Tekken Fan Fiction ❯ Canto ❯ Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

It had finally stopped raining that night, long after all the bars and such had closed. The clouds were parting ever so slowly, revealing the moon that was starting to fade with the oncoming sunrise, which was still a few hours away. However, the early morning air was already becoming warm and sticky. Michelle pulled her bandana from her hair an shoved it into her pants pocket as she walked next to Lee down the highway's shoulders towards the Dreyfus city limits.

"I'm sorry about your car," she said to him.

Lee shrugged, "It's not your fault. It dies on me all the time. I just wish it hadn't decided to go out on me in buttfucking Egypt..." The silver haired youth smiled as they walked. "At least it stopped raining."

"Yeah," Michelle chuckled as she looked out ahead to the distant horizon of tiny lights. She slid her hands in her back pockets. Her slicker, she had left in Lee's car, since it was too humid to wear it now, and the shirt she was wearing was a tight, cut-off grey t-shirt that had "Army" printed across it. Lee had also left his jersey in the car, and was sporting a white t-shirt instead now.

"So..." Lee began, "Was your breakup that bad?"

"Hm?" Michelle turned her head towards Lee. "Oh, that. No, not really."

Lee frowned, "You were really upset though."

"I guess," she shrugged as she looked ahead again. "I've been through worse." Lee nodded once and sighed.

"Lee?"

"Yeah?"

Michelle stopped walking and turned to her companion again, "Does it bother you that people just..."

"That they talk," Lee shrugged as he stopped as well. "It does. But...you get used to it." The young man sighed heavily, "I can't really blame them from disliking my father."

"But how they talk about you and your brother," Michelle responded quietly. "It's not fair."

Lee shook his head, "You're right about that. But what I can I do?" He smiled slightly, "I guess it's just the way things are always going to be."

He began walking again, though at a slower pace. Though his face was peaceful, he felt a gnawing in the bottom of his stomach at the moment. Not even Anna had once expressed any sympathy for all that he and Kazuya had endured growing up. All the sneers and the whispers behind their backs the boys endured constantly, all because of things that were claimed of their father. Claims that couldn't be proved, yet were treated like gospel. Gospel that, at times, Lee found himself believing, as much as he didn't want to.

"Did I say something wrong?" Michelle asked as she jogged up next to him.

"No," the younger Mishima replied softly. "Michelle...thanks."

She paused again and blinked, "How come? I should be thanking you!" Lee stopped and slowly turned around. The girl cast her eyes downward when they met his.

"I'm sorry," she said again.

"Don't worry about it." Michelle nodded once and scurried up to his side, and the two began to walking again, this time holding hands.

It was nearly sunrise by the time they returned to Michelle's home, and almost regrettably, two walked together up her driveway and to the porch. She sat down on the porch steps, facing the rosying sky. Lee sat down next to her.

"You know," she said softly, her eyes fixated on where the sun was rising, "when I was a little girl, I remember sitting here and seeing my father shot and killed." Lee blinked, stunned, and his stomach began gnawing on itself once more. He then glanced down at his feet, unsure how to reply.

They were both silent for several minutes, until Lee replied sadly, "It was him, wasn't it?" His gaze was still on his feet as he said this, and suddenly he was afraid to look at Michelle in the eye ever again. His hands balled up into tight fists at his sides and were trembling from nervousness and rage. Only when he felt her hand on his shoulder did he look up.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry..."

Michelle shook her head, "Don't apologize. You had nothing to do with that." She sighed lightly and looked ahead. By now, the sun had begun to peek over the horizon, and its brilliant red rays were reflecting off the windows the homes lined up on either side of Michelle's house. "You shouldn't have to apologize for something you didn't do."

"Someone has to. And I know he won't," Lee responded as he fully turned to face her. Michelle shook her head at him then glanced back at her reflection in the storm door covering the front door. She frowned at herself then turned her attention back to Lee.

"It's strange," she began again. "I hadn't thought about that in years."

Lee shook his head, "I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."

"I'm not upset," she sighed, "I'm just....remembering again." Michelle brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them. She smiled and added faintly, "I haven't watched a sunrise since then." Lee glanced down at his feet again, then outward to the fiery light ahead.

He had seen plenty of sunrises, sitting alone in the dojo. Yet this one reminded him of the morning of his mother's burial. She had died a month after the day that Kazuya had come home wounded. The awkwardness of seeing his father sitting on the dodo's floor and staring silently out of the wall of windows, was there now as he sat with Michelle. Heihachi's face had been stony, as always, yet Lee could feel the grief the man was suffering from as the boy sat down next to him and had hugged his father. Heihachi let out a heavy sigh and wrapped his arms around the boy and stroked his son's head, which was now covered by grey hair. That had been the only time that Heihachi had been affectionate that Lee could recalled clearly.

Lee sighed heavily and wrapped an arm around Michelle's shoulders. With her eyes still forward, she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. The front door opened, and the two pulled apart quickly and looked back, startled.

