Jakunen Mirai
Chapter 6: Curiosity Doesn’t Kill
***
With a wide yawn, Kazuya retreated to his room again, closing the
door behind him. Since his living quarters were interconnected with the
business area, he had no need for a lot of travel between work and home. One
thing he had to admit Heihachi did well was make things convenient for the
Mishima family. The mansion, located on the highest hill inside the estate, was
large enough to house the entire group of IronFist fighters during each
tournament – on one floor. The first floor of the massive home was very
hotel-like. The front would remind one of the entryway of a five star hotel
lobby, minus the reception and other kiosks. There was a kitchen which remained
almost unused, at least to its full potential. When he was hungry, Kazuya would
rummage about in the fridge down there, but otherwise there was no real need
for it. Connected to it, was a very stately dining hall which doubled as a
conference room. The second floor was more like the halls of an expensive
hotel, with large wooden varnished doors lining the corridors from end to end.
Kazuya’s living quarters were at the very end of the hall, opposite a door
which opened out onto the balcony, and were no different from the others; the
typical dark heavy curtains, high ceilings, ornate decorations on the roof and
walls, plush carpeting. The two walls cornering the large double bed had
tack-marks here and there; a good guess that this room might have been the same
room he had as a child.
As Kazuya pulled off his suit jacket and shirt, he made his way
over to a chair beside the wardrobe and dumped the clothes lazily over it.
There was a pair of simple satin boxers sitting on the seat of the chair, which
immediately got covered when the tie and shirt got dumped over them. But Kazuya
wasn’t completely lazy, since he could never be bothered hiring someone to
clean his room regularly, he did that himself – his mother had made sure of it
from an early age – he untied his shoes and placed them together under the
chair, rather than just pulling them off and throwing them in random
directions. He glanced down at his watch. Two in the
afternoon. Looking out of the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, he sighed
disdainfully; hot summer’s afternoon outside, with not a cloud in the sky. No wonder
he was so sleepy. Heat and lack of sleep do that to anyone, and he’s only
human.
A moment later, he looked about, wondering where on Earth he put
his boxer shorts. They weren’t on the end of the bed…weren’t sitting over the
side of the chest of drawers (a common place for him to throw things when he’s
in a hurry) and they weren’t in the washing basket in his bathroom from what he
could see. Then he remembered; the chair. Rolling his eyes and growling at his
own lack of concentration, he lifted the clothes he’d just finished dumping on
the chair, found the shorts, and pulled them on before he forgot he was holding
onto them. As he did, he found himself staring at that awful scar on his chest,
and the few much smaller ones across his arms, legs and abdomen. He frowned.
Why did G-Corporation have to make him so ugly? As he headed toward the
curtains, he caught his reflection in the glossy glass covering of a painting
sitting peacefully on the wall. That image was one he’d go to great lengths
every day to avoid; he’d never look in the mirror if he didn’t have to, he
avoided looking into glass up close…because in his eyes, in light of what he
looked like in the past, his face was terribly ugly. The slightly receded
hairline, eyebrows which, no matter how hard he tried, never seemed to leave
their partial scowl, those disfiguring scars, and his left eye…red never was
his favourite colour. He outwardly winced as the image passed him by, putting
him in an even worse mood than before.
Daydreaming about how nice it would be to have a holiday, or to
sleep on the beach at a nice resort…aw heck, about a new life, being another
person entirely…he drew the curtains shut, and lay down on the bed with a soft
sigh.
He lay on his back for a few minutes, thinking sleep would come
easily with his level of tiredness.
Ten minutes later, he growled and rolled over onto his side,
glaring at the clock.
After watching the LED display on the clock for a further five
minutes, he sighed again and rolled over onto his back again, spreadeagled. The heat. It was the heat. Sitting up, he reached for the
air conditioner control on the bedside table, and flicked it on. Smirking
softly, he flopped back down onto his back, and let his eyelids droop.
