A/N: I want to thank everyone who has reviewed the recent chapters of this fic.

And as one reviewer pointed out, the first chapter of this story is extremely similar to an episode of Angel, in which one of the characters enters a bar and a bar fight ensues. The ep was titled "Five by Five" and written by Jim Kouf. I started this story after watching that episode on TV; it inspired me to write this. Yes, I "borrowed" the scenes from the show and I should have mentioned this earlier, but I didn't. And for that I am extremely sorry. I wanted to put that scene in my story because it gave me the incentive to begin this, and I wanted to pay tribute to one of my favorite characters in the Buffyverse, as does the title (I'm surprised someone caught that). And I thought that Julia and Faith were similar in a way. All ideas for the first chapter goes to the creative genius of the people at Buffy & Angel co. Thank you ChangKazama for pointing out that extreme error on my part. Again, I am truly sorry.

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Chapter 3:

Pretty Lies and Ugly Truths

Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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A sharp knock on the hotel door caused Jin to snap out of his revere. Standing up and clearing his throat, he slowly walked to the door and peered through the peephole. Jin opened the door on the second impatient knock. The redheaded Korean rushed through the doorway, dressed in denim jeans, a jean jacket, and biker boots. Goggles dangled around his neck.

"I'm surprised; you actually got here on time. The 'Rang I used to know, would be a whole three hours late before he ever showed and wouldn't give a damn what other people thought." Jin smiled warily at Hwoarang's back.

Without glancing over his shoulder, Hwoarang replied, "I've changed in the last few years, I'm not who I used to be." Jin nodded, it was true. They all had changed, and not for the better.

"Nice digs you got here Kazama," Hwoarang said as he took in the room around him. Bland brown wallpaper covered all the walls in the room, royal blue colored drapes hung in front of the window, and dark green shag carpeting completed the wall-to-wall look. Bottom line: the décor needed a facelift, stat. "You could've just crashed at my place. Sure, the maid's been out for a year and a half, but at least I know how to decorate."

Jin shook his head, "You know me; I didn't want to impose." Both men locked eyes for a moment, their old friendship/rivalry resurfacing.

"Yeah," Hwoarang chuckled, "we wouldn't want that. I never thought in a million years that I would say this, but, it's good to see you again Kazama." As soon as the words left Hwoarang's mouth, he crossed the room in the blink of an eye and launched his right fist at Jin's face. Jin hadn't even seen it coming, 'Rang had moved too fast, and the blow clipped him in the jaw. Jin's head snapped to the side from the force.

Jin rolled with the punch and turned to face the Korean, rubbing his chin. With his lip split, and blood running into his mouth, Jin replied,

"I guess I deserved that."

"You guessed right," Hwoarang snapped, "and much more. But it's not my place to give it to you. It's hers."

Hwoarang turned away from Jin and moved to the armchair. He slumped down and swung his left leg over one of the arms. Jin remained where he was and wiped the blood from his mouth, and swallowing the rest. He felt as if he was gulping down a handful of pennies. A long silence hung in the air between the two young men, like the smell of something sour. And embedded deep in that smell, were all the things too painful to say out loud.

Each man had one thing on his mind and its name was Julia.

"I know you have a lot of questions," Hwoarang said, finally, "and I have a lot of questions, a shit load in fact. But before I even get started playing 20 Questions with you I need you to answer one confusing question for me first."

"What is it?"

'Rang took in a steady breath and said without preamble, "Where have you been all this time? I mean if you weren't dead, like everyone thought, where did you go? You didn't tell me much when you called me out of thin air three nights ago. I thought for a second there I was communicating with the dead on my cell phone," he chuckled lightly, but it lacked humor, "I mean, my rival turned frenemy was killed two years ago with a shot heard 'round the world. It was unbelievable hearing your voice again, not to mention fucking creepy."

Jin sighed heavily, the truth had to come out sooner or later, or it was bound to kill him if not others, "I relocated to Brisbane." At Hwoarang's confused expression, Jin decided to elaborate; apparently geography wasn't 'Rang's strong suit, "Brisbane, Australia."

The Korean's confusion did not dissipate, "But why the hell did you go there? What were you thinking! Are you—?!"

Jin held up a hand, "I answered the most important question you needed to know; now it's my turn."

"Ok," Hwoarang gave up, "hit me with your first question."

"You never told me exactly why Julia moved to LA, only where she was living. Why did she leave Arizona and the mother she just successfully rescued from my grandfather's clutches?"

'Rang stroked his chin thoughtfully with his thumb, "I can't tell you exactly why she moved, Jules and I were never that close to the point where she'd spill her guts to me. That was Xaio's MO. But I can tell you what happened that night she ran away. Or at least what Xaio told me."

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"You're late!" Ty Samples called out to Julia as she walked through the front door, he was standing behind the host and hostess' podium, which was situated right under a gigantic replica of a mushroom, holding a stack of laminated menus in his hand. The plastic mushroom looked kinda like the ones you see in the Alice in Wonderland movie.

"So?" Julia yelled back at him as she weaved her way through the tables and chairs to the back of the restaurant, heading to the locker room. After feeding Moby, kibbles n' bits, and stuffing her face with a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast, Julia had decided to take the puppy out for a quick stroll to the Santa Monica Pier and back, since she wasn't due into work until 10 o'clock (which was a nice change from her regular schedule). It hadn't taken long to get to the pier; her apartment building was only two blocks away. But what had started out as a simple walk turned into an all-morning-stay at the beach, perusing the boardwalk. Julia had lost track of time and glanced at her watch out of habit, and realized she had thirty minutes to drop the dog off at home and haul ass to work.

