Crimson

Chapter 7: Assumptions

***

Finally, the blonde lowered her weapon, gracefully placing it in the holster on her weapons belt. After a moment she stalked forward slowly, one gloved hand rested on a hip. “Aren’t you lucky I just dropped by?”

Kazuya strained, as usual, to decipher the thick Irish accent her husky voice had the habit of taking on. He coughed again as he gradually managed to catch his breath. “Yeah, it would seem so.” He picked himself up off all fours and stood. After that fight, he looked a bit of a wreck; his hair, once neatly combed back, was now considerably ruffled, his shoes were scuffed, and most of the bottom of his shirt was hanging over his trouser belt. “So why exactly did you drop by?”

As the commotion and trauma died down, Jin shook his head about again to clear his vision of the sparkling fuzzy spots dancing in front of his eyes. Damn wall. He looked up far enough to find himself staring at a side view of Nina’s posterior…and continued, not by choice, to stare. When he realised what he was doing, he blushed a deep red across his cheeks, and glanced away bashfully. It was a pity she was so dangerous, because he had to admit, she had an awesome body.

“I was assigned to hunt the mug that had you at his mercy, actually.” She couldn’t help but smirk at the look of discomfort that crossed Kazuya’s pale face with the reminder of his helplessness. “Vampire apparently…as if those creatures exist. But I decided to use their silver-tipped bullets anyway. They work well with anyone if you hit them square in the ticker…”

He needn’t correct her as to whether the loathsome creatures existed or not. “Why in Hell’s name is he so big?”

Nina smirked. “He was a former warrior from several hundred years ago. Interesting history, this bastard.” There was a hint of cockiness in the woman’s voice. Neither of the boys seemed to notice though. Kazuya was busy brushing his torn shirt off, and Jin was just getting to his feet. “Apparently he had a thyroid disorder; too much thyroxin or something. Makes you grow taller than you should. That’s why he’s nearly seven foot. Oh, and he was one of the best warriors around in his day, hence his strength. So even you, Mr Mishima, would not have been able to clock him one…”

That final jab had Jin mildly amused, but Kazuya simply rolled his eyes. “Why does everyone think I’m an arrogant bastard?”

Nina would have laughed if it was anyone else, but her heart wouldn’t allow it with this man. There was something about him that intrigued her, captivated her mind, and warmed her body from head to toe. She would openly admit, like most of the other women involved in the Iron Fist tournaments, that he was somewhat of a sex object; the fine muscles – lack of excess bulk, but at the same time, with a masculine physique – and the deep voice, those dark eyes…but that was it. Or at least, that’s what she had always told herself. Plus the fact that, like everyone else, she had been brow-beaten into believing him to be cold and arrogant. She had never had evidence to prove otherwise, anyway. After all, he never talked to anyone if he could help it, he never laughed, and he always seemed so proud. She’d interpreted it as arrogance, like everyone else.

And with this question, all she could do was try and answer him, since the look on his face demanded it sorrowfully. “I don’t know, I’m not everyone. But all I can say is that, even if you’re different inside, you just…come across as being an arrogant bastard. I dunno, Kazuya, just try smiling sometimes.”

Actually, he hadn’t expected an answer at all. In fact, that was an answer he was least expecting of any possible answers. It almost hurt, but he knew how to block pain out. It never affected him any more. “I don’t have anything to smile about.”

Oh how Jin wished he could slap him for that. Not from anger or anything, just to snap him out of…his…fifty year depression. He only held back giving him a good slap because he knew it wouldn’t do anything. Nina apparently felt the same. She just sighed, and shook her head. Inside, she was beginning to realise this supposed cold-blooded man’s true nature, and was, even now, beginning to see why Jun attached herself to him so tightly.

“Anyway. Another assignment I was given recently involved hunting down someone for a large sum of money. I believe you two can help me.”

Jin and Kazuya exchanged glances, then both looked back at the blonde simultaneously. “Really? Who’re you looking for?” until that input, Jin had felt considerably left out of the conversation.

Nina smirked a little in Kazuya’s direction. “You.”

