Crossfire

Chapter 18

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It was a private room. Since Chaolan Lee had arranged everything, and was footing the bill, the hospital staff was more then willing to pamper the fiery redhead. Unlike most of the other patient’s rooms, there were no flowers, or get-well cards. There were no magazines or newspapers. The only thing in that room that wasn’t there before he got there was the glass of water on the nightstand beside him.

Though, the lack of gifts and words of cheer in his room were not because he did not receive anything. He had received quite a few things from both Julia and Kazuya, but without so much as glancing at them, he had ordered the delivery personnel to remove them immediately. He knew that Kazuya would send apologies, but he didn’t want an apology from Kazuya. It was Zekkai who he wished to hear from. He didn’t expect Jin to even know he was in the hospital, and his brand new relationship with Lee wasn’t like that. Instead of sending messages or gifts, Lee visited before and after the surgery, and intended to the next morning.

The doctors had said that it wasn’t as bad as it looked. After a small, one-hour surgery, he slept for a while and was told that he was healthy enough to go. Unfortunately, the doctors were obviously looking to drag a prettier penny out of Lee, so they decided to keep the Korean in over night in order to “Observe his condition”.

Along with the sound of women laughing in the hallway, Julia entered the room, breaking his silent sanctuary. Dark Korean eyes slowly gazed up at the unwanted guest with far less anger then he intended. He wasn’t angry that she had sex with Jin, though that was unnerving. It was the fact that he had been right all along that angered him. Defiantly, he looked away, and stared broodingly into the glass of water at his side.

“Are you alright?” Julia asked quietly.

Hwoarang shrugged and picked up the glass to take a big, unnecessarily loud gulp. As he put it back down he decided to voice a response: “No, to tell you the truth Julia, I’m not all right. I’m far from all right. I got attacked by a demon, and then put under the knife. The only fucker I can trust to be honest is Chaolan. And don’t you dare fucking say that I’m being a hypocrite because I’m not honest. You were lying to me way before I started lying to you.”

Julia frowned, “What did I ever lie about?”

“Jin.”

Her face changed from defensive to that of someone who knew a past crime had been found out. Her eyes began to water as she sat down on the chair beside the nightstand. “I didn’t do that because I love him, Hwoarang. I heard Devil say that you didn’t love me, and you didn’t deny it, so I went off in a self-pity tangent, and Jin was the only one to offer me some comfort. I was vulnerable.”

“So you’re saying Jin Kazama took advantage of you?” Hwoarang laughed with disbelief as he shook his head, “We are talking about the same Jin Kazama here, aren’t we? Maybe he did start it, but I doubt he was taking advantage of anything. I don’t care what you’ve been through; if Jin started something with you, it wouldn’t matter how happy or how upset you were, you’d just go with it.”

“How can you say that? You’re the one who’s with all these other people, and you freak when one of them finds someone else! You have no right to be angry with me, Hwoarang!”

“Julia.” He looked directly at her, “You’re right. I’m a horrible jealous monster. You should be with someone who will be faithful to you. Someone who you can successfully turn into Kazama. Obviously I’m not that person. Julia, I want to ask you a favor. Just one last favor and I’ll never ask anything of you again.”

“What is it?”

His face lost all emotion and became more thoughtful. His voice was rather indifferent as he answered, “I want you to leave me. Go back to America, dig through some shit and dirt, find something old and broken, and sell if for a lot of money, and then reforest your homeland. Do what you want to do, just stay the fuck away from me.” He paused as he noticed her studying him, and he decided to continue further, “I know I’ve said this before on a number of occasions, but those times I said it out of anger. I’m not angry right now. I don’t love you, Julia, and you don’t love me. You’re wasting my time, and I’m wasting yours, so there’s no point in this… I don’t fucking love you.”

“But… Then…”

“No, Julia.”

The American girl jumped at the sound of a door opening beside her. She turned to see Jin Kazama himself enter the room, a brown paper bag in hand. Something in his eye told her that he wanted to be alone with Hwoarang, but she didn’t want to leave for fear that she’d never see him again. Before she could object, the man on the bed growled under his breath, what she guessed was a venomous Korean insult directed at the Japanese.

