Chapter 4:

Crossroads

Hwoarang walked down the hall in the back stage of the tournament. It was almost sundown as the skies flamed over in a fire of rage mixing with the vast blueness of this sky. He was quiet, having lost and not being able to fight against Jin in the tournament. In his mind was a decision to be made and a tough one at that. Was it back to the army where he would be barely scolded and given demerits? Or was it a rebellion from the army and back to street fighting? His mind was clouded. If he were to go back to the army, his life would bore him until the next opportunity to fight and prove himself above all others, but who knows when that will be. 'I have no real purpose to run anymore. Who will be there to welcome me back? Zack? Itsh? Lareng?' Hwoarang almost laughed at the thought of those three welcoming him back, even though they were in his gang. Hwoarang walked alone for a while passing a few people, Steve, Law, Paul, and some others. He paid no attention to everyone else. A strange figure in a black, hooded, sleeveless cloak passed him. He stopped as soon as he stood beside this figure. His light brown eyes flickered with curiosity,

"Take off your hood." He said looking at the figure. A strong woman's voice answered,

"No." Suddenly they both heard another voice,

"There she is!" They turned to see a young black American cop and Lei, a Chinese international cop standing side-by-side.

"Fweeze!" Lei yelled. The hooded figure grabbed a rock and threw it at him. SMACK! The rock hit Lei right between his eyes. The American cop started to shoot at her. Hwoarang and the woman turned and started to run. The strong wind blew the figure's hood off and revealed a girl. They didn't notice each other until they ran down a few corridors and twisted around a few corners until they finally stopped and turned the last corner to catch their breath. The girl was breathing slightly heavy as she peeked around the corner to see if they had lost them.

"I think.... we have a little time before-" The girl stopped as soon as she turned her head and saw Hwoarang's face.

"HWOARANG?!" The girl jumped in surprise.

"Huh....." Hwoarang looked at her closely, not recognizing her with partly dyed hair, "KAZI?!"

"How-" They both started but ended at the same time.

"Hwoarang....." Kazi said, "It's been so long...I hardly recognized you." She said.

"I gotta admit, you don't look the girl I used to know." Hwoarang suddenly heard the cop's voices, "Come-on. We'll talk later."

Hwoarang grabbed her gently by her wrist and started to run. Kazi followed him towards his motorcycle.

"Where are we going?" She said breathing heavily.

"Back to Korea!" He yelled. Kazi stopped. Hwoarang stopped a few feet away. "What?" He asked. Kazi shook her head in disapproval.

"No. I can't-"

"Yes you can." He interrupted her. He took her and ran towards his gang's hideout. They turned down a dark alley. By now the sky had already darkened to a deep midnight-black and the streetlights stood no chance at piercing the darkness of the shadows as the crawled over everything.

Hwoarang led Kazi down the dark and damp street slowly avoiding the light as much as possible. They soon slipped through a small crack between two very large and thick buildings. Hwoarang walked up to a large and well-hidden building that looked abandoned.

"Hwoarang." Kazi said.

"What?" He turned to look at her.

"What is THIS?" Her voice gaining a bit of warning. Hwoarang shook his head.

"My hideout. My gang's hideout." He said. Kazi's expression morphed from a serious disappointment to a held in laughter. "And what is just so funny?!" He demanded. Kazi let her laughter out. The laughter of his little sister was like music to his ears.

"This is certainly not that best that my big brother could do!" She said between laughs, "I've seen better walls in a roach's condo." She laughed hysterically. Hwoarang's right eye twitched. Kazi cleared her throat, "Hem... Now what were you saying?" She gave him a playful smile that let him know that she was only trying to make their situation a little lighter than it really was. In which she succeeded. Hwoarang laughed and shook his head, 'It's definitely good to have her back...' He thought. Kazi looked at him.

"Let's go." He stated and let her follow him inside. As Kazi walked behind Hwoarang a bunch of men came to the door and greeted him not noticing her. She decided to play low and lifted her hood up.

