A/N:

!!!Important!!!: If you haven't read the updated version of Chapter 13, I suggest you do so. This chapter won't make much sense otherwise. :)

This is the last chapter/epilogue. Enjoy. ;D

Disclaimer: Tekken belongs to Namco.

Epilogue

"What the fuck did you do?! It still burns!"

"Exactly what it said on the box! Now shut up and stop being such a baby! I can't get this shit out with you wiggling around like that!"

Squeezed into the small bathroom in Hwoarang's apartment, the cursing biker sat on the floor, leaning back so that his head was within range of the running tub faucet. Faith crouched over him, working gloved fingers through his wet hair as red tinged liquid cascaded towards the drain.

"You're not very good at this. It never burned when Hyun-Ok did it..."

"That's because she never left the bleach in long enough, which is why you always had to do it twice. You're scalp's just sensitive right now. As soon as this dye is out you'll be fine. I'll even give it an extra rinse if you quit your whining."

"Shut it, woman," the redhead grumbled half-heartedly, letting the view he had right down her shirt distract him from his itching follicles.

Faith smirked to herself and didn't reply, ignoring both his pouting and the hand he had begun to sneak up the back of her thigh.

"I think it's almost out now," she muttered, still ignoring the creeping hand as she stripped the flimsy plastic gloves off her hands and massaged his freshly colored roots to see if any more pink swirled in the drain. The brunette bit back a laugh as Hwoarang groaned as she did so, much like a dog getting it's belly scratched, and instead shut the water off and grabbed the towel waiting on the counter behind her. "All right, Fido, you're done. Now hurry up and dry off. There's still training to get to in, oh, thirty minutes or so."

Grunting in acknowledgment of the words and disappointment at the removal of his groping hand as she stepped away, the freshly dyed redhead stood up and worked out the crick from his neck from having it bent backwards for so long.

"We've got plenty of time. Stop being a damn clockwatcher."

Faith, who at the very moment was checking her watch, rolled her eyes at him before exiting the cramped bathroom and turning into the bedroom.

Searching the floor for her dobuk, she reminded him of their mode of transportation. "That might be the case if Baek didn't hate your motorcycle. On foot we'll only get there in time if you get your ass in gear!" Lowering her voice, the newer of the Killing Hawk's students murmured to herself as she continued the hunt for her training uniform, "Remind me to never point out his roots. Jeez. Might as well have said that he suddenly developed terminal cancer. One month together and I make one genuine observation about his hair and he spazzes. Talk about vanity... Ah!"

Kicking aside a pair of Hwoarang's jeans, the high-strung woman found the simplistic uniform and quickly began to undress and pull it on. Feeling watched, she looked up to find mischievously sparkling brown eyes and an untrustworthy grin quickly approaching.

"The fuck you starin' at? Get dressed... We don't have time for that, Hwoarang!"

It was Hwoarang's turn to roll his eyes. Having lifted her up by the waist, he squeezed even tighter as she began to struggle.

"Relax, woman. You're gonna die of high blood pressure. One day that vein that gets to throbbing in your forehead is just gonna explode and- hey!"

The exclamation was somewhat garbled, as Faith had taken a hold of his face and pinched, giving him what Melody had always called the 'squished fish' face.

"Shut up and get dressed, dye job."

"'Ou 'e'er 'op 'ellin' 'e 'o 'ud uh!"

Unable to stop her amusement at his stubborn determination from lightening her tone, Faith shook her head and said, "I'll tell you to shut up whenever I like. Now come on," she released his face, "can you just cooperate so we're not late and don't have to stay an extra hour tonight. 'Cause I can think of far better uses for that hour."

The redhead's eyebrows arched up in surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck with a sly look on her face.

"You've gotten a lot bolder as of late, Miss Used-To-Be-Shy."

Faith smirked. "I don't like being late... And I can be just as manipulative as you if the mood strikes."

"You wish," the biker chortled, setting her back down. "You're far from being on my level. I'm still taking those waggling eyebrows as a promise though."

"I'd be surprised if you didn't."

Smiling cockily, the redhead changed without any further coaxing. Much to his female companion's relief, they were out the door within five minutes.

