A/n: Although this has no relevance to this story, I did finally get around to tracking down a Japanese website with stuff about Hwoarang on it, which confirmed that he is indeed South Korean, not North Korean. I'd assumed this anyway, though it would have been funny if it had been otherwise. Could have had him declaring that he owes all his fighting prowess to the grace of Kim Il Sung, like the people do in the North Korean propaganda movies, very amusing. And I also found that the Japanese pronunciation of his name is Faran (I knew it was something like that, but I didn't know any Japanese when I started playing Tekken), which is very similar to the Scottish name Farran… and much easier to spell than Hwoarang. Imagine him in a kilt… they'd have to sensor all those high kicks. Well, that's enough of my irrelevant babbling for now. On with the story!
Disclaimer: Tekken belongs to Namco, not me.
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People swept aside like the tide to allow the group to pass through the room, and the sense of power it gave made Julia's body tingle with energy. Walking in the group with Hwoarang and Steve on the outside was amazing. Their tall, muscular physiques had an immediate influence on those around, and with Julia, Xiaoyu and Christie walking confidently between them, they radiated power and strength, and no one wanted to get in their way. Even Xiaoyu, with her small figure was a part of their aura, and she loved the feeling. By themselves, each of the fighters didn't really stand out, unless they wanted to, but together, they made quite an impact.
As they entered a clearing on the dance floor, Christie spun out in front, immediately being taken over by the rhythm of the music. She moved seductively, her dance style not unlike that of an exotic dancer. She wriggled her body, twisting and turning in time to the beat, making full use of the tiny hotpants she'd squeezed herself into. The others needed no more encouragement, and quickly took their own places on the floor, each moving to the music in their own special way.
Julia danced from her hips, her feet staying rooted to the ground as she swayed and moved, unable to move as freely as Christie in her figure-hugging denim skirt. Instead she used her arms more, raising them above her head, showing off the flared sleeves of her black lace top and her curvy shape as she wiggled around, running her fingers through her hair.
Xiaoyu in contrast bounced up and down on the spot, jiggling to the music. Even in her little strappy red dress, with her hair down, she looked considerably younger than the other girls did. She still did her best to look sexy, but since Miharu had decided not to come, and Julia was playing at being a femme fatale, she was feeling a little out of her league. The guys definitely seemed to be more interested in the other girls.
Hwoarang moved his feet a lot as he danced, throwing in a couple of proper dance steps, rather than just general movements. He kept his eyes fixed firmly on Julia the whole time, but she paid him no attention. Beside Hwoarang's showy actions, Steve just seemed to lurch about. Dancing obviously wasn't his thing, but at least he was making an effort, and he was clearly enjoying having the company of the young women. He beamed happily, sticking as close to them as possible, getting a good eyeful of Christie's ass and Julia's cleavage.
They all stayed relatively close to each other, and there was a small space between the fighters and the other people in the club, but they seemed oblivious to this, all caught up in watching each other. Christie was trying to coax Xiaoyu into dancing more adventurously, taking her hands and encouraging the less confident girl to move with her. Julia danced with her eyes closed, listening to the music and letting it distract her from the others, and Hwoarang, unable to catch her eye, was growing less enthusiastic about dancing by the second.
Xiaoyu sat watching Julia chatting away to Steve on the other side of the table, not paying any attention to Christie, who was busy complementing her on her talent for dancing, and how she should take lessons. She'd have been enjoying herself much more, if it hadn't been for the fact that she could see how mad her friend was driving the Korean. She didn't buy Julia's act for one second. Nobody goes from being that interested in someone to not noticing him at all in a few hours. Hwoarang was sat swigging on a beer, his chair pushed back from the table, detached from the rest of the group. His mood was clearly dark.
"Hey Xiao, are you listening?" she heard Christie asking her, and turned towards her apologetically.
"Sorry," she said, smiling weakly.
Christie frowned at her, then looked at the others. "Come on, lets go talk about it," she said, holding out her hand to Xiaoyu, who was a little perplexed by this, but got up with her anyway.
