Two days later, Chun Li was at the Hong Kong airport with Ken. They were seated in the waiting area, next to the gate. Yesterday, Fei Long had left to shoot a movie. Ken felt that he needed to get back to his family. He had already bid Ryu and Fei Long goodbye.

"Take care of him, okay?" Ken asked. "And yourself."

She nodded. "Don't worry, I will."

She seemed troubled, and he had an idea on why. He put his arm around her in a friendly gesture.

"Chun Li...just tell him."

She looked at him, wide-eyed.

"You...You know?" she whispered.

"Of course I know," Ken responded. "I've always known. This is me you're talking to."

Chun Li sighed. "In the past, I tried so hard to get him to notice me, but he never did. What if he doesn't feel the same?"

"Chun Li...we've known each other for a long time. And as a friend, I can honestly say that any man would be happy if he knew that you loved him. You're pretty, smart, and the bravest woman I know. You've been through a lot these last ten years. You deserve to be happy."

"I don't think a confession of love is going to make any difference with Ryu," she said glumly.

Ken chuckled. "Trust me, it will."

"How so?"

"Well...Fei and I gave Ryu something to think about."

"Oh?"

He grinned. "We both said something like...if a woman is playing nursemaid...she may not always consider her patient as a patient."

Chun Li laughed. "You guys!"

"Not to mention...you two will be alone together for a while..."

Chun Li sighed. "I don't know...I'm so confused."

"Just tell him you love him," Ken said simply. "And you were afraid to tell him."

"Now boarding for flight three seventy-one bound for San Francisco!" a voice called over the intercom.

"That's me," Ken said, standing up.

Chun Li hugged him tearfully, sad to see her friend go.

"Take care, Ken."

"You, too," he responded. He tipped her chin up so she could meet his gaze. "Let me know how it goes, all right? And if he says no, I'll personally kick his *ss while he's still in bad shape."

Chun Li laughed, wiping her eyes. "Okay, okay.."

Ken headed to the ticket agent at the door of the jet way and handed her his ticket. After she ripped it and gave it back to him, he walked into the jetway to board the plane.

Ryu was taking a nap when Chun Li got back. She headed to the kitchen and decided to fix a meal.

As she prepared food, she thought about what Ken said. She had been a lot through the last ten years. The first thought that came to mind was her father. She had a great admiration and respect for him. He was a good man who tried to put crime away. On one tragic day, Chun Li discovered that her father had been killed and thrown off a twenty-story building. Horribly saddened, she set out to find her father’s killer and take revenge by joining Interpol. Her only clue had been the name Bison, a thug slowly gaining power. Ironically, she had previously encountered this man. Before her father's death, she had tried to arrest Bison for shipping drugs around the world. Barely broken into the many aspects of her career as an agent, she infiltrated into an underground street fighting tournament and attempted to arrest him for the murder of her father. Bison had merely laughed at her, and taunted her to find him again when she was a more skilled fighter. Several years later, Bison held another street fighting tournament to lure out Ryu, who he believed to be the best fighter in the world. However, in the final showdown between Ryu, Ken, and Bison, a mysterious man in a black gi appeared and destroyed Bison. The man claimed that Ryu would soon have the same great evil power as him. Months later, Bison came back to life, due to the psycho power he possessed. However, he was defeated at the hands of Ryu. Ryu had taken out revenge for her.

Chun Li sighed, thinking of her old friend. She remembered when she hated him on sight. His best friend Ken Masters had been charming, but she wasn’t interested in him. Instead, she had been so focused on getting on revenge that she didn’t have time for a love life. In addition, Ken’s friend had been an obstacle in her path. She had been in a wheelchair for weeks, unable to fight, unable to gain information. Fei Long had been angry when he discovered what Ryu had done to her. He challenged Ryu to fight, and being the hotheaded man he was…he lost. Fei Long went into a coma and woke up less than a week after his fight with Ryu. In spite of the situation, Ken considered them his friends. Whenever he was with Chun Li, Fei Long was right beside them, making sure that Ken didn’t try anything-ask her out, hold her hand, hug her-anything. Ken then introduced them to Ryu. It took her a while to adjust being around him. He and Ken spent a lot of time together, talking about their teacher, their training together. Chun Li and Fei Long tagged along. As time went by, however, she grew to like the calm, quiet, and humble man who was Ken Masters’ best friend. Perhaps it was because he was so unlike other men she had met.

