After 5 years of not seeing her, it made Ryu Hoshi doubt himself as a gentlemen and a warrior.

Pouring a glass of strong Russian bourbon, he fiddled with his cufflink, shifting it to a new position every so often. Smoothing his brown hair, Ryu looked at himself in the mirror.

'I'm not prepared. I'm not ready. Why did I have to push it? I was doing perfectly fine wondering where the hell she is, going on with my life and my...'

"Mr. Ryu Hoshi, it's nice to see you again." A calm, cool female voice answered, making him flinch inwardly. Slowly turning around, he saw a beautiful woman standing in his doorway, smiling darkly at him.

"Ch-" He regained his composure quickly, "Chun Li. I thought you had the manners to knock."

"Well, I had a lot of things but I lost a few." Chun Li answered, stepping in, "I thought you had the polite gesture to invite me in."

'Touche.' "I'm sorry. I was...slightly unprepared." Ryu answered, trying to keep his tone in a confident voice. He finally took a good long look at his guest.

Chun Li was more beautiful than his memory offered to give him. She wore a strapless red dress, tightly hugging her hips and chest that reached to her feet with a slit up the left side. Black heels adorned her feet, smoothly gliding with every step she took like an angel from Heaven. A black silk choker, simple yet elegant, wrapped itself around her slender neck, accenting the dress.

Taking a step forward, Chun Li slightly tilted her head in a smirking manner. "You seem to be...enlightened by something." She snickered, knowing fully what he was observing.

His mouth twitched into a small smile. "You know me all too well."

"Well, rich men are all the same. I'm not that suprised." Chun Li admitted, "Cocks of the walk."

Ryu motioned to a chair beside the desk where the bourbon sat. "Sit down, I imagine those heels are killing you." He offered with the woman taking it.

"I'm used to it." She said, seating herself before her nose caught a scent. Sniffing slightly, her perfectly shaped nose twitching a little, Chun Li looked at him with a frown.

"Russian bourbon. I wasn't aware you drank."

"I don't, that why I have it." He was quick to reply, sipping his drink, "I don't really like the taste of it. Too much burn."

"You're quite different. My keen sense of smell can detect any type of alcohol now due to 5 years of seeing it." She explained, crossing her legs.

"I was wondering how you knew it. Does he know you're here?" Ryu asked, looking intently at her. Chun Li sighed, fiddling with her ring. "No. He doesn't. I-I had to offer myself up and lie about buying something or another." She quietly said, clutching her fist.

Confused, Ryu looked outside which was completely black with the night. "Buying? This late? And he wasn't suspicious?"

"He was too busy flaunting his skill in the bed to notice." Chun Li scoffed, looking back up. "Anyway, I DID buy something in case he smarts up and asks."

"Quite brilliant." Ryu praised and Chun Li took out a slender black holder, looking around. "God, it is hot." She muttered, flipping it open to reveal a majestic red fan painted with symbols and flowers scattered among it.

"Are you hot? It's steaming in here." Chun Li inquired, waving it in front of her face. "Turn on an fan or something..."

"You buy that?" Ryu asked, checking the thermostat with was, much to his suprise, a cool 72 degrees. Chun Li shook her head, waving it much more violently in her face.

"No, I had this for years...my favorite fan. He bought it for me as a gift in Thai Land..." She said, "I bought a bracelet if you must know."

"Oh." He said, pouring more into his glass. "So how are things with you and Bison?"

"Highly energetic." Chun Li answered, making Ryu quite puzzled. "What?"

"Energetic. We went through at least a bed and a half a dozen of sheets." She repeated. "Bison's desires are not easliy rejected."

Nodding, Ryu forced himself to purge that thought from his head, never to think something like that again. Shuddering, he reached for a cigarette.

"You wanna smoke?" He asked, placing it to his lips. Chun Li shook her head. "Sorry. Bison found my stash 9 months ago, he's been watching me like a rabid dog. One puff and he'll put me in a room with padded walls."

Lightening it, Ryu took it. "I guess he wasn't happy."

"Overjoyed."

"I imagine you think the same way of me: controlling, sex-hungry psychopath." He guessed, breathing out another smoke.

"No, I don't think all incredibly wealthy men are like that. After all, Bison's been weaning off the drinks. I haven't seen him sip his beloved wine in months." Chun Li chuckled, "I imagine he think he can relieve stress on me."

"Hasn't he always done that?" Ryu inquired, taking another puff.

"To a certain extent. Now I'm the only tension reliever he has. Sad to say, I work better than his wine." She repiled, "Your buisness must be doing well. Bison's been popping veins."

"I wish you would stop calling it a buisness. It's a cooperation." Ryu pleaded, making Chun Li smile again. "Bison refers to it as a buisness. Either that or a thorn."

He sighed. "Doing well. Your husband hides well enough to earn me several vacations in Aruba."

