Beach Day
Chapter 1: Family Ties And
Fingernails
***
It
had turned out to be a beautiful day after all. Jin Kazama casually glanced
over to the man lying in the sand next to him on a beach towel, smiled softly,
and returned to gazing lazily at the sparse fluffy white clouds drifting across
the sky like sails on the harbour. Since it was the middle of summer, the beach
was fairly crowded, but still pleasant all the same.
It
was a miracle he actually managed to drag his father all the way out here for a
day of doing absolutely nothing. Ever since he'd learned of Kazuya's true
nature, and had decided to latch onto him and spend the 'quality time' with him
neither of them had a chance to when he was younger, Jin had realised his
father was a workaholic. He'd rather be organising the Zaibatsu business at
At
any rate, it had taken a lot of effort to convince him he needed a holiday.
That he needed to throw the work suit aside for a day and grab the sunnies and
boardies, and get a much needed tan. After days of suggestion, nagging,
begging, pleading, and almost getting down on his hands and knees, finally Jin
succeeded. And now here they were, father and son, enjoying some much needed
relaxation.
Kazuya
sat up a moment and dusted some of the fine white sand off his muscular arms.
The figure-hugging white Singlet he wore over his toned upper body was
relatively free of sand, despite the earlier fiasco with young children and
buckets full of sand. His black board shorts, however, were still covered in
the stuff, since they were slightly damp from a water fight, also from earlier,
and the same group of kids. He pulled off his sunglasses a moment, and threw
them aside, on top of the pile of belongings beside Jin.
“I
don’t understand how you can just lie around all day, Jin. This is boring.”
Jin
rolled his auburn eyes and smiled softly. “It’s called relaxation.”
Kazuya
rolled his ebony eyes, almost as if he was imitating Jin’s gesture, and drew
his knees up to his chest, draping his arms over them. “It’s not my idea of
relaxation.”
Jin
looked almost disappointed. He had always loved going to the beach and just
fudging around, and doing it with the one person he cared about most was the
best sort of day’s vacation he could think of.
Kazuya
seemed to almost sense Jin’s change of mood, and smiled softly, before lying
back down. “But since you asked me to come out here, I suppose it can’t hurt to
lie around a little longer.” He’d rather be training, finishing off a few
business reports, or at least walking around and physically doing something.
Whenever he didn’t keep active, he’d always found his mind drifting off and
thinking about things he didn’t particularly want to think about. Like his past, for instance. His father’s abuse and
torturing, being burned alive in the mouth of a volcano, and having to remember
all of it over again after being put back together by the G-Corporation. He
shook his head about and closed his eyes, trying to force the thoughts from his
mind. It was making him thoroughly uncomfortable.
***
Christie
looked up from her beach chair, and raised a brow above the top of her shades.
Eddy was standing over her, as sternly as ever, holding a tall, colourful drink
in each hand.
She
grinned. “What took ya?”
Eddy
rolled his eyes, and placed the two drinks down on the table next to Christie,
and sat down on the chair on the opposite side of the table. On the way, he
couldn’t help but peer down the front of Christie’s rather brief bikini top.
She didn’t seem to notice, thankfully. “There’s a queue at the bar. What can I
say?”
“There’s
a queue at the bar.”
“I
just said that.”
She
giggled. “Then why did you ask what you could say?”
Eddy
paused a few seconds, then rolled his eyes. “It’s a
figure of speech, girl…get used to it.”
“Oh…alright
then…” She reached for the nearest glass, and gazed back over the ocean from
the veranda overlooking the beach.
***
Further
down the long sandy beach, there seemed to be quite a bit of commotion stirring
up the peaceful holiday atmosphere. Two women were literally at each other’s
throats.
“You
bitch! He’s mine! I laid eyes on him first!”
“No
you didn’t! He likes me! He doesn’t even want to look at you, you dirty whore!”
“He
saw me first and I saw him first! Keep your filthy hands off him!”
“At
least I have class!”
“At
least I have breasts!”
And
with that, the blonde and the brunette sisters tore into each other again, with
more fighting skill than most of the men spectating
the awesome fight. The brunette, who wore a red bikini, ended up getting beaten
down eventually by her larger blonde sister, who wore a black one-piece.
Screaming and hair pulling went on for a few seconds longer, before a few guys
began muttering and meandered off to go and flirt with safer women.
Finally,
the girls realised the men under question had left, and stopped trying to kill
one another.
“Nina…I’m
still better than you.”
“Daddy
would disagree…he always loved me more. Besides, who beat who in the last three
Iron Fist tournaments?”
“Shut
up…”
Nina
smirked at her sister. “Why not settle this in a sportsman-like manner, Anna? I
challenge you to a game of beach volleyball…gather a team, and meet me over at
the volleyball court by the flags.”
Anna
rolled her eyes. “And how would that prove my superiority?”
Nina
grinned in reply. “Who can pick the best players, who can play the best game…oh
and, I’m surprised you’d even heard of a six-syllable word like ‘superiority’,
pea-brain…”
Anna
growled, huffed, and stalked off in the other direction to find team members.
She couldn’t back down, that would let Nina win by default.
***
Michelle
couldn’t help but watch her daughter stare unblinkingly at the crazy young
redhead riding the waves further out off the shore. The poor girl seemed to be
absolutely absorbed in the boy’s attractive body, but she needn’t stare so
hard.
“Julia
sweetie…I don’t know what you see in him, but I know there’s something…but all
the same, do you need to stare quite so hard?”
Julia
blushed, and grinned at her mother bashfully. “I’m not staring, mom, I’m
watching…”
Michelle
chuckled. “Sure you are. If you ‘watch’ much harder, your eyes will roll out of
your head…”
“I
told you, I’m not staring! Now, if it was Jin, I’d be staring…”
Michelle
cut her off. “The Mishima boy!? I don’t even want to
hear about it…I told you, they’re evil…”
She
couldn’t understand why her mother would brand them from one bad experience.
Kazuya didn’t seem as bad as his father, and Jin was the nicest person she’d
ever met, even if she’d only spoken to him once. “Whatever you say, mother.”
Before
an uncomfortable silence could ensue, the pair was approached by a brunette in
a much-too-revealing crimson bikini.
“Ah, the Changs. I saw the both of you at a
few of the past tournaments…either of you any good at volleyball?”
Neither
of them could understand the woman through the thick Irish accent at first, but
Julia smiled after a few seconds. “I have a mean serve…”