . . . I ignorantly believed you,” she replied. “That was the first time . . . and should have been the only time.”

“I did what I could.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“Jin was defeated by Paul Phoenix.” He frowned in deep displeasure over the direction the conversation had taken. “Paul fought Toshin . . . and then came back from that fight, bragging about how easy it was to defeat him. Jin didn’t believe him so he went in search of the creature. Michelle had stumbled across him before I could get there. He had used her life energy to change into his true form. You can't, in good conscience, blame me for that.” He’d alternated from talking about Jin as a separate entity and as himself.

This was the first time Julia had heard any of this. All she got was a cryptic email, telling her her mother was dead. For him to reveal it this way, during an interview, was infuriating and hurtful. She pressed pause on the recorder.

“She would not have been there to begin with, if you and your despicable grandfather had left her alone!”

“She had an artifact that he wanted . . . and she would not give it to him,” he said calmly. “I had nothing to do with that.”

“She didn’t have it anymore,” Julia said angrily. “There was no reason to hold her hostage.” She visibly shook with anger. “You were your father’s son then . . . and now!”

“Don’t compare him to me!” Jin snapped standing to his full height. “He was not fit to breath the same air as I. Neither was his father. I proved that when I killed them both with little . . . or no effort.”

“You should be so proud.”

If one could categorize making Jin angry, it would be labeled under the words bold or stupid. Julia was a very wise woman but bold to a fault. It was a trait he found endearing in her. He gazed down at her, his anger evaporating into amusement. “You excel in trying my patience,” he said in wonder.

“Did you blame her? Did you let it happen?”

“No, Julia-san,” he said amused. “You know the original Kazama-san. He never would have wished for your mother to share the same fate that his own okaa-san did. Even if he somehow gained the knowledge that . . . she eliminated the only item that could kill Toshin. It was an action that resulted in the death of his precious okaa-san.”

“How could she have known that all this evil would happen as a result?”

“Pose that question in my case . . . and for what I’ve become,” he requested. “I did not ask for this.”

“No, but you embraced it,” she whispered.

“Turn on your recorder, Chang-san,” he requested gently. “We have much ground to cover.”

* * *

Jin Kazama entered the part of the massive Mayan Temple that had been sectioned off and now served as a ring for the tournament with carefully hidden trepidation. Can this little hellion even fight? He wondered as Julia Chang fiddled with her right boot. If her confrontation with Kuma was his example to go by, then he would have to vote, no.

Julia sensed his annoying presence and then sprung upwards into a defensive stance. When he lazily ran a hand through his hair, she wanted to kick him into another solar system. I'm no push over, you jerk. She felt a little better when he got into a defensive stance.

“Fight!” The announcer called.

Jin found himself blocking Julia’s powerful elbows. Impressive, he thought. He had no time to ponder the strength and speed of the girl because it would distract him and cost him the match. When her powerful elbow combo ended, he launched a powerful right hook of his own but she blocked it easily. As quick as lightning, he launched off a powerful left hook. She blocked it as well. He unleashed a powerful punch to her abdomen. She crossed her arms blocking the onslaught with the appendages.

She felt her feet leaving the ground from the ferocity of his attack. She landed on her butt several yards off. Now, that one hurt, she thought. She gave herself no time to give into her pain as she sprang back to her feet.

So this was the awesome power that was a Mishima.

She rushed toward him and when she got close enough, she tried to take him down with a roundhouse kick, but he ducked under her leg. Then she slightly bent her knee coming around again with a kick. Her booted foot smashed into his shoulder. She then bent lower spinning in the other direction, sweep kicking his legs out from under him. It was Jin’s turn to fall on the hard stone floor.

Julia got back in her stance, waiting for him to get to his feet, but she didn't have to wait for very long. He recovered quickly, standing to his feet, and studying her with narrowed eyes. But he approached, in her opinion, like someone who was just taken a stroll in the park and not like he'd just been bested by her.

Jin aimed a punch at her head but she grabbed his fist stopping said onslaught, mere inches from her face. As quick as a lightning strike, he turned his back on her, his intent to knock her out with the back of his right fist but she caught that one, as well.

But before she could raise her leg to kick him. He pulled upward, with all his might and Julia found herself being lifted off the ground as if she weighed nothing at all. She let go of his fists. As she made the journey downwards, she double kicked him in the small of his back. Using the momentum she gained from her attack, she flipped backwards into a back handstand, landing on her feet with ease.

