The Devil In You

Itoshii Hito

Suggested listening: Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)

Xiaoyu was snoring like a grizzly bear in the middle of Jin and Hwoarang, who were obviously both awake and laughing. They couldn't believe such a small girl could make so much noise while sleeping.

-Maybe she goes around with Panda because she is one herself.- Hwoarang whispered, laughing at his own joke mid-sentence.

-Don't be rude, she's just... eh, noisy.

-Yes, Jin, I figured that tonight already.

Jin threw his pillow at Hwoarang, still trying not to laugh too hard and wake Xiaoyu up.

-I'll go prepare some tea for all of us. You wake her up, gently, if you know how to, shithead.

Hwoarang stuck out his tongue, as if he was five, and tried to wake up Xiaoyu by simply calling her name and touching her shoulder. Well, she did wake up. Screaming.

-WHAT?!

And she punched Hwoarang violently on the nose, making him bleed too.

-FUCK! Xiaoyu, I just touched you!

-Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I was sleeping so deeply I got scared! I often throw punches around but Panda is a bit... softer than you, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

-No problem, I didn't need my sense of smell anyway. Minus an eye too, I'm on the right road to be an invalid soon.

-Tea is ready! Is everything alright up there? I'm hearing strange noises.

-Oh, you'll see in a minute. I'll be sexier than you've ever seen me, my love.

Xiaoyu and Hwoarang came down in the living room, with her looking down on the floor and him with bloody pieces of napkins pending out of his nose, which was beginning to turn all the shades of purple. Jin was quite confused by this picture, nodded his head and decided not to ask any questions, but to proceed in pouring the tea instead.

-Jin, I didn't want to punch your boyfriend, it's a reflex I have that...

-Oh, he probably deserved it.

-What the hell?!- Hwoarang's voice was currently so nasal it made everyone laugh.

-Well. This tea is perfect, Jin. And you've both been lovely with me, and we've had so much fun tonight. I hope it was the same for you two. But now I really have to go, Panda is waiting for me and she's surely feeling so alone! Jin, you think about what I told you about your treatments. And Hwoarang, whatever he chooses, be there for him just as you've been here for him until now. You're the sweetest couple I know. Don't waste it, or I will have to punch you both... again!

Xiaoyu hugged Jin first, then Hwoarang, giving him a kiss on the nose too. Then she went out the door, and she was gone. The Korean removed the napkins from his nostrils, and the bleeding had finally stopped. He threw them away in the kitchen bin, then he leaned on the counter. He suddenly became completely serious, sad, even.

-You do have made your mind up, haven't you? Listen to your heart, she said. The most dangerous thing to say to Jin Kazama.

-I do, yes.

-And you will continue your treatments, no matter the pain, even if it might kill you, too.

-I can't be a liability to the ones who love me and are around me. Or even to my enemies, killing and mindlessly destroying is no way of resolving conflicts. And you know I'm destined to fully become that monster someday.