Adrenaline Rush

The glowing red eyes on the end of Hwoarang's cigarette winked until its ashy lids dropped to the ground. Scuffing it with a steel-toed shoe, Hwoarang tossed the flame of his hair over his shoulder. "Name your terms."

Jin watched the other students walk by. He pulled his long black coat closer to him, trying to hide any trace of his plaid uniform. Peering from under his bangs, he said "No fights. None of that crap."

Hwoarang half-smiled through his cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the corner of his mouth. Jin irritably waved it away. "Let's be serious, man, I have a score to settle. You're not walking away 1-0, not so long as I can still breathe."

"Which will be an abbreviated period with your current habits." Jin wrinkled his nose, pulling the edge of his lip into a sneer. Plucking the cigarette from Hwoarang's mouth, he muttered "I'll bet you one grand you couldn't quit that…"

"Hell, just kick the nicotine, easy," Hwoarang bragged.

"Sure, and I would laugh at your withdrawal." With a flick of his wrist, Jin checked his watch and looked back at Mishima High. "As much as I'd love to entertain your childish whims, I have school."

"You're calling me childish? You can take your little X-Men lunchbox and shove it, I don't care about your pretty little grade point average." He looked scornfully at Jin. He should have known this would end in a stalemate. Always did.

"You couldn't pay me to skip, I want- Wait." Jin's slow smile worried Hwoarang, and he could tell that his rival had something on his mind. And the only thing that intimidated Hwoarang about his rival was his mind. "I'll call it even if you can convince a girl of my choice to skip school and go on a date with you."

Hwoarang stared at Jin. He conferred with himself. He mulled it over, and found himself laughing out loud. "A girl of your choice, 'eh, can't I at least pick one?"

"By no means. I'll bet you can pick the easy ones a mile off. I'll derive a good amount of joy from seeing you try this girl…" Jin's smirk said far more than Jin ever could.

Hwoarang flicked open his pack of cigs. "You've already picked her, haven't you."

"Damn straight. She's standing over there."

Hwoarang glanced in the direction Jin motioned. A huge crowd of girls had infested a corner by the front door of the school, giggling and holding their books to their chests. Searching the faces, Hwoarang tried to find one, any one, that showed any particular defect. Some facial deformity, a cold exterior, a cross dresser, anything. So far as he could tell, however, he was looking at a perfectly ordinary group of Japanese girls with short plaid skirts and cute legs.

"Which one?" Hwoarang squinted.

"Do you agree or not?" Jin arched his eyebrow.

Hwoarang could imagine him pulling a trick like that on the ladies, but he wasn't charmed. "And I'm supposed to believe that if I can do this, you'll even our fight score?"

"I'll count it as a loss on my fighting record." Jin crossed his arms, looking at his watch again. "Please decide quickly, I only have a little longer before I'll be fashionably late, and I have to keep my enigmatic status."

"Wouldn't want to break the enigma now, would I?"

A girl told Hwoarang once he was too much like a used car salesmen—just a little too slick for his own good. But those girls looked just gullible enough to buy anything he sold them, complete with terrible transmission and faulty brakes. "Yeah. I'm game."

"Good. She's the one with the Panda."

Hwoarang felt his blood mysteriously chill, and he wondered if that was a less famous side effect of smoking. Jin walked away briskly, coat waving behind him and girls' eyes following him into the main lobby of the school. Other people were filtering in, so when he turned to the group of girls, it was a lot easier to see her.

Ling Xiaoyu. Complete with Panda and pigtails.

"Great…" Hwoarang muttered. No cute legs could save him, if he even managed to get her to go out with him. It was no small secret that she was a one-girl fanclub for Jin Kazama. Adjusting his hair in his motorcycle's rearview mirror, he prepared to make magic.

Xiaoyu's friends were dispersing, and she was saying something to Panda as she looked up. "Hwoarang?"

"Hey Xiaoyu." Hwoarang crossed his arms across his chest.

To his surprise, she actually smiled. "Hey you! What in the world are you doing in Japan? Taking a break from Korea?"

"Something like that." Maybe he should wait and tell her about the warrants and detectives later. "What are you up to?"

"High school…" she rolled her eyes with a smile. "That's where I'm headed right now, actually."

"Well, if it's so much suffering, how about spending the day with me?"

