Author's Note: I've been allowed to write again as long as I balance my revision schedule out. Rave! Rave! Rave! This chapter may be a little confusing. Don't worry, even I'm confused; and I wrote it! XD And, no, Seong-Hada does not have a crush on Miyako. I worded it like that but...well, just read it! Oh, and please don't laugh at the nickname Xiao gives him XD

Disclaimer: I don't own any people except Sayu. Razer, Seong-Hada and Miyako belong to Razer Athane. Hwoarang and all other characters belong to Namco.

Chapter Ten: Doldrums

It was now the beginning of March. Hwoarang was standing on the porch watching a dog run back and forth across the road. Crazy fucking dog. Chasing something it couldn't see. Eventually it paused right there in the middle of the road and started barking, eventually vanishing when a car appeared around the corner. Hwoarang turned and walked back into the Dojang.

Seong-Hada was upstairs, sleeping off whatever he had eaten the night before while Baek was out buying some new equipment for training the black belts. Miyako had gone early, a little after six, saying she'd be back before the middle of the day. Hwoarang couldn't have cared less whether he saw her again. If he were perfectly honest, her enthusiasm was starting to grate on him. He sat in the kitchen for a while. The house was silent. He drank some coffee, closed his eyes and remembered times he had sat there before. Times when things had been simpler, less complicated, when his life hadn't been torn apart by the never-ending string of grief that his best friend had suffered; which had obviosly affected him as well. Times when things, quite ironically, seemed to make some kind of sense.

Reality challenged him - a twenty-three year old man. He felt an injustice had been perpetrated, and though he cared for Miyako perhaps more than any other Japanese person alive, he was concerned that he hadn't considered the effect his relationships with other women have had upon him and most importantly, Razer. Hwoarang was sick of Miyako, already. They'd only been going out for three months.

He wanted to feel nothing about it. He wanted it to be of no consequence at all. He still had a wonderful family, great friends - what could be better? Hwoarang wanted to be strong, independent and uninfluenced by anything Jin said or did; especially when it was through Razer. But he was not. He knew that. Perhaps that was the real source of his irritation.

Seong-Hada came down a little later; he said nothing, knowing that Hwoarang was in his rare 'thinking mode'. Maybe, if Hwoarang's girlfriend felt the same way about another man the way she felt about him, then she would be gone in a month, perhaps less. Seriously, she only stayed with him for the envy her friends felt when he was with her. Hwoarang hoped that would be the case.

Seong-Hada asked him whether he was bothered by her. "Bothered?" Hwoarang asked, feigning surprise at his question.

"Yeah, Hwoarang. You know, bothered that she's obviously into me," he teased, laughing as he dodged a pillow that was thrown in his direction.

The Korean smiled and shook his head. "Shut the fuck up, SH. You may be close friends but that don't mean that she's yours to fuck," he replied, and in his tone was the intended information that he knew something about her that his blue-haired friend didn't. Something that perhaps he wouldn't like. The purpose of what Hwoarang said went over the younger Korean's head completely. He merely grunted an acknowledgement and poured some coffee.

"She's coming back a little later," Hwoarang commented. "Gonna give me the 'best birthday present ever'," he said, using his fingers as quotation marks.

"Gosh, yeah, it's your birthday," he replied. "I'd completely forgotten."

"So you didn't get me a gift?" Hwoarang feigned hurt.

He smiled. "Sure, I spent about the same amount of money on you as you did on me, arsehole."

Miyako burst through the door in a whirlwind of noise and laughter. She came in through the front door carrying a shopping bag from 'Hot Topic'. Obviously, she had bought Hwoarang something to do with music. And as she called for Seong-Hada from the front door Hwoarang realized that she was advertising his presence. Seong-Hada went without thinking, an automatic response, and even as they returned, even as Hwoarang warned them to be less public, the only reaction he got was a casual lack of concern.

"Hell Hwoarang, take it easy," Miyako told him. She reached out and touched his face, and for a second she looked at him; looked at him just like she did when they were on their first date at the beach. And then nothing. Holding her attention was like trying to hold a ring of smoke.

Hwoarang wasn't hungry; fuck food right now, he thought. He went upstairs and lay on his bed. He could hear the indistinct murmur of their voices downstairs. His phone vibrated and he flipped the screen up. 'One new message from Razer.' Hwoarang smiled, clicking 'read'. This was the one woman he could hold the attention of.

