Shadows of the Zaibatsu

It pissed him off! After all he had done to get that far with Jin, it had all been for that? Hwoarang felt like a goddamn fuck buddy. It was alright, though, it was bound to get better. It was a step up from stalker, so he figured if he worked a little harder, he'd see more progress soon enough.

Staying alone in the starlight suite for the night had been depressing. He had almost thought he would have preferred to be locked up. At least in the prison cell there was no illusion that he could have been happy. As soon as he woke up the next morning, he had headed out to explore the grounds. With a deeper understanding of how the place looks inside, he figured it would make it easier if he was demoted back to stalker. The only annoying part was that he had to be accompanied by someone while he did so. What did they think he'd do? Hack into their database? Not very well likely!

Apparently a night of meaningless sex hadn't hurt his infatuation. As soon as he caught sight of Jin, his heart skipped a beat. He left his babysitter and headed directly over to the man of his dreams. "Good morning your highness! Anything cool on the agenda today?"

Without slowing down, the Japanese turned to watch him. "Still as beautiful." He concluded with a smirk. "Slept well?" He asked while walking away.

Hwoarang scowled. That compliment was beginning to strike him as patronizing, that bastard! He sped up to walk beside Jin, keeping the pace as much as possible. "You know it's rude to ignore my questions. It's rude to ask one of your own and walk away, too. Where are you going?"

They passed several doors before the Japanese answered. "You're so cute when you're annoyed." He stated calmly, then carefully slid a hand into the red strands.

"You're not cute when you're being a jerk." Maybe he was still sore about not being allowed to kiss Jin, but he tried to not think about it. There was plenty of time to fix that, right? "Why won't you tell me what you're doing? You going to invade a country or something?"

Jin slid his hand gently down to Hwoarang's neck, then retracted it. "Anything I can offer you, cutie? Lunch? A martial arts tournament? A job?"

Now that was hilarious! Hwoarang barked a sharp laugh and patted Jin's shoulder. "Even if I was stupid enough to want to work for you, I'm not suicidal. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly popular among your big happy family here. Just for the sake of amusement, what would you hire me for?"

"I take it you're more interested in the job than the lunch or the tournament?" The Japanese smirked again, then stopped by a door. "If your lack of popularity is the problem, then rest assured I would make the necessary adjustments to my payroll if you were to apply for a position." He turned to open the door, then added, "it's a standing offer. If your answer is 'yes', just let me know. But now, I have business to attend to, so if you'll excuse me..." He walked through the door, heading for a door on the other side of the revealed room.

"You're being rude again, not answering my question. Just because you're the fucking evil overlord of the Zaibatsu, it doesn't excuse your manners. I'm not going to apply for a position if I don't know what that position is." Hwoarang followed Jin into the small room. He paused briefly when he spotted the guards in there, but when he realised they weren't going to stop him, he sped up to get closer to his rival.

Jin didn't seem to mind being followed, instead just continuing through the next door. It was a huge room, though not out of place in that building. The tiled floors and the red carpet stretched along the centre made it look a little too royal. Those Mishimas really did consider themselves kings, didn't they? The Japanese walked determinedly up to the throne, sitting down with a content smirk on his face and comfortably crossing his legs.

Hwoarang sighed and took the lack of a response as a hint to shut up. It was probably crossing the line to go all the way to the throne with the guy, so he found a place against the wall where he had a good view of what was going on.

Someone was making their way up the carpet. It was Yokotami, apparently. The guy stopped right before the stairs, then knelt down and bowed his head.

"Who is first on the list today, Yokotami-san?" Jin asked.

"Julia Chang, Kazama-sama. She wishes to hand you a report." Yokotami answered, still without looking at Jin.

"Thank you. Show her in." Jin looked a bit curious about that, gazing idly after the man who walked down the red carpet.

Julia Chang was quick to enter, and her eyes immediately landed on Hwoarang. There was shock in that stare, but something else as well... Hostility? No, that couldn't be it. She walked down the carpet, a small bag in her grasp. It looked almost like a gift bag. Funny thing to bring to a report. When she stopped in front of the throne, she bowed deeply and flashed a bright smile at Jin. "I've brought you a copy disk of all the data associated." She glanced briefly back at the Korean and then cleared her throat. "It probably wouldn't be wise to discuss it in detail at the moment, but there's all the information we need in the copy anyway."

"Thank you, Miss Chang." Jin smirked. "Is your project working out?"

"It's working out very well, thank you." The woman walked up the steps and moved directly to the throne. She seemed proud that she could take such liberties and flashed a smug grin in Hwoarang's direction as she handed the small bag to the Japanese. "I'm going back to the USA for a little while, but I'll be back soon." She bent over to place an affectionate kiss on Jin's cheek. "Stay out of trouble while I'm gone."

The raven-haired man looked a bit confused, but eventually just shrugged. "You want me to save it all for when you're back? You'll be one busy woman."

As she was laughing and saying something pointless, Hwoarang couldn't bear to pay attention. He couldn't believe what just happened. Jin wouldn't let him kiss him but he'd let that annoying broad? It wasn't fair at all! "So it's like this, huh?" Hwoarang whispered to himself. His rival was straight and that left him as what? Chopped liver? Hwoarang turned around and quietly exited the way they came in. As much as he wanted to stomp and scream, he doubted the guards would take well to that behaviour. It was about time he called his Master Baek anyway.

~~~~~

Kazuya wondered what made his scientists seem like little kids sometimes. He had just been called to the lab, and they wouldn't say what was going on. That was a tell-tale sign of good news, because they knew he wouldn't let them get away with it if it wasn't. Maybe he was being too soft on them... if he strung one of them up from the roof, the others would know better than to do that again.

Then again, he wasn't so sure he wanted to lose one of the carefully hand-picked scientists because of a little childishness.

He knocked on the lab entrance door, primarily to get people's attention, then opened it and entered.

The group of old men scattered throughout muttered amongst themselves. Their fearful eyes darted at Kazuya and they were reluctant to speak up. It was Dr. Lucas who the others finally urged forward, and he hesitated before making his way between rows of cluttered tables. "Good day, Mr. Mishima. We have completed the, uh... The tests. The one I spoke to you about before."

Well, good news about how to get his son killed was always welcome. "You have? Good. And what are the results?"

"Successful." Dr Lucas offered a nervous smile and motioned to another door near the back. "The weapon is in there. Would you like to see it?"

The Japanese blinked a few times in surprise. So that was it? They had finished it? He smirked and nodded. "Certainly."

"I'm sorry about making you come all the way here, but we didn't want to be wandering around with a weapon like that." Dr. Lucas started walking. He wasn't shaking or stuttering so much, so he wasn't nearly as spooked, but there was still that fear behind his eyes. He opened the door for Kazuya.

Now that was considerate. The black-haired Mishima walked through the door, and there it was. Under a protective glass, there was a traditional samurai sword, coated with a substance that gave it an eerie, blue glow. He could even feel a bit of sweat coming on - his devil side was getting restless at the sight. With a smug smirk, he moved over to the table.

The scientist rushed over and fumbled with keys. When he found the right one, he slid it into a slot on the side of the glass, and lifted the layer up to give access to the sword.

"Thank you, Dr. Lucas." Kazuya said as he reverently lifted it. A very special sword; it was certainly a one and only, given they had used what there was of the strange cosmic substance. Now the question was: Who could manage to get past the Zaibatsu's security and take down Jin with it? Certainly no easy task, but there had to be someone who could do it...

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This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260