He could feel his storm clouds roll over Xiaoyu's sunshine and rainbows. He might as well have told her Santa Claus and the Easter bunny had an underground crime rig to kidnap and eat children. "Are you- well, I can't just skip school, I mean, I'm only a sophomore, my G.P.A could tank, my friends—" She stopped, self-conscious. "How long will you be in town?"

"Just today." Complete and utter lie, he didn't have anywhere to be except prison. He was procrastinating from that appointment.

Xiaoyu dropped her jaw in melodramatic school girl fashion. "Today? Are you serious?" She looked at Panda pleadingly. It felt too rude to just say no, but it went against every good girl fiber of her being to leave.

"I'll only be in town today, when else can we hang out?" If nothing else, the guilt trip might work. She did, after all, have sympathy, and girls with sympathy could be easily exploited.

"I can't skip school!" Xiaoyu protested in a "that's final" tone.

"Not even for a quick trip to an amusement park?" Hwoarang blurted.

Xiaoyu didn't say anything. This was it, the end of it. Hwoarang knew it. His mind raced for other cards to play. He should have gone for coffee or a movie, girls like that kind of stuff. Amusement park? That's where you took your family when you had four kids and gave up on enduring happiness. Still, there was a sparkle in her eye, a sparkle he had never seen before. "I love amusement parks," she admitted, dropping her chin into her palm.

"It's more exciting than any of your classes," he prodded.

"That's for sure…" Xiaoyu smiled to herself.

"Come on, swap Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmatic for rest, relaxation and riding a motorcycle." It seemed to be working, Hwoarang could see that sparkle all-out ignite at the mention of a motorcycle.

"A motorcycle?" She grinned broadly. "Can I drive?"

A premonition of flaming wreckage crossed Hwoarang's mind. "No."

"Why not?" Xiaoyu pouted her lip, pulling the puppy-dog eyes. He could have expected as much from a girl who tied a bright pink bow to her pet Panda.

"What kind of gentleman would I be if I invite a lady out and don't even drive?" Walking towards his motorcycle as the final bell rang, Hwoarang took out his keys.

Abandoning Panda, Xiaoyu chased after him. "If you're any kind of gentleman, I wouldn't want to be a lady."

Hwoarang would have been insulted, but at least he didn't have to live up to any grandiose expectations of chivalry or any of that bull crap. "Today's not my day to die. Now, be a good girl, and just let me take you for a ride. Here, put this on." Hwoarang lifted his leather jacket off of his bike seat. The studs glittered in the sunlight, formed in the shape of a ferocious dragon. There were chains and skulls and other bits of metal also hanging from the black hide.

Xiaoyu eyed it up, checking to see how the coat would look with her uniform. "…It's leather," she muttered.

"Yeah, so?"

"It looks evil."

Hwoarang about laughed out loud, but then he remembered who he was talking to. Princess Pigtails. "If you go out in public looking like Pipi Longstockings, people will know something is up. They can sniff a skipper a mile away. And as tough as the pigtails look, I think a ponytail is more convincing."

"Don't try to change me!" Xiaoyu snapped with surprising vitality.

"Hey, it's just hair." Hwoarang threw his hands up to show he meant no harm. "Dead skin cells clinging to your scalp, nothing to call home about."

"You're just jealous because my dead skin cells are sexier than yours," Xiaoyu muttered.

Hwoarang was rapidly becoming suspicious of his Princess Pigtails model. He just might have to reevaluate this strange girl mounting the motorcycle behind him. To his glee, she put her hair up in a pony-tail before ducking under a helmet and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You holding on?" Hwoarang asked. As if he could not notice a girl's arms right over his abs. She damn well better appreciate his six pack.

"You'd better drive fast," Xiaoyu called up from behind him.

"Your wish is my command!" The motorcycle engine growled viciously as the wheels dug into the pavement. Teachers and students alike ran to the windows to look outside just as Hwoarang tore off down the road on his precious little baby. To adventure, to drink adrenaline and endorphins until school was out. Xiaoyu felt the wind blast against her exposed skin. The exhilaration of escaping Japanese history was just beginning to sink in, and had she not been riding on the back of a motorcycle, she might have thrown her arms out to feel the wind.

