Just Like Old Times by Psychoblue

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120131051158/http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=121716

Author: Psychoblue. Possibly https://twitter.com/Psychoblue9

Tags: Kazuya, Jun, Lee, Heihachi, Kazuya-focused

Even as consciousness returned to him, Kazuya didn't really want to wake up from his knockout slumber.

As the Cold-Blooded Prince, Kazuya Mishima prided himself on his strength and intelligence. Being the rightful heir to the Mishima birthright, he was raised to believe that his family was the greatest in both mind and body. Though his grandfather Jinpachi tried to teach him humility, it didn't take long for Kazuya to realize that feeble concepts like modesty had no place in the Mishima's world of fighting and conquest. Heihachi Mishima made it quite clear to Kazuya and his adopted son, Lee: there could only be one ruler of the mighty Mishima Zaibatsu that would rule the world. Kazuya to this day still could not figure out what caused Heihachi to be so cruel to his son. Jinpachi, from what Kazuya remembered, was a kind man who believed that true strength came from moderation between lifting one's fists and turning the other cheek: it wasn't as if Heihachi had a bad upbringing. Perhaps he was just bitter that his wife, Kazuya's mother, wasn't strong enough to survive the illness that took her, and blamed Kazuya for whatever reason. Not that it excused the old man for throwing Kazuya off a cliff and then treating him like dirt for the next 20 years, but it made Kazuya wonder.

Heihachi should have been dead long ago, leaving Kazuya as the one true heir of the Mishima Zaibatsu and giving him full reign to change the world. The Cold-Blooded Prince, for a short time, actually succeeded in gaining that throne and was quite far along in his plans to rule the world?but it was only for a short time. Not only did Heihachi survive Kazuya's attempt on his life, but he returned the favor by tossing Kazuya into a volcano. Even murdering his own offspring wasn't beneath Heihachi, it seemed. More than 20 years after taking a dive in the magma, Kazuya found himself in a very unsettling position for someone of his pride. Kazuya might have been the current leader of the mighty G-Corporation, but it didn't change the fact that not only was the Mishima Zaibatsu in the hands of his own upstart son Jin (who had renounced Kazuya as his father by refusing to even use the Mishima surname: something that Kazuya wished he thought of when Heihachi abused him for all those years), but Heihachi was still alive and well. And just hours ago, Heihachi proved his continued dominance over Kazuya by manhandling him in combat, and Jin proved his own dominance by defeating Kazuya in his potent Devil form. Kazuya became host to a demonic entity, and then had G-Corporation alter his body so that he could draw even more power from it, strictly so that he could become the sole ruler of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Instead, both his father and his son made a complete fool of him and his Devil Gene, rendering all of those Faustian bargains and body modifications completely mute. More humiliations for someone who what seemed like an eternity ago proved himself as the King of Iron Fist champion. Which led him to this moment: waking up with his head throbbing, his body aching and the smell of flowers?

"Where am I?" Kazuya groaned as he realized only part of his body was laying on the hard rocks of the riverbank that he fell in after being shot down by his son's newly-found control of his Devil Gene. His upper body resting against something soft and firm, and as his eyes came into focus, he saw the face of someone that would probably be one of the last people he expected to give him such a comfortable resting place. The clothing was different from what he remembered her favoring, the black scarf and crow-printed white shirt looking a little darker than what she usually wore, but her scent and face was almost exactly what it was when they last met almost twenty years before.

"What are you doing here?" Kazuya growled as he tried to sit up, only for his ribcage to suddenly erupt in the fires of pain, to a point where even he roared in pain. Clutching his midsection, the Cold-Blooded Prince felt something out of place inside of him, like crumbs broken from a loaf of bread. The fall took a worse toll on him than he thought: though he landed in the river, the part he landed in was very shallow and did very little to protect him from the crushing rocks beneath the water. "D-damn?"

Now that he was fully awakened, Kazuya turned his head to see that there was a fire burning a few feet way from where he and his apparent savior were sitting. Hovering slightly over the fire were two trouts cooking over the open flame: breakfast, Kazuya thought. Given how poorly Kazuya had treated his host over the past several years, he wondered if maybe there was some kind of poisonous trap involved?but her expression was listless, not showing any kind of malicious anticipation, nor any objection to him taking the food.

