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Chapter 23 – Headquarters

Everyone was now talking about Lei's victory against Dr. B. It had been a hard fight. Dr. B was an expert in dirty tricks but he had his reasons to be in the tournament. He needed the money to save his daughter's life.

After reconsideration, Julia decided to go ahead with the fight. She couldn't just stay there and wait plus she was feeling better. She couldn't give Heihachi that satisfaction; actually she wished she could see his face when he saw that she was fighting.

Julia dressed her blue jeans and put on her red tennis shoes. When she was ready, she left her room and went to the arena. She was surprised when she saw Hwoarang standing in the front of the arena.

-'You changed your mind, Chang?'-he asked.

-'Yes. I'm not a quitter.'

-'Maybe…but you can still be a loser.'

Julia smiled and waited for Anna.

Anna Williams had a strong and weird fashion sense, even when she was about to fight. She wasn't wearing her red dress anymore; she was now wearing a top and mini-shorts with long boots and a hat. Everything was black and white. The guys obviously liked what they saw, but Julia thought she was overreacting.

Ling joined Hwoarang in that moment. She was there to support her new and maybe only friend in that tournament, since Jin had abandoned her.

-'Lets see how good she is.'-Hwoarang said.

-'Who? Anna or Julia?'-Ling asked.

-'Both…'

At first, Anna was definitely dominating the fight. She was faster and stronger than Julia. Besides she was determined to win because she wanted to fight against Nina.

Anna attacked with a jab high kick that successfully hit Julia. Being an Aikido expert gave her confidence to continue her attacks and she managed to guess some of Julia's intentions. But finally, Julia blocked an uppercut jab and it was Anna's turn to be surprised.

Julia had no idea how she did that. She was tired and still dizzy. But she also had motives to win that fight. She wanted to find Michelle and go back home with her mother. With that in mind, Julia started to take over the fight, while Anna had to stay on defence. Julia hit her twice on the stomach and Anna fell on the floor. When she got up, Julia was ready and gathering all her strengths, she held Anna over her head and threw her through the air. Anna was off the limits.

Julia smiled over to Ling when she left the arena and the two girls headed to the hotel. Hwoarang met them there.

-'Impressive, Chang…'-he said.

-'I'm tired…I'm going to my room, ok?'-she asked.

Ling was disappointed but she understood her friend's motives, so she didn't oppose.

Hwoarang and Ling went to the bar to check everyone's reaction to Julia's fight. Anna wasn't there, but everyone had seen how angry she was.

In the meantime, Jin had arrived to a cliff. He had lost the jeep tracks for about an hour and he was simply walking around and trying to find something.

When he looked down he saw what he was looking for.

He was on the coast; the sea was shinning in a beautiful tone of blue and green. In the rocks on the bottom of the cliff there was an entrance to a white building. The jeep was entering, after they got permission from a guard. Jin, who was hiding among the trees, realised that probably there was a tunnel because the jeep couldn't pass through the cliff.

He started to look for it and found it after a few minutes. Now he knew where Heihachi was hiding his secrets. He had to talk to Julia soon because her mother could be there.

Jin was going away when he heard a familiar voice coming from the tunnel. He immediately entered the tunnel to hear the conversation. It seemed that Dr. Abel was giving instructions to someone.

-'Don't mess up like Hitsugi did…the girl is alive and well which means he failed.'-Dr. Abel said.

-'But sir…she's a fighter…a good one.'

-'That's why you need to eliminate her. She knows too much and she's walking around telling Jin the truth…'

-'So what am I supposed to do?'

-'Since she's in the hotel again, go there and try to solve the problem without being noticed.'

-'Yes sir.'

Jin left and soon he was walking through the forest on his way back to the hotel. It seemed that Julia had become a target too.

A few minutes later he felt a presence there and Yoshimitsu appeared right in front of him.

-'How did you do that?'-Jin asked amazed.

-'I'm a ninja…'

-'Oh…right…and what are you doing here?'

-'The same thing as you…I guess we just found out Heihachi's hidden place.'

-'Why do you care?'

-'I have my motives, but I prefer not to share them.'

-'You were right…someone did try to kill me last night.'-Jin suddenly said. He didn't know why he said that to Yoshimitsu, because he could also be working for Heihachi. But, since he had been the one to warn him about the danger he was currently facing, he felt that he could trust that guy.

-'Be careful…your friends might be in danger too.'-Yoshimitsu warned.

-'I know…But I can't do anything. I have my own fights to face.'

-'Your grandfather is a powerful and intelligent man, but everyone makes mistakes.'-after saying this, Yoshimitsu disappeared and Jin returned to the hotel. He was a bit shocked when he saw Ling and Hwoarang talking in the bar. He decided not to disturb them, besides Hwoarang would probably start complaining about the rematch.

As Ling had realised in the last few hours, it wasn't easy to have a conversation with Hwoarang without having killer instincts. She was only there because she was hoping to see Jin.

