Tekken Fan Fiction ❯ Canto ❯ Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

He dozed off during the car ride, but Lee woke as he felt the car jolt up as it rolled over a particularly large bump on the gravel road that the two men were traveling on now. He blinked slowly once and sat up, still holding his stomach from earlier and went back to gazing at his brother intently. Kazuya pulled over to the side of the road and shut off the car.

"This is it?" Lee yawned as he turned his head to look out the window. There was little to be seen outside; it was dark and what Lee could make out was only grass. He glanced back over at Kazuya, who opened his car door and hopped out. The older Mishima boy then trotted over to Lee's side and opened the door.

"No, it's further out past this field," Kazuya finally replied pleasantly, and he grinned at Lee. The younger boy blinked once at that response then quietly got out of the car. He then stood and let his eyes adjust to the dark and looked out towards the field again.

The moon was hidden behind clouds once again, and in the distance, the faint silhouettes of several rolling hills were blocked out against the navy night sky, and he could see a few trees jetting out from the ground, breaking up the dark horizon.

Kazuya took Lee's hand and began to hastily lead his brother across the grass and towards those hills. Lee, who was barefoot, could only stumble after the older boy, despite his pleading with Kazuya to slow down. The older boy didn't, of course, until they had made to the hills, and over several of them. When he reached his destination, which was after the two had hiked up a particularly large and steep hill, Kazuya stopped and dropped his brother's hand, and he moved ahead cautiously. Lee sat down on the soft grass and rubbed the bottoms of his feet, both of which were bleeding a bit from running over rocks and twigs.

"You don't mind me asking," Lee began again as he looked up from massaging the ball of his left foot, "but where the hell are we?"

Kazuya frowned and turned around, "You don't know?" The young boy shook his head, and he squinted. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but it was still difficult to make out his brother's features. However, he could sense the disappointment from Kazuya.

"Maybe if you brought me here during the day," the younger man added gently. "I'm just tired, Kaz. That's all. And it's dark." Kazuya shook his head and turned back around. "Kazuya?" Lee sighed heavily, stood up, and dusted his jeans off before making his way over to his brother's side. The clouds in the sky lazily shifted again, and the moon began to peak out, softly luminating the world below it. Lee frowned and squatted down when he could finally see where he was.

Though he had never been out to that exact spot himself, Lee knew exactly where Kazuya had taken him now. They were standing a few feet from the edge of a cliff, to which Lee saw dropped down several feet; he roughly calculated in his head that the drop was probably about three or four times the height of the manor. The bottom of the cliff was rocky, and the younger boy could see out for miles. The world below them looked like a wasteland. The sky brightened a bit more as clouds moved and parted farther away from the moon, revealing it fully.

"Why did you bring me here?" Lee asked softly as he straightened up. He fixated his gaze on the older man, who was looking forward, his face stony. The younger man was startled by Kazuya's expression; it had been years since Lee had seen that kind of stoic and frighteningly placid look on his brother's face.

Kazuya kept his gaze forward, "I wanted you to see." His voice came out in a low, even whisper.

He continued, "This is where I was all day, and I just sat there and thought. I thought about you and Mama. And him." Lee glanced down at Kazuya's hands, where balled up into tight fists and were trembling. Other than that, the older Mishima brother showed no signs of emotions.

"Kaz, maybe we should head back. It's getting late." Lee hugged himself.

"Why? We'll go home, he'll hit you again."

"I can take care of myself." Kazuya turned his head towards Lee, mouth still drawn down in a tight frown.

He brought his hand up and gently touched the side of Lee's face again; the younger man responded by jerking back and frowning.

"Stop that," Lee mumbled. Kazuya cracked a grin at that and looked back out towards the bed of rock that stretched out below them. He then sat down and crossed his legs indian-style. Lee let out and angry huff and did the same.

"I'm sorry," the dark-haired boy chuckled. He glanced over at Lee, flashing a nervous grin, then looked forward.

"Remember when we were kids, how you like never slept in your room?" Kazuya smiled and glanced over at Lee again.

"Yeah," the younger boy nodded, "I think I used to scare the shit out you, right?"

"No, not at all. It was just, you know, I didn't know what to say to you when you'd come into my room."

Lee frowned, "You didn't have say anything. I just wanted company."

"I was--am terrible company, huh?"

"Terrible, no. Irritating sometimes, yes. But if I didn't want you to be around me, believe me I'd let you know." Lee felt a smile creep across his lips after he said that.