"Where you goin'?" Steve questioned, looking up as they made to leave.
Christie turned and smiled cheekily at him, tapping the side of her nose. "Girl stuff!"
"Argh, I hate that!" he complained, turning back to Julia. "Well, coming back out there?" he gestured at the dance floor.
"Sure thing!" she replied enthusiastically.
"You coming, mate?" Steve asked Hwoarang, who merely shook his head and held his drink up in response.
Back on the dance floor, the music had slowed down and Steve moved closer to Julia as she danced. Trying not to think about where Xiaoyu had gone, or what Hwoarang was doing, Julia decided that she was going to enjoy herself and just let whatever happens happen. Smiling at Steve, she slid her hands over her body, lifting her head and closing her eyes. As she moved in time to the music, she felt him move in closer, gently sliding his large hands around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Yielding to his grip, she smiled, opening her eyes to look at him.
She was just in time to see an angry fist fly past her face and impact with the side of Steve's head, closely followed by a blurred mass of red hair, forcing the boxer away from her. Steve was only dazed for a second, and he quickly retaliated, throwing a quick, hard punch at Hwoarang's face, sending him flying backwards. However, the Korean recovered immediately, catching Steve on the upper chest with a powerful kick, knocking him into the other people on the dance floor. Screams ran out through the room and the music stopped abruptly. As Hwoarang moved to hit the Brit again, Julia shrieked at him to stop it, grabbing at his arm to stop him attacking Steve again. He cast her a furious glare before shaking off her grip and turning and storming angrily out of the club, pushing an approaching bouncer to the ground as he went.
"What the hell's your problem?! Bloody moron!" Steve shouted after him angrily, getting to his feet. He groaned, rubbing his chest, "Fuck, that guy can kick…"
Julia faced him, a shocked expression on her face. "I'm sorry," she stuttered, looking at him worriedly.
"Not your fault the bloke's a psycho," Steve growled.
"What happened?" a distressed looking Xiaoyu appeared beside them.
"Mr. Psycho went mad and attacked me is what bloody happened!" Steve snapped at her.
Xiaoyu jumped, startled by his outburst and a hurt expression clouded her face. "You mean Hwoarang?" Julia nodded. "Well that was bound to happen sooner or later, the way he's been staring at you all day," Xiaoyu sighed.
"So there is something going on between you and him?" Steve snarled at Julia. "Coulda warned me…" He spun round and walked off grumpily. Julia turned to look at her friend, as her bottom lip began to tremble.
Julia flicked the light on as she entered the hotel room, sending the shadows into hiding. Xiaoyu followed her in and they both sat on the bed, still a bit dazed after the night's events. Julia stared inattentively at the ragged backpack lying on the ground beside the bed. "Do you think he'll come back for it?" she asked quietly.
Xiaoyu followed Julia's gaze and shrugged. "I dunno. Depends if there's anything important in it, I suppose," she replied. "Do you want me to stay, just in case?"
"No, it's ok. I doubt he'll ever want to see me again," Julia murmured.
"Hmm…" her friend mused. "He's crazy about you, Jules. No one gets that jealous unless they're really into someone."
Julia flopped sideways on the bed, resting her head sadly on the pillow. "I really screwed up…"
Xiaoyu lay down beside her, hugging her. "You should go get cleaned up. Get ready for bed. You're shattered," she suggested.
Julia nodded dumbly in response, and disappeared into the bathroom. Left alone, Xiaoyu's eyes scoured the room for something to entertain herself with. It didn't take long for the backpack to fall into her line of sight, and with barely a pause, she'd scooped it up and tossed it on the bed, hopping up beside it and fiddling to undo the straps.
"What are you doing?" Julia asked, emerging from the bathroom, now dressed in a simple satin chemise, all traces of make up removed. Her curious look turned to one of horror as soon as she realised what her friend was up to. "You can't look in there. It's not yours!" she exclaimed, aghast.
"I'm just taking a peek," Xiaoyu smiled at her innocently, continuing to rake through the bag.
"Hmm… goggles!" she said, removing a pair from the pack and putting them on.
