A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story so far, it's greatly appreciated. And thanks to anyone who is reading it, but not reviewing. I start back at university next week, so I probably won't get to update quite as often, but I'll do my best. I hope you all enjoy the story. Thank you!
Disclaimer: I sent an email to Namco explaining that I was very poor and therefore couldn't afford to buy Tekken from them. I suggested that since it was my birthday soon, (Ok, so it's not for another few months) would they consider giving it to me for free, out of the goodness of their hearts. They haven't got back to me yet though, so currently Tekken still isn't mine.
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A pile of soaking clothes lay discarded on the floor, and Julia stood, freezing and naked in the middle of the bathroom. She stared miserably at her reflection in the mirror, her face blotchy and sad, her eyes red from crying. Her hair clung to her face and back in cold, wet clumps. A more thorough study of her body found very little else wrong. There was a bruise on her knee, where it had hit the ground when he'd tackled her, but it wasn't large. Her wrists, though they felt tender and sore to the touch, bared no marks at all. All in all, Julia concluded that she was fit, before she climbed into the shower, allowing the powerful jets of warmth to wash away the coldness of the night storm and soothe her nerves.
Outside the window, huge bolts of lightening tore the sky apart. Had it not been for the double glazed windows, the grumbling thunder would no doubt have shaken her to the bone. Julia sat, towel drying her hair and considering her luck at reaching the hotel before the worst of the storm. She also considered how she would most likely have escaped it completely had it not been for her run in with Hwoarang. Her head was heavy with emotions regarding the unusually dramatic events of the last few days, yet she had trouble forming coherent thoughts about anything. Her mind and body felt a powerful weariness and she rested her head against the windowpane and stared numbly into the storm as fatigue solaced her senses.
Lightening struck the tree beside her, tearing a deep scar in the wood and showering her with sparks and splinters. All around, terrible, mutilated stumps stuck out of the burnt earth of the desolate landscape. Julia shook in horror at the terrible clouds that billowed across the sky and icy shivers raced down her spine as devilish laugher echoed through the atmosphere. 'Oh God, this can't be real. This is just a dream, Julia!' She thought desperately to herself. 'Please, make it end, make it stop.' Her mind pleaded as the storm clouds appeared to bear down upon her, and the thunder laughed, mocking her weakness. Julia shouted at the storm, with all her strength desperately trying to make her voice heard above the wind. "Spirits! Help me, save me from this nightmare!"
Julia awoke with a start. She was back in her hotel room, her bed sheets damp with sweat from her night terrors. Outside the window, the rain fell steadily. The wind no longer battered the city with terrible gusts and the sky was dark and quiet. The storm had passed. Julia sat up in bed, raking her hand through her hair, shaking to shake the nightmare from her mind. She was about to get up and fetch a glass of water when she heard the approaching footsteps in the corridor outside. Soft thuds accompanied by a muted clinking of metal. Julia held her breath as the footfalls came to a halt. There was a moment of silence, which felt like an eternity. Her eyes were fixed unmoving on the door, as though if she stared hard enough she would see who was on the other side.
Julia almost jumped right out of her skin as the door burst open, and she saw him standing in the entrance. Strands of red hair framed his features, and his bright eyes fixed her with a fierce stare. She struggled to climb off the bed, readying herself to fight him. He moved quickly, pushing her back down onto the bed and bringing himself down on top of her. She went to cry out, but he smothered her voice with his mouth, his kiss deep and passionate. Before she realised what she was doing, Julia was kissing back, forcing her lips against his, hungry for him. Her arms wrapped around him, gripping at the fabric of his clothing. Hands explored her with the same hunger and passion. Their kisses were heavy with desire…
Uncurling from the foetal position in which she'd been lying, Julia groggily wiped the sleep from her eyes. She squinted at the sunlight streaming through the window and winced at the pain in her back and shoulder. Yawning, she looked blearily around the room. She was alone. It had been a dream. Julia stood, trying to shake the stiffness and cramp from her body. Falling asleep in the armchair instead of the bed had not been a good idea. She sighed, looking at the clock to discover that they'd stopped serving breakfast over an hour ago.
She was just gathering her things to go for a swim in the hotel's pool when the phone rang. The receptionist on the line informed her in impeccable English that Ling Xiaoyu was waiting for her in the hotel lobby. Yet again, Julia sighed. "I'll be down in a minute."
Xiaoyu was stood fiddling with her hair and flicking uninterestedly through some leaflets. A huge grin spread across her face when she spotted Julia and she bounced and waved her way over.
"Julia, hi! I love your hair." Xiaoyu enthused, flicking one of Julia's braids and smiling broadly.
Julia regarded Xiaoyu with a frown. "Isn't it Saturday? Why are you wearing your school uniform?"
"Erm, well, you see… Guys really like it." An embarrassed, but cheeky grin radiated from her features, and there was a wicked twinkle in her eye. "Come on! Let's get out of here." Julia found herself being towed unceremoniously across the lobby and out through the big glass doors.
Ten minutes later the pair of them were walking along a bright street, slurping milkshakes and checking out what the shop windows had to offer.
