Story Mode: Leo
[Language Warning For The Next Few Chapters.]
-Chapter Seven : And...Why Are We Still On Break? -
"Leo? Is something wrong, you sound...more somber than usual." Meena obviously was joking but somehow Leo couldn't laugh. "Whoa...silence, what's wrong kiddo?"
"Nothing really." Leo began, thinking about it slowly. Nothing was wrong. He felt exhausted from the flight and fights of course, and he was a bit pissed off being around Hwoarang but in truth....nothing was wrong. "Really, I can't think of anything that's wrong except I haven't gotten to Kazama yet."
He could hear Meena's breath catch, "Leo? Are you...having fun? Oh my, that's a surprise! Just a few days ago you left as your usual drab self but from the sound of your voice, I don't think I've heard this tone in a while!"
Leo frowned slightly at being called 'drab' but he shook it away and smiled slightly, "Yeah...maybe I am having fun. Besides running into Emily Rochefort who, mind you, remembers me; and having to spend this little break I'm on with the most annoying Korean in the world, I guess I'm having the most fun I've had in a while." he sighed, "Sad, isn't it?"
"Oh, wow. Emily Rochefort? I haven't seen that blond bobble head in a few good years." Meena paused and Leo could hear her place something down, "And this Korean guy, how annoying is he?"
Leo didn't know where to begin. Was it his arrogant tone? Or maybe his lack of respect? Lack of respect for his personal space, maybe? Or maybe it was just the whole lot of him? That seemed about right, "Hmm..., let's put it this way. A day ago I had eight bruises, give or take....just this one flight to this podunk town I've now got about eleven....honestly, I've never met a more agrestic person!"
"Hmm, so he's abusive?" Meena sighed, "Oh well, pay him back by kicking his ass later, ja?"
"That sounds like the best idea ever, Meena." Leo smiled.
"You're changing. I think I like it."
"I'm...changing?" Leo asked, a brow raising as he shifted his position, "How?"
"You just are...I think you'll see it too, a little later maybe; once you open your eyes and see what really needs to be fixed, I think."
Leo's eyes widened, "Meena? What does that mean? ...Someone's....told that to me before." he didn't yet want to mention that it had been his mother in his dream.
"Mmm, how can I explain this?" she paused for a long while, "I suppose you could say....that...you know, Leo? Let me take a day or two to translate it into English, alright?"
Leo frowned, "Tell me in German if it is that hard."
Meena could be heard giggling, "I think English is better, right? It's as you say, 'anything I can say in German is just as good in English.' Well, I've got duties to tend to, I'll call you once I've got it translated right. Bye." the line died.
Leo sighed and let the phone drop onto the bed with a muffled thud. He could tell that Meena was walking around the glass she'd accidentally laid. His brows furrowed; what was he missing?
A knock sounded at his door. He slid off the bed and walked to the door opening it to find a young man holding a basket, "Your clothing." he said in his native tongue, "I've also been told to tell you that your motorcycle has arrived?". Leo thanked him but he doubted the man understood as he just smiled before walking away.
Leo carried the basket into his room before pulling out his clean clothing. He smiled slightly, he supposed he couldn't be too pissed at Hwoarang for what he did. Taking off the robe, he began to dress in his freshly cleaned clothing, pulling the buckles in his shirt more tighter than usual. He flinched some, a small pain running through his mid section and a sharp pain zapping through his thumb. He needed to stop at the pharmacy first, it seemed.
Once he was dressed, Leo put his pistol in the holster and pocketed the phone and card before walking out of his room into the decorative hall. He made his way towards the wooden stairs and piratically stumbled down them as they were crowded by many people going up and down. This place was oddly lively for this early in the day. He roughly made his way through the small crowed before finding someone who looked like he could speak English, "Excuse me, why are there so many people here?"
The man looked at him and raised a brow, "You're obviously not from around here...anyway, Zhāng Nà Lā is in town tonight. She is going to playing a small show in this hotel. My daughter," he pointed to a small half-asian girl amongst a small group of girls, "is a fan so she dragged me down here so we could see her. I don't mind, it's rare that someone like her comes anywhere near here." he nodded.
