Chapter 1

The smell of fresh dew invaded his nostrils as his eye-lids were caressed by the soft blades of grass. His hand released its hold on the soft earth, searching blindly until he felt the skin of another. His hand was immediately embraced by a smaller one that laced its fingers between his. He lifted his head slightly, hoping to catch the eye of his companion. She smiled at him once their eyes met, bringing his hand to her face and kissing his knuckles.

Returning her grin, the two of them lay amongst the flora and stared at the night sky laden with stars, all the while never letting each other go. At this time of the day, he would often note how her inky black tresses seemed to merge with the surroundings.

It really gave the impression that she was one with the Earth.

A light yet cold wind breezed through the plains, somehow ghosting under his shirt and sliding across his skin. He shivered from the unexpected cold. She saw this and rolled to her side to wrap her arms around him, offering her warmth and comfort. He accepted it readily, returning her hug. He closed his eyes, completely at peace with the world.

"My dear," said a soft voice in his ear. "Please, stay here…"

Though he felt the request was ridiculous, he didn't open his eyes as he murmured in reply "Of course I will."

He felt something soft press against his forehead and he couldn't help but smile.

"Stay here forever… no matter what happens."

"I will," he said. Through the tranquillity of the plains, he could hear a faint, indescribable sound.

"Promise me."

His mother's words briefly drowned out the sounds of the world. He was about to reply to her demand when the ground briefly rumbled beneath him. Startled, he propped himself on his elbow. An earthquake?

The ground rumbled again, this time with more intensity, before stopping. This wasn't an earthquake, was it? They weren't normally this short…

"What's wrong?"

The next tremor was incredibly strong, enough so that his vision shook and he had to cling to the grass for stability. Once the tremor subsided he heard a guttural roar, unlike any beast he knew of.

He looked around for the source of the cry but the moonlight was not his ally. What little light was available was covered by rolling clouds, crackling with electricity. The gentle breeze had instead been replaced by a tidal wave of wind and he shuddered violently against the gales. His mother sat up, her hair billowing madly as she stared at the horizon. He followed her gaze and looked into the distance.

Somehow, despite the lack of light and the shaking plant-life, he was able to make out a dark figure in the distance. It got larger and larger with every step and he quickly came to realise that this was not a normal human being.

"Jin."

Her voice drowned out the din of the tempest around them.

She stood on her feet, her posture resolute and solid as she stared down the approaching figure. He looked at her with apprehension.

"Ama?"

She turned in place and gave him a small, stunning… sorrowful smile. She reached out to him and the ferocity of the winds escalated. He never saw her lips move but the word that escaped them reached him despite the rumbling thunder and howling winds.

"Flee."

And then a beast roared.

Jin Kazama awoke suddenly, his breathing rapid and his skin colder than usual. His vision had just started to focus and he could make out pieces of cheap furniture and a square of light. He rubbed at his eyes and blinked groggily a few times, and soon enough the room became clearer.

He wasn't in the plains of Yakushima. He was in a hotel room.

He tried to regulate his breathing, tried to recover from the dream he had, but it was proving difficult. It was just too real. It felt like he was actually there all over again.

He needed to get his mind off it somehow.

"Are you ready for the King of Tekken Tournament?!"

His eyes flicked to the square of light, that turned out to be the television that he left on last night. Did he just hear what he thought he heard?

"After six solo tournaments, the Mishima Zaibatsu announces the opening of the first TAG tournament! Fighters must battle through each other, as pairs, and best the CEO of the Zaibatsu, Heihachi Mishima himself! Winning the tournament comes with a $20,000,000 reward and the title of the 'King of Tekken'! For fighters who have not received an invitation, sign up for the tournament at this address..."

An address flashed on the screen.

"For more information about the tournament, call this number…"

A number followed.

"Get ready for the next battle!"

The advert was then followed by the news broadcast that he had been listening to before he, evidently, dozed off and Jin clutched at his face with both of his hands, thinking over what he had just heard.

"He's finally gone and done it," Jin said to himself solemnly as he massaged his forehead. He figured the old bastard would have made a move eventually, but he sure took his sweet time to do so.

What could he have been doing all this time?

Nine months. That was the amount of time he had spent in hiding. That was the amount of time that had passed since he escaped from captivity. After the battle with Azazel, he woke up in a containment unit owned by a nameless organisation. He recognised one of the agents, a man with dark clothes going by the name 'Raven'. Raven was the one who informed him that he was to be imprisoned for life for his crimes against humanity.