She laughed. "I can't help you. To be honest, I don't even know where I live right now." Chun Li apologized, "I find it hard to believe that an ex-fighter made a career in finding big named criminals in Hawaii."

"I wanted to. I wanted to help..." Ryu stopped himself, "Um, I needed the cash so I let Ken set it up and we've been working together ever since."

"Wasn't that my job? To find criminals and bring them to justice?" She asked mockingly, putting a strand of hair behind her ear.

Ryu looked at his drink. He couldn't bear to tell her the whole truth of why he did it, why Ryu drove himself to be so successful. He did it so he could help her find Bison, to help her kill him. He did it so she didn't have to stress out over it. But when Chun Li got captured and wed, he was determined to set her free, pressing every contact he had, extracting information from everything he could get his hands on.

He always lost her. She was either not in the base or just left the instant before the troops got there. Chun Li slipped away more times than he could count.

The public did not acknowledge the existence of Ryu and Ken's cooperation, it was kept secret to hide the finders and themselves. The goverment always took the credit but no one really cared. Criminals were behind bars, it was all that mattered.

"You know, we don't bring anyone to justice, we just find them. What happens after that we have no clue nor buisness in." Ryu answered, trying to keep the mood. "We just find."

"I guess I feel my job was important now." Chun Li shrugged, "You know, I could do without him..."

"You can't help us. You said it yourself." Ryu reminded her, setting down his cigarette in a silver ashtray.

"Five long years, Ryu. I feel like hell. The sex, the control, the knowledge...I didn't want this. I could never ever want...THIS." Chun Li motioned to her dress, her tone taking a remorse sadness, "He dressed me up in this...like a @#%$ doll."

Ryu wanted to help her so bad, to comfort her, to stroke her hair and tell her that everything was fine now. That all the bad things could be whisked away in a moment with the flick of his wrist.

"You know..." He began, taking a deep breath, "I could hide you. From him. I could...put you in a place where he couldn't touch you."

"You can't. We both know that." She rejected, straightening up, "Not now. Maybe then but not now."

"Why not now? You're miserable, desperate, depressed...!" Ryu stood up, waving his arms around like a maniac, "You are one step away from killing himself yourself...!"

"I'm pregnant, Ryu."

That stopped him dead in his tracks. Falling back into his seat, Ryu stared at her with shock and hurt. His heart, breaking into a million pieces, showed in his eyes. "Pre-pregnant?"

She nodded. "That's why I came here tonight. I ha-had to tell you. Bison already knows...that's why he's weaning off the drinks. That's why I have this fan right now...I get hot flashes."

'No.' His mind refused to accept it. 'Not her! Anyone but her!'

But Ryu saw that she was serious, dead serious.

His dreams shattered in an instant. Ryu was hoping to rekindle a spark within her, a spark that they had years back when everything was right in the world. That's why he called her here...so he could protect her, hide her...

Marry her. Love her, cherish her like a real husband.

"How...how...?!"

"Bison may be weilding a deadly power but he's not shooting blanks." Chun Li interrupted him, "Bison is still a man."

God. God no. Bison couldn't be a man, he had to be a monster. Monsters don't reproduce!

"He-he can't..."

"Ryu...I can prove it. I've been checked by doctors several times. I even saw it inside of me! I have records, dates of my appointments...with witnesses of course." She placed her hand on his lightly, comforting. "It's very true. I was so suprised myself."

"I-I...when? W-when did this happen?" Ryu stammered, ready to break down in a second. "6 months ago. It was...might I say, a rather memorable night when I did get pregnant..." Chun Li told him, standing up.

"I'm sorry. Now you know why though. Why I can't betray my husband, why I can't be with you anymore." She paused, "I knew why you called me down here. To hope that we would be like old times."

He hung his head. "It was a childish fantasy."

She smiled lightly. "It's nice. I wish I could be with you, Ryu. I really do love you..."

"Then...then..."

"But I'm afraid I have another black secret. I-I-I..." Chun Li turned away, sighing deeply, "I'm afraid...that I love him. The bastard won. I'm afraid I grew a soft spot for him...after all these years. It might be a small affection...but it will grow. And break my heart."

Ryu hugged her. "I'm sorry. I should have known..."

"He's been rubbing off of me, you know. His personality, his outlook, his sick twisted mind..." She told him softly, "I'm afraid next we meet, I won't be the Chun Li you knew. I'll be him. A psychopath. A female version of him...I smiled during a man's torture. I SMILED. As if I didn't care...it made me sick."

"I don't care. I love you." He mumbled in her ear, wishing he could hug her all night. "I will always love you."

She looked into his eyes. "And I will always love you."

The clock chimed. Chun Li, breaking free of his embrace, snapped her fan closed. "I have to go. Bison will get anxious." She weakly said, gazing at the door. "I think this is the end, Ryu."

He closed his eyes. "I think it is to."

When Ryu opened them, Chun Li was gone without a trace.
.