Illusions

Chapter 5: Likeness

***

Kazuya smirked just slightly as he watched the reunion, standing well out of the way of the two. After all, he only wished to allow them an hour or two before he returned toe boy to his mother. He also didn’t want to have to put up with Akuma for too long, since he knew it wouldn’t be long before he found himself in an argument with his former companion. The both of them were always too headstrong and stubborn to be well matched.

Keiji had felt his father tense, and looked over his shoulder at Kazuya inquisitively. Akuma, on the other hand, merely sat on his rock in silence, waiting for an explanation. He had never expected to see the likes of that Mishima again; he wasn’t sure whether to like it or hate it. After all, as the boy had grown, it had become increasingly difficult to maintain control over him, or to even get a word in eventually. Mitsukai had made his job even more difficult than it needed to be in the past as well.

Eventually Kazuya slowly made his way toward the pair, folded his arms casually over his well-built chest, and even smiled a little. “Need I say you have a visitor, Old Friend?”

Akuma’s eyes narrowed slightly. Of all the things that could have happened, he considered Kazuya meddling with his personal affairs, particularly his family – which he had never expected, wished for, or even imagined having – since he knew how cold Kazuya was outwardly and how fiery he was within. To say the least, the both of them were equally as dangerous and unpredictable.

Since he got little reaction, Kazuya continued. “Don’t worry, Mitsukai sent me to follow him.”

Akuma felt this bizarre urge to strangle him, hug him, scream in anger, and sigh in relief all at once. How did he know about them? How did he know about the boy? Why was he helping them? Did he have any ulterior motives? “And just how did you know about Keiji in the first place?” Akuma’s voice was laced with suspicious venom.

The Mishima’s obsidian eyes rolled as he sighed and smirked. “I’ve known about the two of you since…there were three of you, to tell the truth.” By now Keiji had turned around on his father’s lap, facing Kazuya, and was toying with Akuma’s long nails playfully. “Mitsukai and I formed somewhat of a friendship after my death. Unlike you, she didn’t leave me stranded in a bizarre world with nowhere to go.”

Sensing that this may develop into an argument, Akuma tried to bite his tongue as best he could. One thing he never learned from Kazuya was when to keep his big mouth shut. “Well, since you were sent to the land of bows and ribbons and candy and clouds and fluff and…”

Kazuya cut him off before he could list every fluffy attribute of a world he didn’t particularly like. “Yeah yeah, I know I know…” Keiji couldn’t help but giggle. Grown-ups weren’t meant to have silly little fights like this. “But at any rate, you don’t have to be so over-protective, you know. I’m on your side, as if you’d forgotten. It was a fine line as to where to send me, remember? I was almost sent to be your flat-mate for the next two-hundred years.”

Akuma had relaxed slightly. He had an innate sense that Kazuya wasn’t out to cause trouble. He’d grown out of that years ago, how could he forget?! He smirked. “Alright then, don’t pop a vein in your forehead.” He looked down at his son, and tickled his ribs lightly…resulting in a high-pitched giggle from the boy, followed by a lot of squirming. “I suppose his mother will want him back home tonight, or she’ll hang my head on her wall.”

Kazuya shrugged. “Might as well entertain him for a while before he goes back. He did make quite an effort to come here, after all.”

Keiji crawled onto Akuma’s back and hung himself between the large, mauve wings. Akuma stood up carefully, so as not to drop the boy. Kazuya smirked as he watched them…oh how he wished he had have lived to have a son or daughter with his beloved Jun. It looked like so much fun…oh well, as Mitsukai had mentioned one day, he was almost literally Keiji’s uncle, since Akuma and he were basically twins from different species. It was close enough. “I’ll leave the two of you alone for a couple of hours if you wish. I’ll manage to entertain myself for a while.”

A loud, short laugh escaped Akuma’s throat. “And just how do you plan to fit in around here, angel-boy?”

Kazuya simply smirked. “Since when have I ever fitted in, Batman?”

Though the reference to cheesy American superheroes bordered on the edge of annoying Akuma, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Ah, how he’d forgotten how much fun Kazuya could be at times. Of all the people that ever existed, Akuma knew Kazuya the most. He knew his every secret, his every hatred, his every desire, his every thought. The opposite was the same too. “Alright then. I’ll meet you back here in two hours then…I’ll look after this little monster till then…” With that, he reached over, grabbed Keiji by the back of his collar, and swung him over his shoulder, catching him a little more carefully than most would have expected. The boy squealed with laughter and clung to his muscular father as he walked off towards his home.

Kazuya didn’t need to answer, and merely headed off in the opposite direction towards the centre of the old city…he’d always been curious as to what scared most humans, particularly religiously inclined types, to be so outrageously afraid of this place.