Asuka coughed as Lili took her two fingers out of her mouth, she was kneeling in front of a very dirty toilet and blood was dripping from her lips.
“You have to throw up Miss. Kazama, you have blood in your stomach; you’re going to die!” Lili cried desperately as she plunged her pointer and middle finger down Asuka’s throat again, this time she got a reaction and Lili didn’t get her hand out in time and it became covered in blood as Asuka vomited into the toilet. There was so much blood…

“You have internal injuries and the fucking Angel isn’t healing you…I’m sorry, but I have to do this!” Lili screamed and struck Asuka in the back very hard causing Kazama to cry out as she vomited again into the toilet, there was more blood…she became very dizzy and was starting to black out.

“Do you want to lose your host you fucking whore of GOD!” Lili screamed hoping to get the Angel’s attention. “Do you, you’ll be nothing you worthless monster, HEAL HER, HEAL HER!!!”

Suddenly the white feathered wings sprouted from Asuka’s back and her eyes became gold and the golden symbols appeared. The Angel turned to Lili with a look of scorn upon her face—blood dripped from her lips and down her chin.

“You may not speak to me in such a way…if anyone is worthless, it is you Emilie De Rochefort…I will restore the host, but she belongs to me, never forget that—and she will never forget that either,” The Angel said in an eerie echo.

The wings retracted and the golden symbols faded; Asuka’s eyes returned to brown and she slumped into the blood splashed toilet—mucus dripping from her nose where it was blood just a moment ago. Asuka was alive, but she was the Angel’s property and she couldn’t forget that.

Asuka wasn’t going to ask Lili what had happened, she knew everything, from the four horrifying rounds with King, to where they were now…this skeleton of a bathroom was in the dirt hole underground.

Asuka breathed softly as Lili held onto her, she pulled up Asuka’s glossy, blue, vinyl bodysuit and pulled the zipper up to between her breasts and helped her to her feet and held Asuka close; wiping her face with her pretty white handkerchief as they walked out of the small room. The fighting ring was quiet and King was sitting on the dirt floor, he looked up as Lili and Asuka made their way towards the doors to leave.

“Come here Asuka…” King said, he didn’t say it in a roar or growl, he sounded like he was a citizen of Mexico—what a showmen.

“Miss. Kazama is in need of rest…” Lili began to say, but King retorted, “Please, Asuka, come here; I mean no harm.”

Lili helped Asuka over to King and helped her sit upon the dirt floor, she looked up for a moment and saw only two of the motor bikes were illuminating the room; they rocked slightly.
Asuka folded in on herself, her injuries were all healed, but her body was weak, she looked to the floor and King said, “You are very strong for a girl your age, you harbor something terrible deep with-in, however you are fighting against it…His name was Armor King…I know, not a great stage name; but it was the man who he was that mattered. Armor King was my teacher, he was kind and I followed in his footsteps; I wrestle because I enjoy it, however, when I fought you this evening, I could tell that you were holding back your feelings towards what you enjoyed…you like to fight, you like the thrill, you think its fun and you keep holding back—not your techniques—I should know, first hand of course, the pain won’t numb even for a bit…heh…You need to find the balance, you are going from one extreme to another—find the balance and you’ll be victorious.”

Asuka nodded and said in a barely audible voice, “Are you okay? Did I hurt you too much with my ‘Spinning Heel Drop?’ Maybe the ‘Heart Stopper’ was too much—I’m actually forbidden to use those techniques, they are very damaging…”

King chuckled a little and said, “I’m fine, or rather, I’ll be fine when I heal. Apologize to the one who forbade you to use those techniques and continue to use them to become a better fighter…You really should head home now, I just wanted to tell you that you need to use balance; I almost killed you this evening, but something inside of you kept that from happening, your friend was very worried and by the look on her face, she still is. Adios Asuka Kazama, may you find balance and become the King, no, Queen…no, Princess of Iron Fist champion.”

Asuka tried to smile as Lili helped her up, the girls then made their way to the exit as the event staff that remained helped them along.

Asuka thought about King’s words, she would take them to heart.

