DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything having to do with the Tekken series.

Chapter 10: AWOL

The years went by easily despite Hwoarang being drafted into the Korean military. By the time he ran away back to Japan and fought Jin in the tournament, they had already found him. He of course fled and retreated to the apartment he shared with Xiaoyu and their son.

Knock-knock

Xiaoyu answered the door, she dropped a freshly cleaned bowl and it shattered. She just stood there speechless until Hwoarang scooped her up in his arms.

"Welcome home," she said in between a few tears "We've missed you so much!"

He set her back to her own feet in the middle of the kitchen and then kissed her and rubbed her largely swollen belly. She became pregnant again during his last R&R* almost seven months ago. "I missed you guys, too."

They heard children's playing blocks topple over in the next room.

"I guess Mikazuki knows you're home, too." Xiaoyu smiled.

The toddler ran into the kitchen and reached up for Hwoarang "Daddy!"

"There's my little buddy," he scooped him up and tickled at his sides "did you miss me?"

He reached up for Hwoarang's face and gave him the usual slobbery baby kiss "Yeah," he answered, half giggling from the tickling.

He laughed and wrapped his arm around Xiaoyu "It's hard to believe he'll be two soon."

She smiled and swept some of Mikazuki's hair out of his face "I know, he grows very fast."

"Daddy," Mikazuki stuttered slightly, "do you wanna play blocks with me?"

He smiled "Of course, little guy. Just let me help mommy clean up the mess in here, deal?"

"Deal!" he jumped out of Hwoarang's arms and ran back into the living room.

He took the dustpan out of Xiaoyu's hand, "You know you're not supposed to be bending over, Iseul might pop right out of you."

"Yeah, speaking of fast growing," she rubbed her belly "I think she's starting to get cramped."

He smiled, dumping the pieces of broken bowl in the trash "Ling, I,"

She knew exactly what he was going to say "Yeah, why are you home now? You're not supposed to get leave again until…" she glanced at the calendar.

"Yeah, yeah, I just left. Iseul will be born soon and the tournament was today-"

"You ran away to go to the damn tournament?" she glared, placing her hands on her hips.

He took her hands into his "No, I mean, I did plan it so I could get there and come home-"

"You do know that your unit knows where we live right?" she scolded.

He hung his head, remembering the events earlier "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't plan all of the details…" he kissed her forehead and retreated to the living room.

"Why's mommy mad at you, daddy?" Mikazuki smashed his hand though a small tower he'd made.

"Daddy's a big dummy." Is all he could tell him before the toddler lost the point.

Xiaoyu stepped into the room "You're a good-hearted dummy." She grinned and sat behind him on the couch.

He leaned his head back into her lap "Does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?"

She leaned close to his ear and said in Chinese; "It's kind of hard to stay mad at my big sexy sergeant."

He smiled goofily ear-to-ear "Yeah, does that mean-"

"That I'm going to go finish the dishes? Then yes." She joked and kissed his forehead.

Hwoarang watched her walk back into the kitchen. Absolutely loving that fact that, even though she was pregnant, she looked very fuckable in his baggy blue shirt. "Hey, Xiao,"

She turned around and noticed the only reason he called her name was so he could peak up her shirt. She amusedly rolled her eyes and left the room.

"What did mommy say?" Mikazuki's eyes were big.

"What?" he smiled and stacked a block on the top of a large stack, but it was at a bad angle and they all fell over.

Mikazuki clapped, laughing a little. Then his face became serious again "She said something weird. What was it?"

Hwoarang's face flushed a little, trying to think of something more appropriate to tell him "She said 'Mikazuki and daddy better go brush their teeth or they're grounded'!" he made an overly theatrical 'oh no!' look.

The toddler put his hands on his cheeks and shrieked "Nooo!"

Xiaoyu called from the other room "What are you two doing in there?"

Hwoarang shushed Mikazuki and they simultaneously replied "Nothing!"

The doorbell rang, he heard her put down the dish and mumble "Its eleven-thirty at night, who the hell. . ." he suddenly remembered their conversation earlier, and that the Korean military knew he was back in Japan. He jumped to his feet "Ling!"

The door flung open and ten men stormed into the room armed with M-16s. Xiaoyu screamed and Hwoarang ran into the room. The men pointed their rifles in his face.

Xiaoyu immediately clung to him, tears already forming in her eyes and Mikazuki ran in to see what was going on "Daddy-"

"Xiaoyu, get him." He said sharply, not moving a muscle. He was cornered and one false move could put his jeopardy.

A man stepped in front of him, on the arm of his jacket was an emblem that marked the man as a lieutenant. A rank above Hwoarang, "Sergeant, the court martial will have your head for this! Abandoning your post is punishable by death!" the man punched Hwoarang in the gut. He only flinched slightly.

Mikazuki kicked and screamed "Stop it! Daddy!"