Reaching out to the stick holding one of the trouts, Kazuya quickly sank his teeth into the fish and began eating. Poison?tch, Kazuya thought as he fully turned his body as best he could to face his savior, who was quietly staring out into the river. Jun Kazama is many things, but underhanded isn't one of them. If she wanted to kill me, she wouldn't have wasted any time with poisoning fish and just left me to die?and even then that's giving her too much credit. She's too altruistic for her own good. Jun Kazama - there was one name that Kazuya thought he'd never hear again. When Kazuya first took over the Mishima Zaibatsu from Heihachi after defeating his father in the first King of Iron Fist tournament, having heirs was the absolute last thing on his mind. But then Jun Kazama came along: that alluringly mysterious woman that entered the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2 just so she could confront Kazuya. Jun wasn't like the other women that had tried to get close to Kazuya: she knew full well what kind of monster lurked within Kazuya's soul but she showed absolutely no fear to it. If Heihachi didn't throw Kazuya into that volcano, the Cold-Blooded Prince wondered what kind of life he would have led with Jun. Whatever he shared with Jun, it was genuine enough that Kazuya deeply considered integrating her into his daily life. Perhaps Jin would not have resented Kazuya so much if he had raised the boy himself, or perhaps the resentment would be even worse and Kazuya would prove to be as bad a father as Heihachi. But that was over 20 years ago, and whatever could have happened mattered little in the scheme of reality. The fact of the matter was that Heihachi did throw Kazuya into the volcano, and when he was revived, Kazuya put any hope of being a family man aside so that he could focus on getting his revenge on Heihachi. It was the destiny of the Mishimas to fight one another, and though there were those like Jun that tried to tell him otherwise, denying it was as futile as denying the air that one breathed. Kazuya tried to stand up and walk over to Jun, but as soon as he put pressure on his right leg, he let out another yell of agony and flopped down on his face. "My leg is broken, too?" Kazuya said in exasperation, holding his nose and feeling something wet and warm on his hand. Realizing that he had bloodied his nose, Kazuya turned his head to the right to see his clothes sitting near the fire, as well, drying from the dip in the river he took from his freefall hours before.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't create a splint and bandages for you, Kazuya."

Finally, Jun spoke to her former lover, though even that was a complicated term to use when describing their relationship. "Fated partner" might have been a better description, given how short their time was together yet they still found enough time to conceive Kazuya's meddlesome son Jin who now sit on the Zaibatsu's throne. "I feel broken inside," Kazuya said quietly as he once again gripped his midsection. "Just how many places am I hurt?"

"You took a very dangerous fall: it's a miracle you can move at all," Jun added as she finally turned away from the river to face Kazuya. And then, she flashed Kazuya a thin smile: maybe she was trying to be comforting, as per her nature, but it didn't give Kazuya much comfort. Kazuya had willfully forsaken Jun so that he could resume his path to vengeance against Heihachi, and her own son wanted his head, yet there was Jun smiling as if nothing had changed in the past 20 years. "It is good to see you again, Kazuya: it has been a very long time."

"Not long enough, Jun," Kazuya grumbled as he stood up, carefully this time so as not to put pressure on his damaged leg, and hopped over to his clothes before sitting back down and redressing himself. "I'm sure you still remember what I told you all those years ago: it is the destiny of the Mishimas to fight one another. As things are now, your presence is nothing but a distraction."

"You don't sound very surprised to see me, Kazuya," Jun replied as she walked over to Kazuya and knelt down over him, once again forcing him to get a nice whiff of her flower-like scent. Kazuya's colleagues had told him that time had been extremely kind to him, a man pushing 50 years old that looked as young as 30, but the years had been much kinder to Jun. Whereas Kazuya had accumulated burns and battle scars like someone had carved into him like a tree, there wasn't a single blemish on Jun's body and she looked as young and flawless as she did when they first met. "It has been nearly twenty years, after all?"

"The last I heard about you, everyone thought you were dead when Ogre went on his rampage," Kazuya retorted dryly as he carefully put his pants on. Wincing in pain as the pain in his broken leg came back, the Cold-Blood Prince exhaled and continued speaking. "?but I knew better than that. You were off somewhere licking your wounds until the time was right to return: I never bothered looking for you because I knew you were still alive, and quite frankly I didn't have the time to look for you."