*****

Asuka wouldn’t wake up, it was almost 4pm and she had to be at a party for the semi-finalists at 6. Lili kept looking through the hotel closet for something, but all there was were damaged and new bodysuits, halter tops, boots, gauntlets a few zippered suit bags that housed nothing that Asuka could wear to a party…her school uniform—again, the only appropriate thing…Lili could run out and pick up a dress, but she had to get Asuka up and ready–she was ready; Lili wore a red and white dress that looked like it was made of liquid ruby and diamond and she had clear high heeled shoes on her feet as though she were walking on air, the cost was astronomical, but it worked for her; Lili even had her long blonde hair up and held in place with diamond barrettes.

Lili held the hangers in which Asuka’s, blouse, sweater vest and skirt were on and made sure all the pieces were clean and pressed—she had no choice, it would have to be the uniform…maybe Ling would be wearing hers?

Lili lay out Asuka’s school uniform on the side of the bed in which she had slept and then checked the tickets for the event; ‘Asuka Kazama and Guest,’ Lili was the guest; she had been one of the first ejected from the competition, but she paid for her room in full, so no one was going to kick her out.

Finally, Lili went to the side of the bed in which Asuka slept and sat down, she then leaned over carefully and held Asuka’s chin in her hand and kissed her girlfriend on the lips; Asuka’s eyes opened with a slight shock at first but then became calm and she kissed Lili back; they pulled away and Asuka said softly, “Ohayoo Gozaimasu Emilie-San.”

“Good morning! It’s almost evening, come now, get up and get bathed and dressed, we have to be there at 6pm and I don’t even want to be fashionably late. You also only have your uniform and nothing else…there is that one thing with the spider web pattern, but I’m guessing that isn’t for dress?” Lili said.

“No, it’s not for dress Miss. Emilie, I’ll wear my uniform, it’s appropriate,” Asuka replied.

“Why are you calling me Miss. Emilie?” Lili asked.

“I think that is appropriate too,” Asuka replied sitting up.

“All right, but only you, you may call me Emilie, Asuka, because I love you, so that will be between you and I,” Lili said.

“You look so pretty Emilie…thank you for everything last night, after the party, I’ll pay you back, you can do anything you want to me, anything—ANYTHING.” Asuka said getting out of the bed.

“You might not want to give me carte blanche darling Asuka, because I can think of a million things to do to you that will fall under the category of anything,” Lili replied.

“If there’s time, we can do all of the million things that you want to…” Asuka said as she prepared to bathe. Lili giggled.

*****

It was probably caused by her wearing the school uniform; Asuka stood very straight and held Lili’s hand as they entered a very medieval-looking room that had stone walls and even a throne upon a stage at the end of a walk way. The sides of the room were lined with Tekken Force guards—each held a rifle or some kind of killing weapon designed by the Mishima Zaibatsu.

The room was set up properly with wait staff bringing around drinks on trays and a few tables were set up with what appeared to be a buffet. It was reasonably lit in the room so it wasn’t all that dreary.
The first thing Lili and Asuka noticed was Heihachi sitting on the throne with Jin and Kazuya by his sides. With Kazuya was Jun and on Jin’s side was Lars—no Lee? Where the hell was Lee?

There was one Jack-6 in the room, a huge military, humanoid robot and Bruce Irvin was near Kazuya and Jun—some party, it looked like a royal party with the commoners about the room as they were watched by the lords.

The “Lords” were all finely dressed in suits and Jun’s dress was immaculate, Bruce had on his blue shorts for Kick Boxing and had his ankles wrapped. Above the waist, he had his wrists wrapped and he had a white tank top on. Irvin’s hair was a black tuft on the center of his head pulled back into a ponytail of multiple, thin dreadlocks. He wasn’t as young as he used to be—late 40’s, early 50’s, but he was still fast, or so it was said.

Around the room were the remaining fighters which consisted of Ganryu the Sumo, Paul Phoenix, Anna Williams, Christie Monteiro—whom was with Eddy Gordo who wasn’t even participating in the contest. Ling Xiaoyu was with Miharu—both were wearing their school uniforms so Asuka wasn’t the only one. In a corner was Sergei Dragunov…his presence alone was putting a gloom over the room.