"Oh, thanks...though I have no idea who that is..." he added before nodding to himself and walking away towards the entrance which he found strangely hard to do. Once he reached it he looked back at the hotel and frowned, "I'll make sure to spend as much of the day in town."
Right on the curb Leo spotted what seemed to be a Xiaxin Nanfang NF125-10 Motorcycle. He sighed, what did he expect on such short notice in this sort of place? Well, it was better than nothing. He walked up to it and was greeted by a small boy sitting next to it. He asked if he was 'Leee-ooua' in which he nodded to. The boy gave him a key before running away down the street. He shrugged before stepping over the small bike and put the key into the ignition. He pressed the power button and pressed down on the clutch before sliding in some gas. The bike sputtered to life before groaning into a soft mummer. He sighed again, he hoped the bike would last the day.
He stopped first at the Optometrist. His glasses were ready to his surprise. He had expected to be told to wait much longer. He thanked the man before pulling the glasses from the case and placing them on the bridge of his nose. The glasses made him look snooty so he didn't wear them much. He took out his card and looked at it. He could read the small letters easily now. He nodded and took them off. He only wore them when he needed to read something extravagantly long such as a book or form.
He then made his way towards where the clothing shops had been. He was glad to see the small crowed. It assured him that the shops were now open. He parked the bike in front one of the more crowded stores thinking it might be popular because of the people. He walked in past a few girls about his hight who just gave him strange looks. He felt the eyes bore into his back as he walked around the shop looking at the quaint clothing. Everything was sort of plain but he suddenly didn't want to shop anymore. He walked to the mens side of the shop and began scanning quickly for something comfortable to wear that he could fight in.
His eyes fell on a white two piece outfit. He looked it over before feeling the fabric between his fingers. The material was stretchable which meant he could move freely in it. He frowned slightly at the red patch on the chest and the gold chain but they wouldn't bother him as much when he was wearing it. He sighed, he'd have to buy some wrap, white boots and maybe some white gloves if he expected to wear this in public. A matching outfit even if no one would see the wrap.
He nodded and quickly brought the outfit to the counter. He payed for it and quickly left the shop crossing the street to what looked like a shoe store. He was directed to a small shelf where a few pairs of white boots were stacked. Luckily they had his size. He payed and whilst he did, he noticed they also had gloves. He thanked god that he wouldn't have to walk into another clothing shop. He paid for the gloves as well.
Walking back to his bike, he stuffed the packages into the small basket on the back before making his way towards the nearest pharmacy. His thumb was seriously starting to get to him.
The pharmacy smelt like medicine in every way. He wrinkled his nose as the pungent smell threatened to waft up into his body. He picked up a small box of gauze before asking the clerk for larger wrap. The woman looked at him, "Are you injured badly?"
"Uh...you could say that..." he muttered his excuse before paying for the gauze and bundle of wrap. He wouldn't really need to worry about the wrap until he decided to change his clothing. He didn't plan to wear that extremely white outfit unless something happened to his current one.
He sat on the bike with the gauze in his lap. He sucked in a few breaths before sighing. He counted to three, took in a sharp breath before breaking his thumb back into place. It swelled just as quickly as Leo swore out, the passer-byers giving him confused looks. He quickly and rather stupidly wrapped the thumb up so that it would stay stiff and in one place for a while. He stayed in that position for a while; that being his head low, his right hand grasping his aching thumb as he stiffed back curses and a few threatening tears. It really hurt...more than it being broken.
After a while, Leo felt that the pain was bearable enough for him to ride around. And that was just what he did. For a long while, he rode around the town before finding himself in the country where it was quiet. He stopped on the side of the rode a few miles out so that he could look at the time on his cell phone. It was already dawning on six P.M. He suddenly felt a rumble in his stomach. It occurred that he hadn't eaten in the past two days. He nodded; his next objective: food.