"God, Xiao! Stop it, put them back!" Julia agonised, trying to snatch them from the Chinese girl, who merely dodged out of the way, and returned to looking through the bag.
"Tekken tournament brochure… Yuck, this towel could use a wash," she went on.
"Xiao!" Julia protested, although she knew it was pointless.
"These look like those ID tags you get in the army… Ooh! Change of underwear," she grinned, producing a pair of boxer shorts and tossing them at Julia. "Dunno what this is, it's all written in Korean. Some old photo, you reckon that's him as a kid?" Xiaoyu held out a tattered photograph and Julia took it reluctantly, not happy about going through someone else's belongings.
The picture was of a man and a young boy stood in front of what looked like it might have been a dojo, judging from the Gi the pair were wearing. The man had dark hair, swept back into a short ponytail, and his smile reached his eyes, which seemed to twinkle. He was stood with his hand on the boy's shoulder, as though he were his father. The boy had short, messily cropped black hair, but looking closely, she recognised that he was indeed a young Hwoarang. "I guess this was his master, Baek," Julia murmured, turning the picture over in her hands. There was some writing scrawled on the back, but she was unable to read the characters. The picture was faded and worn round the edges, as though it had been looked at many times.
"Put it back," she said, handing the picture back to Xiaoyu.
"But I haven't seen everything yet," Xiaoyu complained, dropping the photo on the pile with the other things she'd removed from the bag. "There's a T-shirt in here," she said pulling the article of clothing from the pack and throwing onto the bed. Hmm… What's this?" she asked, removing a small packet. "Cherry flavoured condoms!" she exclaimed with a giggle. Julia rolled her eyes at her. "Well that's a good sign, he's careful," Xiaoyu said grinning and nudging her teasingly.
"Xiaoyu, please! Put everything back!", Julia whined at her.
"Wait, there's one more thing," Xiaoyu said, rummaging in the bottom of the bag. "Oh, it's just an empty water bottle," she sighed, disappointedly. "Fine! I'll put everything back."
"Thank you," Julia replied, taking a deep, calming breath.
Julia yawned widely, as Xiaoyu finished re-packing the bag and dropped it back on the floor. "You wanting to go to sleep, Jules?" Xiaoyu asked her.
"I'm pretty tired," Julia sighed, rubbing her eyes with her fists.
"You sure you don't want me to stay?" her friend asked, concerned.
"Really, it's ok," Julia told her. " And thanks, I'm really sorry. I just… I got so jealous that he'd go off with Christie or something, and I didn't want to think about that. I didn't realise he like me…"
"Well, I don't think you need to worry about Christie stealing him away," Xiaoyu said, looking out the window.
"What do you mean?" Julia frowned.
"Lets just say she doesn't swing that way," Xiaoyu explained, looking uncomfortable.
Julia's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean?"
Xiaoyu nodded. "She trying to kiss me in the toilets at the club!" she told her. "I told her I wasn't you know, into that sort of thing, and she said she was sorry, and thought it was worth a shot, then I heard all that shouting from outside…" Xiaoyu looked up at her friend and smiled. "It was really embarrassing!"
Julia just stared at her, completely taken by surprise. "Wow," was all she managed to say.
"Anyway," Xiaoyu started, wanting to get off the topic of Christie, "I'd better get going." She headed across to the door.
"Oh, ok," Julia followed her over to show her out.
"You sure you're ok?" Xiaoyu asked one last time.
Julia smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, honestly."
Xiaoyu nodded, stepping out into the corridor. "Well, if you need anything, just give me a call, ok?" she asked. "Goodnight."
Closing the door, Julia turned and leaned back against it, sighing and raking her fingers through her hair. Climbing into bed, she turned the light off and lay down closing her eyes, but not sleeping. For what seemed like hours, she lay restlessly, thinking over everything in her mind, a pillow wedged between her thighs for comfort.