"...you're such a convincing liar, Kazuya," Jun said with another warm smile before sitting down next to Kazuya as his gingerly put his shirt back on to keep his broken ribcage from flaring up. "I think the only time you were completely honest with me, with no reservations, was when you came to visit me in Yakushima. I'm sure you remember that time."

How could Kazuya possibly forget what Jun was referring to. About five years after being resurrected by G-Corporation, Kazuya realized that his time with Jun was long enough for them to conceive a son: the latest in the Mishima bloodline and by default yet another enemy Kazuya had to deal with. Heading to Yakushima forest, Kazuya believed he had frozen his heart enough that he could kill off his heir and eliminate the threat to his eventual return to glory before he matured into someone dangerous. It was a plan that even Heihachi likely would have drawn a line at, killing small children, but being thrown into a volcano had made the already-embittered Kazuya into a true monster, more demon than human. At least, that's what Kazuya thought. Standing in Kazuya's way was Jun, as always: she seemed to be really good at that sort of thing. Kazuya foolishly believed that he had become enough of a monster to strike her down, like he should have done the moment she began worming her way into his thoughts during the second Iron Fist tournament?but yet again, he was wrong. Just as he did not anticipate Heihachi surviving his karmic fate of Kazuya throwing him off of the same ravine he was thrown off as a child, Kazuya did not anticipate his affections for Jun still being such a deciding factor. So he decided that, instead of killing off Jin as a child, he would wait until Jin had matured to a point where he could defend himself. If Kazuya went through with the deed, not only would it have made Jun cry, but it would have made him no better than his loathsome father Heihachi. It was the destiny of the Mishimas to fight one another, not cowardly slay them while they were helpless.

"Our son has grown into quite a fighter," Kazuya said after a long pause while he and Jun looked out into the sun that was just barely peeking out over the horizon, heralding the infant stages of the new day. "When I left the forest those years ago, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of martial artist he would grow into without a Mishima to maintain his training. Years later he has grown into a man that has defeated me in combat not once, but twice."

"You sound proud of him, Kazuya," Jun turned to Kazuya and again flashed a warm smile. "I'm happy: as much as I hate to admit it, I was worried that the two of you were going to tear away at one another with nothing but hatred in your hearts?but when I watched your battle at Kyoto Castle, you seemed so happy to be facing him like that, so evenly matched, so much like yourself when you were his age."

"Tch! So you were watching the whole time?" Kazuya scoffed as he finished putting on his socks and shoes. "You could stepped in at any time and offered a helping hand, you know: I doubt Jin would have been so willing to rip my head off if you had been there?unless your presence was the reason Jin was able to gain control of his powers." Turning towards Jun with his red eye glowing softly, Kazuya watched Jun's smile fade. "Tell me, Jun?why are you here in Kyoto after disappearing for so many years: don't tell me it was just a coincidence."

One of the things that Kazuya found so mysterious about Jun, and perhaps even attractive, was how she always maintained her cool even when the world around her was falling apart. Whether it be the heat of battle or emotional distress, she was extremely careful about not showing any obvious weakness. This might have had something to do with her training in Kazama-ryu Aiki-jujitsu, supposedly one of the world's top forms of self-defense, but it was a trait that Kazuya liked. But Kazuya could detect, just for a quick instant, a moment of uncertainty in her eyes. "?I was tired of hiding," Jun answered very soon after Kazuya detected that flicker. "Jin was ruling the Zaibatsu with an iron fist and made the entire world his enemy, while you positioned yourself as the world's savior by opposing him with G-Corporation. As much as I care about you, Kazuya?the roles you two were given felt so backwards, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to meet either one of you, and stop the two of you from ripping the world apart with your war." The Cold-Blooded Prince analyzed Jun's facial expression carefully, waiting for another flash of uncertainty in her eyes. But there was none, and for just a brief instant, Kazuya believed what Jun was saying?until he remembered that not only was Jun a top-notch martial artist and a mysterious beautiful woman, but a powerful psychic, as well. For just a quick moment, he could detect Jun probing his soul, and he recognized it as that quick moment of weakness he was waiting for.

