—Narita International Airport, Tokyo—

With a plain, monotonous drawl, a voice calls out a gate number for a flight departure over a loudspeaker. To Jin Kushina, the only sound he registers is what’s currently surging from his earphones, connected to an iPod that nestles in the inside pocket of his indigo-coloured trench coat. The song he’s listening to is courtesy of the Japanese Indie Rock Band known as Sacred Edge — not that Jin is familiar enough with them to identify its members by appearance or names, though. Currently seated at a bar next to a small coffee shop on the first floor, in Jin’s right hand is held a glass of light sake, which the Kushina now brings to his lips, feeling the warm sensation of the liquid flowing down his throat. Meanwhile, the near-seductive vocals of Sacred Edge’s lead vocalist, Cana Verdandi, continue to resound through his headphones into his mind over a resonant instrumental backdrop. Taking a final swig of his drink, Jin gets up to leave the bar, unmindful of the familiar warm sensation coursing through his body as he heads towards and steps onto a nearby escalator.

Jin’s reason for being at Narita was a straightforward one: business. Or rather, the return from said business that had permitted him to leave Japan in the first place. As a courier, Jin’s profession took him to different parts of the world for varying amounts of time. This recent job had Kushina taking a trip to China, or to be precise, Hong Kong. Aside from in overall being a good place to visit, another benefit of being in Hong Kong was always the opportunity for Jin to catch up with a good friend of his, popular martial artist and movie star Fei Long.

The affiliation between the two was as simple as its origins. Within his first year of settling in Tokyo, Kushina had begun seeking and gaining work as an extra in low-budget action flicks, some of which required him to travel and dwell in parts of Hong Kong. Eventually Jin was able to attain a role — albeit a small, minor one — in a production starring Fei Long himself. While Jin’s time serving as the actor’s punching bag for about four weeks — the Kushina’s role resulted in him managing nearly half the stunts for the film’s villain — caused him to develop a genuine respect towards Long’s abilities, Fei in turn was impressed enough by Jin’s own skills, soon proposing him an offer in a film production he had in the works. Jin would still have a small role, and he’d still be performing half the stunts for the villain of the picture, but with the film being on a significantly higher level compared to what he’d been involved in prior, Jin’s role became easily the biggest one he’d been given thus far. The rest, as often said, was then simply history.

The last time Jin had seen him, the Hong Kong native had been contemplating the idea of opening — or, failing that, at least funding the opening of — a new restaurant, or even a dojo, in addition to the small film company he owned. Not much was going on with Long this time around, apart from revealing to Jin his decision to enter the Champion of Fists, an upcoming tournament hosted by a group of companies, including the Masters Corporation and Kanzuki Zaibatsu. Whilst the former was relatively unknown to Jin — the name “Ken Masters” had tugged at his memory somewhat, but not enough to provide a mental image — the Kushina was no stranger to the Kanzuki family, and rightfully so. Aside from easily being one of the most famous and richest families in and outside of Japan, several of his assignments had been carried out on their behalf.

In spite of the success Fei Long had gained with Western audiences, his sense of culture and love for his homeland always pulled him back to Hong Kong. It was no different to his love for the fight, which hadn’t waned at all in spite of his career. Whereas in the past Jin only fought because he usually had no choice to, the likes of Long fought simply because he could. Although Jin still studied as much of his clan’s fighting arts as his grandfather’s records could provide it was primarily more to his will to preserve a legacy he held just purely by being the last known Kushina, the last known person who could call forth the midnight flames of destruction at will as the result of an inherit ability. Course, he hadn’t explained the details of his past to his friend, but had still given him the impression of not intending on making an entry, politely declining the offer. Although there was less than two months left until it officially began, Fei had told him there was still some time for reconsideration, since he had an extra invitation ticket to offer that would prevent Jin from having to fight in the forthcoming preliminaries. With a day passed since then, in addition to a five-hour flight back to Tokyo, a part of Jin’s thoughts mused slightly, contemplating on his original decision. It was quickly dispatched by a more central focus, it being her, his love, his mien (beautiful flame).

