Author's Notes: Hey everyone! Thank you for reading, and I would especially like to thank: Jade queen of the Damned, dracanta, Tessa, Janie, Daryl-chan, The Sauce, Yuki Haroshima, and Callisto moon for the great reviews! I really appreciate it! =)
The Past is the Past
Chapter 2
There is no need to relive the past
for to do so is in vain. . .
Yesterday’s gone, today is here
why relive the pain. . .?
“Lei?”
Lei solemnly awoke, his head spinning endlessly as he groaned.
“Hey, you awake yet?”
Lei then opened his eyes at the sound of a familiar voice, it was Detective Mao Ziyang. He then caught a better glance of his surroundings, and realized he was apparently in a hospital room. “Ziyang? What’s going on here?”
“You mean you honestly don’t remember?” Mao asked as his brows furrowed behind the lenses of his glasses. Mao Ziyang was a somewhat tall, middle-aged Chinese man with finely cut short, black hair. He was one of the several other detectives who had also come from China in assignment to work on several cases, though it had now changed from what many of them originally had in mind.
Lei was still trying to recall anything from before he had lost consciousness, when his eyes widened slightly as it suddenly dawned on him.
“I-I remember how we were looking for Fury, and how—.”
“How you disregarded your orders and separated from everyone else?” Mao sighed, “Lei, you can’t keep doing this. You remember what happened—.”
“‘Last time’,” Lei sighed as well, “Yes, I know, must everyone keep reminding me?”
“You cost us two years of work, Lei, and all because of how you’re always trying to take care of everything on your own, by yourself. Everyone needs help at one point or another, and you need to understand that some jobs are just too big for one man alone to handle,” Mao assured.
“I’ve heard this already,” Lei replied with yet another sigh, “Yes, I admit it, ‘I' made a mistake.” Mao was one of Lei’s friends on the force, but Lei was still getting tired of hearing the same speeches – and that went for everybody.
“But you said it wouldn’t happen again Lei, that’s the thing. You were already in for as it is for breaking codes #27, #13 and #98, which are—.”
“Withholding evidence and information vital to a case, use of restricted firing weapons, and proceeding active detective responsibilities during suspension,” Lei cut him off once more, “But why does it matter? Steve Fox is safe, and the mafia’s been halted as well.”
“But Nina Williams is still loose,” Mao retorted, “You knew her location following the end of the tournament, Lei. And yet you still didn’t find it suitable to your needs to share this information. And let’s not forget that you were on ‘suspension’, so your actions have been nothing short of reprehensible.”
“Well I was the only one admitted into the tournament,” Lei arrogantly argued, knowing very well that this was beside the whole point.
Mao sighed once more. Here we go again. “Yes Lei. You may be the best fighter on the force, and one of the best fighters in the whole world at that, but still...”
“‘But still’ what?” Lei asked, though already knowing Mao was right, he just wouldn’t admit it.
“...People are beginning to have their doubts about you, Lei. About your loyalty to the force.”
“You know that’s a bunch of crap, Mao,” Lei shot back, “This is just more of Zhang Han’s trash that he’s feeding everyone, him and his damn allegations. He just wants my job, and you know this.”
Mao nodded, “You know I agree with you there, I’m not too fond of him either... but he’s not the only one, and you know how disputatious Zhang is, so now you can bet he is more than likely going to pin the whole situation from yesterday on you as well.”
Lei didn’t answer, and seemed to be trying to remember everything from earlier on.
“I’m not going to lie to you,” Mao began, “What happened downtown last night did look pretty damn suspicious, and even though I have faith in you, I’d still like to know about it. You should just be glad that I’m the one who got sent in here to question you, and not Zhang.”
Lei’s brows furrowed a bit, “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
“Lei, you should know what I’m talking about... What the hell happened with Fury last night? We all saw the way he saved you, the way he held you in his arms and then whispered something in your ear like that. Hell, Lei.”
