Jakunen Mirai
Chapter 14: Discovery
***
Images of the last
moments flew before his eyes in a haze, a crimson haze, the hatred and violence
so thick, so choking, he could barely stand it a second longer. Three rivals, all in one place, all affirming that very rivalry with
ravenous passion, starving for each other’s blood. The worst part of it
was that they were all family.
He took a swipe at the
old man, that old bastard, but missed. The old man was fast. Too
fast. A second later, he felt a fist driving into his stomach. He
couldn’t breathe. As he collapsed to the ground, a choked, deep moan escaped
his lips…and he crumpled to the wooden floor, clutching his stomach with all
his might. He felt as though he’d die.
Not surprisingly, the
battle continued on without him, between the other two. After all, though they
were all out for ‘revenge’, two had made a very, very temporary alliance for
the sole purpose of eliminating the old man. His ally was doing his job, using
moves none but he had seen himself, keeping the old man on his toes. It seemed
Heihachi was the only one that hadn’t been training up.
Slowly, surely, the pain
ebbed, and he found his breath. While the two were distracted, he rose to his
feet, only barely being able to stay on both feet – let alone stand tall and
straight – and waited for an opportunity to leap in once more.
The battle raged on for
seemingly eternity – violent, bloodthirsty attacks being launched from one to
another…and even between the two allies. They were attempting to wear each
other down, though one was making a more concerted effort than the other. It
was clear who was more favourable of the alliance.
However, it was even
clearer who was the best fighter of them all. The old
man, the two had feared, was strong. But he wasn’t strong enough; in fact, the
father-son alliance was almost unnecessary. One warrior was just so much
faster, stronger, more agile than the others, and he was fighting alone.
By now, the other had
been weakened by the battle. The old man had focussed on him rather than his
ally. He knew he was weaker, and planned to pick him out of the foray, to give himself a chance. And it had worked.
Then, the lights went
out.
The last thing he could
remember was a brutal, searing attack hitting him in the stomach, the cold,
hard floor rushing up toward him, hitting him, smattering him across itself,
and the sound of his own scream.
***
And now here he was. Through the blackness, he could hear murmurs about him,
the faint bleeping and whining of hospital equipment, the scuffle of shoes upon
a linoleum floor. He heard his name in a whisper. His eyes did not want to
open.
However, he forced them, and tried to force the stench of
disinfectant from his nose. The image that met his eyes was blurry; it seemed
there was nothing but white - for a moment – then a darker patch entered his
field of vision. The blurriness faded, sharpened; the black blob became a face.
He gasped.
The words didn’t want to come. His lips fumbled with them, forced
them from the tip of his tongue, but still they got lost in the wilderness of
confusion, surprise, hatred, and bafflement.
Finally, they came, as the face before him relaxed. There was
still, however, surprise evident in the older male’s face, laced with fear and
wonder alike. Those two scars, one across each cheek, were so startlingly
familiar that he didn’t even have to think of the name before it passed his
lips, finally, and entered the sterile atmosphere of the hospital ward with a
deep whisper.
“Father?”
The older man’s expression softened. “Jin.”
His heart fluttered in his chest. He was expecting a cold
reception from the man as soon as he laid eyes on him, but the way his name
came, the way it was said – though it seemed emotionless, he could tell, from
past experience with Kazuya’s manner, that it was a warm, almost caring welcome
back into the world of the living. Though in the recent past he’d thought of
nothing but revenge for this man, his own father…it now seemed he was indeed
the latter…more of a father than an opponent to destroy. It was the look in his
obsidian eyes that gave the silent, restrained affection away. The look was too
relieved, too tender, too proud…to be anything but a
father’s expression at discovering his son to still be alive.
Jin remembered the alliance the two had forged in an effort to
eliminate Heihachi. By now, he figured, Kazuya was the CEO of the Zaibatsu. He
was in hospital after all…he was obviously knocked out or something to that
effect. He was still alive…if Kazuya was the evil man Heihachi had made him out
to be, then he would be the only Mishima alive today.
Yet Jin, too, was alive and fairly well.
He finally took the initiative to sit up and ask the big question:
“Where am I? What happened?”
Kazuya stood back, resting one hand on the edge of Jin’s bed.
“You’re in G-Corporation’s
Jin winced as he discovered how weak his muscles had become. Just
how long had he been lying on this bed doing nothing? “Tell it.”
Kazuya too came close to wincing at the cold demand. So far, there
had been no affection from the boy. Why was he wasting his time with someone
who wouldn’t even give him the time of day? Because he is all he has left,
that’s why. He spared no more wasted time thinking about it, he simply began to
tell Jin what happened, and why he was here, as briefly as he could.