Happy birthday, trouble :) x

The redhead chuckled, texting back. Thanks :) Any chance that you can come over? x

Sorry, Hwoa. Jin has a meeting about the Tournament roster and has ordered me to accompany him.

Hwoarang sighed. It's okay, dw.

But I can come over tomorrow with your gift :)

Is it a blow job...? ;)

-.- g2g now. See you 2morrow x

Yeah, bye x

Hwoarang put his phone on his bedside table, turned onto his back and closed his eyes. He thought of happier times when he was with Razer, and for the first time in days, months...he really missed those times. Really.

"Happy birthday, Hwoarang," he muttered.

It was a few days before University started; the summer holidays would end and Xiaoyu was sat in her room, staring blankly at a piece of paper - a piece of paper that should have had 2,000 words about Osmosis written on it. But Xiaoyu had been procrastinating the essay all Summer, saying "I'll do it soon" and "Tonight for definite, I promise, Grandpa" until she soon realised that school was just a few days away and she hadn't done an ounce of the set homework. Miharu poked her head around the door of her best friend's room, clearing her throat, she smirked. "Need any help?"

Xiaoyu rejoiced as if the Angels had called. "Yes, please!"

The auburn-haired girl chuckled and walked into Xiaoyu's bedroom, she sat on the bed and took the question paper from the Chinese girl's grip. "To date, there have been an increasing number of sludge worms dying and decaying in the riverbanks off the coast of South Wales. Explain, in terms of Osmosis and Diffusion, why this is occurring. Remember to include what Osmosis is and why it affects aquatic organisms specifically."

"See what I mean?" Xiao said despondently, twiddling her pen in her hands. "Where the heck is South Wales, anyway?"

Miharu smiled and shook her head. "Ling, you make it look harder than it actually is. The reason that sludge worms are decreasing is because the water is too highly concentrated for them to survive in. They can't take in the water to respire and so, they die and decay in the muddy riverbanks."

Xiaoyu stared at her friend like she had a second head. "How do you know that? You flunked your exams!"

"Biology was my strong point in school."

"Your only strong point?"

"Shut up."

Xiaoyu grinned. "But I don't see the point in this essay. I mean, I don't live in South Wales so I don't know about the life of a sludge worm."

"You don't?" Miharu asked, surprised. "But you are a worm covered in sludge."

"Oh, get lost!" Xiaoyu hissed, smirking and punching her friend in the shoulder lightly. "Thanks for the help, Mi. I'll write this essay in no time."

"...You're just gonna get the answer off Wikipedia, aren't you?"

"...Yeah."

"Smooth."

As Miharu left, Xiaoyu huffed and flipped the screen of her phone up. You have no new messages. She sighed, tossing her phone onto her bed. No matter what she did, she just couldn't get Seong-Hada out of her mind. Xiaoyu was wondering whether he would be going to the seventh Iron Fist Tournament, as she'd seen a poster for it in the mall on the weekend before. Was Razer competing? Was Hwoarang? Jin surely was, she had no question about that.

But sadly, Xiaoyu wouldn't be. She had been accepted into University and, sadly and coincidently, her new term would start on the same day that the tournament would start. With a sigh, Xiaoyu gave up on the essay for now and picked her phone up, dialling the familiar numbers to talk to her friend.

It took a few rings for the Korean to pick up. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Xiaoyu."

There was a smile in Seong-Hada's voice. "Oh, hi! I haven't spoken to you in a while! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks, buddy. I was just going to ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Are you going to the Seventh Tournament?"

There was a pause. "I didn't know there was a seventh one?"

"Well there is. Will you be going?"

"I might do if Hwoa is going. Would you be going?"

The Chinese girl sighed. "I can't."

Silence. "...Oh...Why not?"

"I'm going to University when it begins. I'm sorry, Parky."

A sigh. Then there was the sound of a throat being cleared. "That's alright. Hey, you can't help it, can you?" Silence befell them once more. "...Is that it?"

Xiaoyu felt her mouth turn down in a sad frown. "Yeah, basically."

"Okay. I have to go now, Xiao. See you." Seong-Hada hung up.

Sniffing, the girl also hung up and threw her phone on the bed, running a hand through her pig-tail. "Bye, Seong-Hada."

A/N: I promise that the action will begin soon, my friends. Pinky promise :)