Of course he shouldn’t have been surprised. She’d been hired to kill him before, after all. Before he could jump to his defence, however, Nina stopped him. “I didn’t say he wanted you dead. The contrary, in fact.”

Kazuya raised a brow, giving the blonde a suspicious look.

She rolled her pale eyes. “If you must know, it was your brother who sent me to find you. He’s being rather panicky about it too. I’m meeting him at a coffee lounge just down the lane some, I’d like you to come along too.” It wasn’t a request as much as it was an order. The mention of Lee was enough to turn Kazuya’s face sour for a moment, but the reaction dwindled swiftly.

Jin still didn’t look convinced, and folded his arms across his broad chest. Seeing this reaction, Kazuya could only chuckle, and as Nina turned to walk away, he shoved the boy lightly after her, and headed in the same direction himself. After all, what could Nina do to him in broad daylight? After all, so far, it had been proven that he wasn’t susceptible to the sun’s rays. He’d been walking, uncomfortably mind you, in full blast of them before with Jin.

As they headed down the road, getting only a few strange looks for the wreckaged state of the boys’ clothing and Nina’s state of dress period, Kazuya noticed Jin’s preoccupation with the bright pink leather-clad ass swaying back and forth before them. He chuckled and gave him a firm nudge in the ribs, smirking at him knowingly. Again, Jin shifted his glance, blushing heavily, and tried to concentrate on the pavement beneath their feet. Pity the concrete, cracked and broken from the heavy usage and shoots of grass breaking through, wasn’t nearly as sexy as Nina’s bottom. Simply seeing Jin’s embarrassment made Kazuya laugh more, still quietly, but more obviously than before.

That deep chuckle shot right through her spine, and from head to toe, giving her goose-bumps all over. Somehow she’d never imagined Kazuya laughing like that…hell; she’d never imagined him laughing at all. Casually, she peered over her shoulder through her shades to see what the commotion was about. She was met with quite an image; normally the Mishima’s face was slightly older than it should appear, since he always looked so serious and glum. But at the moment, his youthful features radiated a positive glow – his eyebrows were more passive than she’d ever seen him, and his eyes seemed warm; and she’d never, ever seen him with such a definite smile. It made him look younger, for sure, and much more pleasant.

She turned back and smiled herself, partially from embarrassment at being so fascinated by such a simple thing as a smile. It was a good thing for her he was too busy laughing at Jin to notice her staring…and Jin’s handsome young face was a sight to behold too, bright red and clearly ready to crawl into a hold and hide. No doubt, with young raging hormones, he’d been caught staring at her ass. Playfully, she gave it a little wiggle at the two of them as she walked onward. She didn’t bother turning around to see the reaction, but two embarrassed chuckles from behind was all she needed to hear.

Eventually, the found the coffee lounge. Nina led them to a coffee-table setting in the back corner, and sat down on a white leather armchair at the foot of the small, low mahogany table, and they other two followed suit; Kazuya crashed down on a like-themed two seat sofa, and Jin took up residence on the armchair opposite Nina.

“Well, I suppose I ought to get you two boys some drinks while we wait for Chaolan. What would you like?” She sat back in the chair, kicking one long, curvaceous leg over the opposite knee.

Jin glanced quickly at Kazuya, then Nina, then the menu propped up between the pewter salt and pepper shakers. “I’ll have an iced coffee. I need the caffeine.”

Nina nodded, then glanced over toward the couch. Kazuya shook his head. “No, I’m not a fan of coffee.” Of all things he missed from his past life, coffee had to be one thing high on his list. The smell of it made him sick nowadays, but way back when, it was what kept him awake for late night training sessions.

“Suit yourself.” She reached up into the air with one gloved hand, then flirtatiously gave the waiter her orders. The more the man stared down her front, the more she played coy…until he could take no more and returned to the kitchen to deliver the order. After it was sent in, she leaned back again, and waited for Chaolan to arrive. Exhausted from the earlier fiasco, the two Japanese men did the same, and relaxed back into the backs of the soft contours of the leather seats.