Setting a brisk pace, the brunette ignored the growls of the half-jogging man behind her.

"I meant it about the blood pressure, Faith. Goddamn. Slow down, woman! This isn't a race!"

"And I meant it about not liking being late. We wouldn't have to rush if you hadn't had an aneurysm over an inch of dark roots."

"Was it really at an inch already?"

"... Let it go, Hwo. Let it go."

"Fine. But only if you slow down!"

Entering the dojang, the pair passed by a line of bruised and staggering young men heading in the opposite direction. Recognizing them as the beginner's class, Faith spared them a moment of pity before turning her attention to the clock. Just in time!

The relief she felt was momentary. As it faded away, the brunette braced herself for what she knew was coming. Along the way she had made a deal with the biker, and being on time meant she lost.

Grinning wickedly, Hwoarang raised his middle knuckle and punched her in the bicep, giving her the dead-arm he'd promised to take if they were late, and that she'd promised to take if they were on time.

"Told ya we'd make it."

"Yeah, yeah," the now-bruising woman grumbled, massaging the sore spot as they approached their teacher.

Baek, having watched the entire exchange with masked amusement, crossed his arms and addressed the young couple, "You two are cutting it close today. I take it Hwoarang slowed you down?"

"How'd you guess?" the brunette asked, eyes widening in surprise at the older man's perceptiveness.

"Because you arrived together and he's pointing at you behind your back as if to accuse you."

Spinning around, Faith glared at the redhead, whose hands were conveniently tucked behind him. His innocent expression spoke volumes.

Before any non-training violence could ensue, Baek cut in, "Save it, Faith. I have to speak to Hwoarang for a few minutes. Alone, please."

Looking confused, an expression mirrored in the masculine visage beside her, the Killing Hawk's newest student bowed to him and stepped away, retreating to the far side of the training area as he and Hwoarang went into the office.

Inside the smaller room, Baek picked up two letters, one of which was already opened, from the desktop and handed the sealed envelope to his pupil.

"I knew these were going to arrive sooner or later."

Standing beside each other, the two men held near-identical letters, the only difference in wording between the two being the names typed in the opening lines.

"How the hell did they know where to send these?" the redhead muttered, eyeballing his invitation to the King of Iron Fist Tournament 6 with distrust.

"They're the Zaibatsu. I'm fairly certain they keep tabs on all past Tournament contestants," Baek replied casually, although a frown creased his brow. "This means we're going to have to increase our training intensity even more, Hwoarang. I doubt the girl will be able to keep up. I can't train you both at the same time when you're on different levels."

The biker settled back on his heels, lips pressed together thoughtfully.

"I'll tell her tonight then," he said unhappily. "Fucking sucks though, since she was getting good again."

The Killing Hawk quirked an eyebrow, but made no comment on the foul language.

"Does that mean you think we should just continue with training as usual for today then?"

The redhead blinked, surprised that his master was asking his opinion. "Yeah. I don't think she'd appreciate rushing here and then being told she didn't have to. Not that she'd take it out on you..."

Baek couldn't help but crack a smile at that.

"I suppose I'll save you a tongue lashing then and continue on as usual for now. You need to tell her though. We've been training hard, but it's time to increase the intensity by at least tenfold, especially since I have to dedicate time to the army's beginning class for at least another couple weeks. After that I'll clear the schedule up until the tournament and then we'll focus on nothing but training ourselves."

Hwoarang blanched a little at that, the lewdly smartass comment about tongue lashings he'd been biting back dying at the thought of future exhaustion and pain. The reluctance was quickly replaced with determination, however, and the young Korean nodded firmly to his mentor. He'd begged Baek to make him stronger back in the hospital, after that humiliating defeat at the claws of the supernatural Jin, and the older man had agreed. This next step was exactly what he had asked for.

"Yes, master."

Sensing the sudden shift to seriousness in his student, the older man clapped him on the back in a rare display of fatherly affection.

"That's later. For now you can enjoy the time you have with your little firecracker out there, 'cause once tournament training starts you're going to be too tired to say hello before you go to sleep, much less enjoy any extracurricular activities."