As soon as he did, Jin’s face appeared above him, shouting
something almost incomprehensible about Mishimas.
He shook his head and rolled over onto his other side, curling his
arms beneath the pillow. It suddenly seemed awfully hot, even though the air
conditioner was running. He ignored it. Instead, he busied himself staring
sleepily at the scars on the upper arm in front of his face. There were only
two or three on that arm, and they’d faded over the last ten years. But still,
who really wanted to look like a grumpy old scar-covered nobody? He sighed yet
again, and shut his eyes, willing himself to sleep before he depressed himself
even more.
***
Sheree glanced over the coffee cup at Yuki again, and giggled. The
slender Japanese girl opposite raised her dark brown eyes to meet her English
friend’s, and perked a finely manicured eyebrow. The blonde smirked.
“Yuki, you’re dreaming again, aren’t you?” The English accent in
her Japanese was obvious, but likewise, her Japanese was fluent enough to be
perfectly understood by the rest of the Japanese-speaking employees in the
Mishima Zaibatsu.
Yuki placed her tea down and blushed. “Yes, you caught me.”
Sheree nodded her head in the direction of a thin-looking Asian
man sitting at the bar, eating a California Roll. “Thinking hentai
thoughts about him again, huh?”
If that was said a second sooner, Yuki would have had that last
mouthful of tea coming out her nose. “Say what? No! No I…well…” Sheree grinned
again.
“You know, in the
Yuki blinked, trying to make her blush leave
her cheeks. “I know I know, okay, I admit it…” She smiled shyly, looking down
at the table almost shamefully. “I think he’s nice.”
“Nice? Just…nice?” Sheree looked almost disappointed.
“No! I meant…well…” Yuki seemed extremely uncomfortable all of a
sudden.
The blonde woman patted her hand. “Don’t worry,
I know what it feels like to fall head over heels for a guy. And that guy over
there…he’s quite attractive.” Yuki blushed even more and smiled in relief.
“You know, I’d better get back to work, my lunch break ends in
another five minutes.”
“Good point Yuki…well, I’ll see you after your shift ends.”
The Japanese nodded stood, picking up her handbag. “Alright. Have fun…printing legal documents.”
Sheree rolled her eyes and stood. Once she did, she felt it again;
that whole uneasiness about being half a head taller than most of the men in
the room. She was only just above average in the
The two parted company, and Yuki headed back up to the twelfth
floor, while Sheree went to explore the executive offices. Since she’d only
been here a few months – just before the company had that uproar and change of
management – she hadn’t explored the whole facility. She took the lift down to
the ground floor, and walked beneath the short pavilion to the next building.
She’d seen it from the 20th floor where her office was; it was a four-storey
mansion with aspects about it from both the western and Japanese culture. She’d
always wanted to go inside. But she never quite understood why no one else
dared to. It was almost as if it were haunted or something.
She opened the glass doors and wandered inside. And what a
stunning sight she encountered; it would seem the main doors from the northern
side opened right up into a grandiose conference room. Her blue eyes quickly
scanned the area, drinking it in like a sweet and exotic treat. Her curious
nature drew her on, however. She walked around the table, and opened the wooden
doors that led away from the table. A short way away, she saw an expensive
hotel set-up; the whole gold and marble look, with every detail made to look a
million dollars. No wonder they call them the executive offices, she thought to
herself. The only way to explore the offices would seem to be to go upstairs,
and that’s exactly what she did.
After she made her way up the carpeted stairs she got the distinct
feeling she wasn’t really meant to be in here. It seemed even more like a hotel
than ever, with wooden doors from end to end of several corridors. But she
wanted to explore further; it was in her blood. Taking a breath and steeling
her nerves – which shouldn’t have been goofing about in the first place, it’s
just a mansion – she walked to the first door, and turned the handle. Locked.
Rolling her eyes, Sheree walked to the one opposite, and turned
the handle. Nope, that was locked too.
