Update, 12/18/08: Name changes for minor OCs. See Chapter 2's Author Note.

I need a beta reader. Seriously.

Also, in this chapter English dialogue will be in bold, just to help sort things out.

Disclaimer: Tekken concepts and characters belong to Namco.

The Marketplace

"Hey, baby. Whatcha doin' here all by yourself?"

The words, bearing the trademark slur of inebriation, were half-whispered tickles along Hwoarang's ear as he sat at the bar of an underground club. The breathy question was followed by an uninvited kiss on the neck, delicate hands and arms insinuating themselves around his torso from behind.

Normally receptive to such advances, the Tae Kwon Do pupil pulled a very un-Hwoarang like move and twisted away from the kiss, standing and unbalancing the woman to release the hold of her gloss-sticky lips from his skin.

Reflexively he caught her wrists as she wobbled on stilt-like heels, directing her to a vacant barstool before she could topple like a novice circus performer. With a quick once-over he noticed she was what many of his friends would call 'quite the little dish', as well as being the type he himself preferred for an enjoyable evening. Unfortunately he wasn't in the mood for slinky dresses and stilettos at the moment. He did flash her a smile though, mentally filing away her face, and the gorgeous legs exposed by her skirt, for a later engagement.

Having decided that that particular establishment wasn't a conducive environment for his current frame of mind, especially considering that he was denying such an easy opportunity after a dry spell of female affection, he slammed the last of his drink and headed straight for the door. Going out for a few drinks was the redhead's favorite way of taking the edge off stress, but the loud music, strong alcohol, and overall lively atmosphere had been more irritating than soothing this time around.

Emerging from the pulsating club, Hwoarang shoved his black-gloved hands into his pockets, striding down the neon illuminated sidewalk with a gait only the most confident can assert when alone in a less-than-friendly neighborhood. Several shady looking individuals approached him as he meandered on his late night venture, but most were smart enough to back off at a sneer from the wild-looking fighter. One, however, would go home that night with a very sore face and the remains of what used to be a nose.

"Stupid sonofabitch," Hwoarang muttered to himself, loosing the slight tension relief the shots at the club had given him.

It didn't help his mood any that he had to walk back to his military apartment, Baek having taken away his motorcycle keys and refusing to give them back until he had proven some increase in discipline.

Baek. The reason he was so frazzled at the moment.

Hwoarang had been pissed off after the military had finally caught him all those months ago, but his angry stewing had given way to sheer astonishment upon receiving word from the Killing Hawk, whom he'd thought dead after his mysterious disappearance. What followed after that was a vague blur of release forms, boring car rides filled with jumbled thoughts of a smartass alley cat and uncertain events to come, and then the joyous moment of reuniting with his master.

The mental turmoil of those events had long faded, however. It was the events following, and continuing to this day, involving the man that were bothering him. As devoted as he was to his mentor, and as happy as he was that the older man was alive and kicking, quite literally, the lifestyle change of pure independence back to that of obedient pupil was chafing a little more than he'd expected. His days were spent training and learning hard-to-swallow lessons in discipline, and nights that he'd typically be out on the town were spent in a worn out, dreamless sleep.

"Brought it on myself," he muttered, kicking at a crushed can on the ground. "Who'd of thought Master would take it to heart when I begged him to make me stronger... Damn you, Kazama! This is all 'cause of you, you freakish piece of shit!"

A nearby homeless man peeked out of his cardboard bed at the outburst, but ducked quickly back inside before the furious man noticed him.

With the cork out of the emotional bottle, Hwoarang felt all the negative buildup of the past few months ready to spew out, heated by his reflections of the past. His defeat at the hands of the devil-horned Jin. Waking up in a hospital afterward with his mentor nearby. Being humiliated as he tried to get out of bed and falling on his knees like a newborn colt. The complete lack of fun in his life. Needless to say, he'd been just a touch stressed out.

"I will get stronger and I will find you, Kazama. You'll pay for more than just ruining my perfect record."

"You look like shit, man."

Hwoarang snorted into his glass. "Tell me about it."

Seated at the table of his old apartment, he was sharing a welcome home drink with Scar. More of the gang had wanted to come, but he'd said no and that he'd see them later. After all, he and Baek were only in town for a week or so to scout possible dojang sites in the surrounding areas.

"Thanks for holding the apartment for me, by the way. It was shitty of me to just ditch everyone, but you guys must be doin' good to be able to afford paying the rent for empty space."

"Don't mention it. Most of 'em are afraid you'd kick our asses if it wasn't here for you when you returned." Scar paused, looking thoughtful. "You know... You've explained how the army got a hold of you again, sneaky bastards, but you never mentioned what happened to Faith. She vanished the same time you did..."

"I sent her home."

