My Rival's Paradise

Hidden Messages

"We're going to die," said Jin emotionlessly.

"W-what?" stuttered Xiaoyu nervously as she saw Jin's eyes begin to glow red.

"We're going to die," Jin repeated in a more quiet voice this time.

"Jin, you're scaring me," Xiaoyu backed away nervously.

Jin took a staggering step towards her, eyes locked onto hers. He began to slowly walk towards her; his eyes begin to glow brighter.

Xiaoyu found herself stuck where she was standing, unable to move. "He's going to kill me," she thought. She tried to break out of the paralysis, but found her arm starting to burn.

Jin finally stood less than six inches from her, he faced Xiaoyu with no expression, yet she could see the anger in his eyes.

Xiaoyu gulped nervously as Jin took a hold of her arm, his face began to show strange black markings across his forehead.

"Ahhhh!!!!!" Xiaoyu wailed a loud scream that could be heard from over miles away.

Jin's eyes returned back to normal and the markings on his face disappeared. Breathing heavily, Xiaoyu knocked Jin's arm away and wrapped her arms around him quickly.

To Jin's surprise, he found Xiaoyu clinging desperately onto him as if she didn't want to let go. "Jin! Don't go!" she shrieked, burying her face into his shirt.

Awkwardly, Jin reached up his hand to caress Xiaoyu's back, with an unsure expression on his face.

"What happened?" Jin asked, quietly in his normal voice.

Xiaoyu let go of Jin and took a step backward. "You mean you don't know?"

Jin shook his head and glanced down at the bitten fruit not too far away. He walked towards it and picked it up, examining it.

"Don't touch that!" Xiaoyu ran up to him and knocked it out of his hands with a swift slap. "Don't ever eat that again!"

"Do you even know where we're going?" Hwoarang asked, half annoyed that Julia was leading them in unknown directions.

"Er, of course I know where we're going! We're following the trail!" Julia replied, knowing that she didn't even know where she was leading them.

They have been walking for hours, occasionally stopping because Hwoarang whined that he was tired.

"I'm hungry, where's that food you have?" Hwoarang reached into his pockets and was about to take a large bite, before the fruit crumbled into black ashes in his hand.

"What the hell?!" Hwoarang angrily exclaimed as he dropped the ashes onto the floor. In vain, he tried again and picked up another piece only to find that the fruit, again crumbled into ashes.

"What's your problem now?" Julia sighed.

"Great, that's just great. Now we have no food," said Hwoarang throwing his hands up in the air. "Let's rest."

"Fine," Julia muttered, not arguing because she was truly tired now. She took a seat on a log next to Hwoarang.

"Do you think we'll ever get off?" she asked him.

"I'm beginning to hope so too," said Hwoarang, leaning forward to bury his face in his hands.

"What are you going to do after you get off?" Julia asked curiously.

"I don't know. Probably join the army or something. As if I have anything else to do," Hwoarang muttered bitterly. "What about you?"

"I'm going to college," Julia smiled at the thought. "I'm going to Brown University in America."

"Figures."

The both of them sat in silence for a while, Julia found herself drooping, exhausted and wanting to sleep desperately. She closed her eyes and leaned over.

"Jin, where are we going?" Xiaoyu asked as Jin stalked quickly into the woods. She followed him quickly, sort of annoyed that he was walking five times her pace.

"I need to know where you got this," he replied, not slowing down.

"Shouldn't you let me lead then?"

Jin didn't answer and continued power walking. He came across a large tree with a strange marking on it that resembled the markings on the fruit. But the tree held no fruit.

He stopped in front of the tree, frozen in place as he gazed at the carved figures on the tree.

"Jin! You found something?!" Xiaoyu caught up to Jin and shook his arm. She looked up and she too was frozen, staring in amazement. "That's the tree! That's it!"

Jin darted quickly behind the tree and ran around it, looking for more answers. He then took off down the trail and then dashed quickly to the left. Xiaoyu ran at his speed, not too far away from him.

All of a sudden, Jin stopped and Xiaoyu bumped into his back with an 'oof.'

"Jin, why did you just stop?"

Jin slapped a hand over her mouth quickly and spoke in a soothing voice. "I hear something. Growling, I think."

"Mmmf," was Xiaoyu's muffled reply.

His shoe stepped on a twig and it snapped loudly, and all of a sudden the growling stopped.

Jin walked forward, still holding onto Xiaoyu even though she thought she was being treated more like a hostage than something he was trying to protect.

A few muffled noises were heard and then silence.

Julia's head woke up with a snap and found herself lying practically halfway on top of Hwoarang. "Ack! I hope he didn't know that!"

Hwoarang was snoring which sounded more animal than human. He mumbled to himself as usual but this time it sounded different. "Don't go...Please...I'll do anything..."

Julia shook Hwoarang awake quickly. "Hey, wake up!"

Hwoarang woke up with a loud groan and smacked his lips as his eyes fluttered. He found Julia leaning down on him and smiled. "I have you," he thought.

"You were mumbling something," she said quietly, not noticing that her position made everything look a bit obvious.

"Were you like this all the time?" he asked not answering her question.

"Like what?"

"Oh no, it's ok. You don't have to get off me," his peaceful face went back to his usual, obnoxious smirk.

"Ah!" Julia shrieked but held herself back. "I was only trying to wake you up. You, uh, sounded like you had a nightmare," she blabbered quickly and did not stop there. "Naturally, I thought I should wake you up. You should a-appreciate that..."

Hwoarang all of a sudden became quiet. His face no longer held the smirk but was not replaced with a look of suspicion and fear.

He grabbed Julia down on top of him and placed a deep kiss on her lips, not letting go of her face as Julia flailed her arms around.

He didn't let go.

TBC

A/N: Muahahaha ... this was a fun part to write ... yeah kind of short I admit but hey its getting juicier !!! ... no not that way you perv !!! ... okay maybe just a little ... lets see ... coming up next ... a long awaited reunion perhaps or a battle of the unknown? ... and yes yes I know ... and I know many of you are waiting to find out about that kiss =] ... find out on the next chapter !!!