It took him about an hour to find his way back to the hotel where he found a very vast amount of people. It seemed like the whole town was squishing themselves into the hotel. He frowned before stepping over the bike, pocketing the key, and walking towards the entrance where he had to fight his way in. He could smell the divine aroma of foreign foods and drinks...as well as the not so divine aroma of packed humans.
He could tell that whoever that Zhang Nora or whoever was big stuff for this town. He could hear a cheer come from the room he presumed the show was being held in. It seemed that the idol had arrived as many of the people began to push their way towards that hall. Leo maneuvered his way out of the insane crowed and somehow found himself at the bar.
As he sat he could hear the crowed quiet as a womans voice began to sing out.
'Ni wen wo ai ni you duo shen – wo ai ni you ji fen'
He raised a brow some. This song was so...slow...it felt very lovey, the English words proved it undoubtedly. He shrugged before asking the man at the bar for a glass of water. He at least needed that much for now. He'd wait until the crowed died down a bit before getting food. No doubt this place was busy behind the closed doors.
He sipped the water patiently when it was place in front of him. Beyond the cheering and singing along in the hall beyond the lounge Leo could hear the babbles and conversations of the early drunks around the bar. A few woman were flirting and laughing it up in a corner with suited men obviously not from this town. Another group of men sat quietly at separate tables, probably the bored a lonely. Then there was the two loud and obviously drunk men a few stools away from where Leo sat. Every now and then he'd give them a glance, curious about how long they'd been in the bar and why they hadn't been tossed out yet.
"'Hey boy, why don't you come over here for a minute?" one of the men said suddenly in his direction. Leo glanced around a bit at first before thumbing himself with his broken thumb. "Yeah....you...." he said slowly.
Leo shook his head, "Sorry but I'd rather not."
"Oh, so you speak English? So can I, my friend and I are ...what's the word..." he lowered his gaze towards his glass in thought.
"Polyglots, man." the other man broke in, a hand to the shoulder.
"Oh?" Leo asked, "What languages do you know?" he was actually curious.
"English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Spanish..." he counted on his fingers, "Yeah, that's right." He smirked.
"Oh? That's a good list...what are you doing here?" Leo asked honestly. Someone as talented as these men shouldn't be in this little town.
"We're making our way to Shanghai...we needed to refill and this is the only town that allows foreign aircrafts to do so for hundreds of miles..." The second man answered in careful, calculated drunken words.
"And, you see, us men are bored." The first said, pointing at himself and his friend, "We were just talking about that little idol out there and were thinking how good it would feel to fuck her."
"Real good." the second smirked.
Leo raised a brow, were these men perverts? What happened to the good ol' boy? He didn't seem to exist anymore, it seemed. He sipped at his water before asking, "So? What has that to do with me?"
"Well, you look like you could use some help picking up a lady so..."
"You being all pretty and girly and all...."
"We thought we'd help you out if you help us out..., get it?"
"You want me to help kidnap that idol," Leo frowned, "so you can have your way with her and leave the leftovers for me?"
"That's about right, isn't it?"
"Sounds like it..."
"Absolutely not!" Leo slammed his fist onto the bar top, "What kind of person do you think I am? For one, I would never take your sloppy seconds, I can get my own you know," he paused, his priorities were backwards, "I mean, just the thought of that poor girl in your filthy hands is enough to make me sick." his eyes narrowed, "Disgusting pigs."
He had the worst luck, it seemed, with his sharp tongue. It always seemed to get him in trouble. The two men found themselves insulted and decided that they needed to be defensive. They stood and walked up to where Leo sat on his little wooden stool, towering over the short boy. Leo kept his glare. He'd love to see what these idiots tried with him. He'd love to break their sick faces in...but he would also love to fight in the tournament. What a dilemma.
"Listen here, you little German fly-"
"Excuse me?" Leo stood up, though still only at chest height to these men, "but I think you two are too drunk to realize the type of person you're about to fuck with." his blood was starting to heat up. Was it the frustration of this whole break and all its mishaps pushing the lid over his pot?
