Tekken Fan Fiction ❯ Canto ❯ Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Anna scurried over to the phone as it rang that afternoon, interrupting the lunch that she and her sister were sharing at the moment. Nina, who was eating slowly the best she could with her bandaged hands, watched her sister intently as she spoke.

"Hello?" Anna sang as she cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear. She adjusted the red scarf that she was wearing as a headband while she waited for a response.

"Hey, it's Kazuya."

"Oh, hi!" her face lit up, from both enlightenment and relief; Kazuya's voice had been pleasant sounding for once.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm ready for you to work."

"Really? So soon?" She sat down in a barstool and made herself comfortable. "I wasn't expecting you to call about that for a few more days."

"Well, I actually just need to discuss a few things with you before hand, but..." his voice trailed, and he went silent for a moment before taking a deep breath and continuing, "Are you free at all tonight?"

Anna glanced over her shoulder at her sister, "Yes, I should be."

"Great, I'll pick you up around nine."

"Should I dress up?" she asked playfully.

Kazuya chuckled, "Not unless you really want to."

Anna smiled to herself, "Alright, I'll see you then."

"Later."

The younger Williams sister hopped off the barstool and went back to the dining room table where Nina sat waiting.

Nina lifted a brow and mumbled, "You're glowing."

"Am I?" Anna responded cheerfully as she sat down.

"You're never this bloody cheery," the blonde responded as she carefully lifted her cup with both hands and took a sip of her tea. "It's damned annoying."

"I'm sorry," the younger girl replied. "I'm not trying to be irritating."

"I know," Nina sighed as she set down her cup slowly. "I guess it's just me..." She sighed heavily again and looked down her cup at her reflection. The frown she was wearing deepened as she noticed the bandage on her head.

Anna shook her head, "Be happy. You're alive and you're getting married soon." The younger girl smiled and stood up, "And you said so yourself, I should be happy for you, and...I am." Nina looked back up at her sister, still frowning, and watched her as she trotted out of the room.

She hadn't heard from Emil in a couple of days and was starting to worry, even having left a few messages on his answering machine the previous night. Now, it was late afternoon, and still no word from him at all. As she sipped her tea in silence, Nina found that her worry was starting to diminish the more she thought about her sister.

Anna's sudden new relationship with that other Mishima bothered Nina more and more each moment whenever the thought crossed her mind. It wasn't like her younger sister at all to date men that much older than her even if it was only five or six years, and it was definitely not like Anna for her to date an ex's sibling. Until she had seen the redhead rushing into her hospital room with Kazuya at her side the night Takahashi died, Nina had always figured that Anna was still in love with Lee.

The younger girl had never quite recovered from the sudden breakup. Anna had always had a sad demeanor to her face, with her large expressive blue eyes and her constant nervous habit of biting her bottom lip. However, as Nina recalled, ever since Anna had returned late from the last outing her and Lee had ever went on, she was indifferent and soon after dropped out of school, claiming it was so she could better take care of their mother. From that day on, Nina had always wondered exactly what Lee had said and done to her sister, yet it never bothered her as much as seeing Anna with Kazuya together.

The blonde glanced over at the phone in the kitchen, hoping that it would ring, granted that Emil's lunch break would had ended a couple of hours ago, but she took another drink of her tea and waited.

Bryan rang the doorbell again as Lei kept glancing behind himself, antsy. They stood on the porch of a large home, located several minutes outside of Dreyfus, and the men were both dressed similarly to each other, tailored dark suits and trench coats.

"He might be at work," Lei shrugged; the detective glanced behind at his car in the driveway. Bryan shook his head.

"No, he's not. I called to check. This guy hasn't been to his office in three days. Also, no records of him buying airline or bus tickets in the past year, so he has to be here." The fed rang the doorbell again then pulled back to cross his arms. From the back, the two men could hear a large dog barking at them from behind the white picket fence that jetted out from the sides of the house over and surrounded the backyard.

"I don't think I could live in a place this secluded," Lei mused weakly as he glanced back again; there were no houses near the home they were standing in front of, and even in the distance all that could be seen were grass and power lines lining either side of the highway. Bryan chuckled once and nodded in agreement, and the two waited a bit longer. The dog stopped barking.

Lei sighed to himself and reached over to pull open the storm door, which was unlocked. He held it open and grabbed the knob to the front door behind. Bryan lifted a brow and let out a huff.

"Never hurts to try," the older man shrugged as he turned the knob. The younger man began chuckling again but stopped when the door unlatched and creaked opened slowly as Lei cautiously pushed the door in. The detective let go of the knob nervously and turned back around to look at Bryan. He shrugged and gestured to Lei to go ahead inside.

Both men carefully stepped into the home, which was decorated neatly and very clean. Everything inside was white: the walls, the thick carpeting, and the tilework in the kitchen that faced the living room. On the walls, there were several school photos of children, two girls and a boy. All three of those children were blonde. In the corner of the living room, a black baby grand piano was sitting, its top closed and covered with a white doily and picture frames set on top of it.

It was eerily silent, with only the sounds of songbirds outside. The dog that had been barking frantically at the two men was still quiet, and Lei could see the huge dog through the glass backdoor in the kitchen. It was a black Akita that sat rigidly at the door, its long, curled tail wagging as it watched Bryan and Lei wander slowly through the house. Next to the dog, its bowls of food and water were empty, aside from dirty rain water from a couple days ago. The detective noted that, meaning that the dog hadn't been fed since then. He paused to shake his head sadly at the hungry dog. Bryan walked ahead of Lei and past the piano into a darkened hallway.