The reply was followed by a questioning silence from the other man. Hwoarang gave a nonchalant shrug as he explained further.

"Got a few friends in higher places. And I promised not to desert again or beat the shit out of the guards if given a chance, but only on the grounds that she was allowed to get home without going through too much hell. She lost her passport and all that government required crap. Woulda made it hard to leave..."

Scar sat back and crossed his arms, observing his leader with a slight smile tugging on his lips.

"Aww... How sweet. So do ya miss her?"

"... What?"

"The alley cat. Do you miss her?"

The Blood Talon glared at his companion, irritated by the knowing expression he was receiving.

"I only knew her for a short time, Scar. It's not like we were involved."

"Some people get married in that span of time."

"Some people are dumbasses."

"Touché, my friend. Touché."

They lapsed into silence, Hwoarang grumbling over his glass, Scar sitting back and looking amused with beer in hand. It was in this manner that they spent a good half hour, finishing another round while lost in their own thoughts. Scar was the first to break the moment, pushing his chair back and collecting empty bottles to throw away.

"Well, I'd better get going. Business to take care of and all that. You've probably got a shitload to do now that you're back."

"Not really."

Scar quirked an eyebrow at his friend's depressed tone.

"You could come with me and hang out with the gang. I'm sure Hyun-Ok will be overjoyed to see you."

"Nah. Especially not when you say it with that shiteatin' grin on your face. I don't feel like having my leg humped all damn day."

"All right, man. But uh... maybe you should go check out that little market street near Kwan's parts shop. I went there yesterday and they've got some pretty interesting sights."

Hwoarang snorted at the suggestion. "Isn't that a tourist trap?"

"Yeah. But it's the 'tourists' I was talking about."

With a grin, Scar slapped his friend good-naturedly on the back and took his leave. Stopping with the door open, he turned back one last time.

"Seriously man, go check it out. You won't regret it."

Shivering unexpectedly, Faith crossed her arms and shook off the weird feeling she'd been having all day, turning from the less than serene view outside the window.

"Oooh! Something big is gonna happen today! I can feel it!"

The singsong voice called out in uneven Korean from the direction of the bathroom. The source, a young Korean woman with damp platinum blonde hair and nothing but a towel on, joined her by the window.

"Another beautiful day in noisy, smelly Korea," the woman continued, this time in her accented first language.

Faith couldn't help but laugh. "As if it's any worse than noisy, smelly New York."

"Hey! At least I understand what the hell people are saying to me in New York. Plus, I can cuss them out and they understand the eloquent way in which I do it."

"Because calling someone a shit-faced monkey fucking dickcheese is an art form, yes?"

"'Course it is."

Rolling her eyes, but smiling nonetheless, Faith pushed her scantily covered friend back towards her bedroom.

"Stop standing by the window for the pervs and go get dressed. You're gonna be late helping your parents open up shop."

"Honestly, Faith. We should just trade places or something. You'd make a much more dutiful daughter than I am, and they'd be thrilled to have one that speaks Korean without having to stop and think about it every few words. I can hear it already: 'We trade you in for her. She good daughter. You go back to crazy America and live your bad, crazy life.' You know, they still say that raising me there was enough American exposure for a lifetime and that they had to come back here to recuperate for the rest of their lives."

"Yeah I know. You were a traumatizing little bitch, Eun. Now shut up and get dressed! No more sob stories!"

Literally kicking her friends ass into gear, Faith grabbed her own jacket and sat down to wait. Eun had come to Korea to help her aging parents take care of their shop and any other household needs they might require, but the rebellious girl had long ago shunned learning anything that had to do with her embarrassingly foreign parents, including the language. Suddenly in the role of foreigner, she'd asked Faith to come with her, all expenses paid, if she'd keep her company and give her a crash course in language lessons.

Faith had had no objections, seeing as how she telecommuted to work anyway and could still get paid as long as she lived where there was Internet. Besides that, Eun had been her closest, and sometimes only, friend through the worst of Melody's hospitalization stints. There was no way she would turn down such a request, which was basically just asking that there be a friend there for her during the readjustment phase.

She wasn't allowing herself to think of the other, more personal reasons that had nudged her to return to Seoul. That line of thinking would only lead her to disappointment and she knew it. And besides that, she'd already had to dodge that bullet earlier in the month and didn't want to worry about it any more than necessary.

Hwoarang couldn't believe he'd actually listened to Scar.

Dressed down to casual jeans and a hooded sweatshirt to stand out as little as possible, he found himself slipping through the crowds of people and the little shops filled with their overpriced goods, seeing little of interest. Overall it had been an extremely irritating journey, and the scowl on his face was enough to prevent anyone from approaching him for directions or requests of other trivial knowledge.