After a moment of voicelessly arguing with herself, she finally got up and walked out of the room without a word to either of the men. Once Jin shut the door, she ducked into the empty room beside the one she had just left. With a guess as to where the head of the bed was positioned, Julia put her ear to the wall, hoping to hear what was being said. Luckily hospital walls were made paper-thin. Though the voices were muffled, most words could be understood, making it possible to fill in the inaudible ones.

Within the room in question, Jin walked over with an almost unnoticeable limp and dropped the bag on Hwoarang’s lap with a shy explanation, “I thought you might like some real food, but they told me you probably wouldn’t have much of an appetite after that surgery. I got you some Korokke, meat and potatoes.”

Hwoarang put the bag beside his lonely glass of water, and patted the bed beside him, “Come sit.”

After hesitating for a while, Jin took a seat on the edge of the bed, only to be pulled down next to his rival. He frowned, having expected to be attacked and not embraced. “Uh… I take it that thing you said when I walked in was just for show?”

“Fuck no. Nothing I do is for show.” Hwoarang smirked, rubbing his rival’s back. “Don’t mind me, I’m a bit doped up at the moment.”

“So I hear Zekkai snapped… Any particular reason?”

“Yeah. He’s as much of a bitch as you are. Who would have thought?” Hwoarang grinned, and kissed Jin lightly on the corner of the mouth. “Don’t worry about it. So where did you take off to? I’m guessing you’re the one who brought me to my apartment and gave Lee the job of babysitting me.”

Jin flinched, not wanting to tell the truth. Normally he was all for honesty, but this wasn’t a normal situation, and he didn’t want to bring Hwoarang into it, so he quickly thought up a lie, “I do still have a job you know.”

Though he didn’t believe it, Hwoarang was far too lazy to press the issue at that moment. As he ignited a rough, sloppy kiss, the subject was dropped. The kiss only lasted a second. It was just barely enough time for Hwoarang to successfully unbuckle Jin’s belt. Before any further steps could be taken, the phone rang. Hwoarang, figuring it was probably Lee, reached over grudgingly and picked it up.

“Yeah?”

“You sound well, my beautiful Human.”

Hwoarang tried to hide the surprise in his voice, but failed as he said, “Zekkai!” He silently noted the masked fear that was apparent on his rival’s face as the demon’s name was spoken. Not just the typical look of distaste, but something more along the lines of fresh conflict.

“Why so shocked? Did you not think I’d care enough to check on you? I’m insulted. So how’s my other half doing? Did he explain that limp to you?”

He glanced over at Jin, “What limp?”

Jin looked away in shame, not knowing what else to do. He really did not want to be there at that moment, but there was no sign of a way out, other then walking straight back out that door like a coward. It was preferable to sit and face his shame no matter what the redhead thought of the facts. The last thing he wanted was to lose Hwoarang’s respect, and suddenly he understood why the Korean was always avoiding admitting that Zekkai had raped him. The respect you lose for yourself was unbearably painful, let alone having someone else lose that respect.

“I was curious as to why you had any attraction to Jun’s boy, so I decided to try him out for myself. He’s quite an amusing toy, almost more amusing then you, but then again, I couldn’t seem to make him beg, and he did struggle much harder then you ever did. Perhaps next time I should try dangling him off of a sky scraper.”

“Yumago,” Hwoarang growled, “What the hell do you want, you sick fuck?”

“To speak with you. Meet me in an hour in the birthplace of Kazuya’s immortality. You may wish to bring the boy, for I doubt you know where the cliff is located”

The Korean dropped the receiver on the nightstand without so much as another word to his demonic lover. His attention was soon focused on his rival, but strangely, there was no need for further instruction. Jin already knew where they were going, and he was already on his feet, arms crossed before his chest in waiting.

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Lee Chaolan sighed, positive that he had never been so inconvenienced in his life. He looked the women over briefly before starting the engine and speeding off in the direction of the forest in question. As long as they didn’t encounter any cops, they’d make it on time.

