Like Twins

It was really a pain to get in the car with those guys. A couple days ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but things changed, and now Zekkai couldn’t go anywhere without getting a dirty look from his newest enemy.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t so bad. Hwoarang didn’t make a fuss like Zekkai expected him to. In fact, he didn’t do much of anything aside from a quick teasing of Doormat. He didn’t even look in Jin’s direction. Not that anyone would really notice. Jin seemed to be quite content staring out the window and enjoying the relaxing ride. The little smirk on his face was a bit confusing, though.

Zekkai had been busy on a crossword puzzle – just something to keep himself occupied – but he wasn’t stupid enough not to notice the way the Blood Talon kept looking at Kazama. Maybe there was something between them that no one else knew about... There was really no way to know for sure.

They reached their mystery destination after that strangely quiet ride. An average-looking building with forest land behind it. Must have been a fairly large property, but that was to be expected with that type of organization. Inside, they were assigned a worker and sent to a room where a woman gave a speech about teamwork and what they would accomplish or whatever. Zekkai hadn’t really been able to pay attention. And then she asked for their names.

That bit went fluently enough until she got to BT. When the guy answered 'Blood Talon', she had looked sternly at him, asking for his real name. The response was 'Just put Blood Talon' and that had set her off into a rant about how important it was with real names for team building purposes. When she was finally done with that, she took a deep breath, then slowly asked his real name again.

Blood Talon pushed slowly to his feet, crossing his arms and gazing calmly at the woman. "I do not know my real name. The name I more usually go by, Hwoarang, is already in your pile there. Blood Talon is the only name you can put that'll make the rest of the group understand who you're referring to. Now, I'm not paying you for arguing about my name, so can we please just move on?"

"Come on," Hwoarang decidedly piped in. Apparently he wasn’t able to differentiate between when his opinion is wanted and when it wasn’t. "This broad can’t even be a team player with our names, so how the fuck is she supposed to help us?"

With a light chuckle, Jin leant over to Hwoarang, whispering loud enough for everyone to hear. "You know what they say... those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

There was a grin and then a bout of laughter. The shameless Korean obviously had forgotten about ignoring the Japanese. He attempted to recover with a crude leer at the woman and muttered to her, "don’t feel bad, lady, I can think of a few things you could do for me just fine. I’m sure you’d be a pro!"

Rolling her eyes, the woman picked the pen back up, starting writing. "'Blood Talon'. Fine." She sighed loudly, then eyed the next person - the petite brunette. "And you?"

Doormat Yankee pouted, then blinked a couple of times, managing to avoid crying. "D... doormat?" He asked apologetically, turning away to hide his face against Babo's neck.

It seemed the woman considered arguing again, but thought better of it after a glare from the Blood Talon. With another loud sigh, she finished writing down the rest of the names, then put all the pieces of paper into a small, black hat. She forced a smile, then asked everyone to follow her outside.

The first activity was apparently 'trust building'. They were supposed to line up, then let themselves fall backwards, being caught by another team member before they hit the ground. To make it more 'interesting', as she put it, they were starting from a bench, making the fall about eight feet from head to ground.

Her first piece of paper read 'Doormat'. The little guy looked absolutely terrified, and it didn't help that Kazama was chosen for catching him. Perhaps the small brunette had hoped for Babo. "It's not fair!" Doormat whimpered, "I don't wanna go first..."

Zekkai rolled his eyes. He didn’t like giving that poor excuse for a man any attention, but he wanted to get these exercises over with. "Hey, Doormat. If you finish this without crying, I’ll take you and Babo out for ice cream when we get back."

Swallowing and blinking a couple of times, DY finally climbed up on the bench. With a glance back at Kazama, he seemed ever more frightened, and his helpless pout revealed that the tears weren't far away. It took a long while, and when it looked like he wouldn't get around to it at all, Jin jogged over, giving him a firm push and sending him with a panicked scream down into Kazama's arms. "Just saved you the ice-cream..." Jin said with a shrug, walking casually back to the group.

That was a little weird. With Jin being the closest thing to the Kazuya Zekkai knew, it always bothered him a bit when Jin did something the older one wouldn’t have. Oh well, it was still hot. Maybe after a bit of work, Zekkai could mold Jin into the man he wanted. "Whatever... Who’s next, Miss?"

The woman already had the first piece of paper in her hand, and smiled at him. "What a coincidence. Zekkai, that's you, isn't it?"

He nodded indifferently and walked forward. No big deal. All he had to do was fall backwards and let someone catch him? "Yeah, that’s me. Let’s call up the hero that I will be putting my blind faith in so I can get this over and go have a smoke, please."

