It was no longer dark. Natural light began to pour into the sky, creating a wash of pale blue and amber, and bringing with it the sweet sound of birdsong. Now this would usually be a glorious moment in film, but for Xiaoyu and Jin it was a sore reminder of how long they had been travelling by foot.

"My feet are killing me" Xioayu said through gritted teeth. As soon as she spoke she stepped on a pebble and staggered slightly, almost losing her balance. She clenched her fists.

'If only I refused to go with him…I'd still be in bed right now!' she thought to herself irritably. Jin, with a look of worn-out determination on his face, did not acknowledge her constant complaining at all. He just walked in silence, admiring his surroundings. He always took comfort in walking through the countryside - it reminded him of the frequent walks he used to take with his mother when he was younger. He closed his eyes sadly – he must not let himself think of his past life; those days are long gone.

"I'm cold" Xiaoyu said sulkily. Jin looked at her. She was walking with her head bent low and her arms folded over her stomach.

"You can wear my jacket if you want…" he said, averting his eyes away from her.

Xiaoyu thought about his offer for a moment, a strange feeling of reserve overcoming her.

"…no thanks" she said quietly, trying to hide her uneasiness. Jin suddenly wished that he had never offered at all and silently looked out to the horizon. As they walked on they both began to notice the gradual change in their surroundings. With every step the natural terrain began to subside and adopt more metropolitan characteristics. Jin knew that the city was not at all an appropriate place to be if in hiding, but they had no choice but to pass through it.

The growing noise from the oncoming metropolis distracted Xiaoyu from her tiredness and the sight of the tall buildings sent a small buzz up her spine. Jin however felt a mixture of repulsion and hostility, which he tried to suppress by pulling the hood of his jacket over his head. The two of them were immediately engulfed by a massive crowd of people as soon as they entered the city area. Xiaoyu gazed at the various nameless people who were either blank-faced, talking on their cell phones or lost in their headphones. They were all different and yet all the same, and like most teens wandering through life, it reminded her of a song lyric:

All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces. Bright and early for the daily races, going nowhere…going nowhere…

Jin however refused to use his imagination as a means to reflect on his surroundings. Like his mother, he felt extremely alienated by the city-life and so only concentrated on his and Xiaoyu's safety. Once they crossed one of the main roads to where there were less people they both stopped.

"What now?" Xiaoyu asked, looking up at Jin. Without responding he looked up and down the streets, examining their situation. Xiaoyu sighed with annoyance and looked up at one of the screens that were displaying some random product. The harsh use of electric colours made her eyes squint, which suddenly brought back her tiredness and made her yawn.

"This way" Jin said with a low voice, tilting his head to their right.

"Whatever" Xiaoyu said tiredly. They both walked down to the corner of the street which then turned onto a more rough-looking area. Jin grew cautious; would it be safe to walk through here? Xioayu noticed Jin's hesitation.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Jin's jaw tightened – he could sense a form of menace from this particular street; there were cracks in the pavement, waste was on the road and dark red stains were on the walls. He looked back to where they had just come from and then looked forward again.

"Nothing's wrong. Keep walking" he said sombrely. Despite her scepticism, she did as he said. They both proceeded to walk down the dirty street, stepping over the cracks and avoiding the rubbish. They then walked by a dark alleyway. Neither of them noticed the figure standing within it – how he silently watched Jin with hawk-like eyes, feeling both shock and anger at the sight of him. The figure closed his eyes – his body pulsating with energy. The memory of defeat came rushing back to him, bringing with it the combined feeling of disgrace, shame and anger. But that was in the past – after two years of waiting today he would finally settle the score. He opened his eyes. He was ready to reveal himself.

"Kazama!" the stranger's voice thundered from the darkness. Jin and Xiaoyu both turned around in alarm. Jin frowned; he could not see the stranger. Had Heihachi already sent his force out after them? With a million thoughts rushing through his head he quickly stepped in front of Xiaoyu to protect her and moved into his fighting stance. Xiaoyu promptly removed her bag; the stupid thing would only slow her down during combat. The stillness made them both very uncomfortable.

"Show yourself" Jin said with a strong voice. The hidden individual then emerged from the alleyway with an air of smug confidence, his red hair burning against his dark clothes. Jin relaxed – but only slightly.