Time to play the Scooby-Doo Door Game,
Sheree, she told herself, and repeated the process with all the doors down that
corridor.
Finally, one of them opened. The one right at
the end of the hall, facing a glass door which led on to what looked like a
balcony.
Silently, she pushed the heavy wooden door open, and looked inside
the dark room. Seemed very much like a hotel inside.
She looked up at the door again, and noticed a few symbols in Katakana cut into
the wood. Squinting at them, she read them aloud in her head. Kazuya…Mi…Mishima.
Mishima? Sounded familiar.
No, not because it was the company’s name. Wasn’t the CEO’s
name Heihachi Mishima? Maybe they were related. But
then again, Mishima wasn’t an uncommon name, and this may just be a
higher-ranking employee’s office.
After her eyes adjusted to the dark, Sheree stepped silently
inside the cool room, not opening the door any wider than she needed to. Seeing
nothing of interest at first, she turned, disappointed, to leave and explore
another floor. But then something caught her eye. Someone
lying asleep on a bed. And it only took her a few seconds to realise
that the man lying on the bed, face-up, had to own the most gorgeous body she’d
ever seen that was actually real.
He took a deeper breath, and her heart skipped a beat. He probably
had one of those deep sexy voices, she assumed, from the sound of that sigh.
For a moment she was scared to move, and merely watched the rise and fall of the
powerful chest from where she stood in front of the door. There was a darker
area of flesh down the centre of the man’s chest which intrigued her. After
standing there a while, making sure he was deep in his sleep, she walked slowly
toward the bed, making certain she didn’t make a sound. Her eyes adjusted more
to the dark, and she realised it was a long scar that had that darker shade. It
was wider than any scar she’d seen on anyone before, and definitely longer.
Whatever caused it would clearly have caused a hell of a lot of pain and
trauma. But something about him just seemed to scream that this man was a
warrior. The numerous scars over the rest of his body
perhaps. Or perhaps it was his sheer size; he was very well muscled for
a Japanese, but not to the point he seemed like a western bodybuilder, and he
was much taller than most. Almost six foot was her guess.
Up till now, she hadn’t paid any attention to his face. Realising
this, she looked down at it, and almost felt sorry for him for some unknown reason.
There was another scar on each of his cheeks, and from what she could see from
beneath streaks of raven hair hanging over his face, he was an oddly handsome
man. Those brows, she could tell, would be pretty fearsome to have scowling at
you, but for now, there was something satanically angelic about them. The
pronounced cheekbones gave him a look she interpreted as distinguished, and to
her delight, he didn’t have the typical face of most of the men she’d seen
around here; he actually had a jawbone, and his chin was slightly squared off.
That exact combination of features was deadly attractive, and it was easy to
see that in his waking hours, he’d be just plain deadly. But for now, he looked
almost innocent, and so peaceful. Her hand grew a mind of its own and reached
down to touch his lips, which were slightly parted. To her surprise, they
weren’t hardened or chapped as she would have assumed. He looked to her to be
perhaps in his late thirties, early forties, and she’d expected harsher skin.
Realising what she was doing, she froze. He merely raised his eyebrows slightly
in his sleep, and closed his mouth, taking a slightly deeper breath through his
nose. With her heart rate going up at a vast rate, she moved her hand and
clasped it in the other. She was frightened, but she didn’t know why.
Sheree’s logic finally kicked in, and she turned and headed for
the door, the brief feel of his skin still lingering on her fingertips.
Stealthily, she closed the door, and breathed a sigh of relief. She looked down
at her watch;
Fear gripped her heart again when the alarm was stopped, and she
heard movement from behind the door. Her best bet was to get out of there…she
couldn’t risk getting caught and losing her job. Living in
The noise of the footsteps quietened as the man walked the flat
area between levels. As he headed down the second section of the flight of
stairs, she watched him, petrified. The side view she caught of his face was a
lot more passive than she’d expected; though she noticed his hair was pulled
back in a single spike behind his head, and the eye she saw was a crimson red.