If Jin Kazama and Hwoarang weren’t in danger he wouldn’t bother. He tended not to get involved in Kazuya’s affairs because of a childhood fear he had never been able to shake. After spending years of witnessing servants new to the Mishima estate cross Kazuya on a bad day, it was normal to be annoyed with the possibility of being one of those unfortunate few. At the moment he was wishing that the girl hadn’t come to him with this problem she had acquired during eavesdropping on her currently ex-boyfriend, but he knew that he would rather this then reading about the young men’s deaths in the paper the next morning.

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“Well,” Zekkai quirked a brow, looking over the two young men approaching. “I’m somewhat surprised you didn’t invite your body guard to our little get-together.”

Hwoarang rolled his eyes as he came to stand less then a meter away from the demon. “If everyone I fucked became my body guard, I should be a very safe man by now, and I would definitely fire you.”

“I am overwhelmed by your incredible wit,” Zekkai said sarcastically. “Now, on to more important matters. If you were anyone else, I would assume that you were wondering what I wish to speak with you about, but since I know you better than that, I would guess you’re too busy trying to figure out who to sleep with next. Though I can only imagine how you intend to solve this dilemma, I have yet to care.” It gazed over at Jin, “Though I am curious as to why you are still one of his loyal minions, even after you and Julia have found each other. Is the Chang really that bad in bed?”

Jin frowned, almost in a pout, turning his head away in a refusal to respond. The beast would never get a word out of him again after what it had got away with earlier. It seemed the creature was intent on adding insult to injury, but he wouldn’t give it that satisfaction. It would pay soon enough. He was sure of that.

The sound of a car pulling up reached the demon’s ears alone. Judging by the whispers heard, the two young men in front of it were unaware that guests were due to arrive. The voices were familiar. It was the Chang and Lee. Zekkai looked back over at its fiery resentful former love, and thought aloud, “Why is it that the more I wish to kill you, the more obstacles stand in my way, but when I wish to be with you, it’s only you that stands in my way?”

“I’m going to take a chance and guess that’s a rhetorical question,” Hwoarang said, furrowing his brow with slight insult.

“Well, as usual, I have every intention of disposing of all my obstacles. I hope you are prepared for a fight, my beautiful human, for this time I will not hold back.”

Hwoarang fell into fighting stance, but Jin pulled him back, whispering, “You just got out of the hospital. It would be an unfair fight considering you’re still weak, and it is a demon.” He frowned as the Korean yanked himself away from the concerned Japanese. “Hwoarang. Be careful.”

“Fuck off, Kazama.” Hwoarang narrowed his eyes at the demon, falling back into his stance. “Now that we know that nobody will be holding back, let’s get this show on the road. I’ll teach you to threaten me, you fucking piece of Celestial shit. I’ll take a chunk out of your ass and make you kiss it, you sick fuck!”

Zekkai smiled, greatly amused by the words, and eased into a stance of its own. “I wish you wouldn’t speak like that towards me, my beautiful human. You know how it turns me on.”

“We’ll see how turned on you are when your own head is shoved so far up your ass you’ll be eating your own lungs!”

“Sounds like an interesting sight.”

Hwoarang sneered, and lunged forward kicking his former lover four times quickly in the jaw before jumping around and hitting it in the head it his other foot, knocking the demon sideways. He stood over it and frowned as he watched the wings sprout, and the psychotic grin taking form on the scarred face. Before it could climb completely to it’s feet, Hwoarang brought his heel down on one of its wing’s, smirking at the sickening crack that was heard.

The demon groaned through the pain, growing angrier by the second. It tested its wings, before frowning and looking over at the redhead as it got up. With one swift motion it moved into a solid blow to the side of the younger man, and followed that with an even more powerful blow to the chest. The hit sent the younger man falling onto his back, growling a series of unintelligible curses in a language that no one present could possibly understand. The general meaning behind the words, however, was perfectly clear.

As the Korean got to his feet, the demon stepped forward, crouching briefly before launching itself into a powerful uppercut, and as the victim fell, it spun into a forced kick that propelled the redhead away. He skidded across the grass, dirt, and rocks, practically bouncing as if he were a rock being skipped over water. The skidding came to a halt only inches away from the edge of the cliff.