"You're not as convincing a liar as I am, Jun," Kazuya said with a smirk before going back to his half-finished trout. In between mouthfuls, he continued speaking. "Why didn't you make your presence known at Honmaru when Jin and I first clashed? Why didn't you seek me out during the fourth tournament, when I made my public return? How about the fifth tournament, when Jin first gained control of the Zaibatsu? You could stepped in and tried to put a stop to the madness much earlier?but instead you make your presence known here, with Jin nowhere in sight."

"I am not lying to you, Kazuya."

"No, but you're not telling me the entire truth, either."

Very carefully standing back up, Kazuya picked up the remaining trout cooking over the fire and silently offered it to Jun as she too stood up. She looked at the trout, and then at Kazuya, and then back at the trout. "Jun?though fate has split us apart, I do not consider you my enemy. However, I expect you to be honest with me if you want me to continue doing so." Rather than take the trout on the stick, Jun instead surprised Kazuya by taking the hand holding it. The last time Kazuya and Jun touched, it was met with a painful burning sensation that bore into Kazuya on a genetic level. The power of the Kazamas was the power to ward off evil spirits, and since Kazuya had fused his flesh with the evil spirit of Devil on a cellular level, her touch became poisonous to him: yet another reason Kazuya chose to distance himself from Jun upon his resurrection. But this time, Kazuya felt nothing but her warmth as she wrapped her hands around his. "The reason I didn't make my appearance known all those times is because I wasn't ready," Jun said with a whisper as she looked into Kazuya's eyes. "I might have seemed indifferent to the world around me, but the truth was that I was reckless. I thought I could save everyone just because I had abilities that others didn't?but that was arrogant of me. Ogre's attack proved that I wasn't as strong as I thought?so I've spent the past several years training, preparing my mind and body for the great task that lies before me."

"And what task is that, Jun?" Kazuya asked with a pause. She still hadn't lost her allure after all these years. After all of the heartache he had caused her, Jun's gentleness when she spoke to him hadn't faded at all. On top of that, the very real barrier that kept them from being together was now gone, supposedly due to the training Jun had undergone to prepare herself for whatever task she was referring to. Those brown eyes, Kazuya thought with a smirk as he felt himself become drawn to her just like he did twenty years before, they're as bewitching as ever?

"My task?" Jun's voice started to trail off as she wrapped her arms around Kazuya: something that definitely held some kind of nostalgic value to the both of them. "?my task, Kazuya?is to make it so that talking to you like this won't be something I have to wait another 20 years for. I want to be able to talk to our son again?I want for the three of us to be a family, like we should have been before?before?"

Before I put a stop to such nonsense and took back my Zaibatsu."

The voice that interrupted the lucid moment was slightly younger-sounding than either Kazuya or Jun remembered it being the last time they heard it?but there was no mistaking whose voice it was. Breaking their embrace and turning around, neither Jun's coolheadedness nor Kazuya's even-tempered demeanor could hide their surprise at the man who stood before them. It was none other than Heihachi Mishima?or at least, someone who looked like him minus 30 or so years. While the black gi with red belt definitely belonged to Heihachi, whoever stood before Kazuya and Jun was not the same Heihachi that hours ago almost demolished Kyoto, and their son, with a giant monster comprised out of legions of Mokujin training dummies. The baldness of Heihachi's head was now completely gone, replaced with a full head of hair that creviced to the wing-like form that had become his trademark. His gray hair was now completely black, and the wrinkles on his face had smoothed out to form a man who didn't look much older than 30, if even that.

"Surprised to see me, you two?" "Heihachi" said with a confident smirk as he folded his arms. "How many times has the world thought I was gone forever, only for me to come back stronger than before? Is it really so surprising that I was able to survive my grandson's toy doll?"

"?"

Both Jun and Kazuya were silent as they tried to comprehend what was going on. The fact that Heihachi had survived his battle with Jin and his companions wasn't that surprising, given that he was a Mishima. The situation which left them speechless was how Kazuya's father looked young enough that he could have plausibly been Kazuya's son. He was bad enough when he was just on the tail end of an average lifespan: now he was as youthful as Kazuya was when he first defeated Heihachi.

