The Way We Were

(A/N): Ok, so this is a different FMP fic. It's definitely got romance! Oh yeah! Ok, if the summary doesn't do enough for you, let me fill you in on it a bit more. Jin and Xiaoyu are two people who go to the same school and live a NORMAL life, but who haven't talked much. Xiaoyu had always wanted to talk to Jin, but felt she couldn't. The two of them slowly start to become friends, and when things get to be as good as they can get, something unexpected happens. Xiaoyu's friend Julia, who also goes to school with her and Jin, starts crushing on him. From thence on things go haywire. Hehe, where on earth do I come up with this stuff? shrugs... no clue ;;

Chapter 1: A Beautiful Friendship

The night was cool and brought a chilly wind with it. Xiaoyu clung to her jacket tightly and looked about the empty streets. She gave a soft sigh and then leaned against a light post. She wondered why she stayed so late at Miharu's, but it did not matter too much to her. She was on her way home when across the street she spotted Jin, a young man who wasn't really noticed a lot at school. (omg, this is going to be soo weird...) She watched Jin walk home in the empty street and decided to join him. She crossed the street and walked along beside him.

"Hey Jin, you're out late." She said to him. Jin looked back at her and nodded.

"Yeah, I know, well...you're out late yourself," he said to her looking back down at her. Xiaoyu gave a slight chuckle. She hadn't really talked to Jin much, but when she did, it was something special to her. The two of them walked home, with nothing really to say to each other at first, they stood silent all the way home. Xiaoyu waved goodbye as did he and she went to her apartment. She opened the door to her room and sat on her bed, clinging to her stuffed animal. She closed her eyes and gave a soft sigh of happiness.

"I got to talk to Jin," she said to herself in a quite cheerful manner. "Now if only we could talk more like that everyday." She closed her eyes and fell back onto her bed. "Sure, he's a weird one, but for what it's worth, I wouldn't mind him being my friend."

Jin had walked into his apartment, opening the door and then threw his bag on the floor. He sat on the chair in the kitchen, sitting alone at the table and rests his head in his hands, thinking to himself. Xiaoyu had intentionally walked up to him and started a conversation, though it wasn't much. A smile appeared on his face as he then drifts off to sleep.

The next day, Jin had awaken on his kitchen table and looked to the time on the stove. He noticed that it was already late, and if he didn't hurry, he would be even later in going to class. He got up, straightened himself to make him look decent then headed to school.

Xiaoyu sat on the bench in the courtyard of the school looking down at her books. She sighed and closed her eyes resting her head on her books. "It's too early to be in school." She grumbled to herself. When she opened her eyes she saw Jin enter the courtyard alone, and sat on the steps of the school building all by himself. "I wonder why he doesn't want to sit by anyone," she thought. Xiaoyu took it in her hands to go up and greet him. She was a bit nervous since she had only talked to him yesterday, but she wanted to bring him company. "Hey there," she said resting her foot on the step he sat on, "why don't you sit with your friends?"

"What friends?" Jin asked in a monotone voice. Xiaoyu had thought she said something wrong and stepped back some.

"Don't you have any friends you want to talk to at all?" Jin shook his head no. Xiaoyu thought that he must have been kidding and then laughed. "Come on Jin, for real." He shook his head no again. "You have got to be kidding me! You can't tell me that there isn't one person who you consider a close friend."

"No, you see, I have not really had many friends because I move around a lot. I don't socialize with too many people, so after a while, people start to walk past me as if I am invisible." Xiaoyu sat right next to Jin and looked him straight in the eyes.

"I don't see you as an invisible person at all Jin. I just...I've always wanted to be a friend of yours to tell the truth." Xiaoyu gave him an earnest smile. She stood up as the bell rang then waved goodbye and headed to her classes. Jin watched her leave, waving goodbye after her and then walked on to his classes.

Throughout his classes, he thought about what Xiaoyu had told him. True, he wasn't the most popular person around, or talked to much, but that didn't mean that people were bad. He thought it was himself at first but shook it off. "I'm normal, just like everyone else." This feeling stayed with him for a great while until about lunchtime.

The bell had rung and the students rushed out of their classes into the lunchroom. Xiaoyu had sat at her table with all of her friends, sitting down eating her lunch. Miharu took her camera and started taking random pictures of people.

"Hey Miharu, why do you take pictures of people eating at lunch?" Xiaoyu asked raising a brow. Miharu looked over to Xiaoyu and then smiled taking her picture.

"I dunno, memories I guess. Don't you want to keep memories Xiaoyu?" Xiaoyu laughed then took a bite of her tempura.

