"Come on..."
I narrow my eyes, ignoring him.
"Xiao, come on, please?"
Fiddle with the end of my pigtail.
"...Xiao."
Comb my fingers through it.
"Aww, come on!"
Study the cuff of my blouse.
"...Xiao?"
I'm wearing long sleeves, because it's too cold to go short sleeved today. The rain's tap-tapping against the window pane, and I turn my face away from Hwoarang and stare out. I'm still sore from sparring with Grandfather this morning, but the rain had been worse then, stinging my face and blurring my vision. It wasn't exactly ideal fighting weather in my book, but apparently he had to find out if I had any weaknesses that could really affect my performance. And apparently, rain is one of them.
"Xiao!" He taps my arm, and I turn back to him, just in time to see him give me a pleading look, complete with wide eyes and trembling bottom lip. I breathe a sigh of irritation.
"Hwoarang, I'm still mad at you." I tell him with a scowl. "The silent treatment doesn't really work if I talk to you."
"I won't tell if you don't"
I ignore him, and he puts an arm around me.
"I'm sorry...?"
"Hwoarang..."
"Please, it's no fun when you're not your usual sweet natured self." His voice has the usual sarcastic twang to it, and I push him, trying to look angry, but not quite suceeding.
He grins, yanking one of my pigtails. "There she is."
"Do that again and you're back in hurting territory." I tell him warningly, and he laughs, leaning back on the chair and brushing copper strands of hair out of his eyes.
"I knew you couldn't stay mad at me for long." he grins, and I glare at him, only half jokingly, because I'm sort of frustrated that he's right.
Heihachi Mishima is the sort of man that just radiates power. That is the first thought that crosses my mind when I meet him. Even to the untrained eye, to someone who's never took a martial arts lesson in their life, he seems dangerous somehow. If you saw my grandfather walking down the street, you'd probably dismiss him as a normal old man. Not so with Heihachi. Everything about him, from the way he carries himself, to that piercing look in his eyes when he turns his attention to you, it's just -
Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Let's start over.
Today is the fourth of May, and I'm on my way to a meeting with Heihachi Mishima. I don't know what I expected, whether I thought I'd be picked up by a big, black, chauffer driven limo or something, but either way, I didn't expect to have to make my own way there. But I waited, and waited, and no one came to pick me up, so here I am, wandering down the pavement on my way to a meeting with the most influential man in Japan, wearing my hair in a clip, a freshly ironed white shirt, and a pair of pinstriped trousers, and wondering exactly why I'm doing this. But before I can explore that thought any further, I realise that I'm surrounded.
I wasn't sure what to do at first, does anyone really know what to do when they're faced with a bunch of aggressive looking people wearing dull black uniforms - soldiers maybe? But as they start advancing on me, my training just seems to take over, my body changing stances fluidly. Slipping into the Phoenix Stance and attacking from it is second nature to me once more, as it had been when Grandfather and I trained together during my younger days. I'd let my training slip once I got into high school, concentrating more on my studies and hanging around with Mi and Hwoarang. But now, everything is coming back to me. A soldier throws a punch at me, and my hands catch his fist easily, twisting his arm and throwing him into another soldier; dodging a kick from another assailant aimed at my side and leaping into the air, kicking out and snapping his head back, then parrying a blow from another soldier even as the last one crumples to the ground.
I'm still fighting ten minutes later, a few bruises worse off, scraped knees, head throbbing after a kick to my temple, cuts on my forehead and arm, and clothes smudged with dust and grime. And I've never felt so good.
"Ling Xiaoyu, by any chance?"
I loosen my grip on a soldier's collar and glance up at the owner of the voice, eyes widening as I realise who it is. Heihachi Mishima stands over me, arms folded, wearing a long, expensive looking burgundy jacket with fur trim, pristine white trousers, and an air of unshakable confidence. I let go of the soldier, scrambling to my feet and trying desperately to straighten my clothes and brush off the dust, but only suceeding in smudging it, making it look worse. I do manage an clumsy bow, though.
"I was starting to wonder whether you were coming at all." Heihachi tells me, turning to go into the building and gesturing for me to follow. "My driver called a while ago to let me know that you weren't present at home."
Have you ever wished the ground would just open up and swallow you?
Anyway, after I've gotten cleaned up and managed to stop my cheeks from glowing bright red, I'm invited into Heihachi's office for a 'chat'. Basically, he just explains what the tournament's about, what the rules are, (according to Heihachi, weapons aren't permitted, but I'm sure there was someone at the last tournament with a sword.) and when the tournament takes place. (In another month). We have to stay overnight at a hotel the day before the tournament starts, and stay there until it finishes, even if we lose our matches. After he's finished explaining things to me, he says that he'll be in touch closer to the day of the tournament, and that's that. It feels like a college interview or something. His secretary, a pretty woman with clipped back dark hair, escorts me out of the building, smiling at me and wishing me luck. It's really odd. But Heihachi seems nice enough, and luckily he'd seen the funny side of me trashing his security guards or whatever they were, so it's okay.
The secretary said that if I went over to the building she pointed out earlier, I can get a lift home, so I head over there. It's lucky that I'm not in a hurry, because my leg is killing me. Stupid soldiers.
I can see someone walking towards me, but they're too far away for me to be able to make out who they are. I hope it isn't another soldier. As the person gets closer, I realise it isn't another soldier after all. Nope, it's worse. It's Jin.
"Xiaoyu? What are you doing here?" he asks with surprise, and I stop chewing my lip so that I can answer. I wasn't even aware I was doing it.
"Oh, I just had my meeting with Heihachi - um, I mean... Mr Mishima. You?"
He gives me a weird look.
"Uh, I...y'know... live here."
"You what?" I ask incredulously.
"I thought I told you. Of course, I probably did and you just weren't listening," he shrugs, and opens his mouth to continue, but I cut him off.
"Why do you live here?"
"Mr Mishima," he repeats scornfully, "is my grandfather."
"I thought he reminded me of someone." I mutter. "But he wasn't as asshole-ish."
Jin ignores my little swipe at him, instead reaching out and brushing his thumb over the scratch on my forehead.
"How did you get that?" he asks quietly. It's like someone pressed a switch. He's acting all concerned and sexy and I don't care at all because I don't find him sexy in the least and I never thought about that kiss I swear, not even once.
"I got into a fight." I say simply, trying not to look him in the eye because I know that if I do I'll end up embarassing myself by trying to kiss him again or something.
"Who with?"
Since I'm avoiding his gaze, I notice some of the soldiers from before, walking through the courtyard.
"Those guys." I say, pointing him out. Jin looks over for a few seconds, and then turns back to me, a little smirk on his face.
"Tekken Force...? Let me guess, you didn't come in the limo?"
"Well I didn't know there was a limo!" I tell him crossly. "They didn't even ask who I was anyway! They just started trying to kick my ass!" And goddamn him, he starts laughing.
"What?" I cry, irritated, but that just seems to amuse him even more. "It's not funny!"
"Sorry," he manages to get out between laughs. "I know." He doesn't stop laughing though.
"Oh, shut up!" I whine, half storming, half limping away.
"See you on Monday!" Jin calls after me, and I can still hear the laughter in his voice as I try to make a graceful exit. I haven't managed to make one yet.
A/N: It didn't take me six months this time. Go me. Thank you so much for reviewing, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. More coming soon, uh...hopefully.