"You are no doubt wondering why I am looking so fresh," Heihachi said after a long silence between the three of them. Stroking his mustache which now went down to his chin, the former King of Iron Fists allowed himself a sly grin. "It would seem that summoning the angered spirit of nature had more benefits than I initially anticipated. In the short time I made myself at one with the old ghosts, the spirit of nature within my own soul intensified, putting at least forty years of life back into my old body!" Flexing his muscles, Heihachi let loose a hearty laughter. "HAHAHAHAHA! This is why I kept telling you to study the world around you, Kazuya: you never know what kind of secrets it may hold!"

"Why?"

"Hm?" Heihachi raised an eyebrow as he turned to Jun, who stepped forward in front of Kazuya, putting herself between ruthless father and sinister son. "I just told you why, Ms. Kazama. Surely the years haven't taken away your hearing, have they?"

"Why are you here, Heihachi?" Jun finished her question as the shock of seeing the young Heihachi started to wear off. What Kazuya saw as only a quick flicker became a brief inferno of uncertainty: as calm as Jun was normally, someone discovering the fountain of youth struck an unpleasant chord with her. As a former WWWC officer, Jun fancied herself as someone attuned to nature, and reverse aging was no doubt something that she saw as an affront to the natural order of things.

"While dealing with your son, I seem to have overlooked someone," Heihachi motioned his head towards Kazuya, who was glaring at his father in a way that would have made lesser men piss themselves. Heihachi, however, was no ordinary man, as clearly evidenced by how he had discovered a way to restore his lost youth. "His ki signature was so faint at first that I had trouble pinpointing it, but then I recognized your ki signature and decided if you were there, chances are Kazuya was not far off." Without saying a word, Jun lifted her hands and assumed a fighting stance that Kazuya had not seen before. She obviously wasn't kidding when she said she had been training, and her new fighting stance, looking so loose yet at the same time so focused, was certainly evidence of this. More importantly, it was very rare for Jun to be the first person to get ready for a fight, being someone who disliked unnecessary violence?something that Heihachi remembered, as well. "?do you dislike me, Jun?" Heihachi asked. "It matters little," Jun said after a pause, still remaining focused on her stance. "The point is you are seeking to murder your own son?again. If you expect me to stand aside and watch that happen, you are grossly mistaken."

To this, the King of Iron Fists let out another loud laugh: apparently, his restored youth did nothing to affect his callous sense of humor. If Kazuya wasn't so injured, he would have taken his fist and smashed Heihachi's vocal chords so he couldn't laugh again.

"Ha! After everything Kazuya has done to your son, you giving ME lectures on the evils of the Mishima feud?"

"You've taken Kazuya away from me once. I will not let it happen again," Jun retorted icily.

"Do you still hold that against me, Jun?" Heihachi asked a little bit more seriously as he entered his own fighting stance that had changed very little over the years, mostly because his overwhelming power gave him very little need to change the way he fought.

"After the end of the second Iron Fist tournament, I offered you a laurel of friendship to compensate for any wrongdoing I might have done to you. I was under the impression that you have forgiven me for that."

"I put my trust in you, Heihachi. When Ogre attacked me, I told Jin to go to you because I thought you would protect him in my absence." Once again, Kazuya detected a spark of weakness in Jun's formidable emotional defenses. Her voice and the way she trembled displayed a side to her that Kazuya had been previously unaware of: a side that showed anger and hatred towards another person.

"Instead, you shot my son in the head with a pistol when his guard was down, and now he struggles with the same evil that Kazuya has to deal with?again because of your callousness." The defenses then crumbled completely as a tear formed in Jun's eyes and her voice suddenly became rasp with anger and sorrow.

"Because of you, Heihachi, the two people I care about the most have tried to kill each and are dragging the world itself into their war! And you have the nerve to ask if I hold all of this against you!" Heihachi's smile, which had faded into a very slight smirk, disappeared completely to form a frown, pondering Jun's words to him. It would seem that even my father is affected by Jun, Kazuya mused as he folded his arms, still being very careful not to put any pressure on his damaged leg. I had no idea Jun was so well-acquainted with Heihachi: it seems that all of us Mishima cannot help but be charmed by her.