"Hello? Mr. Ricter?" the blonde called down the hallway. "We didn't mean to intrude, but the door was unlocked." He glanced back at Lei, who walked up to join the younger man. "Hello?" He stopped speaking and strained his ears to listen for a reply. He frowned when he did finally hear something, though not a voice. From the end of the hall, coming from behind a cracked door, the two men could hear music playing from a radio; Lei recognized the tune as an Elvis Presley ballad.

"Mr. Ricter?" Bryan called again as he made his way down the hall, this time hastily towards the opened door. Lei followed and the two men stopped short of the door. Lei pulled out his gun, and Bryan did the same, and they stood on either side, listening carefully.

"Wise men say, only fools rush in. . ." The song faded in and out with static, as the two men waited.

"Mr. Ricter," Bryan began again as he cocked his gun carefully, "We need to ask you a few questions regarding the recent attempt on Nina Williams' life." He waited and listened again.

". . .Take my whole life too. . ."

Lei sighed and called to the door, "Mr. Ricter, it's very important that you talk to us." He also readied his gun. He looked over at the blonde, nodded once, then in one sudden movement kicked opened the cracked door. Bryan jumped in after Lei, who stood standing with his gun aimed. The older man quickly relaxed and shook his head as he put his gun back into his holster inside of his coat.

"Jesus!" Bryan winced and looked away at what he saw and covered his nose and mouth with his free hand.

It was Emil, lying nude on his bed, his body blue and bloated from being left there for days. The dead man's eyes were open and stared up at the ceiling, and his mouth was gaped opened. The sheets of the bed were covered in dried blood, which Lei immediately saw had come from the slash in the neck of the corpse. Like Bryan, he also covered his mouth and nose as the smell of decay finally hit him.

Bryan hastily walked out of the room and back into the living room. He closed his eyes took a deep breath, trying his best to recompose himself. His hands were trembling, and when he looked down at them, the fed noticed that he still was holding his gun, then nervously placed the weapon back into its holster. Another deep breath, and then he glanced over towards the hallway as Lei emerged, his face tired.

"I take it you've never seen a dead body?" the older man inquired softly as he joined Bryan in the living room.

The blonde shook his head, "I've...only been with the Bureau for a few months. This...this is my first case." Lei nodded sympathetically, then glance back at the hallway.

"Well, that was him. The man from the hospital."

"I...figured that much after seeing that," Bryan managed to grin weakly. He felt his stomach still churning and did his best to keep from vomiting. "Christ..." He looked over at the backdoor. The dog was still waiting and was whimpering at the two men, who were now dead silent.

". . .Some things were meant to be. . ." the radio whispered before fizzing into static entirely.

"You're always so cryptic," Anna said quietly to Kazuya as she stroked his cheek. Her bare legs were wrapped around his waist as she sat on his lap facing him. They were in the den and in Heihachi's leather swivel chair, both nude after just making love that evening. He chuckled quietly in response, his eyes closed as he leaned over and kissed her once on the neck. "I don't understand exactly what you want me to do," she murmured as she closed her eyes when his lips brushed against her skin. "And I refuse to believe you're paying me for sex."

"I'm not paying for that," he laughed as he opened his eyes. He grinned up at the younger girl. "I'm asking you to lie for me."

"Alright?" She pulled away a bit to better eye Kazuya, who still smiled up fondly at her. "So, you don't want to be protected from Nina at all, but you want me to lie?"

"Exactly."

The younger woman let out an angry huff and pulled away completely, "Figures. I might as well be your whore."

"It's not like that." Kazuya sat up and wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her back towards him. "Listen, this is important." He then placed a hand on her cheek as he looked into her eyes sincerely; his smile was gone for the moment. "My father comes back from Boston tomorrow night, and I'm...going to do something drastic. I need you to lie and say I was with you all night, if anyone asks. We'll come up with a story for both of us to follow after I finish up what I have to do."

Anna was silent for a moment, her eyes now worried.

"Kazuya..." she began softly. "Tell me you're not..." He dropped his head and nodded solemnly in response then leaned in to kiss her on the nape with his eyes still cast downward. "At least let me help."

"I don't want you involved like that. At least not yet." He looked up at Anna and continued to stroke her cheek. "Your sister may still go after me or Chaolan after Heihachi's gone." He looked down again; his hand moved slowly from her cheek to her shoulder. "If you decide that you don't want to..."

"No, I'll do it," she whispered sadly. "And what about Lee? Have you told him yet?"

"No, and I don't plan to. This is like the last thing he needs right now."

From outside the den door, Lee sat quietly, his legs crossed indian-style and his back leaning against the wall facing away from the door. He let out a frustrated sigh and rolled his eyes as he continued to listen to his brother and Anna speak to each other.

"He loves you, though. And...I think he deserves be told something. Anything."

"And I love him too. More than anything, Anna. He's all I have. I can't risk it."

Lee chuckled to himself, "Kaz, you're so full of shit." He stood up, stretched, and crept away from the cracked door. When he was at the end of the hallway, the silver haired boy glanced over his shoulder at the den door and sneered.