The heady aroma of wet pine surrounded him as he silently backed up against the tree, twigs crackling softly beneath his agile feet, the rough bark pushing into his white, cotton t-shirt. With a tip of his sleek, dyed-red hair-covered head, the young man spied around the enormous trunk and watched as another young man emerged from a small, wooden cabin. He was of slightly bigger build than his unseen stalker and his hair was a jet black, pushed back with bangs poking through to fall into his deep, brown eyes.

Amber eyes narrowed as they watched more intently as the subject at hand stretched up his arms and yawned, breath coming out in white puffs into the crisp morning air. Birds chirped somewhere off in the distance and the brilliance of the blue morning sky was a spectacular sight to behold.

The young man slowly descended the few oak wood steps and stepped out into the earth, barefoot. His blue, denim jeans fit snugly against well-toned thighs and an oversize, gray, hooded sweatshirt covered whatever upper-body was hidden beneath it. Suddenly, with a sharp turn of his head, a foot threw itself at his face, forcing him to jump back, escaping the kick within a millisecond’s time.

His attacker, a fierce but notably handsome younger Korean man flew almost soundlessly into a steady tae kwan do stance, flicking a few fiery strand of hair out of his pale face with a flick of his slender wrist.

"W-Who are you?" was all Jin Kazama could stammer, falling into the steady, Mishima-style karate stance of his own.

"You honestly don’t remember me?" his attacker nearly barked, "That guy who nearly killed you in Seoul!?"

Jin stole a moment to blink a few times, brow knitted in thought. He eyed the Korean steadily before his eyes widened in remembrance, mouth twitching with sudden mischief.

"F-flower boy!?"

The teen hissed quickly and angrily, "That’s Hwoarang, you stupid bastard!"

Jin allowed himself a victorious smirk before raising his hands nonchalantly and shaking his head, "If you say so."

The redhead fumed, fists clenching in fury as he blushed with rage, he threw another kick, again aiming for Jin’s skull, "I’m gonna kill you this time, Kazama!"

Jin laughed as he dodged, he had to admit, he was impressed with Hwoarang’s speed and persistency but he was tired of this kind of stuff. He caught the Korean’s ankle the next time it whistled by.

"Why are you here? How did you know where to find me?"

Hwoarang’s eyes were widened in disbelief as he turned to glare at Jin, poison thick in his usually silky voice, "I followed you, like, duh."

Hwoarang tried to throw a punch but Jin swept a foot under his supporting leg and dropped him to the forest floor, grabbing him around the throat in one hand as he kneeled over him quite dominantly, another knee in the Koran's gut.

"So you followed me all the way out to Hokkaido to fight me, is that it?"

"Che."

The Korean glared, slender fingers wrapped around his captive’s wrist as he struggled to free himself from the strangle hold. Jin grunted in disapproval, jerking the young man sternly into submission as he forced Hwoarang to nod reluctantly.

Jin lifted a dark eyebrow inquiringly, "but can’t you see how out matched you are?"

Jin gasped and clenched his teeth as he caught a knee sharply in the side as Hwoarang began to struggle with new intensity. He growled and kicked and cursed, doing anything in his power to escape from this position of inferiority and vulnerability as Jin gave a few of his own surprised curses and kept his hold.

"Lee Chaolan sent me!"

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