"Sure." She smiled again, then reached into the hat, pulling out another name. "Hwoarang." She read out loud.

Of all the possibilities, she had to pick the wrong one! Zekkai watched as his enemy Korean strolled over and got into position by the bench. He looked bored, and showed no sign that he was considering anything devious. He actually looked like he was bracing himself. Zekkai got up on the bench and turned around. It was pointless to drag it on, so without further hesitation, he let himself fall.

"Ow!" Zekkai hit the ground with a dull thump, and the air knocked out of him for a second. When he could breathe again, he growled and pushed himself up only to see the bastard casually walking away. In a venomous mumble, he said to Hwoarang’s back, "no wonder people only like you for your ass..."

The retreating Korean flinched and stopped. When he pivoted to glare back at the one by the bench. Apparently that had struck a nerve and in the next moment, Hwoarang lunged forward, tackling Zekkai back to the ground. "You’re really asking for it, whore!"

This time the bastard wasn’t fast enough to pin him. Zekkai grabbed a hold of the man’s arm where there were still scabs from the run in with devil, and dug his nails in. Couldn’t help but smile at the resulting grunt, and then he kneed the guy in the stomach.

Hwoarang was only neutralized for a whole of five seconds, coughing and panting. That was enough time to get out from under him and get a few steps away. When he recovered, he staggered to his feet, glanced at his bleeding arm and eased into his fighting stance. "Don’t start something you’re not going to finish, Whore, and you really don’t want to make me come get you."

"Why not? It didn’t bother me when you got me a second ago." Zekkai flashed a mocking smile and continued walking away. "As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already won."

"I sense there's a bit of work to be done with this team..." the woman muttered, then, ignoring the tension, she pulled out another piece of paper. "Babo." She read out.

‘Perceptive woman,', Zekkai thought sarcastically. He watched as Hwoarang grumbled something incoherently and stormed away from the group to settle down under a nearby tree and lick his wounds. Whoever trained that rabid dog should have been locked away. Oh well, there were more important things than enjoying trouncing someone's pride. Zekkai moved over to stand beside Jin.

The Japanese wrapped an arm lightly around him, predictably heading for his backside. Then that was quickly ripped away. "Jin!" The woman called out, and the raven-haired man dutifully left his post, moving up to stand by the bench.

Babo got up on the bench, looking about as excited as a guy could get, and without even a second for preparation, he dived off the bench. As soon as he was caught, he grinned happily and hugged Jin. "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

Shaking his head with a smirk, Jin placed Babo down on the ground. He walked back towards Zekkai, smirk broadening a bit.

"Hiro!" The woman called out.

Like a deer in the headlights, Hiro's eyes widened and he froze still. Hadn't he been expecting that? There were only two names left, so he couldn't have thought his name wouldn't be called. His gaze drifted over the group and he sighed, somehow managing to regain his calm composure. "Is this necessary? Perhaps we should stop wasting time and get to the next task you have planned."

With a smile, the Blood Talon walked up next to Hiro and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll catch you." Then the Korean moved over to the bench, glancing expectantly back at the other man.

"No." Hiro spoke firmly, and cast a weary glance at the woman. "I apologise. I don't mean to be difficult, but I don't trust him and this ridiculous game is not going to change that."

"Hey, big fella..." The Blood Talon spoke softly, moving back over behind the raven-haired man. Resting his hands on the guy's hips, he whispered something into an ear.

After taking a deep breath, Hiro shook his head and reluctantly headed over to the bench. He stepped onto it and crossed his arms impatiently. "That wasn't the issue, Blood Talon, but if it's that important to you, I'll just have to tolerate it."

The redhead seemed somewhat surprised, but with a shrug, he moved up to the bench again, positioning himself to catch the Japanese.

There was more hesitation. When Hiro finally decided to let himself fall, he was caught, unsurprisingly. It was hard to tell what that guy's problem was. Zekkai assumed he was just a little off in the head. The second Hiro's feet were on the ground, he was moving away from the Blood Talon.

After a few seconds, the woman nodded. "Normally, I'd ask the four of you who haven't done the fall yet to take your turns. However, I'm not sure this is overly good for team morale..." She paused, then furrowed a brow. "Well done, Babo. The rest of you..." She shook her head and turned around. "We'll skip the rest of these exercises, and move straight to the treasure hunt, which takes place in our obstacle course."

~~~

This is a collab, written together with Chlover. You can find her author profile here:
http://games.adult-fanfiction.org/authors.php?no=26260