"Ooooo, Michelle!" Gabby sang as she stepped out of the house, "You're in so much trouble!" The storm door behind the younger Chang sister squeaked and snapped shut. "Mom's pissed you didn't come home yesterday, and she's inside waiting."

Michelle cringed, "You're kidding right?" Gabby shook her head in response. The older girl stood up and sighed. "You think she'd let my friend use the phone?"

"Don't worry about it," Lee shrugged as he stood up as well. "No need to get yourself into more trouble."

"Are you sure? I mean, your car." He nodded once and smiled faintly. "Then...I guess this is goodbye." Michelle extended a hand, but instead Lee leaned over and kissed her gently once on the forehead.

As he pulled away slowly, he whispered, "I'd like to see you again." She blinked once then nodded.

"I'd...like that too." He smiled and stroked her cheek once before turning and walking away. Michelle watched him as he trotted off down the street.

Gabby crossed her arms and lifted a brow, "He's cute. Really cute."

"Yeah," Michelle chuckled, "and really nice." The girl turned to face her younger sister and sighed. "I guess I should go in and see how long I'm grounded..."

"Eh, I bet Grampa convinces Mom not to do anything. It's summer, you're in college, and man, that guy was cute. Should had let him come in."

It took him about half an hour, but Lee finally made back to that coffee house, which was the only place opened at the time that morning. He trotted over to the pay phone near the back of the nearly empty cafe, change in hand to make his call. There was only a few other people in there: a woman and her toddler son, a couple of construction workers, and a man in a business suit that looked somewhat out of place. However, Lee thought little of it as he picked up the receiver and dropped his money in the slot.

As the other end rang, he hummed to himself that lullaby his mother used to sing to Kazuya and him, feeling lighthearted for the first time in a long while. The young man glanced out towards the room filled with empty chairs and tables then noticed the well dressed man was looking directly at him. A chill ran up Lee's spine as he made eye contact with the man, yet he kept his eyes on the older man until the other line picked up.

"Hello?" Kazuya yawned.

"Hey, it's me," Lee managed in an impossibly cheery voice. "I had car trouble again."

Kazuya began laughing, "Fuck, Chaolan, I didn't even know you were gone!"

"You looked so happy doing Dad's books yesterday that I didn't want to bother you."

"Um hm, right," the older boy snickered. "So, where are you? Halfway to Arizona?"

Lee chuckled, "I'm in town, shitface. I was just out riding, and the car crapped out on me." He glanced out again as he heard the cafe door jingle and noticed that the man was gone, and a sense of relief came over him. "Anyway, you know where that coffee house is? The one by Louisville?"

"Oh, yeah. So, you're there?"

"Yeah," the younger boy replied. "But my car's about seven miles out on I-70."

There was a pause, then Kazuya went into a full fit of laughter. Though irritated at first from his brother's response, Lee soon found himself smirking and trying to hold back laughter as well.

"I take it you did some walking last night," Kazuya choked finally.

"Um, yeah," Lee grinned.

"Okay, okay. I'll be there in about an hour."

"Thanks, Kaz. I appreciate it," Lee sang before hanging up. Then made his way back to the front, and as he did so, he dug through his pocket for a five so he could order a drink as he waited.

He stayed near the front and drank his coffee slowly, glancing over at the glass doors to watch for his brother. Gradually, more people came in as the morning progressed, but still no sign of his brother. Eventually, Lee finished his drink, despite how slowly he had sipped it as he watched the door, and so, he got up to throw away his paper cup and exited the building.

It wasn't as humid as it had been before sunrise, Lee noted as he sat outside the cafe and lit a cigarette as he watched cars pull in and out, people coming and going in to the small building and such until the early morning rush slowed to a crawl. It became calm and quiet again, aside from the sounds of morning traffic whizzing by Lee as he waited. For a moment, he managed to forget about everything that had been bothering him, though the thought of calling for a tow truck for his hatchback lingered, but only so that he get Michelle's coat out from there and take it to her. He smiled to himself, since that would give him a legit reason to see her again, even if just once.

His train of though was broken by the sounds of arguing, and he dropped his cigarette by accident. The young man glanced around and saw no one, but he quickly realized that the bickering had to by the dumpster resting on the side the building. He stood up and stretched, and though his judgement told him better, Lee crept over to the to the side of the building to see what was going on.

Emil was standing above the man from the cafe, twisting the other man's arm, thus having forced him on his knees, "I told you, Tracy, that I would take care of that hitman."

"You had plenty of time to off her," the other man gasped; his face tightened and contorted with pain as Emil twisted his arm further. From afar, Lee could tell that Emil had broken Tracy's arm and now probably dislocated it from the shoulder, and the young man pressed himself against the wall facing away from the alleyway the two men were in to keep himself hidden. Lee strangely wasn't surprised by who he saw. Much like Anna, he had never trusted Emil to be an honest man, but he had never imagined Nina's boyfriend to be violent.

"You kill me here," Tracy added breathlessly, "you'll get caught." Emil chuckled then dropped the other man's arm. A shaky sigh of relief came over Tracy as he slumped back, his arm dangling limply at his side at an odd angle. The man towering above him reached into his trench coat and produced a lighter and a pack of cigarettes. Emil popped a stick in his mouth and lit it in one swift, graceful movement, then placed the items back in his coat pocket. He then grinned down smugly at Tracy and smoked in silence.