-'Well…I guess she's was tougher than I thought.'-Hwoarang said about Julia.

-'You shouldn't think people are weak without seeing them fight.'-Ling said annoyed.

-'Why?'

-'Because it's wrong! You can't judge a book by its cover.'

-'Well, I guess in this case you're right…and you're not bad yourself for a girl…'

-'You must be sick…or drunk…I never thought you would say something nice to me.'

-'I can take it back if you want. I mean you're not much compared to me, I was being nice because of what they did to you.'

-'What they did to me? You mean Julia?'

-'Pretending to be your friend to steal your boyfriend was really cheap…I guess you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover.'

Ling was puzzled with all that talk, after all she didn't know anything about what Hwoarang was talking about.

-'It was a shock when I saw them whispering together in the woods…but honestly I never thought you would forgive them just like that.'-Hwoarang continued.

-'They were together in the forest? When?'

-'Yesterday. Aren't you pissed off at Kazama? Just a bit?'

It was all coming back to her suddenly. Jin's words about saying goodbye, his sudden wish to be alone; it was just a lie to push her away and to be with Julia. But why? He could simply say that he wanted to date with Julia. By lying to her Jin was simply showing his lack of consideration for her.

-'All that crappy talk about not being able to be with someone else because it was too dangerous!'-Ling suddenly said, making many heads turn to her.-'That egocentric son of a…'

-'So you are angry with him?'-Hwoarang applauded.

In the meantime, Jin had asked Youmi where Julia's room was and he was knocking on her door.

Julia was already in her pyjamas and she was surprised to see him there.

-'What's wrong?'-she asked.

-'I think I should warn you that Heihachi might be planning to kill you…'

-'Thanks for the warning, but you're late.'

-'What do you mean?'

-'Someone tried to kidnap me this morning, I managed to escape alive…with a little help from…never mind…'

-'I'm sorry.'

-'It's not your fault. Heihachi is the one to blame.'

-'I think he knows that you and I have been talking.'

-'We can't do anything now.'

-'You can quit the tournament and let me handle Heihachi. I promise I'll save your mother.'

-'That's kind of you but no thanks. I need to do this…I owe her that. She's my mother. Wouldn't you want to help your own mother?'

Jin nodded.

-'You're brave…she will be proud of you.'-Jin said after a few seconds in silence.

-'Thanks. Well I guess now we are Heihachi's top priorities, huh?'

-'Yeah…I guess we are. By the way I went to investigate today and I…'

Jin never finished his sentence because in that moment Ling arrived and saw him talking to Julia at her bedroom door.

-'I was going to ask Julia if it was truth…I guess I don't need to ask anymore.'-she said disappearing again in the elevator.

-'I think she got the wrong impression about us.'-Julia said.

-'I'll talk to her…'-Jin announced.

-'Ok. We'll talk tomorrow.'

Jin tried to catch up with Ling, but he only knew that she had gone outside the hotel. While he was searching for her, Jin thought about what he would tell her. Julia had once advised him to tell Ling the truth, but he didn't want her to know that he was a freak. She was probably his only friend and he didn't want to lose her. She wouldn't understand.

When Ling saw him approaching her, she tried to hide behind the sakura tree but it was too late.

-'What do you want?'-she asked sharply.

-'I don't know…I want to say sorry…'

-'Sorry? Is that the best you can do? You lied to me!'

-'I never lied! But it's complicated.'

-'It's not that complicated. If you wanted to be with Julia you only had to say so. I understand that we couldn't be together all the time.'

-'It's not that.'

-'I like Julia…she's nice. I just feel hurt because you lied. You said that you wanted to be alone and…it was a lie.'

-'No! I wasn't lying…I was protecting you.'

-'Protecting me? Why? Why do you care?'

-'You're my friend.'

-'You are so…'

-'So what?'

-'I don't know…first you say that this is a dangerous competition…then you say goodbye without a reason, and now I find out that you going out with my new friend.'

-'I'm not going out with her.'

-'What? But Hwoarang said he saw you two in the forest.'

-'We were talking. The only thing I can say is that I'm helping her…she asked for help and I owe her that.'

-'Why?'

-'Because our mothers were also friends and because I want to help.'

-'Why does Julia need help?'

-'I can't say…it's safer if you don't know.'

-'There you are again…I'm not a child anymore! I can take care of myself…I won my fight, though you didn't even show up to see it…anyway, I don't need your protection! This whole "protecting" thing is only driving us apart!'

-'I'm sorry if you feel that way. I wish things were different. Just stay out of this Xiaoyu…please.'

-'I'm beginning to agree with that Korean idiot. You are a hypocrite. If you're not seeing Julia why are you pushing me away? Why did you pretend to be my friend and now you want to be alone? Why?'

-'I can't answer that.'

-'It's not that you can't…you simply don't want to. One day you'll be sorry for this…'

Ling left Jin under the sakura tree and entered the hotel.

-'I already am…'-Jin whispered.