"You are right, Jun, as always," Heihachi said lowly as he lowered his fists. "As a Mishima, it is our firmest belief that power is everything, and we must do everything we can to accumulate power. Perhaps, in pursuing that belief, I have lost sight of things that truly matter in this world." Outstretching his hand towards Kazuya, Heihachi addressed his wayward son in a much more favorable tone than he had ever heard him speak.

"Kazuya, while you may be a pathetic wretch who refuses to accept defeat, I must admit you have grown into a powerful warrior. It's a shame you cannot find the same harmony in your mind and soul as you have in your body: I would have gladly stepped down from the Zaibatsu if you were able to do so." What a smug bastard: I can smell the insincerity coming from his foul breath, Kazuya lips formed into a snarl as he listened to Heihachi's patronizing. As a master of deception himself, successfully making the world think he was dead for twenty years, the Cold-Blooded Prince could easily detect it from others, whether it be someone as emotionally neutral as Jun or someone as devious as Heihachi. Surely Jun would be able to sense Heihachi's lies, right?

In an act that surprised Kazuya, Jun lowered her fighting stance along with Heihachi. Was Jun actually buying the tripe that Heihachi was selling! Just moments ago she lowered her almost impenetrable emotional defenses to make it clear just how much she had grown to dislike Heihachi and his decidedly dishonorable methods for a man who claimed to be a man of honor, and now she was lowering her fighting stance just because Heihachi did the same. What in the world was Jun thinking?

"Jun Kazama," Heihachi said with a smile as he walked towards Jun and outstretched his hand once again, this time for her.

"I am pleased to see that you are still alive. You are right about Jin: my rash actions have led him down a path that neither you nor I desired for him. If I were a little more patient, perhaps Jin would still be at my side as my loyal ward, and this global conflict he and Kazuya have instigated would've never taken place." Once he was directly in front of Jun, Heihachi issued his offer.

"Join my side, Jun: help me confront my grandson and convince him to give the Zaibatsu to me so I can undo this madness. I believe that by doing so, we will come that much closer to ending this damnable feud that has engulfed the Mishima clan." There was a long moment of silence between the three warriors as Jun looked into Heihachi's eyes, and then turned her head to look back at Kazuya. If Kazuya were a little more reckless and in better health, he would have told Jun to tell Heihachi where he could stick his side, but he very curious how this was going to play out.

The Jun of twenty years ago would have leapt at even the faintest chance of peacefully ending the Mishima conflict, even if the offer was coming from Heihachi. After looking long at hard at Kazuya, and then back to Heihachi, Jun gave the restored King of Iron Fists her answer.

"There's nothing I hate more than deception, Heihachi." As soon as Jun said those words, Heihachi's smile turned into a frustrated growl as his outstretched hand suddenly thrust forward to strike Jun in the chest. Jun, however, anticipated Heihachi's betrayal long in advance, and as such was prepared for the sneak attack. Wrapping her hands around Heihachi's arm and using his attacking momentum against him, Jun send the maniacal karateka rolling into the air and landing hard on his neck and shoulders with a vacuum throw before jumping away and resuming her fighting stance.

"This is your last chance, Jun," Heihachi growled as he quickly resumed his fighting stance and charged forward before jumping into the air with a kick. Even though Jun was able to get her hands up in time to block, she didn't expect the second kick that Heihachi executed by spinning around in mid-air when the first kick connected. As a result, Jun was sent spiraling to the hard ground while Heihachi landed on his sandal-covered feet.

"You can either join me, or you can join Kazuya when I send you both to the afterlife! Choose now!" Pushing herself off the ground and assuming her fighting stance, Jun thrust out her palm to strike Heihachi's shoulder, just as Heihachi did the same to hers. Even though both attacks had enough force to easily topple anyone else, as noted from the winds that buffeting from their bodies upon impact, the two martial artists stood their ground, unwilling to let the other's will dominate their own.

"You should already know by now: Heihachi: it is the duty of the Kazama clan to destroy evil and for everything you've done to me, that means you are my sworn enemy!" Ramming his head into Jun knocking her on the ground, Heihachi charged his lightning-like ki and resumed his fighting stance.