"You have less than a week to clean up your mess," Emil finally replied as he pulled the cigarette from his lips. A thin cloud of smoke escaped his lips.

"My mess?" the other man managed to laugh, though in much pain obviously. "You're the one who fucked up with Nina." He struggled to stand up, leaning himself against the wall of the next building. "And regardless, I can guarantee that Heihachi knows already." Tracy chuckled as he slowly began to back away, then turned completely as he walked stiffly, taking care not to move his arm. He lifted his head and frowned as he noticed Lee behind Emil then continued in the other direction.

Emil said nothing as he watched the other man disappear. His forehead wrinkled, and he turned his head and blinked as he saw the grey haired Mishima approaching him cautiously. The older man then smiled as he took one last drag from his not even half done smoke, flicked it to the ground, and smashed it with his foot.

"You're the absolute last person I'd thought I'd see today," Emil chuckled. "How are you, Lee Chaolan?" He gave a friendly gesture at the younger man then extended his hand for Lee to shake. The younger Mishima just stared down it, his face unreadable.

"I ran into your brother yesterday," Emil added thoughtfully. "He was with that Anna. She gets around."

Lee shook his head and ignored Emil's last comment, "How long have you been working for my father?" Emil blinked again then laughed, shaking his head.

"So you overheard," the older man sighed cheerfully. "Lee, I tell you. This world has a funny way of working." He reached in his coat, this time producing a Beretta. He cocked it once then aimed it at Lee's chest. "The sad thing is, no one would miss you."

"And your point is?" Lee glanced down at the gun aimed at his heart, unfazed.

Emil chuckled, "You Mishimas, always so smug. You all think you're invincible. I love it." The older man placed his free hand in his pants pocket. "And yet, everyone in this fucking town would celebrate the day that you all just disappeared. Including me."

"So...you're going to kill your boss's son?" Lee sighed, rolling his eyes. "You know, that's genius, Emil. I'm going to have to agree with your gimp friend that ran off on this one. You're the one that's screwing up." He began walking cautiously towards Emil again, keep eye contact with the other man.

"You're too bold, you know that?" Emil mumbled; he sniff once and twisted his neck, popping it.

"No, I'm not," Lee replied. "You're just rightfully paranoid." With that, Lee's arm lashed out and the base of his palm slammed down solidly on Emil's wrist, causing the older man's fingers to fly open and drop his weapon. Emil cursed as he grabbed his hand, however before he could do anything else, Lee uppercutted the older man in the stomach, then kneed him in the face as the other man doubled over in pain. Lee swooped over and grabbed the discarded weapon and straightened back up. As Emil managed to sit up, he watched as Lee released the lock on the clip, and bullets split out from the from the gun, followed by a sounds of plastic clicking on concrete as the clip itself slipped out from the handle and bounced on the ground. Emil growled then stood up. He brought a hand up to his now broken nose and felt blood trickling from it. Lee shrugged then flung the empty weapon at his adversary's feet.

Emil was silent for a moment as he stared down numbly at the mess of plastic and metal before him. He then began chuckling before suddenly charging at the youngest Mishima, fist extended as he screamed. Lee easily dodged every clumsy punch that Emil threw in rage, just moving and stepping aside. Emil overshot the young man with one phantom punch, and Lee effortlessly twisted his lower body around in an impossibly fast roundhouse that hit Emil square in the back. The older man stumbled forward from the force, nearly falling to his knees. He grabbed his lower back in pain, then spun around to retaliate. However, he didn't when he saw Lee's state.

The younger man had never taken stance. He was still standing relaxed and hadn't even broken a sweat from his fighting. His hands rested at his sides, and he shook his head at Emil out of pity. The older man's fists unballed themselves slowly, and his breathing slowed, though still was staggering. He growled again, his teeth clutched tightly.

"You arrogant little shit," he gasped, finally catching his breath. "Your family's going to get theirs! You can't deny that!"

"I hope you're right," Lee responded sincerely. He then looked pasted the older man, smiled shyly, and gave then gave a friendly little wave. Confused, Emil blinked then turned around, only to be punched in the face. However, this time, he was knocked out cold and tumbled over face first onto the ground.

"You said an hour," Lee sighed as he marched over to his brother, who was rubbing the knuckles of his bandaged hand. Kazuya was dressed for work, wearing a black pin stripe suit, a deep royal blue dress shirt, and a black tie. Like Emil, he wore a black leather trench coat over his clothes.

The older boy shrugged, "Sorry, I got caught in traffic." He stepped over Emil to meet his brother halfway. He then glanced behind at the gun and its contents and blinked. "You're okay, right?"

Lee nodded, "Yeah, never been better, honestly." Kazuya blinked again then began laughing as he patted his brother on the shoulder. The two Mishima brothers then left the still unconscious Emil and strolled out of the alleyway as if nothing had happened.