“Wha-what...?” Lei stuttered, he honestly didn’t remember this at the moment. The last thing he could fully remember was how he was fighting with Bryan, and then there was suddenly an explosion.
Mao sighed once more, “Everyone saw it Lei. We all thought you were dead at first, but it became clear that you weren’t soon after. Surely you must remember something?”
Lei gasped as he suddenly was stricken with something...
“We’ll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I’ll finally get what I want from you...”
“Hey, Lei? Lei? What is it?”
“Uh, nothing,” Lei shook his head slightly with assurance, “I just had a flashback of earlier, that’s all.”
“Well it was quite some scene you two put on. It’s just... a few had the impression that maybe you two were working together, or something...”
“What?!” Lei exclaimed, “I’d assume die than even praise the treacherous ‘thing’.”
“And I know that,” Mao agreed, “It’s just there are a few others who may need a little more convincing.”
“Zhang,” Lei sighed.
Mao nodded, “Of course...”
“Well the answer is obviously ‘no’, I’m not working with him, and that idiot Zhang needs to mined his own damned business,” Lei said in a firm voice, “I’ve had enough shit from him already. Don’t think I didn’t find out about that little report he slipped to Hiroya Nakano on how my work has been ‘so poor’ because I tend to let personal affairs interfere with my performance.”
“Well he does have one point,” Mao said hesitantly, “You did let the whole thing with Arisa Nagai get you down pretty bad, you were rather despondent for a while...”
“I don’t want to talk about Arisa,” Lei sternly said in a choleric tone, “She’s a liar, and nothing more. She left me claiming I was a ‘workaholic’, and that I didn’t pay enough attention to her or give a damn about her, when it really all goes back to Zhang, again.”
Mao chuckled slightly to himself, “I know what you mean Lei, I really do. Work has gotten to the point where it isn’t too much different from some fucked-up high school experience.”
“Yes, I get you there, but what I don’t get is why is Zhang still trying to torment me? I thought it was all about Arisa at first, but after she went ‘back’ to him, I expected him to finally lay off,” Lei sighed for about the tenth time.
“I guess the word forgive just isn’t in his vocabulary, but oh well,” Mao shrugged, “And about Arisa, I’m sure you’ll find someone better out there, anyway. Someone who’s at least faithful.”
Lei just shrugged and nodded, “Maybe, but I don’t really even think about relationships anymore, it seems I always have the bad luck and don’t even give me the ‘here we go again about Jun Kazama’ look, because I have too much of a headache to talk about it.” They then both started to laugh slightly at this.
“Yea, well I have to get going now, we’re still trying to locate Nina Williams, as well as Bryan Fury of course,” Mao then began to head for the exit.
“Hey,” Lei spoke up once more, “Do you have any idea when I’ll be out of here? I really don’t have time for this.”
“Only several days,” Mao replied, “They said you had a mild concussion and minor blood loss from a few bad cuts, but that’s about it. Really though, you should be glad you get a break, hell, I know I’d take it.”
“Well I have a few words missing from my vocabulary as well, and ‘break’ is one of them, in that meaning at least, but I guess you’re right,” said Lei. It was all too true though, he worked even on the few days off he was allowed.
Mao just nodded as he waved a goodbye, “Well, I’ll see you later Lei, probably tomorrow morning around this time if all goes well.”
Lei also nodded, “Ok, bye.”
Lei was then left alone with his thoughts, though he really didn’t want to think about them... He then had the same flashback of those last few words from Bryan... “We’ll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I’ll finally get what I want from you...”
“What does he want from me?” Lei questioned aloud. “I don’t understand... Why the hell did Fury save my life...?” Lei then thought it over a little more, and abruptly came to the conclusion that Bryan had wanted to put him in debt. But in debt for what? What could Bryan possibly want from him of all people? Lei figured that Fury would expect him to be a little more lenient on him or something. Maybe he expected Lei to convince or order the rest of his force to forget about Fury and let him go. Sure, Lei possibly could do this, considering he still held a reasonable status, but there was no way in hell he was about to do this. Fury didn’t give a damn about him, no, he was just trying to help himself, and this just pissed Lei off even more, making Lei hate him even more.