Zekkai Stalked over, an arrogant sneer on its face as it lifted the younger man up and held him over the cliff. “I assume you know exactly what to do in this situation, based on past happenings, but just in case, I’ll tell you. Beg.”

“Never,” Hwoarang spat.

They heard a gasp, and looked toward the trees to see Julia and Chaolan emerge. Enraged, Julia ran forward at the demon as it tossed her boyfriend back onto the edge, and turned, prepared for the girl’s assault. She threw a punch, but it was caught and held. Before she could manage another attack, she was also tossed aside, like a rag doll. The demon did not spare her so much as another glance as it crossed its arms.

Lee stepped toward the demon, keeping a safe distance between them. He sighed and ran a hand through his silky silver mane, quietly speaking, “You’re over reacting, Zekkai. There’s nothing between him and I. We can barely stand being in each other’s presence for even a moment.”

The demon laughed bitterly, “It’s a little late for that, Lee. If you can’t stand each other, then how did it happen?”

“That’s simple. Kazuya left him injured, and he was a bit out of it from sleeping so long. I suppose with the absence of his charm, I was able to glimpse what it is that everyone else seems to find so appealing. Of course, the minute he started talking again, afterwards, I regretted the whole thing,” Chaolan lied with ease, almost making Hwoarang himself believe it.

A look of hope came across the demon’s face, but it was soon replaced by loathing. It looked over the redhead with angry consideration, and started toward him, “You. You have ruined everyone here. What are these people to you? What gave you the right to pull them into this… this massacre of human relationships? And furthermore, what gave you the right to lower me to one of your random, meaningless loves? I will stand among these mortal’s in your eyes no more.”

Hwoarang growled under his breath as he got up, holding his side. He stifled a cough before answering, “Sounds like someone needs to get the facts straight. You really wanna know what gave me those rights? You did. I may have ruined Julia, and Jin, and maybe even Chaolan, but none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Kazuya. He’s the one who pulled me into this fucking hell, so if he’s angry, he should know it’s his own fault! And I didn’t fucking pull you into anything! You invited yourself into my life! You forced your way in, you selfish bastard, so don’t ever try to place the blame on me!”

A look of hostility came over the demon as it pulled its arm back in preparation to unleash a deadly blow. Before it could be delivered, someone grabbed its arm from behind. Zekkai turned in time to watch a small foot connect with the side of its head. A fist came down on it, followed by another in the stomach, the small combo being finished by a leaping kick to the chest, that seemed to have all the woman’s weight and then some put into it. Any other day, the demon would have admired her for such a revolt, but it was too personal.

Zekkai reached out and grabbed Julia’s neck. “You, my dear, have done nothing but get in the way. I swore an oath that I would kill you the first chance I get, and although my issues with you are less important then they had been, I never break an oath.”

Julia tried desperately to pry the cold fingers off her neck, but to no avail. She struggled to breathe, but it hurt too much. It felt as though her whole neck was caving in. The pain was so intense; she almost wished it would cave in. She wished it would end one way or the other. This couldn’t possibly be the pain that had won over her boyfriend.

“Let her go!” Jin stepped forward, breaking his silent promise to himself. “She doesn’t have anything that you want!”

“That’s very brave of you, my boy,” Zekkai smiled mockingly at the young Kazama. It’s grip on the American’s throat tightened ever so slightly, and it’s nails dug into her skin. A small trail of blood trickled down, leaving a line of stained skin, making her look unreal as if she had been painted up for a movie. The demonic man’s smile turned to one of psychotic frustration as it yelled out, “You cannot expect me not to kill anyone! It’s either her or Hwoarang. Take your pick, boy!”

Jin narrowed his eyes daringly. “You couldn’t kill Hwoarang. You love him. I know you do.”

Hwoarang himself seemed to flinch at that statement. His lip curled into a quick sneer, already regretting what he was about to do, as he said, “Leave them alone. You already have me, Zekkai.”