Jin stumbled forward but stopped himself from falling on his face by tucking into a tight frontward flip, landing on his now steady feet. Those boots . . . must die, he thought bitterly.

He turned quickly, just as she charged forward. She stopped about a foot from him. She raised her arm and came down with a powerful elbow aimed at his chest.

He slapped her arm off course, causing her to go into a spin. He spent once gaining momentum and then kicked her on her side, but at the same time, she came around with a hard fist which slammed into his jaw.

From the force of Jin’s kick, Julia’s feet left the ground and she landed on her left side—seeing stars—several feet away from where she had been originally standing. Both of her sides and her arms were throbbing. What is this guy made of? Diamonds?

Jin stood his ground but tasted the coppery taste of his blood from her well-aimed punch. He hoped none of his teeth had been loosened. She was, almost, unnaturally strong but that strength wasn't enough. You cannot beat me, he thought. So stay down.

She, of course, stood up. It wasn't like she could hear his words and even if he had said them aloud, the result would be the same.

She stood her ground as he calmly stalked her. He knows, I’m hurt, she thought trying not to favor her right side—the side where he kicked her—but she knew she was failing miserably at it. This match isn’t over, Mishima brat!

She raised her leg as if to kick him and so he, naturally, ducked but she aborted the move and quickly thrust forward with both fists. She hit him square in the chest, flipping him backwards through the air and then he landed hard on his stomach. She then jumped high in the air to land on his back, hopefully finishing the match.

Jin rolled to the side, in the nick of time, so her booted feet landed on the hard stone floor and not him. He was quite sure the ground shook from the ferocity of her attack. He stuck his arm out and pulled her down with him.

His hand cushioned her butt and all the force of her body from the fall. She shrieked, getting up as quickly as possible. “Pervert!” Her aches and pains momentarily forgotten; replaced with thoughts of committing his murder and could she get away with said murder by pleading temporary insanity.

Jin stood with his hand throbbing with pain. His chest wasn’t feeling too great either but being called a pervert took precedence over everything. I am not a pervert! His abused hand had been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

He launched into one of his combos taught to him by his mother in which consisted of many gracefully powerful punches and kicks. She blocked every move save one because she was so busy concentrating on her hurt side, she left the other vulnerable and so he landed a well-placed kick on that side.

Julia lost her footing and fell to the hard stone floor, on her injured side—well both sides were officially injured now. “Ow.” The whispered words escaped her lips.

Stay down, he mentally urged her. And . . . she's up again. Her eyes were glazed over in pain but her stance was still strong as if she was in perfect health. She launched into a fury of punches of her own, ending the onslaught with a powerful uppercut, catching him under the chin with it.

Jin flew through the air and landed on his back. Where did that surge of power come from? he thought in astonishment. He, unsteadily, got to his feet. The look of surprised shock that lit her face was not lost on him. If I were normal, I am sure that move would have finished me, he thought. I am not normal. I am a Mishima. You cannot defeat me.

He defeated her quickly after that. Julia tried to get up after the ten count but failed in that task, getting up only mere seconds after it. When she realized she'd lost, she fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands in shame.

“I will find your mother and send her home to you.” She looked through her fingers at him. Did she actually hear him say that? It was barely above a whisper. Maybe she imagined it. He looked like he had said nothing at all.

* * *

“We stop there,” Jin decided suddenly.

“Why?” she whispered. This topic still was very painful for her but he just sat there, looking the picture of absolute calm, as if they’d been discussing the weather or the type of tea that he liked the most.

“I have other people to discuss from the cast of weirdness that made up the third tournament.”

“Yeah, you had the pressing urgency of telling about my past,” she said dryly. He smirked in amusement.

“I have not thought of Hwoarang in a long while,” he said seriously.

“One of your many victims?” she asked, trying to mask her interest. She always wondered what happened to Hwoarang.

The ignorant redhead went missing years ago. Some thought he went back to his old life on the streets, but after tournament after tournament, he failed to make an appearance; people, who knew him, realized that sinister forces were at hand.

“My first victim,” he replied. “The fool thought himself my equal.” He laughed evilly. “What a character he was.”

“What did you do to him?” she asked softly.

“The question is not what I did to him,” he said. “The question is, sweet onna, what did I make him do to himself.” Their eyes met. Julia found herself swallowing in nervousness. She wondered if she would be able to bare hearing all Jin had to say about his past deeds and the devious joy that retelling it seemed to bring him.
To Be Continued...

Chapter 5
Chapter 3
Enter The Tekken
Fiction Junction
Wandering Dreams