Intro: Thanks again to FNAFFRENZYCAT for the review and ongoing support! You're awesome! :D Concerning this chapter, it acts as mere filler, mercifully short and is very, very dull compared to motorbike stealing escapades! I won't let writer's block infect me! But at least we get some shameless fanservice with topless Claudio for a quarter of it! Blink and you miss it!

Dreams.

Vivid.

Fog.

Contradictions were something Claudio wades into, comfortably numb yet lost. Sweeping his arm over heavy eyes to block up infant rays of sun, blurry and foggy after surreal dreams. As of recent, they seemed to revolve around mazes. Endless winding corners, twisted fragmented edges. Entertained, yet baffled at the temperamental angles of dreams. Sighing turns into a yawn, the clock barely made out between lethargic blinks. 6:45am.

Heh. Maybe just a moment more.

He pulls up sheets over his bare chest, hugging the pillow against him.

Any reverie was soon expelled by shrill yelling and screaming from next door, thumps storming like the prelude to a volcanic eruption. A score of slamming doors and angry expletives in a foreign tongue stream uncontrollably making a perturbed Claudio launch upright, brow arched.

Opening his hotel room door was like unveiling a red curtain backstage to the festivities that exploded come near seven am, Hwoarang rocketing out his room with all the grace of a legion of bulls in a china store, screaming and hollering. Such unpleasantness was the face that launched every hotel room to open, pairs of eyes in angry disbelief at what the commotion was about.

Chloe, looking less than stellar, with lopsided pink kitty ears and a creased dress scurries out after Hwoarang, contracting the ire of Asuka and Katarina, arms folded. Xiaoyu, along with Miharu in tow for moral support at the tournament, feels her initial disdain morph into sickly laughter at the unfolding scene.

Lili peeks out her door, draped in a ivory nightdress and is alerted by Chloe's pleading squeals, dragging back her friend by her forearm with a stern whisper into listening ears. When did this turn into such a soap opera? Claudio inwardly winces at the fireworks, resisting a snigger at how ridiculous life could be, even before breakfast.

"Show's over!" Hwoarang booms audibly head pounding from booze abuse, storming off in whatever direction he could muster in blind rage.

Claudio is sure he can hear Lili quip, "I should hope so!"

Girlish giggling swells from Miharu, whispers and nudges the flavor of the morning with Xiaoyu, "Don't you have to fight him soon? He doesn't look up to it."

"Who cares?!" Xiaoyu scratches under her chin with a hearty shrug, "It's too early to care!"

"It's not a school day either!"

Their whining soon sees them scurrying back behind closed doors, as do a severely displeased Asuka and Katarina leaving Lili and Chloe huddled in the hallway, the Monegasque heiress looking every inch like a overprotective sister. Chloe waves frantically at Claudio, unrepentant and giddy as ever with a grin before skipping back into Lili's room. Claudio catches Lili's lips thinning into an apologetic smile, hands clasped behind her slender frame. "So much for a peaceful morning," Claudio yawns, ruffling his dark hair absentmindedly.

"Who needs an alarm when you have Hwoarang?" Lili smirks tiredly, "His screams are ringing like a church bell!"

"Shame it doesn't sound as pleasant!"

Lili's eyes flutter momentarily upon realization of the topless male before her, feeling her cheeks inexplicably burn. It does not go unnoticed by Claudio's astute observations, quizzically tilting his head in owllike curiosity at sudden silence. "Duty calls!" she blurts abruptly, briefly waving a farewell and disappearing into her room.

What was that about? Claudio muses upon returning to his quarters, shrugging to himself in solitude. Maybe Little Miss Monaco isn't a morning person.

The approaching day was further punctuated by frustrated screams. Soon the word was out, not only about Lucky Chloe getting lucky like her namesake, but about Hwoarang's less than graceful defeat to Little Miss Xiaoyu. Hungover and battered, what a world.