"Hey Hwoarang!" Some guy hollered from the small crowd. "Who's that?" Hwoarang motioned to Kazi that she could come in. Kazi walked to the middle of the room where Hwoarang was standing. Some guy closed the door.

"Guys, this is my baby sister, Kazi." Kazi lifted her hood and brought it down. They were really used to Hwoarang bringing girls back to the hideout, but they never knew he had a sister. A surprised look sprang up on each of their faces. They settled down a bit after about an hour. Most of them went to sleep or loaded guns and sharpened knives after Hwoarang told them the police were on they're tails.

Two hours passed. Hwoarang told Kazi everything that he could think of.

"No..." She bowed her head and looked at the glistening blood that trickled through her clenched fist and down her forearm. "He can't......master..." Her face felt hot. She tried to hold all of her tears, but a small tear ran down her hot face and hit the grass. Hwoarang took Kazi's bloody fist and held it gently in his hand and hugged her with his other arm.

"Kazi, it's been this way ever since six years ago." He whispered, "It's not your fault..." Kazi let her clenched fist go and grasped his shirt,

"It is. It is." She said holding her tears, "It's all my fault..." The wind blew lightly. Hwoarang's shirt was full of her blood. Kazi slumped to the ground and onto her knees.

"If only.... I could have...... If only I had-" She started. Suddenly Hwoarang's voice got serious.

"No." His voice was strong and demanding. Kazi didn't look at him. "It wasn't your fault. There was nothing that you could have done, even if you had gotten there on time." Kazi's tears stopped and she looked at her big brother. That's when he got a good glimpse of her. Her hair was dark now with a few of her bangs in original color, a bright fire red. Her light brown eyes shimmered slightly. She had become grown, a full-fledged woman. A very strong woman. A black cloak fell about her shoulders and a small gray jacket was hidden underneath. She wore baggy, torn American army cargo pants that were untucked from her brown boots. Her face was dirty as well as every other part of her body. Some were spots of blood while others were just dirt, mud, and everything in between. 'She is a bit thin. Must have not eaten in days.' Hwoarang shook his head. He always knew that life was always hard for her. Suddenly all of his memories flooded back like a brilliant tsunami crashing to shore. The good times, and the one that led to their separation. The heart-killingly painful one. He could see all the hurt within her emotionally mixed eyes.

"What happened to you?" He gently helped her up wondering if they had put her in the army or if that was the everyday style. Kazi stood up but her eyes shot back to the ground when the question reached her ears. She looked away hoping that he would forget the question. Not likely. Hwoarang grew serious. His strong hands landed on her shoulders and gave them a bit of added weight. "Kazi...." His voice warned. Kazi reluctantly looked into his light brown eyes that were engraved with a solemn, serious, and caring stare.

"I....I...." Kazi couldn't bring herself to say it. How could she tell him everything? "I....Hwoarang- please, I promise, I'll tell you everything when we're safe." She finally said slipping from his grasp. Hwoarang's shoulders dropped a bit and he sighed,

"Whatever you wish, baby sister." They suddenly heard a loud BOOM like dynamite and ran into the abandoned house. Hwoarang threw the door open to find his gang members and both police people who were chasing them earlier facing off. Dust, bricks, boards and glass were everywhere. Lei suddenly shouted and interrupted the young black American cop,

"FWEEZE!" Everyone hit the ground; their feet were up in the air, one foot twitching. Kazi burst out laughing.

"Lei?" The black girl cop said inching back a little. Kazi was busy laughing when Hwoarang started to cackle himself. The whole room seemed contagious as everyone (except Lei of course and the other cop who was trying to hold it in) started to laugh as they picked themselves up off of the floor while some just rolled around.

"Don't worry Kazi, we'll handle this." Zach said between laughs. He took out a small ball and threw it to the ground as hard as possible. The ball burst and emitted a thick gray smoke. Kazi felt Hwoarang's hand jerk her wrist in one direction. She couldn't see through the smoke and she started to cough. She ran in the direction that Hwoarang led her and trusted him with her life.