Her exotic beauty awed most men. This did not surprise her. She was accustomed to their stares and dropped jaws. But Ryu didn’t even notice her as a prospective significant other. He respected her as a person and a fighter-in spite of the fact that his skills were greater than hers. Perhaps another reason she liked him was because of his mysterious nature. He was emotionless on the outside, yet Chun Li was able to glimpse at the underlying gentleness and compassion beneath. Unaware of them herself, her feelings for him grew. Then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit her. She had learned about Ryu defeating Bison-using the great evil power that was prophesized to him. She had been afraid of losing him to the evil power-that was when she realized that she loved him. So she left Ryu and Ken, Fei Long at her side, fearful of Ryu, his life, and her own. But she vowed one day to come to Ryu and tell him her feelings when he was able to control the dark power inside of him. The days had arrived, and she was too afraid to say anything.

The meal was ready. She pulled out a tray and set a cup of juice, napkins, chopsticks, and a bowl of ramen on it. Carrying it with both hands, she headed to Ryu’s room. He was awake, staring at the ceiling.

“Hi,” she greeted.

Ryu glanced at her and smiled.

“Hi,” he responded.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

Ryu nodded.

“Great…I fixed you something to eat.”

Chun Li set the tray on the floor and helped him sit straight, fluffing the pillows behind his back. She then set the tray across his lap.

“Do you want me to feed you?” she asked.

Ryu shook his head. “No. Thank you for asking.”

Hesitantly, he picked up the chopsticks and looked at his food. Chun Li smiled wryly.

“You’ve tried my cooking before,” Chun Li declared.

Ryu helped himself to some noodles.

“You don’t have to eat them if you don’t want to,” Chun Li said.

Ryu shook his head. “No, it’s good.” He slurped more noodles. “Ken and Fei Long left, correct? I think I was half-asleep.”

She nodded. “Yeah. They went on their way, deserting us.”

Ryu gazed at her carefully. She was wearing a gray short-sleeved dress that ended at her knees. Her long brown hair hung down like a silky waterfall. She was wearing a light application of cosmetics. Her lashes seemed darker, thicker, against her creamy complexion. Her cheeks looked slightly flushed. She had a prettiness and softness about her that he rarely observed. Has it always been there? he wondered. She looked back at him, noticing that he had been staring. He abruptly looked away and continued to eat.

“When you’re finished, I can fix a bath for you if you like,” Chun Li offered.

“Only if it isn’t too much trouble,” Ryu declared.

“Don’t worry about it.”

In a few minutes, Chun Li began to fill the tub with very warm water. Ryu came in, dressed only in gray pajama pants and bandages wrapped around his torso. When the tub was half full, she turned the water off.

“There. All set.”

“Thank you.”

She glanced at him, seeing the bandages. “Here, let me help you remove those.”

Ryu carefully lifted his arms as she began to peel them off his body. When she finished, she set them near the sink.

“Soap is on the tray, and you can use the blue towel on the rack,” she pointed at everything she mentioned.

“Thanks.”

Chun Li closed the bathroom door behind her. After stripping, Ryu slowly sank into the tub to ease his tired body. He had to remember to thank her for taking care of him. He wasn’t used to someone looking after him. Being alone and independent for several years made him slightly reluctant to receive help from anyone. It also had to deal with the fact that he lived for the fight. To him, it had been the only thing that had mattered in life. He was starting to see that other things mattered as well. Family, a small voice inside of him said. He immediately thought of Gouken, his sensei. He had cherished Gouken as a father as well as a teacher.

Gouken had found an abandoned baby boy on the doorstep of a merchant in a village near his dojo. Gouken bought several items from the merchant, and offered to take the baby, for the merchant was too old and weak to care for the boy. Gouken had an heir to Shotokan Karate, and he named the baby Ryu, meaning ‘dragon’. Ryu had always been grateful to Gouken for taking care of him-for he would not be alive now were it not for Gouken.

There is more to life than the fight and family. Friends, that voice said. He remembered the many times he and Ken trained together. The times he shared with Ken, Chun Li and Fei Long. He glanced at the bathroom door that she had walked out of. Ken had always shown his appreciation of friends by visiting them or sending them free tickets to visit him. Ryu didn’t have much money, but he was certainly glad that he had loyal friends. Maybe it was time to show his gratitude. He would find a way, somehow. Starting with the woman who had been looking after him the past few days…