“The fight that ensued between the two of us and Heihachi was more
brutal than you’d imagine. You’ve been here for the last six months, barely
alive, in a comatose state – the old bastard did you some serious damage. He
himself is long gone. I won the Zaibatsu by default, since there was no one
else to take it.” He paused, waiting for what little he’d told to sink in. “I
thought I was the only one alive. I thought you were lost in that battle too,
along with the Old Man…until I found you here.”
He shifted beneath the covers slightly…there were all sorts of
tubes attached to him…including one where no tube had gone before. He blushed
when he realised it was there…down south. “If I’ve been out for six months…half
a damn year…then why didn’t you know sooner?” He sounded vaguely disappointed.
The older man sighed softly and leaned against the bed a little
more. “They only just realised who you were. Up until a week ago or so, you
were just another John Doe, since you have hardy any records of existence at
all. When they discovered who you where, this base was actually attacked by
terrorists, since they either discovered you were related to me or had confused
the two of us – there are those who wish me dead almost as much as Heihachi
did. I only heard about it when someone had mistaken you for me, and was
surprised to find me still alive and nowhere near
Great, Jin thought, I’ve missed out on half a year of life and
twice as much action as that…
Before either of them could continue, Jin found himself completely
engulfed by hospital staff, rushing toward him, surrounding the bed, and
tinkering with him endlessly. They asked him a million times how he felt whilst
disconnecting him from the many cords, contraptions and tubes that tied him to
the bed. Kazuya was literally pushed aside and left standing, watching in bewilderment
from a distance.
“Whoa, don’t go down…hey, that’s not yours…hey!” Jin’s startled
voice rose over the din of nurses and doctors and their incessant
babbles…someone had removed the catheter from down ‘there’.
This fussing continued for at least another half an hour, during
which Kazuya had found himself a seat only a little way away from the action,
but far enough to keep himself out of the way. Finally, the last nurse
scampered off, leaving Jin sitting beneath a fresh layer of linen, dressed in a
fresh set of blue hospital standard-edition…pyjamas.
Kazuya snickered only barely audibly at the sight, and Jin
blushed. He still felt a little violated after that young nurse had extracted
that pipe from a very, very private region. He sighed. “Apparently I’m going to
be just fine, and I’m free to go.”
“That’s good to hear.”
He felt a little disappointed, though he knew he should have been.
He’d wanted a less emotional response for that one…okay, hell, he could have
done with at least a hug or a smile…but he knew he wouldn’t get it from him. Oh
how he wanted a real father.
“I don’t know where I’m going to go…”
Kazuya swung one leg over the other casually and leaned back in
the rickety little chair he’d acquired. “Well, you could always go back to
He shrugged. “I don’t know about
With that hint of rejection, and the impatient iciness in Jin’s
voice, Kazuya got the idea. He stood, and prepared to leave. “Well, wherever
you go, don’t forget that I’ll always have a door open to you…”
What was he thinking? Kazuya was a real father! He was simply
reacting to the definite coldness in Jin’s veneer. Suddenly, it came clear to
him. As he watched his father go, he realised the true nature of their family.
He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it earlier. Why hadn’t he trusted his
mother’s instinct? Heihachi had been telling lies, black lies, when he’d told
him of how evil and pathetic Kazuya was. Mother had never spoken of him, because
it hurt her. She kept those old photos hidden away…because it hurt her. It hurt
her to know that she couldn’t save him. Kazuya had ‘died’ at the hands of his
own father, the one that had beaten and betrayed him. It didn’t even take an
idiot to imagine that Kazuya had led a childhood of abuse and neglect – and Jun
had saved him. She loved him. That’s why she cried herself to sleep when Jin
was so young. Because she didn’t really save him. Not
entirely. She failed, because he was dead.
Suddenly, Jin felt guilty…so very guilty. It was so obvious now.
Since he’d had such a terrible childhood, all Kazuya wanted to do was make sure
his only son didn’t have the same experience. He didn’t know how to be a ‘real’
father, a ‘good’ father – but he was willing to try. If Jin’s original
prediction had been right – that he wanted his only son dead – then why was he
still alive? And why did Kazuya invite him home?
He’d thought all along that it was the Mishima clan that was
evil…but no, it was really just Heihachi. His coldness toward his father had
been completely unnecessary.
No, he would not go back to
He slipped out of the covers and onto the cold floor of the
hospital. Ack…no…first he’d train. He could barely
walk his muscles had grown so weak. His first order of business was to arrange
to go back to