Not to mention, Fury was connected to the syndicate Lei had failed to bring to justice, so to get right down to it, Lei had gotten to the point where he blamed his whole loss of honour on Bryan in the first place. And Detective Ziyang had been right, Lei had disregarded orders and tried to go in to take rebellious chicaner down himself, but it seemed Fury had outwitted him, again.
Lei sighed while trying to flood the numerous thoughts plaguing his mind as he looked up at the clock on the wall across from him. It was already nearly noon. Oh well, at least Lei would get a chance to relax, even though it was still so hard to do with so many questions that remained unanswered...
As Detective Mao Ziyang opened the doors and re-entered the waiting room, he caught glance of the three other detectives from The Hong Kong International Police Force who had also been assigned to work in Tokyo with the Japanese police forces in finding Nina Williams and Bryan Fury, as well as clearing up a few unsolved mysteries that centered around Heihachi Mishima and his family.
The other detectives were Masaki Kokan, Kita Okura, and Zhang Han. Masaki was of Japanese ethnicity and pushing forty. He was an all-around friendly person and an outstanding detective, just not much of a leader, but he wanted it this way. Kita Okura was one of the few women who held any real status on the force, and it had only been recently that women were even allowed to do anything other than hold the place of a secretary. She didn’t get along too well with Lei at times, but they were still friends, and she secretly admired him and loved to flirt every now and again, though it seemed Lei had showed no interest thus far.
And last, the twenty-nine year old Chinese Zhang Han, Lei’s former subordinate who had recently been promoted to a head detective. He detested Lei with a passion. Even at the explosion in Down Town Tokyo the night before when everyone had thought Lei was dead, he had been smiling. He had actually cursed at the news that Lei wasn’t dead. And this wasn’t just over past affairs with Arisa, Zhang viewed Lei as an honourless man without principles who would do nothing for the force but corrupt it. He was also a very suspicious man, and not very trusting. He felt he could see right through Lei’s little shenanigans, and had really earned his stripes on the force for turning Lei in after he’d botched up that last operation.
Zhang had the idea that Lei had done this on purpose, and that he was secretly a subterfuge-playing traitor. Someone on the force was, but no one to date had been able to prove who... Zhang knew it just had to be Lei, the clues were there, and it was all too obvious. The botching of the operation, the escape of Nina Williams and several mafia outlaws, the withholding of evidence on more than just a few cases, separation from cases, the whole ‘Bryan Fury’ incident as well as his escapes, and hell, even Lei’s partner who had been murdered by the mafia twenty years ago ‘supposedly’ by Kazuya’s men. Yeah-right. Lei gained a promotion due to this, and Zhang figured Lei had been in on it. Zhang had gained support from a few others on the force as well, but there was just no proof. This didn’t matter though. Lei’s downfall would be his uprising, and Zhang would make sure he went down too. He would either find away to prove Lei guilty of betrayal, or result to more... drastic methods...
Zhang Han abruptly stood up from his seat on the nearby couch as he saw Mao Ziyang entering the waiting room. “So, what did he say?”
“He said no of course, and I told you he’d say that. Lei’s not a traitor,” Mao assured.
“Pah,” Zhang spat, “I knew I should have been the one to go back there and question him. He would know better than to lie to me, for he knows I’m not buying his shit.”
“Calm down, Zhang,” Kita sighed as she too stood up, “Lei’s had a hard night, just give him a break for once.”
Masaki then stood up as well, “Why don’t we just leave him in peace and come back tomorrow morning like we planned, then we’ll all get a chance to see him and maybe he’ll be able to answer some more questions then?”