Zekkai turned back around to study the fiery young redhead. It tilted its head slightly in wonder, a question on its face, turning its reflective gaze into a hungry smirk. It brushed a hand over the Korean’s cheek, and tossed the girl away once again. Its eyes seemed to heat the younger man to the core, but he couldn’t look away no matter how hard he tried. The more the beast hated him, the more he needed to be with it.

A deceitful tear escaped his eye. Though showing a weakness at such a time was dangerous, he did not try to hide it. The tear streamed down his cheek on the side of his face farthest from the spectators, so the only one able to see it was the only one who could use it against him. Strangely, he wouldn’t rather anyone else view his weakness than his Zekkai.

“Go ahead,” Hwoarang said, adding a mocking tone of his own, “Take what’s yours. Nothing’s standing in your way right now, right? Prove to these whiny bastards that you have the guts.” He moved closer, gently running his hands along the demon’s chest, slowly bringing them lower, and slipping his fingers into its pants. “I already know you have the balls. Come on, big daddy… Destroy me.”

The demon glanced at the others with amusement, making sure they were catching the scene. It grabbed one of the hands roaming its body and pulled the boy to an angle. It kicked him in the back of the head before reversing the hit by bringing its leg back and nailing Hwoarang in the face with its heel. As the boy was falling over, Zekkai snatched him by the upper leg, and swung him up, before slamming him into the ground a few feet away, nearly knocking him off of the cliff once again. The smirk not leaving its face for even a second.

“Hwoarang!” Julia gasped, her voice dry from her previous conflict with the demon. She raised herself to her feet, trembling and sore, and staggered toward the fallen Korean.

Lee Chaolan watched Helplessly, afraid that if he attempted to help, it would only make the creature even angrier with the boy, therefore putting Hwoarang in even more danger. Still, he stood alert, prepared to jump in if he saw no other choice. The younger Japanese man had made it closer to the battle, marks tainting his skin, and eyes beginning to redden. Chaolan knew the war would be ending with this one fight. Not everyone present would survive this day.

Zekkai kicked the girl away from its former lover, and knelt down beside the boy, “You pathetic wretched boy. What makes you think you still have the power to seduce me? The thought of being enchanted by you ever again makes me sick, for I know how many other people you have been with in such a short amount of time.” It stroked his hair, not caring that it found blood on its hand, and continued; “Now all I desire to take from you is your life.”

Hwoarang blinked a few times trying to focus. He knew his head had hit something hard. Now the demon had three advantages over him, it was Devil, he was already weak from previous injuries and surgery, and now he couldn’t see clearly. Those ever so cold lips closed down on his, paralyzing him even further. It was obvious the devious creature was only playing with him, but he didn’t want the kiss to end. He wanted to live forever like that. He wanted a new ice age to hit right that second and drown them in an everlasting kiss that would never be touched again by sadness or anger, or even the intense animosity that he could feel building up inside him.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” The redhead growled, pushing himself up, trying to shake off his thoughts. “You fucked up real bad this time, Devil. Who the hell do you think you are? I may have gotten down and dirty with Lee, but at least I didn’t rape Kazuya’s son! And you did that before you even knew about Chaolan and I. You sick fuck!”

The Korean charged at the older demon, only to be dodged without effort. He stopped to spin around and try again, but suddenly realized he was losing his balance, and found himself about to fall over the edge. Someone caught him. Soon he felt himself being laid out on a bed of soft grass. A voice was speaking to him, but he couldn’t understand the words. He just laid there, listening, finding a small amount of comfort in the soft rhythm of the person speaking.

Chaolan desperately tried to get a response from the young man. The boy wasn’t unconscious yet, but he looked pretty damn close. It was a concussion. He sighed, knowing that he would have to play bodyguard after all. As if that demon wasn’t pissed enough at him. This would surely worsen things. He didn’t want to get involved directly…

“You jerk!!” Julia cried out, lunging at the demon in a series of sloppy kicks and punches that were bordering on desperate and confused slaps. She was obviously too injured and angry to focus correctly. “You lied to him! You ruined our lives! I hate you! How could you be so cruel?” She fell to her knees in sobbing fits.