Cussing to himself about how hard he was going to pummel Scar for ruining an otherwise almost annoyance free day, the redhead stopped at a particularly noisy stall. Birds of brights colors were fluttering around their cages, squawking or whistling for attention, while various rodents stared out curiously at passerby. Pausing for a moment to cluck at the creatures, he liked the little bastards if they belonged to someone else, his gaze wandered until it caught on an equally pretty creature. Only this one wasn't in a cage.

Across the way was a traditional clothing shop, a blonde woman in an emerald green top flitted about piles of folded fabric. Although her hair was obviously dyed, it suited the rest of her bright ensemble and the pretty face it framed.

'Might as well have a little fun while I'm here,' he thought with a growing smirk, weaving his way to the shop.

"Excuse me, miss," he said, using his suavest charmer voice.

"Ye?" the woman turned to him, eyes wide in expectation of a question.

Smiling wider, he began, "I was just wondering what your name was and..."

"MAMAAA! WE GOT A TALKER!"

Hwoarang jumped at the unexpected yell, in English no less, and stared at the pale-haired woman in confusion. She smiled sweetly, giving a slight bow and excusing herself for a moment in stilted Korean.

'Holy shit. Wasn't expecting that one.'

In a few moments the woman returned, a look of anxiety on her face. In more choppy attempts, she tried to explain that she would do her best to help him find what he needed, but was still learning the language. He found her struggles rather adorable. Just as he opened his mouth to speak to her in English another voice interrupted.

"What do you need, Eun? Your mother's busy sorting."

The question came from behind a tall stack of some kind of robes, the arms carrying them as feminine as the voice. And almost as familiar. Looking closer, Hwoarang stared at the brunette as she set the armload of clothing down with her back to him, sorting them out as the blonde explained the situation.

"All right, Eun. I got it."

Hwoarang's heart nearly jumped into his throat as the second woman turned around to address him. Judging by the way her own jaw dropped and the deer-in-the-headlights look, she was feeling the same way. Luckily, Eun broke the silence, intrigued by the looks they were giving each other.

"So... I take it you two know each other?"

Neither replied at first. Finally realizing that he probably looked like a startled fish, Hwoarang cleared his throat.

"Faith. Imagine seeing you here. I thought you'd gone home."

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

Not exactly the response he was expecting. Narrowing his eyes at the rude inquiry, he replied, "This is my home country, not to mention city. It should be me demanding to know why the hell you're back."

"Scar told you didn't he?! I'm going to kill him! He promised!"

As Faith alternated between demanding he leave and promising bodily harm to his friend, the Blood Talon was letting what she'd said sink in.

"So that's why he told me to come to the market. Enjoy the sights..." he began to laugh.

"HE DID TELL YOU!"

"Calm down, alley cat. Damn. Why do you have your panties in such a bunch over me knowing you're here?"

For the first time since she'd opened her mouth at his arrival, Faith went silent. In fact, the sheer frigidity of the sudden silence could have almost physically dropped the surrounding temperature.

"Just go away."

If words could be ice, there would have been a redheaded icicle pincushion in the market that day. As it was, however, Faith merely turned on her heel and stalked back to where Eun's mother still sat despite the commotion.

"Well from what I could understand, that went wonderfully."

Hwoarang alternated his glare between the two women, wishing at that moment that looks really could kill. He was irritated enough by being completely clueless as to why he'd encountered such a bitchy reception, so his patience for someone picking at the incident was minimal at best.

"Don't give me that look, loverboy," Eun growled at him before he could reply. Lowering her voice she told him, "I don't know what you did, but you should just leave her alone for now. She's really touchy lately, and you must have done something really bad to deserve being shit on like that."

'Interesting word choice,' he thought, shaking his head. He still had to play dumb at not understanding what she was saying. "I didn't do anything."

"Oh. I'm sure you didn't."

The dripping sarcasm didn't do anything to help his mood. Lifting his lip in annoyance at the entire situation, Hwoarang pivoted and stalked away from the little clothing shop. Practically prowling through the market in agitation, he pushed the thought of the irksome blonde out of his mind and focused on the time he had spent with Faith, trying to think of what could have made her react so strongly.

They'd had plenty of arguments, neither was of the peacemaking persuasion after all, but those had all been either to irritate the other or to just argue for the sake of arguing. He couldn't think of one that either of them had taken to heart. In fact, the only confrontation they'd had that hadn't been forgotten or resolved with further sarcasm was the exchange of scathing words they'd had right before he'd been caught and she'd gone home...

"Holy fuck. She's still sore over that?"

The quickness with which he spun back around startled the already nervous tourist couple walking behind him, causing them to stumble backwards and nearly fall. Ignoring their panicked expressions, Hwoarang pushed between the two and stormed back along the same path he'd already traveled, his pace twice as quick as it had been. Along the way he received a mixture of confused looks and eyebrows raised in curiosity.