"So how did that thing you couldn't tell me about go the other night then?" Xiaoyu asked. Julia thought she had to be the nosiest person she'd ever met. She couldn't really blame her for being curious about this one though. She'd made the whole thing sound very cloak and daggerish.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She stated defensively, but Xiaoyu wasn't going to accept that answer.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" She declared, standing directly in Julia's path and holding her arms out to stop her in her tracks. "I want answers! You were going to break in to the Mishima Zaibatsu headquarters, weren't you?"
"How did you know that?" Julia exclaimed, taken aback by Xiaoyu's declaration.
"Aha! So I was right." A triumphant smile covered the younger girl's face. "I just guessed you were doing something like that. It was kind of obvious really, what with all that stuff about the Zaibatsu breaking into G Corporation and you working for them and all." Julia was completely thrown off by Xiaoyu's wealth of knowledge on the subject, and seeing this from the expression on her face, Xiaoyu explained more thoroughly. "I got an email a few months after the last tournament. I don't know for sure, but I think it was from Jin." A wistful look briefly passed across her face. "He warned me that Heihachi couldn't be trusted, and I should be careful. He said that Heihachi might try to assassinate me. So I started to keep an eye on Heihachi, reading newspaper reports and stuff, to see what he was up to. That's how I knew about the raid on G Corporation. That's why I entered the tournament this time. I was hoping I might get to see Jin again…" Xiaoyu trailed off, a distant look upon her face.
As they walked together through the busy streets Julia explained everything about her break in at the Mishima Zaibatsu HQ. Xiaoyu was fascinated by all she was told and said that she thought Julia had done the right thing. However, in typical Xiaoyu fashion, she became most interested in the bit about Hwoarang. "He took you back to his apartment? That's soo romantic!" She gushed, visibly glowing with excitement.
"It wasn't romantic, it was really dodgy. How would you like to wake up to find some total stranger, a criminal, had taken you back to his house and was watching you sleep?!"
"I'd have been quite happy if it had been Hwoarang! He's gorgeous. I think you'd make such a cute couple." Xiaoyu giggled and nudged Julia.
"He's a nasty street thug, he attacked me last night!" Julia argued, trying hard to hide her blushing.
"He attacked you? Why? When? Did you stay at his place?" Xiaoyu had to stop for air as she streamed out a great list of questions. When finally she managed to calm down a little she asked Julia to explain exactly what had happened.
Once Julia had told her everything, up until when Hwoarang had left her in the park, Xiaoyu just stood and gawped. "Well?" Julia prompted, and then regretted it almost instantly.
"HE WAS GOING TO KISS YOU!" People around them turned to see what the shouting was about and Julia tried desperately to keep Xiaoyu from drawing any more attention. The schoolgirl was bouncing on the spot excitedly. "He saved your life and he wants to be with you, that's so romantic. You're really lucky!"
"Lucky?! It was really scary!" Julia exclaimed.
"I bet it was exciting!" Xiaoyu thrilled, beaming at her happily.
Julia shook her head despairingly, "He scares me…" Unfortunately the over-excited girl caught the hesitation in her voice.
"You like him! You like him!" She shrieked, hopping from foot to foot and grinning like a maniac. The curious glances from passers-by were now turning to disturbed glares and Julia was feeling very self-conscious. "Did something else happen?!" Julia silently cursed Xiaoyu's intuition.
"No, nothing else happened. Not really, anyway…"
"Oooo! Did he kiss you? Did you see him again?" There was no way she was going to be able to convince Xiaoyu to drop the subject now.
Julia sighed deeply, resigned to telling Xiaoyu about the dream now. As impossible as it seems, the schoolgirl became even more excited when she heard her dream. "But I'm really not interested in him. It was just a dream." Julia lamely finished, but there was no chance Xiaoyu was going to believe that.
"You're in love with him!" She cried, clapping her hands in glee.
"Honestly, I'm not interested!" Julia said, though the futility of it was clear.
"Yeah, right! I always knew you'd go for bad boys! I bet you can't wait to see him again."
Julia groaned, "I really couldn't care if I never see him again."
Xiaoyu stuck out her tongue. "You can deny it all you like. We both know you like him!"
"I've barely even spoken to him Xiaoyu." Julia moaned, rolling her eyes.
"OH MY GOD!" Xiaoyu suddenly yelled, attracting angry glares from other shoppers. "He's right over there!" She was jumping up and down, pointing and waving across the street. Panicked suddenly, Julia jerked her head in the direction Xiaoyu was pointing, searching for the telltale red hair.
"Where? I can't see him!" She gasped, before noticing that her friend had dissolved into fits of laughter. Xiaoyu was doubled over, clutching at her stomach as she gasped for breath, trying to regain control.
"You should have seen your face!" She heaved. Her cheeks were flushed from laughing. "You love him!" She declared happily. Julia just scowled. It took Xiaoyu another couple of hours of constantly returning to the subject of Hwoarang before she finally managed to get Julia to begrudgingly admit that yes, she was possibly, maybe, a little tiny bit interested in him. But only a little interested. She still thought he was bad.