Xiaoyu crouched to calm him down "Sh, Mikazuki, honey."

The man looked down at them "Who are they?"

"They're my family, sir." He answered respectfully.

"Why is this not on file?" he glared.

Hwoarang thanked whomever he needed to thank that Mikazuki didn't understand Korean either "Xiaoyu and I are not married."

"It would still be on file since you have a child."

"Mikazuki is not my biological child, sir. She sent test results of her current pregnancy to the corp."

"And what will they reveal?"

"That we will be having a girl in two months." He looked the man in the eyes.

The man chuckled slightly "Do you really think it's easy to leave the military… alive? Especially after you've demonstrated your lack of commitment to us?"

"No, sir." He swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice even.

The man turned his back to him, "Good, then, it's time to say goodbye. You're coming with us."

Hwoarang just sunk to his knees, unable to believe he'd never see his family again. He tightly wrapped his arms around them, the wrenching in his chest was almost too much to bear. He couldn't breathe, it was like he was being crushed to death.

"I love you." Xiaoyu unsteadily, clinging to him with all her strength.

"Me, too, daddy." Mikazuki wiped tears from his eyes.

"I know," he choked out "I love you, too." Tears escaped his eyes and his voice became a whisper "I'm so sorry, Xiao, I'm such a fuck up."

She couldn't say anything, it just hurt too much. It also hard to look at him because even though she couldn't understand Korean… she could tell by the look on his face that they were in trouble. This was the first time she's ever seen him shed tears. It wasn't just the tears, it was the utter pain that crippled his very nature. She entangled her fingers in his red hair, cherished every kiss she planted on his skin. She tried to swallow but it felt like she had a lump in her throat and that she was being choked by it "Haneul," she paused, trying to make herself speak, "What did he say?"

He shook his head, trying to find words "He said… that I've forfeit my life."

She was paralyzed at first, unable to believe the words that came out of his mouth. She managed to gather all her rage and push it above her sorrow, she to the man, speaking in her first language despite the fact that she knew he wouldn't understand her "You monster! How can you just take someone away from their family like that?!" her voice turned into a trembling whisper "We only just started… It can't be over now…not like this-"

The man turned around, eyes fixated on Xiaoyu "Sergeant. What did she just say?"

"My Chinese isn't fluent. All I understood was 'we just started'," he had to stop for a moment, repeating her almost killed him "and 'it can't be over'."

The soldiers just stared. In all their years of service, all of them witnessed what would happen if they dishonored the corp. A few of the men shed tears, thinking of their families back home.

"Arrest him." The lieutenant told one of the soldiers.

He hesitated for a moment, "Sir, yes, sir!" he pulled out hand cuffs, looking at Hwoarang apologetically "To your feet."

Hwoarang took a deep breath, and pressed his lips to Xiaoyu's. Then he kissed Mikazuki on the cheek, struggling to speak "Be a good boy, okay? And keep mommy safe for me."

"I don't want you to go!" his balled fists wiped tears from his eyes.

He stood to his feet, helping Xiaoyu up as well. Hwoarang placed his hands behind his back.

The soldier secured Hwoarang's hands and with the lieutenant's lead made their way to the exit.

"Please," Xiaoyu said in Korean, it was the first word Hwoarang taught her. She reached for him.

The soldier behind Hwoarang halted her, he was far away from the lieutenant to speak freely "I'm sorry, ma'am. I really am."

Hwoarang pushed the soldier to the side enough for Xiaoyu to wrap her arms around him, he whispered in her ear "I need you to be strong for me, okay?"

The soldier gently separated them and continued for the door.

Xiaoyu just stood there, unable to do anything else but stare, with Mikazuki clinging to her leg.

This will not be where Hwoarang meets his end! But seriously, the final scene here was very difficult to write even though I've been envisioning this for about seven years. I had the motions down pact in my head, but I'm not very good at painting pictures with words so I'm not sure if this sucks or not. I really wanted to incorporate Hwoarang and Xiaoyu speaking in their first languages, and a little more. I figured since Hwoarang is an orphan that he'd most likely be a rolling stone of sorts, he'd probably be able to speak a few languages. As he said, he not fluent in Chinese but he understands enough of it to get the point. As for Xiaoyu, she doesn't understand Korean at all. She used to visit Japan a lot as a child (mentioned in chapter one) so she's fluent in it.

SIDE NOTES:

The name of the chapter was brother's suggestion. AWOL basically means that a soldier dishonorably leaves the military (i.e. ran away) and is executed after capture.

*R&R is the military term for leave, when the soldiers get to leave base and go do whatever they want for a few weeks.

Mikazuki is quite possibly my favorite Japanese word, it means 'crescent moon'. Iseul, their unborn daughter, has a Korean name meaning "Dew", I like it mostly because it rhymes with the name I gave Hwoarang (Haneul).