As Jin looked over at the pitiful sight of his rival, all signs of the devil inside him vanished. He stood beside Chaolan, glancing back suspiciously at the soulless figure, standing there, already thinking the battle was won. Jin glared at the man who was once his mother’s love, with hatred like no other. It wasn’t that man anymore. It was evil.

Zekkai smirked down at the girl, “You want me to leave him alone? Then pray and he will not be harmed any further. Pray to me, my dear, and make it good.”

Julia quieted down, staring up at the creature, tears still streaming down her face. Her eyes were red and bloodshot as she begged with a pained voice, “Zekkai… please have mercy. I would do anything for him. I know he’s hurt you. I understand how you must feel, because he’s hurt me too. Don’t hurt him. You said you wanted me dead. Please, Zekkai, I beg you; take me instead.”

“No!” Jin cried out, diving forward, “Julia!”

“I’m almost sad to admit that the one I hate most is the only honorable person here,” The demon mused as it shoved Jin away with little effort. “Lucky for me, I couldn’t care less about honor.”

Jin got back up, baffled as to why his devil side wasn’t taking charge like it normally did when he was angry. He ran at the creature anyway, hoping he could some how distract it from the girl. “Get away from her, you bastard!”

But it was too late.

The scene seemed to take place in slow motion. Even Jin couldn’t seem to move nearly fast enough. As he dove at the American woman, the few seconds between them and the moment she was yanked out of his reach, lasted a dozen eternities. He watched, helplessly trying to get to her, as Zekkai placed a delicate kiss on her lips before pulling his free hand back and then punching the girl in the chest. Normally, such a scene wouldn’t be so disturbing, but the look on her face painted a gruesome picture. In confirmation of the horror she seemed to be facing, the demon slowly took its fist back. As more of its fist was revealed to the spectators, the more realization waved across the area.

Blood ran down the demon’s arm and dropped into the grass. Once the fist was in full view, the three men could see the flesh clinging to it. Silence fell upon the scene like an eclipse. Slowly and completely, and with the silence anger grew, feeding off the shock and the tension. The anger belonged to Jin alone. He pushed the demonic part of him into the dark corners of his subconscious where it would have no influence on his actions. This primitive thirst would have no distractions, and no inner conflict. The purity of his hostility would have its fill. There was no way that former member of the human race would get away with allowing that to take place.

Julia’s limp body collapsed into his lap once the creature released her. Her chest was caved in, but she wasn’t dead yet. Sad brown eyes stared up at him as she tried to speak. No sound came out but he knew exactly what she was trying to say. She was saying her beloved’s name. Hwoarang.

With one last shudder, and a gasp for air, the girl grew still. She was gone.

Jin lowered his head, still holding the girl close to him. His breathing was deep and long as he tried to calm himself and sort out his thoughts. Soon he came to the conclusion that there was no sorting out to be done. All there was left was vengeance. That devil had to die. It had surpassed going to far by a million miles.

“Omae o korosu!” Jin shouted, lunging at devil. He tackled the demon, unfortunately being too pissed off to foresee the consequences of such. The two of them stumbled back, both expecting to hit against some more hard ground, only to be sadly mistaken when they began to feel themselves fall.

Zekkai slowly opened its eye, confused as to why it was no longer falling. It looked up to see dark Korean eyes staring down at it. That boy had caught them. Next to it was Jin, dangling by an arm, equally perplexed, and recovering from the initial shock of what had almost happened. But Hwoarang started to slip. He couldn’t possibly be supporting them both, could he? Even one of them weighed more then he did, but two must have been excruciating.

He started sliding forward over the edge of the cliff. His eyes were squeezed shut and his teeth were barred and cringing as he strained to stop himself from falling without loosing one of them. Jin tried desperately to reach the demon within, so that he could use the wings, but that demon could not be reached. Even Zekkai seemed to be trying to come up with a way to lighten the boy’s load, but with its injured wing, there was no way.