"So," Ty continued, following closely at her heels, "the Boss-Man is gonna shit a brick when he finds out." They entered the air conditioned locker room and Julia strode over to her locker. She gave the combination lock a few turns and the latch popped open. She pulled out her uniform, which consisted of a light pink shirt with a cartoon drawing of a green and yellow mushroom; that had eyes, a nose, a mouth, and black handle bar mustache. The words "The Mellow Mushroom" were scrawled underneath.

The Mellow Mushroom was a restaurant that served pizza, salads, sandwiches, and beer. But with a healthy twist. The décor of the restaurant was very "trippy." Bright colors splashed all the walls of the diner, with murals of famous people intermingled with mushroom cartoons, rainbows, and swirls. The tables scattered around the main floor looked like the stems of mushrooms just beginning to grow. Not to mention the most notable feature in the whole place, that famous plastic mushroom stationed at the front doors. A bar and a smoking section was located near the back, by the kitchen. The whole place gave off the effect of being on an acid trip with all of its vibrant colors and designs. But what could one expect from a place that was founded in the 70's?

Julia rolled her eyes as she began to pull on her mushroom shirt, discarding the white one she was previously wearing.

"Don't worry about Clampton. I'll take care of it." She pulled the rest of her shirt down around her flat stomach, and reached inside her locker again. Only to take out the dark blue apron lying on the shelf. Folding it in half, Julia tied the strings around her waist. She kicked her locker closed and walked over to the wall mirror on her right; she reached into her pocket and took out a tube of mascara.

"How?" Ty pressed as Julia began to sweep mascara onto her lashes, "What are you gonna do? I don't know about you, but Clampton puts the fear of God in me." Stopping the brush mid-sweep, Julia looked at Ty's reflection in the mirror. Ty was a year younger than Julia; he had wide-set hazel eyes which were outlined in coal-black eyeliner, a broad forehead, and a ski-jump nose. His hair was black, with crimson spikes, and long black side burns, which he proudfully dubbed as: "The Lady Killers." He wore dog tags around his left wrist, the chains tied into a tight knot. A tattoo of a scorpion was branded far up on his neck, its tail curled around his right ear, as well as other intricate designs running up and down his arms. Ty was in a band.

"I have my ways." She replied, and continued applying her make-up.

Just then the door swung open and Christie Monterio waltzed in dressed in the same outfit as Julia, only her shirt was green. Her apron was smeared with blotches of tomato sauce and flour left a ghostly handprint on her right cheek, marring her coco skin. Her long chestnut colored hair was braided into a loose French braid. Even in disarray; Christie was still breathtaking. She was what kept most of the single male costumers coming back to The Mellow Mushroom, much to the displeasure of the female portion of the staff. Christie got more attention than anyone, but what was the most shocking, was the fact that she was not at all stuck up as one would have expected her to be.

She was kind hearted, fun-loving, sarcastic, and approachable. She seemed oblivious to the eager male eyes around her, which only added to the air of attraction that surrounded her constantly. Julia was not at all threatened by Christie as were most of the other waitresses. In fact, they had become fast friends shortly after Christie's first day on the job. Christie had confided in Julia, telling her that she originally hailed from Brazil, and moved to LA to pursue a dancing career.

"Hey Jules, Ty," Christie greeted them as she approached.

"Hey Chris," Julia replied, "Did you—"

Christie held up a hand, "As of now, you have been clocked on for about forty-five minutes."

Smiling, Julia twisted the cap back onto the bottle of mascara,

"Thanks, hun. I owe you one."

Ty was looking back and forth between the two women standing before him, his brow scrunched in confusion at their conversation. Then it dawned on him, "You had Christie punch your time card in!?"

"Yup," Julia replied, smug.

"But-but that's bullshit! That's cheating!" Ty cried in indignation

"No one ever said life was fair baby. It's the ugly truth," Christie chastised him, "besides; it's called the "buddy system". Anyone ever explain that to you?"

"Well he is young." Julia pointed out.

"And so terribly innocent," Christie countered, "despite all those nasty tattoos." She wrinkled her nose in distaste.

"Ty, let me put it this way," Julia said as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and looked him in the eye, "I scratch her back, she scratches mine. I'm late, she punches in my time card, she's late I do the same. I need a smoke break; she covers my shift, and vice versa. See where I'm going with this, Tyson?"

Ty nodded, "Yeah, I see it. But I still think that it's utter bullshit. How does Clampton not know you two are pulling the wool over his eyes?"

"Well, Ty, just as soon as you grow a pair of Double-Ds and perky ass, you too could pull just about anything over Clampton's eyes." Christie giggled. Julia smiled in spite of herself.

"You're not wrong there," Ty chuckled, "Since that's not going to happen anytime soon, I guess I'll just have to settle with being a Regular Joe."

"Damn straight," Julia declared, "now, let's get to work."

A/N: The Mellow Mushroom is an actual restaurant, but it's not located in the Los Angeles area. It's actually located in Franklin, Tennessee. I love this place so much that I had to add it in as Julia's place of employment. The way I described the diner is somewhat true, (ie: the outfits, the giant mushroom, the bar, the smoking section, the kitchen, the year it was founded, the food they serve and designs on the walls.) But the rest was made up to fit the story. I DO NOT OWN The Mellow Mushroom and I never will. I'm only borrowing the idea of it for this fic. So, please, please, PLEASE! Don't sue. I am not getting any money out of this; I'm just a happy customer boosting your morale in a non-profit way.

What'd you think? Did you like it? Are the characters too OOC? Tell me what you think! Thanks in advance.