The redhead stared at his role model in shock, not quite able to believe his ears. Innuendo never phased him, he usually reveled in such jokes, but coming from Baek it was just... wrong.

Laughing at Hwoarang's expression, Baek left the small office, gesturing for the younger man to follow him.

The laughter, which was loud and uncharacteristically boisterous, had caught Faith's attention. Watching them re-enter the training area, astonishment replaced her suspicious stare when she saw that it was the usually stern Baek who was making the mirthful sounds. Her astonishment was in turn replaced with concerned confusion upon seeing Hwoarang's face as he followed behind the older man.

"What's going on?" she inquired, not wanting to be nosy but far too curious about the two men's unusual countenances to not ask.

Hwoarang merely shook his head, pointing lamely at Baek before letting his hand drop and shaking his head again. She interpreted that as an 'I'll tell you later'.

The subject couldn't be pursued any further anyway, because just as quickly as Baek had started laughing he'd stopped, his face settling into is usual severe expression.

"We'll be starting in Right Flamingo Stance today."

The two students exchanged a look and took up their stances.

"Gah. Sonofabitch."

Fumbling with her keys, Faith muttered curses under her breath until the telltale click of the lock informed her she'd finally succeeded in finding the right one.

Stepping inside, she was greeted immediately with a familiar teasing sneer.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."

"Hello to you too, Eun."

The blonde Korean grinned from her vantage point on the couch, raising rice covered chopsticks in greeting.

"You're home early. I figured loverboy would have you worn out and walking funny again."

"He's never made me walk funny," Faith grumbled with a glare, shutting the door and throwing the stuffed duffel bag hanging on her shoulder into a nearby chair. Plopping down beside her friend, she stole a chunk of meat from her friends bowl and said, "You're all dressed up. Getting an early start on barhopping tonight?"

"Nope. I have a date. With a really nice guy."

".... A what? With a who?.... Then again, your version of 'nice guy' is probably a little skewed, judging by your past choices..."

"Shut it, smartass, before I take your eye out," the blonde threatened, waving one of her wooden utensils in warning.

Faith laughed, raising her hands in mock defense. "All right! All right! But seriously... Who is it?"

"This friend of Scar's. We've met a couple times and he's really sweet."

"And you haven't told me?" the question sounded hurt.

"You haven't exactly been around to tell, honey," Eun chuckled, "And I'm glad! It's about time you were too distracted by a man to microanalyze my life. You seem much happier because of it."

"Yeah..." Faith looked thoughtful for a moment, staring off into space. As if realizing she'd trailed off, she half-smiled at her friend. "Speaking of which, I have to get some work done before Hwoarang comes over. Got a couple of deadlines coming up and I haven't even touched what needs to get done."

"Loverboy's coming over?"

"Mmm. He wanted to talk..." Faith saw her friends face fall and shrugged. "And he was acting weird during and after training, so I'm not really expecting cheerful news."

"Oh shit... You want me to stay?"

"Hell no. I'm an adult, I can handle this by myself."

Eun looked doubtful, but kept her mouth shut. Little more was said in the following hour, and the blonde had to be convinced once again that she wasn't needed before she would leave.

After practically shoving her friend out the door, Faith tried setting to work, but found her mind continually wandering back to a certain biker's odd behavior of only a few hours before. She became so absorbed in one such track of thought that a knocking on the front door made her jump.

Cursing, the brunette tried to bring herself down from the sudden adrenaline boost and answered the door.

"Hello, alley cat."

Glaring at the grinning Korean in her doorway, the 'alley cat' was about to tell him, for the umpteenth time, not to call her that when she was halted by a kiss. Not to be deterred from punishing him, even as he broke away and invited himself in, Faith stuck a foot out to trip him and was rewarded with a stumble.

Recovering swiftly, the Blood Talon turned to glare.

"What the hell was that for?"

"I told you not to call me that," Faith growled, closing the door and moving around him to lean against the edge of the nearby kitchen counter top. "Now... What did you need to talk to me about that was so important?"