Kazuya began laughing; his laughter echoed over the rocks below and beyond where he sat with his brother. Lee listened to his brother for several minutes and then realized that Kazuya was crying.

"God, what the fuck is wrong with me?" Kazuya chuckled, bringing a palm up to wipe away the tears in his eyes. He looked back over at Lee, still smiling; new tears were forming.

"I think," Lee began again softly, "we should go home. It's late." He stood up and stretched.

"Yeah..." The older man stood up as well and dusted himself off. He gave a small, pained smile at Lee, who extended his hand. Kazuya blinked and stared down at it.

"Come on, take it," Lee commanded playfully. "I need you lead me out of here, because I sure in the hell don't know how we got here." Kazuya blinked again then took his brother's hand gingerly; Lee firmly gripped back. The older Mishima could only laugh.

The trip home didn't seem to take as long as the drive to the hills had, and as Kazuya drove down into their garage, he saw Heihachi was home now. He sighed heavily as he pulled in and parked next to the green Cadillac, and he shut off the car.

He turned to his younger brother, "Well?" Lee's response was a soft chuckle, and the younger man nodded at Kazuya.

"Kaz, he loves you."

"Whatever." Kazuya opened his door and stepped out one foot. Lee, however, just watched his brother quietly and waited. He could see that the older boy was hesitant about going inside, and for good reason.

"Hey, look," the younger man shrugged, "Whatever happens, it's only one step closer to this being over, right?" Lee then turned back and opened his door, stepping out and shutting the door. He trotted up to the door leading to the kitchen and entered the house.

Kazuya sat rigidly in the car for a few moments longer before slowly getting out and slamming his car door. Then he made his way over to the house entrance, pausing only to take a deep breath, and opened the door.

It was half past one in the morning, and Anna was still awake. She laid on her bed, staring over at her phone. She wasn't sure if she should had been relieved that it hadn't rang today or worried. She sat and swung her feet over the side of her bed, then waited a bit longer before sighing heavily and standing up. She then walked over to her door and grabbed her robe before leaving her room.

The kitchen light was on, which startled Anna; Nina had pretty much locked herself in her room the entire day to no surprise to the younger girl. As she cautiously crept down the hall, she stopped at the end.

There was Nina was fully dressed in a black catsuit and her leather coat, and she sat at the kitchen table in the breakfast room, her back turned towards her sister. She was hunched over, fiddling with something, and the sounds of her tinkering clicked ominously in the otherwise silent room. The blonde paused at what she was doing, and slowly lifted her head. Anna held her breath as her sister looked over her shoulder.

Nina's face was still puffy from her crying, mouth drawn down in a tight frown and eyes still red. She was silent, however, and turned her head back to what she had been concentrating on. Anna quietly entered the room; she blinked when she saw what Nina had been doing.

The gun, had been their father's, and when they were children, it was almost always locked away in the cabinet. Richard only brought it out for "special occasions", the last being the day of his death. Now, the assault rifle was being placed piece by piece on the table and in front of its opened case as Nina gingerly took apart and cleaned it, laying out each part as if it were sacred. Anna felt herself tearing up again at the sight.

"Don't do it," the young Williams sister whispered as she sat down. "It's not worth it."

Nina kept silent and began placing each of the parts into the case, taking care to secure each in the protective foam.

"Nina!"

"And sleeping with one of...of them is worth it?" the blonde finally replied as she continued to steadily put her weapon away. She refused to look up at her sister, yet continued, "I can't believe you, Anya. You disgrace our family by associating with murderers--"

"--Lee and Kazuya are not bad people!" Anna stood up, and she tightened her hands into fists. "Maybe Heihachi was a murderer, but Papa wasn't any better--" She stopped when Nina looked up at last. The blonde's eyes were filled with a calm rage, and she was silent. Slowly, she stood up from her seat.

"You take that back," Nina hissed as she leaned over the table.

Anna leaned over as well and narrowed her eyes, "I will not. And if you think they had anything to do with Emil's death, you're wrong."

"Then tell me, Anna," Nina's voice came out dangerously quiet, "Why did he die? Why did Takahashi die?" The younger girl flinched as Nina continued to hiss at her, "I'll tell you why. It's because of them. It's always because of them."

Anna replied, "Did it ever occur to you even once that maybe, just maybe, that something in this town has nothing to do with the Mishimas? Or better yet, that perhaps you're to blame?"