Hwoarang was silent. He wondered if asking and having her say yes was sufficient, but he wasn't certain. He never specified if it was a date, and Jin would latch onto that detail. The park sign flew towards them from the distance, the towering spire of a Ferris Wheel tucked under the arch of a roller coaster. It was amazing how time could fly when atop a black metal beast like Hwoarang's motorcycle; particularly without respect for pedestrians and traffic laws.

Hitting a low profile once in view, Hwoarang tucked his motorcycle into a parking garage to set up his alarm. "Alright, Princess," Hwoarang began, still looking down. "Unless we're out past midnight and my bike turns into a squash, this baby ain't goin' anywhere." He straightened up and looked over at Xiaoyu.

He didn't recognize her. What a difference a ponytail and a leather jacket made. Somehow, with the short plaid skirt and her black shoes, and without the sailor suit style top peeking out, she could pass for having an attitude.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked.

That was a question he could live with. "Absolutely nothing, let's fly!" Running to the entrance, where Xiaoyu insisted on paying – "it's dishonest not to" – and Hwoarang only had to duck and jump a few fences to get the same effect, they met by a fountain spewing water in glittery glory. Guided by invisible radar, Xiaoyu grabbed his hand and yanked him through the park. Hwoarang allowed himself to be led, admiring the rides and stands as he passed.

"Hey, teacups!" He pointed when Xiaoyu didn't look.

"Those things make me sick," Xiaoyu admitted. She twirled around and smiled broadly. "But if you REALLY really really want to…"

Hwoarang tossed back his hands, his motorcycle gloves adding extra protection. "Nah, not tea time, wouldn't want the Queen to be insulted."

Xiaoyu laughed, before she kept running. Nearly running into a kid nibbling on his pockey, Hwoarang raced to catch up. The skirt swished over deceptively fast legs as they barreled towards the back of the park. Finally she stopped. There it was. When Hwoarang stopped beside her, he had to crane his neck back as far as it would go to see the top of the highest hill. "Holy…"

"The Dominator." Her eyes flashed with demented glee. Hwoarang would have to admit to a slight lump in his stomach. "It's the tallest, fastest, and all-around coolest roller coaster in Japan." Her grip was surprisingly strong as she yanked him into the line.

Tallest, fastest, and all around most likely to make Hwoarang sick; he could already feel his stomach worming up his throat. Of all the years of motorcycle riding, ass-kicking, law-breaking and complete awesomeness, he had never managed to master the black beast of motion sickness. He had never ridden a roller coaster before. Though he wouldn't say it, he had butterflies in his stomach. And if there was anything less hardcore than butterflies, it was having them in one's stomach.

But there stood Princess Pigtails, a sadistic twinkle in her eye and extra bounce in her stride. Like a girl getting her first pony. Running his hands through his hair every few minutes, he was vaguely aware of Xiaoyu chattering away like a self-playing piano as the queue wandered forward. It felt like forever in line, but forever wasn't nearly long enough for him to compose himself.

"Have you ever been on a roller coaster before?" Xiaoyu asked suddenly

Snapping to attention, Hwoarang looked down at her big brown eyes. She was smiling up at him with the most innocent curiosity that, for a moment, he couldn't respond.

"Huuuuuh," he began, his voice petering into a whine towards the end. Rolling his eyes and looking around, he translated "That was supposed to be 'Haven't tried too hard to ride them.'"

"Ah." Xiaoyu read that one pretty well. From all the times she dragged Miharu and other friends onto rides, she could tell a newbie when she saw one. Hwoarang, of all people, she wouldn't have expected. "Get ready for a dose of adrenaline straight to your brain."

And back out your mouth again, Hwoarang thought. He laughed a little to himself. If it didn't compromise his street cred, he would have said it aloud.

After they had boarded, however, and the roller coaster train began its ascent, the clouds drew closer as the ground fled. He could see across the entire park. Vaguely, the back of his mind wondered if that was how Batman felt when surveying Gotham.

Oh God, he was delirious.

But the top was coming, it was coming and he could see the hump come. Just a few obnoxious clicks away from the tallest and fastest plummet in all of Japan-

And then rang a blood-curdling scream. Before they even reached the top of the hill.

Hwoarang would have jumped a foot in the air without the roller coaster harness tucking him in. That wasn't him, was it? When Xiaoyu screamed again and then giggled, he managed to put two and two together.