The redhead couldn't help but smirk at the no-nonsense tone, even as he could see her bracing herself for whatever news he had brought. Contemplating on drawing the moment out just to watch her squirm, he decided against it and pulled the tournament invitation from his back pocket. Thrusting the now crumpled paper at her, he nodded as if to encourage her to take it.

Hesitantly she did so, looking at him quizzically as she unfolded the letter and began to read. Scanning through, the nervous woman frowned, feeling the edge of her anxiety dull greatly. If this was what he had to tell her it was incredibly anti-climactic.

"Congratulations?"

"Thanks. That's not why I showed it to you though."

"Then why..."

"Baek can't train you anymore."

The blunt statement was met with silence. Confused, hurt, and growingly angry silence.

Feeling the need to elaborate before she lashed out, Hwoarang continued, "It's not that he doesn't want to, but we've both got to focus on training up for the tournament and..."

"You guys don't think I could take it."

"That's not... Why the fuck are you smiling?!"

The sudden shift in expression was the last thing the biker was expecting and it had thrown him off balance.

"That's all this was about?" the relieved sounding woman asked. "Why didn't you just tell me earlier instead of making it all dramatic with waiting?"

"I thought you'd be pissed..."

"I'm not happy about it, no, and yeah, I'm a little pissed, but you should've just told me while we were at the dojang."

"After the pissfit you had about getting there on time? I don't think so." The redhead paused, looking at his girlfriend thoughtfully. "What did you think I wanted to tell you?"

"I figured you were getting sick of my bitchiness and were going back to Hyun-Ok's dyeing style. Or that you were gay. Whichever," she waved a hand dismissively.

Hwoarang snorted, recognizing the attempt to divert his attention away from the genuineness of the first statement. Joining her at the counter's edge, he placed one hand on either side of her and moved forward so she had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes.

"Hyun-Ok is even more of a harpy than you, not to mention being nowhere near as nimble. As for the gay comment," he leaned closer, "I think I've sufficiently shown you that I'm not."

"I dunno," the brunette drawled, playing with the collar of the white wifebeater he wore. "You act kind of questionable sometimes..."

"I'll show you questionable!" he growled, pulling her away from the counter and pinning with one arm around her waist so that her so that her back lay against his chest.

With the fingers of his free hand stroking through the locks of her hair, the redhead buried his face in the curve of her shoulder, nipping and kissing along the gentle slope in the way that made her melt.

"You just reward me for provoking you, you know that?" she chuckled softly, laying her own arm against the one that held her firm and interlacing her fingers with those of his that pressed against her stomach.

"Yeah, I know. It's fun," he replied, pulling back to smile. His expression turned serious, however, as he reminded himself that moments like this would be few and far between in only a couple weeks. He said as much. "I'm not going to be around much once Baek and I start getting ready for the tournament. And when you do see me I'll probably be grumpy, asleep, or both."

"What else is new?"

"I'm being serious, Faith, believe it or not. I'm not gonna get to spend all that much time with you until after the tournament. Can you handle that?"

"I've spent how many years without a man, and you ask me if I can handle a month or two? You idiot..." she felt him stiffen up, but gave the fingers laced beneath her own a gentle squeeze, pulling away slightly so she could turn her head enough to look up at him "I'll just have to handle looking forward to seeing you. So just make damn sure I stay content when I do and I'll repay the favor."

Hwoarang mulled over her words, and the teasing smile directed his way, and felt a grin starting to spread across his face. That sounded like a challenge. He loved a challenge.

Ending Author's Note:

It's been a little over five years since this story was first published and now it's finally come to an end. After several rewritten chapters and tweaked details it's finally done. And I'm relieved. :)

I'd first like to thank all of you readers and reviewers for stopping by and taking the time to read my attempts at romance writing, and for leaving the feedback that helped me to improve or encouraged me through bouts of writer's block.

I must give special thanks to Razer Athane, who is the one that inspired me to come back to this story and finish it after several years of hiatus, as well as cheering me on through motivational dry spells via review, dA, or kicking my ass into gear on MSNM. (Go read her work, it's wonderful!)

And now I'd like to share my celebratory 'it's finished!' commission that I ordered (although admittedly I ordered it before finishing. ^^; ). The link is on my profile under The Blood Talon's Heart section.