“I agree with Masaki,” Mao replied, “We need to go back to Tokyo Headquarters and see what else we can find out on the whereabouts of Bryan Fury and Nina Williams for now, as well as seeing what else we can find out about Heihachi and what he’s up to. We also know he’s after Fury for something, we just don’t know what or why.”
“I bet Lei knows why,” Zhang hissed under his breath.
All three of the other detectives sighed in unison at the sound of this, but chose not to get him started on it once again. “Let’s just go now,” said Mao as he walked over to the hospital’s exit, followed shortly by the other three detectives.
This would definitely be a long week...
Twelve hours later...
Lei was getting rather board by this time, and had yet to find so much as even an ounce of sleep the whole day through. He had just mostly silently sat, brushing his hair a couple times while watching various things on TV, including a rather lovely news report basically on how ‘World renowned Tekken fighter Detective Lei Wulong messes up once again’. Lei turned the channel after hearing this, he didn’t want to see or hear anymore, he’d hear enough of it when he eventually got back to Hong Kong. Lei had entered the tournament with the soul purpose of regaining his honour, only to end up tainting it even more than it had been...
Maybe I entered the tournament for the wrong reason after all... hell, I didn’t give a damn about Steve Fox, the money, the Zaibatsu, Nina, or Fury, I just wanted to be respected the way I once was. Or rather...
“I just didn’t want things to change...”
Lei went ahead and turned the television off, deciding to take a shot at perhaps getting some sleep. He’d attempted to on and off throughout the day, but it’d been useless so far. He had too much on his mind to sleep. Never the less, he turned the lamp off on the nightstand next to his bed as he then laid his head down on the pillow, which was actually rather uncomfortable. Even then the thoughts were still constantly invading his mind in an endless retrospect. Those same disquieting thoughts; questions, mostly on Fury, and what his true motives really were...
“You better stay down this time, or I’ll shoot you myself.”
“Have you lost your mind?!”
“What’s the matter Lei? Still can’t handle the truth? I’ve spent my entire new life being forced to run away from people, while you’ve spent yours running away from yourself, unable and unwilling to except the way things are. You and I may be complete opposites, but at the same time, we’re exactly alike.”
“It really would be a shame, though. To kill someone so beautiful as you.”
“We’ll meet again, Lei, and soon, and when we do, I’ll finally get what I want from you...”
“Fire!!”
>A crash of thunder<
Lei suddenly woke up with a gasp as he immediately sat up, his left palm touching the side of his face. He thought he had just felt someone’s touch for real, but thankfully it had just been a dream this time, or more a nightmare in Lei’s eyes. He didn’t know what time it was, but it had to be roughly around one, maybe two in the morning or so. He glanced over at the window to his right of the large room. It was pouring down rain, accompanied by frequent flashes of lighting and sounds of thunder which filled the room and echoed throughout the building.
Lei was panting slightly as he ran his hand back through his cascading bangs. It had felt so real only a moment ago... The touch of a hand on his face. Lei rapidly looked around the room, and was about to turn on the lamp’s light switch next to him, but then realized how paranoid he was actually being.
Maybe I’m the one who’s lost my mind...
The detective just sighed to himself with a slight smirk before laying back down once more, feeling rather stupid at that. He lay on his side, facing the direction of the window on the far side of the room, watching as the lightning temporarily filled the room a few scant times before once more closing his eyes. ...Only to swiftly open them to the max a split second later in remembrance to something that had slipped his mind before...
The blinds were down— “Oh my god...”
“Hello dear Lei.”
And just like that, Lei felt his mouth abruptly covered by dampened clothes, and immediately knew they were soaked with rubbing alcohol or at least some kind of narcotics...
His arms struggled, compelling with the ones restraining him... but it did no good, and Lei slowly felt himself weaken more and more as his eyes began to roll back, until everything finally went black a few seconds later...
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A/N: Um, yea... Well I’ll have the third chapter up soon too, and thanks once again to my reviews, as well as other readers! ^_^