Another face appeared over the edge, just before they were too far-gone. Chaolan wrapped his arms around Hwoarang’s waist just in time, and pulled him back up an inch or two. It was as far as he could bring the Korean, but still he held on tightly, not allowing the boy to slip anymore. “Hwoarang!” Chaolan panted, “You can’t save them both. If you keep trying, you’ll kill us all!”

“What the fuck can I do?” Hwoarang demanded, trying again to pull the two dangling bodies up.

“You have to let one of them go. You can save one of them.”

The statement angered the Korean. “Are you fucking insane? There’s no way I’m going to drop one of them! Maybe you could do it, but I can’t!”

Chaolan put his head down to rest on Hwoarang’s back, in more of a hug then a restraint as he said sadly, “You have two choices here. Either you let one go, and let three people live, or you refuse and nobody lives. There’s no point in trying to save them both when we know that doing that will just result in them both dieing anyway… I don’t want to lose you.”

Hwoarang looked over the two below him. Jin was looking down in a panic, while Zekkai was looking up at him with a thoughtful, distanced gaze. It was too proud to show that it was afraid. The hardest thing was accepting the fact that he had already made the decision.

The dark Korean eyes gazed into the demons as he admitted, “I loved you, Zekkai.”

The look her received from Jin was once of peace, as if Jin had already come to the conclusion that he would be the one to be let go. He silently prepared himself mentally for the fall, but it never happened. Instead Hwoarang said something under his breath so quietly that only Zekkai could hear, and then he released his grip on the demon. Even as Zekkai fell, their eyes didn’t leave each other’s.

“I wish I could see your face as you burn in hell,” Hwoarang mumbled venomously after his former lover.

………. One month later……. The Bahamas…………

“I’ll be right out.”

Lee pulled the pick through his hair, drawing a perfect part in the center and put it down on the sink. He straightened his tie and checked his watch. The meeting wouldn’t start for a while now, but there were things he wanted to clear up in his office before hand. After being away on vacation, the work tended to pile up.

The door opened and in the reflection of the mirror, he saw the face of his adopted brother. He gasped and spun around, but was faced with none other then the blood talon. “Jesus. Do you always go lurking around in people’s bathrooms? I’m almost finished. You can have it in a moment. I just have to brush my teeth.”

Without responding with words, Hwoarang shoved Chaolan into the empty air pool tub, and climbed on top of him.

“I see you’ve recovered quite well from your depression,” Lee smiled, amidst a shower of playful kisses. “Please, try not to wrinkle my suit. I have a meeting in three hours.”

Hwoarang smirked and reached over, twisting the knobs, and watching as the silver-haired Asian man’s features go from pleasant to annoyed. Water poured in from the 16 jets, drowning the expensive fabric of Lee’s ‘dry clean only’ suit. Satisfied that he had successfully irritated the older man, Hwoarang went back to his first task. He took his newest lover into a deep passionate kiss, barely noticing when the water came up to his hips. The jeans he was wearing needed a washing anyway.

Chaolan broke away for a moment to ask; “I thought you were going out to explore the island with Jin.”

“Change of plans,” Hwoarang said stealing his lover’s lips once again. “Now be a good little boy and shut the fuck up.”

“Little boy? I fear you’ve overlooked some minor details.” Lee paused as he allowed Hwoarang to remove his pants before adding, “Of course… There are more important matters at hand…”

Hwoarang grinned, reaching down into the water, and gingerly stroking Chaolan’s inner thigh. He nuzzled the older man’s neck as he whispered, “You mean in hand?” and enforced the question by wrapping his fingers around the man’s shaft. Even though the move was expected, it still drew a gasp.

“Why this good mood all of a sudden?” Lee asked between shallow breaths.

“Zekkai’s back.”

The END

A/N: Ok… To explain how Zekkai got back… Let’s be realistic here. That was the same cliff Kazuya was thrown off when he was just a wee lad, so you can’t honestly expect him to be killed by it when he’s older and possessed by a devil! I hope you enjoyed this series. I will start on a new one now. I had originally planned for this to be a bit longer, but I didn’t want to draw it out, and honestly everything was finished.