"Then you will suffer a dog's death!" There were many idiots that Kazuya have met in his long life that called themselves "rebellious" in one form or another. Most of them were boisterous morons that would go on and on about how they were going to change the world and how they wouldn't stand for the same thing happening forever. In almost every case, their bark was either worse than their bite and they were all talk, or they actually had the potential to make a difference and just weren't intelligent enough to go through with whatever they planned to do to "make a statement." Jun was not one of those people: she realized full well that actions spoke infinitely louder than words and when she said she was going to do something, that was the last she ever spoke of it because she was too busy actually doing it.

There had been many martial artists that have said, in one form or another, that they were going to defeat Heihachi and make him pay for all of the wrongdoings he had done, but watching Jun fight Heihachi so evenly reminded Kazuya that she was actually capable of doing so. She might not have had a Devil Gene at her disposal, but she was an extremely capable martial artist that had obviously devoted herself to training during her absence.

Kazuya watched Jun weave her way through Heihachi's bone-crushing attacks, both of them realizing full well just how bad things would be if Heihachi managed to get his hands on her. But for every missed attack, Jun made Heihachi pay for with a powerful blow from her palms, elbows, knees, or feet.In the past, Jun was content in using her opponent's momentum against them: the ultimate form of self-defense. Here, Jun was proving that she wasn't afraid of taking initiative: her attacks had much greater impact than before and it showed from how Heihachi grunted in pain.

The way Jun stood against the mighty Heihachi, holding her own even when the odds were stacked against her, was something that Kazuya found symbolic. Even though she swore to end to Mishima conflict, Jun always had Kazuya's back and wanted nothing but the best for him, even when Kazuya didn't realize it.

Perhaps if this battle had taken place two weeks ago, Jun might have been able to score a victory of Heihachi, who at the time was well over seventy years old and approaching the end of his natural life. Unfortunately, the reality was that Heihachi's restored youth made his reflexes and stamina much faster than Jun was used to them being. After a good five minutes of weaving and anticipating Heihachi's attacks, Jun's fortune ran out with Heihachi kicked her in the stomach and lifted her over his shoulders. Before Jun realized what was happening, Heihachi had already jumped into the air, with Jun crashing down hard on her neck and shoulders as the former King of Iron Fists powered her down with a mighty Power Bomb.

"Good: you have personified your Kazama-ryu style into something you can call your own," Heihachi said before lifting Jun up by her hair and delivering a crushing headbutt to her skull, causing her to yell out in pain. Ramming his head into her again and against, the karateka continued taunting his quarry.

"But you are a fool if you think you can beat ME!" Putting a final exclamation point on the last headbutt, Heihachi let Jun crash down to the ground and saw that he had drawn blood from her forehead.

"Unfortunately, I cannot waste time with you: a shame you had to confront me here rather than seek me out when I was training," Heihachi focused his ki into his left arm and lifted it high over his head for the finishing blow.

Once his power had reached his zenith, Heihachi brought down his feared Demon Tile Splitter on Jun,but was surprised to see that Jun still had enough of her wits about her to catch the arm mere inches away from her head.

"Grrrrrr?stop struggling and fall down," Heihachi growled as he strained against Jun's defense, pushing down hard with his arm crackling with enough energy to light up a small home.

"Fall down now and I promise your death will be painl-ACH!" Jun let out a gasp of air as the immense pressure coming down on her was suddenly alleviated by the most unexpected of saviors tackling Heihachi to the ground and getting him away from her.

"K-Kazuya?" Jun said in slight disbelief as she turned to see Kazuya holding down Heihachi as best he could with all of the injuries he was dealing with.

"Kazuya, what are you doing? You're in no condition to-"

"This never concerned you, Jun," Kazuya spat back as he usually all of his power to prevent Heihachi from standing back up, clasping onto his legs as hard as he could even as his father sat up. "This is between the Mishima clan: get out of here and leave this old fool to me!" "Don't make me laugh, Kazuya," Heihachi belted out as he grabbed onto his son's head and squeezed as hard as he could, causing him to grit his teeth and loosen his hold on his legs. Standing back up with Kazuya's head still being palmed, the former King of Iron Fists looked at his son with amused curiosity.

"Kazuya, what sort of chance do you think you have with a broken leg and shattered ribs?"

"She was winning," Kazuya said with a smirk before his red eye started to glow hot, causing Heihachi to widen his eyes in surprise.