"Oh yeah, and what type of person is that, little boy?" The second man leaned down to stare Leo in his eyes, though he almost tripped over himself getting that low.
"Well, I can answer that for you, pal. This kids a queer and a half."
Leo froze. Not because of that bone-breaking annoying voice that just sounded, but the arm that wrapped around his neck, the chest his head was pressed back against and the chin that easily rested atop his head. What the hell was he doing?!
"A queer?" the first asked in Korean as the second backed up, his expression unexplainable.
"That's right. But despite this fact," Hwoarang patted Leo's chest much to Leo's displeasure, "..."
"Don't stop in the middle of a sentence!"Leo growled.
"Right, anyway," He coughed, "Despite him being a flaming faggot, this kid could wipe the floor with your petty asses. We're Tekken fighters. If you don't know what that means-"
"TEKKEN FIGHTERS?!" the men yelled together. "Whoa...you know, I have to take a piss suddenly." the first man said before turning and stumbling away, the second following him.
"I guess they know what it means, then." Hwoarang clicked his tongue before sighing something inaudible to Leo and removing himself from around the smaller male, "Oh well, it's better that way. We won't be in trouble if they aren't hurt, right?"
Leo was about to snap at him but he hadn't had time. Hwoarang was gone as quickly as he came. That sort of person....how galling. He frowned. He supposed he owed the idiot some thanks. After all, if he hadn't have come, Leo was sure he'd done something stupid. He looked around and saw the unmistakable red hair nearing the stairs. Leo nodded and quickly slipped through the crowed towards him. He caught his arm and turned him around, something surprisingly easy.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" Leo asked, looking up at the other man.
"Did what? I don't know what you're talking about, kid." he replied before rolling his eyes and walking around Leo and to the stair case.
"Well thanks, if it wasn't for you, I know I'd have done something stupid!" he yelled after him before frowning. How absurd was this break going to get? He sighed before leaning against the wall to think. He still hadn't gotten his food and his stomach was letting him know that by the outrageously loud growling noises it was making. "Alright, alright...I'll go eat."
He pushed himself off of the wall and walked out of the still crowded hotel. The sky was dark now, the streets lit up with colorful shop signs and streetlights. He walked down the street past oncoming human traffic in silence. The sound of soft conversation, roaming vehicles, and rounded footsteps was sort of comforting for his distracted mind. Why did Hwoarang have to act like that? No, it wasn't how he was acting that was getting to Leo. It was what he might be piecing together that was getting to the German boy.
The incident in the hotel; the bathroom and bedroom and just now at the bar. He frowned deeply, the sooner this vacation ended, the better. His mind was so disgruntled that he walked into the first restaurant looking shop he came to. He walked past the signs in the foreign script oblivious the the show they were advertising. He walked through the hot, dark neon-lit area towards a table and sat down. His frown suddenly deepened as he turned around and snapped, "When did you start following me!"
"A while back. Though, I wasn't planning on following you...." Hwoarang shrugged as he sat in the chair opposite Leo, "It wasn't until you walked in here that I followed you."
"Oh yeah, whys that?" Leo crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "What's so special about this place?"
"Ah, so you don't know what kind of place this is. For a second I was thinking you were some sort of pervert, or maybe I was proud of the little German pansy manning up and coming into this type of place." Hwoarang smirked, so widely that Leo suddenly felt afraid of the type of place he'd walked into. Hwoarang looked around, "This should be interesting."
"What does that mean?" Leo leaned forward a bit, "What kind of place is this?"
"Now you're interested? What sort of place has a stage...and only let's men enter?"
Leo's eye twitched. Why was he in this sort of place? He'd been so distracted by the idiot in front of him that he hadn't even noticed this sort of night dwelling. He stood up, "I'm leaving."
"No, you're not." Hwoarang said quickly, standing and pressing Leo back into the chair by his shoulders from across the table, "You came here for a reason, right? Now you're not leaving until I say you are, got it?" He sat back down, "Consider it pay back for all the nice things I've done for you."