"Yes, but, you sure have an odd way of doing so." They both laughed at each other and went on with their lunches. Jin sat at a table by himself, reading magazines that dealt with different styles of fighting. He was into his books, paying no attention to anyone around him, not that there was anyone around to pay attention to. Xiaoyu walked behind him and stood there leaning over his back. "Hmm...secrets of Jujitsu? That's a weird article for someone to read." Xiaoyu said. Jin jumped and turned around.

"Miss Xiaoyu, what are you doing here?" Xiaoyu sat in front of him, setting her small tray down of her food then looked over at him.

"Well, I am here to have lunch with you, unless you don't want me to..." Jin shook his head quickly.

"No. No that is alright, I don't mind the company," he said with a bright smile on his face. Xiaoyu returned the smile and offered him one of her home baked cakes.

"Good, because It would sure be a shame to come all this way for no reason." She then looked to Jin who was slowly taking bites of her cake. She was nervous, she was afraid that it might not have come out right. "Well, it is my first attempt at trying to make my own cake. I know I'm not all that good at it. You are the first person to test it." Jin's eyes widened,

"You mean to tell me that I'm some sort of lab rat for your attempt at food?" Xiaoyu clenched her fist as she leaned over the table.

"Not a lab rat! I just wanted to know if its ok or not!" Jin laughed and then nodded taking another piece of the cake.

"Yes miss Xiaoyu, this is just fine. I was only joking about that." Xiaoyu sighed and looked down then back to him. He had such handsome brown eyes that she could gaze into for hours. She began to feel her face warm up and her cheeks turned bright red. She looked away and then hid her face in her hands.

"Jin, it's not nice to stare at a girl you know," she said teasingly. Jin smiled. It was the first time she had seen him give a real and true smile. It was beautiful.

"Alright miss Xiaoyu, I'm sorry." He turned his gaze away from her. The lunch bell rang, signifying that lunchtime was already over. It seemed too short for the both of them. Xiaoyu stood up and patted her skirt then looked back to Jin.

"Xiaoyu, its just Xiaoyu." She then took her tray with her, walking towards the doors back into the school hallway. Jin watched her leave then nodded to himself taking his books with him. He looked back to the empty cafeteria and then thought to himself,

"I was always told if you have one good friend, then you are successful." He looked to the hallway thinking about this and nodded. "Then I suppose, that means I am successful," he said to himself walking out.

Time had seemed to go by rather quickly after that, and before they knew it, school was already out for the weekend. Xiaoyu stood by the doors and looked around. She had seen Hworang, a classmate of hers with long red hair and an ego five times as long. He walked over to Xiaoyu resting his arm on her shoulder.

"Hey there Xiaoyu," he said. Xiaoyu dropped her shoulder and sighed.

"What is it Hwo? What do you want to bother me with now?" Hworang gave her a hurt look then grinned as he leaned back on the rail of the stairs.

"You know, that hurts that you think I want something from you every time I see you." Xiaoyu laughed then punched him playfully in the shoulder,

"maybe because, every time I see you, you do want something." Hworang shook his head and then looked around for someone, but did not find whoever he was looking for. The two stayed silent for a while, then Hworang decided that he would finally leave. Once he left, Xiaoyu saw Julia standing against the school building with someone. She took a closer glance and saw that it was Julia's boyfriend Kojiro. (LOL, and it gets interesting!!! And to those of you who know me personally, know what I'm talking about.) The two of them seemed happy in each other's arms and Xiaoyu sighed. She looked to the door, and saw Jin come out finally. She greeted him with a smile and walked up to him. "I thought you would never come out," she teased playfully. Jin looked at her in amazement.

"I didn't expect you to wait for me miss Xiaoyu." He said scratching the back of his head. Xiaoyu and Jin walked down the steps together in the late afternoon heading home.

"It's Xiaoyu...and why didn't you think I would wait for you?"

"Because, no one else has before..." Jin responded back.

Xiaoyu closed her eyes taking in a breath of air. "Well, I'm not just anyone Mr. Kazama. I'm Ling Xiaoyu, and if I see someone worth waiting for, I will wait for them." She said to him smiling. "Now, are there anymore questions?" Jin shook his head laughing a bit. It was slightly hard for him to completely open up all the way, but he knew that when the time was right, he would.

"No miss Xiaoyu, no more questions." Xiaoyu sighed once again and hit her head.

"Oh Jin..."

(A/N): Well? How was that? Good? Bad? So-so? I could do better? Lol! Someone tell me something please. I really like this fic that I've started and I know exactly where I'm headed with this. Its like writing in my very own diary! Heh, so please, R&R about this ficcy and I will try to post chapter 2 asap. And another note, a lot of these events are true real life instances that happened to me.