The knock came very quietly, and at first she thought she'd imagined it, and lay still, listening to see if it would come again. When it didn't, she raised herself up out of the bed and padded softly across to the door, standing on tiptoe to peer through the tiny spy-hole. The corridor outside the door was dark and shadowy, and she could only just make out the figure stood hunched against the opposite wall, staring wretchedly at its feet. Quietly, she clicked back the lock on the door and pulled it open a crack, looking out into the darkness. The figure didn't move or look at her. "Hwoarang?" she whispered softly, reaching her hand to the light switch and illuminating the room behind her. The beam of light escaping the gap shone dimly on him as he rested on the far wall, his face hidden in shadows. "Hwoarang," she asked again, opening the door wider and taking a few cautious steps towards him. He still made no movement, and she came closer, trying to get a look at his face in the semi darkness.
"I'm sorry…" he murmured, so quietly that she could barely make out his words. She stepped right in front of him, leaning towards him, and he turned his head away from her.
"Hwoarang, it's ok," she whispered softly.
"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I didn't mean to… I shouldn't have come here." He made to leave, but she placed a hand on his arm.
"It's fine," she told him. "Come in." She guided him gently into her hotel room, and he complied, like a lost child.
She turned to close the door, and he stood in the middle of the room, his back turned to her. Looking at his bag, he said, "look, I should just go. I'm sorry." Stooping, he picked up the backpack and turned back to the door.
"No, Hwoarang, st…" she trailed off, catching sight of his face. "Geez…"she hissed through her teeth, "that looks painful." His eye was pretty badly swollen, and a deep purple bruise marred his right cheekbone.
"It's fine," he muttered, trying to move past her.
"Sit down," she ordered him, pointing towards the bed. "I'll get some ice." Scowling, Hwoarang did as he was told, though he hated being looked after. Searching through the mini-bar, Julia called over her shoulder that there was no ice. "Here," she said, handing him a beer. He frowned at her as he took it, before realising that she meant it was chilled. She sat in front of him as he pressed it carefully to his cheek, not meeting her eyes. Raising her hand to his face, she brushed a few stray strands of red hair from his forehead. "Where did you go?" she asked, softly.
He shrugged, still not looking up. "Nowhere. Just around…" he muttered.
"Lemme see," she said, taking the bottle from him and running her fingers gently over the bruise. He flinched slightly as she pressed too hard. "Sorry…" she whispered, sliding her hand back through his hair, and drawing his eyes to look at her. "Sorry about everything." She looking deep into his eyes, which were clouded with uncertainty and sadness, lacking the aggression that she'd seen in them before. He blinked, looking away from her. She also looked away, taking a deep breath before going on. "You were right…" she said quietly.
He looked back at her, frowning. "I was right?"
Julia swallowed nervously, butterflies fluttering in the pit of her stomach. "I am attracted to you," she whispered, almost inaudibly. "I was just… afraid," she explained. Hwoarang just stared at her.
"But…" he sighed. "Afraid?" he asked.
Julia slowly lifted her eyes to look at him. "I thought that you weren't interested in me. That you'd just use me and go off," she told him. "I thought you cared more about fighting Jin than about anything else. You seemed so wrapped up in hurting him, I didn't think you noticed me."
He looked away from her, shy of discussing emotions. "I do notice you…" he told her.
"I know," she answered, smiling at him and moving slightly, allowing the strap of her nightslip to slide off her shoulder. He looked up at her again, placing his hand gently on her shoulder, softly stroking her skin.
"Are you sure?" he inquired, looking deep into her eyes, searching for her thoughts. She nodded silently, gently leaning towards him and brushing her lips against his. He needed no more prompting, and returned her kiss, pressing more firmly against her lips, and wrapping his arms gently around her shoulders. In response, she parted her lips a little, allowing his tongue to explore her mouth, his hands gently slipping the chemise off her shoulders and sliding his hands down the smooth skin of her back. As their kiss intensified, she wound her hands round his waist, tugging his top up and over his head. She stroked her hands over his chest and their lips met again, more passionately this time, and she lay back on the bed as he moved on top of her, pushing her clothing down to her waist, his gentle fingers tickling the soft skin down her sides. Any fear that she had of succumbing to him was gone, and there was no stopping the flow of desire between them now.