"Nice things? You've done more harm than good!" Leo snapped. He didn't really want to be in this sort of place but it didn't seem like his Korean company wasn't going to let him leave. He frowned and crossed his arms, "I was hungry..."
"Oh yeah? Then let's eat. You can enjoy the food and I'll enjoy the eye candy." he smirked as he opened the menu, "If you don't know whats good, let me order."
"Is this the extent of your kindness at play?" Leo asked, not even bothering to try and read the menu, "Just make sure it's good, please."
"Did you forget? I'm Korean, all I eat is good food." He rolled his eyes before skimming through the menu.
"Right, well, I'll be in the restroom for a moment." Leo stood and began to make his way towards the restrooms.
"You better not run away, little boy." Hwoarang added to Leo's back not really caring if the boy ran or not. He read through the menu, luckily he understood a few of the dishes names. He waved down one of the scantly clad waitresses and ordered their food before tapping his fingers against the table top. Soon, their food came; a basket of bread. Not food. Just bread. He smirked lightly to him self before bringing his hands to his chin, it should be an interesting night.
Just then the club suddenly got loud as the music began to blast and the curtains in front of the stage just behind him began to open. Three very under dressed women were dancing on three separate polls pleasing the men who had nothing better to do than waste money on them. There were those few men in the darker corners who came to the club almost every night. The lonely. The sad.
Hwoarang raised a brow as he saw the curtain rise and a nearly naked woman, not too skinny and not too chunky, began to dance to the blasting music. He smirked slightly before returning to the little table where he sat awaiting his drinks. He wanted to see how far he could get with his little friend. Friend? He frowned. Did he think of Leo as his friend after only hours with him? He couldn't really call their relationship friendship if he really thought about it. They'd only known each other for a day and a few hours at most and in those hours he supposed he'd gotten into a few rough patches with the kid. He chuckled lightly to himself at how many times his foot had met with the Germans body. They weren't scheduled to fight until tomorrow and yet he somehow felt he'd already worn the kid out. He rubbed the top of his nose as he thought; he'd never spent this much time with another fighter if he didn't count Baek Doo San. He nodded to himself as the waitress placed the four drinks in front of him; his gin and tonic, a Screwdriver, a Tequila Sunrise and a glass of Jungle juice. Each fruity for a fruity boy; each, he wouldn't mention, were known for their high alcohol content without the high alcohol taste.
"Hey, did you know people are allowed to smoke indoors here?" Leo said as he came back, seemingly a tad bit happier, "I walked into the bathroom and I could hardly see, the place was filled with smoke!" He sat down across from the Korean fighter, "It didn't smell like cigarette, cigar or mary smoke but it made me dizzy, what ever it was." Leo looked at the drinks in front of him, "What are these? Where is the food?"
Hwoarang coughed, "Orange juice, Orange juice mixed with lemonade and fruit punch. I didn't know what you'd like since you're such a pansy." his lip twitched, "And the food will come later." Lie.
"Oh, good, I don't drink anyway." Leo picked up the screwdriver, " Though I'm suddenly so thirsty!" He began to drink.
It may have been normal for regular orange juice but the pace in which Leo drank his unknown drink made Hwoarang's brows raise. Should he stop him? The boy was obviously second-handed with something in that hot-boxed restroom. He wondered if he should be giving the boy water instead of alcohol. "Maybe you should eat some bread?" Hwoarang asked, pushing the basket towards the boy when he picked up the sunrise.
"In a minute...whoa, her boobs are so fake!" Leo exclaimed placing the glass down, leaning forward towards the dancer, "You can see the scars around her nipples!"
"You know....men usually notice just the size of the breast, not how fake they are." Hwoarang rubbed his head some. "Sit down, that's embarrassing!" he snapped when Leo tried to get a closer look at the girls scars asking if it hurt to get implants.
"What do you care?" Leo asked rolling his slightly red eyes as he sat back down unintentionally complying to Hwoarang's request. "Jealous?"
"Don't start, faggot. Eat some bread." He said before taking a big gulp of his drink. If he was going to do what he wanted, the German needed to be wasted. He almost choked on the drink; that thought sounded so...dirty.
