Afterward

Mulling Over

Heihachi returned to his guesthouse that was very close to Tsukishima. It was by the beach too, an added bonus to the beautiful abode. He did not expect to return so soon, more so did he not expect to return without a single fight. It even seemed anticlimactic, how he had just gone to the Mishima Zaibatsu to look for a fight, only to return pretty much empty handed.
It still came to him as a shock, how they were all leading completely different lives, what with one coming in married and with a child, enemies turned friends, and unexpected reunions. What he couldn't digest the most was the fact that Lee, Kazuya, and Lars were actually acting as brothers, having each other's backs and not in the least trying to fight each other.
Lee had stepped up for Kazuya, something which he had never once done during their youth. Heihachi could still remember the hatred and anger that Kazuya had in his eyes when he had introduced Lee as his brother. That hatred didn't leave even until adulthood.
But look at them now. This was so uncalled for.
He sat in his study, staring out the window that overlooked the evening sea. It was this same study where his older self had put up notes and plans on how to destroy the rest of the Mishimas, with the exception of Lee and Lars, and those notes still adorned the walls. He never did care about those two, and they never cared about him anyway. All of the effort put in those cork boards now seemed like a total waste, useless efforts for something that was nonexistent now.
Heihachi got up and stared at all of them. "Why?" He asked aloud, standing in the middle of the room.
His gaze landed on a picture of Kazumi and him, a child Kazuya standing boldly in front of them with a proud smile on his face. It was taken before everything had gone downhill, a time when the little boy was still happy with where he was. Heihachi somewhat remembered that time, it was a very distant, but fragments of it were still clear in his mind. That was the last time he ever saw his son smile so sincerely, the last time he ever saw him happy.
His gaze swept the walls once more, walls laced with hatred and malice. With a burst of rage, Heihachi tore his notes away, tore everything off and leaving bits of paper scattering the air like confetti. Heihachi let out an anguished scream as he sank to the ground, panting as he realised that no one had ruined his life but himself.

Jun's foreboding sense disappeared the very second Heihachi stepped into the Mishima Zaibatsu. Needless to say what she had sensed approaching. She turned to Kazuya, who had her back turned to her as he slept. It was evident that he did that to hide his wide sleepless eyes, staring blankly at the curtained windows not far off.
"Not asleep yet?" Jun asked, placing a hand on his side as she scooted a little closer.
"Huh?" Kazuya grunted in reply.
"You're not asleep yet?" Jun asked again.
Kazuya sighed and turned to face her. "How can I?"
"I don't blame you," Jun sighed back. "Today was a whirlwind, wasn't it..."
"He's so shrewd, the way he cloned himself just so he could haunt me more," Kazuya groaned. "While that old fart is long off and has probably found peace himself."
"Come on, maybe that wasn't his real intentions," Jun soothingly said as she reached over and played with the point of his hair. "Maybe he just created a clone in hopes to make peace with you."
Kazuya gave her a knowing look. "Then why did he come prepared for a fight? He seemed kinda disappointed that everything was so peaceful here."
Jun smirked slightly when she remembered how Heihachi outright asked Lee whose baby he was holding. "Yeah, we totally caught him off-guard, didn't we? I like how Anna actually pulled out her bazooka on him."
"She should have fired it in his face," Kazuya grimaced. "It just doesn't feel right, knowing that he's just loitering about like this after everything that he put us through."
"Yeah, he put us through hell, didn't he?" Jun sighed. "It isn't a wonder that the foreboding sense I got was none other than him."
"See, even your senses know how big of a menace he is," Kazuya turned to lay on his back. "He's a real jerk. And he thinks he's the victim just because his wife tried to end him." He groaned. "Couldn't she have done better? I feel like she would've cared for me better."
Jun tickled his ear. "Come on, she was evil too. Besides, I feel like we should give this Heihachi a chance. Who knows, maybe younger Heihachi wasn't as damaged as old Heihachi."
Kazuya stared at the ceiling. "Then why did this same version of Heihachi throw an innocent five-year-old boy off a cliff without a single word of reason. If he was really that scared of... of what I may become, he could've killed me with his own hands, how he had killed my mother."
"Kazuya..." Jun placed a hand on his chest, her hand trailing down to his abdomen to gently rub circles on the toned surface. "Don't say that."
"I just don't understand, Jun," Kazuya sounded helpless. "If he was scared that... that I might turn on him like his wife did, he could've at least tried to have raised me better. Be a better father. But he was the exact opposite. He embraced the hatred I had for him, he had the same or more hatred for me."
"Maybe he didn't have the heart to... to kill his own son at the time," Jun reasoned. "But maybe he couldn't bring himself to love said son since he reminded him so much of the woman who tried to end him, the woman who betrayed him."
"That's still no excuse for how he treated me and Lee, Jun," Kazuya murmured. "What did he even do? Other than bringing him into a lavish lifestyle, he was hardly a father at all."
"You're right, Heihachi was a terrible jerk," Jun gave in. "But maybe, just maybe. He might change his mind after seeing what we've been up to after he left. If anything, things went the other direction. In a good way."
"Maybe you're right," Kazuya turned to look at her, a slight smile on his face as he played with the strands of her fringe. "I have you, I have my family. There's Jin too."
Jun smiled as she clutched his wrist, then gave his hand a kiss as she snuggled closer into his warmth.