More than a few began to raise as he reached his destination.

"Are you being such a bitch because of that argument?!"

The redhead had shoved his way to where Faith and an older woman sat sorting garments, angry customers and toppled piles in his wake. His vague wording confused Eun's mother, who had started to squawk over her mistreated merchandise, but the meaning was understood by the younger woman, whose own scowl to deepened.

"Yes," she practically hissed, rising stiffly to confront him as her own initial surprise died, "Now leave! You're making a scene and fueling future gossip about my friends!" She moved to push him backwards and force a retreat if necessary.

"I will not!"

The force of the reply, a bark of belligerent refusal, took her by surprise, as did the powerful grips that suddenly encircled her wrists before they could proceed in shoving him out. In one jerk, he had brought her flush up against him, forcing the irate woman to look up into his face.

"I don't know what it was I said to piss you off like this, so you're going to tell me. Now spill."

"Fuck off!"

"Damnit, Faith!" his grip tightened slightly on her wrists, "Just fucking tell me!"

"Why? You don't care." Hwoarang was taken aback at the soft chill of her voice. He'd been expecting screaming again. "That's what's wrong. You just don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself. The only reason you care that I'm pissed is because it's making you feel crappy."

"I took you in when you were stranded here. Fed you, clothed you, and then made a shitty deal with a bunch of military jerkoffs so you could get home to your sister and you tell me..."

'Oh you dumb fuck. Her sister. YOU DUMB FUCK!'

The hands that had held Faith's captive slackened as he trailed off, allowing her to slip them out and rub where the it had begun to throb. Glaring, she in turn received the same unreadable expression that had stung so badly the last time they'd seen each other. This time, however, there was something lurking behind his eyes.

The fighter had finally put two and two together, piecing together the outburst from before they'd parted and Eun's own revelation about her friend.

"Your sister. Shit. I'm... sorry, Faith. I hope you got to be with her before she died."

He backed slowly away while speaking, no one in the shop moving to stop him. Faith was stunned at his words. Still, she kept her mouth shut as he left.

"If you let him get away, I swear I'll kick your ass."

Faith ignored her friend as she pranced towards her from the front of the shop. She was still in shocked amazement at the moment of humbleness Hwoarang had displayed. Not cocky. Not smirking. Not even a slight hint of smartass in there. He'd genuinely apologized.

"Did you hear me, woman?! TOTAL. HOTTIE. DIGGING ON YOU!" Faith turned to look at Eun as the blonde spoke and gesticulated wildly. "I don't care what went on between you two, you can't just let him walk away like that. I got that he was apologizing, and looking quite adorable while doing so. Besides, you really need to get laid."

"Eun! I can't just..."

"Yes you can! Now go get him!.... Fine! I'll go get that fine hunk of muscled sweetness..."

"Like hell you will!" Faith snapped into action, grabbing her friends shoulder and yanking her back.

Fueled by agitation at the thought of Eun shamelessly throwing herself at the Blood Talon, she left her stationary spot in the shop, her friend grinning all the while.

Hunting for a flash of bright red hair amongst a sea of dark, Faith bobbed up and down throughout the crowd of people. He wasn't hard to find.

"Hwoarang!"

Several people gave her odd looks, but only one stopped and waited for her to catch up, a look of wariness set on his face. Getting close, she slowed her pace and tried to think of what she could possibly say to someone she'd basically told to fuck off and then followed. Not wanting to look like a gaping mouthed idiot, she blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"You're an asshole."

The redhead's eyebrows lowered, his eyes glinting dangerously as he opened his mouth to reply to such a charming statement.

"But..." she continued, holding up a hand to stall his insults, "So am I. So I guess that makes us even. You couldn't of known her condition. I never told you. And I... didn't know you'd done that to help me get home... Thank you. I... wouldn't of gotten to be there when she passed with all the red tape the government makes you go through. So... yeah.... thanks..."

Feeling awkward, Faith stood there a moment under scrutiny before nodding curtly and turning to leave, having said her piece. His intense gaze was making her feel uncomfortable. A light grab at her fingers stopped the woman, the cocky smile directed her way an even more effective anchor than the touch.

"Come on, asshole. I'll buy you dinner. It's nice to be thanked and everything, but the serious vibe is too much. You can eat and then go back to selling tourists outdated styles."

When she glared and sent a sharp punch into his ribs, Hwoarang couldn't help but laugh and rub the sore spot.

Sorry for the long delay. I had finals and then moved, but now I have an ungodly number of hours to spend doing whatever, so chapters will come more quickly. I already have half of the next one written. ;)