"Aren't you supposed to wait until the ride starts?" Hwoarang teased. He couldn't help it; he laughed.

"Warm up!" with a grin, she added "try and make it as girly as possible!"

Clearing his throat, patting his neck and testing his vocal cords, Hwoarang screamed the girliest scream he could muster; just as the roller coaster plummeted down.

There was a moment of panic, of complete and utter free fall where his heart flew into his head to beat furiously, while his brain tumbled into his stomach to chill with his small intestine. He waited for the blessed moment where it all tumbled out, but his panic was interrupted by the most hilarious sound he had ever heard: Xiaoyu's little girl scream. And damn, did it sound like a little girl.

Laughing, with a slight touch of hysteria, Hwoarang screamed in return. Xiaoyu giggled her way through a corkscrew, and three loops and two more corkscrews later they were more than a little loopy. They were still laughing and staggering when they filed out the gates, trailing behind the crowd.

"Remind me, why haven't I done this before?" Hwoarang returned his sunglasses to the top of his head as they had been before the roller coaster.

Xiaoyu mock rolled her eyes, straightening up her ponytail. "Duh, you didn't have an amazing copilot keeping your calm."

"Keep my calm?" Hwoarang stopped, turning to face her. They were standing behind a tall fence, with lovers' names and jokers' pranks weaving all the way up. He tossed his hair, raising an eyebrow down at her. "You were screaming like a small child the whole way."

A broad smile danced across Xiaoyu's face. "Haven't you heard of 'catharsis?'"

"Since when did you know polysyllabic words?"

"Since I learned 'adrenaline.'" Xiaoyu tucked her hands in the small of her back, mockingly raising an eyebrow back up to him. "Told you, it's like a dose of adrenaline straight to the brain!"

"Only to come right out of your mouth again," he murmured. And this time, it fit. Because this time, drunk on the rush and seduced by the excitement, Hwoarang pressed Xiaoyu against the wall and caught her lips with his.

Pushing against his chest, trying to figure out some way to say "stop" with her lips preoccupied, Xiaoyu realized quickly that her heart simply wasn't in it. She didn't know where her heart was anymore. She could feel it pounding in her ears, with excitement from being the one pursued rather than the pursuer beat clearly the answer: her heart was in the moment. And with that revelation, she kissed him back.

He was surprised. He was surprised he kissed her in the first place. He was surprised she didn't try to superplex him like most women in the fighting biz were inclined to do. But he really could never have expected her to kiss him back. "Does it feel good to be bad?" Hwoarang asked with a smooth half-smile, scarcely an inch away from her face.

She answered with a grin. Tugging on the bottom of her leather jacket, though, she asked "Do you know what's going to happen tomorrow?"

Hwoarang thought about it. He tossed his head back, looking up at the clouds as he considered it. Really, there was only one scenario he could see. "We'll act like nothing ever happened?"

"No, I don't hate you enough." She smiled, straightening an awry flush of his red hair. "But tomorrow, I go to school, you go to Korea…" Hwoarang tried not to swallow hard. A gifted liar he was, but a guilty one as well. "…the next time we see each other we may be competing. And I don't know about you, but…"

"I don't go easy on anyone." Hwoarang pounded his chest by his shoulder to enforce the point.

"Exactly." Xiaoyu looked down at her feet, before sweeping her eyes back up to his. "So really, all we have is this."

"Carpe diem."

"Hell yeah." Tossing her arms around his neck, she kissed him again behind the wall of graffiti.

"So?" Jin asked. Hwoarang looked up as he approached his rival. Xiaoyu had gone the opposite direction to Panda. Like kids getting picked up by their parents, Hwoarang thought.

With a shrug, Hwoarang replied "I got her to skip."

"The deal was to skip and go out on a date," Jin pointed out. Well, Hwoarang called that one. Lowering his sunglasses, Hwoarang tested his options. He could say "well, it wasn't officially a date, but we spent seven hours together making out and riding coasters." They had never said it was a date; but Hwoarang never said it was a bet either.

"We hung out." Hwoarang tried not to fidget, particularly with the chains on his leather jacket which smelled faintly of Lavender. He hoped Jin wouldn't notice. "No wins, no losses. Next tournament, we settle this for good."

And he had a feeling there would be a lot more to settle than just a grudge.