Chapter 2: Hwoarang meet Julia Rewrite

Grogginess and pain are what Hwoarang felt as his body shifted. Then the wave of panic hit as he realized that he was moving. Not moving but being carried. He jerked violently trying to get away.

"You're not helping by doing that!" A female voice told him. He relaxed slightly hearing that it wasn't a man's voice. Hwoarang tried to open his eyes. One eye was bruised and swollen it refused to open more than a narrow slit. His other eye was barely any better. The vision in it was fuzzy but he could see that he was no longer in the alley. Well no longer in the same alley.

"What happened?" Hwoarang said groaning he looked around the best he could. It was the girl from the street. His good arm slung over her shoulder as she carried him. The wounds on his arm and leg were wrapped with bandanas to stop the bleeding.

"What happened? You got shot and then knocked out. That's what happened." She told him with a hint of panic in her voice.

"My face…how bad is it?" He asked.

"Bruised and still pretty bloody at the moment. I don't think now is necessarily the time to worried about it."

"Oh no my modeling career is over. Now one will love me ever again." Hwoarang joked as he tried to smile though the pain. He heard her sigh.

"Are you serious?" She stopped and turned and set him down against a wall not as gently as he would have liked.

"Ah c'mon now careful." Hwoarang half groaned and laughed.

"Can you not joke? Really that was insane! They were shooting at you. People don't just shoot at someone without a reason!" She said as she started to pace in front of him.

"Calm down, what's your name? I know you from the tournament right?"

"My name is Julia Chang and yes you know me from the tournament." She told him.

"Well Julia I'm Hwoarang and since you've fought in the tournament I know that you know that you've probably without a doubt fought against someone who probably murdered someone. So if you can do that then you're most likely calmer than you're acting now." Hwoarang said as he moved his arm to rub his battered face. Pain shot though his arm as soon as he moved it. He winced with regret at using the wrong arm.

"Bad idea you should probably use the good one smart guy." Julia said with a slight smile. "Serves you right."

"Yeah all right sorry. Thank you for helping me but can you tell me what happened?" He asked feigning the apology.

"Not here, we're not safe here the hotel I'm staying at is near here. Also you're going to explain to me what this was all about." Julia told him as she went to help him up.

"Somebody is a little nosy are they?" Hwoarang teased as he stood with Julia's help.

"You don't think that's fair? I mean I could leave you here." Julia teased back

"I suppose that's fair. The situation turned at the best it could have I guess. Really I expected to wake up in a military prison or something."

"So they were the military?!"

"No…no…well not the Japanese military at least."

"Great that makes it okay then." Julia said her words soaked in sarcasm. They started walking slow as Hwoarang hobbled along with her help.

"Yeah but listen I'm extremely lightheaded and having quite a bit of trouble thinking." Hwoarang told her.

"I'm guessing that is probably not to too far off from normal." She joked.

"Oh look out for this girl she's got jokes."

"I would say it's most likely a concussion and maybe some from the blood lost." Julia explained.

The remainder of the trip was quiet until they got back to Julia's hotel room. She helped him to the small sofa in the room and lowered him down onto it. Julia turned walking away into the bathroom.

Hwoarang used his good arm and touched the other one. Pressing on the cloth that was wrapped around his arm he winced when his hand found the injury. The leg of his pants had been soaked in a decent amount of blood.

"Not to bad might be able to keep these." He said to himself examining them.

"You know you are really heavy." Julia's voice came from the doorway into the room. Hwoarang looked up to see her carry a first aid kit towards him. Kneeling down in front him she undid the bandanna tied around his leg.

"And that's ruined." She said as she tossed it aside. Her fingers pulled on the hole in his pants that the bullet had made. With a jerk she tore it making it larger.

"C'mon really?!"

"What? You seriously weren't going to keep those were you?" Julia asked him skeptically. Hwoarang huffed a moment and let out a defeated sigh. Julia got to work cleaning the wound.

"You really should go the hospital. I mean it's not that bad you're probably the luckiest person alive. Getting shot twice and both are just superficial wounds. Really they are pretty much just scrapes but they would be able to help prevent any scarring and they would do a better job than me at preventing an infection." She told him as she bandaged the injury with actual medical gauzes.

"Nah you're doing just fine. Plus the scars will help me impress the ladies. I do have to ask though."

"What's that?"

"You have any ice? I could maybe get this swelling down, you know stop looking like a puffy face pirate." Hwoarang said pointing at his swollen eye.

"Oh yeah of course." Julia said as she finished the dressing and stood. She left him to get the ice and came back with it wrapped in a towel. Hwoarang took it from her and held it to his face with his good arm while she tended to the other.

"So what's your story? Why were those men after you?" She asked

"Let's just say they going to hurt me for a reason that's not worth it for anyone. I would say that they're a little on the trigger-happy side. But really they are just guys doing their job." Hwoarang told her. "It's their job to take me back."

"Take you back where?"