Lili and Asuka were stopped by the tall, red-haired Anna Williams, the sister of Nina and she said, “You did a lousy job on my sister, she’s still breathing…but, I guess its all right, after all, I would rather kill her—but, nice job tenderizing her; it’s a start.”

“I didn’t want it to go that far…” Asuka started to say.

“Oh, but it did…judged and punished, you need to drop the hammer on her head and finish her; maybe next time,” Anna said with a smile.

Asuka didn’t want to hear anymore so she bowed to Anna and excused herself and Lili.

There were a lot of areas of the room in which the girls couldn’t wander—Baek Doo San was over by Hwoarang, his student—however, it was Baek who defeated her once and she didn’t want to see him out of embarrassment.

Asuka led Lili to Paul Phoenix, she had to do this; it was for the best. As they got closer, he looked up from his drink and Asuka let go of Lili’s hand and stood in front of Phoenix and then with her arms at her sides she bowed deeply to him and said, “I apologize for my actions towards Mr. Law, I am truly sorry for what I did and I beg for forgiveness. I understand that forgiveness won’t change what I have done, however, I would like it known that I am truly and deeply sorry for my actions.”

Asuka remained bowed and Phoenix said. “Yeah kid, I think it’s obvious that you are sorry for what you did, but I’m still fight’n ya; but not out of hatred, just out of vengeance for my friend; you get it right?”

Asuka straightened and said, “Yes, I understand…you are going against Anna Williams next, and I’m up against Bruce Irvin…if we both win, we will meet in the tournament, if one of us loses, we can meet on the street—I’m sorry…”

Phoenix could hear the sorrow in Asuka’s voice, but he could also tell that she was prepared to go to battle against him, so he took a drink and said, “It’s ok kid, its part of the tournament, the winner continues, the loser gets sent home, don’t feel too bad, Marshall forgives you, he’s a great guy…oddly, all of his medical bills were paid in full and there was a lot left over…”

Lili was shaking her head ‘NO!’ and waving her hands around but as usual, Phoenix was oblivious to keeping things under the covers and told Asuka that Lili pretty much paid for everything and then some.

“Come on kid, you look uncomfortable, could be the guards, could be the royals…hell, everyone is just as well a killer here, so why don’t the two of you hang out with me…hey, let’s say hello to Christie and Eddy…right?” Phoenix said jovially and led the girls to Eddy and Christie. Christie smiled and Eddy nodded his greeting to Lili and Asuka, although Lili was quick to converse, Asuka was looking over to Ling and Miharu…she felt as though Ling had stabbed her in the back; but over Jin, not maliciously—love was too crazy—Ling and Miharu were with the royals and Asuka could see Bruce talking to Kazuya about something, then Kazuya leaned in to Heihachi and said another thing.

Young Heihachi smiled and Asuka wished she could read lips, she was oblivious to the conversation that was going on with Phoenix, Lili, Eddy and Christie and then, suddenly Heihachi stood and called the large group to his attention.

“It’s nice that all of you could join us this evening…so I was offered a great way to entertain the lot of you…” Heihachi started as a camera crew entered the hall, Asuka then saw Bruce Irvin step towards the center of the room taking off his white tank top revealing free-form tattoos on his chest…Asuka was going to fight him now…Heihachi…the son of a bitch!

Heihachi continued, “An official bout…Bruce Irvin, versus Asuka Kazama—what do you all think?”

It didn’t matter what anyone thought, but there was a look of shock on the faces of most in the hall, others were excited to see the fight. Lili was appalled and Asuka shook her head motioning for Lili to keep her comments to herself.

Asuka pulled her blue and white riding gloves out of the pocket of her skirt, she was so glad they were on her, she then pulled them on her hands and when her fingers showed through she clenched her fists and secured the Velcro at her wrists.

Lili began straightening Asuka’s uniform; she straightened her sweater vest with the large school crest on the left and then the collar to Asuka’s blouse and said, “It’s for the cameras…remember what King said…” Lili and Asuka kissed each other and Asuka went over to Irvin and stood before him over a foot shorter and smaller—she formed her hands into knives and raised them and parted her stance and Jun looked at the matching Kazama style that she used and Asuka looked up at Irvin and said, “Come get me…”

Bruce grinned and said darkly, “I’m your worst nightmare…” He raised his knee and curved his back and raised his hands in a full Kick Boxing stance, his dark features were enhanced by the light of the room—if she knew the song, Bruce Irvin would be ‘Leroy Brown’ but would he end up the same—‘a jig-saw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone’ at the end of the fight?