"I wasn't going to let her take from me the honor of beating you!" Realizing what was going to happen next, Heihachi quickly put his free hand over Kazuya's eyes, protecting him from the lethal Inferno beam that he had perfected over the years. Even as the smoke emerged from Heihachi's palm, the former King of Iron Fist remained focus until Kazuya's beam attack ended and his arms slumped down. Rather than crush Kazuya's head which was still in his grasp, Heihachi decided to cut his losses and jump high into the air onto a ledge more than twenty feet above and behind him: a feat that could only be done by those of his physical caliber.

"Kazuya, Jun," the karateka said with a smile as he looked down at the burn mark on his hand. "

Your devotion to one another has caused me to reconsider settling things here."

"Running away, coward?" Kazuya growled as he prepared to fire off another beam, only his ribcage to flare up and cause him to shout out in pain.

"AGH! That's just like you, Heihachi! Even cripples like me frighten you!"

"I am still not used to my restored youth: I will need time and training to fully comprehend just how much faster my body is," Heihachi retorted before turning around and walking away.

"I hope that the two of you will be doing the same. The next time we meet, we'll make it a family reunion that the world we'll never forget! HehehehHAHAHAHA"

"And it ends just as quickly as it started," Kazuya growled as he reminded himself that he was in no condition to pursue Heihachi, even as the smug martial artist laughed at how casually he walked away from a battle that he started in the first place. Turning around towards Jun, the Cold-Blooded Prince noticed that she was reaching into her pants pocket for something.

"What are you fumbling with, Jun?" "this," Jun answered as she pulled out the all-too-familiar envelope barring the red seal of the kanji "Tekken": the unmistakable King of Iron Fist tournament invitation that Kazuya had seem many times in the past and even had the honor of sending them out himself.

"This is the main reason why I sought you out before seeking out Jin.

There's another tournament coming up?and this time, we're expected to enter in teams of two." "So,a tag tournament?" Kazuya asked rhetorically. "Hmph! Wouldn't Jin be a more suitable partner for you?"

"You've seen Jin today: he's on the very brink of becoming the man that he'll be for the rest of his life. If I showed up now, it would only confuse him: I cannot be there to guide him every step of the way."

Handing the invitation to Kazuya, Jun placed her free hand around his just as he reached out to take the envelope. "But what I can do is see for myself just how much he has matured, and maybe help him alleviate his resentment towards the Mishimas. I think that by siding with you, I'll be showing him that it's possible for us to all co-exist."

"even with Heihachi?" Kazuya said with quiet anger. "We'll deal with Heihachi, as well. In fact, the two of joining forces might be the only way we can stop him from doing more damage than he's already done," Jun continued before wiping some of the blood from her forehead and looking at the stain on her fingers.

"Heihachi was always immensely powerful, but now he has youth and vigor to go along with his decades of experience and cunning viciousness. I don't think even Jin would be able to stop him without our help."

The winds suddenly picked up around the two martial artists as the familiar sound of helicopter blades rotating filled the air. Looking up to see the familiar G-Corporation logo on the side of the helicopter that was descending several feet away from them, Kazuya and Jun watched as the helicopter finally landed and a dozen armed soldiers stormed out of the door, circling them and pointing their guns at Jun.

"your style and clothes might have changed, but you haven't changed much at all since the last time we met," Kazuya said with a smile. "There is always an alternate to death, Kazuya," Jun replied, "but I realize that the only way to get that alternative is to take action. That is why I have trained so hard: so I can be by your side just like I should have all those years ago, and hopefully bring our son to our side, as well."

"Sir, we've come to take you home," one of the G-Corporation soldiers walked up to Kazuya and saluted before turning to Jun.

"What do you want us to do with her?" Kazuya once again scanned Jun for that tiny spark of uncertainty he saw earlier, seeing if perhaps Jun wasn't being entirely truthful yet again, or about to carry out some kind of scheme to undermine him.

But as expected, it wasn't there: Jun was being honest with him, and thus Kazuya trusted her in return. "She is our guest.

Treat her as such," Kazuya said as he wrapped his arm around Jun's shoulder, allowing her to help him limp to the helicopter. "Together again, just like old times, eh Jun?"

"Just like old times," Jun replied with another warm smile.