"No way!" Asuka's disbelief extends to Katarina, shock and horror afire. Xiaoyu and Miharu bounce on the spot, hands clasped and swinging round and round in infantile glee. "Oops I won!"

"One step closer to Jin!"

Xiaoyu blushes violently, "Shut up Miharu!"

"How could I lose?! How could I lose to High School Sugar High?!" Hwoarang's cries could wake the dead and beyond at this rate, everyone surprised he hadn't deafened poor Steve at his side patting his back with discomfort on hand with copious pain relief pills and water. "It's all that weeaboo's fault!"

"Steady on!" Steve lectures, "No one forced those bloody beers down your funnel!"

Out of the firing range, Lili wisely ushers Chloe away from Hwoarang's wrath onto the veranda, armed with a tray of ice tea to cool down. "You know, me and Hwoarang-sama..."

"No graphic details!"

"But Lili-chan!" Chloe whines, sipping lemon ice tea through a neon pink straw, "Nothing happened!"

Lili nearly drops her glass, "But..."

"He fell asleep! Poor Hwoarang-sama with his volcano head, went out like a sleepy kitty!" Chloe wriggles her brows, obnoxious slurping commencing, "I dunno what would be more embarrassing, nya."

"Him falling asleep during...?" Lili turns up her nose to shun away unwanted images of him and her friend, "Oh dear, it's one thing to have a hangover the day of your first match and lose to Jin Kazama's number one fan, and another thing to..."

Chloe lets slip a shrill oooo, dilemma in the wings. "Maybe I should tell the baka the truth."

"Perhaps when the magma cools down," Lili advises, "I wouldn't go near him right now. Your poor bolero would singe! Oh Chloe, you do get yourself into some situations, ma cherie."

"Beer makes me sleepy," she giggles, "It makes me a super mega major baka!"

"And how! You got lucky I say. You deserve better!"

"You mean like Jin-sama!?"

Lili sighs in defeat, arms folded across the table as she swirls her straw into her glass idly watching the liquid merry-go-round. "Let's not anger Xiaoyu now, the future Mrs Kazama may have our heads if we even remotely look at the man. Besides, I do have many bones to pick with Kazama..."

Jin Kazama.

Claudio had heard much about him.

For better and for worse. A figure reviled and revered.

For all the talk the main man had yet to make an appearance in the tournament, despite Xiaoyu's insistence and Chloe's transparent crush, very much skulking in shrouds of mystery. Yet the mere mention of his name sends Claudio in a stupor, dark energy brimming in the atmosphere, sensing the obscure presence at a distance. The very same presence that led him to the tournament along with orders from his organization.

Absentmindedness paralyzes Claudio, pensive at once.

So far a wild goose chase full of amateurs, pseudo-rebels and squealing teens spilling over hormones. This isn't going to be easy stamping out malign presences.

"If you stare hard enough, you'll drill a hole through that wall."

Claudio looks for the source of the voice, glancing upon Lili who saunters into view with a hand propped under her chin. "You look like you're investing heavily into thought, it's not like you to be so quiet."

"It's nothing too severe," Claudio dismissively says with a smirk, "No Chloe? Is the coast clear for her to roam free?"

"For now. I was going to go for a stroll anyway," Lili passes Claudio breezily, mary jane shoes clacking along marble to the entrance, "I suppose if you're not too busy staring at walls, you could catch me up."

"Is that an open invitation?"

"Like I said," Lili's voice trails sweetly on the air, "You're welcome to catch up." All this thinking was running rings and tripping Claudio up, perhaps some fresh air would free the wheels of thought up. Gravel filled steps alert Lili's attention, Claudio suddenly by her side with hands plunged into denim pockets.

"Certo. Why not?"

Outro: Next part will be solely dedicated to Claudio and Lili's fledgling attraction as they wander town together, probably for the best seeing as Hwoarang is still mad and Chloe is still...Chloe. Anyway, we need a break from the high octane hijinks of these guys and get back to these two! xox