"…Hwoarang" he said, his voice low. Xiaoyu, who wasn't expecting a guy wearing motorcycle goggles on his head to be the stranger, looked back and forth between the two young men in confusion. What was all this about? She then focused on the red-head. He seemed…familiar. Suddenly her eyes widened with the realisation that she actually knew him – she had versed him in the last tournament held by Heihachi…and she had won the match. Hwoarang, however, did not recognise her.

"Hey Kazama, who's the girl?" he asked, looking over at Xioayu.

"Leave her out of this" Jin said darkly. Hwoarang put his hands up mockingly, pretending to be threatened. What a joke! He could say whatever he damn well wanted! Suddenly his curiosity kicked in.

"So what are you two doing on the wrong side of town?" he said with a sneer.

"What's it to you?" Xiaoyu said sharply. Both Hwoarang and Jin looked at her.

"Wow, it speaks!" Hwoarang joked.

"Don't talk to her like that" Jin said defensively. This only made him laugh harder.

"You do know that you two look like shit" he said, acknowledging their exhaustion. Xiaoyu suddenly felt very tempted to knock him down. Jin felt the same way – only he knew that's what Hwoarang wanted; to get him angry.

"What do you want?" Jin asked impatiently. Hwoarang cupped his left hand over his fist.

"To fight" he said, with a look of wildness in his eyes. "To bruise your precious face and kick you to the ground…"

Hwoarang then stepped up to Jin.

"Come on Kazama…you can't keep running away from it. Fight me. Right here, right now"

He then smirked deviously, looking over at Xiaoyu.

"I'm sure your girlfriend would love to see your moves…hey, she might even want to verse me herself – the invitation's there…"

Suddenly Hwoarang found himself thrust up against a wall so hard that he winced with pain. Jin had his hand wrapped around Hwoarang's neck in a choke-hold. His grip was so tight that it would have crushed the average man. Xiaoyu stood there speechless, not knowing what to do. It wasn't long before Hwoarang's bloodshot eyes began to water. He grabbed onto Jin's wrist in an attempt to free myself, but the more he struggled the more Jin tightened his grip.

"Errr, I think you've made your point" Xiaoyu said anxiously. "Please let him go now"

Jin looked over at her with intense eyes and then looked back at Hwoarang, releasing his grip. Hwoarang angrily pushed Jin's arm away.

"Get your fucking hands off me" he said with obvious strain in his voice. As he tried to regain his breath, Jin composed himself.

"I don't want to fight you" Jin said firmly, furious at himself for actually initiating the violence. Hwoarang, who had finally regained his breath, glared at him.

"I should have known…" he said darkly. "You're a disgrace Kazama. I don't give a damn anymore about the past…but you better be prepared the next time we meet"

Jin breathed in deeply, looking into Hwoarang's eyes with extreme focus. He then silently turned and walked away, leaving Xiaoyu standing there with a bewildered look on her face. Hwoarang looked at her strangely. Only now did he recognise her. Only now did he realise that he had beaten by both of these…these pampered idiots. His jaw tightened. This was too humiliating…

Xiaoyu could feel the tension rise.

"…I'm gonna go…now"

She then turned, quickly picked up her bag and bolted after Jin. Hwoarang watched them walk away with feelings of shame and resentment, but most of all curiosity; why were they trekking through the city together?

Xioayu and Jin continued to walk for another hour until their overtiredness became too much to handle. Xiaoyu was literally dragging her feet.

"Jin, please. I can't keep walking. I need to rest" she pleaded.

Although Jin was against staying in the city he managed to hire a room at a cheap hostel away from all the tall buildings. Once they were shown to their room Xiaoyu sighed and collapsed onto the bed. Jin frowned uneasily. There was only one bed in the room.

"We'll stay here for a few hours. But we'll have to leave soon after or else we could be…"

Jin stopped himself. She was already asleep.

Author's Note: I'm tired…so very tired. Right now I can strongly relate to Xiaoyu, lol! Anyway…I don't really know what to think of this chapter right now. I'm a bit concerned about Hwoarang. I hope I haven't misused him at all (even though I based a lot of his actions on those amusing faces he pulls in various Tekken Tag endings). Hmm…I also hope that my use of the lyric from Mad World was appropriate. Oh well, it's what actually inspired my idea for this fic!

A big thank you to all who reviewed. It's a very daunting experience to actually post a fanfic, but the encouragement given from readers is priceless! Haha, I laughed out loud at this review:

"hey i kinda like it! this is great too coz im eating a toasted garlic sandwich... m"

Thanks for reading!