Nina slapped Anna and stomped around the table and grabbed her sister by the front of her nightgown.

"Can't see what he's doing to you?" the blonde growled, tears forming in her eyes. "He's doing the same thing Heihachi did to Mama! He's brainwashing you! Him and that little shit that left you out in the cold!--"

"--You're wrong!" Anna cried as she swung a fist up, clumsily hitting her sister in the head. The sudden jolt caused Nina to loosen her grip on her sister and Anna pulled back and freed herself, stumbling back. She grabbed her cheek; it still stung from where her sister had hit her, and a red mark was burning across it. The older girl stood, unharmed but stunned at Anna hitting back.

"I," the redhead began shakily, "went to Kazuya first. In fact, he was reluctant about even talking to me at first." She straightened up, hand still rubbing the side of her face.

Nina rushed over to her sister, grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her violently, "Anna, don't lie for him, not to me."

"I've no reason to lie." Anna swatted away her sister's hands. Nina dropped her hands and blinked, her face unreadable.

Anna hugged herself and continued softly, "That night, when Mama died, that's where I was." The older girl's bottom lip began to quiver before she snarled, her tears finally falling down her cheeks. She then lunged over and tackled the younger girl, curling her hands around Anna's neck to throttle her.

"You slut! I knew it!" Nina screamed as she strangled her sister; Anna gasped and gritted her teeth before she kicked her legs out to push the older girl off of her. In one smooth motion, the younger sister managed to kick her attacker off of her and quickly stood up, gasping for air. She then dropped into stance, relaxing her shoulders and breath the best she could and waited. Nina pulled herself up and took the same stance, her eyes burning with anger at the younger woman before her.

"Daddy was right about you," Nina sneered. "You'll never amount to anything. You're useless to us."

"Us?" Anna lifted a brow, finally getting her breathing under control. "There's no one left but you and me! And if we--you keep trying to live in the past, then how can we move on?" Nina let out a laugh and came at her sister with a several short kicks, which Anna put up her arms to block, before landing a full roundhouse at the redhead. Anna, however, ducked on the last kick, and hit her sister with a right hook that sent the blonde stumbling back, though still not completely knocking her over.

The younger girl opened her fist into and closed her fingers together before sharply swiping at Nina again. However, Nina grabbed her sister's arm and twisted it, forcing Anna to her knees. The younger girl cried out in pain, but she elbowed the other woman with her free arm, loosening Nina's grip just enough for her to slip free, then she stood up and turned to run. Before Anna could get far, however, Nina tackled her once more, sending the two of them flying into kitchen table. The impact knocked everything off of it, including Richard's gun. Nina flipped her disoriented sister on her back and began strangling her again.

"Useless slut!" she growled as Anna clawed desperately at the hands squeezing her neck. "Fucking the younger one wasn't enough, was it?!" Anna's eyes began to roll back. "And you can't even respect your family enough to stay away from the other one!" The younger girl's eyelids fluttered shut, and her hands went limp and slid off of her sister's.

Only then did Nina loosen her grip, and she sat back up on her knees. The older girl calmly pressed her index and middle fingers under Anna's ear to check for a pulse, and when she felt one weakly beating, the blonde leaned over and began to hastily pick up the gun parts that were scattered around her, then crawled over the unconscious body of her sister to get the rest.

As she carefully started placing everything back in its case she said, "I'm sorry, Anya. I really am. You know I love you, right?" The only response was the sound of the clock ticking in the kitchen.

Nina continued, "This is for the best. You'll see." She placed the last piece of the gun, the silencer, in the foam then clasped the case shut. She then stood up, straightened her jacket with her freehand, and gazed down at her sister for a moment, as if waiting for a response. Again, only the sounds of the clock in the kitchen answered her.

Nina shook her head once out of pity and turned to leave.

Anna sat up slowly and painfully to find that it was still dark. She stood up, leaning on the tabletop for support and looked up towards the kitchen at the clock; it had only been half an hour since she and Nina had fought. She staggered over to the kitchen phone, holding her dislocated right arm. She cradled the receiver between her ear and shoulder and dialed slowly with her left hand.

As the other end rang, Anna sat down on one of the barstools and waited, counting rings to herself. ...Six...seven...eight... There was a click as it picked up finally.

"You've reached the Mishima residence. No one's available right now, but if you leave your name, phone number. . ."

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" She screamed as she slammed the phone down, then hunched over and began sobbing.