Chapter 5:

Hwoarang's Turn

So let me tell you this shit. Now, you're about to see the beginning of something that brought Jin and Hwoarang closer and nearly drove me fucking crazy. But first the events that let up to it. All right so I looked about five to six damn years older than I really was and nobody recognized me until I started back riding my skateboard. It took me a while to get the hang of my long legs and I needed new clothes too. Ok, so I got better at training because I was taller and I had gotten used to those damned legs of mine. So days went by and Jin said I was kinda 'too old' to be in High School and suggested that I took the exit test. So I did. Two words: Japanese Trigonometry. Yes! Like Chinese Algebra except for the fact that Japanese Trig. is almost TEN THOUSAND FUCKING TIMES HARDER. Shit. Well, needless to say I figured out how to do it (don't ask me how, 'cause ya ain't gettin' nothin' outta me, 'cause I don know nothin') and I passed. A fucking miracle if you ask me. Jin said he was happy for me, but wasn't surprised. Not one bit. Said he knew I would pass, that's why he suggested it. Y-E-A-H R-I-G-H-T. What YOU said. Look, he was just as fuckin' nervous as me when the time for the test came. Which I noticed every time he gets nervous, he sticks his hands in his pockets, and I mean deep in those pockets, and his shoulders shrunk up against his head and looks at the ground when he walks. Yes I noticed. How could you not? Damn.

So I passed. MIRACLES I TELL YOU!!! Well, anyway, I started back training and Jin was as hard on me as ever. Hwoarang made up for his sudden leave that night I came back. Speaking of which, he also said that the black American Texan girl was still chasing him. Well, he wasn't actually running but she still wanted to kill him. I met her too. Ok, I'm a fucking psycho, but she's just PERSISTANT. Shit. So, Jin and Hwoarang both said I was acting differently so I decided to prove them both wrong.

Pranks. Yes, pranks. BIG GRIN. Heh heh heh.... I am a mischievous little motherfucker ain't I? Heh, thought so. Yes I tried to play pranks on all three of them, four if you count Lei. But I got everyone, Tashima (the Texan), Hwoarang (and ALL of his gang members, at once might I say... ) he he he.... ) and Lei, except for Jin. Somehow, I never understood, no matter how clever, swift, mischievous, dirty, and stealthful, he always caught me. All I managed to do was piss him off. DAMN. He ALWAYS knew. ALWAYS! I remember one of them (my first played on Jin)....

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"Heh heh heh....." I grinned. A knock came on my door. "Uh, I'm drawing, what is it?" I answered scrambling to get to the bed with a pencil and my sketchbook, and I made it in time. Jin opened the door to my room and walked straight up to me. "Morning." I said casually.

"Give me my training pants." Was the first thing out of his mouth, I swear! Shit. I put on a confused look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Jin said. I sighed,

"Look, if you miss placed-"

"I don't misplace my training pants." I was interrupted by Jin.

"Maybe Hwoarang took them, I mean he's always had his grudges." I said trying to get him off of my trail. At the time Hwoarang had moved in with us because his apartment building caught fire and every part burned to ashes. Jin gave me a 'knowing' look and reached under my pillow, only to pull out his fucking training pants.

"You don't have them huh?" He mocked me. I couldn't stand it.

"B-But- But-"

"You should have that stuttering problem checked." Jin smirked as he walked out of the room. I was left like a fucking dim wit, STILL stuttering. That's when I did it. I made that dumb ass, pissing, father fucking swear. I swore I would get him good, if it was the last thing I ever did........

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Yes you have permission to say it. DUMB ASS. Yes that says it all. But back to what all this was about. I remember it like it was yesterday, because the events that followed it would change me forever. I was sitting at the table in the kitchen, not far from the front door, when I heard a knock.

"Got it!" I yelled to Jin who had just come from the shower. I ran and opened the door. Hwoarang rushed in, nearly running me down and squishing me. He made me slam the door shut.

"KAZAMA!" He yelled. Jin walked calmly out of the hall and looked at him. "Hwoarang was holding his left arm... near the shoulder. I could probably say that you guess what happens next, or could you? Hmmm.... I wonder... Well, Jin looked at him. "Kazama, I know you have some knowledge of warding off demons and evil spirits." Hwoarang said through gritted teeth.

"What?" Jin sounded bored. Hwoarang lifted his hand to reveal a scar. Not your ordinary scar though. It was pitch black (yada yada yada) and looked like strange designs weaved in and out of each other with an up-side-down crescent moon in the middle. Jin's eyes grew a little wider.

"Zinken...." he mumbled. Hwoarang interrupted his thoughts,

"Look, Kazama, This spirit is after me. Get it away or somethin'!" He said. I helped him with is 'wound' and Jin told him the same story he told me. Well, peacetime didn't last long because Jin 'sensed' something evil outside and ran out of the house dragging us to the edge of the woods. Hwoarang and I watched as Jin's home suddenly burst into flames and fall like ash almost immediately. Jin grabbed my arm and told us to run. So that's exactly what we did. When we got to a safe place for the time being, Hwoarang explained what had happened.

"But I didn't say 'Sakura grove'." I blurted out. Jin and Hwoarang gave me questioning looks. "Uh, sorry?" Jin looked me straight in the face.

"This is NOT a laughing matter. What the fuck did you do?!" Jin only cursed when he was truly upset with me. I explained it all,

"I set up some voo doo crap in this temple and wrote a note to Hwoarang to go there, signed as Jared, one of his gang members. What was supposed to happen was, Hwoarang would go there, get freaked out about the fake spirit and run to Jin. Jin would go out there and look like a dork trying to get rid of it. I would be taping the whole thing. But, I didn't summon any spirit. I swear!" I pleaded for forgiveness of Jin. He turned his back to me.

"You should have never been messing with black magic." His cold tone made me shiver and flinch as if he had hit me. Jin turned around, nearly screaming, "It is NOT something to toy with!!" I flinched. "It is evil. And evil is chaos. Understand?" His voice still cold. My mouth went dry and I nodded like a child.

"What do we do now?" I asked. Jin turned his back and folded his arms (A.K.A. Mishima 'signature' stance, as I call it).

"Fix your screw up…. before someone gets killed."