"They're going to take me back home, back to Korea, back to the army."

"So you went AWOL?"

"Yup."

"And I attacked the Korean army."

"Well not the whole thing and you saved me and that's the important thing." Hwoarang laughed while Julia was taken back realizing what she had done. "Hey no worries though I mean there is no way they could have known you right?"

"No yeah no where…oh that's right what are about the huge tournaments we've fought in. The one that's all over TV and the Internet right." Julia said frustration setting into her voice.

"Well there's that but did they really get that good of a look at you?" Hwoarang asked her.

"I guess everything was happening pretty quickly but you're still a wanted criminal."

"Not in this country."

"Not in this country? Sorry to say but the Japanese government seems to be giving yours a lot of leeway." Julia said finishing the dressing on his arm and started to clean the blood on his face.

"Yeah it does seem that way. Oh well I guess I have to just become a wandering warrior. My journeys will span the globe as I search for opponents each one stronger then the last. Until I find the one who proves to be my equal or stronger." Hwoarang joked.

"So you're going to turn your life into a bad kung-fu film then?" Julia asked as she finished.

"I was going to say cheesy video game story but it could never happen anyways."

"Why is that?" Julia asked

"I have no equal."

"Okay then." Julia said annoyed "Tell me why did you run away from the army?"

"I wouldn't call it running away." Hwoarang said offended

"I would." Julia said back sharply.

"All right listen I had a few reasons."

"And?"

"Man like I said someone is a nosy person. Well the first reason was that I was bored." Hwoarang explained to her.

"Bored? So you're a man child?" Julia teased.

"Hey either you can stop criticizing me or I can always not tell you." Hwoarang told her.

"Ok sorry please continue."

"Getting to fight Jin Kazama is another reason." Hwoarang said causing her to look at him with disbelief.

"Really a fight? That's worth going to prison?" Julia asked shocked.

"You don't understand…and it's hard to explain." He told her. "We fought once before and lets say it didn't turn out exactly the way I hoped."

"So he beat you?"

"Ha there is no way he could ever beat me." Hwoarang laughed. "The fight was a draw."

"Oh so you couldn't beat him." Julia said beginning to tease him. "It still seems like a pretty childish reason to risk your freedom for."

"Yeah ok so you don't like my reasons I get that but you don't know me. Not wanting to have to kill someone should be reason enough. I don't want that life. Listen either you're going to call then police or you're not. Really right now I don't even care." Hwoarang snapped as he pushed away from her. "I'm though defending myself to you. I don't know you I don't know why I even talked to you this long." Hwoarang got off of the sofa and stood. Pain shot though his leg as he put pressure on it.

"Wait…" Julia said touching his arm. "I'm sorry Hwoarang…I just wanted to make sure…"

"Don't be sorry, listen thank you for helping me but I don't need to be lectured by someone like you." Hwoarang told her brushing her hand away.

"Like me?"

"Yeah like you a little goody-goody never doing anything wrong, always right. Sacrifice for the greater good and all that bullshit. You've probably never done anything wrong and you'll let everyone else know how much better you are than them." Hwoarang said with frustration as he limped to the door.

"So you don't want judged but you'll do it to me. You can act like a jerk all you want but don't except me to help you again." Julia told him as she stood.

"Never asked for your help the first time and I will not need it again!" Hwoarang said as he went out the door then slamming it behind him.

"Who does he think he is?" Julia said to herself, as she stood there angry and a little confused about what happened.

"Who does she think she is?" Hwoarang mumbled to himself as he walked down the hallway to the elevator. He hit the button and waited a moment before a ding sounded and the doors opened. Once inside he pressed the lobby button and leaned against the wall. Hwoarang closed his eyes and rested as the lift descended. Thoughts of recent events raced though his head. Jin Kazama had surely left Japan by now.

The Tekken Force soldiers had seemed to have a special interest in him during the tournament. Hwoarang wondered what they could have wanted him for. What could possibly be so great about Jin, he wondered.

Thoughts of Julia crept into to his mind. She had come as stuck up to him but she had helped him and it was nice to be taken care of by an attractive girl. Not only that but she was a fighter too. Julia hadn't really stood out as a fighter as first but during their conversation he had noticed certain toughness about her. He had been to singularly focus on getting to fight Jin to have noticed her at the tournament. That was odd too because he usually had a moment or two for a pretty girl. He couldn't help but smile as the elevator reached its destination. Hwoarang stepped out and made his way back to the hotel that he had been staying at.

Julia paced back and forth in her room fuming. The way Hwoarang had acted had her flustered. They had just been talking when he seemed to snap. She sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. Julia steadied her breath to calm herself. Thinking about the situation she wondered why she was so upset.

"He's just an idiot." She said to herself. Julia thought he was an idiot but those men were going shoot him, she just could let that happen could she?

"You're too good of a person Julia." She said to herself as she lean backwards onto the bed. Her head hit the pillow as she had one last thought of Hwoarang. "Good riddance."