Thanks to all those that reviewed.

Dilvish: Trust me... more is in store for our two heroes.

To all readers: By the way, this is just a really short story as another diversion from my "Urbs..." series. It takes a lot to try and make a decent story (hopefully I've done well). My main story is still in progress.

Bold indicates conversation in Japanese

Jin moaned as he started to regain consciousness. His jaw hurt and his chest felt extremely sore. As his eyes began to focus, he remembered what had been going on: he had been in a fight with that Buffy person. Regaining full coherency he saw Buffy leaning on a wall and looked down at himself only to see that he was tightly bound to a chair. He looked back at Buffy, not only angry at his present state, but noticing something peculiar.

"That's my jacket…" he said, "and my shirt."

"I know. Considering the fact that you ruined mine, I'm taking these as compensation."

"Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?" he asked.

"Well, if you'd bothered to listen to me before you attacked me, you would've known that I didn't come here to kill you."

"Like I'd believe that," Jin retorted.

"It's true. Your grandfather hired me to find you and bring you in."

"My grandfather wants me dead," he replied quickly.

"Well, I don't," Buffy replied. "Look, Jin, I haven't had a good feeling about this job since I started it. I only met your grandfather once and I can tell you right now that I don't trust him. I don't like being duped... and my instincts are telling me that I'm being duped."

Jin sat silently as Buffy continued.

"I didn't come here to kill you, and I didn't come here to bring you in either. I came here to give you the heads-up and to get your help in figuring out what Heihachi's up to."

"What?" Jin replied.

"You know him better than I do, and since he has a big interest in you, I figured you'd want in."

"You're serious?" he asked, to which Buffy nodded. "Why should I trust you?"

"Look, if I wanted to kill you I would've done it while you were unconscious. So... do we have a deal?"

Jin looked at her curiously. She was serious about teaming up against Heihachi and seemed genuine. But that wasn't the only reason for his curiosity. She looked strangely familiar, like he'd seen her before…

"Fine then," he said. "Deal."

"Good. Now let's get you out of those ropes."

Jin's hand glowed momentarily and he snapped the ropes like they were strings. Buffy stood there stunned.

"You mean you could've gotten out of those at any time?" she asked. "Why did you just sit there?"

"I figured I'd wait and take advantage of the fact that you didn't kill me yet," he replied. "But you seem to be a decent person. I think I can trust you… for now."

"That's a start, at least," Buffy replied. "Let's get ready to move out. The sooner we get back the sooner we can figure out what's going on."

Jin started to gather his belongings for the trip he was planning since Buffy's arrival. Among the scattered remnants of what was his bedroom, picked up what things he could and shoved them into his bag.

"You planned on leaving anyway?" she asked.

"Yeah, when I heard someone was looking for me." Jin began to stare the young woman as he packed.

"What is it?" Buffy asked as she noticed the stare.

"You look… familiar. Like I've seen you before," he said.

"Try an alley in Seoul a few years back. You were fighting some guy with red hair."

It suddenly hit him and he momentarily stopped packing. "You were the girl in the alley!" he exclaimed. "Huh... I always wondered what happened to you."

"When I saw your eyes glow red in that alley, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me. Now I know better."

"It's not something I'm really happy with," he replied as he went back to packing his things. "Hand me the gloves in that drawer," he said, motioning behind Buffy.

Buffy turned around and opened the drawer, looking for a pair of gloves. "I don't see any…" she started to say.

Jin hit her on the back of the head with a table leg, rendering Buffy unconscious. Grabbing his bag and keys, he knelt down to her and said, "I'm sorry, Buffy. You sound sincere, but this is a family matter." Walking out the door, he uncovered his motorcycle, started it up, and sped off just as Buffy began to wake.

In truth, she expected something like this to occur; she just didn't know when. Jin had accepted her offer much too quickly and she was wary of him. As she got up, she heard the motorcycle engine rev up. She walked outside, her head slightly aching, only to see Jin speed off.

Looking around for something, anything, to catch up to him, her eyes fell on a bicycle. She hopped onto it and followed him.

Jin sped though the trail leading to his house, closing in on the village square. His bike didn';t have enough fuel for the journey, so he was hoping to get a cab to the train station to get to Heihachi and figure out what his grandfather was up to. He'd called Buffy for a reason, something deeper than just finding him; Heihachi always had an ulterior motive for doing things.

He made it to the cab station in time. Seeing Kyoshi, he got off his bike and quickly went over to the man.

"Kyoshi, here's my bike," Jin said. "If I'm not back in a week, it's yours."

"Really?" replied an exciting Kyoshi. "Thanks, Jin!"

Jin talked to the cabbie and put his bag in the trunk. Getting in, he was satisfied that he had made a clean getaway from the woman who had, moments ago, knocked his lights out.

Buffy sped as fast as she could down the trail on Jin's bicycle. She was coming up on the village square when she saw a cab preparing to leave town. Guessing it was probably Jin, she diverted off the path and down a hill, eying the roof of a small building near it. Getting closer and closer and gaining speed, she jumped the bike onto the roof, ran down on the slight incline, and then jumped the end of the roof . She let go of the bike and landed her body on top of the cab just as it started to accelerate. The surprised cabbie slammed the brakes.

Getting off the roof, Buffy opened the cab door, grabbed Jin, and shoved him against the side of the car.

"What part of 'working together' didn't you get!" she yelled furiously.

"This is family business, Buffy, and you aren't a part of it!"

"Wrong. I am involved and so are the people I care about; we got involved the minute Heihachi called me. So we can either work together or we can fight each other until your grandfather does whatever he's planning on doing!"

Jin's temper had risen during the argument, but subsided as soon as he realized he wasn't getting rid of her. "Fine," he replied. "Have it your way."

The cabbie yelled at them both in Japanese. Throwing Jin's stuff out of the car he got back in and sped off.

"Great, now the cab's gone," Jin said.

"And whose fault is that?"

"Yours, for landing on the roof and busting the light. You seem to have a knack for breaking things, my house being one of them."

"I guess I'll have to stay here tonight," Buffy said, slightly miffed at her circumstances.

"Come on," Jin replied as he grabbed his bag off of the ground.

"Where are we going?"

"My place. You can stay there for the night," he replied, before thinking how it sounded.

"Yeah, right."

"Look, you have to go back to my place and get your bag anyway," he said. "And besides, what better way to keep an eye on me?"

"Fine," she said. "But you'd better not try anything funny."

"Wouldn't dream of it."