Vendetta Ch. 4 - Regrets
By Dare

Chun Li followed Master Gen out into the kwoon's massive outdoor garden. It was a beautiful place, with flower beds alive with peonies, chrysanthemums, jasmine, and other blooms. The explosion of colors contrasted deeply with the darkness of the black marble walkways.

There were small goldfish ponds strewn throughout, fed by a giant fountain in the middle of the garden constructed out of marble and jade, and sculpted in the image of a great mountain. The water found its way to the ponds by small artificial creeks that were also lined with greenery.

The scent and brilliance of the flower garden, as well as the soothing sound of the water, combined to provide an overall sense of complete tranquillity. The masters taught many of the internally-oriented arts here, such as tai chi, hsing I, and pa kua, for the calmness and peace they required. Many a student came here to think, to meditate, or simply to reflect. Chun Li wondered how many times she herself had come here in the past to do just that.

Master Gen bid her to sit with him on one of the stone benches near the largest fish pond. He set down the package he brought with him, one that he had left out in the hall during his earlier arrival.

Chun Li sat down next to her old teacher, wondering what it was he wanted to talk to her about.

"Tell me, Little Sparrow." Master Gen began. "Are you well?"

"Well?" Chun Li repeated. "I suppose so."

"That is good. How goes the work in Interpol?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Is that so."

For a while, they just sat there, Gen silent as the trees, Chun Li anxiously waiting for him to speak.

After a while, he began to cough. Not violently, but hard. Chun Li went to his side and patted his back. She almost forgotten that he wasn't a well man. Physically, though. His mind and wisdom were intact, even though his body was failing him. Most days he was strong as ever, but occasionally he had fits and spells of weakness. The most common symptoms of his condition was the coughing fits. Sometimes they lasted well over an hour.

"Are you all right, Master?" she asked, voice heavy with concern.

"*Cough! Cough!* I *cough!* will be fine in a *cough!* moment. *Cough!*"

Eventually, the master's coughing subsided, and he took out a cloth from his pocket and wiped his mouth. He quickly folded it and put away before Chun Li saw the blood it was spotted with.

"I heard about what happened yesterday." he said at last.

Chun Li was thrown by the bluntness and abruptness of his statement. She shouldn't have been, really. Master Gen wasn't a lot like those kung fu actors on TV, the ones who beat around the bush spouting mystical and Zen- funky claptrap. No, Master Gen always got to the heart of the matter first, because that's where his wisdom could do the most good.

As for the information in question, that shouldn't have been surprising at all either. Master Gen had contacts within Interpol. In fact it was his clout that had smoothed her entry into the agency in the first place. He rarely used those contacts to keep an eye on her, but the most important events he knew about almost immediately.

"I'm sorry about your friend." he went on, in a soft tone.

"Oh." Chun Li said, looking away. "Well, he wasn't really a friend, Master. He was an acquaintance. A close acquaintance."

"Is that all he was?" Master Gen said, raising an eyebrow.

She didn't answer. If she said anything else, she would have burst into tears. Keeping up this aloof facade was the only way for her to retain her composure.

"I trust you heard about the rest of what happened yesterday, then." Chun Li said, trying to change the subject. This effort was not unnoticed by Master Gen, but he let it drop.

"I may have." Master Gen said. "But the information I get is usually so distorted. Perhaps it would be best if you told me, in your own words, what happened."

Chun Li sat up and cleared her throat. She turned to look her old mentor, whom she respected and loved, and tried to simply say: "I had to apprehend the perpetrator of a murder. He killed the courier, and I had to stop him. And I did."

But nothing came out of her mouth. Master Gen waited for her to speak, that look of absolute patience ever present on his old face. She just sat there, mouth open and moving slightly, but she couldn't make her voice work.

Suddenly, she felt the hot tears running down her face, and she did make a sound, finally: It was a sob.

A sob of anguish and pain and absolute misery, and it didn't stop there.

The next moment, she found herself weeping uncontrollably into her master's chest, his arms around her as she did so.

Master Gen, a man who had both endured and meted out pain in his life, a man who had seen a world of suffering, an man who had been teaching his students all his life to break bones and manipulate pressure points, found himself holding her close.

"I'm so tired, Master." Chun Li wailed through her tears. "I don't know what I'm doing or who I am anymore. Yesterday, a man, a friend died because of me and my obsession with Bison."

"Bison." Gen spoke the name with no ire or malevolence, though he knew the nature of that evil man all too well. And he also knew of young Chun Li's relentless quest for vengeance. Even though he had never fought him, he knew the stories. Many of which began during his travels a few years back, when he was on his own quest, on the tail of a man known by many names. The one known as Akuma.

Chun Li's father had been one of his best disciples, as his daughter would be later on. He had felt great sorrow when the news of his death had reached him, and that sorrow was beginning to emerge again as he held the weeping child in his arms. Bison had killed destroyed two lives very close to him; one physically, and the other emotionally.

"I've been doing this for so long, I lost sight of myself." she was saying. "But it's all I've got now. Day in, day out, all I've got is my pain and hatred to keep me going.

"Child." Gen said softly, taking Chun Li by the shoulders and gently raising her up. "I had feared this would happen, but old fool that I am, I let it proceed."

"Master?" Chun Li said, trying to compose herself long enough to hear what he was saying.

"A wise man once said: 'Evil is evil enough. To let it live within us as the beast called Hate is only to feed it.' All I know is this: By letting this obsession with Bison control you, he has already won. He may have killed your father, but you must not let him do the same to your soul."

"But Master," Chun Li said, sniffling, trying to compose herself. "I don't understand."

"I know you do not. But-"

Then, Master Gen was overtaken by another coughing fit. This time, he doubled over, one hand over his mouth, the other clutching his spasming abdomen.

"Master!" Chun Li cried, alarmed at the abruptness and violence of this next fit. Gen waved her off until the coughing once again slowed, then ceased.

This time, he turned to her, blood on his lips and marring his white beard. Her eyes widened, and she let out a gasp at the sight of those crimson stains.

"I see you are surprised." Gen rasped. "But I suppose that is to be expected. You never knew the full extent of my injury after fighting Akuma, did you?"

All Chun Li could do was shake her head, horrified at her teacher's condition. During her initial pursuit of Bison four years ago, she was surprised to run into her master in America. At the time, he didn't reveal to her what he was doing in the States, other than he too was chasing after some other fighter. She could only assume that this "Akuma" was that fighter.

"I see I have much to tell you." Master Gen said, with a look of sadness invading those dark eyes. "And now is the time for you to hear, so that my fate will never be yours."

It was all Chun Li could do to ask "What 'fate', Master?"

"In time, you will know. But for the moment, hear my words."