Crimson red on a Japanese?! She couldn’t hold back a
slight gasp, but quickly pressed her hand to her lips, her heart almost
stopping in her chest.
Hearing the noise, Kazuya stopped as he reached the last step, and
rested a hand on the banister as he looked about for a cause of the sound.
Seeing nothing, he shrugged it off and continued towards the conference room
door.
Sheree breathed a sigh of relief when he gripped the door handle. Hearing that too, he paused again, and turned half way towards her.
All the colour drained from her face as he seemed to
look directly at her. While she felt a shock of absolute fear, she also felt a
strange tingle of desire; the slight confusion on his features just seemed so
much more animated than the passive innocence she saw while he was asleep. He
didn’t seem to see her after a few seconds; he looked the other way, then out a
window, and back to the door. He shook his head and sighed, and headed out the
door, throwing the heavy wooden object aside effortlessly, as if it were made
of nothing. And to think she’d strained with it!
She waited at least a minute from the time he was gone before she
stood up. That was the most terrifying thing she’d ever gotten herself into in
her entire life! She dragged herself to her feet, then
walked out toward the office building looming over the mansion. So far unseen,
she passed through the lobby and pressed the button for the elevator. No doubt
that terrifyingly handsome man was far from here by now,
she’d given him enough time. And now the elevator was taking forever. Just brilliant. From the corner of her eye, she saw a man
walk past. Heh, he was a few inches shorter than her, poor chap. A little
further behind was another man. She could tell without looking at him that he
was wearing a dark blue suit. Heh nice, someone finally has a bit of flair
around this place. After another few seconds, the elevator still hadn’t
arrived, and she began to tap her foot, after folding her arms over her chest.
“Likes to take its time, doesn’t it?” She almost literally jumped
out of her skin. She hadn’t realised whoever it was had stopped to wait for the
elevator too. She felt a buzz ride through her body. The male voice was rather
deep, and smooth. Confident, but oddly enough, sounded just a little dark, and
even empty, void of any real passion. He obviously spoke perfect English, and
had learned from someone with an American accent, but there was still an exotic
hint of Japanese in it. She smiled and glanced up at the figure, but as soon as
she did, her eyes widened, and her heart seized up on her once again. He was a
little taller than her, almost six foot. Hair smoothed back into a single peak.
It was…him! But this time he was on her left; his right eye seemed to be a
perfectly normal dark brown. And thank God for her own ego, he was looking at
the elevator doors rather than at her, or he’d probably split his sides
laughing by now at the shock-horror expression on her face. Blushing heavily,
she regained her composure, and nodded nervously, averting her eyes from his.
“I’ve never known it to take so long before…” Her voice was shakier
than she’d have liked it to be, a little high pitched – but that’s what
nervousness always did to her. It was hard to speak Japanese when you were so
jittery your jaw was shaking, but she pulled it off. When he looked at her out
of surprise, she smiled, keeping her eyes on the lift, just as the elevator
light finally came on, arrow pointing up.
He stepped forward, politely motioning for her to enter the lift
first. Of course she didn’t hesitate, because that would be rude, and being rude
to the CEO of the company you work for is never a good idea. He entered after
her, pressing the button for the sixth floor. She pressed the button for the
twelfth.
After a short silence, Kazuya broke the ice. Out of nothing better
to do, Sheree assumed. “You’re the first Westerner I’ve encountered that
doesn’t torture the language.” This time, he spoke in Japanese.
Inwardly, she shuddered at the delightful deepness of his voice.
“I would rather not humiliate myself by speaking a language I didn’t really
understand sir; I’ve been studying it for the past ten years.”
He smiled fractionally, and nodded, just as the elevator doors
opened to the sixth floor. “Very good.”
After the doors closed again, she sighed and slumped against the
back wall. She doubted she’d be the same ever again, after today. Good thing
the day was more than half over. Just how to cope with
tomorrow, however, was the next question.