The announcer stepped in and called, “Asuka Kazama versus Bruce Irvin! FIGHT!”

Bruce kicked at Asuka landing only a few strikes, where she blocked the rest—each time Irvin took a shot he breathed out; he was very experienced, and probably very dangerous, but King almost killed her with slams, this would be a hand and foot battle and Asuka excelled at that.

Asuka had to time her attacks due to the fact that she had a few failed attempts going in with rushing strikes—her palm thrust was countered and she had some of her kicks countered too. Bruce began an onslaught of punches and kicks and then took Asuka down to the floor, she yelped and then rolled out of the way of Irvin’s next attack and stood up, she then performed her ‘Dragon Wheel Kick’ sending Irvin to the floor, she then ran at him and hit him with a low kick to keep him down; without her elbow pads the landing hurt, but she got back to her feet and took hold of Irvin’s leg and like she did with Lili in the first round, she cracked his knee, but unlike with Law, she didn’t make a break.

Bruce Irvin limped back onto his feet and sent a few breathy kicks at Asuka; he was avoiding using his now injured leg. Asuka countered with her ‘Heart Stopper’ and finally performed a double front flip kick and took Bruce down at the 99 second mark—winning the round in the process.

Kazuya was pissed off and yelling something in Japanese; however Asuka had her own cheering section and although she didn’t want Ling’s approval, she too was cheering her on.

Irvin got to his feet and got into his stance and Asuka did the same. Irvin said, “I’m taking you down little girl…”

Round two was called to begin and Asuka smiled, she then ran at Irvin and performed a roundhouse kick sending him against a table, she then performed the ‘Heavens Hammer’ and the blow knocked him through the table spilling its contents of food and drink all over him, she became cocky and said, “Fixed your face!” Asuka then back flipped and ran at Irvin again dropping him completely to the floor landing on her bare elbows again and cringing as she popped up to her feet.

Asuka wanted to disgrace Bruce Irvin—someone employed by Kazuya; his personal bodyguard, this man was evil and Asuka didn’t need the Angel to judge and punish him.

“What the hell! Get up old man! Face me, you aren’t so tough, you didn’t even touch me once this round…time is ticking away tough guy, come get me!” Asuka said.

Bruce got to his feet and Asuka could tell he was worn down, so she performed her ‘Exorcisor,’ then finished with her double lift kicks, this sent Bruce Irvin through another table that was closest to Heihachi and his group and Irvin fell unconscious.

“The winner! Asuka Kazama!” The announcer cried.

Asuka walked over to her fallen opponent and squatted down and began tapping him on the head with her pointer finger and said, “Man, you’re weak…”

There were laughs from the gathered crowd and Lili smiled seeing Asuka return to her old self, she looked so precious, and when she was happy, it made Lili happy; so she went to give Asuka a congratulatory kiss, but stopped as she heard her phone ring. She looked at the screen and it read ‘Sebastian,’ so she answered it and said, “Yes, what is it?”

“Miss Lili, I have terrible news to relay to you, I regret to inform you that your father passed only a few moments ago—he went peacefully, although suddenly…please do return to the manor Miss,” Sebastian said in a posh, stereotypical butler tone.

“Father! But he was fine when I left! I…I’ll come home, is the jet waiting at the airport?”

“The jet is ready for you Miss Lili, please do make haste, there is much to be done, I will pick you up upon your arrival,” Sebastian said.

“Yes…I understand, I’ll be at the airport within the hour,” Lili replied.

“And Miss, I’m so very sorry…” Sebastian said solemnly.

“Thank you…” Lili said ending the call. Lili looked over to Asuka who had gotten to her feet and was surrounded by most of the fighters to celebrate her great victory. How was Lili going to tell Asuka that she had to leave her?

Next time on Tekken MZ, Asuka sees her Emilie off and faces Paul Phoenix; will her pain of having to let Lili go affect her performance against the championship skill of Phoenix? Find out next week on Tekken Tuesday!

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