"I am kind of hungry now that you mention it..." Leo picked up a piece of bread and began to look at it, tilting it against the light with a peculiar glint in his eyes, "I wonder..."
Hwoarang look up from his drink, just how stoned was this kid? Had he never 'done' anything to the point that he'd get this 'interesting' off of second hand smoke? He stood up, "I'm going to the bathroom."
"....they say yeast is alive..."
Hwoarang walked away in the middle of Leo's sentence. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear about what was living in his bread. He looked at the bathroom doors and pondered to himself which to go in; mens or womens. He shook his head and kicked open the mens door, a cloud of smoke enveloping his head. He walked right towards one of the men and tapped him on his shoulder, "What've you got there, man?"
The small-eyes man looked at this stranger and giggled before handing the pipe to him assuming he wanted in, "Oh, the purest hydro you can get around here! Man, I can sell you some, this stuff is good!"
"I don't want any of that crap." Hwoarang laughed slightly to himself before turning around and walking out of the cloud back into the club, that German kid was pure so the second hand smoke from this shit...
Hwoarang found a waitress and asked for water to be sent to his table before returning to find Leo already through his drinks and his tonic. He growled, "What the hell, are you an alcoholic or something?!" He slammed his hand onto the table.
"I'm just so thirsty..." Leo said, his head on the table.
"Water's on it's way..." He sat down and sighed, "Leo, let's have a chat."
"About what?" he groaned out.
"Oh, just this and that...like you're secret..." he paused and watched his expression.
"Secret? I don't have any secrets..." he said in a muffled voice against the table top.
"Oh? So, you're not hiding anything from me? From everyone?" he leaned forward.
"I think I'm going to puke..." Leo said before standing up and quickly darting for the restrooms.
Hwoarang frowned slightly before smiling to himself, "Lightweight." he hadn't gotten an answer but he was sure he'd get one sometime soon. If not tonight then some time tomorrow. Sometime before their match and sometime before he sent the kid packing.
"Um, sir...you need to take your friend home..." he looked up at the women talking to him, she was speaking Korean. He raised a brow, "Why?"
"He's making a mess...." she said giving him an annoyed expression.
"A mess?"
Leo was bent over on the floor, face in one of the traditional toilets. Hwoarang had never seen anything so pitiful in his entire life. He rubbed the back of his head, "Damn...."
"I...hate...you...for...this..." Leo moaned out from the toilet.
"Yeah, I hate me too." he said before walking over to the boy and pulling him up from his under arms, "Can you walk or do I have to carry you?"
"Fuck you..." was his response.
"Yeah, yeah..." He sighed before pulling the kid onto his back and making his way out of the foggy bathroom and loud club into the hot night air. As he walked people gave him looks to which he replied with curses and a lot of 'Do you want to die?'s. It was as if they'd never seen one man piggy-backing another down the street. Well....maybe they hadn't?
"You really fuckin' owe me one, German fairy." He muttered half way.
"Stop that." Leo said against his back.
"Stop what?"
"Calling me names like that....just because I don't like girls....I'm not a fairy."
"Oh? Than what are you?" He asked, curious.
"I'm ….I don't know." he droned, "Just...girls shouldn't....like girls..."
Hwoarang shifted Leo's body so he could move easier before looking back at the kid and smirking, "Yeah, whatever you say."
Success.
-Chapter Eight: Rollerblades and Russian Roulette -
"Would you stop following me!" Leo said after the pink haired girl whizzed around him for the fourth time, "I don't know who you are but knock it off and go play somewhere else!"
"Huh? Are you talking to me?" she asked before sliding in front of him and moving backwards, hands behind her back, "I'm Alisa, by the way, and I'm following you because....well, from what my scanner says, you're not supposed to be here anymore, you're supposed to be in Germany, loser!"
"Shut the hell up!" Leo snapped before walking around her. Why was it that every time he met someone....it was someone like this?
(E/A/N: I hate this chapter. The end.)