Before, returning back to his apartment simply served the purpose of providing Kushina time to rest before he left to carry out another assignment. Now things were different, since he had someone to return home to. Their relationship was silently approaching its third year, now. Approaching three years since that day she’d appeared before him in his apartment, returning to him from beyond death itself, as if to say, no force could ever truly keep me separated from you. Considering how the majority of their relationship was an unwitting, long distance one, such a message seemed quite apt to this very day.

Still, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t go anywhere she wished while he was gone. Jin knew that her life was her own and she was free to live it how she pleased, plus knowing Natalie would always come back to him was enough to appease whatever concerns he would have. Although this job had kept him away from Natalie far longer than any past work he could remember, Jin had taken it with the intent of it being his last assignment for a good while.

Sacred Edge, meanwhile, continues to play from Jin’s earphones, although Verdandi’s voice is no longer present, only the song’s instrumental. Soon that too draws to a close, before a different song from a different artist takes over, and before Narita International’s doors open in order to let him out.
 

*-*-*-*-*-*

Well, at least the wait was over.

Natalie sighed softly, flicking a stray strand of long, chocolate colored hair over her shoulder. She looked over the items she had laid out on the bed to pack. Clothes, check. Toothbrush, check. Toiletries, check. Hairbrush, check. Jewelry, definitely check. Fake ID and passport, check. Laptop, check. Taser, check. Short garrote wire, check. AA No. 9 shells and a few other assorted types of ammo (some less than legal), check. And last, but certainly not the least, "Claire" — being her very own 10" .454 Casull, customized to her liking. She almost wanted to pet that gun, it had taken her 6 months and over three grand to buy it, and that was after months of looking for just the perfect weapon according to her taste. One thing being in the government gave Natalie was a strong liking for high-powered weapons. It was really too bad that she hadn't gotten more demolitions training...

Just then Freckle hopped into the middle of the collection and meowed impatiently for his afternoon milk. Natalie smiled and picked up the small black cat, poking lightly at the tiny white dot of fur above its nose. That spot was why she named him Freckle, though more often than not he was call Baka-neko, a term given to him by Jin when she first brought the troublesome stray kitten home. It sorta stuck, even though Jin had come to like the little bug-eating, foot-attacking ball of fur.

She carried him into the kitchen, letting him bat at tendrils of her hair until she set him on the floor and poured a little milk into his bowl. She watched the cat lap eagerly at the treat, wondering if she should really drag him along on her own trip.

"I wonder where you might get into the least amount of trouble..." she mused idly, sighing again. She was going to the tournament, again. She'd received the flyer shortly after her encounter with Iwa only a couple of weeks ago, and was now certain that all her suspicions were true. Bison wasn't dead, and even if he had been, there were always other evil, ambitious people to take his place. She had known something like this would happen sooner or later; it was only a matter of being prepared. But was she? She didn't know the details, not yet, but seeing Iwa — or rather the new coldness that radiated from her — told her that something was definitely amiss.

And so, here she was, packing for another long tournament. Her hand drifted to her stomach, to the long, jagged scar left there. Her fingers traced over it under her loose, black shirt as she recalled how the last competition had turned out.

She wondered how much everyone else had changed.

Since her death, and eventual return, she had only had contact with her brother, and with Jin. At least, until the chance meeting with Iwa. For these past few years, she and Jin had lived together in relative peace, at least as much as his profession would allow. Though all those weeks and sometimes months while he was gone on some job were becoming more and more difficult. She stared with a slightly melancholy smile at the picture of them that was held by a magnet on the refrigerator. It had been taken a couple of years ago, on a visit to Aomori where Jin had spent his childhood. Or rather, what small bit of it he'd had. Shaking off the slight depression that hovered in the back of her mind, she walked back to the bedroom to pull her worn duffle bag and small suitcase out of the closet. She still had a few things to buy later, but most of what she needed she would pack today.

"At least his jobs provide a nice apartment," she thought as she began stuffing clothes into the bag, not really caring what got wrinkled. "And it allows pets!" her mind added with a gleam. And my, did she ever abuse that privilege. She couldn't help but laugh at the memory of the not-so-small crab she'd found on the beach.

