A/N: I know it’s REALLY short, but it’s just
basically a prologue so it’s no biggy. Next chapter should be longer… I
promise!!!!!
Disclaimer: I AM ZE PUPPET MASTER!!!!! I may not
own zem, but I CONTROL ZEM!
Demolition Lovers
Part One
Windows shattered one by one as the fire and
smoke intensified. Neighbors had already evacuated their homes and were
standing across the street, watching the house burn. They were unsure as to
whether or not the occupant of the house was home or not, for they never saw
much of him. He was like a hermit in the city. A recluse. They saw the man so
rarely that only a select few of them had caught a glimpse of his face.
Across the street sat a group of rowdy young men
on a second floor balcony. They laughed and joked as they downed random sources
of alcohol. They seemed amused by the fire destroying someone’s home. A couple
of the men started discussing what they could cook on a fire like that, having
blown all their grocery money on booze. The remaining three watched in silence,
two grinning at the freaked out people below, while the last was
expressionless, eyes fixed on a specific place in the crowd.
He knew that face from somewhere, but he couldn’t
quite place it. The person in question was shaking one of the neighbors by the
collar, demanding something. The closer he looked, the more he recognized the
face, and eventually he came to the conclusion that it had to be an
acquaintance from the tournament. Whoever it was, they were determined to find
somebody who would answer their question.
“Hey!” Hwoarang called out to the familiar person
wandering the crowd, “What’s your problem? You better have business here, or
there’s going to be heads hitting the floor.”
The man below looked up, his expression going
from startled to relieved. “Thank god someone speaks English! Do you know if
the guy who lives… Wait a minute…” He peered, examining the Korean closer,
“It’s you! Have you seen a bloke in a hoodie come out here?”
“Hoodie? In case you’ve missed it, it’s nearly
below freezing. A lot of people are wearing hoodies. Actually… I may be going
out on a limb here, but aren’t you wearing a hoodie?”
“No,” The man below rolled his eyes, “This is a
bunny hug. There are more important things going on right now. Jin could be in
that bloody house, burning or choking on the smoke! He could be a goddamn pile
of ashes! Cremated before he even kicked the bucket!”
Hwoarang suddenly perked up, quickly climbing
over to the outer edge of the balcony and dropping down. Once landed, he spun
around and grabbed the other man by the neck. “What the fuck do you mean by
Jin? Jin Kazama? That pansy prick has been living directly across the street
from me and I didn’t even know it?” Upon the Englishman’s nod, Hwoarang dragged
him to the side of the building and shoved a hose at the man as he twisted on
the cold water. “Spray me.”
“What you on about? This isn’t the time for a
water fight!”
“Fox,” Hwoarang growled, finally remembering the
man’s name, “I can’t go in there dry. Now fucking spray me, before I change my
mind about checking up on that bastard. I’ve never done this before but since
it takes wet logs longer to catch fire in a bonfire, I figure my clothes and my
hair will be relatively safe if I’m wet.”
Steve shrugged and obeyed, directing the flow
over the Korean’s head. After a moment, once Hwoarang was satisfied, he shoved
the Brit out of his way and pushed his way through the crowd. At that rate, the
building would be just a pile of rubble when the fire trucks finally arrived.
When he reached the building, there was no
hesitation. He was rushing down the hallway, glancing briefly into open rooms
as he passed. His wet jacket was pulled up over his mouth in a hopeless attempt
to filter out the smoke, but instead, only succeeded in filtering out any air
at all.
From the outside it looked like a reasonably
small house, but on the inside, it seemed to go on forever. The hallway had
four doors, two leading to bedrooms, one to an office, and the third to a
bathroom. At the end, it opened into a main living space with an arched frame.
It was hard to believe that someone hiding out would be able to live so richly.
The kitchen area was already swallowed in flames, and the rest was polluted
with smoke. There was one door off to the side of what was once the counter.
The door was open an inch, but the fridge had been tipped over, and was
stopping it from opening any further.
It wasn’t much wonder as to where to look next.
Hwoarang choked, and swore wildly as he noticed the glow and the thick smoke
coming out of the slit in the said door. There was fire in there too. He rushed
over, trying to lift the fridge, but it was reasonably more difficult with a
lack of oxygen. Once again, an obscene string of curses drifted out of his
mouth as he choked back more smoke and opened the fridge, frantically emptying
it of its contents. Once finished with that, he was able to drag the large mass
away from the door.
As soon as the path was free, the door slowly
swung open, and a limp body fell out. A huge even thicker cloud of smoke
followed, making it even harder to see. It was definitely the right guy. Even
though the hair was down and tussled, and he was covered in fresh blood, that
was not a face the Korean could easily forget. All doubt was gone that there
had been a struggle. Someone had been deliberately trying to kill Kazama, but
that wasn’t exactly much of a surprise.
Hwoarang knelt down, putting his rival over his
shoulders, and then straining to get back to his feet, the curses flowing out
of his mouth just as natural as breathing. He turned back the way he came, only
to find a line of fire, blocking the way out. The line was strange in that it
was so obviously man made. It was like there was a line on gasoline and someone
just recently put a match to it. The whole thing was all too suspicious, but it
was not the time to think about it.
He walked over to the window beside the
television, and kicked it out. He tried to carefully climb out without dropping
the man he carried, but that only meant a lack of hands to keep him steady, and
soon he found himself falling onto the back street. Luckily – if you were to
call it luck – he had twisted just in time to protect the Japanese from the
initial impact, which meant that he was the one to break his rival’s fall. And
yet more obscene curses spilled out, along with most of the air in his lungs.
Once the air returned, he coughed violently,
absently wondering if he’d ever be able to get the taste of smoke out of his
mouth. Weakened by his little adventure, he was unable to get the unconscious
man off of him. It took only a moment of trying before he finally gave up and
devoted the rest of his energy on breathing, with a curse or two thrown in
every now and then.
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“You’re awake! Are you alright?”
Jin slowly drifted into consciousness. He moved
his hand to rub his eyes, but realized that there were tubes and wires
connecting him to machines. After some more careful consideration, he came to
the conclusion that he was in a vehicle, probably an ambulance, but the light
was too strong for him to feel comfortable with opening his eyes, so he decided
to assume he was in safe hands.
He sighed, relaxing his muscles a little more. It
was difficult to remember just what had happened. All he recalled was going
into the pantry when he smelled smoke, and the moment he stepped inside, the
door slammed closed and something blocked it from opening. After that,
everything was just dark. So naturally, he decided to ask, “What happened?”
“You got trapped in your house while it was on
fire. Police are already saying it was arson, and they’ve caught the culprit.
You’re lucky that friend of yours went in there to get you, though the bastard
tried to trap him in there too,” The paramedic explained with disgust, “Bastard
better be thrown away for doing something like that. He’s just lucky he’ll only
get off on attempted manslaughter. If there were causalities, he would be done
for.”
The story sparked the young Japanese man’s
interest enough to make him open one eye a little. “Friend? Who got me out of
there?”
“Steve Fox,” The paramedic answered with a smile.
TBC…