Thanx for all of the reviews! Happy New Years! To my reviewers:

I'm-just-a-teen: I'm super happy you liked my story so much, and I do hope that I don't disappoint you! Thanx!

Snowbunni3z: I'm glad you think so! Don't worry, they'll get what's coming to them soon.

Shadowsin: You'll probably hate me for this chapter, but everything will turn out all right!

Karisan-karisan: I know. I took H&J's problems from the problems that most young couple's face. They've been put under much stress with everything, and eventually they'll have time to learn to understand each other.

TheWishOfNight: Poor you! I hate when my computer breaks down! It's so sad! Happy Holidays to you too!

XInfernal: Yes CC is evil! I'm soooooo sorry those are your initials! I really had no clue!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tekken or any other brand name item I happen to use in the course of my story! The only character I own is CC, co if you want her, sue away!

Bonds of Love

Hwoarang and the others carefully followed CC to her camp. Hwoarang was shaking with anger because he was trying so hard not to punch his fiancée's vindictive mother. Of course, he was angry for more reasons than just that. He hadn't changed clothes for three days, and the disgustingly sweaty cloth clung to him like a second skin. Blood stained the right side of his outfit from where he had landed in the desert. Another thing to be mad about! If Jin didn't have that stupid Devil Gene, Hwoarang would've kicked his ass by now!

He looked towards his Fiancé and his 'friend.' Jin looked just as mad, if not more, as he did, but Julia just looked depressed. The dark bags under her eyes were the biggest sign of her despair. Besides that, her once figure-fitting clothes were hanging off her, a sign that she had lost even more weight. For a girl that slim, losing weight wasn't healthy in the least. She turned her head to meet his eyes, but with a flip of his now stringy and sandy hair, Hwoarang turned away, instead gazing out into the endless sands of the Sahara desert. Part of his heart told him that he should go over there and comfort Julia, after all, she was his would be wife, but the other, darker side didn't quite forgive her for not trusting him. They were supposed to be in love, but she couldn't believe him when he told her the truth.

His mind continued it's internal argument, and Hwoarang didn't know they had arrived until he heard CC's deceivingly innocent voice pipe up to echo across the noiseless sands. He wasn't really paying any attention whatsoever to the words coming out of her mouth. After all, CC herself had made it extremely clear that Jin and Julia were the only two she really needed. He and Ling were just hostages to insure that nothing went wrong for her and her posse of rich, arrogant fools. Of course, then there was always the fact of what happened after all of this, if they all lived… Did he really want to spend the rest of his life with Jules? He knew he loved her, but…

Hwoarang quickly wiped those thoughts from his head when he heard the sound of sand being crushed under someone's feet. He lifted his gaze to glare at CC's new partner, only to get the shock of his life. Cold, brown eyes examined him with distaste. An old wrinkled face with odd spiky hair revealed the person who was number three on his 'will kick ass of' list, right after Jin and CC. Heihachi Mishima looked down at the three of them, an evil grin marring his already ugly face. Hwoarang clenched his fists. His fury prevented him from feeling the blood dripping down his hands from his nails. All that filled him was unbelievable rage, and the need to tear someone's head off.

Ling sighed as the small group continued to trudge through the hot desert, eyes glaring down to the sand. It had been three days since she had gotten her seizure, and two days since they began their death march through the unforgiving sands. At least they had gotten new clothes and a chance to bathe… Looking back on everything, Ling decided she should at least be thankful for that.

She was wearing a long-sleeved, tight white shirt specially made to combat the desert's heat. Her pants were also the same color, but thankfully they were a bit looser. A hat on her head protected her face from the burning rage of the sun. They had also allowed her to bathe for the first time in almost a week. And though the food tasted like horse shit, Ling was happy she wasn't starving to death. She shuddered at the painful remembrance. After a while, the pain of starvation had gone away only to be replaced with a dull ache and the feeling of nausea.

Ling could clearly recall seeing her refection staring back at her from the oasis's small pond. Though the ripples in the water slightly distorted her image, Ling could clearly see the damage not-eating had done to her body. Her ribs shone so clearly through her skin that she could count them, and her vertebrae stuck out from her back at an unhealthy angle. Her already flat stomach seemed to have sunk backwards into her, and she swore she could she through herself. Her usually healthy skin tone had been replaced by a sickly pale coloration, and her once silky smooth hair was a frizzy stringy mess, easily pulled from her head.

When she had first been allowed to eat, Ling had lunged at the food like a hawk diving after its prey. Jin had stopped her though, ignoring her pout and warning her not to eat to fast or she would get sick. The anger in his eyes had temporarily stopped her from digging into her food until she noticed that his anger wasn't focused on her… It was focused on CC and Heihachi.

Ling shuddered at the memory of his anger. She would hate to be the recipient of it, and she almost felt sorry for them. Almost. Her anger wouldn't allow her to forget what they'd done to her, but the look in his eyes promised a painful death for the both of them. Despite her anger towards them, somehow Ling did not want then to die. It would make her as bad as them. No, she wanted them to be sent to jail for the rest of their lives. That way they could spend their entire existence regretting what they had done to the countless people they destroyed. Nobody deserved to be murdered, because then it was just more innocent hands being stained with blood.

Thinking back to Jin, Ling realized that she knew almost nothing about him. She knew HIM, who he really was under is cold exterior, but she didn't know much ABOUT him. If someone asked what his favorite color or food was, she wouldn't know. But for know it didn't matter. After all, she'd have her hole life to get to know him, right? Somehow she wasn't sure, and that terrified her. It scared her more than words could ever tell.

Ling momentarily lifted her gaze to Julia. Her friend's usually bright eyes were dimmed with unmistakable guilt, and she too had lost weight. Her new white clothes almost hung off her, and Ling felt guilty for making Julia feel this way. She knew it was because of her handicap when it came to CC that Julia felt anger at herself. Why didn't she get that no one lamed her? The only person yet to forgive her was she herself…

Ling let out a quiet sigh and thought of comforting her older friend, but she held herself back. The only person that could heal her wounds right now was a certain red-headed Korean, but he was hurting too. Until they talked things out with each other, they were just going to hurt themselves even more. She let out another sigh, and suddenly she felt a large warm hand encircle her own smaller hand. She smiled up to see Jin at her side, his eyes focused forward but his attention focused on her.

"Don't worry," he told her reassuringly, "they'll work it out and come out fine. Right now they're just to stubborn to see that they need each other." She squeezed his hand in hers, and for a while all was silent except for the crunching of their feet as CC, Heihachi, Bryan Fury, Julia, Hwoarang, Jin, and Ling headed towards their destination.

Sudden;y, the peace was broken when a huge pyramid came into view. The corroding stones gave of the eerie sense of evil, and the place was obviously incredibly ancient. It looked like it hadn't been touched in thousands of years as it towered above them in all it's glory. The bright yellow sun behind it cast it's shadow onto the weary travelers as if threatening to come in. Ling stood in shock, Julia gasped, Hwoarang stared, and CC laughed. The menacing sound cut through the silent desert air, and Ling shivered. Jin tightened his grip on Ling's hand, and turned to look at her, confusion and fear evident in his eyes.

"This place, I've been here before," he began in an unsteady voice, "and I killed you all."