It'd had a hairline crack in its carapace, one that would be fixed by the time it shed its old shell, as long as it was kept safe. She had decided to keep it until then... and the only place she could put it until she could go to the store for an aquarium was the bathtub. Naturally, while she was gone to get that aquarium Jin had happened to return from a job and needed a shower. She came home to a very irritated boyfriend and an equally perturbed crab. And then there had been the St. Bernard, the chipmunk, the baby emu, the spider monkey, the pair of chinchillas, the litter of baby rabbits, the raven, the frilled lizard, the rosehair tarantula... and the list went on. There was almost never a moment where there were less than 3 animals in the apartment. Another soft giggle escaped her. Working in an animal hospital was fun, but bringing the darlings home was priceless...

As Freckle lightly batted a stray hollow-point bullet around Natalie carefully packed all her remaining gear — aside from Claire — into her suitcase, taking much more caution in packing them than she had in packing her clothes. It would be difficult to get any of these items through the airport; luckily her suitcase was designed to give a false image when x-rayed. Another good thing her time as a government agent had given her...

After finishing her packing, she laid the flyer she'd received on the suitcase. She was scheduled to be in one of the preliminary rounds for the tournament that was being held in town tomorrow. The winner, or winners — she didn't really know how many fights were being held and how many participants would move on — would be flown directly to Hawaii, to stay in the Makai hotel for the period before and the duration of the tournament. She glanced at the flyer again. So... this tourney was going to be in Hawaii? At least she would get a chance to be somewhere that was constantly warm, she thought. Looking at Freckle and taking his bullet away, she mused, "Guess I'm going to have to buy a new bathing suit..."

She sat on the bed with a sigh and a soft smile, scratching her cat behind the ear, "I wish Jin could come... but... he'll be busy again I guess..."

She hadn't exactly told him she was going when she last talked to him on the phone. She figured that she'd call him on her cell once she got to the airport, and then call her brother as well. That way, should either of them argue, she would already be on her way. Not that she knew they would... ok, she was pretty certain Astaroth — or rather, David — would... but she wasn't as sure about Jin. He would likely be on his current job for a while, if it was anything like his last one. And even if he were due home soon, it wouldn't be long before he'd go again. So it's not like they'd miss each other anymore than they already did...

And for her... that was a lot. The place seemed so empty without him, so much that at times she would go and stay with her brother just to have the company. She knew he had probably bugged Jin about being away for such long periods, if for no other reason than Astaroth often didn't care for her choice of pets. But Jin's profession was his business, and he'd been in it before she'd returned. She wouldn't ask him to quit... but longer breaks in-between would be nice. She shook her head to help clear the thoughts again, looking down at her hands and the two rings she wore. She smiled again. He had gone through a lot of trouble to find the little claddagh that had belonged to her grandmother. She had tried without any luck to track it down, after it had been sold at a state auction while she was in foster care as a child. Natalie couldn't have been more surprised when Jin had given it to her on her last birthday, and since then she'd worn it in the manner that signified her commitment to him.

The other ring, worn on her left hand, signified that commitment even more, on both their accounts. She loved him deeply, and knew that he loved her. A few days or weeks spent with him here and there were infinitely preferable to being alone again, or with anyone else for that matter. The quality of the time they spent together more than made up for the long weeks apart.

Deciding to get a quick shower before the shopping she had left to do, Natalie stood and walked to the bathroom, leaving the door open for Freckle. He did so love to "catch" the water droplets on the outside of the shower door.

After adjusting the water to the right temperature, she began to strip down, her eyes catching the sight of her scars in the mirror. This time around, she had more to lose than her own life. Last time she'd gone into the tournament not really caring whether she lived or died. Now, she had someone to live for, people who cared about her and goals to meet. But in her heart, Natalie knew that many of those from the last tournament would be called to fight again, and many would answer. And if even half her suspicions were correct, they would all be at great risk. She simply could not stay out of the matter, not if she could somehow aid them. She would try to keep out of the limelight as much as possible, perhaps even avoid those who once knew her to keep a low profile. Perhaps, and perhaps not. Time would tell, as it always did. Either way, she knew she'd win her fight tomorrow, and she knew that after that, there'd be no turning back...