This didn't sit well with Jin, especially when he understood that they didn't plan to just let him rot. Raven had all but outright stated that they were willing to do just about anything to find out more about his… disease as he'd like to call it now, and 'take care' of it. That was probably the hammer that broke the dam.

In yet another moment of weakness, he relinquished control to the Devil, with only the request that he wake up back home. The next thing he knew, he woke up among countless uprooted trees.

Figures, he couldn't even make one request without the Devil crushing him for doing so.

That marked the beginning of his life in hiding. Certainly, not the first time he had to do so, but now he had an elite secret organisation looking for him. There were things he wouldn't be able to get away with now. Thankfully, he had enough money to last him a while. With all the other crimes he had committed, he figured adding embezzlement to it wouldn't mean anything.

Never staying in one place, always keeping his face hidden with a hoodie and flu mask, sometimes skipping sleep for days on end, anything to avoid imprisonment. And then the news that Heihachi Mishima had regained the Mishima Zaibatsu reached his ears. Of course, he was concerned about Nina and hoped she made it out unscathed but he was ultimately more concerned that he had one more person to hide from.

And now, after nearly nine months of this harrowing and yet stale lifestyle, Heihachi had announced a tournament. No doubt, he wanted to lure him over. It really wasn't a surprise that he'd resorted to old tactics.

But if Heihachi thought he was going to enter this tournament, he was pressing his luck. This was a tag tournament and the last thing he wanted to do was involve anybody else in the Mishima family matters. And then there was the fact that he really had no business entering the tournament this time.

He didn't want a confrontation with Heihachi, Kazuya, Lars or any other fighter. He didn't want the money, he didn't want the title and he especially didn't want anything to do with the Mishima Zaibatsu. In fact, he didn't even know what he wanted any-more…

All the effort he made, all the lives he destroyed, all the planning he did… and it all came to nothing. Killing Azazel may have gotten rid of the 'greater evil' but he still had the damn tattoo on his shoulder. He still had the Devil Gene. He didn't know what else to do now. He tried everything to get rid of it, even trying to kill himself with every method, but it never worked.

Was this all there was left of his life? Was this all he had? Day after day of just evading foes and then fighting a losing battle in his mind? Was there really no release for him?

No, he still had a goal. There was still the matter of putting an end to Heihachi and Kazuya, to the Mishima bloodline, but he'd find some way to do that without announcing to the public that Jin Kazama wasn't dead.

With that resolute thought in his mind, Jin turned off the television and lamp and tried to slip into dreamless slumber. But it proved to be difficult when a small light kept shining through his eyelids. He could have sworn he turned all the lights off.

His eyes opened to locate the offender but found only darkness. But, he suddenly got a nagging feeling that he was being watched. Puzzled, he searched the room again slowly until his gaze reached the lone window. Squinting through the dark, he could make out a figure right outside his window. His heart leapt up his throat then.

His room was on the third floor! No one should be able to just look in without some elevation!

A pair of eyes bored into him with their stare and when Jin made to move, the figured flitted out of view. He rushed to the window as fast as he could despite his sluggishness. He looked out into the alley. There was no ladder or anything else that might have helped a person get to his window. Had it been an agent?

He then spotted the same figure near the end of the alley, their eyes glinting in the darkness. Something was off… if it was an agent they would have disappeared by now, surely?

The figure rushed out of sight and, impulsively, Jin opened the window and jumped out. He stumbled upon landing but recovered quick enough to run after the figure. If Nina were here, she would've called him out on his recklessness but he was just too curious.

That figure just seemed too familiar.

Well, here it is… the first chapter of my first Tekken fic that I gave some serious thought about.

Later edit: REVAMPED first chapter because I figured it could use the rewrite. The chapter title is a song lyric from 'My Immortal' by Evanescence.

It'll mostly revolve around the Kazamas but other characters will make appearances. And yes, I know it's called the King of Iron Fist but I've always preferred calling it King of Tekken cause that's the name of the bloody game.

Anyway, the next chapter should be out soon, hopefully, though the rest of them will take longer to come out and I can't guarantee quick updates (Mind you, this'll be one hell of a long story) so please bear with me.

May peace be upon you.